An engaging and earnest, if not always convincing, study of the power of Satan’s lies.
A Christian author blends self-help and biblical analysis in this religious reflection on Satan.
“Satan is real. Satan is dangerous,” declares Jones in the book’s opening lines as he reminds fellow Christians that “One of Satan’s primary tactics is deception.” Indeed, per the author’s analysis, these lies “are at the center of humanity’s fall into sin.” From the misleading manipulation by the serpent in the Book of Genesis (in which Satan tempted Adam and Eve into disobedience by twisting the words of God) to Satan’s failed attempts to tempt Jesus in the wilderness (as described in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke), lies are at the heart of the biblical character of Satan. Blending literary analysis of Christianity’s ancient scriptures with modern-day applications for fellow believers, Jones argues that the tactics deployed by Satan are the same today as they were at the beginning of creation. Devoting each chapter to an individual lie, Satan’s obfuscations as outlined in the book range from “You Cannot Trust God” and “Your Value is Based on Your Performance” to “You Are Alone” and “You Are Too Dirty/Broken/Flawed/Sinful to be Forgiven.” While there are a few references to Christian scholarship sprinkled throughout the book’s sparse footnotes, most of the author’s evidence comes directly from the Bible itself as Jones argues for the applicability of biblical stories to contemporary life.
Following his debut book, Ten Questions to Ask Every Time You Read the Bible (2022), the author here writes with a keen awareness of the ubiquitous temptations and difficulties encountered by Christians over the millennia. A California-based professor of preaching and a parish pastor, Jones blends a learned understanding of the Bible with an accessible writing style that emphasizes the relevancy of the topics to readers unfamiliar with the scholarly nuances of Christian theology. While leaning heavily on Lutheran catechisms and the written work of Martin Luther, the book is generally ecumenical in its approach, favoring a standard Protestant interpretation that relies heavily on the Bible itself as the source of religious guidance. Of particular note for a book centered around Christian notions of sin is the work’s refusal to engage with the “current American culture wars”; the author posits that too many Christians use hot-button political issues as a way to ignore their own personal sins as they have “abandoned basic decency to gain power.” Reflecting the book’s emphasis on applicability, each chapter concludes with questions for individual or small-group discussion, “Scripture for Meditation,” and topical prayers. Coming in right at 200 total pages, the text includes ample illustrations, textbox vignettes, charts, and other visual elements. While the book is well-written and geared toward a broad Christian audience, those who do not share the book’s literalist take that Satan is a real entity who roams the Earth may not be sold on Jones’ warnings. The work should nevertheless be applauded for its approach (one not “of shame but one of encouragement”), as it eschews judgment and name-calling in favor of providing Christian readers guidance to better live out the message of God’s love.
An engaging and earnest, if not always convincing, study of the power of Satan’s lies.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9780758677280
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Concordia Publishing House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 20, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
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