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Jesus" states he's not big on religion, or politics or economics. Calls them a "man- created trinity of terrors that ravage the earth..." This book was recommended to me by a book group I attended to speak about my book A Demon Awaits. I had not read this book prior to writing mine, but I was very surprised to find that the premise of our books (a man struggling to heal his relationship with God) was identical. Before I continue I’d like to share a bit of my bias because one’s perspective will vastly affect the enjoyment of this book. I’m staunchly conservative, religiously, politically and economically. I’m also a writer and I choose NEVER to review a book that I don’t find to be very strong. Someone with a more liberal viewpoint will appreciate this book even more than I did. Young assaults the church as something created by man that God has no interest in. I found this highly irresponsible. I agree that the earthly church is created by and run by man and as such is fallible. Still, my experience with church leaders has been one of utter joy, learning and spiritual growth. To suggest that these fine people could be replaced by blindly reaching out to God without a guide of any sort sounded illogical to me. Young also suggest that we should disregard the Ten Commandments as an unattainable ideal. The Ten Commandments played a more guiding role in my book.

I don't disagree with the message that God loves us and wants a relationship with us, but this book is so full of pot-holes and misinterpretations that renders it useless: Lies are a little fortress; inside them you can feel safe and powerful. Through your little fortress of lies you try to run your life and manipulate others."Personally, I didn't feel any great sense of peace or satisfaction while reading this story. While I can see why some people felt that this book restored their faith and gifted them with a greater sense of empathy, it just didn't work that way for me. I saw where author was going, I just wasn't jumping on board that train. Invariably, they responded to my negative response with something along the lines of "You have to! It changed my life! I was full of questions, and life stunk, and then I read the book, and God made sense to me, I understood quantum physics effortlessly, and all of a sudden I could spin flax into gold!"

The beginning of the book is blah, the middle drags (Oh yes, Jesus! How it drags!), and the end question and answer part does little to help the genre of spiritual fiction. Billboard 200: The Week of March 18, 2017". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media . Retrieved March 16, 2017. Young skirts the issue of crime and criminals somewhat. God says that he loves his children all equally no matter what they have done and this is shown in a very strong scene in the text. This one scene was probably the best of the entire work. Counter to this, or maybe because of the focus, Young suggests that responsibility is a man-made construction that has no use in God’s eyes. The idea that we could all live together in peace and harmony sounds lovely, but ignores the fact that we live in a world with lots of “broken” souls. The Puritans were clear about responsibility and made sure that able-bodied people worked or starved. We have strayed very far from the principle of responsibility and I thought it was highly irresponsible of the author to suggest that we don’t need to act responsibly. I personally think that if people strived and were honest about what they were capable of and what they could contribute to our society, then we could take much better care of those who are not able to work to support themselves. Actually, we wanted you to give up trying to be righteous on your own. It was a mirror to reveal just how filthy your face gets when you live independently."This is a hard book to review because you pretty much have to separate it into two parts. The novel, and the theological. Only as he rested in his relationship with me, and in our communion—our co-union—could he express my heart and will into any given circumstance. So, when you look at Jesus and it appears that he’s flying, he really is . . . flying. But what you are actually seeing is me; my life in him. That’s how he lives and acts as a true human, how every human is designed to live-out of my life. (100) Case no. CV 10-03534 JFW (JCx): First amended complaint-in-interpleader". US District Court, Central District of California, Western Division . Retrieved 30 July 2011. I won't give away the story or the message, but I will say that is resonated strongly with me. At the core it is about God's unfailing love for his children. His desire to draw every one of his children to him. How this love transcends our hurts and tragedies. How he ususes even the worst situations as avenues of redemption.

And so I end this review with a challenge. If you really want to be spiritually transformed, don’t spend your money buying this book. Instead, go out and help someone in need or donate to a worthy cause. Case no. CV 10-3246 JFW (JCx) Memorandum of points and authorities in support of defendant Young's motion..." US District Court, Central District of California, Western Division . Retrieved 30 July 2011. Jesus is fully human. Although he is also fully God, he has never drawn upon his nature as God to do anything. He has only lived out of his relationship with me, living in the very same manner that I desire to be in relationship with every human being. He is just the first to do it to the uttermost—the first to absolutely trust my life within him, the first to believe in my love and my goodness without regard for appearance or consequence. (99–100) Inconsistencies of plot: In one scene, the narrator - who is supposedly writing down what the main character told him - tells us what is playing on the television while the main character is passed out. How can he possibly know this? Second, why does it matter? The plot is full of these little annoying inconsistencies. The biggest and most annoying is this vague reference to a possible murder of his father. Couldn't the boy just run away from home? Did he really have to spike the dad's beer with rat poison? Did the dad die? If he does, why haven't the police come after him? If he doesn't, what is he apologizing for in the great forgiveness sequence? As I said, these inconsistencies are glaring. And this about lies (not the lies people tell to stay out of trouble, but the lies we believe about ourselves or others as a defense mechanism):Case no. CV 10-3246 JFW (JCx) Plaintiffs' opposition to defendant William Paul Young's motion to dismiss the first amended complaint". US District Court, Central District of California, Western Division . Retrieved 30 July 2011. You do this because you don’t believe. You don’t know that I love you. The person who lives by their fears will not find freedom in my love. I am not talking about rational fears regarding legitimate dangers, but imagined fears, and especially those into the future. To the degree that those fears have a place in your life you neither believe I am good nor know deep in your heart that I love you. You sing about it; you talk about it, but you don’t know it.”

When I Pray for You - Dan + Shay | Release Info". AllMusic. All Media Network . Retrieved March 16, 2017. Yet, even amongst Christians there are many differences in theology. This author focused largely upon one of those areas where different denominations have varying beliefs -- free will vs. predestined fate. The author was clearly in the "free will" camp. Not surprisingly, readers who fall in the "predestined fate" camp will take issue with one of the major premises of the story.If you are as taken with the message of this book as we are, you may already have some unique ideas as to how you can best let others know about it. Here are some ideas to help you about ways to let others know about this remarkable book.