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The Insanity Of God: A True Story Of Faith Resurrected (2013)

by Nik Ripken(Favorite Author)

4.48 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1433673088 (ISBN13: 9781433673085)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

B&H Books

review 1: There were a lot of things I liked about the Insanity of God by Nick Ripken. But the one thing that makes me madder and madder the more I think about it is that he copyrighted what he calls "HeartSongs". Now, the basis of this book is that this man, whoever he is, is searching for God in the persecuted church. The audacity of taking the thing that he finds and copyrighting it literally makes me want to spit. What happened to "we don't peddle the Word of God for profit"?How can I believe anything that this guy says? I don't know his real name, I don't know his background, I can't verify his stories. All I know is that this guy is trying to sell me something. That's the only reason to copyright something. And if I've learned one thing from growing up in America, it's "Don't ... moretrust anyone who's trying to sell you something". Especially if you've got no relationship with the person or way of proving what they said is true.Now I want to stress that I believe that God can and has done many things like the things talked about in this book. I live and work in one of the places where the persecution of the church happens. I work with people who have had their homes burned down and their churches burned down. I know that God can do these things. But some of the things that this man is saying don't ring true to my experience. It doesn't mean that his story is not sure. It means that I have no reason to believe that it is true. I place my faith in God, not in people who say they bring God's message. In fact, in the Bible it says "test the spirits". How can I test this book to see if it was true or false? Impossible. Plus he tried to copyright the idea of singing a song to God when you are facing hard times!!!! So if you take those two factors: the impossibility of verifying anything in the book and ridiculousness of copyrighting an idea, you've got a book that I enjoyed reading at times, but I can't stand and I can't recommend. I dislike this book. I hope I'm wrong. I hope being marketed to since birth just made me cynical. I hope Nik is just paranoid, that's why we can't verify anything. But, as it stands, I dislike this book.That being said there's still some good quotes from the book that I feel are cool.When I expressed my frustration, one of my national staff recited a Somali saying that he had heard all of his life. Sadly, it explained a lot: I and Somalia against the world; I and my clan against Somalia; I and my family against my clan; I and my brother against my family; and I against my brother. When I turned to leave, I stopped, looked back, and inquired, “Can you tell me . . . why would you publish a list of one hundred and fifty names when you know that there aren’t that many Christian believers in the entire country of Somalia today?” I realized immediately how stupid that comment was. I should have just kept my mouth shut. But they went ahead and answered my question anyway. “You’re right,” they admitted. “We believe that there are probably no more than forty or fifty Somali Christian traitors left in our country. But we also know that if we list the Christians that we already know about and add to the list those that we are suspicious about, then we have a good chance of getting everyone.” It was a cold and calculated strategy! And it was a strategy that was confirmed by a chilling exchange that I read in a local newspaper a day or two later. A militant Islamist had written a letter to the editor asking: “Why bother killing Somali Christians—wouldn’t it be a more effective strategy just to kill the Westerners that they associate with who might convert them?” The editor responded this way: “Killing Westerners,” he wrote, “might turn them into martyrs. So it is not cost effective to kill western Christians whose deaths might possibly inspire additional committed believers to come to our country and take up each martyr’s mantle.” “If, however, we kill off their converts,” the editor predicted, “the western Christians will be afraid and they will go home.” The editor’s conclusion was chilling: “These western Christians will not be able to watch their converts be killed. When their converts are killed, the western Christians will leave.” As much as I wanted to object, I knew that there was truth in the editor’s words. At the time of those four assassinations, there were approximately seventy committed western workers serving with relief groups in and around Somalia. Two months later, there were four of us still working with Somalis. The deacon said, “But, Lord, I can’t do that! It’s below zero outside. My horse might freeze and I might freeze!” The Holy Spirit told him, “You must go! The pastor’s family is in trouble!” The man argued, “Lord, you’ve got to know that there are wolves everywhere. They could eat my horse and if they do, they’ll then eat me! I’ll never make it back.” But the deacon said that the Holy Spirit told him, “You don’t have to come back. You just have to go.” What that means is that, for most believers, persecution is completely avoidable. If someone simply leaves Jesus alone, doesn’t seek Him or follow Him, then persecution will simply not happen. Beyond that, even if someone becomes a follower of Jesus, persecution will likely not happen if the faith is kept private and personal. If a person is silent about their faith in Jesus, the chance of being persecuted is very small. So if our goal is reducing persecution, that task is easily achieved. First, just leave Jesus alone. Second, if you do happen to find Him, just keep Him to yourself. Persecution stops immediately where there is no faith and where there is no witness. The reason for persecution, then, is that people keep finding Jesus—and, then, they refuse to keep Him to themselves. Believers in persecution taught us another important truth. The freedom to believe and witness has nothing to do with the government or political system. The freedom to believe and witness has nothing to do with the civil and political rights that might or might not be present. This is one of the most important lessons that we learned from believers in persecution: They (and you and I) are just as free to share Jesus today in Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Communist countries as you and I are in America. It isn’t a matter of political freedom. It is a simply matter of obedience. The price for obedience might be different in different places—but it is always possible to obey Christ’s call to make disciples. Every believer—in every place—is always free to make that choice. Jesus’ last instruction to His disciples was to be witnesses to all peoples. He did not limit His mission to western, democratic, or “free” countries. It was a blanket commandment. It was not a suggestion, or a recommendation, or an option. It was a commandment for all of His followers—to share His message with all peoples. True to Scripture, believers in persecution would remind us that we are all equally free and equally responsible to share Jesus in every corner of the globe. The question is never, “Am I free to do that?” Rather, the question is, “Will I be obedient?” Believers in the world of persecution have already decided their answer to that crucial question.
review 2: A must read book! "The Insanity of God," is an unquestionably exceptional and convicting novel. The author escorts the reader from Somalia, Russia, China, and all around the world as he attempts to find God himself. I found the book to be heart-moving, encouraging, inspiring and edifying. As Nik Ripken visits different parts of the world and discovers precisely at what lengths persecuted Christians will go to display their faith. Expect your life to be challenged by God! less

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