A Tale of Three Kings

by Gene Edwards

For the many Christians who have experienced pain, loss, and heartache at the hands of other believers, this compelling story offers comfort, healing, and hope. Christian leaders and directors of religious movements throughout the world have recommended this simple, powerful, and beautiful story to their members and staff. You will want to join the thousands who have been profoundly touched by this incomparable story.

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Paperback, 136 pages

Published May 21st 1992 by Tyndale House Publishers (first published 1980)

tags: theology, spirituality, faith, christianity, religion, inspirational, leadership, fiction, christian living, christian

Book Quotes

“David was caught in a very uncomfortable position; however, he seemed to grasp a deep understanding of the unfolding drama in which he had been caught. He seemed to understand something that few of even the wisest men of his day understood. Something that in our day, when men are wiser still, even fewer understand. And what was that? God did not have - but wanted very much to have - men and women who would live in pain. God wanted a broken vessel.”

― Gene Edwards

topics: Brokenness

“...he seemed to grasp a deep understanding of the unfolding drama in which he had been caught. He seemed to understand something that few of even the wisest men of his day understood...God wanted a broken vessel.”

― Gene Edwards

topics: Brokenness, Christianity

“You can easily tell when someone has been hit by a spear. he turns a deep shade of bitter. David never got hit. Gradually, he learned a very well-kept secret... One, never learn anything about the fashionable, easily mastered art of spear throwing. Two, stay out of the company of all spear throwers. And three, keep your mouth tightly closed. In this way, spears will never touch you, even when they pierce your heart.”

― Gene Edwards

topics: Inspirational, Spiritual

“Rules were invented by elders so they could get to bed early. Men who speak endlessly on authority only prove they have none. And kings who make speeches about submission only betray twin fears in their hearts: they are not certain they are really true leaders, sent of God. And they live in mortal fear of a rebellion... No... authority from God is not afraid of challenges, makes no defense, and cares not one whit if it must be dethroned.”

― Gene Edwards

“What does this world need: gifted men and women, outwardly empowered? Or individuals who are broken, inwardly transformed?”

― Gene Edwards

“Who, then, can know who is a David and who is a Saul? God knows. But he won’t tell. Are you so certain your king is a Saul and not a David that you are willing to take the position of God and go to war against your Saul? If so, then thank God you did not live in the days of crucifixion. What, then, can you do? Very little. Perhaps nothing. However, the passing of time (and the behavior of your leader while that time passes) reveals a great deal about your leader. And the passing of time, and the way you react to that leader—be he David or Saul—reveals a great deal about you.”

― Gene Edwards

“God did not have - but wanted very much to have - men and women who would live in pain. God wanted a broken vessel.”

― Gene Edwards

“God did not have—but wanted very much to have—men and women who would live in pain. God wanted a broken vessel.”

― Gene Edwards

“Los rebeldes que llegan al poder mediante la rebelión son intolerantes con los demás rebeldes y sus rebeliones. Cuando Absalón se enfrente con la rebelión, se convertirá en un tirano. Su perversidad será diez veces la que ahora le atribuye a tu rey. El aplastará la rebelión y gobernará con mano de hierro... y mediante el terror. Eliminará toda oposición. Esta es siempre la última etapa de las rebeliones altisonantes.”

― Gene Edwards

“Por muchas razones. Una es evidente. En el reino espiritual, un hombre que esté a la cabeza de una rebelión ya ha demostrado—no importa cuan grandiosos sean sus discursos ni cuán angelicales sean sus métodos — que tiene una naturaleza inclinada a la crítica, un carácter sin principios y motivos ocultos en su corazón. Francamente, es un ladrón. Crea la tensión y el descontento dentro del reino, y luego toma el poder o lo socava con sus seguidores. Une a los partidarios que consigue para establecer su propio dominio. Es un comienzo lamentable, basado en el fundamento de la insurrección. No, Dios nunca aprueba la división en su reino. —Me resulta curioso — prosiguió el Sabio — que los hombres que se sienten competentes para dividir el reino de Dios no se sientan capaces de irse a alguna otra parte, a otra tierra, para erigir un reino completamente nuevo. No, ellos tienen que robar el reino de otro líder. No he visto la excepción. Siempre parecen necesitar al menos algunos partidarios previamente moldeados a su gusto. Comenzar solo y con las manos vacías asusta al mejor de los hombres. Eso también indica claramente lo seguro que están de que Dios está con ellos. Cada una de sus palabras, si verdaderamente se analizan, habla de su inseguridad. Hay muchas tierras intactas y sin dueño. Hay mucha gente en otros sitios que esperan para seguir a un verdadero rey, a un verdadero hombre de Dios. Repito (y hay quienes dicen que repito lo mismo con frecuencia). ¿Por qué los "aspirantes a reyes y profetas" no se marchan silenciosos y solos, encuentran a otra gente en otro sitio, y allí erigen el reino que imaginan? Los hombres que dirigen las rebeliones en el mundo espiritual son hombres indignos. No hay excepciones. Y ahora debo irme. Tengo que unirme al desfile que pasa.”

― Gene Edwards

“No,” he said, now in a voice with a touch of eloquence, “authority from God is not afraid of challengers, makes no defense, and cares not one whit if it must be dethroned. “That”

― Gene Edwards

“Then do you find it strange that this remarkable event led the young man not to the throne but to a decade of hellish agony and suffering? On that day, David was enrolled, not into the lineage of royalty but into the school of brokenness.”

― Gene Edwards

“Korah approached”

― Gene Edwards

Gene Edwards

Earl Eugene "Gene" Edwards is an American house church planter, a Christian author, and a former Southern Baptist pastor and evangelist. A graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, he was instrumental in pioneering the house church concept in the United States.

Edwards’ books and tapes laid the ground work for the house church movement that began in the United States in the 1970s. Groups and churches that he planted pattern their gatherings around primitive Christian practices such as meeting in homes, writing their own songs, and meeting in an open, participatory style. These groups aim for a distributed ministry model in which no one in the group possesses greater authority than any other so that all will be encouraged to function and speak in the meeting.

Gene is an author of some thirty books.

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