Book Review: Rest Unleashed
I feel it necessary to explain my relationship with Mr. Brian Karcher and how I became a close friend of a man whom I’ve never met. My pastor frequently asks me how I know so many people within UBF when I have not attended conferences or have been introduced, and the answer is the same: the Internet. This is where my story with Brian begins. One day last September I searched the Wikipedia page for the contact information on the UBF chapter in Brazil. I found accusations of UBF being a cult. I was stunned. A quick Google search led me to Brian’s blog priestly>nation. I realized I could never read anyone’s thoughts, but all the concrete evidence- no dating, marriage by faith, etc. were visible through my roommate. In some cruel sense of irony, my roommate has led me farther from UBF than anything Brian has ever said. With regards to UBF, I decided to would wait it out. I would see if these words of Mr. Karcher proved true. But that’s a topic for another time. This is my relationship to UBF’s most infamous detractor.
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Testimony – Galatians 6
A certain someone named BK told me to be direct with my testimony this week. The message this week was on Galatians 6. BK must forgive me, because his book review is still in the works. I know he will forgive me though. I have been hearing very ungraceful things from a certain roommate recently. Multiple UBF pastors I have spoken to share the same concern. This testimony is what has followed many discussions.
Book Review: God and the Gay Christian
In 1992, Pope John Paul II apologized to Galileo. 359 years earlier, Galileo and those who listened to his teachings were condemned by the church. The church said the bible clearly taught that the sun revolves around the earth. The invention of the telescope, however, and Galileo’s findings, demonstrated the opposite: the earth revolves around the sun. The centuries old teaching by the church was wrong. I think someday the church will also apologize to Matthew Vines, who steps into the epicenter of the LGBT-Christian debate with his new book, God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships.
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Galatians Set Me Free From Legalism
Are you free from legalism? Reading and studying Galatians in 2009 set me free—28 years after becoming a Christian. This freedom and exhilarating liberation came from reading John Stott’s excellent commentary on Galatians. I read Galatians dozens of times since 1980. I knew it was about freedom. I assumed it proclaimed freedom from sin. But I was stunned to discover that the freedom Paul spoke of was freedom from legalism–the idea that you must add or do something else in addition to believing in Jesus in order to be saved and to be regarded and welcomed as a complete Christian of good standing in the church.
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