Catching Up on Book Reviews

I did the weekly list yesterday because I was about to finish another book, so some book reviews got moved to today. Since my last book review, I have completed several volumes. Enjoy!

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The Rabbit & The Elephant

Tony & Felicity Dale with George Barna

I thought this book was going to be wonderful.

I was wrong!

I actually won this book on a Twitter contest. I thought it was going to be about how to organize groups within the church without dividing the congregation.

Um, no.

The book is about how to have churches in locations other than church buildings and how to “rabbit” other congregations (get it?). The book is filled with all sorts of wild teachings, from worshipping whenever people can (even if not on the Lord’s Day) to making sure you are following the Spirit’s leading, even including healing others.

While there is some decent information about how some people perceive “church” in our modern times, it is not anything that can’t be found in several other good books.

Simply put, don’t waste your money on this one. There is little that is of help.

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Elders & Preachers Working Together

Wallace Maxwell

This small booklet of just 21 pages was given to me by one of our elders. The book is simple and straight-forward, but contains some valuable information and ideas.

At the time of writing, Maxwell served as both a preacher and an elder, and was sharing some of the information he found helpful “between” the roles. The book covers all sorts of topics including salary, work ethic, and termination period. Elders and preachers will find a great deal of simple but helpful information in this brief volume.

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Fearless

Max Lucado

Another book I won (are you seeing that I try not to spend much on books?), Fearless is a very helpful devotional book. If there is anything the is driving our society today, it is fear. We can blame many people, but we all choose to fear. Lucado’s purpose in this book is to get the reader to reconnect with the Source of comfort and strength: Jesus.

Mentioning Lucado’s name is often a lightning rod with many, but I found this book to be a good devotional-level read. If you are fearful of our nation’s direction, or just something in your life that is out-of-order, you can find something to help you in this volume. I have read a couple of Lucado’s works, and I found this to be the easiest to jibe with Scripture throughout. While there were a couple of things with which I disagreed, as I thought about the book as a devotional-level book, it helped.

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The Message

This paraphrase of the Bible has been quite popular in the past 10 years or so. I had read several passages from it, but had never taken the time to read it fully-through.

Having read it all, I can say that there are major weaknesses with parts of it. If you refer to it, please remember that you are reading a paraphrase. References are made to very modern things that the original writers would have had no idea about.

That being said, I would recommend that you search online for Old Testament passages that you need help understanding. I found the Old Testament to be very helpful as a commentary. Sadly, I found the modernization of the New Testament to be overdone and harmful.

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The Great Physician’s Rx for Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Jordan Rubin

Nothing like a good book about disease to end the post, huh? This book was given to me because I have IBS and deal with it constantly. The book is a look at some things from the Bible and God’s creation that can help.

While much of the information is predictable (such as following an Old Testament diet), the book is still helpful. It is very brief and can be read, if for no other reason, for a pick-me-up if you have this difficulty.