january books

as some of you know, i decided to read at least one book a month for the year twenty-ten. well, january is ending and i actually read 4 books! yep, pete and i don't have tv to watch all night anymore. instead, we surf the internet a lot and i read almost every night. it helped that the books i read were part of a series i had started in high school, and i wanted to find out what happened next so i kept reading. "one more chapter" i would say, and five chapters later i would finally go to bed. are you wondering what these books are that i couldn't stop reading? well, you won't be surprised that i like them, but i have to tell you that i am aware of their "corniness" and possible theological issues or speculations.

i read the end of the left behind series! that's right, the books that tell of the events of end times, after the rapture. the series starts with the rapture happening and follows a few key characters through their salvation and life through the tribulation, armageddon, and yes, even the millennial kingdom. i read: the remnant, armageddon, the glorious appearing, and the kingdom, all written by tim lahaye and jerry b. jenkins. there are three books in the series that i haven't read and probably won't. they wrote 3 books that supposedly happened before the rapture - prequels. and i decided that they wouldn't be worth it to read, i was satisfied with how it ended and didn't need any more.

okay, each month i am going to tell you a bit of what i learned from my readings. so this month was fiction, but i learned some things about myself and my Maker.

i enjoy reading this series because it always makes me wonder what i would do if someone were going to kill me for my faith in Jesus, and it makes me grateful that i most likely will not have to endure the terrible wrath of God during the tribulation. the last two books were during the time of Christ's appearing and the millennial kingdom when He reigns on earth and satan is bound. the writing made God's majesty come to life for me. i have had a pretty good view of who God is and how we should respect and revere Him, but this combined the reverence we should have toward Him and His unending love toward us.

i won't tell you examples from the books, but just reading it made me want to have a faith like the believers in the books. they knew God could and would do anything that brought Him glory and protected those who loved Him. they believed in Christ no matter what, even when the enemy was certain he would win.

this Jesus in the books came down from heaven and the scripture of revelations was "explained" in such a way that i want Jesus to come right now so i can experience Him talking to me and being ever-present at the same time.

i want His enemies to know that they will miss out and suffer for eternity if they don't accept that Christ is LORD over everything and wants to shower His love on us and receive our worship.

the most important things i learned were: i want to pray more to my King as if i know that He will respond back. i want to have a greater faith and obedience to Him. i also want to share my faith more to my believing friends and non-believing friends. i don't want the rapture to come and have them wondering what happened and why didn't amy try to warn me (whether they listen to God is their own decision) but i will pray more fervently for the unsaved because of these books.

thank you for reading the whole thing if you did. let me know if you have read these books and what you thought of them.

ephesians 3.14-21