Allen Raynor Weblog:
“Recommended Reading from Summer 2019”
(Sept. 25, 2019)
Over the
summer months, I have been privileged to read some great books that I want to
share with you and encourage you to read for yourself if you get the
opportunity. These are given in no
particular order.
There are a growing number of atheists in our
country. Engaging with them can often be
difficult. Where do you start? What item(s) might potentially be the most
impactful. How do you prepare? These questions and more are covered in David
Robertson’s great book titled Engaging
with Atheists: Understanding their World; Sharing the Good News. Many believers are fearful of engaging with
those with a different worldview. One
finds there are a lot of misconceptions atheists have about Christians, the
Bible, church, and even history. Sharing
with them may be a long process over time, but there can be tremendous victory
in some cases. Even men like C. S.
Lewis, Alistair McGrath, and Antony Flew moved from atheism to theism because
of evidence they simply could not deny.
Satan is a
master as working under cover. However,
the evidence of his work is all
around, yet he somehow gets people to go so far as to even doubt his
existence. He is the adversary of every
believer and we must take him
seriously if we are ever going to have victory over him. I found Joel R. Beeke’s book Fighting Satan: Knowing His Weaknesses,
Strategies, and Defeat very helpful.
Beeke is one of my favorite authors.
He is doctrinally sound and approaches it from a strong Scriptural standpoint.
We must realize how Satan fights and
what we need to do to fight back and quit being fooled.
One of the
more eye-opening books I have read in a while is the carefully researched and
well-presented book by Dennis Kirkland called Mormons and Muslims: A Case of Matching Fingerprints. There are an astonishing number of
similarities between these two religions beginning with their origins and
continuing with major doctrines and practices.
There are numerous similarities that may not be seen by those not
particularly familiar with both religions.
Both view Jesus much the same way, as well as the afterlife, society,
sex, polygamy, and many other practices in similar terms. Kirkland gives and explains what he refers to
as 25 sets of matching fingerprints.
This book is an enlightening read!
There are
many books available on the subject of Heaven.
Most all that I have read are good for various reasons. Some explore related issues that other books
do not. Some are short, concise, and to
the point in answering questions, others are in depth and provide a great deal
of facts and information. Others, such
as Paul R. Williamson’s book Death and
the Afterlife: Biblical Perspectives on Ultimate Questions take a more
scholarly, historical approach. I was
sort of expecting this book to tell me that much of what I thought I knew was
wrong, but it actually did just the opposite.
He traces belief and understanding of the afterlife through the Old
Testament, the intertestamental period, and through the various writers of the New
Testament. He also does a very good job
of explaining the difference between the present “Heaven” and the “Eternal
State” of the New Heavens and New Earth.
It is very well thought out and very thorough.
Jack
Graham’s book Angels: Who They Are, What
They Do, and Why It Matters was interesting and helpful on the subject of
angels. Angels are busy doing God’s work
all the time and we seldom give them any thought, but it is fascinating to
consider how they work to carry out God’s eternal plans. If you would like to know more about angels,
this is a great read!
I found
Maurice S. Rawlings’s book To Hell and
Back: Life After Death – Startling New Evidence very interesting and
compelling. Rawlings explores claims of
near death experiences, out of body experiences, some things related to the
occult, the new age, issues related to a biblical view of hell and issues
related to a biblical view of Heaven.
The book is thought provoking and hard to put down once you begin
reading.
Chip
Ingram’s book Culture Shock: A Biblical
Response to Today’s Most Divisive Issues is enjoyable, encouraging, and
compelling in the same manner as other Ingram books I have read. This book accompanies a video curriculum I
taught through over the summer on Wednesday Evenings in the church I
pastor. Ingram offers genuine,
heart-felt teaching and insight about how believers can respond lovingly and without
compromising truth to issues such as God’s design for sexuality, the
environment, abortion, politics, and addresses the issue of “truth” itself and
shows how standards once in place are no longer in place and how society has
changed dramatically because of it.
I hope you are able to read at least a
few of these great books in the weeks and months ahead!
In Christ,
Dr. Allen Raynor, Pastor