October 8th, 2009 by Kristi Stephens

I warned you there would be lots of reviews this week! :)

Sometimes reading a book is uncomfortable because it challenges you in such a way that you must either seriously move toward change or stop reading it immediately. Zealous Love is one of those books.

Mike and Danae Yankoski have done a fabulous job of compiling this “guide to social justice,” wrestling with specific areas of injustice and serious need that are ravaging millions (or billions) in our world, thoughtfully pondering the question, “what does it mean to love God, and what does it mean to love my neighbor as myself?”

This book tackles massive global topics including human trafficking, unclean water, refugees, hunger, lack of education, creation degradation, HIV and AIDS, and economic inequality. Not only do they do a great job of exposing the horrible reality of all of these issues, they are able to do it in a spirit of grace and humility that doesn’t come across preachy, and it didn’t make me hate myself by the end of the book!

They have organized this book in a wonderful way that leaves it readable, interesting, engaging, and motivating. Each section begins with a “briefing” about the problem. These briefings include personal stories from the authors and unbelievable statistics such as:
•Each year, around 1.2 million children are exploited in the global sex trade
•There are 2.6 million people who lack adequate sanitation and hygene
•Every year some 10 million people die from hunger and hunger related issues. That means more than 27,000 every day, one every 3 seconds
•Every hour, 230 people die because of AIDS

After each section’s briefing, 5 “field notes” are given – 2-3 page personal accounts from individuals who have passionately devoted themselves to addressing the issue being dealt with. A couple of the field notes came across a bit condemning and preachy, but the vast majority were uplifting and inspiring. Our world has many unsung heroes – men and women who have sacrificed their lives for Christ and the people He created and loved enough to willingly go to the cross. Reading their stories makes me want to make sure my life is being spent on what counts.

After the field notes, each section concludes with a section entitled “now what?” Resources for further research and ideas of small steps we can take individually and corporately to address these injustices in the name of Christ left me wanting to act rather than wanting to wallow in the enormity of it all and my own failures.

This is a well-written and timely work. I hope that their labor of love in this book sheds light upon these serious issues and spurs the church to act. It would be ideal for Christian book clubs and small groups to use for launching serious discussion and action – the “faith without works is dead” kind of discussion and action. The uncomfortable kind of discussion that changes you.

Zealous Love was written by Mike and Danae Yankoski – it is published by Zondervan and will be on the shelves in January 2010.

**Side note: I definitely am in agreement with them about the need to be good stewards of the earth, but I would not fully endorse some of the presuppositions of the “creation care” section – ie: that hurricanes and droughts, etc. are a result of man-induced global warming. This section might be good to read alongside Global Warming and the Creator’s Plan.

**I was provided with a copy of this book in exchange for my review from Zondervan. The link to amazon.com is provided for your convenience – I am an amazon affiliate and would receive a small percentage of any sales resulting from this link.  The opinions expressed in this review are my unbiased thoughts as in keeping with my disclosure policy.

July 18th, 2009 by Kristi Stephens

Ever think a book of statistics could keep you up at night? This one may be it, especially if you’re a parent and/or involved in Christian education.

This book is the result of a collaborative project between Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis and Britt Beemer of America’s Research Group to survey 1,000 young adults who grew up in solid, Bible-teaching churches but have left the church either permanently or temporarily. Typical thinking in Christian circles is that young adults leave the church in college due to teachings and culture that challenges their Christian beliefs. Ham and Beemer’s findings run contrary to this assumption, and they are shocking and disturbing.

“We’ve always been trying to prepare our kids for college… but it turns out that only 11 percent of those who have left the Church did so during the college years. Almost 90 percent of them were lost in middle school and high school. By the time they got to college they were already gone! About 40 percent are leaving the Church during elementary and middle school years! Most people assumed that elementary and middle school is a fairly neutral environment where children toe the line and follow in the footsteps of their parents’ spirituality. Not so. I believe that over half of these kids were lot before we got them into high school! Whatever diseases are fueling the epidemic of losing our young people, they are infecting our students much, much earlier than most assumed.” (31)

From their conclusions, 60% of the children and teens sitting in our chairs and pews each Sunday will disappear in the coming years. In fact, Ham argues that they might be physically sitting there week after week, but they are already gone. Want some statistics that will really keep you up at night? There was no statistical difference in their study between kids who attended public schools, Christian schools, or homeschool. No difference between Christian and secular college. Sunday School did make a difference, but not the one you would think – according to their study, kids were more likely to leave the church if they were also attend Sunday School!

I found it fascinating that the majority of the individuals they surveyed seem to have authentic saving faith in Christ. Most even agree that attending church is important for believers. So, where are they?

Ham’s primary conclusion: the Church has failed to teach the Bible as relevant fact. We have, intentionally or unintentionally, taught the Scriptures as “stories” that relate to spiritual matters and have avoided engaging the deluge of challenging questions from the secular world that bombard churched children and adults the other 166 hours of their week. Questions about the reliability of the Bible, why homosexuals shouldn’t be allowed to marry, the origins of the universe, the age of the earth, the feasibility of a world-wide flood, etc. When kids raise these questions in church, they are often told that it doesn’t matter what they believe, as long as they trust Jesus. Or they are told we can’t really know for sure. Or they are told just to talk about that at school and talk about Jesus at church. Conclusion: the Bible must not be true when it comes to “real” things like history and biology and geology, it just speaks to our “faith.”

Secondly, we have failed to connect the Bible to our everyday life. We have tolerated hypocrisy, we have failed to teach Truth in a challenging and relevant way, we have compromised what the Bible actually teaches about the function and purpose of the church in favor of traditions and entertainment. Even people who sincerely believe in Christ as their Savior and believe that the Bible is true have left the church because it doesn’t seem relevant to real life.

Ham is blunt and straightforward in this book without coming across harsh. But, I think he is right – the American Church needs to take a serious look at itself because it is dying from the inside out. If we compromise the foundation of our faith, what do we have left?

The second half of the book deals with what we should do about this epidemic. Personally, I would have loved to see this section get a little more practical, but I think that really is outside the scope and purpose of this book. Although the subtitle is “why your kids will leave church and what you can do to stop it,” the “what to do” is so huge that this really needs to be a springboard for much more if anything is really going to change.

Why do I say that? For this to change in any noticeable way, Ham truthfully says that the majority of church members need to personally examine their thinking about the reliability and accuracy of the Bible, including in Genesis 1-11. That alone sounds nearly impossible without the direct intervention of God. Then the church leadership needs to examine and overhaul how we’re “doing church” and why, the content of the sermons, the curriculum used in children’s, youth, and adult ministries and Bible studies and perhaps even question and/or eliminate extraneous programming that isn’t doing the job. We need to believe the Truth before we can defend it. We need to teach the Truth before it can be lived out. It is an enormous task, and it is almost laughable to say that in 73 pages those issues can be addressed well.

This book is something I hope that thousands of parents and members of church leadership will read and “chew on.” Ham and Beemer have handed us a grim diagnosis, and we need to prayerfully seek God for answers about what to do about it. In reality, I think they have unmasked some deeper, foundational issues for the Church that have no easy answers – the answers are straightforward (Know the Bible, teach the Bible, live the Bible), but the practical aspects of what that means in our churches have huge implications that need serious thought.

**For more information or to purchase a copy, click on the book cover image to be taken to the publisher’s website. I am an affiliate of both New Leaf publishing group and amazon.com – I would receive a small percentage of the sale of this or other products resulting from these links. I was provided with a copy of this book in exchange for my review from New Leaf Publishing Group. The opinions expressed in this review are my unbiased thoughts as in keeping with my disclosure policy.

July 13th, 2009 by Kristi Stephens

Prophecy kick part two:

If you have not read Epicenter by Joel Rosenberg, you need to.

That is all.

Oh, I suppose I could tell you something about it. ;)

Joel Rosenberg wrote this book after a series of political thrillers he had written kept eerily coming true – including a plot based on the concept of terrorists using commercial planes to attack the U.S. before 9/11! The media was amazed and he had countless interviews asking how he could have predicted what was going to happen. Epicenter is his articulate response to these questions – basically showing how he is looking at world events not just through the lenses of politics and economics, but also through the third lens of Biblical prophecy. He knows prophecy well, and is very in-tune with world politics, and based on these things he made some educated guesses… which happened to be largely right on.

This book is fascinating. After discussing world politics, tensions with radical Islam, and other pertinent details, the following chapters give “future headlines” which we would expect to see based on viewing the world with the three lenses – politics, economics, and Biblical prophecy. These future headlines (and he explains the basis for these “future headlines” and also shows how they are also currently on their way!) include:

•Israel discovers massive reserves of oil, gas
•Treaties and truces leave Israelis more secure than ever before
•A czar rises in Russia, raising fears of a new cold war
•Kremlin joins “axis of evil,” forms military alliance with Iran
•Moscow extends military alliance to include Arab, Islamic world
•Global tensions soar as Russia targets Israel
•New war erupts in middle east as earthquakes, pandemics hit Europe, Africa, Asia
•Iraq emerges from chaos as region’s wealthiest country
•Jews build third temple in Jerusalem
•Muslims turn to Christ in record numbers

That last chapter made me want to jump up and down. If you haven’t heard much about how hundreds of thousands of Muslims in hostile countries have been turning to Christ after having dreams and visions from God, you have to read this book! Here is one of my favorite sections:

“In my third novel, The Ezekiel Option, I tell the [true!] story of two Christians driving through the mountains of Iran with a carful of Bibles. Suddenly their steering wheel jams and they have to slam on the brakes to keep from driving off the side of the road. When they look up, they see an old man knocking on their window asking if they have the books. ‘What books?’ they ask. ‘The books Jesus sent me down here to get,’ the old man explains.

He goes on to explain that Jesus recently came to him in a dream and told him to follow. When he awoke, he found out that everyone in his mountain village had had the same dream. They were all brand-new followers of Jesus, but they did not know what to do next. Then the old man had another dream in which Jesus told him to go down the mountain and wait by the road for someone to bring books that would explain how to be a Christian. He obeyed, and suddenly two men with a carful of Bibles have come to a stop right in front of him.”

This is a true story! He put it into his novel with permission from a friend who is the head of a ministry in the Middle East. God is moving. Powerfully! American Christians are largely unaware of the spiritual revolution that is happening around the world. Truly, we can be confident that He is coming soon… are you watching?

Even if you are not familiar with much Biblical prophecy, Rosenberg very carefully explains what passages he is looking at, how he and other Biblical thinkers have come to interpret them, etc. I loved reading Creation and the Second Coming along with Epicenter, because their strengths complement one another very well. I also highly recommend that you check out Joel Rosenberg’s excellent blog.

I’ll say it again: we can be confident that Jesus is returning. SOON. How soon? We don’t know… but the signs He told us to watch for are rapidly lining up. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

I am an amazon affiliate and would receive a small percentage of any sales resulting from this link.

July 13th, 2009 by Kristi Stephens

This weekend I finished reading Henry M. Morris’ Creation and the Second Coming. Tim LaHaye is quoted on the back cover saying that he couldn’t put this book down… “yeah, right,” I thought as I started this 191 page book. I was looking forward to reading it, and it did look interesting, but I was pretty sure I’d be able to put it down.

Wrong.

I’ve been on a bit of a prophecy kick lately, and I also love creation science and teachers who can tie the big picture of the Bible together in an understandable way. This book covered all of those bases, and did it in a very conversational and understandable manner!

Morris is well known in creation science circles as the author of the classic The Genesis Flood, and he has also written a commentary on the book of Revelation. Combine these two areas of personal study and expertise, and it makes Creation and the Second Coming a unique and insightful read.

As the book states, in order to understand the end, we must understand the beginning. With this premise, Morris weaves together an argument for Christ’s imminent return based on a vast overview of Biblical prophecy, discusses “current” world events in light of prophecy (this book was published in 1991, so these sections are dated but still insightful), and gives his unique perspective on what Christ’s millennial kingdom and New Jerusalem may be like. I read this book in two days, highlighting and marking frequently as I went… and I had many “aha!” and “interesting…” moments along the way!

One of the parts of this book that I most enjoyed was Morris’ look, from a Christian scientific perspective, at how the creation was groaning under the curse, and how it very well might be restored to antediluvian (pre-flood) state for the millenial kingdom. He uses Scripture and his scientific understanding of the pre-flood world to paint a very fascinating picture.

Another unique perspective Morris had that I have not read elsewhere is how he connects evolutionary thought, both atheistic and pantheistic, back to Nimrod, the tower of Babel, and ultimately Babylon! His overall understanding of world religions and worldviews is intriguing, even if not all readers will agree with him! (And I am quite certain that not all would!)

Even as he discusses world events, the future Antichrist, the geological changes that the earth might undergo through the tribulation, etc, Morris is quick to state that we cannot be dogmatic and that prophecy is notoriously difficult to completely and accurately understand before the events take place. His humility and yet willingness to “intelligently speculate” were much appreciated by this reader!

One comment I would make is that this book contains a lot of brief references to prophecies found throughout the Scriptures. If you are somewhat new to learning end-times prophecy, this book would probably not be the best one to start with. Also, the fact that it was written in 1991 makes it quite dated when discussing “current” events in the middle east. Much has been happening in recent years that is pivotal to discussing the signs of Christ’s coming.

If you are interested in prophecy and creation science, this book has your name all over it!!

**For more information or to purchase a copy, click on the book cover image to be taken to the publisher’s website. I am an affiliate and will receive a small percentage of the sale of this or other products. I was provided with a copy of this book in exchange for my review from New Leaf Publishing Group. The opinions expressed in this review are my unbiased thoughts as in keeping with my disclosure policy.