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Five books that shaped my
life
by
Major Willis Howell
Hmmm… Five books that have helped
to shape my life?! Five books that have in some way
contributed to and impacted who I am, how I think, how I
minister, how I view God, people, situations, and all life
that goes on around me. Five books that have contributed to
where I am, how I am at my core. How on earth do you settle
on only five books? Five authors
might be an easier task, but I admit, only slightly easier.
Have you ever seen one of those
candy stores that makes fudge right in front of everyone who
passes by their shop window? You usually find them in tourist
towns. If you have, you’ll probably be familiar with their
practice of being very willing, in fact eager to give
you a small sample of the still-warm fudge they’ve just made.
And of course you know why: They hope that the small sample
will entice you to go in for a whole box of fudge.
In the same way, as I list out a
few titles of what have been life-shaping books for me (not in
any order of significance or preference, I might add), I
thought I’d offer you a small “taste” from each of them. Who
knows, maybe the fudge maker’s technique will work here, too!
Here we go…
“What’s So Amazing About
Grace?” by Philip Yancey
For you long-time JAC readers,
you’ll recognize that this book was cited by some contributors
the last time JAC ran this feature (Issue #26 –
August/September 2003). I desperately wanted to offer some
fresh titles and perspectives to this discussion, but for all
my consideration of the books that have impacted my life’s
“shape”, I simply can’t keep this title off my list. What’s
So Amazing About Grace was as transformational to my views
of the law and grace as when Dorothy walks out of her
black-and-white, Kansas farmhouse life into the technicolor
wonder of the Land of Oz. In a nutshell, this book absolutely
revolutionized my understanding of the incredible gift of
grace in a way I’ve never recovered from.
Here’s just a sample…
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During a British conference
on comparative religions, experts from around the world
debated what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian
faith. They began elimination possibilities. Incarnation?
Other religions had different versions of gods appearing in
human form. Resurrection? Again, other religions had
accounts of return from death. The debate went on for some
time until C.S. Lewis wandered into the room. “What’s the
rumpus about?” he asked, and heard in reply that his
colleagues were discussing Christianity’s unique
contribution among world religions. Lewis responded, “Oh,
that’s easy. It’s grace.”
After some discussion, the
conferees had to agree. The notion of God’s love coming to us
free of charge, no strings attached, seems to go against every
instinct of humanity. The Buddhist eight-fold path, the Hindu
doctrine of karma, the Jewish covenant, and Muslim code
of law – each of these offers a way to earn approval. Only
Christianity dares to make God’s love unconditional.
Philip Yancey
What’s So Amazing About
Grace?
(Page 45)
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A phrase used by both Peter
and Paul has become one of my favorite images from the New
Testament. We are to administer or “dispense” God’s grace,
say the two apostles. The image brings to mind one of the
old-fashioned “atomizers” women used before the perfection
of spray technology. Squeeze a rubber bulb, and droplets of
perfume come shooting out of the fine holes at the other
end. A few drops suffice for a whole body; a few pumps
change the atmosphere in a room. That is how grace should
work, I think. It does not convert the entire world or an
entire society, but it does enrich the atmosphere.
Now I worry that the prevailing
image of Christians has changed from that of a perfume
atomizer to a different spray apparatus: the kind used by
insect exterminators. There’s a roach! Pump, spray,
pump, spray. There’s a spot of evil! Pump, spray,
pump, spray. Some Christians I know have taken on the task
of “moral exterminator” for the evil-infested society around
them.
I share a deep concern for our
society. I am struck, though, by the alternative power of
mercy as demonstrated by Jesus, who came for the sick and not
the well, for the sinners and not the righteous. Jesus never
countenanced evil, but he did stand ready to forgive it.
Somehow, he gained the reputation as a lover of sinners, a
reputation that his followers are in danger of losing today.
As Dorothy Day put it, “I really only love God as much as I
love the person I love the least.”
Philip Yancey
What’s So Amazing About
Grace?
(Page 158)
OK, before I quote the entire book
to you and violate every copyright law ever created, just go
out, buy the book for yourself and read it!
“Into the Depths of God”
by Calvin Miller
I really enjoy reading authors who
choose their words carefully, calculatedly, and intentionally
in order to bring the reader to a precise understanding or
particular insight in a way that maximizes the message. For
my tastes, Calvin Miller is a skilled master of this sort of
word-crafting.
Into the Depths of God, was
instrumental in leading me, well, deeper into the
mystery and wonder of the love of God in such a
way as to impact my love for Him. It helped to
draw me away from the shallow, frothy, splashy, program-driven
busyness that easily passes for spiritual substance, and
brought about a holy hunger to discover what God has for me –
and others – far below the surface of things. “It’s the
difference between water skiing and scuba diving,” as a friend
of mine puts it.
Note that what I share below from
the book doesn’t even go beyond the introduction(!).
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Most of us dress our
Christian faith in an ill-fitting discipleship that, like a
cheap suit, leaves us uncomfortable most of our lives.
Among our friends at church we struggle to keep our
reputation for godliness bannered forth. We would like to
appear to be like Jesus without the discipline of really
being like him. Reading several dozen fill-in-the-blanks
self-help manuals, we talk ourselves into a spiritual
reputation we have never really earned. We continue to live
on the surface, only talking of the deeper life.
Calvin Miller
Into the Depths of God
(Introduction, pg. 13)
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In some ways it seems to me
that much of Christianity is a conversation of snorklers
talking to each other of scuba experiences. If mere
conversation or study groups were the path to depth
experience, the church would be deep indeed. But it is
those who read and pray, not those who philosophize and
chatter, who arrive at lives of real power.
Calvin Miller
Into the Depths of God
(Introduction, pg. 16)
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In the depths we meet our
smallness, our powerlessness, our need. On the positive
side, we discover the folly of trying to find our
satisfaction in surface relationships. We learn to credit
that God hides neither his greatness nor our
self-understanding in three hurried minutes of Bible reading
a day. We suddenly know that the immensity of God never
comes wrapped in contrived public prayers, where many –
either consciously or unconsciously – are prone to approve
themselves to their merely human auditors.
Calvin Miller
Into the Depths of God
(Introduction, pg. 17)
Calvin Miller
Into the Depths of God
(Introduction, pg. 17)
“How Now Shall We Live?”
by Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcey
I’ve shared how I enjoy authors
who have a gift with words. I also enjoy writers who
challenge my comfort and cause me to think. That brings me to
this selection.
Before reading How Now Shall We
Live?, I’m embarrassed to say that I had never really
given a serious thought to the concept of a “worldview,”
biblical or otherwise. I was generally content to live and
operate within the familiar confines of my Christian bubble –
surrounded by folks who looked like me, thought like me,
behaved like me – insulated from the changing culture around
me. The culture beyond my familiar, comfortable, self-imposed
boundaries gave me plenty to preach about, but beyond that it
wasn’t something for me to address, let alone
engage or change. Then, along came Chuck Colson and this
book, and pop! – there went my bubble. Through what I read, I
saw that when you’re talking about a worldview (literally, how
you view what has and does go on in the world),
where you stand and what you understand, accept, and apply has
a HUGE impact on your perspective (go figure…)! This book
helped to awaken my awareness and to shape the opinions I hold
about engaging culture from a biblical position.
Please know that from time to time
you do have to sidestep Colson’s reformed theology. But that
shouldn’t keep you from this book. The core message of the
book has the potential to open your eyes and revolutionize
your thinking – and in turn, your actions – in
important ways.
Here’re a few samples…
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If the church turns inward
now, if we focus only on our own needs, we will miss the
opportunity to provide answers at a time when people are
sensing a deep longing for meaning and order. It is not
enough to focus exclusively on the spiritual, on Bible
studies and evangelistic campaigns, while turning a blind
eye to the distinctive tensions of contemporary life. We
must show the world that Christianity is more than a private
belief, more than personal salvation. We must show that it
is a comprehensive life system that answers all of
humanity’s age-old questions: Where did I come from? Why am
I here? Where am I going? Does life have any meaning and
purpose?
As we will argue in these
pages, Christianity offers the only viable, rationally
defensible answers to these questions. Only Christianity
offers a way to understand both the physical and the moral
order. Only Christianity offers a comprehensive worldview
that covers all areas of life and thought, every aspect of
creation. Only Christianity offers a way to live in line with
the real world.
Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcey
How Now Shall We Live?
(Introduction, pg. xi)
Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcey
How Now Shall We Live?
(Page 17)
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…if we are to restore our
world, we first have to shake off the comfortable notion
that Christianity is merely a personal experience, applying
only to one’s private life. No man is an island, wrote the
Christian poet John Donne. Yet one of the great myths of
our day is that we are islands –
that our decisions are personal and that no one has a right
to tell us what to do in our private lives. We easily
forget that every private decision contributes to the moral
and cultural climate in which we live, rippling out in ever
widening circles – first in our personal and family lives,
and then in the broader society.
Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcey
How Now Shall We Live?
(Page 294)
Commissioner Brengle’s
Books
OK, I have to ask you for just a
bit of latitude here as I’m trying to pass off an eight-book
collection (nine, if you include his biography) as a single
work. Believe me – I really tried to settle on just one of
the Brengle series. It’s just that I kept coming back to
looking at them as a whole work. Please understand it’s not
that I see them as necessarily building on each other, or
progressing the Commissioner’s thought from one book to the
next. Rather, I find that they echo, compliment and reinforce
each other (does that make sense to you?). Taken as a whole
I think they offer a broader, more complete insight into the
heart and mind of Brengle, his experience and his message.
Not only that, but I also see my Brengle collection as a whole
because that’s how I first read them – one after another. So
from that perspective, I have to include Brengle’s collected
works to this listing because together they meet the criteria
this feature is focusing on, “…books that have helped to
shape my life.”
Simply put, the reading of
Brengle’s works led to my sanctification (how’s that
for life- shaping?!). As I read, the Spirit stirred. I was
drawn to the idea of a life of perfect love. Could it
really be possible? I had talked with enough folks
who actually knew Brengle to know that the life he lived was
consistent with the experience he described in his books. So
one Sunday in 1983, as Lt. Colonel Ernest Miller preached an
incredible message on Philippians 3, I went for it. And what
do you know – it’s true!! So these books more
than qualify as life-shapers for me.
Now if you’ve read Brengle’s books
you know that he speaks on other subjects besides holiness.
He also covers topics such as preaching, evangelism, Bible
study, etc. Beyond those subjects, and the many more he
addresses, I also believe that the Lord gave him a prophetic
word of warning for the Army. While the lines below were
written during the first part of the 20th century,
the dangers he described are frighteningly real for
Salvationists in the 21st century. See what
you think…
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…it is this Holiness – the
doctrine, the experience, the action – that we Salvationists
must maintain, otherwise we shall betray our trust; we shall
lose our birthright; we shall cease to be a spiritual power
in the earth; we shall have a name to live, and yet be dead;
our glory will depart; and we, like Samson shorn of his
locks, shall become as other men; the souls with whom we are
entrusted will grope in darkness or go elsewhere for
soul-nourishment and guidance; and while we may still have
titles and ranks, which will have become vainglorious, to
bestow upon our children, we shall have no heritage to
bequeath them of martyr-like sacrifice, or spiritual power,
or dare-devil faith, of pure, deep joy, of burning love, of
holy triumph.
Commissioner Samuel Logan Brengle
Love Slaves
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The Army is so thoroughly
organized and disciplined, so wrought into the life of
nations, so fortified with valuable properties, and on such
a sound financial basis, that it is not likely to perish as
an organization, but it will become a spiritually dead thing
if love leaks out. Love is the life of The Army. “If we
love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is
perfected in us.” But if love leaks out we shall lose our
crown, we shall have a name to live and yet be dead. We may
still house the homeless, dole out food to the hungry,
punctiliously perform our routine work, but the mighty
ministry of the Spirit will no longer be our glory. Our
musicians will play meticulously, our Songsters will revel
in the artistry of song that tickles the ear, but leaves the
heart cold and hard. Our Officers will make broad their
phylacteries and hob-nob with mayors and councilmen and be
greeted in the marketplace, but God will not be among us.
We shall still recruit our ranks and supply our Training
Garrisons with Cadets from among our own Young People, but
we shall cease to be saviors of the lost sheep that have no
shepherd.
In so far as this spirit rules
in our hearts God can work with us and bless us, and the
spiritual triumphs and glory of The Army for the future are
assured. But in so far as these graces of the Spirit in us
fail, so far will The Army as a spiritual power in the earth
fail.
Commissioner Samuel Logan Brengle
Ancient Prophets and Modern
Problems
Since I’ve already taken liberties
with the number of books I’ve included on my list of five, let
me wrap it up by offering my final entry. Let’s see…should it
be Erwin McManus’ The Barbarian Way (Wow! What a
red-hot passionate read that was!), or Reggie
McNeal’s The Present Future (talk about a timely
wake-up call for the Church…!), or Andy Stanley’s The
Next Generation Leader (now there’s a
great, short book on Christian leadership)…? What should I
choose?
Let’s go with this…
“Growing True Disciples”
by George Barna
Actually, this would represent one
of the newest life-shaping books on my personal favorites
list. In fact it made such an impact on my life and ministry,
I used it for the course textbook in the Discipleship class
taught here at the USA South Training School. What’s more, is
that we have incorporated actual “discipleship” – the
act of, not just the study of – into our
curriculum. Our cadets are being actively and intentionally
discipled, not simply taught the “theory” of
discipleship.
You see, while I would love to be
proven wrong, my observation as a life-long Salvationist,
having lived in all four of the U.S. Territories at one time
or another, is that the Army has all but deserted the field
when it comes to actually making
disciples. It’s not that we’re against it. We simply don’t
do it (maybe it’s different where you live. If
so, praise God!!). While we’ve more or less held on to a
desire to evangelize, the “infant mortality rate” among those
who do become “born again” as a result of some
form of contact with the Army is staggering.
True to the form in most of his
books, Growing True Disciples includes a number of
statistics based on his fairly extensive research (NOTE:
The statistics quoted and the disturbing picture they help
paint relate to the practices and views of Christians here in
America. Hopefully the situation in your country is far more
positive!).
Barna fills the book with his
passion until it absolutely overflows, as you can see from the
excerpts below:
I believe the intensity
conveyed by the word zealot is important for us
to associate with discipleship. Most Christians lack a true
understanding of the context within which Jesus’ disciples
were developed. As a result, we tend to minimize the
investment required to be a follower of Jesus Christ. When we
hear that the apostles were followers of Jesus, the image that
comes to mind is of people who tagged along after the Lord on
His walks through the hot, dusty towns of Judea. The
followers were there to listen, to watch, and to be amazed at
what the Son of God did in their presence…
Unfortunately, the twenty-first
century church has many “followers” of Christ in the sense
that I follow the Yankees (an American baseball team):
We dabble in Christianity. That’s not what Jesus had in mind
when He called us to be His disciples. He is seeking people
who are absolutely serious about becoming new creations in Him
– individuals who are fanatics, zealots, mesmerized,
passionate about the cause, completely devoted to mimicking
their model down to the last nuance.
George Barna
Making True Disciples
(pages 18-19)
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The true disciple of Jesus
Christ is someone who is completely sold out to
Christianity. To determine whether you really are a
disciple, the relevant question concerns your level of
commitment: To what are you absolutely, fanatically
devoted? Jesus did not minister, die, and rise from
the dead merely to enlist fans. He gave everything He had
to create a community of uncompromising zealots – raving,
unequivocal, undeterable, no-holds-barred spiritual
revolutionaries. He has no room for lukewarm followers. He
is not interested in those who have titles, prestige, and
self-sufficiency. He is searching for the broken, hopeless,
helpless, spiritually dependant individuals who readily
acknowledge that they cannot make any headway without a
total and absolute dependence upon Him. He is seeking the
hearts of those who are willing to surrender everything for
the blessed privilege of suffering for Him, just as He
suffered for us. He wants people who are dedicated to
getting beyond the offer of mere salvation to those who are
willing to do what it takes to complete a personal
transformation.
George Barna
Making True Disciples
(pages 98-99)
Man, that fires me up! This guy
has the passion of a Salvationist!! He may belong to some
other denomination, but I’m telling you that there’s Blood and
Fire in his heart!
Well there you have it. Those are
some of the books that have left their indelible marks on my
heart, my attitude, and my behaviors. I hope that through the
little tastes that have accompanied my list – which have also
made my portion of this feature r-e-a-l-l-y long – that you’ve
read something that sparked a thought, or better still, lit a
flame. If so, take care of it. Nurture it. Develop it.
Feed it. Don’t let it go out – it’s from God!
Leviticus 6:13 (NLT)
Remember, the fire must be kept
burning on the altar at all times. It must never go out.
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