I have read a good amount of church history and honestly, to my shame, I had never heard of Renee of France.
I am always excited to learn of new people I had never read of before.
Spoiler Alert!!! The rest of this review contains a summary of the book.
Renee was a French princess and Italian duchess who corresponded with John Calvin during the reformation. She was torn between the Roman Catholic Church and the Reformed faith. Many considered her as the first prominent French noblewoman to profess Calvinism. Reformation supporters took refuge with her.
Calvin often wrote her concerning compromise. Some had convinced her that compromise was best so that those within her sphere of influence would not be offended. Calvin told her that Christian liberty should not be an excuse for breaking God's commands.
She was not only a duchess, but also a wife, mother and friend. She hosted a large library that consisted of Reformed books and treaties.
During the persecution of Protestants, she tried to convince her husband not to prosecute them, but was unsuccessful. She took into her house many who were under persecution from the Roman Catholic Church. Her husband brought in an inquisitor to try and change his wife’s convictions toward reformation doctrine. He even imprisoned her, trying to force her to once again accept Rome. He removed all her friends and her books.
Finally she capitulated and returned to Rome. She went to Mass and confession once again. She tended to fluctuate back and forth. For the rest of her life. Calvin tried to encourage her to stand with the gospel.
The book ends with a discussion of Calvin’s doctrinal views on Rome and the letters he wrote to Renee.
This book was a very good read. It is written almost like a novel and keeps you interested till the very end. I highly recommend it.
I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
*I received this book, free of charge, from EP Publishing and Cross Focused Reviews in exchange for an honest review.
Check out a great interview with the author.
Why are creeds important?
"No creed but Christ" Over the years that is a phrase I have heard during more than one sermon.
Many tend to view creeds as "head" knowledge and not "heart" knowledge. Some would say, "Why spend so much time arguing about doctrine that isn't important, when God just wants us to worship Him?"
My answer? Christ said we should worship him in "spirit and in TRUTH"? Truth should be BOTH head knowledge and heart knowledge. Wisdom is knowledge(truth) in action.
If I have the knowledge that a “stop sign” means that I should STOP, but I do not have the wisdom to STOP, someone gets hurt. But if I don’t even know what the “stop sign” means, I am even worst off and have no business driving at all.
Both knowledge and wisdom are essential. Action without knowledge is dangerous. Try performing the action of heart surgery without the knowledge from medical school.
OK, let us relate this to God. Without knowledge of who God is, how can we worship Him? If we do not know who it is we worship, are we really worshiping the true God or just a figment of our own imagination?
With that said, this book is a study of the Apostles Creed. It is a study to show us who God is and what He has done. It is short but consists of some great teaching. Mark G. Johnston takes us phrase by phrase through the creed in a series of chapters that would be great for Sunday school or Bible study. At the end of each chapter there are questions for discussion.
I wished 27 years ago, as a new Christian, my church would have taken me through a study like this. They were worried about getting me saved but I was to fend for myself when it came to doctrine.
Paul said we are to study to show ourselves approved. He also said that God gave teachers for the building up of the Church. If God gave teachers to us, He means for us to learn from them.
In a world where information is at our finger tips, the Church is void of it’s own history and teachings. I remember a person who had been in church for years asking me – “Do you mean to tell me that Jesus is really God? I have never heard that before” We need more Biblical knowledge and Johnston fills that gap with this excellent book.
I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
*I received this book, free of charge, from P&R Publishing and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is another excellent book by R.C. Sproul. This was a reread for me. Years ago, this title was published as "Loved by God". I enjoyed it then and did the same this time.
R.C. has such a gift for taking deep theological truths and explaining them to the average layperson. This book is no exception.
"God's Love" is just that, a book about the love of God. He delves into some fascinating questions.
Does God love us with an unconditional love?
What does it mean that God loves Jacob, but hates Esau?
What do the 3 Greek words for "love" mean?
How does God's love fit with His other attributes, like His holiness and justice?
He answers these questions and many, many more.
It is a medium sized book at 256 pages, but is packed with some great doctrinal teaching. It answers many questions concerning God’s sovereignty and love.
The last 3rd of the book is a verse by verse exposition of 1 Corinthians 13 – the “Love chapter” This alone is worth the price of the book.
I don't know if I would consider this work in the same caliber as Sproul's "Holiness of God" or "Chosen by God", but it is a great title and worth being read twice.
I highly recommend this book and any other work by R.C. Sproul.
I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
*I received this book, free of charge, from David C Cook and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is probably the best classical apologetic book I have read. It is interesting and informative. What sets it apart from other books on apologetics is it is written from the prospective of a homicide detective. It is like CSI meets R.C. Sproul. That is my kind of book!
I truly enjoyed this book. Each chapter consists of true crime solving stories and how the same techniques can be used to prove both the Bible and Christianity are true. He moves from the Historical Jesus to how the scriptures were preserved. He also spends time showing how the Gospels were written earlier than the Liberal would admit. He uses logic to discredit the Liberal at every turn.
Many people today see Christianity as naive and silly, but the historical faith is more than a fairy tale - it it true. There is hard evidence for it.
Some of the criticism against Christianity is our own fault. For years I have heard many well-meaning preachers say not to use your mind, it will only lead you astray. Now why would God give us a brain if we were not supposed to use it. God created logic. He never contradicts logic. When the bible say the wisdom of God is foolishness, it is saying that God is so much smarter than man that they think He is foolish because they can not understand.
Wallace truly uses his mind in this book and his writing is so good, it feels like I am watching an episode of Castle or CSI.
This book was a great read and I highly recommend it to both new and seasoned Christians alike.
I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
*I received this book, free of charge, from David C Cook and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book is hard to review. On the one hand it is well written and easy to read and on the other hand the content is a little different to say the least.
In my Christian journey, I have seen a lot of things.
When I was first saved, I wanted to experience God in a powerful way. Because of my immaturity, I followed many who said "God is over here" They claimed seeing angels, hearing and seeing Jesus physically, being transported, and seeing people raise from the dead.
I took them at there word. Many of these same people were engulfed in petty jealousy, hatred and strife. Some had even deeper sins like homosexuality and adultery. At that time, I could not understood why God would show up in miraculous ways to people who were so mean, but not to many who were loving and kind.
After years of studying the bible and living the Christian life, I do believe miracles happen. God is concerned with our lives; He is sovereign and guides our steps. But...and there is always a...”but”. I do not believe God wants us to follow after signs. He rebuked people for following after signs. A miracle by definition is something out of the ordinary. That is why they call it supernatural, because it is not natural. It doesn’t happen on a regular basis.
Most of us spend our life eating the wrong way and not exercising - then we ask God to heal us. We spend all of our money and can't pay our bills, then ask God for a financial miracle. I am not saying God should not perform a miracle in that situation. Salvation itself is God fixing a mess we made. But if we are to have miracles everyday they would no longer be miracles. They would be normal life.
Why did Jesus performed miracles? Why not? He is God! Does He perform them today? Yes, He is God. The problem comes in when we seek these as the norm.
Jesus told Thomas, “Blessed are those who don't see but yet believe”. He rebuked the Jew saying they seek after a sign instead of Him. Paul told the Corinthians they were more obsessed with the gifts of the spirit than love.
Many need healing today, many need a financial miracle today, but an even greater need is new birth. We have worried so much about temporal physical things so much we have jettisoned the eternal. Jesus said, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world (health and prosperity) and lose his own soul.
In his book, Chad tells of stories about translation, seeing Jesus physically, hearing God audibly, seeing angels(one holding a sword), daily miracles, visions, wind inside a closed building, Jesus sitting on a bed, a woman covered in gold specks, etc.
He speaks of preaching the Kingdom, but never explains what that means. I assume it means healing and miracles. More than one time he says he would like to show the theologian or professor what it would be like to live a life of miracles. There is a little anti-intellectual bend to the book.
As far as Chad is concerned, he seems like a very nice and sincere guy. He comes off as a loving compassionate person who loves the Lord, But using his own words he may be a little "weird".
It was not a boring read, but I would be a little cautious. It could leave some new believers thinking that the Christian life is full of miracles and if you do not experience them daily, you are not complete in Christ.
I give it 2 out of 5 stars.
*I received this book, free of charge, from Chosen Books and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
To review a book about Sonic the Hedgehog, is is out of my norm, but I could not resist.
Sonic has always been a favorite. My son and I have been gamers for years. It started with Mario 64 and kept growing from there. Anyone who loved Mario would sooner or later fall for Sonic.
I really enjoyed this book. It is a 300 page celebration of Sonic's 20th birthday. Each chapter shows graphics from different games and discusses how the games developed. It is packed with many antidotes and stories about how the games came to fruition and some that did not.
We see the struggles developers had with each other and the way it added to the final game development. It is very interesting to read about the glitches they had to deal with.
Even though I already knew a lot about Sonic, I learned much more. Here are a few spoilers.
During development, the original game was so fast it mad you sick.
They had trouble with sonic crashing through the loops instead of spinning around them.
Originally Sonic had a girlfriend named Madonna (yes she was named after the singer)
The last half of the book includes interviews with the developers and their thoughts on how Sonic has changed over the years. There are hundreds of great pictures and even glimpses of games that never made it.
If you are a Sonic fan or just curious about his history, I highly recommend this book.
Read it, then go out and buy a game and enjoy.
I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
*I received this book, free of charge, from Udon Entertainment and NetGallery in exchange for an honest review.
The Puritans have always had a bad rap. When we think of them, we tend to think of bitter, somber, witch-hunters. Nothing can be farther from the truth. They were strict in some ways but they were great Christian leaders who had a zeal for the Lord. There writings are packed full of theology and Devotional material.
Here Packer has collected a series of introductions to some of the best puritan works. J.I. is known for some of the best forwards to the Puritans. His intro to Owen's "Death of Death" is a classic.
This book was started when he was asked to write introductions for a group of puritan devotional books published by Christian Focus. These intros were collected into this book. It is sort of a companion to "A Quest for Godliness", a previous book about the Puritans from Packer.
I enjoyed this book, being a fan of the Puritans, it is nice to read a small summation of what each of these works are about. The added bonus is the summations are written by one of the best experts concerning the Puritans. Packer and a few others have helped to reawaken interest in puritan writings.
Each chapter takes a work, summarizes it, gives you important things to look for, and even contains criticism for the weaknesses.
Packer does not worship the Puritans, he only worships their God. He considers them as brothers in the Lord, but not infallible. He shows us how to learn from the good, but throw out the bad.
I highly recommend this book. If you have never read the Puritans, grab a copy of this book and a copy of any of the works that are summarized and get ready for a treat.
I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
*I received this book, free of charge, from Christian Focus in exchange for an honest review.
I have read a good amount of church history and honestly, to my shame, I had never heard of Renee of France.
