Sometimes when I read a best-seller I wonder how the book ever sold more than 14 copies (think Twilight), but in this case, I wondered no such thing. This book truly is a masterpiece. It is the comprehensive story of an African woman named Aminata Diallo who is taken from her village as a child in the 1740’s, shipped across the Atlantic ocean, sold as a slave in South Carolina, and through an endless series of tragedies and opportunities, finds herself as an old woman in Britain working with the abolitionists to end the slave trade. The book is so human, so full of common grace, that it shines with a beauty that irresistibly resonates with one’s own humanness. Aminata is a beautiful soul above all, and the quiet simplicity of her wisdom is like a long sigh of relief for the heart.

The writing is simply excellent, the story truly compelling, the history downright chilling. It is fiction but a fiction rooted in history, a story that could well have happened. In a sense it is a true story, because it brings to life the forgotten and untold stories of countless Africans who were treated like animals by white men who were truly animals. I came away with a brilliant sense of the preciousness of humans, made in the very image of God, and the need to always, always, always treat one another in light of that reality. When we deny one another the dignity of being human, when other compulsions push us over that line, there is truly no atrocity, no cruelty, no unspeakable evil, that we are incapable of. 

A beautiful story during a very sad chapter in human history. Now if only that chapter were truly closed. If only opportunistic men no longer stole human beings from their homes in order to sell them to others. Slavery has gone underground, but it is a reality worldwide, with slaves bought and held captive in every major urban center in the world, often for sexual purposes. The amorphous reality of corporate sin, of communal guilt through the pervasive consumption of pornography, is undeniably linked with the global sex trade. The relationship between personal choices and the horrible realities of injustice and oppression is muddy enough to assuage personal guilt but tenacious enough to sustain a system of cruelty that will not be overcome until responsibility is laid plainly at the feet of even of the most casual consumer.

The Book of Negroes is beautiful novel about the ugliness of sin and the strength of the human spirit, the vestiges of the image of God within each one of us.

I had never heard of Graham Greene until a few weeks ago as I rummaged through my parents’ collection of abandoned novels on a forgotten bookcase in the basement. A Burnt Out Case was the title, and by virtue of feeling like one myself I picked it up and started reading. It was set in Africa and the description of life there had the distinct feel of authenticity; the author had surely been there. A couple of weeks later, having returned to Cambridge, I was looking for interesting books at our local library when this one caught my attention. The title is provocative enough, especially for a person who actually believes in the devil, but the sub-title was what really surprised me and sealed the deal. I had thoroughly enjoyed A Burnt Out Case for its rich description, relational and conversational depth, and understated and subtle storyline, and therefore was eager to pick up this volume and learn more about Africa and this Graham Greene fellow.

The book is a chronicle of Tim Butcher’s trek across Sierra Leone and Liberia in 2009, following the same route that Graham Greene took almost seventy-five years earlier. Butcher’s skillful journalistic-style writing and the novelty of his adventure made the book a gripping read throughout its 300 pages full of the history of the region, personal anecdotes, and moments of unexpected humour.

The story of these two countries is heart-breaking. War, atrocities, greed, corruption, and perpetually frustrated hopes and dreams, not to mention a widespread secret spiritualism that includes ritual murder and cannibalism, all compound to make these two countries, but especially Liberia, a tragic tale. Perhaps the most striking and profound irony is the fact that Liberia was founded by freed American slaves who crossed the Atlantic to start a new community free from slavery and white oppression, but that within a few generations, and as late as the 1920’s, the country’s leadership was knee deep in selling its own native people as slaves.

As I read Chasing the Devil I felt as though I was there in the jungles of Liberia. As I heard the country’s story my heart was weighed down with sorrow. How badly I wish that these countries could stand up on their own feet but it seems like every time they pull themselves up to their hands and knees some evil kicks them back to the ground. Of course the gospel could transform this broken country and bring deep healing, as well as foster true progress, but to say that almost over-simplifies the complex situation. Butcher wisely warns against painting these intricate and delicate situations with broad brushes of black and white.

Still, it was neat to hear about the Christian fishermen from Ghana who work the Atlantic coast from the Liberian shore. If a fishing boat passes another fishing boat and one of the boats has no catch, the other boat throws over some of their catch in the spirit of sharing, even if the fishermen have never met one another. A splash of grace in a very dark place.

Heavenly Father, perfect Father, I pray for my unborn son. My deepest prayer is that you would give him a new heart and a spiritual birth that he may come to know you and love you. I pray that he would learn the gospel and never stop learning it.

I pray that from his earliest days you would put in his heart an insatiable thirst for the eternal. I pray that you would stamp eternity deeply in his heart, so that he might never be satisfied with the things of this world, but always know and feel that he is made for something – Someone – so much greater.

Jesus, would you capture his heart, his soul, his entire being? Be his greatest treasure. Make of him a passionate worshipper and abandoned follower of you.

Spirit: know him, draw him, unveil his eyes, regenerate him, fill him, seal him, lead him, teach him, walk with him, and bear much fruit in him.

Father I pray that you would give him the heart of a lion, and the spirit of a lamb; courage, boldness, passion, and zeal, with tenderness, gentleness, love and humility.

I pray that he would come to love, cherish, and serve the women in his life. Prepare for him a godly wife who will be well-suited for him and who will relentlessly point him to you and spur him on to know you more.

I pray that you would protect him from the evil one.

And I pray that you would give me the grace to accept your will in how and when you will answer these prayers; and much grace to shape him in these ways through my influence.

Lord Jesus, he is yours completely and yet he is ours as well – may you be pleased to use our fumbling efforts as parents to shape a young man after your own heart, for your fame and glory.

Amen and amen – may it be.

This is a question I’ve been asking for some time now. What makes some preaching spiritually stimulating and life-giving while other preaching on the same text expounding the same truth is stale and cold? Aside from the simple answer that sovereign work of God through the Holy Spirit to dwell and empower however He pleases, I found a helpful answer in Revival and Revivalism by Iain Murray.

“The Princeton leaders had consciously faced the key question: What was it that gave life to plan, scriptural preaching? And their united answer was, it was preachers knowing and feeling in their own experience the realities of which they spoke.

“True Christianity cannot exist without real communion with God, and neither can true preaching. So while the technical aspects of public speaking were not ignored, this was not where the emphasis lay. ‘It is an easy thing to make a noise in the world,’ said [Samuel] Davies, ‘to flourish and harangue, to dazzle the crowd and set them agape; but deeply to imbibe the Spirit of Christianity, to maintain a secret walk with God, to be holy, as he is holy – this is the labour, this is the work.'”

To that I would add that the more direct and specific the speaking and application is, the more powerful it is. General truth to general people is generally powerless; but powerful truth explained and incisively applied to a specific group of people with boldness and force, and into the specifics of their lives and hearts, tends to be more transformative. Sermons that could be preached generically to any church at any time are not nearly as powerful and attention-keeping as sermons that are meant for THIS church at THIS time. When the preacher is speaking about some truth or idea ‘out there,’ it takes real work to maintain focus on that, but when he is speaking about some truth and then boldly applies it to your life, your heart, your spiritual walk, your weaknesses, and even more so if he is speaking out of personal experience, it is almost impossible to stop listening, because each word is so timely and relevant. We need bold and fearless preaching that isn’t afraid to call people to repentance, to turning away from specific idols and sins, and then to putting real active faith in Jesus in those areas of our lives.

Lord send your fire down on our measly altars, they are just wet stones and wood without it. We want and need so desperately for our words and deeds to be drenched in the power of your Spirit. We thirst, and come to Jesus the Quencher and Giver of life and power.

“Long-term, sustained, gospel-motivated obedience can only come from faith in what Jesus has already done, not fear of what we must do. To paraphrase Ray Ortlund, any obedience not grounded in or motivated by the gospel is unsustainable. No matter how hard you try, how “radical” you get, any engine smaller than the gospel that you’re depending on for power to obey will conk out in due time.” – from http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tullian/2010/12/09/does-the-gospel-scare-you/ by Tullian Tchividjian

Everywhere I look in recent popular movies and novels, protagonist men and women are portrayed as highly efficient experts at life. Just look at the main characters of most new bestsellers, blockbuster hits, or hit TV shows. You’ll have seen it elsewhere perhaps but I’ve noticed it constantly in Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton novels, and in Dan Brown to a lesser extent. Think Jack Bauer, Jason Bourne, that girl in Alias, Sherlock Holmes, Tony Stark, James T. Kirk, ad nauseum. Emotionally stable, calm and collected in crisis situations, young professionals who are at the cutting edge of their field. Sometimes they are depicted in a moment of weakness to show you their human side, but more often than not that in itself is part of their expertise – to feign weakness and throw everyone else off-balance. You get the distinct impression that these people truly, really, totally have got their lives together. They are happy, fulfilled, satisfied, and want for nothing. We always seem to be looking at the apex of human development and achievement. Each one is gifted, smart, beautiful, quick-witted, funny, and efficient.

I think we see in these heroes the embodiment of our culture’s values. And in the missing pieces we see the areas of life that our culture doesn’t value.

The accomplished life then is measured in how much one can accomplish professionally. Thus working all day and all night and running on little or no sleep are badges of honor. But ultimately these portrayals are the wishful thinking of a culture which worships professional success by the sacrificing of stable long-term relationships such as marriage or children.

The truth is that these heroes are uni-perspectival. They manage to showcase the perfected professional, but in doing so they are doomed to be one-dimensional characters. And they are. A full-orbed understanding of humanity would see potential measured in all spheres of life.