Fearing God: The Key to the Treasure House of Heaven - Christian Devotional Book with Bonus CD - Perfect for Bible Study, Spiritual Growth & Church Group Discussions

A thought-provoking and valuable look at what the puzzling terminology "fear of God" means, a subject repressed by the modern church in favor of a generally one-dimensional picture of God as "love". This leads people to a God in their own image, a God who is "down with it" as far as their sins. Hey, he loves me no matter what. We're BFF!The author points out the Bible mentions "fear of God" 278 times, "trusting God" 91 times, and "love of God" 88 times, considering the repetition a hint as to what is important to understand.The book starts with a historical look how the church got away from biblical teaching by assimilating the assumptions of liberalism in the 18th and 19th centuries, undergoing a feminization of Jesus, hymns, and the clergy which combined to downplay then hide the "hard" attributes of God.Currently, the world largely shapes such churches. Since they have lost the concept of sin and holiness, they can't articulate a defense for marriage, or even male and femaleness, or anything, really. After a couple years, they just accept whatever secular liberalism tells them and work it into the "loving God" notion, which accommodates anything. Go with the flow.The Bible uses seventeen different Hebrew words, one Aramaic, and one Greek word to describe different kinds of what gets translated into English as "fear". The author goes into the nature and meaning of each variation, ultimately developing the case for a multi-faceted relationship with God that recognizes and respects his nature and ability to create, judge, and save, and awe of the implications.The "fear of the Lord" is the recognition that God is holy as well as loving, thus to be feared as well as trusted by a fallen creation self-corrupted by sin and unjust in the eyes of one who defines perfect justice -- a justice which people want applied to others, but not themselves, hence the unbiblical, man-created "God is love" delusion.Part Two is on the importance of fearing God: the importance of wisdom.Part Three is the nature of fearing God; the vocabulary and meanings drawn from the Bible.Part Four is the origins of fearing GodPart Five the results of fearing GodThis is all in the first 103 pages. The rest of the book contains some great selected readings:"The Early Church Fathers""A Fear to be Desired" by Charles Surgeon"The Fear of God" by John Bunyan"The Fear of God" by John Gill"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan EdwardsIt also comes with a CD-ROM that contains a slide presentation and an ISV New Testament translation. The disc is for Windows 95/98 and I haven't tried it.The book is well-reference biblically; more references on the introductory history sections could have been helpful.