The Road to Reality by K.P. Yohannan

The Road to Reality, Revised Edition by K.P. Yohannan ISBN-13: 9781595891136 Trade Paperback: 213 pages Publisher: GFA Books Released: 1988; January 1, 2012

Source: Free copy that I picked up at an event. This title is also a free download on the Gospel for Asia website.

Book Description, Modified from Back Cover:
Escape from the Santa-Claus-mentality of American Christianity and find true freedom as devoted servants of the Lord Jesus. This book will point you to back to authentic New Testament Christianity and help you take your first steps toward living with simplicity and purpose.


My Review:
The Road to Reality is a Christian Living book. The book was targeted at American Christians, especially those who believe that God's main goal is to provide us with wealth to spend primarily on our own pleasures. In general, he had good points about what Jesus actually called His followers to live out in terms of sacrificing to reach the lost. Since the author's life is devoted to evangelism, his main focus was on sacrifice to further evangelism.

I've been "living with simplicity and purpose" for years. Obviously, I agree with his call to spend more of the wealth that God has blessed Americans with to help spread the life-giving gospel to those who have never heard of Jesus. But perhaps because I already agree with the message, I noticed some other things about the book.

Having read several of K.P. Yohannan's books, I've noticed that he can come across as judgmental (which pushes a guilt-based motivation) rather than inspirational (in the sense of "wow, that is a better way to live!"). I'm left wondering if anyone not already inclined to agree with him would be convinced and permanently change their way of life.

Also, the author grew up in India and that influences his point of view. Sometimes he comes across as saying "Indian Christians do things this way, I can find support for this in the Bible, American Christians don't do this, so you Americans need to surrender to God and meet my expectations." Since Americans also tend to do this to other cultures, I'm not bothered by that, but the author apparently didn't examine the differences in the cultures to see the causes behind the differences. He simply calls on people to change their ways. I think the problem isn't solely that we've been told to desire and depend wealth, as he assumes, but that our deep-down trust that God exists and will take care of us has been undermined. Unless we have confidence in God's care for us (and everyone in this world), we'll place our sense of security in money and prioritize our current comfort over reaching the world with the good news.

All that said, the book was good overall, and you can read it for free as a ebook downloaded from the GFA website.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.