Have any non-Catholics read "Pierced By A Sword"?

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One of the books that has become one of my favorites to read during Lent has been this book. I think I still have two copies of it, and I have ordered as many as four and given them away to friends. I DON’T much care for the sequels, which are meandering and hard for me to follow, but the initial book is great fun to read. It WILL stoke the fires of ‘Roman Fever’ in any who are susceptible, but it’s sort of an answer to the ‘Left Behind’ series of Evangelical Apocalyptic novels. Sicne the book can be obtained for free, here’s the website:

catholicity.com/novels/

(Hope that isn’t a violation of forum rules–please edit apropriately if it is, with my apologies!)

Frankly I plan to buy about 4 copies of this book, plus their Rosary CD–and some cheap string rosaries, if such can still be found anywhere–and shrink-wrap the whole package to give away.

(Yes, I know I’m Anglican, but I work at a place where any number of Hispanics and other Catholics pass through. A local Protestant ministry gives away free literature and CD’s so I figure I can do the same. If there were an good resource for inexpensive Anglican materials with the same sort of general interest, I would make those available, but failing that–hey, we all can benefit from a little spiritual reading once in awhile. Especially these guys, who are mostly truck drivers and folks in the transportation industry, who get stuck being laid-over somewhere and need something to do).

Anyhow if any non-Catholics have read the book, let me know what you think of ithere. It’s great fun to read, IMHO–even if one of the characters early on in the book can’t seem to quite decide whether he’s drinking a Red Bull energy drink or Jolt Cola. (MacFarlane has done several rewrites of the book, and his editing is not always really careful: I think there is also a place in the book where a compact disc sort of ‘morphs’ into a cassette. Minor booboos which only add to the fun of reading the book).
 
flameburns623 said:
One of the books that has become one of my favorites to read during Lent has been this book. I think I still have two copies of it, and I have ordered as many as four and given them away to friends. I DON’T much care for the sequels, which are meandering and hard for me to follow, but the initial book is great fun to read. It WILL stoke the fires of ‘Roman Fever’ in any who are susceptible, but it’s sort of an answer to the ‘Left Behind’ series of Evangelical Apocalyptic novels. Sicne the book can be obtained for free, here’s the website:

catholicity.com/novels/

(Hope that isn’t a violation of forum rules–please edit apropriately if it is, with my apologies!)

Frankly I plan to buy about 4 copies of this book, plus their Rosary CD–and some cheap string rosaries, if such can still be found anywhere–and shrink-wrap the whole package to give away.

(Yes, I know I’m Anglican, but I work at a place where any number of Hispanics and other Catholics pass through. A local Protestant ministry gives away free literature and CD’s so I figure I can do the same. If there were an good resource for inexpensive Anglican materials with the same sort of general interest, I would make those available, but failing that–hey, we all can benefit from a little spiritual reading once in awhile. Especially these guys, who are mostly truck drivers and folks in the transportation industry, who get stuck being laid-over somewhere and need something to do).

Anyhow if any non-Catholics have read the book, let me know what you think of ithere. It’s great fun to read, IMHO–even if one of the characters early on in the book can’t seem to quite decide whether he’s drinking a Red Bull energy drink or Jolt Cola. (MacFarlane has done several rewrites of the book, and his editing is not always really careful: I think there is also a place in the book where a compact disc sort of ‘morphs’ into a cassette. Minor booboos which only add to the fun of reading the book).
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Bump
 
Well, I ordered the books and the CDs.

Thanks for the heads-up. Looking forward to it.
 
I really need some help and insight here. I picked this book for a women’s book club with some women from work. I absolutely LOVED it! They are all non-Catholic. The first book we read was Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and had lots of New Age connotations. Now, some of the women are saying “I thought we are only reading things with usefulness for work, we need to decide”. Apparently they are having a very hard time with the nature of this wonderful novel. I told them how much I love it and how it is helping me grow in holiness. I will meet to discuss this book on July 10th and need prayer and any insight from Catholics or non-Catholics who have read it. Thanks!
 
catholicmomof5 said:
I really need some help and insight here. I picked this book for a women’s book club with some women from work. I absolutely LOVED it! They are all non-Catholic. The first book we read was Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and had lots of New Age connotations. Now, some of the women are saying “I thought we are only reading things with usefulness for work, we need to decide”. Apparently they are having a very hard time with the nature of this wonderful novel. I told them how much I love it and how it is helping me grow in holiness. I will meet to discuss this book on July 10th and need prayer and any insight from Catholics or non-Catholics who have read it. Thanks!
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I ordered it and will like to discuss Thanks:thumbsup:
 
flameburns623 said:
One of the books that has become one of my favorites to read during Lent has been this book. I think I still have two copies of it, and I have ordered as many as four and given them away to friends. I DON’T much care for the sequels, which are meandering and hard for me to follow, but the initial book is great fun to read. It WILL stoke the fires of ‘Roman Fever’ in any who are susceptible, but it’s sort of an answer to the ‘Left Behind’ series of Evangelical Apocalyptic novels. Sicne the book can be obtained for free, here’s the website:

catholicity.com/novels/

(Hope that isn’t a violation of forum rules–please edit apropriately if it is, with my apologies!)

Frankly I plan to buy about 4 copies of this book, plus their Rosary CD–and some cheap string rosaries, if such can still be found anywhere–and shrink-wrap the whole package to give away.

(Yes, I know I’m Anglican, but I work at a place where any number of Hispanics and other Catholics pass through. A local Protestant ministry gives away free literature and CD’s so I figure I can do the same. If there were an good resource for inexpensive Anglican materials with the same sort of general interest, I would make those available, but failing that–hey, we all can benefit from a little spiritual reading once in awhile. Especially these guys, who are mostly truck drivers and folks in the transportation industry, who get stuck being laid-over somewhere and need something to do).

Anyhow if any non-Catholics have read the book, let me know what you think of ithere. It’s great fun to read, IMHO–even if one of the characters early on in the book can’t seem to quite decide whether he’s drinking a Red Bull energy drink or Jolt Cola. (MacFarlane has done several rewrites of the book, and his editing is not always really careful: I think there is also a place in the book where a compact disc sort of ‘morphs’ into a cassette. Minor booboos which only add to the fun of reading the book).
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Hi flameburns623,

“Bud MacFarlane” is a name I haven’t thought about in quite some time; but I know some in my family used to be (and, for all I know, still are) big fan of his. (Perhaps that’s why I decided to read this thread, when I saw it on the list. Doesn’t really matter.)

Anyways, I have a couple questions: Do you describe yourself as a “High-church” Anglican, or what?

And I notice you used to be LDS. What did you think of the portrayal of Mormons in “Pierced by a Sword”?
 
After reading this thread, I decided to take a peak at the book’s reviews on Amazon.

First of all, the breakdown is a riot:

65 Reviews

5 star : (45)
4 star : (2)
3 star : (3)
2 star : (6)
1 star : (9)

Then I decided to read a few of the reviews. I found the first two on this page to be especially interesting. (Can’t say whether they are accurate or not.)
 
P.S. Was just thinking: is 65 reviews really that many? For comparison, I pulled up “Left Behind”, and found that it also had an average rating of 4 stars on Amazon, but a total of 2,175 reviews:

5 star : (1,337)

4 star : (269)

3 star : (152)

2 star : (105)

1 star : (312)

I would think that Catholics use the internet just as much as Protestants do, right?
 
Not to beat a dead horse, but Father Elijah and Joshua, both Catholic fiction, have, respectively, 92 and 192 reviews on Amazon.
 
flameburns623 said:
One of the books that has become one of my favorites to read during Lent has been this book. I think I still have two copies of it, and I have ordered as many as four and given them away to friends. I DON’T much care for the sequels, which are meandering and hard for me to follow, but the initial book is great fun to read. It WILL stoke the fires of ‘Roman Fever’ in any who are susceptible, but it’s sort of an answer to the ‘Left Behind’ series of Evangelical Apocalyptic novels. Sicne the book can be obtained for free, here’s the website:

catholicity.com/novels/

(Hope that isn’t a violation of forum rules–please edit apropriately if it is, with my apologies!)

Frankly I plan to buy about 4 copies of this book, plus their Rosary CD–and some cheap string rosaries, if such can still be found anywhere–and shrink-wrap the whole package to give away.

(Yes, I know I’m Anglican, but I work at a place where any number of Hispanics and other Catholics pass through. A local Protestant ministry gives away free literature and CD’s so I figure I can do the same. If there were an good resource for inexpensive Anglican materials with the same sort of general interest, I would make those available, but failing that–hey, we all can benefit from a little spiritual reading once in awhile. Especially these guys, who are mostly truck drivers and folks in the transportation industry, who get stuck being laid-over somewhere and need something to do).

Anyhow if any non-Catholics have read the book, let me know what you think of ithere. It’s great fun to read, IMHO–even if one of the characters early on in the book can’t seem to quite decide whether he’s drinking a Red Bull energy drink or Jolt Cola. (MacFarlane has done several rewrites of the book, and his editing is not always really careful: I think there is also a place in the book where a compact disc sort of ‘morphs’ into a cassette. Minor booboos which only add to the fun of reading the book).
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How many diecidely Protestant books have you read in the last year?
Te bible doesnt count 😉
 
I am now in the process of reading the reviews on Amazon and will leave my own. My own reaction is more along the lines of the 5 stars than the others. One guy gave it 2 stars while saying how much it changed his life. He explained, but it was still weird. I have a feeling I will need lots of prayer before my book club meeting July 10th!
 
I am still reading the reviews and commenting on some of them. The positive ones are VERY positive. I would love a non-catholic’s view of these reviews…especially if they have read the book.
 
Peter_J said:
Hi flameburns623,

“Bud MacFarlane” is a name I haven’t thought about in quite some time; but I know some in my family used to be (and, for all I know, still are) big fan of his. (Perhaps that’s why I decided to read this thread, when I saw it on the list. Doesn’t really matter.)

Anyways, I have a couple questions: Do you describe yourself as a “High-church” Anglican, or what?
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High-Church might describe me well though I’m pretty Reformed/Calvinistic in my soteriology
And I notice you used to be LDS. What did you think of the portrayal of Mormons in “Pierced by a Sword”?
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I was not happy with it. Tried to send Bud MacFarlane an e-mail about some of the more-egregious errors I saw in the book. I don’t mind that he used a real church as a foil in his good-versus-evil subplot. (For those who haven’t read the book: the LDS Church comes off looking more like a criminal combination like the Mafia than anything else).
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HisAlone:
How many decidedly Protestant books have you read in the last year?
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Fiction novels? Probably a dozen, perhaps closer to twenty if you count the ones I’ve re-read. Frank Peretti, Randy Alcorn, Ted Dekker, Francine Rivers, Hanegraaff/Brouwer . . . . .there’s a cottage industry of Protestant Christian fiction out there.
 
Hey! I am also CatholicMomof5. I was finally able to log back in on my original account. I have my meeting tomorrow about this book. Please pray for me as I feel as if I am going into spiritual battle.
 
It occurred to me today that should have also pulled up “Rome Sweet Home” at amazon. (I probably didn’t think of it before because it’s non-fiction.) It has 180 reviews. Average is 4.5 stars (tied with “Father Elijah”; the other three books each averaged 4 stars).

Not that anyone asked. 😉
 
I may have prayed too hard before this meeting. The girl who is into the New Age stuff didn’t show up. The only one who came that had read the book was a former Catholic who is going to the Episcopalian church now. The other girl only had the book for two days and had not read much. My mom is reading it and I am excited about that. If anyone on here gets it and reads it, let me know. I read almost all of the amazon reviews. Thanks for the link.
 
flameburns623 said:
(In answer to the question about how the LDS were portrayed in the book): I was not happy with it. Tried to send Bud MacFarlane an e-mail about some of the more-egregious errors I saw in the book. I don’t mind that he used a real church as a foil in his good-versus-evil subplot. (For those who haven’t read the book: the LDS Church comes off looking more like a criminal combination like the Mafia than anything else).
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It scared the “dickens” out of me. (Of course the Sherlock Holms book A Study in Scarlet–available on-line–doesn’t exactly portray things nicely either.)

On the whole though, I really enjoyed the book. (But I guess not everyone likes it. I had given the book to another to read, because I enjoyed it so, but the other person said that she didn’t like it, and promptly returned it.) The book is very fast reading so I know that it wasn’t that.
 
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