Book Review: gods at war by Kyle Idleman

Every time I read a book from Kyle Idleman I am forced to assess myself and my life under the microscope of a Christ follower.  It’s never easy and it is always eye-opening. 

“You shall have no other gods before me.”  “You shall not make for yourself an idol.”  If you think that these commandments are archaic or don’t have meaning in your life because you don’t worship little wooden statues like the pagans of the Old Testament, you are frighteningly wrong.  This book, gods at war, shows you what kind of gods you may be worshiping.  And, as usual, Kyle brings up points that will make you ponder your life and God’s Word. 

One such point is that God “gives us the freedom to say no but insists on giving us every possible, conceivable chance to say yes.”  Thank God for that!  After reminding us that God is a jealous God, he takes us through the various potential idols in our lives, giving us real life examples of people who have been through the process of realizing that they had put something ahead of God and what happened in their lives after they discovered the truth.  He also shows how this same thing affected some of the people in the Bible itself. 

One of my favorite quotes in the book is not actually from Kyle, it’s from Abraham Kuyper.  “There is not one square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine, that belongs to me!’”  What a comforting thought. 

I would highly suggest this book – if you can handle taking a good look into your own life.  Because you will not have a choice, but you will not be disappointed if it leads to a closer relationship with God.

Book Review: Christ or Hitler? By Pastor Wilhelm Busch Compiled and Translated by Christian Puritz

The stories in this book, from the life of Pastor Wilhelm Busch, are compiled separately; it is not a streamlined story of someone’s life.  This made it a little hard to read at first, but once I got used to that it became an interesting, touching, comical, serious account of this man’s life that gave me a glimpse into a life that I could not have imagined.  I think if I were a Pastor there were times that I would have thought to myself “that’s the kind of ministry I want.”  The book shares both Pastor Busch’s life through World War I, World War II and the time in between, and his message – Jesus died for us on the cross and that means everything to our lives. 

Pastor Busch died the year after I was born, in a different country, having lived a completely different life story and still managed to make me stop short several times during the book with his words.  And as a youth worker in Church, much of his life as a Youth Pastor challenged me and reminded me of what’s important – not just for the youth but for my own life as well.

There was one passage that I thought timeless, he was living through it at the time, I’m sure it’s happening in other countries right now, and I’m sure it will be happening in ours in the not too distant future.  He said “’This is the church of the future’. The church in prison: one is giving testimony and the other, behind a bolted door, kneeling and crying to God.  This is the true church which experiences defeat with Jesus and yet conquers.”  Fighting for Christianity in Hitler’s Germany is beyond something I can comprehend.  I was honored to read the account of this man’s life.

*I received a free copy of this book from Cross Focused Reviews in exchange for writing a fair review.*