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RECOMMENDED READING
We will never recommend a book we have not read
CHRISTIANITY
Gabe Lyons, The Next Christians, How a New Generation is Restoring the Faith (New York: Doubleday, 2010)
This is a truly thought-provoking book, offering many original ideas about how the church can recover from its great decline of
the last few decades. “The next Christians exposes a whole movement of Christians—evangelicals, mainline Protestants, Orthodox,
Pentecostals, and others—who desire to be a force for restoration even as they proclaim the Christian Gospel. They want the label
‘Christian’ to mean something good, intelligent, authentic, and beautiful.” The next Christians are said to display six characteristics
which are these: “Provoked, not offended; Creators, not critics; Called, not employed; Grounded, not distracted; In community, not
alone; and Countercultural, not ‘relevant.’”
The author, Gabe Lyons, is co-founder of Catalyst, the nation's largest gathering of young Christian leaders. He is author of the
landmark book, UnChristian: What A New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity and Why it Matters.
Philip Yancey, What Good is God? In Search of a Faith That Matters (New York: Hatchett Book Group, 2010).
Billy Graham says of this New York Times best-selling author: “There is no writer in the evangelical world that I admire and
appreciate more.”
The publishers summarize the book perfectly saying: “This book recounts Yancey’s search, including meetings with leaders of the
underground church in China, with Dalits (untouchables) in India, with prostitutes, alcoholics, and Bible college students in the U.S.,
and with charismatic Christians in Johannesburg. Each stop provides a fascinating clue to answering life’s most profound
questions…This unique combination provides a compelling reading experience, as well as firsthand evidence that faith really does
make a difference, even when belief is severely tested.”
DEFENDING OUR FAITH
Dean L. Overman, A Case For The Existence of God (New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2009).
Overman explores fundamental questions about why our world exists and how it functions, using principles of logic, physics, and
theology in a time when religion and science are often portrayed as diametrically opposed, A Case for the Existence of God presents
a refreshing view of the interplay between science and religion and makes a compelling case for the existence of God and his role in
our world.
Dean L Overman is a former senior partner of the international law firm of Winston & Strawn, LLP. He was a Templeton scholar
at Oxford University in the fields of information theory, physics, and religion. He also studied theology at Princeton Theological
Seminary and was a visiting scholar at Harvard University. He is the author of A Case Against Accident and Self-Organization. (Taken
from the book's flyleaf)
GETTING A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF OUR CULTURE
Melanie Phillips, The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle over God, Truth, and Power (New York: Encounter
Books, 2010).
Phillips is an award winning columnist for London’s Daily Mail. She was educated at Oxford and won the Orwell Prize for
journalism in 1996. She has authored Londonistan, All Must Have Prizes, and several other books.
She remarks that in this so-called age of reason, we are all behaving in an increasingly irrational manner. Phillips claims that the
basic cause of all this unreason is the erosion of the major building blocks of Western civilization. She notes that Christianity and the
Hebrew Bible made up much of that basic foundation and that they gave us our concepts of reason, progress and an orderly world-
the foundations of science and modernity.
With ferocious courage, Phillips challenges a series of myths and irrationalities that have achieved canonical status in the
contemporary world. This is not a book to read unless we are prepared to have a lot of our modern concepts and idols smashed.
UNDERSTANDING ISLAM
Mitchell Bard, The Arab Lobby, The Invisible Alliance That Undermines America’s Interests In The Middle East (NY: Harper
Collins, 2010).
Bard is an authority on US-Israeli relations. He has written more than 20 books on the subject and is highly qualified, holding a
doctorate from UCLA with his specialty in politics and international relations.
In this book he tackles the sinister and long-standing Arab lobby that has worked against both Israel and the US by utilizing an
almost unlimited supply of petrodollars. Saudi Arabia, the most powerful member of the lobby has used numerous tactics, even
including threats and bribes to skew US policy and to subvert US institutions of learning. The Saudis have sought to blind policy-
makers and educators regarding their own gross human rights abuses and their rather open support of terrorism. They have sought
to poison both politics and education in America regarding Israel, and they have warped American policy away from its own best
interests.
Brigitte Gabriel, Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America, (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2006).
Brigitte Gabriel grew up as a Christian in war-torn Lebanon and was severely wounded in a Palestinian attack on her village. She
survived the horrors of the war and perils of the Islamic culture around her and later became anchor for World News, an Arabic
broadcast through the Middle East. Her stay in an Israeli hospital during the war and her time as a television anchor in Jerusalem gave
her an entirely new view of Israelis. That new view placed her life in grave danger with Muslim people. Today she lives in
Washington, D.C., and as she appears extensively on US television, radio and in lectures she must often have a security guard to
protect her.
Her compelling and spell-binding book must be read by all Christians who are seeking a better understanding of Islam, of Israel
and of how to protect their own way of life.
This is one of the most shocking books I have ever read in my life.
Brigitte Gabriel, They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It (New York: St. Martin’s
Press, 2008).
They Must Be Stopped is New York Times best selling author Brigitte Gabriel’s warning to the world: We can no longer ignore
the growth of radical Islam – we must act soon, and powerfully. Gabriel challenges our Western and politically correct notions about
Islam, demonstrating why radical Islam is so deadly and how we can halt its progress.
Gabriel says radical Islamists are utterly contemptuous of all "infidels" (non-Muslims) an regard them as enemies worthy of death.
She says that Madrassas in America are increasing in number, and they are just one part of a growing radical Islamic army on U.S.
soil. Her call is that America must organize a unified voice that says "enough" to political correctness, and demands that government
officials and elected representatives do whatever is necessary to protect us.
This book is a real "eye opener" concerning the present Islamic invasion of the west.
Walid Phares, The Confrontation: Winning the War Against Future Jihad, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).
Walid Phares who has long roots in Lebanon is the Middle East expert and Fox News terrorism expert. He is also senior fellow at
the European Foundation for Democracy. He has briefed and testified before US government departments and before the US
Congress.
His book is focused on helping us understand the global confrontation with Jihadism. Phares is very thorough in tracing all the
influences and links of this global network. It is shocking and unnerving to see how Saudi money has already made deep penetration
into our circles of higher education in the US. It is from these very Saudi-infiltrated institutions that many of our government
officials are now chosen.
Walid Shoebat with Joel Richardson, God’s War on Terror, Islam, Prophecy and the Bible (US: Top Executive Media, 2008).
Shoebat grew up an Islamic terrorist in Bethlehem. After he married a Christian woman he was challenged by her to examine the
Bible and compare it with the Qu’ran. He became a Christian in 1993. His life mission and driving passion is to bring the truth about
the Bible to the forefront, and also to bring out the persecution of Israel and Christians by Islam.
His book likely has the most comprehensive and detailed research done so far on the subject of Islam and its relationship to the
End-Times. The book is shocking in how it presents Islam as a major player in the last-day scheme of things, and how it debunks
the “European ten nation” models of interpretation that have long held sway. This is probably one of the most important books
written so far on the Last Days. Shoebat seems to be well informed on history, theology and eschatology. This book might make us
want to burn all our other books on End-Times prophecy.
UNDERSTANDING ISRAEL
Martin Gilbert, In Ishmael’s House, A History of Jews in Muslim Lands (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010).
Sir Martin Gilbert has authored over 80 books, with several outstanding volumes on Jewish history and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
In this work Gilbert traces the 1400 year odyssey of Israel’s journey and lodging within the house of Ishmael or the Arab nations.
This mostly untold story of suffering and disgrace to Israel is now revealed in great detail. This is not easy reading but it certainly
sheds a lot of light on Israel’s relationship with Arabs and Arab nations today.
George Gilder, The Israel Test, (US: Richard Vigilante Books, 2009)
Gilder, who has long been a technical researcher and writer, turns his attention to the tiny nation of Israel. He reveals Israel as a
present-day leader of human civilization. He states that the nation “…stands behind only the United States in technological
contributions. In per-capita innovation, Israel dwarfs all nations.”
He says that “During the first five years of the twenty-first century, venture-capital outlays in Israel rivaled venture-capital outlays
in all of the United States outside California.” In fact, the US was the only country that raised more venture capital in 2006 than
Israel.
Israel’s prowess is perhaps seen more clearly in the Nobel Prizes that have been awarded so far in the 21st century. Israel and
the Jewish people have taken 32 percent or almost a third of them.
Dan Senor and Saul Singer, Start up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle (NY: Twelve Hachette Book Group,
2009).
“Start-up nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel-a country of 7.1 million people, only sixty years old,
surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding, with no natural resources- produces more start-up companies
than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada and the United Kingdom?”
“As the authors argue, Israel is not just a country but a comprehensive state of mind. Whereas Americans emphasize decorum
and exhaustive preparation, Israelis put chutzpah first. ‘When an Israeli entrepreneur has a business idea, he will start it that week,
one analyst put it.’”