Ray Johnston

In this book Ray Johnston provides his opinion on what is wrong with the American church today. He also goes into the ways that his church combats the negative stereotypes against Christians today. One of the things that is really important is that we need to change as times change. Churches are just buildings unless we lead people to Jesus. As Christians we are called to love others and to serve them just as Jesus did, but in this book Johnston points out that the American people and the American Church have both drifted away from this calling over the last seven decades. I am a Canadian and the same holds true. There seems to be more attention spent telling everyone what they are doing wrong and pointing fingers rather than following Jesus' two main commandments. Our church is undergoing many changes with a new Minister, merging of a couple of churches that have closed, and some power struggles between the money people and the Spiritual leaders. Does this sound like the old times before Jesus, it does to me. This is a good book to read about what Christianity should look like today. I think everyone involved in the Christian Church would benefit from reading this book and determining what steps they need to take to give Jesus back his church.… (meer)

NCLA Review: As a young man, Ray Johnston was challenged to discredit the claims of Christianity. He thought it would be an easy task and decided the most productive place to start would be the resurrection. When all he found was proof that the resurrection was real, it changed his life. Intermingling stories from the Bible and his own experience in thirty-two short chapters, he explains how the resurrection can also change the life of the reader. The stories are engaging and down-to-earth, but sometimes seem a little sketchy without enough substance. It is not until chapter thirty-two that Johnson presents his evidence that the resurrection actually happened, and each reader must decide if he made a convincing case. He begins each chapter with a Bible verse and ends with questions for reflection. Rating: 3 —AMB… (meer)