Wednesday, June 07, 2006

The Fire of GodI finally had time yesterday to finish this book, The Fire of God by John Michael Talbot (Little Portion, Inc., Berryville, AR. 1993). Why did I have time? Because mom's pickup broke down on me just this side of Lindsay. We were just goin' along fine, and it died, and a little bit later it went POP and then smoke. Sigh. So I got to sit there and read for a bit. Some people say you should always have things like blankets and food in your car in case you break down. I say what you really need is a book. As you might have guessed from the book's title, it concentrates on the Holy Spirit. Talbot also wrote the last book that I read, Simplicity. I think this fire one was way better. Or maybe it had something to do with the timing, since for the last 3 weeks it's been Pentecost this and Pentecost that - a frustrating subject at best. I did not realize that Talbot is a convert to Catholicism. That explains quite a bit about why he does not sound Catholic in his writings. Talbot writes in The Fire of God page 41:
I have often found the praise of God best expressed when I pray with the gift of tongues. The Acts of the Apostles clearly show that the phenomenon of tongues was an integral part of the giving of the Spirit to the Church on Pentecost. 'Tongues as of fire appeared which parted and came to rest on each of them. All were filled with the Holy Spirit. They began to express themselves as the Spirit prompted them.'"
A couple weeks ago Pastor Dave talked about the proper way tongues were to be used. And after it all, I still don't think I want this gift. Is that wrong? Enough about tongues. The book discusses the destructive, constructive, and cleansing fires of God. Naw, it's not really scientifically presented, if that's even possible to do with this topic. I'd read it again. I'm not sure if I just enjoyed it because I was that determined to be positive for once or if it really was that good. Either way, it gets a positive review from me.

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