This book compares weird tribal religions, myths, ancient and modern cultures with the teachings of the Holy bible. The author puts up a very convincing arguement that the God of the bible has influenced and guided thier beliefs so that when the Gospel finally reached these cultures it would have a fertile soil.
As a young Christian this book blew my mind, It was this that caused for the first time a gaping awe of the gnarlyness, power and wisdom of god. some times It had me in tears of joy, sometimes singing and praising God at rush hour in buchanan street bus station (Glasgow).
This book Rocks and if anyone was thinking of buying this book I would say "do it", infact if they were unsure and I had the cash I'd buy it for them, (sadly I dont)
This will prove to be insightful in reaching an America once dominated by a Christian culture. Think post-modern America.Interesting customs from tribal people around the world Excellent study of tribal and ethnic traditions and myths that point to the true God of Creation and His Son the Messiah of Israel. Don Richardson shows stories of people who said that they once knew the true God, but somehow either lost the Book, or lost contact with Him. One tribe said that they were sure that a light-skinned messenger would come someday to tell about the Son of God. So sure were they that they had appointed people to watch for these messengers. This paved the way for the actual missionaries to share Christ with them, which was accepted eagerly. Other examples are people who had lost a Book, and were waiting for someone to restore it to them. One example was recorded in the Bible where Paul preached on Mars Hill to the Greeks about the unknown God. Richardson goes back further to tell about the story of Epimenides and the sacrificing of "dedicated" sheep to ask the "unknown God" to cure the city of a deadly plague, after they had offered atoning sacrifices to all of the gods that they had to no avail.
Very interesting reading. One disappointment is that in the last chapter he promises a book showing the spreading of Christianity in the last 2000 years, and the missionary fervor of the "World's First Bible Belt" (a 7,000-mile one completely encircling the Mediterranean Sea), but I can't find that this book has ever been published. This book leaves you wanting to find out more, so I recommend the author's "Peace Child" and "Lords of the Earth" talking about the people and customers of Dutch New Guinea (Irian Jaya), and how these people came to know the Lord Jesus Christ.
It was this problem that caused me to lose interest and put it down somewhere in the middle. I have a many books in this state, and it is my experience that I seldom get around to finishing them. I felt compelled however to write a review as I don't feel it is necessarily good for the system to only write about books that we loved.
The idea that God revealed Himself (or better is currently and always revealing Himself) to all peoples on the earth should not be that controversial. I imagine it is to some because they have the fault of being a bit arrogant. It is not hard, after all, to go to some small little country church in the middle of Ohio and find a group of people that feel they are the only ones going to heaven.
Mark Twain once made the statement (I'll paraphrase) that the some have reduced the number of the elect to such a small group they are hardly worth saving. It is important, I think, to reflect on what this skeptic had to say and how it relates to the general idea behind this book. It doesn't seem reasonable to think that God would make it impossible to most of mankind to relate to Him. And it doesn't seem reasonable to think that some small group in Ohio is the only group special enough to understand the revelation of God Almighty.
Of course I am not saying by any means that there is (in my belief) any way to heaven besides through Christ, or that this book purports to say that there is either, but that the way to Christ is not always through an American church service or a Billy Graham crusade. Perhaps God had the fore sight to reveal Himself to other cultures and they used different names (ie their own language) to call God God.
I would recommend this book to those going to other cultures and to those that need to study on the subject. I am hesitant to recommend it however to those that like smooth flowing easy to read text. The stories are a bit hard to follow, there are too many names and places thrown in too quickly and much of the information comes in a text book style.
