One of the great frustrations I experience in this earthly sojourn is every time I visit a "local Christian bookstore" (with the exception of the ones at the churches pastored by John Macarhur and Jeff Noblit). Generally speaking, these stores are a blend of sound biblical resources lightly mingled in a jungle of pop-psychology, pragmatism, and man centered "theology". Closer examination often reveals that many of these stores are a part of a chain that is owned by a larger secular parent company. The same can be said for most Christian recording labels and publishers. The tragedy that has unfolded over this gradual occurrence is that the almighty dollar becomes the ultimate determing factor. The front of the store is dominated by whatever sells with little or no discerning examination of the content. Zondervan, for example, are more than happy to publish John Macarthur's landmark work "The Gospel According To Jesus" alongside Rob Bell's heretical "Velvet Elvis".When "everyday Joes" like us enter the local Christian bookstore in search of a spiritual steak we are faced with the same dilemna as ocean rescuers. They can be found but require dedicated surveillance of the vast ocean of spiritual salt water (undrinkable), with constant look out for sharks. And between the early 1990's and 2010 I can safely say that i have seen a dramatic increase in the sharks that roam these waters.
With this in mind, I have constructed my own resource library/bookstore that contains books, audios, CDs, and DVDs that I have read, watched, or heard - and most importantly, recommend as biblically sound and solid spiritual food. If you are looking for the good stuff then you will find a lot of it in this library. More will be added over time as I read and view more material. But what I have constructed so far is quite sizable and diverse. Also, books can be filtered by category, author, or title.
To explore further, please click on one of the four options (recommended audios, recommended books, recommended DVDs, and/or recommended music). You will see these in the right hand column of this blog under the heading "bookstore" (or below in this post). I am calling it a bookstore because I have put a purchasing link on each item that will take you straight to a page where you can order the product. Some of the products, if purchased via this website, will entitle me to a small kickback (although I am not sure I have set it up right) which I hope to use in support of my missionary labors in Denmark (I will talk more about that in a later post).
So please, check it out, surf around and see what interests you.
RECOMMENDED AUDIOS
RECOMMENDED BOOKS
RECOMMENDED DVDs
RECOMMENDED MUSIC
1 comment:
I like to read quite widely, including differing viewpoints, so I find lists like this moderately helpful.
However, I have a worry about the Christian book industry in general. I live in the UK. The owner of a small Christian bookshop I know says that titles are often 'dumped' on her at discount prices for sale on special offer and I wonder if the best books are held back because of the people who are in control of the market. The books people read have a profound effect on our churches and I think some churches can be misled because of some fad that a popular book or Christian author has started.
Church leaders somehow need to channel people to the right stuff and enable people to critique the dross. We are called to protect the flock from false teachers.
On the other hand I dislike being patronised and told not to read x or y author.
McM
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