Book Reviews – Only True Hope

Book Review: When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert

July 12, 2023 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

I recently read a book on poverty with some of my coworkers. I work at Children's Hunger Fund, a nonprofit organization that addresses poverty. The mission of Children's Hunger Fund is "Delivering hope to suffering children by equipping local churches for gospel-centered mercy ministry." We read and discussed the book "When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor...And Yourself" by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. The book was first released in 2009 and has influenced many on how to address poverty. The title of the book is intriguing because it poses a question that I had not thought about, can helping those in poverty hurt others and oneself? The book begins with a story from one of the authors, Brian. Brian traveled with his family to do mission work in Uganda. While in Uganda, he taught a biblically based small-business curriculum at St. Luke's Church. He met Elizabeth, the women's ministries director for one of the local denominations....

Book Review: The Heart of Anger by Christopher Ash and Steve Midgley

May 22, 2023May 22, 2023 by Roger E. Bayramian Comment Closed

I have a confession; I did not want to read another book on anger. I bought the book "The Heart of Anger: How the Bible Transforms Anger in Our Understanding and Experience" by Christopher Ash and Steve Midgley on Kindle and hesitated to read it. My resistance was that I had read many books on anger and thought, how can another book help me? Eventually, I decided it was time to start reading this book, and I was pleasantly surprised (and humbled) at how much I had to learn about anger. The book is broken up into four parts. First, the authors look at the biblical portraits of human anger. Second, they look at the characteristic of God's anger, and thirdly, they talk about how to defuse human anger. Lastly, they address finding joy in the peace of Christ. If you have read a biblical counseling book, you will recognize the focus of this book on the heart. The heart represents...

Book Review: It Will Cost You Everything

January 23, 2023January 23, 2023 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

When I was in seminary many years ago, there was often a critique of churches that taught "cheap grace" or "easy believism." The claim was that some were teaching that the only thing people had to do was to make a "profession of faith," ignoring a life of discipleship which included obedience and holiness. Although God's grace is freely given to the one who trusts Jesus, Christians are called to respond to a life of obedience and holiness. Is there a cost in following Jesus? Steve Lawson attempts to answer this question in his book "It Will Cost You Everything: What it Takes to Follow Jesus." The primary focus of this book is to walk through Luke 14:25-35 which he calls a "hard saying of Christ." In this text, Lawson wants to distinguish between true and false believers. Lawson began this book with an analogy of his life when he received an offer of a scholarship to play college football. The scholarship...

Book Review: Seasons of Sorrow: The Pain of Loss and the Comfort of God

October 15, 2022October 15, 2022 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

I was recently at a counseling conference, browsing through the bookstore. One of the newer books displayed was Tim Challies' new book, "Seasons of Sorrow: the pain of loss and the comfort of God." I was looking for a book I could read during my flight home, and this book was my companion. Every person will face pain and loss in this world, and there are different responses to those events. Suffering is part of living in a sinful post-fall world. All of us will suffer in this lifetime (Christian and non-Christian). The question is when and to what degree. All will suffer in this life, but not all will respond the same to suffering. I think suffering leads us to a crossroads in life. One path is to turn away from the Lord and focus inward, allowing the devastation to shape one's thinking and identity in life. The other path leads to the Lord, where the truth of Scripture and...

Book Review: Work: It’s Purpose, Dignity, and Transformation

June 20, 2022June 20, 2022 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

I've been workin' on the railroad,All the live long day.I've been workin' on the railroad,Just to pass the time away.Can't you hear the whistle blowing? Rise up so early in the morn.Can't you hear the captain shoutin'"Dinah, blow your horn?" I do not remember when I first heard these lyrics, but I think this song captures the thought of how much time we spend working. Everyone has one hundred sixty-eight hours in a week. If you work 40 hours (not including commute time), you spend 23.8% of your weekly hours working. For most of us, work is not optional but is a necessity of life. How should we think about work? Is it just a job to make money, or does it make a difference in the world? Is it where I find my identity, or is it a necessary evil? Should I leave my job and pursue a different one that pays more or gives me more satisfaction? What if...

Book Review: Redeeming Your Time by Jordan Raynor

May 20, 2022May 21, 2022 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

I learned about Jordan Raynor's new book Redeeming Your Time through my job. We have book clubs a couple of times a year in which we read and discuss books. There were various books to choose from, and the title of this one caught my attention. If there is one thing about my life right now, I am busy and need more time! The book contains seven purposeful, present, and wildly productive principles. These are taken primarily from the life of Jesus, which Raynor then derives principles and practices for greater productivity. I appreciate that he begins by setting the tone that he wants Christians to have "grace-based productivity" instead of "works-based productively." He means that our true identity and worth are not found in what we do but in who we are in Christ. He also guards against legalism by offering many different ways to put the principles into action, without saying his methods are the best. Therefore, the reader...

Book Review: Redeem Your Marriage: Hope for Husbands Who Have Hurt through Pornography by Curis Solomon

April 18, 2022April 18, 2022 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

I recently had the opportunity to read a new book by Curis Solomon called, Redeem Your Marriage: Hope for Husbands Who Have Hurt through Pornography. His wife, Jenny Solomon, also wrote a companion book called Reclaim Your Marriage: Grace for Wives Who Have Been Hurt by Pornography. Solomon is a biblical counselor and serves as the Executive Director of the Biblical Counseling Coalition. The topic of pornography is important for biblical counselors to address. Unfortunately, the message in our culture seems to be that porn is no big deal, and my experience in the church is that many people struggle but few people talk about the issue. This new book by Solomon felt you were sitting with a friend over coffee who offered hope and wisdom to deal with this common struggle with sin. I appreciate the transparency from his own life and how he held the tension of calling pornography evil while not condemning the one struggling. Instead, he...

Book Review: Sanctification: God’s Passion for His People by John MacArthur

April 11, 2022April 11, 2022 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

I have read many books and journal articles on sanctification over the last couple of years as I was doing research for my doctoral project. There are many books and differing views on sanctification, and I have not found one book that captures everything about this important theological truth. Last year I came across John MacArthur's book on sanctification and added it to my Kindle library. I attended The Master's Seminary, and I respect John MacArthur as one who has been a faithful pastor for decades and impacted my life when I first became a believer. I was very interested in how he would deal with this important topic. MacArthur wrote this short book called Sanctification: God's Passion for His People in 2020. This book is only seven chapters in under 100 pages so that one can read this quickly. He writes this book to pastors, and he says that their primary calling is the "sanctification of God's people." As with...

Book Review: Heart & Habits: How We Change for Good by Greg Gifford

March 1, 2022March 1, 2022 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

Do you have any bad habits? Be honest! Last year I attended a conference and received a book called Heart & Habits: How We Change For Good by Greg Gifford. I have read many books on sanctification, and this was the first one I read regarding habits. Most of the time, talking about habits is in the realm of self-improvement. Therefore, I was interested in learning how the author would handle habits from a biblical perspective. Habits are a normal part of life and help us do things without thinking about them. Most people get up in the morning, brush their teeth, take a shower, and put on their clothes without having to think about all of the steps involved in the process. I remember when my kids were learning to tie their shoes. They would slowly take one lace, wrap it around the other lace, and finish off with a bow. It was a time-consuming process, and life would be frustrating...

Book Review: Overcoming Bitterness: Moving from Life’s Greatest Hurts to a Life Filled with Joy by Stephen Viars

January 21, 2022January 21, 2022 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

To some degree, bitterness is something that everyone will struggle with in a world that sin has broken. When I think about bitterness, Proverbs 14:10 comes to mind, "The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy." So what causes us to become bitter? How can we deal with our bitterness? Steven Viars answers these questions in his new book, Overcoming Bitterness: Moving from Life's Greatest Hurts to a Life Filled with Joy. Viars has been a pastor and biblical counselor at Faith Biblical Counseling Ministries in Lafayette, Indiana, since 1987. He has vast experience in biblical counseling and approaches this topic with clarity, gentleness, and patience. Viars explores how the Bible addresses bitterness in the book's first part. In the Old Testament, the word for bitter is marah, which is also the name that Naomi called herself after going through many trials (Ruth 1:20). In the New Testament, the Greek word is pikros, illustrated as bitter water...