The title of this book references a promise that appears in Revelation 1:3, which reads, “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.” Blessed walks through Revelation verse by verse, skipping a few short passages, with the goal to “cut through the confusion and help you to see the beauty, the hope and help, that is uniquely presented in this book” (23). Each chapter’s commentary concludes with practical answers to the question of what it means to “hear” and “keep” what’s written in the passages and so experience the promised blessing. How 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.” Finally, we need a road map. The life and witness of Blessed Carlo Acutis show us the way: “Always to be united with Jesus, this is my programme of life.” To live with Jesus, for Jesus and in Jesus is the simple and achievable roadmap that he sets out for us in five practices.” However, on Friday October 09, 2020 I was browsing YouTube and came across a livestream of Eucharistic Adoration of youth on the vigil of Carlo’s beatification. I had a bit of an idea about what was happening, though not much because the program was in Italian. Yet, there was still something that lingered with me about the Carlo. The next day, I was able to follow live up until the Gloria (so the Beatification rite, and presentation of the relic) since I was at work that day. However, when I got home, I watched the rest of the Mass (with English commentary). Blessed, by bestselling author and speaker Nancy Guthrie, provides individuals and small groups a friendly yet theologically robust guide to understanding the book of Revelation.

Thankfully, trouble is not continuous in our lives. We also go through seasons that are peaceful and pleasant. But life does not always go as we would like, and we need to be prepared for the times when it gets messy. As Guthrie implies, the discerning reader can draw fairly confident conclusions about her hermeneutical perspective. She interprets the images in Revelation as symbolic, noting the influence of earlier biblical passages in our understanding of the text, as well as how they corresponded to the realities of first-century believers. The symbols are “not a system of codes waiting to be matched for meaning with people and events in our current day. Rather, they have theological and spiritual meaning pertinent to the first readers [that] . . . must inform how we interpret their meaning for us today” (19). To interpret these images symbolically is not to minimize the truth of the text, but to interpret according to its genre, recognizing that John spoke in metaphor and analogy to describe unseen realities in terms we can somewhat understand. It is possible to allow our difficulties to make us better and to live in such a way that we will end up better off than we were before the trouble began. We should never waste our pain. Through the wisdom distilled in this book, we can learn how to gain something from our messes, use what we've learned to stay out of trouble in the future, and allow our newfound wisdom to help other people mind blessing in the mist of their messes. A beautiful new life of Carlo Acutis the IT enthusiast who died at just 15 years old but lived his life for Christ. The author introduces us to the five simple practices which helped to make Blessed Carlo Acutis the first Millennial Blessed. Richly illustrated with photographs of Blessed Carlo and with a great selection of his sayings this is an ideal introduction to a wonderful life. Yes from a young age he has a passion for the tings of God. But it was also something he worked at and strived for.The book then goes on to list and outline the practice of that fivefold path. Towards the end of the closing reflections is that same quote from the first picture of Carlo. This is then followed by a series of Carlo’s sayings. And a prayer. Can we truly find peace and even blessing amid the chaos, the disappointments, and the messes that life brings our way? Belief that Jesus conquered poverty, that "faith operated as a perfect law," "drawing a straight line between life circumstances and a believer's faith. . . . any irregularities meant that the believer did not play by the rules." You can lay out a set of mortgages from a huge investment risk on the table and command God to pay them, and it will happen. rang true to a vision of righteous individuals bending circumstances to their vision of the good life At times, the prosperity gospel hovered so closely to its nationalistc alter ego, American civil relgion, that it appeared to be its pentecostal twin, each offering an account of transcendent truths at the core of the American character. But rather than sacralizing the founding of the United States or visions of manifest destiny, the prosperity gospel [deified] and ritualized the American Dream: upward mobility, accumulation, hard work, and moral fiber. The two shared an unshakably high anthropology, studded with traits that inspire action, urgency, as sense of chosenness, and a desire to shoulder it alone." (226).

Revelation with its focus on the end times was prominent in evangelical pop culture. Perhaps as a result what comes to mind when you think of Revelation is terrifying creatures emerging from the sea, numerous government leaders deemed the antichrist, or countless theories about what exactly the mark of the beast is. You might think a book about the future doesn’t have much bearing on the challenges you face today. Or maybe you love the glorious picture of the new creation in Revelation 21 but have some trepidation about exploring the rest of this controversial letter. Kate Bowler, Ph.D. is a 3x New York Times bestselling author, award-winning podcast host, and professor at Duke University. Bowler notes the recent emphasis in soft prosperity churches upon cultivating healthy bodies through diet and exercise versus the obesity which has crept into mainstream American society. The church doesn’t want to blindly follow after the rest of popular mainstream culture in idolizing health, but in too many Christian communities there is little to no emphasis being placed upon our need to be actively cultivating physically-healthy bodies.Over 12 chapters, Blessed covers the full text of the book of Revelation, exploring its call to patient endurance as God’s sovereign plans for judgment and salvation are worked out in the world. In this book, Guthrie shows how Revelation is less about when Jesus will return and more about who we are to be, what we are to do, and what we can expect to endure as we wait for Jesus to return to establish his kingdom in the new creation. 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.