A Note from Muddy Pearl
What’s in this bundle?
God Untamed by Johannes Hartl:
A challenging rejection of ‘feel-good’ Christianity, God Untamed explores the deep crisis of faith that effects the Western world. At a time where the need for spirituality is great, yet churches are losing more and more members; in the face of a generation with so many opportunities and so little direct threat, yet who are so anxious, depressed and disenchanted – Hartl speaks of the voice that can still oceans. God, as he encounters us, is not simply ‘nice’ and certainly not trivial or comfortable. He is fascinating and intimidating at the same time.
Hartl calls us to rediscover this sense of wonder and reimagine what it is to have a fear of God – not founded in a whimper at the unknown, but a respect borne out of watching his visible power in the nature of our world. Without this fear, Hartl warns that the church is in danger of weakening under the immense pressures of our times.
Digitally Remastered by Guy Brandon:
The communications technologies that now permeate our every waking moment open up endless possibilities: we can do things more quickly, we can do things more efficiently, we can do more things. And yet there is a downside – our time absorbed in social media and sifting through shopping choices; a quarter of working hours spent in unproductive online activity. And more sinister implications: loss of privacy, anonymity, the undisclosed harvesting of personal details by commercial and government organisations. Ultimately, the reality of communications technologies is that either we will master them or they will master us.
In this incredibly helpful book, Guy Brandon unpacks the practical and spiritual significance of our technological choices and encourages us to use communications technologies in a way that aligns with our faith and calling, and makes us more faithful, more human and better at relating to one another.
The Promise of Blessing by Kate Patterson:
Tucked away in the book of Numbers, amid instructions on wave offerings and haircutting, set in the ring of God’s call to his people to be set apart for him, we find a sparkling diamond: God’s gift of shining blessing, given to a weary people wandering in the wilderness.
God blesses those who don’t deserve it, through those who don’t deserve it; again and again he chooses to bless. He is preparing his people for life in the Promised Land. And he is blessing them – us – to be a blessing to all people.