Twelve Unlikely Heroes Book Review: BookSneeze

  I love John MacArthur's teachings so when I saw his newest book, Twelve Unlikely Heroes I had to request it to review.  I have not been able to read his other "12" books (Ordinary Men and Extraordinary Women) so I wanted to make sure to read this one.  BookSneeze provided me a complimentary copy of Twelve Unlikely Heroes, and I in turn agreed to write this review.

 First of all, I will say that this is not a book that you will breeze through in a weekend setting, nor do you really want to.  John MacArthur knows his theology and has taken time to do a lot of background research in order to enrich the reader's experience with the book. (Taken from back cover) "John MacArthur uses his deep knowledge of the Bible and history to take us back to see these three-dimensional men and women in their own times and cultures. In doing so, it becomes clear how their dramatic stories apply to us today."

   MacArthur goes into great detail about the lives of Enoch, Joseph, Miriam, Gideon, Samson, Jonathan, Jonah, Esther, John the Baptist, James, Mark and Onesimus.  In this book John MacArthur labels them as heroes, but maybe not in the super hero kind of way that we would think.  These men and women of the Bible were real people with real flaws.  They were weak and succumbed to temptation at times.  They struggled, but they also believed God and trusted in Him.  God used them to accomplish His Will in spite of their weaknesses.  When you look at their lives, you get a glimpse of your own life as well. 

  The thing I liked best about the book was the research and background that MacArthur provides on each of these men and women.  I have been a Christian for over 30 years and know quite a bit of information about most of these persons from the Bible, but through reading this book I came away with information I never knew before.  Reading this book helped me to make connections in the Bible that helped me to understand it better.  I so appreciate John MacArthur's style of writing that really ends up teaching me more about God.

   I definitely recommend this book to all readers.  I believe that everyone can learn something new and come away from reading this book with a bigger view of what the Lord can do with a "unlikely" person that is fully surrendered to Him.  Thanks John MacArthur.