Brief Note On ''Books I'm Reading'' and Christianity in Crisis

There's a new list over on the sidebar, a list of what's on my bedside stand right now. There are actually more -- I am a weird combination of ADD and an addicted reader. It's a family trait: my parents, my brothers and sister were the same. So is my wife. So are our daughters. Besides, I grew up poor and the library was free. Still is, in fact. I decided to start some sort of record and along with that some thoughts on some of the books.

First up is Christianity in Crisis. Those who are familiar with Hank Hanegraaf, either via his radio show (Bible Answer Man), his web site (www.equip.org) or his involvement with the Christian Research Insitute, won't be terribly surprised at the general direction of the work. He is thorough, and yet adopts a more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger approach. Bluntly, he lays out a case, citing the record, that the Gospel of Christ is being prostituted by the 'Faith Movement' types, the 'Name it And Claim It' (also known as the Blab it and Grab It approach) that ignore the issues of sin and repentance and instead emphasize health and wealth right now and God's obligation to grant it too, if we only recite the right incantations. From the 'Prayer Cloth' that a certain TV evangelist was hawking to all the excesses that we know about, Hanegraaf misses little. It's fascinating.
There are many parts of the Bible that reassure me and comfort me in my daily life. But there are others that cause me to be careful of what I say and do. Clearly, some of the persons named by him have overlooked those verses.