Snatched from the Fire by Mitch
The subtitle of this book is, ‘Life with a purpose’ and it tells about the purpose of the author’s life, i.e. living for the Lord Jesus Christ and telling others about him.
It is part biography and part teaching about the fundamentals of the Christian life; every page has a sharp evangelistic thrust.
Keith Mitchell (Mitch) was a firefighter in Northern Ireland but is now an evangelist with Crown Jesus Ministries; an organization that wants to see the people of Ireland crown Jesus Lord of their lives. He is also an associate of J. John and the Philo Trust.
The book is written in a very racy style and bears the marks of a man whose life is devoted to speaking to people who have little interest in the Christian faith. It is crammed with stories and quotations from a wide range of source and is the ideal book to give to those who only have a vague interest in the gospel.
All of the chapters have intriguing titles that cover subjects such as, ‘A Broken world,’ ‘Sex,’ ‘Loving Church’ and ‘The Lord’s Gym.’ In a chapter entitled, ‘Knocking at the door – hearing the right message’ the author says, ‘The church is in the business of presenting an important message but has been generally poor at the feedback system. It does a lot of talking and not much listening, and as a result the truth and power of the message suffer and become distorted’ (p. 72). He explains that so often Christians, in their haste to present the gospel message, do not really listen to the problems people are facing in their day-to-day lives. He says, ‘I don’t want anyone to miss the joy of knowing Jesus because of the carelessness or failure of someone else’ (p.73).
He ends his small book with some pointers on how to share our faith with others and has sections on ‘Be intentional,’ ‘Focus on your story,’ ‘Overcoming your fear,’ ‘Keep your evangelism simple’ and ‘Know and Share the Bible.’
His closing words are from Jude verse 23. ‘Snatch others from the fire and save them. This is the motto of Fire Fighters for Christ International. It’s also my motto in life. Make it yours too!’
