Blaze of Light by Marcus Brotherton

Blaze of Light is an account of Green Beret Medic Medal of Honor recipient Gary Beikirch. He earned his Medal of Honor in Vietnam.

I've honestly been dreading having to write this review because…well, I didn't like the book. And I feel horrible about saying that I don't like a book about a Medal of Honor recipient! It's not that it isn't interesting, it is. But it's depressing.

The book is written well in that , while following Mr. Beikirch through his  life you see, even feel along with him, his depression, lack of purpose in life.  Joining the Green Beret's gave him more of something to aim at.  That was actually the most interesting part of the book to me, it was fascinating to hear about the amazingly tough training they went through to become  Green Berets, and even tougher training to become a Green Beret Medic.  His time in Vietnam was intriguing as well.  Especially his actions that earned him the Medal of Honor, and they truly are admirable.

But there is sort of a despairing feeling throughout the book.  He was seeking for some sort of purpose, but the purpose he finds, at least as this book presents it, is lacking in… ironically, lacking in purpose.

Some of Mr. Beikirch's  relatives, who were professing Christians, lead him to God's Word.  He becomes a professing Christian, gets married and then ends up ordained as a chaplain. He still sounds depressed though and ends up having  arguments with his wife, has a big argument with her, goes back to visit Vietnam, meets a former enemy soldier who has found that he needs to forgive in order to heal from the war and Gary is amazing at this. While he's gone his wife leaves their home without telling him, he goes to find her and patches things up.

The book then ends with him having come to the conclusion that you need to die to yourself and live for others instead.  "The battles are fought in our hearts and minds.  The weapons are the values of love, sacrifice, integrity, and service.  Whenever we fight battles with those weapons, life takes on a meaning that others will never know." That falls far short of a message of true purpose.  Why? Why live for others? Because it satisfies ourselves? What if one finds that living for others really doesn't give them fulfillment? What if living a life of selfishness really does satisfy them?  Or what if living for others makes one feel like a good person?  These motives make the purpose of doing or not doing good works contingent on pleasing ourselves, and self is still the ultimate focus. It may take on new meaning by loving and serving others, but not the meaning God wants us to find.  He wants us to live for Him first of all. As Christ Himself said,  "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment."(Mat 22:37-38)

Ultimately the book as a whole gives the impression that you don't really need God because some people do truly good works without God. The former enemy soldier had forgiveness towards his enemies, and the book never mentioned that that soldier was a Christian, it also gave other accounts of other, presumably non-Christian, people selflessly living for, dying for and forgiving others.

Any righteousness we come up with on our own isn't righteous enough and is actually offensive to God.  Without Christ's perfection being applied to our account, we will ultimately end up  experiencing God's wrath forever (See the books of Romans and Ephesians) . Only Christ's righteousness will get us into Heaven. This book, by it's 'living for others' is true living message, just seems to present believing in Jesus Christ for salvation as an optional thing with no consequences for not believing whereas the Bible never presents it that way.  As it says in John 3, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."(Joh 3:36 ESV)  This isn't something that we can just take or leave.  It's serious. It's literally a matter of life or death.

I wouldn't be so critical if I didn't think that this book was supposed to be about a man who discovered that true living is living for God.  But it didn't, it made it seem as though anyone can have true living without Christ.   Understanding our position before God and His requirements of us, is the most important thing to realize, even more important than sacrificing oneself for others. 

The Bible doesn't say that we will find true life if we deny ourselves and sacrifice for others.  We will only find true life by denying ourselves for Christ's sake. And not just denying ourselves but taking up His cross and following Him:  "And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?"(Mar 8:34-36 ESV)  We WILL deny ourselves and sacrifice for others and consider them more important than ourselves if we are Christians (followers of Christ), but we do not do these things in order to GET and FIND true life, but because we already have true life:  "When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."(Joh 17:1-3 ESV)

Again, I feel compelled to say all of this because this book is intended as a potential means to introduce people to Christ but it offers a means to life fulfillment, true living (loving others) that falls short of the Christian/Biblical message of fulfillment.

Thanks for the folks at Waterbrook Multnomah  for sending me a free review copy of this book (My review did not have to be favorable).

view did not have to be favorable).

For Brotherhood & Duty - By Brian R. McEnany

It is fascinating to look back on history and zoom in as it were on the earth to see what God had ordained to happen in a particular country, during a particular time period.  And to focus in on it even further and see what He had planned for individuals. 

For Brotherhood & Duty: The Civil War History of the West Point Class of 1862 by Brian R. McEnany is a very interesting look at a group of some of the young men affected by the Civil War.  They came together in 1858 from north and south of the United States to study together at West Point, expecting to serve in the same U. S. military when they graduated.  The secession of many Southern States and the U.S. government advocating military action to subdue those states changed things.  Some of the cadets ended up leaving West Point to join the Confederate states, others took the required oath to be faithful to the Union. 

The author uses West Point Graduate (1862)Tully McCrea's story as a sort of springboard for the others.  After being wounded during the war, McCrea went back to West Point as an instructor while he recovered.  This book imagines what it may have been like for him to look back to his life as a cadet and also his life during the war.  Each chapter begins with a bit of fictionalized imagining of McCrea's daily life as an instructor, events during the day lead up to him having a flashback, as it were, of his and his classmates history. 

This book follows these men from their entrance into West Point, their years of study and discipline up until the events leading up to the Civil War caused friction and division, resolve in many cadets to fight for the union, and in a few others to fight for the rights of the Confederacy.  Then you are led through the war and various battles, observing the actions of various individuals, from this particular West Point class, through the war itself.  I particularly liked that the author uses many excerpts from the men's own accounts of daily events and battles so that you can 'hear things' in their own words, getting an eye-witness' perspective

There were several little tidbits of history that I found quite fascinating. Like the fact that the West Point Campgrounds, which every year were named after a well-known person, had, shortly before the Civil War, been named after Robert E. Lee and also Jefferson Davis. Also, the class of 1862 had instructors who became famous later on in the war, including Edward P. Alexander and John F. Reynolds.  It was intriguing to find that, because of the unique events of the time, the oath that West point cadets took e was changed, twice, to make it clear that they were swearing alliance to the union over the individual states, "I will maintain and defend the sovereignty of the United States, paramount to any and all allegiance, sovereignty, or fealty I may owe to any State…" , and then changed again to be even more strict.  The new oath(s) overrode any particular questions as to which was to have the paramount loyalty, the union, or one's home state.

The Cadets did not all serve in the same part of the military, they were scattered around the U.S. military and the Confederate military. Some took part in battles that others were not involved in, some served closely with fellow classmates, some fought against fellow classmates, some were wounded and some were killed.  The men participated in many famous battles, including Antietam, Fredericksburg, and of course, Gettysburg.  All the way to Appomattox.  There are battle maps and pictures throughout that really help to visualize things.  At the end of the book is a helpful compilation of individual summarized biographies, and pictures, of the Class of 1862.

I learned a lot from this is very interesting and very well-written book. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the Civil War, or history in general. 

Many thanks to the folks at the University Press of Kentucky for sending me a free review copy (my review did not have to be favorable)!

My rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

*****

This book may be purchased at Amazon

Alvin York - By Douglas V. Mastriano

Alvin York: A New Biography of the Hero of the Argonne by Douglas V. Mastriano is a very interesting account of the life of this man, of what happened on the battlefield in World War 1 that elevated York, a former pacifist, to fame.

 Alvin York was born into what became a large family, the third of eleven children (the family lived in a one room cabin on a farm by the way!).  His two older brothers where married and had farms of their own when his father died and so York became the head of the family.  After this, despite having been born into a Christian family, York went downhill morally and became a heavy drinker and a gambler, and of course, associated with bad people.  He acknowledged that his sins started small and then these things became controllers of his life.  Change came when York became a Christian and actively put away and resisted his old habits, he truly became a "new creation", a new person. 

When war broke out between the United States and Germany in 1917, Alvin York faced the strong possibility of being drafted.  He had become a pacifist by this time, struggling to reconcile His new found life in service to God and passages in the Bible that he thought indicated that Christians should not physically fight and kill other people, even under the authorization of their own government.  He appealed for exemption from military service, but his appeal was denied and he was called up to serve.  Alvin's pastor encouraged him to trust God in all of this, and Alvin obeyed the draft summons and joined the army.  I thought that it was neat to see his acknowledgement of the sovereignty of God in all of this, making sure to be obedient and serve well in this place where God had placed him, even though to be there was against his own will. 

Still burdened in conscience about killing other people, York finally approached his commanding officer with his concerns, which officer brought him to another officer, and both of them graciously discussed what the Scripture had to say on the subject, York quoting Scriptures that he thought supported pacifism, and the officers bringing him to Scriptures that indicated that the Bible was not against war.  He ended up becoming convinced that it was okay for him to go to war, though perhaps still having some struggles with doubts for a little while afterward.  And so York stays in the fighting of the section of the army, and ends up making the famous capture of 132 German soldiers, which event, and the aftermath of York's life are also recounted by the author. 

I thought that that  Mastriano did a very good job with this biography, it was well written and interesting, and there are many excerpts from York's personal accounts and statements.  At the end of the book, there is as chapter dealing with his research into the spot where the famous event happened, showing pictures of the bullets and giving accounts of other archaeological evidence confirming the location, and York's account, of the event.

 I also liked many of the little details that are given, such as where it is noted that York's wife Gracie did not like the part in the movie that ended up being made about York where she and York are seen  kissing before they are married - which they apparently did not do in real life.   And as another example, I was especially surprised to find out that part  of the motivation for the particular attack on the Germans, in which York's division participated (and in which York became famous), was to free 'The Lost Battalion.'

York was a very interesting and principled Christian man, and humble as well as is evidenced in his endeavor to honor those men who were with him and give the credit to the Lord for what he was enabled to do.   This is an inspiring biography. 

Many thanks to the folks at the University Press of Kentucky for sending me a free review copy of this book (the review did not have to be positive)

My Rating:  5 out of 5 stars

*****

One of the places where this book may be purchased is at Amazon.com

My Rating:  5 out of 5 stars

*****

One of the places where this book may be purchased is at Amazon.com