Undoubtedly, some of you already know about this. But for those who don’t, it is an exceptional opportunity – especially for those who love to read.

If you want to grow your library with brand new Christian books, there is an easy and free way to do it. Christian publishers will gladly send you free books, in exchange for your willingness to post an online blog review of each book after you read it.

Signing up to receive free books is easy. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1: If you don’t already have one, you will need to start a blog. This is a cinch, and can be done for free through sites like www.wordpress.com, www.blogspot.com, or www.typepad.com. If you enjoy reading good books, and like telling others about them, starting a blog that includes regular book reviews can be both easy and enjoyable.

Step 2: Sign up with Christian publishers for free books through their “Blogger Review” programs. Most major Christian publishers offer these kinds of programs (at least for bloggers living within the United States and Canada). Here are ten, though there are undoubtedly others that I’ve left off of this list:

Bethany House (Baker) 

Kregel

Matthias Media

Moody Publishers

NetGalley (Multiple Publishers)

Reformation Trust 

Thomas Nelson  

Tyndale House  

Waterbrook Multnomah

Zondervan

Step 3: Review the books on your blog and then select more free books. Different publishers may have slightly different criteria for your online review (in terms of length and the places where it is posted). So be sure to check the details of each program that you join.

See how simple that is. Start a blog. Join a blogger review program. Choose new books. Read and review the books. And then choose more books. It’s a fun and free way to grow your personal library.

OK. Infomercial over.

If you know of any other similar programs to the ones listed above, please let us know in the comments section below.

Meanwhile, only a few miles away, one of Billy Graham’s grandsons was pastoring a church plant with swelling numbers, and no building. In a match straight out of E-harmony, the elders from both churches realized that each congregation was incomplete. One had a building, the other had none. One was growing, the other not so much. One was famous, the other unknown. One had a pastor, the other was on the hunt. One was dedicated in the 1970’s by Graham, the other was pastored by his grandson. You don’t have to be a Calvinist to see how God was setting this up.

Eventually, Coral Ridge called Tullian Tchividjian to be their pastor, and the two churches merged. What happened next though, is not the stuff of fairy tales. To make a long story short, Coral Ridge seemed to revolt, and after a while the elders called a congregational vote to consider removing Tchividjian as their pastor. Before the vote, Tchividjian went away on vacation, and spent his vacation studying Colossians.

Jesus + Nothing = Everything is the story of Tchividjian and Coral Ridge, interwoven around a commentary of Colossians. At the center is the spiritual epiphany he experienced through his study of that book.  

Before I explain my concerns with J+N=E, let me say this: I wish more Christian books were like it. Tullian takes a theological concept (J+N=E) that he derived directly out of a passage of scripture, and then shows how that concept affected his life while he was going through a severe trial. This is not simply a theology book, it is not just a commentary, and is not merely a book on pastoral ministry. Rather, he combines all three, and he does so in a way that does not water down his theological point. This is a book that pushes the reader deeper into a refined point of theology, and applies that point to sanctification in a real world example.

The thesis of J+N=E is that the only thing required for your sanctification is to think more about what Jesus has done. That’s it. Jesus, plus Nothing, equals Everything for your sanctification.

But I don’t buy that approach to sanctification. I appreciate that Tchividjian clearly described what train he was on, and shows how it gets to his destination, but at the end of the day, I did not buy the ticket, and I’m not taking the ride. I believe that in Christ we are supposed to fight, labor, battle, walk, and work—and that all these efforts are more than looking back to Christ, but they are the active obedience to the commands of Scripture. I believe salvation is monergistic (it is only God’s work), but that sanctification is synergistic, and that God will reward me for how I do my work. This is an actual theological disagreement with J+N=E, and it affects the core message of the book, so in that respect I read the book entirely though that lens.

Law/Gospel and sanctification:

This book represents some of my objections to the way the Law/Gospel hermeneutic is often used. When Tchividjian wrote things like: “The law shows us what to do, the gospel announces what has been done” (188), I read into that the Law/Gospel distinction (see also 49, 154, 187, 192). When he explained why the Ten Commandments are different than the rest of the Mosaic Law because they are God’s moral law, which is the same law seen in Col 3:17-ff, I noted my objection. But then he went on to explain that the commands in Colossians 3-4 lack the power to sanctify your life because they are Law (188, 192), and I freaked out. When he said basically that it’s ok that those commands can’t sanctify, because sanctification-wise there is “nothing left to do” anyway  (137), I threw the book at my cat.

I have read J+N=E twice now, and I still can’t  get my mind around how the Law/Gospel distinction affects how believers are supposed to apply God’s commands. Tchividjian states over and over that Colossians (like Ephesians and Romans) is split between Gospel/Law, or indicatives/imperatives. For this reason, they all begin with what Christ has done for us, and only then do they tell us what we are to do in response. I completely agree with that, and wholeheartedly embrace this truth. Knowing what Jesus did for us is the fuel of our sanctification.

But then the N comes in (J+N=E). What he means by nothing is that the sum total of our sanctification has already been accomplished in Jesus. Thus the key for sanctification is to focus on the gospel (or the indicatives), and the more you focus there, the more sanctified you will be. You do Nothing except remember the first half of Colossians (or Ephesians or Romans), which is all about Jesus. That gives you Everything. Thus: Jesus (the first half of Col) plus Nothing (don’t do anything except remember the truths in 1:1-3:16) gives you Everything in terms of sanctification.

This leads to Tchividjian’s definition of sanctification: “sanctification is the daily hard work of going back to the reality of our justification” (95). He says that we grow in our practical sanctification only by growing to a  “deeper understanding” of our positional sanctification (94). Or this: “Sanctification consists of the daily realization that in Christ we have died, and in Christ we have been raised” (117). So  when he finally wrote, “Sanctification is the hard work of giving up our efforts at self-justification” (172), I understood him to mean that fighting battles against sin are tantamount to trying to earn your own justification—as if we should give up repenting to focus on remembering (179). But the problem with that is a logical one: how do you tell some one to repent of repenting?

The whole time I’m reading the book—and I got to this point pretty early on—I was asking myself, “ok, so what is he going to do with Col 3:17-4:6? I mean there is more to Colossians than the first half. What’s going to happen when he gets to the places where Paul tells us to be sanctified by actually fighting sin?” And wouldn’t you know it: other than explaining why those passages are powerless to sanctify you, he doesn’t deal with them. You really do need to look at his Scripture index to believe me: he deals with almost every single verse in Colossians, except the ones that have imperatives in them.

I’m not implying that Tchividjian is antinomian; he does say we have to obey (152-53), but I was left asking “how? How are children supposed to honor their parents? By thinking more about the gospel? Is that what Paul meant?” I felt like the main equation he was working with was J+N=The Commands Of Colossians Don’t Matter, and I think this shows a real weakness of the Law/Gospel hermeneutic (which I brought up yesterday).

Not to be overshadowed

I want to make it clear that while I have reservations about sections of this book, there was much of it that is extremely helpful. Like I wrote above, Colossians 3:18-4:7 does flow out of what Jesus has already done. Because of the truth of the gospel, we are freed to obey. At the heart of biblical obedience is a love for the Lord and a love for his law. Both of those are given to us by the Spirit at salvation, and as we grow in our understanding of the word, we can’t help but grow in our love for it.

Earlier I said that the main point of J+N=E  was an approach to sanctification that I do not completely agree with. But if I can zoom out a little further, I think there is a main point that Tchividjian and I do agree on. Your sanctification cannot surpass your theology. Both of us would agree that if you want to grow more like Jesus, you need to grow in your knowledge of his word.

And this book does that. By drawing out the connection between the imperatives and the indicatives in Colossians, Tchividjian makes it clear that if you want to obey Christ, you need to love him, and the only way to love him is to find him in his word.

Watchman was not his birth name, but was what he called himself after his ordination to pastoral ministry. His grandfather was a pastor, and Nee saw himself as a guardian of the truth of the Chinese church, which he primarily did through his teaching and writing.

Nee’s name is attached to at least forty different books. Ranging from daily devotionals to complex theology, he was certainly a prolific writer. Yet it is very difficult to know with confidence what he actually penned. One can read his works and legitimately conclude that they were penned by different authors—not only did Nee rarely have an unexpressed thought, but it is said that many of his books were actually pieced together by his disciples from his oral teaching.

As with much of his life, it is very difficult to distinguish fact from fiction with Nee. After his death, stories began to circulate describing how Communist authorities had chopped off his hands to stop his writing effort. But their tactics proved futile. Nee supposedly penned book-after-book from behind bars and in the face of intense physical persecution.

Are the stories true? That depends on who you ask. One thing is certain: they add to the mystery and intrigue surrounding his life and elevate interest in his teachings.

With that said, it is also clear that Nee did not allow theological certainty or clarity to stand in the way of his preaching and writing efforts. He learned as he went, and left a trail of confusing literature in his wake. I think of him as an Asian Karl Barth—intelligent, well versed in Scripture, but often (especially on critical points) Nee was simply unclear.

Nee appeals to his readers through a warm, conversational style of writing, pregnant with personal anecdotes and intriguing illustrations from his Eastern culture.  Add to those factors the easy accessibility of his books—you can find most of them online free of charge—and you see the results of a theological supply-and-demand law. Interest + Appeal + Accessibility = Influence.

To be fair, Nee has contributed some helpful material in areas of basic Christian doctrine such as authority and salvation. His most well-known book is The Normal Christian Life, and there Nee writes: “Righteousness, the forgiveness of our sins, and peace with God are all ours by faith, and without faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ none can possess them.”

Obviously, Nee got the gospel right. Yet his views on sanctification, the Holy Spirit, hermeneutics, baptism, the church and sin contain significant error. He had a flawed view of man, practiced an allegorical approach to interpreting Scripture, believed denominations were sinful, and frequently called others to join him in his perpetual quest for the deeper spiritual life—a quest that smacks of perfectionism.

Lack of clarity

Perhaps the best way to describe Nee is to label him a confused Christian mystic. Here’s one lengthy but insightful example. I chose this example because it is indicative of his writing style, as well as an excellent example of his lack of clarity:

Some years ago I was ill. For six nights I had high fever and could find no sleep. Then at length God gave me from the Scripture a personal word of healing, and because of this I expected all symptoms of sickness to vanish at once. Instead of that, not a wink of sleep could I get, and I was not only sleepless but more restless than ever. My temperature rose higher, my pulse beat faster and my head ached more severely than before. The enemy asked, ‘Where is God’s promise? Where is your faith? What about all your prayers?’ So I was tempted to thrash the whole matter out in prayer again, but was rebuked, and this Scripture came to mind: “Thy word is truth” (John 17:17). If God’s Word is truth, I thought, then what are these symptoms? They must all be lies! So I declared to the enemy, ‘This sleeplessness is a lie, this headache is a lie, this fever is a lie, this high pulse is a lie. In view of what God has said to me, all these symptoms of sickness are just your lies, and God’s Word to me is truth.’ In five minutes I was asleep, and I awoke the following morning perfectly well” (The Normal Christian Life, 33-34).

While Nee places heavy stock in personal “spiritual” experiences of that kind, the more significant danger prevalent throughout his books is his consistent lack of clarity. Nee does not come right out and say that faith can cure physical illness, nor does he claim outright that he receives direct revelation from the Lord. He doesn’t hold his experience up as an example to follow, but simply relates it as it happened, and then passes it along to us. Consider another example from The Normal Christian Life:

“The fact of the matter is that, while Christians may enter into the deeper life by different ways, we need not regard the experiences or doctrines they stress as mutually exclusive, but rather complementary. One thing is certain, that any true experience of value in the sight of God must have been reached by way of a new discovery of the meaning of the Person and work of the Lord Jesus. That is a crucial test and a safe one” (25).

That’s the kind of ambiguity you’ll find in much of Nee’s writing. What does he mean by “the deeper life?” What is a “true experience of value?” How does one reach “a new discovery of the meaning of the Person and work of the Lord Jesus?” He never really defines those terms. And yet because he uses phrases like “the higher life,” he appeals to the growing number of American Christians who believe that the key to sanctification is to arrive at a place where one stops striving for it. Is that what Nee taught? Even after reading many of his books multiple times, I can’t really tell.

Life Subsumed in the Divine

Several other authors have pointed out that when Nee was young, he was mentored by British missionary Margaret E. Barber, who held to Keswick theology. It was the philosophy that claimed that the key to sanctification was to surrender your life to the power of Christ in you, and to cease from striving for sanctification. It put forward the idea of a “higher spiritual life” that some Christians obtained when they finally learned what it means to let go, and let Jesus live your Christian life for you.

Durring Nee’s life, that approach to sanctification was called quietism. Simply put, it is the teaching that the best way to lead the Christian life was to have your earthly soul subsumed in the divine. It’s a fundamentally flawed way of thinking about the Christian life and a dangerous approach to sanctification. And it appears to have been taught by Nee as well:

“Broadly speaking, a Christian who has not yet experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit is rather vague about the reality of the spiritual realm. He is like the servant of Elisha whose eyes were closed to that sphere. He may receive instructions from the Bible, yet his understanding is confined to the mind because he still lacks revelation in his spirit. But upon experiencing the baptism his intuition becomes acutely sensitive and he discovers in his spirit a spiritual world opening before him. By the experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit he not only touches the supernatural power of God but contacts God’s Person as well” (The Spiritual Man, Part III, “The Soul”).

In The Normal Christian Life, Nee wrote that in salvation, “It is not our own life that has been changed, but rather the life of God has been imparted to us. Do you realize that we have the same life today that God does?” (121).

But again, it is hard to know what exactly Nee wrote, and what was inserted into his writings by his disciples. For that reason, it is helpful to remember that we need to be cautious about his works, without feeling like we are judging the man. The two certainly stand (or fall) independently of each other.

Two-stages of Christian life:

The approach to sanctification presented in Nee’s works closely mirrors the two-stage Christian life that quietism grew to represent. It is the concept that a person comes to faith at one moment, and then later has a different Christian experience that makes them a true disciple, and gives them ultimate spiritual victory.

Nee’s writings show that he adopted this two-tiered system of believers: there are those that are being sanctified by letting Christ live in them, and those that are still carnal (he uses the term “ripened” vs. “unripened”). He also developed one of the first “partial-rapture” views, where only the sanctified believers would be raptured. This then leads to his strange view of the New Jerusalem as a place where unripened believers receive chastisement through the millennial kingdom, so that they will be ripened for eternity. Those secondary eschatological issues are just that: secondary. But they bear mentioning because the higher life approach to Christianity is often his main point, and is very misleading.

In many ways Nee’s writings feed the false distinction that many American Christians embrace: that there is a difference between being a believer and being a disciple. This is a false dichotomy that often arises in conversations about Lordship salvation. Obviously that debate would have been foolish to Nee, and regardless, it began a decade after his death. But much of his writing can be adopted into that two-stage approach to Christian living, and wrongly fuel the quest for the higher spiritual life.

Nee and Baptism

In at least one place, Nee seems to veer toward advocating baptismal regeneration. Nee asks,

“What are the conditions to be fulfilled if we are to have forgiveness of sins? According to the Word they are two: repentance and baptism.”

His answer goes on to solidify that in his mind, a person cannot have their sins forgiven unless the receive water baptism. He elaborates on what he means by these two “conditions”:

“The first condition is repentance, which means a change of mind. Formerly I thought sin a pleasant thing, but now I have changed my mind about it; formerly I thought the world an attractive place, but now I know better; formerly I regarded it a miserable business to be a Christian, but now I think differently. Once I thought certain things delightful, now I think them vile; once I thought other things utterly worthless, now I think them most precious. That is a change of mind, and that is repentance. No life can be truly changed apart from such a change of mind.”

Nee’s understanding of repentance is quite helpful, and certainly speaks to conversion. But then he describes how baptism is a “condition” of salvation:

“The second condition is baptism. Baptism is an outward expression of an inward faith. When in my heart I truly believe that I have died with Christ, have been buried and have risen with Him, then I ask for baptism. I thereby declare publicly what I believe privately. Baptism is faith in action.”

That is very troublesome, and it is immediately followed by Nee’s own explanation, which takes away any ambiguity about his meaning:

“Here then are two divinely appointed conditions of forgiveness—repentance, and faith publicly expressed. Have you repented? Have you testified publicly to your union with your Lord? …If you have fulfilled the conditions you are entitled to two gifts, not just one. You have already taken the one; why not just come and take the other now? Say to the Lord, ‘Lord, I have complied with the conditions for receiving remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost, but I have foolishly only taken the former. Now I have come back to take the gift of the Holy Ghost, and I praise Thee for it.” (131-32).

Although Nee has produced some material that could build up and instruct the body of Christ, others have written more clearly, more accurately and–consequently–more biblically. There are safer places to find cheese than in a mousetrap. This is why I warn people to beware the writings of Watchman.

So, in honor of the release of Twelve Unlikely Heroes, here is a list of John MacArthur’s 12 best selling works. Publishers keep their sales figures pretty close to their chest, so this list was somewhat tricky to put together (I contacted some friends at the major publishers who worked with me on this list “off the record”). Plus, keep in mind that different publishers track their numbers differently, so this is not an exact science. The goal here is to inspire your last minute Christmas shopping, and to assuage your curiosity:

Originally titled Anxiety Attacked, Anxious for Nothing looks at how Christians should deal with worry. On the one hand, MacArthur demonstrates the insufficiency of pop psychology to alleviate stress. But more than that, this book teaches the sufficiency of Scripture, and shows how trusting in the sovereignty of God is the antidote to worry.

Called to Lead is a look at Paul’s leadership style. What Twelve Ordinary Men does for each of the Apostles, this book does for Paul. The first half examines how he led while a prisoner, and how became the most influential person on his transport ship (even taking charge of soldiers when their commanding officer was around). But the second half is where the book’s implications come alive. There MacArthur looks at 2 Corinthians, and how Paul led a church that had turned against him. This is when leadership matters. So many pastors are tempted to run from opposition and controversy, but this book shows how Paul led through it. It was initially released as The Book on Leadership.

By far MacArthur’s bestselling-devotional, Truth for Today is a collection of excerpts from his commentaries, tailored and edited into a devotional format. The result is a devotional with doctrinal depth developed out of particular passages.

The Truth War examines Jude’s challenge to “contend earnestly for the faith,” and how that mandate should play out today. It specifically deals with the challenges of absolute truth in the context of the Emerging Church and post-modernism.

Hard to Believe is perhaps MacArthur’s most stringent critique of easy believeism. It really is an affront to the idea that a person’s salvation is seen in a decision, and that the decision can be made without resulting in a changed life. In a sense, this is The Gospel According to Jesus for those who are not familiar with the Lordship debate.

For decades, Grace Community Church used The Fundamentals of the Faith as their new believer’s class curriculum. Eventually the material left the walls of Grace Church, and today over 15,000 copies are distributed annually inside US and Mexican prisons. Translated into over 20 languages, this curriculum is a basics in theology class used world wide. The 13 lessons go through the essentials of the Christian faith, and are designed to be used in a Sunday School/Bible study setting. Each lesson is connected to a MacArthur sermon on the topic, and the sermon is integrated into the curriculum. Grace To You has a page that lists the lessons, links to the sermons (free), and allows you buy the student workbook or the teacher’s guide.

The Gospel According to Jesus is the book that really put John’s ministry on the map. As the concept of ‘no-lordship’ salvation began to gain popularity in the US, there was growing concern among many evangelical leaders about this teaching. This book is where those critiques coalesced. I think this book is largely responsible for ending that movement’s growth. With extensive footnotes, this book names names, and brings the Bible’s teaching on salvation into clear focus. While not his best selling book, this is probably MacArthur’s most famous and influential work.

How do you know what God’s will is for your life? It’s not as hard as you think. Found: God’s Will gives people some basic principles to help in decisions like what school to go to, what job to take, where to move, etc. I love this book because not only is it immensely helpful and freeing, but it is an extremely practical version of Piper’s Christian hedonism. In my own life, this book has made my understanding of how choosing according to your greatest desire not only glorifies God, but it is his way of leading us. This is also the shortest book on this list.

Twelve Extraordinary Women is a collection of mini-biographies of some of the most well known women in Scripture. It is also the only book on this list I have not personally read. I will say this though: At a Q&A at Grace Church, MacArthur was asked why he called this book “Extraordinary Women” while the other book in the series is “Ordinary men.” His answer: “Because I’m no dummy.” This is the second of the three books in the series (Twelve Ordinary Men, Twelve Extraordinary Women, and Twelve Unlikely Heroes). 

Twelve Ordinary Men is Pastor John’s best-selling book. It is a collection of mini-biographies on the 12 disciples. The book makes the point that these were very ordinary men, and that makes God’s use of them almost inexplicable–except that by choosing them, the only explanation for the gospel’s advance is supernatural. Even if you think you know all there is to know about Peter, this book is still very worthwhile. John shows the connections between the 12, and paints a full picture of each of them. I’ve read this book multiple times, and I’m always amazed at how much the Gospels do actually reveal about the 12. As a side note, John wrote his Th.M thesis on the life of Judas Isscariat. That chapter in this book is certainly gripping and sobering.

Largely developed from his preaching, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Series is one of the best selling commentary sets in church history (with well over one million copies sold in the US alone). The simple act of writing a commentary series this detailed, based on preaching, and covering the entire NT, is almost unheard of in church history. My favorite feature of this set is how the biblical text is bolded in the flow of the commentary. This really brings out how every word hinges on its context and adds to the whole. The synoptics avoid redundancy because Matthew is extremely detailed (in four vols.), Luke is story oriented, and Mark (when it comes out) will reflect Mark’s “immediate” pace. The commentary on Titus in particular is certainly one of the best commentaries on that often neglected book, and the volumes on Revelation should be read devotionaly. This series will form a large part of MacArthur’s legacy.

The MacArthur Study Bible has been translated into seven languages (including Arabic; Chinese is in the works), and is available in NAS, ESV, NKJV, and soon in the NIV. Unlike most study Bibles, the MacArthur Study Bible stakes clear positions on theologically challenging verses. It is the only study Bible I know of that is baptistic in ecclesiology, calvinistic in soteriology, and premillenial in eschatology. It is rightly pastor John’s best-selling work.    

Anyabwile takes Mark Dever’s list of nine marks of a healthy church, and flips them around. He goes through each one and shows how they are the basic commitments of a person who wants to follow Christ. He makes an unassailable case that believers in Jesus need to be plugged into a church, and he gives them 10 ways to do that effectively (he takes Dever’s nine, and adds a tenth on prayer).

This book is perfect for new converts. It covers how to listen to a sermon, how to apply the facts of the gospel to daily living, and the importance of evangelism. He covers church membership, discipline, and leadership. This short book (around 100 pages) is sort of like a Christian survival pack; it contains all a person needs to know in order to grow.

Released in 2008, What is a Healthy Church Member? fills a void in the Christian book market. It is both concise and clear, and I now carry around a few of them in my car…just in case.

The rides in this world go round-and-round, and you have to admit that many of them are silly. Plus, it is impossible to look dignified on most of them. Of course there are always those that try to appear noble on the merry-go-round, and they only look more ridiculous. Philosophers and university professors are akin to those who ride on the Ferris wheel, get to the top, and think that they really are superior to everyone else because they can see farther. Losing sight of the fact that they are carnival-going-folk like everyone else, they bask in their four seconds of intellectual superiority, but they will soon be replaced by those in the next cage.

And death is when you are finally mature enough to go on the really gnarly rides. 

This is the vision of the world put forth by Nathan Wilson in his newest book, Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl. Written in a stream-of-consciousness style, this book is part poetry, part essay, part history, and entirely fun to read. It is filled with statistics about how improbable this planet is, and about how improbable you are. As in you personally.

Wilson’s point is that this world is powerful, beautiful, silly, and outrageous all at once. It is also supernatural, but in the most natural of ways. This is a world where flamingos exist. Both real and plastic.

Somewhere, right now, on this planet, is a sheep who is a direct descendent to the sheep who saw Jesus’ birth. He might be getting sheared right now. You might be wearing a sweater from that sheep (at least that would explain the weird dreams you are having). And that sheep is probably a black sheep.

Wilson tells the story of creation (“can we grant that when it comes to the moment where either everything came from nothing in a giant bang, or God spoke the world into existence, that Occam’s Razor is a nonsensical concept?”). He deals with the problem of evil, and the problem of puppies. Both suffering and cuteness can make us misinterpret what exactly is happening around us.

This book affected me spiritually by reminding me of what exactly providence implies. Everything in the world is working together, for a purpose. I am part of that purpose. The fact that I just got stopped at that red light, or that a friend just died, or that I just found $20 on the ground—all of those events are supposed to tell me something about God and about his world. They demand a response from me, even if that response is simply wonder.

According Wilson, all of the world is a stage, and we are merely players (he got that concept from Shakespeare, but Shakespeare stole it from Solomon, so Wilson steals it right back). We have a part to play, and we shouldn’t be bitter if we are not in the lead role. Some of us are called on to say one significant line in our life, and then die well. Everyone of us affects how others act; will you be the kind of dad who makes your children wrestle with the problem of evil, or who makes them understand the purpose of laughter? We all should act with purpose, give God the glory, and then graduate to the next act by dying with gusto.

Wilson is one of those writers who never disappoints. While some of his books let slip the occasional post-millennial craziness, that is restrained here. There are two occasions where his language is a bit crass, and what frustrated me about them was that they didn’t fit in the context of the paragraph. They seemed unnecessary. Nothing rated D-for-Driscoll, but probably enough to give it at PG-13 rating.

The book was also made into a movie. I can say this: the movie is as weird as the book. I read half of the book, then watched the movie, then finished the book. I preferred the book. The movie was well made, but a the stream-of-consciousness combined with Wilson’s personality is better received on paper than the screen.

I highly recommend the book, and can honestly say that it will make you see God’s wonder in the small things in the world, and not in a cheesy “God is an artist way,” but in a profound “God is not like me, but cares about me a lot, but not too much” way. It is funny, clever, on point, and will make you worship God more.