Category Archives: Books & blogs

I’ve been digitized

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Cuba history book coverOK, it wasn’t actually me. It was Tony and me.

OK, it wasn’t actually Tony and me. It was the book that Tony Fernández and I wrote about Cuba.

We’ve got a Kindle edition out now. If you don’t need another paperback lying around, or if you don’t want to wait to receive a copy in the mail, or if you’d like to save a few dollars off the price of a physical copy, or if you just like e-books… you can get A History of Churches of Christ in Cuba in Kindle format.

Here’s the link: http://smile.amazon.com/A-History-Churches-Christ-Cuba-ebook/dp/B00XI0QFDK

(By the way, if you don’t have “Smile” set up on Amazon, it’s a program that donates a part of the proceeds from most sales to the non-profit of your choice. Go ahead and set it to Herald of Truth. You can support worldwide evangelism while doing your shopping)

New book: A History of Churches of Christ in Cuba

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Cuba history book coverI’m pleased to announce that A History of Churches of Christ in Cuba is now available. Tony Fernández and I worked on this information over the course of several years, and it’s nice to see it in concrete form.

Any history of the churches in Cuba is going to be incomplete at this point. There are too many stories that can’t be told yet.

I’ll also mention that I made an appeal for information last year at a meeting of people who work in Cuba. Only one person sent me anything. Because of that, I’m sure that some people from here in the States will not have received the mention they would have liked to have. If so, I’ll hope they’ll send me info for the next edition!

Anyway, the book can be purchased from the Herald of Truth website. You can find it on this page: http://www.heraldoftruth.org/resources_books/a-history-of-churches-of-christ-in-cuba

Ten Books That Have Stayed With Me

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booksOK, I got tagged on Facebook to list 10 books that have stayed with me in some way. The instructions also say, “Don’t take more than a few minutes and do not think too hard. They do not have to be the “right” books or great works of literature, just ones that have affected you in some way.” I thought I’d try and do that here:

  • The Happy Hollisters – Why would I list this book? Because it was a jump into “real” literature, or so it seemed at the time. My sisters had this book (two of them, though I’m not sure which titles). These were hard-backed chapter books, the first I ever read.
  • The Tales of Edgar Allen Poe – Too young to pick up on Poe’s emotional issues, I enjoyed the twists that he put into his stories (Borges would later delight me in the same way). When I’ve had to write short stories, I’ve liked to have a surprise or two along the way.
  • More Strange But True Football Stories – I read voraciously as a youngster, but by far, my favorite books were books about sports. I list this as representative of the dozens and dozens of such books I read.
  • The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings (Tolkien)
  • How To Talk To God (Winward) – A simple book on prayer that came along at a good time in my life.
  • The Friendship Factor (McGinnis) – Reading this while in college was a great help to an introvert like me.
  • My Utmost For His Highest (Chambers) – This book was given to me at a special time in my life and still moves me with its short, simple messages.
  • Celebration of Discipline (Foster) – My introduction to the spiritual disciplines.
  • How To Read The Bible For All Its Worth (Fee & Stuart) – Coming at a time when I was rethinking how I approach the Bible, this book was an important part of that process.
  • Mere Christianity – My introduction to C.S. Lewis
  • Mere Discipleship (Camp) – I had already begun questioning much of what I’d learned about citizenship and patriotism. This book drove home the point that following Jesus and following a country are not compatible.

What would your list look like?

Muscle and a Shovel

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI recently did a quick read of the book Muscle and a Shovel by Michael Shank. Am I allowed to say that it is what I thought it was? Written in an autobiographical style, it’s intended to be an apologetic for traditional Church of Christ beliefs. As such, it functions pretty well.

I’m not really prepared to write a review. I may do so in the future. John Mark Hicks has written an excellent review which is available in electronic format for the Kindle. He also posted a summary of that review on his personal blog, presenting it in three parts:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
I’d highly recommend John Mark’s review to anyone who has read the book and even to those who haven’t.

In lieu of a review, let me share some thoughts:

    • I’ll start with the biggest issue I have: Jesus is a minor character, at best, in this book. If I want to talk to people about the gospel and don’t center that talk around Jesus, something is seriously wrong. This book isn’t about bringing people to Jesus. It’s about bringing them to a certain church.
    • The most shocking thing I read was the part where Randal rejected the concept of a personal relationship with Jesus. “It’s one of the greatest false teachings of modern-day religion.” (p.108) That’s when I realized that any gospel presented would not be the gospel of Jesus. I recognize that was a way of attacking a commonly held evangelical idea, but Randal’s reasoning was really sad. “A personal relationship implies that Jesus is not in Heaven because He would have to be here, in the flesh, for you to have a personal relationship with Him.” (ibid) Really? So all that “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” was just a ruse? Talk of where two or more are gathered, I am there? Jesus lives in the believer, not just in Heaven. He is inside of us… how much more personal can you get?
      “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3) That’s the part that Randal missed, that he never mentioned. Know God. Know Jesus. Have a personal relationship with them. That’s eternal life.
  • I’m thrilled with the reports of people coming to the Lord after reading this book. I don’t want my opinions of this book to take away from that in any way.
  • I’m glad for Michael that he found the Lord and desires to help others do the same.
  • In the book itself, I love the example of Randal, his willingness to speak about his faith to others. Some of his attitudes seem less than ideal, but I can say that about just about anyone.
  • The book itself is fairly readable. Some disagree, but I think the story flows fairly naturally. Much of what is written is hard to believe, but it’s not easy to argue with someone’s personal story.
  • Those reading the book need to recognize that Shank’s description of believers in Christ outside of the Church of Christ is not typical of such believers. You would be hard pressed to find a trained Baptist minister that asserts that the Baptist church began with John the Baptist, for example.
  • The book is filled with proof texts to support Randal’s arguments and accusations toward other groups that their beliefs are based on proof texts. I agree with many things that Randal says; others just can’t be supported from Scripture.

There’s a lot more to be said. I should point out, though, that we’re seeing an amazing disconnect in our brotherhood. There are many who think Muscle and a Shovel deserves a place on their bookshelf right next to the New Testament. There’s another group that thinks it deserves a place at the county landfill. Interestingly enough, many times those two groups co-exist within a single congregation.

If you read Shank’s book, I hope you’ll read Hicks’ review as well, just to have a better understanding of what you’ve read.

Book Review: The Derision of Heaven

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derision coverI was provided with a review copy (ebook) of the book The Derision of Heaven by Michael Whitworth. I was not asked to provide a positive review, merely an objective one.

Whitworth’s book is a study of the biblical book of Daniel, falling somewhere between scholarly commentary and popular devotional. With 425 endnotes, the documentation is there to support a scholarly study, yet Whitworth has tried to make the book accessible to the average reader.

Each of the ten chapters is divided into sections of textual study followed by a final section of “talking points.” The talking points focus on practical application, though there is plenty of application throughout the book.

Each of the first nine chapters covers one chapter of Daniel, then the last three chapters are studied as one section. Whitworth admits being more comfortable with the narrative sections of the book than he is with the visionary sections, and that shows in the writing. Still, he does a good job of taking both the familiar (stories like the lions’ den and the fiery furnace) and the unfamiliar (the prophetic sections) and presenting them in a way that everyone can read them profitably.

Overall, it’s an excellent work, one to be commended to the casual Bible reader and the serious student alike. The flaws I noticed were minor. There were a couple of places were I felt the editor could have done a better job; an unclear antecedent in the Q&A section makes it sound like the book of Daniel was written during Hitler’s lifetime.

The other distracting factor for me was the author’s habit of inserting humorous comments at random times. (Ironically, that’s something I’m often guilty of)

As I said, those are minor flaws. I highly recommend The Derision of Heaven to anyone interested in learning more about the book of Daniel.

The following information is being presented as a service to my readers. I receive no compensation for this:

The author is offering some giveaways today, Tuesday, September 3, to anyone who purchases the book. You can visit his blog for details. Here’s the information that was sent to me:

My book “The Derision of Heaven: A Guide to Daniel” is nearing its OFFICIAL release date of September 3rd. I want to personally thank you for getting the word out about it. On Sept. 3, I will be encouraging folks to buy the book from Amazon.com or a Christian bookstore. If they email me their receipt, I’ll enter them into a contest to win an iPad Mini 16GB WiFi. The more books purchased, the more chances you will receive to win. But these purchases have to come on Sept. 3. There is a very strong chance this book could make the Amazon Bestseller list. If that happens, it would be exposed to a much larger audience than I could ever give it. That is important because I believe in this book’s message; more than a guide to Daniel, it is an urgent message for Christians engaged in a bitter culture war. The church needs to be studying Daniel RIGHT NOW!

That’s why I need your help. Tell your friends about the book and encourage them to purchase a copy on Sept. 3. Also, I hope you will consider buying copies on Sept. 3 (it’s never too late to begin your Christmas shopping!). Share the news via social media. Talk to members of your congregation about purchasing this book. Along with the iPad Mini, I’ll be giving away other prizes, such as an ESV Study Bible and 20 SIGNED copies of my next book, “Living & Longing for the Lord.” You will get an extra chance at these prizes every time you share the news on social media.

All the details will be on my blog on Sept. 3. Bookmark start2finishblog.com and set a reminder to check it out on Tuesday, Sept. 3.