Unto the Least of These

I read the first chapter i hope to read more I like when Christian books are more about the heart there are some about outward appearances.

Thanks you for your honest & sincere response James, God Bless You! - MB

Your book really strikes a chord in my heart because I have experienced both sides of the issues you are addressing in this book. Admittedly, I have not always been so quick to respond to the needs of others, and I have also seen the distance that people in churches tend to put between themselves and the down and out and destitute who come into their midst.

In 2008, after I completed my Master of Divinity, I presumptuously jumped ahead of the will of God and quickly found myself in a strange city, where I had no network of friends, no money, no job, no vehicle...I essentially lost everything in a matter of weeks.

Contrary to what one might expect, the people whom God sent into my life to help me along the way during this wilderness experience (or rather, the people who often responded most to His leading) were those who had even less than I did, but nonetheless had an amazing, giving heart of generosity.

The long and short of it is that we assume that the wealthy are the ones who are called to help the down and out; but in reality, God calls every single one of us to be a fountain of blessing and encouragement to others. Thank you for being a vessel to call us back to that place of true, Godly compassion.

Blessings to you.

James

Hello Michael:

Your book really strikes a chord in my heart because I have experienced both sides of the issues you are addressing in this book. Admittedly, I have not always been so quick to respond to the needs of others, and I have also seen the distance that people in churches tend to put between themselves and the down and out and destitute who come into their midst.

In 2008, after I completed my Master of Divinity, I presumptuously jumped ahead of the will of God and quickly found myself in a strange city, where I had no network of friends, no money, no job, no vehicle...I essentially lost everything in a matter of weeks.

Contrary to what one might expect, the people whom God sent into my life to help me along the way during this wilderness experience (or rather, the people who often responded most to His leading) were those who had even less than I did, but nonetheless had an amazing, giving heart of generosity.

The long and short of it is that we assume that the wealthy are the ones who are called to help the down and out; but in reality, God calls every single one of us to be a fountain of blessing and encouragement to others. Thank you for being a vessel to call us back to that place of true, Godly compassion.

Blessings to you.

James

Appears to be well researched with enough personal experience to make the book flow smoothly, covers major points, and should help us get back on track, if read and followed. Nicely done.

I think this is a good resource for the Evangelical churches. As we move into more and more into the need to 'attract' people our churches, we miss what made the church so attractive in the first place; The disciples followed a different 'way'. the way of compassion that was so foreign in the first century and it was what the people found missing. I am ready to help you in this revolution, my friend. Keep writing.
Tom Hafer
Wellplanet
Well Village

What you say in your book is completely true. How can we say we love God if we do not love the brethren or mankind who God created. Some times the only Bible some people will ever read are Christians and we can not shut up our bowels of compassion for the needy-they just may see Jesus in us and ask what makes us so different and then we can tell them. I have backed your book. Have a great day. Janet

For a quick and easy read-read my Christian children's book entitled "The Story of an Elephant Named Eleanor."

(Ch. 1-3)
Unto the Least of These is a sobering and compassionate reminder of one of the church's most important roles in society. The author's "no non-sense" handling of the subject is very effective in clearly explaining God's mandate and Jesus' example of our responsibility to the world's downtrodden. Well-done!

Hall-Crews
(please read GFB Grown Fokes Bidniss)

This is a book that I think every Christian should read. I totally agree with your message. I am blessed with a church that believes as you do, and does what it can to minister to others. I count myself very lucky; not all churches are like that anymore. It all was well written, and very clear and professional. Good job. May God bless you!
Any comments for Alexis: Revelation and Revolution would be much appreciated. It's written in Christian symbolism.

--Shieldmaiden

Well written. ***** and WL. I hope I never forget what it was like to be lost.

Dee Farrell
Warrior Heart

I am one of those people that you are writing about. The first hand experience I have living in the homeless community, in the woods and on the road have given me gifts of perspective I am grateful for. This is a good read for someone who has not been immersed as Christ said to be, among the destitute, and hopeless.
A good read; I've lived it.

Hi Michael-I like your book. It's a cross between Christian and self-help while answering the age-old question: Why are we here? You've obviously put a lot of time and research in it. Your determination to spread God's word is evident. And yes, I totally agree with you. We are here to help each other, especially those who are poor, sick, and oppressed. I'd like to include elderly as well. 6 stars, and may God be with you.

Michael-God bless you. You've got quite a story in your bio. Your book is on my WL. A return read would be great. Look forward to reading.

Pleased to back this. Well written, thoughtful, engaging and enlightened. Speaks loudly!
Raechel
Echo

I have read through your book. You have put together a well thought out piece. I agree that the church today needs to reevaluate whom it is trying to save, and how it is going about it. As a church, the people themselves need to step outside of themselves and do more for the "PEOPLE" around them.
May God bless you and the work of your hands!
Well done!

I have read through your book. You have put together a well thought out piece. I agree that the church today needs to reevaluate whom it is trying to save, and how it is going about it. As a church, the people themselves need to step outside of themselves and do more for the "PEOPLE" around them.
May God bless you and the work of your hands!
Well done!

A thoughtful read that makes one think, it was good and I rate it six stars.
-Charmain

Sorry! I hit the wrong button before I had finished. May I just add that I feel the greatest disadvantage your book has is that it is addressed to specifically at a particular bunch of fellow Christians. Robert Burns wrote a magnificent poem called 'Holy Willie's Prayer' which you might appreciate (if you can fathom the Scots. - You do carry a rare old Scottish surname!) IHe went much farther than you do, but the target for disapproval is the same.

Your message, surely, should be aimed at all of us, whatever our beliefs. To hold back is to dimish the message, or certainly to limit its market. Who do you see as your target reader? Is he solely Christian; is he a person who has to have faith, any faith? We all live on this earth together and we must all interact in one way or other. It is this query that has led me to hold back on the last star for your book. It is beautifully, accurately written and your presentation of your ideas is of a high order, just too narrowly projected in the marketplace.

I do wish you every success with Unto the Least of These - a very powerful title, too! Margaret Woodward

Hi Michael,
Chance put your book on my list alongside Soldier Blue by Sven Hansen about Buddy, a traumatised Vietnam veteran who plunged to rock bottom. The two books complement each other in heart-breaking fashion. I told Sven that the saddest thing about his book was that I had been putting off reading it because of what I knew would be my own reactions - therein crystalising the instinct to walk on by which you so rightly castigate. Is it self-preservation? Or cowardice? It is not an unwillingness to help, or donate, both of which I do to some extent, although the practical help often leaves me drained and unhappy. I don't think it is ignorance of suffering or its cause, but it could be facing up to an element of culpability, - not doing enough, or failing to influence the society around us which is allowing such suffering to take place, or even put in place the events which bring it about.

Since joining Authonomy I have learned to read much more quickly, but with your book I had to slow down again, mainly because I could 'hear' the pastor's voice, sermon-like, especially in the first chapter. If you are planning this as a theological text book of some kind that is good, but slower reading was essential to allow each of the many elements you cram in to be considered and understood properly. In other words, I feel this material is more natural in the pulpit or classroom rather than on the printed page.

One change that might help a reader, as opposed to a listener, is to cut it into much shorter paragraphs, say around 10-12 lines max, and to use headings within the chapters. This would also help a reader to find again a passage he wanted to reread or bring to someone else's attention. (Are some of your actual chapter headings missing?) In conjunction with this, a book of this type is always enhanced by an index at the end, and this too would put it into the textbook category more readily - always a steady selling market, and that's what we are here for!

Hi Michael, this book is extremely well written and gives a clear insight to the purpose of God's salvation in our lives and the calling that He has laid on our hearts. You have provided an encouraging and informative guide to Christians and I hope that many people will read it and take what is being given from it. Backed!
...ronnie dauber (Christian and author of Web Secrets)

Hey there - sorry for the delay. If only I didn't have to work for a living, I'd read more books than I do now!

happily backed
jim

This is very well written and on the mark in many ways. Yet I will say this, the book loses me from the start by its tone. If the reader doesn't see eye to eye with a particular doctine or interpretation then it may be difficult to hold the reader. For me, your use of language set a tone that I could not shake...(again note, this is well written in the overall). I do NOT believe that Christ acted with "mandates" and "obligations", but He directed His followers in love. He compelled them in love, "to go forth": Your conclusions are much the same as mine, but we arrive there quite differently.

Lockjaw

You're so amazing, Michael, to back my memoirs/testimony book again & help me back to the top 5 which I just slid out of to #6, so hopefully if you'd keep it on your shelf, I'll go back up. :) I'm so sick, if you've read my profile page & didn't even know how I'd make it to the end of January, so am crying & praying. :) Love, Susie :)

Thank you very much for your support & encouragement Marie. May God bless you & your family as well.

Good Sunday to you Rev. Bethune. I have backed your book and given it the six stars it deserves. Thank God you are doing what you were sent here to do. God uses people who have had experiences to share. May you, your family and loved ones be blessed for generations to come. Sincerely. Marie - 'Sun Shine and Rain'

Good Sunday to you Rev. Bethune. I have backed your book and given it the six stars it deserves. Thank God you are doing what you were sent here to do. God uses people who have had experiences to share. May you, your family and loved ones be blessed for generations to come. Sincerely. Marie - 'Sun Shine and Rain'

The book contains some very interesting thoughts regarding the author's philosophy on the Christian religion and its current direction. Although it's not my genre, any pious Christian would be greatly interested in this work. Definitely worthwhile.

Michael - Unto the Least of These reads well though is not my genre, I am backing you anyway with stars. Balepy (Freckles the Fawn)

It is encouraging to see a book like this out there. The least of these is a topic that has been neglected for too long, and I am thankful that people are engaging this issue more today. I hope that your writing can be used to grip people towards the heart of Jesus and His desire for compassion.

Though this book maybe of interest to those of the Christian faith and practice their faith I'm not sure if there is enough here. Yes you do speak of some important points of faith but I'm not sure of the size of market. I know in the USA there is a bible belt and this might be the market for this. Good luck with it.

michael, i'm so moved by this book. it certainly deserves to be published. i've rated it with high stars and have backed it as well. good luck, and God bless !
mala
(songs of a seeker )

Unto the least of these shall we give the word and the light.
Jesus is the light of the world and the way to achieve truth and receive the blessings of his words the greatest of which is the sermon on the mount.
It seems to me that this book is your sermon, and I would not wish to reduce it by giving my comments on this tour de force.
Suffice it to say that the church is no longer the true word of God and has not been so since the Christ left this earthly place. Despite all the words live on, and it is in people like you that this is seen to be manifest.
I agree with the other comment that only the dedicated will try to unravel the message in your pitch and if your aim is indeed to be published and not simply to preach you will need to tighten up the text quite a lot.
All the very best with this and God go with you. Ray Jones, (The Chosen.)

God bless you for what the Lord has done in your life and glory to Jesus. He is so awesome, a wonderful testimony of redemtion. I will take time later to read your whole story. In the mean time I pray that 2011 will be a year of “rest” like Jesus rested in the boat when the storm came. No matter what storms that are around us we can “sleep” in it, because Jesus have said “we are going over to the other side”
Blessings from Pastor Laila Bevan Newport south Wales
I have put your book on my wl

An interesting concept with a significant message. I read this through and found it to be quite heavy. I liked some of the quotes and especially the quote by the Dalai Lama. I admire and respect the concept.From a personal view point, I found the descriptions a bit patronising and stigmatising even though I understand the reason of the description. I am wondering if this message would have more depth if you could put more life, feelings of desperation and hope from the perspective of those that feel that way, so that the compassion from the reader is inspired. Summarising this is still quite powerful, reflective and significant in the messages it portrays. It also comes across as genuine with a lot of research and sincerity embedded. I believe this book will be interpreted in many various ways depending also on the religious aspects of the reader.

Backed,

Lisa

A timely broadside, Michael, at what seems to be an "empty vessel"!
To keep the metaphor, I wonder if controlled sniping at particular targets wouldn't have been more effective. The language is admirable yet copious, sometimes overloaded with detailed explanation or abstract expressions.
Your aim in this book is surely something for all to pray for.
And I do.
David Grant
"Pompey Chimes"

Taking the institutional Church to task - for what he perceives as failings in the sphere of charitable help and social justice - Michael propounds a brave, personal outlook and proposes a series of measures and remedies. These will resonate with the already converted and true brethren: but will they effect changes of attitude in the great mass of the non-aligned to orthodox christian values? Doubtless they will provoke debate. This is his challenge and one that he is eminently qualified to launch with authorial authority. Not least due to his impressive direct experience of being served as a homeless person and eventual graduation to servant of them in his redemption from destitution. In the 7 Chapters posted, the author considers the precepts of the Gospels and quotes relevent and pertinent pointers to motivate policy movers and shakers and strengthen the resolve of workers engaged directly with the multi-facetted dilemmas presented by the modern phenonomena of urban homelessness. Eventually, 12 Key Principles are to be set out. Here in - Unto The Least Of These - is sufficient groundword to inspire further interest, in what promises to be a another useful book for all those involved with the marginalised and students of sociology. A book worthy of high star rating and no mistake.

Tony Brady - SCENES FROM AN EXAMINED LIFE - Books 1,2 & 3.

Hi Michael, started to look at your work...won't be able to finish for a few days...however it is - I can tell - going to be a very good read. Love the subject.

blessings,
jim

Just rated your book and added it to my bookshelf. Very interesting book--will make a good group Bible study in its final form. Very thought provoking work.

If I was a Commissioning Editor Michael, I would suggest your Long Pitch is not the best lead-in to your book. It is too much of a CV. Personally, I would not have read, it but since you approached me, I trust you will consider my re-write of your whole piece and hope you will take it as offered in the spirit of one author helping another. Thus:

To escape housing social deprivation from a notorious estate in Paterson, New Jersey, Michael enlists in the US Army. He is posted to The Honduras in the Caribean and serves in "a hazardous duty zone." Having earlier avoided drug use in his home environment, the stress of military service abroad leads him to misuse drugs to counter the many life-threatening challenges he faced. On discharge he is dependent on abusive substances.

Michael is unable to adjust to civilian life and sinks into a five year period of homelessness. He survives - largely by using skills acquired in the military - while realising his addiction bondage is related to his Hondoras experience. Through the grace of God, he meets individuals who transform his outlook and re-direct his life's course, through what he recognises is God's work.

Marriage giving him two children and academic success, leads to qualifications obtained at Divinity School in New Jersey supplemented with Counselling Studies at Rutgers University. Michael will begin his PhD work in January 2001. Using his life experience, he has served as Chaplain to a christian drug rehabilitation project, as a Salvation Army youth drug prevention programme Director and led related christian hands-on social intervention initiatives in New Jersey.

Michael is now a much sought after motivational speaker: his engagements undertaken since 1995, include inspiring Super Bowl teams, preaching and keynote speech-making to Churches, organisations working for social change, Universities and Corporations.

Best Regards. Tony Brady - SCENES FROM AN EXAMINED LIFE - Books 1,2 & 3.

Brother Michael, I am so proud of you! This is an excellent book and very well written. Compassion is a wonderful thing especially when it is exercised. We are called to love our neighbor; its that simple but I think we are 'drawn in' by the stuff of this world, we can't quite hear and we are frequently just too busy. You have a marvelous work here. I particularly like your "R" section at the end of the first chapter. And as for your book title Unto the Least of These, it sums up Jesus' ministry in a nutshell. I have starred and put this book on my w/l. It will go on my bookshelf after the hols. Claire ~ Chasing Pharaohs

Michael,

I put you inspirational book on my shelf. I would appreciate if you would take a look at either of my two novels, DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS, or MY GENTLEMAN FRIEND and possible back them. Each one had a fine thread of Christianity woven in through out the story. Thank you and good luck with your book.

Dwain-Thomas

How totally wonderful, you are, Michael!! :) Thank you so very much for again backing my memoirs/testimony book. :) May God richly bless you. :) Love, Susie :) p.s. I just looked to see if I had ******-ed your book & it is ******-rated (6 gold ******'s) :) Every ****** -ing & backing more than 24 hours moves our books up authonomy's lists. :) I want to ask you if you could please keep my book on your bookshelf because I'm 9 from the editor's desk & trying to be in the top 5 to be chosen, the end of December :) - I had a mini-stroke Nov. 10 with slurred speech for an hour & numbness of tongue still & over 20 smaller ones where I couldn't speak since & I"d sure like to cross the finish line of the editor's desk after 9-1/2 months trying on authonomy. :) Thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me :) - I have lost 3 sisters to strokes & my last sister, Mary had 2 heart attacks earlier this year.

Hey I will definitely be reviewing this soon, this sounds like a book I will really connect with. Added to watchlist and as I said I will get to reviewing after holidays pass.

Hi there,
I think this is a publishable work on religion and how it has failed elements of our society, re those who need it the most, the homeless, mentally ill, and the horrible US prison system unfortunates. Unlike other civilized countries people are regularly imprisoned for nonviolent drug offenses in the states. You write very well. However, for me, I do not see the church as the answer, but I favor a realignment of resources to improve social conditions through the state.
Though I was raised a protestant and have attended all manner of religious institutions from the wonderful Southern Black Baptist Church, to American Indian ceremonies, and to hear the Dalai Lama, I find that religious institutions separate us from the concept of God. I also find the greed and judgment in religious institutions offensive. And finally, I find churches to be the last bastion for institutionalized racism. Currently I follow Buddhist teachings as I find them most in harmony with the life force principle and man is not elevated above any other form of energy. Finally, as a woman, the paternalism of churches is not an attraction either.

In terms of my social work, I have worked with and have personal experience with each of the three groups you identify in your treatise and I support your educational mission.If in fact there is a God, I am at peace with my integrity and service to those who are not in a position to help me, for which I have adhered throughout my life. I do not however have much confidence that "the church" will make a huge impact as too many of its members only care about themselves.
Anyway, I am sure your book will sell as the religious market in America is robust.
Best of luck with your mission. I did rate your book too.
Roberta

Unto the Least of These
Alas, if only it could happen. Having worked for the Catholic Church's newspaper, I have handled many social justice stories, from Fair Trade to local soup kitchens, and heard debates about the social and human obligations of Christians set forth by the universal Christian church. Sadly, as an outsider, perhaps too harshly appraising the subjects of my stories, I find consistent anti-Christian behavior in all commandants.

True, the Christian sinful nature makes it difficult to achieve, with the temptations of secular life. I accept that analysis, but not the pompous attitudes that try so little to overcome what they regard as their true nature. I linger in the offices of those whose frustration mounts because too few are willing to put hands on to those in need; I am awed by those who give of themselves, in Africa and at home on the streets, not to be seen, but to bond and make a difference for those less fortunate.

Such differentiation between those who have and have not grows as greed, the need for personal security and unwillingness to share dominates many a Christian life, writing a check, depositing coins, instead of truly sharing our humanity.

Your account is beautifully written and talks to the choir of so many who wish more would join their ranks because, just as you right, they know of what you speak. They have seen the joys of learning about others so unlike ourselves, whether it be the young man who wants to shovel my driveway because he wants to buy his children a Christmas gift or the sister in Africa who is grateful for those who would dig a trench so she can bring water to her tiny garden and feed orphans. Or the homeless man at the soup kitchen who also volunteers so that others will have a meal and someone to talk to in the isolation and shame that homelessness brings.

My congratulations to you. Your words should be a part of not only every sermon in very church, but in every corporate party, in every club, in every theatre, in every bookstore... everywhere.
Lenore
Surviving the Seaweed

Michael, I read all of this book in one go. It challenged and moved me in equal measure. The only thing I missed was more personal stories - you obviously have such a wealth of experience in this subject and a well told story can help us to remember and visualise a point well made (I am sure that the "I feel you" chapter is the one that will stick with me most.) May God bless the work that you do - the church needs you.

Beth Moran

From what I have read so far, it is a lovely book, and shall save it to go over it when I am less put upon to get so much done, as I have other books here. This is sweetly realized, a lovely book of compassion, which may or may not actually be that Christian but became as much after the here quoted Saint Francis of Assisi. I recall, being once almost a Jesuit, or at least taught by them, that the Catholic Parsons despised the Lutherans and the Calvinists for having made a Christianity as it was for bloated palaces guard priests that were used as a second phalanx by the depraved Constantine. In the making of Christianity without the middle ages mystics, a disgusting arrogance seen even now by Catholics disparaging of sad parish priests like padre Pius, all snubbed at by pollock hand pecked guardians and Germans who laugh through fat jowls, and this book written if I may by a American equivalent of the Sicilian or the poor Po valley penitent , a black man, can see a compassionate church which the crowned heads and the red robed urbanites neither need or want to have around.

Kindly made, decent, a work of sweet airiness in a land where all theology is been reduced to the Oprahesque santa clause and needy The Promise, as to be mean, the old Franciscans, who had a attachment to the Saint whose disgust at by the white folk is still amazing, to me, as they buy their erogenous zones bullshit from various huckster shamans, thought all Protestantism really was. As the grand and elegant and dismissed by white trash father of modern Christianity Thomas Aquinas said it, Mr. Bethune, the only truest evil is the lack of compassion, or of empathy. When I see the over fed various priests and the war loving rabbis and the dynamite demanding imams of our hapless age go at it as they do, usually from behind walls and desks, I realize that he was, of course, right. all my best, and happy holidays.

Tony

Very interesting work, Michael, as a Christian who has suffered substance abuse problems and attendant issues myself I find myself agreeing with much of what you write. Compassion is part of the development of holiness, and many Christians have a lot of work to do in this area, not least myself. Personally I believe we should be working towards unconditional mental and emotional acceptance of others, as Christ demonstrated. It's a tough call. But it's a Biblical command: agape as defined in 1Corinthians13.

You have an inspired work. I am not an expert on the Church, but I do see it as a community, the community that must support its constituency and neighborhood. I am troubled by the extent to which the government wishes to be a substitute for the role of the Chuch in caring for the poor. The beatitudes are my guide. The Government needs an exit plan and your approach needs to be hearalded as the path to saving and dealing with those less fortunate than others. It is hard to recommend at this stage something that may be controversial and not fully in concert with my own faith - I will continue my reading. I commend you for your research and your heart for God. You are on my shelf.

If only there more books like these.

E M Delaney

"Unto the Least of These" provides the foundation for social responsibility at my firm, RightBlendInvesting.com. This book hits the "reboot" button for churches that have lost focus on Christ's message, and have become spiritually dysfunctional.

An enlightening book.
This is an important book.
People need to know what's happening in the world. Too many of us are in blissful ignorance.
Thank you for showing the truth.
Please keep up the good work.
Something good will come to this world when there are good people like you around. I wish there were more like you