My husband and I were excited to read Christianity in Crisis by Hank Hanegraaff. This book certainly exceeded our expectations. I have noticed that many ministers that are televised seem to focus on gaining more popularity and writing books. They market themselves to the public, which makes them lots of money. Which they claim is to further the Kingdom of God. I question how much of that money really does go to benefit the ministries they claim to support or align with. They preach that if you just follow God, then you can also receive all his blessings. Of course, they may not outright say it, but imply that these blessings are financial. Hanegraaff goes on to list a Cast of Characters in which he discusses celebrity ministers and what they preach. I appreciated that he did not simply state his opinions. He actually provided evidence about how these ministers were preaching contrary to the bible. Hanegraaf does not set out to destroy the popular leaders; he simply wants to bring awareness of them. We need to investigate the truth, and not accept everything they say. They are human and have their own objectives and opinions too. Hanegraaff lists examples of their sermons, and discusses how they misrepresent scripture to benefit themselves. He uses scripture to support his thoughts on what these popular ministers are preaching. The book also focuses on how to teach biblical doctrine that aligns with the bible. He writes about how we can look for false doctrine, so that we don’t fall into a world of lies and deceit by those who seem trustworthy. He does admit that there are Christians who truly are good and committed to leading others to God. Hanegraaff uses three steps to support his arguments. Ask, Believe, and Receive. He does a thorough job of presenting these steps and explaining how they will strengthen a person’s faith. Hanegraff has included an extensive list of endnotes to support his book. It is obvious that his research was thorough and detailed. This book does an excellent job of reminding us of the importance of bible reading. The bible is the ultimate source of God’s word. We need to educate ourselves about God’s word. This will help prevent us from becoming victims to the Celebrity Ministers who may be deceptive. This book does an amazing job of bringing God and the bible back into the 21st century.
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