Danny Bulanadi (artist), No Greater Joy Ministries, Inc.,
322 pp., $12.95
Michael Pearl is a man with a mission. He and his
wife Debi are former foreign missionaries. He de-
scribes the dilemma facing many missionaries who
bring the gospel to people in other lands. Often the
gospel is readily accepted, but it produces little actual
change in the lives of those who hear it. Jesus just
becomes one more god to place on the shelf with a
multitude of other so-called deities.
Pearl believes the primarily reason for this is that the
gospel has not been taught in a sufficient enough way
to ground the hearer in a true Biblical world view.
In our need to make the gospel as simple as possible
we have shorn or cut it off it of its complete Biblical
context. Often the hearers have accepted the gospel
message but still cling to their old pagan briefs and life
views.
Pearl's solution is to produce a chronological graphic
story (comic book) Bible starting from the begin-
ning in Genesis and going through the New Testa-
ment epistles and to the Reformation and beyond. He
believes that by establishing redemptive themes from
the very beginning of creation than the readers will be
convinced of the truth of the Bible and Christ's aton-
ing sacrifice. With the resulting clearer understanding
of the Christian message they will then turn from their
sinful ways and truly become born again followed by
a notable change in lifestyle.
Pearl's approach and theology sits squarely within the
evangelical mainstream (though some may differ
with certain of Pearlʼs interpretations). The copy reads
like a sermon or commentary on the Biblical themes
of sacrifice, redemption and salvation intertwined with
the stories that he mines from the Biblical text. Pearl
is not exhaustive, but selective in the stories that he
chooses to back up the themes he sees in scripture.
This is what separates this Bible adaptation from many
others. We donʼt have the stories of Joseph, Gideon,
Samson, David and Goliath, Daniel in the Lionʼs Den
and others are missing. He believes that this selec-
tive approach combined with the comic book format
will be very effective in communicating the gospel to
needy souls.
Christian and comic book veteran artist, Danny Bula-
nadi does a masterful job by producing highly illustra-
tive continuity artwork. For those who need the broad
redemptive history as presented in the Bible this can
be a great resource which iss being translated into 12
languages.
Review by Don Ensign
www.nogreaterjoy.org
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