Böcker av Jeff Becker

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An anthology style documentation of the history of Christian satire, underscoring its usefulness in the current milieu.

Aside from the rapid growth of the Christian church itself, it may just be the most amazing story in the Christian Era-I am talking about "The Amazing Story of How We Got the King James Bible and All That Came With It." But, the translation and publication of a version of "the Bible"? Really? Consider the following: for a millennium the church had been effectively deprived of its most important material resource, that is, the word of God in a language the common people could understand. Once more, this was done under the auspices of the official-institutional church! But then there were a few who dared to translate the Bible into the English vernacular. Of course, the political and ecclesiastical authorities were not exactly keen on the idea of people having access to a Book coming from the Highest Authority, not when it contained ideas which might enable the people to think for themselves, and perhaps to think differently about those lower authorities. Needless to say, it remained difficult for the average Englander to obtain a personal copy of the Scriptures. Then along came King James, one of the most complex and problematic regents England had ever seen. SPOILER ALERT! As it turned out, it was James' perceived nemeses, the Puritans, who goaded the King into becoming the official sponsor of a new translation-written expressly with the purpose that it should be read by all the people! And it would be that same Bible which would not only become facilitative in unseating the Stuart dynasty, it would go on to change the world!

Presbyterian minister Jeff Becker has a serious concern for anyone interested in the Christian Church in the twenty-first century:Western Christianity is dangerously close to collapsing.As a result of the Christian Church's vain and misguided attempt to become inculturated, it has forfeited its spiritual essence. In How to Bring About the Collapse of Christianity in Four Easy Steps, Becker explains that this is seen in four principle effects: "theological vacuity," denominational diversity," "nominal identity," and "secular inclusivity." These stand in antithesis to the Church's ordained definition as one of "theological clarity," "ecclesiastical unity," "personal authenticity," and "spiritual exclusivity."Unlike many in positions of power within the Church, Becker sees the Church's fundamental role as countercultural. The Church's mission is not to blend in with the world but to call the world to a distinctly separate experience.

If men and women are to be the individuals God created them to be, they must accept their God-given roles. The alternative is chaos. In The Redundant Male: The Marginalization of Manhood in America, author Jeff Becker, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church for almost thirty years, documents the systematic deconstruction of these roles in terms of the American experience-in the family, work, education, government, and popular culture and media-along with their inevitable deleterious effects both on individuals as well as in society at large. This insight makes The Redundant Male a useful new title for anyone interested in obtaining a biblical understanding of the proper role of husband/father, particularly in terms of its being central to the health of the family unit.

About sixty years ago a Bible scholar and translator by the name of J. B. Phillips made the observation that for the majority of Christians, their "God was too small." He was not wishing to indicate something about God in some mechanical way, but was rather endeavoring to say something about our reduction of his greatness in the theological sense. For centuries, the church had managed to put God in a box. They formulated conceptions of Him which limited people''s thinking about Him. As it was, Nietschze was in one sense correct when he pronounced that "God is dead." If God were "dead," it would not be a stretch to say it was because the church had killed Him! In his parable, which has come to be known as "The Prodigal Son," Jesus obliterates the more diminutive conception of God''s greatness, specifically in terms of the boundlessness of his grace. It was quite the revelation, especially to Jesus'' religious opponents. As you read this parable and what I have to say about it, the question will be, with whom do you most readily and accurately identify, with the younger son, the older son, or with the father, and with reference to the latter, with his own "Prodigal Love"? That''s the question we must answer if we would respond to J. B. Phillips'' challenge. And it will tell us everything we need to know as to whether God is both large and alive in us!

What is the Church? What is it supposed to be? Judging from the literally thousands of denominations with their various and conflicting doctrines and practices, is it even feasible to determine the proper definition of the Church? If the New Testament is to be accepted as the basis for the Church's definition, what we must know is this. When its Founder Jesus Christ described his Church, He described it as "one" Church. He further insisted that his Church should be unified-and unified in a visible fashion. His Apostles would then reinforce Jesus' teaching in their numerous writings. Given both the Source and the substance of these criteria, therefore, as long as the Church fails or refuses to aspire to this standard, whatever it may be, it has no ground for laying claim to being Christ's Church! The Church's Charter is an endeavor to recall the Protestant Church to its Christ-mandated and apostolically-sanctioned model. It calls on the churches to exorcise from their separate sanctuaries the plethora of man-made doctrines and practices which have proven to be so divisive and so inimical to the One Church's purity and effectiveness, and to receive and affirm the apostolic pattern as it is set forth in the New Testament in order to discover the basis of its intended unity. Only then may those churches which lay claim to being Christ's Church, in fact, prove to be so.

When you hear someone mention "the Ten Commandments," of what do you think? Perhaps you conjure up an image of Moses-or Charlton Heston-coming down Mount Sinai, stone tablets in hand. Or maybe you think of that ancient seraphim-clad box in the "Raiders" film with streaming flashes of light and melting Nazi faces. But whatever your image, what's in the box itself probably holds no more interest for you than you would have in enduring the Egyptian plagues or being dropped into a snake-pit! But consider this: no single set of laws has had a more direct and enduring influence on Western Civilization than these ten words. That's a fact! The Jewish nation alone has built its religious character and identity on them. And then on a more personal level, you should know that Christ Himself insisted on these standards as a basis for participation in his Kingdom (Matthew 5:17f.; 19:17). God's ten timeless words are "the key to human happiness." God gave these directions that we might have "life" with Him. They are designed to guide us into an experience of blessedness both in this life and the life to come. Or you can look at it this way: If you want to avert the spiritual "plagues" which afflict those who refuse to heed God's truth and to avoid descending into the "snake-pit" of the world's moral chaos, but instead desire true spiritual health, deliverance, and eternal life; then these ten timeless words are for you.