Counterfeit Gods
I picked this book up in my mom's church's library. I really liked Prodigal God and thought that odds were in this books favor. I was right. This book was good; it was far more powerful than I expected it would be. It's founded in Scripture and profoundly relevant. He talks about surface idols and deep idols and how insidious idolatry is. Reading about it reminded me of kudzu; idolatry is the kudzu of the heart.
kudzuIdols are rarely bad things: love, family, work. It's just taking a good thing and turning it into an ultimate thing. Keller writes about the distortion and the correction: Jesus Christ. He always brings it back to Jesus. He roots his teaching in the stories of Abraham, Jacob and Jonah woven with modern examples. After reading this book, I needed to pray. I needed to pray while reading it. The book functioned in the same way art does. It brings new light into the familiar, unsettling the seemingly comfortable. It reminds me that as Christians, we are pilgrims in a foreign land. It reminds me of all of Jesus's I AM statements: he is the way, the bread of heaven, life, etc. All else although really, truly amazing and good cannot satisfy. It reminds of Darrell Johnson saying that if you don't offer up your idols to God, he will take them.
This said, it's a gentle, gracious book. I'd recommend it to anyone. It's a provocative, thoughtful book.
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