(review)Five Sacred Crossings

February 14, 2008 · Posted in Books, Reviews, acm · 4 Comments 



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: ★★★★★

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.

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(Book Review) The Gospel and Personal Evangelism.

September 25, 2007 · Posted in Books, Reviews · 1 Comment 

I have a lot of books on evangelism, a lot! Why you may ask, because I can. The book The Gospel and Personal Evangelism falls into the easy to read easy to understand category. Some books tend to take it too far, so the layman can’t really understand what they are talking about. Mark Dever, has kept it simple without taking any shortcuts. Just the facts, that seems to be what his idea was when writing this book and if it was he succeeded.

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: ★★★★★

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.

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Be Not deceived (Review)

May 4, 2007 · Posted in Books, Reviews · Comments Off 

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: ★★★☆☆

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.

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You know it’s bad when…

March 3, 2007 · Posted in Blog · 2 Comments 

You know it’s bad when no one even comments on the kitten photo on your photoblog!

In other news, since I have such a hard time keeping up with this blog and my photoblog I decided I should start another one. Of course you already knew that for a few days if you were paying attention to the about box on the top right of the page!

The new one is called “On Being A Christian“. It will be where I put a lot of my thoughts on the Bible, Christianity, and other relevant subjects. That does not mean that I won’t be posting any of that here anymore, just that I have more of it to get out than I want to stuff on this blog when it is supposed to be my whining blog! :)

God bless, have a great day tomorrow and goodnight!

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“When I Say, ‘I Am a Christian’”

July 29, 2006 · Posted in For His glory · 2 Comments 

I found a really nice poem through the Internet and wanted to share it with you all. Someone once warned me that if I started spouting too much about Christianity that it would chase readers off. Well that is their loss not mine. There are times when I want to share, maybe something about a particular struggle or maybe just a Bible verse. Either way, I am not ashamed to share about God and I don’t want Him to be ashamed of me!

Here is the poem in it’s entirety:

When I say “I am a Christian”


When I say, “I am a Christian,” I’m not shouting, “I’ve been saved!”
I’m whispering, “I get lost! That’s why I chose this way”

When I say, “I am a Christian,” I don’t speak with human pride
I’m confessing that I stumble — needing God to be my guide

When I say, “I am a Christian,” I’m not trying to be strong
I’m professing that I’m weak and pray for strength to carry on

When I say, “I am a Christian,” I’m not bragging of success
I’m admitting that I’ve failed and cannot ever pay the debt

When I say, “I am a Christian,” I don’t think I know it all
I submit to my confusion asking humbly to be taught

When I say, “I am a Christian,” I’m not claiming to be perfect
My flaws are far too visible but God believes I’m worth it

When I say, “I am a Christian,” I still feel the sting of pain
I have my share of heartache which is why I seek His name

When I say, “I am a Christian,” I do not wish to judge
I have no authority — I only know I’m loved

Copyright 1988 Carol Wimmer

I would like to thank Carol Wimmer for graciously allowing me to share her poem. It has been passed around in emails a lot lately and either attributed to author unknown or to Maya Angelou, both of which are wrong. The persons who are doing this think they are getting around copyright laws by changing the title to “I am a Christian” and rewording a few of the verses. This is wrong, I am a strong advocate for copyrights (guess I would be since I am a photographer).

I hope you all have a blessed day and week and year and decade, oh heck, just have a blessed life would ya!

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