A LOST GOD IN A LOST WORLD – Melvin Tinker (2015)

Augustine sounded the alarm in his magisterial work, The City of God.  The date was 426 A.D. Augustine’s battle cry alerted Christ-followers to the beauty, majesty, and sovereignty of a holy God.

Melvin Tinker sounds another alarm in his new book, A Lost God in a Lost World. His intent is to articulate the sobering truths that concern the lostness of people and to magnify the greatness and glory of God with the aim of encouraging Christ-followers to cling tenaciously to the Gospel of Jesus. They will, in the final analysis, be emboldened to stand strong in the grace which is found in their Savior. The author adds, “We shall become more effective instruments of righteousness in his hand for the salvation of many and the glorification of his name.”

Tinker diagnoses the problem and points his finger in the right direction – straight at idolatry. Calvin identified the propensity of people to turn to idols by describing their hearts as “idol factories.” The author elaborates on this problem which continues to plague humanity: “When we turn away in our hearts from the one true God we engage in a cheap exchange, swapping the one who is of infinite weight and worth for something which is empty and worthless.”

The remainder of the book describes the God-centeredness of God – the God who is crucified, the God who enters a life, the God who is proclaimed, the God who is embraced, the God who returns, and the God who makes all things new.

Tinker summarizes his excellent work in a concluding remark:

We have called this book, A Lost God in a Lost World because in the West an awareness of the real God has been lost and replaced by idolatrous thoughts with the result that people are lost, that is, they become disoriented, dissatisfied and detached form God and so from reality. It is not coincidental that this ‘loss of God’ and ‘loss of reality’ has gone hand in hand with a loss in the belief of heaven and hell – the ultimate realities.

Tinker’s work is a solid piece of work that will serve Christians well and will especially serve new comers to the Christian faith.

I received this book free from the publisher.   I was not required to write a positive review.