A little over a year ago I read Kyle Idleman’s gods at war. After studying his previous book not a fan I was looking forward to reading this one. As a follow-up, he has a Student Edition of gods at war. I just started using it this summer with my high school students.
As he does in the original offering, Idleman talks about idolatry not in the past tense – a practice from ancient civilizations – but in the present tense – something with which our modern culture still wrestles. At one point in the book, he states that we are a culture of idol worshipers. He defines an idol as anything that becomes more important than God. It doesn’t take but a cursory glance around today’s society to see that many things fit that category.
In the book he identifies various idols that have captured the hearts of people and also discusses how to battle against them. He offers several questions to ask that will help determine whether something is becoming an idol in a person’s life.
He not only discusses identifying them, but also how to deal with the issue of idols. As he did in the first offering of gods at war Idleman repeats this phrase: Idols are not defeated by being removed, but by being replaced.
The Student Edition does a good job of presenting the principles from gods at war while making it readable for teens. It is a good resource for individual reading and group discussion.
Thoughts from a Hoosier Fan in the Buckeye Land 