The Fight Of Our Lives

The Fight of Our Lives: Knowing the Enemy, Speaking the Truth & Choosing To Win The War Against Radical Islam promised to be an interesting read for me. Several years ago I would have been more inclined to grab this book and devour it and be ready to join the front line. Circumstances in my life have brought me to a point where I have a deep passion to minister in Muslim contexts and I have many friends who are living in predominantly Muslim countries, so this book title was one I was a little more cautious of. I did not want to read something that lumped all Muslims into a category that would inspire hatred of a culture. With this in mind, I decided to read through this book with an open mind, as I have been an admirer of William Bennett for awhile. The book itself is an easy read and not a lengthy treatise that will lose you halfway through, so I was pleased with that and yet it was certainly meaty in subject matter. I found myself nodding my head along many times as he outlined how and why we have gone soft on the war on terrorism. In this world of the politically correct we now have reached a point where the very mention of war is discouraged and instead we have to call it something else, and our leadership bears some responsibility for that. Bennett and his co-author, Seth Leibsohn do a great job of explaining how we have reached this point and what we need to do about it, without creating a hatred of Muslims. Their point that Muslims need to stand up against Radical and Fundamental Islam in order to preserve their more moderate culture is spot on. Tolerance has led us down a path that will lead us right into the hands of those that will destroy us if we are not interested in changing the course and they have made this point crystal clear. I did not walk away from this book with any less love and compassion for a people that need to hear the Gospel, and instead was encouraged and motivated to continue to do my part in educating them in order to preserve the virtuous aspects of their culture.
I received this book as part of the Booksneeze.com Bloggers program in exchange for an honest review.

Radical Together

This book by David Platt is one of the most highly anticipated that I have had the chance to review. Our small group is currently studying his first book, Radical, and the response so far has been life changing for many as we discuss the American dream. I have read his first book multiple times so when I had the chance to get an advance copy of this one I jumped at the opportunity.His first book is certainly geared toward individual change and this one takes Radical to the churches and groups. I dove right in to this book upon arrival and have read it through twice, as it is relatively short in comparison to the first. As I read this one I was immediately intrigued by the continuity of the two books and this is a logical follow up. As the author gives the churches practical ideas on how to be Radical, he also shares stories on how his church is currently putting it into practice. It would be easy to share these ideas, but without "walking the walk", it would seem like the any number of platitudes out there. I was deeply engaged when he shares how his church has a culture that promotes foster care and adoption as our church is currently seeing multitudes of families become part of this process, including our family. I have the intention of bringing this to the leadership as an idea since there may be families that are contemplating this but do not have he financial resources to do so. What a great testament that Brook Hills has in caring for orphans! The chapters that are included in this book do a great job of outlining ideas on how to be Radical but the author does not have a "one size fits all" mindset. As he says in the conclusion of the book;"....these men and women have been destined by God to spend their lives in the urgent task of announcing God's reign and advancing his kingdom to ends of the earth." If we can all do this alone we are walking in the path of Jesus. Definitely a must read for those who want to take a Radical step as a church.
I received this advance copy of this book as part of the Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group's Blogging for Books program in exchange for an honest review and was not required to give a positive review.