{"id":1707,"date":"2013-01-07T10:21:26","date_gmt":"2013-01-07T17:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/billintheblank\/?p=1707"},"modified":"2013-01-07T10:21:26","modified_gmt":"2013-01-07T17:21:26","slug":"the-war-against-god-a-book-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2013\/01\/the-war-against-god-a-book-review\/","title":{"rendered":"The War Against God: A Book Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I don\u2019t know about you, but I usually have low expectations for Christian fiction, or anything resembling it. Maybe the Left Behind<\/em> series permanently lowered my\u00a0hopes that Christians could write engaging, culturally relevant fiction without sounding, well \u2014\u00a0in a word \u2014\u00a0nuts.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So it was with some reluctance that I picked up The War Against God<\/a>\"\", a novel\u00a0by David Kullberg, recently published by Andershire Books in 2012. But I\u2019m glad I did.<\/p>\n

Not only did I discover that Christians can\u00a0creatively address\u00a0political and cultural issues\u00a0in captivating ways, \u00a0they can\u00a0tell some darn good stories, too. The War Against God<\/em> is unabashedly Christian in its worldview, but not in that awkward stuff-the-gospel-down-your-throat kind of way at which many Evangelicals excel.<\/p>\n

A Darn Good Story<\/h3>\n

The story comes first. But the story happens to be about two worldviews colliding and the lives of those influenced by the ideological impact.\u00a0Gordon Connelly is a globalist billionaire intent on engineering a government takeover of the world food supply\u00a0via genetic manipulation of seeds. Motivated by an intense, personal hatred for God, his plan\u00a0employs a massive media and legislative campaign called\u00a0Tolerance for America that will eventually criminalize the Church.\u00a0As one character explained:<\/p>\n

[H]umans willingly embrace abstract concepts of right and wrong, such as love, justice, honesty, and tolerance, versus hate, injustice, theft, and intolerance. But most people don\u2019t think in abstracts, and they depend on society to define the terms, to give concrete meaning to ideas. Therein lies the opportunity. (252)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Connelly\u00a0manages to gain the support of much of evangelical Christianity with a two-pronged approach. He discourages conservative Christians from voting by enlisting the\u00a0unwitting aid of a dynamic Evangelical speaker (Allen Wilder) who tells\u00a0Christians to drop everything and get ready for the Rapture. Meanwhile, the God-hating Connelly also heavily funds a progressive Christian (Buzz Nelson) who persuades younger Christians that government activism, a revised social gospel, will usher in a new utopian era for Christ.<\/p>\n

The goal sems to be political, using Wilder to get conservative Christians to stay home and Buzz Nelon to energize discouraged, young voters with an exciting new, \u201cChristian\u201d vision of an earthly paradise achieved through community consciousness. (252)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Connelly very nearly succeeds, except for a handful of committed and meddling\u00a0believers who see the stakes clearly and act on their faith to expose the falsehood,\u00a0preserve freedom, and keep the humanistic power grab at bay. One might naturally conclude that such a plot must have been hatched following the rise of George Soros, President Obama, and certain progressive Evangelicals who call for Christians to withdraw from politics these days to\u00a0practice true religion<\/em>. In fact, the story\u00a0hatched more than a decade ago\u00a0in David\u2019s mind<\/a>.<\/p>\n

War of the Real-World Views<\/h3>\n

Make no mistake, The War Against God<\/em> depicts a battle of worldviews, but in a tangible way that tugs at the heart as much as at the mind. Kullberg clearly spent time developing the\u00a0mix of\u00a0characters\u00a0who\u00a0share an authentic depth often missing from Christian fiction.\u00a0 That\u2019s not to say that all ends well. This isn\u2019t a sanitized sitcom with halos and white robes all around. For example,\u00a0the tension between the humanist Connelly and his Christian son, a US Congressman who risks much to resist his father, seems to typify the incongruity of the two worldviews and how vast the gulf between them.<\/p>\n

Nor do all live happily ever after, and certainly not without some scars. Explosive action, seductive relationships, subterfuge, harrowing kidnappings, cold-blooded murder, passionate romance, life-transforming repentance \u2014 all these fit into Kullberg\u2019s riveting tale as if they each had a place within the Christian worldview. And they do.<\/p>\n

A Warning to Conspiracy Nuts<\/h3>\n

This is not your standard conspiracy-theory book. If you\u2019re expecting brainless pablum and irrational rantings about the New World Order and such, you\u2019ll be disappointed. The War Against G<\/em>od is an intelligent, intellectually stimulating\u00a0safari across the wide savanna of\u00a0ways our worldviews affect all areas of life \u2014 politics, genetics, prophecy, psychology,\u00a0media, love and relationships, to name just a few.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But it also makes a subtle point that conspiracies are seldom what we envision them to be. You don\u2019t need a smoke-filled room or a secret cabal to have a conspiracy, just a few like-minded people of influence who embrace the same worldview and work toward the same ideals.<\/p>\n

Ending the End Times Madness<\/h3>\n

I\u2019d be remiss if I didn\u2019t note how much I enjoyed one point in particular.\u00a0The War Against God<\/em> displays a victorious and optimistic gospel outlook for the future on this side of eternity, a rare find these days. But it goes a step further by politely dismantling the dispensational eschatology that has gripped so much of Evangelical Christianity (think Hal Lindsey, Left Behind<\/em>) and encouraged many Christians to quit caring about culture because \u201csoon we\u2019ll be going home.\u201d<\/p>\n

I say politely<\/em> because the characters who push back against this relatively new method of interpreting prophetic passages do so without the vitriol that usually accompanies such end-times discussions. And that\u2019s a good thing. But so is hearing a rational and historical (not hysterical)<\/em> treatment of eschatology from\u00a0someone outside the echo chamber of much of modern Evangelicalism.<\/p>\n

Two Thumbs Up<\/h3>\n

\u00a0Two thumbs up for this captivating read that will get you thinking and praying as it entertains. After reading The War Against God<\/a>\"\" by David Kullberg, \u00a0I have fresh hope that more thoughtful Christ-followers will follow his lead and creatively\u00a0apply a Biblical worldview to cultural issues\u00a0through stories such as this one. \u00a0Who knows, it might even start a movement or \u2014 dare I say it \u2014 a conspiracy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Note: To make everyone happy, just letting you know that I was given a copy of this book at no charge in the hope that\u00a0I might offer a review.\u00a0However, I only recommend resources that I think are helpful for your faith walk. Some of the links might be affiliate links, which means I might make pennies if you click on them \u2014 at no extra cost to you. Then again, they might not be.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t know about you, but I usually have low expectations for Christian fiction, or anything resembling it. Maybe the Left Behind series permanently lowered my\u00a0hopes that Christians could write engaging, culturally relevant fiction without sounding, well \u2014\u00a0in a word \u2014\u00a0nuts. So it was with some reluctance that I picked up The War Against God, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1084,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[31,1068,71,41,1069,72],"class_list":["post-1707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","tag-book-review","tag-culture","tag-david-kullberg","tag-government","tag-politics","tag-the-war-against-god"],"yoast_head":"\nThe War Against God: A Book Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I don't know about you, but I usually have low expectations for Christian fiction, or anything resembling it. 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