Victorious Living---Dean Merrill on the work of E. Stanley Jones

Now, as promised yesterday, we're back with Dean Merill, who edited and updated this book Victorious Living by E Stanley Jones. Staned represented Eli. I understand, yes, people called him Stanley, yes, but they call him Stanley and some used to call him Pastor Stanley's brother. Stanley, I mean Brother Stanley, but his last name, of course, was Jones, now this is one of the five devotional series that he wrote. This was the first one he did in 1936, right in the middle of the Great Depression, yeah, this thing. He sold a million copies during that period of time, then he started repeating this, it's 365 readings, one for each day of the year, and he ended up doing 10 of these during his lifetime.

Wow, incredible, 10 365 day series plus other books and other books. Now, I've highlighted several little sound bites, so to speak, throughout this devotional, but the one I wanted to mention to you from the beginning was this one under the heading built into our foundations, but it says When we start this business of

victorious

living

, We are beginning with the solid facts of the laws written within our own being within the structure of society and the universe around us. Now the reason I highlighted that was because it became very clear to me when reading this. He was concerned about more than just personal transformation, yes he was concerned about the transformation of society and also the transformation of the world and he had some concerns about capitalism and individualism to the point where some called it not red but pink during the McCarthy era, what are your comments on this? he was he was he thought that the gospel that the message of Christ, the love of God, should affect all of society, should not be kept internal, should not just be in a corner and he really wanted to see the change, he wanted to see the impact of God everywhere, he was very involved in trying to prevent it, he came so close to preventing World War II in the Pacific, how did he do it?

It's amazing. by then I was already in contact with you, you lived in Asia for a long time and I kept telling the state department, the United States, the allies, you have to listen to the Japanese, you feel disrespected, you feel that you are not being paid attention and you know I've lived in Asia for a long time, you know, pay attention to this. In fact, he went to see President Franklin Roosevelt several times until December 3, 1941, which is four days before PE Harbor. He said: Mr. President, please. show some flexibility here, let's continue this discussion Roosevelt sent a cable in response to the Emperor of Japan that landed on the Emperor's desk on the morning of December 8th a day too late a day too late but it was very close because he said we have that to engage where we are, we have to let God's love and his purpose show in the world, it's not just a personal thing, yes, yes, and it seemed to me that I was way ahead. of his time in terms of sort of mainstream evangelicals, at least in terms of their absolute priority of social justice now, how much do you think you knew

living

in India and your relationship with Gandhi and Neru and all these other guys?

Do you think this influenced his view of the world and his way of thinking? Certainly, living in the midst of extreme poverty, yes, and living under colonial rule, yes, you know, he came to India and quickly saw. Excuse me, but the British have to leave now while I can. I don't say it boldly, uh, without getting expelled from the country. In fact, at one point the British withdrew his six-year visa and wouldn't let him back in, but he said, "You know change has to happen here, this nation has to." allowed, allowed to get up and, uh, deal with all of that made him think about all the implications of the Gospel.

He, he, he's not partisan, but he says that he is God's world and God has great purposes for this world and, uh, let's open up and let that. The book happens to be called Victorious Living East Anley Jones is the author edited and updated by my guest Dean Merill and you can have it friends and all you have to do is look at those coordinates there, whether it's the mailing address, the phone number or the Web. address you choose call us write to us log in now and submit your claim and do not forget that your best gift from the Ministry is very vital for us when you call and as a thank you we will send you this extraordinary book beautifully bound and a true classic in its time and may return to become a classic again with Dean Merl and East Stanley Jones again tomorrow.

We hope to see you then.