Author Archives: The Briefing

Angels in the classroom

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The Case for Angels
Peter S. Williams
Paternoster, 2002, 211pp.

Francis Schaeffer apparently began a university philosophy lecture with the startling admission that he believed in angels. “There really is no point you listening to my philosophical arguments if you don’t grasp the profound importance of this fact”, he said (or words to that effect!). (more…)

God: The Man Chaser

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The God Chasers cover

There is a best-selling Christian book by American author Tommy Tenney called The God Chasers. If you have seen any Christian bookstore catalogues I’m sure you’ve seen the book or the companion merchandise. It’s been something of a phenomenon. After visiting the US, I was given a copy so I started reading it. Tenney’s pitch seems to be this: there are normal vanilla-flavoured household variety Christians who drift passively along in the slow lane of Christian experience and then there are the God Chasers. They get the scent of God and run him down, passionately pursuing the Lord like hounds on the hunt, like athletes chasing a gold medal. And to the God Chasers comes special blessing because they will not be satisfied with the left-hand side of the peak-hour escalator—they bound heavenward two steps at a time, consumed with overtaking the otherwise out-of-reach Lord.

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Ministry and pornography: some practical help

Everyday Ministry

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As Tony Payne mentioned in his ‘Couldn’t Help Noticing’ column, the Australia Institute has published a report—Youth and Pornography in Australia—the first survey of Australian teenagers’ exposure to pornography on the internet. It shows that 84 per cent of boys and 60 per cent of girls aged 16 and 17 have stumbled onto sex sites on the internet. In addition, 38 per cent of boys and 2 per cent of girls say they have sought out sex sites. For boys, 73 per cent report that they have watched X-rated videos, with 20 per cent accessing these monthly. 11 per cent of girls have watched an X-rated video.

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There’s no place like home: the marvellous land of Christian parenting books

Review

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Sandra had just become a mother. Though she had been a Christian for many years, she was completely shell-shocked by the continual demands of her new baby, and felt quite out of her depth. There was so much she didn’t know, and she felt like a failure, even though Kyle was only three weeks old. Other people’s babies were sleeping through already, but Kyle wasn’t. It was the following Sunday that one of the other mothers at church lent Sandra a book, which hinted that if she just followed The Program with Kyle, he would not only sleep through, but become a Christian when he grew up …

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The living and the dead

Thought

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Contacting the dead—entertaining game, dangerous deception or forbidden magic? With his Bible open and his TV tuned to John Edward, Peter Bolt explores the abiding human interest in hearing from those who have ‘crossed over’. His conclusions may surprise you …

The John Edward phenomenon is gaining momentum. His television show Crossing Over is a regular on cable and has caught the interest of the networks. As an indicator of his rising popularity, apparently Time will soon feature this modern day medium who receives messages from the dead on behalf of the living who happen to turn up in his audience. (more…)