Called by God: a Review

Call of a Coward

Many learn the hard way that when you vow to follow hard after God you will follow Him wherever He takes you –and that can be not only an adventure, but a difficult challenge (with a huge reward). And herein the reader finds a man who returns from a missionary trip and compels his wife to leave behind their average American life- the call moves them to a Mayan village in Guatemala, to minister to the people as they follow God’s lead.

This fascinating story is filled with hope, difficulty, love, and fulfilled dreams. The story is winsomely mixed with wit and wisdom and is a stirring account of how God leads and uses people way beyond their own limitations; great for ministers, missionaries, and evangelists or those future missionaries who don’t yet know it.

Gordon Crovitz: Who Really Invented the Internet? WSJ

Who Invented the Internet? Not the Government

 ... By the 1960s technologists were trying to connect separate physical communications networks into one global network—a "world-wide web." The federal government was involved, modestly, via the Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency Network. Its goal was not maintaining communications during a nuclear attack, and it didn't build the Internet. Robert Taylor, who ran the ARPA program in the 1960s, sent an email to fellow technologists in 2004 setting the record straight: "The creation of the Arpanet was not motivated by considerations of war. The Arpanet was not an Internet. An Internet is a connection between two or more computer networks."

If the government didn't invent the Internet, who did? Vinton Cerf developed the TCP/IP protocol, the Internet's backbone, and Tim Berners-Lee gets credit for hyperlinks....

But full credit goes to the company where Mr. Taylor worked after leaving ARPA: Xerox. It was at the Xerox PARC labs in Silicon Valley in the 1970s that the Ethernet was developed to link different computer networks. Researchers there also developed the first personal computer (the Xerox Alto) and the graphical user interface that still drives computer usage today. ...

So having created the Internet, why didn't Xerox become the biggest company in the world? The answer explains the disconnect between a government-led view of business and how innovation actually happens.

Executives at Xerox headquarters in Rochester, N.Y., were focused on selling copiers. From their standpoint, the Ethernet was important only so that people in an office could link computers to share a copier. Then, in 1979, Steve Jobs negotiated an agreement whereby Xerox's venture-capital division invested $1 million in Apple, with the requirement that Jobs get a full briefing on all the Xerox PARC innovations. "They just had no idea what they had," Jobs later said, after launching hugely profitable Apple computers using concepts developed by Xerox.

Xerox's copier business was lucrative for decades, but the company eventually had years of losses during the digital revolution. Xerox managers can console themselves that it's rare for a company to make the transition from one technology era to another.

As for the government's role, the Internet was fully privatized in 1995, when a remaining piece of the network run by the National Science Foundation was closed—just as the commercial Web began to boom. Blogger Brian Carnell wrote in 1999: "The Internet, in fact, reaffirms the basic free market critique of large government. Here for 30 years the government had an immensely useful protocol for transferring information, TCP/IP, but it languished. . . . In less than a decade, private concerns have taken that protocol and created one of the most important technological revolutions of the millennia." ...

read full WSJ article HERE

Clay Jones Podcast: Why is There Evil and Suffering

As Alexander the Great was commencing his invasion of Asia, he looked into the finances of his troops. To ensure that they would not be anxious over the welfare of their families during their absence, he distributed land and revenues among them. When he had given the families all the royal resources, his friend asked Alexander what he had reserved for himself. "Hope," answered the king. "In that case," said the friend, "We who share in your labors will also take part in your hopes." And from his opening prayer (he uses Paul’s from the book of Ephesians) to the culmination of this lecture, Clay Jones feeds the mind and stirs the heart with hope in Why Does God Allow Evil and Suffering? The listener learns that believers have a deep and abiding hope that leads to great joy because God loves His children in Jesus.


Jones (professor at Biola) packs 24 hours of class material into a rolling and flowing 70 minutes.


Why does God allow evil?


The truth is the answer “we get we have not found emotionally compelling.” So Jones insists that Christians need to ponder the answers until they become emotionally captivating.


The speaker conveys an easy-to-understand outline as he purposes to make the truth concerning evil and suffering “gripping” to the listener.
He proceeds to refute exhaustive determinism in contrast to biblical foreordination (albeit without discussing secondary causes and the extension thereof) using Scripture and pertinent illustrations (e.g., God did not arrange a child molester to wickedly assault a little girl; Free will vs. robotic beings).


This lecture expounds on the notion that Christians have not contemplated enough to become gripped by:


1.   Human depravity
2.   Free will (“God wants free beings to know the horror of sin.”)
3.   The tremendous fulfillment and joy that awaits us in Heaven.


This theological address is assessable to all since it is enjoyable, fast-paced, profound, and has many funny quips. From Genesis to Revelation Jones strolls through profound biblical and philosophical regions as he addresses marriage, original sin, sexual immorality, spiritual resources, parenting, and death--he aims to guide the listener to an enthralling hope and transcendent delight. This is the case since Christians are more than conquerors. The good professor’s discourse is not only educational, but it is great for the i-Pod. Passionate and inspiring, I recommend this to all those who want to learn a topical approach concerning evil and suffering, but do not want to be bored or confused.

The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations (Psalm 33:11).

purchase the Podcast HERE


by Mike A. Robinson an avid reviewer; authored dozens of books using leading-edge apologetics. His work can be found: http://theLordGodExists.com.
Mike A. Robinson is an avid reviewer; he has authored dozens of books using leading-edge apologetics.
also see my eBook that discusses the Problem of Evil Truth and the Reason for God Here  also in Paperback on Amazon

One Big Thing: a Review

“A flaw of almost all people,” Henry Ford once said, "is trying to do too many things at once. That scatters effort and destroys direction. It makes for haste, and haste makes waste. So we do things all the wrong ways possible before we come to the right one. Then we think it is the best way because it works, and it was the only way left that we could see. Every now and then I wake up in the morning headed toward that finality, with a dozen things I want to do. I know I can't do them all at once." When asked what he did about that, Ford replied, "I go out and trot around the house. While I'm running off the excess energy that wants to do too much, my mind clears and I see what can be done and should be done first." And in One Big Thing you will discover why it is so important to focus on what you were born to do as you focus, trust God and watch the single-mindedness transform your career, ministry, and life.  


Hungering for the world’s disjointed abstract knowledge will only lead to struggle and despair. Purpose and meaning are pursued, attained, and sustained by a hot-blooded, passionate pursuit of God and His will. The non-Christian worldview leads to Heidegger’s ultimate, yet empty, answer to the problem of the meaninglessness of life “is to stand on deck and salute” as the ocean liner sinks. He tells us to do this because it is more visually appealing than doing nothing. That’s real despair. That’s depressing. Thank God it is false. Following Jesus lifts one up into a wonderful, enthralling life in the Spirit.


Neglecting or rejecting God’s purpose in Christ is:


1. Unproductive.  
2. It leads to despair and emptiness.  
3. It is prideful. 


Often times one needs to shine above others and communicate your designs and mission, you need find a way for others to see you and your work. And herein Phil Cooke will explain how you can live in your purposeful pursuit to please God and find real success in your business and life.


"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13).

see my new devotional ebook Who is Jesus? The Great Logos HERE

Anything by Jeanie Allen: a Review

Socrates maintained that the best life, in measure, is apprehended when the soul ponders ultimate beauty in its pure form and when it pursues knowledge of ultimate forms. Others, who believe that human existence and our universe are just “accidental afterthoughts,” leave souls in despair, immersed in purposelessness. If one reads Bertrand Russell summing up life as “unyielding despair,” one starts to ache for meaning and purpose. To find meaning in life, one has to look to the true and living God. He is the God of the living and He gives life purpose and meaning. Life is a sacred gift to be unwrapped everyday with the joy of a child’s birthday.
And Jeanie Allen in “Anything” reminds the reader that our hearts were made to live in and for God. All else, in the end, doesn’t really satisfy.  But God is real and His children live with Him now, and afterward forever. Thus He should be our main focus and for, primary love, and foremost joy.


The Bible instructs people to do “all things for the glory of God.” Holy writ notifies the world that in our life, we can have the supreme joy of knowing the Father in a loving, covenant relationship. One cannot have real meaning in this life without the Lord Jesus Christ. Emptiness, loneliness, purposelessness, and despair are the companions of those who do not seek God in Christ. A covenant life with God Almighty brings daily enrichment, enchantment, and a wonder-filled life. Doing all things for the glory of God and enjoying Him brings a splendor-filled zest to the daily delights of nature, employment, motherhood, children, friends, God’s Word, prayer, and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.


So say to the Lord: "God, we will do anything. Anything!”


This is the central point of this inspiring volume.


The “Anything” prayer of faith and yielding trust that will empower you to follow hard after God as you find, every day, that God is your enduring joy. 
If we truly know a God worth giving anything for, everything changes.


Meaning, purpose, and happiness come when I:


A. Look to God’s word, follow Him and seek to glorify Him alone
(2 Timothy 3:16-17; Luke 14:27).
B. Decide to focus on eternal things (Colossians 3:2).
C. Look for things in my life that need to be changed
(Psalms 119:11).
D. Ask others what my character flaws are in order to mature (Proverbs 15:22).
E. Be amazed about Jesus (Galatians 2:20)!
F. Trust Jesus—believe in Him for all things (John 14:1;
Ephesians 3:20).
G. Pray (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
H. Look to the gospel (Romans 1:16; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
I. Remember happiness is not Hell (Matthew 25; Revelation 20-22).


"In America, we've learned the art of being verbally passionate but highly unresponsive Christ followers.”


Let us all make God our priority and His will to glorify Him, love Him and love others.
see my new Apologetics E-book Who is Jesus? The Great Logos HERE

Grant: The Man for the Moment

A colleague of Ulysses S. Grant's once took the president to a golf course with the goal of encouraging him to take up the game. After viewing a beginner hack the grass around the tee for some minutes without touching the ball, Grant commented: "That does look like very good exercise. But what is the little white ball for?" And in contrast U. S. Grant knew what war was for and how one relies on God to rightly play the game of life. Grant is esteemed as one of the finest generals in US history and God placed in in the right place at the right time.

“Hold fast to the Bible. To the influence of this Book we are indebted for all the progress made in true civilization and to this we must look as our guide in the future” (Grant).

And in "Grant: The Union's Savior" one discovers that Grant joined the Union Army because it was his duty inasmuch as He resolutely held to the notion that the Civil war was waged over the matter of slavery. The reader learns that Grant was a born leader and climbed the ladder of leadership in the US army rapidly; men respected him and willingly followed him into the brutality of battle.

This volume is a fine start for one pursuing the life of Grant; it’s readable, accessible, and offers many excellent insights about Grant, his faith, and his leadership using many sources including Grant’s own memoirs.
I was given this volume gratis in order to write a fair review.

Why Jesus? a Short Review

Jesus Revealed in Scripture is the Solution

Jesus said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except by Me" (John 14:6) and herein Ravi Zacharias explains and defends the reasons that this is the case. Napoleon admitted: "I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him." And in "Why Jesus?" the author presses this truth in contrast to many of the popular spiritual notions propagated in modernity.

Zacharias exposes Deepak Chopra, the medical doctor turned new age guru who leads countless people astray with his no-real-help self-help ideas. Chopra seems to seek fame and wealth as he rejects assured truth in Christ alone. Chopra contradicts himself and preaches a mysticism that leads people to destruction.

"There is only one door, one bridge, one ladder, between earth and heaven: the crucified Son of God" (J.C. Ryle).

He gently reveals that Oprah Winfrey seems to have left the Jesus revealed in Scripture for the self-help ideas and all-accepting notions of ultra-tolerance.

"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).

The author believes that the real and effectual solution is the biblical truth regarding the person, work, and doctrine of Jesus (Titus 3:4-7).

In Why Jesus? Zacharias examines:

* Age of Aquarius
* Shirley MacLaine (Out On a Limb)
* James Redfield (The Celestine Prophecy)
* Rhonda Byrne (The Secret)
* Dan Brown (The Da Vinci Code)
* Eckart Tolle
* Wayne Dyer
* Deepak Chopra
* the Dali Lama
* Marianne Williamson
* Oprah Winfrey
* And more

In "Why Jesus?" numerous mystic and new age doctrines are discussed with care and patience--always with the truth of Jesus Christ looming over the analysis.

This is a fine introductory volume on a topic. Much of modernity values antinomianism, moral compromise, and mystic crudities as the goal of human potential. Zacharias offer potent, clear, and patient approach all the while aiming at the root problem: not submitting to the truth found in Jesus Christ revealed in scripture.


see the new eBook that critiques Buddhism HERE

Surfing for God: Overcoming Lust and Porn

“Love comforts like sunshine after rain, But lust's effect is tempest after sun; Love's gentle spring doth always fresh remain, Lust's winter comes ere summer half be done; Love surfeit's not, Lust like a glutton dies, Love is all truth, Lust full,” so mused William Shakespeare. And the rising of pornography habits and sinful imaginations is just a symptom of a deeper disease affecting many modern men.

The bible says: “He that covers his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).  And in “Surfing for God” Christian counselor Michael John Cusick not only reveals the reasons for such problems but offers solid solutions.  He employs stories and biblical truths related through his 20 years of counseling experience to help the reader who struggles with porn, lust, and sin.  

Surfing for God shows you How to:

·        1. Recognize how porn habits begin

·        2.   Prevent porn habits and lust

·        3. Beat the habit using biblical truth.

You have heard that it was said by them of old time, You shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart (Matthew 5:27,28).

“Surfing for God” guides you along a view and journey toward understanding how porn habits begin as you learn what to know and do to differentiate between sexual fulfillment within biblical parameters, and how to turn away from such fleshly desires.

Charles Spurgeon observed: “Evangelical repentance is repentance of sin as sin: not of this sin nor of that, but of the whole mass. We repent of the sin of our nature as well as the sin of our practice. We bemoan sin within us and without us. We repent of sin itself as being an insult to God. Anything short of this is a mere surface repentance, and not a repentance which reaches to the bottom of the mischief. Repentance of the evil act, and not of the evil heart, is like men pumping water out of a leaky vessel, but forgetting to stop the leak. Some would dam up the stream, but leave the fountain still flowing; they would remove the eruption from the skin, but leave the disease in the flesh.”

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul (1 Peter 2:11).

see new eBook The Sure Existence of Moral Absolutes HERE