No Fear, by Tony Perkins

This book is like a spiritual motivational call to action and commitment. It contains profiles of members of the milennial generation and the expressed target audience is this generation. Each person, deemed as a profile in courage by this author, is linked with a Scriptural character who was called to take actions requiring courage and these Scriptural heroes are profiled after the the modern character. At the end of each chapter are questions that require soul-search and self-examination, and relate to the chapter material. This book begins with a Preface by the author Tony Perkin's father, who shares about his son and his own example of courage. This book is arranged into 13 chapters. The author ends this book with Acknowledgments of those who made this book possible. He wraps up this book with an author bio. Tony Perkins is the President of Family Research Council of Washington, D.C.. Family research Council is a politically conservative "think tank."

This book is the opposite, speaking of content, of the MIDNIGHT JESUS book I had reviewed recently. I found myself getting turned off by some of the material in NO FEAR and in the unspoken messages of this book. The author accomplishes his goal of motivating today's milennial generation to courageous and public advocacy on behalf of the vulnerable, as well as letting God be God in the public square. We are commanded in Scripture, if we follow Jesus, to be bold and open in our faith and in being voices for the voiceless. The author uses much Scripture, as well as Scriptural examples linked to each of his modern profiles, to drive his point home. I agree with his principles that underly this book, that we should uphold the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death, as well as the sanctity of traditional marriage. I guess my issue with this book lies in how this book is written, in the messages it sends and who is left out of these profiles in courage. For example, almost all of the people profiled grew up in Christian homes, had spiritual foundations laid early in life, and most grew up in comfortable, middle-class backgrounds. All of them did/do show courage, but they had the advantages of parents or others who lifted them in prayer, and laid strong foundations in their youths. Also, the principles these people profiled, stood for, are those that are considered conservative. I was not surprised by who was included in this book, as I know that the author heads a conservative "think tank." I was disappointed that the author left out any profiles in courage among those from disadvantaged backgrounds, from working-class or poor backgrounds, or among the kind of people who showed up in MIDNIGHT JESUS. Most of what is wrong with this book is what is left out. I do commend the author for presenting the Gospel at the end of his book.

I recommend this book for pastors and church leaders in "progressive" local churches. The issues stressed in the book are those they are typically silent on and should not be. I recommend this book for any and all middle-class young people and milennials (twenty-somethings). I do not recommend this book for those from disadvantaged backgounds, the sick, the poor, those with disabilities, or others who would be turned off by all the stress on "conservative values" and the profiling of persons who fit the conservative criteria of what constitues a person of courage. This book would discourage many people, as I found it could have had such an effect on me if I was not aware of the bias of the author. This book may especially trigger many who have not resolved past abortions, as well as members of the LGBT community.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Blogging for books, in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to give a positive review of this book.

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Midnight Jesus, by Jamie Blaine

This book reads like pure fiction. It has been fictionalized in the sense of changing everything that can possible identify any chacter, so that the author, Jamie Blaine, starts out with a disclaimer and states that any resemblance any of his chapter has to anyone living or dead is purely a co-incidence. Blaine includes an author's note to introduce what he is about and his introduction gives the reader the flavor of this book. This book occurs in three parts and includes 43 chapters. He includes an After the Credits Roll where he updates the reader on the latest on the characters. He includes a short list of acknowledgments of those who made this book possible and then he includes his endnotes, not of sources consulted but to explain Biblical verses or others' interpretations of these verses. This author, Jamie Blaine, is a licensed psychotherapist, crisis interventionalist who has worked in mental hospitals, megachurches, rehabs, radio stations and roller rinks.

This book reads like a novel. I found it interesting and fast-moving. We need books that make clear that Jesus came to serve and help those who don't have life together, who are sinners, who are broken, who have issues and who have deep emotional and spiritual needs. I was not disappointed with this part of the book and it is the opposite of so much of organized Christianity where hypocrisy is the result of the unspoken code of silence that makes those in our local churches afraid, ashamed, and inhibited from sharing about our sins, our hurts and our emotional and spiritual needs. Even in our small groups, the sharing and the prayer requests go no deeper than illnesses and deaths in the family from natural causes. Maybe sometimes unemployment will be shared, but sharing about social and spiritual needs is quite rare in our local churches. In fact, in my current local church when I was given the guidelines for small group leaders, included in the guidelines was that these groups were not to become "support groups" and that members who share about deep emotional or spiritual needs were to be referred for "extra support" and "outside help." This kind of church policy encourages and fosters pretense. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus spent most of His time with those who would be considered as "needing extra support"! However, nowhere in this book is the Gospel of the need to repent from sin and trust in Jesus alone to save one, presented in any form. The tone and feeling I got in this entire book was that Jesus is our "Homeboy" and is our buddy. Yes, in a deep and real sense, Jesus is our friend, but He also our Savior from sin sin and hell, and is the Lord of all and desires to reign in our lives. This book shows the love of Jesus but not the fullness of His power, His holiness or His majesty. We need to be reminded of the love and grace of God, but the approach of this book is not the way to go about it. So, I cannot give it a five-star rating.

I mainly recommend this book as wholesome entertainment. I feel uncomfortable recommending it for pastors and church leaders of "seeker-sensitive church fellowships as this book just encourages their views. It is for the same reason that I feel uncomfortable encouraging it for the many who attend such churches unless for wholesome entertainment. It would only confuse and mislead those who do not know Jesus as it does not give the reader a balanced view of Jesus. The notes in the back of the book with the Scripture references, if read, can get readers into the Bible itself and so is the main reason I could recommend this book for "non-religious" people.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Book Look Bloggers.com. I was not required to give a positive review of the book.