Certainly, the cover image is attractive, and the title (and sub-title) alluring. Still, for this reviewer, the outward presentation of this recent publication barely does justice to the transformative truths that are contained within.

Deeper infilling

Tom McCann was born in Brazil, where his parents served as missionaries. In fifty years of service, despite not being in receipt of any regular funding from local church of missionary organisation, his father took all his needs and concerns directly to the Lord, never sharing them with any human agency. The fact that God proved more than enough for every eventuality left a deep impression on a youthful Tom.

The young lad returned to his parents’ native Northern Ireland as a teenager. Although already a Christian, he was dismayed at regular church teaching that he should not expect any deeper filling of the Holy Spirit, post-conversion. This dismayed the lad, who felt somewhat spiritually unempowered, and who yearned for greater fulfilment.

It was only through attending a Spring Harvest conference in 1983 that he was led into a deeper infilling of the Holy Spirit, leading to spontaneous outbursts of fervent praise and adoration such as he had never known possible.

He was led into a deeper infilling of the Holy Spirit, leading to spontaneous outbursts of fervent praise and adoration such as he had never known possible.

Hungering for more

This unexpected spiritual outpouring caused Tom to hunger for yet more. With an insatiable appetite to enter into the fullness of the Lord, he read voraciously and spent long hours in prayer.

A conference hosted by the International Christian Chamber of Commerce in 1992 majored on teaching that a spiritual/secular divide is purely an invention of the Church – it is not a reality. Indeed, he learned there is no word in the Hebrew Old Testament for ‘spiritual’ because there was no separation in the Hebrew worldview. The totality of their lives was seen as spiritual.

The conference also taught that we must be able to surrender our entire lives to Christ, relying complexly on his strength, in order to enter his absolute rest. Meditating on this theme, Tom felt himself overwhelmed by God’s gentle, loving presence. Something then broke inside him – The basis for all his striving and self-reliance crumbled, and an “overwhelming tide of contentment and peace” engulfed him.

Relying on self is like relying on a broken stick – we simply are not able to trust it. Our confidence in it has been extinguished.

McCann takes time to emphasise that this is the very crux of man’s problem – dealing with ‘self’. “Relying on self is like relying on a broken stick – we simply are not able to trust it. Our confidence in it has been extinguished” (p.82). Using Paul’s teaching in 2 Timothy 2, he shows that “death of self is the central precondition that brings us into thee functional efficacy of His life ….This is not a symbolic death; it needs to be subjectively outworked in experience” (p. 85).

Union with Christ

The author now comes to the crucial part of his study. What is really required is “the presence of the indwelling Christ, who now assumes governance and control within” (p.84). This is achieved through ‘union with Christ’. While, of course, we remain fully human, Christ and you are now ‘one spirit’ (1 Cor 6:17). Christ is now our life (Col 3:3-4, John 7:21-23, etc). Though we read again and again in the New Testament that we are ‘in Christ’, MacCann admitted that previously, “it had no real practical outworking” in his own life (p.98). There is a huge difference between accepting that we have union with Christ and knowing the reality of it by experience. McCann is of the belief that many, if not most believers live their entire Christian lives without the experiential knowledge of this wonderful truth. 

Our spirits merging with Christ’s, we have “unrestricted access into the immediate and vital, dynamic presence of God” (p.99). We are “complete with His completeness” (p.100). This is a truly life-changing spiritual reality that “changes forever who and what we are … Victory is now a person seated in heavenly places within us, united to us, living His overcoming, abundant, victorious life through us” (p.101).

Now, however, with our spirits merging with Christ’s, we have “unrestricted access into the immediate and vital, dynamic presence of God.”

McCann quotes from numerous authors who extol the glories of union with Christ. Among them, A. W. Tozer, Andrew Murray and Oswald Chambers (who wrote, “the salvation of God is deliverance out of ‘self’ entirely into union with Himself … our spirit has become one with the divine! This is a place of complete rest”) (p. 111).

Faith enhancing

Here and there as the book progresses, Tom shares several carefully chosen testimonies of business occasions when he has been in significant need, thrown himself on the Lord, and watched God’s answer come in most remarkable ways. Each of these stories is wonderfully faith-building, worth the price of the book in themselves.

But it’s the teaching that hits home the most powerfully. ‘The Transforming Presence’ is a remarkable work, opening up a connectedness to Christ that most Christians would hardly believe possible. It’s a delightful study, written with a spirit of humility, easy to read, and packed to the brim with relevant Scripture quotations backing up each argument.

A terrific read – it blessed me immensely.

The Transforming Presence is published by Maurice Wylie Media and is available from The Book Depository for £9.99 (inc p&p).