An Introduction to The OLD TESTAMENT TEMPLATE - Landa Cope

Landa Cope has worked with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) for over 30 years, preparing young people to become missionaries: to communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to disciple the nations. So it was rather a bombshell for her to discover around 10 years ago, that some of the most evangelized and Christianised nations of the world were now amongst the most corrupt, poorest, crime-ridden, war-torn, socially-deprived nations too. How could this happen? That was the question she sought to answer, and the outcome is expanded in this book, subtitled Rediscovering God’s principles for discipling all nations.

How she came to this realization and her extensive research around the globe sets the scene for the mandate revealed in Scripture that she is now passionate about all believers seeing, understanding and being part of its fulfillment. She explains how God revealed to her that “the devastation you see is the fruit of preaching salvation alone, without the rest of the biblical message.” (p19) and her quest took her to prominent church leaders, who were also coming to this realization but at the time no one had any real solutions to offer.

Landa, therefore decided to delve into Scripture to unearth the principles for herself. This has not been a ‘quick fix’ discovery, but a decade of life transforming revelation, renewing her thinking and sharing the strategies and principles she found and is still finding. She readily admits that this book is but an introduction to the topic and encourages her readers to explore for themselves, applying the principles to their own lives and searching for answers which will radically change the way we view every aspect of our lives

Her method was simple but ingenious: to colour-code passages, dealing with the eight domains of life that she discovered, starting with the Torah, or the books of Moses, the first five books of the Bible, then confirming her findings by studying what Jesus said about these domains in the New Testament. To date, she has completed the Old Testament, and found that the more she studies the Bible in this way, the more God confirms the truth that He has laid out a mandate for discipling any and every nation.

I was introduced to Landa’s message, when she came to speak at a local church in Cape Town. As a result I bought some DVD’s of her teaching YWAM students in 2000 and have recently read this book, detailing her journey up to 2006. It is compelling viewing and reading; each component complements the other, but each are complete in themselves.

This is not a book for those who are comfortable with their lives, or for those who are insecure about change. But it would provide a wealth of material for discussion starters, in almost any setting, the breadth of her findings cover every area of society. They are far reaching and provoking.

I would recommend this book to anyone involved in missions, anyone who runs a church, anyone involved in government, business or education, and anyone involved in communication, science or the arts. In fact everyone should read this, especially every Christian

Fasting - Lynne M Baab

The subtitle to Fasting is Spiritual Freedom beyond our Appetites. The book deals with many different types of fasting, not just fasting from food. Lynne Baab draws on much material by other established authors in this field, including several research projects conducted by students. She also draws on her own experiences, in an open, honest account of her struggles with fasting, particularly as someone whose weight has see-sawed and for whom dieting has been a life-time preoccupation.

Her opening metaphor for Biblical fasting is the Statue of Liberty in New York, whose face is stern and austere, compared with its smaller version in Seattle, having a soft almost fleshy face. She contrasts the two faces, drawing parallels between costly freedom and indulgent benevolence, drawing the reader to the challenges of sacrifice and commitment in a culture that has become self-absorbed and pleasure-seeking. Her claim is that in our quest for freedom we actually burden ourselves and have forgotten what lack and true liberty feel like.

Using numerous examples from biblical and church history, and testimonies from people today, her study takes the reader through current attitudes towards food and fasting; a brief history of fasting in Christian history; an excellent chapter which she calls ‘A photo album of biblical stories’; abstaining from food and an introduction to the vocabulary of fasting, including a useful table of definitions; other fasts, including TV and entertainment fasts, and fasting for those with eating disorders; and communal fasting with others.

Each chapter concludes with questions for reflection or discussion and a short prayer focus. On almost every page, quotes by other writers or succinct testimonies by people who have fasted are highlighted, breaking up the block of text. The use of an empty bowl, from the cover photo, punctuates each chapter and quotation, creating a frequent visual reminder of the book’s topic. Two short appendices are included: one, on further sources of reading about fasting, and the other, on the challenge of finding fasting in the Bible, reminding the reader that fasting was implied in many of the biblical texts referring to prayer, as it was part of Jewish culture and background.

Baab’s style is easy to read and she presents her findings in a down-to-earth way, filled with practical examples and hints to encourage the novice faster. She is not preachy or superior, readily admitting her own difficulties with fasting, but nevertheless urging the reader to explore this much misunderstood and largely ignored discipline by Christians today. Her challenge is for her readers to broaden their understanding, to see fasting as something attainable and to rediscover the spiritual benefits of fasting within a 21st century western lifestyle.

Lynne Baab's other books include Sabbath Keeping and A Renewed Spirituality. Fasting is the first book of her's that I have been introduced to. Having read it fairly quickly, I now need to reread unhurriedly, pausing at the end of each chapter for serious reflection and subsequent action. Fasting is a topic which I have read briefly about, dabbled a little with, but never really uncovered its hidden treasures.

I would recommend this book to anyone else in a similar position.