Gospel According to Jerry

Thetestimony of this book reaffirms the original New Testament witness, that theChristians separation from the world is so radical that in the eyes of the unbaptized worldling he is quiteliterally out of his mind (Acts 26:24). Pauls description of the Christiangospel as folly (1 Cor. 1:18) therefore is seen to be no mere literary device buta deep penetration to the root of the Christians alienation from the world. The basic proclamation of that gospel__thatGod was in Christ, who died for our sins, rose from the grave, ascended intoheaven and will some day return to judge both the living and the dead__is at best hard to believe (Mark 16:9-14),and at worst has been placed in the same category of delusional psychology ofwhich those with experience in caring for the mentally ill can give numerousexamples (Albert Schweitzer, The Psychiatric Study of Jesus). My ownexperience of the gospel, having run this gamut from best to worst, has beenfor me a brilliant illumination of the depth of the riches of the wisdom andknowledge of God (Rom. 11:33). I believe it cannot but resultin enlightenment for others also, and therefore I publicly make thisconfession.___from the authors Foreword