Pneuma Informer, January 2011

The Pneuma Foundation is pleased to add content to our website as a resource to our members and friends around the world. We also add links to content that we are not able to republish ourselves, but may be of interest. Here are some examples of links added recently to "Links to Articles & Books" www.pneumafoundation.org/links_articles.jsp and from "Links to Study Resources" www.pneumafoundation.org/links_study.jsp
The largest list of Pentecostal/charismatic Bible Schools available online anywhere. http://www.pneumafoundation.org/links_schools.jsp
Add your school: http://www.pneumafoundation.org/links.jsp#link
Christianity Today summary of Lausanne 2010. Tim Stafford, "Teeming Diversity: The Third Lausanne Congress demonstrated that global evangelicalism has been transformed" (Christianity Today, Dec 2010). www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/december/6.34.html

Reports from Around the World

Persecution of Christians accelerated dramatically in 2010
North Korea tops the Open Doors World Watch List - a ranking of 50 countries that are the worst persecutors of Christians around the globe. Carl Moeller with Open Doors USA says there were no surprises on this year's list. However, "The biggest thing that we learned from putting the list together this year is that the entire level of persecution globally is accelerating at a really dramatic rate." Moeller says, "Eight out of the top ten countries on our World Watch List this year are Islamic countries where Islamic extremism has gained the upper hand." A case in point is the January 4 assassination of the governor of Pakistan's Punjab province. He was killed by his bodyguard because he spoke out against the country's controversial blasphemy law. The World Watch List's release is an important tool in a Christian response. "The first thing we can do is to pray. Secondly, though, we can use our voice. Again, the World Watch List is a great tool for us to speak to countries that are sensitive to religious liberty. And lastly, this World Watch List also tells us the areas that need our help the most. Many Christian refugees are fleeing their homes, and we've got to be there supporting them."
Source: Mission Network News, 5 January, 2011. http://www.mnnonline.org/article/15184

Eritrea: Christians arrested for praying
On 2 January 2011, Eritrean officials arrested 30 Christians, members of the Philadelphia Church, for praying at a private house in Asmara, the capital. The Philadelphia Church is an evangelical church outlawed in Eritrea. Several other churches in the country were forced to go underground in 2002 when officials required all religious groups to register.
Sources report that "currently, more than 3,000 Eritreans have been detained for their faith in Christ. Most are kept in underground dungeons, metal shipping containers and military barracks. Several Christians have died while imprisoned due to torture and lack of medical attention."
In another release from the World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission, "Wave of Protests in Arab World Endangers Christians in Eritrea" (Jan 31, 2011), the terrible treatment of prisoners has been confirmed by a US Embassy cable released by Wiki Leaks. http://www.wikileaks.ch/cable/2008/11/08ASMARA546.html
Source: Adapted from WEA Religious Liberty Prayer News, 15 January, 2011. http://www.persecution.net/pnp.htm#1101134

Turkmenistan: Government lumps Evangelicals in with radical Islam
Despite severe restrictions of religious freedom, ministry continues in former Soviet bloc nation. "We're hoping and praying that we would just continue to see a change in heart in the government where they would realize that there are worse threats out there than evangelical Christian churches which typically proclaim the Gospel and peace and reconciliation in the name of Jesus."
Source: Mission Network News. Full story: http://www.mnnonline.org/article/15202

Tunisia: Upheaval unlikely to improve situation for believers
Protests erupted in Tunisia's streets Monday, January 17 with the formation of a coalition government. The president fled on the previous Friday, January 14. Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs says it's hard to say what will result. However, "I don't think we can anticipate a positive change, at least in the short term. This is a country with less than half a percent of the population as Christian. It's pretty unlikely that suddenly those believers are going to be celebrated by their government." Oppression ramped up against believers in 2010. "Voice of the Martyrs is involved, but I can't say much more than that, because there are so few Christians in Tunisia, anything we say publicly about what we're doing there can end up in them being targeted." Pray for more open doors. "When there is upheaval, people are thinking about important things: 'What's worth living for? What's worth dying for?' That can be a time when revival strikes," says Nettleton. "It can be a time when the Spirit of God moves within a country." Mission Network News, 18 January, 2011. http://www.mnnonline.org/article/15242
Source: Missions Insider Report, November 29, 2010. http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs012/1011289464089/archive/1103996419676.html

News and Headlines
Visit links.jsp for Current News and Links

Nigeria: Christian Aid Mission Seeks Relief for Jos Survivors of Christmas Eve Bomb Attacks (Christian News Wire). http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/8228115800.html
Pakistan: Voice for Peace Murdered and the extremist murderer received a hero's welcome. http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/pakistani-governor-salman-taseers-alleged-killer-faces-court/story-e6frfku0-1225982782530
Editorial: Saroop Ijaz, "The real blasphemy: Pakistan's law not only threatens people like Asia Bibi, it strengthens radicals and the Taliban" (Los Angeles Times). http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-ijaz-blasphemy-20110105,0,3365471.story
USA: 41 Percent of Pregnancies in New York City Are Aborted Twice the national average of 19% (AOL News). aolnews.com/2011/01/07/41-percent-of-pregnancies-in-nyc-are-aborted
India: Violence against Christians Is Not Decreasing (MNN). http://www.mnnonline.org/article/15150
China: Christian activist's account of torture released AP publishes transcripts of an April 2010 interview with missing lawyer Gao Zhisheng (ChristianityTodayOnline). http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2011/01/christian_activ_2.html
Iraq: Christians are being systematically exterminated (MNN). mnnonline.org/article/15121
Pakistan: Police Threaten Family after Murdering Christian Christians in Karachi, Pakistan, allege that police are covering up the horrible murder of a Christian teen and threatening his family if they pursue justice (Compass Direct). compassdirect.org/english/country/pakistan/31466
Egypt: Islamic authority breaks off dialogue with Vatican Egypt's highest Islamic authority has frozen its dialogue with the Vatican after the Pope appealed for the better protection of Christian minorities (ChristianToday). christiantoday.com/article/egypt.islamic.authority.freezes.dialogue.with.vatican/27399.htm
Eritrea: Christians arrested in new crackdown Entire congregations have been imprisoned and beaten in this latest repression (The Christian Post). christianpost.com/article/20110121/eritrean-govt-arrests-100-christians-in-major-crackdown

See other news to pray and praise God about in the Prayer Requests department below.

Report the News
We are looking for stories about what God is doing in the world, reports about the persecution of Christians, and information about significant trends and ministry opportunities. If you have a news item to report, please send an email to the PNEUMA INFORMER. http://www.pneumafoundation.org/contactus.jsp

Resources You Can Use

New Book by LifeWay CEO explores latest research on Millennials
At more than 78 million strong, the Millennials -- those born between 1980 and 2000 -- have surpassed the Boomers as the larger and more influential generation in America. Millennials are shaping the first half of the 21st Century of American culture, and their attitudes and preferences influence businesses, the workplace, schools, churches, and more.
Read the press release: "Money, Media, Marriage and Millennials... What is the Next Generation of Influencers Thinking" www.ecpa.org/rush/pr36.html
Source: Rush to Press (December 27, 2010)

EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries
"[A] series of Bible Commentaries for pastors, elders and Bible Study leaders in the developing world or for people who speak English as a second language." An easy-to-read Bible text and commentaries (2800 vocabulary word level) available online and on a free CD.
easyenglish.info/bible-commentary/index.htm
Source: Brigada Today (2010/01/31)

Conversations with Readers

I just wanted to thank you for putting my prayer request on the website so quickly. It means a lot to me to know that so many people are praying for me.
Yours in Christ,
Jonathan

I appreciate the Pneuma Foundation and am very glad for the resources that you provide.
Abraham in Myanmar (Burma)

Through the teachings on your encouraging web site we are spiritually touched.
Pastor O

I belong to Christian community in Pakistan. I visited your website and impressed by your work.
Waseem

I am a great admirer of your word and work. They are exceptional.
Be blessed and live in the Glory!
Charles

Want to honor the Lord by thanking Pneuma Foundation for all you do to advance the Lord Jesus STILL baptizes in the Holy Spirit with the initial evidence of speaking in other tongues. Your's is an important work in the Body and I know that before ever knowing of your existence, I have benefited from your work.
Christ's Love,
Minister D.A.

Thank you for your website, it is great blessing to me and my ministry.
Don

Thanks for your mail and prayer support. May God bless you.
Yours in Christ
Joshua

Excerpts from THE PNEUMA REVIEW

THE PNEUMA REVIEW is a quarterly printed journal of ministry resources and theology for Pentecostal and charismatic ministries and leaders. For more information about THE PNEUMA REVIEW, and to learn how to subscribe, please visit: Introducing THE PNEUMA REVIEW. www.pneumafoundation.org/intro_pr.jsp

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Cindy Jacobs' THE REFORMATION MANIFESTO, Reviewed by Tony Richie

From the Winter 2011 issue

Cindy Jacobs, The Reformation Manifesto: Your Part in God's Plan to Change the Nations Today (Bloomington, Minnesota: Bethany House, 2008), 238 pages, ISBN 9780764205026.

Texan Cindy Jacobs is an international leader in the modern prayer movement. With her husband, Mike, she founded Generals International which works to achieve social transformation through intercession and prophetic ministry. Her writings, including Possessing the Gates of the Enemy and The Voice of God, and television program, God Knows, tend to call for intercession, repentance, and renewal. A notable aspect of Jacobs' work is its aim not only at religious revival or spiritual renewal but also social transformation. Further, a key aspect of the present volume is an emphasis on social transformation on an international scale. In fact, it compares and contrasts what Jacobs perceives as a move of God toward changing the nations that is a completion of the 16th century Protestant Reformation led by Martin Luther and others. This is a popular level book that uses a lot of scriptural quotes and references, testimonies and examples, and includes frequent prayers and challenges to action. Likely it will most benefit those interested in a contemporary Charismatic Renewal approach integrating spirituality and social transformation.

Popular Charismatic leaders such as C. Peter Wagner are increasingly declaring that the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20) is much more than evangelism. Wagner, in his Forward to Jacobs, The Reformation Manifesto, confesses that many, including him, "have for too long harbored a truncated view of the kingdom of God", explaining further that they "began by over-identifying the church with the kingdom" and proceeded to limit their mission to saving souls without improving society. He specifically names the Great Commission, confessing again, that he "used to think making disciples meant getting people saved and multiplying churches" but that he has come to see a broader vision, in agreement with Jacobs, that includes "sustained social transformation". This integrative application of Christian mission, the Great Commission, and social transformation is characteristic of this volume by Cindy Jacobs.

After an introduction that calls for a new reformation integrating revival, transformation, and reformation and explaining Jacobs' own passion for this kind of ministry, the first chapter insists social reformation is founded upon prior personal reformation. Chapter two argues that social reformation today is in the tradition of previous generations of Christians who have shared a similar burden in their own context and time. The next several chapters set forth a vision of what nations ought to be and a course for accomplishing that objective, what Jacobs calls "teaching the nations" or "discipling the nations". There is a strong emphasis on justice with accountability to God as ultimate judge. There is some discussion of the relationship between the Bible and contemporary government, including various approaches to political realities that affirm leaders and thinkers such as William Wilberforce and Abraham Kuyper as worthy examples but decry those such as Jean-Jacques Rouseau and Karl Marx. Chapters on economics and legislation attempt to set these complex and controversial fields in biblical perspective, in each case calling for radical reformation of present systems. The media, including journalism and entertainment, are not missed either. Finally, a stirring chapter on "Costly Grace," ala Dietrich Bonhoeffer, challenges believers today to sacrificial action for achieving radical reformation.

Cindy Jacobs is a gifted communicator, and she's passionate about her topic. She strenuously attempts to integrate Scripture, prayer, and Christian history and thought, as well as personal experience, and apply them to the contemporary social context. I find it refreshing that she interprets the Great Commission, the catch phrase of Christian mission for so many Evangelicals, Pentecostals, and Charismatics, with social mission and vision - and on an international scale at that. Her avid integration of spirituality and social activity is worth the price of the book. Her devotion is evident. It is a genuine treat to hear her heart and how God's speaks and works in her life.

However, Jacobs does seem to assume that Christians in general and American Christians in particular (Evangelicals and Charismatics especially) can accomplish this grand reformation alone or on their own. That is, we can do it without any substantive help - any cooperation or partnership - from anyone else (well, at least apart from direct divine intervention). For an instance, I see here no idea of effort for Christians to dialogue or partner with other religions. The few references to religious others are generally negative. For example, Jacobs seems to imply that Islam is an idolatrous religion that brings God's curse on the land resulting in droughts and famines. Obviously that would be an alienating assessment. Further, she appears paranoid, though apparently envious as well, of Islamic banking systems, especially in the United Kingdom, and worries about "the Islamification of the United Kingdom". How she intends to have global transformation without at least some level of interreligious cooperation is not explained. Yet she certainly issues a stirring challenge to Christians to live out the social implications of their faith.

In my opinion, it would be extreme to accuse Jacobs of latent American imperialism under the guise of Christian mission. Widely traveled, she still speaks quite naturally out of her American context with a pressing burden for other nations as well. She simply has a specific and strident Christian vision of how we might make the world a better place. With the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, Jacobs finds it unacceptable and intolerable that so many societies seem to be deteriorating all around us. She's convinced that the major problems of sin, poverty, and disease should not continue to plague the planet if its two billion Christians are doing their duty. For this, she is to be commended. Nevertheless, some attention to how those two billion Christians might work with the planet's other four billion members - including many adherents of other religions - to make it happen together could conceivably make her powerful prophetic dream more realistically attainable. And that would be worth praying about!

Reviewed by Tony Richie

Preview this book: christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product_slideshow?sku=206627

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Tony Richie, D.Min, Ph.D., is missionary teacher at SEMISUD (Quito, Ecuador), guest lecturer at the Pentecostal Theological Seminary and Lee University (Cleveland, TN) and adjunct theology professor for Regent University Divinity School (Virginia Beach, VA). Dr. Richie is an Ordained Bishop in the Church of God, and Senior Pastor at New Harvest in Knoxville, TN. He serves the Society for Pentecostal Studies as Ecumenical Studies Interest Group Leader and Liaison to the Interfaith Relations Commission of the National Council of Churches (USA), and represents Pentecostals with Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation of the World Council of Churches and the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs. He is the author of Speaking by the Spirit: A Pentecostal Model for Interreligious Dialogue (Emeth Press, 2011) and several journal articles and books chapters on Pentecostal theology and experience.

Read more reviews and other articles in the Winter 2011 issue of THE PNEUMA REVIEW www.pneumafoundation.org/intro_pr.jsp

Marvin Olasky's THE TRAGEDY OF AMERICAN COMPASSION, Reviewed by Woodrow Walton

From the Winter 2011 issue

Marvin Olasky, The Tragedy of American Compassion (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008), 299 pages, ISBN 9781433501104.

Under review is the second unrevised edition of The Tragedy of American Compassion originally published in 1992. There is good reason for a second unrevised edition. The circumstances described by Olasky in this history of social work and charity in America as existing in 1992 remain much the same in 2008-10.

The title is derived from a phrase found on page 189 where Olasky writes of a "compassion fatigue" brought on by depersonalization. He identifies governmental bureaucracy in social work as contributing to the breakdown of personal involvement with the homeless and others in need. He quotes a social worker's comment which appeared on page 17 of a February 8, 1971, Time magazine article: "...the paper work is just amazing ... I have yet to solve any social problem."

The author also noted a semantic shift over time from when compassion meant a personal act with another to a "feeling" requiring "a willingness to send a check" (p. 197). This, too, constituted a tragic breakdown of charity and personal social work in America.

The Tragedy of American Compassion is a chronological social history of compassion and caring in America from colonial times to the present noting the changes from a time of more personal involvement and action to the present situation of de-personalized help. A second stream of narrative in the book is the flow from discussions over who merits special attention as recipients of charity to full-blown arguments and policies over who merits care. The time when discussions turned into arguments was close to 1845. As the country's urban areas became more populous and industrialized, those arguments got more energized and more developed as philosophical differences over private caring and governmental welfare. It went from "should we not do more" to universal indiscriminate welfare.

Olasky devoted two long chapters to the issues raised by Social Darwinists and by those who set out to prove the Social Darwinists wrong. Among the latter were the newly formed private charity organizations and the colorful figure of Jerry McCauley, the founder of the McCauley Mission in New York City. McCauly's Christian rescue mission concept set off a rash of such missions which spread rapidly across America from coast to coast in the late nineteenth century.

In chapter six Olasky lists what he identifies as "seven seals of good philanthropic practice." These included Affiliation, Bonding, Categorization, Discernment, Employment, Freedom and God (page 101). Affiliation refers to family, ethnic ties, and church or synagogue. Bonding refers to the direct contact and personal relationship between volunteer and recipient. Categorization refers to identifying the type of help needed and what is worthy of relief. Discernment refers to the acknowledgment of any lurking deviousness or pretension in a person seeking help. Employment is self-explanatory but with a stipulation of "long-term" work. Freedom refers to the opportunity to work and worship without government restriction. God is the seventh seal on the social covenant of compassion.

Chapter ten is important for the analysis offered of the revolution of the 1960s in welfare and of the heartbreak which followed in the aftermath when several of these seals were broken under the influence of a growing belief in universal social welfare without any discrimination applied. Chapter eleven offers a critique of depersonalized welfare, the entitlement mentality, checkbook compassion, universal social welfare (social universalism), and non-discriminatory welfare.

The final two chapters (12 and 13) are, by far, the most helpful with excellent suggestions on how to put true compassion into practice and how to best apply historical precedent to the present welfare situation. Olasky provides examples. "In the end," he writes, "not much will be accomplished without a spiritual revival that transforms the everyday advice people give and receive, and the way we lead our lives" (p. 230).

Olasky's work, in this reviewer's assessment, is the most definitive and even-handed work ever written on American social welfare. Social historian Donald J. Berthrong, formerly of the University of Oklahoma, has done research and written in this area of concern but Olasky's The Tragedy of American Compassion is, by far, the most useful in the practical sense. If not already, the book needs to be on the reading list of the North American Association of Christians in Social Work (Botsford, Connecticut).

Reviewed by Woodrow E. Walton

Preview this book by pointing to:books.google.com/books?id=K6FOU-s0l0QC

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Woodrow E. Walton, D.Min. (Oral Roberts University School of Theology and Missions), B.A. (Texas Christian University), B.D. [M.Div.] (Duke Divinity School), M.A. (University of Oklahoma), is a retired Seminary Dean and Professor of biblical, theological and historical studies. An ordained Assemblies of God minister, he and his wife live in Shattuck, Oklahoma. Walton retains membership with the Evangelical Theological Society, American Association of Christian Counselors, American Society of Church History, American Academy of Political Science, and The International Society of Frontier Missiology.

Read more reviews and other articles in the Winter 2011 issue of THE PNEUMA REVIEW www.pneumafoundation.org/intro_pr.jsp

Jim Wallis' REDISCOVERING VALUES, Reviewed by Stephen King

From the Winter 2011 issue

Jim Wallis, Rediscovering Values On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street: A Moral Compass for the New Economy (New York, NY: Howard Books, 2010), ix + 255 pages, ISBN 9781439183120.

Rahm Emanuel, President Obama's former chief of staff, was quoted as saying, "You don't ever want to let a crisis go to waste; it's an opportunity to do important things that you would otherwise avoid." Jim Wallis is founder and CEO of Sojourners as well as editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine; evangelical ministries promoting social justice. In his recent book, Rediscovering Values On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street: A Moral Compass for the New Economy he writes that the current economic crisis is a "transformative moment in history," one where all Americans have an unprecedented opportunity to make fundamental and, hopefully, long-lasting changes that are not just economic and political, but moral as well. It appears that Wallis is as pragmatic as Emanunel.

Jim Wallis is also the author of recent bestsellers, including The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith and Politics in a Post-Religious Right America (2008) and God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It (2006). Along with other writers such as David P. Gushee, author of The Future of Faith in American Politics: Witness of the Evangelical Center (2008), and sociologist James Davison Hunter in his recent book To Change the World (Oxford University Press, 2010), Wallis touches the ideological nerve center of the majority of American people and Christians. To one degree or another, they all advocate the reformation of the large ideological, political, and even spiritual center, moving away from the polarization between Left and Right.

For Wallis, the current economic crisis is the point where the social and spiritual combine to set the stage for combating not only the economic ills brought about by the crisis, but also to offer an opportunity to resurrect the human spirit: a spirit of compassion, creativity, community development and empowerment, and plain old neighbors helping neighbors. It is here at this crux that Wallis sees an opportunity for the wheels of political action, spiritual unity, and social justice to roll into high gear. He examines all three in Rediscovering Values.

In January 2009, Wallis was invited to participate in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. After listening to several guests and various participating media outlets such as CNN ask the same question over and over: "When will this crisis be over?" Wallis argued that the better question to ask was, "How will this crisis change us?" The first question is important, of course, given that the country is experiencing high unemployment; the housing market is at an all time low; and the national debt has escalated into the trillions.

Wallis contends that the more important question revolves around our moral compass, a compass that registers the direction of our moral deficit and shows the way toward our moral recovery. But this moral recovery is impossible if clergy, politicians, media and others continually ask the wrong question. "If we start with the wrong question, it doesn't matter how good our answer is, we'll always end up in the wrong place. If we only ask how to get back to the place we were before this crisis began, we will miss the opportunity to stop walking in circles and start moving forward" (6). For Wallis, then, the real question - "How will this crisis change us?" - goes to the moral and spiritual heart of social justice; a concept that the evangelical Left touts as its theological and ideological mantra.

Do not be deceived, however. Wallis' intention is to both attack and argue for changes to the current capitalistic market system (although he is limited in providing specifics). The system that began with Adam Smith's "invisible hand" is a system that Wallis believes has gone unchecked for far too long and now requires the very visible hand of the federal government to institute even tighter regulatory mechanisms. He is not opposed to capitalism or the free market system. However, the market system that resulted in the crash of the housing market, the bailout of Lehman Brothers and the government takeover of AIG and General Motors, is an institution that knows no self-regulation. The market system, like the golden calf in the Old Testament (39), is being served rather than doing the serving. Thus, he contends that additional governmental regulation is the answer.

Greed is worshiped, laments Wallis. Like Gordon Gekko, the unscrupulous financial broker in the movie Wall Street, many people today, especially the "very rich," apparently believe that "Greed...is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit..." (45). It is greed, spawned by the manipulation of Wall Street financial gimmicks, that created the great chasm between CEOs, like Richard Fairbank at Capital One who received nearly $250 million, and the average bank or financial institution employee, who makes in the low five figures (85). Greed also produced this unbelievable statistic: 400 people hold more wealth than half of the United States combined. This is a disparity, he adds, that "we should all despair" (89). Obviously, something must be done; something must happen to lessen this gap.

Wallis sees there is more wrong with the market than the economic inequalities. Something has invaded the soul of Americans and many others around the world, who live and work in highly developed market economies. We scream for more! The greed that Gekko spoke so glowingly about does not promote the "common good" or the greater "public interest." Instead, it pushes a narcissistic personality (56); a society, a generation that wants fast loans, fast food, and reality television (60). All for what, Wallis asks, all for myself?

What are the questions Christians, Jews, and Muslims should be asking? What should people of faith be thinking, saying, and doing? What does the Bible say about all the issues now being raised? What can economists, some of whom are also people of faith, tell us about economic philosophy, the role of the market, the role of government, the place of social regulation, the spiritual consequences of economic disparities, the moral health of an economy, and the criteria of the common good? What does this book say that is relevant to me as a pastor, teacher, minister, missionary, or interested layman? These and many more (10) are the questions that Wallis believes need to be asked regarding the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

If greed, self-deception, and an immoral and socially unjust market system are the culprit, what is the answer? It is a spiritual one that is imbued with the power of social justice and validated by the doctrine of Scripture. Wallis is clear: "the logic of a consumer society is fundamentally at odds with the teaching of Jesus" (111). We live in a marketing-infused and inflated world, where toys and trinkets and sex sell with equally rapidity, while those of us who claim Christianity as our code of faith, and who follow the words of Jesus and the Old Testament prophets, know all too well that conspicuously consuming wealth is at odds with giving it away. Wallis believes one key to resolving this is redistribute the wealth of the rich.

Wallis says that Jesus the Son of God many times spoke about and demonstrated the art of giving - the hope found in redistributing the wealth of a few to retard the poverty of many. In fact, the Bible is replete, he argues, with examples of "redistribution of wealth," such as the spiritually and financially enriching practice of Jubilee (Leviticus 25). Further, it was the early Church fathers - such as Clement of Alexandria, Augustine, and John Chrysostom the Patriarch of Constantinople (115, 116) - who challenged the early Christians to reconsider the possession of their wealth, and to advance economic communitarianism (Acts 4:32-37).

Wallis' ideal society is one predicated on the belief that social parity trumps individual opportunity; where the avarices of the market economy must be subdued by the regulatory arm of the state. Although he gives lip service to re-establishing "self-governance" (3), meaning that people must reassert self-regulation and prioritization of their needs from wants; it is clear throughout the text that of the three institutions - public, meaning government, private, and non-profit - that frame and contain the problems and solutions of society, it is government, and specifically the federal government, that must play a sizable role in creating a better balance between the other two institutions (225), a balance that will ward off further crises, economic or otherwise, that might one day plague our nation.

Wallis calls for a variety of economic and social changes. They include: developing and re-energizing the concept of "community" (125-126, 128); reiterating the need for more public and private service (137); is an advocate for the clean-energy economy (149); strongly encouraging the recreation of the "healthy family" (159); recommitting to the "meaning of work and the ethic of service" (173), which is tantamount to establishing and developing a healthier and more productive work environment, one where people care for people rather than just themselves; and where recovering the "commons" (187) and dismissing the myth of the "sinless market" is the centerpiece of a new society. These all sound good, but what is the bottom line for Wallis?

He believes that a "social transformation" is necessary, one that is rooted in spiritual and political values, values that according to Wallis are found in the social justice gospel of the evangelical Left. He concludes with a clarion call saying, "Change begins when some people make different choices. Change grows when people make different choices together. And when the critical mass of those who are making different choices gets big enough, change becomes a social movement. It is those movements that change history..." (228).

Wallis is correct, but only partly. A transformation is necessary, but he only gets to the first of two necessary questions. Wallis answers, "How will this crisis change us?" with the social justice gospel. This theology promotes the gross misunderstanding that Jesus was more concerned about society and its institutions than He was about the individual. This "gospel" argues for the intervention of social, economic, and political regulations imposed and enforced by government. It is a gospel that wrenches the heart and soul of man toward belief in redistributing wealth as a means of assuaging one's conscience, especially when the imbalance of wealth is too great. This is a gospel that Jim Wallis believes is the salvation of society.

But Wallis is politically savvy, if not worldly spiritual. He understands that this economic crisis is not one that will easily be dismissed, or one that will be solved solely by the political and economic regulations. It will require a response from the every person in every town across America. It will require civic and economic sacrifice. It will require families, neighborhoods, faith-based organizations, and communities working with each other and with local and state governing bodies.

There is a second question that Wallis does not ask: "How will this crisis change me?"

Wallis' gospel is based on human understanding and manipulation of religious values and spiritual involvement, promulgated by progressive government principles and practices. This is at best a pretentious gospel, one that markets more than it can produce. It places faith in government-directed transformational efforts, which although produce incremental and temporary results, fail to correct the fruit of fear and ignorance. Social justice devoid of spiritual transformation and grace is simply a form of legalism.

The real gospel is one that is spiritually transforming. The basis of true social change is "bottom-up" where the church disciples believers and then believers impact their world for Christ.

Reviewed by Stephen M. King

Preview Rediscovering Values online:books.google.com/books?id=8Nc8FhxNF8IC

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Stephen M. King, Ph.D. (University of Missouri-Columbia), is Associate Professor of Public Policy and coordinator of the undergraduate public policy program at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida. He is the author of and contributor to numerous books and articles about Christian faith and politics, administrative ethics, public management, and public policy. In addition to his extensive background as an educator, he is ordained by the International Pentecostal Holiness Church and has experience in pastoral ministry and overseas mission work.

Read more reviews and other articles in the Winter 2011 issue of THE PNEUMA REVIEW www.pneumafoundation.org/intro_pr.jsp

Prayer Requests

Persecution during the Holidays. While the holiday season was peaceful and a joyful time for most of us, during these holiday weeks many Christians around the world experienced intensified persecution by Muslim extremists.
The Jubilee Campaign reports that in Nigeria a Christmas Eve bomb killed at least 32 Christians and left another 70+ wounded. Local Muslims also attacked three other churches, burning one to the ground and leaving six Christians dead.
Another bomb set by Muslim separatists in a southern province of the Philippines wounded 11 but no one was killed.
In Indonesia, police terrorized a congregation instead of controlling a mob of Muslim protestors intent on preventing them from gathering for worship. www.compassdirect.org/english/country/indonesia/31183
Pakistan saw its first female suicide bomber kill 47 refugees and leave another 100 people in the hospital.
In Iraq attacks specifically targeted at Christians destroyed ten homes, leaving at least a dozen injured and two Christians dead.
The Muslim government of Iran arrested at least 25 Christian men and women for 'apostasy.' Open Doors USA says 70 have been arrested. See also: mnnonline.org/article/15236
The Taliban in Afghanistan mounted fierce attacks throughout the holidays.
Finally just past midnight on New Year's Eve, a bomb attack in Egypt killed 21 Christians and injured approximately 100 more as they left the Church of Two Saints in Alexandria.
Please pray: Pray against the growing persecution from Muslim extremists, especially in the Middle East and Africa. Pray for the persecuted Christians in Nigeria, Philippines, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran and Egypt. Pray for advancing the Kingdom of God in the dark and troubled places.
Source: Adapted from WEA Religious Liberty Prayer News, 15 January, 2011

Renewal in India. SK writes: "We are praying for revival and outpouring of the Holy Spirit in India. We are gathering more than 1,000 leaders and founders of various organisations to pray and to seek the Lord together from 23rd to 25th March, 2011. We request you to join us in prayer . . . The Holy Spirit was poured out in 1905-06 in different parts of India. We are re-digging the wells." The conference is scheduled to take place at Hosanna Mandir, Gorantla, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.

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