YOU ARE...what you think you are!

Yesterday I got a text from a former student who I have been trying to help get a career started. The job is to join the team at Lowe's and to have some money for college and also eventually move out of her parent's home. 
The text read..."Ms. Rachel, you said the job is mostly computers, well I am not good at technology." Okay, so how do you expect to get a job? 99.9% of jobs today require a level of computer technology; and even if the "Machine does the work for you..." you still have to know how to run the computers that run the machine. 
This morning, I explained to the student..."The Buddha teaches "The mind is everything...what you think about yourself you are!" This teaching is also taught to us by King Solomon in the Proverbs of the Bible Proverbs 23:7a "For as he thinketh in his soul, so is he." Every culture around the world has had this teaching...so let me encourage you! You are more than what you think you are. You are a child of the Living God, who loves you more than you will ever know. You are not stupid, you are not a loser, you are not a mistake...you are greater than you think about yourself, you don't know your own potential, you are God's creation, you are perfect the way He made you! 

KREGEL BOOK REVIEW: INTERPRETING APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE

With Apocalyptic Literature of the Bible being fulfilled daily in front of us; it is no surprise that prophecy has moved from the back of the Bible and Biblical Teaching to the forefront of our churches and research. Richard A. Taylor’s book “Interpreting Apocalyptic Literature” is a great jumping off point for both trained ministers and lay speakers alike. As a theologian, I have spent many hours poring over the prophets of the Old Testament as well as Daniel. When I was offered the chance to review this book, I knew I had to do so!

There are several pros to this book; I will review them here:
1) Ease of reading: While this is a text book, it is an easy read. One that both undergraduate and graduate students can easily use in their classes. It is also user friendly, maybe you didn’t go to Bible college, that doesn’t matter, this book is not so over the top that the lay speaker whose primary interest is Biblical Prophecy can’t read or understand it.

2) Worldview: The book contains a Biblical World view. While it covers extra biblical texts (which I think is needed for full Biblical study of the Apocalyptic Scriptures) it maintains a balanced Christian world view into prophecy.

3) It covers major apocalyptic themes. This is not just the themes of the book of Revelation. Rather it is all themes of apocalyptic theology.

4) Hebrew and Lexicon Resources. Want to know what various words mean? Look no further than the text in the book, Taylor gives you information that you can use.

Finally what I love about this book is that it helps bridge modern interpretation to ancient texts.

I don’t have a list of cons to this book, maybe because I did enjoy it a lot as I was using this book also during a study I was doing on apocalyptic scripture; but I certainly do recommend this book to both seasoned ministers, and lay speakers.

**The book was provided by the publisher for an unbiased review. The reviewer received no monetary compensation from the publisher for this review.**