Christian Book Notes

This week, I would like to feature an interview with Centricity Music recording artist, Jason Gray.  He has released a number of CDs which can be purchased at Amazon.  I asked to interview Jason because of the impact one song has had on my life (read below to find out which one) and was humbled when he accepted.  While a bit lengthy, this is definitely worth reading.  He just recently released a Christmas CD entitled Christmas Stories though this interview is going to center primarily on his album A Way to See in the Dark.  You can read much more about Jason at his website, JasonGrayMusic.com.

Christian Book Notes (CBN): Could you share your testimony of how you came to confess Jesus as Lord and Savior?

Jason: Wow! That would probably be too long of a story to do justice here, but the shorthand of it is that though I didn’t grow up going to church, God made himself known. I was always aware of His presence in my life and I remember talking with Him as a little boy when I would walk home from school. I had no idea about any of the specifics or even who Jesus was, but God was always there. I remember hearing “Bridge Over Troubled Water” for the first time and hearing God whisper in my spirit that this was His heart toward me.

My childhood was very turbulent: my parents split when I was in the first grade (an event that seems to have triggered my speech impediment), this was followed by an ugly custody battle that was very scary and confusing for me. After that my mom married an abusive man who dabbled in the occult. As I said, I was always aware of God drawing me to Him, but in high school—as I began to have a clearer idea of what giving my life to Him meant—I resisted because (among other reasons) I didn’t want to stop making out with my girlfriend! But on Christmas eve when I was 15 years old, the conflict at home escalated to the point that my mom and I were afraid for our lives. My step dad stormed out of the house making threats about what he would do to us when he returned. We packed a suitcase and weathered a long night before being whisked away in the early morning hours to Colorado for a month by some friends of my mom.

It was during that long night of fear where I had a serious conversation with God, basically telling Him if He got us through the night alive I’d see what I could do about serving Him. He did his part and then gently held me to my part of the bargain and it was during those weeks in Colorado where I finally gave my heart completely over to Him and came alive in His love.

CBN: I discovered your music through Janet Bozeman of Bozeman Media as she was requesting a review for Andrew Peterson’s book, The Monster in the Hollows, book three of the Wingfeather Saga Series (read review here). I became a fan of your music then and there when she sent me a copy of Everything Sad is Coming Untrue. Could you explain Andrew’s influence on your ministry?

Jason: Andrew and I have been friends for many years now. I was always a fan and when we met before a concert where I opened for him we hit it off. We’re both book geeks and admire a lot of the same authors. We connected over Frederick Buechner who we both quote directly in a number of our songs. When Andrew launched the Rabbit Room blog community (named after the room in the pub where C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and contemporaries would meet and talk shop), I was grateful to be invited to be a contributor there. Being a part of that creative community of thinkers, lovers of beauty, and pursuers of truth has surely sharpened me and deepened my ministry.

CBN: According to your website, author Philip Yancey has been a major influence in your life. Which book(s) of his have been most impactful and why?

Jason: I’ve enjoyed all of his books. He’s a thoughtful, responsible, intelligent, and honest writer. I also think he beautifully condescends to his readers, taking upper shelf ideas and putting them on the lower shelf so the rest of us can reach them. I found his book on “Prayer” to be as beautiful as it was unsatisfying, but I think that’s consistent with how most of us experience prayer, and therefore one of the virtues of that book—and I think that’s a testament to his good writing. He has great respect for his subject matter and the humanity of his readers and is unwilling to pander, giving us what we need rather than what we want. One of my favorites of his was “Soul Survivor”–a surprising book where he shares mini-biographies of people who have inspired him and whose faith sustained him in times when he wasn’t sure of his own. He generously shares the hope he’s gotten from the lives of the people he writes about in that book. It’s so good.

CBN: What other authors or books have been influential in your walk with Christ?

Jason: The single most influential person in my Christian walk is author Frederick Buechner. At a time when I was deeply wounded by my experience in the church and barely hanging on by the last shreds of my faith, God brought Buechner’s books into my life. Here 

was a writer who resisted pretense at every level and was daringly transparent and curious. After a season of being immersed in false expressions of religiosity, Buechner’s writing introduced me to an authentic Christianity that was big enough to hold both my faith and my doubt. He has a wonderful gift for gently asking questions that challenge and undermine our self-assured piety and the ways that we lie to ourselves with the truth.

My first Buechner book was “The Son Of Laughter”, a novel based on the Jacob and Esau narrative. It’s gritty, earthy, and very human. There were places where I thought, “Wow, Buechner is really taking some liberties with the text here!” but then when I would go look up the biblical passages I realized that, no, he wasn’t—that it really was a more human and scandalous story than I was able to see in my previous readings of it. My favorite book of his is “Telling Secrets”, a very moving memoir of his later years as a minister, a parent, a man who fights against the fear that wants to imprison us all. It’s beautiful.

Jason: Frederick Buechner once wrote, “The place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” Very early in my life I knew that music was just such a place for me.

CBN: (From my 8-year old son, Austin) What has been your inspiration in writing and singing the songs you do?

Jason: Usually it comes from some idea I love that I want to talk about. If I want to share an idea with my audience, I need to write a song about it, so it usually comes from anything that captures my imagination and makes me excited about sharing with others.

CBN: Who have been your musical influences?

Jason: The first music I really cared about when I was a little boy was Simon & Garfunkel, and Paul Simon remains a towering inspiration to me—he’s America’s greatest songwriter. His work in recent years reflects an open-hearted curiosity toward the things of God. Peter Gabriel and U2 were big early influences, and later Rich Mullins and Mark Heard. Looking at these names it seems like what’s always interested me has been passion, truth-telling, and thoughtful songwriting.

CBN: My son, Isaac, first got me to listen to your song Remind Me Who I Am on the way home from Bible Study one evening. After listening to it in the care, it immediately became my favorite song and one our family regularly listens to in the evenings. Personally, I have often listened to that song in tears and have shared it with many hurting believers in Christ. While I am sure you have heard numerous testimonies of how the Lord has used that song in the lives of others, my question is how personal is this song to you?

Jason: Wow! I’m so honored to hear that!–for so many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that it was something you got to connect to with your son.

It’s very personal, actually. I write the songs I need to hear. It was born out of my wrestling with my own issues of where I find my identity and sense of worth, and how I destroy my life in the ways I try to prove my worth to myself. My worth has already been proven and affirmed in Jesus. But it’s easy to forget.

CBN: In the video, the sign you hold says “REJECTED.” Why did you choose that as your particular sign?

Jason: I wrote the song and made the video at a time when the Lord was surfacing some deep issues of rejection in my life. When it came time for me to hold a sign, I intentionally wrote that on mine because it reflected a very real work the Lord was doing in my life at the time. Thanks for being curious about that!

CBN: You are obviously a story teller through your music. Your recent album, A Way to See in the Dark, tells a great story when listened to all at once. More importantly, you offer to your listener the greatest hope we have in Christ. You had a hand in writing every song on the album. How much of that is a reflection of your life? How important is it that you write the music you sing?

Jason: It’s foundational to my ministry. I don’t consider myself a particularly great singer or musician. I suppose I’m more of a communicator/storyteller/songwriter. So yeah, it’s a big part of the “identity” of my ministry. All the songs start with me, some idea or reflection on what God’s speaking to my heart at that time. I used to write exclusively by myself, but in recent years it’s been so meaningful for me to collaborate with other writers. The beauty of a good collaboration is that you get something together that you wouldn’t have found on your own, so it has the potential to surprise you–which is invigorating and inspiring.

I’ve been writing long enough that I guess I kind of find myself predictable I know what chords and melodies I’ll naturally reach for, and so it’s good to be in a room with someone else who helps pull me in to more uncharted territory. For me, it helps put me in touch with the Holy Spirit and be led beyond the well-worn paths that are so easy for me to follow without even thinking. Michael Card told me once that when we start finishing the bible’s sentences for it, it’s time to get a new translation—the point being that once we think we have it all figured out is probably the moment we’ve lost touch with it. Truth, God’s word, the way the Spirit moves—these should always, in some way, surprise us I think.

Collaborating helps me stay “surprised.” So these days, I only like to collaborate! I’ve been blessed to find myself in an amazing community of songwriters who I trust and am privileged to work with. It makes my ministry and my art better. But I still reserve at least one song per album that I write all by myself.

CBN: Could you speak to the song No Thief Like Fear from A Way To See in the Dark? That song has an excellent message that needs to be heard by many.

Jason: It’s all in the title—fear is a thief that robs us like no other. It distorts every relationship, every decision, and cripples our faculty to love and be loved. Fear wants to rule us and make our every decision for us: how we spend our money, how we dream, who we love, etc. In the devotionals included in the special edition of “A Way To See In The Dark” I wrote:

“…fear covets my worship and wants me as its slave. Ironically, It only has as much power as I give to it…

‘Be not afraid,’ God tells us.

But then we are also told ‘the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.’ If He knows how inclined we are to fear, could it be a kindness that God tells us to fear Him? ‘Perfect love casts out all fear,’ we are told. But since we can’t or won’t seem to be rid of it, does He provide the one place to aim our fear that strips it of its power to rule us? Jesus willingly became the object of God’s wrath, is God perhaps willing to be the object of our fear?

Of course He is the only thing really worthy to be feared – the one who holds the whole world in His hands; the one in whose presence men cannot survive; the one dressed in a robe dipped in blood, with eyes of blazing fire and a sword for a mouth; the Lion of Judah who, as C.S. Lewis wrote, “is not a safe lion.”

“But he is good,” Lewis continues. Good is he who is strong as a lion but also gentle as a lamb, good is he who came as a baby to save the world, meek and mild and magnificent, good the one who carves our name in the palm of his hand. Yes, he is worthy to be feared. Yes, he is the perfect peace that passes all understanding.

Just as he gives idolaters a place to put their worship, perhaps he gives the fearful a place to put their fear – and then with perfect love, casts it out.”

Much of my work is aimed at dethroning the twin adversaries of shame and fear. Both of these are overthrown on Easter—our shame defeated at the cross, our fear defeated by the empty tomb. To me, knowing and then believing this is essential to our renewal and recovery.

CBN: Of your songs, which is your favorite and why?

Jason: Usually whichever one the audience most seems to connect with. Their excitement is a gift for sure. But all things considered, the song I’m most proud of is “I Will Find A Way” from A Way To See In The Dark. It’s directly inspired by Walt Wangerin’s “An Advent Monologue” and was a song that I worked on for 6 years before finally bringing it across the finish line with my friend Andy Gullahorn. It was a very important song to me, which made me afraid of failing it. That’s why it took so long! But I’m so grateful for the way it turned out and the power of it is owed to Wangerin’s beautiful telling of the incarnation.

CBN: How can we pray for you and your ministry?

Jason: Thanks for asking. The chief burden for me is always the balancing act of work and family. If I can get that right, everything else seems to fall into place. I’m praying about what’s next, and we’re starting to talk about making a new record. I’m seeking God about the songs I would write. I’m very tired, too. It’s a demanding vocation.

Ray Comfort was kind enough to take time out of his schedule to answer some questions.  In reading this first part of a two part interview, you will find that Ray is a man after God’s own heart with a humorous side to him as well.

Ray is a Best-selling Author & Co-Host with Kirk Cameron of The Way of the Master television program and an itinerant evangelist who is known for his sermon Hell’s Best Kept Secret (You can find it on the home page of the ministry’s website or watch it here) and his The Way of the Master evangelism training seminars and now Basic Training Course (read review here).

Christian Book Notes (CBN):  Could you share how you came to know Christ as Lord and Savior?

Ray:  I was born in 1949, just four years after the Second World War. My Jewish mom married a Gentile (to the horror of her parents), and Mom and Dad decided to put “Methodist” on my birth certificate, because they were concerned that there may be another Nazi-type holocaust. Despite the Methodist label, in my 22 years as a non-Christian, I was left without any real instruction about God.

I started surfing at the age of 13, left school at the age of 17, and worked in a bank for three years. During that time I met and fell in love with a beautiful girl named Sue. She was made for Comfort–a very cute 4 foot 10 inches tall.

Around that time I saw a picture of a professional surfer I admired, wearing a “fringed” cowboy jacket, so I and made one for myself. Friends so liked it, they asked me to make jackets for them. There was so much interest, I left the bank, opened a combined leather gear and surf wear store, and eventually made 250 jackets.

Sue and I were married in 1970, and late in 1971, something happened that changed my life forever. After she drifted off to sleep I looked at her and thought, “I am part of the ultimate statistic. Ten out of ten die. I have everything I want in life–my own business, a car, my own house, freedom to do what I want when I want, and a beautiful wife, but death is going to tear from my hands everything I hold dear.” I sat on the edge of the bed and wept at the futility of life.

I then decided to do all I could to ensure that I lived a long healthy life. I visited my local doctor to ask him how I could remain well, and noticed that he looked deathly sick as he sat behind his desk and breathed in the burning fumes of a cigarette. He became a mortal statistic a few years later. I then looked to science for an answer to my dilemma, and noticed that they were more concerned about putting a man on the moon than they were about the fact that death awaited all of us. There seemed to be no answer to the problem of death. I resigned myself to my utter futility and hopelessness.

Six months later (April of 1972), Sue allowed me to leave her and our newborn son and go on a surfing trip with friends. Five of us traveled about 100 miles north of my home. One of them was a Christian.

On the second night, I found myself in Graham Read’s room talking about the things of God. Earlier that evening I had read the words of Jesus: “You have heard that it was said by them of old ‘You shall not commit adultery’” and had mumbled, “Good. If there’s a Heaven I will probably get there because I haven’t committed adultery.” But then I read something that cut me in two: “But I say to you, that whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery already with her in his heart.” I was shocked. I thought, “Does God see my thought-life! Has he seen what I am really like? If He is going to judge me by that standard–that lust is adultery, I’m not going to make it to Heaven. I will end up in Hell!”

I remembered one incident that happened some months earlier in my store. A young lady had wanted me to make her a leather mini-skirt, and as I measured her hips I became nervous. My fear was one of committing adultery. I was happily married, but there was something in me that I couldn’t identify, that seemed to consume my want to do good.

During a 6 ½ hour conversation I suddenly understood the cross. It had never made sense to me. I believed that Jesus was the Son of God. Like most people, I prayed at night out of habit. But once I saw that I had sinned against God, and was heading for Hell, I understood the cross. I was a criminal in His eyes. God was a Judge. I had violated His Law–the Ten Commandments, but Jesus stepped in 2,000 years ago, and paid my fine. That meant that God could freely dismiss my case. He could commute my death sentence!

That night I repented and put my trust in Jesus Christ and passed from death to life. I remember thinking, “This is what I have been looking for! Thank you dear Lord–You heard my cry and saved me from death. You didn’t leave me in the dark and hopeless shadow of death. I am so grateful. Words can’t express my gratitude. What do you want me to do?” I called Sue and said, “Are you lonely?” She said “Yes I am,” so I responded, “Well don’t worry. God is with you.”

I was a new person. Brand new. I was no longer drowning in the sea of my own lusts. My feet were established on the rock of the fear of the Lord. Now I had a reason to flee from temptation–because I feared God. When temptation came, I could say with Joseph, “How could I do this thing and sin against God!”

It was radical when I was born the first time. I didn’t exist, then suddenly I did. This new birth was just as radical. I couldn’t help thinking about God, when for the previous 22 years I hadn’t given Him one moment’s serious thought. The Bible suddenly came alive. I had found everlasting life, and there are no words that can express how grateful I am for the fact that God saved me from death and Hell.

(CBN):  You have written a number of books (view reviews of resources by Ray Comfort here). Which book has been your most memorable thus far personally?

Ray:  It is a book that is called, God Has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life. The cover is a picture of Stephen being stoned to death. It’s about how the Church has strayed from biblical evangelism by telling people that Jesus will fix all your problems—that the Christian life is a bed of roses, and they forget to tell you about all the thorns. This false gospel has filled the contemporary Church with millions of false converts.

(CBN):  Aside from the Bible, what authors or books have been most influential in your walk with Christ and in your ministry?

Ray:  Charles Spurgeon’s great work, Lectures to My Students has probably been the most influential.  

(CBN):  You and Kirk Cameron team up for street evangelization and have since written and taught an evangelism Basic Training course entitled Way of the Master. How difficult was it to write and teach that course given all of the misconceptions of what evangelism is today?

Ray:  It really wasn’t too difficult for me, because I have shared a teaching called “Hell’s best kept Secret” 834 times (you can find this message on this page here). The entire Seasons 1-3 of our television program is made up of different teachings I’ve been doing for years. When you have gone over a biblical teaching that many times it becomes second nature. Kirk has a very sharp mind and a great deal of experience and with his helpful tweaking we were able to make it work for television.

(CBN):  What is it like to work with Kirk Cameron?

Ray:  I have loved working with Kirk. He is a genuinely nice guy–and with my humility and good looks and his ability to teach, we make a great team .

(CBN):  You also have a school of evangelism available through Living Waters Ministry. How is that different than the Basic Training Course and what would one expect throughout that school?

Ray:  The School is a very comprehensive written course, while the Basic Training Course is more visual using the cream of our television program.

(CBN):  What do you believe the state of evangelism to be today in the evangelical church at large? Why do you think this is the case and, if necessary, what can we do about it as believers?

Ray:  With the help of God we can see the Church of the 21st century become like the Church of the 1st Century. I believe the key to seeing that is in the book, God Has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life.

(CBN):  Late in 2011, you released 180 The Movie (Read my article on this ground breaking documentary here), what led you to produce that movie?

Ray:  “180” wasn’t the video I meant to produce. I wrote a book called Hitler, God and the Bible and asked my publishers if they would like a free video to go with the book. They said they would, so I took the cream of the book’s manuscript, created a script, and obtained footage from the holocaust museum. But after a solid month of editing, we felt overwhelmed because we had too much material. So I decided to forget the script and go out to the streets with a camera and find out what people believed about Hitler. I could hardly believe what I found–14 people—mainly university students, who had no idea of the identity of Adolf Hitler. There were more who didn’t know who he was, but they were embarrassed to appear ignorant on camera.

Then we were able to film some very colorful footage of myself being heckled, on two different occasions, by two very nasty neo-Nazis. We also obtained gripping footage of a Russian Jew who lost loved ones to Nazis…all this while out on the street, with nothing pre-arranged. But the most amazing thing came from a mistake I made. When researching the book I wept my way through the Holocaust. One horrific incident happened in Germany when Nazi’s shot hundreds of Jews, and buried them with a bulldozer. What broke my heart was that some of them were still alive when they buried them. So I had an idea.

When I interviewed a very colorful university student, I put him into a moral dilemma. I said “It’s 1943. A German officer has a gun pointed at you. He wants you to get in to a bulldozer and drive it forward. In front of the bulldozer is a pit in which there are 300 Jews who have just been shot. Some of them are still alive. He wants you to bury them alive! If you don’t do what he says, he is going to kill you and do it himself. If you do what he says, he will let you live. Would you drive it forward?” He immediately said that he would never kill someone, because he was a compassionate person, so I off-handedly said, “So, how then do you feel about abortion?” His demeanor changed and he said he was for it.

When I likened his attitude to the thinking of the Nazis, he became angry and we crossed swords for about five minutes. He finally stormed off, and as I filmed him walking away I looked down and my camera said “Off.” I was in direct sunlight and had inadvertently switched the camera off at the beginning of the interview! It was such a compelling interview, and  I was so heart-broken that I determined to put more people into that same scenario and see if the same thing happened. But the next time I did so, I went one step further and asked “the” question, and was amazed at how people did a complete 180. They changed from being adamantly pro-abortion, to being pro-life, in seconds.

(CBN):  What has been the response to such a polarizing issue?

Ray:  The response has been amazing. Millions have now seen it, and we have many testimonies of how people has changed their minds and become pro-life after watching it.

(CBN):  How can we be praying for you and your ministry?

Ray:  Please pray that God uses 180 to stop the horror of abortion—worldwide. Pray that people watch it, and if they are as excited as we are, we are asking that they link to 180Movie.com as many people as possible. The 180Movie.com website tells how to best do that. They could also purchase copies of the actual DVD and give them away. They only cost $1 each, and who is going to refuse a free DVD, especially in today’s economy? Finally, perhaps one of the best things anyone could do would be to train your church or group to speak to others about the subject of abortion (as shown on “180”) by getting “The 180 Course”. It’s very low cost ($10), and it contains the “180” DVD (includes additional training from Kirk Cameron and myself), a 64-page Study Guide—with thought provoking discussion questions and a wealth of added information, by myself, Kay Arthur, and Randy Alcorn, a pack of 100 “180”tracts and a copy of Randy Alcorn’s book Why Prolife? You can find details on 180Movie.com.

I recently reviewed Dr. Smalley’s latest release, 4 Days to a Forever Marriage. He was kind enough to answer a couple questions as well as shed some light on a concern I had as a reader. Below, you will find the short, but informational, interview.

Purchase more of Dr. Smalley’s resources at Amazon.

Interview

Christian Book Notes: Four Days to a Forever Marriage seems like a very lofty goal not too mention title, why only four days and what is it about the specific principles in the book that makes these the principles necessary for a forever marriage?

Dr. Gary Smalley: Over the last two years I’ve been doing a lot of research on what does it take to really sustain change in a person’s life. During my research, I came upon Dr. Caroline Leaf who is one of the top neuroscientists in the world. She has a book called, Who Switched Off My Brain, and she shares how a person can see major changes in behavior in as little as four days. But, the changes come faster with the increase in emotion and commitment.

For a couple that may be struggling in their relationship or a spouse who just wants to become a better husband or wife will find by committing to the Four Days outlined in the book a significant increase in marital satisfaction.

Why these principles? In my forty plus years of research, interviewing, and helping couples I’ve found these four principles to be foundational to a happy, fulfilling relationship. In fact, just getting Day One down will lead to a better marriage.

Christian Book Notes: You say on p. 12 that Honor is “the central theme of [your] message. It’s the single most important key to healthy, successful relationships.” Where does the gospel fit into your message if honor is your “central theme”?

Dr. Gary Smalley: The single greatest trait to healthy relationships is Honor. Romans 12:10 “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love, Honor one another above yourselves.” During biblical times, the word “honor” carried a literal meaning that has been all but lost by translation and time. For a Greek living in Christ’s day, something of “honor” called to mind something “heavy or weighty.” Gold, for example, was the perfect picture of “honor” because it was heavy and valuable at the same time. So when we honor people we’re saying in effect that who they are carries great weight with us.

Just think for those of us who make up the body of believers along with the angels will one day sing, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power … wisdom … honor … glory … praise” (Rev. 5:12). Honoring God means to recognize that nothing on earth or in heaven is as valuable, as weighty, as significant as He.

How does honor specifically apply to the gospel? If Jesus Christ is truly in a place of honor in our hearts we will view “people” as valuable as well (greatest commandment). The greatest honor we can give to people is to share the love of Jesus Christ!

 A Conversation

The third question I asked was, “On p. 31 your wife writes, “In the Bible, the Book of Genesis says God made the wife to be her husband’s completer–to give him strengths and insights he didn’t have on his own.” Assuming this is a reference to Genesis 2:20, what translation renders that particular word as “completer” instead of helper or companion? Also, the implication of a wife being a completer to give the man “strengths and insights he didn’t have on his own” seems to speak against men remaining single. Furthermore, it seems to imply that women are the more complete of the two sexes. Could you address these?”

The response I received from the publicist was, “…you did in fact point out an error in the book, and for that we’re thankful! We will correct this error in the next printing. For that reason Gary did not supply an answer to that question.

I am alright with this response and I praise the Lord that both the publicist (see, publishing company) and the author were willing to admit an error.  As for implications to be drawn, well, that is not the scope of this website.  I will say, however, that in my personal experience, many marriages have been destroyed by a misunderstanding of this particular passage (Gen. 2:20) and the application(s) that are an outgrowth of that misunderstanding. 

Dear Friend,

We wanted you to know that Parts 4 and 5 of the interview with Elizabeth Catherwood, oldest daughter of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, are now available on Vimeo at the links at the bottom of this eMail.

Please know that we are aware of the difficulties some folks have had in understanding the audio. The recording was done at the Catherwood’s church during an evening service, rather than in a studio, and so it can be tricky to follow in parts (particularly with the accents and the voice speed of the interviewee), but we thought it would be a shame not to put the interview segments out there, particularly as today’s segments cover the Westminster Chapel years (nearly all the Oneplace sermons come from this 30 year period) and Dr. Lloyd-Jones’s “retirement” years (!), when he spent a great deal of time on the formation of ministries that still exist today such as The International Fellowship of Evangelical Students.

Thank you, as always, for your interest in this ministry, and we hope that you will find these interview segments interesting.

Westminster Chapel Years:  http://www.vimeo.com/26906519

Retirement: http://www.vimeo.com/27170901

Dear Friend,

We wanted to let you know that the Martyn Lloyd-Jones Trust in the UK recently recorded a video interview with Elizabeth Catherwood (eldest daughter of Martyn Lloyd-Jones) about the life and times of her father, in order to mark the 30th anniversary of his passing on in into glory. The inteviewer is Julian Hardyman, the minister of Eden Baptist Chapel in Cambridge, England.

Due to the length of the interview, it has been broken into 5 separate segments, each of which will be posted on a weekly basis in July. This first part deals with Dr. Lloyd-Jones’s early life in Wales. We do hope that you find these interview segments to be interesting.

To those who have been able to donate to our ministry, we thank you so much. For those who have not had an opportunity, but would like to help us continue funding this ministry, a link to our donations page is at the bottom left of this eMail (Your GeoTrust secured contribution will be processed by Network for Good). As a reminder, the MLJ Trust is 501 (c) (3) charitable consisting of four Board members who volunteer their time, and no staff. You can learn more about us at www.mljtrust.org.

As always, we only want to be sending these eMails to friends of the ministry who want to receive them, and so if you would prefer not to receive them, simply click on the “unsubscribe” link below and you will be removed from this eMail list.

Thank you again for your interest in the Ministry of Martyn Lloyd-Jones!

Every blessing,

Jonathan
www.mljtrust.org
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Christian Book Notes: Please share your testimony of how you came to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Harry Kraus:  I am blessed to have been raised by believing parents. I was convicted of my own sin and need for a Savior at a young age while attending a crusade led by Nicky Cruz, a converted NYC gang member.

CBN:  Could you share a little bit about yourself.

HK:  I married Kris Jantzi after my first year of medical school at Medical College of Virginia. We have three sons. Our two oldest, Joel and Evan, graduated from high school in Kenya and are attending American Universities. My youngest, Sam is in high school and will be returning to finish high school in Kenya as well. I started my first novel while working as a chief resident in general surgery at the University of Kentucky. Since then, I’ve had 12 novels and three works of non-fiction published. My signature in fiction is the ever-present stripe of medical realism. I’ve served as a missionary surgeon in Kenya for four years and am planning to return in the summer for another term with Africa Inland Mission.

CBN:  Could you share how your missionary work in Kenya has impacted both your profession as a surgeon and your life as a child of God?

HK:  I gave up my successful practice in the US to be a missionary in 2003. Although it has meant some financial sacrifice, the rewards are huge. This really changed everything for my family and has influenced my sons in terms of their choice of schools and professions. Getting my sons out of the US to broaden their understanding of the world has been great.  The church in the US tends to be very myopic, only seeing our own needs and not thinking of the desperate world beyond our borders. Living in Africa has helped me think like a global Christian and become a more compassionate physician and Christian.

CBN: Readers here at Christian Book Notes may be more familiar with your non-fiction works like Breathing Grace and The Cure, but, as you shared above, you have written quite a few works of fiction. Could you share a bit more about those works?

HK:  My fiction is contemporary and usually involves an “insider” look at some aspect of medicine (either through the eyes of a doctor, a physician’s spouse, or a patient). My novels are a bit hard to fit neatly in one genre and have elements of suspense, romance, and mystery. I love to get my characters in difficult places with the odds stacked against them…and have them finally recognize their need of grace! For fiction lovers, I’d recommend starting with my novel, Could I Have This Dance?

CBN:  Your first two works of non-fiction were medically based while your third, Domesticated Jesus, is not so much and is definitely more hard-hitting and personal. What led you to write Domesticated Jesus (on your vacation nonetheless!)?

HK:  Domesticated Jesus really grew out of my own personal growth and conviction that my walk didn’t live up to what I claimed to believe. Seriously, think about this: if Jesus really created the universe, we should be overwhelmed with the awesomeness of being in relationship with him, yet most of the time, Christians slink around acting as if the God they serve is weak and small. How can so many worries and small circumstances continue to occupy us when Jesus has promised his presence with us?

CBN:  It seems to me that Domesticated Jesus was written for a primarily American audience. Is this a safe assessment and if so, what were you hoping to accomplish with the writing of this book?

HK:  I write predominantly for the US church, but in honesty, the domestication of Christ isn’t a US phenomena. I’ve lived abroad in Africa and the Christians there are facing the same tendency to imagine a small, controllable Savior who is comfortable sitting quietly while Christians stay in the driver’s seat.

CBN:  You were very open and honest about your own domestication of our Lord and Savior. First, thank you for being so honest–it is refreshing. Second, were there any hesitations to being so honest?

HK:  Opening up is scary, but necessary if we are going to grow. The world doesn’t need any more pious Christians. What the world needs is transparency, the ability for leaders to say, “I’m struggling with this.”

CBN:  Thank you for your time, Dr. Kraus. How can we be praying for you, your family, and your ministry?

HK:  We are moving back to Kenya for another three-year term in the summer 2011. Transitions are difficult. Could you pray for an easy transition and that we will rely on the powerful Savior instead of our own ability?

In case you have not noticed this week, most of the reviews featured each day have been from books published by Granted Ministries Press. This is for a couple of reasons. First, Granted Ministries has teamed up as a sponsor here at Christian Book Notes. What this means for you the reader is that you will be alerted to awesome deals and ministry updates from Granted Ministries. Second, Granted Ministries has just released a special hardback edition of Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ classic work, Spiritual Depression (review will be published tomorrow).

In addition to the reviews of three resources available from Granted Ministries, Chad Thompson, the director of the ministry, stopped by for an interview. Read below and be sure to check out Granted Ministries for book recommendations and ministry resources like sermons, articles, and videos pertinent to the life of the church today.

Christian Book Notes (CBN): Could you share your testimony of how you came to know Christ as Lord and Savior?

Chad Thompson (CT): Though raised in a church-going family, and by good parents, I never knew the Lord and suffered for this need. I was generally a very poor excuse for a brother, a very disobedient and angry son, and a continual liar until the Lord began a very powerful work in my life during my mid-teenage years. God began to make me feel the weight of truth as I read the Bible. What was formerly a rare and merely curious interest in the Bible became something of an obsession. I don’t know that I was converted at this time, but I was certainly regularly amazed at the grandeur of God’s word. I was convinced the Bible was His book and that I must conform my life to it. I also knew that I loved the Bible and was thrilled by its contents.

I did not really have assurance for another two years, and probably could not have answered any probing questions about my faith in Christ on a personal level. I think gaining assurance may have been a bit of a process for me because I grew up in a church where the gospel was rarely faithfully preached. Certainly it was preached, and there were many Christians around, but generally it was not clearly taught from the Scriptures, and its main themes were typically only superficially handled (of course I did not know that then).

This left many with a superficial understanding of the nature of salvation, faith, and the Christian life. But enough gospel was around that when I was converted I anticipated greater fellowship with many I knew in the church, and not controversy, and for that I am thankful. The sins I mentioned before which held such sway in my life began to really change, though gradually. Lying was the area of the most dramatic change. But as a sibling, I did not really learn to be a faithful brother until it was almost too late (about a two-year process). My relationship with my parents was greatly helped by my conversion, and I have no doubt the Lord diverted disaster there when he saved me from my self and my devices.

CBN: Could you share more about your self (ministry, family, etc.)?

CT: Sure. I married my high school sweetheart after a five-year relationship and a two-year engagement (a length of engagement I would not generally advise). This summer will be our ten-year anniversary. We have two children, Jonas (3), and Salena (1); the Lord willing we will have another in the first part of December. I work full time with UPS as a delivery driver, though I am almost always able to take a day off per week, sometimes more. They have been very flexible for me, and really pretty ideal for a bi-vocational pastor of a small church. My primary ministry outside the home is in our church, Christ Fellowship of Hannibal.

CBN: You are involved in Granted Ministries as the director–could you explain your role in this ministry as well as what the goal of the ministry is?

CT: Yes, I am the director at Granted Ministries. That means I generally set the direction for the ministry and make the final decisions. But even that description sounds a bit too formal and authoritarian for what actually goes on. The work really is a cooperative effort by several brothers in our church, together with a few helpers in other places who help us to stay abreast of good material.

The most important thing at Granted Ministries is to serve the Lord by genuinely helping His church. We want to be a true help to every saint who comes into contact with our ministry. We aren’t out to make a profit, and are aggressive in our efforts to price materials as a service to the saints. We don’t always have the best prices, but since we are not concerned with paying salaries, and since we only sell the books we strongly believe in, we seem to be able to price books in a way that stretches the dollars of the saints. This matters because God has not blessed American Christians with wealth so that we can swim neck deep in expensive resources while missionaries laboring in the third world go without vital support, or while our neighbors sit in darkness. We see our prices as accomplishing two things: (1) providing a way to help the church in the West to be more focused on the essentials of Christian life and effort, and (2) making Granted Ministries a channel of truth, rather than a profiteer in its distribution.

CBN:  What is the goal of Granted Ministries?

The goal of our ministry is to be a service to the church by making the very best material available in one place. We just recently shifted to this focus in our ministry (see below). We aren’t trying to be a Monergism.com or a Sermon Index. Those resource websites are great, and they have a big and important role to play. But while visiting those sites, even with their helpful organization, we just sort of felt like we were lost at sea. It seemed to us that the average saint would be better served by being pointed to only the most helpful four or five items on a particular subject, together with helpful information about those materials, rather than wading through 600 articles and sermons on justification, or sorting through every new book that comes off the presses.

Therefore, this ministry is very much a work in progress. We just recently changed over our website to a new design and functionality. This was a major overhaul for a bunch of amateurs to pull off, but it works pretty well. There are still a few features yet to come but we are basically there. At this point we are really trying to catch up on our reviews with all of the new resources we have added to the website. Once these initial few months get past us all, each resource on the website will have a review and explanation as to why we are recommending it. If you were to go to the website now you would see some categories that are nearly empty–they won’t stay that way long. We have lots of resources we want to add, and it may take some time to get them all up online.

One other aspect of our ministry has been to highlight certain men and resources which we have found extremely helpful, but which are relatively unknown. When we first began, this is all we did. But as we have grown, and as the ministries of those men have widened in influence and recognition, we have sensed a pull in another direction (hence the new website effort). The other two aspects of our ministry are CD and music distribution, as well as book publishing. I suppose every publisher is proud of the books they publish, but I really cannot say enough about how solid these books are, and how much of a service they have been to the saints.

CBN: That publishing arm at Granted Ministries has published titles by Charles Leiter and Paul Washer as well as some introductory biographies and compilation of works of George Muller and Frances Ridley Havergal. Are there any more books planned in the near future?

CT: Charles Leiter’s Justification and Regeneration should still be read in a hundred years, it is just that good. Paul Washer’s books really got us started in the publishing business. In fact, HeartCry paid for the initial printing of his book, The One True God. At this point, strategic needs at HeartCry have moved the handling of his books back to that organization. We continue to have a working relationship with HeartCry and want to further their efforts however we can.

The two little booklets on Muller and Havergal are part of a series called “Valuable Selections.” Both of those booklets were largely put together by other people, and then handed over to us to publish. Both of these books are pure gold. Did I mention I was proud of the books we have published?

There are other books we have done as well, and they are all very good. Pilgrim of the Heavenly Way is a nearly apostolic missionary biography, very encouraging. Also, Pamela Bugden, connected with Banner of Truth, wrote a book on Frances Ridley Havergal titled, Ever, only, ALL for Thee that is first rate. But since you’re asking about future books, let me hurry on.

For almost two years now we have been working with Conrad Mbewe of Zambia, putting a book together on the church. The Lord willing we should have the book out this summer, Foundations for the Flock: Truths About the Church for all the Saints. Fred Malone was kind enough to write the foreword for the book, and all I can say about Mbewe’s book is “wow, what a helpful volume.” Dr. Malone said it ought to serve as a textbook for pastors and seminary students. I think he is right.

Another book for this year is a combined volume by D.M. M’Intyre. Christian Focus has published a book titled, The Hidden Life of Prayer and it is phenomenal, a real classic. But he also wrote a book, of equal value, titled The Prayer Life of Our Lord, and we intend to publish those books as one volume. Also, I just received the manuscript for a new book by Charles Leiter in which he tries to faithfully, practically, and helpfully deal with some very controversial and misunderstood doctrines, just as he did in his earlier book on justification and regeneration. We are eager for this book to come out as Charles has a real ability to untie the passages that are so often knotted-up by debating theologians.

CBN: You just recently published a hard back edition of Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ Spiritual Depression. This is a classic work and a must read for all believers, what makes this hard back edition any different from say the paper back edition?

CT: Well, this is a book that is one of the most marked-up in my library. Like you said, it is an absolute classic. But the book was not available as a hardback anywhere in the world. So once we secured the rights for the book, we sought to bring out a very special edition. This edition has two extra features. The first is a biographical foreword by Geoffrey Thomas of Wales, who knew Lloyd-Jones personally. His warm introduction is a real benefit for the book, and will help anyone unfamiliar with MLJ to know more about the man who so ably wrote about spiritual depression. But the second extra feature is the one which really ought to get people excited. Courtesy of the MLJ Recordings Trust (which handles all of his audio recordings), we are including an MP3 disc of the 24 sermons that eventually led to the book. This is a real value as Lloyd-Jones is often regarded as the greatest preacher of the twentieth century. And even better, the book is available for less than $25. But if you live in the U.S. you have to buy it on our website, or the MLJ-USA website, due to contractual limitations.

CBN: How can we support Granted Ministries?

CT: Granted Ministries operates on a shoe-string budget. We have never had extra money for projects, and have progressed rather slowly out of the gate. If anyone truly believes in this sort of ministry, donations would be a tremendous help. There is a link in our footer for that. Also, we do accept donations for funding our what-you-can-afford policy, which is a real ministry to the unfortunate believers here in the U.S. Another way to support our work is to make suggestions for resources. We are always looking for better and more quality resources to make available. More than anything, however, we need your prayers. Pray that we would grow in prayer, holiness, the knowledge of God, and love. If we continue to grow in those areas then God will be honored in what we do.

CBN: More specifically, how can we pray for Granted Ministries?

CT: The greatest need for prayer concerning our ministry is that everyone involved in it would continue to grow in Christ-likeness and holiness, and that our hearts would continue to grow in our affections for Jesus. Second to that, we need your prayers that every man involved in the ministry would faithfully put his family ahead of any needs in this ministry, and that he would carefully tend to the needs in his family as a priest in the home. The Lord wills us to keep from that sort of regret in His service. Last, that the Lord would continue to lead us plainly so long as we can be of service to Him, and that if the time comes for us to shut it down, that we will have the heart to let it go. These sorts of ministries can really become idols if we are not careful.

Author Amanda Washington (Rescuing Liberty and Chronicles of the Broken) stopped by recently for a chat.  I have personally enjoyed her fiction and getting to know her through facebook.

Christian Book Notes (CBN): Share your testimony of how you came to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. I’ve attended church for as long as I can remember. One of my mom’s friends used to take my sisters and I. We would go and pray for our mom, and then few years later she was in church praying for us. Funny how it works out that way sometimes.

Amanda Washington: My parents’ divorce was final shortly after I was born. “Daddy” was a hole in my chest that couldn’t be filled by occasional phone calls and birthday presents. My mother remarried, but my relationship with my stepfather was far from friendly. Like many teens, I lived in my room and would have done anything to escape.

Through it all I loved Jesus, though. God was always a presence in the back of my mind, and no matter how hard I tried to get away from that still, small voice, it was always there. I was a good girl. Not a saint by any means, but a good girl. I was active in the church, invited all my friends to youth group and generally wanted to save the world. Then one day I met a guy who knew all the right things to say and do. He was broken and messed up, like so many of my other “causes.” I thought I could save him. He thought he could drown me. It turns out that I wasn’t nearly as strong of a swimmer as I thought I was.

As a tomboy, I’d always been independent, strong, intelligent and I thought my faith was unshakable. In reality, I was naïve, prideful and deluded. I allowed myself to be put in a situation that I couldn’t control. I failed. And then, I shattered. Threats were made and I was afraid to tell my mom or any other adults. I began drinking and getting high to ease the pain, but nothing worked. I should have been smarter. Or stronger. Or better. But I wasn’t.

I got pregnant with my oldest son when I was 16, and he probably saved my life. No matter how far I’d fallen, I knew his life was precious and I had to protect it. I quit drinking and doing drugs. My little boy was born and I married his father. We had another child. But we were young and stupid, and I was still very broken. We divorced, and I went from relationship to relationship, trying to find something I couldn’t quite identify. The minute relationships started to get serious, I ran away, knowing I couldn’t afford to be shattered again.

Then I met Meltarrus Augustus Washington – the man who was too stubborn for me to ditch when things got serious. We started dating and did something neither of us had done in a very long time … we went to church. It was one of the churches I’d stayed in as a teen when we were traveling through Portland. The pastor (who looked like he could be my husband’s brother) called Mel out the first time we were there. He told Mel that Mel was there to help him. Mel told the pastor he was crazy. But even so, we went back. Again and again and again. And God started mending me.

A couple years later life happened, we stopped going to church, developed our “excuse-making” skills, and fell off the God-grid. Or so I thought. Then came a series of crazy nightmares my sister-in-law encouraged me to write down. Before I knew it, I was editing my first book – Rescuing Liberty – with tears running down my face as my character Connor – an independent special forces guy who could handle anything – found himself out of options. As he finally came to the realization that there was nothing he could do and cried out to God for help, I realized I was doing the same thing. With that revelation, it was like the wound inside me cauterized. I hadn’t even been aware that I was bleeding. But I was … bleeding to death and God knew it.

The next thing I knew I was writing a letter to my dad, asking for forgiveness for expecting him to be someone he wasn’t. I told him I loved him and I forgave him and begged him to do the same. He called me. “Your letter was an answer to my prayers,” he said. It turns out that my father had accepted Jesus into his life and had been praying for me. Then he said something I’ll never forget … “I love you and I’m proud of you.”

I never knew I needed to hear those words until he said them. Like Neosporin on my soul, they sped up the healing and kept out infections. So now … now I’m trying to give back to a God who’s rebuilt the bridges that I blow torched because He knew exactly what I needed and only He could provide it.

CBN:  Tell us a little more about yourself.

Amanda Washington:  I’m married to the most amazing man in the world – Meltarrus Washington. We have 5 boys and the only other female in the house is our dog Shyah who thinks she’s a human child.

CBN:  I have really enjoyed your writing style, could you explain your inspiration for this style? I mean, who had great influence on you as an author.

Amanda Washington:  I read quite a bit. I never planned on being a writer, but I’ve always loved to read—mystery, sci-fi, fantasy, true life, young adult, comedy, chick lit, everything except romance or horror. I can’t say that I have any authors who have really influenced me, though. I like many authors for many different reasons. My taste is very eclectic.

CBN:  You have described your writing as not being “too preachy.” Could you elaborate on what you mean by “preachy?”

Amanda Washington:  I have a lot of friends who are not Christians because of the Christians they’ve met—people who forget that we’re all just fallible humans, each every bit as important as the next. Sometimes we forget that it’s not about us or how wonderful we are since we’re saved. It’s about love and grace. Jesus went to the broken and damaged and loved them where they were without condemning or judging them. He fought like crazy with the holier-than-thou Pharisees and he came for the sick and dying. I think the world is tired of having Christians preach at them. I think it’s high time we showed them love by our actions instead of condemning them with our words. So I try to show God’s amazing love through the lives of my characters instead of preaching to people who have no reason at all to listen to me.

CBN:  Why is that important to you as you develop your characters and story-line?

Amanda Washington:  I think I answered this above. Basically as a writer you learn to show and not tell as much as possible. I try to implement that same practice in less than perfect characters and their difficult situations. I’m praying that when people see how God helps these characters they’ll understand that no one is beyond His reach.

CBN:  If you could tell a young man or woman one thing, what would it be? How does that play out in your novels?

Amanda Washington:  I would tell them that no matter what they’ve done or where they’ve been, Jesus died for them. He doesn’t expect them to be perfect or an honor student or a star athlete. He died for them because they are every bit as important as everyone else on this planet – not a smidgeon more, not a smidgeon less. The teens in my novels are learning that, and for some of them, it’s a very hard reality to grasp. People tend to let human perception determine how we believe God sees us, and the teens in my books are struggling with the concept of grace and love in the same way that so many other teens and adults do.

CBN:  How can we be praying for you?

Amanda Washington:  I’d appreciate your prayers that the books of this series find their way into the hands of those teens who need them the most. Please also pray that they find comfort—and not condemnation—in the stories and it leads them to the only one who can bind their wounds and heal their hearts.

Dr. Michael Haykin, fast becoming one of my favorite authors, took time out of his schedule to answer some questions for an interview.  I have reviewed a few of his books here and have been blessed by the reading of all of them.  He is also a co-editor, along with Joel Beeke, of the series, Profiles in Reformed Spirituality. I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did.

CBN:  Could you please share your testimony of how you came to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? See attachment of my testimony.

*Editor’s Note* What he offered was an 11-page testimony.  I asked him if he had ever published and he said that he had not…until now.  You can find it directly by clicking on the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist History link.  Trust me, it is worth the read. Here is a snippet of his testimony:

I, who had once been a Marxist, and so committed to bringing fear and violence into the lives of innocent people, was myself brought by God face to face with fear—the fear of my own death—and so shown the inadequacy of the Marxist view of life: it has no answer to the problem of death. But Christianity does: God has raised Jesus from the dead, and so provided a way of deliverance for those, including myself, “who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage.” (Hebrews 2:14-15)

CBN: Could you share a little more information about your ministry?

Dr. Michael Haykin (MH): I am employed full time as professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where I teach courses at the MDiv level in church history survey and specialized courses in the Ancient Church and Andrew Fuller. At the PhD level I do seminars on the Church Fathers as well as Patristic Greek and Patristic Latin. I am an inveterate writer, so writing is a major part of my life. I do academic writing (articles on the Fathers, just finished one on Irenaeus for example; then have one to do on Jonathan Edwards’ impact on the Baptists in the 18th and 19h centuries), popular writing (for a variety of journals including The Gospel Witness and The Banner of Truth), and then also I am writing books. I lecture at SBTS, but also at Toronto Baptist Seminary, at a French Baptist seminary in Montreal, and also for Irish Baptist College in Ireland.

CBN: You have written much on the Patristics as well as the Reformed Spirituality of the Puritans. What led you to study and write on these giants of the faith. (I will add some books and “spruce” this question up in the final edit.)

MH: God has called me to one of his “remembrancers,” as the Puritans quaintly put it. In other words, I have been called to be an historian. And as I studied the past I have come to see that the major ways God works in history is through people: not ideas and institutions, but people. I detail this more in my recently released title from Crossway Books, Rediscovering the Church Fathers.

CBN: Of all the books you have written, which one has had the most impact on your walk with Christ? Why?

MH: One heart and One Soul. It showed me that beyond any shadow of a doubt that when God does a great work in history he does it through friends. I had done a PhD on 4th century pneumatology, but looking back I see One heart and one soul as my doctoral initiation into the world of 18th century English Baptist life and culture.

CBN: You and Dr. Donald S. Whitney oversee the new doctoral programs in Biblical Spirituality. Could you explain the significance of this program especially in the context of spirituality in the world today?

MH: This is a vital program within Christianity for spirituality is one of the key buzz words in the world today and the church. But much of what passes for spirituality in the church is not rooted and grounded in a spirituality of the Word. Hence, we are seeing the development of all kinds of aberrant pieties. Thus the need for a solid course of study in biblical spirituality.

CBN: What can we expect in the future from your pen?

MH: I am currently working on a couple of books on Andrew Fuller. Also, I am looking to write a biography of Patrick and possibly one on Irenaeus.  Finally, I am overseeing a team of editors working on the critical edition of the works of Andrew Fuller.

CBN: How can we pray for you and your ministry?

MH: That I would be true to my Lord Jesus. That I would be the best husband and father I can be. That I would fulfill my calling as one of the Lord’s remembrancers.