This is the second review I have done of a Craig Parshall title. I am still amazed with the fact that he can hold my attention as well as he does. I have read legal thrillers by other authors and they usually come off as dry and uninspired. Thankfully, this is not a trap that Mr. Parshall falls into.

Law professor J.D. Blackstone, haunted by a past tragedy that took his family, takes the case of Vinnie Archmont. Archmont is an eccentric artist accused of the murder of Horace Langley, the head of the Smithsonian Institution, and the theft of a previously missing portion of John Wilkes Booth’s diary, which  Langley was examining .

What happens next is a twisting tale of conspiracy and intrigue which takes a surprising turn at the end of the story. Blackstone enlists the help of his uncle, a professor of religion and Anglican Priest to help decode a riddle that may lead to the ultimate secret of the Freemasons. Also along for the ride is a wealthy English lord, a powerful senator, and a hostile prosecutor.

I loved this book. Mr. Parshall creates memorable characters that you feel you know and grow to care about. The story is riveting and hard to put down. The story has a Christian under theme, but does not get too preachy, which is a rarity in Christian fiction. Another 5 star effort by Mr. Parshall, I can’t wait to see what he does next!

[rating:5]

The book, The Rose Conspiracy was provided to me at no cost by Active Christian Media and Harvest House Publishers for review purposes. To become a reviewer for ACM you may click here.

Title: The New Media Frontier Blogging, Vlogging, and Podcasting for Christ.
Editors: John Mark Reynolds and Roger Overton.
Publisher: Crossway Publishing
Authors: Multiple
Pages: 254

This book was right up my alley. A book about blogging for Christians. I admit I was really psyched up for this one. I also admit I felt a little let down. It is by no fault of the authors or publishers for my disappointment but rather just the facts of Internet life. The tools and the players on the Internet are constantly evolving, so unfortunately what you write today may not be the latest news in a month or so.

That said, this would still be a great book for someone just starting out with blogging or looking to move forward in their blogging. They start out with a brief history of how we got here and then a little about where they think it is heading. From there they point out a few of the dangers, three biggies and then move right into the basics of blogging.

The chapter entitled Beginner’s Toolbox: Blogging starts you out on the basics such as read first – blog later. Great advice, read blogs lots of them, especially on the subject you want to blog on. Get a good feel for what works and what falls flat. Know why you want to start a blog, a very simple question that you should ask yourself before you start. ( I should have asked myself that one as well, oh well, hindsight!)

They then move on to tools of the trade, blogging software. Whether you want to go for a free blog or spend a few dollars and go with a hosting service and your choice of blogging software. (Psst, WordPress is the way to go!) They even give some advice on choosing your blogs name. It is good advice, a bad name can kill a blog before it even gets started. The next chapter covers pod-casting and video blogging. Two areas of blogging that I shy away from as it puts me out there a little too far. Never the less, they give some solid advice to those looking into that form of blogging as well.

The next section of the book covers many different ways of blogging, from evangelical to politics. They give you a quick breakdown in the subsequent chapters of the many different ways to blog. I will admit that I had a few stumbling blocks here as well. I felt that some advice was being repeated in chapters and there was at least one chapter that felt like an advertisement for the authors blog. He did pass on useful information but his constant referal to his own blog get distracting for me. That is one of the downfalls of multi-authored books. You will sometimes find repetition and there will always be someone that you either don’t agree with or that just makes you want to take a nap.

Final word: This is a good book for beginners. As I stated earlier, if you are just starting out I recommend reading this book before you put yourself out there. If you have been at it for awhile now, nothing in here is really new or going to change your world but it may give you some ideas. I am going to give this book 4 stars out of five. I would have given it five if not for those few qualms I had. They may not be issues for most, especially newbies!
[rating:4]

The book The New Media Frontier was provided to me at no cost for review purposes by Crossway books and Active Christian Media.

Title: Reasons We Believe (50 lines of evidence that confirm the Christian faith)
Author: Nathan Busenitz
Publisher: Crossway Books
Pages: 24
Ah yes, now this is more like it. I admit I was a tad afraid after my last attempt at an apologetics book review but after reading the description I just had to read this one!

One of the first things some may notice is that this book will get you nowhere with most “new” atheists; as they generally will not accept the Bible as a legitimate historical document. Then again, most atheists won’t accept anything that doesn’t fit into their narrow world view. The book has 50 lines of evidence that confirm the Christian faith; which, oddly enough, is the subtitle of the book. Most of these lines are references to the Bible; some delve into other texts and may be useful to you when dealing with someone who insists that you are using circular reasoning when you quote from the Bible. (which by the way kills me since they want to quote all their favorite authors but do not want me to use mine)

There are 5 reasons we believe sections; broken down as follows: Reasons we believe in God, Reasons we believe in the Bible (part 1), Reasons we believe in the Bible (part 2), Reasons we believe in Jesus (part 1), and Reasons we believe in Jesus (part 2). They are logically laid out and you can skip around as you please to read the ones that catch your fancy first. As I have mentioned previously, I really like it when authors use Bible references, even more so when they make me work for it, as the author does here. I am inclined towards research so I tend to enjoy it when I am required to look things up for myself. That and I imagine it cuts down on printing costs as well so it is a good thing for both sides!

The book is well written and eloquent, and no big words to stumble on thankfully. There are lot’s of footnotes with reference to more books to add to your reading list. This text was written with the layman in mind and is successful in not going over your head or confusing the reader with philosophical references that make your brain hurt (thank you Nathan).

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has questions about the Christian faith and Christians who want to better defend their beliefs. Yes it’s definitely a 5 star book.
[rating:5]

The book, Reasons We Believe, was provided to me at no cost by Active Christian Media and Crossway Books for review purposes. To become a reviewer for ACM you may click here.

First I would like to apologize to Crossway books and the author, William Lane Craig. I took way too long on this review, I got in way over my head on this one. I should have realized that since it was described as a seminary level text on apologetics. I love apologetics, but once you start getting into philosophy, you tend to lose me. I tried to be fair in this so whenever I got too lost I would look something up and not go on until I understood what was being said. Hence the extra time on the review.

That said, this is an awesome book with great arguments for the Christian faith. If you have a background in philosophy then you will have no trouble with this book whatsoever. If you are like me and easily confused by complex theory, then it may take awhile to get through it. Do not let that stop you from reading this book. This book is great for Christians who want to be able to have an answer for their faith. It would be equally good for giving to a non-Christian friend that needs to have some of his doubts answered.

The book’s lay out is easy to work with, giving the arguments first, then practical application, followed by a literature cited or recommended section. The chapters, eight in all, are lengthy, but considering the amount of information he is giving you, that is understandable. The book has 415 pages, all chock full of information.

One of my favorite quotes occurs close to the beginning of the book.

“In a world without a divine lawgiver , there can be no objective right or wrong, only our culturally and personally relative, subjective judgments. This means that it is impossible to condemn war, oppression, or crime as evil. Nor can one praise brotherhood, equality, and love as good. For in a universe without God, good and evil do not exist–there is only the bare valueless fact of existence, and there is no one to say that you are right and I am wrong.”

I think I latched onto this quote partly for the great truth it imparts but also for the fact that it was the first one that I didn’t have to look anything up to understand.

I am giving this book 5 stars, while I had some difficulty with it, it forced me to learn a lot and that is never a bad thing!
[rating:5]

The book, Reasonable Faith, was provided to me at no cost by Active Christian Media and Crossway Books for review purposes. To become a reviewer for ACM you may click here.

Title:Facing Your Final Job Review
Author(s):Woodrow Kroll
Publisher:Crossway Books
Pages:223

What will it be like for you when you are standing at the Judgment seat of Christ? A question to few of us ask, or even know the answer to. Honestly it is not a subject I had considered before. I am now! This book tries to show you not only what it will be like but what will be judged and what our rewards might be. Mr Kroll reminds us that our motives for doing what we do will have an impact as well. Are you doing it for Christ or yourself? Will your works stand up to the fire or be burned up? This is something you should be asking yourself everyday.

The book is Biblically based and well researched. He uses biblical references to show his points, which I appreciated. Many books that I have read in the past have made a few fleeting references to scripture but not really gone to the trouble of explaining them to me. He didn’t use anything out of context or try to confuse the reader with too much scripture.

This is a really good book that makes you do a lot of soul searching. I found a few problems in my life that I had never even realized until now. Honestly, there are some things that I do that I do for me. I thought my motives were pure until I really evaluated them. This one took me a little longer to read than normal, but that’s a good thing. I was taking it all in and I honestly think I did learn something from it. Now I just need to apply it to my life!
[rating:5]

The book, Facing Your Final Job Review, was provided to me at no cost by Active Christian Media and Crossway for review purposes. To become a reviewer for ACM you may click here.

Title:Five Sacred Crossings
Author(s):Craig J. Hazen
Publisher:Harvest House Publishers
Pages:169

Have I mentioned how much I love reading? I got lucky with two really good books in a row this time. Five Sacred Crossings: A Novel Approach to a Reasonable Faith was a bit of a surprise to me. The book covers several different worldviews plus its a novel, a darn good novel. I found it hard to put it down once I started reading it. From the books site:

Professor Michael Jernigan, a Christian, is teaching a religions course at community college. A local, barely halted act of religious terrorism throws a teeth–on–edge relevancy into the class discussions.

Jernigan teaches from a rare text he obtained while in Cambodia—the Five Crossings. Each “Crossing” unveils a universal spiritual question, which only Christianity can satisfactorily address because it…

1. is testable
2. presents salvation as a free gift
3. paints a picture of the world that matches reality
4. makes a non–compartmentalized life possible
5. has Jesus at the center

The book has a little bit of everything and really does it all well, in my opinion. The main character is well developed and the plot is all to easy to believe in this day and age. I was a little unsure as to how this format was going to hold up but it held it’s own. It gives brief breakdowns of different religions and how compare to Christianity. I also learned something in this book. I had no idea that Christ was highly esteemed in a lot of the other worldviews such as Muslim and Buddhists.

I hold this book in high regard, as a matter of fact I may buy a few more copies for some of my unbelieving friends, or at least for the ones who are on the fence. This may help them get over those last few hurdles in their minds. It gets five stars and a big thumbs up for helping me find a way to get the word out. I hate giving such a short review for such a wonderful book but I fear my words may start repeating and not doing the author justice. Suffice it to say I like it and highly recommend it to you all.
[rating:5]

The book, Five Sacred Crossings, was provided to me at no cost by Active Christian Media and Harvest House Publishers for review purposes. To become a reviewer for ACM you may click here.

Title:I’m Fine with God… It’s Christians I Can’t Stand
Author(s):Bruce Bickel & Stan Jantz
Publisher:Harvest House Publishers
Pages:183

I’m fine with God…It’s Christians I can’t stand (Getting past the religious garbage in the search for spiritual truth). That is one long title/subtitle, there I got that off my chest. Now lets get down to the nitty gritty. This is one of those books that can make you think, a lot. It can also make you cringe, until you get the point. They cover several different kinds of Christians that they can’t stand in the book for example: Christians who think they have a monopoly on the truth, Christians who believe God wants them to be rich, Christians who don’t know what they believe, as well as several others.

I saw myself in a few of the ones they covered, and felt rightly ashamed as I hadn’t realized how annoying the habits I had were. I think most people will find a little of themselves somewhere in this book, which brings me to my biggest point. Unfortunately, the ones who really need this book would never pick it up because of the title alone. I have dealt with my share of modern day pharisee’s and I can tell you right now that they would never read this book. They are convinced that they are perfect and need no help.

Oop’s, I got sidetracked a bit there. All in all this is a really good book. It may help you, it may anger you, actually I am sure it will anger you at some point but stick with it, it is all worth it in the end. There were a few chapters where I was quite annoyed with the authors until they made their point. That only happened a few times before I realized that the way it was laid out was kind of like a roller coaster. Were going up a hill, very big hill, seems to take too long, you start to get annoyed then voila, you’re at the top of the hill, you can see where it is going and down you go, full speed. That may not be the best way to describe it but the only other one I can think of is slightly offensive.

I am giving this book 5 stars and it deserves every one of them. They worked me hard and brought me to realize a few things about myself, not sure if that was their intent, but hey, it happens.
[rating:5]

The book, I’m fine with God…It’s Christians I can’t stand, was provided to me at no cost by Active Christian Media and Harvest House Publishers for review purposes. To become a reviewer for ACM you may click here.

Mr Dever covers all the bases with this book from who should evangelize(everyone) to why. What stuck with me the most you ask? Alright you didn’t ask but I will tell you anyway. My favorite quote from this book would be

“We don’t fail in our evangelism if we faithfully tell the gospel to someone who is not converted; we fail only if we don’t faithfully tell the gospel at all.”

He also has a chapter called “Why don’t we evangelize” Which effectively destroys most of the reasons we tend to have to not share the gospel. Jesus made it simple for us too, in Matthew 28:18-20 He gave us the Great Commission. When you think about it it really isn’t that much to ask. He could have told us we had to jump through flaming hoops while dowsed in gasoline or cover ourselves in honey and lie on a fire ant hill, but He didn’t. He asked us to go and make disciples of all nations. And as usual I have gotten sidetracked. This is about Mark Dever‘s book and not my personal opinions on what we should all be doing.

Getting back on track. The Gospel and Personal Evangelism is a good read and very concise, he doesn’t go off track like I tend to do. This would be a useful read for all Christians and their pastors too.

I am giving this book five stars. If I could afford to I would get a copy for everyone in my church. I may approach the pastor with this idea and see if he could meet me halfway.
[rating:5]

The book, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism, was provided to me at no cost by Active Christian Media and Crossway Books for review purposes. To become a reviewer for ACM you may click here.

When I first got Can We Trust the Gospels I was afraid that it would be a difficult read as my last experience with a similar book ended with me surrendering halfway through. Mr. Roberts has succeeded where that book failed. I was able to read through it and understand what he was talking about without having to get out my Bible dictionary.

In the book he explains how scholars have determined which documents were genuine and accurate by a system called textual criticism. He also covers when the Gospels were written, what sources did the writers use and even if the writers knew Jesus personally.

He covers quite a bit of ground in this book. From “does archeology support the Gospels” to “do sources from the era of the Gospels support their reliability”. The amount of ground he covers really surprised me since the book is only 195 pages, not including the index.

Since my writing style cannot begin to do justice to what Mr. Roberts has accomplished in Can We Trust the Gospels, I am going to have to take the easy way out and recommend that you get a copy. Even if you already know all that you need to have faith you can still use this book to help a non-Christian friend or relative to understand and maybe even come to have faith in Jesus Christ and the Gospels that tell us of His ministry.

I am giving this book five stars and a high recommendation to anyone who may be curious about the historicity of the Gospels.
[rating:5]

The book, Can We Trust the Gospels, was provided to me at no cost by Active Christian Media and Crossway Books for review purposes. To become a reviewer for ACM you may click here.

Tired of watered down Christianity? Not sure if your church is teaching you the Gospel the way it was intended?

Many new churches these days teach a watered down gospel. Telling you if you say the sinners prayer and get baptized that you can basically live your life whatever way you want and you are still saved. Be Not Deceived points out many of the fallacies of the modern church and shows you the way to true salvation. Once saved always saved is just not true but many believe this and don’t even know that they are being deceived and on the wrong path.

There is no such thing as cheap grace. You cannot live your life the way you want but must instead live it the way God wants you to. The Bible makes it very clear how to live our lives but some new churches ignore these facts and try to make the Gospel fit in to todays lifestyles. Unfortunately they are sending many unwitting “Christians” straight into the fiery pits of hell.

Be Not Deceived gives many Biblical references to show you that while you might think you are saved, you may very well have been lied to. The author even throws in a scriptural guide full of references to help you see how you should be dealing with things like anger, friends, gossip, and many other topics. I was in complete agreement with the first five chapters of this book.

That being said, he lost me on the sixth and final chapter by saying that you are only saved if you lead a perfect and sinless life after salvation. I have been on this subject before and stand by my belief that there has been only one who was able to be perfect and remain sinless on this planet and that was Jesus. It is impossible to be sinless and to believe otherwise is a slap in the face of Jesus. I can quote the old standby of John 8:7 Let he who is without sin cast the first stone at her. But that is but one reference in the Bible of our inability to remain sinless.

How about Ecclesiastes 7:20 For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin. Another good one is John 8:34 Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Everyone practicing sin is a slave of sin. As far as the quote from John, I think the keyword is practicing. When they tell us to turn away from sin they want us to not do it on purpose. Jesus also knows that we are human and will sin but the righteous man will do it because we are born sinners and we shall die sinners, just forgiven sinners if we have been born again. The key is that we realize that we are sinners and ask for forgiveness. No I don’t mean you can do it on purpose. Knowing you are sinning and continuing to do it purposely is another thing all together.

We must strive everyday of our lives to walk this world as Christ wishes us too and when we stumble we must repent and ask for forgiveness. We are human, we are fallible. When we finally realize this we can truly start our walk with Christ.

I am going to give this book a 3 out of 5. It really is quite good except that little bone of contention I have with the last chapter.

[rating:3]

The book, Be Not Deceived, was provided to me at no cost by Active Christian Media for review purposes. To become a reviewer for ACM you may click here.