Our First Book Club Read!!!

     We're getting revved up!  We're going to be officially beginning our first book together the week of July 27th.  This should give everyone plenty of time to purchase the book and be ready!

     How will this work?  I will divide the book into several one-week sections.  Each week, we will read that section.  Sections are divided in such a way as to keep everyone together, without being too slow.  Please do not get ahead or behind!  In order for us to have meaningful conversation with one another, we should all stay together!

     To discuss, simply come to The Returning Bride's book club forum page and take part in the conversation!  This is open to all believers!  This blog (and I) approach things from a Messianic perspective, but we welcome everyone, and we look forward to meaningful discussion.  Before posting, please remember to review the "Tips" and "Announcements" sections of the forum for helpful information.

     When we get close to the end of our book, we will announce the next one!  Our goal is to form a community of book-worm believers who can read faith-building books together and discuss them. The online format means no meetings to attend, and no more stress on your schedule!

    So.... Are you curious to hear what our first book will be?

     A Prayer to Our Father:  Hebrew Origins of the Lord's Prayer by Nehemiah Gordon and Keith Johnson! (ISBN: 978-0-9762637-4-6)  One Karaite Jewish Scholar and one United Methodist Pastor join together to find the true meaning of the Lord's Prayer based on the original Hebrew!  This will undoubtedly feed every believer's faith, and we look forward to sharing it with you.

     Simply get a copy of the book and join in our reading schedule and discussion!  We look forward to getting to know you.

***The reading schedule will be posted soon on our Facebook page and on the Book Club Forum page.

"Halloween" giveaway!

   What better way to spend this time of year than growing in our understanding of spiritual things?  Normally, I am leery of books and other materials claiming to teach spiritual warfare.  It's very difficult to know whether or not the teacher actually knows what he/she is talking about or if they are parroting what they've been taught to believe!

    Bill Schnoebelen, however, has my attention!  His testimony is too much for me to go into here, but he has spent years of his life involved in major occult groups and practices.  Now, though, he is a follower of Yeshua, and (if I'm not mistaken) he is Torah observant!  Either way, though, he definitely is educated - both formally and experientially.

    If you're interested, you can easily find many of Mr. Schnoebelen's teachings on YouTube.  I especially recommend his testimony!  This is a long series, but you  may start here:

 Once you pass the introduction to the video, Mr. Schnoebelen spends a few moments giving a quick rundown of his history.  You may want to check that out, even if you can't watch the entire video!

   In the spirit of educating ourselves spiritually, A Bride Bejeweled will be giving away "Blood on the Doorposts (An Advanced Course in Spiritual Warfare) written by Bill Schnoebelen in 1994.  (Click here for Amazon link and preview.)  As with our last book giveaway, the winner is free to choose either a hard copy or e-book version of the book!  (You must be willing to provide either a mailing address or e-mail address (in case of an e-book) for the delivery of your prize.)

    You can enter in multiple ways, and some entries can be repeated daily!  Check out our rafflecopter giveaway widget on the side of the page to enter!

     Be blessed!

Video Share: Evolution vs. God (Ray Comfort)

   
Ray Comfort seems to have declared war on evolution!!!  I have thoroughly enjoyed his material in the past, and his new video Evolution vs. God is a great continuation!  It's a little more than 45 minutes; take the time to watch this - you'll be glad you did!

Book Review: Radical

     Radical by David Platt has been on the market for a while now.   I had heard good things about it from others, so I decided to check it out myself.  I have to say that i was not disappointed!  Platt, a pastor in Alabama, takes a serious, objective look at how the American Dream has influenced our faith.  Then he issues a no-holds-barred challenge to all American believers to return to the biblical gospel, leaving comfort, cultural norms, and self-focus behind. 
     It is refreshing to hear any Christian leader urging the faith community to go beyond themselves in pursuit of God and His will, and Pastor Platt does so in a way that is as conversational and inspiring as it is challenging.  The book reads more like a brother calling out to family than a superior railing or criticizing subordinates.  It is obvious that his heart is in his message, and that he himself is pursuing the heart of God. 
    I highly recommend this book to all believers.  We need this challenge in our church culture today, and we need to be asking ourselves the questions this book raises!  

Selected Quotes from Radical:  (I read on a Nook, so page number may not match printed book.)

"This brings us to the crucial question for every professing or potential follower of Jesus:  Do we really believe he is worth abandoning everything for?  Do you and I really believe that Jesus is so good, so satisfying, and so rewarding that we will leave all we have and all we own and all we are in order to find our fullness in him?  Do you and I believe him enough to obey him and follow him wherever he leads, even when the crowds in our culture - and maybe in our churches - turn the other way?

In this book I want to show you that, with the best of intentions, we have actually turned away from Jesus.  We have in many areas blindly and unknowingly embraced values and ideas that are common in our culture but are antithetical to the gospel he taught.  Here we stand amid an American dream dominated by self-advancement, self-esteem, and self-sufficiency, by individualism, materialism, and universalism.  Yet I want to show you our desperate need to revisit the words of Jesus, to listen to them, to believe them, and to obey them.  We need to return with urgency to a biblical gospel, because the cost of not doing so is great for our lives, our families, our churches, and the world around us."  (page 21)

*******

"Fundamentally, the gospel is the revelation of who God is, who we are, and how we can be reconciled to Him.  Yet in the American dream, where self reigns as king (or queen), we have a dangerous tendency to misunderstand, minimize, and even manipulate the gospel in order to accommodate our assumptions and our desires"  (page 25)

*******

"Meanwhile, the biblical gospel says, 'You are an enemy of God, dead in your sin, and in your present state of rebellion, you are not even able to see that you need life, much less to cause yourself to come to life.  Therefore, you are radically dependent on God to do something in your life that you could never do.... In the gospel God reveals the depth of our need for him.  He shows us that there is absolutely nothing we can do to come to him.  We can't manufacture salvation.  We can't program it.  We can't produce it.  We can't even initiate it.  God has to open our eyes, set us free, overcome our evil, and appease his wrath.  He has come to us.  Now we are getting to the beauty of the gospel." (p.28)

Radical Official Webpage:  Here

Radical at Barnes and Noble: Here

Radical at Amazon: Here

Book Review - Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

 Personally, one of the best things I’ve found to deepen my own faith (apart, of course, from scripture itself) is to read and learn about past heroes of Christianity.  I’ve found that I come away inspired to a deeper commitment to God, and in the case of this Dietrich Bonhoeffer biography, I come away also with an intriguing look at the questions and theologies that he wrestled with.  Reading Bonhoeffer’s own material has challenged me to think more deeply and take serious consideration of many of the theological/ethical questions he addresses.  It’s amazing to me how relevant these questions are today, even after things in our world seemed to have changed so much.

    In, Bonhoeffer:  Pastor, Prophet, Martyr, Spy, Eric Metaxas presents an exhaustive account of the life and person of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian and pastor during the time of Hitler.  The level of detail given about Bonhoeffer’s life is so extraordinary that it leaves the reader feeling as if they actually know and understand him.  What I enjoyed even more, though, was the ease with which this quite lengthy biography read. The language is conversational, and I never felt that making my way through the 500-600 page book was tedious.  In fact, I couldn’t put it down!

    If you’re looking for a faith-building book to read, let me suggest this one!  It will not only provide a good biographical story, but leave you considering more deeply questions of pacifism, civil disobedience, spiritual responsibility, and following God at all costs.  I got so much out of it that I’m willing to purchase it again, just to have it on my Nook!