Lord Save My Church: Taking Tough Issues By Richard W. O’Ffill

Richard O'Ffill is a Christian and Adventist author who has worked at the seventh-day Adventists' conference in North America in South America and South Asia and also as a departmental director. In his footsteps, "God saves my family," and many more, he has written a number of chrétien novels. The main emphasis of this paper will be on his book "Lord Save My Church," which is a critique of and actions of Christians in the church. “Lord Save My Church,” is a book that has majored its focus on Christianity and how individual Christians (God’s people) relate to God and each other. To ensure that the reader understands the concepts in the book, Richard has divided the book into sections, so that each part highlights an idea that pinpoints the behavior of Christians, which he condemns if necessary. For instance, Richard brings out the revolution that occurred in the 1960s and the 1970s where there were changes in the church and even their worship. He pins points that the revolution happened because the Christians were tired of waiting for the second coming of Jesus (O'Ffill 4). For this reason, the church has been secularized so that they can attract Christians back to church as many are now concerned with the worldly pleasures.Another major point he highlights is based on our relationship with God. He is so concerned with the way God’s word is proclaimed and how Christians take advantage of God’s love. For example, on the question of “love,” he differs with those who say you should love yourself first before loving others. This statement shows that we are preaching selfishness because we are placing ourselves before others. He also differs with those who teach that God loves us unconditionally and will take us as we are about the story of the prodigal son (O'Ffill 14). He insists that Jesus calls you as you are but when you get to him, you will have to change to fit in his kingdom.He also talks of modernity whereby they permit sin in the Christian world. Many evangelical churches have allowed sin in the church so that they can have members; as a result, they do not condemn some societal ills like abortion and homosexuality (O’Ffill, 20). Therefore he condemns such behaviors among Christians and calls upon the church to re-examine itself. He also condemns the current charismatic churches who have become a role model since they now have mega-churches and are currently teaching the ministers how to grow churches.The book is insightful in the sense that, it is teaching the readers about what Christianity and the church at large entails. It has also emphasized on personal examination, whereby Richard has taken his time to teach on, how to approach issues, and he has majorly used questions. He says that one should always give a proper thought, to a subject or problem, before he or she answers it. For example, he uses the story of Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden (O'Ffill, 9 ).I would recommend this book to anyone struggling with his or her relationship with Christ because it talks about both the secular and the Christian world and gives room for you to choose your stand. However, its interpretation of the bible is so open that you cannot fail to recognize that your relationship with God solely depends on you. And in that regard, I believe that this is a reasonable view of Christianity.Works CitedO'Ffill, Richard. Lord, Save My Church: Tackling the Tough Issues. Pacific P Pub. Assn., 2007.