When Jesus changed my life I want to read more about Christ and how to live for Christ. I spent so much money on worthless books. Some were worthless because of lack of content. Other were worthless because of wrong theology. I could have easily be led astray if I had followed some of those books and authors. So how do you choose good books to read.

(1) Don’t judge a book by its cover. Don’t buy one because of a catchy title and a pretty cover. Also don’t look past those with a simple or boring title and a basic cover. Many times those are the best.

(2) Pick a book by the author. The author makes a book because of his personal beliefs about God and Christian living. Technical terms for this is doctrines or theology (simply what one thinks about God.) I picked some bad authors over time and wasted mucho money on them.

So how do you determine a good author? You determine a good author by (a) their theology/doctrine (b) where they went to seminary (c) what denomination they belong to (d) personal character if you can find out that information (e) what churches they have been pastor, (f) who endorses this book, and (g) recommendations from ministers you trust and have read them.

Here are some great authors you cannot go wrong with. Warren Wiersbe, Charles “Chuck” Swindoll, Charles “Chuck” Colson, Charles Stanley, Billy Graham, Henry Blackaby, Beth Moore, Dallas Willard, Bill Hull, Ron Dunn, Millard Erickson, Wayne Grudem, John Maxwell, Andrew Murray, R.A Torrey, John Phillips, Stephen Olford, Tony Evans, Kay Arthur, John Piper, John MacArhthur, Oswald Sanders, Oswald Chambers, D. James Kennedy, and Erwin Lutzer. These are a few to begin with.

(3) Read the excerpt from the back of the book or inside cover about the author and you can tell some things about him. It will normally tell which seminary he went to or teaches. There are many good seminaries that teach the Bible is inspired by God and without error. Some of these seminaries are Dallas Theological Seminary, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Southwestern Baptist Theological, and Southeaster Baptist Theological seminary. Just look up that seminary and read their statements of faith. That will tell you what they believe and teach.

(4) Denomination helps you understand where an author is coming from. Baptist, Presbyterian, Assembly of God, Pentecostal, Methodist all have certain beliefs. There are splinter groups within each one of these denominations that teach differing beliefs. For instance there are liberal Baptists and liberal Presbyterians. There are Methodists who believe the Bible to be inspired and without error and there are those who reject that completely. There are groups within these denominations that believe homosexuality is not a sin and women can serve as senior pastors. Others reject that completely. Research them to find out which group they belong to.

(5) Endorsements can help you pick a good book. Read the inside of the front cover and the back cover to see who endorsed this book and who wrote the forward. Normally they don’t put no-name people on these endorsements. I was looking over one book on Spiritual Leadership by Oswald Sanders. It is endorsed by some of the greatest Bible scholars of our time and Christian leaders of our day. Men and women like Charles “Chuck” Colson, John Maxwell, John MacArthur, Nancy Leigh DeMoss, D. James Kennedy, Warren Wiersbe, Erwin Lutzer, and Chip Ingram. The book would be worth reading if only one of these endorsed it, but all of them endorsed it.

(6) The publisher of the book will normally help you determine a good book. Some of the best publishers are not just in the money business but see their work as a ministry and have a set of standards. Some are off shoots of other ministries. Some very good publishers to look at are Thomas Nelson, Broadman and Holmam, Moody, Word, Multnomah, Tyndale, W Publishing Group, NavPress, IVP, Baker, Zondervan, and Eerdsmans. Obviously I haven’t read every book these publishers produce but everyone that I have read has been solid. Now I have read many books by other publishers who have some very good books but also have some that I question. The ones that I question have bee produced more recently than their older works. I have seen a few of the IVP and Baker, and Zondervan books that I believe are totally off base. These are some of their more recently published works.

(7) Read reviews of the book. Check out the books reviews from Christianity Today.com, Amazon.com, and Christian Book Distributors. Some of the reviews from individuals at Amazon.com are always very biased. If the author is against homosexuality and someone writes a negative review about the book because he is against it, then you know something about that book. For example read the Amazon.com reviews of Spiritual Leadership by Oswald Sanders.

(8.) Warnings and Where to buy a good book. Don’t just browse books at Barnes and Noble or Books-A-Million or your local book seller. They put Mormon, Jehovah Witness, and other crazy cult and crazy belief stuff right beside the good books. Be careful. I buy from them when I have to, but I know the author, I know the book I am getting because I have already researched it. Some other good places to buy from are www.Amazon.com, www.Christianbook.com, and www.lifeway.com.