Hineni Here I Am by Marshall Schoenke

Blurb:

If you were to look around you, and I mean really open your eyes and look around, a revolutionary change is being prayed for before we destroy this world.

Jesus is back and he is willing to jeopardize his life again, to be laughed at, spit upon, tortured, imprisoned, rejected, and murdered—again.

He wants you to know you are just as loved as he is, and he is not returning to be worshipped.

The Reality is Jesus has returned to Destroy death, as is the full prophecy of Immanuel found in Isaiah from the Oldest known remnants of ancient Hebrew Scriptures. Just who could this be who has known the oldest priesthood of the one and only Most High God Before Abraham?

Peace be upon you.

About the Author:

Marshall Schoenke is a musician/carpenter from Wildwood, Illinois who has had some startling spiritual revelations. He comes from a large religious family, and is married with two daughters, one step-daughter, and a granddaughter who has him wrapped around her pudgy little finger. He and his wife, Elizabeth, live in Lake County, Illinois with their dog, Amonte and cat, Amoshi.

Review:

Again, I realize editors should not review the books they work on. But this one was just too fascinating to pass up.

A few years ago there was a pop song that started out, “What if God was one of us? Just a slob riding on a bus…” What’s really funny is that I’ve reviewed quite a few apocalyptic novels lately. What’s not funny is that this man really believes he’s the reincarnation of Jesus.

Hineni Here I Am is a thought-provoking book, to say the least. Mr. Schoenke tells his autobiography. He claims to remember the moment of his conception. Not so much gestation, and the story of his birth is told more from the memories of his parents than a first-person account (thank goodness!). He tells anecdotes of his childhood like the time he pulled his baby brother out of the crib, propped him up with a bunch of stuffed toys and proceeded to give them Communion. When his mother, aunt and grandma questioned him, he told them he was going to be the “top dog priest.” Another time, when serving as an altar boy, Mr. Schoenke was shocked to learn the youngest child of a family he was close to was being buried. He became hysterical, sure he could raise the child from the dead. He could always feel other people’s pain, and never understood why.

In fact, Mr. Schoenke didn’t understand much of what was happening to him until a wasp stung him and he coded. Most people go to the light and see deceased love ones. Mr. Schoenke saw three globes of blindingly bright blue-white light and heard music emanating from them. One came forward and said, “Welcome home, Jesus. You’ve done well.”

Up to that point, all he’d done was write a few songs with spiritual lyrics. He felt he had a lot more to do and said so. The Mother retreated, and a deep, masculine voice emanated from the center globe. “So mote it be. You may return.” When he returned to the room, he hovered over his body. The paramedics had already called time of death and were packing up. One had a breathing bag just sitting on his face. Mr. Schoenke returned to his body and moved his arm to get the guy with the bag to help him start breathing again. He suffered no brain damage.

That is just the beginning of Mr. Schoenke’s journey. He states he is not here to be worshipped, and that was not the message he was spreading the first time he was here, either. Actually, he confirms many of my beliefs about Jesus Christ, what his ministry was originally about, and how it got garbled as it came down to modern Christians. To be honest, in light of my own beliefs, I can’t completely dismiss the man’s claims. But I can’t completely accept them either. Nor does he want money.

Hineni Here I Am is clearly not written by a professional author. Mr. Schoenke even apologizes to me in the acknowledgments for not always taking my advice. (We did some wrangling, and a lot of my comments ended up being “Argh!” But it’s his book.) If you want something to think about with entertaining moments, I highly recommend Hineni Here I Am.

Author Website:  http://MarshallSchoenke.com

Heat Rating:  G

Length:  387 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $15.99

Digital:  $2.99

Buy Link:  TBA

Thanks for visiting.

In the Shadow of David (The Secret Rebellion, Book One) by Martin Baggen

Blurb:

A young, rightful queen returns from exile to her homeland. Her mission is to reclaim her country from the grip of an oppressive foreign occupation. To achieve her goal, she must find a king. Her quest leads to a charismatic and gifted man who possesses the ability to help her lead a nation to freedom. But the mission comes at a cost greater than anyone can predict, and the misunderstood legacy of their secret rebellion will endure for thousands of years. A failed political movement that gave birth to a new religion.

About the Author:

Born and raised in the remote island community of Sitka, Alaska, Martin Baggen had to rely on his imagination to prevent the rainy isolation from stifling creativity. Baggen has produced a substantial catalog of original music. As a first-time author, “why not re-imagine one of the greatest stories of humankind?” And so began the creation of In The Shadow Of David: The Secret Rebellion.

A media producer and consultant by trade, Baggen resides in the Pacific Northwest and frequently travels back to his hometown in Alaska.

The next step in the literary/entertainment arena for Baggen is the adaptation and production of his current novel as a motion picture and a possible sequel to the book as well.

Review:

I once vowed never to review a book without finishing it, and that still applies when the problem is that I’m not sure I like the protagonist, or some of the plot elements bother me. There’s always the possibility something at the end will redeem the book. But when the problem is bad grammar and bad writing, that’s just not going to improve.

When I want to throw my Kindle across the room because of sentence fragments and mismatched tenses, that’s not likely to get better, and it’s not worth my time reading the book. Especially if it didn’t grab me in the first place. In the Shadow of David failed to grab me, and is poorly written. Don’t bother.

Author Website:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7386955.Martin_Baggen

Warnings:  N/A

Length:  211 Pages

Digital Price:  $9.99

Buy Link:  https://smile.amazon.com/Shadow-David-Secret-Rebellion-Book-ebook/dp/B01EXIDVKA

Thanks for visiting.

The Complete Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn

 

Blurb:

Informal, friendly, and humorous, this little book has inspired thousands since its 1925 publication. Its practical examples show how positive attitudes can make you a "winner" in life. Self-improvement expert Norman Vincent Peale endorsed it as an essential guide, helping readers to "find prosperity, solve problems, have better health."

"By studying and practicing the principles laid down in this book one may find prosperity, solve problems, have better health...-in a word, win the game of life."—Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

Review by Rose Thornton:

Florence Scovel Shinn expresses her philosophy as:

“The invisible forces are ever working for man who is always ‘pulling the strings’ himself, though he does not know it. Owing to the vibratory power of words, whatever man voices, he begins to attract.”

She discusses control of the subconscious (defined as the soul), and the interaction of the conscious and superconscious levels (defined as the Divine plane). The Game of Life and How to Play It is the author's understanding of God and man: “When the subconscious is flooded with the perfect ideas of the superconscious, God and man are one.” Her philosophy centers on the power of positive thought and action through verbal affirmation.

This is an interesting book, although I did not agree with Shinn’s opinion on many issues. For example, “If you are afraid, you are giving into a belief in two powers, Good and Evil, instead of one. As God is absolute, there can be no opposing power, unless man makes the false of evil for himself.” In my opinion, it’s possible to believe in the two powers of good and evil without being afraid…and certainly the two entities do exist in truth. Shinn was writing in a time period before the Great World Wars, which made it abundantly clear that evil does exist; however, there have been examples of evil throughout all of man’s history, for others as well as for himself.

I found this book to be interesting, but not applicable enough to recommend it as a guide for “playing the game of life.”

Thanks for visiting, Rose, Julie, Donna, & Rochelle

Length:  122 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $5.95

Digital:  $1.99

Buy Link:  

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/game-of-life-and-how-to-play-it-florence-scovel-shinn/1012510552?ean=9780875162577