Two books to read.

Well I’ve finished a couple of books in the past week or two that I’d like to tell you about.

I’ll start with the one that I think is a must read, especially if you are a guy. It’s quite sad (yes, I did cry) but full of hope at the same time. It’s called Samson and the Pirate Monks and it’s by Nate Larkin. Here’s an excerpt from the back:

“Samson, that hairy, rugged individualist, that charismatic biblical leader and ladies’ man with a pirate’s nature, was a real man. But all of that couldn’t save him from his own temptations. His story is something Nate Larkin knows all about: the mistakes, the detours, and the wrong choices that bring lots of men – good men - to their knees.”

Nate is part of a group of guys that meet together weekly and call themselves the Samson Society. This “society” is a place where chains are released and freedom is found. Even when we decide to give control of our lives to Jesus we still very much want to control some of it ourselves. Yes, people the world call Christians, don’t always follow what Jesus said. Nate makes himself quite vulnerable and shares how his life unfolded and how he didn’t give full control to Jesus. Even though he was a pastor’s son and eventually became a pastor himself he still had the same difficulty any human has battling sin. His story is a good reminder that any of us could get to the brutal place he did. One poor choice after another and, to use a too often used saying, we’re down that slippery slope.

Nate promises on the back cover that the story inside isn’t boring. I couldn’t agree more. Men’s ministries are finally starting to pop up at churches everywhere and this book provides a great way for men to have authentic and honest brotherhood with each other which will help them be stronger followers of Jesus. Highly recommended!

The second book I read is called Lord Foulgrin’s Letters and it’s by Randy Alcorn. There’s another book out there by C.S. Lewis called The Screwtape Letters which Randy used as a basis for his book. (By the was, I just found out that C.S. Lewis was born about 20 minutes from where I sit here in Northern Ireland.) The idea is a senior demon is writing letters to a subordinate demon about how he can best tempt his human and keep him from giving his life away to Jesus. This book gives us a good look at some of the possible strategies the devil uses to keep us from God. It also reminded me of the very real spiritual battle that is always going on that we have forgotten about or just choose to ignore.

I thought I might be spooked out a little reading this book as it is about demons but that didn’t seem to be an issue at all. I was even reading it before sleeping! So don’t let that deter you. God is in charge of the universe and He’s living in me so I have nothing to fear. If He's in you too than neither do you! Pretty amazing!

GL