The Final Summit by Andy Andrews

In The Traveler’s Gift, David Ponder was the one who needed saving; in The Final Summit, it’s all of humanity that needs the saving.  The book picks up years after Ponder made his first trip to learn the “The Seven Decisions of Success,” he’s faced at another crossroads of life.  He’s aged, his wife has passed away, he has succeeded in his life’s ambitions and now he’s faced with sitting back and becoming complacent.  Then Gabriel shows up and again, Ponder’s life changes.  The Final Summit brings back the original Travelers from the first book and introduces some new historical faces: Winston Churchill, Booker T. Washington, and King David just to name a few.  They are brought together to determine the secret that will save the world.  The secret is simple, yet profound.  I would tell you what it is, but instead if you can’t wait until the end of the book, you can find the secret in chapter 12.

For me, the book didn’t capture me until around chapter 5.  The action and writing style were a little slow for my tastes.  The plot continues to build and multiple times I found myself wondering if they had discovered the secret early and even thinking it made sense, only to find out just like the summit of Travelers, that I was wrong.  I had not read The Traveler’s Gift before getting a copy of The Final Summit so I had to briefly skim the former to get an idea of what I would be encountering in the latter.  Overall, the book was enjoyable and I would recommend it for someone who needs a little bit of a pep talk in both their faith and life.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Tact.

I used to wonder why my dad always placed an emphasis on trying to use tact.  To be quite honest, sometimes I felt like he didn't have it so it was a concept at times hard for me to grasp.  Now that I'm older and in a position where my public conduct affects more than just me or even just me and my wife, I now understand why tact is important.  That said, since I can get away with doing this anonymously, I have to things to get off my chest to different individuals that will probably never read this (and to prove that as a youth pastor, yes I am human; probably more than I should be at times):

1.  You are not in love.  You are too young and naive still to understand what love truly is.  What you have is lust with a commitment component.

2.  You need to suck it up and be a man.  Start setting an example for the kids living under the same roof as you because you are only hindering them spiritually.  You may be the worst (step)father ever.  Okay maybe not worst ever, but you're still setting a bad example.


Thank you for allowing me to stand on a soapbox for a moment.

Promises.

It's kind of funny.  In the last week I have seen God move in awesome ways and directly answer three different prayers of mine.  But then I turn around and find out that between the Federal and State governments I owe around $1000.  There is nothing like seeing prayers answered and new trials to show you that you are doing what you're supposed to.  Now it's on to baking brownies to raise money.

The Fight of Our Lives by Dr. William J. Bennett and Seth Leibsohn

In The Fight of Our Lives, Bennett and Leibsohn analyze the slow progression and acceptance of the Islamic faith into that of mainstream America and the Western world.  Through a Conservative lens, the authors look at why unless Islam goes through a sort of reformation it well never truly be compatible with the “American” paradigm and that we need to be cognizant of the fact.  Above all, the authors intend to make sure the reader does not become apathetic to the inherent dangers of allowing a religion whose whole point is to convert and impose its laws on others to have unchecked influence and sway.

The Fight of Our Lives did a good job of explaining how events in recent decades have directly contributed to current world events.  The line of evidence and rationale is well established, as is always with Dr. Bennett.  The authors’ passion to ensure that America remains sovereign and that Islam in its current form will not be compatible with America is impossible to overlook; they do not dance around the issues.  At times though, I did feel like this book read like a Michael Moore book, if he were trying to incite Liberals.  In checking some of the end-notes, it becomes apparent that the authors put a spin on some of the citations so they read in a manner that taken out of context is different than how they were used originally. 

In short, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of the Muslim/American conflict.  Rhetoric aside, this book challenges the reader to decide where they stand on the issue and to understand why it should matter to them.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Age of Accountability.

Does anyone know where I can go to find information on when the Church began to teach this?  I've heard pastors reference it, I've read the Scriptures that justify the position, but I've not been able to see anywhere in the Bible where it specifically states anything of the nature and I want to read more on the issue.

Uninspired.

There's this scene in the movie Men in Black 2 that I can't seem to get out of my mind right now.  It's towards the end of the movie, and Tommy Lee Jones is talking to this alien princess who closely resembles Rosario Dawson.  In the scene, he asks her if she ever noticed that when she got sad it suddenly started raining (using this as evidence that she was an alien because she didn't quite realize it).  I look out the window and think:  "Rosario Dawson, cheer up so this weather doesn't suck."

On a more serious note, why does it always seem like the best day for a downer mood is when it's raining outside?

A Conversation with God- by Alton Gansky

In A Conversation with God, Alton Gansky takes some of the big questions that people have about the Christian faith and does his best to answer them using the Bible in various translations as his sole reference material.  Using the Bible is the best way to minimalize outside theological influence and limit the answers to what the Bible has to say. 

Much like a call-in radio program or talk-show, the book uses a chapter format that introduces the question, and then the characters of God and Jesus respond to the questions using Bible references and explanation to answer the questions.  Along the way, various characters like Peter, Judas, Job and other biblical people of note show up to also provide some insight.  I thought this was a clever way to address the questions of believers who have been a part of the Faith for either a short time or for quite a while.

There were parts that I enjoyed about this book and parts that really left me frustrated.  One area where I felt that Gansky shined in his work was that each of the 55 questions has an in-depth use of Scripture.  Each chapter was well thought-out.  This book captured my interest because in many points, he made answers to questions plain and simple and didn’t bother to use polished rhetoric; the chapter on why some books weren’t included in the Bible is a good one.  I also liked how each question could be isolated and read separately so that as a reader if I didn’t want to, I didn’t have to read through the whole book from beginning to end (which I did, though).

I felt that for the project of this book however, that Gansky might have tried to take on some really big questions that may not necessarily have been easily answered or explained in a four-page chapter.  Questions dealing with whether a person can lose their salvation, where disease and sickness originated, and what will happen at the end of time are subjects that multiple books have been written on and after reading chapter entries on these that didn’t give conclusive answers, I felt that they should have either not been included, or the questions should have been altered so that I didn’t feel like I was left hanging.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who is given the charge of leading a class for new Christians.  It is full of biblical truth and presented in an easy-to-understand manner.  This book may be too easy of a read or rather frustrating for mature Christians though, so be careful.  Be prepared to do additional research as sometimes the issues brought up may require further discussion.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.