Review of Life, In Spite of Me by Kristen Jane Anderson with Tricia Goyer
Feb0
Genre: Autobiography/Inspirational
Recommended.
Kristen Anderson attempted suicide by lying on the tracks in front of a moving train. She was run over by 33 freight train cars going 55 miles per hour, yet survived–losing only her legs (and eight pints of blood). She shouldn’t be alive, but God protected her, then wooed her into a life with Him.
This is a really remarkable story! Kristen shares the deep pain she felt leading to her decision to take her life, the details of the accident and aftermath, and the process she went through to discover God and her calling. She had been told by most of her family and friends that had she succeeded in killing herself she would be in heaven. But one women told her otherwise–maybe not as tactfully as she could have–which caused Kristen to consider deeply her salvation and what it means to be saved. She realized that, in fact, she was not a Christian and that going to church was not enough. I love the way she walks readers through her discovery and personal decision to follow Jesus, and her honesty in sharing her struggles and sanctification process shortly after making that important decision.
Kristen now heads a non-profit, Reaching You Ministries, which focuses on touching those who are going through similar hurts that she experienced (especially depression and suicide). I recommend Life, In Spite of Me to teens or adults who struggle with depression and suicidal tendencies or who want to help a loved one through these struggles to freedom in Christ.
I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from WaterBrook Multnomah.
Review of The Devil in Pew Number Seven by Rebecca Nichols Alonzo with Bob DeMoss
Feb0
Genre: Memoir/True Crime/Christian Life
Recommended.
Even when faced with terrifying threats, physical attacks, and the impending harm upon their family, Rebecca’s parent’s, Robert and Ramona Nichols, refused to step outside of God’s will by fleeing the community and church to which they had been called. Their bravery cost their family almost everything; but as Rebecca shares of the events surrounding the ultimate moments of tragedy in her young life, she also shares how the love of Jesus exuded by her parents transformed her life into one of unconditional love and forgiveness–even for her enemies. Her comments toward the end of the story regarding forgiveness are especially powerful, and her testimony of hurt and forgiveness are worth reading and repeating.
From a literary perspective, I unfortunately did not enjoy the story as much. It is such an amazing testimony, and yet, structurally, it did not come together as cohesively as I think it could have. The story hinges on one villain (“the devil in pew number seven”) and one climatic moment of loss and tragedy–except that these are actually completely separate events; only in the epilogue does Rebecca reveal a small connection between the two. A lot of the story, consequently, felt scattered to me–still heartfelt storytelling, but unfocused and giving too many irrelevant details. I recommend this book to other readers based on it’s content, but only with the disclaimer that it is slow, unfocused, and in-cohesive–a bit of patience is needed to hear the wisdom between the lines.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through the Tyndale Blog Network.
Jesus the Terrible Salesman
Jan6
Recently I’ve begun a hobby in sales, which has caused me to see salespeople in a new way and to consider my own sales process. I’ve also been noticing that Jesus was a TERRIBLE salesperson. Rather, He wasn’t a salesperson at all! He wouldn’t let His disciples say goodbye to their families (Luke 9:59-62), He demanded His followers give up everything they had (Luke 14:25-27, Mat 19:20-21), He spoke in parables so that only the ones who wanted to understand would hear His message (Mark 4:9-12), He ministered to people with great miracles and then told them not to tell anyone (Mat 8:2-4), He at one point confronted His disciples and told them not to follow Him anymore if they didn’t want to (John 6:60-71), and He promised them persecution (Luke 21:12, John 15:20). If “selling” Himself and His gospel was the goal, these weren’t the best techniques.
Jesus could have created a large following, changed the government, declared Himself King, stayed alive, and lived a happy human life. But it wasn’t His mission. He wanted to change the whole whole by conquering sin and death and salvaging humanity from the chains of the devil. He wanted to save the people then AND the people yet to be born (us); and He wanted to rescue us both from the pain of sin now AND from the pain of Hades that was due to us. He spent His life on us, so that we might have eternal life through Him. Later, He will come back to declare Himself King, change the government, win the war, and enjoy life with us–the earth will be baptized in fire and the heavens will open. It won’t be good news for everyone, but we get to decide carefully whether to on Jesus’ team or against Him.
I love that God does not infringe on our free will. We can make whatever choice we decide is best for us (to accept Him, or maybe not to), and He wants us to fully consider our spiritual choices. Jesus said:
“If anyone comes to Me, and does not [by comparison of his love for Me] hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.” (Luke 14:26-33)
Here in California there are many building developments that halted when the economy dropped that will likely never be finished. And I can think of at least one “king” who started a war he couldn’t finish. But Jesus says, don’t be stupid like that. Consider following Me. If you believe I’m the Messiah, that I died on your behalf, that I rose again and am still alive in heaven waiting for the harvest of My people to be ripe so I can return to remove evil from the earth–if you believe I am who I say I am and that I’m worth it: give up everything and follow Me.
Jesus didn’t come to trick and manipulate people. He’s not a conniving cult leader. And yet a portion of the Jews believed Him, began to spread the gospel and started this thing we call Christianity. If you aren’t a follower of Jesus, you should carefully consider whether He is worth following. And if you love Jesus like I do, let me remind and encourage you that it’s not our job to convince anyone of anything–just to allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, and to share the good news of the gospel in a way that allows everyone the chance to consider if Jesus is Lord.
Review of Relentless by John Bevere
Jan0
Genre: Spiritual Growth
NOT Recommended.
I want to start by saying that I really like John Bevere. I believe he hears from God and desires to teach in the ways of God. Several of his teachings have been a blessing to me. And so I am deeply saddened that no one prevented him from publicly declaring in this book the blasphemous statement that “we are Christ.” The first time he used this phrase I thought maybe there was a linguistic error, then the statement was repeated (more than once)! How did this happen!?! I find that this kind of theological error is too big to disregard. It causes all the good things he says before and afterward to be irrelevant. We can not be followers of Christ and also believe we are Christ; it does not work!
Indeed, we are not Christ! We are part of his body, yes. We have, through His grace, received inconceivable spiritual gifts and spiritual blessings that we don’t deserve and don’t yet fully understand: it’s amazing! Someone needs to tell the body how much we’ve inherited through Christ and in Christ–and that should have been the outcome of this book. But we are not Christ. He is the head of us (the source of us) and through His power we live. We are His body, and yet, we do not and will never replace Him. We represent Him, but do not become Him. We will do (and should be doing) amazing things through the power of the Holy Spirit–Jesus said even greater things than He did. Yet the power still comes from Him and is ushered in by our weakness. We are not and do not become Christ. We have the grace to carry the divine, while not being divine ourselves.
Since personally being delivered from the power of the occult, I can not emphasize this enough. We (the body) need to learn to walk in full understanding of our identity in Christ with power and confident access to the Holy Spirit. But we can not mistake the source of our power. It is not from within us (though the Spirit does dwell there when we invite Him to), or from other spirits; it comes from Jesus Christ who is our head.
I, honestly, would be very surprised if John Bevere actually believes what it sounds like he is saying (or maybe he does?). But certainly there has been a confusion, and I do believe that this is a big mistake. I hope that all involved in the realm of Christian writing and publishing will be careful in prayer and discernment with future publications.
I received a complimentary ARC of this book from WaterBrook Multnomah.
Review of Heart of Ice by Lis Wiehl with April Henry
Jan0
Genre: Fiction/Suspense/Crime Mystery
Recommended.
This is the first book I’ve read of the Triple Threat Series, and I enjoyed it. It was light reading, suspenseful, with interesting characters–and it takes place in Portland Oregon, which happens to be one of my favorite cities.
The “triple threat” is made up of Federal Prosecutor Allison Pierce, FBI Special Agent Nicole Hedges, and crime reporter Cassidy Shaw. These good friends are able to investigate and solve crimes, and also support each other through every-day-life.
Heart of Ice is unique from other crime mysteries in that the perpetrator, Elizabeth, is introduced from the beginning–as someone the other characters know well. There is plenty of suspense, however, since the reader has inside information into the killer’s background and sociopathic mindset which the characters do not have. A few scenes were almost too intense/graphic for me, and since the book does realistically present situations of theft, murder, manipulation, arson, fraud and a bit of sexuality, I wouldn’t recommend it to teen readers.
It’s not obvious that this book is Christian fiction, though one character does have spiritual convictions (which are subtly displayed). Had I picked this up in an airport (for instance), I wouldn’t have guessed it was Christian at all, though the language was clean, and I suppose the darker elements (murder, etc.) could have been even more graphic. I’m interested to see if there may be Christian themes in the series overall.
I received a complimentary copy of this book as a part of the Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogging Program through booksneeze.com.
This blog addresses the 'sticky' topics of Western Christianity in an attempt to shake, refocus, and unite the body of Christ, and to reveal the true gospel message to unbelievers.
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