The Gathering Place by Becca Anderson

I began reading "The Gathering Place" at 6:00 this evening...I finished it at 11:40...and I am so shaken by what I've read...and so humbled.

Casey Ellis is a young woman, a believer in Jesus who simply hungers after more of God. And that's a good thing. A very good thing.

Her church leaves her longing for more. She craves relationships that are filled with passion and with thought that goes deep into the things of God. And that's a good thing. A very good thing.

She meets Lydia, a kindred spirit, and is drawn to the group that Lydia has become a part of, called the Gathering. Casey is wooed into a deeper relationship with God and His people...or is she?? What exactly has she found, and where will it leave her??

If you've ever watched the news broadcasts and thought to yourself, "How can people ever fall for the line those cults push?"...you need to read this book.

If you've been seeking answers to some deep questions, but the answers you find leave you feeling a bit uneasy...you need to read this book.

If someone you love has begun questioning things they've been taught from childhood and you can't put your finger on what is different...you need to read this book.

The web that is woven is so cleverly wrapped around nuggets of truth that I found myself shaken. So many believers today know a lot about the Bible, but don't know the Bible. It isn't rooted in their lives, and when a wind of doctrine blows by, they take hold and can be led away from God's truth.

We must be people of the book once again...Scripture itself tells us that God has said, "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge." If you doubt the importance of knowing God's Word for yourself...please, read this book.

Church, it's time to wake up and stop being a social gathering place and go back to being the Body of Christ. Are we leading souls to Christ and then abandoning them? Are we discipling as we should? Are we instructing the young ones in God's Word? Or are we just keeping one another busy for Jesus?

What are we doing for the ones who hang on the fringes, who hold back and are afraid to engage? How are we reaching out to them? If we don't, someone else will.

Are we engaged in serious Biblical study, or are we merely engaging in Christian psychology...let us help you in your marriage, in child rearing, in being a single...or are we diving into books like James and I Peter, Jude and the Gospels??

This novel is a wake up call for us. Innocent, hungry believers can be led astray so easily...we need to be keeping watch out for wolves...and teaching the sheep...

"The Gathering Place" receives the full five bookmarks from me...and it is a story that will stay with me for a long, long time.

Happy Reading!

Deena