Daily Readings from: The Christian in Complete Armour - by William Gurnall

I have read a good chunk of the unabridged Christian in Complete Armour by William Gurnall, it is very good but HUGE, you kind of need to plough through it. This book, Daily Readings from The Christian in Complete Armour, was an excellent idea!  Breaking it up into small chunks for daily reading makes it a much easier read, and gives you a good taste of Gurnall's great skill of teaching and illustrating various spiritual warfare concepts.

The best summary that I can come up with is that this book is like having a spiritual commanding officer giving you a rousing speech each day to be ready to fight the battles to come.  Gurnall talks about the armor our General has provided for us and each individual piece's purpose,  he instructs us to keep in  mind that we should 'wrestle' with the enemy in the way our General has instructed us to do so, not merely in the way that we think we can defeat him,  he also examines the strategy of our spiritual enemy, and gives many warnings about his tactics

Every day Gurnall will warn you about the enemy's deceptive tactics, alerting you with statements like, "When Satan cannot hide the truth, he works to hinder the practical application of it."  and  "If you wish to stand firm in the midst of suffering, forewarn yourself of this fact:  Temptation is never stronger than when relief seems to dress itself in the very sin that Satan is suggesting."  He'll remind you to be ready to follow the Commander's orders at any moment, "Sometimes soldiers do not have as much as an hour's warning before they  must take the field.  And so you, too, might be called out to suffer for God …. Abraham, for example, had very little time to deal with his heart and persuade it to obey God by offering his child.  'Take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest' - not in a year, not a month or week, but now (Genesis 22:2).  This command came during the night and 'early in the morning' he was on his way to the mountain (v.3). .....Sometimes God makes very sudden changes in our personal lives."  He will remind you to keep your focus during suffering, "Let those who will, mock and scorn your faith.  What is Heaven worth if you cannot bear a little shame?  If they spit in your face, Christ will wipe it off.  They may laugh at you now, but not later.  The final outcome has already been declared, and you have sided with the victor."  And reminds us that our Commander is invincible, "Let Lucifer choose his way; God is a match for him at every weapon.  If he assaults the saint by persecution, God will oppose him.  If he works by a subtlety, God is ready there also.  The devil and his whole council are mere fools to God.  The more wit and craft in sin, the worse, because it is employed against an all-wise God who cannot be outwitted."

But remember, this book shouldn't be used to replace the Word of God, if you are going to ready any book every day that book should be the Bible.  Like any book, besides the Bible, this book has its flaws, to  name a few, the author may give a bit too much credit to Satan in our spiritual warfare and even in this world in general (he seemed to think that Satan can control the weather), and I don't agree necessarily with all of his advice or application of certain texts, but overall I thought the book was very good, It's now one of my favorite books.  It is VERY motivating and thought-provoking, it is a very good sort of 'push' to have in the mornings to get out and do the work, and fight the battles, that God has ordained for us to face. 

I'll end with one of my favorite, motivating, go out and fight the good fight type of quotes from the book:

 "You should find great strength and encouragement in the knowledge that your commission is divine.  God Himself underwrites your battle and has appointed His own Son "the captain of [your] salvation" (Hebrews 2:10).  He will lead you on to the field with courage, and bring you off with honor.......For bravery none compares with our Lord.  He never turned  His head from danger, not even when hell's hatred and heaven's justice appeared against Him.  Knowing all that was about to happen, Jesus went forth and said, "Whom seek ye?" (John 18:4).  Satan could not overcome Him - our Savior never lost a battle, not even when he lost His life.  He won the victory, carrying His spoils to heaven in the triumphant chariot of His ascension.  There He makes an open show of them, to the unspeakable joy of saints and angels.    As part of Christ's army, you march in the ranks of gallant spirits.  Every one of your fellow soldiers is a child of a King.  Some, like you, are in the midst of battle, besieged on every side by affliction and temptation.  Others, after many assaults, repulses and rallyings of their faith, are already standing upon the wall as conquerors.  From there they look down and urge you, their comrades on earth, to march up the hill after them.  This is their cry: "Fight to the death , and the City is your own, as now it is ours! For the waging of a few days' conflict, you will be rewarded with Heaven's glory.  One moment of this celestial joy will dry up all your tears, heal all your wounds, and erase the sharpness of the fight with all the joy of your permanent victory"

Many thanks to Moody Publishers for sending me a complimentary copy of this book to review (My review did not have to be favorable).

One of the websites where you may purchase this book is Amazon.com

NIrV Study Bible for Kids

The NIRV Study Bible for Kids is and interesting concept, but not as well executed as I think that it could have been.  First, there were unnecessary pictures.  I don’t understand why almost everyone has to depict Adam and Eve before the fall, without clothing? Yeah it was okay before the fall, but we live after the fall so to depict them in that way now is shameful. It wasn't as bad a it could be (there were the usual bushes) but was worse than some I've come across…they showed enough to make me more uncomfortable with them than I normally would be.  Wouldn't it be wrong to depict the nakedness of the father and mother of all human beings?  Displaying what is now their shame as art?  Should Christians actually promote this?   Also, they had depictions of Christ, and I still think that that type of thing may break (or at least be on the edge of breaking) the commandment to "not make any graven image" to worship.

The NIrV translation itself seems rather good, but it may be a little too clear in some areas for kids….if that's possible in translating a Bible?  For instance, in Ezekiel, the part where God compares Israel and Judah as prostitutes is a bit graphic, but it may not be more graphic than other translations, just more modern in expression (they appear to be sticking to the text quite well and not unnecessarily expanding on it in those areas).  Just wanted to note that for parents' sake.  But I do think that translation is good overall (though I think that the translator(s) of Romans 7 may have thought that the man with conflicting desires is an unsaved person rather than a saved one).  Here are some examples of verses I liked the wording of:   

 "Don't live the way this world lives.  Let your way of thinking be completely changed.  The you will be able to test what God wants for you.  And you will agree that what he wants is right.  His plan is good and pleasing and perfect." - Rom. 12:2 

"Then Jesus spoke to his disciples, he said, "Whoever wants to be my disciples must say no to themselves." - Matt. 16:24 

"All who take part in the games train hard.  They do it to get a crown that will not last.  But we do it to get a crown that will last forever.  So I do not run like someone who doesn't run toward the finish line.  I do not fight like a boxer who hits nothing but air.." - 1 Cor. 9:26

As I alluded to above, the translation isn't perfect (no translation is), one mistranslation I feel I need to bring up is in Romans 9:  "It is written, "I chose Jacob instead of Esau" - vs. 13  That's a far cry from, "Jacob I did love, and Esau I did hate."(YLT).  But they seem to be okay in other parts of the passage: vs 18, "So God does what he wants to do.  He shows mercy to one person and makes another stubborn…" Other places are not translated very accurately as well, but again, no translation is absolutely perfect across the board.   

Again, on the positive side, there are questions in little boxes throughout the Bible that kids can ponder, and a little dictionary at the back than can be pretty helpful, as well as maps.  Anyway, the translation was okay, but maybe a bit too specific in passages speaking sexual related things for kids..maybe… again, that's debatable. Again, can a Bible translation translate a word too clearly? As long as the word is actually translating, and is not expanding on a word or making it refer to more than it does in the actual Greek and Hebrew, is it too clear?  Again, parents should decide this for themselves, as to what there kids should or should not read/know at their ages.  My biggest problem was the pictures, so because of that I can't rate this edition as high as I would have without them.  Otherwise it was pretty good. 

 

I received a free copy of this book from the Booklook Blogger Program(My review did not have to be favorable)

Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary

When I first looked at Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary I was quite impressed.  It is very nicely bound, and quite "fancy".  It has several maps, modern pictures of the places being described, pictures of various archaeological finds and many other illustrations.  Much of the information it gives seems quite good. For instance, in their definition of Agape love, they explain that the term "unconditional love" is not the right definition, Agape love is:  "primarily a love of the will rather than the emotions.  The New Testament never speaks of God loving unbelieving human beings with emotional love…He loves with His will…". I loved a lot of their entries on particular people in the Bible, in a nice condensed summary of who they were and the events in their lives, I also really like the descriptions of various Biblical places, where they were located, what happened there...etc.

But, sadly, the negatives outweigh the positives so that I can't recommend this dictionary.  The primary reason is that some of the illustrations were extremely inappropriate(completely unclothed people), they are absolutely unnecessary and would prohibit children(or even adults like me) from being able to use the dictionary until the pictures are blotted out. The only ones I can think of right now were drawings and hieroglyphic type of pictures, but I don't think that makes it any more decent.  I would have rated it higher if it weren't for these pictures.  Also, some of the entries are biblically inaccurate.  Their view of the creation account in Genesis is appalling, "Skeptics have ridiculed the creation story in Genesis because it reports that the creation occurred in six days.  But the indefinite meaning of 'day' takes care of this objection.."  A "day" with an evening and a morning is not indefinite!!! It means one 24-hour day!  Who cares what the Skeptics think, we should care about what God SAYS happened, not disregarding His Word simply because some people doubt it.   But if it weren't for the bad pictures, I'd still have recommended it highly because of the information on the Biblical places, people, and things.

I received a free review copy of this book from the Booklook blogger program in exchange for my review which did not have to be favorable.

D. L. Moody - Kevin Belmonte

Can a biography be focused too much on its subject?  This may sound odd, but I think it can.  As Christians, we know that our faith comes from God, and we know that He has ordained whatever good works we do in our service for Him.  We are also not after the praise of men, nor do we consider it a great compliment to be praised by them.  We try to do our good works as unnoticed by people as possible, seeking the praise of God alone.   

Knowing all of this, it seems quite strange for this biography of D. L. Moody to begin with telling how Moody was praised by three U. S. Presidents, and that he, "gained an immortality only presidents can bestow: their genuine respect".  You'd think that as a Christian Moody would resent the praise of the 'great' people of the world. 

Kevin Belmonte made too much of the man. One statement in particular makes it seem as though God was dependent on him. "Consider as well how history would have been different had Moody not resolved to step away from his business career.  The Northfield schools , Moody Bible Institute, millions of conversions throughout Britain, Canada, and America - none of these things would ever have happened.  Of course, Moody knew nothing of these things.  They lay in the future.  But we may, with hindsight, see all that hinged on his decision…."    The Father is the One who gives people to the Son(John 10:29), and all of the people given to the Son will come to Him(John 6:37).  God will not lose any of His people, all of them would have been converted with or without Moody.  

I also didn't like the flow of the book very much, it moved backwards and forwards in time too much.  It didn't seem like a smooth flow, rather it seemed choppy, but that's just my opinion.   

Finally, I wasn't really encouraged by what I learned of Moody himself.  The things that stick in my head about him are not of the type that produce admiration.  For one thing, I learned that Moody didn't want to discuss disputed passages of scripture.  I don't consider that a thing to emulate. He also made the statement, "Men will listen to a story when they won't listen to Scripture" and evidentially put that statement into practice.  Stories are not the power of God unto salvation, the Gospel is, and if God's Word is sharper than a two-edged sword, I'm pretty sure its more powerful than storytelling(Heb. 4:12).  As Christians who read God's Word, we already know that the Gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing, and we are not told to change the message to make it less foolish to them, or less convicting.  Moody was apparently ecumenical as well, and he seemed to believe that Catholicism is a saving religion.  Apparently he stated that, "Catholics have the same Savior as the Protestants - One Shepherd, one Christ".    But a true Catholic does not believe that Christ is the only savior, they also have saviors/mediators in Mary, the Apostles and other saints.  But the Scriptures say, "For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus, " (1 Tim 2:5)  Moody ought to have been loving towards Catholics in correcting them, not encouraging them in a false gospel that will not save. 

Overall the biography was rather discouraging.  Yes, he did a lot of works to help people out practically and materially, but it was his reluctance to delve any deeper into God's Word that is discouraging.  I still think that Moody was probably Christian, based on his banking the salvation of his soul on Christ alone, but he didn't seem to grow spiritually as much as he could have, and seemed too unconcerned about false gospels by his not wanting to define salvation much beyond it's being a profession of faith in Christ.  I think he was leaving the door open for false professions by not being more specific about what the Bible says of the Gospel.  He wasn't fond of creeds, "God does not ask you to believe a creed, but a person, and that person is Jesus Christ.", but we need a creed, or at least a basic set of truths from the Bible beyond mere belief in someone called "Jesus Christ", as it is possible to preach about a false Christ. The Apostle Paul rebukes the Corinthians for listening to a false presentation of Jesus Christ:  "For if someone comes along and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached, or should you receive a different spirit from the one you received or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you are all too willing to listen. "(2Co 11:4 ISV)    And He also warns the Galatians, "To be sure, there are certain people who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel about the Messiah. "(Gal 1:7 ISV) And he goes on to state, "But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that person be condemned! (verse 8) 

 Sounds rather serious, doesn't it?  It is possible to preach about Christ and yet be preaching a false Gospel.  The Epistles are full of warnings about false teachers masquerading as messengers of the true Gospel, and we are to watch out for them.  How will we do that if we do not study in detail what the Bible has to say about the Gospel?

 

Thanks to Moody Publishers for sending me a free review copy of this book(My review did not have to be favorable).

NIV Chronological Study Bible

I usually love chronological Bibles as it is very interesting to read the Bible through in the supposed chronological order, and I was quite excited to get this one. This Bible has full color throughout, and the headers that note the changing of epochs  are so vivid they almost look 3d.  But sadly, some of the pictures were inappropriate/indecent and it's not very nice to have such things in one's Bible, let alone have them be so visually crystal clear.  

The NIV Chronological Study Bible seeks to present the Scriptures in their probable chronological order, with historical notes, chronologies, maps and pictures throughout.

I thought it was interesting that they note that, "The Bible is not a theology book arranged according to topics: God, man, sin, salvation, etc.  Nor is it simply a chronicle of events from creation to the final consummation.  Historical events are often the Bible's subject matter, but these events are always reported from a particular perspective.  That perspective is theological history.  It is in the arena of history that he has chosen to make himself known. "  But I must add that though it is not arranged according to topics, it is still a, or rather, the theology book.

I'm not positive as to why it is called a 'study Bible', as the notes seem more historically and culturally informative than exegetical.  Sometimes they do delve into concepts a little more, but I found myself disagreeing with them.  I'll give three instances:   First, they seem to not believe in a literal six day creation.  And second, in 1 Corinthians 7, they come to the conclusion that Paul allows divorced Christians to remarry.  Third,  they are feministic in their explanation of the role of a wife in a marriage, they make it seem like male headship was a cultural thing, not a Biblical institution. For instance, "If female authority was allowed in the church, opposition may have increased against the small Christian community." and, "The model for how to best win over these husbands to Christianity involves adopting the societal norms of a wife's submissiveness…."   And in another place they sound like they are apologizing for the Apostle's statement:  "Paul's command 'Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands' (Eph 5:22) is at least partly related to concern for Christian witness within the surrounding culture, and is quite mild in comparison to the rest of his culture."  They are apparently disregarding 1 Timothy 2:11-15 which  makes the differing roles of males and females to be of God, not from the culture.

Also, I didn't like some of the chronological arrangement.  For instance, they have prophecies from Isaiah being read after the fall of Jerusalem.  Part of their reasoning is that, "Other prophetic passages speak of times later than the traditional date of composition for the passage itself.  For example, parts of the Book of Isaiah refer to events that took place centuries after the prophet Isaiah lived.  Though Isaiah prophesied in Jerusalem during the 8th century B. C., the passage of Isa 44:28; 45:1 refers by name to Cyrus, a Persian king who lived in the 6th century .  For this reason , some chapters form the Book of Isaiah appear in the time of Cyrus…"  Umm… didn't God have the prophets prophecy LOTS of things that hadn't happened yet?  It would hardly be unthinkable for God to have the prophets give out a particular name of someone in the future.  Besides, right before God starts prophetically addressing Cyrus He states,"I am the Lord, the maker of all things, who stretches out the heavens, who spreads out the earth by myself, who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who overthrows the learning of the wise and turns  it into nonsense, who carries out the words of his servants and fulfills the predictions of his messengers." 

All in all, there are too many negatives for me to highly recommend this Chronological Bible. 

 

I am grateful to have received a free review copy of this book from the Book Look Blogger program(My review did not have to be favorable)

 

This book may be purchased from Amazon and from Thomas Nelson

Chronological Life Application Study Bible

I wouldn't call this Bible uniquely applicable to a person's daily life as the Scripture is always applicable. That is not to say that I don't like this format, I do! I just needed to clarify that I don't quite agree with the title. This is a chronological Bible, interweaving chapters from various books of the Bible in their probable sequential order. This means that some chapters are split up and other parts of other chapters are placed in the gap to stay chronological.  

There are many helpful charts to support the chronological aspect, some of my favorites being the several charts throughout the accounts of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, showing the "Kings To Date and Their Enemies"…I always get a bit confused about them. One of the other things I found very helpful were the little maps throughout, demonstrating where people went and where such and such a town was located. It gives you more comprehension of Biblical geography. There are also several large pictures of what Jerusalem and the Temple looked like in certain eras. Also included throughout are small full-color modern pictures of the various places that are spoken of, such as the Parthenon in Athens, Samaria, and there are also pictures of things as well, such as a millstone, and biblical manuscripts.

The notes are interesting, and even though they are apparently against the complete sovereignty of God, the notes in Romans are still interesting, part of the note on Romans 11:7 reads: "Resisting God is like saying to him, 'Leave me alone!' But because God is always and everywhere present, his answer to that prayer might be to agree and make that person less sensitive, more hardened to him…" I do not like that the writers of the notes do not take a stand on the age of the earth, they give the impression that it is not important for the beginning of the Bible to be literally understood, which can give a wrong impression as to the rest of the Bible. 

I also need to mention that at least one of the pictures is inappropriate(Adam and Eve), you'll want to scribble it out, I have not seen all of the pictures yet so there may be more. I don’t know why they thought that was okay to put in, even if it isn't as bad as it could be it still contradicts Genesis 3 where God gives them clothing(keep in mind that they were also husband and wife), why is it okay for their offspring to depict them in what is now their shame? We still live after the fall, not before it, so why contradict that?  

Anyway, I do like all of the maps and several of the charts and pictures of the locations, it really is interesting to have a visual picture as one reads along. 
Click here to view the website for this Bible


Many thanks to the Tyndale Blog Network from whom I received a free review copy of this Bible.

Strange Fire - By John Macarthur

In this book, MacArthur attacks the 'Strange fire'/worship practice of  pneumacentrism/Holy Spirit centrism(Major focus upon the Holy Spirit)particularly in the Charismatic movement, and does a good job too.  He starts by reminding us to 'test the spirits' and then moves on to how the modern charismatic movement got started and how they misinterpret Scripture.  We look at the Scriptures to see what the work of the Holy Spirit actually looks like and what 'Spirit-filled' really means. 

Speaking in tongues is addressed, of course, and we are given the history of how and why the Charismatics switched from viewing the word 'tongue' as being a human language to its being an unintelligible spirit babble.  They apparently tried out their 'tongues' on people in other countries, and it proved that their supposed 'languages' were not languages at all but merely gibberish.  They wanted to keep this babble and so reinterpreted the Scriptures to make it mean, essentially, 'holy babble'.   

Some Charismatics believe that there can be modern Apostles other than the twelve in the early church.  This is addressed by the author as well.  He makes the point that the Apostle's did not tell the Churches that new Apostles should(or would) be appointed, but rather pastors, elders and deacons were to be appointed.  Also addressed is the so-called 'prophecy' that is happening today.  While Charismatics believe that the early church(and OT) had prophets of God who always prophesied correctly, for some reason, today they believe that one can be a prophet and be wrong in your prophecy many times.  While giving Scriptural proofs against this view, this statement is made, "…the Bible only and always condemns erroneous prophets as dangerous and deceptive.  Fallible prophets are false prophets."   The Holy spirit does not give us new revelation but rather gives us illumination/understanding of the Scriptures. "After all, a foundation is not something that can be rebuilt during every phase of  construction.  The foundation is unique, and it is always laid first with the rest of the structure resting firmly above it. "

I found the look at 1 Corinthians 12:31 very interesting. The statement, "But earnestly desire the best gifts."..  rather than being imperative, the statement is probably indicative,  "The New International Version rightly captures the apostle's point in its alternate reading of this verse:  "But you are eagerly desiring the greater gifts."  The Syriac New Testament similarly states, "Because you are zealous of the best gifts, I will show to you a more excellent way."

It’s a good critique of the Charismatic movement along with excellent warnings about the dangers of this misfocus upon the Holy Spirit and His gifts. The ending of the book has a plea to pastors who are concerned with rightly interpreting God's Word, and yet are more accepting of the Charismatic doctrines, to seriously rethink this issue.

 

I'll end with one more quote, "By elevating the authority of experience over the authority of Scripture, the Charismatic Movement has destroyed the church's immune system - uncritically granting free access to every imaginable form of heretical teaching and practice."

 

Thanks to BookSneeze®/Thomas Nelson publishers for sending me a free review copy of this book!(My Review did not have to be favorable)

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The New Answers Book 4 - Edited by Ken Ham (General Editor)

http://www.nlpg.com/the-new-answers-book-4

The interpretation of the Bible's account of Creation through the lens of science seems to be a popular thing amongst professing Christians nowadays.  This is a very discouraging state of things, that Christians trust human observations before the Bible's declarations.  That is one reason why this book is so refreshing as the authors hold to God's Word as the starting point and as the 'lens' with which to interpret their scientific observations.   

The interpretation of the Bible's account of Creation through the lens of science seems to be a popular thing amongst professing Christians nowadays.

The New Answers book 4 by Ken Ham(editor) and many others, is full of chapters dealing with questions in regards to 'issues' that may come up in discussions about Creation, and is also great for simply perusing possible answers as to how certain things about Creation week might be explained.  It is a compilation of several essays on various aspects of Creation written by several different people who are biased towards the Bible.  The nice thing is that they do not make having answers to every question imperative, such as the chapters on Starlight.  They make some suggestions as to how starlight could have been visible from earth immediately at Creation but make it clear that we don't have to know how,  faith in what God's Word says is what is important, whether or not we understand it all.  As one of the contributors wrote, "Interpretations of Scripture are Not Scripture….Keep in mind that it is the text that is inspired, not our interpretations of it." 
 

Keep in mind that this is book 4 in the New Answers series so if you have questions that are not addressed in this volume they may be in the other books in this series.  I have not read the other ones but, based on what this one is like, I believe that I can highly recommend all of them as they seem very biased towards what God says happened at Creation.  I love that type of bias!!!   

 I'll end with an excerpt from the beginning of the book:  "As soon as you surrender the Bible's authority in one area, you 'unlock a door' to do the same thing in other areas.  Once the door of compromise is open, even if ajar just a little, subsequent generation push the door open wider.  Ultimately, this compromise has been a major contributing factor in the loss of biblical authority in our Western world….…If one uses fallible dating methods to reinterpret Genesis (e.g., the days of creation), then one is 'unlocking a door,' so to speak, to teach others that they won't have to take the Bible as written (e.g., Genesis is historical narrative) a the beginning so why should one take it as written elsewhere (e.g., the bodily Resurrection of Christ).  If one has to accept what secular scientists say about the age of the earth, evolution, etc., then why not reinterpret the Resurrection of Christ?  After all, no secular scientist accepts that a human being can be raised from the dead, so maybe the Resurrection should be reinterpreted to mean just 'spiritual resurrection'."

 

Many thanks to New Leaf Publishers for sending me a free Kindle review copy of this book (My review did not have to be favorable) -  published by Master Books, a division of New Leaf Publishing Group


This book may be purchased from New Leaf Publishers , Christianbook.com and on Amazon.com

 

Other Reviews of the book:  http://nlpgblogs.com/nab4/

 Also see GoodReads Page

Counterfeit Gospels - Treven Wax

"Don't confuse the gospel with the effects of the Gospel." writes Trevin Wax. Elsewhere he notes that, "…Christianity is not a scheme of morality, nor a plan for social and political change, and organizations which propose improvements along such lines are only 'tinkering with the problems.  We may be made better men, but before we can face God we must be new men."  So many churches today don't believe that the Gospel, as given in God's Word, is right for today. They think that it needs to be updated to fit our culture.  Wax does a good job of analyzing the various counterfeit gospels of our day: the Therapeutic Gospel, the Activist Gospel, the Churchless Gospel…etc. he shows how many of these take one fact of the Gospel and preach it, mostly disembodied from the other essential truths that make up the Gospel.  These people are, 'missing the mark' of the complete Gospel', which description, ironically, is one of the definitions of sin.   

"Christians and non-Christians are often drawn to counterfeit gospels.  Even those of us who have walked with the Lord for many years may be inclined to accept cheap imitations of the truth.  Why?  Because they are easy. They cost us less."  And one might add, "they build up our church attendance".  A small section, in the chapter on the "Churchless Gospel", caught my interest in particular.  Discussed is the idea of some Christians who think that we should model ourselves on the practices of the early churches as the early churches would have obviously been more pure, more godly than ours.  To these people Wax poses the question, "Which early church do you want to be like?  Corinth?  The church took pride in a man's incestuous relationship.  Meanwhile, the worship gatherings were not being done decently and in order.  Galatia?  Paul was shocked to see that his church so quickly abandoned the gospel…" 

I didn't like the reformed/amillennial bent of the book, the sacraments, true Israel…etc. are brought up.  This is also evident where Christ is talked about, speaking of evangelizing, "Just talk about Jesus!......Jesus is not merely a means to an end, such as 'heaven,' 'a purposeful life,' or 'peace through trials.'  Jesus is the end."  What about God the Father?  Christ has reconciled us to the Father, we have "access by one Sprit unto the Father, " - Ephesians 2:16-19, "Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a anew and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil…"( Hebrews 10:19-22 NASB)See also, "Heb. 7:25, 2:10.  Also, I did not particularly care for all of the movie references in the book, they seemed out of place, quite unnecessary.   

But I do like the book overall.  It is an interesting overview and critique of the futile attempts to improve the perfect Gospel revealed in God's Word. And now, to wrap this up, as usual, I'll end with one last quote from the book,  "We must make clear that grace accepts us where we are, but that it never leaves us there." 

Thanks to MoodyPublishers for sending me a free review copy of this book! (My review did not have to be favorable)

One Perfect Life

One Perfect Life is a 'Harmony of the Gospels' type of compilation.  MacArthur notes in his introduction that, "The Holy Spirit gave us four Gospels and, specifically, three of them are synoptic …so that the truth concerning our Lord and Savior might be established on the basis of two or three witnesses." Using Matthew as a base text, MacArthur uses these four witnesses to piece together their complete picture of the life of Christ.  Instead of putting the Gospels in parallel columns, the accounts are morphed together forming one account.  For instance, sentences from Luke fill in spaces that are not recounted in the same account given by Matthew.  To keep a distinction between the accounts, listed beneath each 'chapter' heading are the chapter and verse numbers of each of the Gospel accounts blended in that particular chapter.  In the chapter itself, tiny superscript abbreviations of the names of the Gospels are used to mark the transition of one verse from Luke(LK), for instance, into Matthew(MT). 

Instead of starting at the birth of Christ, Macarthur starts before Christ came to earth, using particular verses from prophecies of Him and accounts of His pre-existence and divinity taken various Old Testament texts and from the letters of the Disciples.  To give you an idea of how this works, here is how the whole account starts, "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth.(Gn)In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was made in the beginning with God.  And all things are made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.(1Jn)."  And again, the superscript is tiny, not large as it is in my quote, so the individual verses actually flow right into each other.  And, instead of immediately ending at Christ's ascension, the book ends with  a blending of the Apostles' and Disciples' recountings of the Gospel  from their letters,  how the prophecies of the Messiah were fulfilled, how we are to be living in light of this, and our expectation of Christ's coming again.   

This compilation is definitely a favorite of mine.  I highly recommend getting it.  One of the interesting discoveries I made while reading it was that some of Christ's discourses in the Gospel accounts that I thought were parallel with one another, often having almost the exact same discourses, are not necessarily parallel, but are rather repetitions.  It seems that Christ said the same thing in various places.  It is interesting to think that God had Matthew, Mark, Luke and John remember and recount the same sayings of Christ yet where one of them, Matthew for instance, might remember Him saying certain things at a certain place and time, but John remembers Him saying the same things on another day and in another town. 

Also a major component of this work is commentary by Macarthur underneath the texts.  I do not agree with all of his opinions, for instance on the so called 'exception clause' when Christ is speaks of divorce and remarriage.  But a lot of the commentary I am sure will be quite helpful.  I like one insight in particular, when he comments on Christ's parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.  When the Rich Man dies and is in Hades he asks Abraham across the great gulf if he can go back to earth and warn his brothers about this place.   Abraham answers and says, "If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead." Macarthur comments, "This speaks powerfully of the singular sufficiency of the Scripture to overcome unbelief.  The Gospel itself is the power of God unto salvation (Rom 1:16)…Since unbelief is at heart a moral, rather than an intellectual problem, no amount of evidences will ever turn unbelief to faith.  But the revealed Word of God has inherent power to do so…"

All in all, I thought it was very interesting to read the life of our Lord from this combined perspective. 

 I received this book as a complimentary copy from BookSneeze® in exchange for my review(which does not have to be favorable).

This book may be purchased at Amazon.com

The Conviction To Lead - By Albert Mohler

 Today, so many good ministries of conviction try to get you to support the teaching ministry of so-and-so in such a way as if the truth of God's Word will die unless the particular personality of that ministry/leadership of so-and- so survives.  Mohler's work is a 'breath of fresh air', so to speak, in the seemingly ever present Déjà vu era of "I am of Paul, I am of Apollos…Calvin, Arminius,…etc." Mohler's premise is that,  "There are no indispensable people, only indispensable convictions."  Truth will not die in the death of its teacher.   Even if so-and-so's particular ministry does not survive, eternal truths that they spread, even if only in the hearts of a few, will survive, regardless of the ministries demise.  God chooses by what means His truth will be spread and He may choose to end particular ministries and simply spread the truth by individuals transformed by the truths that they taught.  As the author states, "A legacy is what is left in the wake of a great leader…. The plans and visions of the leader will be outdated soon after his burial…what matters is that convictions survive…The wise leader does not try to perpetuate matters of style or taste, or even plans and programs.  The leader who aims at legacy aims to perpetuate conviction….In truth, there are no indispensable people, only indispensable convictions.  The convictions came before us and will last when we are gone.  Truth endures when nothing else can…."

Mohler delves into the many essentials of leading, all with the basis of conviction:  Leading  through communication,  teaching, repetition, thinking, teaching your followers how to think, setting the example, writing, managing well...etc.  Keeping in mind that time is short; remembering that your leadership position is God-given and that you are actually a steward accountable to Him.  He notes that "The Christian leader must have mental reflexes that correspond to biblical truth.  When something happens or an issue arises, the leader's mind must engage the right intellectual reflex.  Once the reflex is engaged, the process of the thought is already far down the road.  If the reflex is wrong, the leader is in danger - and so are all those he leads."

 

One of the things Mohler points out  is that leadership is not merely having 'knowledge'.   "Knowledge is fundamental, but convictional intelligence is not merely knowledge.  If this were the case, all the leader would need is a comprehensive and biblical encyclopedia close at hand.  This raises the issue of how leaders actual lead:  They make decisions and chart a direction….He [God] gave us the ability to process that knowledge and exercise reason.  He even gave us the ability to think about thinking.  But as the leader exercises the role of leadership, that thinking must be translated into something more automatic, something that does not require a constant process of thinking and rethinking everything the leader knows.  IF that sounds complicated, just consider how you awoke, got dressed and started your morning.  By now most of the actions you took have been forgotten….  You did not have to look for the kitchen because you did not have to think about how to get there…..Why?  Your intelligence was at work in all of those actions, but you were primarily operating out of habit, reflex, and intuition - three realities that point to the need for convictional intelligence....  If we had to rethink how to tie our shoes every morning, we would never get anything else done.  Much of our lives is lived out of habits of action, and most of these habits never rise to our active consciousness….We all know that we have habits of action, but we also operate out of habits of mind.  We did intellectual ruts that our minds grow accustomed to following."

One of the ways he brings up to help exercise and build mental reflexes is reading books and reading them critically.  The most important book for us to read is the Bible, and of course, critical reading reverses when you come to the Scriptures, the critical eye and thought must be applied to oneself and ones thoughts and not the word of God. The Word of God is the critique of us.   As Mohler writes, "Think of reading like you think of eating.  In other words, pay attention to your diet.  For the Christian, the highest reading priority is the Word of God.  Our spiritual maturity will never exceed our knowledge of the Bible." We Christians get our convictions from God's Word.  And "Until conviction is transformed into action it makes no difference in the world."

I thought this book was very 'gripping', perhaps more so because my dad(a pastor/leader)has already been talking about a lot of these things, and its neat to get a repeat of them in this book. This book is a good shove in the right direction.  I'll end my review, as I usually do, with one last quote from the book(though I could put in several more):  "Every leader needs to know the reality that we will die one day and that others will take our place.  Hopefully, these new leaders will bring talents and abilities and vision greater than our own.  Our greatest concern, however, is that they come with a wealth of convictions. Otherwise, all that we build can be turned against the very truths we have championed."

Thanks To Bethany House Publishers for sending me a free copy of this book to review! (My review did not have to be favorable)

One of the places where this book may be purchased is at Amazon.com

Twelve Unlikely Heroes

This book was much better than the only other book in the series I have read, Twelve Extraordinary Women, which did not capture my attention very well.  I'm not sure that I can pinpoint why, but this 3rd book in the 'Twelve' series really started my thought processes more in regards to the characters dealt with, and God's usage of them. 

I'll say at the start that I appreciate that MacArthur doesn't try to make you see types in the people and events discussed, but takes the people and events as literal. And so takes the inspired apostle Paul literally when he said that " Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness. That the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work. (2Ti 3:16-17 ASV) Which I would assume to mean that every inspired scripture is profitable as it is, without having to change it into allegory for it to be profitable.  As an example of this, in dealing with Sampson,  the author uses Sampson as an example for teaching and instruction in righteousness, stating that "His[Sampson's] fatal attraction to pagan women was not only the pattern of his life, but proved to be the path to his death.  If Sampson were Superman, his own sinful desires were his kryptonite.  He could kill a lion, but not his lust.  He could break new ropes, but not old habits. He could defeat armies of Philistine soldiers, but not his own  flesh.  He could carry away the gates of a city but allowed himself to be carried away when lost in passion."  MacArthur draws insights from literal Scripture, in his chapter on Jonah he notes that "The pagan sailors recognize the Lord's power over creation and worship Him as a result.  The pagan King of Nineveh likewise recognizes God's sovereign hand.  Surprisingly, the only person who resists God is Jonah - the prophet of Israel who acknowledged the Lord's sovereignty with his lips (Jonah1:9)yet rebelled against it with his life."  And all this without any of the characters or objects in the historical accounts having to symbolize Christ. 

For the most part, Macarthur keeps the focus on what the Scriptures actually say.  When dealing with James the brother of Christ, and how many people wonder about Jesus' childhood and that there are myths about miracles He performed as a youth, It is pointed out that "The normalcy of Jesus' childhood and early adulthood is confirmed by the fact that when He began His public ministry, His former neighbors in Nazareth did not believe Him to be the Messiah."  

Now for the negative.  "From the beginning, the Lord elected Israel to be a nation of Missionaries.  As His chosen people, they were to be a light to the Gentiles - a people so passionate in their devotion to the Lord and zealous for other nations to love and worship the true God that their corporate testimony would reverberate throughout the world….the people of Israel as whole failed in their missionary task……When Jonah rebelled against the Lord's command and ran in the opposite direction, he epitomized the collective failure of the nation of Israel." Where is Israel ever told that they were to be Missionaries to the Gentiles?  I know that they will be Missionaries of a sort in the Millennial Kingdom, but where are they ever commanded to attempt to 'convert' people on this side of things?  God Himself commanded them to wipe out the other nations as they were moving into the promised land, not to evangelize them.  From the Scriptures,  I understand that they were to be sanctified from the nations around them, and to welcome strangers/aliens, not to actively pursue them as possible converts.  Besides this, MacArthur sometimes delves into the realm of speculation when he states the possible feelings and thoughts of various characters.  There are some other things, but I’m sure they'll be noticed by the studied reader.

That stated, it was an interesting look at the lives of these 'twelve unlikely heroes'(though I have some trouble with the word 'hero' but I can overlook it).   MacArthur states "Some heroes are made in a moment.  Others are  defined by a lifetime." And most importantly, as he points out, "Noah did not preserve the ark in the midst of the flood; Abraham did not make himself the father of a great nation; Joshua did not cause the walls of Jericho to fall down; and David did not defeat Goliath on his own.  In each of these well-known examples, and in every other case, the Hero behind the heroes is always the Lord.  In literature, the hero is the main protagonist, the principle character, and the central figure of the narrative.  That is certainly true of God throughout the pages of Scripture.  He is the One who always provides the victory.  It is His power, His wisdom, ,and His goodness that are continually put on display - even when He utilizes human instruments to accomplish His purposes.  Consequently, all the glory belongs to Him. "   I'll let the back cover of the book provide the ending statements as it well sums it up: Speaking of these 'heroes',  "Scripture does not hide their weaknesses, caricature their strengths, or spin their stories as a display of human nobility.  Instead it describes these heroes of the faith with unflinching honesty and delivers an unexpected ending:  'God is not ashamed to be called their God' (Hebrews 11:16)"

 I received this book as a complimentary copy from BookSneeze® in exchange for my review(which does not have to be favorable).

 

R. C. Sproul's Commentary on John

Some commentaries are nice to have merely for referencing and some are good for reading all the way through. This book is one of the latter.  It is well written, or perhaps I should I say,' adapted' as this book is to some degree a compilation of Dr. Sproul's sermons on John. 

I like that Sproul is not afraid to say when he is unsure what a text means.  He'll give you the differing views about the passage, tell you his opinion but will make sure to clarify when he isn't certain that his opinion is correct.  He is also very enthusiastic about what the Bible says, He is excited about it, and is good at communicating that excitement.  When Sproul reaches the verse where Christ says, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth.  It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you." he comments  "The first time I really grasped the implication of this text, I literally began to dance in the street and jump over fire hydrants.  I said:  'Eureka!  I can't believe it! All this time I have felt like Abraham, living in the Old Testament, looking forward to the time of Christ's coming, or wishing that I could have been alive during Jesus' earthly ministry, because those people heard and saw Him and His miracles. If only I could have been an earthly eyewitness disciple of Jesus, my Christian life would be so much better than it now is.'  Yet our Lord said our situation now is better than that of HIs disciples when He was walking on the earth." 

He generally sticks to studying out what the  texts actually say rather than reading into the text.  In one place in the commentary he comments:  ""I'm sure you've seen the popular bumper sticker that says, 'God said it; I believe it; that settles it.  'It doesn't matter whether I believe it. It's settled long before my assent.  If God Almighty opens His holy mouth and declares something, we don't need another witness.  It's  over.  It's settled." And then again, "We should be careful about speculation.  As John Calvin said in his commentary on Romans, when God closes His holy mouth, we should desist from inquiry."  He has some very good applications to our own day as well, such as his observing that in our time we have a 'practical Unitarianism', in that we focus too much on the Holy Spirit, for the most part excluding the Father and Son. 

Now, I need to mention that I disagree with his view of Christ, and subsequently the church, as the 'true Israel'.  I believe, and I see this as biblically, that one must be a part of the physical  race of Israel in order for one to be a part of Israel.  Christ certainly was a part of Israel, and certainly the ultimate 'Israelite'.  But this does not make Christian Gentiles spiritual 'Israel'.  Romans 9-11 is very clear that 'Israel' is still made up of those descended from Jacob(as is Jeremiah 31:35-37), and that God is not done with this race. Let me clarify that the Jews will be saved the same way as Gentile Christians are saved, by Christ's atoning work on the cross and his regeneration and sanctification of them.    The 'Israel of God' is elect Jews, not elect Gentiles and Jews. And the Jews have material things promised to them when they are a righteous people (which will happen by Christ's righteousness)that were not promised to righteous Gentiles.   But, this is not the place for me to expound on this.

All in all, this commentary is very interesting, and good.  Let me end this review with two of my favorite quotes:  "Suddenly the words 'born- again' became a part of the nomenclature of American culture.  Many people began to call themselves 'born-again Christians.' That term, however, is a kind of stuttering, because 'born-again Christian' is really a redundancy. It's like speaking about 'an unmarried bachelor' or 'a three-sided triangle.'" and "The saints, the holy ones, those called out from the world assemble together on Sunday mornings to be fed.  We are to do evangelism, engage in outreach, and be involved in ministries of mercy, but Sunday morning belongs to the sheep. It is the task of the pastor and of the church to feed the sheep. If someone who is not a sheep comes in, that's fine, but we're not going to change the menu and give the sheep goats food…….Babies have almost no influence in a culture. Before they can turn the world upside down, they have to grow up, they have to become mature, and that happens as they are fed the Word of God. Nothing less will do.  Notice that when Jesus spoke to Peter, He did not say, 'Peter, if you love Me, feed the goats.' Neither did He say, 'Peter, take care of your flock; feed your sheep.' He said, 'Feed My sheep, feed My lambs, tend My sheep.' 

Thanks to Ligonier Ministries for sending me a free copy of this book in exchange for my review of the free pdf copy! 

You may purchase this book at the Ligonier store 

http://www.ligonier.org/store/john-hardcover/

or at Amazon.com:  
http://www.amazon.com/John-St-Andrews-Expositional-Commentary/dp/1567691854