Calling the Holy Spirit “Forgotten God” may be a bit of an overstatement. Or perhaps it is an understatement. Some Christians seem to show little evidence that they have any theology of the Spirit while others seem to emphasize the Spirit at the expense of other biblical doctrine. What seems clear is that few Christians have it quite right. In this new book Francis Chan says, “From my perspective, the Holy Spirit is tragically neglected and, for all practical purposes, forgotten. While no evangelical would deny His existence, I’m willing to bet there are millions of churchgoers across America who cannot confidently say they have experienced His presence or action in their lives over the past year. And many of them do not believe they can.” With the entertainment (or perhaps “edutainment”) model of church so prevalent today, churches have become filled with self-focused consumers instead of Spirit-filled believers.

The twentieth century was witness to a great battle between capitalism and communism. Early in the twenty-first century it is clear that capitalism won a resounding victory. Yet many people living in victorious nations continue to be uncomfortable with capitalism. They see it as a system of economics, a way of life that transfers wealth from poor to rich, that exploits the planet, that is somehow inherently biased toward the few at the expense of the many. An increasing number of increasingly vocal Christians even claim that capitalism is at odds with the teachings of the Bible. After reading Jesus’ words that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” they determine that capitalism, which seems to be founded on just such a love, must also be evil. Could it be, though, that such claims are based on a misunderstanding of capitalism? Could all these people be battling against a mere caricature?

There are certain things I never get tired of hearing. I never get tired of hearing Tom Cheek’s call of Joe Carter’s home run—the one that won the Blue Jays the World Series in 1993 (“Touch ‘em all, Joe! You’ll never hit a bigger home run in your life!”). I never get tired of hearing the “Hallelujah Chorus” performed by a world-class choir. I never get tired of hearing the laughter of little children (Okay, this is a lie, and especially so when I hear kids laughing and giggling with hyperactivity in that witching hour before dinner). And I never get tired of hearing testimonies of God’s grace in the salvation of his people.

Here is (yet) another list of books I read that will not be receiving extensive reviews.

Shakedown by Ezra Levant. Unless you are Canadian, you have probably not heard of Ezra Levant. Let me fill you in. Several years ago he was publisher of Western Standard magazine and made the decision to print the infamous Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed. He did so because they were newsworthy and he wanted to use them to illustrate a story. He soon found himself before his province’s Human Rights and Citizenship Commission where he was charged with the offense of “discrimination.” It was only after a long, embittered and expensive fight that he managed to avoid charges becoming, I believe, the first person to be cleared of such crimes. He wrote Shakedown to record his experience and to draw attention to these Human Rights tribunals that happen all over Canada and which have taken for themselves outrageous powers that circumvent all manner of justice. In fact, they get awfully close to charging Canadians for “thoughtcrime,” that Orwellian phrase that looks beyond what a person has actually done to what he may have intended to do. His story is shocking and, we hope, marks the beginning of the end for the Human Rights Commissions’ most intrusive and outrageous powers. (Do note, that those these commissions exist and exist all over the country, the vast majority of Canadians, even ones who are outspoken about their faith, have never been noticed or charged by them).

Culture of Corruption by Michelle Malkin. In this book, currently perched at the top of the New York Times list of Bestsellers, Malkin looks to “Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies.” In chapter after chapter totalling almost 300 pages, Malkin provides an exhaustive look at President Obama and the men and women who work with him. She provides extensive documentation, making much of what she says awfully difficult to refute (though, of course, she focuses almost exclusively on what these people have done wrong, not on what they may have done well over their careers). It somehow manages to be shocking and yet not at all surprising to hear of the massive amounts of corruption and immorality in Obama’s inner circle. After all, power typically comes to those who fight for it and even more typically to those who fight for it tooth and nail. While I would imagine that almost every administration has multitudes of skeletons in the closet, surely not all have so many as Obama’s. I’m glad these people are running your country rather than mine!

The Man Who Made Lists by Joshua Kendall. I picked up this book rather on a whim as I was scouring my local bookstore. It is a biography of Peter Mark Roget, best known for creating his famous thesaurus. It traces the life of a man who was a very odd but still compelling character. As his biographer says, “Though he had a host of female admirers, was one of the first to test the effects of laughing gas, developed the slide rule, and narrowly escaped jail in Napoleon’s France, he is best known for making lists.” And make lists he did with an almost obsessive passion. Though Kendall occasionally steps beyond what he actually could know from the historical record into the realm of conjecture, he still crafts an interesting biography of a strangely fascinating man.

In the President’s Secret Service by Ronald Kessler. The dust cover for In the President’s Secret Service proclaims, “Never before has a journalist penetrated the wall of secrecy that surrounds the U.S. Secret Service. … After conducting exclusive interviews with more than one hundred current and former Secret Service agents, bestselling author and award-winning reporter Ronald Kessler reveals their secrets for the first time.” It may be true that no journalist has penetrated that wall of secrecy until Kesller. The problem, though, is that this wall of secrecy broke down enough for him to write a book, it remained in place enough that he was not able to cite or document what he discovered. Hence we have a book, a bestselling book, that is crammed full of unsubstantiated assertions. Now this is not to say that Kesller has just fabricated what he presents as fact. But any historian worth his degree will balk and know that little that Kesller says has any historic value.

In the President’s Secret Service is, in a sense, two books. On one hand it is a book about the Secret Service, detailing how the organization came to be, how it has evolved over the years, and telling how it works, even today. This side of the book offers little that is original. On the other hand, this is a tell-all of sorts, where Kesller shares what he learned during his interviews with former Secret Service agents. This is the part of the book that has received much attention in the press. With one chapter dedicated to every President since Kennedy, Kessler shares some of the behind-the-scenes facts about each of them. He tells how Jimmy Carter was considered the most arrogant and obnoxious of the President’s; how Kennedy’s agents were constantly on the guard during his trysts, guarding against his wife blundering into one of his affairs; how Lyndon Johnson engaged in constant philandering at the White House and at his ranch; how George and Barbara Bush were very kind to their agents, almost welcoming them into their family and even remaining at the White House over Christmas so the agents would not have to be on the road for the holiday. It is mostly the kind of facts we would assume based on the character of the Presidents. The reader who is surprised to learn that Kennedy was sleeping with Marilyn Monroe or that Jenna Bush was hardly an ideal person to guard is a person who has not done a lot of reading. But even here, Kessler, by his inability (or refusal) to cite his work gives us little reason to trust him or to believe that he has done any more than read a couple of books and filled in the gaps in a could-be-true way.

In the President’s Secret Service is tabloid history packaged with undergraduate-level research on the Secret Service. It is interesting at a gossipy, human-interest level, but as serious history it fails badly. The writing is mostly passable but, as I see it, a sentence like this deserves no place in a serious work of non-fiction: “As with all Presidents, some people totally lost it when meeting Regan” (116). That is, like, totally unacceptable. Where was Kessler’s editor?

The serious chapters in this book seem like an attempt to legitimize the tabloid qualities. The sordid stories of America’s leaders have been used to sell the book, drawing people into a title that would otherwise be of little interest. Kessler also attempts to lend the book some legitimacy by seeking to show that the Secret Service is underfunded and underequipped for their role and that, if the situation is not remedied, at some point they will lose one of the people they seek to protect. While this may be true, Kessler fails to be convincing, perhaps largely because of the very nature of the book which is, at its heart, just not very serious.

That the Bible advocates and even commands the enforcement of the death penalty seems almost like it should be beyond controversy. The dignity God gives to humans, created as they are in his image, demands the utmost penalty for those who would recklessly and deliberately destroy life. Yet controversy abounds with many of those who profess Christ insisting that a God of love and justice would never endorse the use of this ultimate human punishment.

“My name is Warren, and I’m a recovering evangelical.” There are plenty of books today that begin in roughly this way—biographies by Franky Schaeffer and Bart Ehrman come to mind. But Warren Cole Smith is different in that he remains an evangelical, he remains a professed Christian. His recovery from evangelicalism does not involve tossing away the faith, as others have prescribed. His recovery involves reformation, not of the Christian faith but of its evangelical (and largely American) expression. His quarrel with evangelicals is a lover’s quarrel, not a pitched battle. A Lover’s Quarrel with the Evangelical Church is “intended primarily for Christian believers, particularly those who might generally fit into the category of theologically conservative, evangelical believers.

At a time of global economic crisis, in all of the talk of a subset of that crisis, the housing boom and bust, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that the cause of that bust is so very simple. “Behind all the esoteric securities and sophisticated financial dealings are simple, monthly mortgage payments from millions of home buyers across the country.” When the housing payments slowed or stopped, sometimes by necessity and sometimes by choice, the boom turned to a bust. Real estate markets that had seen an unparalleled explosion of growth suddenly saw a catastrophic fall. Behind all the talk of stimulus and bailouts and increasing billions and trillions of dollars is normal people unable to make their $1000 or $2000 monthly mortgage payments.

Desiring God and Crossway have partnered together to create some interesting new products. They have recently released three small group studies which combine lessons on DVD with book-format study guides. I will provide a brief description of each and then share my thoughts on the series:

Why We Believe the Bible. “With the deluge of communication around us—books, newspapers, blogs, journals, and magazines all insisting that their view of the world is most compelling—which should we trust? This is no small question. In fact, our answer has eternal implications. The twelve-session Why We Believe the Bible Study Guide and DVD are designed to help study groups and classes explore the claim that the Bible stands above all others as the book of books, pointing infallibly to the King of kings. Through the DVD teaching of Pastor John Piper and the five guided assignments per week, participants will study biblical texts and discuss probing questions to help them see why the Bible alone is worthy of our confidence.”

An Introduction to TULIP. In this study “John Piper walks study groups through each point in the DVD and its companion Study Guide, discussing the implications and the issues from a fully biblical perspective. Piper’s 30-minute DVD teachings cover topics that include the meaning of “total” in total depravity, doing missions when God is sovereign, Romans 9 and the two wills of God, and ten effects of believing the five points of Calvinism. This sixteen-session, guided group study equips facilitators, teachers, group leaders, and pastors to help their members understand the all-important differences between Calvinism and Arminianism. It also calls them to hold fast to biblical truth regarding God’s salvific work in his people’s lives.”

What’s the Difference? (available very soon from Monergism Books). “John Piper’s six, 30-minute DVD sessions lead groups in discovering what the Bible teaches about true manhood and womanhood and the impact of living out God’s design. ‘Over the years I have come to see from Scripture and from life that manhood and womanhood are the beautiful handiwork of a good and loving God,’ encourages John Piper. ‘He designed our differences, and they are profound.’ Yet when rightly understood according to God’s Word, God’s vision for both men and women ‘is not onerous or oppressive. It does not promote pride or self-exaltation. It conforms to who we are by God’s good design. Therefore it is fulfilling in the deepest sense of that word.’ With this as his context, Piper seeks to commend the beauty as well as the biblical truth of God’s design for men and women in this six-session small-group DVD and its companion Study Guide. Each 30-minute teaching of Piper’s delivers a powerful message to help Sunday school classes, small groups, churches, and families understand and celebrate the freedom of our God-given differences.”

I was pleased to find that these DVDs are not merely sermon excerpts squeezed and pressed into a study format. Instead, they have been (or appear to have been) recorded explicitly for the purpose. Each DVD features John Piper teaching from a stage (with a pulpit and overhead projector), leading the audience into a deeper appreciation of the subject. So these are not sermons as much as they are seminars. Therefore, it is a very natural context in which to participate via DVD either as an individual or as a small group. The Study Guide, which is both useful and well-written (never a given for Study Guides) offers a day-by-day format, which allows each lesson to extend over a week. And they are meaty, going far beyond the quick, the obvious and the unbearably light in the questions they ask and the concepts they cover. Do note that while the Study Guides will enhance the DVD, they are by no means necessary and the DVDs stand well on their own.

Whether you buy them for personal study, family study or small group study (or perhaps even homeschool study for high school students) these DVDs and associated study guides are well worth owning. The DVDs are slick, professional and well-produced and, of course, filled with great content. The books are also very well-made and well-written, majoring on the majors and enhancing the media content. These DVDs and Study Guides are a great addition to any personal or church library and I highly recommend them.

My vacation is over. But as luck would have it, my first day back is a holiday, so I guess that extends things by one day. Today is Canada’s annual Civic Holiday. I don’t think anyone really knows why this holiday exists except as an excuse to enjoy a day off in what is usually about the best part of the Canadian summer. I’ll actually be working much of the day, catching up on the work and the emails that have been piling up while I’ve been laying low, but I will be taking some time to hang out with my family (and with my mom whose visit is just about over). Normal blogging will resume tomorrow. For now, here’s a rundown on a few of the books I’ve read over the past week or so.

Magnificent Desolation by Buzz Aldrin (with Ken Abraham). This is Aldrin’s second or third stab at an autobiography, but the first I’ve read. I saw it on the New York Times list of bestsellers, timed to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of the moon landings, and thought I’d have to give it a read. I was rather disappointed. I don’t know that I can say it a whole lot better than this Amazon reviewer did: “At one point in the book, Buzz Aldrin observes: ‘I kind of like David Letterman’s quirky humor, it is like mine’. This pretty much sums up the annoyingly self-centered storytelling of the book. As others have pointed out, the space-program related parts are boilerplate, nothing new or interesting here. The rest, 85% of the book, is self-centered crank, crank, crank, descent into depression and alcoholism, page after page of self-quotations from speeches and pitches of the same old ‘Mars cycler’ or go-to-space-lottery half baked ideas. For a 3-year old to misbehave and throw a tantrum in order to get attention is normal, and most get over it in time. Buzz Aldrin is still stomping his foot, ‘me, me, me’.” Perhaps that is overstating the case a little bit but reading this autobiography, which begins with the countdown to Apollo 11 and carries on to the present day, primarily details life after NASA. The most interesting parts of the book, then, are the in the opening pages. After that the reader is forced to walk with him through the dissolution of his first marriage (and his second and the first twenty years of his third), affairs and girlfriends, drunkenness and clinical depression, and the rise and wane (and rise and wane) of celebrity. It was forty years that Aldrin stepped on the moon and it seems that since then he has been trying to find some return to glory. So far it has not happened. This is a pretty dismal tale and one that is not only quite boring but also poorly-written. I love to read biographies of heroes, but the more I read of Aldrin the more I see that he is no hero. Desolation described the moon, it described much of Aldrin’s life (by his own admission), and it describes this book. You’ll want to take a pass on this one (or at least wait for the paperback).

Fordlandia by Greg Grandin. This is a fantastic book that tells of “The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City.” Author Greg Grandin tells the strange tale of Henry Ford’s obsession with creating a utopian American-style city in the middle of the Amazonian rain forest. Built initially to provide rubber to the Ford company, the city, built on a tract of land twice the size of Delaware, became something of an idealistic obsession with Ford. Soon he had a city complete with golf courses, ice cream shops, indoor plumbing and, of course, Model T’s rolling down broad paved streets. Needless to say, Ford’s idealism fought an epic battle with the jungle as the Amazon constantly fought back, obliterating the rubber crop and infecting so many of the people who ventured there. The Brazilian work force came into conflict with Ford’s strict mores. The author aptly shows how Ford sought to export his own brand of American idealism and how badly he failed in the end. It’s just a fascinating tale and one that is well worth the read.

Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad. I bought this book after seeing it make appearances on most of the best-seller lists. This is a “Memoir of Survival” according to the subtitle, and it tells of Ollestad’s survival after a plane crash that took the life of his father and his father’s fiancee. Though that plane crash provides some cohesion to the story and though it was a life-defining event, it was a matter of only a few hours. So the survival in the story is much deeper-rooted in Ollestad’s story of his relationship to his father. His father was a strange, egocentric man who had a very odd relationship to his son, constantly pushing him to do things he had no desire to do. Ollestad both idolized and despised his father. The story is interesting enough, I suppose, but after reading to the end I could think of few reasons that I would want to recommend this to anyone else beyond the usual human interest reasons. Though there is nothing inherently wrong with the book, I also did not find enough right with it that I’d recommend it to others. I wouldn’t bother with it.

The Lost City of Z by David Grann. This is “A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon,” according to the book’s subtitle, and it is a good one. Set in the jungles of the Amazon (that makes two books set in the Amazon, doesn’t it?) this book tells of the famed explorer Percy Fawcett who, in 1925, ventured into the jungle to find the lost and fabled city of El Dorado (which he knew as the city of “Z”). Like so many before and after him, he disappeared and was never seen or heard from again. Almost a century later, David Grann, a man far more at home on the couch than in the jungle, became intrigued by the story and set out to try to find out what happened to Fawcett and whether the mythical civilization he set out to find had even existed. I will not spoil the story by telling what (if anything) he found, but I will tell you that it is a joy to find out. The book is very well-written and very nicely paced. You’ll enjoy the biographical aspect of the story as it shares the life of Percy Fawcett and you’ll equally enjoy Grann’s efforts to track him down. This is not going to be the definitive book on El Dorado and ancient Amazonian civilizations, but it does provide plenty of fascinating information that before this has only been found in dry and scholarly journals. I recommend this one!

Millionaire by Janet Gleeson. John Law was “The Philanderer, Gambler and Duelist Who Invented Modern Finance” and, in Millionaire, Janet Gleeson provides a brief but timely overview of his life. Born in Scotland and, after winning a fatal duel exiled from England, Law ended up in France where he was eventually given the keys to the kingdom, so to speak. In the early eighteenth century he almost single-handedly overhauled a French economy that had been devastated by wars and opulence. He quickly became one of the most famous men in all of Europe. He did all of this by moving France away from the gold standard that had been the foundation of her economy and in place introduced a system of fiat currency. He also founded a New World trading company that promised great riches. The French economy experienced an enormous boom-then-bust cycle that introduced the term “millionaire” but then left many of those former millionaires as little more than paupers. During this time of great financial upheaval we would do well to study the lessons of the past and Law’s story has a great deal to teach us, I am convinced. Millionaire is a great place to start. For a book dealing with a topic that can be as dry as finances, this book moved along well and never bogged down in numbers or in boring detail. Economists would want to read something more in-depth but for the rest of us, this is ideal. I recommend it!

Mark Tubbs is a good friend and my co-laborer over at Discerning Reader. If you have enjoyed that site recently, thank Mark more than me. As Managing Editor, he is heavily involved in the day-to-day management of all that happens there. Because I am on vacation this week, I asked if he would mind if I borrowed a review he had published at Discerning Reader. It is for Paul David Tripp’s brand new Broken-Down House. I trust you’ll enjoy the review and consider purchasing the book!

Using the concept of the house as a metaphor for life isn’t a novel idea. In Scripture, both the psalmist and Christ himself employ the metaphor. More recently, author William Paul Young situated the majority of the action of The Shack in a ramshackle structure in which the Trinity helps the main character to process the tragic events of his life. Even the secular world has employed the metaphor, such as in the 2001 film Life as a House.