The world has cherry picked through this, the most challenging sermon Jesus ever preached, and turned it into a candy-coated religion.  This book will help you feel the impact it must have had on the crowd who listened so long ago on that Galilean hillside.  Far from preaching a health and wealth gospel, Jesus tells us that we have to completely empty ourselves, completely trust God for both our physical and spiritual welfare, and be ready to face disapproval and even persecution for doing it.  He explains exactly what God's command to love Him and your neighbor means in terms of cost—everything!  And it castigates those who would try to qualify these commandments in order to soften their demands. 
            The book is laid out in short, easy to read and digest segments.  In fact, it might be a good idea to read one at a time, or perhaps two or three that continue the subject at hand, and do some thinking before going on to the next.  It certainly lends itself to that method.  It could also make an excellent class study with thought questions and discussions, as well as other pertinent scriptures. 
            Invitation to a Spiritual Revolution: Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, has been reprinted by DeWard Publishing Company.

Dene Ward

This book sat on my shelf for so many years that I forgot I owned it until one day I was looking for something to read. For a time there, every preacher had at least one sermon on John 13 and every meeting seemed to have two. I thought this was the source for those and I had already heard it about 2 dozen times in a dozen different ways. Boy, was I wrong. Boy, was I wrong!

TGOTT challenged me far more than the Philippians commentary I had started (a good one, too). First, he challenges our view of God and insists that we expand all that we thought of Him: God loves, God is Holy, God Forgives; but these qualities and others extend far above all that we might be able to ask or think. 

Throughout, McGuiggan challenges us forcefully with, "So, now that you know, what will you do about it?" No, that statement is not in the book, but it expresses the challenge to comfortable churchgoing, respectable Christianity that we all need to step up to meet.

Chapter headings instruct us that our lives begin and breathe God:
The God Who Loves Humans
The God Who Died
The God Who Majors in Forgiveness
The God Who is Holy
The God Who Loves the Weak
The God Who Acquits Criminals
The God Who Wore a Towel
The God Who Made Yokes
The God Who Permits Suffering
The God Who Came Talking.

TGOTT is packed with scripture, and filled with lessons for everyday attitudes and actions.

It has changed some of my ways and will change more and has given me new expressions to teach old truths.

I wish I had read it sooner. It is still second best to his "Celebrating the Wrath of God," but challenges us on a broader scope.

Keith Ward
 
 

Although it might have been popularized a little for the common man before publication, this was originally Ferrell Jenkins's Masters Thesis.  In it he does a thorough job of showing us that any interpretation of this sometimes enigmatic book cannot be correct if one does not understand the Old Testament.  Revelation contains, the author tells us, 348 quotations or allusions to the Old Testament taken from 24 books in that collection.  How can anyone even hope to understand it if he does not realize this and begin by understanding those passages first?
            He then proves the apocalyptic nature of Revelation based upon the apocalyptic books in the Old Testament.  After that he discusses the books that John's book refers to most often and how the figures in them were used and understood in their time.  Then we see the description of Christ taken from Revelation chapter one and where those come from—the Old Testament!  This moves us straight into the titles of Deity in the Old Testament and how they are all used of Jesus in Revelation.  Finally we go through the imagery in the Old Testament that is used in Revelation, leading us to the inescapable conclusion that anyone who tries to interpret Revelation without knowing their Old Testament will more than likely get it completely wrong.  And right there is the reason the world today comes up with so many fanciful or even absurd ideas when they talk about it.
            This book will not completely cover a study of Revelation—see a previous book review on The Lamb, the Woman, and the Dragon by Albertus Pieters for that—but it is an excellent place to start.
            The Old Testament in the Book of Revelation seems to be out of print.  First, try calling the Florida College bookstore and see if they have any at all or any access to one, and at least give them a reason to think about a reprint from Florida College Press.  You can also go online to used book sites.  Be careful, though.  Because it is out of print, many are charging in excess of $50 for a book of less than 150 pages.  I did find a few on Goodreads for under $5.00.  Also, there seem to be two different covers out there, one with a tree stump sprouting new growth and another with a menorah on the front.  They are both the same book.
 
Dene Ward

If you are a regular blog reader, you know that I post book reviews about once a month.  Keith has been reading these sorts of things for nearly all our married life as part of his Bible study.  He seldom has a book out without his Bible next to it.  I decided that if he could handle this sort of reading so could I.  However, I did ask for his recommendations.  If a book is too heavily into theology and requires a dictionary as well as a Bible in order to understand it, it probably isn't meant to be helpful in a practical, daily way.  Those I wanted to avoid.  So he has passed along the ones he thought that not only I could read and benefit from, but things my readers could benefit from as well.
            In case something in you shies away from any reading except your Bible, please consider this.  The Apostle Paul quotes the poet Aratus of Cilicia in Acts 17:28.  He quotes Epimenides in Titus 1:12.  He quotes Menander, a comic poet (so he had a sense of humor, too) in 1 Cor 15:33:  "Bad company corrupts good morals," which might actually have been a quote from a play by Euripides.  These are not religious writings, but Paul was able to use them in that way and relate to people of all sorts of backgrounds with them.  Yes, we must all be careful of bad influences and things that are just plain wrong.  But it is foolish to ignore the things of our culture and somehow think we can refute them.
            So I would like to challenge you.  Go to my book reviews category.  Read through a few and pick two or three books to read this year.  I believe I have given you enough information to make a good choice.  Then go to the "Contact Dene" page and send me a thought or two about what you have read.  Beginning about August or September, I will start rerunning the reviews of the books I have received the most comments on, copying and pasting your comments at the bottom.  I hope this will encourage others to broaden their reading as well.  Please give me an identifier of your choice which I will honor when I post your comments, perhaps a first name only, a set of initials, or something like, "Susan from Dallas."  If you don't mind using your whole name, I will do that, but only if you say so.
            Believe me when I say that I am not trying to sell books.  As the author of 7 or 8, I can tell you that no one writes religious books to make money.  Generally you are lucky to break even.  I tell you in each of my reviews how to get the book, the publisher and some outlets as well, and if you have a well-read preacher in your family, perhaps you can borrow some of them.  Please help me make this an encouraging venture this year.
 
The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, bring when you come, and the books, especially the parchments. (2Tim 4:13).  Even Paul traveled with books to read!
 
Dene Ward

Do you remember the book I reviewed over three years ago, The Problem of God--Answering a Skeptics Challenges to Christianity?  This is another book in that vein.  Ms. McLaughlin answers most of the same questions Mark Clark did in that book, plus a few more that seem endemic to our own peculiar culture, but in a deeper, more complete way.  She rattles off statistics that will shock you.  Like the fact that as of 2010 there were more than 68,000,000 Christians in China and that the number of Chinese Protestants has grown by 10% a year since 1979.  It is even possible that Christians in China will outnumber Christians in the United States within another decade or so.  Christianity is not a Western religion, nor has it ever been intended to be by God.  Around the world, the majority of Christians are, in fact, "women of color."  In this politically correct culture of ours, she warns that we need to be careful who it is we are really mocking when we mock Christianity. 
               She points out things that should be self-evident if we weren't so gullible in accepting the numbers and assertions skeptics readily spout.  For instance, science has not proved Christianity wrong.  In fact, it was Christian scientists who, when noticing the order God has placed in nature, first came up with the scientific method that all scientists now use.
               In practically every question she answers, she sets the questioner on his ear with answers that I have seldom, if ever, heard before.  In the process, she deepens your faith and corrects a few shallow understandings and platitudes.  When it comes to "Isn't Christianity Homophobic?" she truly sets the reader back a notch while carefully showing exactly what the Bible—and the Lord himself—teach.  (I won't spoil the surprise.)
               In every question, McLaughlin turns it upside down and inside out, leaving no stone unturned.  Every chapter covers its topic as completely as possible.  While being relatively easy to read, it is as scholarly as one could hope for in its reasoning, data, and citations.  You need to read this, and give it to your teenagers to read as well.  It will be an immense help to them as they try to make their way through an educational system, and a culture, that lies without blushing and does its best to make every believer into an object of ridicule.
               Confronting Christianity is published by Crossway.
 
Dene Ward

Remember a few weeks ago when I told you how I got to be this age without reading any of Lewis's works?  That leaves me in a bit of a quandary about how to write this review.  Surely nearly everyone out there already knows the premise and most have read the book.  But this is supposed to be a review, so I guess I should treat it as one.
            This is, in my own made-up term, fictionalized theology—maybe one of the only examples out there.  Some describe it as a novel but novelette might be more accurate if the word applies at all.  Screwtape is a Senior Demon who is mentoring his nephew Wormwood, a recent graduate of Demon College.  Wormwood has been assigned a young Englishman whose soul he is to gain for Satan.  World War II is about to begin and this young man has just discovered religion and fallen in love, both of which, Screwtape says, make him ripe for picking by a demon, even a young inexperienced one.  Reading his justification for that statement is a real eye-opener, a sort of "If you think you stand, take heed lest you fall."
            The whole book is made up of letters from Screwtape, both giving instructions and taking Wormwood to task when he fails.  Since you never read Wormwood's letters you surmise from Screwtape's exactly what his nephew has done.  It is full of theology, philosophy, and general observations about society, marriage, the church, and war.  You must always be aware of the "opposites" in the discussion.  God is the Enemy, Satan is Our Father Below, and success means the loss of the young man's soul.  It will make you think deeply about things like temptation, and how some things that look good can actually work in Satan's favor.  If it puts you on your toes in that regard, then Mr. Lewis has probably accomplished what he set out to do.
            My copy includes "Screwtape Proposes a Toast," a commentary on American education.  It is not as successful an effort, in my opinion, but maybe that is because I am an American.
            My copy is about 60 years old and we found it in a used book store.  You should have no trouble at all finding it somewhere if you are one like me who is late arriving to the party.
 
Dene Ward

            When I was in college while almost all of my friends were discovering and devouring C. S. Lewis, I was a music ed. major.  That meant I didn't just take a music theory class that twisted my synapses and burnt out a few hundred brain cells a day—don't let anyone tell you that a real music class is an "easy A"—but I also accompanied voice lessons, participated in no less than 2 ensembles a term, and also practiced 12-15 hours a week along with all the academic courses and assignments.  I had semesters when I took over 20 hours to get it all in.  Then on Saturdays I taught 8 piano lessons and on Sundays taught a teen girl Bible class.  So I was a late bloomer when it came to Lewis because he was never required reading in my classes and I simply had no time for anything that wasn't.
            Maybe that is why, when I first began this book oh, so many years later than my friends, I was somewhat disappointed.  "What's all the fuss about?" I wondered.  "Where are all the great insights, the moments of head-slapping realization?"  Well, perhaps it's that I am no longer a college student.  I'm a good deal older than my friends were when they were introduced to this author, no longer naïve and a lot less likely to almost adore a man just because he has a way of putting things that seems so revolutionary to the young and inexperienced.  And most of his arguments were old hat to me—I had been hearing them all my life.
            But having said that, I found myself becoming more and more impressed as I read.  I will admit that at the beginning some of his logic was a little convoluted for this old lady, and a few illustrations left me cold, but as he progressed, that happened less and less.  The last half of the book finally began to take hold of me, and I am left with two things that stood out more than anything else.  First, his summation of religion—to make us all into little Christs—made many passages in the New Testament suddenly become clear.  And second, his definition of the cost of discipleship—everything—was spot on with everything Jesus and writers like Paul said again and again. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me, just to name one.
            And for those two things especially, and the elaboration on them, I am more than glad I read this book.  I am sure you will find other reasons as well.
 
Dene Ward

Note:  I read a large print version put out by Walker and Company of NY,NY.  It has many typos in it that will lay a speed bump or two in your reading, but you can always figure them out. dw

I warned you—here is another book by those Ward people, Nathan, this time.  I plan to do at least one more of his earlier books because they might have gotten lost in the shuffle of years, especially since his much acclaimed book on prayer, Our Eyes Are on You, came out.  This one in particular deserves your notice.
            If you think you know what the book of Genesis is about, get this book and try again.  It isn't about the beginning of the world, although it does tell us about that.  It isn't about the beginning of man, though it does tell us that too.  Rather, it is about the beginning of sin and the unfolding of God's eternal plan to remedy that sin.  Nathan has done all the work for you to be able to have an outstanding class or personal study on that foundational book of the Bible.  You won't have to read a dozen books for your research, he has done it for you, quoting the best of the best, as well as giving his own scholarly insights.  I use this book every single time I teach my Born of a Woman class and, frankly, I don't know how I managed to do that the thirty or so years before Nathan wrote this.
            Here's what you do:  Using the divisions in this book, usually by chapter in Genesis, read that section of Genesis, then read the notes for that section in his book.  Then read that same Genesis section again.  I guarantee you will find something new that makes you think, "Why didn't I see that before?"
            In addition, he takes several "excursions" from the main track (Genesis) in order to discuss side issues in that book of Moses.  Things like how to and how NOT to use genealogies, who are these Nephilim, what about this Melchizedek guy, and who is this Angel of the Lord?  You will learn more than you have in any Bible class in a long, long time.  He also includes some shorter "Theological Reflections" that might answer questions you have had in your mind for years.
            The Growth of the Seed is published by DeWard Publishing.
 
Dene Ward

Today's book review is by guest writer Keith Ward.
 
Our old Baker's Bible Atlas from our 70's classes at Florida College was not only outdated but so worn as to be tossed rather than moved when we relocated last year.  So we looked for a more up-to-date replacement once we got settled in.
 
Though the 1998 copyright shows it is 20 years out of date, HBA has a wealth of material written by a believer and color maps created by superior technology. And, I doubt any of the mountains or rivers have moved since its publication! It shows the reasons geography determined some events in the Bible not only in words but with detailed maps and graphics.
 
It provides just enough secular and Bible History to adequately supplement the inspired record and maps. Should one desire more, he needs to find appropriate history books.
 
I read it and recall no theology being pushed other than a belief in the Bible record.
 
My complaints are that the pages are too glossy and sometimes reflect in a way requiring maneuvering to get the light right to be able to read. This may be necessary to have the quality necessary for the excellent maps. And to read the detail on the maps, I needed a magnifying glass.
 
The Holman Bible Atlas is published by the B & H Publishing Group.
 
Keith Ward

I can hear you now.  How in the world can I do a review of my own son's book objectively?  Well, I probably can't, but the next few books I will review are too good for me to ignore just because of that.  We are a book writing family, evidently, and we help one another and encourage one another, and our purpose is to help and encourage others as well.  So I will do my best to tell you the plain truth about these books, what they contain and what they are meant to do, all of which have authors who bear the same last name—Ward.
            This small book (119 pages) came from a series of sermons Lucas preached at the church in Navarre, Florida, where he labors as an evangelist.  He called them lessons on self-improvement.  I don't know why no one has used this terminology before.  Our secular bookstores are full of "self-help" books.  And surely, Christians should be striving daily to improve.  What we seem to do, instead, is read verses with big words in them and say, well, we are doing our best.  How about something very practical that will actually help you do your best?
            Lucas takes the lists in 2 Peter 1 and Galatians 5, and makes them accessible.  First, he defines the words Biblically, undoing several simplistic definitions "we" have come up with through the years.  Then he makes it practical, giving concrete examples of both appropriate and inappropriate behavior exemplifying that Christian trait, and methods for improving that behavior.  He uses colloquial language easily understood with a few pop culture references that make the point clearly.  He also has his tongue firmly planted in cheek occasionally, using humor to make the point.  If you know his brother and father, you should be expecting it!
            A good teacher could easily turn this into a Bible class book by adding a few discussion questions.  A good preacher could make the same series Lucas did and have all his research done for him.  Anyone can read it and understand it and use the examples within to improve as a Christian.  Anyone who thinks he doesn't need to improve will find out otherwise.
            Make Your Calling and Election Sure is published by DeWard Publishing.
 
Dene Ward