Deus Misereatur

Faith in the Shadows: Finding Christ in the Midst of Doubt by Austin Fischer My rating: 4 of 5 stars I've said it before, and it's worth saying again. I'm pretty certain I'm right...but there's always that niggling little question mark in the back of my heart and head. I've been seriously wrong before, and I just could be wrong about some things now. Austin Fischer, lead pastor at Vista Community Church in Temple Texas, brings his doubts and question marks to the fore in his recently published 183 page paperback, "Faith in the Shadows: Finding Christ in the Midst of Doubt". Mildly irreverent at times, forcefully honest, leaning toward Eastern Orthodoxy while remaining securely Protestant, the author challenges the "certainties" of Fundamentalism and fundamentalist Evangelicalism. Primarily, it is a book that seeks to give voice to the misgivings Christians can have, and to soften some of the sharp, jagged edges of rock-hard answers. Fis...

The Accidental Superpower: The Next Generation of American Preeminence and the Coming Global Disorder Peter Zeihan Twelve A division of Hachette Publishing Group 1290 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10104 www.twelvebooks.com ISBN: 9781455583669; $28.00; November 2014 5 Stars of 5 Bundled together in fifteen dense chapters and an epilogue is a confluence of geography, demographics, history, economics and geopolitics. But more than dry, dusty facts and figures is an education! This is one of the reasons we were supposed to stay awake and pay attention while taking those classes in secondary school and college! Oh, now I get it! And so Peter Zeihan, a geopolitical strategist who has worked for the US State Department in Australia, the DC think tank community, helped develop the analytical models for Stratfor, and started his own firm – Zeihan on Geopolitics – has handed off to readers a thoughtful learning-experience in his 384 page hardback, “ The Accidental S...

Personal Counseling Journal by Rush Witt My rating: 5 of 5 stars Honestly, it's unfair to say I "read" this "Personal Counseling Journal." Instead, the 104 page paperback is a methodical series of blank, lined pages broken down into twelve counseling sessions with loads of room for counselees to jot down notes and observations from counseling sessions and homework. The top of the first page gives space to write down the date and location. Then at the bottom of the second page is room to scribble out the "Growth Assignments" for the specific session, along with aids for Scripture memorization. The next four ruled pages are intended for the person to inscribe observations, reflections, and thoughts about the "Growth Assignments and Additional Notes." There's a workbook section of several pages with two columns. One column prompts with "Put Off: Ungodly thoughts, words, and actions" and the other cues with "Put On: Godly t...

Praying the Bible by Donald S. Whitney My rating: 5 of 5 stars Donald S. Whitney, professor of biblical spirituality and associate dean at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and accomplished author on the subject of the spiritual disciplines, has handed off to Christians a wonderfully simple approach to prayer. This 106 page hardback, "Praying the Bible" puts in readers hands and hearts an uncomplicated, usable way to turn boring old prayers about the same boring old things filled with boring old phrases into fresh and fleet seasons of prayer. Whitney lays out a straightforward method for prayer: " when you pray, pray through a passage of Scripture, particularly a psalm " (27). It's that plain! "By this means his words become the wings of your prayers" (32). And the benefit of this approach is that "the Spirit of God will use the Word of God to help the people of God pray increasingly according to the will of ...