Review: JESUS IS BETTER THAN PORN by Hugh Houston

JESUS IS BETTER THAN PORN: How I Confessed my Addiction to My Wife and Found a New Life.

by 

Hugh Houston

Habitual sins, like pornography addiction, are only a problem for unbelievers, right? Wrong! Becoming a Christian is only the start of a lifelong battle against sin. This book is the story of one man's courageous battle against sin, in the power of God's spirit. Hugh’s story shows that any Christian can be trapped in the dark pit of sin, even a respected pastor, feeling isolated and fearful to ask for help. But Hugh’s story of heartbreak and humility and trusting in Christ, shows that God makes a way back. 

This is a story of God bringing back life and grace, after terrible pain. It can be your story too. That's what the gospel is all about! 

Sin leads to death but in this book God (and Hugh’s practical advice), shows us a far better way: Jesus is so much better than porn! 

My Take:

Porn is a pandemic addiction assaulting men (and women) around the world, especially with the onset of the internet and the availability and anonymity it provides. Where once a person had to brave the back magazine racks and adult book stores, now that person can navigate to porn with only a few taps or clicks, from the privacy of their own room or smart phone.

But though it is pandemic both outside and inside the church, it is rarely discussed either from the pulpit or among close friends. Many men think that they are alone in this struggle, but as more material becomes available concerning it, evangelical efforts such as Celebrate Recovery, XXXChurch and literature such as this one and Every Man's Battle make it clear they are not.

Hugh Houston shares his courageous story of coming clean, and the struggle and victory he's found in Christ. His story makes it clear that every Christian man is susceptible to this dark battle, whether a pastor or a lay leader, or a pew warmer. With powerful examples and liberal doses of scripture, Hugh provides constructive help and hope for any man or woman wanting freedom from this addiction.

Content:

This is a non-fiction book, but it's subject matter requires ratings on content, of course.

Language:

G - Squeaky clean.

Adult Content:

PG-13 - The book covers subjects like adultery, divorce, and masturbation, the last point there is what  gives it a PG-13 rating. None of the material is graphic but it is subject matter that needs guidance. 

Christian content:

This is a solidly Christian book by a respected pastor who has been in the thick of this addiction. Scripture and faith fill every page, and deliverance is offered only through the power of Christ and the work of the Spirit. The theology I found in this work is clearly evangelical and biblically based.

Final analysis:
This work gives solid help for any man or woman struggling with a sex addiction, especially pornography. It is hard-hitting, clear, and effective. Each chapter ends with discussion questions and suggestions for further work, and it would make an excellent men's small-group study book. I consider that it can stand beside Every Man's Battle as a help in overcoming this tragic addiction. Five Stars!

About the Author:

I chose to write this using a pen name in order to share my most intimate thoughts while maintaining my privacy. My wife and I have been missionaries for most of our adult lives. 
We have four adult children.

I am an avid reader and have included many quotes and examples from other sources which I have found to be helpful in my own life and which I believe can bless others as well.
This is my story and I pray that it will help you with your story. 
You can reach me at: onlywithhishelp@gmail.com

Review: Memoirs of a Girl Who Loves God by C.L. Wells

Memoirs of a Girl Who Loves God

by C.L. Wells

Fourteen-year-old Krystal finds herself flailing when her parents separate. Unable to cope, she begins cutting. No one knows. 

At her new school, she makes one single friend, Em, who invites her to volunteer at the local homeless shelter. There, Krystal discovers fellow misfits, including Brandon, a boy from her school. How can Krystal start a new life when the scars of her old one will never fully heal?

My Take:

Some scars just can't stay hidden.

Fourteen-year-old Krystal's life is falling apart. Her parents have split up, and won't talk to each other, except through her. Being caught in the middle is bad enough, but being forced to stay with her unfaithful mom and the adulterous  man that knocked her up is driving her over the edge. She blames her mother for the wreckage of her family, but even more, she blames God.

To cope, she's been cutting herself. No one knows. Not even her best friend Em. When Em gets her to volunteer at the local homeless shelter, she finds purpose and meaning. Brandon, a boy from her school, is getting meals at the shelter while his family struggles, and Krystal vows to keep his secret, even if she knows she can never reveal her own to him.

As Krystal begins to rebuild her life, however, her well-hidden secret is about to blow up in her face.

Content:

Drug Content:

PG - A few characters have drug addictions at the shelter. One character had a serious alcohol problem in his past. 

Violence:

PG - A soldier is wounded, and his comrades are all killed. The main character has a long-standing habit of cutting, and it has left many scars, and draws blood. One person is shot and killed. None of the violence is graphic.  

Language:

G - Squeaky clean.

Adult Content:

PG-13 - Krystal's mother is unfaithful and ends up pregnant. A counselor asks questions about a couple's sex life. Two characters have been raped repeatedly by someone they know, though it's a past wound not on screen.   

Christian content:

This story covers the conversion stories of several characters at the shelter, and God is definitely at work in what appear to be amazing coincidences. God's hand in action is clearly displayed, and characters see answers to prayer. The disappointment that people face when God doesn't answer a prayer with a Yes, is a major topic of this novel.Dealing with grief, loss, and disillusionment, are major topics as well.  

Final analysis:

This was a well-written book that would find shelf space alongside good Christian teen books like the Lilly series. The characters are very real and the struggles they face are common to many teens. Issues like Anorexia and teen suicide are covered, and characters find hope in the midst of tragedy. The plot was well-constructed, the pace steady, the characters true to life. Five Stars!

About the Author:
C.L. Wells is a JANE-OF-ALL-TRADES, with a passion for writing and animals. She lives in Kansas with her family, which includes a fat doggie who is not named Toto and a cat who moonlights as an escape artist. Feel free to ask her about the ‘escape artist.’ She plans to write about it someday. She would love hearing from you.

Review: He Said, She Said: Marriage, Divorce & Restoration by Ernest Dave Bennerman, Roseline Roz Bennerman

He Said, She Said: Marriage, Divorce & Restoration

by Ernest Dave Bennerman, Roseline Roz Bennerman

Marriage is a sacred union. 
Divorce stinks! 
Restoration happens when we allow God to make a NEW Marriage. 

In words that are profound, often humorous, but always biblical, Dave and Roz draw from over 2 decades of marriage, divorce, and re-marriage. They openly share their struggles through their marriage and divorce experiences to challenge soon to be and married couples to ask this question: 
“What is it like being married to me?” 
In ‘He Said, She Said,’ you will discover practical strategies and exercises for creating and sustaining a fulfilling marriage. Although the struggles and challenges are real in a marriage, they share sound principles that, if applied, will create an environment of peace, love, understanding and respect. 
Know that God wants your marriage to be incredible, to be represented as a Kingdom Marriage. But that can only happen when unselfish love is at the center of it all. 
Dave and Roz Bennerman are passionate about encouraging and strengthening marriages. They have mentored numerous couples. Now, they focus their efforts on creating fun and engaging marriage bootcamps and workshops to help keep the Sizzle Alive and Smoking. 

My Take:
This book is a chronicle of Roz and Dave Bennerman, who went through a rocky eight year marriage ending in a divorce. As Providence would have it, they both came to Christ individually years later, and remarried. They have enjoyed a solid, bible-based covenant marriage for eight years since then, and have devoted their lives to helping singles, divorcees, and couples either approaching or in the midst of marriage, to find hope and guidance from their experiences.

Filled with anecdotal wisdom, liberally soaked in scriptural references, and stuffed with good advice, this book is a clear warning to adults in all stages of life to consider carefully before putting on the rings. Advice on dealing with your past baggage, getting right with God, understanding unrealistic expectations, and the principals of regular, steady communication, being committed for the long haul, dealing with differences and enjoying them, sex and its place inside and not outside marriage, and the importance of God in the marriage, this short book is a must-read for anyone considering marriage.

Content:

Even though this is non-fiction, figured I'd better put a bit about the content in here. This book has no profanity, as one would expect, and the subject of sex is only obliquely referred to, though the importance of it in marriage is underlined, and supported by scripture.

Packed with nuggets of wisdom and solid advice, this is a quick read that all couples considering marriage would benefit from. If you are in marriage and considering divorce, there's help in here for you as well. Well written, biblically based, informative and helpful, Five Stars!

About the Authors:

Coach Dave captivates his audience from all walks of life, developing needed skills that will bring transformation to his listeners for generations to come through humor and visuals. He’s well-received and loved by his students (mentees) and colleagues. As a Certified Personal Life Coach, author and speaker, Dave focuses on transforming the lives of people through goal setting, life planning skills, and accountability measures. He grew up in Northern New Jersey, surrounded by violence and poverty, with a loving sister and a mother, who instilled hard work and perseverance into their lives. After finishing high school, he joined the United States Army and later met his wife, Roseline ‘Roz’ during his college years; they are blessed with one son, Terrell. Dave took a wrong turn in life and discovered problems, heartache, and disappointment do not discriminate. He lost everything that was dear to him and made a decision to seek God for healing and restoration.

Now, he empowers countless individuals in his surrounding community and shares his faith and love for God with many individuals from diverse cultures. He has also committed himself to empower, encourage, and bring hope to our youth who have made mistakes and who've found themselves detained within local juvenile detention centers. In 2012, he was ordained as an Evangelist, and he travels around the world encouraging people to live on PURPOSE.

Roz has teamed up with her husband, Dave, to encourage and empower marriages. They've found, through their own challenges, first being married for 8 years to each other, then 10 years of divorce, and now as they write this book, 8 years remarried, when each spouse puts the other first...No One is Left Out. After being asked to plan married couples' fun and engaging events, which they felt unqualified to do, they eventually realized that through these activities, marriages became more passionate, and everyone had lots of fun. Their passion is to encourage and empower marriages through fun and engaging workshops.
Along with her passion for seeing marriages strengthened and having fun, Roz has mentored numerous young adults through the Development School for Youth. She mentors married women, and she's an author, publisher, and fitness enthusiast, who's passionate about inspiring and helping women create and sustain a Fit Lifestyle. She has found, because women are natural nurturers, they put everyone else before themselves, causing them to put their fitness on the back-burner.

Now she and her husband, Coach Dave, have teamed up to structure fun and engaging marriage workshops and bootcamps that will connect couples on another level. The workshops and bootcamps are designed for interaction...they've moved away from the typical marriage conferences, where couples gather, sit, and listen. These bootcamps and workshops are for married couples to INTERACT and have FUN! Their marriage bootcamps and workshops are based on Biblical principles.

Review: How Two: Have a Successful Relationship by Phil and Maude Mayes

How Two: Have a Successful Relationship
by Phil and Maude Mayes

Back Cover Blurb:
Do you and your partner argue too much? Are you always fighting about who is right? Are you feeling estranged and distant? In How Two: Have a Successful Relationship, experts Phil and Maude share their process and their radically different approach to relating. They insist that conflict is not inevitable and that it is possible to have a passionate and peaceful relationship.

Phil and Maude share a simple step by step understanding that is easily accessible to everyone. Their strong desire to make their direct experience available to all couples shines through their writing and will renew your faith in what is possible and attainable. In these pages you will learn:

* How to find mutual solutions to decision making and problem solving
* How to remain an individual within the relationship
* How to break the vicious cycle of anger and recrimination
* How to avoid the pitfalls that create separation and estrangement
* How to keep that original loving connection to your partner

This book is a gem. It's short, it's practical, it's based on real life experience. If you want to improve your relationship, this is the book for you.

My Take:
Phil and Maude Mayes have taken their peaceful relationship over many years and built a platform to assist other couples in achieving the same level of harmony, acceptance, and oneness in a relationship.

They have  a thriving ministry, if you will, to couples through youTube and an online blogs on their website, www.PhilandMaude.com

The book covers the art of communication, acceptance, conflict resolution, intimacy, peace, and respect for one's self and one another pretty candidly through personal experience and interviews of other couples. Each chapter begins with a quote from people like John Denver, Dr. Phil McGraw, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Maggie Scarf, and Donna Quesada, contains information from Phil and Maude's personal story, and a conversation back and forth between them, ending in a question and answer session from other couples at various stages of their relationships.

Content:

Violence:
As this is nonfiction, I expected none, and got none - not even a description of domestic violence. ;-)

Language:
None. It's clean.

Adult Content:
PG - The book covers sexuality and intimacy but there's nothing graphic at all in it. Even the question and answer sessions don't devolve much into any real details of the couples sex lives, only about the intimacy of sharing touch and time together, cuddling and watching TV, that sort of thing. One statement from a couple was that 'We see sex as an act, and intimacy as a connection.'

Christian content:
Oh my. From a Christian perspective, this book is rife with issues. It has plenty of spirituality and faith embedded inside but it's New Age and Eastern Mysticism. Zen and Karma make appearances in places, and the quotes are from mostly followers of that worldview. If that's your cup of tea, you probably would get something out of this, but from a Christian perspective, you might get more confusion than answers.

Final analysis:

There aren't many typos in this book, and the organization of the subject matter is solid. The topics are relevant and it covers important ground. However, I found the 'Conversations' portions to be merely a recap with simple agreement from the other partner back and forth. So I found the 'yes man' feedback unnecessary, and the book would have improved if those were simply stricken from the conversation. Some of the couples interviewed did not even cohabitate, so I found their input irrelevant, and from a Christian perspective, the subject of marriage, weddings, commitment, and vows to be almost lacking. And that's disheartening. The presence of a different worldview was another thing that made it difficult for me to complete this book, but setting differences aside, the book has some relevance. Four Stars.

About the Authors:
Phil Mayes lives in Santa Barbara, California, having started in London, England. Phil is a software developer, photographer and writer. He likes cats, movies, chocolate and quirky people. He is married to Maude Mayes, a fact that continues to amaze and delight him.







Maude Mayes lives in Santa Barbara, California, having started in New York City. Maude and her husband and co-author Phil Mayes have been writing and speaking about spreading peace one relationship at a time for many years. They wrote the book Secrets of a Successful Relationship Revealed, and write a weekly relationship newsletter, as well as a weekly blog available on their website http://PhilandMaude.com. Phil and Maude are the producers of a number of relationship videos, as well as the series Kit and Kat Relationship Experts, all of which are to be found on their YouTube channel The Couples Project. They have been featured in a number of live interviews and write articles, both online and in print.

Review: Unbreaking: How Giving Up Saved Our Marriage by Jason and Crystal Crawford

Unbreaking: How Giving Up Saved Our Marriage
by Jason and Crystal Crawford

Jason and Crystal Crawford were trapped in a loveless, hopeless marriage. They each believed that the only path to happiness was to go their separate ways -- until God showed them something even better. This true story chronicles one couple's quick descent from courtship into an unhappy marriage, and how God transformed their marriage, turning resentment into love and their pain into joy. You will experience the real, raw emotion of both Jason and Crystal through alternating journal entries that show how the husband's and wife's separate perspectives evolve throughout the first 6 years of their marriage and beyond. This unique memoir, written by a couple who are also life-coaches, includes a Relationship Guide at the end of the book which provides help and guidance to couples in similar situations.

My Take:
This was a raw, uncut narrative on a very dark period in this couple's life. The pain, anger and dysfunction is laid bare for the reader to see. It takes a brave soul to be willing to air past issues like this, but God works through us by relating our issues to similar struggles in those around us, to promote healing.

Satan is in the battle to destroy marriages, which are the foundation of the family, and families the foundation of society. But scripture tells us that "they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimonies." - Rev 12:11

The testimony of Jason and Crystal is a powerful tool they use to promote healing in shattered marriages, and they have used it as life coaches for years to help struggling couples to achieve the marriage God designed. The back half of the book is a workbook couples can use together to heal their brokenness. saturated with scripture, this workbook contains solid, biblical advice on how to allow God to heal your own past wounds, and become what God intended you to be.

As this is non-fiction, I will simply say on content that there are issues of infidelity, pornography, and divorce discussed frankly, but not graphically. The first half, their testimony, has scripture but does not come across as 'preachy' at all. The second half is a workbook, that undergirds all points with scripture. This would be a good tool for a couple to use to make their marriage stronger, even if it's not in the dark and seemingly hopeless condition the authors experienced. Five Stars!

About the Author(s):


Jason Crawford was born in Birmingham, Alabama, but moved to Florida in 2002 to study Communication at Florida College in Temple Terrace, FL. He then continued on to receive a BA in Communication from the University of South Florida, and is currently working on a Masters in Professional Counseling. Jason met his wife, Crystal, while in college and they married in 2004.

Overcoming serious marriage struggles in their marriage led Jason to discover a passion for counseling and life-coaching. After working multiple retails jobs and spending several years as a Sales Manager, and spending his free hours providing life-coaching for his employees. After his first daughter was born, Jason also found himself drawn to helping new fathers, and began volunteering as a men's life-coach for new fathers at a crisis pregnancy center, Jason decided to make the change and focus on counseling as a career. He left the corporate retail environment, and became an entrepreneur so that he could have the freedom to spend more time with his family and to pursue his calling as a life-coach an counselor.

Jason is now a happy father of 3 young kids, and runs his own company, Fierce, Inc., as well as a not-for-profit company, Fierce Fathers. The two companies function side-by-side as part of Jason and Crystal's overall project, We Are Fierce, which utilizes Jason's talents for graphic design, web design, and marketing to bring in income that is then used to support their life-coaching ministry which helps families, couples, parents and young adults in the Tampa, FL area to improve struggling relationships and discover new direction and purpose in their lives. Jason's goal is to complete his Masters in Professional Counseling and open his own practice, and to expand the We Are Fierce ministry to include scholarship programs that would provide free and low-cost counseling to low-income couples and families.


Crystal Crawford was born in Tampa, FL and received a BA in English from the University of South Florida with a concentration in Creative Writing, and attended graduate courses in English at USF in 2007, where she worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant teaching Freshman Composition. She is also passionate about working with animals and animal training, and worked for over 2 years as an assistant manager at a live animal show. Now a stay-at-home-Mom to 3 children under the age of 5, Crystal now works from home as a freelance writer and editor, and works part-time as an English and Animal Psychology instructor at Class Source. In addition to all this, Crystal and her husband own their own company, Fierce Inc., which provides web design, graphic design, content generation, and social media management; as well as a not-for-profit corporation, Fierce Fathers, which has now been expanded into the We Are Fierce program and offers free and low-cost life coaching for families, parents, and young adults.