The Synopsis:

Like the Israelites in Babylon, we must find a way to maintain our faith in the midst of a pagan culture. But that requires we answer two crucial questions:

How did we get here?
How do we prepare for the dark and difficult days ahead?
In The Church in Babylon, Dr. Lutzer answers both of these questions. He will walk you through the many parallels between the church in America and God’s people in Babylon, and embolden you to be a gospel witness. You’ll be encouraged not to compromise your faith even when under constant pressure from all corners of society. And more than all this you will have a fresh encounter with Jesus Christ, as you consider the biblical role of those in exile. 

I received this book for free via Amazon’s Vine Voice program. All comments and opinions are entirely my own.

Review:

I devoured this book. It simply grabbed a hold of my attention and answered every single doubt or question I’ve had in my mind for the past several months.

As a college student, I can attest that many of the issues of today’s world are, in a way, overpowering in that they can easily muddle one’s mind and take our focus off of our Savior. The constant political debates and conversations are consuming, and I’ve often felt entirely inadequate to combat the doubt or millions of questions that plague so many Christians (surely I’m not the only one?).

The Church in Babylon is nothing short of eye-opening. Lutzer opens and spends the first half of the book comparing and contrasting the culture of America to the culture of Babylon in the Bible. He highlights the facts from when the Jews are exiled to Babylon, and carefully, and graciously, brings it back to show how Christians in America have shifted from being a majority in the culture, to a shocking minority who live, surprisingly, so similar to the Jews who were exiled. I have heard this preached before, but I had never gone this in depth nor had it make so much sense in everything going on in our world. It just gave me an “aha!” moment and finally broke that feeling of hopelessness when gazing into our world of so much darkness. I think I finally understand our roles as Christians in this ever-shifting culture.

The second half of the book is where it gets really heavy, as it focuses on warnings for the Christians who are trying to thrive in this pagan world. He covers everything from parenting, technology, schools, false teaching from the pulpits (which I greatly appreciated!), sexuality, family, friendships, and other things that we need to be aware of to keep our hearts pure and our minds from being swayed.

This is not a light read. I wouldn’t recommend it to someone who isn’t prepared to go deep and think about these issues. And I wouldn’t recommend it as a group study either, unless you are prepared for your group to go DEEP. You may not agree with everything he says, but if you’re willing to use it as a basis to study the Word for yourself and build your own convictions that are truly in line with the Word, then The Church in Babylon will challenge you to grow in, not only your faith, but also in passion for sharing the Gospel.

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