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Reviewers wanted

I am looking for a few good bloggers or old-fashioned print writers to review The Gospel Uncensored—How only grace leads to freedom. If you are such a blogger/writer and would like a free review copy, please e-mail me with your name and address and I’ll send you a copy.  If you know of such a person, please have them e-mail me.

All I ask is that you read it, publish a review somewhere, and if you would, post a review on amazon as well.

Please note that I have a limited number of promotional copies available, so if I run out before I get your request, I will send you a nice apology.

I am also interested in getting the book in the hands of key people—folks like Dobson, or Oprah, or perhaps your pastor.  If you have any connections, let me know, and I may be able to get a free book off to these folks as well.

Also, remember that there is also a free study guide available on TheGospelUncensored.com, or available from the Kindle Store (for 99¢).

and for you non-bloggers…

And for those of you who don’t blog or write (much), if you’ve read the book, please consider going to amazon.com and/or other online sellers and post a short review?  I’d really appreciate it!

Written on 11 January 2011 by me under The Gospel Uncensored, Uncategorized with 2 Comments
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The Gospel Uncensored is now available!

I am very happy (you have no idea) to report that my book is now ready for ordering. For more details and ordering links, visit TheGospelUncensored.com.

Written on 18 October 2010 by me under The Gospel Uncensored with No Comments
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“I had no idea the gospel was this wonderful…”

As some of you know, I was raised Lutheran. Although I haven’t attended a Lutheran church in 30 years other than to visit (for a number of reasons I won’t go into here), I am still a big fan of Martin Luther, and read a few good Lutheran blogs (along with a mix of Orthodox and Evangelical blogs).  Today, Paul McCain reprints a letter from a Southern Baptist woman who has also been reading his blog. She writes,

I have to say that when I read your posts, I am often convicted of my sinful state, yet I also hear that Christ died for all of that. Being a southern Baptist all my life, I had no idea that the gospel really was this wonderful.

Wow. Who would have thought? Now, I don’t know much about Southern Baptists and I don’t mean to single them out. All I know is that this woman was raised in the evangelical church, and “had no idea that the gospel really was this wonderful.”

That is the reason I worked so hard on The Gospel Uncensored, which should be available in a week or 2. It’s good stuff, because the Gospel really is this wonderful.

Written on 15 October 2010 by me under The Gospel Uncensored with No Comments
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On censorship of the Gospel

It happens in ways you might not imagine.  From my post at TheGospelUncensored.com:

However, the unusual thing about the Gospel is that it is typically not censored in the Western world by removing anything. The Gospel is censored — suppressed and deleted — by adding to it.

Read the full post here.

http://thegospeluncensored.com/2010/09/what-about-the-gospel-is-censored/

Written on 07 September 2010 by me under The Gospel Uncensored with 1 Comment
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“Don’t Touch the Lord’s Anointed”

One of the first things I saw this morning was an e-mail update from a LinkedIn group I belong to discussing how to address issues with a certain well-known leader in the prosperity/faith movement. For whatever reason I clicked on the link and read some of the comments, and was shocked to see two or three people raising the “don’t touch the Lord’s anointed” defense.

More at TheGospelUncensored.com.

Written on 04 August 2010 by me under The Gospel Uncensored with 1 Comment
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Forgiveness is an Investment

(cross-posted here)

A great post today from Molly Friesen at Route 5:9, Forgiveness is an Investment: What it Costs. She’s blogging through Paul Tripp’s book on marriage, What Did You Expect. This, and Linda’s prior post,  The Dark “Benefits” of Unforgiveness, are worth reading. I’m guessing Tripp’s book is, too.

It’s interesting that so many legalists forget about the rule of forgiveness, which is a key element in Jesus’ teaching. He even went so far as to say that if we don’t forgive, our Heavenly Father won’t forgive us, either.  Seriously – it’s at the end of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:

12 And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Now, you can try to take the position that this “is more of a guideline than a rule,” but Jesus doesn’t seem to give much leeway here.

So how does this fit into a theology of radical grace?

It fits quite well, actually, with a proper understanding of forgiveness.  As many of us were taught in Sunday School, Jesus dies for the sins of the world.

1 John 2:2: “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.  (NIV)

Jesus’ sacrifice was not made for us individually; forgiveness was truly once and for all.  If we refuse to acknowledge and participate in this forgiveness for someone who has wronged us, we are simply refusing to participate in God’s forgiveness. Being forgiven means we agree that everyone is forgiven. Refusing to forgive someone means we are closing our heart, not that God is withholding anything from us.

Now, do we forgive perfectly?  I seriously doubt it. I don’t think I do, even if it is my intent. But, God’s grace–God’s power made real in our lives–is sufficient for that, too.

We have been set free, not to sin, but so we can live–and forgive–freely.

Written on 14 July 2010 by me under The Gospel Uncensored with 5 Comments
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Sample book excerpt

I’ve posted a small excerpt of The Gospel Uncensored here.

Let me know what you think.

Written on 04 June 2010 by me under The Gospel Uncensored with No Comments
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Book Update: More Work, New Title!

I am working on the final work on the book, after a very helpful editing job by Julia Loren.  Another couple of days and it should be off to the publisher.

At Julia’s suggestion (with concurrence by some other friends), the book is being renamed The Gospel Uncensored: How Only Grace Leads to Freedom.  Everyone seems to like this title much better, and I agree, it’s a bit more catchy, and ties in nicely with the “theme verse” for the book, Galatians 5:1 (It is for freedom that Christ has set us free).

Westbow is doing a Kindle edition.  I am studying up on formatting for e-publishing, and will at some point have a version out for Sony and the iPad, among other formats. These will probably be available from me directly, and Kindle and paper versions (both hard and soft cover) from Amazon, and paper editions also from Barnes & Noble online.

I will also be setting up a new website specifically for the book at TheGospelUncensored.com. Of course, stay tuned here for further updates.

Written on 13 May 2010 by me under The Gospel Uncensored with No Comments
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Shameless Self-Promotion

I’ve mentioned once or twice that I have a book coming out hopefully this summer. It is called Good News: Don’t you think Good News should be good news?, and is co-authored with Ken Blue. Ken actually preached the original sermon series most of the material came from; with Ken’s okay, I reworked and expanded the material quite a bit, while keeping it in Ken’s voice.

After sending it out to a few publishers (the few who don’t require agents), I learned that Thomas Nelson Publishers (the largest Christian publisher in the world, I believe) was just launching a self-publishing arm, Westbow Press. I was quite impressed with the services they offered, and while originally I had no interest in self-publishing, I became convinced this is what I wanted to do. This way I retain control and the rights. It will be available in both hard and softcover as well as a Kindle edition, and will be sold through Amazon, etc.  I’ll probably try to come up with an iPad version, and I’ve had a request for a Sony version, but haven’t checked into what that entails.

However, this also means I am responsible for editing, etc., which is a bigger job than you might realize, especially if you’re a sloppy writer, as I tend to be. Fortunately, my friend Julia Loren agreed to do a final edit for me, and I am anxiously awaiting the edited version from her this week so I can finish it up and get it to Westbow for their layout process. Also, they will design a cover that hopefully is better than what I’ve done here.

I’m pleased with the book. It will definitely be controversial, but then the real Gospel always is.  In the coming days, I’ll post a couple of “free samples” for your consideration.

Written on 28 April 2010 by me under The Gospel Uncensored with 1 Comment
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Review: The Naked Gospel

Last week I received a review copy of The Naked Gospel by Andrew Farley.  The text on the back begins, “Jesus plus nothing. 100% natural. No additives. It’s the truth you may never hear in church.”  As my regular readers know, I have my own book coming out in the next few months on the “Jesus plus nothing” Gospel, even using that exact phrase. So, as you may surmise, I was quite interested in what Farley had to say.

The book is not at all what I expected. Farley appears to be a fairly young guy, and the title and back cover text is fairly provocative. So, I expected something a bit edgy, or at least bold. However, on the whole I found it to be rather tame (possibly the work of an overly conservative editor?).  The book is a fairly quick read–even armed with a highlighter and stick-on tabs (my usual way to read non-fiction), it only took 2-3 hours to finish.

Bottom line, I agree with most of his conclusions, although I’m still on the fence about some of the ways he gets there. While I stay pretty close to Paul’s arguments in Galatians, Farley relies more heavily on Hebrews, which I found quite interesting. One of the problems for me is that Farley doesn’t necessarily “show his work;” that is to say, he doesn’t lay out all his thinking from point A to point B (the book itself seems a bit disorganized), and doesn’t always provide a lot of context for the verses he quotes. At least for me, reading many of his arguments left me scratching my head:

  • For example, his discussion of covenants is based on the Hebrews 9 passage, and he does not address Paul’s discussion of the Abrahamic covenant in Galatians. According to Farley, all covenants are like wills, not taking effect until the death of one of the parties. However, this is not the case with the Abrahamic covenant (and with other OT covenants), where death was not a requirement, but a penalty for not keeping the covenant. As the concept of a required death is important to Farley’s thinking, I would like to have seen Galatians brought into the discussion.
  • On pages 97 – 100,  he says that it takes zero sin to make us sinners. We are born sinners, without having sinned. However, while I think I know what he is trying to say, I disagree; I believe we are born with a nature that is defective, prone to sin. However, as Paul says, “all have sinned” and that is what makes us sinners.
  • He also seems to believe that Christians no longer sin; it is “sin” living in us that sins.
  • In pp 110-114, he tries to explain how our “flesh” is not our old self, nor is it our sinful nature.  I don’t think he succeeds.  I think “flesh” is simply acting out of human effort, rather than being the work of the Spirit. However, Farley says things like the flesh “is something that is with us, but it’s not us.”  He seems to be saying that Christians are automatically morally 100% pure, even though we often choose to follow the flesh (whatever it is) rather than the Spirit.  So, “living a life of dependency on the Spirit is really nothing more than being ourselves.”  Again, I think I know what he’s trying to say, but I don’t think he succeeds.
  • On p143, he states that Jesus’ death satisfied God forever, implying that he believes in a Calvinistic, wrathful God.  I don’t think it was God who had to be “satisfied.”
  • He explains the Lord’s Prayer (“forgive us as we forgive those…”) as being an Old Covenant prayer, no longer applicable.  While I would agree that much of Jesus’ preaching was indeed preaching the Old Covenant to show our need for a real savior, I have a different understanding of our need to forgive.
  • Finally, he tries to reconcile James with the rest of the NT by saying that “Faith involves a decision–a work,” so that faith without a decision to believe is a dead work.  I don’t think this works at all; rather, James seems to be talking about what Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit. Basically, if you’ve no fruit, you don’t have the Holy Spirit (and faith).

This isn’t to say that this isn’t a book worth reading; he does bring out a lot of good points that could be very helpful to a great many people.  And, as I said, I do agree with his basic conclusions:

  • Jesus took care of our sins, once for all.
  • The Gospel is that we are saved by Jesus, plus nothing else.
  • We live our lives by grace; again, Jesus plus nothing.

So, if readers only understand these points, the book has been worthwhile. However, I suspect that people will require some deeper study in order to be firmly grounded in these truths.

My book with Ken Blue, which comes out this summer, takes a considerably different approach, following Paul’s logic and structure in Galatians. Stay tuned for more information as to when it is to be released.

Written on 25 April 2010 by me under Reviews, The Gospel Uncensored with No Comments
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