Book Reviews: Wisdom Hunter and Shadow Government

Wisdom Hunter by Randall Arthur follows the life of a “hellfire and brimstone” preacher who, eventually, comes to realize the love and grace of God and the error of his legalistic, intolerant, know-it-all ways. He undergoes a series of crushing traumas that cause him to question everything he’s ever been taught (and subsequently taught others) including the existence of God. Eventually, he is reconciled with God with a more clear and valid theology and a more loving nature and his beliefs are strong and unshakable because of the depth of his questioning. Unfortunately, I grew up with a pastor such as the “before” version of this main character so I identified well with the book.

I also had the opportunity to take the “plank” out of my own eye before worrying about my brother’s splinter. There are times that I get too judgmental over the “right” or “wrong” doctrine when, in fact, some things are non-negotiable, but a good many are unknowable. This book does a great job gently and kindly bringing you back to the truth of the Bible versus the cultural spin we put on scripture and call it the truth. I think just about everyone needs a reminder of this now and then.

Wisdom Hunter was a great, fictional story of spiritual maturity, repentance, forgiveness, mercy, grace and restoration. Also hard to miss is the theme that when we try to control our own lives, our circumstances eventually spin out control, but when we surrender to God’s ways and God’s timing, he never forsakes us.

I would strongly recommend Wisdom Hunter as an excellent read with fiction that easily translates into spiritual reality.

Unfortunately, I don't have any copies of this book to give away, but you can buy the book here:
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781601422996&ref=externallink_mlt_wisdomhunter_sec_0908_01
Here't the summary from the publisher:

Pastor Jason Faircloth knows what he believes. His clear faith, in fact, is why he is one of the most prominent pastors in Atlanta. He relies on it to discipline his daughter, his wife, his church. He prays daily that others would come to see God’s ways as he does.

And it is about to cost him everything.

Groping for answers in the face of tragedy, Jason begins a search for the only family he has left: the granddaughter kept hidden from him. Soon he finds himself on an international adventure that will take him straight into the depths of his soul. He is determined not to fail again.

A fast-paced suspense novel rich in spiritual depth, Wisdom Hunter explores what it means to break free of Christian legalism—and discover why grace can mean the difference between life and death.


Shadow Government by Grant Jeffrey discusses the technological age of the 21st Century, the “flattening” of the world with the spread of globalization, changes to modern governments and politics and how this all merges with up end-times prophecy and the ability of the Antichrist to rule the world. While I do agree that Big Brother is a real threat to our personal freedoms and that modern institutions do have a number of factors in place to align with Biblical prophecy, I thought Shadow Government was a little paranoid and far fetched in some areas. The points raised by Grant Jeffrey are certainly ones we should think about, but I didn’t find the book entirely credible to take all its claims at face value.

I don't have any copies of this book to give away, but you can buy the book here:
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781400074426&ref=externallink_wbp_shadowgovernment_sec_0908_01
Here's the summary from the publisher:

Security cameras, surveillance of private financial transactions, radio frequency spy chips hidden in consumer products, eavesdropping on e-mail correspondence and phone calls, and Internet tracking. No one is protected, and privacy is a thing of the past.

An ultra-secret global elite, functioning as a very real shadow government, controls technology, finance, international law, world trade, political power, and vast military capabilities. These unnamed, unrivaled leaders answer to no earthly authority, and they won’t stop until they control the world.

In Shadow Government, prophecy expert Grant Jeffrey removes the screen that, up to now, has hidden the work of these diabolical agents. Jeffrey reveals the biblical description of Satan’s global conquest and identifies the tools of technology that the Antichrist will use to rule the world.

Readers will have their eyes opened to the real power that is working behind the scenes to destroy America and merge it into the coming global government. Armed with this knowledge, readers will be equipped to face spiritual darkness with the light of prophetic truth.

These books were provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

Pack Your Own Bags!

I thought I'd share a piece of wisdom from Graham Cooke's A Way in the Wilderness:

There's a difference between luggage and baggage. When you go on vacation, you pack your own LUGGAGE. You are excited and happy and you look forward to the process. You fill it with your favorite things -- the things that make you look and feel good, the things that make you comfortable. And you always leave room to bring something back.

BAGGAGE is always packed by someone else and it makes you feel terrible about yourself. It's the lies other people have said about you -- the life they've given you -- that's heavy and destructive and hurtful.

We need to stop carrying around our baggage. We need to leave it at the cross (the execution stake). We don't want to just empty it out -- we want to leave the whole mess there, bags and all, and burn it!

We pack our luggage with God. God is never past/present with us; He's always present/future with us. We pack our luggage and LEAVE ROOM TO BRING SOMETHING BACK (the future version of us we will become).

I've been listening to an 8 disk teaching series by Graham Cooke entitled, "A Way in the Wilderness". He talks about the lessons God teaches us as we go through "wilderness experiences". Graham teaches to love the "valleys" even more than the mountain top experiences because it's in the times of God's hiddenness that we really learn the lessons of how God thinks. If we can live by faith in the wilderness, we can do anything.

Alan Redpath once said, "There is nothing, no circumstance, no trouble, no testing that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has come past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose."

A lot of people I know and love, myself included, are going through wilderness times right now. It's hard. It's unpleasant. It's especially draining when the battles last months or years.

But I have a feeling. A teeny, tiny feeling in the bottom of my heart that a lot of these long, long wilderness times are about to be over. I think we're almost at the end of the valley and starting the climb to the mountaintop.

I hope I've learned well the lessons intended for me.

Feeling Frenzied? Stressed? Overwhelmed?

I feel like someone turned a blender on in my chest and I'm so overwhelmed I don't know where to run first (quite frankly, I just want to crawl back into bed and hide). So when I ran across the prayer below in Joanna Weaver's book, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, I knew I had to share it.

And for those of you who are wondering, although the book is excellent, I still look like Martha on steroids and look little or nothing like Mary!

The Lord Is My Pace Setter

The Lord is my pace setter. I shall not rush
He makes me stop for quiet intervals
He provides me with images of stillness which restore my serenity
He leads me in the way of efficiency through calmness of mind and his guidance is peace
Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day, I will not fret, for his presence is here
His timelessness, his all importance will keep me in balance
He prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of my activity by anointing my mind with his oils of tranquility
My cup of joyous energy overflows
Truly harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruits of my hours for I shall walk in the pace of my Lord and dwell in his house forever.
(A version of the Twenty-third Psalm from Japan)

Love is in the Air

Love is in the air! I have three books to review today and have one copy of each to give away. To enter the drawing to win, please e-mail your name and mailing address to seewhykinsman@gmail.com. Please specify the book you would like to win. Of course, you can request your name be placed in the drawing to win one, two or all three of the books. If you tell me your favorite trait about your spouse, I will enter your name twice in the drawing(s) you request to increase your chances of winning. Also, check back tomorrow for ANOTHER book review and giveaway! All winners will be drawn on Friday, February 13th! Good luck!


My longtime readers may recall last summer I reviewed For Young Men Only, a book to teach young men about relationships and what young women really think, feel and desire in a mate. The authors had previously written books for men, women, and young women. NOW, a box set is available, For Couples Only, containing For Men Only and For Women Only. These books are fabulous. The authors have conducted a scientific study to reveal the secret mind and heart of the opposite sex. It's impossible to read the book about your own sex without nodding your head and exclaiming, "Yes! Why can't my spouse understand this?" Just as it's equally impossible to read the book about the opposite sex without saying a million times, "Really? Is this really how they feel? How could I not know this?! Now their behavior makes so much more sense to me!" This book set is an excellent tool for one or both members of a couple to understand each other and improve their relationship and communication. Ladies, you'll even find out why men won't ask for directions . . . yes, there really is a reason and it makes sense, too. This book will definitely improve your relationship, communication and understanding of the opposite sex, and help you articulate to your significant other how you feel and why!

For Couples Only is available here at www.amazon.com and other booksellers. Below is the summary from the publisher:

Summary: Since their debut, these revolutionary guides have sold well over a million copies, been translated into fifteen languages, and sparked much fascinating water-cooler conversation around the country. Now together in the For Couples Only boxed set, these books provide the perfect resource to help you understand what you never knew about the woman or man in your life.

Each volume is based on input from more than a thousand members of the opposite sex—including an unprecedented nationwide survey and hundreds of personal interviews. This innovative approach yields candid and surprising answers about everything you don’t “get” about your significant other—even what that person deeply wishes you knew. It also produces simple but groundbreaking awareness of how you can best love and support the one who is most important to you.

So whether you are newly dating or have been married fifty years, get ready to know each other in a whole new way. The adventure is just beginning!

Cheryl & Jeff Scruggs share their story of marital restoration following an affair in their book, I Do Again. Cheryl and Jeff seemed to have the perfect marriage; “Ken and Barbie” is how they were described by friends. But their marriage was superficial and for a lot of complex emotional reasons, Cheryl had an affair. After ten years of marriage, they got divorced. Then they each became Christians and Cheryl became convinced the Lord told her to pursue reconciliation. Jeff did not hear the same message until years later, and seven years after their divorce, they remarried much to the delight of their twin daughters.

I Do Again is, of course, a book about building a God-centered marriage and the restoration, healing and forgiveness that can only be possible with God’s supernatural power. But it is so much more than a book about marriage. It is a book about spiritual maturity – both Cheryl and Jeff needed to develop into mature Christ followers before they could even consider being the type of spouses God intended them to be. It is a book about how we truly become new creations – completely new people – when we build a relationship with Jesus. . . and it is a book about how this transformation is not magical, easy, or something that happens overnight. Such transformation only occurs through the diligent pursuit of a daily relationship with the Master, learning and re-learning God’s lessons, and obedience to His will, not our own.

Finally, I Do Again is a book about pursuing the promises of God, even when you are weary, even when you have no worldly confirmation, even when you have no evidence God is working; in fact, sometimes we have evidence that seems contrary to what God has promised. Cheryl Scruggs’ perseverance (with falls, missteps, and sometimes backwards progress) for SEVEN YEARS really spoke to me. It encouraged me to keep waiting for God to be God and do what He promised, in His way and on His timetable in my own life.

Below is a summary from the publisher. I Do Again is available here at www.amazon.com and other booksellers.

Summary: With their professional success and adorable twin daughters, Jeff and Cheryl Scruggs looked like the perfect couple. But their polished facade concealed a widening chasm between two people unable to connect on an intimate, soul-deep level.

After years of frustration, Cheryl’s desire for emotional fulfillment led to an affair and, finally, divorce. Yet, incredibly, seven years later, Jeff and Cheryl once again stood at the altar, promising to “love, honor, and cherish” one another. A new and vibrant love had risen out of the ashes of this family’s pain.

I Do Again details the fascinating real-life story of a couple whose relationship seemed shattered beyond all hope until a spiritual awakening led them to reconsider their definitions of “happily ever after.” A riveting account of the power of prayer and redemption, this remarkable book offers renewed hope for even the most troubled marriages—and reveals why the rewards of restoration are well worth the wait.

Gary Chapman, author of The Five Love Languages now has a book entitled, Love as a Way of Life Devotional. This book is a 90 day devotional which seeks to show God's love for us and encourages us to love others as God loves us. Human beings are selfish, self-centered, inwardly-focused creatures. It is impossible for us to truly love unconditionally and unselfishly because it's not in our nature to do so. Only by accepting and understanding God's love, and with His divine help, can we then love others, truly love them, as God intended. This devotional will demonstrate how to love and will movtivate your prayer life and spiritual growth to enable you to love others with God's perfect love. It's a companion to the book, Love as a Way of Life, which I will definitely be buying and reading as well!

This book is available here at www.amazon.com and other booksellers. Below is a summary from the publishers:

Summary: In his book Love As a Way of Life, best-selling author Gary Chapman shows readers how to cultivate a new lifestyle built around the seven characteristics of authentic love. Now in a companion devotional, he provides ninety inspirational readings to help Christians consistently live out the characteristics of love in every relationship.

Each devotional entry showcases biblical truths that guide a life of love, offering fresh insight and practical guidance in how to make love a lasting habit. Over the course of three months, readers will learn to follow God’s lead as they practice the characteristics of a loving person: kindness, patience, forgiveness, courtesy, humility, generosity, and honesty.

The Love As a Way of Life Devotional makes an ideal gift for the holidays or for any special occasion. Couples, parents, new graduates, and anyone celebrating a milestone in life will welcome this inspiring daily guide to richer, more satisfying relationships.

Valentine's Day -- What's Love Got to Do With It?

Next week is Valentine’s Day. I’m not a fan.

What matters to me is how my husband treats me 365 days a year.

I would rather have a husband who vaccuums without complaint, not one who brings home a dozen roses.

I would rather have a husband who scratches my back anytime I want and for as long as I need it, not one who brings me chocolates.

I would rather have a husband who invites me for lunch on a random Tuesday just because he misses me, not one who “must” spring for a fancy dinner “because it’s Valentine’s Day.”

Come to think of it, I would rather have a husband who will go out for Mexican again even though he wants steak, “because I want you to be able to find something to eat so you can enjoy your meal, too.” (Mexican can be very vegan friendly versus the paltry offerings at most steak houses!)

I look at young couples who are “so much in love” when they get married. Then they hit their first rocky patch or have their first major fight, and they’re so shocked. They figure they must have made a mistake and start looking for a way out of the marriage. Ha! We didn't have any unrealistic attitudes about marriage. No "romantic" thoughts of it at all. In fact, one of the things I told my husband on our first date is, “You seem like someone I can fight with.” And we do fight sometimes. But I never have to worry that we’re skidding on the rocks. I don’t have to worry that he’ll leave because it’s difficult . . . because I’M difficult. I don’t have to worry he doesn’t love me, just because he may not like me right then. Because one of the first things my husband told me when we were dating is, “Marriage is hard. It’s not perfect. You take the bad with the good – and a lot of times there’s more bad than good. Marriage is a lot of work. Anything worthwhile is hard work.” And the best part is, even when we’re in the middle of a fight, if he speaks to a family member or friend, he’ll tell them I’m “wonderful” because he doesn’t want them thinking badly of me. One time he said to me, “I’m so happy we’re married, even when I’m angry enough to kill you.” A sense of humor makes all the difference in the world!

The grand gestures a couple of times a year don’t really matter. What matters are the small, every day gestures. Last night is a perfect case in point. My husband works very, very hard and he’s TIRED. He sleeps soundly at night and is almost “stumbling drunk” when awakened in the middle of the night. Last night I happened to be awake when he woke up to go to the bathroom about 3:00 a.m. As he crossed the bedroom, he encountered one of our Persians. I heard him say, “Hi Anna” and he bent down to pet her before continuing on to the bathroom. If you want to know the heart of a man, spy on him in the middle of the night when he’s tired and doesn’t know you’re watching!

So you can keep Valentine’s Day. We’ll just treat it like any other day.

BUT, in honor of Valentine’s Day, next week I will have a number of books to review and give away concerning relationships. So make sure you check in to read about them and enter to win!

Also, remember to head over to reducefootprints.blogspot.com today where I am the “guest chef”. Check the reduce footrpints blog often for helpful, entertaining, informative tips about how to walk softly on this fragile earth and leave only light footprints behind!

Book Review and Giveaway

Never Say Diet by Chantel Hobbs is an inspiring book with sensible nutrition and exercise tips. Chantel lost 200 pounds and kept it off. Her secret? Change your brain by committing to five decisions, change your eating habits for life and exercise regularly. In other words, there is no secret – just sensible decisions and habits that will result in lasting weight loss.

Chantel has you commit to exercise first – 30 minutes, 5 days a week. Once you get that habit under your belt, she has you start to modify your diet. Each week brings one or two changes so you can build lasting habits. The meal plan is very reasonable: 1,500 calories spread out over 5 meals a day. I especially like the fact that for awhile, she has you take charge of your food by making it “boring”. This eliminates the what-do-I-feel-like, food-is-entertainment, food-is-my-life routine. Once you have mastered all the habits over approximately 16 weeks, you then can begin to introduce “fun” food into your life again. This is not a diet, but a rest of your life eating plan so that you eat healthfully at least 80 percent of the time.

While Chantel doesn’t tell us anything new (reduce calories in, increase calories out, in a reasonable manner for sensible, long lasting weight loss), she will motivate you to get moving. Chantel focuses on the excuses we all fall back on to skip exercise and she will have none of it. Her story is so inspiring, it really is hard to come up with an excuse that sounds reasonable. I mean, if a 350 pound mother of three small kids can exercise every day even when her husband loses his job and her mother’s leukemia returns, how can I say, “I’m too busy” or “I’m too stressed” to exercise?! If she can progress from being breathless after 5 minutes on a recumbent bicycle to running marathons, how can I not commit to 30 minutes of exercise a day?

Chantel gives plenty of ideas for meals and snacks to eat, but stresses you take personal responsibility for your own meal planning. She also gives a number of exercises to do, including cardio and strength training, with a focus on exercises you can do with a stability ball, medicine ball, and a few light weights. The book includes a number of exercises with photos showing and describing every step. Usually, the “how to” exercise photos are hard to follow, but the ones in Chantel’s book are particularly good; I think this is because they’re real life photographs, not illustrations.

Chantel also stresses relying on God to help you when you can’t rely on your own strength – excellent advice!!! In addition to the book, Never Say Diet, there’s a 16 week Personal Fitness Trainer journal. Although the journal isn’t necessary, it certainly would be helpful in tracking your progress.

These books are available at www.amazon.com and other booksellers. Below is the summary from the publisher and information on the author.

GIVEAWAY: I have one copy of the Never Say Diet book and Personal Fitness Trainer journal to give away. Please e-mail your name and mailing address to seewhykinsman@gmail.com to be entered in the random drawing this Friday, January 16th. Good luck!

Summary: After years of failed diet attempts, Chantel Hobbs discovered the missing ingredient to permanent weight loss: to change your life, you first have to change the way you think.

She developed a balanced plan for exercise and nutrition and lost two hundred pounds. Now, through writing, speaking, and her work as a personal trainer, she inspires others to achieve far more than they thought possible.
In Never Say Diet, now available in trade paperback, Chantel provides everything readers need to lose weight for good, including:

Simple, step-by-step workout routines that fit into a normal weekday schedule

A realistic approach to nutrition that helps people break their bondage to food
Strategies for staying motivated when life takes unexpected turns

Keys to dealing with discouragement by relying on God’s strength

The secret to moving beyond past failures and getting over old excuses

Chantel helps readers make the five commitments that are necessary for changing their lives. Her high-energy, no-nonsense approach inspires readers to achieve results that last in body, mind, and spirit.

Personal Trainer: Her newest book, The Never Say Diet Personal Fitness Coach, now allows readers to have Chantel show up each week to inspire, encourage, and energize them on the journey to a healthy life that centers on body, mind, and spirit.

This fitness guide helps readers set new weight-loss goals and create an exercise schedule that works in the midst of life’s constant demands. Readers will be inspired with Scripture, and they will welcome Chantel’s healthy eating plan with simple, energy-and-nutrition-packed recipes. Weekly checklists and personal evaluations direct readers in reaching their goals. Plus, Chantel’s personal and entertaining stories provide the motivation needed to get through even the most frustrating days.

With Never Say Diet and The Never Say Diet Personal Fitness Coach readers will establish new fitness habits that burn off excess weight, increase strength, and establish a new, healthy way of living.

Maybe Adversity Isn't So Bad After All

I’m reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. It’s an excellent book about what really makes people successful (it isn’t what you think).

He tells the story of Jewish lawyers in New York in the 1950s.

Basically, if you were a graduate from a law school and you weren’t a WASP (white Anglo Saxon Protestant), you weren’t going to get hired by the exclusive New York firms. It didn’t matter how smart you were or where you went to law school, a Jew would NOT get hired.

So what was a Jewish lawyer to do? They started their own firms and did the work that was beneath the “white shoe” law firms — namely litigation and hostile corporate takeovers. These two types of law were far too adversarial for the genteel white shoe law firms.

Gladwell tells the story of one lawyer in particular, Joe Flom, who graduated at the top of his Harvard Law School class, practically without studying. He was interviewed by the most exclusive law firm in New York which told him, honestly, they were just meeting him on a lark. There was no way someone with his “antecedents” would be hired at their firm. Seriously, “antecedents” was the word they used.

Joe met up with four other Jewish lawyers who were starting their own firm. It was a huge risk because they had nary a client among them.

Joe joined them and became an expert in hostile takeovers. If you wanted to take over a corporation and you had the money for the best in the business, you hired Flom. He didn’t care if such adversarial work was “beneath him”. He had drive and desire and didn’t care what it took to succeed.

Fast forward 20 years. Suddenly, attorneys who did hostile takeovers were no longer looked down upon. In fact, they were in high demand. The white shoe law firms tried to jump on the bandwagon, but it was too late. Flom, and attorneys like him, alread had the experience and the reputation for being the best. The old school attorneys couldn’t catch up. Nowadays, Flom’s firm employs almost 2,000 attorneys in 23 offices around the world and earns well over $1 billion a year.

Gladwell writes, “[Flom] didn’t triumph over adversity. Instead, what started out as adversity ended up being an opportunity.”
Those words resonated in my head and heart and spirit last night. I’ve been discouraged and depressed because of my seemingly intolerable circumstances. What I needed to remember is that God often disguises our greatest opportunities as insurmountable problems. Of course, I knew that, but knowing something in your head and knowing in your spirit are two different things. I guess my spirit needed to be reminded!

Have a great weekend. Another book giveaway starts next week. If one of your New Year’s Resolutions has anything to do with diet, exercise and weight loss, you won’t want to miss Monday’s review.