Posts Tagged ‘books’

Book Review: Why Should Anyone Believe Anything At All?

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Yo! I’m back with a commitment for the 400th time to post more regularly. I’m trying something new here. I’m going to review a book. There’s a long-pondered reason for this and it’s chiefly because I’m a big fan of communication and have come to realize lately just how bad I am at it. I tried to recommend The Shack to someone and in the middle of my little treatise they asked if it was a Stephen King novel. I’m serious. It’s that bad.

So, using the principle of if you’re not failing frequently, it means you’re not trying enough new things, I’m hoping to vigorously hone my art of persuasive communication through what I anticipate will be plentiful and regular failures in the attempt. It’s a two-pronged effort involving both written and spoken attempts at persuasion. So, if I come up to you at some point and start trying to persuade you of something – anything – now you know why. It’s practice. Feel free to offer robust differing opinions. Remember that your part is to challenge me and help me grow.

So here goes with the written bit. I’m starting with a book that Mike lent me awhile back.

Why Should Anyone Believe Anything At All?

Why Should Anyone Believe Anything At All? by Christian apologist James Sire gives two main arguments; 1) truth is the only good reason for belief, and 2) there are good reasons to believe that Christianity is true. The first half of the book makes the argument for truth as the only proper justification for belief and the second half offers four arguments for Christianity as a belief system.

The book was born from a lecture by the same name that Sire used to give on college campuses. Before his lecture, he would set up surveys where college students were asked to respond to one question “why should anyone believe anything at all?” In his years of asking this question, all answers fell under one of the four categories.

Sociological reasons: My society, culture, parents etc. hold X belief.

Psychological reasons: X belief makes me feel good. X gives me peace etc.

Religious reasons: I read about it in a book (Bible, Qur’an, etc.) My religious authority told me (priest, rabbi, guru). Miracles prove the truth of X belief. I had a religious experience.

Philosophical reasons: X is true. X is reasonable, logical, and internally consistent. X best accounts for all the available evidence. X belief gives the best explanation of all the tough issues of life.

He devotes a chapter to each of the above reasons, examining the reasons and then asking the question each time “is that a good reason to hold a belief?” He works incrementally toward the proposition the only good reason for a belief is truth and gives a number of criteria for recognizing truth in a claim. These criteria would be the answers given under philosophical reasons.

Building on this premise, he argues in second half of the book that there are good reasons to believe that Christianity is true. Sire gives four arguments for Christianity; the historical reliability of the Gospels, Jesus’ resurrection, the moral argument, and the experience of Christians discovering God – although about this last reason he’s careful to note that religious or personal experience should not be considered a stand-alone reason for the Christian faith but must be incorporated into a larger context of evidence.

It’s not a comprehensive overview of Christian apologetics – there’s no argument from design or anything about cosmology or science. The main apologetic he offers is the person of Jesus; his character, his teachings and resurrection. I found the first half of the book to be much more engaging than the second, not because his arguments for Christianity are weak but because the material in the second half is covered by nearly every basic Christian apologetic book you’ll pick up.

The second half is a good condensed review of much of what’s in Case for Christ. The arguments for the reliability of the Gospels and the resurrection are boiled down to their bare bones, which is helpful as either introduction to those arguments or just as review. He also devotes a chapter to dealing with the problem of evil and uses the nature of evil and free will defense as the intellectual answer, coupled with his personal experience with deep suffering to offer a solution for what is probably the toughest objection that Christianity has to answer.

I like James Sire. He’s down to earth and has a humorous, grandfatherly way of presenting solid arguments. I’ve read three and a half of his books so far and I rank this one as one of his easier reads. The first half of the book on its own is worth reading as he makes an engaging case for examining the truthfulness of a belief and not relying on all the other “reasons” that are commonly offered. It’s a roundabout treatment on thinking critically and differentiating between a true reason for a belief versus a cause or a feeling.

He uses real answers from college students to illustrate his points and the book is peppered with other stories from Shirley MaClaine to Chuck Colson to Sire’s own experiences – keeping the book moving at an easily readable pace. My favorite part of all of Sire’s books is his bibliographies; he gives these tasty one-paragraph reviews of other apologetic books and subsequently the cup of my Amazon wish list runneth over.

You can watch or listen to the man himself give the lecture at the Veritas Forum.

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Interview of the Month: Gabe Iowa, Iowa

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

(Update: He answered, he answered! I love it when people answer their interviews, it’s like Christmas. Thank you so much, Gabe, for your elegant, eloquent, informative answers. I really appreciate your time.)

I’ve been wanting to cover the subject of the Bible in one of my interviews. Happily for me, we have a very decent number of accessible authorities on the subject in The Family International. I was trying think of who would be a good one to interview and then I remembered Gabe Iowa (perhaps most commonly known as the Antichrist. He lent his face to the face of evil that so that by his sacrifice we might have ourselves an Endtime Music Video).

He lived close to our Home back in the early 2000’s for a couple of years and used to come over for weekly Bible studies to give classes. One time I was so convicted by one class he gave on the importance of studying the Bible that I determined in my 14 year old heart to read the entire Bible in one week. I think I gave up somewhere in the first half of Exodus.

But anyhoo, he left an impression on me and I believe he’ll brighten my blog with his words of wisdom. So I’m putting myself out there once again, taking that chance and believing in faith that as I take one step, the Lord will take two for me and inspire Gabe to answer.

Interview guidelines found here.

Because I haven’t met any first-generation member of The Family who doesn’t have a fascinating story in answer to this question – I must ask it first; How did you meet and join The Family International, and can you give a little (or big, or as much as you have time for) chronology of countries lived in, for how long, what you did in each one. etc?

Hi Jules,

First of all, let me say that I am certainly honored to have the opportunity to do an interview for your site.

I first met members of the Family International (hereafter just “the Family”) at a rented farm house in Iowa where my sister and friends were living in a loosely organized commune. I say loosely because in spirit, it was pretty close – and everyone there felt very much a part of that little community – however, some of those living there were bearing more than their share of the load.

This was probably due more to the inabilities of some of the folks living there – myself included. At the time, I had gone through a number of fairly traumatic experiences – having my first steady live-in girl friend, and breaking up, almost going crazy concerning the then unpopular war in Vietnam – and the cultural and social roller coaster ride that the entire nation and much of the world was experiencing. It was 1973.

I had just come back from the West Coast where I had been living and working in Los Angeles at a factory job – employment that had convinced me that there must be something more substantial to dedicate my life to.

I had quit my job there – and had hitchhiked up the West Coast looking for “something”.

It was about that time that I had gotten word that my brother had joined the Family in Chicago – and I had more or less decided that it was my mission to go and convince him otherwise – as I had not had very good experiences in the answers I had received from congregational groups when I asked them how I could live my life (I had already been reading the Bible a bit by this time). I was of the mind that the only way to find any real truth would be to separate ourselves and try to understand the Bible on our own.

On my way back to Iowa I stopped in a rustic village on the shores of the Pacific Ocean north of San Francisco called Casper by the Sea. While I was there I went to a movie playing in a nearby town – and without knowing what I was going to be seeing that night – I saw a film called “Brother Sun and Sister Moon” – the story of St. Francis of Assisi. I think that this was the first time in my life that I believed that I had truly found the answer to what my life was supposed to be about – and that was to become a beggar for Jesus.

Soon after arriving back in Iowa I began my slow transition of joining a Family home – and I first joined in Chicago in November of 1973.

I remained in the United States with the Family for 7 years, traveling from Chicago to a brief stay at the Kentucky Farm – then to San Antonio, Texas for about 10 months. From there I moved to Eugene, Oregon – then to Oakland, California and for a time in San Francisco – on to New Orleans and to the New York Border Base where I had my first stint as a “shepherd”. From there to Birmingham, Alabama – New Orleans, again. – Atlanta; Cherry Hill, New Jersey – then to Los Angeles, a trip up the coast to Washington – and then a trip all the way back to Georgia – up to Newark, New Jersey – back to New Orleans, again. – up to Bellingham, Washington where we (I was married by this time) boarded a flight to Manila, Philippines. The date of arrival was January 1, 1980.

I lived in Manila for 7 years where I helped deliver a lot of babies through teaching natural childbirth classes – caused a lot of trouble – and worked in our fledgling video productions making home video programs for our children and interviewing Family members at area meetings. In the Philippines I met my second wife – to whom I am still married.

We then moved to Bangkok, Thailand where we had a ministry on the ships to the sailors – a lot of whom were Filipino – and then, after a very interesting time in Russia in 1992 – to Japan where I was able to continue to work in video productions at a large international school and studios. During this time I was visiting Thailand for visa trips until I was able to bring the rest of my family to Japan. We left Japan in 1998 for Italy where we lived and worked for a couple of years.

In 2000 we returned to the US and we have lived in Texas, California, Oregon, Alabama, and Iowa – where we live now.

I have done a lot of video work over the years, a lot of Bible teaching, outreach with music and theatre, raised our 6 children – and been everything from the doorkeeper to what I am now – nobody.

At what point did you get interested in The Bible? I know lots of first-generation Family members and nearly all of’m know the memory book and set card, etc. but clearly at some point you transitioned from basic Bible knowledge to Bible Buff status. Was it something you were interested from the day you joined?

My interest in the Bible began when I was about 20 – before I joined the Family. I really didn’t know much about it before that – and although I had read a number of books in high school and in curiosity – I really didn’t read that much until after high school. During my first (and only) year in a university – I met a lot of people who did read – so I started reading more then – stuff like “The Lord of the Rings” – some C.S. Lewis – including “The Chronicles of Narnia” – and some Buddhist and Hindu stuff. The latter wasn’t clear at all to me – but I really liked C.S. Lewis.

About this time I was beginning to learn guitar too – and since I was an avid music fan – I had a lot of influence from the music of that time – particularly The Beatles, and a few bands you never heard of like Poco, The Soft Machine, and a local band called Rural who were really fun musicians.

My brother had gone into the US Army, and when he got out we moved to Los Angeles (where I worked in the factory) – and we started reading the Bible together there. However, the Bible was so deep that I really didn’t get much from it at first – but I did open it now and then and read.

It was when I visited a Family outreach center in Chicago that the Bible really came to life. I had gone there to find out if I wanted to join – and a brother sat with me to answer my questions about life, what were we here for, what it meant to have eternal life – etc. … and the way he did it was to open the Bible and show me verses. I was pretty amazed at how he answered all my questions from the Bible.

It was about this time that I was reading Family literature – and that made everything a lot clearer to me. The literature more or less digested the Bible for me – so that by the time I did join and started memorizing verses and chapters – I had a better grasp of what the Bible was saying and what it was all about.

I think I also benefited from some movies that brought the Bible to life for me – including “Godspell” which was a stage play really, and later “Jesus of Nazareth”.

I think my real interest in the Bible developed over a fairly long period of time to where I now feel that I have a much more mature attitude about it. I think it is the most important literature in the world – bar none. The Bible never fails to fascinate me in that the more I read it – the more it becomes. With most books if you had to read them over and over – you just couldn’t do it – because the content is limited to the story and perhaps some suspense, or drama, or character studies, or moral lessons – intrigue, whatever; but once you have read the book and know the ending – it can become boring to read it again. Not so with the Bible. I find deeper truths there with each passing year.

What faction of the Bible (eschatology, history, a particular Bible study etc.) interests you the most at this point?

I am very interested in how the Bible reveals what is coming in the future – and this has been a primary interest for me from day one.

I would have to say, though, that my greatest interest is in the Gospels. Here we have a mere 150 pages – a couple days reading for a scholar – and yet the truth and understanding contained in these pages surpasses and transcends all schools of thought throughout the world.

Additionally, the Bible or parts of it have not only been translated into a reported 2,454 languages – but it has also been received by people reading and speaking those languages as standing on its own in regards to the principles and truths set forth in its pages.

That to me is a pretty impressive record.

What’s more – the writers of the Gospels, (except John who would not boil in oil) – died for what they had written there. I can see dying for some ideas, or some people – but I cannot see why anyone would give their life for something they knew was untrue or fabricated – and certainly not in the manner that these writers died.

And more than that? – the people to whom they preached the stories of the Gospels likewise were willing to give their lives rather than recant. And not just the immediate converts – but this has held true down through the centuries in nations and cultures across the globe.

Although I am fascinated by the eschatology of the Bible – I believe that some of the simplest passages offer the greatest insights; and power, life, and light.


In The Family International, there’s major emphasis on things like prophecy, direct revelation and fresh word from the Lord. A biblical foundation is also emphasized as vital, but in actuality and from personal experience, solid Bible study and memorization can be very easy to miss for long periods of time. I think this is especially true for those of us who grew up in a post-Charter environment and (perhaps I can only speak for myself here) never really got in the habit of Bible study. Why is Bible study important, in your opinion?

I believe that Bible study is important for the same reason any study is important – and that is simply that until you spend a volume of time and effort on any pursuit – you most likely will not benefit much from it.

Bible study per se is just like an athlete conditioning himself for the race. But conditioning and running the race are two different things. The real athlete experiences exhilaration and responses in his mind and body that would be impossible unless he had passed the point of mere conditioning to the point of being able to compete.

I think the same is true of the Bible.

Unless you spend some time there – you will never pass the point of training, and truly run with the wind.

The other day I was giving a class on this to some folks who have been pastors – and we talked about how important it was to know the Bible – and particularly the Gospels, and I asked them the question, “Can you faithfully recount all the parables of Jesus?”

I am not sure that I could – but I do feel that each of those parables is worth knowing. How much of the Bible do I really know and understand? How much of the Bible can I share with others from my own realization and understanding of the truths that are there? Can I quote it – like a doctor can name all the bones in the human skeleton, or a geologist all the various rock formations or a zoologist his animal kingdom?

Unless you force yourself to study – you will never experience the wonder of suddenly connecting the dots so to speak. These few words have been the source and inspiration for countless songs, paintings, poetry, and philosophy, – whatever the field or persuasion; the Bible has been an influence on it, and in some cases, the greatest and most enduring influence.

It deserves a good read now and then.

What are you current favorite books and characters of the Bible (not counting Jesus) and why?

I really like the Gospels. I love certain passages of the New Testament – the writings of Peter are outstanding. When I first read the Bible and looked at the few pages of 1st and 2nd Peter – my immediate reaction was that he didn’t have much to say. I don’t think that I have begun to scratch the surface when it comes to Peter – he is really deep.

I love the book of Hebrews – because it shows so clearly how rules just don’t work (and I never liked rules). The book of Hebrews really humbles me too – because you can see the great work of God through Jesus Christ there – and the High Priest that is never beyond our petitions and our need for Him.

My favorite characters I would have to call the “Whisperers” – which would also include the events where the spirit world was opened up and the connection was made to men. This includes all the passages where angels appeared.

I am a firm believer in the reality of the spirit world – both good and bad spirits – and I have had a lot of personal experiences along these lines – so I am grateful that the Bible is very clear on the spiritual man, the spiritual world around us – and our sojourn here in preparation for our indescribable life when we pass on to the “other side”.

I don’t know if this question will make sense or not, but here goes: It’s likely that I just haven’t read enough of the Old Testament to know what I’m talking about, but what is the relevance of huge amount of information on the laws and codes of the Jews in the Torah? It seems to me like there’s a couple general big messages of the OT; God created the Universe, man sinned and separated himself from God, God chose a people to carry the lineage from which Jesus would come, and prophets prophesied of Jesus.

Christianity seems to rest primarily on the person of Jesus and his resurrection. If this is the foundation of Christianity, why is there included in The Bible SO much detailed background information on Jewish law? I glance through the Torah and it seems to me like it could have easily been a lot more condensed. I know all those rules about clean and unclean stuff is part of Judaism, but for Christianity, why is it important that all those laws and detailed descriptions of when one should be considered unclean until the evening, etc. are included in the Bible?

Well, here goes – so pray for me on this one. Before I comment, I will confess that I am not a very apt student of the OT – except for those portions that deal with the spirit world and the revelation of the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ on Earth.

I view the Old Testament as a record of failure – not of God failing, but in mankind failing in every way to redeem himself by himself.

Even though God gave the law in detail – and in the Law was righteousness – it all failed because none of us could keep it. I think that unless God allowed mankind to sort of grind it out – year after year, century after century, millennium after millennium of failure – until God finally quit speaking to them for over 300 years – that even when Christ came, there would have been some who would have stood up and said, “Hey God, you just didn’t give us a chance to prove ourselves!”

Even now, under the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ – some are still trying to please God by dutiful law keeping. It doesn’t work!

And there is something else there in the OT that is very precious, and that is the beauty of the redeemed and repentant – like the Psalms, or parts of Isaiah – where in the midst of destruction and defeat – the human spirit cries out to God for salvation.

I guess this is why I spend a lot of my time with the Gospels – the good news that grace and truth are come unto us.

In your (I’m imagining) 30 plus years of sharing your faith, what are some of the most common objections to Christianity you’ve encountered and what are your answers?

I think the most common objection to Christianity is that the individual is already full of something else – usually themselves.

This can be manifest in a lot of different ways – but I think it is often just as Jesus said, “He hath filled the hungry with good things, but the rich hath he sent empty away.”

One thing that I have learned and been taught, and that I believe to be true – is that it is impossible for people to refute or deny your personal testimony. When you can look them in the eye and say, “This is my experience and this is what happened to me, or is presently taking place in my life.”

When someone asks me how I know Jesus is in my heart I can tell them, “Because I was here when He moved in.”

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Interview of the month: Grant, California

Saturday, February 7th, 2009

(LNF: Sweetness! Read and be educated, my friends. Thank you Grant, I really appreciate you taking time out of your very busy life to give these helpful answers. I’ve learned a lot — like how useful RSS seems to be, among other things. And just as a little HU for those of my friends who feel strongly one way or the other about Obama, Grant’s traveling at the moment so I don’t think he’s available to defend his position on Obama (or anything else) or engage in any kind of discourse. Just so you’re aware :) .

I’ve decided to interview Grant so as to find out how I can be more like him. I want to be more like Grant in the sense of being aware of the world and its many currents. Around the beginning of last year, for the first time in my young life I started to pay attention to the news and world events. Now I can’t figure out whether all this crazy stuff going on just started now, or if it’s always been going on and I just started paying attention. Either way….

From his many blogs and the very nature of his work, it’s clear to me Grant is up on this stuff and I’m determined to figure out how he does it so I can, as I mentioned, be more like him. You could look at this, Grant, like an opportunity to help light the way of a struggling and confused youngster on her path to world awareness. Or not. Whatever gets your to answer, really :) .

Interview guidelines found here.

What is your news gathering process? How much time does it take out of your day, what news channels/websites do you use most frequently, do you use RSS, do you watch the news on TV or is it mostly online, etc. Give me a “day in the life of Grant when he’s gathering the news”. Links are welcome too. How do you keep the whole thing from taking up too much time? Not that I have that problem…..at all :) .

(Grant:) I do a fair amount of reading every day that is directly related to my administrative role with FCF. In the morning usually I do briefly glance at CNN news headlines online but I try to discipline myself not to spend too much time doing so.

But as far as gathering potential blog material or inspiration, given the obvious time restraints, I don’t spend hours scouring the news or internet for this purpose. I have however signed up for news feeds or news summaries on the particular subjects that I am interested in, having searched out sources that present a more grassroots and/or truthful perspective than is typically covered in western media. And I can access these on my schedule, which I usually reserve for the evenings.

So as far as doing any blogging (or reading books, etc), I basically fit this into my evenings. Now that my kids are older, it’s easier to make time for such things, so usually when our youngest is down for the night, I dedicate some time to combing through these news feeds and blogging.

In other words, on a day-to-day basis, with the exception of a day off when I might do some extra reading or research on a given subject, I find myself too totally absorbed in my work everyday to focus too much on my blogs. Though admittedly tempting to get into “fun” things instead of “work” things, I usually successfully resist. My motivation in not allowing myself to get absorbed in my blogs during the day is kind of a carrot-and-stick approach: whereby if I stick to my work during the day (so as to not get too much behind on my work), I therefore reward myself with the luxury of relax-time puttering around on my blogs.

So despite the number of blogs and mini-sites I maintain, you might be surprised that I spend a relatively short amount of time actually blogging. Basically here’s what I do: When I do come across an article or subject that particularly interests me, after having glanced through compiled headlines and briefs, I selectively write off any “of interest” into a subdirectory. Most evenings, it’s then a case of me scrambling to find a topic and more-or-less impetuously choosing from this larder as my subject for the day. And as I explained earlier, my “research time” is cut down in that I target material from a couple of specific feeds, where I have already determined I’ll probably find some decent material or inspiration. Articles that not only report developments but which usually also reinforce and/or challenge my personal belief system.

I’m guessing that you’ve been interested in world events for longer than I’ve been alive. When did you first get an interest? Teen years? How did it start?

I grew up in a very apolitical environment, with no desire to know or understand anything about politics. It wasn’t until I became a Christian at 19 and determined to become a serious student of the Word, coupled with my engagement in missionary work in a variety of countries, that a desire to understand more about politics, the economy, and world religions emerged, and in fact continues to grow to this day. Obviously it didn’t hurt any that by the time I was 25 I had traveled extensively (30-some countries), and to date over-60 countries, interacting with an innumerable amount of people from these different countries, something I find fascinating.

So I would say that my travels enormously broadened both my perspective and my desire to learn. I think it was Mark Twain who once gave a tongue and cheek warning about the travel, stating that, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness!”

Many of these things I blog about (and/or have built a few simple, static websites) focus on subjects that I tend to incorporate within a Christian framework in discussions with others. Because of my interest in what was happening with the worldwide economy, in world politics, and international aid, etc. including having had some involvement with sad situations like the state of North Korean refugees, it was a natural extension to begin blogging on these subjects. (As a footnote on North Korea, the political conditions within North Korea are not all unlike the projected conditions of the future rule of the predicted AntiChrist.)

And with a slightly different application of the term “therapeutic”, I likewise found it therapeutic to unload online any feelings of frustration, sadness or other emotions caused by such things. To kind of “sound off” to any who will listen, allowing these injustices their due exposure, rather than just passively co-existing so to speak. Not that I’m saying that my blogging necessarily changes the sad state of world affairs, but I guess it does at least help me cope.

Yet another extension of coming in contact with so many people from different cultures and nations, I have felt a responsibility to know something about their countries, cultures, politics and economies, gained through first hand observations, asking questions and reading, etc.

Lastly, I feel that the more you understand the present, the better we can prepare for the future, and so coupled with a belief in the Lord and His protection and leading, it’s a wise investment to stay up to date on the signs of the times.

How are you training your kids in this regard? Have they taken an interest in world events or do you try to cultivate that in them?

My wife and I have always tried to cultivate our kids’ interest in the people of the rest of the world, emphasizing that life in North America is not the way the majority of the world lives; that it’s the exception, rather than the rule. Our kids have had the advantage that most have traveled extensively given their young years. Even though we live in the States because of my work, we try to make this happen. Because at the time our oldest two teens were in Australia and Mexico respectively, my wife was able to take a trip to India for 3 months with our younger two kids, during which time they made cross country train trips, and had many experiences where they really got in touch with the people, as well as missionaries throughout the country.

And besides our kids’ own personal experiences in other countries, we have always tried to mix in current events and economic developments and so forth into their Word studies and devotions. I would say the guys, more than the girls, have taken the bigger interest in world events.

How has this global financial crisis affected people’s attitude toward philanthropy, in your experience? Has anything changed? I’d imagine that during times like these, giving to philanthropic organizations would be the first thing cut from any individual’s or corporation’s budget….

Well, signs are emerging that a lot of charities are going to be hit financially simply through their donors being obligated to cut back to the basics. In fact, there are estimates that 100,000 non-profits could go belly up financially this year in the States alone! There are other indications that donations to international charities could drop by 15% as a result of the economic collapse, and obviously those billions of dollars less will translate into significant hardship for both the organizations and most sadly for their clients.

With all this in mind, we’ve been very pleased that 2008 has been FCF’s best year financially, allowing us to make significantly more social investments this past year than ever. As to what the future holds, by God’s grace I remain optimistic that this trend will continue for our organization despite the economic challenges that the world at large is facing. In stating this hope, I would very much appreciate your prayers that the Lord blesses our efforts in this respect.

Have you been surprised by anything (new legislation, appointees, etc.) that the Obama administration has done since his inauguration?

First of all, I am not too impressed with touted “political solutions” in general, regardless of their brand names or political promises. Having said that, I would have to express guarded optimism about Obama’s energy and drive, especially since things could have hardly gotten any worse compared to the past 8 years of Dubya!

Obama himself appears to be a sincere man, and as far as this new Administration, I give him credit in recalling some seasoned veterans from the Clinton Administration to take on the massively overwhelming job he has inherited. As far as any surprises with the Obama administration, it seems to me that it has gone to an extreme by bringing in SO many of the same culprits who a decade or more ago laid the groundwork for much of this mess! It’s hard to see how all this is synonymous with bringing about any real change, as promised.

Of course the fate of the States, and of nations in general, is not decided by governments, but it is in the dark corridors of financial power where the most important and far reaching decisions are made…. (Couldn’t resist shamelessly plugging a new CREDIT CRISIS web site that I have just begun working on! Check it out.)

Do you read books? Any good ones to recommend?

Yeah, I read books from time to time, again selectively, and usually during “down time” such as on flights, or a day off etc. Some books I’ve read recently that I have found interesting include “Three Cups of Tea” written by Greg Mortensen who is involved with grassroots humanitarian efforts in Pakistan and Afghanistan; “The Shack” by William P. Young, a delightful novel with a unique way of viewing our relationship with the Lord, the Holy Spirit and God; “Houses that Change the World” by Wolfgang Simson, an amazing insight into the house church movement that has swept China, Vietnam, India, etc., and which focuses on the radical essence of Christianity; “Mega Shift” by James Rutz, on the surge of dynamic grassroots Christianity worldwide; “Empire of Debt” by William Bonner and Addison Wiggin, insight into the history of empires, focusing on the present-day American empire. I also really enjoy personal Bible studies which I take on from time-to-time, recently did one on “Hell”!

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