Author annatobey

Counterfeit Kingdom

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6/100

This book is about the New Apostolic Reformation known as NAR and its growing popularity. This “Christian” movement puts a lot of emphasis on signs and wonders, and teaches that God is giving new revelations through new apostles and prophets. This book is written by Holly Pivec and Douglas Geivett who argue that this movement distorts the Gospel, twists Scripture, is influenced by New Age beliefs, and leads astray many Christians. They say that what used to be on the fringes of the church is now mainstream, and many are being influenced by it unaware.

I am very grateful to be a member of a church where we literally go line by line in the Bible. My pastor takes each verse and tells us what it is saying in context to the rest of the Bible. This is called exegesis. My church is small. All of us know each other’s business and we hang out outside of Sunday service. I am probably the most emotional one at the church. I raise my hands, I clap, I sway, and I don’t shy away from shouting loud “amens” and “that’s rights'” when our Pastor says beautiful truths about God and the work Jesus did! When we pray, I remember I am in the presence of the Holiest of Holies, and tears usually sprout. When we take communion and I am reminded of the body and blood of Christ broken and shed for me, and if taken incorrectly, I may die; I somberly hold the precious wafer and cup and weep. This is my faith, this is my God, and these are my people. The saints who won’t only worship with me on Sunday, but who will live on eternally with me in Heaven.

I say all of this because I do believe emotions are important in worship. I am moved by God’s Spirit when Scripture is read or when we worship Him through singing. Even when I see a beautiful painting or am awestruck by nature, I praise God for He truly is glorious. Everywhere, I see His hand in so many things. Emotions with no basis in truth though are dangerous.

In the book Counterfeit Kingdom, it starts off with a tragedy. A child has died, and the parents do not plan a funeral, but hold a special “resurrection” service. They have believers pray for their child to come back to life. The world looks on, but a week later, they must face the inevitable and a private memorial service is held. I remember this happening, and having had mixed feelings. I wanted the little girl to live, but I knew she wouldn’t. I don’t have a problem knowing that I will never completely understand God, I am the creation after all, but I do know that God is not a genie. Miracles are rare, that’s why they are miracles. Many times, it is through loss and pain that the deepest lessons are learned. Behind any great person in history, is a life full of lessons learned through pain and struggle. This world is full of sin, and we long for it to stop because we know it is wrong. One day sin will be gone, and this world will be perfect, but that day is yet to come.

This book pointed out the danger in this new philosophy where we can demand blessings from God. Where sickness, illness or trials in a Christian’s life are due to sin or worse, a lack of faith. The book explains how subtly the Christian world is adopting a new idea that all Christians all the time should be wealthy, healthy and thriving in all worldly things.

James 1:2 says: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, WHENEVER you face trials of many kinds
2 Corinthians 4:17 says: For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
Jesus says in John 16:33: In this world you will have trouble.
Jesus says again in John 15:19 – If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Psalm 119:71 encourages us by saying: It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.
2 Corinthians 12:9 – . . .my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Romans 5:3-5 speaks to us on how we should respond to suffering. “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Here is a picture of some Christians probably in the 1st century.

God does bless us. He has blessed me without measure (2 Cor. 9:8). He has healed and mended my broken soul (Isa. 53:5). Because of His Son, I am worthy to be a child of God (Gal. 3:26). I can’t even imagine what God has in store for me (I Cor. 2:9) in Heaven. My best life isn’t here, it isn’t now, but is yet to come.

I recommend this book to any Christian wanting to know more about NAR and about just how popular this movement actually is. It is now mainstream and is affecting our younger generation more and more. I will soon be carrying this book at my bookstore.

This book was published in November of 2022.
It is 272 pages.
It has a Goodreads rating of 4.53
I gave it a 5 star rating.

Here is an older song that speaks on suffering:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQan9L3yXjc

The Outsiders – Book Review

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Book 5/100

Every high school English class has its go-to classics. In my English classes in Texas it was Inferno by Dante Alighieri, Beloved by Toni Morrison, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Firzgerald and others. In this area, I was introduced to The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I had never heard of this book an apparently it is a very common read for middle schooler around here! Classic literature is so different regionally.

This book was chosen to be our January book of the month for The Shire Bookstore and it was a great success! Our food theme were side dishes, and our dress theme was to dress as a Greaser or a Soc.

The Outsiders is the story of Ponyboy Curtis (yes, that’s his actual name) and his life as a Greaser. Their rival gang is the Socs and they are the rich kids that everyone wants to be. Ponyboy has two brothers and is very close knit with his gang brothers, especially since he is an orphan. Ponyboy and his friend Johnny get into trouble and have to flee to another city and hide out for a while. Johnny is badly injured and life lessons are learned.

Surprisingly this book about gangs and boys behaving badly was written by a teenaged girl! Because of this, I was a bit more lenient with my critique. I can see why this book would appeal to teenagers. I made my children read it for their English class and 3 out of 4 of them liked it. There is a coming-of-age feel to the book. The book was easy to read and there were many tender moment between the brothers, but it did feel a bit juvenile of them to be hugging and holding each other all the time. The book had a strong emphasis on what it means to be family and taking care of one another.

We did also see the movie! That is another American classic in the movie world. I couldn’t believe how many famous actors were involved in that movie! And who knew Tom Cruse was such an ugly duckling? The movie does follow the book closely.

Overall the book was good. I give it a 3.8 stars out of 5. I recommend this book to middle and high schoolers. The book has no cuss words or sex scenes. The violence is minimal.

This book was publish April of 1967
This book is 208 pages long
It has a Goodread rating of of 4.12

One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot – Book Review

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Book 4/100
Book Challenge: A book with a beautiful cover
Some spoilers ahead, so take caution!

This book was written by Marianne Cronin and is about a 17 year old girl named Lenni who has is terminally ill. She only has a few months to live and her perspective on life is one of urgency. Margot on the other hand, has lived a full life and is 83. She is relatively healthy and we get to travel back and forth between the present and Margot’s interesting life. Together between the life of Lenni and Margot there is 100 years worth of stories.

There were a lot of endearing moments in Margot’s story, but Lenni’s story was mostly sad. There is an interesting relationship that Lenni develops with the hospital’s spiritual adviser, Father Arthur. He is a clergy member and this is where I believe the book fell short for me. Lenni has so many questions about her life. She is about to die and a lot of her questions are very deep and Father Arthur doesn’t truly answer them. As a Christian, I was so frustrated with the dialogue between the two of them! The book towards the end even hints that Lenni may have jarred Father Arthur so much with her questions that he may have ended up questionig his own faith. She’s about to meet her maker and Father Arthur basically answers everything with “I don’t know”. We have the truth, Father Arthur, and in the end that is what Lenni was looking for. Also, the outright abandonment when life got tough was shocking. Lenni’s dad leaves her because he can’t handle seeing her waste away by her illness. Margot’s first husband leaves her when they suffer a devasting event, and Margot also leaves her second husband when the going gets tough! How can you love someone and just leave them to die alone! I would even understand if it was years of devestation, but all of these abandonments lasted months. And Margot running away to live as a lesbian in her 80’s and marry Meena, a woman who just used her, had me fuming. Meena only wanted Margot around when she needed moral support, and even then, she was elusive and never really invested in Margot. I was not happy for Margot and felt that in the end, Meena would leave her like she did multiple times because it wasnt convenient for her to stick around. Meena was not a good friend, and would be a worse partner.

This book does have a very good rating of 4.30 on Goodreads though. So there is a chance that you would like it. It has the feel of A Man Called Ove, so if you liked that book, there is a strong chance you will like this one. I just didn’t like it, but still gave it a solid 3 stars because the author does write beautifully.

This book was published in June 2021
It is 322 pages long

Remarkably Bright Creatures

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100 Book Challenge – A book recommended by a friend:
3/100

One of my favorite animals are octopuses. And yes, that is the correct plural form for “octopus”, you can also use “octopi” if you so please, either way is perfectly fine, but I digress. I love their extrodinary ability to camouflauge, their sacrificial love for their offspring, and their adeptness in fitting into tiny spaces. They truly are remarkable.

I picked up this book both because it was recommended by a friend and because one of the protagonist is an octopus living in captivity at the local aquarium where the book takes place. In the book, the octopus’s name is Marcellus and he is too intelligent for his own good. He develops an affection for and eventually a friendship with the night-shift cleaning lady named Tova. Tova is lonely. She lost her son 30 years in a drowning accident prior and has recently lost her husband. She is a hardworker and is facing the difficult decision of what to do with the rest of her life. She is elderly and wonders what will happen to her and her things when she dies. A widow and a childless mother, we see her come to terms with her pain, loneliness and eventual joy.

The book has some loveable characters, but Cameron ruined the book for me. Cameron is a young man who is looking for his dad in the small town where Tova lives. He is very annoying and frustrated me the whole time I was reading his story. If it weren’t for him, I would have given this book 4 stars instead of 3. I also wish the author – Ms. Shelby Van Pelt – would have ended the story a little different.

I recommend this book to readers who like contemporary fiction or who want to read something light with a sweet, happy ending. Although Marcellus doesn’t audibly speak to any of the characters, we are privy to his thoughts – which I found cute and witty. There are some minor cuss words used. There are no sex scenes or gore.

This book was published in May of 2022.
It is 360 pages.
A solid 3 stars out of 5 for me.

Hidden Pictures – Book Review

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Book Challenge: A book of your choice
2/100
Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

I don’t often read books with pictures in them. I think the last adult book that I read with pictures was A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. I will admit that the pictures in A Monster Calls did add a whole other dimension to my reading experience and Hidden Pictures did the same thing. Where A Monster Calls tugged at my soul, Hidden Pictures scared the mess out of me.

Hidden Pictures is about ex-addict Mallory Quinn and her goal to pursue a normal life after being in a half-way house. She has made several mistakes in her past and all she wants is to find a job where she can earn a living and make something out of herself. She soons finds a job nannying a little 5-year old boy, but his parents seem to be a bit over protective. The job comes naturally to her and she is also given living accomodations in a guest house towards the end on the couples large backyard. Soon things are not what they seem and Mallory starts experiencing things that made the hairs behind my nect stand on end! The creepy pictures that Teddy begins to draw also add another level of fright.

Hidden Pictures was entertaining. It wasn’t very deep, but at least the characters were easy to follow and likeable. The plot twist at the end completely shocked me. I didn’t see it coming at all. I think this book would fall under the genre of contemporary gothic fiction. There is a ghostly feel to the book and thankfully there were no graphic scenes of gore or sex.

I would recommend this book to anyone 15 years or older who likes stories of ghosts.
This book was published in May of 2022
It is 375 pages long.
I do not recommend this book in audio form due to the importance of the pictures found within it.
4 out 5 stars

The Shire Bookstore 100 Book Challenge

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Our very first annual 100 book challenge. What rank will you reach this year? I know that some of you read more than 100 books a year, so you should be able to reach Dragon status with ease! There is no need to go in order, you can mix it up as you like. The purpose of this challenge is to help get you out of reading slumps and hopefully open up new genres you didn’t know you would like!

Happy Reading!

Goblin
—- a book recommended by a friend
—- a book by an author you’ve never read
—- a book set in the past
—- a self-help book
—- a classic
—- a book with less than 250 pages

Barbarian
—- a book by an author with the same first, middle
       or last name as you
—- a book with a beautiful cover
—- a  book of your choice
—- a book by a female author
—- a book by a male author
—- a book with an amazing cover

Orc
—- a paperback book
—- a historical fiction book
—- a spy book
—- a book you think you’ll hate
—- a book by an author who has a different
      ethnicity than you

Fairy
—- a religious book
—- a book that is first in a series
—- a book set in another country
—- a used book
—- a magic realism book
—- a book about sports

Swamp Elf
—- a book over 100  years old
—- a history book
—- a book your mom or dad would read
—- a book where animals talk
—- a book of your choice

Gnome
—- a psychological thriller
—- a book that won a Pulitzer
—- a biography or memoir
—- a book with one word in the title
—- a children’s book
—- a graphic novel

Dwarf
—- a fantasy book
—- a book with a mythological character
—- a non-fiction book
—- a book on your bookshelf
—- a romance book

Hobbit
—- a young adult book
—- a fiction book
—- a mystery book
—- a book with pirates or mermaids in it
—- a book of your choice

Ranger
—- an independently published book
—- a health book
—- a book with 400 or more pages
—- a banned book
—- a sci-fi book
—- a book recommended on social media

Rogue
—- a book with two authors
—- a thriller or horror book
—- a dystopian book
—- a book with an animal on the cover

Sage
—- a black, red, or green book
—- a hardback book
—- an audio book
—- a book that won a prize
—- a book of your choice

Paladin
—- a book recommended by someone younger than you
—- a book set in the U.S.
—- an art or craft book
—- a book by an author that uses initials in their name
—- a book with a number in the title
—- a book by an author who shares your birth month
—- a play
—- a book on the New  York Times Bestseller list
—- a book in a genre  you’ve never read
—- a book published in the 1900’s

High Elf
—- a book written by John Grisham, Stephen King, James Patterson, Nora Roberts, Karin Slaughter or Colleen Hoover
—- a Christmas book
—- a book with an awful cover
—- a book written by a TV personality
—- a book recommended by someone older than you
—- a true crime book
—- a book about traveling or exploring
—- a book of your choice
—- a political book
—- a book about a king or queen
—- a book that was made into a movie

Wizard
—- a book published on the year you were born
—- a book set in Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Georgia or Texas
—- a mass market paperback
—- a book on plants or animals
—- a book made into a series
—- a book found at a thrift store or garage sale
—- an old book
—- a book of your choice
—- a book involving a war
—- a book about zombies or the apocalypse
—- a book by an author you love

Dragon
—- a book by an author of a different nationality than you
—- a book in a trilogy
—- a funny or humorous book
—- a poetry book
—- a book about books or a bookstore
—- a book on WWI or WWII
—- a book of your choice
—- a book from a book club or reading group
—- a book you think you’re not going to like


The Shire Bookstore
100 Book Challenge

Not a Fan of Fan Fiction – Kinda

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I have never read fan fiction. I had heard of it, but I truly didn’t know what it was all about.

This is why I Iove to recommend to readers that when they are in a reading slump, just ask their friends what they are reading. And that is what I did. I had no clue what I was getting myself into. My friend was reading Manacled by SenLinYu, and get this, there was no actual book. The only way that I could read Manacled was to read it online on a certain forum. No physical copies exist, unless you get the printed pages bound. And even that is looked down upon by the Fan Fic world.

Manacled is a Harry Potter FanFic story about an alternate world where Voldemort wins in the end. Not only has he won, but because so many of the Wizarding population has been killed due to the war, Voldemort has enacted a new effort to repopulate it. All of the characters we rooted for in the Harry Potter series are dead except Hermione. Harry, dead. Ron, dead. Tonks, dead. Moody, dead. All the other Weasleys, dead. Hermoine is left to rot in a dungeon cell, but is finally relased after months in solitary confinement. The new regime wants her memories because there is still someone out there who is causing havoc for those now in power. Maybe Hermione knows something that the Dark Lord has missed, but during her coninement, certain memories are locked behind a barrier within her mind that even Voldemort can’t penetrate. An idea crosses one of the interregators’ mind that Hermione should be used as a surrogate to help populate the diminished Magical population and through producing an heir, her memories would crack open. To Hermione’s horror, that is exactly what happens to her. With the help of special manacles, her magic is stiffled and cannot be used. She is trained and then is assigned to be the surrogate baby maker for none other than Draco Malfoy. And to help the Dark Lord, Draco will do anything – even sire an heir through Hermione – to get those memories she’s hidden and defeat, once and for all, the Order of the Phoenix.

I won’t lie. I was pleasantly surprised by this “book”. I was fearful of awful writing and unforgiveable grammar errors and spelling, but there were very few, if any. The writing style was also very different. The author didn’t have long paragraphs, but short snippets with paragraph spaces in between them which made reading the material somehow easier. Although the book was actually good, something didn’t quiet sit right with me. The author did an amazing job in making this alternate world. SenLinYu knew the world of Harry Potter extremely well, but to me something was off, and frankly the only thing off was that the author wasn’t J.K. Rowling. In my heart of hearts, its not what was intended. Harry is supposed to live. Hermione doesn’t end up with Draco, but with Ron. Draco settles with his struggles and Voldemort gets what he deserves. Manacled didn’t follow canon and that is why at the root of it all, I am generally not a fan of fanfiction.

But if you are . . . . .

Read this book! Or whatever it is.

Although I will warn any reader that this is definitely a book for adults only. There is gore, rape, toture and a tremendous amount of violence.

I still gave this book 4 stars because the story was very well developed even though I know Hermione would never love Draco!

You can read this book for free on AO3. Here is the link.

This book is 876 pages long. It has an astonishing GoodReads rating of 4.66. Over 56,000 people have rated this book. Words: 370, 256

Books Read: A to Z Challenge

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Every year I set out to read books with titles that begin with A – Z. I don’t include the artcles of title pages and sometimes bend the rules, specifically with harder letters like “X” or “Z”. Here is this year’s book list of The A – Z Challenge.

My rating system based solely on my opinion:
* – Trash, hated it. Bad writing, shallow characters, predictable. Stay away.
** – Didn’t like it. Won’t recommend
*** – It was okay. Probably recommend to someone if they like that specific genre or author. This may be just because I’m not into that specific genre, bad writing style, I didn’t like the ending, unnecessary length, wokeness, or there was a whiny character that annoyed me.
**** – Most books I liked will fall into this star rating. I would recommend, and I thoroughly enjoyed the book!
***** – Life changing. I now have a copy on my personal shelf

A – Augustine of Hippo – A Life by Henry Chadwick ***
B – Butcher and the Wren by Alaina Urquhart ***
C – Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff ****
D -Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver ****
E – Elektra by Jennifer Saint ***
F – Foster by Claire Keegan ****
G – The Good Lie by A.R. Torre ****
H – The Housemaid by Freida McFadden ****
I – Innocence by Dean Koontz ***
J – John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace by Jonathan Aitken *****
K – Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi *
L – Live Your Truth by Alisa Childers ****
M – Man Called Ove by Frerik Backman *****
N – Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo ****
O – Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen *****
P – Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell ****
Q – Quitters Inc by Stephen King ***
R – Relic by Preston and Child ***
S – Sour Grape by Jory John ****
T – Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris ***
U – Unseen Realm by Michael S. Heiser ***
V – Vuelta a Mexico by Judy Goldman ***
W – Weyward by Emilia Hart ****
X – The X-Files: Earth Children are Weird by Jason Rekulak ****
Y – You Are Not Your Own by Alan Noble ***
Z – Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius Within You by Ray Bradbury ***

I love this challenge because it really helps get me into looking into different books I would never consider. It also helps me discover new authors and genres I didn’t even know existed!

Happy readings!

What Moves the Dead – Book Review

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Book #13 of 2023 What Moves the Dead
By T. Kingfisher

I picked up the book “What Moves the Dead” solely because of the cover of the book. Very quickly the cliché “don’t judge a book by its cover” had proven true again, and the book was just okay.  The book is solid black with an image of a fungus infested hare. The fungus seems to have taken a life of its own, and seems to have entangled itself upon the helpless animal. The title also has an eerie ring to it, and you are left expecting a little fright. Frankly, the cover was better than the book!

The book is a reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Fall of the House of Usher”. In the book, the year is 1890 and Lt. Alex Easton has received a letter from her friend Madeline who has taken ill. As Easton approaches her friend’s home, there is obvious evidence that something is off with the house where Madeline lives. There is fungus everywhere and it seems like it has taken a life of its own. We later find out that Madeline is also not really herself. She speaks funny. She sleepwalks at night. Her brother who is taking care of her is also a little off. And the lake that sits near the house seems alive somehow.

The book is definitely a Gothic novel. I really think that Ms. Kingfisher is a great writer, but I do have a small bone to pick with her. In the book, Alex Easton is from a country named Gallacia. Gallacia is a made-up country and so is its language Gallacian. In the Gallacian language there are over 7 pronouns (ta, tha, than, var, ka, kan,va, van are some of them) used to describe male, female, their ages, their occupations, God, and even inanimate objects. I just don’t understand why there are so many, since it is made up I would have liked it to be a little easier. The book stops several times to talk and explain about the proper use of Gallacian pronouns. It seems awkward to include this, and I found Lt. Easton’s pronoun mentality very unappealing due to the fact that in the 1890’s, pronoun preferences were really not on anyone’s radar. Personally, I speak 2 other languages other than English, and I understand that pronouns can be tricky, but this made-up language felt needless in such a short book, and destroyed the growing suspense Ms. Kingfisher was building. Here is an excerpt of what I mean: “Of course va did. Va doesn’t mean to. Va slowed the process as much as va could, but va couldn’t help but feed a little.” Va is the pronoun used to identify that you are talking with a child according to Gallacian. So, the person speaking was talking about a child. Why not just say that? All of this pronoun verbiage ruined the flow of a very well written book. I would understand a book that included pronoun preferences if the book was set in the present, but this is the late 1800’s, in Englad. According to the book, the pronoun “ka” is genderless and applies to soldiers, so Lt. Easton kept that pronoun after her service, but this feels a bit too crammed for me. Even if Gallacian is a made up language, this whole pronoun arrangement seemed bias. It felt like Ms. Kingfisher had an agenda she wanted to shove down my throat and I didn’t appreciate it.

I can set all this aside though. The book was creepy and dark. It actually entered into my nightmares! My nightmare actually included digging long tapeworms out of my ear – thanks to the autopsy scene! The book was well written, but Lt. Easton just didn’t seem real. She was too “woke” for a person who lived in the 1890’s. The other characters were also okay, but because there was an imaginary country with its own language, there had to be some world building of its culture in the story. So instead of more story-telling or character development, we have so many more explanations that seem excessive for such a short book.

If you like Gothic books and don’t mind awkward pronoun usage, you will probably like this book.

I give this book 2.5 stars out of 5.
This book is 165 pages long and has a Goodreads rating of 3.96.
What Moves the Dead was published July of 2022.

Other books in this genre that I did enjoy and do recommend are:
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Beloved by Toni Morrison

John Newton – An Amazing Life

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Book #11 of 2023

For a reader, it is hard to judge books sometimes. The writing style may be great, but the content not so much. Sometimes, the book contains a great plot, but the writing fell short. Then there are books or characters who we can’t stomach because they are so cringey, and sometimes grammatical error causes us to wonder “who was their editor?”. Although all of these things may be true, mercifully, once in a while, a book comes along and changes our lives. The book touches our soul and inspires us to be better humans. It’s the kind of book that ends too quickly and then leaves us sad when we finish it. This is what John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace written by Jonathan Aitken was for me. It is a a biography of the man who famously wrote the classical hymn “Amazing Grace”. He was the man who counseled William WIlberforce to stay in politics and not become a preacher so he could to lead the way in the abolition of the British Slave Trade. Ahead of his time, he was a free thinker seeing how Christians not only need to pervade in church, but also in politics, culture and the secular realm.

I do believe in having Christian schools, Christian music, Christian literature, Christian art is important, but what John Newton’s philosophy was that Christians should teach well, make music well, write well and basically create well; and to do such a good job at what we do that the world notices our music, our art, our books. Culture shapes us, and I believe that the Church is not leading when it comes to contributing to it. We – to our chagrin – have let the culture permeate ours. Whatever you do, do it as if you would the Lord, unfortunately I think we have not done that.

If you are a jeweler, make great jewelry. If you are an author, write amazing stories. If you are an educator, teach your students and ignite their passions. Sometimes, I feel that we just want to create and because it has a “Christian” label, we say it is good. Or we wish to seperate ourselves so much from the world that we become obsolete. May this not be. We were made not only to share the Gospel and sanctify ourselves, but also we are to be like our Creator and create good things . Here is what Martin Luther says about this subject:

“The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.”

This book has gone on my shelves – and I am very picky about what goes into my shelf because these are the books I hope to pass on to my children or grandchildren. The book is now full of highlighted quotes and scribbles of thoughts and wondering.

Reading about the life of Mr. Newton before he came to salvation was shocking at time

He was a wretch of the worst kind, but Jesus saved him. “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I am found. Was blind, but now I see.” Mr. Newton along with his friend William Cowper wrote beautiful hymns about their love for God. Mr. William Cowper is another biography that I can’t wait to read. He struggled with depression and mental health problems and unfortunately took his own life. John Newton, several times intervened from Mr. Cowper’s suicidal attempts. Also, William Wilberforce, in a time when it was not popular, advocated for not only against the slave trade, but also the rights of animals and their proper treatement. Hannah Moore, another friend of Mr. Newton, was a proponent of teaching all children to read and write – another unpopular idea. Their faith is what moved them to then eventually move the culture. What minds surrounded such a man! I want to be like him! I want all kinds of minds and opinions around me – not just an echo chamber! I want to let the Word of God move me in such a way that it moves the culture around me. I want all that I touch to be the best and to honor God.

Christian, if you have a talent, use it for God’s glory! Be the best at it and let that talent shine on into the darkness that this world produces ad nauseum.

I highly recommend this book if you like biographies or if you want to be inspired by such a tumultous and simultaneously beautiul life as was the life of John Newton. The book is 328 pages long. This book is 5 stars out of 5!