Good Reads

I love to read. But over the past few years my love seemed to dwindle in the midst of all the college textbooks and articles that took up the majority of my reading time life. Those of you who have been through college understand how painful the reading can be. No matter how hard you try, you can never read any of it with anything other than a droll, lifeless monotone that makes you want to just curl up and die, or at least take a 2 hour nap. It's just the way they're written---there's no escaping it.

However, since the recent download of the Kindle app to my iPad, my love has been rekindled (Baha. Did you catch my totally awesome pun?) I never knew I would love e-readers so much. In fact, as a library degree holder I thought my allegiance would always be to the paperback, but as it turns out the iPad is just too convenient for me not to give it the credit it's due. I can have hundreds of books on one device, plus they're so much cheaper! Not only are all classic books FREE, but every month Amazon has a collection of 100 Kindle books for under $3.99 here. Holy moly, this is stupendous.

Anyways, the POINT of this post was to share two really great books I recently read in the hopes that you would enjoy them too. So without further adieu, I give you some good reads:

First up is "When A Nation Forgets God: 7 Lessons We Must Learn From Nazi Germany" by Erwin Lutzer. If you want an eye-opener, this book is it. And the scary part is, after reading this book I realized that I myself might have actually voted for Hitler. He was a nation's dream, and incredibly well-liked by the German people. He revived a collapsed post-war economy in just four years, instituted nationalized health care, began a vacation program, established training schools and brought the nation to full employment, brought crime under control, built freeways, and returned national pride to the German people. He was a prime candidate and just like Americans, the people voted with their pocketbooks. Economy, economy, economy---that's all that mattered, and unfortunately the democracy that they once cherished eventually became the doorway to a dictatorship that would later slaughter millions. In the midst of prosperity, the German people forgot God, just as America has. Would a booming economy be nice? Of course. But perhaps we should consider the moral character and personal beliefs of the person we're putting into power, and let us hope and pray for the best.

Here are a few quotes pulled from the book to further entice you to read this: :-)

"As long as the economy was strong, people didn't care whether they had freedom of speech, freedom of travel, or freedom of elections. Under the Republic, people were starving in the big cities; they agreed that bread on the table was more important than a ballot at a voting booth. The people were willing to forgive Hitler's purges and his ruthless massacres in return for the right to live."

"Today we should be wary of the promise that if we will only accept the bridle, the government will deliver us from our economic woes."

"After Hitler was defeated, war crime trials were held in Nuremberg to judge the guilt of Hitler's henchmen. But a dispute arose as to what laws should be used to try the accused. after all, Hitler's cronies agreed, quite plausibly, that they had not broken any laws; their actions were carried out within the protection of their own legal system. They could not be accused of murder because personhood had been redefined to exclude Jews and other undesirables. These men were simply following the laws handed down by the courts of their day."

"The experience of Nuremberg and the silent holocaust in our abortion clinics bear eloquent witness to the fact that when a state is accountable to no one except itself, it simply assumes that whatever is legal is moral."

"Yes, it is possible for ordinary people to commit atrocities they never thought possible when they are swept up into a cultural current where everyone is both expected to fall in line and be rewarded for it. In such a climate, anyone who swims against the stream is demonized by misrepresentations, false evidence and ridicule. With such pressure, even rational and decent people who refuse to be co-opted begin to question their own sanity. Can they alone be right when everyone else is wrong?"

"Rome did not mind if people believed in Jesus; Rome had many gods and if Jesus were just one among many, that was of no concern to the Roman authorities. What Rome could not tolerate was the idea that Jesus was the ONLY way---that He was unique as the Son of God."

"It is not how loud we can shout but how well we can suffer that will convince the world of the integrity of our message."

Okay, so by a few quotes I guess I meant half the book. :-) But seriously, I would copy this entire book onto this blog if it meant more people would read it. I didn't even touch on the influence of propaganda in our society and the public education of our children in these quotes. Now THOSE chapters will make you uncomfortable. But nonetheless, I am incredibly thankful that I stumbled upon this book, because not only have my eyes been opened to the world in which I live, but I feel as though God has used this book to prepare me for persecution, something which I will be more than glad to endure if it means that the truth of Jesus Christ (The REAL Gospel, not the prosperity one) will be spread across our nation. And believe me, after reading this, I truly believe persecution is coming to America. In small ways it's already here, but it will get worse...and in many ways that's a gift---it's God's way of telling us to get our butts in gear and firmly believe, preach, and live out the Gospel.

Next up is "Silent Tears: A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage" by Kay Bratt, a midwest native! It's based on journal entries Kay had written during her time living in Shenxhi as expatriates, and more specifically during her time volunteering in a local orphanage. The title gives it away, because this book is seriously a tear jerker. Children being abandoned because of the one-child policy, little girls and children with deformities being seen as having little or no worth, babies dying in an orphanage on a constant basis, children being abused and neglected...sometimes only experiencing the sensation of touch for their quick, cold, weekly bathing. For the majority of the book you're wondering if the hope suggested in the title even exists. But more and more you begin to see it as Kay continuously perseveres on behalf of the children, gathering volunteers and donations to love on the children and help provide, food, supplies, surgeries, foster families, and even adoptions for the little ones. Your heart towards the orphanage workers even softens by the end of the book as you begin to understand the difficult world they are caught in the middle of, and how emotionally distancing themselves from the children is more a matter of survival when you've seen what they've seen on a daily basis. I would provide quotes for this one, but alas, my iPad has just run out of battery, so perhaps I'll put some on here later. Nonetheless, if you've adopted a child from China, want to adopt a child from China, or would never on earth consider such a possibility (you'll change your mind), this is an inspiring read that serves as an example that we really can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. As for me, I think I'll go adopt a Chinese child...or two or three...or ten. ;-)