Twelve Unlikely Heroes by John MacArthur gives a short biography of 12 biblical characters: Enoch, Joseph, Miriam (Moses' sister), Gideon and Samson, Jonathan (Saul's son and David's best friend), Jonah, Esther, John the Baptist, James the brother of Jesus, and Mark and Onesimus. Each account take the biblical scriptures and stories of these figures and retells the stories. Although I usually like John MacArthur's work, this book was very dry for me. I've heard the bible stories since I was a child and it was very boring for me to go through the same old stories once again. The story of Jonah and the whale again? I also found the lesser known stories to be stretched with lots of material that wasn't directly relevant. Example: Enoch is barely mentioned in the bible. Perhaps 4 verses in the entire Bible. So how did MacArthur turn these 4 verses into a 20 page chapter? By going off topic and teaching on other things that do not directly relate to Enoch: like Noah, a long discussion of walking a life with God, forgiveness of sin, the substance of faith, fruit of righteousness, and preaching the truth. If you haven't heard these stories in a while, you might enjoy this book. But for those of us who grew up with them, we will probably be kind of bored with hearing the same stories again, stretched into 20 pages per story.
Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher for this unbiased review. I
am not required to give positive reviews.
SKIP IT: Cruel Harvest by Fran Grubb
This was a very unpleasant true story about a teenage girl who was raped along with her sister by their father. The girls and their mother were brutally beaten to the point of near death again and again. I was shocked at how horrible a life these women had to live under the hands of a mad man. I couldn't help but cringe through the entire book. It was so unpleasant to read and this is why I can't recommend it. It is important that it is a true story and because it is true it shows just how sick and depraved people can become. The author did a good job writing this book. I just found the detailed beatings to be very dis-tasteful. This book is certainly for adults only. The book has barely any Christianity in it at all and the parts it has are just one of the girls prayed here or there. This shouldn't really be considered a Christian book in my opinion. I also felt like the book's Christian view of forgiveness is a worldly view of forgiveness and not a true Christian view of forgiveness. The girl forced herself to "forgive" her evil father even though he never changed because she was afraid of God holding her sins against her and her ending up in hell because of it. This isn't Christianity. Or at least not true or good Christianity. We are saved by faith alone. Jesus paid for all our sins and this is what saves us. We do not earn or keep our salvation by doing good works like forgiveness. Our motivation to forgive is because God forgave us. Not because we go to hell if we don't forgive. Most people misunderstand the beatitudes and take that verse to mean something it doesn't mean. Please research it yourself to learn there are no requirements or works we must perform for salvation. They are all done by Jesus Christ.
Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher for this unbiased review. I am not required to give positive reviews.
Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher for this unbiased review. I am not required to give positive reviews.
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