Eternity in Their Hearts

Well worth the read! Don explains the difference between appropriation and recognizing seeds planted in cultures that open the door for the gospel of Jesus, and that sharing the good news isn’t forcing a foreign concept but the fulfilling the Great Commission and building on general revelation given to all mankind. God is good, and the gospel is ready to be heard! The last section was challenging to me personally as Don made it personal about sharing Jesus.

Eternity in their hearts gave me insights into my own Bible and answered questions I dared not ask in college for fear of breaching topics my professors never tapped into - namely, what about those who have "never heard." This book lends incredible weight to the reasons why those people are "without excuse." I work in China, and so I found those passages in the book especially interesting that dealt with Chinese history and culture, but even more interesting was the fact that just such evidence of God that exists in all cultures was the hammer-stroke that confirmed that all peoples do have access to God, and that He has not left Himself without witness. Overall, it is very compelling evidence. In talking with a skeptic of the reality of God, I came across this book, devoured it in a day and a half, and felt empowered to answer his questions like: "Why would a loving God send people to hell if they have never heard?" "How do you know God is not just an invention of the mind?" "How can you discount the validity of all the other religions of the world?" Dr. Richardson explores these issues, though lightly, and sent me on my own path of research for more information and discovery of how God was working with Chinese people since the beginning of time. Eternity in their hearts, may not answer every hard question, but it certainly gave me a direction to begin to look for answers. If truth is what you are really seeking, it will do the same for you.

I found this an exciting book because it is filled with numerous historical examples of peoples from diverse cultures the world over whose lives have been blessed by the missionary spread of the Gospel.If you've ever been challenged, confused or concerned that the Gospel is something exclusively white, European and male that for primarily greedy, arrogant and condescending reasons has been imposed upon other cultures this is a book you may want to read.I loved it. I've read it several times and found it easy to read and to understand. The author himself is a missionary. He presents numerous factual examples of what he calls 'redemptive analogies'. These are "hidden keys" within the very fabric of non-European cultures that have wisely been recognized and utilized by many (but of course not all) missionaries over the centuries. In contrast to seeing the Gospel as something illegitimate and disrespectful imposed upon the unsuspecting, ignorant, gullible and uncivilized 'heathen' the beautiful and respectful truth of God's redeeming love for all humankind is shown to have blessed millions. Have you only heard about the wolves in sheeps clothing? Read this book and hear about some amazing stories of blessings.

Who were the Magi who brought gifts to the Baby Jesus, and how did they know that a Messiah was coming? Who was Melchizedek, the contemporary of Abraham who was a priest of the one high God? Who was the Greek prophets who Paul recognized as having spoken God's words to the Greek people? How did a King in South America before the coming of the Europeans recognize that there was only one true God? For the answers to these and many other questions about people who knew about God before they were ever visited by Christian missionaries or had contact with the people of Israel, read "Eternity in Their Hearts". It is a truly great book. The thesis of the book is simple-- God is the One God of all the earth. He has made himself known to all people in some fashion. He has prepared the way for the message of Christ. When Paul approached an altar to The Unknown God in Athens, he declared that God to be the one true God. Who had built the altar, and what did the builder know? There is now a novel that works with a premise similar to that of "Eternity in Their Hearts". It's about a pagan spiritist who recognizes that there is design in the Universe so he sets out to find the purpose of all things and finds God in the process. The novel is titled "Castle of Wisdom," and it is by an author named Rhett Ellis. It's a great read too.

The thesis of this book is that God has prepared the cultures of the world for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This idea may sound bizarre to many people. But since I first read the book about seventeen years ago, I have found confirmation on three levels. First, Scriptural. Richardson's idea of "redemptive analogies" indirectly echoes the teaching of Jesus that he came "to fulfill" rather than to "do away with" the (Jewish) Law, and, more directly, the approach the apostles John and Paul in speaking to Greeks about the divine "Logos," or about altars "to an unknown God." Second, historical. In Augustine's City of God, Christ was preached as a fulfillment of the truest elements in Greco-Roman culture in the early church. This is in fact a large part of "How the West Was Won" to Christ, and a large part of the East, as well. The third form of confirmation was psychological, from the mouths of skeptics. Humanist Huston Smith complains of Christianity that "If God is a God of love, it seems most unlikely that he would not have revealed himself to his other children as well." Buddhist Thich Naht Hanh agrees: "Sharing does not mean wanting others to abandon their spiritual roots. . . People cannot be happy if they are rootless." Both are quite right, as far as they go. But Richardson shows that God has revealed himself to "all his children" by planting a root for the Gospel within each culture, so when we call people to Christ, we call them to the deepest truths within their own cultures. I remember the first time I visited the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China, 16 years ago. Who was this "Heaven" whom the Chinese worshiped? Why did the emperor come once a year, just like the high priest in Israel, to sacrifice for the sins of the people? As I stood in the most sacred spot in China, it seemed as if a Voice spoke to my heart. "Do you think I just came to China with the missionaries? No. I have been here all along. I made China." Many years of research in China confirmed this to me. Among the tribal cultures of southern China and Taiwan, the Polynesians, and China itself, I came across many examples that confirmed Richardson's thesis. Later, I wrote a book called True Son of Heaven: How Jesus Fulfills the Chinese Culture, and spoke around the Pacific Rim on the subject. People in the audience often pointed out further examples of this thesis. Eternity in Their Hearts has been tremendously influential among missionaries. But I think it is a book that everyone should read, including non-Christians who ask questions like those of Smith and Hahn. Read the book, and pass it on to a friend. If you are interested in a more philosophical approach to the issue, try Chesterton's Everlasting Man and Orthodoxy. "Redemptive analogies" are also a latent theme of many of C.S.Lewis' books: Surprised by Joy, Mere Christianity, Pilgrims Regress, and most intriguing of all, Till We Have Faces. I've

This book, carefully documented, is the account of dozens of incredible cases of peoples untouched by the West and Christianity who, whether buried deep within their own religious myths and culture, or by some other way, knew about the God of Heaven as told in the Bible, and sometimes were even waiting for their own copy to arrive! Evidence exists that the Judeo-Christian God reveals Himself to all mankind...enough to surprise missionaries who arrived to tie up some loose ends later on... If you want a challenge to the traditional "man created religion" view, this book is sure to rise to the occasion!