A Portrait Of Obedience

I determined to write a devotional biography. In no sense is this volume a critical analysis of the man's theology or his actions. Instead, it is the account of an Allegheny mountain farmboy with a limited education and a severe physical handicap who promised God the only thing he had to offer: obedience. Each experience in Dr. Ketcham's life reinforced the principle that obedience is all God expects from anyone. The story of Robert Thomas Ketchum is the story of God's sufficient grace in the life of His obedient servant. Thus, the message of this volume is simple: God rewards obedience. As a historian, I was captivated by the manner in which Dr. Ketcham's life was rooted in the history of fundamentalism. In order to portray him correctly, I felt it important to show some of the conflicts within the Northern Baptist Convention. It also seemed necessary to present briefly the development and decline of the Baptist Bible Union, a movement in which Dr. Ketcham was deeply involved. Finally, since in many respects the story of his life is the story of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, some history of the Association has also been included. Dr. Ketcham was a vital part of the history of the Baptist fundamentalist movement. He was by no means the only figure, but he was an important figure. His life was devoted to the defense of biblical Christianity. It is my prayer that this volume might help the reader achieve a more complete understanding of fundamentalism in its historic context. - Preface.

What does it look like when someone feels called to do something that doesn’t make sense? It depends on who you ask. To the one doing it, it seems like the only choice. To those looking on from the outside, it may look admirable, a little on the crazy side or bordering on insanity. This is the true story of one couple who knew that calling as they became unwittingly involved in the life of a stranger, a sweet old man named George who landed on their porch in the midst of a heart attack. Despite any real plan, Linda and Bobby answered a gentle nudge from God. As they surrendered, God perfectly orchestrated everything, allowing them all to receive a lifetime of living and loving in just eight months. When it was all over, they were unable to imagine anything more beautiful than the lifelong blessings they received. And then one last unexpected blessing came to light, which God used to open the eyes of those looking on from the outside.

One of the ways many people find their way to faith is through a story. Stories are treasures for those seeking and searching for inspiration. There are some people brought up in church who are familiar with stories of God and Jesus, and others who find concepts of faith to be foreign and intangible. Perhaps they see God as a fairy tale or something that some people need, but not they themselves. There are people who have accepted and believed stories from the Bible as children, those who learn as young adults, and those who are still wondering and pondering what it means to believe in God. Stories have a way of opening up our eyes and hearts to things we may not typically consider due to our own life experiences. Seeing the world through the lens of another allows us to ask questions, learn, encounter new ideas, and maybe even find a lost treasure of faith. A Portrait of Obedience is a story for all of these individuals. In its pages, a reader has the opportunity to revisit, strengthen, or perhaps for the first time see and understand for themselves, what faith is, who Jesus is, what the Bible says, and how life looks when faith is lived out. A Portrait of Obedience Book Study is a companion for those readers who want to allow the story to take on a more personal level—readers who want to reflect on what the story means to them and to their life. This book study allows a reader to ask questions, dig deeper, learn, grow, and discover truth for themselves. This study can be done individually or in groups to allow for more intimate discussion and discovery.

In this book, Alan D. Strange investigates the Westminster Assembly and the Westminster Standards to determine whether they affirmed the imputation of Christ’s active obedience as necessary for our justification. He also gives a survey of church history before and during the Reformation to see how the Assembly relates to the tradition before it. This study also reflects on the relation of imputation to federal theology, modern challenges to the doctrine, and important rules for interpreting the confessional document. Table of Contents: 1. An Initial Approach to the Westminster Assembly’s Understanding of Christ’s Active Obedience 2. Antecedents to Active Obedience in the Ancient and Medieval Church 3. Active Obedience in the Reformation before the Westminster Assembly 4. The Work of the Westminster Assembly and Active Obedience, Part 1 5. The Work of the Westminster Assembly and Active Obedience, Part 2 6. The Imputation of Christ’s Active Obedience throughout the Westminster Standards 7. Active Obedience and Federal Theology 8. The Place of Active Obedience in Confessional Interpretation

Sister Bernard has lived in a gray-stone convent in rural France for more than 70 years. In that time, a once youthful and lively cloister has gradually emptied, until only Bernard and two other nuns remain, a knot of survivors facing the creeping challenges of old age—ailing bodies and worn-thin friendships, slips of mind, and, in their most secret moments, slips of faith. Now, the halls will fall silent as the three women pack away their few possessions into wooden boxes, preparing to leave the building that has been their home for decades. For the nuns, the closing of the convent means more than losing a home: the crumbling walls have shielded them from a changing modern world; for Sister Bernard, the quiet monotony of the religious life has protected her from memories of the past—the disgrace of when, as a young woman in wartime France, she became the unwitting prize of a cruel wager; when her devotion to God faded in the face of her need for a young Nazi soldier; and when she experienced the full horror and violence of war. Rich and complex, Obedience is a story of betrayal and divided loyalties; a powerful portrait of conflicted love, which goes beyond the veil to reveal a woman who feels adoration and fear, guilt and pride, and all too rarely, peace. Sister Bernard is a remarkable creation: a woman torn between her irreconcilable private passions—her love for Christ and her blistered memories of physical desire.

“With superb confidence, Lavender constructs a brilliant fictional web of lies, inventively warping the psychological thriller to fit the confines of a scholarly investigation.” —Kirkus Reviews When the students in Winchester University’s Logic and Reasoning 204 arrive for their first day of class, they are greeted not with a syllabus or texts, but with a startling assignment from Professor Williams: Find a hypothetical missing girl named Polly. If after being given a series of clues and details the class has not found her before the end of the term in six weeks, she will be murdered. At first the students are as intrigued by the premise of their puzzle as they are wary of the strange and slightly creepy Professor Williams. But as they delve deeper into the mystery, they begin to wonder: Is the Polly story simply a logic exercise, designed to teach them rational thinking skills, or could it be something more sinister and dangerous? The mystery soon takes over the lives of three students as they find disturbing connections between Polly and themselves. Characters that were supposedly fictitious begin to emerge in reality. Soon, the boundary between the classroom assignment and the real world becomes blurred—and the students wonder if it is their own lives they are being asked to save. From the Hardcover edition.