Truth Matters, Life Matters More: The Unexpected Beauty of an Authentic Christian Life Hardcover – November 12, 2019

This book, and Hanks conversion helped me find the Church. I now hand out copies for prison ministry and will be buying more copies now that they've lowered the price.Favorite line: "His Kinosis is our Theosis".

Definitely Hank's most personal book. Containing several personal stories and anecdotal stories. Many quotations from the ancient church fathers. Interesting how Hank and CRI had to retract a claim of heresy posed against the Watchmen Nee and his flock - as reported in this book. Some portions of this book are masterfully written. And some paragraphs I found to be overly wordy and run on. I think you'll agree.

For a complete review, see it on Energetic Procession.For transparency purposes, I am a former employee of CRI under Hanegraaff’s presidency and sometime critic and I am Orthodox to boot.Pros: The book is written at a popular and accessible level, probably between a 9th to 10th grade reading level.* Book length is about 220 pages of text making it something that the average person can complete in a reasonable period of time.*The book will introduce evangelical readers who may not have read an introductory survey to church history or apologetics to important concepts and figures.Cons: The book appears cobbled together from pre-existing books under Hanks name. Over 45 times in the Endnotes does it indicate that material is “adapted from” material published years ago. Sometimes this is just a paragraph at others pages.*Primary source citations are lifted from secondary sources or from Google books. Quotes are just lifted from secondary sources giving the misleading impression that Hank has familiarity with the primary sources when he’s just read the same introductory works that your average Orthodox convert has. The same goes for the apparent cribbing from Google books.*The book seems to be a reworked version of an early work still listed on Amazon “The Authentic Christian Life: Moving from Doctrine to True Intimacy With God, 2015. That book was never released but the information on it makes it appear as a kind of coming out the Local Church closet. This seems to explain Hank’s use of Local Church jargon such as “leading ones” in this book.*Hank’s defense of Witness Lee’s “Local Church” (aka The Lord’s Recovery) renders his defense of the idea of common essential doctrines incoherent and inconsistent. There is no common group doctrines all Christians agree on, so the idea of essentials is incoherent. Added to this, Hank’s own church rejects “essential” teachings of Witness Lee’s Local Church as heterodox and vice versa. The Orthodox don’t even recognize it as a church at all. So, is the Local Church wrong? Is Hank’s church wrong? Or is Hank’s idea of a common group of essentials wrong? They can’t all be right.And Hank never substantially engages the Local Church’s claim to be recovering true Christianity to the earth after an early apostasy over against supposedly “apostate” Protestant, Catholic & Orthodox bodies. This seems to be a major lack of discernment on his part.* Hank’s view expressed in the book of the church as some kind of general entity all the different “tribes” are members of is considered heretical by his own church’s teaching. In short, he’s offering a Protestant ecclesiology when he claims to be Orthodox.* Hank’s defense of Young Earth Creationism also appears rehashed from material from Duane Gish, Henry Morris, etc. with a dash of Behe and Meyer thrown in. There is nothing new here. The same goes for his treatment of biblical reliability and the resurrection of Christ. If you have read Strobel, McDowell, Craig or Habermas, then you aren’t likely to learn anything new.* Repeated “paraphrasing” (“virtually quoting” of sources or “adapting” quotes by Hanegraaff. Since Hank has been publicly accused of plagiarism by notable public figures like D. James Kennedy and former high-ranking members of his own research staff (Robert Bowman Jr.) it is probably not a good idea to go around “paraphrasing” sources. (See U-Tube video on-line “D. James Kennedy On Hank Hanegraaff’s Plagiarism.”)*Hank’s account of Deification or Theosis is also anemic. There is no real explication of what a “divine energy” is beyond what you find in any introductory text such as Ware’s The Orthodox Church nor is there provided any substantial biblical case for it either.*Hank claims that the Christian life matters more, while he lives off of voluntary and sacrificial donations of people making a lot less than he does , he lives in a 3.1 million dollar 9200+ sqft, seven bedroom, 8 bathroom mansion on a walk out country club golf course estate whose entrance fee is 65k and monthly dues are $800. And this includes he and his wife, who is on the CRI board taking in $500k a year in salary alone. (See CRI’s public 990 forms. See Union County, NC public tax records for home price. See “the Club at Longview” for country club information. See also, U-Tube video “Did Hank Hanegraaff Lie About His House?”, See L.A. Times, Audit’s Lesson Was ‘Painful’ for Evangelist, AUG. 17, 2003, & L.A. Times, Hanegraaff Wasn’t ‘Handpicked’ APRIL 30, 2000, for verification.) So, what he says is inconsistent with what he does. Apparently, the Christian life doesn’t matter more than the “Good Life.”In short, the book is fluff, which is very strange for someone who self describes himself as one of the “world’s leading theologians.” You’d think one of the world’s leading theologians would have at least one college degree in something, while Hank has no earned degrees in any field.But if you feel it is important to pay for Hank’s millionaire country club lifestyle, by all means buy the book, because while truth may matter, Hank’s good life matters more.For more information on Hank’s reception into the Orthodox Church, the public scandals under his presidency, see Energetic Procession.

I have been researching the topics that make up the second half of this book for the greater part of this year. I am so relieved to know that this research had been done and is far more thorough than what I had. I can finally rest with the hope I've learned about the Orthodox faith.

This is the most comprehensive book on the historic Christian Faith's path to abundant Life that I have ever read.Dear Evangelicals, In Part 2 of the book (Life Matters More), Hank uses some language that may seem troubling at first, BUT do not miss the true meaning and heart of what he is getting at as he talks about Deification/Theosis. Simply put, this is union with God, becoming like God, being so infused and filled with His Energies that we truly become sons of God and partakers of the Divine Nature, as Peter puts it.The language of the ancient faith may seem troubling at first glance, but if you care about Truth, the deeper you look and more you search, you too will find it to be Biblical and historically accurate. It is our Lord Jesus Christ who said “Is it not written in your law: “I said - you are gods”? And then Jesus goes on to say (paraphrased) that if the Scriptures themselves call men “gods” - of whom the Scriptures merely came through, how can you call it blasphemy that I call Myself the Son of God?The historic church has always been very clear about the firm line and distinction between God’s Essence and His Energies. We partake in His Energies ONLY...and are never united with His Essence. We become by Grace, what God is by Nature. We are truly “Christ-ians”, little Christ’s, or as Jesus Christ and the Scriptures proclaim: "gods" (not God).This is absolutely mind blowing stuff that is a mystery beyond our comprehension! We can taste Him right here, right now and enter in to His Life. Oh, the glory of what God is going to truly do with us when we receive our new bodies and become “like Him” on that great, dreadful, and glorious day when He judges mankind and then makes all things new! What joy to become one with Christ, as He is One with the Father!!!! (John 17)The Kingdom of God is right here and right now in the Church established through the Apostles - the historic, Orthodox Christian Faith. The original Church of Acts is still standing firm against the gates of hell... just like our Savior promised. Orthodoxy has a well marked path and a track record of Life in Christ, through being part of the Body of Christ and taking the spiritual life seriously, soberly and so very reverently. The Orthodox Church invites all to encounter God in the never ending dance of love within the Holy Trinity! If you feel you are missing something in your Evangelical, Protestant faith, you are correct. The fullness of the Faith is right here, and is spelled out masterfully by Hank.Hank has put his whole soul out in the open in this work and deserves SO much credit for this courageous book in the midst of a religious climate in America that is so caught up in the spirit of this age and has lost so much of the historic Faith of the Apostles. I plead with you to listen with a heart wide open...please don’t judge without searching further! Don’t find yourself outside of the Church of the 1st-21st century that has defended the Faith with their blood and lives and has lovingly handed you the Bible, the creeds, the doctrine of the Trinity, the 2 natures of Christ, and on and on. Much Love! May God bless all of you and shine His face upon you.

My fault for purchasing this. Good info, but not for me.