Counterfeit Gospels by Trevin Wax

Counterfeit Gospels by Trevin Wax is about naming the six major false gospels out there and countering them with the true Gospel. The six false gospels he writes about is the therapeutic, the moralist, the activist, the judgmentless, the quietest, and the churchless gospel  I probable read this book a lot slower than I should but I wanted to let it soak in.  Unlike some discernment books I have read where they just point out the false gospels out there and never point us to the true Gospel of Christ this one does both it points us to the true Gospel of Christ then shows us the false gospels out there. The judgmentless, the moralistic, and the the activist false gospels out there are the ones I really was glad he broke down as I see them happening so regularly even in my small community.    The judgmentless gospel is about how this gospels says that God will not judge us.  We can forget as Christians that we  are actually being saved from God's judgement on us (Romans 2:5-11).  The Moralist gospel is about how we try to change ourselves or the society around us to be a more moral people when that is not the gospel.  My favorite quote from this book comes from this section and it as follows "The moralistic gospel may fill our churches with well-behaved people.  But the result will merely be an improved version of the old man - not the new man that the Biblical Gospel promises.  Without grace, we miss out on true life transformation."  That to me is a good quick explanation on why trying to be moral is not the gospel of the bible.  Now the activist gospel to me goes hand in hand with the moralism gospel as the activist gospel people are bent on trying to change the society around them to what they deem as the moral correctness even if that means forgetting that what really changes society is the inward change of individuals by Christ himself and not us washing/cleaning up the outside of people.  Yes us trying to end abortion, fighting sex trafficking and such are all good things but they still are not the gospel.  As I heard once in a sermon is we can give some one clean water all we want but if we don't give them the gospel also we are just giving them clean water as we watch them head to hell.  How horrible is that?  So what is the true gospel then? We see it in the scriptures and not anything we do. Its that we are wretched sinners that deserve death and punishment but God has sent His son Jesus Christ to fulfill all the law (we could not do it are selves), His substitutionary death for us sinners, and His resurrection and exaltation.   If you can't tell by now I highly recommend this book.

I was given this book by Moody Publishers and was not required to give a positive review. 

The Sentinels Of Andersonville by Tracy Groot

The Sentinels Of Andersonville by Tracy Groot is a powerful historical fiction novel that takes place during the American Civil War.  For those who have never heard of Andersonville it was a prisoner of war camp of the south's located in Georgia.  I was very excited to read a historical book that takes place in Andersonville as it was the most notorious and deadly of the prisoner of war camps during the Civil War.  This book deals with not only the happenings in the camp but also people outside and the southern soldiers and doctor who worked in the camp. The main character in the book named Violet Stiles whose father is a doctor in the camp cannot believe the deplorable conditions of the camp and wants to help the soldiers being held prisoner there.  This causes a lot of problems for her and her family as people start to treat them as traitors.. However Violet ends up with very few fellow supporters with one who happens to be a guard in the prison named Dance Pickett.  Dance has seen how the union soldiers have been treated and is very disgusted by it.  The book is the adventures of the 2 and really hits on the question of how we should treat prisoners of war.  This book really details the horror these men faced.  In real life very few prisoners of Andersonville survived as the way the people were treat was very horrendous. It was so horrendous that even the head of the prison Henry Wirz was even tried after the war for the way the soldiers were treated and hung for it.  We sometimes forget how horrible the Civil War was since we romanticize it a lot today.  This book really explains the emotions of the people and what was happening at that time. I was very impressed by this book and highly recommend it to anyone but especially students studying the Civil War.  

I was given this book by Tyndale Publishers for my honest review.

Miss Brenda and the Loveladies by Brenda Spahn and Irene Zutell

Ok this one book I just can't give an overview of without my thoughts at the same time so here goes.  This is a very powerful book about Brenda Spahn and her dream of helping women convicts become full members of society.  Here is a link to her website The Lovelady Center.  Brenda felt the Lord's calling for her to open a center to help women straight out of prison to become complete women and not just send them back to the life they had before.  I will warn you that there is some strong language and details of the women's past but you can't expect flowers and sunshine from ladies that have been in prison.  This was a wonderful book on how Brenda and her first group ladies overcame each others thoughts and prejudices about each other.  We sometimes forget as Christian that we are too love all people even people that are just getting out of prison and they are sometimes the ones that need the most love.  Miss Brenda shows that love and the ladies also show her the same love.  The part of the book that really got me was how the women were just overwhelmed by a trip to Wal-mart.  This book was a blessing for me as reminded me to love all people no matter where they have come from.  We can't look on the outside to know if should love someone or not.  I personally know people that if some people knew of their pasts they would probable have nothing to do with them and that is sad.   Loving the unlovable is what we are to do as Christian and Miss Brenda does this beautifully.  Now I will recommend this book with one exception I don't believe in women being ordained preachers (that was discussed in the book as being ok).

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review