Review: Forbidden by Ted Dekker & Tosca Lee

Every single person on the planet is dead, and none of them know it. Stripped of every single emotion except fear, people are only a shell of what it once meant to be human. While there are no feelings of pain, disappointment, or sadness, there’s also no experience of love or joy. Humanity simply floats along, merely existing and nothing more, believing they’re alive.

This is the post-apocalyptic world of Ted Dekker’s new fantasy-thriller FORBIDDEN, co-written with Tosca Lee, the first installment of THE BOOKS OF MORTALS trilogy. 480 years have passed since the world’s final global-scale war that prompted a group of scientists to eliminate emotions from humanity’s genetic code. A unified world Order, void of the things that drove men to kill, rose from the ashes of humanity’s destruction. All this in the name of peaceful existence.

In the midst of this world a young man named Rom is given an ancient vial of blood wrapped in a vellum with the power to resurrect humanity’s emotions. Rom drinks and feels what it’s like to be alive for the first time. But being alive is forbidden, and he’s on the run, searching for answers of how to reawaken humanity. With new emotions he’ll face pain like he never knew could exist, as well as love. Living is all about love, after all. And his race against impossible odds centers around the prophecy of young boy who will rescue the world from their death and the people who want him dead.

I got an advance copy by winning one of Ted Dekker’s Forest Guard missions on Facebook. My initial thought was that this is possibly Dekker’s best book to date. The addition of Tosca Lee as cowriter was brilliant. The story is intense and emotional all the way through, especially as a story about people reawakening to emotion for the first time in their lives.

The world the story takes place in is very well crafted and believable. The world we know is not only ancient history, it’s barely even remembered. Without emotion the world’s religions have become extinct, though there is still a certain form of religion that all the people on earth adhere to. A religion void of passion or love.

The characters are really the highlight of the story. Rom, the protagonist, is an unlikely hero. His journey of discovering his new emotions is gut-wrenching, and his experience reveals a certain sympathy toward those who believed that the world would be better off without emotion. Saric, the antagonist, was clever and determined, and his emotional journey shows the struggle and evil that uncontrolled emotions often lead to. It’s an incredible exploration of human emotion and the need for genuine love. The other characters, such as Feyn the soon-to-be Sovereign of the world and sister of Saric, the keeper called Book, and the little boy Jonathan are equally as unforgettable.

The storyline centers around a prophecy about a rescuer that Rom and his friends must find and protect. Like Dekker’s CIRCLE TRILOGY before it, this looks to be a beautifully told epic redemption story that is reflective of the ultimate redemption story of Jesus Christ.

Dekker’s stories are all about discovery and exploration of life’s most important questions, and I’m excited to see where Dekker and Lee take this story. I just wish I didn’t have until June 2012 for the second book in the series.

Review: The Grace of God by Andy Stanley

Countless people have come away from the Bible believing that there is a stark difference between the God of the Old Testament and Jesus, the God of the New Testament. It seems like God in the Old Testament is angry and frequently expressing his divine wrath toward humanity. Then Jesus comes along who is "full of grace and truth." It's often thought that grace is a novel concept to the New Testament, instituted by the arrival of Jesus. But Andy Stanley in his book THE GRACE OF GOD dispels the myth that the Bible presents us with two drastically different Gods. Andy Stanley takes us on a beautiful journey through redemptive history to show that grace has been a defining characteristic of God's relationship with humanity even from the beginning.

Stanley has a remarkable way of drawing out the implications of a biblical text to show its freshness and relevance to a modern audience. I especially loved Stanley's handling of the Ten Commandments, showing that the Law was given as a confirmation of a relationship rather than a requirement to institute a relationship.

I've always loved Andy Stanley's preaching and his insights into leadership, and this book is a great addition to his communication of the Bible. The writing is thoughtful and warm. This a great resource for anyone wanting to understand the grace of God better.

I received this book for free for review from BookSneeze.com

Review: Dangerous Church by John Bishop

It's sometimes easy to forget that the church as Jesus envisioned it is to be an unstoppable force, a relentless love-giving pursuer of the hearts of humanity for Jesus Christ. When Jesus ascended to heaven he left his followers to continue the task of making disciples. As Paul said to the Corinthians, "We've been given the ministry of reconciliation as if God were making his appeal through us." Surrounded by countless people suffering from separation from the God they were created to know and love and journey and enjoy life with, the church can't be a silent entity, but instead a life-giving and hope-generating force in a dark world. The church as Jesus envisioned it risks everything to reach everyone, and that is the premise of John Bishop's book DANGEROUS CHURCH.

John Bishop is the senior pastor of Living Hope Church, a multi-site church he planted in Washington, and DANGEROUS CHURCH is a moving journey through his experiences of pastoring a church that takes great risks to reach people with the gospel. Bishop peppers in among his personal stories his recommendations for a church to become a dangerous church.

The book is broken up into four sections:
• Risk Everything
• Reach Everywhere
• Release Everyone
• Remember Only God

The book could be summarized by the call to making introducing unbelievers to Jesus the primary focus of the church. That is the heartbeat of God, so it should be ours also. If the church hopes to draw people to Jesus, then it must be defined by grace.

Bishop believes the church needs to put an incredible amount of focus on its weekend services to make them welcoming of unbelievers who are invited by members. He seems to see this as the primary way to introduce people to Jesus. While I agree that the church needs to provide a nurturing environment for unbelievers, I wish he would have talked more about the evangelism that takes place outside of a church building when people share their faith and people respond to it...then they get involved in a church. Churches need to be ready to communicate the gospel any given weekend, but church members need to be prepared any given day to communicate the gospel outside of their church. Without that kind of equipping, it seems that members will rely on church leadership to the evangelism of people they've already built relationships with.

I loved the chapters on communication of the gospel and hiring the people that Jesus would hire. The book is packed with motivating insights to be a church that people encounter God in. Bishop clearly cares deeply about his church and his love for God bleeds through every page. DANGEROUS CHURCH is an important book for churches who want to be a culture-shaping force in the world.

I received this book for free from Zondervan for review.

Review: Darkness Follows by Mike Dellosso

Seven-year-old Eva Travis loves her father relentlessly and unconditionally, no matter what. But will her love for him be enough to rescue him from surrendering to his inner darkness and doing something he'll forever regret, losing all he holds dear along the way? Sam Travis awakens one night to the sound of his dead brother calling his name and the sounds of a civil war battle outside his home in Gettysburg. Soon he begins to discover the journal entries of a conflicted civil war soldier written in his own handwriting. As the entries keep coming, Sam loses himself to something sinister more and more and distances himself from his wife and daughter. Something's going on. Something very bad needs to be done, and Sam is the chosen one for the task. Will the love of his daughter and Jesus be enough to bring him back from the darkness before it's too late?

DARKNESS FOLLOWS by Mike Dellosso is a beautiful story of the love of a daughter for her father set in the context of a very creepy story. Dellosso's story paints evil in the darkest of colors, only to show us the breathtaking light that shines into that darkness. The book has an ominous feeling throughout that kept me hoping the direction Sam Travis was taking wasn't really going to happen. The love of his daughter is profound. It was a beautiful depiction of the gospel of Jesus with love as the only cure to eradicate the darkness within us.

The storyline was captivating. As a father myself, I found the book a call to love my wife and children relentlessly. As a follower of Jesus, I found the book a call to love people far from God relentlessly because the love of Jesus is the only cure to killing the darkness and satisfying the soul.

DARKNESS FOLLOWS is a supernatural thriller that will keep your heart racing and your soul crying out for hope to the very end.

I received this book for free for review from Charisma House Publishers

Review: Gravestone by Travis Thrasher

Chris Buckley is haunted by the dangerous people watching his every move and the oppressive darkness of the town of Solitary. Not knowing who he can trust, he continues his journey of discovering the deepest darkest secrets of Solitary, even as he tries to find the people responsible for killing the girl he had grown to love. The town is covering up something deadly and sinister, and at the center of the mayhem is a creepy church pastor named Jeremiah Marsh. Who is he? Why does he hold so much power with the people of Solitary? Why isn't anyone trying to stop him? Chris' world becomes consumed with exposing Marsh for who he is while avoiding letting anyone else get hurt by being close to him.

In GRAVESTONE Travis Thrasher continues the intriguing story he began with SOLITARY, and the book takes the story to a whole new level. While I've enjoyed every Thrasher novel I've read, The Solitary Tales seems by far the most captivating of stories. I couldn't stop reading until the end, and I'm more than ready to read the final two installments of the series next year. The story has the mysterious feel of the TV show LOST, which is great for anyone who was a fan of that show.

The characters of GRAVESTONE are compelling. Iris was an interesting and pleasant addition to the story, as well as Chris' art class partner Kelsey. It was great to get to know Poe more, and, of course, the unwrapping of Jeremiah Marsh's storyline keeps me hooked all the way through. The story is told from Chris' point of view, and it gives us a very believable look into the mind of a teenage boy going through the most insane of circumstances.

GRAVESTONE is a young adult novel in the vein of the TWILIGHT series, and it will appeal to a teen audience well. However, its appeal isn't limited to the YA age group. Thrasher has written a consuming story that explores the nature of good and evil, and I would recommend the series to anyone who wants to explore compelling faith-based fiction.

Review: Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman

When Jesus walked the earth people came from everywhere to experience the things he could do and hear the controversial and hope-inducing things he would say. Thousands of people would follow him from town to town. Until Jesus began to make statements that caused his "followers" to come to a point where they needed to define the relationship. Were they following Jesus simply for what he could do for them, or because they genuinely wanted to know him and experience the reconnection with God he came to offer. For many, "fan" would be a more accurate description of their relationship to Jesus than "follower." Fans of Jesus loved what he could do much like fans today love what a football star or a famous actor can do. But fans don't have a relationship with the person they're a fan of, and they're likely to turn their backs when their hero doesn't do something they like.

In his book NOT A FAN, Kyle Idleman takes us on a journey through Jesus' life as revealed in the Gospels and the encounters he had to draw peoples' true motivations out into the light. Many of the people who interacted with Jesus were fans, but he wanted them to be followers because a relationship that will satisfy us to the core of our being is what Christ came to offer.

I love the author's heart that was poured into each chapter and the little doses of humor throughout. Jesus takes center stage as he relates how the experiences of people like Nicodemus and the rich young ruler look similar to our experiences today. There's also inspiring stories of people who have grown from fan to follower at the end of each chapter.

NOT A FAN will be a challenge to the core motivations of many who call themselves Christ followers, especially those who find themselves deeply dissatisfied with the way their connection to God has been going. It's a call to relentlessly pursue the heart of Jesus instead of what Jesus can do for us.

I received this book for free for review from Zondervan through NetGalley.com

Review: Counterfeit Gospels by Trevin Wax

The message of the gospel is desperately needed in our world, but it often seems like the message is diluted and shrouded in confusion by all the noise surrounding us. What exactly is the gospel? Why do we even need it? What's so great about it?

In COUNTERFEIT GOSPELS Trevin Wax leads us through six ways the gospel is often altered and the implications of each of these "counterfeits." Wax compares the gospel to a three legged stool, with three vital elements supporting and revealing what the Bible refers to ad the gospel:
• The Gospel Story
• The Gospel Announcement
• The Gospel Community
Each of these are needed to accurately communicate the gospel, but a neglect or alteration of any of the legs of the stool will lead to one of the counterfeits Wax explores.

Trevin Wax does a great job of explaining each of the gospel elements as well as describing how each of the counterfeits manifest themselves in our world. The book was a great reminder that the gospel is truly very good news found in knowing Jesus and being a part of the story he's telling and the community he's creating.

I received this book for free from Moody Publishers for review through NetGalley.com