Final Roar by Bob Briner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Finally getting around to posting some good things I've read from books. The book "Final Roar" is an excellent book about the entertainment industry. I did not agree with everything the author had to say but he made some good points. The author actually pasted away before the book was published. I trust you will enjoy the quotes below from this book:

This book challenges readers to offer the world the best that we have. The problem, with America is not the unbelieving world, or the secular media, as we so often hear from the undiscerning. The problem with America is us – the church. When you put the people of God in this country up against the Scriptures, we’re in big trouble. Briner’s perspective is that when you compare the American church with the lost world, there virtually is no difference between the two. We are broken in nearly all our human relationships, almost as if we had no faith or theology on which to depend. Therefore, our gospel is canceled by the way we live. Many American Christians do not even know how far we have moved from what we should be. We’re like the people in the Book of Malachi, where God says, “I want you to return to me,” but then we say, “How is it that we’ve departed?” Yes, the Christian community is still salt and light to the world, but we are losing our saltiness, and we are no longer a preserving ingredient in our society. p. 3

Serious students of the Bible know that Christians will never win as most count winning. We are not called to win. We are called to be obedient to all Jesus commanded us to do. The admonition to be “salt” in our society is not about reversing the tide of cultural decay. It is about retarding the growth of evil better and preparing people to hear and understand the offers we make of biblical truths. The command to proclaim the gospel is given with the understanding that most with whom we come into contact will refuse to hear and believe. The instruction to make disciples was surely given with the understanding of how difficult it would be. p. 32

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much or suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory or defeat.”   ~Theodore Roosevelt   p. 45

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”  ~ Jim Elliott  p. 53

One of the paradoxes for which Christians will have to answer is that the things about which we complain the loudest are the things about which we do the least to change. It is always much easier to complain than it is to do the real work of effecting change or of offering alternatives to troubling things.  p. 62

Never begin to think that politics can do the job in the hearts and lives of people that only the gospel can do. To think that we can change the course of history through Christian political activity is sheer folly. To think we can change the hearts of men and women by anything other than Christ is blasphemy. And changing hearts is what true kingdom making is all about.  p. 83

The Christian’s only real, solid, positive, and productive response to any evils of the world, including abortion, is the cross of Christ and the Christ of the cross.  p. 85

All our efforts [should]  be aimed at promoting not ourselves or our organizations but Jesus Christ and His gospel. p. 115

Richard Halverson, chaplain of the United States Senate:

Dear Friend:
Through the years as a pastor of four churches (in Missouri, California and Maryland), it was my responsibility (and privilege) to minister to those who were homosexual.
Based on this experience, let me share how I would respond to a child of mine who discovered that he/she was homosexual…
First, and most importantly, I would not cease loving them, or love them less than before they shared their situation with me.
As a matter of fact, I would love them more than ever, if that were possible.
They would have my hearing—as often and as long as they wanted to discuss the matter with me.
I would do my best not to be judgmental!
I would not treat them as “queer” or whatever other designation is a “put down.”
I would do all I could to persuade them to be chaste (just as I would a heterosexual child before marriage).
I would remind them with all the wisdom God gives me, that He loves them, that He understands them, and that His love is unconditional and everlasting.
I would urge their total commitment to Jesus Christ, that He might change them—as He transformed my live from pleasure loving playboy, and as He transformed many others to be His obedient servants—to conform to His perfect plan for their lives.
I would do all in my power—and with love—to try and dissuade them from adopting a homosexual life-style.
I would remind them that Christ created them for Himself, and they could become themselves, only as they gave themselves to Him that He might rule in their bodies. (Colossians 1:16, 27-29; 2:9-10; Romans 12:1-2). “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? (1 Corinthians 6:19).  pp. 125-126

We American Christians have much more important things to do with our time, energy, and money than expend them in frivolous pursuits—even if these pursuits make us feel righteous. We really must begin to take a closer look at our priorities. We need to measure everything we do against what we are uniquely and specifically called to do as followers of Christ. As always, Scripture must point the way. p. 132


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