It is almost every Tuesday that I am in Barnes & Noble. OK....it would be more accurate to say that I hardly ever miss a week without having to check out the new arrivals which are displayed on Tuesdays. I have a routine....first I check out the new arrival non-fiction books....then go over to the entire current events section.....this takes five minutes max. This is how I read 100 books on Donald Trump since the Spring of 2017. Next I go over to the magazines....for there are a couple that I look to see if the new issue is out....and this only takes a minute or two....and then I go to the Religion section.....formerly the Christianity section. This can take up to a half an hour.
The religion section is really poor.....but it is all we have in America anymore. OK....I'll grant this....someone tells you about the new David Jeremiah or Jonathan Cahn book....and you order it on the Internet. Yes you can get any book that you already want....but you have no Christian bookstores where you can go in and go straight to the prophecy section or the biography section or the classics section....and come across books that you will never even hear of if not for that bookstore. This was my lifeblood back in the 80s....all the way up through the 90s. I'd be whacking a golf ball or sitting in front of the TV watching Steeler pre-season games today if it weren't for that beautiful store called....It Is Written....back in 1982....at the far end of the Northern Lights Shopping Center.
It wouldn't really take a half hour in the religion section if I were not suffering from an addiction to reading. Some men like to breath.....I like to read. Depending on the Barnes & Noble....there are hundreds of books....well over a thousand....in that religion section. I know how to recognize the new books. My secret as I scan the shelves....'well there's a book I haven't seen 52 times in the past fifty-two weeks.' There might be twelve quality Christian books....shelved spine-out....in the entire collection. Good luck to the browser. If you add C. S. Lewis books which there might be eight to ten titles....and a few books by Billy Graham....you might double that number.....but....you will find this particular 24 carat time-piece....pure gold....with no dross....in just about any location....which makes the religion section at Barnes & Noble....almost indispensable....in that there may not be a lot of food there....but to a man dying of hunger....it might sustain a new believer for a few months.
I probably have one copy in my basement. I didn't bother to look. I wanted a new copy anyway. First published in 1971.....written by Elizabeth and John Sherrill....from the first-hand accounts of Corrie Ten Boom....The Hiding Place....is right up there....well it's right up there with anything really if one wants to read a book that magnifies the glory of our risen Savior and returning King!
Just about everyone my age read this book back in the 1980s. We're more into talk radio and Fox news today. This is the fifth post in a week on The Hiding Place....the first four on the new stage-filmed movie of the same name...this post is on the book. Please let me offer some advice if you do go out tomorrow and buy the book....(time is short folks....make every day count)....do not read this for the historical content alone. That in itself will humble you....but as you read....consider this family and their Christian faith....and the glorious God that they serve....for that is where the real nourishment is!
Addendum: I often write that there are no Christian bookstores today....because they are so very few....but there are some here and there if you are willing to drive for a few hours. I was in one Saturday....a very small Christian bookstore that I get to visit maybe two times a year....and I have never gone in without buying something to help out the owner. So I went in yesterday....and found this to buy....a wooden block with a Christian message on it....GOD IS LOVE....and as I put it down to pay for it....I told the owner that one cannot buy.....GOD IS LOVE....without this block also....GOD IS JUST....and for good measure I put a third block down for purchase....THE LORD IS RETURNING.
Also....after previewing this....I wanted to add at least one anecdote from the book. Here is the setting....May of 1940....the Dutch prime minister was giving a major address to the nation. War was raging....but not in Holland...."there was nothing to fear....Holland would remain neutral"....promised the nation's leader. "Sonorous and soothing" were two words used by Corrie Ten Boom to describe what they heard on the radio....but then Casper....who was the most mild-mannered and humble Christian you could ever imagine.....with fire in his eyes that Corrie had never seen before....jumped up and turned off the radio....calmed down....and told his family this...."It is wrong to give people hope when there is no hope. It is wrong to base faith upon wishes. There will be war. The Germans will attack and we will fall." Five hours after the prime minister's speech....the bombs were falling close enough that the Ten Boom family could hear explosions and see the red sky! Our pulpits today preach the same....soothing message.
Note: In two days....August 16....there will be an....'international showing'.....of this film. I understand that it comprises only about 200 theaters outside of America and Canada.....in other words...practically nothing.....but God has had a habit of doing wonderful things out of....practically nothing. Please pray about this!
