BOOK REVIEW OF “FIELDS OF THE FATHERLESS”
By Sue Hamby, PhD
Fields of the Fatherless by Tom Davis is an absolute “must read” book.
Davis talks about how God requested His people to always leave a
portion of the crops for those in need and today Christians need to
care for the fatherless-widows and orphans. James 1:27 tells us “pure
and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for
orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world
corrupt you.” You know that caring for these individuals is important
to God as scripture mentions it more than 60 times. Also Psalms 68:5
tells us “Father to the fatherless, defender of widows-this is God,
whose dwelling is holy”.
According to Davis, there are over 143 million orphans in the world
and if only 7% of the professed Christians would open their lives and
homes to an orphan, there would be no more orphaned children. Millions
of children suffer from HIV and yet a Barna Research Group poll found
that evangelical Christians are less likely than non-Christians to
give money and assistance to Aids related causes.
One section of the book is entitled “Guide to Walking in Fields of
Fatherless”. Davis gives some great suggestions on how individuals or
churches can get involved in this ministry. Some examples of his
suggestions are: 1) Instead of going out to dinner at a nice
restaurant, send the money to a worthy cause 2) Instead of going to
Disney, take the family on a mission trip 3) Connect with an
organization that works with the fatherless domestically or
internationally.
I found the book to be very inspiring and believe that it could change
your life. Davis now travels throughout the world to bring awareness
of the orphan plight to the body of Christ. The book is available at
the Temple Public Library.
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