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Sherrill started out where I was; curious about spiritual gifts and attracted to them, but not sure where to start, and unsure about their meaning. It seemed that he had my disposition: questioning but interested. As the story unfolds, it is clear that these gifts are only a gateway to more, the "red door" Sherrill speaks of.
I would recommend this book. Even though it was written nearly forty years ago, it has a freshness about it. I recommend this book to anyone interested in spiritual gifts, and interested in the recent history of the Pentacostal and renewal movement.
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Wilkerson describes in his book how essential it is to meet the unloved where they are, rather than waiting for them to show up in church all dressed up and ready to worship within the ranks of the clean and respectable. He also rightly emphasizes the importance of follow up, how one can't just expect to go out and distribute tracts or preach from street corners without also developing real, loving relationships with people and ministering to their needs, both spiritually and physically.
Now that Teen Challenge International has grown to over 200 centers around the world, it is interesting to note that the struggle in recovery ministry continues to be much the same: It's extremely difficult to get people to reach out in love to those who have never been loved, and it's nearly impossible to get church members to venture outside their doors to love their neighbors as they love themselves.
I praise God for Rev. Wilkerson and the way that he listened to God and ventured out in faith. I thank him for sharing the story of his work.
These days, so much has changed. A local pentecostal preacher once told me that he went to Leeds one Saturday; that he was so disgusted by the beggars, and used to see the same ones all the time, how awful that they should always be there; and once he got real close up to one, who was (from what he told me) probably very weak, maybe even dying, lying on the ground, got about six inches away from their ear, and shouted at the top of his voice, "GET A JOB!!!"
Stand this in contrast with the Wilkerson man. This guy, realizing that the zonkos and beggars know that they're sinners, possibly scarcely realizing anything else at all, goes and gives them a bed for the night - feeds them - gives them a bath and warm clothes. The tells them that God knows them and has already fixed up a plan for them - that to the God who made the sun and the outer planets, THEY matter - "whosoever will" can come and drink from the waters of life, that they can repent, and be made blameless before the king of kings.
[Life isn't cheap to this man.]
Then the guy fixes up this organisation called "teen challenge", held together by almost no money at all, but lots of prayer, who pulls loads of dropouts and folks who are very nearly dead from all over the place and stands them on the the higher ground...
Man, this book is so good. I know that these days, many of the big churches... (I used to be in Perth, Western Australia) and there was this huge church near to the Casino. The car park was full of BMWs, and all the evidence was that the church was really inwards looking, far too concerned with "signs and wonders" to remember about the plan of Salvation at all. So much for the lost, no place for them. When I went to Yorkshire, I was amazed how the church had similarly split along these lines - those who preached the gospel, the same one as David Wilkerson preached - to the lost sheep - (go and READ this, will you) and those who prayed for (and maybe got) bigger houses, fatter share options, sports cars, foreign holidays, etc. The contrast is huge.
Read this book and find out what the cost of discipleship to Christ really means - how many days and nights of prayer it really takes to move those mountains - and what faith is REALLY about. And the failures, when Sonny does not come back, and all the disappointments when it doesn't seem to go to plan and they're just about to get kicked out of the building...
I was brought up with this book, and as far as I can remember, I have worn out probably six copies. Time I got myself a new one....
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The story begins in 1937 when a Dutch family is preparing for the 100th birthday of the family shop, Ten Bloom: Watches. Flowers are being delivered and friends are calling to help celebrate the day. The conversation centers around Germany and the Jews who are coming to Holland for asylum. The Ten Bloom's and their guests could not have foreseen what was to come. Their world had changed.
This is the autobiographical story of Corrie Ten Bloom and how she and her family worked for the Dutch underground movement during World War II. The family were Christians and took a very strong stand against the Nazi persecution of the Jews. Corrie's father, a kindly, religious man, summed up his thoughts on the Nazis by saying, "I pity them Corrie. They have touched the apple of God's eye."
Corrie and her sister, Betsie were two ladies aged 45 and 52 years of age, respectively. They are the unlikely heroines of this story. Never married and rather innocent of the world, they proved the old saying that "you can't tell a book by its cover." Both sisters risked everything they had including their lives to save people they didn't even know.
In today's world of "me first", it's so encouraging to read a story of a family that truly lived their faith and practiced the Golden Rule.
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