I posted this on facebook, and my friend Abner Suarez came along and said I should blog it, too – so here goes:

I love Glenn Beck. He’s a great guy, I agree with him on many political issues, he’s a media master and quite brilliant. I’m glad that somebody is standing up and doing the things that he’s doing, and I support him in that. Would have gone to the restoring honor rally on Sat if I could have gotten there…

But I see a growing danger as he calls for “God and country” – media and evangelicals are painting him as a “Christian conservative.” Conservative, yes. A good, moral man – undoubtedly. But here’s the rub: he’s not a Christian. He is a Mormon. While the differences are small on the surface, scratch that surface and you’ll realize that Mormons are most assuredly NOT Christians.

Beck can be a champion of the conservative moment – and even of those of us who are Christian and conservative. But he cannot be champion of a conservative Christian movement, unless he surrenders his heart to Christ.

The publisher sent me a review copy of Present Perfect by Gregory Boyd. It’s about finding God in the “now”, living mindful of His presence at all times.

Any time I get a book, I do a three or four minute “skim”, then usually a half-hour “read”. Books that are especially good end up being read word-for-word (very few authors make the cut). This is a speed-reading technique that I learned in first grade that has served me well my whole life. I test virtually all reading mater

I really hate to say it, and they probably won’t like it, and maybe won’t send me more books to review… but I cannot recommend this book. Sorry.

The author had an experience with God, which was very cool. But he lost me on page 15 when he called those sorts of experiences, “rare”.  God wants to have those experiences with us and we can have them… even initiate them!  If a person’s perception of encounters with the manifest presence of God is that they are (and should be) rare, they need to chase after God instead of writing books. If someone is having a hard time encountering God or realizing the need to, come hang out with us for a few days with a heart open to encounter Him 

One paragraph after he calls these experiences “rare”, he said something that made me smile – then frown. Then almost refuse to continue my three-minute skim:

“God is the God of the living, not the God of the already-past or the not-yet-present. He’s the great “I AM”, not the great “I was” or the great “I will be.” He’s been present in every moment in the past, for which we can be thankful, and He’ll be present at every moment in the future, which gives us great hope. But He’s only alive and active now, in the present — which is, once again, the only thing that’s real.” (This is not an exact quote. I have capitalized the pronouns relative to God because I feel that this should be done as one small way to give Him the honor and glory that He is due. Yes, this is a pet peeve of mine, to the point that I really have problems reading a book (or Bible translation) that does not capitalize pronouns that should be capitalized. And I will change the capitalization in a quote.)

Boyd is right – God is the God of the living. He IS the Great I AM, but to say He’s only alive and active “now” is really an attempt to diminish His greatness.

Then later on in the book, he shows a whole lot of ignorance about revival…so much that I put the book down.

Nope. Can’t recommend it. Sorry

You can read other reviews from other Blog Tour reviewers (below) — I do admit to a great deal of militancy in my beliefs regarding the Kingdom of God, His nature, and revival. If you’re less militant about these issues, check out the reviews or get the book & read it.

About dreams and broken glass
AKA Theodore Lewis
Bell Whistle Moon
Bible Dude
Blame it on the Loud Mouth Gene
Blessed
Blog Tour Spot
Book Story
Captain’s Blog
Deus E Fiel
Heading Home
Healthy Spirituality
Hurdling Hurdles
iamhealed.net
JohnnaPostic.com
Lighthouse Academy
Musings
Musings by Lynn
Net’s Book Notes
Ponderings by Andrea
Ragamuffing Scrap Craft
Refresh My Soul
Scraps and Snippets
Sherri Woodbridge
Catholic View
Sunflower Faith
Tattered Couch
The Christian Naturalist
The Friendly Book Nook
Uma Pirralha Na Universidade
Word Up Studies

I recently read Ed Dobson’s book, The Year of Living Like Jesus. Great stuff, I highly recommend reading it (doing it… well… you decide for yourself )

From the cover:

Evangelical pastor Ed Dobson had a radical idea…

“Live one year as Jesus lived. Eat as Jesus ate. Pray as Jesus prayed. Observe the sabbath as Jesus observed. Attend the Jewish festivals as Jesus attended. Read the Gospels every week.”

Ed spent a year and literally asked himself, “What would Jesus do?” and then He did those things. Remember – Jesus was Jewish. He kept the law – AND He was sinless. What would that look like lived out?

I know a little bit about Judaism and what “the stuff” of Jewish-ness is. Or so I thought. All of those rules!! Just the dietary restrictions alone make my mind go to mush – and I’m a person who’s used to dealing with a restricted diet!! To keep perfectly kosher is a huge task.

Ed faced some interesting questions in his journey – ranging from “What would Jesus wear in the 20th century?” to “How would Jesus respond in this situation?”… when he sat down and really looked at it, our “WWJD?” falls way, way short of what Jesus would have really done.

I think the one thing that challenged me most in the “Why don’t you do that?” arena was reading the gospels every week. Do we really really really know all the things Jesus did and said? Isn’t that, um, kind of important? 

Ed did do some things that I disagree with, and I even question – for instance, he got together with the Catholics and prayed the rosary. I didn’t get it… why would he do that? Sure he doesn’t think that Jesus did? But those elements pale in comparison to the central theme of the book -  The magnitude of how Jesus lived and His sacrifice for us is much greater than we’d ever imagined… and maybe we should take the time to imagine…

Want your eyes opened? Here are some Excerpts from The Year of Living Like Jesus.

Buy the book on Amazon: The Year of Living Like Jesus

Check out Ed Dobson’s Website

See Ed on Facebook: Ed Dobson’s Facebook Profile

List of all participating bloggers in this blog tour of the book

DISCLAIMER: (because your big government must protect you from evil bloggers like myself who might post positive reviews in return for free stuff for the sole purpose of deceiving you, the voter, who politicians consider too stupid to think for yourself (think of that, next elections): The publisher sent me this book for free so I could review it, which is standard business practice in the industry (and quite frankly none of the government’s business ).