And boy did authors and experts say something about this book right away as they sought to educate the ill-informed public regarding the false story stated as fact by the author. The first book I read was actually an e-book on my PDA titled “The Da Vinci Code: Fact or Fiction?” by Hank Hanegraff and Paul Maier. I then recently received “The Da Vinci Code Breaker: An easy-to-us fact checker” by James L. Garlow and wanted to get my review up before the movie was released for public viewing.

If you are not familiar with The Da Vinci Code then the only thing I’ll say about it is that the main fictional premise that drives all the controversy is that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and apparently had children. Just to be clear here, Jesus never was married, He is God and walked the Earth as a man named Jesus, He was crucified, and He rose again to save all of us willing to follow His teachings and accept Him as our personal Savior. So as you can see The Da Vinci Code is obviously a fictional story.

Even though I am educated enough in Christianity to know the book is pure fiction, I wanted to check out The Da Vinci Code Breaker and read what the author had to say about the book. The book is organized like a dictionary with terms, names of people and places, art history, and other information in alphabetical order. There are over 500 total entries in the book and I am sure everyone will learn something from it. This arrangement allows you to quickly pick up the book and look up a term as you read through The Da Vinci Code or as you discuss the book with others. I picked up the book and read it from cover to cover and have to admit I actually learned quite a bit about Christianity and much more.

Some of the most interesting facts I read included an in-depth definition of Gnosticism, timeline of the Crusades, a detailed look at the canon including why writings were included or excluded from the Bible, and many other terms that I have heard of before yet I was unfamiliar with.

I am sickened when I hear that people actually think The Da Vinci Code is some kind of reference book that presents the facts of history and am seriously thinking about skipping the movie when it is released since I don’t want to support any intentional misrepresentation of the facts of history. Then again I do understand that most every movie produced by Hollywood is fictional and I watch them for my own personal enjoyment. I recommend you check out The Da Vinci Code Breaker so you will be prepared to discuss the movie with friends, family, and coworkers who will be watching the movie and may be actually believing the story. One good result of a book and movie like this is the easy way it allows you to start a dialog with people about Jesus.

I have read a few Christian fiction books in my long history of reading, primarily the Left Behind series and some Frank Peretti thrillers, but it has been a few years since I read the last one. As part of the Active Christian Media, previously known as the Mind & Media, review team I was given the opportunity to review a new book written by Dee Henderson. The book was sent to me for free with the only expectation that I write up my thoughts and post them on my blog.

I found out that Dee Henderson is actually quite popular with twelve best-selling novels and was very pleased to have the chance to read one of her books. When I first started the book it took me about three nights to get past page 50 and get into the book, but after that I took it on a business trip and read one half while flying from Seattle to Georgia. I then finished the book on the return trip to Seattle and admit it was one of those books I didn’t want to put down.

I won’t give away all the details of the book, but will just let you know it is about a family of three sisters who have some problems with the mob and other “family secrets”. You’ll read how wealthy people commonly act and have difficulty believing in God when they have been blessed most of their lives. The primary male character is police chief, Luke Granger, and I was pleased to read about his faith in God and the way he handled his relationship with one of the sisters. The love story developed over time and wasn’t unbelievable like many we read in books today. The story had happy times, sad times, tense times, and kept me guessing and trying to figure things out through most of the book. I didn’t expect everything that happened and was expecting a different ending. It was an excellent and enjoyable book that I would recommend to everyone.

A nice feature of the book was the 17 discussion questions at the end that you can use to help facilitate a book club discussion with your small group or other group of friends.

The book wasn’t “preachy” or anything at all and any Christian or non-Christian will enjoy it. It does demonstrate and discuss at times how faith in God can help sustain us in times of trouble and the book can serve as a good way to open up dialogue with unbelievers.

As a father of 3 daughters, ages 11, 9, and 6, I jumped on the opportunity to review “Connecting with Your Kids, How Fast Families can Move from Chaos to Closeness” by Timothy Smith, when the Mind and Media site solicited for reviewers. The book arrived a couple weeks before our big family vacation to Disney World in Orlando so I figured the 8 hour day of flying would be perfect for me to continue reading through the book and discussing it with my 11 year old daughter who was flying with me while my wife took my two other daughters on another flight.

The book starts off asking 8 questions starting with “When was the last time…” and then continuing with “You saw a child climbing on the wooden play set in her backyard?”, “You had dinner as a family?” and more. I sometimes feel my life is very busy and out of control, but I actually was able to have answers within a couple of days for 6 out of the 8 questions and realized I am probably still doing things right. You see, I grew up in the 70s and 80s in very small rural towns where my brother, cousins, and I would disappear out in the woods exploring all day long and were rarely spotted inside watching TV. I try to encourage my girls to go outside and just “play” rather than always be inside playing video games, doing homework, or watching TV. I am a strong believer that children need to be encouraged to be children as long as they can and enjoy life before the pressures and responsiblities of adulthood take over. I also vowed that my family would eat dinner every night together and take this time to discuss the days adventures. We have a routine where each person goes around and tells about their “highs” and “lows” for the day and then the person that shares gets to select the next person to share. We have stuck to this plan since our girls were born and I feel that this helps keep the lines of communication open and provides a great forum for sharing our joys and pains.

While at first it may seem like we have it together, I still think there are areas that need improvement which is why I was excited to dive into this book. With 3 girls who play sports, participate in Girl Scouts, play musical instruments, attend church functions, and more we do stay quite busy and at times it seems we are reeling out of control and hardly get a moment to just sit and rest. My wife is the type who always has to be doing something and is a great multitasker, but I need her to just sit and relax for a while every day or I get stressed out.

The book starts by describing typical families of today and what their lives may look like. The author also seeks to answer the question of why we are constantly on the go. The book then helps you figure out your pulse, followed by defining your family’s heartprints. Timothy describes four heartprints for people; cruiser, walker, runner, and biathlete. My wife is definitely a runner, my oldest seems to be a walker, my middle daughter and me are cruisers, and my youngest is a biathlete. Each also has some characteristics of the other heartprints. I found this section particularly interesting as it opened my eyes up a bit to each person’s characteristics and attitudes about life. Timothy has sections on how to parent each of these heartprints. The final section of the book describes how to make your particular family’s heartprint work for you.

There are parent-to-parent and parent-to-child questions at the end of each chapter that are wonderful questions to pose at the dinner table or in quiet times when talking with your children. My oldest daughter and I covered quite a few on our plane rides and I found them quite helpful in getting to the heart of the matter. Biblical references are presented throughout the book that verify the validity and foundation of the techniques and guidance provided in the book and were a very welcome addition. The author isn’t suggesting we give up all our activities and sit around in front of the TV, but we do need to figure out the optimal activity level for our families so we do not get overstressed and miss out on the best years of our lives together.

I also found the Appendix to be helpful with “Hang Time” suggestions for different age groups, the Heartprint Quadrant, Heartprint Echocardiograms, and If/Then Heartprints Chart.

If you are a parent then I HIGHLY recommend you read this book and start applying it to your family. Your children and you will be blessed by taking the time to rest in the presence of the Lord and communicate openly with each other.

My goal now is to get my wife to read this book, especially the Mom Chargers section because she doesn’t like to sit or see any of the rest of us just sitting and relaxing from time to time. I worry for her health and the example she is setting for our daughters who may think they have to always be on the go like my wife when they get older. I yearn for the days when I was growing up when all the stores were closed on Sunday and the day was seen as a day for families to go to church, hang out together, relax and recharge for the coming week.

This book was provided free to review as part of the Mind and Media review program.

When the book, “Sex and Love in Intimate Relationships” by Robert Firestone, Lisa Firestone, and Joyce Catlett was offered to Mind and Media reviewers, I volunteered to check it out thinking that it would present me with some Christ-based advice on improving intimacy in my marriage. The publisher sent the book to me at no cost to review as part of the Mind and Media program.

I read through quite a bit of the book and discovered that it was definitely not based upon the Word of God with statements such as, “When one’s partner is not free to pursue other relationships, one never knows for certain if one has really been chosen or is really preferred” and “We contend that beliefs that postulate a soul and an afterlife to counter death anxiety and assure salvation involve a trade-off that requires turning against the body and the core of a person’s sexuality.” Since I thought the book was going to offer Godly advice, it was offered through a Christian review program, I was disappointed in the worldly beliefs and statements made in the book. I then put the book down for a couple weeks and read another book in my review queue.

After finishing the other book, I decided to come back to Sex and Love to see if there was any helpful information in the book with the understanding that the Word of God was not going to be in the reference section.

I do believe that most of the sexual problems we have in marriages are due to the “internal voices” the authors discuss rather than physical attraction and techniques proposed in other books. I know I personally question myself and my own worth and this impacts how intimate I am with my wife so I know that others are having some of the same thoughts. I am not a psychologist and am not sure if I buy into the belief that a lot of these internal voices or self-attacks are the result of our developmental years, but I do think that the way our society treats sex and the human body has a lot to do with insecurities and other thoughts we have.

The book was quite detailed and I did not find it that difficult to get through, but I did have to make an effort to follow some of the more specific details and terms that I was unfamiliar with. There is some very good content in the book and I will try to pull out some of the discussion techniques and use them with my wife to help keep our marriage fresh and open.

If the book was not sent to me to review, I would never personally purchase it. As a Christian man, I am devoted fully to my lovely wife and believe that having Jesus at the center of our lives and giving sacrificially to each other while reading, praying, sharing, and loving is what will make our marriage last and our intimate relationship develop over the years.