Lord, Save Us from Your Followers: Why Is the Gospel of Love Dividing America?

I have to say, I have never read a book that made me look at how I was treating other people in the past and now. The author Dan Merchant spent a couple years moving around interviewing different people of different backgrounds and beliefs. What he found out was that if he would approach the hot button issues like same sex marriage or abortion with an attitude of love and compassion the people he was interviewing would have a two way conversation and not be offended. This whole book centers around the two greatest commandments made by Jesus Christ, to love the Father and love one another and mostly the “love one another“. The author uses different methods to get unwilling participants to engage in a two way dialect with him about the hot topics and the culture war going on in America and they find a renewed outlook on Christians by doing so. Dan Merchant also finds that most people that don’t claim to be Christian are turned off by the so called Christians attitude and one sidedness basically finding out that most people think Christians are judgmental and untrue to what Jesus was telling us in the Bible. No where in the Bible did Jesus say to only love people that are not gay or only people that make a certain amount of money or people that have not had an abortion, what Jesus really said is to love every one unconditionally and not judge them and after reading this book I have had to reevaluate my attitude and the way I have treated people in the past. This was a great book and it is also made into a documentary that I am planning on seeing. The book was a real eye opener and I have to admit that it has made me think hard about my actions and what Christians really stand for. There is way too much about the book to get in a review but I can tell you this it is worth the time to read it and I think you will laugh at times and may even get a little misty eyed at times. The most important thing in the book was the realization that God loves me just as much as a homeless person or someone that is gay. Just read the book and you will see what I am trying to say.

Green, by Ted Dekker

Green is the last and the first book to wrap up the circle series. I say the last and the first because it can be the first book you read if you have not started any of the circle series books or it can finish the series up for you, I don’t want give it away and I know it sounds confusing. When you finish the book you will know what I mean.

In this book (book 0) Thomas Hunter is at the end of his road with the followers of Elyon and the his son. The circle has been living their lives peacefully for ten years and they are starting to give up on the fact that Elyon is coming back soon and it is fracturing and ready to explode into an end time event. Thomas’s hot headed son Samuel is getting restless for a fight with the Horde and a challenge sets it up for the best book yet in the circle series. As the events unfold in one reality they also start to come apart in the future. When Thomas is able to leap back to the present time from his world he finds himself stuck without a way back and his mission is still not complete. At the same time an Alliances between the albinos and the half breeds are being made to usher in the finale apocalyptic end war.

If you stop and think about what you are reading in this book you can relate it to what we deal with on a daily basis. It is about deception and lies and one truth and that is the truth that Jesus brings with him the hope of salvation in the times when all hope is lost. You can also see how people can turn their back on what is true when they are penetrated by pure evil in sheep’s clothing. The deception is that we could do it on our own and we don’t need the help of Elyon (God) to see us thru to the end. This was a great book from the first to the last page. I only hope that Ted Dekker will start a new series that is as well written and thought out as the four books of the circle series have been. Dekker can tie in the real life struggle of Christians and the trials they face to a fictional story and write so when read it is somewhat eye opening. It will cause you to think about your own life and how you can picture your life as a Follower of Elyon or a Forest guard or maybe even a Horde. This book is a great illustration of how evil is always around us, fighting to steal us away from our creator. I would recommend this book along with the complete series for any one, after all I have read the series twice with the exception of Green.

Double Minds, by Terri Blackstock

What can I say, Terri Blackstock is still writing great books. This book was a page turner from front to back and I had a hard time putting it down. The main character Parker is an aspiring christian singer and works for a Christian recording studio. Parker's world is thrown into a tail spin when a temporary receptionist is killed at Parker's desk one night and the mystery is why her when Parker was supposed to be working then, was the killer trying to kill Parker or was it all another plot?

As the rest of the story goes, Parker's best friend and Popular Christian singer Serene is going to sign with a non-Christian record label and she wants Parker to rewrite her Christian songs. Reluctantly Parker agrees to do so and has regrets after doing it, and she feels like she sold out. I think that we can all relate to that in the sense that all of us at some time or another have compromised our beliefs and what we put our trust in because of peer pressure or the promise of fame and fortune. As Parker finds out in the long run compromise is not always the best course of action, She knows where her true beliefs lie and that is with Jesus and the Christian music she writes. I'm not going to tell all about the book but I will say this, it contains a murder, a drunk father that is trying to clean his act up for Parker's sake and a great story about a supporting family, along with a twist about a stolen song that starts this story. And there is a little romance to tie it all together.

Overall it was a great book but I have yet to read a bad Terri Blackstock book. Al I can say is keep writing Terri, Your books are top notch and they all have a God point to them.

The CROSS EXAMINATION of JESUS CHRIST, by Randy Singer

What would a court room look like if it were Jesus Christ on trial? It may not have been a court room but he was constantly being cross examined by Sanhedrin along with the Pharisees and Seduces. This is the story of the three years of Jesus’ ministries and how he was constantly badgered for claiming to be on equal footing with God the father. At every turn Jesus had an answer for their accusations. It is clear that Jesus was more concerned with a persons spiritual wellness than their physical wellness. On all accounts Jesus would show that he could forgive their sin and the only way to the father was thru him and as always people wanted a sign or a miracle to prove it, Jesus would show a sign or a miracle by healing some one proving he was on equal footing with God. Another huge difference between Jesus and the rest is that Jesus was all about grace while all others were more interested in the letter of the law, and they tried many times to trap Jesus in that law and he always eluded their trap. Another topic of the book “is the Bible really a trust worthy document”? Randy Singer goes into great detail about other documents that have a greater gap between the time the event happened and the time it was written down and the world has excepted that as accurate so what’s with the Bible? We learn about a few atheist that when started reading the Bible they started to realize that maybe their was some validity to this. Over all it was a great book and it was easy to read, I have read the other book that Singer wrote called “The Cross examination of Oliver Finny” and it was not even close to the same. It boils down to this “The Cross is the real story. The world may chose to glorify sin, but those of us in Christ have something far more interesting to talk about” (Randy Singer). This would be a great book for some one new in the faith or some one thats been a follower of Christ for years, its a great book for all.

Lonestar Secrets, By Colleen Coble

When Shannon Astor returns to her uncles ranch to take over the town veterinarian clinic a strange turn of events change her life forever. She is reunited with Jack MacGowan, a high school Jock that she had a crush on and he broke her heart and her trust years ago, can she learn to forgive him and move on and have a future with him? Will an old flame ruin it for her and her new family and how is it all connected to her missing friend Mary Beth and the kidnappers who are demanding Shannon to pay back some money she has no idea about.

I liked the story more than I thought I would, I don’t normally like romance but this one had just enough drama and suspense to make it work for me. The story was somewhat predictable by the time you were half way through the book except for the mystery kidnappers, I didn’t have that part figured out. Over all it was a good book to read and I did finish it in a day and a half. I have to admit I didn’t want to put it down, It did hold true to Colleen Coble’s other books. I am looking forward to reading the other two in this series.

My first blog.

Hey friends, I got this idea from a friend on Face Book. I love to read and I always like something free so I am going to try the review thing and see how it works out. I will let you know.