Book Review: True Light by Berhanu Aberra Tadesse
This book review is begin given in exchange for a copy of the book and a small monetary stipend. All opinions are my own.
Berhanu Aberra Tadesse has had an interesting faith journey. Born in Ethiopia he attended Ethiopia Aviation University earning his associates in aviation maintenance. At the age of 25 Berhanu began to search for the meaning behind our existence, answers to his endless questions about life and an end to the ever present confusion he felt. By 28 he immersed himself in books and teachings by numerous authors and authorities. Many of those teachings deepened his understanding of life, but they still felt incomplete.
“I appreciated their discussions about spirituality, interconnectedness, and universal wholeness, but I could not accept the idea that I am a God...I eventually decided to begin reading the Bible, as friends and peers suggested that if I approached the throne of god and prayed for true understanding, He would reveal it to me.”
Berhanu took the advice of his friends and prayed for God to show him if he was the one true God. On that same day, he felt compelled to open the Bible to a random spot and this is the first verse he read.
“5 You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.”
Berhanu described the experience in this way.
“I was astonished at the notion that God truly communicated with me. I cannot explain how, but deep within me, I knew and believed unequivocally that it was God speaking to me.”
True Light is what followed Tadesse’s struggle over a period of years to give his life completely over to Jesus. The book is the cumulation of how Berhanu came to understand the importance of maturity in Christ. Through scripture, personal insight, philosophical underpinnings, and descriptive text Bernahu shares a deep dive into life after we accept Christ.
Berhanu also discusses the problems, not just in our own country, but the whole world with division and lack of unity. He intimates that true unity will only be found in Christ and in the Kingdom of God, and it is only in maturing as a Christ follower that we begin to come in to our true selves; who God desires us to be.
The book is divided into five parts: Part One - True Light - speaking to truth, and understanding the state of our hearts, wills and minds; Part Two - Unity is Found Solely in Christ - the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives; Part Three - The Kingdom of God - covering concepts of our Christian walk such as righteousness, peace, power, love, self-discipline, and gratitude; Part Four - Entering the Kingdom of God - a look at dualism and how it affects our lives through choices like humility vs pride, love vs selfishness, and embracing a mind of unconditional love; Part 5 - Enjoying the Kingdom of God - finding believer’s rest in Christ, spiritual warfare and putting on the new man.
My personal take on True Light is that it is a good resource for any Christian to read and even to keep in their personal library. I am planning on going through it again with a highlighter in hand. I do want to point out that the book, at this point is self published, and there are a number of printing mistakes where words are not divided correctly. In addition there were a few spots where I thought quotation marks were needed. I also would have liked if the author would have given a little more thought to chapter divisions and length. It could have been streamlined with a few simple changes.
However, I do believe this is a valuable book to have in your personal library, especially in this day and age when unity is such a hard thing to find. True Light gives each of us as Christ followers a review of what is really important in our faith, and reminds us that maturity in Christ is essential for becoming a believer who not only experiences the richness of God’s blessings, but is also able to be used by Him to influence others towards His Kingdom.