Reading Evangelical

Three People - Dr. Adrian Rogers

2013-03-22T09:34:00.000-07:00

There are three people sitting on that chair you're sitting in right now.

There is the person you are right now this moment.

There is the person you could be for God if you sold out one hundred percent. (Most of us are light years from what we could be and ought to be.)

And there is the person for evil that we may become if we take our eyes off the Lord.

- Dr. Adrian Rogers, from "The High Cost of Low Living" (2 Sa. 11:1-5)

Review: "The Truth About Grace" - Dr. John MacArthur

2013-01-13T08:36:00.000-08:00

If you are looking for feel-good, watered-down theological pablum, walk past this book and head for the self-help section. If, however, you want a brief, intelligent, understandable discourse on the Christian doctrine of grace, pick up Dr. John MacArthur's The Truth About Grace.

One of three books so far in the "The Truth About" series (the other two dealing with forgiveness and the Lordship of Christ, respectively), The Truth About Grace carefully and logically dissects the doctrine of grace. In a brief yet packed 68 pages, Dr. MacArthur talks about what grace is, how it is received, how it is misunderstood, its personal realities for the believer, and how Christians can and should live it out in everyday life.

The Truth About Grace and its companion volumes on forgiveness and the Lordship of Christ would be outstanding selections for both personal and small-group study, as well as essential items in any church library. It takes a doctrine that has sparked both confusion and division in the evangelical community and lays it out in a simple, easy-to-comprehend format.

Review: "God's Unlikely Path to Success" by Tony Evans

2012-05-28T11:42:00.005-07:00

This might be Dr. Tony Evans' finest book yet. Evans, pastor of the Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas and team chaplain for the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, is an accomplished and talented author with a series of bestsellers as long as your arm - books on spiritual warfare, race relations, marriage, the Holy Spirit, and so much more. He combines years of experience and learning with an approachable, enjoyable style of writing that takes the academic and makes it popular and understandable, while not losing any of the meaning.

God's Unlikely Path to Success does nothing to damage or diminish that sterling reputation. In this book (to be released August 1st by Harvest House Publishers), Evans takes a look at life lessons from eight of the Bible's seemingly unlikely success stories - or, as Evans puts it in the subtitle, "less-than-perfect people."

Moses the Murderer
Rahab the Harlot
Jacob the Liar
Jonah the Rebel
Esther the Diva
Peter the Apostate
Samson the Player
Sarah the Prostitute

All hold a place in the faith "hall of fame" (Hebrews 11), all reached substantial victories for the kingdom and glory of God... and all eight were, at some point, colossal failures.

And that, my friends and readers, is the key message. Eight people who engaged in repugnant, unethical, immoral behavior - and who ultimately repented of their sins and went on to achieve great things. Each of these people did something terrible - sometimes many things - and, to borrow a (cleaned-up) phrase from the movie "Shawshank Redemption," "crawled through a river of **** and came out clean on the other side."

What this well-written, informative, and enjoyable book means to us today is summed up by Tony Evans in the last pages of the book. After talking about the remarkable NBA career of Jason Kidd, Evans speaks directly to the reader:

It's not too late.

Don't let your circumstances, where you have been, what you have done,

who has done what to you, or whata you are up against

dictate the final outcome of the game.

God's Unlikely Path to Success presents a solid, Biblically sound message of redemption and hope. Like Tony Evans said above, it's not too late. The game isn't over. The final whistle hasn't blown.

The Priests Who Stayed with the Titanic

2012-04-25T20:53:00.001-07:00

Fascinating article from the Catholic Herald UK on three Catholic priests who stayed onboard the sinking Titanic, hearing confessions, giving absolution, and leading in the recitation of the Rosary.

The names of Father Byles, Father Peruschitz, and Father Montvilla have been all but lost to history. They were ignored in the many movies about the Titanic. Yet their names should be listed with those of the Four Chaplains, who saved many lives aboard the troop ship Dorchester at the sacrifice of their own, and Father Joseph T. O'Callahan, Chaplain aboard the carrier USS Franklin, who received the Medal of Honor for his heroism when the Franklin was struck by by two Japanese bombs.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Creation & Evolution

2012-04-25T14:14:00.000-07:00

"You must believe one or the other of these two ideas. There is no other possibility. Either you believe that God created the world, or you believe the talk that gases - nobody knows how or where they came from - suddenly solidified and formed some primitive slime, and though there is no mind, no understanding, no law, no order, no purpose in anything, somehow or other blind, hidden forces so worked and manipulated and reacted against one another that from a very primitive kind of undefined life they developed into human beings with their brain and power, they produced to the complexity of the flower, the extraordinary instrument that we call the eye, and all the astounding things that happen in creation."

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Gospel in Genesis

Review: The Book of Man - William J. Bennett

2012-04-23T09:40:00.000-07:00

In 1993, Dr. Bill Bennett – Secretary of Education under Ronald Reagan - published The Book of Virtues, in which he presented examples of moral and immoral behavior, from a wide range of sources, aimed primarily (though not exclusively) at children and young adults. Bennett followed this volume up two years later with The Moral Compass: Stories for a Life's Journey. His goal, again, was to present examples of good and bad behavior from both fictional and historical sources. This time, the examples were organized to resemble waypoints along life’s journey (thus, the subtitle). In both volumes, Dr. Bennett wanted to present examples, factual and fictional, on how to profitably live one’s life.

In more recent years, Dr. Bennett’s focus has shifted to some degree, from presenting examples of how to live as individuals to looking at the past and future of America as a whole. He’s published a fascinating and comprehensive three-volume set on world and American history – America: The Last Best Hope (Volume I): From the Age of Discovery to a World at War, America: The Last Best Hope (Volume II): From a World at War to the Triumph of Freedom, and A Century Turns: New Hopes, New Fears – and written extensively on terrorism and Islam.

With the publication of The Book of Man: Readings on the Path to Manhood, Dr. Bennett has combined the two areas of focus into a most enjoyable and useful hybrid.

The Book of Man follows in the stylistic footsteps of The Book of Virtues and The Moral Compass by taking fictional and historical examples of how men should conduct themselves in civil society (and all too often don’t). These examples run the gamut in terms of political and religious viewpoints – “contributors” include St. Francis of Assisi, General Robert E. Lee, Billy Graham, and Walt Whitman, just to name four – and go from the ancient Greeks to the present day.

Dr. Bennett divides The Book of Man into six sections, each covering a significant aspect of a man’s life: Man in War; Man at Work; Man in Play, Sports & Leisure; Man in the Polis (Politics); Man with Woman & Children; Man in Prayer & Reflection. Each section contains dozens of readings from sources throughout time and cultures – Man in War, for example, gathers together figures as varied as Alexander the Great, Winston Churchill, and Colin Powell. Sprinkled among the individual stories, memoir excerpts, and poems are profiles of significant men with a lesson for modern men and boys – Medal of Honor recipient Audie Murphy, NBA great Pistol Pete Maravich, Mario Andretti, Jaime Escalante, and many others.

Dr. Bennett notes in the Introduction that the selections presented in The Book of Man are primarily positive ones – “they point to maxims, models, and standards of behavior.” While there are, he acknowledges, lessons to be learned from negative examples – where men have failed or succumbed to temptation or bad judgment – Dr. Bennett believes that boys and men today need lifting up, and he selected these readings with an eye to “raise the sights and aspirations of boys and men.”

Note those last three words: “boys and men.” This is the key to just how good The Book of Man is. It is not just a kids’ book, nor is it just a parenting guide on how to raise boys. It is rather a guidebook for males wherever they are on life’s journey – fathers and sons, singles and marrieds, young and old. The Book of Man is an excellent book to read in small bites – alongside your morning devotions, perhaps – or to read from cover to cover in a few sittings. Either way, you will be well served.

The Basque Sheepherder & the Shepherd Psalm

2012-04-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

The Basque Sheepherder and the Shepherd Psalm - James K. Wallace

Originally appeared in the June 1950 issue of The Reader's Digest. Condensed from The National Wool Grower, December 1949. Reprinted in The 30th Anniversary Reader's Digest Reader, 1951.

Old Ferando D'Alfonso is a Basque herder employed by one of the big Nevada sheep outfits. He is rated as one of the best sheep rangers in the state, and he should be; for back of him are at least 20 generations of Iberian shepherds.

But D'Alfonso is more than a sheepherder; he is a patriarch of his guild, the traditions and secrets of which have been handed down from generation to generation, just as were those of the Damascus steel temperers and other trade guilds of the pre-medieval age. Despite a 30-year absence from his homeland he is still full of the legends, the mysteries, the religious fervor of his native hills.

I sat with him one night under the clear, starry skies, his sheep bedded down beside a pool of sparkling water. As we were preparing to curl up in our blankets, he suddenly began a dissertation in a jargon of Greek and Basque. When he had finished, I asked him what he had said. In reply he began to quote in English the Twenty-third Psalm. There on the desert I learned the shepherd's literal interpretation of this beautiful poem.

"David and his ancestors," said D'Alfonso, "knew sheep and their ways, and David has translated a sheep's musing into simple words. The daily repetition of this Psalm fills the sheepherder with reverence for his calling. Our guild takes this poem as a lodestone to guide us. It is our bulwark when the days are hot or stormy; when the nights are dark; when wild animals surround our bands. Many of its lines are the statements of the simple requirements and actual duties of a Holy Land shepherd, whether he lives today or followed the same calling 6000 years ago. Phrase by phrase, it has a well-understood meaning for us."

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

"Sheep instinctively know," said D'Alfonso, "that ere they have been folded for the night the shepherd has planned out their grazing for the morrow. It may be that he will take them back over the same range; it may be that he will go to a new grazing ground. They do not worry. His guidance has been good in the past and they have faith in the future because they know he has their well-being in view."

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.

"Sheep graze from around 3:30 o'clock in the morning until about ten. They then lie down for three or four hours and rest," said D'Alfonso. "When they are contentedly chewing their cuds, the shepherd knows they are putting on fat. Consequently the good shepherd starts his flocks out in the early hours on the rougher herbage, moving on through the morning to the richer, sweeter grasses, and finally coming to a shady place for their forenoon rest in fine green pastures, best grazing of the day. Sheep, resting in such happy surroundings, feel contentment."

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

"Every shepherd knows," said the Basque, "that sheep will not drink gurgling water. There are many small springs high in the hills of the Holy Land, whose waters run down the valleys only to evaporate in the desert sun. Although the sheep need the water, they will not drink from these fast-flowing streams. The shepherd must find a place where rocks or erosion have made a little pool, or fashion with his hands a pocket sufficient to hold a bucketful."

He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

"Holy Land sheep exceed in herding instinct the Spanish Merino or the French Rambouillet," went on D'Alfonso. "Each takes his place in the grazing line in the morning and keeps the same position throughout the day. Once, however, during the day each sheep leaves its place and goes to the shepherd. Whereupon the shepherd stretches out his hand, as the sheep approaches with expectant eyes and mild little baas. The shepherd rubs its nose and ears, scratches its chin, whispers affectionately into its ears. The sheep, meanwhile, rubs against his leg or, if the shepherd is sitting down, nibbles at his ear, and rubs its cheek against his face. After a few minutes of this communion with the master, the sheep returns to its place in the feeding line."

Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil. Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.

"There is an actual Valley of the Shadow of Death in Palestine, and every sheepholder from Spain to Dalmatia knows of it. It is south of the Jericho Road leading from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea and is a narrow defile through a mountain range. Climatic and grazing conditions make it necessary for the sheep to be moved through this valley for seasonal feeding each year.

"The valley is four and a half miles long. Its side walls are over 1500 feet high in places and it is only ten or 12 feet wide at the bottom. Travel through the valley is dangerous, because its floor, badly eroded by cloudbursts, has gullies seven or eight feet deep. Actual footing on solid rock is so narrow in many places that a sheep cannot turn around, and it is an unwritten law of shepherds that flocks must go up the valley in the morning hours and down toward the eventide, lest flocks meet in the defile. Mules have not been able to make the trip for centuries, but sheep and goat herders from earliest Old Testament days have maintained a passage for their stock.

"About halfway through the valley the walk crosses from one side to the other at a place where the path is cut in two by an eight-foot gully. One section of the path is about 18 inches higher than the other; the sheep must jump across it. The shepherd stands at this break and coaxes or forces the sheep to make the leap. If a sheep slips and lands in the gully, the shepherd's rod is brought into play. The old-style crook is encircled around a large sheep's neck or a small sheep's chest, and it is lifted to safety. If a more modern narrow crook is used, the sheep is caught about the hoofs and lifted up to the walk.

"Many wild dogs lurk in the shadows of the valley looking for prey. After a band of sheep has entered the defile, the leader may come upon such a dog. Unable to retreat, the leader baas a warning. The shepherd, skilled in throwing his staff, hurls it at the dog and knocks the animal into the washed-out gully where it is easily killed. Thus the sheep have learned to fear no evil even in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, for their master is there to protect them from harm."

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.

"David's meaning is a simple one," said D'Alfonso, "when conditions on the Holy Land sheep ranges are known. Poisonous plants abound which are fatal to grazing animals. Each spring the shepherd must be constantly alert. When he finds the plants he takes his mattock and goes on ahead of the flock, grubbing out every stock and root he can see. As he digs out the stocks, he lays them upon little stone pyres, some of which were built by shepherds in Old Testament days, and by the morrow they are dry enough to burn. In the meantime, the sheep are led into the newly prepared pasture, which is now free from poisonous plants, and, in the presence of their deadly plant enemies, they eat in peace."

Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

"At every sheepfold there is a big earthen bowl of olive oil and a large stone jar of water. As the sheep come in for the night they are led to a gate. The shepherd lays his rod across the top of the gateway just higher than the backs of his sheep. As each sheep passes in single file, he quickly examines it for briers in the ears, snags in the cheek, or weeping of the eyes from dust or scratches. When such conditions are found, he drops the rod across the sheep's back and it steps out of line.

"Each sheep's wounds are carefully cleaned. Then the shepherd dips his hand into the olive oil and anoints the injury. A large cup is dipped into the jar of water, kept cool by evaporation in the unglazed pottery, and is brought out - never half full but always overflowing. The sheep will sink its nose into the water clear to the eyes, if fevered, and drink until fully refreshed.

"When all the sheep are at rest, the shepherd lays his staff on the ground within reach in case it is needed for protection of the flock during the night, wraps himself in his heavy woolen robe and lies down across the gateway, facing the sheep, for his night's repose.

"So," concluded D'Alfonso, "after all the care and protection the shepherd has given it, a sheep may well soliloquize in the twilight, as translated into words by David: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

The Titanic, The Father & the Telegram

2012-04-12T14:47:00.000-07:00

Hat tip to Roderick Vonhogen (@FatherRoderick on Twitter) via Elizabeth Scalia (@TheAnchoress on Twitter) for this story about some of the last known photographs of the Titanic - and how a telegram saved a Jesuit father's life.

The Titanic, The Father & the Telegram

What Is The Cross?

2012-04-12T10:59:00.000-07:00

The Cross (10th century African hymn)

The cross is the hope of Christians.

The cross is the resurrection of the dead.

The cross is the way of the lost.

The cross is the savior of the lost.

The cross is the staff of the lame.

The cross is the guide of the blind.

The cross is the strength of the weak.

The cross is the doctor of the sick.

The cross is the aim of the priests.

The cross is the hope of the hopeless.

The cross is the freedom of the slaves.

The cross is the power of the kings.

The cross is the water of the seeds.

The cross is the consolation of the bondmen.

The cross is the source of those who seek water.

The cross is the cloth of the naked.

We thank you, Father, for the cross.

The Man With 500 Bibles - Elizabeth Sherill

2012-04-10T15:47:00.000-07:00

The Man With 500 Bibles - By Elizabeth Sherrill, editor

On a Guideposts editorial trip last summer, my husband and I paid a visit to a well-known American. It's surprising that more people don't think of him as a Bible student, as well as a statesman. More than 500 Bibles line his library shelves.

Shortly after his name became famous 15 years ago, a newspaper columnist wrote that this man had read the Bible through four times before he was 14 years old.

"He quotes from it, chapter and verse."

Almost as soon as the column appeared, packages of Bibles started arriving from all over the world.

They came from people of many backgrounds, as though the world were saying: No matter how different we are, we can agree in our respect for this Book. The man is a Democrat, but Republican friends such as Ezra Taft Benson sent him personally inscribed volumes. He is a Protestant, but he received Douay versions from many Catholic friends. And in his own handwriting is a note stuck in the front of an Old Testament: "Given to my mother by Rabbi Meyerberg during her last illness."

"But you know," he told us, "I think the ones that mean the most are from people I've never met. Total strangers - and yet they've sent me something very precious."

On and on the Bibles go. Magnificent gold-illuminated volumes and quarter paperback editions. We saw Bibles in Chinese and Navajo, in Lubalulua and Tagalog. He has Bibles in 120 different languages and dialects; Bibles with faded family pictures pasted in the fly leaves; Bibles that have been used so long that they are falling apart.

In 1951, the American Bible Society made him its honorary president. When he accepted the office, he said:

"Whenever I want to find something, this is where I look for it."

The man accepting the honor was at that time already president in another capacity: President of the United States, Harry S Truman.

Originally published in the March 1960 edition of Guideposts. Reprinted in A Very Present Help by the editors of Guideposts (1985).

If He Came to Your House - Lois Blanchard Eades

2012-04-09T18:30:00.000-07:00

If He Came to Your House - Lois Blanchard Eades

When you saw Him coming, would you meet Him at the door
With arms outstretched in welcome to your Heavenly Visitor?
Or would you have to change your clothes before you let Him in?
Or hide some magazines, and put the Bible where they'd been?
Would you hide your worldly music and put some hymnbooks out?
Could you let Jesus walk right in, or would you rush about?

And I wonder - if the Savior spent a day or two with you,
Would you go right on doing the things you always do?
Would you go right on saying the things you always say?
Would life for you continue as it does from day to day?
Would you take Jesus with you everywhere you'd planned to go?
Or would you maybe change your plans for just a day or so?

Would you be glad to have Him meet your very closest friends?
Or would you hope they stay away until His visit ends?
Would you be glad to have Him stay forever on and on?
Or would you sigh with great relief when He at last was gone?
It might be interesting to know the things that you would do,
If Jesus came in person to spend some time with you.

Originally published in Guideposts, August 1961. Reprinted in A Very Present Help by Guideposts (1985).

The Magic of Three Days

2012-04-09T18:20:00.000-07:00

The Magic of Three Days - by Patt Barnes
It was a beautiful spring day, and a sense of peace stayed with me as I left the Cathedral on Easter Monday morning. I paused for a moment on top of the steps leading to the Avenue, now crowded with people rushing to their jobs. Sitting in her usual place inside a small archway was the old flower lady. At her feet, corsages and boutonnieres were parading on top of a spread-open newspaper.

The flower lady was smiling, her wrinkled old face alive with some inner joy. I started down the stairs - then on an impulse, turned and picked out a flower.

As I put it in my lapel, I said, "You look happy this morning."

"Why not? Everything is good."

She was dressed so shabbily and seemed so very old that her reply startled me.

"You've been sitting here for many years now, haven't you? And always smiling. You wear your troubles well."

"You can't reach my age and not have troubles," she replied. "Only it's like Jesus and Good Friday..." She paused for a moment.

"Yes?" I prompted.

"Well, when Jesus was crucified on Good Friday, that was the worst day in the whole world. And when I get troubles I remember that, and then I think of what happened only three days later - Easter and our Lord arising. So when I get troubles, I've learned to wait three days ... somehow everything gets all right again."

And she smiled goodbye. Her words still follow me whenever I think I have troubles... "Give God a chance to help ... wait three days."

Originally published in Guideposts Magazine, April 1956. Republished in A Very Present Help, Guideposts Inc., 1985.

Review: "How to Ruin Your Life by 30" by Steve Farrar (Moody, 2012)

2012-04-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

Few Christian authors are as reliable and consistent as Steve Farrar. Founder and chairman of Men's Leadership Ministries, frequent public speaker and prolific author, Farrar writes and speaks consistently on the importance of the responsibilities of Christian men - as husbands, fathers, leaders, and individuals.Steve's latest book, How to Ruin Your Life By 30, continues this trend and does so eloquently and usefully.

How to Ruin Your Life By 30 is the result of many years of learning and teaching. As Steve describes in a note to the reader, the book began some years ago as a private high school graduation address entitled "How to Ruin Your Life by 40." This commencement addresses was expanded into a series of talks for a conference at Biola University. A staffer at Moody Publishers who attended the conference suggested expanding the Biola talks into a book, resulting in 2006's How to Ruin Your Life By 40. The current volume is a modification of the 2006 book, but targeted towards a slightly younger audience.

How to Ruin Your Life By 30 lists nine different ways that the average male might be ruining their life by 30.

Overlooking the law of cause and effect.
Getting off to a bad start.
Ignoring God's purpose for your life.
Refusing to take responsibility for your actions.
Neglecting your gifts & strengths when choosing a vocation.
Disregarding what the Bible says about sex and marriage.
Stopping learning.
Isolating yourself.
Refusing daily wisdom.

Each chapter is written in a breezy yet informative style, demonstrating ways we might be getting ourselves into serious trouble and presenting solid biblical examples of men who have faced the same problem and how they resolved their problem (or, in some cases, didn't).

It's a great credit to Steve that, while the book is targeted to the under-30 crowd (an age group I left during the first Clinton administration!), it is both appealing and instructive to men of any age. Any man who looks back over their life and wonders how he got there (and, perhaps, how it all went so wrong on the way) will benefit from the lessons in How to Ruin Your Life By 30.

While the whole book is both informative and enjoyable (an all-too-rare trait in Christian nonfiction publishing today), I found the real key to be in the second chapter, about getting off to a bad start. Steve hammers home the idea that all is not lost: "Your past is past. There is still great hope for your life. ... Don't let regrets hold you back. You are not your past." This sounds simple and oh-so-obvious, but sometimes it's all-too-easy to overlook the obvious.

So if you've screwed up in one or more areas of your life (and let's face it, guys, who hasn't?), or you want to try to avoid making the big life-shattering mistakes, then How to Ruin Your Life By 30 is the book for you - whether you're 13, 30, 47 (that's me!), or any age. Word of advice, friends: If you see Steve Farrar's name on the cover, as they say in Britain, it's a "dead cert" you want to read it - and pass it on to a son, grandson, nephew, or any young man whose life is important to you.

Review: The Voice New Testament by Ecclesia Bible Society (Thomas Nelson)

2012-04-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

There’s an old chestnut of a saying that warns us that “The only things that are certain in life are death and taxes.” A third item could easily be added to that list by Christian publishers: “death, taxes, and new Bible editions.”

One of the latest contributions to this vast and ever-growing field is The Voice, a translation of the New Testament created by the heretofore unknown Ecclesia Bible Society and published by Thomas Nelson.

The Voice is a hybrid of the two main styles of scriptural translation: word-for-word (such as the KJV, NKJV and the ESV) and thought-for-thought (as with the NLT, GNT, and The Message). The editors of The Voice, in the volume’s Preface, use the term “contextual equivalent” to describe their style: using word-for-word in some places and thought-for-thought in others, with the goal of creating a readable translation.

I think, for the most part, that they achieved their goal – at least in terms of the Biblical texts, if not in the physical layout of the pages and study aides (which I’ll get to below). A comparison of certain verses, such as Mark 14:18 (where Jesus reveals that He will be betrayed by one of His disciples), John 3:16, and Romans 13:1 (submitting to the authorities), doesn’t reveal any problems with The Voice. In fact, both in Mark 14:18 and Romans 13:1, The Voice is a bit clearer in expressing the thought behind the words than, for example, the King James or the NASB.

My major difficulty with The Voice is in its physical layout. A reader will come across the standard typeface in which the Scriptures are presented, an italic typeface (words which are not directly in the Scriptures but which help in understanding, such as “Look, the point is”), delineated material (which loosely refers to study notes and information), and a screenplay format (which replaces, for example, “Jesus said…” with “Jesus: …”).

The screenplay format is an interesting way to differentiate between various speakers – an extension of the long-used “red letter” formatting for the specific words of Jesus). However, the screenplay formatting , as well as the italic typeface and the delineated material, interfere with the flow of the text and are distracting to the average reader’s eye. Personally, I prefer a layout in which the Scriptural text is kept separate from notes, study articles, devotional materials, etc., and in which supplemental materials are connected to the text by footnotes which are printed at the bottom of the page.

It must be noted that The Voice has a strong Emergent Church bent, with contributing writers such as Chuck Smith Jr., Brian McLaren, and Chris & Robby Seay. This Emergent factor will prove to disqualify The Voice for some, and to be perfectly honest, it’s bothersome for me as well. I would point out that there a number of solid Biblical scholars involved in The Voice, not the least of which is Darrell Bock, an accomplished writer and professor at Dallas Theological Seminary who is a strong defender of the Bible and the faith.

In conclusion, The Voice is an interesting effort but not a vital or even necessary contribution to an already overcrowded field of translations and study Bibles. (NOTE: This review is for the New Testament edition only. The complete The Voice Bible: Step Into the Story of Scripture is officially published on April 10, 2012, and is already available at Amazon.com.

National Review Online Symposium - Can Religious Freedom Be Saved?

2012-03-26T07:43:00.001-07:00

National Review Online symposium - "Can Religious Freedom Be Saved?"

"We will render ungrudgingly to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but we will never under any circumstances render to Caesar what is God’s." - Chuck Colson

Review: Christianity in Crisis 21st Century - Hank Hanegraaff

2012-03-22T10:37:00.001-07:00

In the evangelical community, nobody is neutral on Hank Hanegraaff: you either think he's the greatest Christian writer since the Apostle Paul, or you think he's a heretic that's corrupting some essential evangelical doctrines. Either way, there's no middle ground.

With only a couple of exceptions, however, it's hard to find much that could be considered corrupt or heretical in Christianity in Crisis: 21st Century, Hank's 2009 update of his 1993 award-winning Christianity in Crisis.

Hank took no prisoners in addressing the genuinely heretical teachings of the Faith and Prosperity movements. In the first volume, Hank took on false teachers like Kenneth Hagin, Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland - people who were espousing false doctrines and enriching themselves in the process.

This second volume draws the clear path of "progress" from the founders and first generation of the Faith and Prosperity movements and the second and third generations of false teachers - people like T.D. Jakes and Joyce Meyer and the even-more-dangerous Joel Osteen and Rhonda Byrne.

One of the most useful features of this follow-up volume is in the "Case of Characters" chapter, a new feature that discusses the teachings and conduct (and mis-conduct) of the Faith and Prosperity movement teachers name by name. Hank is meticulous in footnoting and documenting the false teachings of these characters and quotes directly from their teachings, so he cannot be charged with mis-quoting or mis-representing their heresies.

Throughout the book Hank presents clear, easy-to-understand yet detailed information not only on the false doctrines being espoused by Hinn, Byrne, et al., but more importantly, he presents the true essential doctrines of the biblical Christian faith. Hank continues his heavy use of acronyms to present this information in an organized manner; while Hank's "acronym-mania" may be off-putting to some, in a volume of this nature, it's not only useful, it's almost essential for outlining a wealth of information.

You may disagree with Hank on other doctrines, as I do - for example, I think Hank leans dangerously towards the preterist position with regards to eschatology and End Times teaching - but he is 100% spot-on that the Faith and Prosperity movements are a cancer within the soul of essential Biblical Christianity. Like cancer, though, these false teachings can be treated and excised from the authentic church. Christianity in Crisis: 21st Century is an excellent theological chemotherapy to the cancerous false teachings of the Faith and Prosperity movements.

This book needs to be on your bookshelf right next to Walter Martin's Kingdom of the Cults as essential tools to fight against false teachings and cultic behaviors.