The Call of Jerusalem


Book Description

Reading ‘The Call of Jerusalem’ from three different perspectives It's been almost 20 years since I first read Prof. Tan Nget Hong's first edition of ‘The Call of Jerusalem’. At that time, I did not know Prof. Tan personally nor had I heard about him. However, after reading this book, I wanted to make a phone call to him to express my appreciation of the book. Unfortunately, the phone call did not get through at that time. Over the past decade or so, Prof. Tan and I have become close friends and partners in the ministry of Caring and Comforting God's chosen people. On 27 and 28 October 2015, both of us were workshop speakers at the "Caring for God's Chosen People" Mandarin-speaking seminar held in Kuala Lumpur. Unexpectedly, the attendees filled the main Worship Hall of Kuala Lumpur Hokkien Methodist Church. We believed that this was the first time that a public meeting on the theme of “Caring for God’s Chosen People” was held in Malaysia. It is indeed a great honor that we can contribute to promoting the ministry of “Caring for God’s Chosen People” among the Malaysian Chinese churches. To this day, we still remember vividly the feeling of excitement in our hearts throughout the seminar, and we are indeed grateful to the Lord that we could be used by Him in this ministry. I am very glad to learn that Prof Tan is publishing an updated e-version of this book, and believe sincerely that reading this book will bring many benefits to the readers! Since his first visit to the Holy Land in 2000, Prof. Tan has made many trips to the Holy Land in the past 20 years. As a free independent traveler, he has opportunity to make meaningful visits to most biblically related places in the Holy Land, and this book is the product of his observations, research and meditations during his visits to the Holy Land over the past 20 years. Although today there are already many Chinese books about the Holy Land, this book still has its own unique features and deserves to be carefully read by believers. First of all, this book can be regarded as a very comprehensive handbook for the travelers to the Holy Land, and it serves both as a reference and a travel guide for those who are visiting the Holy Land. The destinations described in this book cover almost every Christian ‘must-visit’ site in the Holy Land. The author's explanation of each biblical site is very detailed, including the historical, geographical and cultural aspects, as well as current background. In addition, the author provides many practical guidance and suggestions for the reader based on his own rich personal experiences. The tips provided can also save first-time visitors to the Holy Land from many unnecessary hassles, including the trap of being deceived by unscrupulous ‘tour-guides’. This book can also be read as a devotional. Readers not only read about the author’s narratives of the scene and background of the biblical sites, but also his pastoral teachings, exhortations and relevant prayers. For as an elder of the church, Prof. Tan always shares with readers the relevant biblical facts and teaching, God’s will and the love of Christ. At almost every biblical site, the author quotes appropriate Scripture to help the reader connect with the teaching of the Bible. Believers who visit the Holy Land with this book in hand will feel that they not only enjoy the benefit of a personal guide to explain the significance and background of the biblical sites, but also receiving sound teachings of the Bible by an Elder with spiritual understanding. The last portion of the book reveals the author’s deep concern for the salvation of God’s chosen people as he exhorts believers to share God’s desire for the redemption of the Jews. May the apostle Paul's prayer become the prayer of every believers: "Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved." (Rom 10:1). This is also the burden that I share with the author. Our life mission is to make people know Christ and fulfill the Great Commission, through our speaking or writing, and in this, the Jews should have the priority, because ‘salvation is from the Jews’, as Paul says in Romans: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Rom 1:16). Therefore, this book can be read from three different perspectives: 1. As a Holy Land travel guidebook for Christian travelers 2. As a devotional aid for Christian spiritual discipline 3. As an introduction to Missions to the Jews I pray that the Lord may use this book as a blessing for every reader.




The Acts of the Apostles


Book Description

Acts is the sequel to Luke's gospel and tells the story of Jesus's followers during the 30 years after his death. It describes how the 12 apostles, formerly Jesus's disciples, spread the message of Christianity throughout the Mediterranean against a background of persecution. With an introduction by P.D. James




Nine Quarters of Jerusalem


Book Description

'Original and illuminating ... what a good book this is' Jonathan Dimbleby 'A love letter to the people of the Old City' Jerusalem Post In Jerusalem, what you see and what is true are two different things. Maps divide the walled Old City into four quarters, yet that division doesn't reflect the reality of mixed and diverse neighbourhoods. Beyond the crush and frenzy of its major religious sites, much of the Old City remains little known to visitors, its people overlooked and their stories untold. Nine Quarters of Jerusalem lets the communities of the Old City speak for themselves. Ranging through ancient past and political present, it evokes the city's depth and cultural diversity. Matthew Teller's highly original 'biography' features the Old City's Palestinian and Jewish communities, but also spotlights its Indian and African populations, its Greek and Armenian and Syriac cultures, its downtrodden Dom Gypsy families and its Sufi mystics. It discusses the sources of Jerusalem's holiness and the ideas - often startlingly secular - that have shaped lives within its walls. Nine Quarters of Jerusalem is an evocation of place through story, led by the voices of Jerusalemites.




The Call


Book Description

With Adam Hamilton, we have traced the life of Jesus from his birth The Journey, through his ministry The Way, to his death and resurrection 24 Hours That Changed the World. What happened next? Follow the journeys of Paul, beginning with his dramatic conversion, as he spread the Gospel through modern-day Greece and Turkey. Travel to the early church sites and explore Paul’s conversations with the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians. In this six-week study, you are invited to experience faith through Christ’s greatest teacher and missionary. ?Endorsements “Adam Hamilton has proven to be a faithful guide to applying the Bible to modern life in a sane and balanced way, and I trust him as an interpreter of the Apostle Paul for today.” -Philip Yancey, author of Vanishing Grace and The Jesus I Never Knew “Pastor and teacher Adam Hamilton succeeds brilliantly in introducing the life and ministry of Paul. Adam’s interweaving of personal testimony and ministry insights provide important lessons for Christian disciples today—something Paul himself would have readily welcomed.” - Dr. Mark Wilson, Asia Minor Research Center, Antalya, Turkey “Adam Hamilton demonstrates theologically and spiritually how indispensable the apostle Paul is to both the early Christian and 21st century church. This book is a wonderful gift for the church, and I recommend it with utmost Christian enthusiasm.” - Dr. Israel Kamudzandu, Associate Professor of New Testament and Biblical Interpretation, Saint Paul School of Theology “I regularly lead groups of seminary students, alums, clergy, and laity on immersion trips to Greece and Turkey. This book will certainly be on my reading list.” - Jaime Clark-Soles, Associate Professor of New Testament, Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor, Perkins School of Theology




Early Christian Writings


Book Description

The writings in this volume cast a glimmer of light upon the emerging traditions and organization of the infant church, during an otherwise little-known period of its development. A selection of letters and small-scale theological treatises from a group known as the Apostolic Fathers, several of whom were probably disciples of the Apostles, they provide a first-hand account of the early Church and outline a form of early Christianity still drawing on the theology and traditions of its parent religion, Judaism. Included here are the first Epistle of Bishop Clement of Rome, an impassioned plea for harmony; The Epistle of Polycarp; The Epistle of Barnabas; The Didache; and the Seven Epistles written by Ignatius of Antioch - among them his moving appeal to the Romans that they grant him a martyr's death.




God. Gifts. You.


Book Description

God. Gifts. You. takes you on a journey to discover your own unique calling and design. Look at examples of call in Scripture, explore your motivations and interests, and review your gifts, giving new life to your commitments in the workplace, the community, the church, your family, and the world. You are tailor-made by a loving God. You will experience new freedom and bask in God




Under Jerusalem


Book Description

A spellbinding history of the hidden world below the Holy City—a saga of biblical treasures, intrepid explorers, and political upheaval “A sweeping tale of archaeological exploits and their cultural and political consequences told with a historian’s penchant for detail and a journalist’s flair for narration.” —Washington Post In 1863, a French senator arrived in Jerusalem hoping to unearth relics dating to biblical times. Digging deep underground, he discovered an ancient grave that, he claimed, belonged to an Old Testament queen. News of his find ricocheted around the world, evoking awe and envy alike, and inspiring others to explore Jerusalem’s storied past. In the century and a half since the Frenchman broke ground, Jerusalem has drawn a global cast of fortune seekers and missionaries, archaeologists and zealots, all of them eager to extract the biblical past from beneath the city’s streets and shrines. Their efforts have had profound effects, not only on our understanding of Jerusalem’s history, but on its hotly disputed present. The quest to retrieve ancient Jewish heritage has sparked bloody riots and thwarted international peace agreements. It has served as a cudgel, a way to stake a claim to the most contested city on the planet. Today, the earth below Jerusalem remains a battleground in the struggle to control the city above. Under Jerusalem takes readers into the tombs, tunnels, and trenches of the Holy City. It brings to life the indelible characters who have investigated this subterranean landscape. With clarity and verve, acclaimed journalist Andrew Lawler reveals how their pursuit has not only defined the conflict over modern Jerusalem, but could provide a map for two peoples and three faiths to peacefully coexist.




Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem


Book Description

FIVE HUNDRED YEARS AFTER HE SET SAIL, the dominant understanding of Christopher Columbus holds him responsible for almost everything that went wrong in the New World. Here, finally, is a book that will radically change our interpretation of the man and his mission. Scholar Carol Delaney claims that the true motivation for Columbus’s voyages is very different from what is commonly accepted. She argues that he was inspired to find a western route to the Orient not only to obtain vast sums of gold for the Spanish Crown but primarily to help fund a new crusade to take Jerusalem from the Muslims—a goal that sustained him until the day he died. Rather than an avaricious glory hunter, Delaney reveals Columbus as a man of deep passion, patience, and religious conviction. Delaney sets the stage by describing the tumultuous events that had beset Europe in the years leading up to Columbus’s birth—the failure of multiple crusades to keep Jerusalem in Christian hands; the devastation of the Black Plague; and the schisms in the Church. Then, just two years after his birth, the sacking of Constantinople by the Ottomans barred Christians from the trade route to the East and the pilgrimage route to Jerusalem. Columbus’s belief that he was destined to play a decisive role in the retaking of Jerusalem was the force that drove him to petition the Spanish monarchy to fund his journey, even in the face of ridicule about his idea of sailing west to reach the East. Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem is based on extensive archival research, trips to Spain and Italy to visit important sites in Columbus’s life story, and a close reading of writings from his day. It recounts the drama of the four voyages, bringing the trials of ocean navigation vividly to life and showing Columbus for the master navigator that he was. Delaney offers not an apologist’s take, but a clear-eyed, thought-provoking, and timely reappraisal of the man and his legacy. She depicts him as a thoughtful interpreter of the native cultures that he and his men encountered, and unfolds the tragic story of how his initial attempts to establish good relations with the natives turned badly sour, culminating in his being brought back to Spain as a prisoner in chains. Putting Columbus back into the context of his times, rather than viewing him through the prism of present-day perspectives on colonial conquests, Delaney shows him to have been neither a greedy imperialist nor a quixotic adventurer, as he has lately been depicted, but a man driven by an abiding religious passion.







Jerusalem


Book Description

In his new book, New York Times bestselling author Jay Sekulow presents a political and historical rationale for the existence of Israel as a sovereign nation. The State of Israel and its very right to exist is a lynchpin issue not only in the Middle-East, but is a critical issue to the world at large. Whether it is the blatant and stated desire of ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, or Iran to wipe Israel from the face of the earth, or the more subtle but equally insidious aim to delegitimize Israel's existence through efforts at UNESCO, the goal is the same-to get rid of Israel. Here is the book that defends, Israel's right to exist as a sovereign nation. As Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, Jay Sekulow has fought with Israel hand-in-hand in some of Israel's most strategic, international battles. Now, he has pulled together the definitive and comprehensive look at Israel-one of the world's most controversial nations- and its importance to us as Americans and as a key focal point to the future of the world. He looks at the legal case for its prominence, as well as the historical and political rationale for its existence as a sovereign nation and homeland for Jews today, and encourages readers to stand with him against the hatred, lies, and efforts to delegitimize one of the world's oldest nations.




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