Official Review: The L.I.G.H.T. Seminar

[Catie139]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The L.I.G.H.T. Seminar" by Deacon Michael Wesley.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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LIGHT is an acronym for Living in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Deacon Michael Wesley wrote The L.I.G.H.T. Seminar to help Christians understand these gifts, which we receive on the day we are baptized. He also seeks to assist them in finding ways of living out these gifts.

There are conferences one can attend called "The L.I.G.H.T. Seminar." Deacon Wesley makes it clear that this is not to be a manual for these conferences. But he does offer a tentative schedule for those who might wish to use this as a guide for a possible retreat.

In the first part of the book, Deacon Wesley discusses many groups of gifts. There are those that Paul mentions in Ephesians (4:11), the word gifts (tongues and teaching), gifts of power (healing), gifts of revelation (prophecy and discernment of spirits), and gifts of service (mercy, hospitality, giving, leadership, and serving).

Since the author is an ordained deacon in the Catholic Church, he wrote The L.I.G.H.T. Seminar from a Catholic perspective. Paul encourages all Christians to receive and live the gifts, though. So this book is not geared only toward Catholics but for Christians of all denominations.

Deacon Wesley also includes a chapter on spiritual warfare. Since anybody who strives to live a holy Christian life will do battle in the spiritual realm, this is important to understand. There are scriptural references given, as well as tactics for winning these battles. 

One of the things I liked about the book was the inclusion of questions at the end of most chapters. For the most part, these questions are good points to reflect on. And they encourage ways of actually living out and putting ideas mentioned into practice. The thing I did not like about the questions, though, was that for several chapters the first question was, "Do you have any questions about the teaching?" For me, that is not something to reflect on, especially since I would be asking that throughout the reading.

The L.I.G.H.T. Seminar is simple to understand, which I appreciate. It was easy to focus on the teachings without drowning in theological doctrine. Deacon Wesley also included several footnotes and a bibliography. This shows that a lot of research went into the book, and it gives credibility to his writing. In addition, everything was backed up with scriptural references.

There were several grammatical or punctuation errors throughout the book. While they didn't contribute much to the difficulty of reading, this is one of the reasons why I give this book a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. The other reason for this rating is the chapter questions mentioned earlier.

I would recommend this book to anybody who is serious about trying to live a Christian life of holiness in the way St. Paul describes in his letters. Because of the ease of reading, even a new Christian can get a lot of ideas for how one ought to live. And those who read this book will indeed come away with a better understanding of what the gifts of the Holy Spirit are.

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The L.I.G.H.T. Seminar
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[Smmwallace]

This book sounds like it's encouraging and helpful to Christian readers who may want to learn about spiritual gifts. Thank you for your great review!

[cd20]

This sounds like a very interesting book. I do question the thought that we get our spiritual gifts when we are baptized. I have never heard that before and want to know more about it. I like questions at the end of the chapter when they really make you think about something, but I would be annoyed by the questions, "Do you have any questions about the teaching?" Even if I do, who am I asking? The author is not sitting right there to clarify the topic, so what is the point in that question? Thank you for your review.

[Nathaniel Owolabi]

I do not think Jamal had anything to do with how soon the reconciliation was. It probably would have taken longer for her mother to come around if he was still alive though. I think the family made their choices because if their believes and that had nothing to do with Jamal. Just his race.

[RHD]

I would not mind me another Christian book. This one seems to focus on the silent member of the trinity - another topic I'm quite interested in. Also, good job on the review, Catie139