3 out of 4 stars
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The book Pastoring is Not What You Think is a Christian fiction written by Elijah Oladimeji to inspire Christians to have a strong faith in God on every circumstance and more especially on difficult times.
The book tells the story of Pastor Job – his life as a church leader, a husband, an American citizen, and most especially, a follower of God. His life shows what it actually means to have God in one’s life, which is to have God in every aspect of life. He acknowledges God’s presence in every situation, whether it is church-related or not. Shown in the chapters are the obstacles and difficulties he had to face. But in all his experiences, he shows strong faith in God even when others see them as illogical.
Being a Christian book, the author has its way of preaching to the readers. It is portrayed as Pastor Job literally preaching during Sunday services. It is like reading an actual service with the pastor preaching and the attendees responding with “Amen” and “Hallelujah.” Aside from the services, the author preached by telling stories of encounters in everyday life. I like how the author points out things that are true but difficult to admit for most Christians. One is when the author tells about how people only remember the church or the pastor when in need of a prayer or a miracle.
What I like most about this book is it portrayed a pastor as a man of God who is not exempted from tests of faith. He had his struggles financially in paying the church’s monthly rent and in providing for his family. He also had his doubts and reservations in the people he was praying for.
Aside from the church- and faith-related topics discussed, the book also tackles the current issues facing the United States like gun violence. I can feel the frustration of the author on how this issue is lightly taken by the government. I totally agree when he said that maybe protecting America is not the congressmen's number one job; because if it were, then they would have already passed some common-sense law a long time ago.
There are some beliefs in the book that are not carefully delivered, thus, resulting to be misunderstood. One is when he said that if a person is not in good health, then he/she couldn’t help people in significant ways. I think these statements meant to say that being healthy brings more opportunities to help in significant ways. But with how it was phrased, it sends a message that being unhealthy makes a person unable to help in significant ways.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. It portrays a life of a pastor and how they are not exempted to the human struggles because they are soldiers of God; it even showed how they take these experiences to have stronger faith and be closer to God. I took off one star for the beliefs stated that could have been more carefully phrased and delivered. There are also noticeable writing errors such as some misspelling of words and misuse of quotation marks and commas.
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Pastoring is not what you think
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