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Book Review: The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected by Nik Ripken
When you open a book’s cover and see twenty-two endorsements by established and respected Christian authors, CEO’s of well-known companies and famous pastors, you get a pretty good idea of how good the book is going to be. That’s the case with The Insanity of God by Nik Ripken.
The book is a compilation of the eye-witness accounts of numerous international, around-the-world missions that the author Nik Ripken (spoiler alert – That’s not his real name!) has experienced. He writes about his various encounters on his journeys to war-stricken Somalia, suppressed Eastern European nations, communist China, and other Far East countries.
Several things make this book a good read. First, it gives you an inside look at the various obstacles and barriers many missionaries have to overcome even before they step out of the USA. Nik shares the tasks of preplanning, mainly soliciting prayer partners and raising money for the needs of the people he plans to minister to as well as his own family’s needs. He reminds his readers of the many luxuries he and his family left behind that we often take for granted, like clean drinking water!
Second, he gives you detailed insight into the troubled spots around the world. In the late 80’s and 90’s Somalia was a war-torn country entangled in a civil war between several warring factions, tribes and gangs. To get aid and supplies to people within the city and in outlying barren areas, it took a miracle of coordination, risk-taking and plenty of blanketing prayers from people around the world. Nik shares, in vivid detail, the people he met and the miraculous circumstances he experienced during his missions. As you read his stories you feel as if you are right beside him feeling the same feelings he meticulously shares.
Third, and it’s probably the main point of the entire book, Nik reveals his reason for writing the book. He states that at the beginning of his missionary calling he had a dream of going to foreign countries to share the Gospel and help people in need. After sharing stories of the people he met and times where he witnessed the hand of God, Nik reveals that there are countless people overseas who encounter persecution for their faith. Many are tortured, thrown into jail or even killed for professing their faith. It is these very people that opened Nik’s eyes to what true faith really looks like and it changed his view of the challenge that Jesus put forth for every believer in the Great Commission. I don’t want to spoil the message that Nik has for every believer. You’ll have to read the book for yourself to find that out!
This is a great book. One that will move many readers to look at missions from a different perspective than previously. I recommend it for every Christian to read for it is eye-opening and reveals the lives of many people of faith who aren’t privileged to live in a country where people are free. I give it a 5 out of 5!
This book is available for a great price from our Affiliate Partner Christianbook Distributors at the link below. It would make a great gift for any Christian on your shopping list. It is currently also available in Spanish, as an ebook and MP3. There is even a Lifeway film companion DVD The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith and Persecution.
Product Description
The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected
By Nik Ripken with Gregg Lewis
The Insanity of God is the personal and lifelong journey of an ordinary couple from rural Kentucky who thought they were going on just your ordinary missionary pilgrimage, but discovered it would be anything but. After spending over six hard years doing relief work in Somalia, and experiencing life where it looked like God had turned away completely and He was clueless about the tragedies of life, the couple had a crisis of faith and left Africa asking God, “Does the gospel work anywhere when it is really a hard place?”
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