The God You've Been Searching For

by Mac Brunson

Mac Brunson says that finding your way to God does not have to be left to chance. God has revealed Him self to the world in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the pages of His Word. The Bible reveals his thoughts, emotions, personality, and character so that we can know Him, not just know about Him. For those tired of searching for the meaning in life, or those weary of the humdrum routine of doing spiritual exercises with no apparent result, Brunson's book will help them find what they are looking for.

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Andrew McHenry · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a short Billy Graham-distribution volume that was probably printed to accompany evangelistic work. It has an evangelical four-point salvation plan in the back, but the heart of it addresses the common human yearning for God. Brunson directs the reader into a relational, Christian presentation of God. He strongly emphasizes a personal relationship over/against a mere awareness of God. He leans heavily on Isaiah and later Colossians. And he uses the bridge metaphor effectively.

In one chapter he emphasizes divine discipline. He presents it well enough, but the concept is prone to several kinds of abuse (e.g. "God must be rattling his cage"; "I wonder what she did to deserve that?"; "He had it coming.") The book of Job is a useful corrective to this kind of error, and I really wish Brunson had given some kind of warning against it -- even a brief one. It seems like a major omission given the topic.

But that said, I felt positive about this book overall until I came to the final chapter. There Brunson emphasizes the sovereignty of God, which is a good point for Christian reflection -- but he does this by diving into a futurist interpretation of Gog/Magog in Ezekiel 38-39, which confuses the modern nation-state of Israel with the Israel of God in the Bible. (i.e. He fails to understand the difference between an Israeli and an Israelite.) And even worse, he devolves from there into anti-Muslim content. I'm fine with giving a theological critique to the Islamic religion, but Brunson is engaging in empty paranoia/propaganda that broad-brushes whole populations of Muslims as violent and in enmity with God. All of this needs to be corrected by Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. As I get older I'm much more drawn to someone praying "Have mercy on me, a sinner," than someone who thinks "These are God's special people; you'd better be nice to them."

[Madelyn Wineka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, thoughtful

Thus wood be great for my bible study group. It would have been great have someone else reading with me to review with