Musings of a Snickerdoodle

Steal Away Home: Charles Spurgeon & Thomas Johnson - Unlikely Friends on the Passage to Freedom by Matt Carter and Aaron Ivey, is a novel that tells of a friendship between those two men.  One was a pastor who became quite famous, and yet had a lot of troubles in his life, and the other a former slave who became a preacher and then a Missionary to Africa.  This book is an attempt to imagine their lives leading up to their ultimate meeting and friendship.  Various chapters deal with either the perspective of Spurgeon or that of Thomas in a particular year.  The time advances through the chapters, showing the growing perspective of the men individually. I really wanted to like this book, but sadly I didn't.  First, , as I was reading this book I kept running across parts where the thought kept nagging me that something about the depiction wasn't right.  I went and looked at some other books I have on Spurgeon and realized the thought was generally co...

Deal or Duel: An Alexander Hamilton card game, is a game that utilizes historical characters from the early history of the United States and also utilizes events of that time to influence play. This game is very unique, at least in my experience of playing games.  I don't believe I've ever played a game before that included dueling and going to debtors prison. Nor, have I ever played one with historical figures who, in the process of playing a game, could be affected by events like Alexander Hamilton leveling the playing field for his pursuit of the office of Secretary of State and thus specific Face Cards in various players possession are lost.  This game has many historical figures (the Face Cards),  including Alexander Hamilton, Marie Antoinette, George Washington, Aaron Burr, and there was also figures whom we did not know of, which is where the biographical summaries on the back of the cards come in handy.   I tried it out with a couple of my sisters...

The Whole Bible Story: Everything that Happens in the Bible in Plain English by Dr. William H. Marty is a book that endeavors to give you a summarized version of the narrative history in the Bible.  The book starts from the book of Genesis and goes all the way to Paul's captivity at the end of Acts.  I didn't particularly like this book.  First of all, It isn't the whole story, it is merely a summary of the history given in the Bible.   Much, or rather most, of the recorded dialogue is missing and it is not the most accurate summary of Biblical history.  For instance, in the account of Abraham pleading with the Lord not to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, the account omits God's graciousness in assenting to Abraham's repeated request gradually reducing the number of righteous people in the city required to spare it. It just says, "Abraham knew Lot and his family will still living in Sodom, so he pleaded with the Lord to spare at least ten pe...

It is fascinating to look back on history and zoom in as it were on the earth to see what God had ordained to happen in a particular country, during a particular time period.  And to focus in on it even further and see what He had planned for individuals.  For Brotherhood & Duty: The Civil War History of the West Point Class of 1862 by Brian R. McEnany is a very interesting look at a group of some of the young men affected by the Civil War.  They came together in 1858 from north and south of the United States to study at West Point, expecting to serve in the same U. S. military when they graduated.  The secession of many Southern States and the U.S. government advocating military action to subdue those states changed things.  Some of the cadets ended up leaving West Point to join the Confederate states, others took the required oath to be faithful to the Union.  The author uses West Point Graduate (1862)Tully McCrea's story as a sort of sprin...

This book, Jesus' Terrible Financial Advice , was in a list of books available for review in the book reviewing program of which I'm a member.   The description of this book caught my attention.  It was described as not being the book that the author, John Thornton, intended to write.  He wanted to write about how his family had gotten to a debt free state and wanted to back it up with biblical principles.  But then He went to the Bible to study the topic and found that Jesus' teachings on money shocked him, they really seemed like irresponsible teachings, teachings that didn't seem like the type of instructions that God would give wise stewards to follow.  He put off writing the book for a long time.   I was intrigued by this information and so I requested the book.  Thornton later decided to dive in and write the book with this perspective,  "If my theology disagrees with God, one of us is wrong, and it's not Him."   ...

I am consistently struck during my travels how a bond is immediately created with other believers, regardless of the cultural, ethnic, and linguistic differences between us.    In many respects, this bond is stronger than the biological bonds that exist between father and son, or mother and daughter.  In face, Jesus plainly says that his advent will break such biological bonds, and if we are not willing to forsake these natural relationships when necessary, we have no business seeking a supernatural relationship with Christ.     - Victor Kuligin Quote from his book : The Language of Salvation:  Discovering the Riches of What it Means to Be Saved See more quotes on my quote collection blog:   https://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/

Freedom from sin is only granted to Christians.  Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells  believers that they have not been seized by any temptation that cannot be overcome.  He is not talking to non-Christians, who Paul establishes elsewhere are controlled by the sinful flesh and cannot do anything spiritually pleasing to God (Rom. 8:7-8).... "...walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh..." (Gal 5:16-17).  Again, this command is to Christians.  Unbelievers cannot "walk by the Spirit."  However, believers walking by the Spirit have the ability  to "not gratify the desires of the flesh ."  If this is true, that no temptation has ever come across a Christian that is not common to all, and that sin is nothing more than a Christian yielding to his fleshly desires, then how can addiction as commonly understood (i.e., uncontrollable urges and impulses) actually exist for believers? ......Granted, sin can certainly fe...