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Thursday, September 19, 2013

"gods at war" Book Review


It’s virtually impossible for me to go inside the Christian bookstore and not come out with a new book to read. J Recently, I went into our local store because I had received a gift-card for my graduation. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted when I walked in. A couple of weeks earlier, I had noticed that three of my favorite authors—David Platt, Francis Chan, and Kyle Idleman—had ALL released new books! I could hardly wait to purchase them and start reading.
 
I began with Idleman’s book, “gods at war.” I had previously read “not a fan” by Idleman, which I found to be very convicting and poignant. His new book caught my attention because I ran a column in my monthly newsletter for 2012 entitled “Conquering My Idols.” I had felt convicted that there were a lot of things in my life that were pushing their way to the top, and that I needed Christ to be on the throne of my heart.
 
Idleman’s first important point in the book is that we all worship. There is no such thing as true “atheism.” God created us to worship, and we WILL worship *something.* The question isn’t “will we worship?” but rather “who or what will we worship?” In addition to this, Idleman contends that idolatry isn’t an issue, but rather, THE issue from which all other sins/struggles stem.
 
After establishing the foundations of idolatry, Idleman discusses many common idols that we worship today. Some of these include food, entertainment, pleasure, sex, money, achievement, romance, and family. At the end of each chapter, he has a segment called “Idol ID” which includes questions to determine whether or not you worship the idol the chapter discussed.
 
One thing I liked about this book was that it named many idols that I hadn’t really thought about before. Anything in our lives can become an idol if it takes the throne of our heart. Christ will not share His throne with anyone else. He demands complete and utter worship. This book was an excellent reminder of that.
 
I would recommend this book for anyone ages 16 and up.

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