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A review by murfmonkey
The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected by Nik Ripken, Gregg Lewis
5.0
6 stars!
This is a very powerful book and one which I listened through in two days because it truly was riveting.
Nik Ripken (a pseudonym) is in Mogadishu running a humanitarian organization before, during, and after the time the Blackhawk helicopter went down and those U.S. soldiers were killed in the ensuing firefight. He is there because he is a Christian and there is a humanitarian need (due to the Somali civil wars between clans) and he and his organization is there to meet the needs, and they do.
They eventually have to leave Mogadishu because of the security situation and he has a crisis of faith. He worked six years in Mogadishu and saw little evidence that God was working there. Indeed, he has communion with four Somali believers and shortly thereafter all four are murdered in coordinated hits, their bodies never found. Is God even present in Somalia? In addition he experiences a family tragedy while they are still in Africa (sad, sad story).
The second half of the book Nik and his wife decide to go talk with believers around the world who have thrived under persecution and find out how they managed to thrive in difficult times. He talks with believers in Russia, China, Middle Eastern countries, India, Pakistan, etc. The stories that he finds and tells are, well...read the book for yourself and find out.
A couple of interesting stories from the book.
Nik has three Muslim guards who run security for his organization and one of the Islamic organizations in and around Mogadishu come out with a hit list of 150 Somalis who are suspected of being Christians. Nik's three guards are on it. They come to him and say, "you must go and tell the extremists that we are good Muslims."
Nik: "You are good Muslims, that is true, but you want me to walk into the headquarters of the most radical faction in Mogadishu and tell them this?"
Three guards: "Yes. You must do it. We are in danger."
Amazingly (and perhaps a little stupidly), Nik does just that. The reaction? The extremist group thanks him for clarifying the matter!
When Nik experiences a family tragedy, there is a knock on the door one day and it is his closest confidant from Mogadishu, Omar, who is a Muslim, who walked five days from Mogadishu to be with the family when he heard about what happened.
There are other stories of God's faithfulness when his followers are under persecution, I will leave it to you to read the book to discover them.
My favorite book of the year so far.
This is a very powerful book and one which I listened through in two days because it truly was riveting.
Nik Ripken (a pseudonym) is in Mogadishu running a humanitarian organization before, during, and after the time the Blackhawk helicopter went down and those U.S. soldiers were killed in the ensuing firefight. He is there because he is a Christian and there is a humanitarian need (due to the Somali civil wars between clans) and he and his organization is there to meet the needs, and they do.
They eventually have to leave Mogadishu because of the security situation and he has a crisis of faith. He worked six years in Mogadishu and saw little evidence that God was working there. Indeed, he has communion with four Somali believers and shortly thereafter all four are murdered in coordinated hits, their bodies never found. Is God even present in Somalia? In addition he experiences a family tragedy while they are still in Africa (sad, sad story).
The second half of the book Nik and his wife decide to go talk with believers around the world who have thrived under persecution and find out how they managed to thrive in difficult times. He talks with believers in Russia, China, Middle Eastern countries, India, Pakistan, etc. The stories that he finds and tells are, well...read the book for yourself and find out.
A couple of interesting stories from the book.
Nik has three Muslim guards who run security for his organization and one of the Islamic organizations in and around Mogadishu come out with a hit list of 150 Somalis who are suspected of being Christians. Nik's three guards are on it. They come to him and say, "you must go and tell the extremists that we are good Muslims."
Nik: "You are good Muslims, that is true, but you want me to walk into the headquarters of the most radical faction in Mogadishu and tell them this?"
Three guards: "Yes. You must do it. We are in danger."
Amazingly (and perhaps a little stupidly), Nik does just that. The reaction? The extremist group thanks him for clarifying the matter!
When Nik experiences a family tragedy, there is a knock on the door one day and it is his closest confidant from Mogadishu, Omar, who is a Muslim, who walked five days from Mogadishu to be with the family when he heard about what happened.
There are other stories of God's faithfulness when his followers are under persecution, I will leave it to you to read the book to discover them.
My favorite book of the year so far.