Great Mercy: A Knee-Bending Foray into the Believer's Battle to See Jesus at Church
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About this ebook
Michael carefully examines through modern parables that church is for the sheep and not the shepherd.
Michael Cartwright captures the Christian church with an unusual depth of insight into its false longings and purposeful posturing. Michael sees Jesus leaving a church that has already placed Him behind their backs.
Enjoy a fresh release from the lethargy of ritual as Michaels parables reach into the heart of the weary or war-torn believer.
GREAT MERCY is a parabolic witness to the activity of the unchanging God in His ever-changing world.
Explore the arena that is Christendom and understand the real place of His Son.
Grasp the human desires of His Bride, while Jesus steps out of the arena to where He is still welcomed.
Finally sip Jesus' new wine for He always leaves the best until last.
Parables included are Stadium Saints, Of Temples & Tombs and Lightning Strikes of Love (and many more).
Michael Cartwright
The child is always the father to the man. As a child twice adopted Michael learned that there is always a welcome despite the view through the window. He claims no pedigrees or a life that is not common to many a man. He has studied both teaching and theology. Michael is married for over thirty years to a long-enduring wife who still delights him each day. His family of three are now raised. Michael’s Christian faith has been paradoxically watered while trekking life’s desert sands. Michael is both a school teacher and an Anglican priest. He has served for two decades in parishes of great need. From within the denominational structures Michael learned much of what he has written about in "GREAT MERCY". Motorbikes have been (and still are) a pleasing distraction for far longer than he cares to admit. Michael currently works writing two websites, soulsupply.com and MyParable.com.au
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Book preview
Great Mercy - Michael Cartwright
Through Great Mercy explore the worship and activity of today’s denominational Christian church in seven modern parables.
Enjoy a hint of Pilgrim’s Progress and a tinge of the prophetic.
PLUS three free inspiring bonus parables upon The Journeys of Life.
32474.pngMICHAEL CARTWRIGHT
32462.pngCopyright © 2013 Michael Cartwright.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
The Bible references are all from the 84 NIV.-copyrighted 1986 by Holman Publishers
WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:
WestBow Press
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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.
ISBN: 978-1-4908-1105-5 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4908-1107-9 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-4908-1106-2 (e)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013918386
WestBow Press rev. date: 11/12/2013
. . . I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the creation of
the world. – Matthew 13:35
Religion is what’s left when God
leaves the room.
~ BONO
PREFACE
Great Mercy is written as a knee-bending foray into the battle for Jesus at denominational church-gatherings.
Great Mercy is a series of modern prophetic parables both exploring and exploding today’s Christian Church as expressed in time-honored denominationalism.
This book is divided in to three sections, with Part A, Stadium Saints and Part B, Fresh Fields being the longest parables, while Part C concludes with much shorter parables.
The first two parables examine the indifference of Christians and the church to Jesus in the service they offer Him as their Groom. Different but parallel metaphors are developed of both the Stadium and the Fields.
Part A enjoys the sweep of broad, indeed panoramic brushstrokes, while Part B is painted with small and narrow strokes across a more slender canvas.
Part A ponders Christian activity through a wide-angle lens; Part B probes the work of an individual Christian pastor viewing down a narrower lens.
Part C is a collation of much shorter parables reflecting upon worship with a divinely endowed emphasis upon the lost, the least, the last, and the lonely.
The prophetic nature of these parables is inescapable. It is in the time of famine that God’s raises prophets.
Today’s prophet wears two mantles: the mantle of call for reform as Old Testament prophets bore, and the mantle of encouragement from the New Testament (1 Corinthians 14:3). Under either mantle a prophet provides direction for God’s church and His people. This is the intention of these parables.
In an instant of pure soul-searching, during a heart-beat of devotion the Holy Spirit of Truth can draw repentance and deposit refreshment. Such an action is a Great Mercy and it is for today’s denominational churches.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Dear reader,
As one who has both loved and then lost the fellowship of yesterday,
As one whose heart has softened while his resolve has hardened,
As one who is dry and dissatisfied by an elderly and lifeless faith regime with its hands in its pockets and a walking stick upright against a pew . . .
It is my prayer that these parables may ignite your soul until it burns and stir you spirit until you holler to heaven for Jesus’ rest.
A.W. Pink in Elijah describes the prophet’s earnest prayer as no formal and spiritless devotion that accomplished nothing was his . . . !
It is my fear that formal and spiritless devotion again grips a Christian church that no longer worships at Bethel but rather the Baals of comfort, yesterday and education from the Tree of Knowledge, masked also as academic or popular opinion.
Great Mercy Part A and Part B I must soberly own as also parabolic explanations of my Episcopal career and subsequent desert years, now almost humbly behind me. Spiritually greener pastures are around me.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck . . . (NIV)
I had read the above Isaiah 52:2 reference countless times with an ecclesiastically trained blindness before resigning from my post as an Anglican clergyman amidst travail that could raise the dead or suffocate the living.
Resignation was as liberating to me as chocolate is addictive.
These post resignation years have led me into the arms of the Father who protects, whispers, and is gentle in how He holds.