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Advancedbook suggestions please
I need a new inspiring book to read, maybe about a biblical character or a Christian in history. Any ideas? I would love to read a book about King David, any ideas?
many thanks
Country boy, nice to hear from you!
I thought I’d use your post as an excuse to draw up my top 10 Christian biographies. Most of them are a bit dated (showing my age!) but hopefully still available. I’ve put in links to book reviews where I can find them:
I’ll try to avoid using words like “amazing story” or “inspiring” because they are all amazing stories and all inspiring!
In reverse order:
10. C.T. Studd by Norman Grubb.
The story of the man who was an England cricketer and was then called by God to go as a missionary to Africa, founding what is now known as WEC, the Wordwide Evangelization Crusade. Studd is well known for his dictum “Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.”
Quite a good article on Studd at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Studd
9. Rees Howells Intercessor by Norman Grubb.
Rees Howells was an evangelist in Wales early in the twentieth century and an amazing man of prayer. He’s probably most well known for his prayer meetings during the second world war when many people attributed some of the events which occurred to Howells’s prayers
http://www.lutterworth.com/lp/titles/reeshow.htm
8. Moody without Sankey by John Pollock
The life of the great 19th century American revivalist Dwight L. Moody and his accompanying soloist, Ira D Sankey. There are some great Moody anecdotes in the book eg his call to the ministry through someone saying in his hearing that “the world has yet to see what can be achieved through one man fully surrendered to God”; his zealous attempts to get a pub owner to come to church - all his arguments were fruitless until one day he brought a child with him and got him to pray; the prayer moved the pub owner to tears and he came along to church; the way that God used a converted English pickpocket who travelled all the way from London to Chicago to tell Moody that God doesn’t hate sinners but loves them…
7. God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew
Well known story of the Dutchman who founded Open Doors and started the whole ministry to the persecuted church
6. Run Baby Run by Nicky Cruz
5. The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson
David Wikerson was a small town Pastor, suddenly called by God to witness to street gangs in New York. Nicky Cruz was one of the guys converted through him
4. I dared to call him Father by Bilquis Sheikh
The story of a proud, high born Pakistani muslim woman who suddenly starts to have strange dreams and develops a curiosity about the Bible
3. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
Well known story of the Dutch family, the Ten Booms, living quietly in Haarlem until the second world war when the Germans arrive and start to round up all the Jews in the neighbourhood. What is interesting in the book is that the first half which is all about Corrie Ten Boom’s life before the war and all that she learnt about God is as fascinating as the activities during the war.
2. Bruchko by Bruce Olsen
Bruce Olsen went as a missionary to live and work amongst a primitive, stone-age type tribe in South America. I read this book years ago and assumed it would not be in print but amazingly it still is. It really is an unforgettable story.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/159185993X/sr=1-1/qid=...
And in first place - the best Christian biography that I have ever read ….
1. Anointed for burial by Todd Burke
The story of a young American couple that felt called to Cambodia of all places just before the Khmer Rouge took over. In a just the few weeks available to them they saw a huge revival break out - including some unlikely miracles eg the healing of a blind pig!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0961553464/sr=1-1/qid=...
Hopefully, this will inspire other people to share their own favourite books and get this forum moving again…
A rather spurious excuse there woofwoof!
Still interesting to read your choices. I’ve read some of them and as I agree with you reviews will try a few others that you recommend.
I’ve just finished reading Out of the Black Shadows - story of Stephen Lungu who was a rejected street kid in Zimbabwe and became and international speaker. Very easy reading and also a reminder that if you listen God can guide you in the most amazing ways…
Let me guess - you’ve read The Hiding Place, God’s Smuggler, Run Baby Run and, possibly, I dared to call him father? (staple choices for church youth groups…)
Well, I wasn’t in a church youth group, but I’ve read The Hiding Place, God’s Smuggler, Run Baby Run, Cross and the Switchblade, I Dared To Call Him Father and Bruchko (though I think it was called something else when it first came out). Some of them I came across through schoolfriends, and others at uni.
Word of warning - don’t read the early chapters of Bruchko while you are eating…
I only read one christian book (run baby run) as a child so actually have read most of the above in the couple of years Hiding Place and I dared to call him father quite recently. Obviously I should get on and read God’s Smuggler to complete the set!
Coming from a sheltered childhood reading run baby run aged about 12 meant that it was actually a christian book that first opened my eyes to the occult, gang culture, torture and violence. I think my parents would have been shocked.. although it was my youth group that introduced me to alcohol and my first kiss … (is that too much information?!) - so I guess we were just to busy to be reading about what christians actually did!
Am impressed by your guesswork though!
GillH, you’re right - Bruchko was originally called “For this cross I’ll kill you” - a reference to something that a murderous settler said to him (the settlers who were coming in to clear the Amazon in logging operations stood to lose a lot from Olson’s campaigning on behalf of the Motilone). I think it was a strange choice for a title and probably gives the wrong impression about the book. I only found out that the book had been reissued as “Bruchko” when I did a search on google. Apparently the book has been updated for all that has happened in the 15 years or so since he wrote the original (including being kidnapped and held by a Colombian drug cartel/terror group in the late 1980s). It’s so long since I read the book that I can’t remember what is in the opening that would put you off eating. I do remember one scene though where Olson dreams that he has a snake in his mouth. When he wakes up he finds that a tapeworm has come up from his stomach looking for food. Ugh!
Queen Vic, God’s Smuggler definitely is worth reading, if you haven’t already. When I was at university everyone in the C.U. were reading these particular books. It’s interesting that the Cross and the Switchblade, God’s Smuggler, and The Hiding Place were all written by the husband and wife writing team, John & Elizabeth Sherrill. John Sherrill has also written a couple of excellent books - the classic, “They Speak with Other Tongues” and “My Friend the Bible” (the latter has some interesting information about the writing of The Hiding Place). Over the weekend, at the Gideons Bible Blitz, a woman member of the Gideons told me about how she had recently started speaking what sounded to her like gibberish while she was praying and had also had spells of shaking/trembling. Like most Gideons she came from a fairly staid church and had never come across these phenomena. I was able to recommend that she read “They speak with other tongues” which is a very readable introduction to the gifts of the spirit etc.
Just to say also that I should have included “Chasing The Dragon” by Jackie Pullinger in my list somewhere (definitely near the top).
Anyone else have any book recommendations?
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Joined: 2007-09-10