I received a very interesting phone call today. I had someone call me about the above mentioned mission trip. This person proceeded to tell me that she had prayed long and hard and did not “feel” God wanted to her daugther to go on the trip. Anytime someone says “God told me” or “I prayed about it…”, I immediately begin to wonder. Then I thought about Jeremiah 17:9, “ The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? “  We need to be very careful when listening to our heart. Our heart is deceitful, it tries to trick us into wrong feelings. I tell people to base very little on what you feel. We need to base our feelings and thoughts on the word of God. Does God’s word lead us to believe it is wrong to go and reach people for Jesus? I think not. I recall Jesus saying, “Go and make disciples…” and “You shall be my witnessess…” As parents we need to be promoting our kids living for Jesus not discouraging them. Unfortunately, for this parent, I believe she will one day give an account to a Holy God. Please pray for this parent that she will listen to God and His word and not depend so much on her heart. Pray that we ALL listen to God and place less emphasis on our heart and the feelings it produces.

There were several other animals that I had heard of but learned new and interesting facts about. Did you know that the Giant Anteater consumes more than 30,000 insects per day? Did you know that the sloth only poops once a week and naked mole rats can run as fast backwards as they can forward and can live for over 30 years? I don’t want to give away anything else because I want you to read the book on your own.

As a parent with two small kids I love the book. The pictures are large and colorful for my kids to see and enjoy. There is also a DVD that shows outtakes and bloopers from Jack Hanna’s tv show. One warning about the DVD, I had to take a knife to cut the package the DVD came in. It was sealed up better than Fort Knox. Overall the book was great. I would recommend it to anyone and I give it 5 out of 5 stars!!!!

As a pastor and a history buff I was thrilled to see the numerous historical illustrations and articles.   The features noted in the front sleeve are as follows:

Full-color presentation page and family record section.
48 beautiful full-color insert pages, presented in 12 four-pages sections
New King James Version Bible text, in large print
1,632 pages featuring: illustration, 254 articles, and 66 book introductions
Index & Concordance

My issues with this Bible……

I have zero issues with the Word of God, but I did take issue with some of the illustrations- one in particular.  There is a section entitled, “Christianity and Equal Rights”. In this section it talks about how God has created all people to have equal rights and it mentions Dr. Martin Luther King and his “I Have a Dream Speech.”Do not get me wrong, I totally believe in equal rights and did not have a problem with the section until it starts talking about Barack Obama. I found this section to be very hypocritical. Why plaster a picture of a president and speak of his getting elected in an “Equal Rights” section when he doesn’t even believe in equal rights- for the unborn?  I understand there is great significance in the election of the first Black man as president. I am not trying to take anything away from that, but just found it odd to mention Obama and equal rights in the same sentence. Overall I would give this Bible 3 Stars out of 5. Anytime you mix politics and religion you are playing with fire.

I believe Beverly did a wonderful job of fairly presenting the beliefs of each group while giving much historical background to the group as well.  The book is well researched and pretty easy to understand. I would say the book is a must have for anyone interested in studying other religions. One thing that shocked me was the entry for  the”Seeker Sensetive” and “Purpose Driven” Movements.  Beverly even touched on the “Emergent Church Movement.” I have heard many people talk about the Emergent Church and try to define it but I have always walked away just as confused as to what was meant by the term “Emergent Church” Beverly gives quality detail to the beliefs, practices, and founders of this movement.

I have over 2000 books in my personal library but this is the tops when it comes to books dealing with other religions. Nelson’s Illustrated Guide to Religions is very well written, practical, readable, and important for Christians who seek to understand other religions. I give this book 5 STARS!!!

The book started off with a bang. Hanegraaff did a great job explaining what the Word of Faith movement was all about and exposed the heresy of this movement. I was astonished as he reveals the theology of the movements big time preachers; men like Joel Osteen, John Hagee, Creflo Dollar, Copeland, Hagin, and others. The more I read the more disgusted I became with the heresy of the Word of Faith movement. I wonder how so many people are blinded to the TRUTH and can not see the heresy in which these guys preach and teach.

However, as the book went on, Hannegraff began to use several acronyms which at times became confusing. Toward the end of the book it felt as if the book was 75 pages too long. I believe he could have condensed the book and it would have been just fine. Less is sometimes best:)

If apologetics is your thing, you will like this book, at least most of it. Regardless, he does a great job to show how the Word of Faith movement is impacting Christianity in the United States and around the world. I would give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

It was scary stepping out as a teenager and committing my life to ministry. I was fortunate though. I had a pastor that supported me and gave me an opportunity to preach. I remember my first opportunity. It was on a Wednesday night and I was scared to death. I wondered what I had gotten into. As the time came for me to preach I somehow made it to the pulpit and strung together a 19 minute sermon. I am pretty sure it was really just about 5 minutes long and the other 14 minutes were a repeat and me trying to figure out how to end the message.

An amazing thing happened. My pastor stood up after I was done speaking and encouraged me and showed his support for me. Nearly 17 years later I had the opportunity to repay the kindness. Several years after my first preaching opportunity my pastor and mentor left the ministry. There is not enough time to share what happened, but I saw first hand how Satan can use good, well meaning people to destroy another man and his ministry. This week I had lunch with my pastor and asked him if he was doing any ministry. He said not really. I asked him if he still had the passion and desire and he said OH YES!

I then asked him THE question- I asked him if he would be willing to come along side me and get back into ministry. I told him that God was not done with him and that God still wanted to use him on some level. He broke down crying right in front of me. I could tell a heavy weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He longed for the opportunity but very few people in Christian circles will forgive a minister who goes through a divorce. (His divorce came some time after leaving the ministry).

My problem, is that it’s God’s place to ultimately forgive and I cant find in the Bible where God gives up on people who still long to serve Him. Moses was a murder, Abraham a liar, David a murder and adulterer, Paul a murder and persecutor of Christians, and the the disciples were basically idiots. God took all these sinners and still used them for His glory. Why is it that so mnay Christians today do not believe in similar reconcilation and restoration? Yes there is always punishment and consequences for sin but I believe God can bring  restoration  and I believe we as Christians should not shoot our army but try to restore them. Try to restore them to a place where God can use them for His glory and where they can still do ministry although it may be in a different level than before.

2 Cor. 5:18-19 (NLT),  And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. ¹⁹ For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.