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Book Review – Silent No More |
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Author — Rod
Parsley
Published by Charisma House
Review by Tom Gilbert
 Rod Parsley, the senior pastor of World Harvest Church
in Columbus, Ohio, is concerned about many things in our society and world.
I share his concern about many of them. We have a society that is for the
most part self-centered and selfish. I, too, am distressed about the media,
the justice system, poverty, race relations, the right of life issues and
our educational systems. But I don’t approach these concerns in the
same way that Pastor Parsley does.
In Silent No More (Charisma House) the author states
that he is compelled to speak out about certain issues. He says the times
and
our history demand it. And that God is watching. Well,
sure, God is watching, but I don’t think he’s holding a big scorecard. Nevertheless,
I won’t detract from the serious issues that Parsley raises.
The book is intelligently written and the author uses
lots of statistics to state his case. Some of the chief concerns he raises
are how the Supreme Court Justices in the United States are going too far
in enforcing a secular separation of church and state. He’s also
distressed by the problems of poverty in our land, an educational system
that leaves something to be desired, ongoing prejudice and racial bigotry
(even in Christian churches), and the problem of the public’s obsession
with an entertainment culture of sex and violence. He also writes about
what he calls the “unhappy Gay Agenda” and the “deception
of Islam”.
The chief concerns I have with this book are that with
so many of the issues raised Parsley wants us to confront them with strong
oppositional energy. If there are wrongs in our society we should work
to correct them. But always placing the arguments in the “us versus
them” scenario promotes attitudes of self-righteousness and it rarely
leads to positive outcomes. Conservatives against liberals, pro-lifers
against pro-choice, blue states against the red – take your pick.
It seems to me there is a better way to find common ground, even if there
doesn’t appear to be any.
The chapter, “ISLAM: The Deception of Allah” is the part of
the book that I found this oppositional stance to be the most apparent.
Pastor Parsley is convinced that the God of Christians and the god of Islam
are not the same and are, in fact, opposed to each other. I don’t
know this to be true. Islam is certainly a major world religion and there
are surely many seekers who are investigating this path. Muslims and Christians
don’t share the same doctrinal beliefs, but they do both believe
in One God and can point to Abraham as the “Father of Faith”.
But to lay the views of certain fringe followers (i.e. terrorists) on all
followers of Islam is just as bad as singling out those who claim to be
Christians but support in thought and deed actions that are not based in
Gospel teaching.
The key is for all of us to seek God’s real guidance as set forth
in the Gospels and with Jesus as our guide and teacher. To the author’s
credit he does call for compassion to be used in pursuing the dream he
has for America (specifically at the end of the book in the Epilogue).
I just hope that the dream of a land where all can worship freely and the
true Christian values are practiced at home, school, in the workplace and
the government can be achieved without narrow right/wrong conclusions.
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| Rod Parsley is the
Pastor of World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio, a 12,000
member congregation with worldwide ministries and a global
outreach. |
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Scripture taken from the
Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.Copyright ©
1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights
reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International
Bible Society.
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered
trademarks of International Bible Society. Use of either
trademark for the offering of goods or services requires
the prior written consent of International Bible Society.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy
Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996. Used
by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton,
IL 60189, USA. All rights reserved.
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