Review- The God Hater, by Bill Myers

So the tour is back on schedule, and this month’s book is “The God Hater” by Bill Myers.  The book is a sci-fi work, and I wasn’t very excited before reading it.  The title put me off, and I’m not a very big fan of sci-fi.  However, I’ve found from doing the tour that I might miss out on some extremely good books based on such criteria.

And Bill Myer’s book, while not as big of a pleasant surprise as books like “The Charlatin’s Boy”, was a good read and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.  The sci-fi element was not as intense as I had assumed it would be, but it definitely increases the further along you read.

The title of the book is based on one of the work’s main characters, a professor who enjoys breaking down the religious beliefs of his students and anyone else who shares with others how they believe.  And through the parallels we see later on in the book, I think we find that the title shows us a problem common to all of mankind to some extend.  It shows that one can claim to follow God, yet meet him face to face and not only not recognize Him… but end up persecuting Him.

I enjoyed all the different elements of the story, and though some particulars in the book do not match up with the Bible, if I remember right most or all of those were limited to being in the fictional world that the book’s fictional characters themselves create.  Add to this that the author inserts a note at the beginning of the book that addresses the issue, and I think readers will be able to understand that these incorrect elements are not meant to be taken as applicable to reality.  I wish more authors would start their books with notes like this, and I’m definitely planning on having such notes in all of my novels.  Overall, I felt like the book made truths of God plain, and easily reached beyond a superficial claim of being a spiritual work of Christian fiction.

I would recommend this book to anyone who does not understand the sacrifice that God has made for his people, as well as for anyone who likes sci-fi or books full of adventure.

Here are some related links:

Book link  –  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1439153264 (or an alternate link of your choice)
Author’s web site – http://www.thegodhater.com/
Author’s Facebook page – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bill-Myers/44983396181

Check out the fellow blog tour members to see what they think:
Noah Arsenault
Red Bissell
Thomas Clayton Booher
Kathy Brasby
Keanan Brand
Rachel Briard
Beckie Burnham
Morgan L. Busse
Carol Bruce Collett
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
CSFF Blog Tour
April Erwin
Amber French
Andrea Graham
Tori Greene
Katie Hart
Ryan Heart
Joleen Howell
Bruce Hennigan
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Becca Johnson
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Emily LaVigne
Shannon McDermott
Matt Mikalatos
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Mirtika
MollyBuuklvr81
John W. Otte
Sarah Sawyer
Chawna Schroeder
Andrea Schultz
Tammy Shelnut
Kathleen Smith
James Somers
Donna Swanson
Jessica Thomas
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Nicole White
Dave Wilson

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

A Few Good Men- Rich Mullins

Rich Mullins wrote a song called “A Few Good Men.”  It’s from his self titled album back in 1986.  The song has woven itself deep into my heart and mind, and here’s why.

The last few years have been hard for my wife and I.  As we see more opportunity for working in His kingdom, and get more and more excited about glorifying God and ministering to people, we see at the same time more and more people leaving the Church.  Some are dividing the Church.  Most of them are our peers.

It can make it easy for us to get proud, to think we’re somehow better than others.  But the truth is that we face the same temptations that everybody else faces.  We’re just as vulnerable to sin.  The difference is only found in God.  It’s not our own greatness (which isn’t much) that means anything at all, it’s His greatness.  And the more we decrease, the more He increases. 

But not everybody’s willing to do that.  Not everybody’s willing to lay their lives down for Christ, and it’s even rarer to find those who are willing to do so by loving and serving people (other than themselves).  The further along we get, the more we find we’re desperate for brothers and sisters who are desperate for the Lord.  We long for spiritual companions, those who want to die to self as we want to, in order to serve those God puts in our paths.  We long for examples in our peers that we can look up to.

The world tells us that such people won’t last.  But the world is only here because of the mercy and love of such men, and more specifically because of the God of mercy and love that has called His people to be like Him.

We want to see a few good men.  Though it causes them pain, and though they must carry a cross to be found, we want to see them.  We want the examples of their lives to fill our hearts and burn in our minds.  Though the martyrs must bleed, we want to see them.  Though it cost us everything, we want to bear the burden with them.

May they come.  May they come with the fury of a love unleashed, oh God Almighty may they come!

A Few Good Men- Rich Mullins (Rich Mullins- 1986)

A Few Good Men- Rich Mullins (audio link)

Show me someone who makes a difference
Show me someone who’s brave when he needs to be
I just need to see
Someone who cares enough that he would risk his life
For the love of what he’s come to believe

But you say that a man like that wouldn’t last in a world like this
Well, I believe that the world won’t last
If a man like that don’t exist
So I’m looking for a few good men, the brave and strong
Well, I bow again, Lord, I pray “Thy Kingdom Come”

Show me a someone who knows how to struggle
Who isn’t caught in the hold of his luxuries
I just need to see
Someone who was made for trouble
Who could come and help shape our destiny

But you say that a man like that wouldn’t last in a world like this
Well, I believe that the world won’t last
If a man like that don’t exist
So I’m looking for a few good men, the brave and strong
Well, I bow again, Lord, I pray “Thy Kingdom Come”

But you say that a man like that wouldn’t last in a world like this
Well, I believe that the world won’t last
If a man like that don’t exist
So I’m looking for a few good men, the brave and strong
Well, I bow again, Lord, I pray “Thy Kingdom Come”

(Give me the strong, give me the brave)
(Give me the strong, give me the brave)
(Give me the strong, give me the brave)
(Give me the strong, give me the brave)

Though it come with a cross
Though it come with the pain, let it come
Let it come to our hearts
Let it burn in our brains, let it come
O Lord, though it come with the blood that the
Martyrs bleed
Let it come, oh Lord, let it come
Let it come with the fury of a love unleashed, let it come

(Give me the strong, give me the brave)
Oh Lord, let it come
(Give me the strong, give me the brave)