All in and Agenda 21

Last week's books:

This week you are getting some church and apocolyptic books.

 All In

Mark Batterson

183 pages

Overview: Direct from Mark Batterson's website (Batterson, Mark. "MARKBATTERSON.COM." Mark Batterson. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. <http://www.markbatterson.com/books/all-in/#sthash.M2VNbJxH.dpuf>.)

The Gospel costs nothing. You can’t earn it or buy it. It can only be received as a free gift compliments of God’s grace. It doesn’t cost anything, but it demands everything. It demands that we go ‘all in,’ a term that simply means placing all that you have into God’s hands. Pushing it all in. And that’s where we get stuck—spiritual no man’s land. We’re afraid that if we go all in that we might miss out on what this life has to offer. It’s not true. The only thing you’ll miss out on is everything God has to offer. And the good news is this: if you don’t hold out on God, God won’t hold out on you. Readers will find Batterson’s writing filled with his customary vivid, contemporary illustrations as well as biblical characters like Shamgar and Elisha and Jonathan and . . . Judas.
No one has ever sacrificed anything for God. If you always get back more than you gave up, have you sacrificed anything at all? The eternal reward always outweighs the temporal sacrifice. At the end of the day, our greatest regret will be whatever we didn’t give back to God. What we didn’t push back across the table to Him. Eternity will reveal that holding out is losing out.
The message of All In is simple: if Jesus is not Lord of all then Jesus is not Lord at all. It’s all or nothing. It’s now or never. Kneeling at the foot of the cross of Christ and surrendering to His Lordship is a radical act of dethroning yourself and enthroning Christ as King. It’s also an act of disowning yourself. Nothing belongs to you. Not even you.
Batterson writes, ‘for many years, I thought I was following Jesus. I wasn’t. I had invited Jesus to follow me. I call it inverted Christianity. And it’s a subtle form of selfishness that masquerades as spirituality. That’s when I sold out and bought in. When did we start believing that the gospel is an insurance plan? It’s a daring plan. Jesus did not die just to keep us safe. He died to make us dangerous.’
- See more at: http://www.markbatterson.com/books/all-in/#sthash.M2VNbJxH.dpuf

The Gospel costs nothing. You can’t earn it or buy it. It can only be received as a free gift compliments of God’s grace. It doesn’t cost anything, but it demands everything. It demands that we go ‘all in,’ a term that simply means placing all that you have into God’s hands. Pushing it all in. And that’s where we get stuck—spiritual no man’s land. We’re afraid that if we go all in that we might miss out on what this life has to offer. It’s not true. The only thing you’ll miss out on is everything God has to offer. And the good news is this: if you don’t hold out on God, God won’t hold out on you. Readers will find Batterson’s writing filled with his customary vivid, contemporary illustrations as well as biblical characters like Shamgar and Elisha and Jonathan and . . . Judas.

No one has ever sacrificed anything for God. If you always get back more than you gave up, have you sacrificed anything at all? The eternal reward always outweighs the temporal sacrifice. At the end of the day, our greatest regret will be whatever we didn’t give back to God. What we didn’t push back across the table to Him. Eternity will reveal that holding out is losing out.

The message of All In is simple: if Jesus is not Lord of all then Jesus is not Lord at all. It’s all or nothing. It’s now or never. Kneeling at the foot of the cross of Christ and surrendering to His Lordship is a radical act of dethroning yourself and enthroning Christ as King. It’s also an act of disowning yourself. Nothing belongs to you. Not even you.

Batterson writes, ‘for many years, I thought I was following Jesus. I wasn’t. I had invited Jesus to follow me. I call it inverted Christianity. And it’s a subtle form of selfishness that masquerades as spirituality. That’s when I sold out and bought in. When did we start believing that the gospel is an insurance plan? It’s a daring plan. Jesus did not die just to keep us safe. He died to make us dangerous.

The Gospel costs nothing. You can’t earn it or buy it. It can only be received as a free gift compliments of God’s grace. It doesn’t cost anything, but it demands everything. It demands that we go ‘all in,’ a term that simply means placing all that you have into God’s hands. Pushing it all in. And that’s where we get stuck—spiritual no man’s land. We’re afraid that if we go all in that we might miss out on what this life has to offer. It’s not true. The only thing you’ll miss out on is everything God has to offer. And the good news is this: if you don’t hold out on God, God won’t hold out on you. Readers will find Batterson’s writing filled with his customary vivid, contemporary illustrations as well as biblical characters like Shamgar and Elisha and Jonathan and . . . Judas.
No one has ever sacrificed anything for God. If you always get back more than you gave up, have you sacrificed anything at all? The eternal reward always outweighs the temporal sacrifice. At the end of the day, our greatest regret will be whatever we didn’t give back to God. What we didn’t push back across the table to Him. Eternity will reveal that holding out is losing out.
The message of All In is simple: if Jesus is not Lord of all then Jesus is not Lord at all. It’s all or nothing. It’s now or never. Kneeling at the foot of the cross of Christ and surrendering to His Lordship is a radical act of dethroning yourself and enthroning Christ as King. It’s also an act of disowning yourself. Nothing belongs to you. Not even you.
Batterson writes, ‘for many years, I thought I was following Jesus. I wasn’t. I had invited Jesus to follow me. I call it inverted Christianity. And it’s a subtle form of selfishness that masquerades as spirituality. That’s when I sold out and bought in. When did we start believing that the gospel is an insurance plan? It’s a daring plan. Jesus did not die just to keep us safe. He died to make us dangerous.’
- See more at: http://www.markbatterson.com/books/all-in/#sthash.M2VNbJxH.dpuf

My Opinon:

This was a great book. I'm applying some of the things he mentioned into my life. Now you don't need to be a Christian to benefit from the book, but you do need to want to change your life. Maybe you feel like nothing is wrong in your life, but nothing is wrong with wanting to fix some things. Enjoy!

Agenda 21

Glenn Beck with Harriet Parke

295 pages

 

Overiew: Direct from Glenn Beck's website ( "Glenn Beck." Agenda 21 . N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. http://www.glennbeck.com/agenda21/.)

 

A violent and tyrannical government rules what was once known as America. The old, the ill, and the defiant all quickly vanish. Babies belong to the state. Against all odds, one young couple risks everything to expose the truth. But are they too late?

Just a generation ago, this place was called America. Now, after the worldwide implementation of a UN-led program called Agenda 21, it’s simply known as “the Republic.” There is no president. No Congress. No Supreme Court. No freedom.

There are only the Authorities.

Woken up to the harsh reality of her life and her family’s future inside the Republic, eighteen-year old Emmeline begins to search for the truth. Why are all citizens confined to ubiquitous concrete living spaces? Why are Compounds guarded by Gatekeepers who track all movements? Why are food, water and energy rationed so strictly? And, most important, why are babies taken from their mothers at birth? As Emmeline begins to understand the true objectives of Agenda 21 she realizes that she is up against far more than she ever thought.

With the Authorities closing in, and nowhere to run, Emmeline embarks on an audacious plan to save her family and expose the Republic’s true agenda.



My Opinion:


Today I finished this book "Agenda 21" by Glenn Beck. It is kind of an apocolyptic book, but the thing that made this book stand out wasn't that this type of future could happen but that it is already happening right now. Precautions are being done that seem to put environmental needs over human lives. Now I am all for helping out the environment, but human life is an important thing too. The book delves into a future where every single thing is controlled like who your spouse is and even bathroom times! The book is based on the type of future we might achieve if Agenda 21 is approved. I shall admit that I havent read Agenda 21 or looked up more information about it except for what I got from this secondary source, but I promise I will defiently look into it.

For another helpful review, visit this website:
http://noisyroom.net/blog/2013/02/03/book-review-agenda-21/