By Calvin Brown

January 2010 eChannels

Published by Kendal House Publications Incorporated, Regina, Saskatchewan.

Author, David MacKenzie is a former United Church minister who currently pastors Regency Christian Church near Edmonton, Alberta, and is a member of the National Board of the Congregational Christian Churches of Canada. This book comes out of the personal wrestling of someone who has lived in a "waffle filled" mainline denomination and who knows both the anguish and foolishness of living in the midst of the half-truths that pass for wisdom. Rather than becoming bitter, he has exposed these half-truths with dry humour, wit, and hyperbole. He uses creative images like God as an auditor and then challenges the whole church to consider what sort of things God might look at to test our "success." He challenges also such popular ideas as those that see us all as Children of God -- de facto. He challenges the new psychology that urges us to see God in our "higher selves" or such other theological travesties, such as that we aren't all that bad, or questioning the authority of Scripture or the essence of orthodox faith. He argues that some of what many want to speak of as merely a matter of emphasis are really matters of black and white truths and falsehoods, and we must make a choice. He says, "Make no mistake, in cases like these, an evangelical Christian is no longer dealing with a curious point of theological or ethical friction. This is not about liturgical style. It is not about mission focus. Or to return to my original premise, this is no mere 'argument of emphasis'."

Instead, it's a core-belief issue. Faith or apostasy hang on the outcome. This is a book written with humour, but it will nevertheless challenge those tempted to compromise when faithfulness is called for.

First Article in the Next Issue: Cambodian Experience by Kit Schindell.