Book Review: Hell Is Real (But I Hate To Admit It) by Brian Jones

 

Brian Jones‘ third book, Hell Is Real (But I Hate To Admit It), came out a few weeks ago.  In Hell Is Real, Brian takes a different look at the topic of hell than other recent books that have raised some eyebrows like Love Wins by Rob Bell and responses to Bell’s book like Francis Chan‘s Erasing Hell.

Brian opens the book by explaining his own four-year period following seminary when he didn’t believe in hell.  From here, Brian goes on to explain that not only is hell real, but many people are heading there if they don’t find Christ and decide to follow Him.  He also shares his belief that many Christ followers lack what he calls apocalyptic urgency – an all-consuming urgency that hell is real and Christ’s message must be shared.  The real motive behind Brian’s latest book is to provide encouragement and practical tools for Christ followers to share their faith with others and to help save them from the eternal wrath of hell.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t crazy about the title of this book when I first picked it up.  The titles of Brian’s first two books, Second Guessing God and Getting Rid of the Gorilla, made more sense to me initially.  But after reading Hell Is Real, I get it now.  Hell Is Real is a quick read as Brian uses his story telling skills to weave stories in with his overall message.  But Hell Is Real is also very challenging.  I finished the book pondering and challenged to examine my relationships and to be strategic in sharing the message of Christ.

I definitely recommend Hell Is Real (But I Hate To Admit It).  I think it will change the way you think about sharing your faith.

How would you change the way you live if you really grasped the fact that your time left on earth was fading quickly?

(If you’re interested in getting small group discussion guides for Hell Is Real or other materials for making the most of your read, go to the website for the book by clicking here.  My small group is using the small group questions found at this site to discuss this topic.)