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Summary: Spectacular book
Review: Amazing book. It lists the selfish nature of these men of God and their selfish pursue of the life of the world. They have forgotten what Jesus said in Matthew 5:20 "For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven". All I want to ask the born again's is that how will your righteousness surpass the scribes and pharisees if you dont keep the commandments (Pray to ONE God, do not commit adultry, honour thy parents and on and on).
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Summary: This book is Garbage
Review: Complete and utter rubbish. One of the worst pieces of fiction written in a long time. It propogates lies about Christianity as an effort to push an anti-religion agenda. Not worth the paper it's printed on.
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Summary: Dangerous Delusion
Review: Forcing God's Hand: Why Millions Pray for a Quick Rapture and the Destruction of the Planet Earth throws considerable light on apocalyptic motifs in culture, psychology, and politics. It forces the question, What kind of species are we that we can lock ourselves into a gospel of violence such as found in the Schofield Reference Bible? Halsell has perhaps opened a door for better understanding why the horror fiction of Hal Lindsay and Stephen King excite so many of our friends. What is really scary, however, is the number of people who want to insert the premillennial script into real national and international politics. One other point: Halsell makes it clear that when it comes to the will-to-power-and-to-dominate, the apocalyptic preachers' "Christ" makes Stalin look like a puff of wind. Joe Barnhart, Professor of Philosophy and Religion Studies, University of North Texas
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Summary: IGNORANCE, HATEFUL OR BOTH???
Review: Grace Halsell's take on conservative Christian "dispensationalist" is not even credible to anyone with just a little insight on the matter. Her book spews out one derogatory and disparaging remark or label after another, downgrading a specific group over what she "thinks" they believe, as if she were the world's greatest expert on such issues.At the least her ignorance is profound, at the worst she's guilty of language equivalent to that which falls under the new hate crime legislation. Fortunately for her, those who wish to follow Jesus Christ and believe the Bible are the one group this world "tolerates" hate crimes against. A "dispensationalist" does NOT believe that the end of the world is coming, if they properly understand the doctrine the Bible teaches. Granted, very difficult times are forecast for the world in the Bible, culminating with a great final battle most refer to as "Armageddon". But what the Grace Halsell's of this world fail to understand, or deliberately leave out, is that this does NOT bring the end of the world, but rather a great age of peace and tranquility on this very same planet earth. The idea that there will be a "free Rapture ticket...to not suffer a moment of agony" for the difficult time ahead, which they refer to as the "seven-year tribulation", is simply their own private interpretation on the forecasted Rapture event. On this point they will be terribly disappointed, as the book of Revelation describes the event taking place just before the mid-point of the seven-year period. But their error on this point and perhaps a few others does NOT make them akin to "cult members" and "crazies" - such as Jim Jones or leaders of the "Branch Davidians" or "Heaven's Gate," who led followers to death declaring the end is near. They do NOT want earth to be destroyed, as is claimed by the author of this book. Ms. Halsell should be ashamed of herself for making such unfounded accusations that seem to be nothing more than rock throwing and slander on her part. This book is only for right-wing Christian haters who love half-truths to justify their hatred. Serious and objective people should look elsewhere.
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Summary: Shocking and eye-opening!
Review: I read this book last night and the pieces began to fall together. Previous to reading this book I just could not understand the Bush administration's war madness...why is it so important to fight this war now with a nation that is no immediate threat to us? Now I understand...at least as much as one can understand the insanity of fundamental religion. Every person who wants to look behind the media headlines, behind the administration's cowboy rhetoric MUST read this book.
Rating:
Summary: very informative,
Review: I really enjoy reading this book; it is short but very informative. Reveals the real believes of the extreme right of protestant Christians in the United States. It shows how those believers interpret different verses that are mentioned in the Old Testament in a way that it will make the current events a part of it, and they build on that conclusion on how the near future will be. In other words, they are pushing towards the big battle between the good and the bad (Armageddon) and the end of the world. I recommend it!
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Summary: Christianity Hijacked
Review: Let me start off by saying that I spent many hours researching the information in this book before I wrote this review. The material was so disturbing, that I wanted to be absolutely sure the author was leading me down a sincere path before I make an informed critique.
I had not read any of Grace Halsell's prior 14 books such as "Soul Sister", "In Their Shoes", or "Prophecy and Politics". Nor did I know she served in the White House for 3 years under President Johnson as speechwriter, as well as journalist in the U.S., South America, Europe, Middle East and more and is listed in Who's Who in America. "Forcing God's Hand" focuses on the fastest growing segment of 'alternate' Christianity occurring in the USA today... fundamental Dispensationalist Christianity, whose numbers now stand near 50 million. Believing in the relatively new 'Rapture' theory born in the 1800's, and perpetuated by the teachings of Cyrus Scofield throughout the United States, the followers of this doctrine look forward to, but most importantly, are trying to hasten the coming of the 'end times' so that they will be spared the age of Tribulation and ascend to Heaven. I should point out that the author clearly states that not all fundamentalists or dispensationalists subscribe to this theological ideology, but being raised a fundamentalist herself, and, after travelling on two Jerry Falwell sponsored tours to Israel, along with countless conversations with various pastors, she became aware of the distinct chasm between her churches theological teachings and that of today's 'mega' churches led by evangelical preachers such as the former leader of the Christian Coalition Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, as well as Hal Lindsay who broadcasts daily on TBN to million of listeners and who openly demonizes Islam. "Forcing God's Hand" is not an impartial critique. Ms Halsell definitely had an agenda in mind here. To reveal to you how these evangelist leaders have severely 'politicized' their churches, turning their faithful worshipers into a sort of mobilized 'army' who are ready to confront domestic issues and most importantly, foreign policy concerning Israel, to insure that their version of the biblical prophecy of 'Armageddon' is fulfilled. There are also thousands of smaller independent Dispensationalist churches, some with even more extreme views such as Concerned Christians who in 1999 were arrested in Israel for conspiring to commit violent acts in Jerusalem in order to hasten the return of Jesus Christ. This is just a small example of the many churches who have made a cult out of Christianity and Israel. Despite the non-violent teachings of Jesus, and the promise of salvation for all, in this form of hijacked Christianity, there is no room in God's Kingdom for followers of Lutheran, Jewish, Islam, and Buddhist faiths, nor for any other 'non-believers' unless they convert to Christianity. Also disturbing is that there are people in our government right now, that subscribe to this doctrine and actively praise the efforts of large lobbying groups such as the Christian Coalition and ZOA who strongly voice their opposition to a peaceful two state solution in the Middle East, and urge the moving the US Embassy to a united Jerusalem, an act which would most likely outrage about a billion Muslims worldwide. The author's writing style is neither scholarly nor academic, but has a simplistic quality to it that even beginners will be able to understand. Considering that Grace Halsell died shortly after this publication, one has to wonder if she really had time to fully critique or opted to just cut to the chase. She however drops lots of names, and countless quotes that are easily verified. I myself found many audio clips and articles supporting her writing. In today's circle of discussions regarding the rise of fundamentalism in other religions, one can see that Christianity is not immune. If you are concerned about a racist type of Christianity that's on the rise today, one that does not believe in separation of church and state and is actively trying to convert this nation from a Democracy to a 'Theocracy' then you should read this book.
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Summary: God's Will is not our own.
Review: Romans 3:3-4
Hebrews 10:19-31
Romans 5:6-11
Acts 17:29-31
Romans 3:23-26
Deuteronomy 29 and 30
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Summary: Dispensationalism's Evil Agenda
Review: The further one gets from orthodox Christianity (i.e., Christianity as practiced by the very earliest Christians, who knew the Apostles), the crazier things get. While Protestant Dispensationalists like to pull a verse from here or there in Sacred Scripture to "prove" that we must "bless the Jews" (to the tune of how many BILLIONS a year -- and for HOW MANY Israeli citizens? Do the math!), they forget verses like the following: Joshua 21:43-45 "And the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. And the Lord gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass." 1 Kings 8:56 "Blessed be the Lord, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant." He kept His word. His promises were fulfilled -- most especially when the Second Person of the Trinity became man by the Holy Ghost and the Blessed Virgin Mary. God's land promises to Old Testament Israel were conditional: Deuteronomy 28:58...64 "If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book... the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone." -- -- and "the Jews" blew it. Christ came, and post-Temple Judaism devolved into Pharisaic Rabbinism -- which consists of Talmudism and Kabbalism, a religion filled with racist, blasphemous, anti-Christ doctrine. But the modern followers of this Pharisaic Rabbinism are, according to the Protestant Dispensationalists, those whom we are "to bless" in order that God may bless us. Puh-lease. Diabolical! Get Halsell's book -- and do a web search for a webpage with this title: "Dispensationalism, Israel, the Church, and the Jews." To any non-Christians out there: please don't mistake this mad political thinking for "Christianity"; if you want to understand real Christianity, look at what the earliest Christians wrote; look for the writings of the Church Fathers.
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Summary: Should be required reading for ALL Americans
Review: The late Grace Halsell's brilliant and frightening book should be required reading for all Americans -- it should be in our schools as well. Halsell dares to tell truths that the religious right does not want revealed. She exposes their excessive greed, their lust for power and their dangerous and terrifying agendas that can only harm America and the world, not save it. Her inforamtion is well documented. Many of her quotes are directly from members of the religious right like Jerry Falwell so they have no one to blame but themselves for what their words reveal about them and their motives. Highly recommended for people who want to know the truth about the real "axis of evil" that plagues our nation today.
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