Two primary take-aways for me were first of all to be sure that I know what I believe and why I believe it. We are to love God with all our heart, soul and mind. There is a lot of emphasis in church on worship and loving God with all our hearts and souls, but not nearly enough emphasis on knowledge of God and his Word. Michael commented more than once that during his time as a satanist, he found it incredibly easy to confuse those in the church and trip them up on their beliefs or cause them to abandon what they believed altogether.

Secondly, don’t give up on people when they don’t make a decision right away. We have no idea what people have gone through or are going through in life, and our pat answers to life’s problems are not going to convince them. We in the church are so quick to use our Christian jargon and cliche’s that we really don’t even know what we’re saying anymore. Refer to the first take-away above.

I rated the book only a four due to the writing quality, however it is a book that I would recommend to other believers.

Disclaimer: I received this book as a part of Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze program.

The use of fictional conversations and settings in the telling of his life certainly keeps it interesting, but I believe the reader is left with questions as to which parts are actually true and which parts are creative license. The writing style is good and kept my interest throughout. The author does not gloss over Dostoyevsky’s shortcomings as a man during his lifetime as some are prone to do, however some of the descriptions seemed a bit much.

The content is footnoted to show where the reader can get more information and as such is a good introduction to the life of this author with resources for those who want more than a surface-level understanding of this author. I would recommend this book to someone who knows very little of Dostoyevsky.

Disclaimer: I received this book as a part of Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze program.

The story brought to us in The Bone House is a great follow-up to The Skin Map. We follow Kit and Wilhelmina and the various people they encounter along the way in their quest to understand ley travel and survive while doing so. The story advances while at the same time providing us insights into the background of some of the characters, fleshing them out and giving us a better understanding of their motivations. Without giving too much away, toward the end of the story, Kit encounters a stone-age group of people after one of his ley travels. Over time, Kit’s impression of them as “primitives” is replaced by a deeper understanding of them through his immersion into their daily living. Both the background information on characters and Kit’s interactions with the “primitives” are a reminder how we misjudge people by looking only at the surface, not bothering to try to understand them.

I enjoyed this book and I am very much looking forward to the next one, I just wish it was going to be sooner than a year from now!

Disclaimer: I received this book as a part of Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze program.

The level of detail in the book keeps the story interesting without being too much; imagination is still required. I prefer that to an author who paints such a detailed word picture that no real room is left for the reader to visualize anything on his or her own. The pacing is good: not too slow, nor is it so intense you’re left breathless when you put the book down.

I enjoyed the book so much that I have since purchased the entire King Raven series. I have read Hood, the first installment from that series and I would recommend both books to anyone who enjoys a good Sci-Fi/Fantasy read.

Disclaimer: I received this book as a part of Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze program.

1. Edit /etc/default/grub with your favorite editor:

sudo vim /etc/default/grub

2. Find the following line:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash”

3. Change it to:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash text”

4. Finish up with:

sudo update-grub

Today we see many signs that the end is fast approaching and still many believers live as if time is not running short.  We worry more about our plans for the weekend or that vacation trip than we do about making sure our non-believing friends get to spend their eternity with Jesus. 

Dr. David Jeremiah addresses some of the signs that show things lining up for the end, and he does so without a sense of foreboding that can be so prevalent in this type of writing. Rather, he gives us hope and reminds us throughout that God is on control of and is orchestrating the events we see online, on tv and on the newspapers. 

The book serves as a basic primer on eschatology and is very helpful if you don’t really know a lot about the subject.  Dr. Jeremiah reminds us– informs us, as the case may be–that there are more prophecies about the end times than there are about Jesus.  As he instructs us on such matters, he weaves current events into the discussion to help us better understand them and their prophetic significance.

I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a better understanding of current events in the light of biblical eschatology. 

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book as part of Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze program.  

Eldredge also discusses men who have erred to the other end of the
spectrum and become overly aggressive and abusive and how it is just as
much an aberration of God’s design for men as passivity.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book as a part of Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze program.

I found the book painful to read, not because the subject matter was difficult to understand, but because the author’s message was so logically inconsistent with it’s premise.

I do not recommend this book to anyone as it is a complete waste of time.

Disclaimer: I received this book as a part of Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze program.

From there the book becomes more of a historical narrative, albeit a very interesting one. Alfred was the fifth son of Æthelwulf, king of Wessex. We learn about Alfred’s formative years as the Vikings begin to attack various nations that made up Britain in the early 900′s, specifically the nation of Wessex. It was during these years that Alfred made two pilgrimages to Rome with his family. He received confirmation from Pope Leo IV during his first visit.

Alfred became known as a fierce fighter in the battles with the Vikings and after the death of his four elder brothers, he became king of Wessex. The book chronicles many of the battles and an especially low time of his life when he was forced to flee and remain in hiding from the Danish invaders until he could muster enough troops to retake his throne. It was during these years that Alfred would lead bands of men in ambush of various Viking troops and he learned much of their tactics.

The Vikings were especially brutal to to the conquered king. They would offer the defeated king in various forms of sacrifice to their god Odin. However when Alfred defeated the Viking Guthram and his army, instead of killing him, he gave Guthram the option to be baptized as a Christian. Guthram accepted this offer and was baptized and never again attacked Alfred or the kingdom of Wessex.

When Alfred retook the throne, in his most significant and lasting achievement, he completely reorganized the military structure. Instead of a disorganized band of nobles and landowners called up to fight as needed, he instituted a professional, trained standing army.

Alfred also saw the need for the people to become literate, able to read and advance in Christian learning. He brought together the best scholars he could find to help him learn Latin and then assist him in translating many texts into the vernacular of the Anglo Saxons. He established schools for the children to start learning as soon as they were able. Literacy was required for anyone serving in any form of government office.

Lastly, Alfred instituted a reworking of the entire legal code. The legal system when Alfred became king was based more on the station of the claimants in a case than anything else. “[T]he composition of the [legal code] really constituted the culmination of Alfred’s work to rebuild the defenses of Wessex and to revive learning throughout the nation.” In doing so, Alfred established the framework for what would be known as “common law,” the foundation for the legal systems of England, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and Pakistan. Interestingly enough, the code began with the Ten Commandments and included parts of Exodus 21-23 and the Sermon on the Mount all in the preface.

I read this as part of Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger Program.