Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit, Francis Chan

I like Chan. A lot. His Crazy Love messed me up. I made it required reading for our staff of pastors and workers in Brazil. I highly recommend it.

I purchased Forgotten God before it was published and had been eagerly anticipating it for several months. When it came in last Monday, I read it in one setting. I then reread parts of it over the next few days. I intend to give it another going through in its entirety, this time marking it up.

I found myself  doing fist pumps on multiple occasions — he was asking the same questions I’ve been asking and describing the very problem I’ve become so aware of in the church today. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with as much excitement as I did this one.

But, I found my enthusiasm waning as I passed the halfway point. I began to sense that he was going to pull up short.

And he did.

I honestly didn’t care where he came out on the issue of Holy Spirit but I really wanted to see where he landed and the thought process that got him there. He purposefully didn’t draw a conclusion.

Lame.

This book started with such promise of addressing a serious problem in the church, and Chan typically does such a good job of addressing the problem, but he took “the easy way” out.

There is much good in it. That’s why I’m going to reread it. I’m not opposed to anything he said, and he stated some really good points that I want to delve deeper into.

I’m disappointed that he left that which he alluded to multiple times floating around like an ethereal cloud that you just couldn’t grasp.