Book review: God’s Secret Agent

One of the podcasts I listen to was offering the book God’s Secret Agent as a free gift back in November or December last year. I took them up on their offer and had them send me the book. It is written by Sammy Tippit. Though I feel like I know the big names in conservative fundamental religious circles, I had never heard of Sammy Tippit.

This book is an autobiography. It shares his spiritual quest from his salvation to his opportunities to stand on some of the world’s largest stages and present the Gospel of Christ. It is quite remarkable the places that God led him during the cold war. He was in the USSR during the 1980s when it was hard for Westerners to get in, let alone Christians.

It is inspiring to see how God led him and his team into some wonderful, and often scary, preaching opportunities. Sometimes, in ways that would not be considered rational. Though I personally shy away from “shock” evangelism, he shows how God used it during times and situations that was very effective. He even admits in the book that there are some things that he did in the past that were right for the times he did them, but he would not participate in them today.

Lest you think this is an autobiography of an old man telling about what great things God has done in the past, let me assure you that the book comes right up to the present. Mr. Tippit is not yet an old man looking back on the past from a rocking chair on the porch. As a man in his 50s, he possibly has another 20 to 30 years to take a stand for God.

The book ends with him talking about places where he will soon be preaching (the book is 6 years old now) where God is working. He was not even able to name the countries to which he would be going. Though he has not been involved primarily in Bible and tract smuggling, he has gotten into countries to share the Gospel under some pretty clandestine ways.

Again, I know nothing about the man or where he stands doctrinally. Perhaps I would not agree with him on many issues. But it appears to me, from reading this book, that we can agree with the fact that God has a work for us to do and that each one of us needs to seek God’s guidance in our daily lives.

Even if you are not of the same religious persuasion as I (Why not? Don’t you know I am right?), I think you could enjoy the suspense and intrigue in this real life story of a man who wants to be wholly given over to God.

God’s Secret Agent: An Autobiography, 296 pages, Tyndale House Publishers, 2001, Sammy Tippit and Jerry Jenkins

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.