Gods At War, by: Kyle Idleman

"Gods At War" is a book about what idols (or gods) are waring for the throne of your heart. Idleman lays out several key points and goes through various types of gods we come in contact with on a daily basis. His book is seperated into four sections: gods at war, the temple of pleasure, the temple of power, and the temple of love.
In the first section Idleman walks the reader through some differing ideas on what an idol truly is. Then he asks the reader to examine their life and find the idols that they bow down to, the ones that are ruling their lives. In the final chapter of this first part Idleman talks about Joshua 24 where Joshua gives a sort of ultimatum to the people of Israel. Joshua tells them to decide whom they will serve, other gods or the one true God. Idleman breaks down this passage into four main areas idols come from: parents, past, present and the one true God. He then ties these four areas back into the passage in Joshua.
In the following three sections Idleman describes common idols that we face in our world today. The section called "temple of pleasure" contains chapters about food, sex and entertainment. The next section contains the gods of success, money and power. And lastly in the "temple of love" section Idleman describes the gods of romance, family and self. He breaks each of these potential gods down into their barest forms and provides several anecdotes throughout the chapters as explainations and to give examples of real people who struggle with these gods.
The thrust of the book is to provide a good look at idolatry and a call to begin to take it seriously, as an issue we struggle with today. He is careful to say that these "gods" in and of themselves are not the issue, they become the issue when we begin to give them the glory God deserves.
I enjoyed the book, and found it challenging in many places. It was also very easy to understand and written in a user friendly way. Many stories were provided to explain or soliodify points throughout the story. I found them to be interesting and funny and I thought Idleman drew good analogies between the stories and the points he was trying to make.
Overall I would rate this book a 4 out of 5. I did not think it was a bad book, in fact I didn't have any huge complaints about it. However it is not a book that instantly became my favorite. The information within the book was presented in an interesting and engaging fashion, and at some points was challenging. but again, it does not make my top ten list. This book is an average book, rated right up there with Chan's "Crazy Love" and "Forgotten God" or Rob Bell's "Velvet Elvis"