The Gospel for Those Broken by the Church by Ron Rosenbladt

Salvation describes the deliverance by God for those who believe in him. It is the saving of the soul from sin (and its consequences) through Gods will and grace. Though it takes different forms in every religion, the principle is still the same, often emphasising the necessity of both good works, repentance, and asceticism, as well as divine intervention (in this case the action being the grace of God). If assuming that Christ is the full truth, then the only way to gain access to God after death is through the salvation given by the Christian God. Jesus himself has indicated that a person must hear the word, believe it, repent of past sins, and be willing to confess faith before others, be baptized into Christ for the remission of sins, and then continue to live a faithful life throughout this physical life if we are to go to heaven.

What marks most pastors who come to our ministry is their brokenness. In every case, pastors resigning from their church are broken, beaten, and discouraged. Pastorless churches are a paradoxical development in the United States. While plenty of clergy abound in the US, fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches.

In this paper, I will review Charles Ryrie’s book The Holy Spirit. I will detail what I feel the book is about. I will emphasize various points given by the author that stood out to me. Finally, I will give my personal evaluation of the book.

One of the many things that puzzle people even today; is how Jesus was portrayed and how he became a part of history throughout the centuries. Fortunately, within the book Jesus Through the Centuries, written by Jaroslav Pelikan, readers are able to get a sense of what societies viewed Jesus as and how he was/is important to many aspects of the world such as; the political, social, and cultural impact he had left. As Pelikan discusses this very topic and theme in his book, we see how there’s a connection between his audience in this book and Jesus’s are closely similar. When he got his motivation to write about Jesus through the Centuries, Jaroslav had an open audience, which was intended for anyone of all ages, races, and beliefs to read

Award-winning journalist, Lee Strobel wrote The Case for Christ to retrace and expand his journey toward becoming a Christian. Strobel once declared atheist, and now Christian, shares how he began to look upon the Bible and God. As an atheist, Strobel lived the life of selfishness and only worried to please himself. When his wife began to go to church he wasn’t very pleased until after he saw the positive and attractive change in her. This is the start of his curiosity and investigation about Christianity. To relate with his wife he decided to study about this and attend church services with her. Strobel interviewed thirteen leading scholars who defended their views concerning the historical reliability of the New Testament.

The social gospel was the biggest inspiration and influence for Civil Rights leader, John Lewis. Which is prevalent throughout the first two books, of the March trilogy, written by Andrew Aydin and John Lewis himself. The Bible made its mark on Lewis when he was young farm boy. Leading him to the social gospel which started him down the path of nonviolence, and longing not just for personal reform but for social reform. As the Civil Rights movements became bigger, and as the philosophy of which John Lewis taught spread, others were inspired by the social gospel.

Often times we are at a loss for words when it comes to talking about the person of the Holy Spirit. Beth Felker Jones in her work entitled “God the Spirit” serves as an introduction to the study of the Holy Spirit in a distinctly Wesleyan and Ecumenical Perspective. Jones is working against the notion that the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is often the most neglected of all Christian teachings (1). She recognizes her experience within the Wesleyan tradition as one that shapes her pneumatology and this book. She asserts that one of Wesleyan Christianity’s special gifts is it’s “leaning against any tendency to neglect the Spirit” (4). Even with this framework she aims to place the Wesleyan perspective in a larger ecumenical milieu that shows the continuity of a Wesleyan pneumatology with the Tradition of the Church. Overall, her approach is very accessible, as she assumes very little and writes in such a way that allows her to cover large dogmatic topics clearly and concisely. By merit of simply being an introduction only style book, there is the risk of glossing over topics and not providing enough in depth discussion to fully understand and comprehend the doctrine discussed. A reader should feel confident that Jones has indeed provided us with a solid introduction to Wesleyan pneumatology that has the ability to bear fruit and initiate growth in the life of the believer.

The poem, “Gospel” by Philip Levine gives a vivid description of what the narrator sees around them. The narrator focuses their description on nature. They make many references to types of plants like lupine and thistles. Throughout the poem, nature can be seen as and abstract creature. Nature is giving and lively. The conflict in the poem is between the speaker and nature. The narrator tries to show how nature can give nice outdoor views and how the earth gives people a place to walk on while people give nothing back to nature. Levine’s speaker uses repetition and comparisons to show how nature is constantly pleading for the narrators attention yet they cannot offer anything to the relationship they have with nature. The poem slowly evolves

apposed the church do not have the same rights. Not in the sense that they could not bear arms or

"Free at last, Free at last, Great God a-mighty, we are free at last" (King 6). Martin Luther King Jr. and Jonathan Edwards both use strong words and tone. Jonathan Edwards is an American preacher, philosopher, and congregationalist protestant theologian. Jonathan is born in 1703 and gives the "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" speech in 1741. Edwards has strong feelings for what he believes in about congregation. Early settlers are persuaded by Edwards sermon because of the tone and word choice Edwards uses throughout his sermon.

In the 18th century, African Americans were mostly slaves. They were treated like the property of whites and had very few rights. However not all whites were for slavery. Two white English writers who created a Black persona to write poems supporting abolition were William Blake, in The Little Black Boy, and William Cowper, in The Negro’s Complaint. In 1788, William Cowper wrote The Negro’s Complaint in support of the ending of the trade in slaves. The poem is criticizes slavery how horrible slavery really was. William Blake's The Little Black Boy is from Songs of Innocence and was published in 1789. The poem is about a little Black boy’s struggle with his identity. At this time in England, slavery was still legal and would not be

Some time ago, I remember going to church as a child not because I believe there was a god, but because I was told. At first, I did not mind the ways of the rules were until later I started to struggle following them. I felt like I could not belong to the church for being a certain way and I thought some of the sins they call “mortal sin,” were part of being human. I can relate to the child in the poem “Why I Left the Church,” by Richard Garcia.

The document analyzed within this paper comes an Anglican clergy, Morgan Godwyn. From the document entitled Godwyn, Morgan. Negro 's and Indians Advocate Suing for Their Admission Into the Church. London: Printed for the author, by J.D. and are to be sold by most booksellers, 1680. This document supported the argument that advocated religious traditions for enslaved Africans. The writer thought Africans needed to be fully accepted members of the Christian faith by being baptized. However, others believed in the hope that Africans were exposed to a religious life that reflected the Christian faith traditions post slavery. In which also included before the existence of colonialism. Africans were perhaps practicing Christianity forms of religion. I suppose that spiritual forms of Christianity might have been a long history in the African tradition that might pre-date any kind of European influences. In conjunction, Morgan Godwyn’s advocacy for Africans teaches us the need for Whites wanting to keep the slaves obedient to their orders and supremacy. On the other hand, it also reveled the need for African slaves to formally adapt to the customs of Christianity for their survival and ultimately their liberation.

For many years I questioned what I wanted to do with my life. I have always been passionate about my child going further than where I was currently, which was nowhere, and made every effort to helping him succeed in school. It was volunteering in his classrooms that I realized how much joy it brought me helping all children learn and be successful. While my service learning project did not take me out of my comfort zone, it challenged my patience and understanding of children who struggle with reading out loud. It opened my eyes to reading challenges that some children can face and was the motivation for my writing a research paper on dyslexia. Currently, in my son’s fourth grade class I am the only parent volunteer who spends time helping

Metzger has strongly defended traditional truths that elevate God and his cause, his mission, his authority and his free grace and mercy as the central theme for God glorifying evangelism. It rightly points out the dangers of shrinking the Bible’s teaching on salvation and brings us back to the core of the gospel in order to reestablish our passion for evangelism. As a Christian, I was pierced many times when I read this book since Metzger pointed out our mistakes and fear. Also when he mentioned of the basis for assurance of salvation, it was clear for Christians to check themselves and go out for evangelism. Assurance of salvation are these: the promises of God made real to the heart, the inner testimony of God’s Spirit, and the