Cara Coffey's Review - From Mason To Minister

Neil McKinlay wrote a very poignant testimony of his life story growing up in Scotland in his book, From Mason to Minister, Through the Lattice. I learned a lot about that wonderful land as well as Canada and Australia because of his testimony. I appreciated yet again the drawing power of our Lord Jesus Christ as Mr. McKinlay shared his life with us. He also interspersed his book with his own poetry, and this lent a romantic air to this volume.

In the preface of From Mason to Minister, Through the Lattice, Mr. McKinlay explains how he did not write “the ordinary” of what is generally offered concerning freemasonry. He doesn’t make a case against it or for it, but he tells instead his testimony and how he was drawn to becoming a Mason but then how he left it in 1990 as a result of his soul searching for God and the Savior, Jesus Christ.

I appreciated the gentle approach this author has taken with freemasonry because it shows the confusion which is rampant about the belief systems of that organization and the mixture of Christianity with it. I also learned that there are some differences in other countries concerning freemasonry and it was refreshing to get a glimpse of someone else’s life in this regard. Although, I did not consider this book well organized; there was not continuity. It seemed to jump from one topic to another.

Mr. McKinlay’s publisher also wrote a note assuring us this was a helpful book because it does not attack freemasonry but instead gives us assertion that this book is, “…a reasonable explanation for how apparently godly men might have associated themselves with an organization now so widely associated with the occult.” (Gerald Christian Nordskog, p188). I trust the Lord can speak through this gentle testimony to some within the ranks of freemasonry, and my hope is that these men will turn to the Lord and forsake it as wholeheartedly and completely as Mr. McKinlay testifies to us that he did.

See on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Mason-Minister-Through-Lattice/dp/0982707479/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322079421&sr=1-1
See review at Good Reads
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/236223017

KILLING LINCOLN

A quick two-minute review of KILLING LINCOLN – The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever.

Here is a real edge-of-the-seat page-turner from a collaboration between Fox New’s The O’Reilly Factor’s  Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard.

This is history taught by two men who know how to keep your attention. I couldn’t put this book down. It’s short but pithy chapters had me wanting to read just a little more before I had to dash off to attend to things more pressing. It reads like an action diary with the clock ticking ever faster and ever closer to each historical event. I felt my heart rate speed as I read about the final moments before Lincoln’s death. Bang!

The details of battles in the Civil War had me on the battlefields smelling the gunpowder and hearing the gallop of hooves, gunfire and bursts of shrapnel. The surrender of General Robert E. Lee (a hero of mine!) to Grant is painted in considerable detail.

The shooting of Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre by J. Wilkes Booth and the slow-death aftermath as the doctor tried his best to save him had me weeping.

Thanks Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugan for enlightening me with the details of this great man’s last days on earth.   

DEMONIC

The following is simply a quick five-minute-review of the book…

Just finished reading Ann Coulter’s Demonic - How the Liberal Mob is Endangering America. In it she deals with the mob mentality of America’s left by contrasting it with the thinking of America’s right. She sees this as the difference between the actions of the purveyors of the atheistic French Revolution and those of the Christian American Revolution respectively.

I particularly loved the way she historically detailed the gory atrocities of the French Revolution with a great deal of insight into what evil incited and drove the unruly mob. Contrast this with the Biblically sound principles that undergirded the American Revolution. Coulter shows how the leftist mob (because it follows the mentality of the leftist mob!) sees the French and American Revolutions as one and the same!

Coulter begins her book by quoting Mark 5:2-9. This portion of Scripture records Jesus dealing with a demoniac. Jesus asked the demoniac, “What is your name?” To which the demoniac replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” Herein lies the thesis for Demonic. Says Coulter, “The demon is a mob, and the mob is demonic.”

As I read her book I was reminded of a time I was home visiting Scotland. Whenever I mentioned the name of John Knox it would be met by a negative response. Though people knew virtually nothing about Knox, they knew only that they hated him! The party line is that Knox is to be demonized. Ask why, and you are likely to be demonized by the mob too! By way of example, try discussing with a group of people the concept that man-made global-warming is probably wrong or that the Theory of Evolution (goo to you) is fantasy and you’ll see what Ann Coulter is getting at in her book. The lynch-mob will gnash its teeth before it strings you up without a trial!

This book is liberally sprinkled (I use the word “liberal” here in the good sense of the word!) with witty gems of Coulter humour. She had me quietly sniggering and at times laughing out loud. I had to keep looking over my shoulder just in case some lefty would see me actually enjoying this book and report me to the thought police!

I suppose the only downside to Demonic is that a good grasp of American politics and the names of American politicians, news associations, news reporters etc. is needed to receive full benefit.

Well done Ann Coulter!