Book Review: The Insanity of God

[JimB]

Book Review​

THE INSANITY OF GOD:
A TRUE STORY OF FAITH RESURRECTED
Nik Ripken
(B&H Publishing, 384pp, $15p)

Having served among persecuted Christians for years, some mercilessly slaughtered by religious fanatics, missionary Nik Ripken (pseudonym) one day walked through the war-torn streets of Mogadishu, Somalia where four Somalis who had shared the Lord’s Supper with him the previous evening lay among the victims of radical Mulsims. “Lord,” Ripken raged, “why don’t you destroy these people? Not one of them deserves your grace.” Then the life-changing voice of the Lord spoke in his still small whisper, “But neither do you, Nik. Even while you were still a sinner, Christ died for you.” And instantly, miraculously, the truth took on fresh meaning for him—it was not Muslims who were the enemy, it was “the evil that viciously misleads and traps people like lost sheep without a shepherd.” This is from Ripken’s book, “The Insanity of God”.

Ripken is a rural Kentuckian whose family took great personal risks to become pioneers in leading relief efforts into Somalia before and during the “Blackhawk Down” days, a time of intense physical danger, and of great risk for any person living or traveling there. After years of frustrating service, the Ripkens had little fruit to show for their efforts, but God, who does not always count success as we do, was preparing them for something else. It was about this time that Nik undertook a worldwide research project on the oppression of Christians.

As I read his account it gradually dawned on me: the “insanity” of God, at least from my human point of view, is that he is more forgiving than I can imagine—his mercies are “from everlasting to everlasting.” Mine is microscopic, especially when I realize that the God of Jesus loves hateful Taliban terrorists as much as he loves me. This is more than I can comprehend. In fact, it is insanity, a miracle. But it is the kind of miracle I can readily accept—the kind that changes a person, permanently, not just comforts them temporarily.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe that God continues to work sensational miracles, but I have come to realize that everything is a miracle—the sunrise this morning, leaves that fall in the Autumn only to grow again in the Spring, the love of my friends and family, these are all miracles. These days I am more interested in the kinds of miracles that change people from the inside, the spiritual kind, not just those that I can see. “The Insanity of God” is filled with just those kinds of miracles. One house church leader in China told Nik, “Do you know what prison is for us? It is how we get our theological education, like seminary training for Christians in your country.” Only, those sort of lessons are not the academic kind, the kind we endlessly debate; rather they are the inarguable kind that change us inside; the kind that resurrects our faith, not just buffers our arguments.

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Author bio

Nik Ripken and his wife Ruth, are veteran overseas workers for 30 years. During those years they have served in the fields of Eastern and Southern Africa along with their three sons. Since 1991 they have labored in countries which are predominantly defined by persecution toward those coming to faith in Jesus Christ. Following the deaths of many converts to faith in Jesus within a Muslim setting, mainly due to their relationship to foreign workers, they also experienced the death of their 16-year-old son on Easter Sunday morning due to an asthma attack in 1997. Soon after this the Ripkens began a global pilgrimage among believers in persecution to recapture a biblical missiology of witnessing and house church planting within environments of persecution and martyrdom.

Dr. Ripken received a B.A. from Georgetown College and a BM.Div. and D.Min. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the world's leading expert on the persecuted church in Muslim contexts. He is a missions veteran of 25 years, having served primarily in North Africa and the Middle East. He is the author of many articles and, along with his wife, has done extensive research on the persecuted church, and on Muslim background believers, in approximately 60 countries.


Ref. The Insanity of God - B&H Publishing Group