Book Review: The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer

Book Review: The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer

A.W. Tozer starts and ends with the premise that much of modern Christian behavior is centered on the individual Christian's needs rather than on Christ himself. In one place in The Pursuit of God he says, "Promoting self under the guise of promoting Christ is currently so common as to excite little notice." Wow. I feel like that a lot. I was surprised to see it in print, but he had me from that moment to end of the book. Unlike most books I have read about how to live the life of a Christian, he does not throw around Christian Ease, buttressed with personal stories illustrating how it applied in his life. Rather, he supports his suggestions with scripture and scholarship. This is a book that tells you how to pursue God, and when you are done, you will understand the bible better than you did we you began.

The Key Character in this book is God. Most books about God these days are about YOU, rather than God. If you want to know how God is going to help you, this book is not going to tell you that, beyond the gift of Grace that leads us to salvation.  As he puts it, "Essentially salvation is the restoration of a right relation between man and his Creator, a bringing back to normal of the Creator-creature relation."

What will you learn? You will learn what it means to posses Jesus. As Tozer puts it, "I desire that I may feel no sense of possessing anything outside of Thee."  

He spends many pages on the dis-assembly of modern evangelical fundamentalism, pointing out its trend toward legalism and away from the freedom that Jesus life, death and Resurrection bought us.  Tozer feels that we are once again losing our way, and becoming the Pharisees that Jesus taught against.

This book reads as a scholarly text of our era combined with the letters of the apostle Paul and the early fathers of the Church.  It also gives the feel of a New Orleans Baptist Church, where you feel challenged by the authors obvious faith and spirit and yet compelled to ask more questions, so you too can share in the fruit that he so obviously has. You also feel a little out of your element.

Have you already made up your mind about what Jesus wants you to do with your life?  If you have, then you will not like this book, as it challenged most of my closely held ideas on doctrine and attitude.

Do you feel comfortable living in an environment where the expectations, behaviors and attitudes are well laid out in advance?  If you do, this book will rock your world, because this book is about live a spirit lead life without limits or rules.

A.W. Tozer was a turn of the 20th century Christian author and pastor who lived a non-materialist life of sacrifice and study, as well as attempting to lead the world to the Jesus of the first century with missionary zeal.  This book is true to that life.

I have to be honest.  I find easy Christianity to be, well too easy. Do this, don't do that.  Easy and boring. The sinners prayer strikes me as an incantation to invoke Saving Grace from God, as if we could compel him.  This book explained to me, for the first time, why I feel that way and what to do about it.

Read this book if you want to know Jesus better, but leave your doctrine and your previous plans on the back burner, because this is going to change everything.

Book Review: The Language of God - A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief by Francis S. Collins

Wikipidea - Human Genome Organization

The Language of God - A Scientist Present Evidence for Belief was written by Francis S. Collins and copyrighted in 2006. It is a rather awesome study of how the Human Genome Project got started, where it went, and why it's director became a believer in God. It brings to plate a high level of creditability because of the author's international reputation and skill as a physicist and biologist, particularly with respect to his work in the Human Genome project.

This is a book written to give witness to the author's path to belief in God.  His path started with the absolute disallowing for God, and ended with a "scientific" understanding of the necessary existence of a creator.  I believe he wanted to share his journey toward God.

His approach to this subject is unique in that he has first hand and unique understanding of the Human Genome project, and has spent his life explaining it to people who do not speak the "language of science."  So his approach is easy to understand and powerful.  I believe that his intended audience was non-scientifically trained readers who do not believe in God and perhaps people who already believe in God.  If you are either of these two, then this book is a must read for you, because he attacks the subject from both view points and is very clear on his conclusions.

4. Explain the method of development-the way the author supports the thesis. Illustrate your remarks with specific references and quotations. In general, authors tend to use the following methods, exclusively or in combination.

The story starts with a background study of the author's development as a scientist, physics, his academic qualifications, muti PhDs, and his clear knowledge that God was a myth explained away by rational understanding of Data and Nature.

It then spends some time on what the Human Genome Project is, and what it can do for man kind.  Finally, it goes into depth on why he believes that God existence is proved by the very nature of the Human Genome.

The pictures he draws with his life, the subject matter and his command of both the subject matter and the  English Language is by itself enough to read this book.

The downside for me is rather large, however.  My own background is physics, and in undergraduate school they beat into us the difference between science an politics.  Science uses data, math and peer review to draw its conclusions, if any.  Politics uses science to prove its conclusions.

This book is the later.  It starts with science and ends with logic.  The two forms of study generally do not work well with each other.  That separation was the big step forward that we made in the late 1800's and early 1900's.  Prior to that time, Aristotle rules the world's academic study.  After that time science did.  The two approaches are not the same.

This does not retard that importance of this book.  I still recommend it.  Yet, it has entered the area that lessor studies by more obvious partisans live.  It assumes God, then demonstrates it.  I believe in God already, and he is already demonstrated for me.  Faith is sufficient, yet I seek data to illustrate my point.  I was hoping to get that data in this book.  I did not.  I got instead they type of argument that is usually used by the faithful, and requires either of scientific training to understand or blind faith.  As an example, if you start the with assumption that the world is 5000 years old, and you state that this is a biblical fact, than you will ignore any data that suggests otherwise.  For sure, you will find reasons to ignore it, well argued reasons, but ignore the data you must.  On the other hand, if you start with a premise, collect the data, and then see if the data supports the premise, you are doing science.  This book is the former, though a very good example of it.


I Rated this book 2 Stars, though I will read it again, and I suggest that your read it:

1)  If you are either a Christian looking for some scientific evidence that God exists, beyond your faith, or

2) If you do not believe in God, because of scientific evidence, but your want to be more educated.

Get One, and Get Knowledge!

Book Review: Good News for Those Trying Harder by Alan Kraft

I came to this book because I longed for an emotional & spiritual experience which I perceived that other followers of Jesus the Christ all had, or said they had, when they became followers of Jesus. I was literally crying out for something more, something deeper, something real from my faith.  If you would like to know more about my spiritual journey, and why "crying out," is not something that would surprise me, read my article on my conversion experience called Diving In, an Act of Faith.

It was actually recommended by Amazon when I finished another book, The Barbarian Way: Unleash the Untamed Faith Within by Erwin Raphael McManus, so I bought it. It rocked my world.  It rocked my spiritual world first, but it ripped the foundations off of my life in the "World."  I will never be the same again.  

Before I tell you what I learned and what else I thought of the book, let me tell you a little about the author.   Alan Kraft is the lead pastor of Christ Community Church, Greenly, Colorado, and he is both a husband of many years and a father of several ages of children.  He has lived life, made mistakes, admits them, and is willing to share what he has learned with us. 


I recommend this book  to anyone who does not believe that they have not yet experienced “brokenness, faith or a personal relationship with Jesus" at the levels they once expected or hoped for. If you long for the “Peace of God that surpasses all understanding,” (Philippians 4:7) then this book is for you.

I recommend this book with even more urgency if your life is full of fear.  I don't mean spiritual fear, (like fearing God, fearing you are not worthy, fear of death), though it will help with that too.  I mean fear of anything in your life that is tangible or not.  If you are tired of being chased by the same anxiety; if you think a lot, "I can not catch a break," or you are having trouble sleeping because of the pressure in your life, this is a MUST READ.

If you have the world by the tail, and you really are "all that," you won't like this book.

In the reading of "Good News for Those Trying Harder,"  I discovered three things that I was lacking and looking for.

1) A personal relationship with Jesus.  I had asked friends at two churches in two states what a "personal relationship with Jesus," was, and what it felt like, because I was tired of the "Jesus Speak," I always heard from Christians like myself when speaking about Jesus.  I really did not know what it meant.  One church, only members answered.  Even though it was a monitored page and the pastors read it, no one who was trained answered.  The people said things like, "it's just like your relationship with other people." and the like.  NO IT IS NOT.  It is mind blowing and emotional, and it is all over the Gospel and can even be found throughout the old testament.  This book tells you where it is in the Bible and even shows you how to start down the path.  It will make you cry.  It will make you happy.  It will make you safe.

2) An Emotional Recognition of my Brokenness beyond the technical definition of sin we have all heard so many times before.  I discovered just exactly how I could discover what my sins really were, and that brought me to the floor, face down, several times.  Way past mind blowing.  Deeply soul stretching.


3)  An understanding of the roles of the Holy Spirit, Jesus and God the Father in my prayer life and in my mortal life.  I have always wondered what the deal was with the Trinity.  Why the doctrine was created by man, justified by scripture and memorized by millions, but not understood by anybody.  I discovered the sameness of God.  I discovered the Power of grace in the three parts of God, and most importantly to me, I discovered the universality of the Gospel.  How it applies to my life in all its aspects, every moment of the day, and just how amazing grace really is.

I don't know if these things were the intended messages of the book, but I do believe that the Holy Spirit and the Bible support the messages that I got for my life, and I suspect it will in your life as well.

Book Review: The Barbarian Way: Unleash the Untamed Faith Within by Erwin Raphael McManus

After reading the first few paragraphs, it was clear to me that Erwin Raphael McManus was attempting to illustrate how "civilized" most Christians have become and how far from the standard of behavior and passion that Jesus set for us in his life and ministry. Such a rich background of real life stories, both from the author's life and from history, illustrate the point, that is hard to imagine how anyone who reads this book will not have the leash holding their faith back from extraordinary actions ripped from their necks. I want to paint my face blue, wear animal skins and break all the rules for the Lord Jesus. I have, in fact, changed my behavior and my reaction to the world has been significantly altered. This is not only a Must read, it is a must do type of book.

As I was reading this book, and I am a sloooooowww reader and I still only took less than 1 day to finish the first time, I first thought that this was a book that people who have accepted Jesus as Lord decades ago would have a very good chance of capturing the power and purpose they and always hoped to have, but missed. Yet, the more I read, it became obvious that New Christians would also benefit from this book, and might even get to miss the "lack of wonder" stage that so many Christians go through soon after accepting Jesus into their lives. It even occurred to me that leaders, students, employees, athletes and children could all learn how to face their fears and act with power. Pretty much, if you love Jesus, and you want to be in the kingdom as a warrior rather than a busboy, then read this book.

The book starts by explaining why Jesus was so unaccepted by the world when he was in it, and relates that to the behavior of a Barbarian, while at the same time relating the religious community to the "Civilized." This is done artfully by juxtaposing scripture and other historical examples. He tells two stories from his own life, both early life as a Christian, and his family life, that had me crying. Not because of how 'sad' or 'funny' they were, but because without really trying, he had found the weakness of my own actions and behaviors, and that of the religious institutions of our own time, and opened my ears to the call of the Lord. And he did call. And I did hear. It scared me it was such a powerful moment.

He goes on with the same high craft to tell us how we can change our own lives, so that we can life a life a true freedom and by so doing be the changed person we are called to be. This is not manuscript of philosophy, but rather a way to under stand the word of God through the Holy Spirit withing you. This is a how to book, though the only how to is how to be a barbarian for Jesus. The Holy Spirit and the Word of God do the rest of the telling, but once the fog of my entire life was lifted from my eyes, and I saw Jesus' life for what it was, everything was changed.

There was one line of scripture in the first few pages that I felt he took out of context, and that interpretation permeated the entire book, but in the end, the miss us of one word, Fire, turned out to be totally unimportant. I could describe this book as an attack on Orthodox Churches, even my own, but that would be cynical. He really did not attack any Church. He attacked my understand of the power of God, and he was right.

Plug into this book, but leave 3 hours, because once you buy it, you will not put it down happily.