The Book That Transforms Nations

"It's wonderful to learn there's hope for our nations if we embrace the Bible 

and put Its truth into practice." 

-Loren Cunningham

The Book That Transforms Nations focuses on how the world functions with, and without, God's Word. The author and founder of Youth With A Mission (YWAM), Loren Cunningham, wrote this book in hopes to inspire and encourage Christian's to seek God on how to apply His Word into the Seven Spheres of Society: 

Family, Religion (church/mission), Education, Celebration (Arts/Entertainment/Sports), Public Communication (Media), Economy (Business/Science/Technology), and Government. 

Throughout the book, Cunningham addresses the issues of morality in the nations and explains that countries economic declines began with their moral decline. He supports this by providing historical evidence of how Christian leaders and missionaries shaped several nations by implementing God's morals and principals into their societies. Every time they did this, the economies improved, poverty declined, health was restored, lands healed, people discovered their identities, and unity developed between different peoples and cultures. 


The book is divided into six parts:

1. We Can Win It All or Lose It All
• A brief reflection on differences between nations that are rising economically due to Christian principals being applied verses nations that are declining because of the lack or morality and principals.
2. Profiles of Transformation
• Brief history of key people who changed nations by applying Biblical principals in each Sphere -the amazing improvements to the economies as the result of their actions, and the work that is carried on today because of what they started.  
3. Transforming Truths from God's Book
• The key to any kind of transformation is to first understand Who God is, then who we are in Christ, understanding and acknowledging the existence of unchanging, knowable truth, and take responsibility of living our lives according to that truth. 
4. Are There Exceptions to the Bible?
•  Recognizing that knowledge has never improved the nation as a whole. Knowledge built pyramids and made breakthroughs in math and science, but it always built its society on the blood of people thought to be beneath the "better deserving." The only nations in history that experienced true transformation, and brought value and equality to all mankind, was only ever achieved when Biblical Truth was applied. (Ex: Japan's economic greatness actually began when Christian leaders introduced certain principals and values into their culture. -Like William Merrell and General Douglas MacArthur.) 
5. Bringing God's Book to the Whole World
•  The powerful results of getting the Bible distributed throughout the world. Visions, and the fulfillment of those visions, and thousands of lives coming to Christ -simply by getting the Bible in their hands ...and their language. 
6. Keeping Our Eyes on God
• Warning against Biblical Legalism, and recognizing the need for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We can memorize every word in the Bible, but that doesn't mean that we understand It, nor live our lives out according It's Words. After this warning, Loren then gives us a vision and a challenge.

"If you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, 

being careful to do all His commandments that I command you today, 

the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 

But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God 

or be careful to do all His commandments 

and His statutes that I command you today, 

then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you."

-Deuteronomy 28

 

There was much in this book that both convicted and inspired me, but I will list five.

• "If we give in to despair and apathy, we aren't living according to reality. We need to look at who we are in Him and get some strength in our backbone."
• A defeated mindset is the killer of vision and hope. If we ...I don't take accountability to apply just the basic principles of God's Word (take care of the poor, orphaned, and widowed), I will miss the opportunity to save a life -possibly thousands. 
• General Douglas MacArthur called for 10,000 missionaries to minister to a devastated Japan after WWII. Only a few hundred answered the call.
• If the church had wholeheartedly answered this call, Japan might be a Christian nation rather than one influenced by a Christian nation. Again, if I see a need to be met, then it is my responsibility to respond to that need. I don't need to wait for God to tell me to minister to the poor and afflicted. 
• The story of Luther's revelation that the church was more than a body of Pope and Bishops, and that man was saved by faith -alone! 
• One of my favorite movies is the 1953 version about Martin Luther. Reading about what he did in this book both inspired and convicted my heart for not living out what I know to be truth. Instead of taking action, I keep arguing and trying to reason out things. Reading about Luther, following other contents and stories in this book, made me even more aware of how strong my fears are.
• The brutality of the Christian church throughout history. Cunningham's mentions the Spanish Law in the 1500's, that Catholics could not be enslaved. Natives were given the choice: Become a Christian and be free, or refuse and be a slave in the mines. The church considered this 'conversion.'
• It is heart breaking to know my faiths', and my forefathers,' history. I love hearing stories about the Crusades Forgiveness walks, and other acts of reconciliation. But I realize that I still have to carry the burden of my white skin and faith in the eyes of many across the world. This doesn't mean I am meant to carry their shame, but rather an awareness of how my ancestors did hurt many in the name of Jesus. 
• At the end of the book, Cunningham warns us about 'bibliolatry'; when people get "known for their theological purity and eventually for their rigidity, legalism, and intolerance."
• While I know that my faith is in Christ, and not the Bible Itself, I know that I could very easily be swayed into legalism and intolerance. In fact, I struggle with it almost daily. I do praise God that I am aware of it though. It means that I am not one of these people, but I still have to be careful of it coming forward. 

This book is not the first teaching I have received about the Seven Sphere's and how we need to look for opportunities to serve in them. But it is a refreshing reminder to me about the passion God put in my heart for understanding the Bible. I know He's calling me to be a teacher of His Word. It's a position I feel very inadequate for. I understand exactly how Moses felt. I really don't want any kind of leadership position in my life. Sometimes, I do like control (I think everyone does), but the reality is that no one really has control. I guess that's what makes it leadership scary. We don't know what the outcome will be, and an unpredictable future makes for a lot of uncertainty I have to keep taking before the Lord.

I do love the way Cunningham provides story after story of people and events that illustrate what happens when people follow God's Word -even in this modern era. I know there are many out there who attack the authority of the Bible. (Some of my family is among them.) And I know there is more than what is in the Biblical text. I always encourage people to study it as well. (I'm a Bible student. Of course I do that!)

-But there is no denying the amazing outcomes from simply studying Biblical context alone, and applying it. Even if you don't know the times, culture, or complete history or that time, you can still receive so much wisdom, health instruction, marital advice, sanitation instructions, parenting skills, educational development, established governments, inspiration for art, teamwork, entertainment, counseling... It's simply endless what the Bible has done throughout history. And it is exciting to know that it reaching the four corners of the world, changing people, and changing nations.

After all...


You can't argue with progress!