Sick of Me - by Whitney Capps

I think it was the cover of this book that really caught my attention.  It shows a girl with her face scribbled out. Sick of Me: From Transparency to Transformation by Whitney Capps attacks the current fad, in American Christianity, of presenting ourselves to each other in all our weakness. Of course, Capps doesn't think that admitting our faults is a bad thing, the problem is that we don't want to change. We are happy in staying in our unchanged, broken state, and ironically, using it as a springboard for glorying in ourselves rather than in Jesus Christ.  As the author states, "The Christian life is never meant to make people think more or better of me.  The goal is for me to look more like Christ, and, should people happen to notice me in the process, for them to think more of Jesus.  "

But that of course, is not biblical and it is not godly.  This book addresses that quite well.  If we are truly convicted about something, we won't feel comfortable not doing anything, besides confessing, about our flaw.   "Conviction never leaves us stuck in sin, but always moves us toward change."   And she explains that with our salvation comes our transformation.  We don't want to be people just concerned about "holy dying", as she terms it, and not concerned about "holy living".

But there were things that I didn't feel comfortable with. For instance, Capps uses some romantic illustrations to picture our work along with the Lord in sanctification: "When I look back on my spiritual journey - the dance I have with the Lord…..Sometimes I would break dance when the Lord was trying to lead me to waltz.  I resisted the gentle pull of His arms, pushing Him away so I could do my own thing." And then again, "You guys, we weren't made to dance alone, and we weren't made to simply observe.  We were made to dance with Jesus.  That's the process.  Will we step on  His toes from time to time? Sure…" Sanctification is not a romance between us and the Lord.  Yes, the Church is to be kept pure, as a bride for her husband, for Christ, but it's not pictured in the Bible as Christ romantically pursuing individual Christians.  And sanctification is more like warfare (aren't we told to put on the armor of God?), not a romance where we stumble in the dance and resist the lover's lead.

And then another thing I felt uncomfortable were statements like this, "Yes, the dance of sanctification is God's to lead.  It's His process.  But even the strongest partner can't lead if His partner won't follow."  That doesn’t make sense to me. The much stronger partner (to use the analogy)can't drag the other along? Or just pick them up? What about the discipline of the Lord? That doesn't involve any kind of force? God never makes His children do something against their will for their own good? I'm hoping that this not what Capps means, but it's how it can be taken.

Anyway, it was things like those that made me not like the book as much as I thought I would.  There is still quite a bit of good stuff in it, it's just that there were various things in it that kept bugging me.

I'll end with a couple of quotes I really liked:

"More than any person in history, Moses was equipped for God's assignment.  But God used forty years of wilderness wandering to strip Moses of his self-confidence.  He didn't need Moses' qualifications, and He doesn't need ours. ….Friend, when God wants to use us, He rarely affirms us; He always affirms Himself."

"Look at the lie the devil is selling.  Don't let the gospel do its work. Don't show them that this thing really works.  Don't live like Jesus can actually change your life for the better.  And for sure don't give evidence or testimony to the fact!"

Many thanks to the folks at B&H Academic for sending me a free review copy of this book.  My review did not have to be favorable

My Rating 3 out of 5 Stars

***

This book may be purchased at Christianbook.com and Amazon.com

Mrs. Oswald Chambers - by Michelle Ule

The only thing I knew about Oswald Chambers was that he wrote the devotional, My Utmost For His Highest, which I looked through some years ago (I don't remember if I read it all the way through) and liked some of the concepts that I found in it.  When I saw this biography of his wife I thought that it would be a good way to know more about the couple. It  really informed me quite a bit and gave me a better picture of these two people, or a rather it gave me the only picture I've had so far as I didn't know really anything at all about them.

Gertrude Annie Hobbes, known as "Biddy" (Oswald's nickname for her), was not expecting the life that God had planned for her. She had trained for and had become excellent at taking shorthand notes and was a good typist as well.  Her goal was to be the first female secretary to the prime minister of England. God had other plans.  She and Oswald Chambers initially 'fell' in love on a ten day voyage to America.   Oswald was a  volunteer circuit lecturer for the League of Prayer and had been asked by her mother to look after her daughter on the trip.  He was already acquainted with Biddy, but this trip solidified a friendship between the two and initiated a correspondence between them and visits, which led to their becoming engaged and then married. 

They served the Lord together, starting a Bible training college for the League of Prayer and after some years, during World War I they left England to work with the YMCA in Egypt ministering to soldiers stationed there. They brought their only child, Kathleen, with them.  I really appreciated that instead of seeing Kathleen as secondary to the primary work of ministering to other people, and sending her off to boarding school or having her live with relatives or another family (as other couples involved in mission work sometimes did), they saw her as their own God given responsibility and another person whom God gave them to minister to and so they took her with them.  While there, Biddy transcribed Oswald's messages in shorthand, as she had done in England.

After some time of ministering in Egypt Oswald died and Biddy was left a widow and with a young child to look after.  Biddy didn't despair and kept on with the work that she believed God still wanted her to do.  She took over some of the teaching sessions Oswald had held and often used his works, reading out loud from them.  Some time after World War I ended Biddy and Kathleen returned home and Biddy continued the work she had started while in Egypt, of typing up and translating her shorthand notes of Oswald's lectures  (she had trunks/boxes full of them) and sorting through and compiling them into pamphlets and books.  She saw it as a God-ordained ministry granted to her, to organize and publish her husband's preaching.  Late in life Biddy ended up having some mental problems (not fully explained) and she died in 1966 at the age of eighty two.

 I want to mention that I had some concerns about Biddy and Oswald's beliefs.  But let me say first that this biography seems more like an overview of the couple and their faith,  so I am not sure the extent of their beliefs in most of these things.  I'll mention a few of my concerns.  First, they were associated with the Holiness movement, and from what I understand that is associated with believing that Christians can attain perfect sinless lives on this earth despite having yet unglorified bodies.  But Biddy and Oswald never seemed to think that they ever attained that perfection, at least from what I learned of them in this book. 

Second, they had some weird views of how God directs His people.  They used isolated verses from the Bible to confirm some of their decisions. For instance, while in Egypt, having gone there before sending for Biddy and Kathleen, Oswald was trying to figure out where they would live. I quote from the book,  "Oswald possessed no funds to build but expected God to supply what he required.  God confirmed the decision when Oswald dread the Daily Light verse that night, taken from 2 Chronicles 6:18: 'Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!'"  That was just plain weird. I think that Chambers was highly in error in treating the Scriptures that way and that he was treading on dangerous ground.  That type of hermeneutics seems to make people lean toward becoming modern false 'prophets'.  Saying, "thus sayeth the Lord!" when the Lord has not said it (see Ezek 22:28).  If the context of the Scriptures do not matter, and if we do not use a literal, grammatical, historical hermeneutic then the Scriptures can be made to say anything we want them to say!

And lastly, Biddy 'preached' at times, and that to men.  She led some of the study sessions through the Bible (including leading some of the Sunday sessions), and had other studies while in Egypt.  I am not sure if she used Oswald's lectures (reading them out loud as she often did for the classes she took over) or if she came up with her own.  I felt rather uncomfortable with that as it goes against what the Bible says about women not speaking in a teaching position in an assembly of the church that includes men (and she mainly would have had men as her audience out there in Egypt).

Despite concerns like the above I still liked this biography, it was well written and quite interesting.  And I still liked Biddy and Oswald overall and thought that they were good examples, especially in realizing the sovereignty of God in life, and their submission to whatever He ordained to happen in their lives (even recognizing His hand in the interruptions of daily life).  I'll end with a quote (from Oswald I think) that I particularly liked, "We have to trust in God whether He sends us money or not, whether He gives us health or not.  We must have faith in God, not in His gifts."

Many thanks to the folks at Baker Books for sending me a free review copy of this book (My review did not have to be favorable)!  

My Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

****

This book may be purchased at places like Amazon and Christianbook.com

Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss

Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss is one of my favorite works of Christian fiction.  Written in the 1800s, it is still very interesting and relevant to people in our current day and very readable. Prentiss tells the story using the format of a diary written by a woman named Katherine, who records her life struggles, from young womanhood through much of her married life.  She gives the events of various days (sometimes skipping days, months or even years, but giving updates along the way), and writes down many of her inmost thoughts, questions and struggles with sin.  She has questions about her salvation and whether or not she is being sanctified.  God brings along many different people to teach her and to help her recognize that He really is working in her and making her more Christ like. God also brings along many different trials to grow her spiritually. 

There are several interesting dialogues with others that are recounted by Katy, I give a couple of samples here:

Here she is speaking to one of her spiritual mentors, Dr Cabot:

 "'There is one thing more that troubles me,' I said.  'Most persons know the exact moment when they begin real Christian lives.  But I do not know of any such time in my history.  This causes me many uneasy moments.' 

[Dr Cabot]'You are wrong in thinking that most persons have this advantage over you.  I believe that the children of Christian parents, who have been judiciously trained, rarely can point to any day or hour when they began to live this new life.  The question is not, do you remember, my child, when you entered this world, and how!  It is simply this, are you now alive and an inhabitant thereof?'"

In this next excerpt Katy has just had a former friend, Amelia, die, her husband, a doctor, attended her last moments on earth:

"'What do you think,'  I asked, 'about her last days on earth?  Was there really any preparation for death?'

'These scenes are very painful,' he returned.  'Of course there is but one real preparation for Christian dying, and that tis Christian living……..I do not now recall a single instance where a worldly Christian died a happy, joyful death, in all my practice.'

[Kate]…..'Well, in one sense it makes no difference whether they die happily or not.  The question is do they die in the Lord?'

'[her husband]It may make no vital difference to them, but we must not forget that God is honored or dishonored by the way a Christian dies, as well as by the way in which he lives…..I can tell you, my darling, that standing, as I so often do, by dying beds, this whole subject has become one of great magnitude to my mind.  And it gives me positive personal pain to see heirs of the eternal kingdom, made such by the ignominious death of their Lord, go shrinking and weeping to the full possession of their inheritance.'"

There are several thought provoking dialogues like the above. And many little statements that are intriguing as well, a few of which I give here:

"You can will to prefer a religion of principle to one of mere feeling; in other words, to obey the will of God when no comfortable glow of emotion accompanies your obedience."

"It is repining that dishonors God, not grief."

"People ask me how it happens that my children are all so promptly obedient and so happy.  As if it chanced that some parents have such children, or chanced that some have not! I am afraid it is only too true, as someone has remarked, that this is the age of obedient parents!' What then will be the future of their children? How can they yield to God who have never been taught to yield to human authority…?"

A year after her oldest child died she writes:

"It is a year ago this day that the brightest sunshine faded out of our lives, and our beautiful boy was taken from us.  I have been tempted to spend this anniversary in bitter tears and lamentations.  For oh, this sorrow is not healed by time!  I feel it more and more.  But I begged God when I first awoke this morning not to let me so dishonor and grieve Him.  I may suffer, I must suffer, He means it, He wills it, but let it be without repining, without gloomy despondency.  The world is full of sorrow; it is not I alone who taste its bitter draughts, nor have I the only right to a sad countenance.  Oh, for patience to bear on, cost what it may!"

Now, there were statements and things that I didn't agree with, such as Kate thinking that her little children do not need to learn that they are sinners until they get older, though they do need to learn about Christ.  That doesn't make a lot of biblical , or even common, sense to me.  Wasn't that one of the most important things about Christ? That he came to die for the sins of His people? Or when she indicates that when we die, we leave our bodies forever.  I don't know if she believed in the resurrection of  our physical bodies?  Things like that bothered me.

But overall, I still really liked the book and found it quite spiritually edifying.  Kate grows in the Faith, becomes more patient toward others, learns to not trust her own judgement, learns to trust God more and more, learns that whatever trials He ordains for her to face are lovingly ordained to make her more Christ like.  The book is very well written and really keeps the attention, or at least it kept mine! 

Now, I must say something about this particular edition that I am reviewing, published by Ichthus Publications. The cover is pretty, the format of the text inside the book is very nicely laid out and readable.  But….this edition needs to be proofread.  There are typos ALL OVER this edition, periods and commas out of place or missing, and sentences that were practically unintelligible.  Here's a sample:

"In the first place, Helen would be perfectly if she had the care of father in his present. She is too young to have such responsibility….She is one of those little tender, soft souls one could crush fingers."

I don't think I've ever had to rate a book based on numerous typos and missing words. But I'll have to do that with this one.  I feel really bad having to do this, but I need to rate this edition at only three stars.  Normally I would rate this book at five stars, but this is not a good edition of Stepping Heavenward.  I love the book, I just don't like this edition.  If they would fix the typos it would be great!

Thanks to the folks at Ichthus Publications for sending me a free review copy of this book (My review did not have to be favorable).

Rating of Prentiss' book: Five Stars *****

Rating of this edition:  Three Stars ***

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

Ulrich Zwingli - by William Beokestein

Ulrich Zwingli, by William Boekestein is, as the series is titled, a "Bitesize Biography" but there is a good amount of content in that 'bite'.  Despite this biography's size, it gives a lot of information to Zwingli. It actually seems to 'introduce' you to him as opposed to making you a mere acquaintance of his life. 

The things I most remember about Zwingli, from other books and sources on him, are that he died in a not-so justifiable battle/war and that he debated and opposed Luther on the presence of Christ in the 'Lord's Table'.  I've found out that there were several things I didn't know about his life, these things include sanctifying works of God in and through his life such as his doing away with preaching on Bible texts assigned by the Catholic Church, and opting for a verse by verse, book by book method of preaching instead.

On the negative side, there were the manifestations of the sinful 'remnants' of Zwingli's dead old self that still hadn't conceded that God had won the victory(Rom. 7-8).  Some of these negatives are evidenced in Zwingli's struggle with sexual sin(he solicited prostitutes), even when he had come to an accurate view of salvation.  He technically shouldn't have been a pastor because of that, but he was still a 'Priest' in the Catholic church of that time and they weren't exactly promoting Biblical justification or sanctification.  As the author puts it, "Zwingli's intellectual abilities had greatly outpaced his moral fortitude".  Perhaps the key point in Zwingli's struggle was that it was actually a struggle with this sin, and not a resignation to it.  It does look as though he ultimately did manage to get to get to a point of acting on the Spirit's promptings to habitually 'kill' those sins,  and he married a widow and had several children with her.

 

Like all Christians, Zwingli had his flaws, and his own battles with his fleshly desires, which makes us admire God's use of the man, realizing even more that any truly godly thing that came out of Zwingli's life was God's work, not his own.  And so it is in all of our lives as Christians, we are dependent upon God for all aspects of salvation, and we take comfort that God's work doesn't just stop at our justification but that it continues with our progressive sanctification and ultimate glorification(Rom. 8:30). 

If you want to get a quick view of Zwingli's life and God's use of Him, this biography would do very well.

Many thanks to the people at Cross Focused Reviews for sending me a review copy of this book(My review did not have to be favorable.

This book may be purchased at Amazon

The Ten Commandments: Ethics For the Twenty-First Century - By Mark Rooker

The Ten Commandments: Ethics for the twenty-first century by Mark Rooker is a good and quite concise look at the meaning of each of the ten commandments, comparing them to the laws of other nations, looking at the repetition(or the significance of their non-repetition) in the New Testament, their application in the lives of Christians and their significance, or comparison to our modern culture.

Have you ever wondered about the statement some people make, that other nations had laws similar to the ten commandments before the ten commandments were given out to Moses and Israel? I really liked Rooker's point about how the how the Ten commandments express God's eternal will, and how "This is known by the conviction of the human conscience but more explicitly by the ancient pagan law codes discovered in the Near East. Many of these law codes contain statutes similar to the Ten commandments which indicate their recognition of basic intrinsic moral values. Indeed, the law sin the Decalogue are not entirely new to Israel. The Bible presupposes a moral code long before the theophany on Mount Sinai. This is indicated in earlier biblical events such as the slaying of Abel by his brother Cain(Gen 4)…." This is also supported by Romans 2:15.

The rather intricate looks at each individual commandment were quite insightful, here are a couple of comments to demonstrate this: In his section on the 2nd commandment he comments: "Idolatry has never been connected to ethical behavior……Wrong thoughts about God lead to wrong behavior." And looking at the 3rd, taking the Lord's name in vain he states that, "This commandment addresses any insincere reference to the Lord, as His name is the revelation of His person. This would include offering praise or singing to God out of routine without any thought to what one is singing or praying."

Also, I really appreciate Rooker's explanation of how the ten commandments function in the lives of Christians, "It could be said that the law illuminates sanctification. It provides a guide for the believer to what is pleasing in God's sight."He explains that they functioned in a similar manner in the old testament, "Works have never been the instrument of salvation; they are the evidence of salvation. Obedience to the laws should be placed in the domain of sanctification rather than justification wherein by adherence to these laws a social distinction was maintained between the Israelites and the rest of the world."

There were some statements that I didn't quite agree with, but overall I liked it. It is interesting, well written and is a good overview of the moral law of God.

Many thanks to B&H publishing group for sending me a free review copy of this book. (My review did not have to be favorable)

This book may be purchased at Amazon

Robots or Rebels: The Dangers of Growing up a Legalist, and Biblical Motivations for True Holiness - By Robert Pruitt

In Robots or Rebels, Robert Pruitt addresses the modern manifestation of legalism that has been around since the Church first appeared in the times of the Apostles, the ones stuck in true legalism he calls 'Robots'.  He also warns about rebels, who turn from legalism and flee to antinomianism.  As he says in the book, ""Rebels do not love Christ and do not desire to look holy before anyone.  Robots, on the other hand, desire to look holy while not realizing that true holiness only flows from the heart and life of one who sincerely loves the Lord Jesus. "   

  "Too many preachers and teachers today proclaim a gospel that saves from the penalty of sin, while not necessarily saving one from bondage to sin."  This leads to many who profess faith but who have no works, no holiness, to show that they are actually alive.  They do not have any evidence that the Holy Spirit is working in them, no evidence that they are among the ones God has chosen to work in to do good works that He has prepared for them.   

Churches full of tares may make professing Christians do a pendulum swing and focus solely upon good works, building up a legalistic system of salvation.  "Many in the church became so concerned with the sinful problems that were manifesting in the culture…that they ceased to ground people in the doctrines of the Bible. In other words, because of the need to maintain righteous lives in the midst of a more and more unrighteous culture, they sought to establish the superstructure of Christian living without the foundation of Christian doctrine."   Works-salvation is not salvation but guaranteed condemnation. 

 And then you have your rebels who see the wrongness, or hypocrisy of the legalistic system of salvation, and many of them turn to antinomianism while holding on to the title of 'Christian'.  Rebels bring reproach on Christianity as well.  "In seeking to become like the world, the rebel gives indication that the Word of God, the church, the gospel, and even the Lord Jesus, can have no real impact on anyone's life.  At times in order to prove that he is like the world, the rebel will live in a manner that is even more evil than is typical of those who are lost.  This individual may not only live in moral corruption, but may speak violently against the things of God.  When those who are lost observe such a person, they are turned away from the church, away from the Bible, and away from Christ.  Rather than encouraging the lost to repent an trust Jesus, these rebels are encouraging them on their way to hell.   Nothing could be more unloving."

 Pruitt emphasizes that Christianity is not the following of certain rules and doing good works to earn our salvation, and it is not the freedom to fulfill our fleshly desires, rather it is the freedom bought by Christ and His righteousness to actually be pleasing to God and to do works out of love that actually please Him, it is freedom from self, freedom from sin, and it is the freedom to be conformed to the image of Christ. 

Personally, I thought that the flow of the book was a little mixed up, at some points it sounded as though he was about to rebuke rebels but he goes on to critique legalists. And, this might seem a bit nit-picky, I also don't quite agree with his interpretation of 1 Corinthians 8, as he seems to think that Paul is assenting that knowingly eating meat offered to idols is okay as long as it won't hurt someone's conscience.  We are going through 1 Corinthians in our church and have just reached that chapter, and it seems that Paul is not saying that it is good to eat meat offered to idols since in chapter 10 he points out that it is not really offered to idols but to demons and Christian's shouldn't have anything to do with that. So it is not just a conscience issue in that case but also, it would seem, an association issue.  It is alright if a Christian eats that meat ignorantly, but not if they know where it came from, since they do have knowledge and must use it rightly.   

 But overall I think that it is a pretty good book.  I'll end with one of my favorite excerpts that is dealing with the wrong focus on parachurch organizations, legalistic ones in particular, but this applies to any parachurch organization: 

"……Adding to the fertile soil for legalistic parachurch gurus to adversely influence churches and individuals is the modern idea that we must have experts in every area of life.  Rarely does a week go by that I (as a pastor) fail to receive a call informing me of a new video series that is "must viewing" for every church body.  The expert on marriage relationships; the expert on child rearing; the expert on interpersonal relationships; the expert on this; the expert on that has made a video series.  Surely no mere pastor can keep up with 'the experts.'  And so, we are encouraged to turn our churches over to Dr. ___________.  After all, he or she supposedly knows mor ethan any of the rest of us, and if we will just do what he or she says, we will all succeed in our Christian lives.  This is not intended to be a blanket condemnation of everything and everyone who is part of what might be called a parachurch ministry.  However, any and every time the parachruch dictates to the church rather than the other way around, parachurch is out of place.  And any individual who follows a parachurch ministry more closely than his own local church has a definite problem with his priorities, since parachruch organizations are never mentioned din the Bible…….If you listen to those trying to sell many of these products you are likely to conclude that pastors just aren't necessary anymore.  And why would anyone in the pew want to listen to old 'what's -his- name' week after week when they could be listening to 'the expert!'

 

Many thanks to Ambassador International for sending me a free review copy of this book! (My review did not have to be favorable)

 

This book may be purchased from Ambassador International

and Amazon.com, as well as other stores. 

The Life of John Calvin - W. J. Grier

The Life of John Calvin by W.J. Grier is not your typical biography.  Grier had wanted to write a life of John Calvin, but was not able to do so.  It turns out that he had written some articles on Calvin in the Evangelical Presbyterian magazine of which he was editor.  These articles were edited into the book I am reviewing now.  Because these are 'articles', the timeline doesn't flow as smoothly as a normal biography, but this is a minor flaw.   

It is very interesting to see how God used Calvin.  Calvin's life was not one people would generally envy.  It wasn't a life full of health, wealth and the favor of people, actually it was quite the opposite.   Calvin didn't want a public life, he wanted to focus privately studying God's word,  but God made him a pastor.  He didn't want to go back to Geneva after they 'kicked' him out and then desired him to come back, but God moved Him to go back, and things were very rough for him after he returned. He also had horrible physical health, he is compared to a walking hospital.  I have finally learned what having a 'consumption' meant(tuberculosis) from reading this biography. He had several enemies who wanted him kicked out of Geneva and some who wanted him dead. Perhaps his biography should be entitled, "Disciplined by God" as his life seems a good demonstration of the loving discipline and sanctification of God(Heb. 12:5-14).  

 

The burning of Michael Servetus is addressed, and here is where I have a bit of criticism.  I think that people try to excuse Calvin too much, saying things like, 'even the Catholics burnt heretics' and 'it was an accepted custom of the time'.  Accepted or not, why don't we just come out and say Calvin was absolutely wrong to agree with the death penalty in this case?  It's not as if he had attained complete sanctification in this world.  And Christianity doesn't stand or fall with Calvin's reputation, our faith is not based or found in him anyway but in God's Word.  As Christians, we may separate privately and publically from professing Christians who are living contradictory to the God's Word(1 Cor. 5:11-13; 2 Th. 3:6), and we may condemn their doctrine and refute it, but we are never to kill them.  Besides, if you kill them, they absolutely cannot repent, you are essentially taking their spiritual condemnation into your own hands.  You are making an absolute call that God won't change them in the future.   

Perhaps people try to vindicate Calvin because they admire him too much and not the One who used him.  The statement is made, "In our opinion God has given to the church no greater man since the days of the apostles than John Calvin…."  I don't see how one can even begin to come to that conclusion.   That makes it seem as though Calvin wasn't exactly 'the least' in the kingdom of God(Matt.11:11).  My guess would be that there are people greater than Calvin who simply did what they were supposed to do in their daily lives, perhaps with unremarkable occupations in life, they may have been housewives, slaves, carpenters…etc. But they did what they did for God, as it was the work He had given for them to do.  I am pretty sure that one does not have to live a public life, writing books, speaking, or even influencing thousands of people, in order to be 'great' in the Kingdom of Heaven.  God is the One who gives us the work we are to do for Him, and It is the God who made Calvin what he was, and it is He whom we should admire the most. So let Calvin be wrong!  It shows all the more that it was God's work in him that produced the good things that came out of him. Okay, so maybe that wasn't just a bit of criticism, but I had to get it out.

 

Anyway, back to the positives.  I found it odd that I liked the chapter that describes what Geneva was like in Calvin's day.  Normally I don't care for too much description, but I found this one quite interesting. I also found it funny to learn in this biography that Calvin was a matchmaker of sorts for 'Reformed' people all over the place.  Since true Christians were  scattered about amongst unbelievers in other countries, and since Christians couldn't marry non-believers, and it just so  happened that were many believers in Geneva, Calvin helped them find Christian spouses.   

This book was a nice summary of Calvin's life, and the major events in his life.  It was neat to see the strength God gave him to plow through the many trials of his life, knowing that this wasn't his home anyway. His life was so hard, from a human perspective that I had almost a sense of relief when he died; his hard work was done, his health was perfect, he no longer had to live by faith, and best of all, he had finally arrived at his true home with God. 

 

Thanks to The Banner of Truth Trust for sending me a free review copy of this book(My review did not have to be favorable.)

 

This book may be purchased on Amazon and from The Banner of Truth