C.H.E. Sadaphal's Blog, page 7
June 16, 2016
SPURGEON’S SERMONS (FIVE VOLUME SET) by CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON
The bottom line: Feel empowered by the Spirit with this awesome collection of powerful and motivational sermons.
Arguably, Charles Haddon Spurgeon was one of the greatest Christian orators to have ever lived. As a Reformed Baptist preacher, he proclaimed the truth of the gospel in England in the 1800s, yet his words still inspire countless Christians of all denominations in the 21st century. Spurgeon lead one of the first modern “mega-churches” where he routinely preached to audiences in the thousands each and every Sunday. In fact, Spurgeon was so popular that newspapers reprinted the text of his sermons the following day. Why the history lesson?
Because within Spurgeon’s Sermons , you are treated to some of Spurgeon’s best transcribed messages, each filled with power, strength, razor-sharp thought, and awe-inspiring theological imagination. Spurgeon’s words will leave you spellbound and even if this set cost $500 it would still be a bargain.
One of the most helpful parts of this five-volume set are the indices at the end of the fifth volume. Both serve as a type of “Google search” where you can locate the page for a particular topic (e.g., resurrection and atonement) or a particular Scripture verse. This proves to be tremendously helpful when looking for supplemental information to match your own Bible study.
Personally, Spurgeon’s Sermons is one of my most treasured resources and I never prepare a sermon without it. Furthermore, to say that this set is a collection of mere ‘sermons’ undervalues the breadth of work. What the reader is subsequently gifted is a vast ocean of symbolism, exegesis, story-telling, poetry and homiletical persuasion.
One can truly experience the inspirational and motivational force of the Holy Spirit moving you through the words of Spurgeon in this timeless book. Spurgeon brings the Word of God to life and through beautiful theological reflection, invites you to bask in the overwhelming felt love that comes from having a deep, personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
For all those who are curious a free, online, comprehensive sermon archive is available at http://www.spurgeongems.org/sermons.htm
Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal
June 10, 2016
June 9, 2016
THE HANDBOOK FOR SPIRITUAL WARFARE by DR. ED MURPHY
The bottom line: A remarkable, comprehensive, and eye-opening guide to all dimensions of the spiritual battle.
Not only does The Handbook for Spiritual Warfare start from the beginning and build a sound Biblical foundation for spiritual warfare, but it also manages to execute, in very realistic and practical terms, how this understanding manifests and applies to the life of the modern believer, the life of the Church, and the lives of Christian leaders.
Indeed, as any mature Christian is fully aware, the spiritual realm is very real and is to be taken very seriously. This may seem obvious, yet spiritual warfare is often neglected in mainstream Christianity and is even largely ignored in some institutions of higher theological education. The Handbook for Spiritual Warfare makes it clear that thinking in natural terms is only capable of producing limited results. Hence, there is an unseen dimension of evil that is the source of a myriad of natural problems. Chasing after symptoms ignores the underlying disease. Accordingly, as the author clarifies from the start of the book, the ministry of Jesus dealt heavily with the spiritual realm and this invisible battle still rages on today. This book opens the reader’s eyes to the attack on multiple fronts and takes the time to educate, tutor, and strengthen those who seek victory in Christ.
The title, The Handbook for Spiritual Warfare, sells this book short because it covers much, much more than spiritual warfare. You actually end up getting a focused Biblical education on supernaturalism, the mechanisms of sin and evil, sanctification, and the subliminal war between secularism and the Christian walk just to name a few examples. In fact, one the most effective things Dr. Murphy does is to re-orient how the Christians thinks of his or her material world: it is not in fact something separate and distinct from the spiritual realm “up there” or “down there” but lies in the middle where the natural and supernatural interact. As the author explains, one of the largest stumbling blocks in approaching spiritual warfare comes from the pervasive Western fallacy that the material world is the ultimate arbiter of existence. A spiritual enemy therefore becomes much more dangerous because it is denied that it even exists.
All of this serves as background information to fully develop the reader’s understanding of spiritual warfare and the intimate connection it shares not only with other Biblical doctrines but many facets of everyday existence. For instance, “Cosmic Rebellion” comments on the origin of evil in order to help you understand what sin and evil always intend to do, and describe the strategies used to accomplish this. Chapters 9 and 10 provide exegesis on sections from the Book of Romans to illustrate what the “normal” Christian life look like. Addressing spiritual warfare specifically doesn’t begin until Part III, which is about 200 pages into the text. There the reader is greeted by a profound and theologically imaginative illustration of the beginning of spiritual warfare within the first few chapters of Genesis.
Part IV surveys instances of spiritual warfare in the New Testament and proceeds book by book in order to illustrate the unique issues involved in specific situations. Finally, Part V, “Practical Considerations” provides the most actionable material as it not only goes into some of the main realms of spiritual battle in a contemporary context (e.g. child abuse, mental illness, New Age philosophy, and sexual sin) but describes how—in specific technical terms—spiritual warfare is conducted. Hence, chapter 63, “The Road to Personal Victory in Spiritual Warfare” provides the most information that will enables mature Christians to assist others and execute the principles learned from the rest of the book. The Appendices have prayers of affirmation, warfare prayers both for the individual and groups, and prayers focused on bringing unbelievers closer to Christ.
In my personal experience, this book has proven to be the “go-to” resource in matters pertaining to spiritual warfare. The Handbook for Spiritual Warfare is indeed precious and fills in a huge gaping void of knowledge and understanding for Christians. It will certainly equip leaders and mature Christians with the tools they need to engage in three dimensions of spiritual conflict.
Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal
June 3, 2016
June 2, 2016
AN OTHER KINGDOM: DEPARTING A CONSUMER CULTURE by WALTER BRUEGGEMANN et al.
The bottom line: An eye-opening call to reconsider modern systems in a book that whisks the imagination into shape.
In his allegory of a cave, Plato once said that those in chains think the shadows on the wall are real people, and thus ‘reality’ is defined by shadows. Little did they know that the figures are mere projections of reality—projections of real people that stand at the entrance of the cave. An Other Kingdom awakens us to the cave, breaks our chains, and draws us into the light.
The central thrust of the book is that the Free Market Consumer Ideology—based on the pillars of scarcity, certainty, perfection and privatization—not only isn’t working but is also creating the very problems is sets out to solve. This system depends on the idea of wants that therein necessitate consumerism, which in turn creates more wants. This subsequently creates more victims (e.g., violence, poverty, and dehumanization) than beneficiaries. The authors call for us not to simply cooperate to stop this endless cycle, but rather to break the wheel itself.
This call is to a new, alternative narrative called the Neighborly Covenant that is characterized by abundance, mystery, fallibility and the common good. Here, there is an emphasis on “communal capacity” and not “consumer capacity.”
Subsequently, out of the former results a dedicated effort to, for example, raise our children in families so they don’t resort to gang life; being healthy so we don’t consume processed, health-detrimental foods; take time to connect with other people and not embrace technology that distances us; and securing a livelihood and not demoting our labor into shift work so that our way of life is turned into a commodity. Of course, all of these things seem “strange” and “foreign” because an alternative reality involves revolutionary ideas and language.
An Other Kingdom reads very similar to Walter Brueggemann’s The Prophetic Imagination. Both books accomplish the same task: to persuade the reader to take a step back and imagine a new and invigorating world where what is possible transcends the artificial limitations placed on the present.
The book overflows with valuable nuggets of precious wisdom, and also introduces you to a myriad of authors, websites, programs and other resources that embrace an alternative set of beliefs that have the capability to evoke an order where all members of society have enough.
In the end, An Other Kingdom offers practical advice, inspires the reader to compassionate justice, and challenges them to imagine an alternative future separate and distinct from the world of ceaseless attempts at perfection. For me, this is a treasured book and a valued resource that will yield exponential dividends well into the future.
A must-read for Bible students, Christian leaders, and those who wish to liberate others from the shackles of market ideology and leaders, and those who seek to cultivate a novel, life-giving, community-building social consciousness built upon the foundation of covenant and neighborliness.
Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal
May 30, 2016
THE POWER OF GOD’S WORD: A NEW EBOOK FROM DR. C.H.E. SADAPHAL
I would like to humbly invite all of my subscribers to get your copy of The Power of God’s Word today. If you feel as if the content in the book is valuable, then please tell someone about it and review it on Amazon and/or Smashwords.
The weeks ahead will be very exciting. By the end of next month, What Christians Should Know Volume II: How you can apply Biblical principles to everyday life will be published. Also be on the lookout for the new podcast called TruthFinder: Crucial answers to critical questions about belief.
Happy reading and my best wishes to all.
Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal
May 27, 2016
May 26, 2016
HACKING: A BEGINNER’S GUIDE by JOHN STARK
The bottom line: Common sense masquerades as advice in this anemic booklet.
I bought this book out of curiosity in order to get a basic idea on how I can learn to hack for everyday, ethical, and practical purposes. After reading this book, I do have a list of some basic links and resources I can access, but I am still in the dark about many of the technicalities behind hacking.
Contrary to what the book claims, Hacking is not a “comprehensive guide to hacking,” and common sense validates this considering this book is less than 40 pages.
Hacking first provides a brief description of the two types of hackers (white-hat and black-hat). It then details penetration testing and gives “advice” that essentially amounts to what you already know.
This is one area where the book is deficient in that many of its prescriptions aren’t price-worthy.
For example, the author writes that before you begin, “hacking requires you to create and execute plans,” “if you don’t know which tools to use, you may ask other people,” and in order to gather information about your target, do a Google search and look on social media.
In other areas where Hacking does provide targeted advice (e.g. Scanning the target), it tends to use technical language without explaining exactly what it all means to laypeople.
This was an expectation I had for a book designed for beginners. Hence, the book described what to do yet I had no idea of what the author was talking about.
Chapter 3 (“The Most Popular Hacking Tricks”) is likely the most disappointing because it tells you things like you can steal someone else’s password by peering over their shoulder while they type and a “counter-measure” is to look around and make sure no one is looking while you’re at your workstation. Further advice on password-cracking includes guessing from inference.
For a list price of 2.99, I can’t be overly upset over the disappointment found in this book. Ultimately, for the dissatisfaction you’ll only lose a couple of bucks and about 30 minutes of your time.
Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal
