Book Review: 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper

Have you ever wondered what life after death is like? Do books about near death experiences interest you? Then you may enjoy this book. Don Piper shares his incredible story of death, pain, and life in his book 90 Minutes in Heaven.

Piper died in a terrible car accident on a rural Texas highway. He was dead for 90 minutes. During that time, he went to heaven but came back to life on earth after a pastor prayed for him.

Repeatedly, Piper says that words cannot possibly describe what heaven is like. Piper is greeted by deceased friends and family, sees the pearly gates and golden streets, and hears wonderful music.

After describing his brief glimpse of heaven, the rest of the book recounts his trying struggle to recover from his horrific injuries. The intense pain and knowledge that he will never again be normal lead Piper to despair, depression, and frustration. Fortunately, God places several people in Piper’s life who help him through his depression and despair. Piper begins to share his experience with others and finds God working through his story.

Overall it is a good book. His description of the car accident, heaven and the painful recovery are powerful. Many of the lessons he learned through this ordeal are very helpful. One such lesson for me was allowing people to minister to me because it enables them to live out their calling.

But several things bothered me in the book. One was the author’s repeated attempts at interpreting what he experienced in terms of his theological presuppositions. Most obvious were Piper’s repeated comments concerning the absence of time in heaven and yet he experienced sequence. He met one relative first, then another, then a friend, and so on. He did this first, and this next, and so on. He heard this song, which had these notes, played in this sequence, and so on. If he experienced obvious sequence in heaven, which would indicate the passage of time, why doesn’t the author reinterpret his theology in light of his new experience?

Another frustrating aspect of the book was the overall weakness I see in many evangelical Christians (myself included!) as exemplified in Piper. Piper is a Baptist minister and I kept asking myself what this book would be like if a minister with a more contemplative, sacramental worldview had experienced this same trial. I commend Piper for his openness and allowing himself to be vulnerable. I commend Piper for allowing us to see him when he was not at his best. I commend Piper for writing a book that doesn’t present himself as the most likeable guy. But overall, I feel he reflects so many Christians today who do not have a deep, contemplative relationship with God and who lack a theology that includes suffering.

Don’t get me wrong. I would not have handled his situation any better than he did. But I do believe that his analytical approach to this ordeal by seeking to find answers is typical of many evangelical Christians today. We rarely seize moments that will allow us to contemplate the sufferings of Christ (and obviously none of us want to do this!). To me some of his reflections highlight some of the weaknesses of a purely analytical, rational approach to our relationship with God. It feels to me, based on the teachings of Jesus and Paul, that we should have a far better perspective on suffering and pain than we typically do.

Let me encourage you to read this book. And let me encourage you by reading this book to place yourself in Piper’s place and develop a powerful, thoughtful theology of suffering.

Thanks to Paige Harvey of PS Media Relations for sending me a copy of this book to review.

Book Review: Calling by Frank Tillapaugh and Richard Hurst

I have been familiar with Frank Tillapaugh and his work at Bear Valley Church in Southeast Denver for quite sometime. Though he has not been the pastor there for over 2 decades now, his legacy there is widely felt. I worked as the youth pastor at Centennial Community Church which was birthed out of Bear Valley as a reclamation project which he briefly mentions at the end of the book.

Frank's work has been profound in the Denver area. And yet his work is really a result of creating what he calls an "open system" which allows people in the church to pursue their God given calling. He truly believes that the Bible really means it when it says that, we are all ministers, that all have been given a gift by the Holy Spirit to use in ministry, and that all beleivers are a royal priesthood. He really believes a pastor is "to prepare God's people for works of service" (Ephesians 4:12).

This belief has caused Frank to take helping people live their callings seriously. As a result the ministries below have come into existence:

Denver Street School (check out the history page)
Mile High Ministries (check out the About Us page
Inner City Health Center
Whiz Kids Tutoring
Project Cure
Alternatives Pregnancy Center

...and many others.

Wow! Isn't it great to see the power of calling? Just think of the impact these ministries have had and continue to have on so many people in Denver! And few people relize that these ministries owe there existence to followers of Jesus being faithful to their calling...to the want-to that God placed inside their hearts.

If you want to get a taste for how this might be accomplished in your church (though it is not a how-to manual) read Calling. I highly recommend this book. If used copies of the book are not available from Amazon, the book is available from Frank's organization Dreamtime listed on this product page.

Book Review: Provocative Faith by Matthew Paul Turner

Every once in a while you read a book that you needed to read. I needed to read Provocative Faith at this time. From the first page of chapter 1 you know this is not your run of the mill Christian answer book. Right there, in black and white, at the bottom of page 31, Matthew boldly confesses his sin, his struggle with porn. His authenticity and transparency are disarming...and so refreshing.

This book relates Matthew's journey from ordinary, mundane Christian faith to passionate, provocative faith. Matthew challenges the reader to move from the "same ole same ole" faith to a faith that is "centered, stimulating, controversial, challenging, powerful, miraculous, vulnerable, frustrating, and fearful--in a word, provocative" (p. 21).

This book is full of great reminders and insights for all disciples. I am currently examing my call in light of several things that are happening at my two churches. So far, God has been silent. I'm learning to wait patiently as Matthew describes in his chapter "the burning bush isn't for everyone." I'm taking inventory, seeking to "participate in God's dream for (me)" (chapter 10). Is this call where God wants me? Matthew says it well,

If God has given you a dream, and chances are he has, it is imperative that you seek his will on how to make it a reality. Never lose focus on the truth that the dream is a blessing and a gift from Jesus. But in the end, don't you want to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant"? I want to hear Jesus say to me, "Matthew, you took my dream in you and made it what I wanted it to be; good job!"

I too want to hear those words.

Matthew also reminded me of one way to tune into Jesus and his dream and will for me: meditation.

If you get one thing from this book, let it be this: meditation on Jesus will change your spiritual life. It will rejuvenate your faith like nothing else you will ever experience. More than a great sermon, more than listening to a radio teaching, more than reading this book, meditation on Christ--what he did, who he is, and what he wants of you--will give your life focus, and it will make your faith provocative. And you will begin to know him like never before.

I needed this book at this time. I needed the reminder to be authentic, transparent, and bold. I needed to be reminded to wait on God, that he is good, that he has a dream for me to achieve which he has uniquely gifted me for, and that he will share with me what it is if I'll just sit still, shut up, and listen.

Thanks to Paige Harvey of PS Media Relations for sending me a copy of this book to review! Paige, your sending me this book really ministered to me! Grace and peace!

Book Review: Intercessory Prayer: How God Can Use Your Prayers to Move Heaven and Earth

I really wanted to like this book! This book was handed to me by a true prayer warrior, a woman in one of my churches that really spends serious time in prayer. I had great hopes for this book because of this.

However, I am really disappointed with this book. I found Sheets' style to be inauthentic and "preachy." It didn't feel real or vulnerable to me. Nearly every anecdote that is shared about prayer is miraculous and incredible in some way. Never is there a serious wrestling with unanswered prayer. Overall, if your prayers go unanswered it feels that Sheets' answer for you is that you are doing it wrong.

Sheets' also demonstrates an overall ignorance of biblical Greek and Hebrew. The only scholarly works cited are lexicons and concordances and not a single biblical commentary is mentioned for any passage he discusses. Sheets' does know his way around a Greek or Hebrew lexicon and Webster's Dictionary. Unfortunately this leads him down the path of many Exegetical Fallacies.

The most common fallacy of Sheets' is defined by D.A. Carson as "unwarranted adoption of an expanded semantic field." The following is what Carson means:

The fallacy in this instance lies in the supposition that the meaning of a word in a specific context is much broader than the context itself allows and may bring with it the word's entire semantic range. Exegetical Fallacies, p. 60.

Sheets' regularly brings to bear the word's entire semantic range even if the context does not allow this.

Another fallacy Sheets' falls into is "semantic anachronism".

This fallacy occurs when a late use of a word is read back into earlier literature. At the simplest level, it occurs within the same language, as when the Greek early church fathers use a word in a manner not demonstrably envisaged by the New Testament writers...But the problem has a second face when we also add a change of language. Our word dynamite is etymologically derived from dynamis (power, or even miracle). I do not know how many times I have heard preachers offer some such rendering of Romans 1:16 as this: "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the dynamite of God unto salvation for everyone who believes" -- often with a knowing tilt of the head, as if something profound or even esoteric has been uttered. This is not just the old root fallacy revisited. It is worse: it is an appeal to a kind of reverse etymology, the root fallacy compounded by anachronism. Did Paul think of dynamite when he penned this word? Exegetical Fallacies, pp. 33-34

He probably didn't, seeing that dynamite had not yet been invented!
But here is another pastor committing this same fallacy! Sheets on pages 169-170 says,

On the other hand, we have weapons that are "divinely powerful" to pull down strongholds, if we would only realize it...The word "powerful" is dunatos and is actually one of the New Testament words for a miracle...And, of course, this is the Greek word from which we get the word dynamite. This stuff is explosive!

This dynamite is explosive for the "destruction of fortresses"...

Sadly and obviously these are not the word pictures the New Testament writers had in mind as they had no experience or understanding of dynamite.

I'll let Carson have the last word, as I believe many popular level books consumed by Christians are full of these "word-study fallacies":

But as important as word studies are, it is very doubtful if profound understanding of any text or of any theme is really possible by word studies alone.

Perhaps the principal reason why word studies constitute a particularly rich source for exegetical fallacies is that many preachers and Bible teachers know Greek only well enough to use concordances, or perhaps a little more. There is little feel for Greek as a language; and so there is a temptation to display what has been learned in study, which as often as not is a great deal of lexical information without the restraining influence of context. The solution, of course, is to learn more Greek, not less, and to gain at least a rudimentary knowledge of linguistics. Exegetical Fallacies, p. 64

Book Review: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

First impressions, snap judgments, and intuition are the subject of Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. I found this to be a fascinating book. Anecdotes fill the pages as Gladwell relates story after story of the unconscious mind's ability to influence us without our conscious mind even knowing.

Especially powerful are his discussions concerning snap judgment in regards to race and gender. For a taste of the power of the unconscious mind try a computerized Implicit Association Test (IAT).

Particularly intriguing, especially from a Christian warfare worldview is this statement:

The results from these experiments are, obviously, quite disturbing. They suggest that what we think of as free will is largely an illusion: much of the time, we are simply operating on automatic pilot, and the way we think and act -- and how well we think and act on the spur of the moment -- are a lot more susceptible to outside influences than we realize.

I find this quote so intriguing from a warfare worldview because it begs the question of just how much unconscious influence over our daily actions the demonic and angelic realms have on us. What are your thoughts?

Book Review: Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller

Let's get right to the point: I love this book! It is funny, insightful, powerful. Miller's honesty and authenticity are so refreshing. Run out and start reading it today if you haven't already!

Some of the highlights include Miller's thoughts on attending Reed College, attending a Unitarian church in Colorado Springs, living as a fundamentalist Christian for a summer, and wrestling with how to love others.

I feel that it is probably the best book for handing seeks who want to learn more about Christian spirituality but aren't interested in the church. There are so many folks in my life that I want to give this book to!

Here's a great quote for the church to keep in mind:

"A friend of mine, a young pastor who recently started a church, talks to me from time to time about the new face of church in America--about the postmodern church. He says the new church will be different from the old one, that we will be relevant to culture and the human struggle. I don't think any church has ever been relevant to culture, to the human struggle, unless it believed in Jesus and the power of His gospel. If the supposed new church believes in trendy music and cool Web pages, then it is not relevant to culture either. It is just another tool of Satan to get people to be passionate about nothing." (p. 111)

I think this quote resonates so much with me because it's true. I know it to be true through my experience. Churches out in the sticks struggle with being relevant. Actually most of the time we don't even struggle! We just aren't relevant. We don't play all the latest greatest music. We sing hymns with an organ. Sometimes we sing some "newer" praise songs like "Lord I Lift Your Name On High" and "Shine, Jesus, Shine" but we sing them with organ accompaniment! We don't have a website. We don't market ourselves. We are far from relevant to the culture.

Yet people come. Young and old. And they are growing. Many tell me they are growing more than ever before in their lives! Why? Because I believe in Jesus and the power of His gospel. What could be more relevant than that?

Christianity with Power by Charles H. Kraft

This book was published in 1989 but in my opinion it is extremely relevant to the discussion of the church today. In this work, Kraft shares his struggle to embrace a new worldview concerning miracles and a power ministry paradigm. He was skeptical at first but through cross-cultural missional experiences and classroom experiences with John Wimber as well as dialogue with Peter Wagner, Kraft overcame his reservations and has entered into Christianity with power.

I greatly appreciate this work. I too am often skeptical of much of Christianity that relies on power encounters. I struggle with actually believing that God desires to actually really heal people today. My western evangelical worldview has natural scientific explanations for things. I do not look for the spiritual reasons behind everyday occurances.

Further, I look to modern western solutions to my ills: when I am sick I go to the doctor, or take a drug; when I am emotionally troubled I see a psychologist. Prayer is often a last resort, when the other common sense remedies have failed to work.

Kraft points out that the western worldview is far different then the one of the Hebrews in Scripture. That doesn't make my worldview wrong but it does lead to some unique weaknesses.

As to the timeliness of this book, I kept feeling that this book is significant concerning the worldview shift that is occuring for many within our culture and in evangelicalism. The book autobiographically recounts much of Kraft's worldview transformation and then analyzes worldviews and transitions in worldviews from an anthropological standpoint (Kraft is professor of anthropology and intercultural communication at Fuller).

One of my favorite chapters in the book is called The "What We Think We Know" Problem. Here are some great quotes from this chapter (these appear especially relevant in light of the emerging church discussion):

"It is not so much what we don't know, but what we think we know that obstructs our vision", says Harvard theologian Krister Stendahl. This piece of wisdom has certainly described accurately quite a number of situations in human history. It also points ou the basic problem in a large number of conflicts that have taken place in the history of Christianity. Every time there is renewal, for example, the "what we think we know" problem arises. Typically, the traditionalists who think they know how God behaves become the opponents of the new things God wants to do...

The problem seems to be a human tendency to make rules for God. We learn certain things about how he works, arrive at the principles we think to be appropriate, and then impose those principles on those who seek to follow him as if God himself had endorsed them. We then virtually forbid him to work in any other way...

God simply refuses to be bound by "what we think we know," even if that knowledge is about him. For he knows the severe limitations of that knowledge. It is always constrained by our humanity and derived from our interpretations of but a small selection of God's acts. And all of those interpretations are influenced by our worldview, our experience, our predisposition, our sin, and all our other human limitations...

Our worldview paradigms of perspectives are precious to us. They are like our language, having been passed on to us by people in whom we have trusted over the years. So our first reaction is ordinarily to defend and protect them when they are challenged. This is especially true if we suspect that by changing a certain paradigm, we may run afoul of the opinions of our group. The potential of a loss of prestige is usually sufficient to keep us in line, especially if we are feeling socially insecure.

These thoughts really resonated with me as I continue to wrestle with the ongoing emerging church discussion. It causes me to wonder...how much of the controversy concerns truth, how much concerns the "what we think we know" problem, and how much concerns fear in changing a worldview?