Customer Reviews

The Messenger (Thorndike Press Large Print Christian Fiction)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
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2 star:		(1)
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The plot of this novella revolves around the premise of an angel, Ariel, who is sent to earth on a mission of mercy. Ariel's heavenly pass-card is stolen, and she is unable to return to heaven.

The naivete of this heavenly messenger about the ways of earth is at first entertaining, but soon wears thin because it reflects badly on angels, and ultimately on their sender, God Himself. Although the notion of earthly strangers being angels is certainly Scriptural (Heb. 13:2), the whole notion of an angel being stranded on earth is entirely unsupported by Scripture. Further, Scripture's angels can be entertained "unawares" (Heb. 13:2) - but with Bunn's angels it's quite the opposite: their earthly ignorance does little to hide their heavenly identity!

Even when I tried to overlook these weaknesses, and suspend reality by entering the fictional world of Bunn's imagination, I did not find the story-line very compelling. The plot is at best cute, although I felt that there was an unwarranted focus on the work of the Spirit outside the Word. Ultimately, however, this book never quite overcomes the weakness of its premise: it's one thing for a story-line to be fiction, but it's quite another when one of the underlying theological concepts is fictional also.

The Messenger is very special. It lightened my heart while it made me cry with tears of unexplainable joy. I recommend it to all ages. It helped scrub my soul.

I read this book to my children at night befor bed and they really enjoyed this book. Then I read it over to my husband. I wonder how many times we have met an angel and not realized it? Maybe we should be aware of how we treat other people we come in contact with every day. Who knows, it may be an angel

As both an author and reader of fiction, I was impressed with "The Messenger". Maybe it is because I have always enjoyed a book that could hold my attention and make me think at the same time. In a nutshell, the characters are believable and yet a little out of the ordinary and the story line unique. Give this book a try.
The Christian fiction book that I have written main story line is about ten years in the life of a little girl who was "chosen by God" to be the next Madonna in the second coming of Christ.
Tommy Taylor
Author -The Second Virgin Birth