book review—Rise of the Fallen by Chuck Black

interesting, but not completely buying what he's teaching

Blogging for Books provided this book to me for free in exchange for an honest review.
 

I'll deal with this book like I did the first, as a story as regarding it's theology.
 

Story—First, don't come into this book expecting a typical sequel to the first book in the series. I give the author some credit for doing something a bit different, perhaps even risky. And I'll give him more credit for doing it fairly well, story-wise.
 

A lot happens in this story, and it held my interest. The main character gets developed pretty well, as the reader sees him in various historical and modern-day situations.
 

Theology—This is a bit tricky, because the author adds some speculative things that, if read wrongly, could come off as theological. To that end, the Reader's Guide was helpful for understanding what the author inserted on his own.
 

On the good side, the story focused on faith in Christ. Even for a “good” man like Drew, the main hero of the first story who appears in this one too, there is no salvation apart from faith in Christ, no matter what good works he's trying to do. Along with there, there are things concerning abortion and sexuality that are biblically sound.
 

The author does engage in the kind of ego-boosting us-center rhetoric that is all too common today. “God sees the potential in all of us...”, he writes in the Reader's Guide. But biblically, we know that “none are righteous” and “all our works of righteousness are as filthy rags”.
 

If there is one thing that honked me off a little theologically, it's when he tries to throw in the need to “hear God's whispers”. Even the angels in this story have to try to hear them, for some reason. I realize this is a popular teaching, but I've yet to come on anyone who can truly show me where the Bible tells us that God speaks to us via a quiet inner voice. And this author doesn't give any biblical support for the notion, either.
 

Conclusion—It's an interesting read. I wish I could be a little more enthusiastic in my support for it, but I simply can't ignore some of the things the story teaches that are a bit off, like the God-whispers stuff. But there is enough good that I'd give a recommendation.