Secondhand Jesus: Trading Rumors of God for a Firsthand Faith

Glenn Packiam's book is a passionate call for Christians to know Jesus from a first hand experience. The first chapter called "Thursday" exposes the tragic events surrounding our senior pastor's fall from his position. Glenn writes from the perspective of how God used this pain to create a "what the heck" moment. It is in these moments where we can see that we all spend time under the pretext of knowing about God but not truly knowing him. This is a great book with dynamite theology!

This book is for anyone who's been in the church/the faith for any length of time and ever asked themselves "What is this even about and what are we doing here?" I've found this book to be authentic and raw at it's very core as Packiam deals with some of the major "rumors" about God in our culture today. It's a sobering thing to think you've lived your entire life as a Christian, and yet in the dark and quiet moments, question whether you really know who God is or what He is about. As we go through life and either experience trying times on our own or witness the tribulation of those dearest to us, we come face to face with those questions. We may even attempt to throw out a few answers, but unless we do the work of seeking Him out, we can never experience true authenticity in our relationship with Christ. Packiam has presented the challenge to me to find out who God is, independent of what the "experts" have to say, no matter how compelling the song lyrics or how often downloaded the sermon podcast may be. As Paul says in Phillipians 3:8 "What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things". Truly knowing Him surpasses all thing and we should not be satisfied with Rumors.

This volume on developing a closer walk with God is soundly Biblical. The author uses extremely apt contemporary illustrations along with scriptural insight to help the reader discern the difference between good, better, and best in living the Christian life. The book strikes the right note for those of us (and we will all be at this point at sometime) dealing with personal trauma. Into every experience, some "Thursdays" must fall--those times when, in a moment, a negative life-changing event makes one question basic assumptions about the present and future. Its appearance is timely, since lots of us are suffering economic changes, and those have spiritual ramifications, too. When we are seeking "a good word from the Lord," Glenn Packium has done a good job of bringing faith from hearsay to a firsthand encounter.

I appreciate Glenn Packiam's perspective as a pastor, musician, father, and worship leader. He currently lives in the context of western Christianity, and recently weathered one of the biggest church scandals to ever come along, with perhaps the exception of PTL in the late 1980's. He also has a unique perspective of Jesus from outside the Mid-Western church box since he is from Malaysia. In the tradition of Searching for God Knows What and Flashbang: How I Got Over Myself he writes in a memoir story style that is perceptive and easy for the reader to digest. As a youth pastor in a mega church in the Southwest, I ask questions along the line of Packiam's thinking. I'm grateful for the way he articulated his questions. It wasn't bitter or snobby. I can tell he genuinely loves the Church (with a big C). At our church, we have great volunteers, a supportive pastor, more than adequate meeting space, and a genuine desire to help youth in our community. However we as a youth ministry, feel like we are missing something. Glenn puts his finger on many areas youth ministries need to work on. Specifically, Glenn highlights Jesus teachings about the "good life" dismissing the rumor that God just wants people to have "easy" lives. Glenn Packiam also observed the propensity for many churches to become a "one-stop spiritual shopping" church. We have groups for everything that you can think of and if we are not careful churches can point people to themselves instead of Jesus. I'm thankful that Glenn Packiam didn't attempt to wrap everything up in a nice little bow with trite formulas and cheesy slogans. He doesn't set himself up to have all the answers. Instead, he leaves these rumors open for dialog. This is a great book for conversation and to read in community. I look forward to adding this book and its ideas into the curriculum of our ministry to teenagers and young adults and recommend it without reservation.

Our culture loves experts. Turn on any morning news show and you will find a cadre of experts to advise you on everything from investing to child rearing. We eagerly lap up their nuggets of wisdom hoping to gain 5 easy steps for each area of our lives so we don't have to go through any struggles ourselves. However, what we often find is that while experts can give us information, nothing replaces a firsthand experience. As Packiam makes quite clear in his timely and refreshing book, "Secondhand Jesus," we have made a grave mistake in taking this impersonal approach to our walk with God, relying on successful pastors, evangelists and "God-experts" to do the work for us rather than wading into the deep end of His presence ourselves. Packiam explains, "Far too often, rumors about God originate in church. We hear a preacher say something about God with confident certainty, and we take it to be truth. What we don't know is that he heard another preacher say it, and that preacher heard another preacher say it...and so on. We could blame them. But we would do better to blame ourselves for turning down God's invitation, for closing our ears and our eyes when he has tried to show himself to us. No technological advancement, no access to information, no invention of convenience has been able to change the strange human impulse to shun God, to cover up and hide, the way the first man and woman did." With each chapter laying out rumor after rumor bare and exposed before the reader, Packiam's almost uncomfortably honest writing is set to the background of several Old Testament narratives from the story of Job to the battles for the Ark of the Covenant. His ability to weave in biblical text with personal stories makes his writing smooth, but provoking. Of all the rumors of God Packiam tackles, I found his chapters addressing the prosperity gospel mentality the most necessary reading for the American church today. Concerning the idea that God is one big blessing genie, ready to give us whatever we want if we say the right words or do the right things he responds, "God is not a Coke machine. He resists formulas and equations, even the ones he apparently gave. To fully get this picture of a wildly personal, living God, you cannot just read Deuteronomy 28; you have to also wrestle with the Psalmists, lament with Jeremiah, protest with Jonah, and weep with the Son of God himself. To string together our favorite list of verses containing "God's promises for the blessed life" is like living in voluntary ignorance, a Dark Ages by choice. It is simply immature and foolish." In the end, what this book is all about is a call to experience God for yourself. To put aside the safe arms-length relationship we all are prone to accept and engage with an incredibly good God. Not safe, but good.