4th Musketeer

Henk Stoorvogel

Description

4th Musketeer is a Christian men's movement, which started in Holland in 2008, and now has branches in seven countries. It takes its name from D'Artagnan, the ambitious young soldier who wants to join the elite troops of the French king, in the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Henk and Theo set out how you, too, can become a hero, in the service of the King. They take the reader through the challenges of being a man ' deciding who is calling the shots, finding your potential, opening yourself to God, identifying what is worth living for, going all out for God,. Specific chapters address themes such as money, lust and forgiveness. 4M offer remarkably popular extreme character-building exercises, 72-hour physical and mental challenges and even tougher 'Muskathlons', to teach men that their capacity is far greater than they dreamed.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Lion Hudson
• Date de parution: 21 août 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780857216755
• Langue: English

Extrait

Text copyright © 2015 Henk Stoorvogel and Theo van den Heuvel This edition copyright © 2015 Lion Hudson
English translation provided courtesy of Uitgeverij Kok, part of VBK | Media B. V., Herculesplein 96. 3584 AA Utrecht, The Netherlands.
The right of Henk Stoorvogel and Theo van den Heuvel to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published by Monarch Books an imprint of Lion Hudson plc Wilkinson House, Jordan Hill Road, Oxford OX2 8DR, England Email: [e-mail] www.lionhudson.com/monarch
ISBN 978 0 85721 674 8 e-ISBN 978 0 85721 675 5
First edition 2015
Acknowledgments Unless otherwise stated Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised. Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. “NIV” is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.
Scripture quotations marked NRSV are from The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches in the USA. Used by permission. All Rights Reserved.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Cover image: Christoph Jorda/Corbis
 
 
 
For Manuel, Chris, and Luca – our three musketeers. You are loved. For who you are.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Foreword
Preface
Prologue: The boy with the hessian sack
Part 1: Our story
1. Why Alexander Supertramp died
2. Preaching for my father
3. Thou shalt hate
4. Prepared to die
5. I make you my king
Part 2: Adventure
6. To the other side, while sleeping
7. Hunting like Nimrod
8. Three musketeers
9. Red-handed
Part 3: Emptying the hessian sack
10. The statement of Jacob
11. The theological significance of the ostrich
12. The slaughter of Olaf the Ox
13. Ting
14. Fleeing towards the sun
15. I forgive you
16. The empty egg
17. Winning, German-style
Epilogue: The man with a mission
Prayers
Sources
Study material
Acknowledgments
About the authors
Foreword
If I were a young man again, I would have loved to to be a Musketeer.
I have a special affinity with the Muskathlon, since I once was an athlete myself, with a special talent for running. I even had an eye to the Olympics. But I was running in my own track, until during my army years in the Dutch Indies, now Indonesia, a bullet smashed up my ankle and I ended up in hospital. There nursing nuns showed such joy and love that I started asking them about it. They then spoke to me about the love of God and I finally started reading the Bible that my mother had given me when I left home twoand-a-half years before. Looking back at it all I am so happy that that bullet opened the door to the bigger “run” which at 87 is still going on! I was put in the track of Jesus and am running with and for Him.
Men, I encourage you to read this book and let the message sink in deep. Be sure to keep running in the track of Jesus. Be bold. Step out of your boat. Follow closely behind Jesus, who always walked in the will of His Father. Be inspired to become the man you were intended to be.
Brother Andrew
Founder and president emeritus of Open Doors, serving persecuted Christians worldwide Harderwijk, The Netherlands, June 2015
Preface
The 4 th Musketeer is a men’s movement that organizes the Xtreme Character Challenges or XCC events. Twice a year, in the spring and autumn, a group of around 100 men – in teams of eight – embark on a journey into the wilderness. From Thursday evening to Sunday afternoon, these men are part of an adventure. The teams are given assignments that will test their ingenuity, courage, team spirit, stamina, and character. Each assignment is based on an idea. Thinking exercises are linked to the physical challenges, reflecting the principle that life lessons travel the longest distance possible… the distance from the mind to the heart.
In 2008, I (Henk) asked three of my best friends – Theo van den Heuvel, Jan Stoorvogel, and Pieter Cnossen – to spend an evening together. In the past, we had worked together with Athletes in Action in the Netherlands and had many unique experiences together. However, at that time, each of us lived in a different city and we didn’t see each other very often. When you desire to maintain friendships, it is important to build a history together, continually enriching your shared past and increasing your prospects of a shared future. I asked my friends how they felt about establishing a men’s movement: The 4 th Musketeer. Our sports background taught us that physical challenges can also have a mental dimension, and together we designed the concept of the Xtreme Character Challenge.
In 2012, I (Henk) called my close friend in America, Kent Susud, who is the founder of SportQuest Ministries, and asked him to lead the charge… to bring this movement to America. Today, thousands of European and American men live in the spirit of the Musketeer. They have received their crimson red polo shirt imprinted with the white “four”. We have seen God work in a personal and intense way. God has touched the hearts of men, and their lives will never be the same. The wives of Musketeers frequently tell us how much their husbands have changed because of these weekends. This fills our hearts with gratitude and gives us the energy to further expand The 4 th Musketeer.
The 4 th Musketeer not only inspires men, but we also call them to action. Through the Muskathlon, we currently have three strategic partnerships. We sponsor many fatherless children in Africa through Compassion International; we support the persecuted church in the Middle East with Open Doors; and we battle against human trafficking in Eastern Europe with A21. We believe that God doesn’t entrust men with wealth and a nice family just to live in peace. Men have a responsibility that reaches beyond their small family. As stewards of the King, we may, can, and must give our lives for His purpose for our generation.
The Three Musketeers
The name of the men’s movement The 4 th Musketeer is inspired by the book The Three Musketeers written by Alexandre Dumas (1802). The story takes place in early seventeenth-century France. The 18-year-old nobleman d’Artagnan leaves his childhood home and moves to Paris, determined to become a musketeer. The musketeers were the elite troops of the French king, Louis XIII. The French king, married to Queen Anna, is a weak monarch, heavily influenced by Cardinal Richelieu, head of the Catholic Church in France. Through trickery and deceit, Cardinal Richelieu tries to discredit the king to such an extent that he is able to depose him and rule over France. He is assisted in this by femme fatale Milady de Winter.
Athos, Aramis, and Porthos – the three musketeers – join forces with d’Artagnan to do everything in their power to prevent the cardinal from executing his plans and to protect the king. D’Artagnan is initially appointed guard, but is later promoted to musketeer as a reward for his heroic actions. He falls in love with the beautiful Constance, maid of honour to Queen Anna, but he also falls for the charms of the deceptive Milady.
The voluminous book – our Dutch version had 672 pages – is a delightful read. The four friends have the craziest adventures and engage in the most insane antics. In writing his book, Alexandre Dumas was himself inspired by the stories of musketeers from the sixteenth century.
The 4th Musketeer, the book
The famous phrase from the Dumas classic, “All for one and one for all”, articulates how Jesus has dealt with us and how we wish to deal with each other. In fact, The Three Musketeers mainly revolves around the fourth musketeer, d’Artagnan. He is the protagonist, the true hero of the story. We join him on his journey from his childhood home into the world, from boy to man, from guard to musketeer.
In a sense, we are all the fourth musketeer. Each of us is on a journey through life, from boy to man.
The idea for this book was born from a desire to shape and substantiate exactly that: it is all for one and one for all, and you are the true hero in the journey from boy to man, in the story of your life, at the service of the King.
Each chapter begins with a brief quote from The Three Musketeers. The quote will not be explained, but it is most definitely connected to the contents of the chapter. To discover the connection, reading The 4 th Musketeer is not enough; you’ll have to read The Three Musketeers as well.
Should you want more information on The 4 th Musketeer or to join one of our Xtreme Character Challenges or the Muskathlon, please visit our website at www.the4thmusketeer.org.
We wish you many blessings in reading this book.
For the King!
 
Henk and Theo
Prologue

The boy with the hessian sack
A little boy and his old father set out to climb a tall mountain. They were accompanied by a bull and a raven. The small group struggled to find their way up the steep slope. A few trees offered them some shelter and something to grip, but otherwise this was a place for gods, not for men. The boy was carrying a heavy hessian sack. His father was a potato farmer and – if nothing else – they had to be able to eat on top of the mountain. So his father told him to bring the hessian sack, packed with potatoes.
The boy insisted on taking the bull with them on their adventure. The father thought it was strange. Who climbs a mountain with a bull? But the son was adamant. So the bull tagged along, althou