Faith of My Fathers

I was honestly dreading this book and felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. The Bible already tells us what King Manasseh was like, but I was still curious how the author would present the story. Despite all the terrible deeds of the king, it was still a great story and kept me engaged. I cannot imagine what this would have been like to go from being led by faithful King Hezekiah to a complete turnaround to King Manasaah's pagan and fearful leadership. The author does a good job of explaining what times might have been like and giving you a little understanding of what the people in Judah were going through. This is obviously a fictional tale, but the insight into God's people and their deep sorrow over King Manassah's show more actions were very relatable to current times too. Fear is never a good leader and that is evident in this book and our world today.

Also, the actions of Joshua, one of the main characters, reminded me in a way of a Biblical twist on Mission Impossible and it was entertaining. I liked seeing how throughout this story, Joshue and some of the other characters developed a deeper understanding of who God really is, outside of their traditions and misconceptions.

My favorite line from the book:
"Adversity is the testing ground of your faith. God has to risk losing you forever to your anger and bitterness in order to have you for His true son. Anyone can believe and sing praises on the Temple Mount when the sun is shining, but true praise is sung in the darkest valley when the Accuser tells you to curse God for making you suffer so much pain. If you can still praise your Father's goodness, even in the darkness, then you are His son indeed." show less

I tried to explain the subject matter of this book to someone and the closest I could come is that it's a creative fictionalization of the Biblical story of Manessah (and, to some extent, his father and Joshua). Since Kings doesn't have much detail on Manessah's life (there are only a few verses about him after all), you know there's a lot of creative liberty taken, but it's actually surprisingly suspenseful. The events unfold as one would imagine they would.

I think one of the most enjoyable parts is that it wasn't really predictable. Well, ultimately we know what happens, but within the story we never know. Unlike "regular" fiction where the main character always "wins" or at least survives, we don't know that from this story. God show more might be merciful but that doesn't mean that his people necessarily survive their "tests".

If one wanted to learn more about Biblical history, this would be an excellent way to do that since there are Biblical references/verses threaded throughout. show less

This was another very well written story in this series. The book description on Amazon said it so well, that here it is:

"King Manaseh and his friend Joshua were nurtured together in the faith of their godly fathers. but anger toward God smolders in Manasseh's heart after his father's unexpected death, and his insecurity makes him easy prey for the false claims of sorcery and divination.

When Joshua stands up for the truth, the battle lines are drawn, and Joshua must flee his life of privilege. Unable to understand why his boyhood friend has turned against him, and why he must stand alone in the face of such opposition, Joshua comes perilously close to losing his faith.

Can Joshua rescue the faithful remnant from Manasseh's persecution? show more Has it all gone too far.. or will he rediscover his father's God?

Faith of My Fathers is a riveting story of intrigue, deception, danger, and suspense." show less

This was a great series written by Lynn Austin. I would highly recommend reading it to everyone and anyone. This helps explain the culture, mindset, lifestyle, etc. Historical fiction explaining the Book of Isaiah.

The continuing story of King Hezekiah