Going to Church, author Bob
Hostetler asks, "What if the
form of Christianity commonly
practiced by most believers
today bears little if any resem-
blance to the teachings of Je-
sus? Have we misunderstood,
even misrepresented, what it
means to be His disciple?" He
issues a bold and biblically
based challenge to Christians
Quit going to church and start seeking the kingdom
of God, where God is at work and His will is being
done. Quit going to church and devote ourselves to
the Word of God, to living in community with God's
people, to fully worshipping Him with our hearts and
minds, to building intimacy with God through prayer
and to sharing the Gospel with others. For Hostetler,
"being the church" means always moving, constantly
progressing and continuously "being transformed
into His likeness with ever�increasing glory, which
comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (II Cor. 3:18b).
Memoirs of a private secretary
to the General of The
Salvation Army, by Colonel
John Bate, takes us behind
the scenes into the life of a
General--between Congress
meetings and the normal
routines of office and travel.
Colonel Bate, who served
alongside Generals Arnold
Brown and Jarl Wahlstrom,
recounts his radio and television
assignments in Britain (which
tions in Burma, accommodation blunders and transla-
tion fiascos. He writes with humor, insight, sensitivity,
a zest for life and reverence for his work.
Des Plaines, IL 800-937-8896; West Nyack, NY 888-488-4882;
Atlanta, GA 800-786-7372; Long Beach, CA. Also available in
print and as an e-book from www.amazon.com
we think God is a person
who can divide His love,
then we are thinking not
of God but of ourselves."
God does not love, God
is love (1 John 4:16).
have love, but God is
love. His love is not an ac-
tivity. It is His whole self.
I am capable of loving,
but I am also capable of
not loving. That cannot
be said about God. God
cannot stop loving, be-
cause love is God's na-
ture. It is not my nature
to love. I must learn to
love, and only by God's
grace am I able to love
as He loves.
about God was 1 John
4:10: "For herein is love,
not that we love God, but
that God first loved us
by sending His Son as a
sacrifice for our sins."
As I meditated on these
words it occurred to me
that God loved me long
before I ever loved Him
in return.
God loved me first. Even
when I was unbelieving
and angry with God, God
loved me first. Even when
I was serving a false god,
God loved me first. This
began to permeate my
whole attitude toward
God. It was the first stage
of understanding God's
acceptance of me.
cult to believe that God
could look at us and
smile. For years I viewed
God as a judge, as do
most of the people I
know. The god I served
was angry with me,
ready to punish me for a
slight infraction. I never
knew where I stood with
this god. If I lived flaw-
lessly, I might, for a few
moments, feel secure,
but for the most part I
did not. Much of the
problem was that I
viewed God as a person
much like myself. I creat-
ed this god in my own
image. Like me, this god
was capable of love, but
it was a conditional love.
This god was mostly cold
and distant, exact with
his judgment and severe
with his punishment.
eventually replaced by
the real God, the God of
Abraham, the Father of
Jesus. But the change did
not occur overnight. The
false idol I had created
had to be slowly melted
down by the fire of God's
furious love.