Overcoming the World

This is the fourth in a series of booklets that bring together articles on related themes that have appeared in Evangelical Times. The articles in this booklet have all been written by Faith Cook and appeared in Evangelical Times from 1999 to 2006. They are mini-biographies of ten different people who, in different ways, have overcome the world.Faith Cook’s preface expresses her desire that the reader will be encouraged to ‘overcome the world’ in days of rampant ungodliness, with the possibility of persecution looming ever nearer.The chapters are arranged in chronological order, beginning with John Rogers who was born in 1500, and ending with Fred Mitchell who died in 1953. Some of the subjects in the booklet are well known, such as Edward VI, John Bunyan and the Countess of Huntingdon. Others are not so well known and the reader is introduced to new examples of grace and godliness.All these biographies are well written and some of them are deeply moving, especially the description of John Rogers’ martyrdom in the opening chapter. They all show how the Lord enables his people to persevere through all kinds of trials.This would be a good book to give to young Christians in order to introduce them to the riches of Christian biography.

Mark Rowcroft