Reviews for His Intimate Presence: Experiencing the Transforming Power of the Holy Spirit

The average rating for His Intimate Presence: Experiencing the Transforming Power of the Holy Spirit based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-01-06 00:00:00 Luc Alexandre I have only the utmost respect for Bill bright as a man and Christian. Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) does enormous good worldwide. I was a spiritual newborn when I joined up with them in college, and the impact Campus Crusade had on me has been profound. It just happens in this case that this particular book wasn't all that great. It had some good parts, though. It was okay. It was a given that I would disagree with the chapter on hell. There wasn't much in that chapter that was unusually strong or week. It was the usual passages (Matthew 25:46, Luke 16:19-31). The book is short, so we couldn't expect much depth. I do actually laud Bright for not pulling punches. He didn't try to say that Hell is a place of eternal torment that is represented by the metaphor of being burned alive and is even worse than that, but at the same time is an example of Gods love and is not that bad and all that modern baloney. If Hell is a place of eternal torment (it isn't, of course), then when the Bible describes fire and warnings of it being terrible, we should imagine that it is a excruciating beyond imagination and is experienced as such for ever and ever. The heaven chapter was okay. It wasn't all that moving, at least for me, but there isn't much for me to complain about. I didn't like the closing of the main part of the book. It becomes essentially a Pascal's wager. In other words, he basically says that if there is even a remote chance of his message being true, there is nothing to lose by accepting Christ so you might as well believe so that you are saved in case it is true. I mean, he literally says "what do you possibly have to lose by receiving Christ and knowing for sure that He has eliminated any possibility that you could go to hell?" What do you have to lose? Well that will vary by person and by circumstance, but there is a cost for everyone. That's why Jesus said to count the cost of following Him in Luke 14 (the costs are different then they would have been in following Him on while he walked the earth but the point still remains). That's why Paul said that if the gospel were untrue, believers would be the most pitied of people (1 Corinthians 15:19). For some, accepting Christ could cost even your life. In America, this is usually not the case. But it could cost friendships, romances, even family relationships. Christianity isn't a big rule book, but there are lots of things that feel good that you have to give up (like premarital sex and drunkenness). You have to constantly be on guard against temptation to sin (temptation is unavoidable but you have to know it�s there so you can resist sinning). You have to consider every act and thought in light of scripture. Even people with easy lives make their lives harder in some ways by following Jesus. And ultimately, you have to be at least willing to give up everything and even face torture and death, if it comes to it. It might not, but you have to be willing or you're "accepting Jesus" is meaningless. There is plenty to lose! There is plenty to lose. It is because we truly believe that the gospel is true and so nothing is worth losing eternal life. If there is no crown of life awaiting us, if there is no Holy Spirit who guides us and makes our desires more in line with God�s in this life, if this is all untrue, then following Jesus would just be for losers. It isn't because of a remote chance that eternal torment is true. The two tracts at the end of the book are good though, not having the flaws of the main part of the book. The first tract, �Would You Like to Know God Personally,� I use myself for evangelism. Not too much weight can really be given separate, pre-written tracts that are attached as appendices, but they do help a little. It had ups and downs. I wouldn't use it for evangelism, since I think what it teaches about Hell is false. That said, the book is hard to come by so it probably wouldn't make for something to hand out to your non-Christian friends now anyway. Should it ever become re-printed, I would simply say that is overall okay.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-05-26 00:00:00 Anwaar Morales I will always look up to and admire Bill Bright's simple devotion to his first love, Jesus.