3 out of 4 stars
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Matthew J. Romano argues in The Call: An Invitation to Revival and Transformation that the United States and the world have been enduring "an aggressive progressive agenda" for years. Nevertheless, the world is ready for another "great spiritual awakening." Romano maintains that this book takes the readers in a journey of spiritual awakening and inspires them to "answer The Call of God toward freedom, holiness, and purpose."
Romano gives a personal testimony of his life's struggles and how he answered God's call in order to encourage the readers to awake spiritually. He used to listen to death metal music and hang out with the wrong friends when he was a teenager. He received God's call so he turned his life around. He became a Christian, got new friends, and brought his family to the church. However, his old vices came back during his early twenties. He spent almost a decade as a womanizer and going to pubs until he finally came back to the faith. He has also struggled with addictions to cigarettes and pornography.
The Call: An Invitation to Revival and Transformation is a Christian book consisting of 198 pages. Romano has a straightforward writing style that anyone can understand. The inclusion of his own struggles gives the book a personal touch. He also includes scriptures to teach the readers lessons from the Bible that can be applied to life's testing situations. His tone, though, is quite conservative, which limits the target audience to conservative Christians.
My favorite aspect of the book is that Romano makes it clear that everyone has struggles in life. He uses his own struggles and those of people close to him as examples, making the book relatable. He points out that we all make mistakes, and as a result, we feel guilty and have a hard time believing God loves us. Furthermore, we all put on masks to hide our problems because we fear what others might think of us. Acting like this drives us to isolation, which is not good for our well-being. According to Romano, we need to acknowledge that nobody "is exempt from hardship" and "encourage one another far more by admitting our weaknesses."
Even though Romano offers plenty of worthy spiritual advice throughout the book, I did not agree with some of his beliefs. I did not agree with his stance on same-sex marriage, which he condemns. I did not agree with his criticism of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). I did not agree with his blanket statements about the religion of Islam. I did not agree with his argument that the practice of Eastern meditation allows demonic spirits to enter the mind. Although I am not a progressive and consider myself a moderate conservative, I found some of his ideas extreme.
I rate The Call: An Invitation to Revival and Transformation by Matthew J. Romano 3 out of 4 stars because the author shares his personal testimony to connect with the readers and gives valuable spiritual advice on how to deal with life's struggles. In addition, I only found two grammatical mistakes in the book. I deducted a star because I found some of his views too harsh for my taste. I think it is a good book for conservative Christians.
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The Call
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