Larry Richards (1) (1931–2016)

Father Richards challenges men to be strong, without putting on a mask of false strength or machismo. He calls men to admit their weaknesses and limitations, while urging them to find strength in faith and genuine love to overcome their sins and faults.

A classic reference, though a bit dated on archaeological matters. All my Baptist relatives had a copy, and so did my church and my dad. It was my youthful introduction to whole swathes of Scripture and interpretation.

Satan Exposed is all about spiritual warfare but it is much more about thoughts, beliefs and attitudes than it is about confronting and casting out demonic entities. In fact, it is not about the latter at all. But that’s o.k. because according to a prominent deliverance minister that I heard recently, 80% of deliverance is about renewing our minds from believing lies to believing truths. So that is what this book is all about, and it is much needed in the body of Christ.

The author begins show more with an introduction to the invisible war and how humankind got to where we are today. Unless you are totally new to this type of information this will probably be review for you.

Section two is where the good stuff begins. For each chapter of which he begins with “The Gift of…” (as examples: The Gift of Family, The Gift of Peace), the author goes over the tactics of the enemy which are not in mere list form but includes clear real life examples of how each tactic is frequently played out.

A few of these tactics are (list is not meant to be exhaustive):

to encourage relativism
to isolate age groups
to distort our concept of God
to convince believers that they are unlovable
to increase the accusation
to convince us that God is both capricious and easily angered
to attack our sense of self-worth
to use wealth to corrupt a person’s character
to erode the concept of truth
to cause doubt

Personal stories and scriptural citations also abound and directly tie into each point the author is trying to make.

One of the best things I liked about this book was that it did not stop with talking about the bad, but in every chapter in section two it included a list of ideas to be pro-active on the positive side.

If you are a Christian interested in spiritual warfare and particularly in renewing your mind, this book is worth it for you. If you are looking for a book that talks about how to cast out demons this is not the book for you.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Chosen Publishers as part of their blogging for books program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” show less

The NIV lived up to it’s billing. It is much more readable than the KJV. The NIV is easier to read and I had new insights as I read it. Many times I would read something and wonder what the KJV said. Then, if they were different, I copied a verse or so from the NIV into the KJV that I use.

I bought the NIV Teen Study Bible, kindle version because it was cheaper that the adult version, and Amazon said they were both the same number of pages, so I figured the essential text must be the same. show more After a while I stopped reading the commentary that was directed at teens and concentrated on the biblical text plus the notes on the text.

If I did it over again, I would buy the regular version instead of the ones with short essays for teens. show less