A dramatic Christian devotional full of fire and brimstone—and hope and encouragement.
A daily devotional offers quotes drawn from Christian Scripture.
Horacek’s debut book has a simple goal: “to cultivate within the reader, a desire to consistently pray and read God’s Word and be transformed by it to become the whole person God intended you to be.” Using a typical devotional strategy, the author takes his readers day by day through a year, highlighting a different religious theme each month, illustrating that idea with quotes from Scripture, and then elaborating on those citations with spiritual and life lesson writings of his own. The author mostly eschews the seasonally themed narrative anchors of such an approach in favor of straightforward evangelical preaching of a bracingly old-fashioned kind. No matter what the date, Horacek is concerned with a more eternal narrative of Christian eschatology composed of equal parts optimism and encouragement (“The furnace of life brings about silver and gold of immense value”) and stern fundamentalist warnings: “Serve God acceptably, with reverence, awe, and godly fear. Although He is gracious and merciful, He will also ultimately destroy all His enemies with a consuming and devouring fire in the times of the end.” The version of Christianity presented here is a stark combination of daily affirmations and detailed descriptions of Christian end times, with the author repeatedly stressing the hopeful, participatory side of faith, telling his readers that Jesus “persevered and endured the scourge of the Cross” for them, and that “the Divine Whisper” confirms that they belong to God. “He knows the path of your life,” Horacek writes. “Let Him guide you in the way, moment by moment.” The author’s prose is vivid and fast-paced, and his amplifications on the Scriptural passages he chooses are always decisive and thought-provoking. His Christian target audience should find much to both challenge and comfort them in these pages.
A dramatic Christian devotional full of fire and brimstone—and hope and encouragement.Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-63575-372-1
Page Count: 469
Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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