"The Coming Apostasy", by Mark Hitchcock & Jeff Kinley (book review)

In their new book, Mark Hitchcock and Jeff Kinley discuss apostasy and its dangerous effects in the church.  The reader must first understand that Hitchcock and Kinley approach apostasy from the pre-millennial, pre-tribulation rapture point-of-view.  I'm not arguing for or against that view, but their approach is that the ever-increasing apostasy that is now already upon us is coming in greater intensity.

It is not a "heady" read, but is a rather simple read.  Mature believers who are familiar with Christian doctrine and theology will be able to speed read or skim through this book rather quickly.  For those who are not to that point, the information contained is quite worth reading and learning, and will be easy to understand without much struggle at all.

Some of the things I appreciate about this book is that they plainly tell the reader that theology -- what we believer -- really matters (p.18); that they explain further that while biblical belief matters, this belief cannot be merely "spiritual nodding of the head" (p.43); that having sound truth is our protection against the devil's lies (p.57); that they confront false teachers for what they are and for what they teach in their intentional or unintentional deceptions (p.59); and that they call sin what it is: sin (p.92)!

Some may wonder why I highlight these areas.  In a day and age when people twist the truth to make it palatable for their tastes, this book is refreshingly uncompromising in its presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

There's not a lot I didn't like about it.  However, their use of the Message Translation of the Bible was troublesome to me.  Any preacher or author who quotes, cites, or otherwise uses the Message Translation instantly loses credibility with me.  It doesn't make me throw out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak, but it is a trouble spot for me.  Clearly, the Message is not a reliable translation, as it distorts many key passages of Scripture.  To be fair, though, they didn't use it as the predominant source, but it was used frequently enough to make my eye twitch.

RATING: I give this one 3 1/2 stars.  Not a bad read, but not a fantastic read that challenged my thinking much at all.  That doesn't mean it's not a good read for someone, but it's simply that I would have been disappointed if I had spent the suggested retail price of $15.99 USD for it.

Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from Blogging for Books in exchange for my unbiased review of it.  All opinions are mine, and I was not forced to provide a positive or negative review of it.