Resources Books

We have found this resource wonderful. There's more in this book than I could have asked for gardening, preserving, how to chop would, how to make tools... Our 10 year old son enjoys reading it too and learning about how to really make items that he would use. We were looking for a resource to help us "survive" if need be on our own, also we were looking for items that were more cost effective in this hard economy. Great resource!

This book will teach you best tips and tricks for raising your own food, and a whole lot more. I purchased it as a replacement of my original book that I bought in the early '80s. I was so thankful it is still around! I wore the cover right off my old book and passed it onto a friend in need of this knowledge.

If you are into living off the land and need advice on how to do it, get this book!

This book starts with selecting property for building a home and continues through construction to maintenance and entertainment. It contains much detailed knowledge and each subject is well explained. Graphics and illustrations are good and well formed. I would recommend this book for any home builder, farmer, do-it-yourselfer or alternative urbanite.

One of my top ten books. I am an avid outdoorsman and believe in being prepared(Boy Scout Motto) to take care of one's self "off the grid". This book might as well be my bible. It does skim a little on some subjects but on the whole it gives a thorough enough explanation of all the skills one would need to scout out, build, propagate, and flourish on a frontier farm. Excellent illustrations to accompany all the subjects.

My only thing to change about it would be a slightly larger thickness of stock for the pages. I know this would make this rather large book even heavier but the pages have a tendency to bunch and fall midway through the book. A slight qualm about an otherwise flawless book. Read it flat to avoid this problem.

If you want to learn about how to be completely self sufficient I highly recommend this book.

Until I checked this book out of the library, I had rarely given a thought to getting "back to basics," that is learning how to be more self-sufficient. After I read the book, I soon bought it, because it opened my eyes to the many ways that I am almost entirely dependent upon others for my basic needs. "Back to Basics" is a helpful guide for those who want to get away from it all and live totally independently on a farm, and even those like myself that live in town, but that want to become more self-sufficient, and less dependent on expensive fossil fuels and foods that someone else has raised or grown.

"Back to Basics" is a colorful, easy-to-understand encyclopedia of basic skills. There are hundreds of color photos, and most lessons are laid out step-by-step, making the concepts very easy to learn. The book is divided into six basic parts:

I. Land: Buying It - Building on it (how to choose land, build a home, develop a water supply, create a sauna, etc)

II. Energy from Wood, Water, Wind, and Sun (making your home more efficient, how to use wind energy, setting up a solar-powered house, etc)

III. Raising Your Own Vegetables, Fruit, and Livestock (how to properly grow all sorts of fruits, vegetables, and grains, how to farm fish, beekeeping, butchering an animal, etc)

IV. Enjoying Your Harvest Year Round (canning, preserving all kinds of foods, making cheese and wine, etc)

V. Skills and Crafts for House and Homestead (making natural dyes, weaving, woodworking, stenciling, soapmaking, making homemade perfumes, etc)

VI. Recreation at Home and in the Wild (camping, canoeing, kayaking, celebrating holidays, etc)

This book definitely has the potential to help all of us live more self-sufficiently, learning to do the things that our grandparents probably learned growing up. However, one possible drawback is that becoming self-sufficient takes a lot of work, and in the case of switching your home over to some type of alternative energy, a lot of money as well. Most readers are probably not going to have the land, time, and money to make some of the more significant changes suggested. However, the book still offers a lot for the rest of us, and at the least, educates us as to what it takes to live in a self-sufficient manner. Another possible drawback is that the book tries to squeeze a lot of information into 456 pages. This means that while you are getting a very concise, and surprisingly detailed, overview, you may need to consult more detailed sources if you need more help than what the book offers.

Overall, this is an interesting and useful book that offers practical ways to become more self-sufficient, something that is highly relevant in these times of rising energy and food prices. My family has already used some of the ideas, starting our first garden this year.

not finished yet ..... need more time for something like this ...
have only briefly leafed ... that's how i gave it the three stars..

Christine Durst and Michael Haaren did an excellent job of presenting the major points of what it takes to become a Virtual Assistant. Their approach was very practical and hands on; and yet, potential pitfalls were also listed and discussed. Overall, their advice was sound and realistic regarding what it takes to be successful in this field.

If anyone is seriously thinking about becoming a VA, then this book is a "must read"!

This is a wonderful book for the aspiring Virtual Assistant. The authors go into great detail on all aspects of running your own VA business, and their insight is timely and comprehensive. In particular, you'll enjoy the extensive chapter on marketing, which details various ways that a VA can capture the greatest share of the marketplace. I highly recommend this book as a must-read and a resource to reference throughout the start-up phase of your business.

90% of what this book covers appears in countless other books for small and home based businesses. And, I'm not so sure that the other 10% is really so revolutionary because the concept of working remotely has been around for several decades now. The authors outstanding accomplishment seems to be giving what they believe to be a revolutionary new job category a catchy name. Still, if you've been living on a distant planet, you may find their mention of the basic components, requirements and legalese of starting a business helpful.

If you could only buy one book about owning your own VA business, I would highly recommend this one! As there are multiple books on the subject in the marketplace right now, I would still highly recommend this one. This is the ONLY book you will ever need - well, maybe one on accounting principles if you don't know any & have no money to hire an accountant! But this book tells you EVERYTHING you need to know, & the questions it asks (or asks you to ask yourself) & the skills assessment it has gets you THINKING about the actual undertaking of starting your own business. Even if you just read it cover to cover (which I also highly recommend) and never do anything else, you will forever think more concretely about owning a business. It's a true eye-opener.

Hard to Place: A Crime of Alcohol is a book about incomprehensible `Mother love' in spite of unbelievable odds. It is beautifully written and catches one up in a fast paced maize of circumstances where a seemingly ordinary adoption turns into a life sentence, both for the child and the family.

John comes into the Norgard family and challenges Kathy's skills as a mother and as a professional psychologist. She grieves as he is unable to attach to her and challenges the system in their loving family, school, and everywhere he goes. Little did she know until it was too late that he came into the world with fetal alcohol syndrome and the accompanying mental illness that goes along with it.

Her world is rocked into another dimension when John kills two senior citizens and she takes on the prison system and the justice system to save her son.

I highly recommend this book that deals with real life issues on a spiritual, emotional, and physical level. It is informative and at the same time tugs at the heart strings.

Ruth M. Baker, MA, Psychotherapy and Counseling

I read this book mostly because I work in the field of Adoption and wanted to see the account of the long term effects of FAS. My heart aches for the family. I feel the book itself was poorly edited but I still couldn't put it down.

The patience and compassion of the writer, Katherine Norgard, for her son and for others makes this a book that can teach us all about the value of forgiveness.

Hard to Place: A Crime of Alcohol is the true story of Kathy Norgard's effort to save her adopted son, John, from the death penalty. This powerful, painful, and beautiful book is a must-read for all direct practice and administrative social workers. Kathy's carefully crafted narrative provides powerful insights into the foster care system, the adoption process, fetal alcohol syndrome, the criminal justice system, and love. Kathy writes from her heart--and her story will touch your heart.
Cathy Busha, MSW

Dr. Katherine Norgard's book, HARD TO PLACE: A CRIME OF ALCOHOL, is both hard to read and hard to put down. It is a page-turning mystery story, and a heart-rending saga of a family torn apart by one of the most insidious of diseases: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). Hardly a sentient being exists who does not know someone addicted to or suffering the effects of, alcohol abuse. Nearly every family in America is affected in one degree or another by the problem, as Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon will attest, but it is FAS that leaves irreparable and permanent devastation in its wake.
Dr. Norgard chronicles with a depth of honesty, pain and compassion one professional woman's struggle with the results of FAS and the crimes it engendered. How this plays out in the life of her family and community keeps the reader up until all hours of the night.
While she is a personal friend, Kathy Norgard's struggle as a clinical psychologist and a parent to deal with the horror of FAS in her adopted son that I came to have the highest regard for her. Her skill as a writer draws the reader into the tragedy on page one and does not let go until the final sentence.
The sheer humanity of the author's response to her son's murder of two innocent people that lands him on Death Row awakens in the reader the utmost compassion for this mother's harrowing experience and its effects upon her family and friends. As she puts it, it became an endless battle to "make sense of the senseless" that engages the reader so profoundly.
HARD TO PLACE should not be missed by anyone interested in the health and well-being of children born to a mother who is tempted to drink alcohol while pregnant, and to anyone interested in the effects upon society of the death penalty. Other issues surface as one reads this moving account that any nation and society should deal with in compassion if it is to be known as "a nation under God".

The Rev. Christine Geer, Episcopal Priest
Crested Butte, Colorado

Every company has those take-them-or-leave-them dead end employees - but then there are those employees who are truly special, and who make the company run as it should. "Love 'Em Or Lose 'Em: Getting Good People to Stay" is a guide for managers to making sure they keep these star employees happy and productive, so one's company can stay happy and productive. With countless tips to keeping the cream of the crop producing for your crop, "Love 'Em Or Lose 'Em: Getting Good People to Stay" is an essential read for any manager and for community library business collections.

Well worth the purchase. In addition to sound "theory" provides very practical application. If you subscribe to the concept that BEING BRILLIANT AT THE BASICS will get you to the next level, this books is clearly for you. We bought one for all our HR Managers around the country whereby they can utilize the practical application ideas as bet fit their facility.

As a busy professional, it's easy to fall into the trap of tending to the task and not so much the relationship. This book brings me back to that important balance. Chapter six, "Family", was extremely useful and helped me understand that employees have needs that, many times, surpass their pay check. I was better able to work with an employee who had special family needs. This book is filled with practical, relevant, and usable advice on keeping employees engaged. This book is an essential read for leaders today. If you care about developing your people you will understand them better after reading LOVE 'EM or LOSE 'EM.

In any economy, the ability for managers to engage talent is a mainstay, yet few know how to do it. Love 'Em or Lose 'Em teaches `em how. It is practical and down-to-earth, providing leaders, at all levels, ideas which they can implement TODAY. This quick read is chalk full of anecdotes and suggestions that are low to no cost, leaving managers with no more excuses. More business books should take their cue from Love `Em - no wading through troves of mind-numbing theory. It is friendly, approachable, and to the point.
Debra Bogowitz, Accelerated HR Solutions Group

Unlike the hundreds of management books out there that can be rather philosophical and academic on how to create a productive work environment (with many of the concepts capable of being covered in three, not three hundred, pages), this book focuses on 26 strategies with countless practical actions under each strategy that a manager can take to make the work environment (read: "people") highly productive.

Best yet, the authors' strategies for employee engagement and subsequent retention don't cost big bucks to implement. And if you haven't figured out how much payroll dollars you lose by disengaged employees who ultimately leave, you're missing a big chance at improving your bottom line.

If there was ever a phenomenal return for money spent, it's in implementing Love 'Em or Lose 'Em's s6 strategies. But that means you have to first invest in the book! Buy it!

I always read reviews before purchasing and when I read the reviews on this book, I knew it would be a great book. My son is Autistic and has always been an animal lover. The fact that this book has superb pictures alone is the perfect choice for any child! Another bonus is the wonderful variety of animals and the extent of information provided. My son has carried the book to school almost every day, regardless of how much it weighs! You can't go wrong, I promise. Thank you to a fabulous author, David Burnie!

I wanted a book that showed all types of animals for my grandchildren to look at. This book has beautiful color pictures of every animal imaginable. As the children age (they are only 6 and 4 yrs old ) and are able to read at higher levels, they can learn about each animal in great detail.

The photography is beautiful, vivid colors, and explanations of everything is provided. I see them picking this book up as teenagers and still finding something they missed.

My 8 year old son wanted this book after seeing it at school. This was one of the first animal books he has wanted as he is much more interested in sports. He read it for hours, made lists of important things to remember, and wanted to read it to me at night. Great value, very detail oriented.

5 stars for this magnificent family book! Why? I have to very inquisitive daughters who ask many questions. Of course many relate to the natural world, more specifically insects and animals. When the inevitable questions come I say "C'mon let's check the book". We check this book often and have spent hours going through the pictures. What greater way to spend time with your kids,than learning together. The pictures are beautiful, the information is concise and interesting. A truly great book for the family, for browsing, and the coffee table. Great value! I also recommend D.K. publishing's HUMAN. Another amazing book.

Great! Very detailed information but not too lengthy. Nice for quick reference. Clear photographs. It's a thick book with lots of information but it is very organized. Not just about basic animals but nearly every known animals in the world and the areas they live in. I would recommended it for kids, teens, and adults alike.

Remember the fairy godmothers in Sleeping Beauty presented her with 'gifts' when she was born.....

A great baby present with lots of hopes and dreams for the child.

This was given to me as a baby shower gift for my daughter. It is one of our favorite books and I now give it out as a newborn gift to friends and family. The messages are powerful and simple. It is not a long book so it's perfect for bedtime.

This book is an awesome gift! It is a wonderful story that teaches children of all ages many important virtues and lessons!

This is a beautiful book about the wonderful gifts of birth! I have given this as a "new baby" gift to several of my friends, and they absolutely love the book. The illustrations and the words are done in a beautiful way. I highly recommend this as a great baby gift!

Every parent/grandparent needs this book and then every child needs to have it read to him/her over and over again so that he can know how very special the day is that he was born. This book celebrates the child's arrival to the family and helps to foster characteristics that should be a birthright to all children.

As a Marine veteran, this book gave alot of good ideas. The authors tell you different aspect of how the Marine Corps is ran and they explain why the Marines do this and how to implement it into the business world.

It's a good book. There are a lot of leadership techniques in here that can be applied. There is also a lot of information about the Marines, which is interesting. For a leadership book, I could have used less information about the Marines and more about leadership in business, but it's good for what it is.
One thing, the chapter on women dealt with sexual harrassment, mostly. I think that with everything women deal with (lower pay, glass ceiling, family life, etc) there could have been more info on women and less on sexual harrassment. That could have been a seperate chapter.

Semper Fi does a good job of relating the organizational and cultural strengths of the Marine Corps to successful essentials for corporate America. The beginning of the book emphasizes the importance of recruiting and maintaining the enthusiasm and energy or new hires. The book keeps it focus on sharing the attributes of the Marine Corps' organizational attributes contributing to its success rather than organizing around what corporate America needs and how the Marine Corps has solved those problems. Strongly recommended for HR professionals and managers leading large organizations. Always a good book for former Marines although some may remember a few details of Marine life differently.

Want to develop sound leadership and solid loyalty? This book clears up many of the misconceptions of USMC training and brings the same form of positive supportive leadership into the civilian and business world. Leadership is more than just telling people what to do. Leadership is established by being in the front lines with all your "troops". It's you're willingness to get your shoes just as dirty as anyone else's while providing an example of being out in front and at the same time making sure that everyone is up there with you. You, the leader, are the example! It is extremely well-written and should be in any top sensei's [martial arts instructor's] book collection. Dan Carrison is one of my Black Belts. I recommend this book to all my black belts!

In case you want to know how this 175,000 strong force is led/managed to live up to the "Send the Marines" legend, you will be largely satisfied. Many unique features, including the Buddy System (two friends get recruited, trained, and deployed together), Tour of Duty (a Marine can opt to remain or transfer several times during the enlistment period of four years), the strong emphasis on quality HR and recruiters, the "Crucible" (the 54 sleepless hours of hellish training with only one meal), the need for an officer/NCO to be better in all aspects (esp physically) than his fellow men till his retirement and so on are vividly discussed. However, I am obliged to comment that the successful principles of USMC are not readily applicable to the commercial world, primarily because, as per pg 123, "Unlike the Marine Corps, the workplace environment is not one of self sacrifice. Employees are motivated much more by self interest than by the collective good and are not shy about asking, "Why did he or she get this assignment and not me?" Anyway, this is definitely a good read. Highly recommended!

Below please find my most favorite passages for your reference:-

One of the legends every NCO has heard tells of a young officer who did not return an enlisted man's salute - and was subsequently ordered by the renowned Marine general Chesty Puller to stand there and salute the nervous private one hundred times. pg 66

The "monkey experiment" is a classic laboratory experiment that illustrates exactly what the Marines try to avoid - the thoughtless passing from one group to another of a learned tradition. Six monkeys were put into a cage in which bananas were suspended by chains...when a monkey pulled on the bananas, the entire group received a shower of cold water. It didnt take long for the six monkeys to learn that the bananas were to be left alone. A new monkey was then introduced into the group, while one of the original monkeys were removed. Of course, the newcomer saw the bananas and thought it was in monkey paradise. But, as it climbed upward, the five remaining original monkeys would actually prevent it from reaching the bananas.....Other newcomers were introduced, for each one, a monkey from the original group was removed.....Soon, none of the original group was left in the cage, yet the bananas were undisturbed - by monkeys who had never felt the cold shower themselves and who did not know why the bananas were to be left alone. pg 115

Today, teams of recruits clash in the pugil stick circle so that one learns not to just fight for himself but for his buddy as well. If his buddies are "killed", the remaining recruit must defend himself against multiple attackers, who close in intelligently, as a team. Thus teamwork is taught while defending and attacking. pg 130

If a manager has not called his own customer service desk in a week, then he has no idea how many times the phone will ring before it is answered, how politely the customer will be greeted, how willingly that customer will be helped and then thanked. pg 171

p.s. Semper Fidelis (Always Faihtful), the motto of USMC, is an indication of how much value is placed upon the virtue of loyalty.

This book is the most exciting, adventurous, and fun book ever. The characters are so realistic. It's very suspenseful. I can't wait to read the next book.

I picked this book up at a Scholastic book fair ten years ago, when I was in the third grade, and I absolutely loved it. This series and the Animorph series were my group of friends far-and-away favorites. I recommend this book to any young readers - it is enthralling. If you want to get your kids into fantasy, get them this book!

In a very unique way, John Peel brings together three very different teenagers to defeat a very evil wizard. But he makes it clear that it is only the first battle in a long war for the trio

I have only read 1, 2 & 3 but i absoulutley love the whole series. I especialy like oracle because I wrote down all of the riddles and fond a pattern.
These boks are superb. my raing Third place (Sorry)

This book is great! It's like a puzzle, and only in the end it all fits together. I stopped and looked at the puzzles a few times and tried to figure them out. It is a great book. You won't want to stop reading it. Ever.

I was recently elected as managing partner of a law firm. I found much of the book very helpful, especially the information about leverage and under-delegation. It also provided good leadership thoughts. This gives me a good framework to make decisions and communicate information. I highly recommend it.

While the book lacked some of the details I was looking for, it has excellent information on running a service firm. This books should be required reading for those wanting to become partners.

Before you bother to build or "scale" a professional services firm, you must read this book. One of my mentors recommended this book to me in 1995 and it was a "must read" then. David's experience and "real talk" about the basics and then the art of building a services firm saved me many nights of lost sleep.

Specifically, I used the "brains, grey hair, and masses" model to help me understand and commit to the right business model and level of service delivery for my line of business. Other key concepts include how to market and develop business, develop and leverage talent within your organization, and consulting protocols that dictate your perception of value to your clients. Now, my firm, Performance Change Initiatives, Inc., is steadily growing and expanding because of the solid foundation beneath it. We practice in the evolving Change Implementation Consulting field, and, we have used many of David's concepts to define and differentiate ourselves in our market. By bringing the art of the "process for organizational change" together with the science of hard core business process redesign and integration, we have found the recipe for delivering tangible business results that last. I have read David's book 3-4 times over the 9 year evolution of our firm and each time, I have "caught" a potential error and taken advantage of other perspectives and practice. You cannot substitute for experience and I am positive that I will read it again.

Additionally, I recommend David's famous book, The Trusted Advisor, for all constituents of the firm. It is imperative that everyone understands the power of building authentic relationships with your clients and the negative impact of the hard sell. People work with you because they trust you and have confidence in your work. This book lays out many of the components and practices of this "art".

I purchased this book out of sheer luck, by reading a review to law firm start up book that recommended professional services firm management books.

I am a East European Lawyer and feel empowered and enlighted when reading this book. Its style is user-friendly. In particular, I liked and appreciated the chapter on what clients expect from professional servicepersons.

I have not yet read all its chapters, but those I did, I read several times and each time new helpfull skills come to my attention.

As a lawyer, new tothis type of source of information, I was not expecting I could find such a book, of such a high quality.

I have 10 years experience in managing consulting company. When I red just first chapters of this book I immediatelly have started to implement some ideas described there and it gave greate results!
No matter if you plan to start new business or you are mature partner with many years of experiane in professional services business - this book is a must and greate reading. Enjoy!

First MacArthur book I read, which changed my life. Well studied and saturated in The Word of God. Thank you, Sir!

I was looking for books that would explain some of the criticisms aimed at CGM churches, such as Willow Creek and Saddleback. This book, published in 1993 doesn't name either of these by name and I thought it would give a relatively objective view having been written earlier than most others of this type.

MacArther takes aim at CGM churches and may be one of the first authors to do so. Of special interest to me is the appendix that gives some insight into Charles Spurgeon and the Downgrade Controversy. This is probably the best part of the entire book, and takes up a substantial portion of it. This is a good commentary and brief biographical treatment of Spurgeon for those of us who are not very familiar with him but only through some very good quotations.

However, MacArther's treatment of CGM churches begins to wear thin about midway through the second chapter. Some of his arguments start to make him sound more like a pharisee than someone bringing in the light. He objects to the forms of worship, the subject of worship, the absence of substance, the user-friendly message, the seeker-friendly concept...and these are all well and fine, but most of these arguments can be found for free all over the internet. He seems to go on a bit long in order to flesh out chapters that could be shorter, but of course this is sort of par for the course with most preachers!

MacArther makes his point but as a champion of institutional churchianity, he must draw up short of pointing out that these megachurches are merely the next logical steps for an institution where the clergy is always more exhalted, more revered and more siognificant than the laity "sheep." So while the reader may be freed from a downgraded institution, the person will still be in bondage to MacArther's brand of institution which puts them in a pew, staring at the back of the heads of others and viewing things going on at the front. As long as the preacher and the Sunday preaching remain the staple diet of people who call themselves Christians, it will continue to be a movement that is in decline, no matter the size or flavor.

Since we have been Christians for many years, both my wife and I have been distressed over the "Show Time" type of Christianity that now exists in many churches. We have attended services in a church which has "Broadway Style" (words taken from the church bulletin) presentations. One Christmas, this same church had a "Rock around the Christmas Tree" presentation (including the music, tree, and dancing).

I bought MacArthur's book with the hope that it would provide us with some insights and solutions to this problem of worldliness in the church. The first seven chapters give good insight into the pragmatic, "market-driven" church so common in our day. They are worthwhile reading.

The problem I had with his book comes in chapter eight. I'm expecting some insight into the root of this problem. However, the only answer I get is, "The very reason many contemporary churches embrace pragmatic methodology is they lack understanding of God's sovereignty in the salvation of the elect." He spends a whole chapter discussing his Calvinistic view.

The classic statement he makes is, ". . . those who reject the biblical doctrine of sovereignty. . ." It isn't a question of rejecting sovereignty (Who in their right mind would doubt that the God of the Bible is sovereign in all that He does?). There are many godly Christians, missionaries, and churches who believe that God in his sovereignty has given to man the power of genuine choice. Giving man choice does not take away from God's glory or sovereignty.

His solution, it seems, is that "many contemporary churches" should get more "understanding of God's sovereignty in the salvation of the elect." He seems to say that accepting his Calvinistic belief regarding "salvation of the elect" would solve the problem of pragmatism in today's churches. If he means to say that, how does one account for worldliness in strongly Calvinistic churches? Frankly, I don't think that worldliness (or un-worldliness) in a church is determined by the churches view on Calvinism. The eighth chapter left me disappointed; otherwise, it is a very good book.

R.S. Miller

I find this to be one of MacArthur's more compelling book. His awareness of the threats to the pure gospel is sharp; his use of Scripture to expose the dangers is on target; his exegesis is truly admirable; the relevancy of this book speaks volume.

I told a pastor friend of mine that he MUST read this book. Everyone who is in ministry or getting ready to answer God's call to ministry ought to read this book. It will safeguard you from a lot of dangers that lurk, wearing the robe of evangelicalism or falsely so-called.

I especiall like the last few chapters that emphasize the sovereignty of God in salvation and the building of his church. The church belongs to the Lord. He purchased it with his own blood. He is its rightful head. He knows how to build it and what it should look like. He has commissioned us to preach the pure gospel. Thank Lord, for the likes of Spurgeon and MacArthur.

The brilliance of John MacArthur's book, "Ashamed of the Gospel" is that it was written long before Rick Warren and Bill Hybels were household names. MacArthur, like Spurgeon a century ago, is one of our generation's leading apologist for defending the faith and the intregrity of biblical doctrines.

The evangelical church that I knew (until about 1995) was a place where the gospel was upheld and the bible was looked at as the infallible, inspired Word of God. This evangelical church largely arose because of the apostasy that invaded the mainline denominations some 80-100 years ago. Now that same apostasy has invaded Evangelicalism and the term "evangelical" no longer has any firm meaning in my mind.

Blame it on many factors. One key factor are pastors who figured out they could obtain larger churches, prominence, and prestige by preaching a "partial Christianity" that contains bits and pieces of the truth, and downplays or ignores the other doctrines that don't appeal to the masses. Rick Warren is especially dangerous as he surveyed his potential audience to discover what they wanted preached. Of course, that model works in today's consumer mentality. Rick has placed man's needs above God's words.

Another blame is on people themselves. They don't want to hear truth and the marketplace has rewarded pastors who placate people's needs to be "churched" but not taught anything controversial or difficult to believe. Mixed together, [heathen pagans plus limp-willed pastors] and you get a pretty good understanding of what evangelicalism has become.

God will never be denied a witness in any generation and John MacArthur is one of a diminishing number of sound bible teachers today who dares to take an unpopular and difficult stand when communicating God's message.

Especially powerful in this book was beginning on page 121 and Paul's exposition of the gospel in the Book of Romans. Paul's approach to the gospel begins with the bad news of man's sin and God's wrath. It is hard to appreciate the good news of the gospel unless one fully understands just how wicked and needing of a savior we are. The seeker-sensitive movement always ignores this point and immediately jumps to the good news. Consequently we have many people in today's seeker-sensitive church who are getting "saved", but they have no idea from what.

Another chapter of note is Chapter 7 on Paul preaching on Mars Hill in Acts Ch. 17. MacArthur makes the case that many church leaders read more into the text about pragmatism than is there. Paul did not compromise his message while preaching in the open marketplace of the day; today's preachers are compromising right and left. Paul was direct; he didn't win many converts. Look at the seeker-sensitive movement today attracting millions. One thing we know about biblical truth is that if the masses are running to some book or teaching, be cautious. That is a flashing warning sign that deception is nearby.

I can't wait to read MacArthur's new book, "The Truth War."