Help Lord, The Devil wants me fat!

I didn't know he wrote THAT. Figures.

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~Jay~
Husband of ENS, father of J II. | Indian Trail, NC
disabled - cancer
Communicant Member, Precentor | Presbyterian Reformed Church of Charlotte, NC | Presbyterian Reformed Church

zzzzzz ...

I can't remember the title of the book I read in late 60's, but it was something like Evangelism Made Easy. The book tells how to manipulate people in making a decision for Christ. It actually gave step-by-step instructions on every little thing to do. I'd been a Christian for only a few years but I knew even at the time is was horrible.

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Ivan R. Schoen, B.A., M.A., M.L.I.S.
Pastor of Maranatha Baptist Church (SBC)
Poplar Grove, IL, USA
http://maranatha-sbc.org

Isn't that the book where hell is shaped in the form of a body of a man?

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Norseman Moderator

R. Martin Snyder
1689er
http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/puritancovenanter/

"Our object should not be to have scripture on our side but to be on the side of scripture; and however dear any sentiment may have become by being long entertained, so soon as it is seen to be contrary to the Bible, we must be prepared to abandon it without hesitation."
William Symington

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ANYTHING by Joyce Meyer or Kenneth Copeland.

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Jim Ulam
Bethany Bible Fellowship (Non-denominational)
Westminster, CA

"From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put" - Winston Churchill

Yuck. I had to read it because a parishoner asked my opinion. It was poorly written and very confusing? What exactly is the author's intention? I really don't understand what all the hoopla is about.

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http://www.villagecommunitychurch.org/


"Preparing a sermon is like cooking a meal. You need pots and pans and utensils, but you don't bring them out to the table where people are eating." Derek Thomas


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The Emotionally Healthy Church by Peter Scazzaro. The ultimate work for the modern "therapy gospel".

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Scott Kessler
Covenant Community OPC
Staunton, VA
Covenant Theology
Christian Skepticism
Christianity In History

Your Best Life Now. Before I come under discipline for this lapse in judgment, I want to say that I started it, couldn't bear it, and burnt it in my front yard. Needless to say, the smoke didn't rise skyward...

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Kevin, husband of a truly angelic woman, and father to ten.
Zion United Reformed Church of Sheffield
Ontario, Canada

I hate to say it, but after finishing Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll, this has to be in my top 4.

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Andrew C.
IFB
LBCF 1689

The last couple of books by Stuart Woods, what happened to this guy? His stories are always over the top and ridiculous, but his last book was pure drivel.

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Conscience may lash us, but it cannot replenish a languishing life. Conscience may be God's word and minister to you, telling you of your faults and your follies and your destitution. It may point out, but it will never supply you. Christ must give you new life. Hart has well expressed it: "He to the feeble and the faint, His mighty aid makes known; and when their languid life is spent, supplies it with His own." - J. K. Popham

I've read the "Search for the Historical Jesus" guys and I have to say they are a complete waste of time.

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Reverend David Chen
Faith Hope Love Chinese Church
Havertown, PA

1. Dispensatonalism Today-Charles Ryrie
2. The Holy Spirit- Charles Ryrie
3. A New Kind of Christian- Brian McLaren
4. Who Needs Theology?- Roger Olsen and Stan Grenz
5. God's Blueprint For the Church- Kenneth Good

I attended an undergraduate institution where all of these books were required readings at one point or another. Ryrie's books consitute my top choices. His Childish grammar, bad syntax, historical revision, logical fallacies, hermeneutical gymnastics, and strawman argumentation put him at the top of the list.

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Jordan Harris
Rochester, MN
Trinity Presbyterian Church (PCA)
My Blog

LOL

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~ Steven Bradford ~
Member Covenant Presbyterian, Chattanooga, TN

OH! I had to commiserate with you on this one. UGHUGHUGH!!

I have a love-hate relationship with bad books. I tend to groan my way through them, but I can't put them down. It's like a literary MST3K.

Andrew Murray is pretty stinky.

And those Left Behind books were pivotal in making me see dispensationalism for what it's worth. I threw away my adherence to that system when I threw the last book in a truck stop trash can.

But right now, the worst book I've read in the recent past is

Changed Into His Image

Amazon

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Camille
Member, Mitchell Road Presbyterian, PCA
Taylors, SC

A few months ago I started reading Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse. I had to stop reading it about 1/3 way through due to horrible content. I liked the story, and the themes, but the content was too sexually explicit for me to wade through anymore. So, it's the worst book I've read recently... on the whole, I avoid bad books.

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Jacob
Sovereign Grace Ministries
Covenant Fellowship Church
WTS M.A.R. in Theology student
West Chester, PA

"Grace renews nature; glory perfects grace." ~ John Owen
"Grace tried is better than grace, and more than grace. It is glory in its infancy." ~ John Flavel
Blog - The Strasbourg Inn

A Cry In The Wilderness - Keith Green
The Christian's Secret Of A Happy Life - Hannah Whitall Smith
Charles Finney On Faith

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Charles Plauger
Member/Grace Reformed Church
Oakland, MD

John Eldridge's Wild At Heart.
While the wider Reformed and Conservative audience deride and lampoon Eldridge's book, what the wider Reformed and Conservative audience do not know are the seminary scholars and theologians who were the ones laying the bad doctrinal seeds. In many cases, bad doctrine doesn't start with the author or pastor, but starts with the seminary professor. And in Eldridge's case, and in the case for Wild At Heart, this would be a former GGBTS and Fuller Seminary professor, James William McClendon. His 3-volume Systematic Theology, in my opinion, is a must-read for pastors, scholars, and serious laymen who want to understand the premise and arguments from "the other side."

James William McClendon is also the doctrinal founder to shape and influence Brian McLaren. McClendon's work also shaped Grenz to change his theology. (Any work by Stanley Grenz prior to 1993 are solid works. But starting in 1993, Grenz's theology started following McClendon's line of thought).

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Will Shin
Rockville, MD

Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge

Such a disappointing read. It made the Proverbs 31 woman seem so unattainable for a Christian woman.

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Ann Marie Farley
Member of Redeemer Church
Blacksburg, VA.

Favour is deceitful; and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
Proverbs 31:30

I have to agree with Mr. Shin and Miss Ann concerning Eldredge.

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Josh Hicks, Chloë's Dad
Christ Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church, RPCGA
Facebook - The Calvinist Vent
Board Rules - Signature Rules - Suggestion Box

It is God that multiplies our sorrows.... God, as a righteous Judge, does it, which ought to silence us under all our sorrows; as many as they are, we have deserved them all, and more: nay, God, as a tender Father, does it for our necessary correction, that we may be humbled for sin, and weaned from the world by all our sorrows; and the good we get by them, with the comfort we have under them, will abundantly balance our sorrows, how greatly soever they are multiplied. - Matthew Henry

I just finished reading it. Besides Pilgrim's Progress, it is the only Christian fiction book I've ever read. I don't think it would have been half as bad if Young (or Mac) wasn't claiming that the story was true.

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Dan Pemberton
Vacaville, CA

Member, First Baptist Church San Luis Obispo
Formerly ABUSA (We left, so I guess that makes us American Baptists Unleashed!)

I should also further note that McClendon is the prelude to the Emergent Movement. Even Justin Taylor mentions in Reclaiming The Center that McClendon is the theologian while McLaren is the pastor of the Emergent Movement.

This is why I mentioned in another post that bad doctrine is never isolated. If you trace it back by 20 years, what you may discover is that there is a common founding link that McLaren, Grenz, Emerging Movement, Eldridge, Risk-Taking God, Nancey Murphy, etc. all birthed from - and that fatherly link is McClendon.

This is interesting. I'm going to read into this further.

I know that this is an old thread, but I just have to add my

Anything by Henri Nouwen is awful. Actually, I'd only read Wounded Healer until about a month ago. Then I had to read Life of the Beloved for a class. When I finished, I told my wife that it was probably the worst book I've ever read.

And speaking of Grenz, I'm currently reading through his systematic theology (Theology for the Community of God) which isn't awful, but is quite spotty in more than a few places.

And dare I raise the name Leonard Sweet???

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Tim Phillips
Pastor, Midlane Park Presbyterian Church (ARP)
Louisville, KY
Husband of Scottish Lass
My Blog: Gairney Bridge
My Facebook/My Avatar

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"Wherever the gospel is preached, it is as if God Himself came into the midst of us." ~ John Calvin

anything by Lewis Smedes.

"Essays on the Resurrection" by Sam Frost (Full Preterist book)

"What love is this" Dave Hunt

"Systematic Theology" Wayne Grudem

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Richard W. Roldan "Ricky"
Member and Teacher of Iglesia Presbiteriana Reformada Berea (PCA)
Winter Haven, FL./ Under Care of the Southwest Presb.(PCA)

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,...” Jesus

" I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel," Paul

Challies did an extended review - give it to anyone that asks so you don't have to read it...

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-JD

Smedes was one of my profs in seminary. He was an artful, elegant, artistic author and preacher. Frankly, he drove me nuts as a prof. (Plus he didn't like my writing style one bit).

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Dennis E. McFadden, Ex Mainline Baptist (in Remission)
Atherton Baptist Homes, CEO
First Baptist Church of Alhambra, Member, Transformation Ministries (CA)

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Hunt? YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Grudem? NO WAY!!!!!!!! I love a writer who tries to ground his theology in exegesis rather than abstract philosophy. One need not agree with all of his conclusions to appreciate the accomplishment of presenting essentially sound theology for a mass audience (250,000 copies in print). He has done almost as significant a job of popularizing as Sproul.

Here here! Eldredge is horrible! I have ONLY read Wild at Heart. I couldn't stomach reading anything else by him. Life's too short and there are too many good books out there to waste time on stuff like this. I read it knowing it was going to be bad. I needed to be able to write an informed review to a freind.




This one hits it on the head:
http://www.churchofthegoodshepherd.info/WAHcritique.htm

Others:

http://www.csu.ruf.org/News/NewsStory.aspx?guid=1fd15ff3-ef28-458d-8f2d-1e316a70bae3

http://www.heartsandmindsbooks.com/reviews/john_eldredges_wild_at_heart_a/

Great avatar by the way JM!

Actually I felt like I wasted my time in reading his systematic but I guess we would have to disagree.