Sight and Sound

BOOKS

Throw Off What Holds You Back
By George Bloomer, Charisma House,
224 pages, softcover, $12.99.

Author of the national best seller Witchcraft in the Pew: Who’s Sitting Next to You, George Bloomer seeks to lead Christians to true deliverance in his new release. His powerful preaching exposes the cultural curses lurk-ing in families and churches. He challenges us to throw off these curses and know true intimacy with God and God’s family. These curses include the curse of thinking too small, the curse of religious spirits and the curse of idol worship.

Bloomer supports his unorthodox approach to spiritual growth with biblical application. The author provides many vivid examples from Scripture. His book can help us break free from spiritual bondage and walk in freedom with the Lord.
Pamela Robinson

Out of Africa
By C. Peter Wagner and Joseph Thompson,
Regal, softcover, $14.99.

For the last few years, the spread of Christianity in Africa has been one of the biggest church-growth stories. The World Christian Encyclopedia estimates that every day 24,500 new Christians join churches in Africa, compared with 5,000 in North America.

It would seem the “dark continent” has seen a great light, with Nigeria having
succeeded South Korea as the hotbed for explosive church growth, according to a new book titled Out of Africa.

Edited by C. Peter Wagner, head of the Wagner Institute and the author of several books on church growth, and Joseph Thompson, a Nigerian minister who is a pastor at New Life Church, the book features the testimonies of 10 leading Nigerian ministers, including Sunday Adelaja, who pastors a 20,000-member church in the Ukraine; Enoch Adeboye, whose Redeemed Christian Church of God attracts 500,000 to its monthly all-night prayer meeting; and David Oyedepo, pastor of the Winner’s Chapel, the largest church facility in the world.

Wagner asserts that Nigerian ministers are not intimidated by old-fashioned signs and wonders, and there is a strong connection between the church and the workplace. He writes that Americans need “help from the outside if we are to be everything God wants us to be. … Let’s be open to what God has to say to us from leaders no matter what their color or their national origin.”

The contributors share their insights on such issues as spiritual warfare,
following God’s call and claiming God’s promises.

Once a leading recipient of foreign missionaries, Africa is now spreading its passion for God to other parts of the world, namely the United States. Redeemed Christian Church of God already has planted 150 churches in the United States and recently purchased 250 acres of land to build a Redemption Camp in Dallas.

Nigeria has risen from mediocre to miraculous, Thompson asserts. “We are witnessing a true miracle of biblical proportions right before our eyes. The rebirth of a nation. Nigeria is being stretched and squeezed, forged in the fires of God’s plans and purposes. … She is emerging as a pearl of inestimable value. A priceless jewel of great worth. Or in the inimitable words of apostle Paul, ‘an epistle to be read by all.'”
Adrienne S. Gaines

Ergun Mehmet Caner grew up in Turkey as a devout Muslim and then moved to the United States. “I am the oldest son of a Muezzin, who gives the call to [Muslim] prayer. My father was an architect, and we came to America so he could build mosques.”

As a teenager, Caner encountered the truth. “A boy in my high school was committed to reaching friends and family for Christ and invited me to a church service so many times I finally relented.

“I walked into this Baptist church in full gear and sat in the second row with my Quran in my hand. The more caustic I was, the kinder they were. That little storefront church with only 80 people loved me to the cross.”

Even though his father disowned him for becoming a Christian, he is dedicated to reaching others with the truth of Jesus. He is the editor of Voices Behind the Veil, a compilation of essays by Christian women from all backgrounds on reach-ing Islamic women for Christ. He felt it was important for women to write the stories.

Caner explains: “In Islamic culture, if a woman or man speaks to the other sex, it is an act of dishonor. If Muslim women are going to be reached, it will have to be done by women–and this is the first evangelical book addressed toward reaching them.

“This book will drive [readers] to their knees in prayer for Muslim women, then call them to rise up and reach them.”
Cindy Crosby