Two Words, One Answer.
witness lee
 Christ Versus Religion $10.50 This book revolutionized both my personal relationship with Christ and my understanding of what it is to be a member of the Body of Christ. Lee traces the theme of Christ versus religion through the entire New Testament, book by book. In the Gospels, Jesus was questioned, pestered, and persecuted by religionists. Lee especially draws attention to the incident where Jesus was asked why his disciples did not fast, and Jesus replied that no one fasts when they are in the presence of the bridegroom. Christ referred to himself as the Bridegroom because that's what he wants to be to us! This little nugget alone had a huge impact on the way I relate to and talk to God -- it's so pleasant to enjoy Him as a wonderful bridegroom, a fiancee! Moving on to Acts and Paul's epistles, we see how people in the early church struggled with such snares as gnosticism and returning to the laws of judaism. It is really eye-opening to see how much of the content of these epistles concerns turning the young believers away from these distractions and back to Christ Himself. Paul says, "I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I betrothed you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ" (2 Cor. 11:2) Going book by book through the New Testament, this vision of Christ wanting a bride, not religious followers, becomes clearer and clearer. Finally, the book concludes with three short chapters on Revelation. "Five Steps Toward a New Religion" expounds on the letters to the seven churches in Rev. 2-3 to show the steps of falling from a pure love for Christ into "Christianity" as a religion. This is not bashing anybody or anybody's way of worhsipping God -- it is calling each of us to take care lest our own hearts be carried away into religion instead of relationship. For example, the first step is "work without love." The book of Revelation reveals both the bride of Christ and the true nature of religion, which is very hideous. Fortunately, this book also unfolds what the Word says about allowing the Lord to shine on and deal with our natural religious concepts. Above all, we must "keep our first love" for our dear Bridegroom!  Character $6.50 This short little book is the best balance I have ever read about the relationship between your character and God's work in the believer. Many Christians emphasize the aspect of character building to such a point that "Christianity" merely becomes another system of ethics, like Confuscianism. And many Christians emphasize the aspect of life to such a point that "Christianity" becomes something entirely passive, creating weak, undisciplined individuals who make terrible witnesses for God. This book, especially chapter 3, gives a wonderful balance of character and life. It should be kept in mind that this book is a transcription of several spoken messages by Mr. Lee, and it does not always flow from chapter to chapter as smoothly as it might, had he sat down and wrote it systematically. You can tell that he is speaking to different audiences in each chapter. But this is really a very minor detractor. The depth and insight are definitely worth the read. And it's a quick read too. Worth multiple readings.  Varse Sarabande - A 25th Anniversary Celebration $19.98 Released several years ago for the 25th Anniversary of Varese Sarabande, the entreprising label devoted almost exclusively to film scores, this inexpensive compilation is good way to sample many compelling scores from the last few decades of movies. I will run down through some highlights. The first disc contains much of the best music on this collection. Angelo Badalamenti's theme from David Lynch's "Blue Velvet". Also a selection from Maurice Jarre's score to "Witness". John Carpenter's simplistic yet creepy theme from his classic "Halloween". Charles Bernstein's sinister opening credits music to "A Nightmare on Elm Street". Howard Shore's beautiful and dramatic end theme to the Cronenberg film, "The Fly". One of my absolute favorites on this disc is undoubtedly the "Robocop" theme by the late, great Basil Poledouris which is one of the most inspiring action themes from the 1980s. Then we get the familiar march from "The Empire Strikes Back" by John Williams. I also love the all American score by Bill Conti composed for the film "The Right Stuff". Alan Silvestri contributes a selection from his score to James Cameron's "The Abyss", mixing orchestra with a grand choral contribution. It's strange that most of the best music at least to my ears is contained here on the first disc. The other three CDs have much less interesting material but how can one forget Poledouris again in the big march from "Starship Troopers" as well as a selection from Don Davis' score to the sci-fi blockbuster "The Matrix". It's clear that Varese Sarabande intended for this compilation to be more of a sampler to whet your appetite for the full scores instead of giving you much in the way of musical substance. Most tracks don't run much longer than four minutes but it's plenty enough to hold all the famous themes and melodies from these movies. Varese Sarabande has also released a 30th Anniversary Celebration recently with no overlap with this set whatsoever. I get a bang of having these themes in my library as most of the full scores aren't exactly great classics, so it's a great idea to have a compilation of all the winning and recognizable numbers together in one place. The very low asking price also helps greatly indeed. |
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