In Blessed in the Mess, beloved Bible teacher Joyce Meyer shows us how to be blessed even amid life's most challenging circumstances. The Bible is filled with instructions on how to handle ourselves when difficulty comes our way, and Blessed in the Mess collects that wisdom into poignant and practical teaching that equips us to remain stable and hopeful in every situation. No matter what unpleasant circumstances we may face, we can remain joyful and patient, trusting God as He works on our problems. If you have not handled your problems well in the past, then with God's help, you can begin to handle them better, starting now.

Andrew Sach , Pastor, Grace Greenwich Church, United Kingdom; coauthor, Pierced for Our Transgressions and Dig DeeperHow remarkable it is that, from such a young age, the desire of Carlo Acutis for himself and others was that we become saints! His short yet intense life of just fifteen years, spanning two centuries and crossing the threshold of the second millennium, shows how he fulfilled this desire for himself, and how he has provided a road map to holiness in our times for us all and for young people especially.” The optimistic spirit which is cultivated and attracts so many people in prosperity gospel movement: It’s sad to see and read so many defeatist negative attitudes in certain churches today (or read them on facebook updates), and I have sometimes been guilty as well. When someone asks “How are you?” instead of a simple “I’m fine thank you” or a litany of complaints perhaps I can personalize something along the lines of what the book quotes “I’m blessed and highly favored!” (with the freedom to be authentic with regard to other feelings and without being restricted to “positive confessions”)

And what about that notoriously controversial mark of the beast (Rev. 13:16–17; 16:2; 19:20)? Guthrie views it not as a physical mark, such as a microchip, tattoo, or vaccine, but as a spiritual one that distinguishes those whose loyalty is to Christ from those who have pledged their allegiance elsewhere. Likewise, she sees Armageddon not as a physical battle, but as a spiritual one culminating in Christ’s final judgment and victory of Satan. New Enthusiasm for RevelationMany debates center around Revelation 20’s mention of a 1,000-year period of time in which Satan is bound and Christ reigns. Guthrie seems to take an amillennial approach, which understands this period not as a literal millennium, but as a complete era inaugurated in Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension and continuing through its consummation at his second coming. Bowler approaches this topic as an ethnographer, which means she is much more interested in describing the movement than taking a position on it, but I certainly would have welcome some insights from her into how she feels this highly popular stream of Christianity fits with her own personal theological views. Blessed is practical, not only in each chapter’s closing sections but throughout the book as a whole. Guthrie explains that “Revelation is actually less about when Jesus will return and more about what we are to do, who we are to be, and what we can expect to endure as we wait for Jesus to return to establish his kingdom,” and this focus is evident in her writing. I recommend reading this book slowly, taking adequate time to reflect and pray, as each paragraph contains new practical implications. I found this frustrating. Bowler is an openly professing Christian (of what sort I do not know)—I was hoping for insight, evaluation, even of the somewhat sallow kind allowed Christians writing for secular dissertation committees. I felt I got more insight into the prosperity gospel from her Times article than from her book. There are so many observations that can be discussed from the material in this book that it is impossible to list them all here. This would be a great book for a book club or for weekly discussion with a group of friends! Having said that, here are a few (if somewhat unrelated) thoughts I took from Bowler’s observations of the prosperity gospel movement. The first two are positive, the rest not so much so:

I'd had this book on my wishlist for a while; it seemed like the prosperity gospel was as popular as it was egregiously wrong—and it was increasing in both respects. It seemed so impossible to take it all seriously; I was hoping someone could help me understand its origins and teachings. In some ways, this review hasn’t even touched upon what Dr. Bowler describes as the four themes of the prosperity gospel: faith, wealth, health, and victory. But I have chosen to highlight what stood out most to me, perhaps because it was less familiar until I actually read Blessed.Michael Horton ,J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics, Westminster Seminary California

Understand the Book of Revelation:Helps readers make sense of Revelation’s unique apocalyptic symbolism, visual imagery, and Old Testament allusions Gospel of Wealth (from Carnegie's essay) defined by positive thinking, which stressed the power of mind over matter. "Positive thinking was synthetic, mixing the categories of religion, psychology, medicine, and self-hep; its prophets were not typically systematizers or intellectuals, but popularizers and doers." (31).Fourth is noting its greater racial cross-pollination than much of Christianity while showing it still has flaws.