I recently read the book One of the Few by Jason B. Ladd. It was an encouraging and insightful book that used many different experiences in the author's life to then go forward and teach a spiritual lesson.
The book was long but interesting.
You learn bits and pieces of his life as a marine and a pilot. You also learn about him meeting and then marrying his wife Kerry. But the biggest part of the book is about his relationship with God. He talks of his growing up without a belief in God and the journey that he went through in finding and understanding truth and accepting God's gift of salvation.
I book marked many parts in this book as ones that I wanted to share with you. There are a lot of good nuggets throughout this book. I thought I would share several of them with you.
"To become a better leader, a better spouse and a better parent, you must first discover what is true. Then you must learn how to detect what is false. The world is full of lies: all religions are basically the same, Christians are anti-education, humans are just animals, sew is not sacred, and drunkenness is harmless. Your worldview will inform your judgments on these notions and more. Right and wrong exist, and the world, while sometimes grey, still has poles of black and white.
Be not deceived."
"Nobody likes a know-it-all, but with God we should make an exception. If it is possible for a being to know everything, and a being exists who does know everything, then that would be the only being worth worshiping. God has knowledge of the past, present, and future. This follows from God's infinity since a god without limits cannot have limited knowledge.
God knows who will believe and who will not, who will fall away from the faith and who will return, and who will stare death in the face before accepting his gift of life. No one can fully comprehend the complexity of the universe God designed. When you want to learn how to use a computer program, you do not seek help form the end-users trying to figure it out as they go. You go to the source - the omniscient programmer - for answers."
Jason gives some pretty straight talk concerning sexual purity - a message that is very needed in our day. He shares this scripture in his book: "But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure; No immoral, impure or greedy person - such a man is an idolater - has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." Ephesians 5:3-5
"We are not only to avoid acts of sexual immorality; we are to avoid sexually immoral thoughts as well. It sounds like "mission: impossible." But Jesus' words are clear, and we are to continue fighting the war no matter how many battles we lose. What's the big deal about thoughts and secret desires? James explains in James 1:14: " Each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."
Jason also gives some straight talk concerning drinking and how the Bible speaks against drunkenness. I appreciate his willingness to tackle this unpopular but important topic.
"Drunkenness didn't end well in Biblical times, and it doesn't end well today. Being a Christian does not mean we will not sin; it means owning up to it when we stumble."
He also talks of the importance of being a part of a church. I too believe this incredibly important!
"Let us not give up meeting together, as the author of Hebrews exhorts, lest we cause our comrades to stumble."
"Christians must never forget that they are fighting for truth, responsible for their message, and dedicated to the God who created them free."
Though I found the book a little random at times and story line a little hard to follow - overall the important message of his journey to a life of following Jesus Christ and understanding His truth came through loud and clear. I found the book encouraging and it gave me food for thought in various areas. I recommend it.
This book is available for purchase on Amazon and currently the Kindle book is only 99 cents. You can also find out more on Jason's website.
This book is available for purchase on Amazon and currently the Kindle book is only 99 cents. You can also find out more on Jason's website.
Disclaimer - I did receive a digital copy of this book for purposes of reviewing but received no other compensation and all opinions expressed are my own.
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