Veritas et Lux

TRUE BEAUTY – Carolyn Mahaney and Nicole Whitacre (2014)

Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Carolyn Mahaney and Nicole Whitacre tackle the sensitive topic of beauty in their book, True Beauty. The “benchmarks for beauty” are constantly changing and most of the criteria is propaganda which caters to worldliness. This book, on the other hand has a simple goal, namely – to point women to true beauty which is found in the pages of Scripture.

True Beauty challenges readers to see things from God’s perspective. Henry Scougal writes, “The worth and the excellency of a soul is to be measured the object of its love.” Herein lies the real value and beauty of a woman – as she contemplates and worships her Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: “He is the ultimate, unchanging, eternal standard of beauty. He is the Author, Creator, and Bestower of beauty. His beauty transcends time and culture. It never changes and never fades.” Therefore, true beauty is not fleeting. True beauty is not bound by cultural expectations. True beauty is rooted in the radiant beauty and majesty of the living God. He is the most beautiful Being in the universe. Therefore, all beauty must be measured according to his design.

Mahaney and Whitacre alert readers to the final standard of beauty – which is found in Jesus Christ. Women, must therefore, develop a “taste for beauty.” However, “sin has blinded us to the beauty of God, and when we lost sight of this beauty, we lost interest.” So instead of delighting in God, we delight in other things – things that are in the final analysis, tantamount to idolatry. This fascination with the mundane, with anything less than God is nothing new. Israel struggled mightily with the sin of idolatry: “Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:11-13, ESV).

One of the central arguments in the book is that the “gospel of Jesus Christ transforms our taste for beauty … True beauty is to behold and reflect the beauty of God.” And to behold the great God of the universe is to trust him implicitly. The authors add, “Apply trust in God, with good works (1 Tim. 2:9-10) and you will not fail to become genuinely beautiful.” Indeed, this is the touchstone as Mahaney and Whitacre weave this important reality through the remainder of the book and discuss the relationship of beauty to hearts, bodies, clothes, trust, and work.

Frankly, I cannot say enough about True Beauty. It avoids the pitfalls of legalism and props up the pillars of a gospel-centered worldview. It is gracious and thoughtful in tone. It is saturated through and through with Scripture. It affirms beauty and challenges women to pursue the highest standard of beauty – which again, is the Lord Jesus Christ. My hope is that True Beauty receives a wide readership and strengthens and edifies a new generation of women who grow more beautiful as they pursue their Savior.

“but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” (1 Peter 3:4, ESV)

Highly recommended!

5 stars

THE AUSCHWITZ ESCAPE – Joel Rosenberg (2014)

Razor-wire fences. Vicious dogs. Soot filled chimneys. Gas chambers. Piles of rotting corpses. The stench of human flesh. These are only a few of the images that make up one of the many death camps devised by the Nazi’s during World War II.

Joel Rosenberg offers readers with his first attempt at a work of historical fiction; a novel which tracks Jacob Weisz, a young Jewish man from Berlin. Weisz is captured in a failed attempt to liberate a train heading for Auschwitz.

While Weisz endures the hellish confines of Auschwitz, he also develops close friendships with several people; a twist that offers hope in the midst of adversity. The title gives away the main plot line which leads Weisz away from Auschwitz. But his escape is not self-focused. Rather, his departure is for a greater purpose – the liberation of masses in the death camp.

Once again, Rosenberg pens another award-winning novel; a novel that is filled with pain and realism, interesting characters, and historical tidbits that will lure many readers to the primary sources for more information. The author directly confronts the problem of evil and presents hope that is grounded in the biblical worldview and centered on the cross of Christ.

4.5 stars

A DIVINE AND SUPERNATURAL LIGHT – Jonathan Edwards (1734)

Jonathan Edwards would have been rightly horrified at the anti-intellectualism of the 21st century church; a rugged anti-intellectualism that has the church by the throat. When he preached the sermon, “A Divine and Supernatural Light” in 1734 he could have never predicted the opposition to the Christian mind in our days.

Edwards presents his doctrine in typical Puritan form: “That there is such a thing as a spiritual and divine light, immediately imparted to the soul by God, of a different nature from any that is obtained by natural means.”

A Description of the Light

Edwards begins negatively by showing what the light is not.

1. The spiritual and divine light is not common grace

“These convictions that natural men may have of their sin and misery, is not this spiritual and divine light … Common grace differs from special, in that it influences only by assisting of nature; and not by imparting grace, or bestowing any thing above nature.”

2. The spiritual and divine light is not an impression upon the imagination.

3. The spiritual and divine light is not a new truth or revelation.

Edwards proceeds to show what this spiritual light consists of.

1. It is a real sense of the excellency of Christ and the works of God revealed in the gospel..

“He that is spiritually enlightened truly apprehends and sees it, or has a sense of it. He does not merely rationally believe that God is glorious, but he has a sense of the gloriousness of God in his heart … There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness.” John Piper has rightly noted that this involves “seeing and savoring” God.

Edwards adds, “But when a person has discovered to him the divine excellency of Christian doctrines, this destroys the enmity, removes those prejudices, sanctifies the reason, and causes it to lie open to the force of arguments for their truth.”

2. It helps the faculty of reason and removes hindrances to the faculty of reason.

The Originator of the Light

Edwards argues that God alone if the Originator of divine and supernatural light. He argues strenuously that such light is not obtained by natural means.

1. God makes use the natural faculties which receive the divine and supernatural light.

2. God reveals the divine and supernatural light through the gospel.

3. God uses means to reveal the divine and supernatural light. Here Edwards makes a strong appeal to the ministry of the Holy Spirit: “But the sense of the excellency of Christ by reason of that holiness and grace, is nevertheless immediately the work of the Holy Spirit.”

The Truth of the Doctrine

Edwards maintains this doctrine is both scriptural and rational. He adds, “Reason’s work is to perceive truth and not excellency.”

The conclusion of the Puritan divine as duly noted: “This knowledge will wean from the world, and raise the inclination to heavenly things. It will turn the heart to God as the fountain of good, and to choose him for the only portion … It conforms the heart to the gospel, mortifies its enmity and opposition against the scheme of salvation therein revealed: it conforms the heart to embrace the joyful tidings, and entirely to adhere to, and acquiesce in the revelation of Christ as our Savior … and it effectually disposes the soul to give up itself entirely to Christ.”

A Divine and Supernatural Light is a short and readable sermon that exposes the heart of Jonathan Edwards and his love for the gospel. Oh, that writers in our generation would write with the Christ-saturated joy of the man from Northampton.

WHO PUT THE “LOCK” IN WEDLOCK – Part 2

We have seen that marriages serves several important purposes.

1. Mutual companionship.

2. To reflect the imago Dei and glorify him.

3. A means of rearing children.

4. A portrait of Christ’s relationship to the church.

THE MARRIAGE COVENANT

It is also critical to understand that the marital bond involves a binding covenant. Marriage, then, by definition is a covenantal relationship – ordained and instituted by God almighty. My late uncle, Pastor Paul Steele points out the seriousness of this covenantal union: “Because God honors marriage and because people agree to a commitment in marriage, the covenant of marriage is sacred and binding in God’s sight” (Paul Steele, Meant To Last, 11). The Lord himself joins a couple together in covenant love (Mark 10:9; Matt. 19:6). Indeed, this covenant is designed to endure until death.

The Bible describes this God-initiated union established before witnesses at the wedding ceremony as indissoluble. God’s plan is for a man and a woman to enter a marriage covenant that endures a lifetime. Jesus told the inquisitive Pharisees, “Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate” (Mark, 19:6b). The only event that may break the covenant is death (Rom. 7:2) at which point the living spouse is free to remarry.

We must jealously guard the God-ordained stipulations that concern the marriage covenant. To do any less is to dishonor the covenant that God has set before his creatures.

WHO PUT THE “LOCK” IN WEDLOCK – Part 1

I am growing increasingly more uncomfortable with the current attitudes about marriage. It’s not enough that several states have abandoned the biblical model of marriage between one woman and one man by legalizing homosexual “marriage.” Equally troubling is the notion that marriage can be dissolved when one partner grows dissatisfied with his or her spouse.

It’s time to ask an important question, namely – “Who put the lock in wedlock?” It’s time that we reexamine the covenant of marriage in a world that is desperate to modify the definition of marriage and marginalize anyone who has the audacity to cling to God’s standard.

THE PURPOSE OF MARRIAGE

The answer to the question begins with God. God designed marriage to provide mutual companionship between one man and one woman. “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him”” (Genesis 2:18, ESV). God graciously provided a wife for Adam, someone with whom he could share intimate friendship and togetherness.

Since man and women are create in God’s image (imago Dei), their marital relationship should reflect that image and ultimately glorify our great God. The prophet Isaiah indicates that all of life, including marriage is for the purpose of bringing glory to God: “Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”” (Isaiah 43:7, ESV)

Additionally, God designed marriage as a means of rearing children. “And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth”” (Genesis 1:28, ESV). It must be stated in emphatic terms that God has always intended the marriage relationship to be monogamous; between one man and one woman.

Finally, marriage is a portrait of Christ’s relationship to the church (Eph. 5:22-33). Scripture instructs “wives to submit to and respect their husbands as to the Lord” (v. 22). God’s Word explains, “the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church” (v. 23). The mandate before every husband is to love their wives as Christ loved the church (vv. 25, 28). Paul reaches into the Old Testament and explains the rationale behind such self-sacrifice: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh” (Eph. 5:31; c.f. Gen. 2:24). Clearly, God intends marriage to serve as a mirror; to vividly portray the relationship Christ the Bridegroom has with His bride, the church.

It becomes obvious that God put the lock in wedlock. Indeed, he is the Originator of marriage. But as we shall see, the marital bond involves a unique and binding covenant; a covenant between a man and a woman; a covenant that is designed to endure until death.

PLATFORM: GET NOTICED IN A NOISY WORLD – Michael Hyatt (2012)

Michael Hyatt is no stranger to writers and bloggers. Hyatt’s work as the former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers and his popular podcasts have been well publicized. So it’s no coincidence that Hyatt would publish a book on getting noticed. This is not to speak in derogatory tones or minimize his work in any way. The fact is this: Michael Hyatt is an expert marketer and wants to share his skills with other people.

Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World delivers the goods. It effectively carries out the promise in the subtitle of the book. That is to say, it delivers a step-by-step guide for anyone with something to say or sell.

Hyatt doesn’t leave any stone unturned. He attacks every possible way to get noticed; from blogging, to social media and beyond. The book is basic without being simplistic. It offers tips for anyone seeking to expand their influence.

3.5 stars

CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW: A STUDENT’S GUIDE – Phillip Graham Ryken (2013)

Christian Worldview: A Student’s Guide by Phillip Graham Ryken is a part of the Reclaiming the Christian Intellectual Tradition series – a collection of books that provide a framework for cultural analysis from a uniquely Christian perspective. David Dockery serves as the general editor and notes, “At the heart of this work is the challenge to prepare a generation of Christians to think Christianly, to engage the academy and the culture, and to serve church and society.”

Ryken notes how God’s goal is to redeem the entire cosmos. Indeed, Ryken adds,”If Christ is preeminent, ruling over all things for the glory of God, then we are called to acknowledge his supreme lordship in all of life, every aspect of which is sacred to God. We are not called simply to trust Jesus for our salvation but also to live for him in everything we do.”

Christian Worldview: A Student’s Guide is a must read for every Christian student in the university system. It is sure to prompt much discussion, encourage Christian excellence, and equip young believers to impact their world for the glory of God.

4 stars

RUMSFELD’S RULES: Leadership Lessons in Business, Politics, War, and Life (2013)

Several years ago, I learned about Donald Rumsfeld’s habit of working most of the day at a standing desk. I was immediately intrigued by his work ethic, passion to make a difference in the lives of people, and his love for his country. Since then, I’ve seen several interviews with the former Secretary of Defense. Each time I’m impressed with his ability to articulate conservative ideas and his insight into leadership.

Rumsfeld’s Rules: Leadership Lessons in Business, Politics, War, and Life is a rich resource, packed with pithy wisdom from a great American leader. Rumsfeld shares leadership lessons from both the private and public sectors and gives readers an inside look at his time as Chief of Staff under president Ford and Secretary of Defense under President Bush.

Readers will be refreshed with Rumsfeld’s transparent approach. They will be encouraged with his no-nonsense approach to leadership. There’s something for everyone here. Liberals – set your politics aside and learn from an American patriot!

4 stars

LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED – Martyn Lloyd-Jones (2009)

I have developed a habit over the years. Often times, when I get discouraged I turn to the writing of Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled is a collection of sermons penned and preached before the doctor went to be with the Lord in 1984. Each sermon is packed with Christ-centered wisdom and encouragement for weary pilgrims. In typical Lloyd-Jones fashion, the gospel stands at the center of each sermon and beckons readers to the cross of Christ.

“For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.” (Psalm 62:1–2, ESV)

“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah” (Psalm 62:5–8, ESV)

THE STORYTELLING GOD: Seeing the Glory of Jesus in His Parables (2014)

I want to begin this review a bit differently. I would like to thank Jared Wilson for his writing ministry. Wilson is a young man committed to biblical authority, a Reformed framework, and has consistently demonstrated faithfulness to a robust God-centered approach to the Christian life. His writing ministry has been of deep encouragement to me personally and for that I wish to thank him and commend him to the readers of Veritas et Lux. I would also like to commend his other books to you as well. Gospel Wakefulness is a powerful book that I greatly benefitted from. Gospel Deeps is another worthy read. And The Pastor’s Justification: Applying the Work of Christ in Your Life and Ministry will be noted as one of my top reads of 2014 (though it was originally published in 2013).

Wilson’s latest work, The Storytelling God: Seeing the Glory of Jesus in His Parables is a logical extension of his previous works. The author guides readers on a journey through selected parables, which as he rightly notes, “give us a direct portal to the kingdom of God being done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Wilson debunks some of the typical views concerning parables and suggests that “parables function in Jesus’s ministry as representative stories about the kingdom of God.” He argues, “The parables … give us peeks behind the veil between earth and the place where God’s will is most manifest; they show us glimpses of the day when that veil is torn and that world conquers and integrates with this one … The parables show us that the kingdom of the ‘gospel of the kingdom’ is God’s reign over all creation, not just part of it … [they] show us how Christ-centeredness rebukes, subverts, and sabotages the sinful kingdoms of the world.”

Each chapter includes thoughtful and careful interaction with a selected parable and a good dose of practical application. Like Wilson’s other books, the most important feature is the beauty and power of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I challenge readers to pick up The Storytelling God: Seeing the Glory of Jesus in His Parables. You’ll be educated and encouraged; you’ll be drawn in deeper to the riches of God’s kingdom!

4 stars