Happy New Year!!

I would like to wish all my brothers and sisters in Christ a happy and wonderful New Year!!

I have three more book reviews coming (maybe four). I will post those sometime after New Years.

I have very much enjoyed my trip to Texas to see my mother. I have gone to one Baylor basketball game and will see another this afternoon. Go Bears!!

Review: Jesus - Made in America by Stephen J. Nichols

I hope everyone had a very merry and blessed Christmas!

I almost didn't buy this book but I happened to catch Dr. Derek Thomas and Dr. Nichols talking about it on the Reformation 21 blog.

Jesus Made in America - A Cultural History from the Puritans to the Passion of the Christ

I would recommend this book to everyone to read. Dr. Nichols shows that we are erring on the side of emotion and experience (with very little doctrine) in today's Christianity. While we need both orthodox doctrine and religious affections we should err on the side of doctrine. Christ has become a nice guy with good moral teachings. He is no longer the God/Man who came to die on the Cross to make atonement for our sins. Dr. Nichols uses humor to help lighten things up. This is a sad picture of what the majority of the Church has now become. It should serve to help motivate those of us who care about doctrine and true Christianity.

The book consists of 8 chapters and is 216 pages long.
Here are the chapter titles with their sub-titles:

1. The Puritan Christ - Image and Word in Early New England
2. Jesus for a New Republic - The Politics and Piety of Franklin, Jefferson, Washington and Paine
3. Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild - Nineteenth-Century Makeovers from the Frontier to Victorian Culture
4. Jesus, Hero for the Modern World - Harry Emerson Fosdick, J. Gresham Machen and the Real Meaning of Christmas
5. Jesus on Vinyl - From the Jesus People to Contemporary Christian Music
6. Jesus on the Big Screen - The Passion for Hollywood
7. Jesus on a Bracelet - Christ, Commodification and Consumer Culture
8. Jesus on the Right Wing - Christ and Politics in America
Epilogue: Jesus and the Gospel in the Twenty-First Century

I hope all you have a good New Year!!

May we all work to further our Lord's kingdom during the coming new year!

Review - The Prodigal God

I have just finished reading The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller.

Those who have read John MacArthur's book A Tale of Two Sons will enjoy this book.
The book is a small hardback consisting of seven chapters and is 133 pages long.

Pastor Keller is concerned with the differences and similarities between the attitudes of the Younger and Elder brothers.

The Elder brother has an attitude that can be associated with religion. "Religion operates on the principle of 'I obey - therefore I am accepted by God.' The basic principle of the gospel is 'I am accepted by God through the work of Jesus Christ - therefore I obey."

Pastor Keller says that the majority of problems in churches today are caused by "Elder brothers". The younger brothers leave the church because of the "Elder brother" attitudes.

I enjoyed reading this book very much.