Readers will find enjoyment in this fast-paced mystery about a young woman, Libby, searching for her best friend, Nicole, after she watches kidnappers take Nicole in a boat. Somehow the kidnapping is related to the new inheritance Libby has just received - a mansion called Tidewater Inn and the new family she discovered she had: a father, an aunt and a brother and sister she never knew existed. The story is captivating and I finished the book in one day, it was so much fun!
How clean was this book? Very clean. No cursing. The romance in the story had only touching hands, arms and shoulders, and hugs, and kissing. No sex ever occurs between anyone.
This book asks the question of suffering:
One of the characters asks "Where was God when my parents were killed? Why do bad things happen to good people." Reply: "God was with your parents when they died and they are with him now. God gives us the grace to get through tough situations." Another says "I'm not a very good believer. I make it to church only once a month. Maybe that's why this is all happening. God is punishing me." Reply: "Forget that idea. Bad things happen even to good people. Life is hard. Goe never said it wouldn't be. And He's with us in the hard times." Another said "How do you think your dad feels when he looks down from heaven and sees how you're acting?" Another, "What good did it do Dad to try to please God if he was just going to kill him? If God cared, he wouldn't have taken both my parents. They told me God loves me. I wish I could still believe it."
It was nice to see the sovereignty of God emphasized in one sentence: "God could choose to spare this little spot or wipe it out. It was all in his control." The book also showed the struggle for characters to be generous and the faith it took to give everything they had to people in need, leaving nothing for themselves and trusting God to provide. There was a LOT of emphasis on What Would Jesus Do and an important WWJD necklace. It was mentioned a few times that someone prayed but no prayers are recorded in the dialogue.
The questionable Christian teachings: Christian Libby is told by a more experienced Christian, ""Put it in God's hands. God loves Nicole (an unbeliever)." The thought comforted Libby. Nicole wasn't alone. No matter what happened, God held her securely." But from the Bible, we know unbelievers are under the wrath of God and have no confidence that he will spare them. When Nicole was afraid to die without God, Libby instructs her, "All you have to do is ask him to forgive you, Nicole. He's here with us. No matter what happens." Nicole was sobbing, "I can't. I don't know how."
The music pushed in this book are questionsable: Bob Marley's regae - Marley strongly rejected the Christian Jesus and taught Rastafarian's beliefs about his god Ja in the lyrics of his songs. Why would a Christian listen to songs with lyrics mocking our Jesus and about turning to another god? The other choices mentioned were Counting Crows and Beethoven.
I guess the saddest part about this book is that there was NO thanks given to God for anything. No one was seeking after God's glory. It was all self-seeking and Christian-lite thinking and theology. I would recommend this book for the story but not the Christianity.
The end of the book was disappointing. It was a weird end. The good guys and bad guys by the end were odd, hardly mentioned, individuals. There was no wedding. THe book ended quickly and with loose ends and an odd human "savior".
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am not required to give a positive review in exchange for the book. This is my critical review of the book as if I had bought the book with my hard earned money.
BUY IT: Father Hunger by Douglas Wilson
I do recommend this book to Christian men as a good example of what biblical masculinity is all about. This book restores the male's role as protector and provider and also does no disservice to the woman's role. Wilson explains both roles and relates that they are designed to be different but to work together in unity. One role is not superior or inferior. They are just different.
This book also restores the importance of children growing up with fathers. Male figures that hold strongly to their Christian beliefs should be the foundation for Christian families. I loved that the author showed a very admirable, strong, masculine role for men to embrace. I hope more men embrace this role and more wives LET and ENCOURAGE their husbands to take the lead role and not to usurp that role.
The only part of this book that could really be improved was the beginning was slow and the wordiness of the book. Sometimes it took a lot of words to get to a point or to paint a picture. I didn't highlight nearly the amount of sentences as I normally will in a good book. So, this book had good points, but nothing new from John Piper's books on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. So, if you've heard it before, you probably won't get too much new from this book.
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am not required to give a positive review in exchange for the book. This is my critical review of the book as if I had bought the book with my hard earned money.
This book also restores the importance of children growing up with fathers. Male figures that hold strongly to their Christian beliefs should be the foundation for Christian families. I loved that the author showed a very admirable, strong, masculine role for men to embrace. I hope more men embrace this role and more wives LET and ENCOURAGE their husbands to take the lead role and not to usurp that role.
The only part of this book that could really be improved was the beginning was slow and the wordiness of the book. Sometimes it took a lot of words to get to a point or to paint a picture. I didn't highlight nearly the amount of sentences as I normally will in a good book. So, this book had good points, but nothing new from John Piper's books on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. So, if you've heard it before, you probably won't get too much new from this book.
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am not required to give a positive review in exchange for the book. This is my critical review of the book as if I had bought the book with my hard earned money.
PASS: One Devil to Another by Richard Platt
At first I thought "Okay, a book from a demon's perspective trying to trick humans into never finding God could be interesting." I thought this could be a clever little marketing idea and thought seeing the tricks demons use could be interesting. But when I actually started to read this book, I realized how dangerous and misleading the teachings of this book are - they destroy the character of God subtlely and almost unnoticably. Without careful discernment, the reader will miss all the clever insinuations that God is really not good. While reading this book, I felt like Satan himself wrote this to trick Christians into a false view of God and I felt this book was blasphemous and disrespectful to God. While bashing demons, this book subtely also bashes God. So while we all already know demons are bad, what good can come from a book that teaches God is "The Adversary, dishonest, a liar, not powerful, weak, sneaky, etc"?
This book is all from the first person perspective of a demon. So our "main character" is a demon and the whole book is written from his evil eyes. This idea alone isn't that dangerous because we expect the demon to be evil. The problem comes when God's character is destroyed and God is painted throughout the book as "evil" "the Adversary" "dishonest" "a liar" "a trickster" "unscrupulous" "breaking God's own rules" "not all powerful" "not in control" "helpless" etc. What good can 180+ pages of lies about God help us love and worship our God? And what's with a full page drawing of a demon on every other page? Yuk... What Christian gets enjoyment out of drawing demons? And not just one. Try like 15.
This book destroys the character of God! And I think many younger Christians will not catch the false unbiblical teachings in this book. This book pretends to teach Christian ideas but fails. It asks "Why do bad things happen to good people?" But it never gives us a real true biblical answer. In fact, it avoids the answer and claims that God permits bad things but doesn't want them. This makes God a weak god who can't even create a world that works the way He wants it to work. This is a sort of Arminianism.
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am not required to give a positive review in exchange for the book. This is my critical review of the book as if I had bought the book with my hard earned money.
This book is all from the first person perspective of a demon. So our "main character" is a demon and the whole book is written from his evil eyes. This idea alone isn't that dangerous because we expect the demon to be evil. The problem comes when God's character is destroyed and God is painted throughout the book as "evil" "the Adversary" "dishonest" "a liar" "a trickster" "unscrupulous" "breaking God's own rules" "not all powerful" "not in control" "helpless" etc. What good can 180+ pages of lies about God help us love and worship our God? And what's with a full page drawing of a demon on every other page? Yuk... What Christian gets enjoyment out of drawing demons? And not just one. Try like 15.
This book destroys the character of God! And I think many younger Christians will not catch the false unbiblical teachings in this book. This book pretends to teach Christian ideas but fails. It asks "Why do bad things happen to good people?" But it never gives us a real true biblical answer. In fact, it avoids the answer and claims that God permits bad things but doesn't want them. This makes God a weak god who can't even create a world that works the way He wants it to work. This is a sort of Arminianism.
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am not required to give a positive review in exchange for the book. This is my critical review of the book as if I had bought the book with my hard earned money.
BUY IT: The Truth About Forgiveness by John MacArthur
The Truth About Forgiveness from John MacArthur is a deep book about sin and our need as humans to be forgiven by a holy perfect God. This book is not really about humans forgiving each other, but our need for God to have mercy upon us. Every single Christian needs to read this book because this is what the gospel is about. This is what our salvation is about. It's full of deep truths about salvation and sin. MacArthur addresses society's ways of excusing sin and sweeping it away under psychology labels like "addition". He explains how people blame everyone but themselves for their sinful conditions and then they deny that these are sins by claiming they are outside of one's control as addictions. If we humans could see that our bad habits are actually sins and could fall upon Jesus Christ to save us, we could be free of those sins that we call addictions. That is what this book is about. It points out the true human condition of sin.
Quotes that summarize this book:
"These days everything wrong with humanity is likely to be explained as an illness. What we used to call sin is more easily diagnosed as a whole array of disabilities. All kinds of immorality and evil conduct are now identified as symptoms of this or that psychological illness. Criminal behavior, various perverse passions, and every imaginable addiction have all been made excusable by the crusade to label them medical afflictions. Even commonplace problems, such as emotional weakness, depression, and anxiety, are also almost universally defined as quasi-medical, rather than spiritual, afflictions."
"But assume for the moment that the problem is sin rather than sickness. The only true remedy involves humble repentance and confession (the recognition that you deserve the chastening of God because you alone are responsible for your sin)—then restitution, and growth through the spiritual disciplines of prayer, Bible study, communion with God, fellowship with other believers, and dependence on Christ. In other words, if the problem is in fact spiritual, labeling it a clinical issue will only exacerbate the problem and will offer no real deliverance from the sin. That is precisely what we see happening everywhere."
"The sad truth is that disease-model treatment is disastrously counterproductive. By casting the sinner in the role of a victim, it ignores or minimizes the personal guilt inherent in the misbehavior. “I am sick” is much easier to say than, “I have sinned.” But it doesn’t deal with the fact that one’s transgression is a serious offense against a holy, omniscient, omnipotent God."
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am not required to give a positive review in exchange for the book. This is my critical review of the book as if I had bought the book with my hard earned money.
Quotes that summarize this book:
"These days everything wrong with humanity is likely to be explained as an illness. What we used to call sin is more easily diagnosed as a whole array of disabilities. All kinds of immorality and evil conduct are now identified as symptoms of this or that psychological illness. Criminal behavior, various perverse passions, and every imaginable addiction have all been made excusable by the crusade to label them medical afflictions. Even commonplace problems, such as emotional weakness, depression, and anxiety, are also almost universally defined as quasi-medical, rather than spiritual, afflictions."
"But assume for the moment that the problem is sin rather than sickness. The only true remedy involves humble repentance and confession (the recognition that you deserve the chastening of God because you alone are responsible for your sin)—then restitution, and growth through the spiritual disciplines of prayer, Bible study, communion with God, fellowship with other believers, and dependence on Christ. In other words, if the problem is in fact spiritual, labeling it a clinical issue will only exacerbate the problem and will offer no real deliverance from the sin. That is precisely what we see happening everywhere."
"The sad truth is that disease-model treatment is disastrously counterproductive. By casting the sinner in the role of a victim, it ignores or minimizes the personal guilt inherent in the misbehavior. “I am sick” is much easier to say than, “I have sinned.” But it doesn’t deal with the fact that one’s transgression is a serious offense against a holy, omniscient, omnipotent God."
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am not required to give a positive review in exchange for the book. This is my critical review of the book as if I had bought the book with my hard earned money.
BUY IT: John MacArthur's The Truth About The Lordship of Christ
The Truth About The Lordship of Christ from John MacArthur is a 100% must read book! This is the kind of book every single Christian needs to read because it is just that good. It's full of deep truths about salvation and sanctification, the process of becoming Christlike. It also explains that the true gospel is one that includes the Lordship of Christ and that non-Lordship teachings are unbiblical and false.
One of my favorite parts: "He was saying that if you’re a true disciple, you’ll be willing to create a division in your own home. That goes against all of our instincts because we want peace in our homes more than anywhere else. That’s our refuge, that’s where the people we love the most and know the best live. We don’t want to be at odds with them. But when we commit ourselves to Jesus Christ, we’ll be true to Him, even if it destroys our homes, our neighborhoods, our cities, or our nation. If that’s the price, we’ll pay it.
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am not required to give a positive review in exchange for the book. This is my critical review of the book as if I had bought the book with my hard earned money.
One of my favorite parts: "He was saying that if you’re a true disciple, you’ll be willing to create a division in your own home. That goes against all of our instincts because we want peace in our homes more than anywhere else. That’s our refuge, that’s where the people we love the most and know the best live. We don’t want to be at odds with them. But when we commit ourselves to Jesus Christ, we’ll be true to Him, even if it destroys our homes, our neighborhoods, our cities, or our nation. If that’s the price, we’ll pay it.
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am not required to give a positive review in exchange for the book. This is my critical review of the book as if I had bought the book with my hard earned money.
BUY IT: John MacArthur's The Truth Of Grace
This book is filled with a beautiful overview of how the grace of God affects all aspects of Christianity. When nearly every Christian book is preaching a false inadequate gospel, MacArthur sticks to the gospel truth and explains to readers the difference between God's true gospel and today's easy-believism gospel that doesn't even save! This book is so important to read and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
The part of this book that stood out the most to me was when MacArthur went into the difference between true salvation and false assurance of salvation and how these relate to sin. If we receive the true gospel, we will receive the Holy Spirit and this Spirit will change our hearts to desire the things of God (truly, not just halfway). By the grace of God, we are given faith, repentance and a desire to obey God's law (in deed and in spirit/heart). If we receive the false easy-believism gospel, we will never really receive the Holy Spirit but only think we have. And so all our good works will be from our own efforts. We will have no Holy Spirit to help our good works. These will be self-righteous works, just like the Pharisees. Works from the hands of human achievement. MacArthur rightly points out, the good works of a Chrisitan are from God. All good things are from God. I think it is so important to know the difference between NOT accidentally trying to earn your salvation through works vs actually living for God and because of your love for God and His things (His law), then good works naturally flow from a believer. The motivation and power from which good works flow are different in a believer and unbeliever. This is so key. Please read this book because your salvation or someone you know will need to know this true gospel and realize that they may have been tricked into false assurance of salvation all along.
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am not required to give a positive review in exchange for the book. This is my critical review of the book as if I had bought the book with my hard earned money.
The part of this book that stood out the most to me was when MacArthur went into the difference between true salvation and false assurance of salvation and how these relate to sin. If we receive the true gospel, we will receive the Holy Spirit and this Spirit will change our hearts to desire the things of God (truly, not just halfway). By the grace of God, we are given faith, repentance and a desire to obey God's law (in deed and in spirit/heart). If we receive the false easy-believism gospel, we will never really receive the Holy Spirit but only think we have. And so all our good works will be from our own efforts. We will have no Holy Spirit to help our good works. These will be self-righteous works, just like the Pharisees. Works from the hands of human achievement. MacArthur rightly points out, the good works of a Chrisitan are from God. All good things are from God. I think it is so important to know the difference between NOT accidentally trying to earn your salvation through works vs actually living for God and because of your love for God and His things (His law), then good works naturally flow from a believer. The motivation and power from which good works flow are different in a believer and unbeliever. This is so key. Please read this book because your salvation or someone you know will need to know this true gospel and realize that they may have been tricked into false assurance of salvation all along.
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am not required to give a positive review in exchange for the book. This is my critical review of the book as if I had bought the book with my hard earned money.
Pass: Max Lucado's Great Day Every Day
I guess I shouldn't have expected a deep book, considering the author, but I didn't expect Max Lucado's Great Day Every Day to be so "devotion-like". I felt like I was reading a feel-good devotional. Or reading Joel Osteen, with all positive thinking, positive messages. I have read some of Lucado's books before and although I wouldn't call them deep, at least they have a little substance. This book was shallower than most.
Like all his other books, this book includes the false easy-believism gospel. Lucado teaches that all we need to do is believe in who Jesus is and what he did and we will be saved. But the gospel that Jesus preaches in the Bible is all about dying to self, conviction of sin, and repentance. Why else did John the Baptist and Jesus keep going around saying "Repent! Repent!" Lucado does not include repentance in his version of the gospel. A gospel without the core message is no gospel at all.
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am not required to give a positive review in exchange for the book. This is my critical review of the book as if I had bought the book with my hard earned money.
Like all his other books, this book includes the false easy-believism gospel. Lucado teaches that all we need to do is believe in who Jesus is and what he did and we will be saved. But the gospel that Jesus preaches in the Bible is all about dying to self, conviction of sin, and repentance. Why else did John the Baptist and Jesus keep going around saying "Repent! Repent!" Lucado does not include repentance in his version of the gospel. A gospel without the core message is no gospel at all.
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am not required to give a positive review in exchange for the book. This is my critical review of the book as if I had bought the book with my hard earned money.
PASS: The Jesus We Missedby Patrick Henry Reardon
This book will make you think and question your current beliefs about WHO Jesus Christ is. We usually assume Jesus is God and so Jesus wouldn't have all our gross or weak human traits, but Patrick Henry Reardon's book is all about pointing out those things that we aren't comfortable considering. Although we quickly admit Jesus was fully man also, we are not comfortable really thinking about Him like this. Example: Being fully human, Reardon and Russell D. Moore point out that Jesus would probably get sick, get an upset stomach, vomit, etc. Of course, to most of us, this sounds blasphemous, if not just disrespectful to consider. But, that's what this book is about. Seeing Jesus as fully human and attempting to fill in some of the blanks in Jesus' life story, growing up as a child, and how Jesus developed into a powerful man of God.
When I saw Russell D. Moore wrote the forward to this book, I assumed this would be a good book. But I enjoyed this book. It was slow, boring and I had to re-read some parts just to get through it, as my eyes kept glazing over. I didn't really find much in this book that wasn't said before - many times over. In fact, the author starts off the book saying that he hopes nothing in this book is new. Well, he did a good job of accomplishing that. There was not much new in this book and that made it boring.
One neat part was when the author drew the conclusion that Matthew and Luke must have gotten the Nativity and Jesus' early years stories from Christ's mother, Mary. He assumed this because Mark and John don't include these stories and Mary or Joseph would have been the only witnesses. This was a neat idea, but not worth reading the book for! I didn't care for how the author assumed "Joseph died". I couldn't find that story in my Bible but I certainly heard it among Catholic legend. I had hoped such an indepth analysis of Jesus' missing childhood would stick to the Bible only, not legend. And if the author was going to mention legend, he should tell us his source. Instead he just writes "Jesus remained at home with Joseph, eventually taking over the workshop when Joseph passed away." Next Reardon declares "If Jesus really was the Messiah, there was no outward sign of it." I cannot agree with this statement at all! If Jesus was sinless and a perfect human model of God, ever action or lack of action would be screaming signs to his entire family! Not only did his parents know the prophecies, meet the angels, be inpregnated by the Holy Spirit, but they knew their son was the destined Messiah. And Jesus was the only one of their sons and daughters who was sinless and perfect. How could a parent not notice this?
In the end, this book is an interesting read because it challenges your current ideas about Christ, but I feel the author was not careful enough in his conclusions and statements. I also feel he didn't back up enough of his statement with good solid logic and bible verses or references. Slow and boring but not without some benefit in challenging us to think outside of the box.
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am not required to give a positive review in exchange for the book. This is my critical review of the book as if I had bought the book with my hard earned money.
When I saw Russell D. Moore wrote the forward to this book, I assumed this would be a good book. But I enjoyed this book. It was slow, boring and I had to re-read some parts just to get through it, as my eyes kept glazing over. I didn't really find much in this book that wasn't said before - many times over. In fact, the author starts off the book saying that he hopes nothing in this book is new. Well, he did a good job of accomplishing that. There was not much new in this book and that made it boring.
One neat part was when the author drew the conclusion that Matthew and Luke must have gotten the Nativity and Jesus' early years stories from Christ's mother, Mary. He assumed this because Mark and John don't include these stories and Mary or Joseph would have been the only witnesses. This was a neat idea, but not worth reading the book for! I didn't care for how the author assumed "Joseph died". I couldn't find that story in my Bible but I certainly heard it among Catholic legend. I had hoped such an indepth analysis of Jesus' missing childhood would stick to the Bible only, not legend. And if the author was going to mention legend, he should tell us his source. Instead he just writes "Jesus remained at home with Joseph, eventually taking over the workshop when Joseph passed away." Next Reardon declares "If Jesus really was the Messiah, there was no outward sign of it." I cannot agree with this statement at all! If Jesus was sinless and a perfect human model of God, ever action or lack of action would be screaming signs to his entire family! Not only did his parents know the prophecies, meet the angels, be inpregnated by the Holy Spirit, but they knew their son was the destined Messiah. And Jesus was the only one of their sons and daughters who was sinless and perfect. How could a parent not notice this?
In the end, this book is an interesting read because it challenges your current ideas about Christ, but I feel the author was not careful enough in his conclusions and statements. I also feel he didn't back up enough of his statement with good solid logic and bible verses or references. Slow and boring but not without some benefit in challenging us to think outside of the box.
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am not required to give a positive review in exchange for the book. This is my critical review of the book as if I had bought the book with my hard earned money.
PASS: I Am A Follower by Leonard Sweet
I Am A Follower by Leonard Sweet is a book about following Jesus Christ by becoming Christ-like, instead of wanting our own self-glory and trying to all become and create leaders using the worldly CEO-corporate-secular business model of success. Sweet tells us that church should not be deemed a success based on numbers, tithe, etc but based on christ-likeness and brotherhood of believers. This is a good solid message.
This book has some REALLY good parts: especially pages 40-90. My favorite quote from the book is:
I would love to recommend the book based on these pages alone, but the rest of the book is dry, painful and I couldn't find any value in it. Once you hit the middle of the book, the rest of the book after page 90 is difficult to find anything meaningful. This is supposed to be the practical - how to apply this to your life part. However, it comes across that the author doesn't really know how to apply it, doesn't live it or just has a difficult time explaining to his readers how to apply.
After finishing the book, I came away not sure of Leonard Sweet's own theological beliefs, but he seemed to lean liberal/Arminianist. I Googled him and learned he is a Methodist clergyman. Sweet quotes all types of believers, even though they hold some different and opposing theologies. This makes it seem like the author doesn't have one solid theological point of view himself. On the conservative side, he quotes St Augustine. In the middle to liberal side, he quotes: Thomas Aquinas, CS Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, Deitrich Bonhoeffer, the Catholic Thomas Merton and Methodists Charles Wesley and Sydney Carter. He also quotes Pentecostal Jack Hayford. But then on the extreme liberal side, he quotes Word of Faith (who some would call "cultic") Joyce Meyer and John Wimbler (Third Wave, Vineyard Church). Others he quotes: Nelson Mandela, William Cushing, Rusty Ricketson, Barbara Kellerman, Travis Keller, Hugh Halter, Frederick Buechner, and Roger Scruton.
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am not required to give a positive review in exchange for the book. This is my critical review of the book as if I had bought the book with my hard earned money.
This book has some REALLY good parts: especially pages 40-90. My favorite quote from the book is:
If the primary relationships of our church members lie in their relationship to the church en masse rather than in life-on-life connections with one another, then we have missed the sweet spot. We have attracted a congregation, but we have not developed a "Christbody" community. Pg 85
I would love to recommend the book based on these pages alone, but the rest of the book is dry, painful and I couldn't find any value in it. Once you hit the middle of the book, the rest of the book after page 90 is difficult to find anything meaningful. This is supposed to be the practical - how to apply this to your life part. However, it comes across that the author doesn't really know how to apply it, doesn't live it or just has a difficult time explaining to his readers how to apply.
After finishing the book, I came away not sure of Leonard Sweet's own theological beliefs, but he seemed to lean liberal/Arminianist. I Googled him and learned he is a Methodist clergyman. Sweet quotes all types of believers, even though they hold some different and opposing theologies. This makes it seem like the author doesn't have one solid theological point of view himself. On the conservative side, he quotes St Augustine. In the middle to liberal side, he quotes: Thomas Aquinas, CS Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, Deitrich Bonhoeffer, the Catholic Thomas Merton and Methodists Charles Wesley and Sydney Carter. He also quotes Pentecostal Jack Hayford. But then on the extreme liberal side, he quotes Word of Faith (who some would call "cultic") Joyce Meyer and John Wimbler (Third Wave, Vineyard Church). Others he quotes: Nelson Mandela, William Cushing, Rusty Ricketson, Barbara Kellerman, Travis Keller, Hugh Halter, Frederick Buechner, and Roger Scruton.
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am not required to give a positive review in exchange for the book. This is my critical review of the book as if I had bought the book with my hard earned money.
PASS: Daily Gifts of Grace by "The Women of Faith"
[WARNING: Please read my review fully and carefully. This book is not what it seems.]
This is a very beautiful devotional book made with nice quality hard cover, with even a very pretty hardcover flap (like the kind on journals) that closes over the front cover with a magnet. This is the most beautiful book - from the outside. It's the kind of pretty book you want to buy for all your friends based on looks alone. But Chrisitians have been taught that the surface doesn't count - it's the inside that really counts. And you will want to read and understand my review carefully, when it comes to the inside.
Sadly, thats all this book is - pretty from the outside. I was surprised at how void of God and Jesus this devotional is. At first I thought it was mostly poetic, psychology, opinion and fluff. There are about 20 authors and they mix their writings up randomly. However, I read this book by each author, so I could get a feel for what each of them is saying - each woman's point of view. And that's when I realized the "theology" behind this book is much worse than simple poetic fluff. These women are teaching the "prosperity gospel" that turns God into a genie and us into users of God.
The most prolific writer in the book is Sheila Walsh. In her writings, Walsh tells us about God's promises but her words have no depth behind them. There is no life application. Her paragraphs are choppy and lose focus. It's almost like she had a few ideas and wrote them down but forgot to edit them to make them flow nicely. After reading her writings, I began noticing a pattern and felt her teachings were not biblical - she seems to make God into a genie that must grant us wishes because "God promised". This sounds like the "propsperity gospel" that some of those tv evangelists are misleading millions of people with.
Example: Walsh tells us that "God has promised to deliver us" but she fails to mention anything about when, how, why or God's will. Just a blanket promise that makes it seem like "God promises to ALWAYS deliver us no matter what". Well, clearly we all will die some day, so God's promise isn't the blanket promise Walsh portrays - we are't always delivered from death or even trials. Truth is, God doesn't promise to deliver us from trials or death. His promise is for salvation to believers only. Walsh only tells us that God promised so-and-so and she makes these promises into ALWAYS-NO-MATTER-WHAT promises, such as when she writes "grace and peace are our birthright."
Walsh's other writings are choppy and shallow with misapplied verses: "Do you ever feel like a nobody? Satan tempts us to be somebody. Mt 4:7 says "Don't tempt God." So don't fear. God has our best interests at heart. He will provide for us." I don't really see how Mt 4:7 is relevant to "wanting to get glory for yourself." And I don't really see how "God will take care of you" has anything to do with a solution for being egotistical and seeking your own glory. Most of Walsh's writings that aren't leading us to believe in false promises and turn God into a genie are instead like this one - choppy and with no clear point.
Luci Swindoll is another author I was interested to hear her thoughts, considering her relation to her famous father, Chuck Swindoll. But her writing was very shallow and had little to do with God and I was surprised to find that she also seems to be teaching the "prosperity gospel" as well. She writes about "planting seed-thoughts" - "seed faith" or "seed thoughts" are terms I've only heard scamming tv evangelists like the Mike Murdock use or Word of Faith false teachers like Oral Roberts use.
Luci Swindoll's other writings have nothing to do with God and revolve mostly around herself and her famous father, Chuck Swindoll. Instead of Jesus, she writes about her "elocution lessions", her not wanting get married or have children, her love of "figuring out how things work", her decorating her bedroom, building model airplanes, "bowing to pressure from friends and Mother" to date, a false engagement to a man she had no intent to marry, and "the greatest adventures of my life have come because I said yes to the unknown". Swindoll even writes about "I began memorizing Scripture and learning about the promises and blessings that were mine by simply putting my faith in Christ." Does Swindoll sound more interested in Jesus because of a personal reltionship with Him or interested in getting "promises and blessings WHICH ARE MINE"? Based on her own words, she's seeking to use God for his blessings, more than have a relationship with our Savior. She has made God her genie. This is "the prosperity gospel."
I absolutely would pass on this book. It is pretty on the outside but poison and self-centered on the inside. "The Women of Faith" are clearly wolves in sheeps clothing - their teachings are centered around themselves and what promises they can get from God. They are simply seeking to use God for their own selfish gain.
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am giving my honest review.
This is a very beautiful devotional book made with nice quality hard cover, with even a very pretty hardcover flap (like the kind on journals) that closes over the front cover with a magnet. This is the most beautiful book - from the outside. It's the kind of pretty book you want to buy for all your friends based on looks alone. But Chrisitians have been taught that the surface doesn't count - it's the inside that really counts. And you will want to read and understand my review carefully, when it comes to the inside.
Sadly, thats all this book is - pretty from the outside. I was surprised at how void of God and Jesus this devotional is. At first I thought it was mostly poetic, psychology, opinion and fluff. There are about 20 authors and they mix their writings up randomly. However, I read this book by each author, so I could get a feel for what each of them is saying - each woman's point of view. And that's when I realized the "theology" behind this book is much worse than simple poetic fluff. These women are teaching the "prosperity gospel" that turns God into a genie and us into users of God.
The most prolific writer in the book is Sheila Walsh. In her writings, Walsh tells us about God's promises but her words have no depth behind them. There is no life application. Her paragraphs are choppy and lose focus. It's almost like she had a few ideas and wrote them down but forgot to edit them to make them flow nicely. After reading her writings, I began noticing a pattern and felt her teachings were not biblical - she seems to make God into a genie that must grant us wishes because "God promised". This sounds like the "propsperity gospel" that some of those tv evangelists are misleading millions of people with.
Example: Walsh tells us that "God has promised to deliver us" but she fails to mention anything about when, how, why or God's will. Just a blanket promise that makes it seem like "God promises to ALWAYS deliver us no matter what". Well, clearly we all will die some day, so God's promise isn't the blanket promise Walsh portrays - we are't always delivered from death or even trials. Truth is, God doesn't promise to deliver us from trials or death. His promise is for salvation to believers only. Walsh only tells us that God promised so-and-so and she makes these promises into ALWAYS-NO-MATTER-WHAT promises, such as when she writes "grace and peace are our birthright."
Walsh's other writings are choppy and shallow with misapplied verses: "Do you ever feel like a nobody? Satan tempts us to be somebody. Mt 4:7 says "Don't tempt God." So don't fear. God has our best interests at heart. He will provide for us." I don't really see how Mt 4:7 is relevant to "wanting to get glory for yourself." And I don't really see how "God will take care of you" has anything to do with a solution for being egotistical and seeking your own glory. Most of Walsh's writings that aren't leading us to believe in false promises and turn God into a genie are instead like this one - choppy and with no clear point.
Luci Swindoll is another author I was interested to hear her thoughts, considering her relation to her famous father, Chuck Swindoll. But her writing was very shallow and had little to do with God and I was surprised to find that she also seems to be teaching the "prosperity gospel" as well. She writes about "planting seed-thoughts" - "seed faith" or "seed thoughts" are terms I've only heard scamming tv evangelists like the Mike Murdock use or Word of Faith false teachers like Oral Roberts use.
Luci Swindoll's other writings have nothing to do with God and revolve mostly around herself and her famous father, Chuck Swindoll. Instead of Jesus, she writes about her "elocution lessions", her not wanting get married or have children, her love of "figuring out how things work", her decorating her bedroom, building model airplanes, "bowing to pressure from friends and Mother" to date, a false engagement to a man she had no intent to marry, and "the greatest adventures of my life have come because I said yes to the unknown". Swindoll even writes about "I began memorizing Scripture and learning about the promises and blessings that were mine by simply putting my faith in Christ." Does Swindoll sound more interested in Jesus because of a personal reltionship with Him or interested in getting "promises and blessings WHICH ARE MINE"? Based on her own words, she's seeking to use God for his blessings, more than have a relationship with our Savior. She has made God her genie. This is "the prosperity gospel."
I absolutely would pass on this book. It is pretty on the outside but poison and self-centered on the inside. "The Women of Faith" are clearly wolves in sheeps clothing - their teachings are centered around themselves and what promises they can get from God. They are simply seeking to use God for their own selfish gain.
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am giving my honest review.
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