A Heart Like His by Beth Moore

A Heart Like His by Beth Moore ISBN-13: 978-0-8054-2035-7 Hardback: 300 pages Publisher: Broadman & Holman Publishers Released: 1999, 2003

Source: Bought through Half.com.

Book Description from Goodreads:
He was a man loved and anointed by God, and his life serves as an example—both good and bad—for Christians in every time and place. In this in-depth look at the life of David, Beth Moore draws spiritual insight and understanding from a man who slayed a giant and saved a kingdom.

This book guides readers on an exciting and informative journey through virtually every twist and turn of David’s life as a shepherd, refugee, and king. Moore introduces readers to the heart of a man whose triumphs and sins were foundation blocks of God’s plan and prophecy and shows readers how to better serve God by understanding their own unique relationship to Him.


My Review:
A Heart Like His is basically an easy-to-read commentary on 1 and 2 Samuel with the main focus on David. Due to the short chapters and content, I think it'd make a great daily devotional. (It has 52 chapters, if you're interested in doing a chapter a day.)

Each chapter covered a section of 1 or 2 Samuel (in order). The author would quote a part of the text--and a related Psalm, if there was one--and then give a summary of the rest of text. The author then commented on the events and how to learn from the mistakes and triumphs of those in the text. There were some review questions at the end of the book.

While I liked this book, I didn't feel like I gained new insights to the passages or in my walk with Christ. I like Beth Moore's other books better. However, other people might get more out of this book than I did, so I would recommend it to those who like Beth Moore books.


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.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.

The Blessed Hope by George Eldon Ladd

The Blessed Hope: A Biblical Study of the Second Advent and the Rapture by George Eldon Ladd ISBN: 978-0-8028-1111-0 Trade Paperback: 167 pages Publisher: Wm.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Released: 1956

Source: Bought through Half.com.

Book Description, Modified from Back Cover:
Jesus Christ is coming again! That is the Blessed Hope which has since the earliest days of the church energized biblical Christians looking for the full revelation of God’s redemption But devout believers have often disagreed about the nature of the second coming of the Lord.

Through its many printings, this book by George Eldon Ladd has proved to be a helpful guide for Christians who want to discern clearly the basic biblical teachings about the Blessed Hope. Writing not for scholars as much as the men and women in the pews, Ladd--whose numerous studies of New Testament interpretation earned him the reputation of being one of contemporary evangelicalism’s leading thinkers--sketches the history of interpretations of Christ’s second coming and then carefully and lucidly examines the biblical passages on which this doctrine is based.

Ladd’s conclusion is that the blessed hope is the second coming of Jesus Christ, not a pretribulation rapture of believers in a secret coming of Jesus. Yet he concludes, too, that there should be liberty and charity within the Christian community for all who hold to the expectation of “the blessed hope and appearing in glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”


My Review:
The Blessed Hope carefully studies the Bible to see if a pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church is clearly taught there or if it is equally or even more clearly taught that Christians will go through the Tribulation and be "raptured" only at the end when Jesus returns in glory.

He starts with quotes of what early Christians wrote about Revelation in this regard. He also chronicles how the pre-Tribulation idea first appeared and was promoted around 1831. The author then looked at the verses referring to the blessed hope, Jesus' glorious return, and the rapture as well as the verses pre-Tribulationists use to support their views. He showed that a pre-Tribulation Rapture is, at best, an inference and how the verses used to support it can be understood to support a post-Tribulation view if read in context.

Personally, I've never been able to see a pre-Tribulation Rapture in the Bible despite being taught that by my church since I was a child. I found it interesting that this author used many of the same arguments that I had seen in my study of the Bible.

My mother also read this book. She couldn't see a pre-Tribulation Rapture taught in the Bible, either, but wanted to understand the arguments for it in case she was missing something. She liked that this book explained the pre-Tribulation Rapture argument, but it also pointed out the things she had noticed against it. She now feels confident that she's not missing some truth that she'd been overlooking that would compel belief in a pre-Tribulation Rapture.

The last chapter is somewhat dated as he referred to "current" views, and the book was written in 1956. Also, while I agree that sharing the gospel with the entire world is important, I believe this because that's what Jesus told us to. I don't agree with the author's view that Jesus is prevented from returning until Christians get their act together and have achieved a certain goal as to the number of nations that have heard the gospel. It is God that brings people to belief, and everything is coming about in His timing, not ours.

I think the book presented a very clear explanation about how a pre-Tribulation Rapture came to be taught and why a post-Tribulation "rapture" more solidly fits what the Bibles teaches about the end times. I'd recommend this book to everyone interested in the Rapture.


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.


Excerpt from page 8 & 9 of the Introduction
We may designate this teaching by the word pretribulationism, because it teaches a pretribulation rapture of the Church so that it escapes the Tribulation. ... Many premillennialists believe that the Scriptures do not teach that Christ will return secretly to rapture the Church before the Tribulation. However, this teaching has been spread widely throughout American Fundamentalism through the godly influence of such men as James M. Gray, A.C. Gaebelein, R.A. Torrey, W.B. Riley, I.M. Haldeman, H.A. Ironside, L.S. Chafer, and many others.

No instrument has been more influential than the Scofield Reference Bible in implanting this view in the thinking of millions of Christians. Most of the Bible schools which have trained a host of young people in the Word of God have been devoted to this pattern of prophetic teaching, and the prophetic conference movement along with many summer Bible conferences has propagated this view. So deeply intrenched has it become that many pastors and Christian leaders have been lead to assume that this teaching has been an essential doctrine in the history of the Church extending back to apostolic times and has prevailed widely in all ages among believers who have had a sincere love for the Word of God and who have cherished the Blessed Hope of Christ's return.


Read from chapter one using Google Preview.

God's Appointed Times by Barney Kasdan

God's Appointed Times: A Practical Guide for Understanding and Celebrating the Biblical Holidays by Barney Kasdan ISBN-13: 978-1-880226-35-3 Trade Paperback: 144 pages Publisher: Lederer Books Released: 1993

Source: Bought from Books-A-Million.

Book Description from Back Cover:
The biblical holy days are not just for Jews. Christians, too, can receive the blessing of these glorious days, the greatest object lessons in the Bible.

God gave each day to teach his people about him and his relationship to them. From the Sabbath, which pictures eternity, to the popular holiday, Hanukkah, mentioned by name only in the gospel of John, the special times were set apart to bless the people of God.

In this book, Barney Kasdan, leader of Kehilat Ariel of San Diego, one of the largest Messianic congregations in the world, explains every holy day described in Scripture. He teaches about the major and minor holy days, ever mindful that he is writing to both Jews and Christians.

Beginning with the Sabbath, the first holy day revealed in Scripture, he writes about Passover, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, The Feast of Tabernacles, Hanukkah the Festival of Dedication, and Purim, the special day given in the time of Queen Esther.

Each chapter offers historical background, traditional Jewish observance, relevance to the New Testament, prophetic significance, and a practical guide for believers, including recipes, songs, and crafts.


My Review:
God's Appointed Times is a Bible background type book, but it's also for those who believe Yeshua is the Messiah who wish to celebrate these Feasts. The book covered Sabbath, Passover, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, Hanukkah, and Purim.

This book quoted some of the Bible verses in the Old Testament where God commands the people about these feasts and holy days. He gave the details about how observant Jews celebrate these feasts today. I liked how he explained the meaning behind each act, so it wasn't just meaningless ritual. He then pointed out places in the New Testament that referred to these Feasts, and he suggests how these Feasts are fulfilled in Yeshua, the Messiah. Finally, he suggested ways to modify the modern Feast celebrations to suit Messianic followers and included a couple recipes, songs, and related crafts.

The information given for the Spring Feasts is much what I've heard before, though I liked how he said Sabbath was for remembering that God is our Creator and our rest is in Him. However, the author believes that the Fall Feasts are related to Yeshua's birth as well as His Second Coming. I've read some articles by other authors stating that Jesus' birth occurred during the Feast of Tabernacles, but one of this author's arguments for it is actually a strong argument against it, in my view. Why would the Romans order a census that required people to go to their home towns at exactly the same time as their religion demanded that they go to Jerusalem for a Feast? They wouldn't; they knew better.

If you are interested in celebrating these feasts as a way to celebrate what Yeshua has done for us, then this book is very useful. However, if you're mainly interested in the mentions of the feasts in the Bible and how Yeshua fulfills the feasts, I think I'd recommend The Feasts of the Lord by Kevin Howard and Marvin Rosenthal, instead.

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.


Excerpt from Chapter One
Shabbat
The Sabbath

The Historical Background
The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the Lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies. There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the Lord.'" (Leviticus 23:1-3)

It might surprise some to see a discussion of the biblical holidays start with Shabbat. After all, this is such a common day. It occurs once a week. The Jewish perspective is different. It is not that Shabbat is so common, but that it is so special, that we are to observe it every seven days.

Ascent from Darkness by Michael Leehan

Ascent from Darkness: How Satan's Soldier Became God's Warrior by Michael Leehan ISBN-13: 9780849947032 Trade Paperback: 256 pages Publisher: Thomas Nelson Released: Oct. 4, 2011

Source: Review copy from the publisher that was requested through Booksneeze.

Book Description from Booksneeze:
A life of difficulty and disappointment set 33-year old Michael Leehan up for the worst decision of his life—to make a deal with the Devil to follow and serve him. Practicing the dark arts that include ritualistic cuttings and blood sacrifices, while fine tuning his manipulation and control skills, Michael launched into a twenty year downward spiral that included job loss and detachment from loved ones, and even jail time.

But God had another plan that included a group of Christian men to love him and pray for him—even when it became evident his assignment from Satan was to kill their pastor, Craig Groeschel.

The life Michael Leehan lives today is an incredible testimony of the transforming power of God's mercy and grace, but is also a wakeup call to the church to be fully aware of the spiritual war that is going on all around them, and to the ultimate battle for their souls.

"I am sending you to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me." Acts 26:18


My Review:
Ascent from Darkness is a memoir of a man who made a pact with Satan to serve him and who found that pact destroying his life. Still, Michael was afraid of giving up the power he thought his pact gave him, and he wasn't initially interested in surrendering to a God he'd been angry at since childhood. And Satan wasn't about to let Michael go serve his enemy.

It's a compelling story. Michael managed to describe the emotional and life-changing impact of his actions without getting into gory details about Satanic practices. In fact, he's very vague about many of the rituals he did (which I think was very wise for multiple reasons--for example, you can't learn how to do a satanist ritual by reading this book. And the book would have been much darker).

If you have a hard time believing in real, evil spiritual forces, you'll probably have a hard time believing this book. If you think everything bad has a demon behind it that needs to be cast out, you'll probably be disappointed. While Michael makes it clear that spiritual forces are all around us, what he describes is very in line with what the Bible teaches about angels, fallen angels, and how Christ can free those who surrender to Him.

I think this book is important for Christians to read because most don't really think about the spiritual battles being fought around them. Also, Michael talked about how, as a satanist, he'd go into churches and quote Scripture in ways to mislead Christians or try to disrupt Bible Studies by bringing up controversial subjects or by seducing the women. He pointed out something that has long concerned me: how churches tend to get people to say "the sinners prayer" and baptized but then don't make a point of mentoring them in the faith. This leaves new believers vulnerable to lies about God.

This is an excellent book, and I'd highly recommend it.


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.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt from chapter one.

Insights on Revelation by Charles R. Swindoll

Insights on Revelation by Charles R. Swindoll ISBN-13: 9780310284345 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Zondervan Released: August 2011

Source: Review copy from the publisher through a freelance publicist.

Book Description from Back Cover:
Combining rich, rock-solid scholarship with a storyteller's imagery and passion, Chuck Swindoll has a gift for sweeping people into the immediacy of the Scriptures. Featuring maps, timelines, Holy Land images, and more. God's Word will come alive for you, filled with drama, power, and truth.


My Review:
Insights on Revelation is a commentary on Revelation. While the previous book I read in this series (Insights on James, 1 & 2 Peter) read like a Bible study (with plenty of Bible background information and enlightening word studies), this book read more like a sermon. The style was more telling the reader what to think about the verses rather than helping the reader understand the verses so they can potentially form their own conclusions.

Rather than discuss the different beliefs about the rapture, Swindoll simply assumed that a pre-Tribulation rapture was true. In one place he said that we're not told exactly what all the symbols mean so we shouldn't get dogmatic about them or that prophecy isn't always given in chronological order, then a little bit later he'd say that such-and-such a symbol means this or things happened in this specific order and timing when the text didn't even hint at that.

He also proposed some ideas I've never heard of before and which don't line up with what the whole Bible teaches, in my opinion. For example, he believes in four separate waves of resurrections with separate times of Judgment for each group.

If you agree with him or just want someone to tell you what to believe, then this won't bother you. However, there were times that I felt the author let his theology force his interpretation of the verses rather than letting the verses form his theology. This didn't happen much in the first half of the commentary (even in the initial prophecy sections), but it became more frequent in the last half.

The author explained who wrote Revelation, when it was written, and who it was written to. Then he took related chunks of the text and looked at each section as a whole and then verse-by-verse. At the end of each section, he discussed how we can apply the writer's message to our own lives. Since Swindoll doesn't believe that any true believer living today will live through the Tribulation, his application points for the prophetic part of Revelation were very general principles.

While his commentary on the messages-to-the-churches part of Revelation was good and mostly what I've heard preached before, I was disappointed by much of the commentary on the prophetic part. However, if you believe in the pre-Tribuation rapture of Christians, you'll probably like it.


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.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt.

And the winner is...

It's time to announce the winner of the Back to Books Giveaway Hop. Including Twitter entries, 19 people entered. Using a random number generator and numbering the entrants in the order I received them, the winner is:


captainliss40 who won The New Answers Book, Vol. 2


Congratulations! I'll be contacting you for your address.

For those who didn't win, you can always buy a copy of this book from your favorite bookstore or see if they have it at your local library.

Back to the Books Giveaway Hop

As a part of the Back to the Books Giveaway Hop, you can enter to win one of the following two books. This contest is for USA & Canada residents only.


How Do We Know the Bible is True? edited by Ken Ham & Bodie Hodge.

In this book, over 20 relevant issues are discussed including: Is the Bible totally without error? Did the resurrection really happen? How do we know that the 66 books of the Bible are from God? Does the Bible contradict itself? How were people saved before Jesus came? What is the purpose and meaning of life? Did miracles really happen? Was Genesis derived from ancient myths? How should we interpret the Bible; should Genesis be literal? Do you have to believe in a young earth to be saved?


The New Answers Book, Vol. 2 edited by Ken Ham.

This book explores over 30 exciting and faith-affirming topics, including: The fall of Lucifer and the origin of evil When does life begin (and why does it matter)? Is evolution a religion (and why should I care)? Archaeology, Egyptian Chronology, and the great flood. Could early biblical figures like Noah really live to over 900 years of age? What was the Star of Bethlehem (and how did the wise men follow it)?


To enter the giveaway:

1) you can twitter me saying "Hi @christfocus. Enter me in the giveaway for [title of the book you wish to win]."

OR

2) You can leave a comment to this post asking to be entered and stating which book you'd like to win. Please also leave some way for me to contact you--or follow this blog so you can see the winner announcement.


This giveaway ends September 7th at midnight. The winner will be randomly selected. I'll announce the winner on September 8th on this blog.

If you entered using twitter, I'll send you a @ or DM telling you of your win and asking where to send the book. If you entered using the blog comments, you'll need to leave your e-mail address so I can contact you or check back to see if you won so you can e-mail me your mailing address. If the winner hasn't responded with a mailing address within seven days, I reserve the right to pick a new winner.

I hope everyone has fun with this!


The blogs participating in the Back to the Books Giveaway Hop: