There are few things quite so boring as being religious, but there is nothing quite so exciting as being a Christian!
Most folks have never discovered the difference between the one and the other, so that there are those who sincerely try to live a life they do not have, substituting religion for
God, Christianity for Christ, and their own noble endeavors for the energy, joy, and power of the Holy Spirit. In the absence of reality, they can only grasp at rituals, stubbornly defending the latter in the absence of the former, lest they be found with neither!
They are lamps without oil, cars without gas, and pens without ink, baffled at their own impotence in the absence of all that alone can make man functional; for man was so engineered by God that the presence of the Creator within the creature is indispensable to His humanity. Christ gave Himself for us to give Himself to us! His presence puts God back into the man! He came that we might have life - God's life!
There are those who have a life they never live. They have come to Christ and thanked Him only for what He did, but do not live in the power of who He is. Between the Jesus who "was" and the Jesus who "will be" they live in a spiritual vacuum, trying with no little zeal to live for Christ a life that only He can live in and through them, perpetually begging for what in Him they already have!
From the foreword of Classic Christianity by Bob George, Eugene: Harvest House Publishers. ©1989.
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Major Ian Thomas (1914 - 2007)
Evangelical writer, theological teacher and founder of the Torchbearers bible schools. These schools are now world-wide in many countries and provide a teaching base on the person of Christ in the believer and basic Biblical exposition of Bible books.Among the many books that he wrote, the most influential have been: "The Saving Life Of Christ" , "The mystery of godliness" and "If I perish, I Perish." His burden in ministry was to express and show the indwelling life of Christ in believers and the rest and power that life will have in us as we trust and have faith.
Recommends these books by Major Ian Thomas:
The Indwelling Life of Christ: All of Him in All of Me by Major Ian Thomas
If I Perish, I Perish by Major Ian Thomas
The Mystery of Godliness: Experiencing Christ in Us by Major Ian Thomas
W Ian Thomas was a writer and theological teacher. Thomas is probably best known as an author and as the founder of both Torchbearers International and Capernwray Missionary Fellowship of Torchbearers.
His book, "The Saving Life of Christ", seems to have had a profound affect on Bert Harned, M.D., and the many individuals he has discipled in his lifetime.
Major W. Ian Thomas was born in London, England of middle class parents and was converted at the age of twelve in a Boy's Camp. With the intention of becoming a missionary in Africa, he studied medicine at London University for two years, where as a student of nineteen, in deep discouragement about his Christian life, he discovered the life-transforming secret of the indwelling life of the risen, living Lord Jesus Christ in the life of the believer. This discovery precipitated him almost immediately into an evangelistic and Bible teaching ministry which has spread around the world.
Arising from this world wide-ministry, there came into being a Young Peoples Christian Conference Center and Bible School at Capernwray Hall, Carnforth, in the North West of England and from this beginning there developed the Capernwray Missionary Fellowship of Torchbearers, of which Major Thomas is the Founder and General Director.
There are now Conference Centers and Bible Schools beyond the British Isles in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, Canada, the U.S.A., Australia, New Zealand, India, Indonesia, Japan, Costa Rica and additional Headquarters established in the Sudan, Micronesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Major W. Ian Thomas was born in London, England of middle class parents and was converted at the age of twelve in a Boy's Camp. With the intention of becoming a missionary in Africa, he studied medicine at London University for two years, where as a student of nineteen, in deep discouragement about his Christian life, he discovered the life-transforming secret of the indwelling life of the risen, living Lord Jesus Christ in the life of the believer. This discovery precipitated him almost immediately into an evangelistic and Bible teaching ministry which has spread around the world.
Arising from this world wide-ministry, there came into being a Young Peoples Christian Conference Center and Bible School at Capernwray Hall, Carnforth, in the North West of England and from this beginning there developed the Capernwray Missionary Fellowship of Torchbearers, of which Major Thomas is the Founder and General Director.
There are now Conference Centers and Bible Schools beyond the British Isles in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, Canada, the U.S.A., Australia, New Zealand, India, Indonesia, Japan, Costa Rica and additional Headquarters established in the Sudan, Micronesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.