The Global assault on Christians

I have found myself spending more time with books focusing on Christian persecution around the world.  Persecuted: the Global Assault on Christians by Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert and Nina Shea was a welcome addition to my reading list.  In the past I have read books like Fox’s Book of Martyrs and Jesus Freaks which tell the stories of those who have stood for their faith in Jesus.  Persecuted was a change of pace in that it took a systematic approach in telling of the current persecution going on around the world today.  It also discussed the motivation behind the persecution and how that changes the circumstances for Christians living out their faith in those distinct areas.

It is so easy for born again Christians in free countries like the USA to take their freedom for granted.  While the stage is changing and intolerance for Christianity is on the rise here we still enjoy much freedom to worship Jesus without fearing for our lives.  It is easy for forget the trials of Christians around the world who live with the daily threat of persecution.  This book is a sobering reminder of what is really taking place.  It is a wakeup call for us not to live in ignorance or what goes on beyond our borders, but to be in constant prayer for our fellow believers with a willing and eager heart to serve Jesus with our whole lives.  I highly recommend reading this book.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program.

Another Great Imagination Station Adventure

Hunt for the Devil’s Dragon is the latest book in the Adventures in Odyssey Imagination Station series written by Marianne Hering and Wayne Thomas Baston.  The story continues to follow the cousins Patrick and Beth and their adventures in Mr. Whittaker’s imagination station.  However it departs from the previous storyline of trying to help save Mr. Whittaker’s friend Albert who has been captured by the mysterious Lord Darkthorn.

My now 6 year old son continues to enjoy these books.  This time having a setting in Roman times with soldiers and a dragon were especially intriguing.  While he was especially interested in the expectation of reading and seeing a dragon I especially appreciated the Godly character displayed by Georgius, the Christ fearing Roman soldier who was unashamed of his faith in Jesus.  This was a welcome talking point of how to behave around other who dismiss, mock or even persecute Christians for their faith.  I would recommend this book to young kids and to parents who want read short stories with their children depicting Godly men and women.

I received a complimentary copy of the book for review purposes from Tyndale House.

Twelve Unlikely Heroes

I love the Bible and I love to read about men and women in the Bible to see how God used them and to learn from their stories.  So I was excited to read John MacArthur’s book “Twelve Unlikely Heroes.”  MacArthur is a good author and I was intrigued to see his take on some Bible characters… and he didn’t disappoint.

The twelve people that are highlighted aren’t obscure Bible characters and there isn’t some new outside source of information that has been used to dive deeper into the hearts and minds of these men.  These are characters that I would honestly hope all Christians are familiar with.  Macarthur takes men and women who I would say were more reluctant than others.  Men and women who if they had had their druthers would have lived a quiet and simple life, but God meant them for more and they answered the call.

I enjoyed MacArthur’s approach of simply taking what the scriptures say about these men and then meditating on them.  Going beyond dry words on a page and delving deeper to ruminate on what they may have written down in their journals.  Then to correlate this with other scriptures in an easy to read application so we as readers can connect with them.    I would recommend this book as a fine addition to a character study of these men and women in the Bible.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program.

Les Misérables audio book

My latest review is of the Focus on the Family Radio Theatre production of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables.  I find myself listening to more and more books as I find I have less leisure time to read.  Focus on the Family retells this story with a marvelous cast and superb sound and effects.

I have read this in the past, but it has been some time.  I was looking forward to seeing how Focus on the Family would bring it to life and I was very satisfied with their production.  Simply put, it was amazing.  I don’t remember being this engaged in the story the last time I read it.  But this time I was fully engrossed in the tail and it held my attention to the very end and left me wanting more.  I would highly recommend this series.

I received a complimentary copy of the book for review purposes from Tyndale House.

Two New Great Adventures in Odyssey Imagination Station series

The latest books in the Adventures in Odyssey Imagination Station series that I read with my now 5 year old son were Battle for Cannibal Island and Escape to the Hiding Place by Paul McCusker and Marianne Hering.  The books continue to follow the cousins Patrick and Beth and their adventures in Mr. Whittaker’s imagination station.  These books are more independent of the other books as individual adventures.

My son really enjoys these books.  He was very excited to get some more and since reading them he was disappointed there weren’t any more available.  We have encouraged him to write a letter to the author for more.  He really likes their adventures and gets into the places they go and things the cousins do.   I enjoy the adventures and the topics they bring up.  We have had some great times talking about how we could make wise choices in similar situations.  My son has a vivid imagination and these help give him some focus.  I look forward to reading more as they come out and would highly recommend them to others.

I received a complimentary copy of the book for review purposes from Tyndale House.

Has God Spoken by Hank Hanegraaff

Has God Spoken by Hank Hanegraaff is his final book in a series meant to address questions that Christians face regarding the Bible.  It is laid out with the acronym MAPS to assist the reader in assimilating the massive amount of information that Hank offers the reader.

This book is thick and meaty and will take some time to get through versus other apologetic type books that I have read.   Hank has done his research and does his best to put it out in a manner that it easy to consume, but it does take a while to get through.  I appreciated the material in the book and found myself learning a good deal.  I felt like the book went beyond simply providing evidence to specifically address the prevailing lines of thought against the Bible currently and even pointed towards specific people who lead those arguments.

I appreciate books like this as I like to know why I believe what I believe.  I find them most useful in strengthening a believer’s faith in Christ by showing the complexity of our Lord, but less to convince a skeptic.  And I found this book good to equip believers so they aren’t ignorant of the prevalent criticisms in our culture today.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program.

Life Application Study Bible Devotional

I recently received the Life Application Study Bible Devotional from Tyndale Publishers.  This devotional is setup slightly differently from others that I have.  Instead of dates it uses weeks and days.  This may seem like a minor change, but it really does promote a daily reading schedule  as it can be difficult to find your day if you only pick it up occasionally other than just reading randomly.  Each week has a theme centric to Jesus in some manner bases on scripture and accompanied with devotion and questions.

Overall I found this to be a decent devotional.  I love reading scripture, so having that on each page was good.  Personally I felt the devotional portion to be a bit lacking.  The inferences read into the scripture with these were overreaching.  That being said I did enjoy the questions portion.  I found them to be thought provoking in a manner that would really make one think of how to apply the scripture to one’s life.  I would simply put in more scripture from the New and Old Testament and less story telling.  All in all I found it to be a good book and one that would encourage the daily reading and application of God’s Word.

Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for a review.