A dangerous though obligatory contribution. A testing litany of truth spotlighting the Venus flytrap of pastoral ministry; the corrupting antithetical nature of power set to offend the gospel kingdom. An urgently needed though repugnant offering. These are but a few observations that could be made of The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb by Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel.
manga online book will not be comfortable reading if you're contented using worldly power to 'build' the [read, your] kingdom. And the starkest truth is we must all face the truth that our flesh instinct is to go the way of the all-powerful dragon. Our first challenge is to meet the truth we most wish to repel. It's costly. But it's also the only way we'll build for the (capital 'k') kingdom. To go the way of the powerless lamb. But this book reveals the truth we all ought to implicitly know: the way of the dragon corrupts and ruins; yet, the way of the lamb multiplies peace.
Self-preservation may be the motive, for the Kingdom, but this motive reveals how insidious the way of the dragon is. Kyle Strobel says elsewhere:
"... there's something that startled us. It was the reality that the church - the very institution God gave us to further His gospel, to be the body of Christ - can become a place that actually taps into evil power to try to further its message. And more and more as we consider this message we realize we've been tempted by them."
This book is about power in weakness for love; a wholly Jesus power, vested in weakness through the cross for an all-consuming eternal love.
The authors say that power is the capacity to affect reality. But for Christians the pursuit of the ability to affect reality is second to our pursuit of God. For, to truly rely on Jesus is entrance into reality itself.
This book helps the reader to understand something inherent to the health of their soul: power is a perennial paradox. Grab at it and it stings us primordially. It promises to bless us, but instead it curses us.
The central thesis of this book is the differentiation of power: the way from above or the way from below. James 3:13-18. The book comes back time and again to this passage as its datum point.
This book harnesses the witness of sages like Eugene Peterson, Jean Vanier, J.I. Packer, Marva Dawn, James Houston, and Dallas Willard, unassuming people who belie the power they've been given.