Dear All,
Thank you for listening to the podcast!
I received a very disappointing rejection of my manuscript last week after a promising potential for it to be supported by an evangelical publisher in the UK.
Even more distressing however was the publisher’s stated rationale (as well as lack thereof) for their decision: apathy.
Dear Nick,
Thanks again for sending over your book idea. We appreciate you thinking of us.
Another team member and I looked over the PDF you sent and discussed it. I think we both agree that you are making some interesting and valuable points but, on balance, we felt it was perhaps a little too provocative for EP at the moment. I’m sorry, I appreciate that you are partly rallying against the type of apathy that we are showing in declining for this reason but it’s where we fell, nonetheless.
Wish you well with it as you endeavour to get it out by other means.
Anon
In this episode of Into the Pray I offer a few brief thoughts about this apathy from Christian publishers whose publishing decisions are often based on money and Christian ‘pop culture’ rather than on prophetic urgency.
I had thought that I was perhaps barking up the wrong tree to express recent interactions with an evangelical publisher as being similar to what it is like to throw gospel pearls before dogs. And then I read a sermon by the Chinese house-church leader, Guo Muyun.
This pestilence (COVID-19) demonstrates that one of the greatest sins of this nation is lying and silence. Silence leads to silent dogs and lies lead to dogs pretending to howl like sheep or other animals. This generation has become a classic case of deceiving leaders and deceived people.
Guo Muyin — Faith in the Wilderness (Sermon 1)
J. C. Ryle would have been aghast by this apathy, as am I.
“We want more boldness among the friends of truth. There is far too much tendency to sit still and wait for committees…We want more men who are not afraid to stand alone. It is truth, not numbers, which shall always in the end prevail. We have the truth, and we need not be ashamed to say so. The judgment day will prove who is right, and to that day we boldly appeal.”
J. C. Ryle
By contrast, have you ever considered the courage of the Holy Spirit that the men and women who owned printing presses had in the sixteenth century and that was demonstrated by standing with men like William Tyndale and Martin Luther?
God knows we need this courage today – what a slight on His glorious Name that apathy can be so readily admitted by evangelicals.
Can you imagine standing before the Judgment Seat of Christ and, acknowledging your apathy, shrugging your shoulders and saying, “But this is where I fell nonetheless”?
Read: “What I Learnt From Walking Away From A Mainstream Publisher”.
Tomorrow I will begin a short series running up to Christmas reading A. W. Tozer’s classic, The Knowledge of the Holy.
Looking for evangelism motivation? See here for ideas.
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Come, Lord Jesus!
Love,
Nick & Mairi xx
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