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Sunday, January 22, 2012

For Sinners Only

For Sinners Only is the title of a book I have long had in my possession and I consider it a classic in Christian Literature.
It is written by A.J. Russell who was a journalist in Fleet Street in the 1920's. In the book he writes about the Oxford group which was founded by Frank Buchman and was having a huge impact on the World and Christians in those times.
Indeed the Alcoholics Anomynous organisation also claims its roots from this movement. The movement was later renamed Moral Re-Armanent which is not a great name in my opinion and while the group may exist today I believe it has long lost it's original purpose.
It would be great to see in this day and age a vital movement of Christians that once again discovers how to live the Christian Life that is so irresistable that many are attracted and claim Jesus as their own and experience a changed life.
The Exchanged Life that the likes of Grace Fellowship International teach about.


You can download all the text and a PDF of the book from the internet.

Below are 2 extracts from the book. Read the whole book and be challenged.

"THE VOICE FROM THE BLUE
is a book about sinners, for sinners, by quite a big
sinner.
You may not like it. You may even hate it, as some are sure to do.
You may dislike the theme, for, though it introduces lovely
people, it comes to grips with an unlovely subject. And solves its riddle.
You may dislike the characters as they are limned in print, but not in real life.
As they are all living, you may encounter them yourself some day, and discover
their excellence. At least one will live on as an historic figure when this
genera-tion has merged with the ages. Perhaps many. Meanwhile,
none can disprove the contents of this book or avoid its challenge.
The story is true; the challenge is to you."

"Out of that strange first meeting came the impression that 
these men had voluntarily lost the world in order thereby to 
change the world. They were the exact opposite of the "go- 
getter" type one habitually encountered in business. Though 
they were no longer masters of their fate or captains of their 
souls, they had a quiet strength, a relentless purpose which 
were already bringing astonishing results. 

For them nothing was casual. God had a plan. They were 
trying to fit in with it. Knowledge of that plan, God's guid- 
ance and God's power were available for all who chose to work 
in with that plan. This guidance and power transcended every 
form of self-determination. God-guidance in God's strength 
could be the normal experience of everybody at all times, they 
asserted."
 
Here is the link to the text of the book. 
 
http://www.archive.org/stream/MN41552ucmf_0/MN41552ucmf_0_djvu.txt 
I have other books about this movement in my collection and I believe 
the movement should be studied by people who are serious about reaching
out to others with the Gospel

2 comments:

  1. Hi!, I am pondoring over it and have a doubt. In what way it has got a teaching that is different from today's church?

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  2. Hi David.Thanks for your comment.The main things the Oxford movement did well was to encourage the discipline of a daily quiet time and the practice of confession of sins to other Christians.Like all Christian movements it had it's critics.It also encouraged Christian fellowship with it's house meetings.Some say you only should confess your sins to Jesus but the Bible teaches otherwise.A daily quiet time is really the key to living a vibrant Christian life.It did capture the enthusiasm of many around the world at its time and was influential in both the most humble sinner and in the hearts and minds of politicians and world leaders.This all still can and does happen today in some parts of the world.

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