It is the Blood
When Gloria Lieberman was asked why she wanted to write a book, her response was steadfast and unchanging: God told her to do it. This is a common reason behind many religious believers’ actions and decisions, but Lieberman believes that God does not make demands on a whim; those who are blessed enough to hear his call do so only after a lengthy period of self-discovery and realization.
The goal of Lieberman’s book is to help those struggling to reconcile their daily life with that of a life devoted to answering God’s call. Lieberman, who has struggled to do just that, believes that if her book can help even one person, then it is a true success.
It is the Blood is written in a conventional format: The author quotes Biblical text and provides loose translations of names and words found throughout the Bible (Lieberman herself would admit that her knowledge of the Hebrew language is fairly rudimentary). From the start, Lieberman attempts to introduce readers to a relationship with God that is ready to bloom at any instant. She presents some Bible verses and offers her take on everything from the words used to describe God in these quotations to the reasoning behind the decision to cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden.
Though Lieberman presents many arguments about why she believes we can each receive a call from God in our personal lives, none of them is quite convincing enough. The book provides examples from the author’s personal life about how God spoke to her on a daily basis, but the stories are rushed and sound slightly contrived. They will fail to convince even the most willing participants. For example, Lieberman tells a story about her break-up with her boyfriend Jeff:
I told him never to call me again and I wouldn’t be calling him. The next morning on the way to work GOD spoke to me and told me to call Jeff. I said, “No.” I’m not going to pretend that it was the devil or some demon. Nope. I knew without an ounce of doubt that it was GOD.
Stories like this one pop up throughout the book, but they never provide any sort logical argument for the reader. Even readers who take these stories as truth will likely fail to properly understand how God can speak to them.
Ultimately, the book is too disjointed to have the impact the author hopes for. Such a one-sided debate can only work when the primary argument is sufficiently well crafted.
Reviewed by
Liam Brennan
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
