“ This book has the power, unlike so many other books, to take you beyond mere Christian sentimentality and teach you something of eternal value.”
From Ear to Heart – Sermons on Spiritual Formation
Author: Bishop Dr Robert Solomon. Edited by Tong Suit Chee
Published by: Graduates’ Christian Fellowship
180 pages, $15
Available through publisher, 420 North Bridge Road #05-04 North Bridge Centre
IF YOU HAVE MARVELLED at the way doctors know exactly what is needed for each ailment or even certain health conditions and diseases, this book takes it all to a whole new level.
Published by the Graduates’ Christian Fellowship, From Ear to Heart is a collection of 18 sermons by a medical doctor-turned-doctor of theology, Bishop Dr Robert Solomon of e Methodist Church in Singapore.
is spiritual physician’s prescriptions are sweet when put in the mouth of the human soul by the very fact that everything he says is true; but, once past mental assent, they prod the lazy spirit to pursue the path of true Christian spirituality, which is the road of bitter suffering, yet not without its attendant benefits – and how incomparably greater!
Slim as this book may be, it effectively bridges important gaps: between the there and then of the Bible, its characters and testimonies; and the here and now, between the culture of the Bible and the Singaporean culture.
In one area, though, it does not attempt to accommodate 21st century Singapore Christian moderns and what a very significant area: these sermons, given for a variety of settings, do not try to make the message of the Gospel any more acceptable than it is – and this is not very much – in the hearing of an outrageously relativist culture.
The Bishop presents the Gospel in all its blunt, unrefined offensiveness and political incorrectness.
Christians unwilling to receive the “death sentence” of the Gospel in full force and forsake the earthly comforts of this world are here forewarned not to digest this book: it has the power, unlike so many other books, to take you beyond mere Christian sentimentality and teach you something of eternal value.
For the rest of us, here is a spiritual doctor who knows to prescribe medicine for our terribly sick souls. – christianpost.com.sg
Edmond Chua is the Editor/Publisher of The Christian Post.
DEVOTION
Jesus’ resurrection calls us to remember His death
WHEN MICHAEL JACKSON DIED IN JUNE LAST YEAR, the media buzzed with details of his popular career and his bizarre life: star of the family group, the Jackson Five, the changes in his music, his marriage to Lisa Marie Presley, his financial woes, his three children, all of whom bear both his names, his cosmetic surgeries, the charges of child molestation …
Death calls us to remember a life, no matter how wonderful or sordid.
In Jesus’ case, it was different. His resurrection calls us to remember His death.
So it was for the disciples, according to John. About Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, he wrote, “His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about Him and had been done to Him.” (John 12:16 ESV).
Earlier, when recording the Lord’s cryptic words about rebuilding the temple in three days, he said, “When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.” (John 2:22).
The resurrection validated everything Jesus had said and done.
When Jesus died, the disciples went back to fishing. One might say they forgot His life, because of their expectations. But when He arose from the dead, it all came flooding back.
This is why Paul wrote that, if Christ was not raised from the dead, then our faith and preaching and hope are all in vain.
So as we eat the Lord’s Supper today, let us remember that He rose from the dead. And this fact will spur our memories of His sacrifice in death. – KneEmail.
By J. Randal Matheny