A Farewell to Mars: An Evangelical Pastor's Journey Toward the Biblical Gospel of Peace

Powerful, honest and courageous! This is one of those books that will leave you utterly grateful you found it and it's author. Wish every church in the US would dive into this. We need this radical Prince of Peace! Unfortunately, I think most pastors are scared today to preach peace, scared that they will offend their people's sense of patriotism and nationalism

I was struck early in this book by the author's brilliantly crafted premise on crowd psychology. He links this well to give a bold confidence in Christ's method and purpose at the Cross. Unfortunately that is where the insight ends. His journey is just that...a journey. It is without a clear vision. It lacks a destination, design or plan beyond an expression of opinion. Lord knows there are Bloggers for that and they can be read for free!. Given the author's insightful beginning, it would have been interesting to see how he intends to bring his learning to realization. Instead the reader gets caught up in the journey only to find that he is now just as lost as the author with no practical way to apply what may have been learned along the way.

I was a die hard self-defense, defense of another, and proactive defense (preventing the need to defend). I was an extremely patriotic war enthusiast who ignored Jesus' teachings of peace without realizing it. This book breaks the chains of bondage to violence and removes the blinders of patriotism! Brian Zahnd is a genius and is definitely hearing from God!