Book Review by Terry James

Some years ago, I had considerable correspondence with David Berkowitz, the murderer who carried on his serial killings in the mid-1970s. He was called, of course, “Son of Sam,” the term he gave himself through cryptic writings while still at large in New York City.

He was a completely changed person by the time we wrote back and forth in the period from 2000 to 2010. I sent him books I had written, and we shared a truly Christian, brotherly time of fellowship through snail-mail correspondence. I always wished I could sit across from him in person and talk with him about how the Lord had changed him from the “Son of Sam”to David, the gentleman and gentle man I came to know.

The authors of Redeemed Unredeemable: When America’s Most Notorious Criminals Came Face to Face with God interviewed David Berkowitz as well as interviewed and/or researched in-depth other equally infamous convicted killers, bringing to light how Christ miraculously brought them into God’s eternal family through the once-and-for-all sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary. Their interviews and research on other killers have resulted in an absolutely mesmerizing read.

Not since I read Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood has my attention been so riveted to page after page involving human brutality as with this volume. However, it was a far different sort of enthrallment with Redeemed Unredeemable than with Capote’s work. This book is an uplifting experience for the reader, bringing into focus the amazing glory of God and His ability to transform the vilest of sinners into children fit for eternal life with their Father in Heaven.

Horn and Howell, who interviewed and/or researched the convicted murderers David Berkowitz, Charles “Tex” Watson, Susan Atkins (Watson and Atkins were of the Manson family murders), and Sean Sellers (who killed his parents) present tremendously in-depth investigation of some of history’s most notorious killers. They powerfully present fascinating facts, well known and little known, about Jeffrey Dahmer (homosexual serial killer); mass, serial murderer Ted Bundy; and “The Pickaxe Killer” Karla Faye Tucker—all of whom accepted Christ before their deaths.

READ FOR THE FIRST TIME IN REDEEMED UNREDEEMABLE…

• Exhaustive, fresh research into the court documents and news reports of the most famous criminal investigations and trials
• Exclusive interviews with many who were involved in these cases, including relatives of the victims and perpetrators, prison staff members and ministers, and, when possible, even the criminals, themselves
• Surprising information about those convicted, including a comprehensive look at their family history, their childhoods, and possible motivations for their horrific deeds
• Fresh, “big-picture” insight into the culture and times that served as the backdrop for  these offenders’ lives
• Rare glimpses into these convicted felons’ private lives after sentencing and incarceration
• Compelling exploration of some of the spiritual issues that might have influenced, shaped, and ultimately transformed these men and women

While in no way attempting to excuse or justify any of the devastating crimes these men and women have committed, the authors’ investigation brings to light not just seven case studies of hardened criminals, but seven accounts of loss. Seven stories of searching. Seven chronicles of change. And, ultimately, seven testimonies about redemption.

I wholeheartedly recommend that you get and read Redeemed Unredeemable: When America’s Most Notorious Criminals Came Face to Face with God—the untold stories of America’s most notorious killers, and the unspeakably difficult journeys that brought them to their knees.

Book Review by Terry James

Zola Levitt and I were in conversation while I was in Dallas a number of years ago. Zola was telling me about the time he and Dr. J. Vernon McGee were together on a television program.

Dr. McGee stated on that program that he didn’t necessarily see the nation Israel being back in the land of promise as fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Dr. McGee stated that he thought it possible, even likely, that the current Jewish people of the Israeli state might be removed from the land for later regathering and fulfillment.

Zola said a rather heated, on-air confrontation ensued between him and McGee. I believed him, knowing the passion my friend Zola had for Israel.

Dr. McGee loved the Jewish people, too, and advocated strongly for the Jewish state during the many years he preached in The Church of the Open Door in Los Angeles, then when he taught during his daily Thru the Bible radio programs, which still air today, well after he went to be with the Lord in 1988.

I told Zola—this would have been around 2003—that if Dr. McGee could have witnessed all that had transpired and developed since he left this fallen sphere, he would have a different view regarding the current disposition of Israel. I added that I bet he knows better now. Zola only said in response that he would certainly hope so.

Those two saints are now in complete agreement on everything, while in the presence of their Savior, I have no doubt. I don’t know if they hang out in heavenly get-togethers and discuss what’s going on down here or not. I do know one thing: If they do, both saints are looking down and approving wholeheartedly of perhaps the very best book I’ve yet had the privilege of reading about God’s dealings with the Jewish people and the world’s treatment of same.

Dr. David Reagan forges into matters surrounding God’s chosen people with spiritually empowered intensity. At book’s end, he has thoroughly made clear things that have baffled Bible scholars and neophytes alike in these late days of human history.

The Jewish People: Rejected or Beloved is a book of scriptural depth and richness of explanatory acumen. Anti-Semitic thought is washed away from the platform of debate in the book’s powerful, flowing argumentation.

Anti-Semitism is at the heart of the world’s growing resentment that once again comes against the nation Israel, make no mistake. This volume takes the reader, in concise and easily understood fashion, through the perpetual hatred that has engendered genocide against this people, chosen from the foundation of the world to bless mankind and serve as prototype for God’s dealing with humanity.

Reagan forewarns at the book’s beginning:

I am sorry to say that the message I am going to share with you is one that the Church at large hates, and hates with a passion. For almost 2,000 years the Church has taught a lie about the Jewish people. That lie is the assertion that because the Jews killed Jesus, God has washed His hands of them and has no purpose left for them.

As I will show in this book, that assertion is blatantly contrary to the Scriptures and has resulted in unimaginable suffering.

An Irreversible Call

Romans 11:29 says “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” God called the Jews to be His Chosen People (Deuteronomy 7:6–9), and they remain so today. The time is long overdue for the Church to recognize this fact and accept it. Until it does, the Church will never fully understand God’s plan for the ages.

Replacement theology is rampant, with much of the church of Jesus Christ—probably a great majority—believing that Israel has been replaced in God’s great, prophetic promises. Reagan tells in vivid and unmistakable fashion about the whys and hows of this satanic assault’s beginning, where things stand at present, and to what end all of this vitriol against the Jewish race and Israel, the nation, is rushing this judgment-bound world of anti-God rebels.

The author deals with the difficult subject of the “Dual Covenant” theological postulation championed by such staunch defenders of the Jewish state as John Hagee.

Reagan gives Pastor Hagee’s belief in Dual Covenant for the Jews. According to the author, Hagee’s belief was stated in an interview, as follows.

The Jewish people have a relationship to God through the law of God as given through Moses. I believe that every Gentile person can only come to God through the cross of Christ. I believe that every Jewish person who lives in the light of the Torah, which is the word of God, has a relationship with God and will come to redemption.

Pastor Hagee continued to emphasize his belief that the Jewish people do not need Jesus. He stated he was not trying to convert Jews to Jesus because “they already have a faith structure.” He characterized Jewish evangelism as “a waste of time.”

In all of my study I’ve not been provided such exquisitely detailed unveiling on this convoluted matter as this book presents. Dr. Reagan shows with clearest explanation possible how there is but one gospel, or salvation message, that applies to all of humankind—Jews and Gentiles alike. Chapter 6 of this book alone is more than worth the book’s purchase price.

I can tell you without reservation that I will have this one close by my side when preparing for future books I’m writing—if the Lord allows—as well as for speaking assignments.