The Truth About the Lordship of Christ by John MacArthur

Admittedly, I was drawn to this book because of the author.  I recognized his name as a noted modern conservative theologian – but I had never actually read anything by him.

It was a pleasant surprise.

Although I didn’t agree with everything MacArthur discussed in the bindings of his book, there were many areas that I did enjoy.  MacArthur delivered a hard hitting message regarding love and hate in the Bible.  He also openly calls out those who are two faced, suggesting that “all those who are outwardly identified as the people of God are not inwardly the people of God” (16).

Along the same idea, he says: “Being a genuine Christian means to exhibit the character of Christ and, thus, to be treated as He was treated” (17).  In fact, he goes on to say that “suffering is God’s way of maturing His people spiritually” (49).

This was all very agreeable.

MacArthur, of course, takes a Calvinist approach talking about eternal destination, beginning to talk about “God’s hatred for the wicked” (8).  This, and the subsequent study of the right of the human to hate other humans, was where I didn’t exactly see eye to eye with Mr. MacArthur.

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I am Second, by Dave Sterrett and Doug Bender, forward by Colt McCoy

The idea behind the book is to put God first in your life, and to be “second.”  It is a very interesting premise, and is a very helpful tool for devotional material for any youth group setting.  However, with that said, I found the videos to be a better presentation than the book.  Although the book had some valuable things to say, and said them in greater detail, the videos tended to be a quicker way to get the same message across in a much more effective medium.

With that said, the book remains a solid tool for reaching young people, and for small group settings.  I liked the book, but I found the videos equally good, if not better.

America: The Last Best Hope Vol III written by William Bennett.  I’ve got to admit, I am a sucker for these types of commentaries.  I love reading about American Politics, especially modern politics.  I was expecting a strict party bias, and found myself to be little bit surprised.

This book opens with what seems to be an attempt to rehabilitate President George H. W. Bush’s image.  Although I do not doubt the deep relationship that these two had, I don’t think that it was entirely necessary or relevant to note.  Regardless, the book then launches into an interesting piece on the ’88 primaries.

In this section, I found myself to be quite impressed with the author’s response to the statement: “The Christians have won.”  Bennett replied by saying that this “was the wrong way to campaign and think: campaigns should not be based on religious balkanization or sectarianism like that” (4).  After reading this, I discovered a new respect for the author.  One thing that really bothered me in the first chapter, however, was the author’s praise of Bush’s attempt towards bipartisanship (19), while later outlining that he ‘pledged’ to not have any new taxes (37).  Nothing says bipartisanship quite like pledging to not do what the other guys want.  I do, however, find the book to bring a lot of clarity to Bush’s unpopularity with the right.  It explains the many reasons why moderates lost faith in him, and voted for Clinton in the subsequent election.

The book continues through the Clinton presidency, into the 2000 election, W. Bush’s election, and finally, the rise of Barack Obama.  As I said, I was expecting a man who was unshakably Republican-accepting no substitutes, however, I was impressed with his handling of Barack Obama.  Many of the other books I have read about Obama (written by members of the GOP) have held him in poor regard.  Bennett seems to merely present the facts (albeit with a few obvious biases).

This book was one of the better books I’ve reviewed, and would be helpful to those who are looking for a general overview of this historic period.