Books I Read in 2008

I checked just this morning. List started in January 1999. This means for ten years now I have kept a list of books I finished throughout the year! Most years I read 99.9% fiction -- usually of the historical, Christian or mystery varieties. But this year I only read 2 fiction books and 35 non-fiction ones! Quite the change! I wrote reviews for each book throughout the year. Some are just short things, others more extensive. Click on the titles below if you are interested. Hopefully I did the links correctly. :-)

List of Books Read in 2008

The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel

23 Minutes in Hell by Bill Wiese

The Destiny of Muslims in the End Times by Faisal Malick

To My Muslim Friends by Anise Behnam

The Crescent Through the Eyes of the Cross by Nabeel Jabbour

The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel

Does My Head Look Too Big in This by Randa Abdel Fattah

Meeting Islam: A Guide for Christians by George Dardess

The Heavenly Man by Brother Yun & Paul Hattaway

The New Answers Book by Ken Ham, general editor

The Shack by William P. Young

Being Arab by Samir Kassir

The Bible Exposition Commentary Vol. I by Warren Weirsbe

Scratch Beginnings: Search for the American Dream by Adam Shepherd

Victory for Us Is to See You Suffer by Philip Winslow

Too Christian Too Pagan by Dick Staub

The Faith by Charles Colson

The Attentive Life by Leighton Ford

Called to Die by Steve Estes

Mary Louise's Opus by Mary Louise Mason

Unshackled & Growing by Nabeel Jabbour

Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby

The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan

Daring Chloe by Laura Jensen Walker

Muslims, Christians, Jesus by Carl Medearis

Standing with Israel by David Brog

In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson

Once an Arafat Man by Taysir Saada
& Dean Merrill

Epicenter by Joel Rosenberg

The Complete Guide to the Bible by Stephen Miller

Christianity Today study series on Islam

Children of Hope by Vernon Brewer & Noel Brewer Yeatts

Mission Al Jazeera by Josh Rushing

Rethinking Holy Land by Marlin Jeschke

Defining Moments by Vernon Brewer

Epicenter - book review

Just finished reading Joel C. Rosenberg's Epicenter: Why the Current Rumblings in the Middle East Will Change Your Future. This is one of the library books I mentioned the other day. After skimming through some of the chapters, I was curious about the author's views of the end times since he based much of this book on future headlines to watch for based on "the third lens," Scripture. Using mostly Ezekiel 38 & 39, the author discusses things such as a czar rising in Russia, raising fears of a new cold war and also Russia's coming alliance with Iran and how those nations will lead an attack against Israel (war of Gog and Magog) among other things.

Since Joel believes the Genesis 12:1-3 promise to Abraham about blessing Israel holds true even today, I was interested when I saw on page 242 that the author wrote the following:

According to the Scriptures, blessing Israel means

• praying for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6)
• bringing good news of God's love to the afflicted (Isaiah 61:1)
• rebuilding the ancient ruins (Isaiah 61:4)
• caring for the poor (Deuteronomy 15:11)
• being a "light to the nations" of the Middle East (Isaiah 49:6, NASB) -- that is, blessing Israel's neighbors and her enemies, not just Israel herself

Pretty interesting book. I'll be eager to see if the author is correct as I scan the news headlines in the coming months or years.