Did God Put a Book Inside of You?

The devil has an army of authors helping him publish anti-biblical, pro-satanic propaganda. The world overflows with books that promote wickedness, immorality, perversion, and the occult. Sadly, it seems that the only ones who have taken John’s fill-the-earth challenge to heart are the enemies of Christ. Where are the children of God? Where are the defenders of the faith? Where are the voices of the redeemed?

Did God Put A Book Inside Of You? by Jerry Ross is a complete beginner’s handbook to writing, whether you want to write novels, devotionals, tracts, or anything else. It starts by discussing the philosophy of Christian writing, then moves on to practical help on how to pick a concept, and then take it all the way to a paper copy. And all this in a volume that can be read in an afternoon.

I highly recommend this to anyone looking to start writing—or even someone who’s had experience writing—and I’ll explain why in this review.

Why You Should Write

To open the book, Ross dives into the philosophy of writing, specifically Christian writing. John 21:25 states:

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

Jerry Ross claims this as the theme verse of this book, and Christian writing in general. As he explains, the verse says there are some books that should be written. And those books are the ones about the great acts of Jesus—and by extension, God.

But there’s a difference between should be and could be. Those stories of God’s power won’t write themselves. Christian authors must step up and infuse divine truth into the literature market.

The next few chapters are devoted to giving the reader every reason to write. Are you worried about not being well known? Do you fear you don’t know enough about writing? These questions and more are answered. He leaves you with little, if any, excuse not to write.

And to close out this first section, he gives five reasons why Christians must write. Among these are that truth needs a voice, that writing influences future generations, and that writing can be an enjoyable and relaxing hobby.

These first four chapters are packed with truth. Despite many of these points being absent from the secular and even Christian sources from which I’ve learned, they’re instrumental to the Christian writer.

For example, in the introduction Ross details how he read Moby Dick when he was younger and loved it. Yet he says that, while he could never reach that book’s storytelling prowess, anything he writes will ultimately be better. He explains it this way:

But in the most important test of all literature, I know that what I write is superior.
I have a mightier theme. … For any Christian author, [Jesus] is our theme.

This is foundational to the Christian writer. The author goes on the spend the rest of the book helping Christians write well, which is also vital to the delivery of truth. But the most important thing is that we write that truth.

What You Should Write

For the next seven chapters, Did God Put a Book Inside of You? explores not only why, but what you should write. The author lists 12 writing opportunities, from tracts and newspaper columns to full-fledged fiction and nonfiction books. The majority of these things are small-scale projects that you can start immediately. I even got a couple of ideas from this list.

He then proceeds to give a bird’s-eye view of the entire writing process, from ethereal idea all the way to published book. I won’t discuss much of this here, as this isn’t necessarily a post about writing, but the advice he gives is perfect for new and experienced writers.

Many Christian books—especially fiction—communicate great truths, but they do so less than skillfully. I’ve reviewed such books on this blog before. While the truth is still delivered in a powerful way, it could be so much more powerful if the book told a well-crafted story.

But Jerry Ross is not one of these authors, and if he has anything to say about it, neither will his readers be. He gives industry-standard advice from a Christian perspective. This is, by his own admission, a zoomed-out and abridged look at writing. But for anyone just beginning to write, I can’t recommend a better place to start.

How You Should Write

A list of the 21 most common writing mistakes closes out the book. First are seven grammar mistakes, then seven style mistakes (as in, lack of sentence variety, active vs. passive voice, etc.), and then seven personal mistakes (such as producing a low-quality product or refusing negative feedback).

These are, again, fantastic points. Any writer will benefit from a frequent perusal of these 21 things and an application of them to their writing.

One of the mistakes is being too preachy. I had heard this from Christian writing sources many a time, but Ross explained it in a way I hadn’t seen before. In his words, “I want to provide the evidence needed to take them to the intended destination, but do so in a way which makes them feel like they are riding with me in the front seat of the car, not tied up and duct-taped in the back.”

Overall

If I haven’t said it enough, let me reiterate: If you’re a new writer—or even if you’ve been writing for years—check out this book. If you want to start writing, Did God Put a Book Inside of You? has you covered. It’s a field guide that you can refer to throughout your journey. And best of all, the advice is coming from a conservative, Christian author who has much experience in the field.

It’s not the only book about writing you’ll ever need, because, at just over 100 pages, it doesn’t go in-depth. But it’s a great place to start.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll write you in the next one!