Turn your back on Christ or watch your children die.
That’s the choice your brothers and sisters, if you’re a Christian, are being given in ISIS-controlled areas of Iraq and Syria, today. Children are dying because their families stay loyal to Christ. This is real. Right now.
And that is why God’s judgment is not just a truth we have to acknowledge because the Bible says it. It is not a truth that we must explain away, smooth over and get past as quickly as possible so we can talk about love and forgiveness.
Because “all this”, as Paul puts it to a church suffering serious persecution for your faith, “is evidence that God’s judgment is right” (2 Thessalonians 1 v 5). God’s judgment is not merely real, but right. It is good, and we should celebrate it.... continue reading
This is an extract from the recently published Engaging with Atheists.
I grew up in a wonderfully loving family in France, near Paris. My dad was a mathematician and computer scientist, and my mother “religiously” devoted herself to the well-being and education of her children. All in all, I was pretty happy with my life, and in a thoroughly secular culture.
On holiday, I met a girl from New York, who believed in God—an intellectual suicide by my standards. We started dating, and my new goal in life was to explain to her why all this was untenable, so that she could put this nonsense behind her, and we could be together without her misconceptions standing in the way. So I started thinking about the whole thing. What good reason was there to think God exists, and what good reason was there to think atheism was true instead?... continue reading
1. Emotions ebook just £4.99 till midday Thursday
Get the ebook version of Emotions by Graham Beynon for just £4.99!
2. Be Yourself in Prayer
Five ways to be yourself in prayer from Desiring God.
3. Preaching Matters: Sitting at Jesus’ Feet and Listening
Another video in the Preaching Matters series from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate.
4. How to Listen to Sermons
A post on "practical helps for listening to sermons".
5. The Good Book Company YouTube Channel
Have you visited our YouTube Channel? Full of our latest trailers, free video resources, interviews and more.
6. And finally...
Our video of the week, ‘Introducing The Good Book for Children’:
Found something that you think should make it on to the On to a Good Thing round-up? Send it to: ontoagoodthing@thegoodbook.co.uk
This is an extract from the recently published Engaging with Atheists.
One of our key principles I want to impress upon readers is that we want to give people the word of God—that means the Bible.
I like to challenge some of my atheist/agnostic friends as to what kind of agnostic they are. I point out that there is intelligent agnosticism and that there is dumb agnosticism. In order to explain the difference, I ask them to imagine that I am sitting in my living room, watching Barcelona vs. Real Madrid in the European Cup Final.
The doorbell rings and it’s a complete stranger who asks me: “Do you know your house is on fire?”. I reply that I don’t know. I am agnostic about it. A dumb agnostic in that situation says: “I don’t know and I don’t care”. An intelligent agnostic says: “I don’t know, but it’s a pretty big deal if my house burns down, especially with me in it, so even though I don’t know you, and I am more than a little suspicious of you, I will go and investigate”. Likewise, you can encourage your atheist/agnostic friends to investigate. Perhaps by reading a book you give them, perhaps by going to something like Christianity Explored or Alpha, or perhaps by simply going to church with you.... continue reading
Christians have a wonderful message to tell the world. As the angel said at the birth of Jesus, it is “good news that will cause great joy, for all the people” (Luke 2 v 10). But at times we have been slow to take that message of forgiveness and new life to others.
Sometimes it’s because we have become distracted. There are so many things that can push the need to tell others from its central place in our calling as individuals and churches. We get wrapped up in our own church issues, problems and politics. Or we get sidetracked by the very real needs of our broken and hurting world, and expend our energies on dealing with the symptoms rather than the cause.... continue reading
Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
Psalm 16:5-8
It's a busy time of year. It's an incredibly busy time of year for us here at The Good Book Company. And we would really appreciate your prayers over the next week or so.
We're going to be running 8 big bookstalls at 8 events across England and Wales in towns from Cwmbran to Southampton and London to Manchester. And there are going to be some brilliant deals along the way ...
We're going to be launching fantastic new books like A Man's Greatest Challenge, Purity is Possible as well as Engaging with Hindus and Engaging with Atheists.... continue reading
Iraq crisis: 'Every single Christian wants to leave'
One in 10 Church of England bishops 'could be secretly gay' – says bishop
100 Christians, Including Children, Arrested During Major House Church Raid in China
Costa Ricans Celebrate 'Day of the Bible'
Former Bishop of Winchester Michael Scott-Joynt dies aged 71
Disclaimer: The Good Book Company is not responsible for the content of external sites and does not necessarily agree with the content of articles listed.
Let me ask you a strange but important question: Are you more hippo or frog?
I’m not talking about physical stature (you’ll be pleased to know), but about the way you respond to discovering there are idols in your heart. Are you more of a wallower or a jumper?
Hippos are wallowing creatures. If they see a patch of warm, muddy water deep enough to envelop their enormous bodies, they will head for it and sit in it for hours. They snort and they snuffle, they rub and they roll in the filth that surrounds them.
And some of us do that with our idols. We see the things we want more than God—maybe we see them clearly for the first time—and we get overwhelmed by the dirt and rebellion present in our lives. We get hit by a tidal-wave of realisation that we are not the beautiful people God calls us to be, not even the half-beautiful people we thought we were, and we become paralysed by the enormity of who we’ve become. We wallow. We sit, inert in our sin, shrouded in despair and unable to believe that change is an option.... continue reading
It was an unpleasantly hot autumn afternoon on the London underground. Having read all the adverts and glanced one too many times at my neighbour's newspaper, my eyes settled on the man opposite. His t-shirt was blue, slightly grubby and bore these words: "You are what you watch"
I imagine it was a commentary on film or TV watching. If so, that would make me James Bond or a character from NCIS - for better or for worse. But the concept intrigued me - a deeper truth lurked in those crumpled words.
Where we put our eyes impacts our Christian walk:
I guess, in part, that's why the writer of Hebrews encourages us to live our Christian lives with our eyes very carefully positioned:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. (Hebrews 12:1-2)
It's an inescapable fact: you are what you watch.
