It has been my privilege in recent years first to become acquainted with and then to grow to appreciate the work of Al Maxey as a preacher and as a writer. Those who have heard him teach at the Tulsa Workshop and elsewhere, or who have regularly read his studious e-mailings, know precisely what I mean. Having invested his life in ministry among the “mainline” and even some of the more “conservative” Churches of Christ, Al understands his audience and stands with them in mind and heart. He appreciates their concerns, shares their love of Scripture, and speaks their language in teaching it. It is evident that God has gifted Al and is using him to bring about biblical renewal and reform, particularly among the Churches of Christ.
I say all this as context for telling you about Al’s fourth and latest book, From Ruin To Resurrection, just released from www.americastarbooks.com. Many years ago, a parishioner walked into Al’s church office and dropped a copy of the newly-published first edition of The Fire That Consumes on his desk with the challenge, “Read this when you have opportunity and tell me what you think about it.” Al read the 500-page book, not once but several times, spurring his own rethinking of Last Things and leading, thirty years later, to this new book in which he shares his own studied conclusions. Here Al seeks to give biblical answers to such common questions as: Who are we and where are we going? Do humans possess immortal souls or spirits that leave the body at death for some other realm? Will hell involve endless torture, or does the Bible teach a different fate for the wicked? What will Heaven be like? What happens to the dead between death and judgment?
You can obtain From Ruin To Resurrection from the publisher online. (Go to www.americastarbooks.com