Review: Rescued

 

The Unexpected and Extraordinary News of the Gospel

Fr. John Riccardo explains in this book how he is driven by 3 convictions:  1) I am not alive right now by chance, 2) The world is crying, and 3) The Church is crying.  He provides lots of data to support how he arrived at those points, and you’ll be forced to agree:  We are no longer living in the Christian nation where we were raised.  Those convictions lead Fr. John to conclude he is an instrument in the fight for God to get His world back, and that makes him excited.

This book seems to be a foundation for Fr, John’s ACTS XXIX ministry.  In this book he explains the Gospel, and how it answers 4 key questions by any potential atheist:

·         Why is there something rather than nothing?

·         Why is everything so obviously screwed up?

·         What, if anything, has God done about it?

·         If God has done something, how should I respond?

Fr John shortens the questions to 4 words: Created, Captured, Rescued, and Response.  He explains the Gospel Old Testament story. Then, as per the title of the book, he explains what Jesus did for us --- a very deliberate rescue of us.  Jesus was not dragged to the crucifixion and killed, He chose to go, as a battle plan, to rescue us from the enemy, just like D-Day, as Fr. John explains.  And now we have a role in the battle.  We too are alive right now for a reason.

This is a wonderfully encouraging book in these dark times.  It shows us the challenges we face, but we are not alone.  I liked the prayer Fr. John wrote: “Jesus, … recreate me to be the person You destined me to be.”  I pray that prayer often.

This is an excellent book to read, and then to follow with the podcasts broadcast at ACTSXXIX.org, to hear the further battle plans, and our role.  There Fr. John explains how we are now in Apostolic Times, like the hostile world faced by the apostles, not at all like the Christian world we were born in.  Things have changed, and therefore so must the Church, and us.  Like the apostles and early Christians, we are all called to be evangelizers, promoting, living, and explaining our religion to an atheistic, hostile world.  The world was once a world of love in the Garden of Eden; that is the world God wants back, a world where love is the motivator for all we do.

The apostles faced a more hostile world than ours, with fewer supporters to start.  This book will help us begin to get that enthusiasm members of the early Church felt; they did not just go to Church on Sunday.  They were evangelists.