Desperate Highway *****

Desperate Highway (Amazon Link)

by Jesse Stretch

From the book: Jeff Andrews didn't just scam people; he ripped them off for everything they were worth. He took their homes, cars, planes, boats, even their girlfriends, and spent the money on booze, guns, coke, and limousines.

My Review:

Jeff Andrews was a bad guy, a crook, drug addict, thief, womanizer, and all around jerk. He stole from anyone and everyone and didn’t care. He was so self-focused that he only cared about his own needs and wants. He spent time in 25 jails and correctional facilities. Desperate Highway tells the story of a young man who makes one bad decision after another until his is a full-blown habitual crook.

The book chronicles the years he spent stealing and losing whole fortunes at a time. His life of criminal behavior left him on the run and always fearing detection. He was a hopeless waste of life – until he met the one person who could change his heart and make him someone of worth. While in prison he opened a Gideon Bible, and finally heard the truth about what was important in life, and gave him the one thing he didn’t have - love. Desperate Highway clearly explains that even the worst of the worst have value in God’s eyes, and redemption is always in their reach.

This is an excellent book with an important message. I appreciated the appendixes in the back of the book with information on Jeff Andrews’ ministries. I would have liked to know more about his transition into the ministries, but that does not take away from the importance of the book and the message. Jeff’s life begins where the book ends. According to the book and his website, he is involved with prison ministries and mentoring those just out of prison. Mr. Stretch had done a nice job in capturing the important messages in this book.

Disappointment With God By Phillip Yance *

Disappointment With God by Phillip Yancy

Yancy begins his book with examples of circumstances from several Christians who have suffered greatly and feel disappointed with or abandoned by God. The author chooses the situation of Richard, the person suffering the least of the examples (but a fellow author), to follow throughout the book.

Using OT scriptures, Mr. Yancy tries to explain the mind of God. His attempt actually turns eerie (downright creepy) when Yancy imagines himself as God questioning in his mind whether or not man would obey when created.

It is my opinion that Mr. Yancy conveys the message that those who are disappointed in God are pretenders. They are people who never had “real” faith so they never were true believers. Instead of helping a friend out of a spiritual depression, Mr. Yancy slapped him down and decided he just did not have enough faith.

There was no compassion in the book for the suffering Christian. Mr. Yancy has his own experience being a pretender as he explains in the book that he deliberately pretended to be a Christian in college until one day he began praying out loud and “had a vision of Jesus”. It is also my opinion that Mr. Yancy’s answers in this book are no better than the callous conversations the friends of Job had for his sufferings.

Mr. Yancy’s questions in the book were:
1. Is God unfair?
2. Is God silent?
3. Is God hidden?

My questions for Mr. Yancy are:
1. Are you trying to prove the old adage “Christians shoot their wounded”?
2. Do you have no compassion for a suffering Christian?
3. Did a tree have to die for this book?

I would never recommend this book to a Christian who is going through trials.

Christianity in Crisis 21st Century *****

Christianity In Crisis 21st Century by Hank HanegraaffFrom the back cover: "Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth." The Apostle PaulIn this updated edition of Christianity in Crisis, Hank Hanegraaff exposes those preachers who twist and misquote the Scriptures to fit their messages of a prosperity gospel. The author quotes some of the current, well-known “Name it and Claim it” preachers, such as Joel Olsteen, Mike Dooley, Joe Vitale and Joyce Meyer, then compares their statements with the Word of God.One of the most shocking examples in the book is about the author and contributors of “The Secret” made popular by Oprah, which teaches that thoughts create our circumstances. When one of its contributors appeared on the Larry King show, King asked whether Jessica Lundsford, the child brutally abused and murdered, attracted this horror to herself. Joe Vitale responded, “We are attracting everything to ourselves and there is no exception”.The author cuts away at the false doctrines with expert precision. Example after example shows the error of men and women claiming to be speaking the word of God, but in reality speaking from the pits of Hell.The book is extensively footnoted and includes a scripture index, subject index, and a bibliography. I highly recommend this book for anyone who seeks truth. It could easily be used for a personal Bible study or small groups study.