In today's politically correct world, tolerance is the ultimate virtue. That is unless you are a conservative woman. In this book, Scottie Nell Hughes gives us a perspective of what it is like to be both a wife and political personality.
She shows us how the left are for women, but not all women. They only cater to those who think like themselves and demonize the rest. She shows how the left is very loving and tolerant to those who agree with them, but very hateful and intolerant to those who don't.
This book is a very easy listen and in some places will make you mad (not at her, but at those who consider themselves the thought police to the rest of us).
Scottie Nell Hughes being both author and narrator, reads with an emphasis on her original meaning. I believe this added another dimension to the book. The quality of the recording is top notch.
I enjoyed this audiobook. It was short, to the point, and left me looking for the her next book.
I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
I enjoyed this book courtesy of the Christian Audio review program at http://christianaudio.com and received the audio book, free of charge, from ChristianAudio.com in exchange for an honest review.
Politics and Religion, those are the two things we are never supposed to talk about. In this audiobook, Chip Ingram does that very thing. He takes us though subjects that most Christians have never heard a single sermon on. He delves into a list that tent to start angry debates.
The following is a partial list of subjects covered:
Sex
Homosexuality
Abortion
The Environment
These are controversies that could be taken from the front page of today’s newspaper. They touch each of our lives in one way or another. If they do not directly affect us, they usually do through our friends and loved ones.
Ingram's writing is easy to read (or in my case, listen to) and the information is every informative. He not only shows the beliefs held on both sides of the issue, he gives a biblical understanding on each subject. The last part of the book is written in a question and answer format. Here is where the book really shines. He takes the hard cases and shows how to give not only a biblical answer, but he does it with a pastor's heart. The book is clear and precise, yet loving and sensitive.
I enjoyed the narration tremendously. I felt like I was listening to a lecture more than an audiobook. The audio was clear and professional.
If you feel that the world is changing way too fast and you need to get a handle on these subjects, please consider this book.
To wrap it up - Read or listen to this book!
I highly recommend this audiobook and give it a 5 out of 5 star.
I enjoyed this book courtesy of the Christian Audio review program at http://christianaudio.com and received the audio book, free of charge, from ChristianAudio.com in exchange for an honest review.
This being the second Todd Starnes book I have read, or in this case listened to, I am becoming somewhat of a fan. He is funny but knowledgeable. His writing is simple and easy to read. He causes you to both think and feel.
Here we have a list of things no one would have believed could happen in America. The world has been turned upside down. The very things your parent taught you were right and noble are now seen as bigoted and hateful. To love God and you neighbor is now seen as racist, extreme, and even terrorism.
Like the phrase attributed to Saddam Hussein’s Democrat lawyer, Ramsey Clark, “One man’s terrorist is another man's freedom fighter”. The far left sees good as evil and visa versa. To have a choice to send you child to a school of your choosing is to hate teachers. To put a terrorist in prison is to be an Islamophobe. To say that an innocent baby should not be killed is to start a war on women. On and on it goes. Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" instructs the left to never have a conversation with their adversary because that humanizes them, their job is to demonize them, And demonize they have done.
We live in a New Amerika where an elderly lady is told she can not read her bible on public property; where a solder can die for the right to freedom of religion, but does not have freedom himself to display a bible; where a child can’t even read his Bible during free time at lunch. For years, many liberals have hated religion. They removed “God” from the Democrat platform. When they realized their mistake and decided to put Him back in, the crowd booed and hissed. For the last 40 years, they have passed laws to give us freedom “from” religion. After 9-11 they finally found a religion they can admire. Now they can call Christians - terrorist and Al-Qaeda - freedom fighters.
Now that I have come down off of my soap box, I would like to review Starnes book. Here, Starnes gives us a list of atrocities that have been performed in the name of tolerance. Seeing tolerance as the greatest virtue, the left tend to tolerate only those who agree with them. That is no tolerance at all. Tolerance says, even if I disagree with you, you have a right to believe what you do. The left says that tolerance is closing the mouths of those who disagree so that those who do agree with them do not get there feelings hurt. If you agree with same-sex marriage, you are tolerant. If you don't, you are a Homophobe. If you agree with abortion, you are for women. If not, you have waged a war on women. If you believe that Government should be in control of medical care, you have compassion for the poor. If not, you are a racist. Somehow, spending other people’s money, as opposed to spending your own on the poor, makes a person feel more compassionate. They have taken Alinsky's advice and demonized their opponents. Why can we not have a little civility? Everyone has the right to live peaceable, no matter what race or religion. America stands for freedom! Let us not give that freedom away to the “Thought Police”.
I can say that this book was top notch. It will both, break you heart and give you pride for our country. Your heart will be broken for the assault on the average American who has had their constitutional rights taken away, but you will be proud that the story doesn't end there. People are standing up to the bullying and calling for common sense, which is very uncommon today.
The narration was great. With the mix of good narration and a well written book, I did not feel I was listening to the written word, it was more like listening to a conversation.
I loved this book and highly recommend it to everyone.
I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
I enjoyed this book courtesy of the Christian Audio review program at http://christianaudio.com and received the audio book, free of charge, from ChristianAudio.com in exchange for an honest review.
This book will be an exception to the rule when it comes to my normal reviews. I will be giving the book a good rating and review because of the writing and the interesting experience of reading it, but not for the views and thoughts of the author, which I personally disagree with.
The book was very engaging. Sanford is a very good writer even if he is bias against "Christian Right". He admits that much at the first of the book. This is meant to be a history of the Christian Reconstruction movement, but he spends just as much time on the christian right as Reconstructionists. All-in-all it is an interesting read but he does place little jabs at those he disagrees with throughout the book. Some of the arguments against CR is warranted and should be heeded.
But with that said, much of what is written (but not all) is just not true. The problem he has throughout the book is in tying today’s religious right to the Reconstrutionist camp. Is that not the premise of the whole book? If that fails, then what has he accomplished. The whole reason for the book is to tie today’s christian right to the now defunked Christian Reconstruction of the 1990s.
I read around 100 Christian books a year. I have read some Reconstruction books over the years. But I can say that in my 30 years of being a Christian, being a conservative politically, and meeting thousands of conservative Christians, that I have never personally met a Reconstructiuonalist or anyone who held to their beliefs. In fact, I can count on one hand how many people I have met who have ever even heard the name of one CR.
Getting back to the content. Sanford sees Christians as domestic terrorists. They bomb abortion clinics and kill doctors. There have been 9 people killed over abortion since 1993. In 21 years, eight were shot and one bombed. Fifty times more patients die at the hands of the abortion doctors (excluding infants) than by anti-abortion protesters. In a sense Sanford is saying, because nine out of 2.18 billion Christians (that is one-third of the population of the world) has committed a terrible crime, then all are terrorist. Can we not say the same about the atheist? More people have been killed in the name of atheism (Communist-Marxism) than religion. Here is a quote from the book:
"Meanwhile, the agents of violence who followed in Terry’s wake left a path of destruction sustained by bitter rhetoric exceeding even his own. Clinic bombings and day-to-day threats increased during the tumultuous 1980s and continued unabated through the 1990s. The assassination of doctors and clinic personnel began just after Randall Terry’s movement peaked, with killings carried out in 1993, 1994, and 1998, and numerous others attempted. An atmosphere of terror was created through the posting of wanted signs on the internet and the transmission of death threats to doctors in their workplaces and private homes. The zealots behind these acts subscribed to what has been called a “theology of vigilantism” and spoke openly of guerilla warfare and theocratic revolution. Most of them began with an evangelical background similar to Randall Terry’s. They simply went farther with it."
I have been a christian for over 30 years and am pro-life myself. I have never heard anyone advocate killing a doctor or bombing a clinic. I have heard that we need to pray that God will convict their heart that what they are doing is wrong. That is why we call it pro-life and not anti-abortion. We do not believe in individual vengeance. The Bible say "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord". God gave Government the sword for punishment. It is funny how those who are "for" abortion call themselves pro-choice, but call those who are against abortion, anti-abortion. That makes it sound like they are for the choice to abort, but not for the abortion itself. In our case we are for life in any case. We believe murder is wrong whether it is an infant or an Adult, even more so with an infant because they have never done anything to deserve death.
Sanford spends much of the book trying to prove that the Right-wing christian is practicing Christian Reconstuctionalism but has to admit halfway through that..."Indeed, the theonomist position on the current utility of Old Testament laws has never gained much support outside of the Reconstructionist movement. Christian Worldview advocates of the Religious Right from Schaeffer to Dobson have mostly steered clear of the controversial issue."
In other words, Right wing Christians do NOT believe that we should use O.T. case laws in today society. Is that not the whole basis of this book...to prove that the Religious Right was created and maintained by the beliefs of the theonomist? That is like saying that the guy who shot me has long hair. You have long hair, so you must have been the one who shot me. That is the logical fallacy of guilt by association. The bad thing is the Religious Right is not even associated with the Theonomist. Since the 1990's, Theonomists hardly exist.
In the second half of the book,Sanford tries to show that the Christian Right are conspiracy nuts who think the humanists are trying to take over. Isn't this the same thing he believes about the Right? We are trying to take over the world? He says that those who believe that abortion is wrong are moved by emotion and morals gleamed from the bible, but those who believe abortion is a right are moved by experience and reason. So to think that abortion actually takes a life is emotion.
Back to the book... Sanford seems to believe that the Christian Right has used their power to change the whole country toward Biblical morals. From were I stand, they must be doing a very bad job. Both Democrats and Republicans vote on the Liberal side of every piece of legislation. Abortion, Gay marriage, marijuana, and every other liberal belief is now legal in many parts of the country and within ten years will probably be legal in every state of the union. With liberals controlling the news media, print media, Hollywood, and Government, I do not see the Christian Right having any power other than tipping the waitress at Chili's after church on Sunday morning :)
All in all the book was an interesting read and I was never bored.
I can only say I recommend it for those who search out both sides of the story and have more knowledge of the Christian Right and Christian Reconstuctionism than what they see here. If not, you are not getting the whole story.
I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars.
I received this book, free of charge, from Metacomet Books and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I try to stay away from political books, not because I do not enjoy them, but because they raise my blood pressure. Having read Gutfeld before, I could not pass this one up. He has always been a fun read. I think the humor cushions the anger that it would normally provoke.
The premise of the book is intriguing. Cool vs. Uncool. He could have used a number of themes to say the same thing - Snobs vs. peons, socialist vs. free, Whole foods vs. Wal-Mart shoppers… and so on and so forth.
It reminded me of a TED video I watched once, (I know, I’m sorry). In this lecture the guy asked how many people knew someone who shopped at Wal-mart. I think I heard crickets. No one was so "low-class" as to even know anyone who shops there.
Gutfeld shows that the Cool not only believe they are cool, but they want to run the lives of the uncool. They want to make you cool also. This is something I have ranted about for years. A group of rich, spoiled liberals (and a few Republicans), who hate all normal people are the ones who run our country and our lives.
"It is for our own good" the liberal says. "We don't want you to get hurt so we need to make guns illegal". "We want to keep you healthy", so Cigarettes and Trans-fats are taxed or made illegal. But these people are hypocrites. The same people that try to outlaw cigarettes, legalize pot? Maybe second hand pot smoke is good for you. The same people who hate Christianity have found a new peaceful religion in Islam. The same idiots who raise taxes are caught not paying their own.
I agree with Gutfeld - leave me alone. Let me live my life. If I do not hurt anyone, why am I being punished? Like a parent who can not find out which child that busted the window, they just punish them all instead of the one that actually broke it.
This book was great. Being a Christian, I did not like some of the language, but I can overlook that a little. The message of the book is excellent - Just like High school, America consists of the cool, good-looking, but dumb people getting the breaks while the normal, smart, but ugly do all the hard work. That is why we elected a “community organizer” instead of a war hero or a religious business man for the highest office in the land. Old war heroes who move slow and boring business men just aren’t cool. A mysterious young guy with hardly any background except for skipping class in college to do drugs is way cooler!
My rant is now over. If you want a rant of your own, READ THIS BOOK!
I highly recommend this book. It my cause the veins in your forehead to bulge, but don't we need that every once in a while.
I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
I received this book, free of charge, from Crown Forum and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I remember the first time I read that Martin Luther, the great reformer, hid nuns in herring barrels to sneak them out of a monastery and find them husbands. That was the day I feel in love with the study of history.
Over the years, Church history has become a passion. Needless to say, when I saw this book offered for review, it was a no-brainer.
In this short book, John Fea gives us the reasons everyone should read and study history. He has taken his introductory lecture as a professor and edited it into a very readable book. I am sure that lecture has created many history majors.
In the book, he shows the connections and non-connections that history has for the present day. We have all heard the quote that those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. According to Fea, This is only half of the story. History can be used to learn lessons that benefit the future and it can also be abused.
At first glance, we would think most Americans believe history is boring and unimportant. Fea shows that America is almost obsessed with History. We play games with a historical setting, read historical novels, biographies, and television shows. History is anything but boring.
When you read, "Why Study History?" you will come away ready to read some good books and maybe take a few classes. John Fea has written a good book to spark an interest in history. Whether you are a student or layperson, you will come away inspired and excited about history.
I enjoyed this book and give it 5 out of 5 stars.
I received this book, free of charge, from Baker Academic and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
When speaking of truth, you will more times than not, hear the phrase, "That’s true for you, but I don't believe that way." In our postmodern, relativistic society we have not just lost the knowledge and understanding of what is right and wrong, we have turned ethics on its head.
Why has the world seemingly been turned upside down? Why has conventional wisdom about right and wrong been discarded? I think Scott B. Rae gives us some answers in this short but intriguing book.
Here we have a book about ethics in today’s postmodern culture. Rae takes us through an array of subjects from Politics to Medicine. He shows us that the Christian worldview is the only logical and correct understanding of what is right and wrong. We see here that there are correct and incorrect views on almost every subject.
In America it is considered hateful and bigoted to call anything a sin (except when referring to those who are politically incorrect). We have a so-called tolerant society, but they only tolerate those who agree with their worldview. Because of this, we very seldom hear someone proclaim something is right or wrong. Rae shows us that there is a truth we can know. There are things that we can call right and wrong. Years ago, the beliefs of postmodernism would be laughable, but today it is almost impossible to find a college professor, or student for that matter, that believes in objective truth.
Even though the book was originally intended to be written by Chuck Colson, because of his untimely death, Scott B. Rae takes up the mantle. To fill the shoes of a giant like Colson is no small feat, but Rae pulls it off.
The writing is crisp and to the point. Because it is a shorter book, there is no clutter. Rae gets straight to the point. It is very well written and keeps you moving from one chapter to the next.
I enjoyed the book. Rae has done a great service to the Body of Christ.
I highly recommend it and give it 5 out of 5 stars.
I received this book, free of charge, from Zondervan and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Political books tend to raise my blood pressure and this one is no exception. We have seen such degradation of our country's politicians that it is no longer funny.
Most are set for life because of special favors from lobbyist, company kickbacks and free government money. They destroy their country for a life of luxury.
Crony Capitalism shows that our country is not a society of Capitalism but of a joint venture between government and Wall Street to take as much from the tax payer as they can.
It is a Win-Win for big government politicians and big companies alike. The companies give campaign money to politicians who then in turn pass laws that help that company while hurting their competition. It is a Lose-Lose for taxpayers and small business. We get left with high taxes and bankruptcy.
The middle and lower classes are exploited and left holding the bag as politicians and businesses steal from those who can least afford it.
You got to love Washington! I told you it would raise your blood pressure! The sad thing is, in election after election, the people keep voting them in.
Lewis has written a must read book. If you like living with your head in the sand and want a soft and fuzzy book that gives you a warm feeling, this book is not for you. If you want the cold truth about what is going on right under your nose, grab a copy today. Buy a couple extra for your friends and family.
Like it's companion book "Free Prices Now!" I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
I received this book, free of charge, from AC2 Books and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Today, it is almost heartbreaking to turn on the news. It seems that everything I was taught as a child is flipped upside down. To be a Christian is labeled as bigoted and hateful. Much of what was taught as evil has now been trumpeted as virtuous. To believe in one God is considered intolerant and arrogant. we are told every belief has the same validity.
Everything from marriage to murder of unborn children has now become a hot button issue that can get you fired from your job, sued, or in some cases even arrested.
In this book Olasky and Smith give us an overview of the situation in today's society. They start with a history of news media and how it was originally dominated by Christians. It was slowly taken over by those who do not just take an approach between Christianity and secularism, but are actually hostel to Christianity.
Even though this is a book about the takeover of the media by unbelievers, the authors do not leave us in despair. Here we have details on how Christians can not only work in the news media, but make an impact.
I have read a few books on the bias of the press, but this one was a little different. The authors have not only shown media bias but they take us through the history of how that bias came about.
They not only delve into the message of the media but also the medium that is used to relay that message. This sets the book apart from others. How has new technology changed the way we understand the world? What difference has the Internet, smart phones, and television made on the news? These are things we rarely think about, but are relevant in how we see the world.
I enjoyed this read. It is interesting and full of information that you would be hard-pressed to find in other Christian books. I felt like I learned a great deal of info. My suggestion is to leave your comfort zone and read this book!
I recommend this book and give it 5 out of 5 stars.
I received this book, free of charge, from P&R Publishing Company and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This, simple to read book, is pure gold. I can not wait to read it's companion book titled, "Crony Capitalism"
Here, Lewis shows us that true capitalism is not only the best economic model for any society, it is the only model. In America we have never truly tried pure capitalism. Because of Government intervention our economy always suffers. Inflation, higher taxes, government corruption - that is the norm in today’s America.
The author’s premise is that free prices (without government intervention) are not only an indicator of the health of our economy, it is it's very life blood. Prices show us what jobs are important, what products are no longer needed, what the future holds.
When we have government intervention, whether it is through printing money, raising / lowering interest rates, or capping prices, we have a group of men and women who think they know better that the collective desires of the rest of the country.
How can a few elected and unelected officials have enough knowledge to guide the economy with all of it's intricacies? They can not. All they do is make things worse. But they are too arrogant to admit that they can not even balance their own check books, let alone the government budget. The unintended consistences of their policies cost us billions more in taxes and inflation than if they would have just stayed on permanent vacation and let the free market work.
The reason I personally do not believe it is a government conspiracy is that I do not believe there is enough intelligence in Washington to pull off a conspiracy. Their ignorance, not their intelligence, is the cause of this mess.
Back to the book review. This is one awesome book. I would like to buy a few extra copies just to give out to friends - both Democrats and Republicans.
I highly recommend this book to everyone breathing. I can rap up this review in three words - READ IT NOW!
I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
I received this book, free of charge, from AC2 Books and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
