Tag Archives: christian

Book review: Altar Ego by Craig Groeschel

Posted on by

Yes, it’s another book about becoming who God says you are in Christ. This one’s split into three parts, basically covering who we are in Christ, what characteristics that means we should have, and how to be bold in obeying God.

Craig Groeschel is biblical, challenging, humble and absolutely hilarious. Each chapter is well-structured, based on clear Bible passages and ideas, and well-communicated through Groeschel’s own experience and powerful challenges throughout. I’d challenge any Christian to read this book and come out the other side thinking they can continue living as they have before. The best thing about this book is Groeschel’s trademark all-or-nothing approach; God demands our all, so give him your all!

I normally try to come up with one or two things I didn’t like about a book but I simply can’t with this; at times it made me laugh out loud at his stories while at others it was as if my heart had been ripped out of my chest. I haven’t read a book as good as this in a long time, and am looking forward to Groeschel’s next creation.

If you’re a Christian, read this book. And if you’re not, become a Christian, then read this book.

I got this book for free from BookSneeze.com in exchange for an honest review.

Related articles

Book review: Captive in Iran by Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh

Posted on by

This is essentially a diary following the interrogation and imprisonment of two Iranian ladies, who were held by the government for nine months simply for being Christians. Their story covers everything from their arrest to the prison environment, relationships with the guards and other prisoners, the court case and hearing about the news reports.

Firstly: this is eye-opening. I knew basically nothing about Iran before reading this, and it almost reads like a fiction story. The Iranian government is controlling and insecure, oppressing women and silencing any voice against them going as far as falsifying statements and handing out the death penalty simply for disagreeing with them. This book is a well-written account of the experiences of two innocent ladies remaining calm and speaking out in the face of persecution.

By the nature of it the book’s saddening, but there’s an under-current of faith and hope throughout the whole thing; the authors are Bible-focused and love to pray, and are an incredible modern example of rejoicing in the midst of suffering.

That said, there’s humour in here as well; on a few occasions the ladies related giggling as a bit of a coping mechanism, and the mental image of pompous, ultra-serious prison guards being humiliated by two ‘infidels’ not being able to stop laughing made me chuckle on many occasions, despite the rest of the book’s content.

I’d encourage anyone and everyone to buy and read this book. It’s written really well and it’s informative; I’m certainly going to be more aware of the situation in Iran from now on, and not only for Christians. The message of the book is clear, true and simple: Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh were quite literally captives in Iran, but the people of Iran are themselves captives of the regime there, whether they realise it or not.

I got this book for free from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for an honest review.

Related articles

How can I get close to God?

Posted on by
Yes, I'm a happy child.

Yes, I’m a happy child. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A question that comes up a lot for Christians is: How can I get closer to God? At times he can feel distant, silent and difficult to understand. I think the answer might be easier than it seems.

I’ve been a Daddy for almost one full year now and the times that I’ve felt best as a Dad have been when (a) my little boy is upset and I make him happy, and (b) when he’s having a good time and I make him laugh.

As a Christian I’ve been adopted into God’s family; he’s my Daddy, and I don’t think anything makes him happier than when (a) I’m upset and go to him so he can make me happy, or (b) I’m happy and go to him to be grateful and increase my joy.

This might be too simplistic but asking ‘How can I get close to God?’ is a bit of a non-question; we don’t need to get close to him because he is close to us. And he loves us to turn toward him; it isn’t a case of ticking the right boxes, working harder, reading the Bible more, praying more…it’s just about looking to him.

Related articles

What we mean when we say ‘Christ’

Posted on by

Each Wednesday I’m looking at what I posted exactly one year ago. On 6 March 2012 I had a look at Jesus’ title ‘Christ’.

—

English: Resurrection of Christ

English: Resurrection of Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When we say ‘Jesus Christ’, we know exactly who we mean: Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter’s son. But do we actually realise how significant that title is?

Obviously ‘Jesus Christ’ wasn’t Jesus’ actual name; most Christians know that ‘Christ’ is the Greek version of the Hebrew title ‘Messiah’, and that it means ‘Anointed One’, and that Jesus fulfilled all the messianic prophecies, blah blah blah, but – just think about it…

21st Century Jews are still waiting for Messiah to come, in a similar way to the Jews in the 1st Century. Back then they’d been waiting for a couple of thousand years too. Then this ugly, homeless guy born to a single teenage girl showed up, and literally within one generation thousands and thousands of people claimed that that guy from Nazareth was the Messiah.

If you’re not too sure, just imagine something with me. In Acts 2, 3,000 Jews are recorded as having believed in Jesus as Messiah, all in one day – and all at a time thousands of years before trains, telephones, or Twitter.

Do we actually realise how significant this is? Imagine if tomorrow’s newspapers reported 3,000 Jews in one town all at once saying that they were remaining orthodox Jews but that God had been born a man and had fulfilled all the messianic prophecies.

Jesus was far more extraordinary than we give him credit for.

You can read the original post here.

Related articles

I read The Life of Pi. It was good.

Posted on by
Crooked Little Vein and Life of Pi

Crooked Little Vein and Life of Pi (Photo credit: Rich_Lem)

I haven’t seen the film yet, but having read the book I’d quite like to. Before reading it someone said to me that it isn’t so much about him in a boat with a tiger as the adverts make it seem…but it really is, isn’t it.

Anyway, it was a good book. Gripping, interesting, perhaps a tad gory in places, with a disturbing twist at the end – incredible writing, although I’d probably have rather it finished in Disney style, because that’s the sort of guy I am.

But some of the most enjoyable moments for me came towards the start of it, where Pi is discovering Christianity for the first time. For a start, check out his first reaction when he walks into a church:

Something about a human sacrifice. An angry god who had to be appeased with blood. Dazed women staring up into the air and fat babies with tiny wings flying about. A charismatic bird. Which one was the god?

Well captured; how confusing must it be for non-Christians to encounter Christianity for the first time? A good reminder for us.

Then, Pi encounters a priest, who starts to explain things to him, and Pi begins to understand.

…the stories that came before it – and there were many – were simply prologue to the Christians. Their religion had one Story, and to it they came back again and again, over and over. It was story enough for them.

Preach it, Pi!

I can’t imagine Lord Krishna consenting to be stripped naked, whipped, mocked, dragged through the streets and, to top it off, crucified – and at the hands of mere humans, to boot.

Indeed; surely only a God with infinite power and self assurance would allow something like that to happen.

But once a dead God, always a dead God, even resurrected. The Son must have the taste of death forever in his mouth…there must be a certain stench at the right hand of God the Father. The horror must be real. Why would God wish that upon Himself? Why not leave death to the mortals? Why make dirty what is beautiful, spoil what is perfect?

A good question – what was the answer that Pi discovered?

Love.

Wow. And that’s the Good News. But the book explains yet more about Christianity, and how it differs from other world religions.

In a moment you are lost or saved. Christianity stretches back through the ages, but in essence it only exists at one time: right now.

Spot on. That’s called grace. Yes, God existed before time, and we’ll live with him for eternity, yet all that really matters is right here, right now.

I’ve grown accustomed to your faith

Posted on by
Blind Faith (book)

Blind Faith (book) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What sort of faith do you have? I’ve maintained for a long time that a Christian’s faith can’t possible be faith ‘contrary to the evidence’, as many atheists would have it, because that would require us to have less faith in the event of an answered prayer or whatever.

Thankfully, someone way cleverer than me has pulled together a little summary, together with lovely little pictures, to explain what different people mean when they say ‘faith’. I’ll retell it here, but if you want the original click to see the original Four Types of Faith. In each case, Christianity is a chair and sitting on it is our act of faith.

  • Blind faith is as if we’re approaching the chair wearing a blindfold; we can definitely sit in it, but we can’t tell if there aren’t better chairs everywhere else, or if the chair’s on a conveyor belt about to tip us into a cauldron of boiling oil. This is not good faith.
  • Irrational faith is the faith the daft atheists (as opposed to the not daft ones, I’m not caricaturing here) say Christians have; chucking reason over our shoulder we intentionally sit on what we know is a broken chair which isn’t just foolish, it’s dangerous.
  • Warranted faith is faith based on evidence; it’s the sort of faith you and I use every moment of every day. I have faith that the pavement won’t randomly turn into jelly today, yet I have no evidence to disprove that theory. We look at the foundations of the chair, observe it to be stronger, more reliable, with a better creator, and safer than all the other chairs, and sit confidently in it.
  • Biblical faith is faith which is based on evidence, yet with the catalyst of the Holy Spirit. I put something up on the blog a bit ago showcasing some straightforward evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ; I’m reasonably sure it was seen by at least one non-Christian, yet I didn’t get any responses saying ‘I believe!’ Why not? Because the Holy Spirit didn’t awaken that faith. It’s as if we can see the chair but we know it’s been made by someone we hate more than anything else, so out of spite we refuse to sit in it until he comes over and gives us a hug, reassuring us that he’s actually a pretty nice guy. And his chair’s really comfortable actually.
Related articles

Everyone’s experience of hell will be different

Posted on by

German officers rounding up Kutno Jews, German...

Each Wednesday I’m looking at what I posted exactly one year before – I obviously didn’t check before I decided to do this to make sure I wasn’t going to stumble across something, erm, like this…

—

Did you know that people receive punishment in hell according to their bad works on earth? I’d always sort of assumed that all Christians are treated the same in eternity, and all non-Christians are treated the same in eternity. Not true. Randy Alcorn explains for us:

Because God is fair, hell won’t be the same for everyone. The severity of punishment will vary with the degree of truth known and the nature and number of sins committed.

And there are even a couple of Bible passages, with my own emphasis added:

Then [Jesus] began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.” (Matthew 11:20-24)

And in the hearing of all the people [Jesus] said to his disciples, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” (Luke 20:45-47)

Fair enough? I’m glad we had this little talk.

Note: I’ve edited this for today’s post, but you can still see the original here.

Related articles

Remember Iranian Christians

Posted on by
Iran sentences American pastor Saeed Abedini t...

Iran sentences American pastor Saeed Abedini to 8 years in prison Fox News #tcot #iranelections (Photo credit: Robert Reed Daly)

A couple of weeks ago I saw a news story highlighting an Iranian pastor, who was apparently arrested and has received an eight-year gaol sentence for nothing more than being a Christian.

13 years ago Saeed Abedini converted from Islam to Christianity. Since then he’s left the country and has been living in the US, but has returned to Iran regularly to visit his parents. He’s been arrested about ten times, and this most recent time has been particularly hard for his family and other supporters because the Iranian government have been lying to them.

This is what’s known as persecution. A few months ago I saw a comment about the lady at BA who had been asked to remove the cross jewellery, saying ‘persecution’s coming to England!’ Well, perhaps it is, but hold your horses. In Iran, and elsewhere, Christians are being arrested, tortured and killed for their faith.

Let’s pray for Saeed and his family, and the many others like him who don’t have the chance for CNN to do a story on them. Come, Lord Jesus.

Related articles

What colour are demons?

Posted on by
Demon

Demon (Photo credit: ark)

Everyone knows what colour demons are: red. They’re red. With little horns, a skinny forked tail and a trident that they carry around everywhere. They probably have bat-like wings as well.

Of course, almost everyone knows that this image of demons isn’t the image portrayed in the Bible, but it was concocted in the Middle Ages…but why?

Simples! The church wanted an easy way of demonstrating visually that compared to Jesus’ power, demons were jokes – an annoying but insignificant insect that perches on your shoulder, telling you to do bad things but which you can swat away in the name of Jesus.

So as atheists look at these pictures of demons and laugh at the foolish Christians for believing such medieval nonsense, I will look at those same pictures and laugh at Satan for having rebelled against the holy God when he must have known exactly what was going to happen.

Christus victor!

Protecting children online

Posted on by
Peter and Lydia

Peter and Lydia (Photo credit: Michael Sarver)

I wonder if anyone has an answer for this: what proportion of people who’ve seen naughty images saw it on purpose? In other words, how many people who have never experienced anything like that actually go out of their way to find them?

I’d be willing to guess that the proportion would be pretty small. Most people I talk to say that the first time they saw a naked lady or whatever was by someone else showing it to them, or a random popup on the internet, or simply searching for something innocent online and finding that it means something entirely different in ‘that world’.

For me, that thing I was searching for was ‘deckchair’. What on earth?

I read an article a couple of weeks ago written by a lady who searched for a Christian video by its exact title, and six of the top ten results were pornographic.

That gets pretty scary when you imagine a child innocently searching for something fun and stumbling across something that will affect them for the rest of their lives. How about when you imagine your child doing that?

That article finishes by saying this:

There are sites dedicated to childhood cartoon pornography, and you know they aren’t for the adults. It brings a new perspective to 1 Peter 5:8, when we are told to be sober and vigilant because our adversary is roaming around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

If a roaring lion were after you and your child, what would you do?

Please, parents be vigilant, for the sake of your sons (and daughters), be watching. Be involved. Know what is finding your kids.

I’d encourage you to read the whole thing.

Related articles