Book Review :: The Helper

I'd like to review a wonderful book today. It's "The Helper" by Catherine Marshall.

Interested in the Holy Spirit and want to know more about it?

Confused about the Spirit and what His working in our lives looks like?

Wondering how you can have the Holy Spirit?


This is not just another book about the Holy Spirit. It's one of the best books I've ever read. Catherine Marshall is a wonderful author.

She offers forty inspirational "helps" that contain Scripture, a prayer, and insight into the third person of the Trinity. Catherine Marshall writes about the answers she discovered to questions like: Who is the Helper? How do I experience the Helper's presence? How does the Helper meet everyday needs? What is the Helper's role and function in the Church?

The forty "helps" could be used as a devotional guide, or you could read the book straight like I did. :)

I'd recommend this book for readers who are interested/curious about the Holy Spirit. I'd certainly not recommend it for younger readers, simply because it tackles some slightly more difficult topics. Probably ages 13-14+ would find this book suitable, depending on the maturity of the reader. :)

Overall, this is a great book, one I've found extremely valuable and practical. I highly recommend it.

Book Review: Do Hard Things, by Alex and Brett Harris

Title: Do Hard things: a teenage rebellion against low expectations.

Authors: Alex and Brett Harris

Publisher: Multnomah Books, 2008

So yes, I haven’t read that final biography of Charles Spurgeon yet :-)

"Most people don't expect you to understand what we're going to tell you in this book. And even if you understand, they don't expect you to care. And even if you care, they don't expect you to do anything about it. And even if you do something about it, they don't expect it to last. We do." - Alex and Brett Harris

This is one of my favourite books for young people! Do Hard Things is all about challenging the 'teens' in today's culture to see that there is more to life than friends and video games. Rather, the teen years are the "launching pad of life."

It's about what you do after you've become a Christian. Your heart has changed, and so must your life. 

There are five kinds of hard things:

• Things that take you out of your comfort zone
• Things that go above what is expected or required
• Things that are too big to accomplish alone
• Things that don't earn an immediate payoff
• Things that challenge the cultural norm

I like this book because it is practical as well as being about the history of adolescence. There are a lot of books that talk about feelings, or relationships, but Alex and Brett have taken the challenge and written this one. They've also written Start Here, a follow-up book about how others are doing hard things, and just how you can get started and join them.

I think every Christian young adult should read this book, because that;s who it's written for - a whole generation willing to serve God above themselves.

Love,

Rhoda :-)

Book Review: Charles Spurgeon, by J C Carlile

Title: Charles Spurgeon: The Prince of Preachers

Author: J C Carlile (Abridged and edited by Dan Harmon)

Publisher: Barbour Publishing, 1997

Part of a series: Heroes of the Faith

This biography was quite refreshing to read after last month’s!

What I liked about this book:

• It’s a pleasant and balanced story.
• It moves easily and gives a good sense of the order of the main events of Spurgeon’s life, from his first sermon until his death at Menton, aged only 58.
• It relates Spurgeon to the time in which he lived.
• It also talks about his brother, a Congregationalist pastor.

I didn't like the ending, however.

“Let us turn to Spurgeon as our guide, following his determination and serenity of spirit.”

Let us rather turn to Jesus as the perfect example!

Recommended for someone wanting a shortish, neat, and peaceful biography of Charles Spurgeon.

One more book review next month, a book about Spurgeon's passion for doctrine. Mmm, me too. :-)

~I did not receive any compensation or reward for reviewing this book~

Book Review: The Prince of Preachers, by Christian Timothy George

Title: Charles Spurgeon - Prince of Preachers Author: Christian Timothy George Publisher: Christian Focus Publications Ltd, 2006

Charles Spurgeon preaching at the Surrey Music Hall

Charles Spurgeon was born in Essex, England, in 1834. He was converted at age fifteen and preached his first sermon the next year. He was a popular and able preacher of the Scripture and was compared to D.L. Moody, an American evangelist born in 1837.

Mr Spurgeon married Susannah Thompson in 1856. They had twin sons, Thomas and Charles.

Mr Spurgeon was a Baptist and a Calvinist. He frequently preached to crowds of more than 10,000. He also wrote many books, all of which have been very popular.

This biography is aimed at children aged 8-14. I took it from the bookshelf hoping to get a good, basic overview of Spurgeon’s life. I was quite disappointed.

The book incorrectly states the date of Spurgeon’s death. It also contains many errors in spelling and grammar. Another possible source of confusion for young readers is that it says that Spurgeon’s son Thomas was twelve years old in 1877, when in fact he was born in 1856. The reference to Thomas’ age is contained in a chapter headed "Sunday morning, 1877".  The rest of the book appears to be in plain chronological order. So either the maths is wrong, or the author wasn't paying attention to the order of his anecdotes.

Overall, this book seemed to be just a collection of exciting and emotional stories from the life of Charles Spurgeon. It even includes a legendary story about Queen Victoria disguising herself as a peasant in order to go and listen to Spurgeon preach.

I would recommend this book to someone wanting to read several interesting stories about Charles Spurgeon, and who doesn't mind imperfect grammar.

Me reading the book last night :-)

I plan to read another biography of Charles Spurgeon next week. Hopefully it will be both accurate and encouraging!

~I did not receive any compensation or reward for reviewing this book~

P.S. Sorry this is late--I (Esther) was gone over the weekend at a conference (and we got to meet Rhoda and her family at the same time!), so this sadly had to wait until I got home to be posted.