The Cross He Bore by Frederick Leahy

In 13 Short Chapters, Became One Of My All-Time Favorite Books

With only 83 pages and 13 chapters this book is pregnant with thought-provoking and soul-humbling truth that caused me often to just cry out as a beggar to God in awe, in love, in gratefulness, and in humble pleading for faith and grace.

Basically what Leahy does in this book is walk the reader through Christ's last hours on earth, His Passion. Dealing in 13 chapters with different aspects and scenes from those hours, the divinity of Christ and His humanness are both kept sharply in focus. The sin of mankind both for which Christ was dying and the sins of those who directly took part in His murder are not deminished, but neither is the fact that "It was the will of the Lord to crush him" that it was the Lord who "has put him to grief" (Isaiah 53:10).

I recommend that you read this book in a quiet place with little destraction with your Bible by your side. Read it one chapter at a time and then sit and re-read, and pray. Let the Spirit take you back to the foot of the cross where you gaze up at your only hope, the King of the universe hanging in misery, damnation, and ultimately victory. Look at the cross he bore and realize that with such a high price to secure our salvation, anything that we hope to add or to repay will only be an insult to His gift, diminishing its value and His glory. Let the Spirit take you to the foot of the cross where you realize who we are, we are all beggars.

The House Show by Derek Webb

Christ-Centered Preaching And the Intimacy of A House Show

I was so excited when I got my "House Show" cd. As I say in my "She Must and Shall Go Free" review of Webb's first cd, although I was annoyed at first by the style, I have grown to be challenged by his lyrics and his heart. He has challenged me to love the church, and by loving the church, loving those who are in it. He has challenged my weak view of my own sin and confronted me on one of my worst, hiding those sins from others to make myself more "worthy" to God and more attractive to others. This makes my sin small, and therefore makes my Savior small in my mind.

Maybe I started to get comfortable with the heart-wrenching lyrics of "She Must and Shall Go Free," and then comes "The House Show." The cd is a live recording of one of Derek Webb's many house shows, nothing more than intimate, livingroom concerts. Not only are many of the songs that made the first cd great on this one, but there are a couple Caedmon's Call songs, and one from his following cd, "I See Things Upside Down." The best thing though is the talking between tracks. Normally I despise talking on a cd saying, "I bought this cd for the music, not your preaching." But that's the thing, Derek's music has prepared my heart for his preaching during the last 6 month's that I've owned his first album and listened to it at least two times a week. Now, his heart is poured out as he explains his songs and preaches the same message that make his lyrics so poignant: We must hear the gospel, preaching it to ourselves and each other, every day; we must never diminish our own sin; If we love Jesus, we will love the church (and all those in the church); community is a necessary part of Christianity. (We also get a personal glimpse into his life as he tells the story of his grandma and the song "Dance."

If you do not yet own "She Must and Shall Go Free," go buy that and let its message penetrate your soul. It may take a few listenings, but listen and pray through the very needed message that Derek Webb brings us there. Then buy "The House Show."

If you already own and love "She Must and Shall Go Free," then immediately buy this cd. It will be one of your favorite.

CD

Preaching the Hard Sayings of Jesus by Carrol

Some Good Exegesis; Some Poor Assumptions

My ultimate opinion on this book is that it is neither extremely helpful nor extremely harmful once the problems are acknowledged; then you can eat the meat and spit out the bones. When the authors stick to the text, they do a great job of exposing the words of Jesus. However, I have seen that the work is fraught with redactionistic assumptions (deciding Jesus did or didn't say something based on "additions" or "subtractions" from the story based on our interpretations of the author's biases). An excellent example of this is found in their exposition of Matthew 22:1-14 and Luke 14:16-24 - The Parable of the Wedding Feast. Ultimately, rather than recognizing that Jesus could have told the same story differently on two occassions or that Luke could have left details out, the authors decide that since Matthew was written post-Jerusalem-destruction, the verses referring to the king sending troops to destroy and burn the city could not have been in Jesus' original words. So rather than actually dealing with the hard words of Jesus recorded in Matthew, they opt to talk solely about Luke.

I'm afraid that this sort of thing happens over and over again. So while I have found some helpful nuggets and some deep thinking to challenge my soul, I fear that liberal-leaning of their scholarship makes this text dangerous to use. Nevertheless, with this hermeneutic identified, I do feel that the book can be a useful addition to one's library when used with caution.

Share the Well by Caedmon's Call

So Different That Maybe It Will Make Us Pray

My first thought when I heard this album was, "What the heck?!" Had I written a review on a first listening, it may have been one or maybe two stars. The sound is nothing like Caedmon's normal sound. The content is definitely a step away from the normal. But on my second and third and fourth and now on probably my fifteenth, I think I see what this album is all about.

Many of the fans of Caedmon's Call are much like me. We prize theology and view a literal interpretation of the Bible as the best way for us to know who God is and how we should live in response to that knowledge. We love to hear of God's sovereignty, power, holiness, justice, love, and grace. We can explain how that knowledge should lead a Christian a Christian to love others, to share the gospel, to be gracious, to pursue godliness and the things of God over worldly pleasures and aspirations...the problem is that I think that we get so comfortable in our theology and in our conceptualizations that we forget the billions of people that we do not reach. The songwriters for Caedmon's Call have always been concerned with this struggle that they have identified within themselves; we see it in their former cds; we see it in Derek Webb's solo works (all of which I HIGHLY recommend). But I think that even when we are challenged in those things, we can grow comfortable in the abstractness of it.

That's where this disc comes in. With its narrative inserts, its world style, and very different sort of lyrics and sounds, Caedmon's Call confronts us with a world that we are often guilty of not thinking much about, not doing much about, and certainly not praying much about. My prayer is that this disc will not disappoint you because it is different, but its difference will snap us-the hearers out of our comfort zones-and knock us to our knees in prayer for these countries and maybe some of us out of our suburbs and onto planes or boats or whatever to share our Savior with the billions who do not know Him.

Early Christian Worship: A Basic Introduction to Ideas and Practice by Bradshaw

Helpful, But I Fear Credibility

By incorporating a wide array of extrabiblical evidence from shortly after the dispersion of Christianity to the nations, Bradshaw definitely provides a service to the reader on the various forms of "worship." He does a very good job at demonstrating how architecture can reveal purpose, belief, and practice. Also, by drawing from a wide variety of sources from a multitude of persuasions he does show effort at presenting as unbiased a presentation as possible. Bradshaw breaks the book up into three basic sections:
(1) Development of how Christians were initiated into the Church (quite a bit of work goes into analyzing forms of baptism on this point).
(2) The Eucharist or Lord's Supper.
(3) The daily and ceremonial disciplines/celebrations that united the Body.

The book is very accessible. The scholar may wish for some more detail and probably more thorough documentation. However for the lay reader who is interested in the subject, the format makes it a very easy read.

Unfortunately, at this point my compliments cease. I am not writing this review from a standpoint of one very knowledgeable of the archaeological evidence or one intimate in understanding of the primary sources, so I can not speak to his responsible use of those. I do, however, speak from the advantage of one who accepts the Bible (in its autographic form) as the final authority on matters of both history and faith, as both infallible and inerrant, and from this perspective, I am very disappointed in the book. Don't get me wrong. I trust the Bible because of both internal and external evidence to its credibility. But Bradshaw consistently questions Biblical record when they are not consistent with his extrabiblical findings, even if those extrabiblical findings rely on many assumptions and guesses. For example, a number of times he casts doubt on the reliability of Matthew 28:18-20 (The Great Commission) as being added to the text later when there is absolutely no textual evidence of this. According to the Metzger's Textual Commentary, there is no question among the textual critics that the rendering that we have for these verses is autographic. Yet, Bradshaw in true redaction form, flippantly, as if it were common knowledge that these were added, blows them off as not being acceptable as a true saying of Jesus. From this example and others with which I am familiar, I fear for the accuracy and trustworthiness of Bradshaw's conclusions. Therefore, I cannot recommend this book.

Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God by CJ Mahaney

That simple phrase is what all of us men need to hear: "Before you touch her body, touch her heart and mind." Cursorily using Song of Solomon as an illustration of true biblical covenant love, C.J. Mahaney has written one of the most useful books that I have ever read.

This book is written for men. Men need to step up and lead in romancing the marriage. Therefore Mahaney asks that men don't read this book with their wives. Great intimacy, including sex is something that every marriage should be full of. If that is missing, it is primarily the husband's issue that he needs to fix. Then in chapter 2 he moves on to give the biblical God-given purpose for marriage from Ephesians 5: "A profound mystery, revealed to all to see."

My favorite chapters then follow (3-6) in which Mahaney lets the readers draw from his life experiences, his successes and his failures, to help us with romancing our wives, touching their hearts and minds so that then touching their bodies is so much more intimate, frequent, and amazing. These chapters have been so useful to me. I'm not going to ruin it for you by giving you any of the advice here. But let me tell you that just taking advantage of the advice that he gives and the motivation that comes knowing that greater intimacy better glorifies God has already had a very noticeable impact in the two weeks since I finished my first reading of the book...so much so that my wife has told me whatever I read has changed me for the better.

Finally he ends in chapter 7 with a mild exposition of Song of Solomon 8:5-7, "Strong as Death, The Enduring Power of Covenant Love." Marital love goes beyond just sex, but sex is truly only as amazing as God designed it to be in the context of marriage. Marital love is forever, it isn't dependent on sexual ability; it isn't dependent on perfection; it isn't dependent on emotions. Marital love comes for God and is a reflection of God's love for the church.

Carolyn Mahaney, C.J.'s wife wrote the an appendix, "A Word to Wives" which I haven't read but have been told by my wife is very good. I too have noticed a difference in her since she has read that chapter and the book from which it comes "Feminine Appeal."

I strongly recommend you read this book. I am in the middle of reading it a second time and plan on reading it and putting to action its suggestions until the day I die.

Audio English Standard Version (ESV) by Max McLean

My favorite English version of the Bible, the ESV, is avaible as the Listener's Bible, to learn more about it. But I would recommend doing what I did and buying it from Amazon. At the time I purchase it and wrote this review, they are each listed for the same price $49.95, but you get Free Shipping from Amazon. Anyway, on to my review:

> Max McLean's voice takes a little while to get used to. I'll be honest, at first it kind of annoyed me. But to have my favorite Bible version in audio makes up for any personal issues I may have with the reader's voice. In fact, after getting used to some of his mannerisms, I appreciate the way that he reads. He reads slowly, which I have read some others complain about. But the way that he reads allows the listener to contemplate and think about what is being heard. In my opinion, the reader is very effective.

In case you might be wondering how you will use this product, let me tell you how I use them. I have put the mp3-format audio files on my iPod and use them for half of my read-through-the-Bible program. I never want to have my only regular exposure to the Bible in audio form and not in written form. So I am always reading/listening from different portions of the Bible at the same time. The way I have it set up, I will read through the Bible at least once in a year and listen through the Bible at least once in a year. I listen while I walk or jog in the morning. If that doesn't give me enough time it is very easy to listen in the car as well. I love listening aloud with my wife because it gives us the opportunity to be exposed to the same scripture at the same time.

These are just suggestions which I hope are helpful. Do it however you like. I do strongly recommend, nevertheless, that you make an audio Bible of whatever your version-of-choice is (I commend the ESV to you for many reason, contact me if you'd like guidance in this) a regular part of your Bible reading time. Inform your conscience with the Word. Why listen to the radio and inform your worldview from a worldly view. Let's fight hard to have God's perspective shown to us in His Word our perspective. The only way that I know to do that is to be prayfully and humbly exposed to massive amounts of Scripture. This is one tool to help you in that regard. I hope this helps.

Business for the Glory of God by Wayne Grudem

NOTE: This review has been reposted with additional information at http://hantla.com/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=624

I had never really thought about it, but I guess--even though it is contrary to my longing and belief that God can be and is glorified through all of the Christian's life--that I had always just assumed that business wasn't good in and of itself. In fact like Grudem asserts of those who are like I was, we believe, "that from a moral perspective [profit, competition, money, and business are] 'neutral' at best." I guess that when I was pursuing a degree in engineering, I thought that I could glorify God through it by sharing the gospel at the work place, earning enough money to free my wife up to be a stay-at-home mom, and being able to give more money to the church. But Grudem's view is so much balanced and biblical than these views, exposing my blindness that would have kept me from obeying 1 Corinthians 10:31, "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do (including business), do all for the glory of God." (On a side not to 1 Cor 10:31, read "How to Drink Orange Juice to the Glory of God," chapter 5 of John Piper's book, Pierced by the Word.)

The topics in which Grudem covers in this book, with a chapter devoted to each one are:
How God is glorified by...
1. Ownership
2. Productivity
3. Employment
4. Commercial Transactions
5. Profit
6. Money
7. Inequality of Possessions
8. Competition
9. Borrowing and Lending

and he then includes two chapters on
10. Attitudes of Heart
11. Effects on World Poverty.

Grudem is not blind to the abuses of business, the ways in which we idolize money and success and become gracious losing sight of the fact that we are operating with God's stuff not ours. He regularly comments throughout the book on concerns to balance the view, but the real wealth of attitude-changing information comes from not-often-talked-about fact that business can in-and-of-itself be glorifying to God. We don't have to feel "vaguely guilty" about business but can use it to both glorify God while we're doing it and advance the Kingdom through it.

My only complaint is the size of the book, and for that I wish I could give it four-and-a-half stars. The book is really small (83 pages of text) and oftentimes when it seems like he is just beginning to develop a thought or when a proposition could use a little more defense, he needs to move on to the next topic of discussion. However, he can be excused because he has let the reader know that he is working on a larger edition saying in the preface, "The Bible says much about these topics, and a thorough treatment deserves a much larger book than this, one that I am still in the process of writing."

In summary, if you are in business or are a student studying or considering studying business, read this book. It should have a profound and God-glorifying effect (if read as it is written and not taken as a license to idolize business or success and withhold God's grace from people) on your life, studies, and career.

500+ Essential-to-Know Aquarium Species

A review of two books, Marine Fishes by Scott Michael and Marine Invertebrates by Ronald Shimek: Keep reading

Keywords: Aquarium