The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn

It started out with a package in the mail, a round archaeological artifact. It was a seal like those used to mark important documents.

Nouriel begins a dialogue on a park bench with a man who sees the seal. He has a seal too. He is a prophet. The prophet has a message for America. Like the ancient nation of Israel, America “is a nation conceived and dedicated to the will of God from its conception...” and “is in covenant with God.” (19) (Please see my critique of this statement below!) America was to “be a vessel of redemption, an instrument of God's purposes...” (19) Since America is turning away from God the hedge of protection will be removed.

Nine Harbingers, seen in Isaiah 9:10, are woven through the story. The first is the breach – the wall of protection is broken. That happened September 11, 2001. America made the mistake of not searching its heart after this attack. There was no thought of a judgment from God.

The second seal represents America invading Iraq, land of the ancient Assyrians.

With the third the nation rebuilds, stronger than before, but without seeking God, without repenting.

The fourth Harbinger reveals the leaders vowing to rebuild an even bigger tower with a defiant spirit.

The fifth Harbinger speaks of foundations and the huge “Freedom Stone” at Ground Zero.

The sixth, a fallen sycamore tree, symbolic of uprooting. The Tree of Hope is “the sign of a nation's defiant rejection of God's call to return.” (95)

The last two harbingers are unlike the others yet like all of them. They were Isa. 9:10 spoken after the disaster of 9/11.

Harbinger eight is the utterance, spoken by the VP candidate, John Edwards, at a Black caucus prayer breakfast on Sept. 11, 2004 (ch 12 footnote 4) “...at that time, among the most prominent of the nation's leaders.” (106) Cahn's character says, “...he was pronouncing judgment on America.” (110) (See my comments below.)

The only hope for America is for people called by His name to repent (2 Chronicles 7:14).

This is an amazing novel (but I do have my reservations – see below). The parallels between Isaiah 9:10 and the events as Cahn has described them are very thought provoking. We Americans certainly need the message of repentance. The necessity of salvation is presented at the end of the book as well.

While a novel, Cahn says, “...what is contained within the story is real.” (v) If you would like to get an idea of what that is, see http://isaiah910.com/page10/page10.html for pictures and additional information.

There are videos on YouTube, just search for The Harbinger.

See also, www.jonathancahn.com. (Although, as of 10/16/2011 there was really nothing there.)

Cahn uses dialogue to convey concepts and to preach to the reader. It gets a bit tiresome after a while. It is almost like listening to a lecture where, when the speaker is ready to talk on the next point, someone asks him the precise question of that point.

Part of me wonders why Cahn has used the fiction format to get this message into print. Does a novel really carry the same impact a well presented nonfiction book would? The end message is sobering. I am just not so sure fiction is the proper way to convey it.

Charisma House, 254 pages.

I received an egalley from the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Now for my reservations:

Is America in covenant with God? Is America the “new Israel”?  Certainly, not all scholars think so.  Monsma says, “...it is irresponsible for us evangelicals, who have a high view of Scripture, to apply the promises and warnings made in the Old Testament to the present day United States. There is no biblical basis for believing that God has made a special covenant with the United States or named Americans as his chosen people. Today God works through his worldwide church, which is drawn out of “every nation, tribe, people and language” (Rev. 7:9), not through a special, chosen nation. The United States is not the equivalent of Old Testament Israel.” (Steve Monsma, Healing for a Broken World, Crossway Books, 2008, page 22.)

Did Edwards pronounce judgment on America? I am not sure an individual never elected to any political position higher than representing a state, can speak for the nation, or pronounce judgment on a nation.

So what about all the events recorded in this book that align so closely to the interpretation of Isaiah 9:10?

Here is an example of how the characters pursued a symbol of prophecy:

“A breach in a holy place?”

“Yes. So I began searching for anything having to do with a breach in a house of worship...and of significance for America.” (192)

Do we take a Scripture from the Old Testament and then try to find the events in the United States that fulfill it? (Of course, after the fact.)

So we have one verse in Isaiah for which Cahn has found parallel events in the United States. We know the trouble one can get in by using one verse to prove something...

Speaking of St. Paul's Church, “'America,' said the prophet, 'was dedicated as a nation on this ground to God.'” (212) He had earlier quoted Washington's command for people “to commit the new government to the holy protection and blessing of the Most High.” (202) The newly inaugurated Washington and the Congress went into St. Paul's Church to pray (for protection and blessing). To me, this is very different than Solomon's word to God before the nation of Israel, committing that nation to serve and worship God.

It is interesting, to me at least, that 9/11 and the Wall Street economic collapse (two big judgment events according to Cahn) occurred during the presidency of George W. Bush, probably the most outspoken “Christian” president we have recently had.

So I have mixed emotions about this book. It was an exciting read but I think it has very serious theological problems.  

Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis

Katie had it all. She was homecoming queen, class president, top of her class, she drove a cute sports car.

But God was growing a desire in her. She loved and admired and worshiped Jesus. Now she was being urged to do what He said.

Her adventure began in December of 2006 when she and her mom went to Uganda, volunteering in an orphanage for three weeks. She returned to the States to finish high school but her heart was back in Uganda. Her parents agreed to let her postpone college a year so she could teach kindergarten in a small village outside of Jinja, Uganda.

She enlisted the help of her parents for the paper work (to establish a nonprofit organization) and soliciting of funds to send kids to school ($60 per child). She has to have an address for her NGO so she rented a house, soon visited by the scores of children she helped. Then she began adopting.

She had planned to be there only a year and then return to the U.S. for college and the normal American life. But a “normal” life after that year in Uganda was impossible. At her parents request, she returned to America and college. She was nineteen and “mommy” to eight children in Uganda. She lasted one semester and then went back. She hasn't sat in a lecture hall since but has learned lessons beyond value.

Katie is now twenty two years old and has fourteen children. She has learned that you don't have to have a degree in education or medicine to help others. She has learned that something happens when you make yourself available to God.

Why does she do this? She does it for Jesus. “I adopt because God commands me to care for the orphans and the widows in their distress.” (73) She is honest about the cost, the weariness. But she also shares the reward – she knows she is doing what Jesus wants her to be doing.

Read this book and be challenged. You will have to ask yourself what your life would look like and what would happen for the kingdom, should you accept and commit to Jesus' command.

The nonprofit Katie set up is Amazima Ministries (Amazima means “truth” in Luganda.)

Go to www.amazima.org to see how you can help.

Read Katie's blog at www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com.

Find out more about this book at www.simonandschuster.com/kissesfromkatie.

Howard Books (a division of Simon & Schuster), 264 pages. Publisher information. 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Beyond Boundaries by Dr. John Townsend

Sometimes you think you have to settle for less in your relationships. “If you don't want to settle in your relational life, this book is for you,” says author Dr. John Townsend. You are meant to have deep, meaningful and positive relationships.

Cloud and Townsend wrote Boundaries two decades ago to help people in troubled relationships. Now Townsend wants to help you identify and grow from whatever went wrong in the relationship. He wants to help you determine if someone is worthy of your trust again.

In part 1 of the book we see how trust is broken in the first place, what happens to the person on the receiving end and to the relationship. We see the role of healthy boundaries and what happens when we feel the desire for a new relationship or try again with the present one.

People in healthy relationships live longer and have fewer health issues. We are also made for deep relationships. Trust is essential. It is freeing. Yet we may be vulnerable to deception. When it happens, we lose trust. Hurt, guilt and withdrawal result.

Boundaries and what they accomplish are reviewed. Often a boundary will cause the reemergence of desire. Townsend explains healthy and unhealthy responses to such desires.

Part 2 addresses knowing when your ready to open up again.

Relational wounds need to heal so we can carry on with life again. Friends help. Counseling may be necessary. Townsend helps us review the painful relationship and gain insight from it. He writes, “My goal for you is that you will be enlightened and empowered to choose people who are both good and good for you.”

Grieving is essential for moving on. “Grief is what enables you to fully let go. It frees you, it clears your mind, and it helps heal the injuries. You must grieve what was. You must grieve it well and thoroughly before you are ready to go beyond boundaries into new intimacy.” He identifies six components for grieving a lost relationship.

Townsend notes that one aspect of growth that is necessary is fulfilling some of your needs yourself. He distinguishes friendships and romantic relationships. He reviews types of boundaries. Defining boundaries identify who we are never to be given up. Protective boundaries should sooner or later be given up. He speaks of risks and determining which should be taken.

He helps you to know when the other person is ready by identifying several characteristics the other must show. (These characteristics of the “other” person are really characteristics any healthy person should have.) “...[M]oving beyond boundaries requires a commitment from both people.” He clarifies the role of passion and how to evaluate a relationship, whether it is healthy or not.

Townsend has a chapter on those who want to give an existing relationship a second chance. “You need to see evidence of authentic transformation in order to move beyond boundaries with someone who has hurt you.” Such evidence includes confession, ownership, and remorse. He also goes through various communication techniques, giving tips to make it over the “speed bumps.”

Townsend gives several examples of actual people working through the principles he presents.

All of this is based on God as One who restores relationships and Himself experiences the pain of doing so.

Townsend's desire, “May you find the life that God intended for your journey.”

If you have been hurt by relationships in the past but are now ready to venture into that world again, this is a book you must read.

Zondervan, 272 pages.

I received an egalley of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Married Mom, Solo Parent by Carla Anne Coroy

There are lots of married women who have to operate as single moms. Their husbands are truckers, salesmen, in the military, or another occupation taking them away from home for long periods of time.

Carla shares her own experiences, her own dashed dreams. She suggests you write a letter to God expressing it all (perhaps burning the letter). Ask God to give you something new. Make sure you are reading your Bible.

She address all the emotions women left to parent alone face: fear, insecurity, jealousy, fatigue, shame, pride, self-pity, and anger.

Carla shares how she began to turn away from her husband emotionally. She decided to leave him but a friend helped her to see how she had been deceived. She vented all her hurt and pain before God. Hope began in her heart. She made a commitment to God but when she shared it with her husband, he was unresponsive. She tells how she ultimately relied on Jesus.

She shares her disappointment with the lack of church support (after all, she was “married”). She relates hot to cultivate friends and supporting connections. She has practical suggestions for caring for her children, disciplining (getting your husband involved), dealing with “husband” chores, taking care of the house, having sit-down family meals, pulling off meaningful celebrations, how to help your children deal with their dad not attending their “big event,” hot to get those much deserved breaks, honoring your husband, dealing with your own physical and emotional needs (while guarding your heart), handling your children's hurting hearts, and accepting your husband back into your life when he is home.

Carla's husband has the last say in the final chapter. He admits, “Men are clueless.” He suggests wives believe in their husband's good will and intentions.

Carla has provided resources to download, such as a journal, at www.carlaanne.com. She has also included an appendix with suggestions for reading and other resources.

Carla is very honest with her struggles, including her physical and emotional faithfulness to a husband absent for long stretches of time. She shares her own battles and strategies for remaining faithful, both in action and in her mind.

The hardest part of this book to read was the section on the hurts kids experience from an absent father.

I live in a naval community and spouses are gone seven or eight months at a time. I talked to wives and know the frustrations they experience while solo parenting. This book is a jewel. What an excellent resource! If you are solo parenting, get this book.

Carla runs the Married Single Mom blog at www.carlaannecoroy.blogspot.com.  She speaks regularly and serves as staff writer for an online Christian women's magazine Mentoring Moments for Christian Women.  She lives in Canada with her husband and four homeschooled children.  For more information, visit www.carlaanne.com. 

Kregel Publications, 251 pages.

Buy this book from ChristianBook.com.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review.

A Summer in Oakville by Lisa Lickel & Shellie Neumeier

What a novel approach to fiction. This book is divided into four sections, each telling the character's story from their own viewpoint. The four stories intersect and fill in the missing details.

The novel begins with Tessa's story. Her parents are still on the family farm but are in trouble. They are behind in their taxes and the septic system needs to be redone. And there is a mean fellow in town who would just to see them lose their farm so it can be developed and annexed into the town. The potential developer is an old flame of Tessa's and that spells trouble. Tessa's husband has moved to California, a promotion at work. Tessa refused to go with him.

Tessa's daughter Lindsay is the next part of the story. She has just finished her degree and not finding a job, comes to live with her grandparents in Oakville. She is determined to put her business training to work and find a way to pay off the delinquent taxes. Selling shares in future salsa is the answer. Her cousin Andy helps and all looks well until a hail storm ruins the crop.

Next is Andy's story. We met Tessa's nephew in the first section. He's a troubled teen, sent to spend a few weeks at his grandparents. The first full day in Oakville Andy wrecks his grampa's truck. But Andy meets the pastor's daughter and begins to get his life straightened out. His mom died a little over a year ago and his dad has not gotten over it yet.

So the last section is about Art, Andy's dad and Tessa's brother. Death plagues him. His brother died in a farm tractor accident when they were teens. He still runs away on that day. And then his wife died. He hasn't been back to his parent's farm since high school. But he has to go back to Oakville when Andy acts up.

Lickel and Neumeier have created a great novel of forgiveness and restoration. I was a little concerned as I got into the novel. Tessa was determined to separate and then divorce her husband. After all, he had left her. But she had refused to go with him. So I was concerned about the “Christian” nature of this novel. I was amazed (and relieved) to read on. It all works out – true restoration – in the end.

Each of the characters is confronted with the love and forgiveness of the gospel. They each find healing and new life during their summer in Oakville.

What a unique idea. As each section develops, we go through some of the same events but from a different character's viewpoint. It was fascinating to see how their actions affected the others, especially events we had already seen from another's viewpoint.

This was a rewarding read.

Lisa Lickel has a BS in history and RECES and edits for local historical societies, freelances for local newspapers and the occasional magazine. She is a graduate of the Christian Writer's Guild's Apprentice Course and was a top ten finisher in the First Operation: First Novel contest. She lives with her biology teaching husband in Wisconsin.

Shellie Neumeier has a degree in Secondary Education, has worked on staff with Northbrook Church, is an active member of SCBWI and ACFW and contributes to various blogs.

See more about these authors at: www.LisaLickel.com and www.ShellieNeumeier.com. 

Buy this book from Black Lion Publishing. 

I received an egalley of this book from the authors for the purpose of this review.

Reclaiming Lily by Patti Lacy

Lacy's book grabs you at the beginning and does not let go until the final page.
Pastor Andrew Powell and his wife Gloria have made all the arrangements to adopt a Chinese baby. At the orphanage in China, things fall apart. The babies are not there. But Gloria spies a ten year old girl and asks to adopt her. The director is happy to get rid of this girl.

Forward seven years. Kai Chang, now an American doctor, is on the trail to find her younger sister Lily, adopted seven years ago. Kai had promised her mother, dying of PKD, that she would find the daughter they had to leave at an orphanage because of Chinese laws.

Dr. Chang has devoted her career to treating those with PKD. The disease was genetic so it was imperative she find Lily and have her tested for the disease.

Kai does find the Powells in Texas and meets with them. There is tension, especially from Gloria who does not trust Kai. Joy (Lily's American name) has been acting out and is at a teen detention center. Kai goes with the Powells to the center and a tornado sweeps through the town.

As the story develops, we see Joy excited about her heritage and a sister. We see Gloria full of tension as Kai invades their family and befriends Joy. Joy is tested for PKD and is found clear. But then Kai suddenly shows some serious symptoms of the deadly disease. Kai had been willing to give of her life, a kidney, to save Joy. Now, would Joy do the same for Kai? Since Joy is under age, will her parents allow the sacrifice?

Added to this sensitive story is Gloria's desire to have a baby, then experiencing a miscarriage. Also a part of the mix is Kai's boyfriend. A committed Christian, he breaks off his relationship with Kai as she is a nonbeliever. Kai is devastated. She calls out to God but feels He is silent.

Lacy has written a great novel woven around the Chinese adoption process and the deadly PKD. Threads of teenage rebellion, the meaning of family, sacrifice, the desire to believe, and forgiveness make up the rest of the novel's tapestry.

The novel ends rather abruptly. But then, at nearly 400 pages, it was time to end. Nonetheless, Lacy kept me emotionally involved, right up to the very last page with its pleasant twist.

Patti Lacy graduated from Baylor University with a BS in education and completed master's-level courses in English at Indiana State University. She taught at Heartland Community College until May 2006, when she resigned to pursue her passion of writing. The author of three previous novels, Patti is the mother of two grown children and lives with her husband in Normal, Illinois.

For more about Patti and her other books, visit her website at www.pattilacy.com.

Follow the blog tour and read the reviews!

Buy the book from ChristianBook.com. 


Publisher information from Bethany House.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Diary of a Teenage Girl by Melody Carlson

Caitlin has turned sixteen. It's January 1 and Caitlin decides to finally write in that diary she's had for so long. (The entire book consists of diary entries.)

We read about Beanie, Caitlin's quirky, but only friend. Then Caitlin starts to be noticed by the “in” group of girls, and she is quick to ignore her good old friend. Caitlin eventually notices that she hasn't seen Beanie lately, not even at youth group, but the lure of the popular girls is too great to worry about Beanie. She doesn't even stand up for Beanie when the “in” girls make fun of her.

We read of Caitlin's frustration when her dad won't let her date until she's eighteen, and then her mom lobbying in her favor. She has boy troubles, going to a dance with one when she really would prefer another.

When Caitlin is waiting for her dad at his office one day, she finds evidence that seems to indicate he is having an affair. This hurts Caitlin but at the same time seems to give her the desire to have more freedom in dating. When handsome Josh breaks up with one of the “in” girls and asks her out, Caitlin is too excited to see the danger that lurks beneath his outgoing personality.

Caitlin's family attends a church and she goes to the youth group but her commitment to Christ is lacking. When there is a shooting at the nearby high school and her youth leader is killed, she struggles with God's role in it all.

As we continue to read through Caitlin's diary, we experience her near sexual disaster with Josh and her commitment to abstinence. When Beanie realizes she is pregnant , with are with Caitlin in support.

I had to chuckle as I read through this book. It's been nearly five decades since I've been a teenager but I felt like I was right back there. Flying high one moment, the worst day of her life the next.

Much of this book deals with the sexual pressure teens feel from their peers. Be aware that there are some very realistic thoughts on the subject. Caitlin did not start out as a committed Christian. Nor are many of her "Christian" friends. At first I thought Caitlin's behavior unrealistic, for a "Christian." However, I may be thinking of my own teen years. Today teens face issues that never even entered my mind. It is an encouragement to read that, though Caitlin struggles with so many desires and temptations, she make the right decisions in the end.

This is the first in Carlson's Diary of a Teenage Girl series and came out in 2000. There are now several in the series, following many characters introduced in this book. 

To see more in this series, go to http://melodycarlson.com/diary.shtml.  

Go to the Diary of a Teenage Girl blog to see current diary entries, follow Caitlin on Twitter, etc.: http://www.doatg.com/

Go to Melody's website: http://melodycarlson.com/index.shtml

Melody Carlson and her husband of 29 years live in a cabin near the Cascade Mountains in Oregon. Melody published her first book in 1995 and now has written over 200.

Multnomah (WaterBrook), 248 pages.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Killer of Little Shepherds by Douglas Starr

Forensic science is not as infallible as some modern TV shows would have us believe. In fact, “In 2009, a committee of America's National Academy of Science found so much to question about the precision of modern forensics that it recommended a wholesale revamping of the field...” (244) In recent years more than 230 people have been freed by DNA analysis and over half of them were found to have been convicted by faulty science.

Starr takes us back to the beginnings of forensic science. The setting is a number of murders in the French countryside at the end of the nineteenth century. The murderer was Joseph Vacher. He became known as “The Killer of Little Shepherds.”

Starr interweaves Vacher's crimes with the work of Dr. Alexandre Lacassagne, renowned criminologist. Lacassagne and his colleagues were developing the forensic science we know today. He refined the use of blood spatter evidence, the autopsy, and did research in psychology.

In the end, it is prosecutor Emile Fourquet who connects the crimes to Vacher. He completes a profile of the murderer, eventually matching it to Vachar. By employing the new technique called psychology, Fourquet elicits a confession from Vacher. When Vacher's defense includes insanity, Fourquet brings in Lacassagne.

Starr uses journals, police and court records to write a book that flows quickly and reads well. It is a fascinating true crime story revolving around the birth of forensic science.

As with any true crime record, there are some gruesome scenes, so be prepared.

Alfred A. Knopf, 249 pages.