Book Review: The Full Armor of God

The Full Armor of God:

Defending your life from Satan’s Schemes

Larry Richards

Bethany House Publishers, Chosen Books

Christians are in a spiritual war. The Full Armor of God, by Larry Richards is an attempt to help Christians understand the battle and use the resources God has provided to endure to the end. Richards uses the book of Ephesians as the outline to instruct the believer in “spiritual warfare”.  Unfortunately, I believe that the book fall short in what it sets out to accomplish.

There are some helpful aspects to the book, but I would not recommend this book. The book is a combination of the Biblical text with affirmations of self worth. Not in every case, but I did notice a theme that the “demons” were bad feelings over a bad childhood. The Christian does have the answer to emotional issues, pain, and struggle -- satisfaction in Jesus Christ. He is where you find peace, love, and forgiveness.  Richards seeks to apply worldly salve to a spiritual problem. For example, in the chapter on “Putting on the Helmet of salvation” one part of the application is to “Tape a picture of yourself as a child on the bathroom mirror. Each time you see the picture, bless the child that you were, and remind her or him of how deeply she or he is loved by Jesus.”  This kind of worldly wisdom cannot free a person from the true pain that they receive. The Bible is sufficient to teach and guide, these exercises are not.

There is a chapter on casting out demons. It is three pages long. Half of the three pages are dedicated on how to cast demons out. Five paragraphs. First, let me say that I do believe in demon possession. Secondly, I do believe that Apostles and the early churches had the power to cast out demons. Thirdly, I believe these gifts ceased.  The Bible does not teach us to go about and cast demons out of things, and the Bible does not teach us how to recognize demon possession, so in a chapter to instruct, there should be a theological foundation, and Biblical instruction. There wasn't, and there is a reason for the absence.  The rest of the chapter was another plug for the “Freedom Workshop”.

From the start, I felt like the book was a advertisement for his Freedom Workshops that he teaches all over the country.  Through the book, we are reminded of the Workshop and given an appendix of exercises to be done in group settings, in “Live Free” sessions -  not what one would expect when purchasing a book on spiritual warfare.

I’m very grateful Bethany House Publishers and Chosen Books for sending me this review copy. Though I did gain some from the book, I would not recommend this book.