What do you think?
Rate this book
Crucified By Christians
Pain suffered by a Christian at the hands of another believer is one of the most destructive experiences one will ever know. Few recover completely. Many are destroyed from effective Christian living forever.
Gene Edwards has crafted a beautifully and wholly unique book which points the wounded Christian to healing and to full restoration, even to triumph and ascension. If you have ever experienced unjust treatment from another believer, this monumental literary work is for you. From exquisite agony your life can enter into that of resurrection.
Gene Edwards has crafted a beautifully and wholly unique book which points the wounded Christian to healing and to full restoration, even to triumph and ascension. If you have ever experienced unjust treatment from another believer, this monumental literary work is for you. From exquisite agony your life can enter into that of resurrection.
Kindle Edition
First published June 30, 1984
9 people are currently reading
211 people want to read
About the author
Gene Edwards
133 books275 followersGene Edwards is one of America's most beloved Christian authors. He has published over 25 best-selling books, and his signature work, "The Divine Romance," has been called a masterpiece of Christian literature. He has written biblical fiction covering nearly the entire Bible, with titles that include the following: "The Beginning," "The Escape," "The Birth," "The Divine Romance," "The Triumph," "Revolution," "The Silas Diary," "The Titus Diary," "The Timothy Diary," "The Priscilla Diary," "The Gaius Diary," and "The Return."
Gene grew up in the East Texas oil fields and entered college at the age of 15. He graduated from East Texas State University at 18 with a bachelor's degree in English history and received his M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Gene is part of the house-church movement, and he travels extensively to aid Christians as they begin meeting in homes rather than in church buildings. He also conducts conferences on living the deeper Christian life.
Gene and his wife, Helen, reside in Jacksonville, Florida, and have two grown children.
Gene grew up in the East Texas oil fields and entered college at the age of 15. He graduated from East Texas State University at 18 with a bachelor's degree in English history and received his M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Gene is part of the house-church movement, and he travels extensively to aid Christians as they begin meeting in homes rather than in church buildings. He also conducts conferences on living the deeper Christian life.
Gene and his wife, Helen, reside in Jacksonville, Florida, and have two grown children.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 11, 2013
While this book started out interestingly enough, I was soon largely turned off by the older, patronizing style of writing in which the author appears to address his readers as a bunch of 10 year-olds with learning disability. Also disagreed with some of the author's statements and speculative arguments. But there were a few nuggets scattered throughout the book and discovering these kept me reading to the end :)
April 13, 2023
I went into this book expecting a thorough rundown of the reality of hurt that is faced by believers...perhaps I wanted too much sympathy.
I was slightly disappointed with this book. Now, first off, I agree that there is sacredness in being mistreated as a Christian and we see that in the life of Paul quite clearly. I believe the point the author wanted to show is that there is victory after dark moments in our life and God has a purpose in these moments.
Some of it just seemed a bit too smoothed over for my taste. Someone who has faced real hurt may not leave this book in victory. There's not a lot of verses to guide a believer to this reconciliation of the pain that was faced.
Also, the author chose to completely ignore the verses in the NT where Paul is admonishing Christians who have sinned and wronged the church. It's almost like the author decided to tell the reader, tough, deal with the pain because God gave us a cross to bear, and you'll forget everything.
A friend of mine said she liked that the author turned our focus off ourselves or the person who wronged and completely turned our eyes on God.
There is NOTHING wrong to surrendering our lives to God. And turning to God when a believer has hurt us is the only real answer. He is a God of comfort and healing and I do believe the author wanted this to be a focus.
I just think there's more details to the subject that would be helpful to someone in this situation.
Overall 3 stars because it's practical and easy to read. And I believe a focus of God in any place in our life is important. Bitterness isn't the answer.
I was slightly disappointed with this book. Now, first off, I agree that there is sacredness in being mistreated as a Christian and we see that in the life of Paul quite clearly. I believe the point the author wanted to show is that there is victory after dark moments in our life and God has a purpose in these moments.
Some of it just seemed a bit too smoothed over for my taste. Someone who has faced real hurt may not leave this book in victory. There's not a lot of verses to guide a believer to this reconciliation of the pain that was faced.
Also, the author chose to completely ignore the verses in the NT where Paul is admonishing Christians who have sinned and wronged the church. It's almost like the author decided to tell the reader, tough, deal with the pain because God gave us a cross to bear, and you'll forget everything.
A friend of mine said she liked that the author turned our focus off ourselves or the person who wronged and completely turned our eyes on God.
There is NOTHING wrong to surrendering our lives to God. And turning to God when a believer has hurt us is the only real answer. He is a God of comfort and healing and I do believe the author wanted this to be a focus.
I just think there's more details to the subject that would be helpful to someone in this situation.
Overall 3 stars because it's practical and easy to read. And I believe a focus of God in any place in our life is important. Bitterness isn't the answer.
November 2, 2020
Gene Edwards vague writing draws you in and his preponderance of words annoys you. The premise that mistreatment by other Christians is a crucifixion designed by God, is life-changing.
September 9, 2023
This was such a strange book! Not a book I would expect to enjoy. But I did. I think the style, though campy, worked for me. The setup is very thin—two people going into a theater to watch a play—didn’t do much except allow the author to jump immediately into the message he wanted to convey. And there are plenty of problems with the structure. It’s basically a monologue, one character speaking to the other, with the second character asking a question every few pages. But all that is simply to create the setting to convey the message, and I found the simple, yet challenging message to be helpful.
We have a choice when we experience suffering at the hands of those we consider brothers and sisters in Christ; those we trusted and hoped the best in. There’s a kind of psychological pain and paradox that is hard to get over. Sure, people sin all the time. We should not be surprised. But when people we love turn on us and make decisions that deeply hurt us and alter the trajectory of our lives (with the loss of a job, having to move, loss of relationships or a marriage, etc.), it can be hard to accept or understand. And it becomes a theological problem. How could this have happened? How could God have allowed this to happen? Was God paying attention? Is God good? Does he even exist? These are not unusual questions for people who have gone through this kind of suffering.
And the author describes the emotions and the tensions and the responses that I recognized in myself. Chrisitians don’t respond well to suffering at the hands of other Chrisitians. And so we have a choice, will we interpret the suffering as coming from misbehaving believers or will we receive it as coming from the hand of our Heavenly Father? This is both profoundly difficult and profoundly scriptural. When we go through something like this, hope is found in the fact that, though what has happened to us is the result of sin and Chrisitians acting badly, our God is able to use it for our good and for the furthering of the gospel. Our God brings life out of death, resurrection out of crucifixion. And if we are able to receive it from Him, then we enter into the profound mystery of experiencing a fellowship in Christ’s sufferings. It’s beautiful, profound, and only possible because the gospel is true.
But to get there is an equally difficult process. It is our own Gethsemane, in the author’s language. That is where God’s will and our will come face to face and we can choose to follow the lead of our Lord or we can refuse to receive the suffering as our crucifixion with Christ. One puts us down the path of bitterness, the other down the path of healing.
All of this in a campy little treatise. It’s a process that is far more difficult to walk through than contemplate. And this book helped me on that journey.
We have a choice when we experience suffering at the hands of those we consider brothers and sisters in Christ; those we trusted and hoped the best in. There’s a kind of psychological pain and paradox that is hard to get over. Sure, people sin all the time. We should not be surprised. But when people we love turn on us and make decisions that deeply hurt us and alter the trajectory of our lives (with the loss of a job, having to move, loss of relationships or a marriage, etc.), it can be hard to accept or understand. And it becomes a theological problem. How could this have happened? How could God have allowed this to happen? Was God paying attention? Is God good? Does he even exist? These are not unusual questions for people who have gone through this kind of suffering.
And the author describes the emotions and the tensions and the responses that I recognized in myself. Chrisitians don’t respond well to suffering at the hands of other Chrisitians. And so we have a choice, will we interpret the suffering as coming from misbehaving believers or will we receive it as coming from the hand of our Heavenly Father? This is both profoundly difficult and profoundly scriptural. When we go through something like this, hope is found in the fact that, though what has happened to us is the result of sin and Chrisitians acting badly, our God is able to use it for our good and for the furthering of the gospel. Our God brings life out of death, resurrection out of crucifixion. And if we are able to receive it from Him, then we enter into the profound mystery of experiencing a fellowship in Christ’s sufferings. It’s beautiful, profound, and only possible because the gospel is true.
But to get there is an equally difficult process. It is our own Gethsemane, in the author’s language. That is where God’s will and our will come face to face and we can choose to follow the lead of our Lord or we can refuse to receive the suffering as our crucifixion with Christ. One puts us down the path of bitterness, the other down the path of healing.
All of this in a campy little treatise. It’s a process that is far more difficult to walk through than contemplate. And this book helped me on that journey.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 12, 2024
Read and keep as resource (with major caveats!)
This short and artistically written piece gets at the heart of our relationship to God when we are deeply wronged by others who name themselves Christians. At the end of the day, all our suffering is ordained by God for the purpose of transforming us in the inner man and for his glory. That means we need to shift our minds off of bitterness towards the human agents of God's sovereign will in our suffering.
HOWEVER, the second "act" of this book has serious theological errors in the area of the Trinity and Christology. Notes in the margins are essential if this is to be passed on to hurting people. Why still use it? Fair enough. Its strength is that its writing style moves the heart to yield to the evil done to you from others as God's will for your life, coming under the radar of the obvious pushback the heart has against that idea by comparing it to God's will in Christ's crucifixion. It is also an easy enough read to be useful for non-readers.
The author removes any sense of the time to confront other's sins, or to defend one's own righteousness - which both have their place in the Scriptures. However, his reason for doing so is likely because that those can only be done well when there is no bitterness or self-interest remaining in the acts.
This short and artistically written piece gets at the heart of our relationship to God when we are deeply wronged by others who name themselves Christians. At the end of the day, all our suffering is ordained by God for the purpose of transforming us in the inner man and for his glory. That means we need to shift our minds off of bitterness towards the human agents of God's sovereign will in our suffering.
HOWEVER, the second "act" of this book has serious theological errors in the area of the Trinity and Christology. Notes in the margins are essential if this is to be passed on to hurting people. Why still use it? Fair enough. Its strength is that its writing style moves the heart to yield to the evil done to you from others as God's will for your life, coming under the radar of the obvious pushback the heart has against that idea by comparing it to God's will in Christ's crucifixion. It is also an easy enough read to be useful for non-readers.
The author removes any sense of the time to confront other's sins, or to defend one's own righteousness - which both have their place in the Scriptures. However, his reason for doing so is likely because that those can only be done well when there is no bitterness or self-interest remaining in the acts.
June 17, 2023
The writing style could be better, but I did have some take aways from this book.
The concept that I did learn was that we can view our sufferings through the lens of the crucifiction of Christ and be sanctified through it all. Next to that the verse from Hebrews that Jesus had to learn to be obedient to God also brought a new perspective.
The concept of the book is not the problem, it was purely the writing style. It did not work for my blue, analytic personality loving exegesis of the Bible. But I can imagine people with other personality traits or people that are not so deep into Bible studying liking this book very much.
I was disappointed by the book's writing style. I read it in Dutch if it makes any difference. But there were very short sentences, it was very powerfully written, a lot of (rhetoric?) questions, a lot of punctuation marks and enters. There was not a very strong structure in the book. It started powerfully, and the dynamics did not change over the course of the book. Which makes it very tiresome to read. I also missed crossreferences and theoretic framework from the Bible.
Just check it out for yourself!
The concept that I did learn was that we can view our sufferings through the lens of the crucifiction of Christ and be sanctified through it all. Next to that the verse from Hebrews that Jesus had to learn to be obedient to God also brought a new perspective.
The concept of the book is not the problem, it was purely the writing style. It did not work for my blue, analytic personality loving exegesis of the Bible. But I can imagine people with other personality traits or people that are not so deep into Bible studying liking this book very much.
I was disappointed by the book's writing style. I read it in Dutch if it makes any difference. But there were very short sentences, it was very powerfully written, a lot of (rhetoric?) questions, a lot of punctuation marks and enters. There was not a very strong structure in the book. It started powerfully, and the dynamics did not change over the course of the book. Which makes it very tiresome to read. I also missed crossreferences and theoretic framework from the Bible.
Just check it out for yourself!
June 28, 2019
Parts seemed overstated at first, but probably because they were emotionally jarring. Even the title seemed dramatic. It seems almost blasphemous to compare any of our suffering with crucifixion, especially the crucifixion of Christ. But I get it now. The subject matter is an example of what Jesus means by “take up your cross”. I disagree with one specific point Edwards makes: that Jesus and the Father were not in agreement about Him going to the cross. That is definitely overstated and for that I am giving it 4 stars. I understand the point He is making, but I disagree with what he has concluded from the biblical text. I also disagree that Christ’s objection in the Garden was over being betrayed by people. In all Gospel accounts, Jesus only refers to “the cup” passing from Him which is God’s wrath. Has nothing to do with betrayal by men. All in all an interesting, helpful book for me personally.
May 11, 2019
A very helpful book dealing with the topic of God's purpose and use in the persecution and hurt we often experience from fellow Christians. The book I read was entitled "Exquisite Agony"; I assume it was reprinted and retitles as the subtitle is identical: Experiencing the Cross as Seen from the Father. It was challenging and thought provoking and I am going to keep it on my shelf for future rereadings. Recommended.
August 8, 2018
I did not like this book as much as my daughter. It stirred a lot of emotions that I how have to deal with.
September 2, 2018
Wow! This book has greatly impacted my life! A kick in the teeth at times :) but truly amazing! One of the most important books that I have ever read period! I'm Thankful to have read it.
April 1, 2020
HIGHLY recommended!
March 8, 2022
Excellent. Very moving. Intriguing. So true.
April 17, 2024
Not the same version I read in the late 90’s.
October 10, 2025
Those closest to us often have the ability to hurt us most. If you have been deeply hurt and want to find a solid joy-filled life despite the hurt. Walk with your Savior through the healing process. Follow Jesus to Gethsemane, to Golgotha, to the tomb, to resurrection life!
Currently reading
July 25, 2007To worship God all my life
September 17, 2012
This book is for anyone who has been in AA or any other support group.
June 14, 2013
Another awesome book for any Christian. The chapters are only one page. Great nuggets of insight and truth. Good one for the bedside or coffee table.
June 2, 2015
A masterful unveiling of the cross in the lives of believers.
July 11, 2018
Life changing for anyone who has been hurt deeply but Christians. A whole new perspective and view of hurt, confusion, loneliness... I can't recommend this book enough. Short and easy to read with huge mental and emotional healing to those who can see the bigger picture after reading this.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews