The Dark Side of Discipleship: Why and How the New Testament Encourages Christians to Deal with the Devil
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
There’s a dark side to Christian discipleship church members ignore to their peril. The New Testament has much to say about why and how Christ’s followers must deal with the devil. Learning to take the evil one seriously without obsessing over him is crucial to the spiritual endurance training we all need if we are to someday hear Jesus say to us: “Well done, good and faithful servant!” Specifically, pastor/theologian Gary Tyra argues in this work that key to overcoming Satan is a balanced, Spirit-empowered engagement in what he refers to as the four cardinal components of Christian discipleship. Understanding the various ways the devil attempts to derail our experiences of worship, nurture, community, and mission can serve to motivate us with respect to them! With the help of the Holy Spirit, church members can cultivate a “lifestyle spirituality” that enables them to don the “full armor of God” and engage in several critical “close-quarters combat tactics” the New Testament encourages. In the end, The Dark Side of Discipleship is a no-nonsense yet inspirational New Testament theology of spiritual warfare that can serve Christ’s church as a powerful aid to the spiritual, moral, and ministry formation of contemporary Christians.
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- Understands the various ways the devil attempts to derail our experiences
- Provides New Testament theology of spiritual warfare.
- Speaks with characteristic precision and breadth about spiritual warfare.
The Christian tradition has long recognized the ‘three enemies of the soul’ as hindrances to spiritual growth: the world, the flesh, and the devil. Tragically, many modern Christians have either demythologized or sensationalized the third enemy. Gary Tyra does neither but proposes that having a sound, biblical understanding of the demonic is indispensable to true discipleship. This book will challenge those who are either dismissive of or fixated on the devil.
—Simon Chan, editor of Asia Journal of Theology
Tyra addresses a frequently bypassed theme when talking about Christian discipleship: we have a formidable adversary whose cunning is distracting, derailing, or destroying the faith journeys of countless Christians. He acknowledges the tendency of some to give the devil too much visibility, while others naively act as if the Bible is silent on this ‘roaring lion’ whose destructive intent is clear. Tyra’s alternative replaces an avoidance of the topic, with an empowerment that is a primer on spiritual endurance training.
—Byron D. Klaus, President of Assemblies of God Theological Seminary (1999–2015)
To my own peril I ignored thinking about spiritual warfare for much of my Christian life. Readers of this insightful book can learn, as I have, that following Jesus involves awareness of the enemy of our soul. Gary Tyra provides a welcome orientation to this dark side with sound biblical teaching and encouraging pastoral guidance for endurance training in developing a lifestyle empowered by the Spirit.
—Klaus Issler, Professor of Educational Studies and Theology, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University
Reviews
1 rating
John S Satterfield
12/8/2023
Glad to see this book is being added to Logos!. One of the few books which considers the role of the evil ones in the life of the Christian . Trya has the balance between everything being caused by evil ones and nothing is caused by the evil ones. Must read in Spiritual formation.