We at GMTB love the clear bold witness of John Wesley. He confidently and joyfully declared the sufficiency of God’s Word. Tragically, today many church leaders have lost that confidence. Many doubt whether the Bible is really a sufficient resource for the growing and healing of the church in such a hostile and sick environment. Many in the church have lost their confidence in the power of God’s Word and have been intimidated into silence.
Cal Thomas had the opportunity to interview the infamous atheist Madalyn Murray Ohare before she met her Maker. She is the one, you will remember, who was given the “credit” for ending prayer in the schools. Thomas asked her why so many people feared her. Her answer was startling. She replied, “I will tell you, Mr. Thomas, why some Christians are afraid of me. They’re not sure that what they believe is really true. If they were sure, I wouldn’t be a threat to them at all.”
Wow! That is one time she was right on. We can try to blame the secular culture for our lack of boldness but that is like Eve blaming the serpent for her sin. The problem is not outside the church. It is inside. J. I. Packer says it like this:
“For at no time, perhaps since the reformation have Protestant Christians as a body been so unsure, and tentative and confused as to what they should believe and do. Certainly about the great issues of Christian faith and conduct is lacking all along the line. The outside observer sees us staggering on from gimmick to gimmick and stunt to stunt like so many drunks in a fog, not knowing at all where we are or which way we should be going. Preaching is hazy; heads are muddled; hearts fret; doubts drain our strength; uncertainty paralyses action…We know in our bones we are meant for certainty, and we cannot be happy without it. Yet unlike the first Christians who in three centuries won the Roman world…we lack certainty.”
We believe that we were called to certainty. GMTB exists to challenge the Church to return to full confidence in God’s Word. Everywhere I have traveled in the world I have witnessed a growing hunger for God’s Word. In Zambia, in the Philippines and in Argentina church leaders were hungry for every word that proceeded from the mouth of God. They knew that their faith and joy depended upon God’s truth. The American church must wake up to the same truth. Our world is no more atheistic or secular than the world the NT church faced and they turned it upside down. We are praying for God to give us a fresh vision of His power and a new confidence in His Word. T. B. Manson said it like this: “The Christians who have turned the world upside down have been men and women with a vision in their hearts and a Bible in their hands.”
We call upon you to join us in this revival of God’s Word. Ask the Lord to give you a new passion for His glory and His Word. Then, pick up the Bible. Read it. Study it. Memorize it. Meditate on it. Obey it. Preach it. And watch the power of God change your life and the lives of the world around you.
“When God from heaven gave his Word, His Word was all sufficient; It needs no words I may have heard to add to or be in it.So I will take God’s Book and read, to learn what God desires; The Bible gives the strength I need to do what God requires.” Dr. James Boice
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Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By Dr. Gary Rieben. © Give Me That Book. Email: Grieben@aol.com. Website: www.GiveMeThatBook.org. Postal: GMTB | P.O. Box 1045| La Quinta, CA 92247 USA | 619.829.2390
© Give Me That Book