Restoration Of The Heart Is The Lord’s Plan And Purpose For You, by Paul Bradley, Sr.

[Note: This book was provided free of charge from Author Blog Tours in exchange for an honest review.]

While I was reading this book, I was struck by the fact that it reminded me a great deal of reading self-published books by lay members or small groups from the Church of God community I know well. There are a variety of reasons why this is so, ranging from the mix of conversational tone and dense biblical references, with occasional flights of fancy and conjecture, the use of multiple ways of emphasis (from all caps to bold to italics to air quotes to underlines) that were frequently used, the way that certain terms tended to be repeated over and over again, the use of numbered lists and creative acrostics. There is also the matter of the frequent use of Hebrew word analysis through Strong’s concordance as well as the frequent search for deep meanings in words and in scriptures placed in an almost stream of consciousness way with lots of digressions and tangents. Those who love the writings of HWA and other Church of God authors who have mimicked his style would find much to appreciate here. This could even be the text of a several-part sermon from a COG minister looking at biblical examples of wickedness in defense of men acting like men, in offering a look at prophecy that calls on America to repent in the face of judgment, that talks about individual struggles in the past tense and that offers a very strong perspective that decries partial obedience to God and places high moral demands on others that approaches perfection, which is ironic in light of the struggles that this book talks about and the fact that the book decries ministers who are too authoritarian. It is easier to preach truth than to practice it, though.

This book is organized in a very straightforward way that is effective in conveying the message. The book is organized into three parts. The first part deals with the controlled heart, looking at twelve qualities of hearts that are ruled over by an authoritarian spirit of satanic control that the book calls “the Jezebel spirit” in honor of that wicked queen of Israel. These qualities include: a desire for control, a hunger for power, destructiveness, false peace and happiness, being under compulsion or being driven, a false sense of religion, actions leading to death, being filled with fear, being off-centered (the book even mentions “the way of get” as opposed to “the way of give” here), being spiritually blind, being prideful and arrogant, and being defensive when threatened. The second part of the book (which is also the shortest) gives a very redacted account of the broken relationships and church-hopping of the writer, and the third part of the book uses the acronym H.E.A.R.T. to look at a restored heart (healing, and end to and endurance through impasses, assurance and anointing, reception and restoration, and thanksgiving). The book is sprinkled throughout with almost impromptu prayers, and closes with a thoughtful study guide that summarizes the book and its concerns well.

This book is an example of a very thoughtful and serious self-published effort. By that standard, it succeeds very well as a book, and it is clearly the result of a great deal of prayer and Bible Study and serious effort. There is no question of the author’s sincerity or his passion for his work as well as for the restoration of the Church as well as our nation. Aside from a few minor quibbles like the tension between the author’s avowed wish to obey the whole Bible and his clear ignorance of such massively important matters as the Sabbaths, as well as some imagined conversations between Jesus Christ and the Father about Esther, most of my suggestions for improving the book are editorial matters, like moving the personal story about a broken heart to the beginning, to start the book out with a personal touch as well as removing many of the digressions to footnotes or endnotes to improve story flow, to reducing the amount of words that are emphasized to avoid the feeling that the author is talking down to the reader (which tends to happen when I read books by HWA or those who mimic him as well). One thing I would not change, though, is the amazing ending of the book, where the author makes a heartfelt and moving plea for the readers (who he describes through the text in very friendly terms) to be an agent for restoring the hearts of many in our broken world. It is a plea I hope that this book’s readers take to heart and apply in our own lives and relationships, for there is much that is broken that needs to be restored, starting with ourselves.