Tag Archives: Books

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Book Review – How God Makes Men by Patrick Morley

How God Makes Men by Patrick MorleyOne of my favorite topics to read about is how to grow, as a man, in my relationship with God. Becoming the man, and the husband, and the father that God desires me to be is a passion that burns inside of me.

So when I hear of a good book written for men to grow in their faith, I try to grab a copy and read it. Over the years, I’ve discovered that Patrick Morley has written several excellent books on the subject of biblical manhood.

The first book I ever read by Morley was The Man In The Mirror. That book forever changed me, and created in me the desire to grow into the man God created me to be. In fact, I reread portions of that book annually, simply to keep my focus on the areas that I know I need in place in my life to grow properly.

One of Patrick Morley’s newest books came across my desk late last year. During the month of January, I dug in and digested this book, spending only a couple of nights reading it completely.

However, after I finished, I realized that I needed to go back for a deeper and closer look at How God Makes Men.

In this book, Morley takes a close look at ten different men from the Bible, both the Old and the New Testaments, to see how God worked in and through their lives to make them into the men that they needed to be, for their personal growth, for their families, and for their times.

Taking the principles that Morley identifies from these ten lives, he applies them to men today, in twenty-first century America, to help them grow into the reality that God desires for them.

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Book Review – You’ll Get Through This by Max Lucado

You'll Get Through This by Max LucadoSometimes you read a book at exactly the right time that you need it.

That was the case for me with Max Lucado’s newest book, You’ll Get Through This. My family has experienced a lot of upheaval over the past few months. We’ve moved across the country. We have family members facing serious debilitating illnesses. The economy isn’t great and we have to stretch to make ends meet.

In other words, life happens.

Sometimes, though, when life happens, it is easy to feel discouraged.

Lucado’s new book is written with that in mind. Taking a look at the life of Joseph, from the Old Testament, Lucado offers hope and encouragement for those times that get you down, those times that are discouraging and turbulent.

We’ve all been there. Circumstances are not what we would like them to be. Maybe it’s financial. Maybe it’s a health issue. Maybe it’s a relationship falling apart. Or a job with difficulties around every corner.

Joseph had it pretty bad as well. Throughout You’ll get Through This, Lucado examines how he responded to a family that hated him, that sold him into slavery. Lucado digs into how Joseph responded to the injustice of being wrongly accused and thrown into prison. And Lucado studies how Joseph handled his monumental rise to power, and his reunion with his family after twenty years.

When life throws a curve ball our way, how do we respond? Through looking at Joseph’s life, we can gain some incredible principles for our own life. We can rest assured that God is right there with us, even though despair and despondency dog us at every turn.

And, we can realize that we’ll “get through this. It won’t be painless. It won’t be quick. But God will use this mess for good. In the meantime don’t be foolish or naive. But don’t despair either.”

With God’s help you will get through this.

Are you facing circumstances in your life where you need this reminder? If so, would you care to share so we can pray for you? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

I highly recommend that you read You’ll Get Through This, by Max Lucado. You can purchase it at Amazon.com in print or for Kindle.

Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze blogger review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Also, some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links”. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.“

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Book Review – Five Points by John Piper

Five Points by John PiperI have stated before that I’m not a big fan of John Piper. After reading another of his books, I can state with even more certainty that I’m not a big fan of John Piper.

I recently received a copy of Piper’s book, Five Points, to read and review. This is Piper’s attempt at a simple explanation of Calvinism’s five major tenets: total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints.

Knowing what it was, I really wasn’t thrilled with the prospect of reading it, but after some thought, I decided to look it over.

I found both pros and cons. First the positive aspects.

Piper does a good job of simplifying the five main principles of Calvinism so that most people can understand them. This would have come in handy in college, during church history. Most of the material available when I took that class didn’t do a very good job of making Calvinism understandable.

And now, the negative aspects.

I find Calvinism to be a faulty theology and do not accept it to be authoritative. While it does a masterful job of elevating the sovereignty of God, it falls short in depicting the free will of man. I am in no way suggesting that we marginalize the sovereignty of God. What I am saying is that Calvinism swings the pendulum too far in one direction, and does not take a fair and balanced approach to Scripture.

Unless you are studying the differences between Calvinistic theology and other denominations, I really don’t recommend reading Piper’s Five Points. Granted, it does explain the main premises of Calvinism succinctly. But those five premises are faulty at their foundations. You’d be better off to simply research and read what the Bible itself has to say about God’s love and grace for his creation.

You’ll grow your faith more from that endeavor than you will from reading Five Points.

What is your favorite passage on the topic of God’s grace? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

This post is simply a book review of John Piper’s book, Five Points. It is not intended to launch a debate about the merits of Calvinism, or the lack thereof. Please keep that in mind when leaving any comments. All comments will be moderated, and any remarks that are argumentative in nature will be removed. Thanks!

Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received this book free from Cross Focused Media as part of their Cross Focused Reviews blogger review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.“

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Book Review – Future Grace by John Piper

Future GraceJohn Piper is not one of my favorite authors. I have several of his books in my library, and have enjoyed some of them immensely. But I still have a tough time enjoying reading much of his stuff.

I still read some of it though. Because it challenges me to think. And thinking is the point of reading such material, isn’t it?

For example, take Piper’s book, Future Grace. In this volume, Piper takes a close look at God’s grace. While we tend to view God’s grace through an event that happened in the past, resulting in continuing work in our lives, Piper looks at the concept of future grace, revealing how the promises of God’s grace can help us break the chains of sinful issues in our lives.

I don’t disagree with him about the reality of grace, both past and present. God’s grace is something that we can depend on for our survival in a world filled with temptations and distractions. Grace is something that we need, continually.

But grace cannot be described so easily, and so matter-of-fact-ly. Grace is a bigger concept that we can fathom, even though we strive to understand it. To so blithely describe grace, saying “This is what it is…” seems to simplify the matter, trivializing it.

Don’t get me wrong. I gained a lot from reading Future Grace. I just think that Piper is attempting to put grace in a box that it doesn’t fit in, and spills over the edges.

There were a few points where Piper’s Calvinism showed. Those are the points where I scribbled my disagreements in the margins, not being a Calvinist myself.

Overall, I found Future Grace to be interesting and thought-provoking, especially in the area of understanding the Calvinistic view of grace. But it wasn’t a book that struck me as ground-breaking, and isn’t a resource that I will refer to very often.

You’ll find gems of truth in it, but I wouldn’t recommend purchasing this book, unless you get a great deal on it.

What is your favorite Bible passage on grace? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

If you are interested in reading Future Grace, by John Piper, you can purchase it at Amazon.com in print or for Kindle.

Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received this book free from Multnomah Books as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Also, some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links”. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.“

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Book Review – Innovation’s Dirty Little Secret by Larry Osborne

Innovation's Dirty Little SecretInnovation. It’s what creates repeatedly successful leaders. You know the one’s I’m talking about. The leader who has success again and again and again.

What is it that sets that kind of leader apart from the ones who have one good idea, or maybe two?

Innovation.

And when you understand it, you have the potential to become a serial innovator. But gaining an understanding isn’t as common as you’d think.

Innovation’s Dirty Little Secret is Larry Osborne’s newest book, digging deep into the intricacies of innovation, helping us understand it better. From the v

Wait. What?ery beginning, Osborne sets up up to gain insights into the concept of innovation that most leaders never grasp. To start off, the first four chapters deal with creating an exit strategy.

An exit strategy may be the most important part of understanding how serial innovators succeed continually. Knowing when something isn’t working, and having the ability and the courage to abandon it when it isn’t working is a key element to creating repeat successes. Once you have an exit strategy in place, you are free to lead without fear, knowing that if something doesn’t work, you can redirect your focus easily.

With that in place, igniting innovation, and creating an atmosphere where it accelerates is relatively easy. It still requires effort and work to keep things flowing, but it’s much easier to come up with great ideas when you accept that many of the ideas you have aren’t the great ones. You can be more relaxed, knowing that you can let go of mediocrity and focus on greatness.

Osborne directs his attention next to some of the things that sabotage innovation, and how to regain momentum when you stumble. And finally, to wrap things up, he spends a couple of chapters discussing the idea of vision, and how it relates to mission and innovation. These are perhaps the most important chapters in the book, and are regrettably short.

Although the idea of innovation is not a concrete concept, and is instead more abstract in nature, Larry Osborne has helped his readers to understand the idea more fully. Easy to read and full of excellent insights, Innovation’s Dirty Little Secret is a book that will seriously help you reach the next level in successful leadership.

Would you describe yourself as innovative? Why or why not? Would you describe yourself as a serial innovator? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

I strongly recommend that you read Innovation’s Dirty Little Secret, by Larry Osborne. You can purchase it at Amazon.com in print or for Kindle.

Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received this book free from Cross Focused Media as part of their Cross Focused Reviews blogger review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Also, some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links”. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.“

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Book Review – Don’t Miss The Boat by Paul Taylor

Don't Miss The Boat by Paul TaylorPerhaps the most fiercely contested event from early Genesis is Noah’s Flood. Even more than the creation account, the Flood described in Genesis 6-9 has been rejected by mainstream thought. But understanding Noah’s Flood is critical to understanding the world we live in today.

The biggest problem lies in the fact that there is very little material that available that helps people to understand what happened during and because of Noah’s Flood.

Until now.

Paul Taylor has written a very helpful book, called Don’t Miss The Boat, that describes in a very easy to understand fashion the events surrounding and the effects caused by a global flood.

Without getting into too many technical details, Taylor examines such topics as how the flood started, what happened during the flood, where the waters came from, the design of the ark, the following ice age, and much more. One of the most interesting chapters dealt with his estimation of why people stopped believing in the flood.

At times, Don’t Miss The Boat seems overly simplistic, especially if one is well read on the subject already. However, if the topic is a new one, the material is presented in a way that is simple for anyone to grasp and see the significance of Noah’s Flood.

This is a great volume to recommend to someone who doesn’t know much about the Flood or early Genesis history.

I enjoyed reading Don’t Miss The Boat, and spent only a short amount of time in reading and digesting the information presented. If you are interested in finding out more about this portion of the earth’s history, I recommend that you pick up a copy and read it. I think you’ll find it very fascinating.

What are your biggest questions surrounding the story of Noah’s Flood? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

I highly recommend that you read Don’t Miss The Boat, by Paul Taylor. You can purchase it at Amazon.com in print or for Kindle, or directly from Master Books.

Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received this book free from New Leaf Press/Master Books as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Also, some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links”. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.“

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Book Review – Apostate by Kevin Swanson

Affiliate Link: Apostate by Kevin SwansonWestern civilization as we know it is on the decline. Immorality and decadence are rampant. God has been evicted. And we are dying.

How did it start? Where did it start?

And, more importantly, what can we do about it?

Kevin Swanson has written what may by the most troubling, and yet the most important, book of our time.

Our society, in fact, all of western civilization is crumbling around us. And still we blindly plod onward, as if nothing at all were the matter.

But it is. And in Apostate, Swanson identifies the basis of our failing worldview, and the men who created and defined it for us.

Swanson’s timing could not have been more providential. With a Christian worldview fading into nothingness, and the need for a strong biblical stance stronger than ever before, Apostate identifies the perpetrators and the proponents of the godless mentality that pervades our society. It’s so prevalent, it seems as if we no longer even have the capacity to think completely biblically. We’ve been indoctrinated in the severest way, and we glorify the men who led us astray.

From prominent philosophers like Thomas Aquinas, Rene Descartes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and ideologists, like Marx, Nietzsche, and Darwin, Swanson takes us on a harrowing parade through history, exposing the atheistic and rebellious thoughts, ideas, and practices that have led to our current cultural demise.

From there, he takes exposes others who are just as culpable, like Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Dewey, Shakespeare, Hawthorne, Twain (Yes, Mark Twain!), Hemingway, and Steinbeck.

Many of these names echoed through the halls of schools and colleges around the world. I can recall hearing these names listed as the greatest minds of literature, philosophy, and education, and touted as the greatest leaders of our times.

But their ideas and practices have led us to where we are. They led. But we followed. And now we have our work cut out for us. We need to recall our biblical roots, recreate a biblical worldview, and restore our culture to a biblical mindset.

Or else, we are doomed.

If you are concerned at all about the direction our culture is going, and why it is headed that way, you need to read Apostate. You’ll be shocked. You’ll be appalled. You be horrified.

But you’ll be informed. And once informed, you’ll be aware.

Find this book. It might just be the most important book of our time.

What most troubles you about where our society is headed? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

I strongly recommend that you read Apostate, by Kevin Swanson. You can purchase it at Amazon.com in print or for Kindle. Also, you can listen to two different interviews with the author about the book and our troubling time. Find them here and here.

Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received this book free from Cross Focused Media as part of their Cross Focused Reviews blogger review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Also, some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links”. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.“