Book Review: Wasabi Gospel

The back cover of Shawn Wood's newest book, "Wasabi Gospel", gives you some warning about what to expect inside the covers:

Have you ever eaten wasabi? That dainty green blob on your sushi plate may look pretty tame, but take a taste - or even a whiff - and you'll find that little dollop packs a powerful punch to your senses!

If you have ever gotten too much wasabi at once, you know that the experience, well, it gets your attention in a hurry! And if you haven't ever gotten ambushed by wasabi, just imagine the sudden discovery of a fire bursting to life somewhere in you sinuses.

This sucker punch quality of wasabi is where the title for the book comes from. Wood pulls seven pieces of Scripture from the Gospels and explains how startling the meaning is within them. (Thus the subtitle "The Startling Message of Jesus"). These seemingly innocent words and lessons from Jesus, when considered seriously, can giev you a good wallop.

Wasabi Gospel can almost be seen as two books in one. There are seven sections/chapters to the book and each one has two distinct pieces: the discussion about the Scripture directly and an ongoing story/journal called Laura's Story. At the beginning of eash section, a day's entry in Laura's journal is given to the reader. I was quickly drawn into her story and, in the end, really enjoyed this approach to the material as much as the chapters themselves.

The seven passages of Scripture from the Gospels that Shawn brings to us to consider deal with mercy and forgiveness of others (Matthew 5:7), personal guilt (Luke 7:36-48), love your enemies (Matthew 5:43-48), the 'rich young ruler' (Mark 10:24-25), children (Mark 9:42), leaving yoru sin behnd you (Luke 9:62), and why we sin (Matthew 5:30). Each chapter digs deep into what it means for us to take the words of Jesus seriously in each one of these passages. What it looks like in our lives both with and without understanding Jesus' message.

Shawn has a very comfortable and informal writing style that I find very likable. He mixes in appropriate personal stories with Biblical analysis. His use of humor and self deprecation work well alongside the subject matter. I'm sure that being about the same age with similar good ole South Carolina small town upbring doesn't hurt!
Here's an example of how Shawn shares his thoughts on the story of the "sinful woman" at the house of Simon the Pharisee -

I know many of you would say "dirty, rotten Pharisees." I am tempted to say the same thing. But then I remember that I would probably be right there with them. I would be a "dirty, rotten Pharisee," scoffing at Jesus' supposed divine power. You might be quick to deny it , but let's think about this: sometimes when you really see the facts in front of you (like calling sushi dead raw fish) they start to look a lot different.

Fact one: A guy shows up on the scene saying he is God.
Fact two: Said guy says that he can heal people.
Fact three: The word on the street from his followers is that he can calm the sea, can walk on water, and has been known to turn water into wine.
Fact four: (Here is the doozie) He says that he is God and can forgive sins.

Now given these facts that we cannot see, are you telling me that you would be a follower? When you look at it on paper, he sounds a little like David Koresh to me.

At the end of most chapters, Wood has a section called 'Take a Bite.' In these sections, the author provides a short and practical set of questions to help you see where the principle from the chapter's Scripture is or can affect your life. Wood even includes a small prayer in each one of these sections that I found to be very helpful.

All in all, "Wasabi Gospel" is a relatively small book that can pack a strong punch (not unlike wasabi itself). I really enjoyed the book and recommend it to everyone. It doesn't matter if you are already acquainted with the Gospels after years of growing up in a church or if you are just starting to wonder what Jesus was really about, the one-two wasabi combination punch will get your attention - in a good way...

You can find out more about "Wasabi Gosepl" over at www.wasabigospel.com. And you can catch up with the author, Shawn Wood, on twitter, facebook, or his blog.

And don't forget the "Book Bomb" going on over at Amazon.com

Book Review: The Principle of the Path

I had not read a book by Andy Stanley before. I have been listening to the sermon podcasts from North Point Community Church (in Atlanta GA) for close to a year now. So when I saw this one come out, I decided I'd see if Andy's writing matched his remarkable preaching prowess.

I had some mixed feelings as I got started in the book. Not so much because of how the subject matter is presented or the writing style. In fact, Andy's stories in print are as good as the ones from the pulpit (and some are the same stories, of course). My mixed feelings came from the actual message that the book seems to be getting at: If you want to get somewhere, you need to head towards it. I was about 5 pages into the book and was wondering what the other 195 pages could have in them if this was the message.

Fortunately, Andy acknowledges this and tells you why this book rises above the self-help books on the discount table:

This is not a self-help book. I'm not offering a formula. I'm not going to provide you with seven steps. My intention is to bring to your attention a dynamic that is operating in the background of your life and the lives of the people you love.

It was worth it to stick with him.

The Principle of the Path is, and is not, as straight forward as you might think. I say that because on the one hand, the idea that you will end up where you are headed is pretty basic. On the other hand, most of us don't think about how this principle actually affects most everything in our lives.

Andy spends a short time in the early part of the book setting up the premise and describing the principle. Then he moves into the effects of leveraging the principle and the effects of ignoring it. Chapters 1 through 6 are pretty much about what it is, how it can affect you, and why many of us struggle with something so basic and seemingly intuitive.

Andy points out that we are not on a "truth quest" each day when we get up. In fact we are on a "happiness quest" every day of our lives. And that makes all the difference. We are not out there looking for what is true and wise and right. We are looking for what makes us feel happy.

[W]hen we stand at the crossroads between prudent and happy, we lie to ourselves. We turn into dishonest salespeople. We begin selling ourselves on what we want to do rather than what we ought to do... [O]nce we get fixated on the happiness option, we assign our brains the task of coming up with a list of very convincing reasons to support our choice. Reasons, by the way, that really have nothing to do with why we chose to do what we did.

We subvert our own rational, logical brains into trying to cover for our illogical, happy-seeking heart! As a lot of us know by now, that often leads to regret...

So, as I was reading through the book, I "got" the principle and I "got" the consequences of following/ignoring it. What I couldn't reconcile was how the idea of what sounds like conventional wisdom meshed with Scripture about the wisdom of the world:

Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. (1 Cor 1:20-26)

That is, the more I thought about the "doing the wise thing" with respect to finance, relationship, health, etc the more I thought about conventional wisdom, a.k.a., the wisdom of the world.

It took me thinking about it some more and looking and the last couple of chapters (there are 9 in all) to finally resolve it for myself. In chapter 7, the author retells a story of David and Saul from 1 Samuel 24. I won't retell the whole story but will summarize and say that in this chapter, and with this story, we move beyond just conventional wisdom. Andy illustrates with David and his choices how important it is to lean on God in choosing the wise path, and not leaning on just your own brain.

The law, principles, and wisdom of God provided David with the clarity he needed to do the right thing in the right way at the right time, despite incredible pressure to do otherwise.

Since direction, not intention, determines your destination... You should be getting that direction from God.

I liked this book more when I finished it than when I started it. If you pick this one up (and I recommend that you do!), don't bail out on it in the first chapter or two. Stick with it. Andy does point out some obvious, intuitive things. But he does so with good reason. Once he gets to the motivations behind them, the ways you can deal with them, and the importance of God in all of it, you will realize that this book was well worth the read.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the book or the subject. Let me here from you by leaving a comment below.

Per the recent FTC ruling, I am required to tell you that I received a free copy of this book from Thomas Nelson in return for publishing my review.

Book Review: The Coffeehouse Gospel

Matthew Paul Turner has written a few books. I've only read a few of them so far and plan to get a few more. The first one I read was "The Coffeehouse Gospel: Sharing Your Faith in Everyday Conversation." Right up front I'll say that I liked it a lot.

Push aside the subject matter for a moment. Turner's writing style alone is enough to like this book (or really just about any book of his). He has a way of writing that makes him instantly relatable (is that a real word). And that is an even bigger strength when tackling a subject like everyday evangelism.

The title of the book ties in because, by his own accounts, Turner has worked in a few coffeehouses and can be found lurking in them eavesdropping on your conversations. I mean, writing in various coffeehouses around town....

Seriously, the idea is that the corner Starbucks or local coffee shop is a cross section of life and an intersection of people. It is as good a place as any to meet people, have conversations with them, or just enjoy company. Because of these things, it is a place where stories are shared. And that is a key.

Throughout the book, Turner talks about the good and the bad ways that evangelism happens today. Mixed in with that are snippets of conversations and interviews the author has had with various people in his life. The point of each of these interludes is to try and show how you can bring your faith in the conversation without swinging the God hammer in a two-handed overhead smash.

The central idea behind everyday evangelism is knowing and telling YOUR story. Not just your testimony or you "the day I was saved" tale. That is a part, a very important part but still just a part, of your whole story. And it is your whole story that is the most important.

I'm not doing Turner's writing justice in how I'm describing this, so I'll let him say it himself:

A large part of sharing your faith through everyday conversation is being able to relate to others in everyday circumstances... People want to relate to you. People want nothing more than for you to relate to them. In most cases, all human beings desire to relate to others. The common thread that ties the two together doesn't have to be thick, unbreakable, or long, it just has to be there and available.

Knowing and being able to tell your own story makes that common thread available to others.

Towards the goal of equiping us to use our stories to connect with people, Turner includes a couple of sections with guiding questions. By following along with these questions and topics, you can begin to outline and even write out your story.

And if you've never really looked at your whole story, written or not, doing this exercise can be very eye opening. The more I thought about where God was in my story, my life, the more I came to appreciate how He could use me to speak to and reach other people.

Of course, in sharing your story, you may end up sharing your faith and what you believe. Turner points out that we do not have to be theologians in order to do that. We do need some preparation, just like with our stories. So the author provides a chapter (chapter 7 to be precise) called 'Knowing the Basics.' In this chapter, Turner breaks down the Apostle's Creed into 7 key pieces and describes the basic theology around them. It is a good primer on Christian beliefs and a pretty succinct way of describing it.

I highly recommend "The Coffeehouse Gospel" if you at all feel the tug to share your faith with the people around you. Actually, I recommend it even if you don't feel that pull. Reading this book can definitely help you understand what authenticity looks like and why it is so important.

Book Review: Crazy Love

Ok. So back to the blog. It turns out that reading the books isn't really the hard part. Determining what the review should convey and then sitting down to write it is the part I've been having trouble with.

But enough of that. Let's talk about Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Many of you may already be familiar with Francis Chan. He is the Teaching Pastor at Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley and he is a prolific speaker, especially to young adults and Youth. With Crazy Love, Chan has burst onto the scene as author, as well.

The title "Crazy Love" calls out the main point of the book: God's love for us is absolutely crazy. Crazy as in - it defies all logic and reason as we know it. And to prove his point, Chan begins the book by stepping back and taking a look at the clearest evidence of how great and mighty God is: creation. By walking through a list of ever larger things in the universe that God has created, we can see some of the enormity of God. Francis counterbalances this with a discussion about how fragile and small our lives, and our contributions, are in comparison to God.

So, by the time we roll into chapter 3 (also titled "Crazy Love") we can easily see how utterly crazy it is for the creator of all things, the source of life, the universe, and everything, to love created beings so frail, small, and, let's face it, unappreciative. It just doesn't fit into the mental model that most of us have.

After establishing hos groundwork for Crazy Love in the first three chapters, Chan starts digging in deeper. He exposes how many of us react to a God with this kind of love for us. He is not necessarily aiming at the overtly evil, rampant "sinner" that we would all shake our heads at and "tsk tsk" about. Chan aims both barrels at the people who call themselves Christian. Using words from Revelations 3:14 - 16, Chan talks about the "lukewarm" Christians; the "good enough" or "at least I'm not as bad as..." Christians.

Chapter 4 is titled "Profiles of the Lukewarm" and was hard for me to get through, at first. I squirmed uncomfortably as I read each profile in the chapter. Each one seemed to hit home in some way. Here's a sample:

Lukewarm People tend to choose what is popular over what is right when they are in conflict. They desire to fit in both at church and outside the church; they care more about what people think of their actions (like church attendance and giving) than what God thinks of their hearts and lives.

Lukewarm people don't really want to be saved from their sin; they want only to be saved from the penalty of their sin. They don't genuinely hate sin and aren't truly sorry for it; they're merely sorry because God is going to punish them. Lukewarm people don't really believe that this new life Jesus offers is better than the old sinful one.

And there are plenty more profiles like that. It is pretty convicting. But wait! Don't think that this is the main point of the book. It is an uncomfortable piece, to be sure, but it is necessary to see know where we are if we want to know how to get to where we want to be.
By holding the mirror up for us in this chapter and the one that follows it, Francis is helping us to see a truth that we probably would not be willing to admit ourselves. And once you've come to the point of admitting it, (or at least to the point of continuing to read the book), the author carries you forward towards hope and a way out.

Chan, using quite a bit of Scripture, talks about what it means to be in love with God, to be obsessed with God. He discusses the various responses we see both in the Bible and in our the lives of people around us to God's love for us. Chan's profiles of love and obsession for God are in stark contrast to the lukewarm profiles.

Francis wraps up the book with some examples of people that live their lives not cold or lukewarm, but HOT! The list has some names that you might recognize and some that you won't. It is convicting, like the lukewarm profiles were convicting but in a little different way. To see that people do live their lives everyday in love with God, and not just treating Him like a passing acquaintance, actually gives me hope.

In the final chapter, Francis says

After the apostle Paul preached on the day of Pentecost, people "were cut to the heart and said... 'Brothers, what shall we do?'" (Acts 2:37). The first church responded with immediate action: repentance, baptism, selling possessions, sharing the gospel.

So, how will we respond when we learn of, and truly accept, God's great love for us? What will we do when we fall in love with our Creator? For that, my friends, I'll let you read the book yourself....

Book review: Christianity in Crisis 21st Century

Ok. It's finally time for my review of Christianity in Crisis: 21st Century by Hank Hanegraaff. I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to finally get my thoughts together on this review. It did take a while to get through the book (it is nearly 400 pages). But it took me longer to think of how to review it. I think I've actually been kinda scared to write the review. Not because it's a bad review of the book. I like the book. I think it is because of how Hanegraaff deals with the people in the book. Keep reading and maybe you'll see what I mean.

Christianity in Crisis: 21st Century is an updated version of Hanegraaff's "Christianity in Crisis" from the late 1980's. The original, as well as the new book, takes the "Word of Faith" movement to task. Hanegraaff has two main points of focus in the new book: exposing the personalities in the Word of Faith movement as false teachers of the Gospel and showing the reader the truth of the Gospels as counterpoint to these false teachings.

The book starts with a "fairy tale" that Hanegraaff has made from taking excerpts from the teachings of many of the Faith teachers. It is fairly preposterous and seems highly unlikely that people actually said some of the things that Hanegraaff is attributing to them. But each and every line is annotated and the references can be found in the nearly 100 pages of end notes in the book. I traced and verified several of the references and found them to be factual. For a peek at the fairy tale, take a look here.

Hanegraaff helps the reader out by listing the "Cast of Characters" in the Faith movement. I was surprised to see some of the names in there. But then again, I've never paid much attention to the prosperity gospel folks before. Some folks in the cast: T.D. Jakes, Creflo Dollar, Joel Osteen, and Joyce Meyer. They are added to the "old school" characters like Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, and Benny Hinn. In the Cast of Characters, Hanegraaff describes some of the background and origins of each person and also gives some of the more off-the-wall quotes or stories from them. For me, it was disturbing to think that people with followings as large as some of the cast have can teach such things. For example:

God cannot do anything in this earthly realm unless we give Him permission.

Keep saying it-'I have equality with God'-talk yourself into it.

You create your own world the same way God creates His. He speaks, and things happen; you speak, and they happen.

Being poor is a sin.

The believer is as much an incarnation as was Jesus of Nazareth.

As I said before, Hanegraaff balances his discussion of the false/incorrect teachings of the cast of the cast of characters with a clear look at what the Scriptures really say. In several parts of the books, the author gives examples of "Scriptorture" being used by Faith teachers and the real Scripture. The differences are sometimes astonishing.

Hanegraaff levels his guns squarely at the folks behind the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) as key perpetrators and accomplices of the false teachings. Citing many quotes from the TBN founders and quotes from regular speakers on their broadcasts, the author backs up claims that the "give to get" mantra of the prosperity preachers only benefits them and not the flock being fleeced.

There are many more examples and quotes and eyewitness accounts that Hanegraaff cites and discusses. For the first 150 pages, my mind boggled that there are people out there saying these things. Even more astounding to me was the fact that they have followings as big as they do. Then I realized that it is human nature to follow someone with passion, a well packaged message, and a promise of benefit. I thought to myself: there but for the grace of God, go I. Kinda scary.

As for the way the book is laid out, it is basically point and counterpoint for the Faith Movement teachings. Here is the overall structure of the book:

• Part 1 - Turning Truth Into Mythology: Cult or Cultic?; Charismatic or Cultic?; Cast of Characters; Charting the Course
  
• Part 2 - Faith in Faith: Force of Faith; Formula of Faith; Faith of God; Faith Hall of Fame
  
• Part 3 - Little Gods: Deification of Man; Demotion of God; Deification of Christ; Demotion of Christ
  
• Part 4 - Atonement Atrocities: Re-creation on the Cross; Redemption in Hell; Rebirth in Hell; Reincarnation
  
• Part 5 - Wealth and Want: Cultural Conformity; Cons and Cover-Ups; Covenant-Contract; Context, Context, Context
  
• Part 6 - Sickness and Suffering: Symptoms and Sickness; Satan and Sickness; Sin and Sickness; Sovereignty and Sickness
  
• Part 7 - Back to Basics: A = Amen; B = Bible; C = Church; D = Defense; E = Essentials
  
• Appendix A - Are "God's Anointed" Beyond Criticism?
  
• Appendix B - Apologetics - The Defense of the Faith
  
• Appendix C - The Three Universal Creeds
  
• Scripture Index; Subject Index; Bibliography; Notes
  

This structure works well for Hanegraaff's approach for contrasting the teachings with Scripture and doctrine. What doesn't work well is the repetition in the book overall. As noted, the author lists several of the damning statements and teachings of each of the individuals in the Cast of Characters. In the different sections, Hanegraaff reuses many of the quotes and stories again to make his points. By the time I got through the book, I felt like I had read the same thing 3 or 4 times.

In the end, I'm glad I read the book. I got a new point of view on something I didn't know much about ("Word of Faith" movement), I heard from a very knowledgable Bible scholar (Hanegraaff), and I got some things to chew on (point and counterpoint). I would recommend this book to most folks interested in Biblical teaching or who have been or are curious about the ministry and teachings of the people in the Cast of Characters. I would not necessarily recommend this book to people who are very sensitive in nature and cannot either take criticism or watch others be criticized.

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. - 2 Peter 2:1-3

Drop me a comment and let me know what you think of the book or my review.

Per the recent FTC ruling, I am required to tell you that I received a free copy of this book from Thomas Nelson in return for publishing my review.