These are troubling times. We live in a day that is marked by theological error and apostasy. Leaders are falling, truth is routinely maligned, and compromise is celebrated. A glance across the cultural milieu reveals an unfurled white flag. The white flag has been hoisted high and a diabolical deal has been struck. This flag reveals a horrifying reality that must be addressed, namely – the final surrender of the church.
The White Flag: When Compromise Cripples the Church diagnoses our current condition and offers biblical action steps for marching forward in a way that glorifies God. It is a call to faithfulness in an age that is characterized by weak knees, passivity, and capitulation. It instills courage in weary Christ-followers who toil in a post-Christian era.
“Here is a passionate call from a pastor’s heart, from a man widely read, who sees with great clarity the difficult situation the church now faces, with opposition without and weakness and compromise within, who believes the battle will be won by the faithful believing and by the courageous teaching and proclaiming of the Word of God.”
DR. PETER JONES, Director, TruthXchange; author of The Other Worldview, Escondido, CA
The affirmation of Psalm 115:3 echoes throughout the created order.
“Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.”
The book boldly proclaims the unwavering sovereignty of God, exalts the Creator of the cosmos, and calls all creatures to stand in awe of his regal majesty.
The Jonah Complex: Meditations on the Sovereignty of God is designed to bolster your confidence in God. It is designed to acquaint you with a God who is sovereign over all. And in the end, the aim is to prompt deep trust, delight, and worship in the triune God and his purposes for his people.
In the nineteenth century, the British politician, William Wilberforce began a movement that led to the abolition of the slave trade. His robust Christian faith fueled his resolve to see tyranny destroyed and people created in the imago Dei set free. Today, there are 27 million slaves in the world. 1.2 million are children, enslaved by the sex trade industry in India. These horrifying realities are a painful reminder of the sin that pollutes our world; they harken back to the days of Wilberforce. Yet today, very few appear willing to pick up the cause that Wilberforce began.
First time author, Corban Addison delivers a heart-wrenching, mind-rivetting, spine-tingling thriller that exposes the human trafficking/sex trade industry in his novel, A Walk Across the Sun. Readers should be forewarned that this novel is not for the faint at heart. The author paints a grizzly portrait of the underworld; a world that exploits women and children and panders to the diabolical deeds of men.
I can’t say enough about Corban Addison. He writes with Grisham-like precision which ultimately leads to a redemptive end. He gives enough details to educate readers to this horrifying industry which carries the ultimate aim of involvement, reformation, and the obliteration of slavery around the world. The book is a mixture of unmitigated evil and unvarnished beauty.
Many thanks to my friends, Ron and Mark for alerting me to this book. I’ll never doubt you again!
My uncle Dwight gave me this book almost thirty years ago. I’ll never forget what he said when he handed it to me: “Only real men can read this book.” Whether it was meant to motivate or amuse, I read it with a vengeance. This is my third time through.
Blamires thesis is clear throughout the book: “There is no longer a Christian mind.” An interesting proposal, given the original publishing date of 1963. But the facts outweigh any contrary argument. The author notes, “And we have emptied our brains of Christian vocabulary, Christian concepts, in advance, just to make sure that we should get fully into touch. Thus we have stepped mentally into secularism.” We live in a post-Christian era. This much is certain. The frightening reality is that some Christians understood this in the 1960’s. Many Christians today simply have no comprehension of the Christian mind.
In part two, the author suggests what the Christian mind should look like. He delineates six marks of the Christian mind which include:
1. A supernatural orientation.
2. An awareness of evil.
3. A conception of truth
4. Accepts the notion of authority
5. Has a concern for the person
6. Has a passion to live life to the glory of God.
The Christian Mind should be celebrated for its analysis of culture and its allegiance to the Word of God. Like Francis Schaeffer, Blamires is in touch with the barriers to Christian thinking. While his concerns originated in 1963, they continue to reverberate almost fifty years later.
The point my Uncle was trying to make is this: Real men think Christianly. Real men live according to truth.
“The Christian mind is the prerequisite of Christian thinking. And Christian thinking is the prerequisite of Christian action.”
It has been said that one of the greatest problems that plague contemporary people is unresolved guilt. Sin squeezes the life out of unwitting victims. Sins of omission, sins of commission, sins of regret, neglect, fear, ungodly anger, broken relationships, and insubordination pose a massive threat to the well-being of well-meaning people.
No one is excluded from this sinful parade. We have all committed sin. We are sinners by nature and by choice – and as a result, guilt rears its ugly head. Sometimes the guilt waits to surface until we’re all alone. For some of us, guilt is a constant note on the musical scoresheet of our lives. For others, the only time we feel guilt is when we hear a preacher remind us about our sin.
Here is the problem: Apart from the grace of God, we all stand before the bar of God’s justice – and we stand condemned. Apart from the grace of God – we are guilty.
The sound of the gavel is unmistakable in a courtroom setting. When the gavel falls, it reminds us that a verdict has been reached. It announces the guilt or innocence of the defendant.
In 1 John 2, the apostle John ushers us into the celestial courtroom and answers the question, “What is the greatest need of sinners when the gavel falls?” As we enter the heavenly tribunal, I invite you to encounter the divine standard and the divine representative.
THE DIVINE STANDARD
If you ever have the opportunity to attend a trial in a courtroom one of the first memories you will have is when the Judge enters the courtroom. The bailiff announces, “All rise!” John the apostle introduces the presiding Judge of the universe in 1 John 1:5. He writes, “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”
The Presiding Judge of the Divine Standard
He is the majestic God of the universe. The psalmist proclaims, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens” (Ps. 8:1, ESV). Moses says, “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?” (Exod. 15:11).
He is the transcendent God of the universe. “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite” (Isa. 57:15).
He is the sovereign God of the universe. The psalmist reminds us, “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Ps. 115:3,). Daniel 4:34-35 says, “At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?””
And he is the holy God of the universe. “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). The psalmists adds, “But the Lord sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness” (Psalm 9:7–8). The heavenly Judge has the authority to issue the particulars of the divine standard. This is the divine standard we turn our attention to.
The Particulars of the Divine Standard
John gives his readers an inside look at the motivation for his writing: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin …” (v. 1). John calls his readers to live holy lives, what he refers to as “walking in the light.” Notice the particulars, then, of this divine standard.
First, the call to holiness began in eternity past. Scripture reveals that God chose his people before the creation of the cosmos: “Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him …” (Eph. 1:4).
Second, we are called out of darkness to proclaim the excellencies of God. “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9).
Third, we are called to conduct ourselves in a holy manner. “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy”” (1 Pet. 1:14–16).
The heart of the apostle John is to communicate the divine standard to Christians: “so that you may not sin.” Indeed, this is God’s standard – this is the divine standard. But there is a problem we must acknowledge: we do sin (1 John 1:5-10).
To sin means to miss the mark, specifically in our relationship to God. The Westminster Shorter Catechism says, “Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law God.”1 “Sin is disobedience to God’s revealed law,” writes Martyn Lloyd-Jones.2 And John Piper summarizes, “What does not come from satisfaction in God, and through the guidance of God, and for the glory of God, is God-less – it is sin.”3
Since we fail to the divine standard in every respect, John introduces the Divine Representative.
THE DIVINE REPRESENTATIVE
The apostle John presents three marks of the Divine Representative: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).
First, Jesus is righteous. The author of Hebrews helps us understand that the Divine Representative is sinless: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). Jesus is without sin. Jesus is righteous.
Second, Jesus stands face-to-face with the Father. In the Gospel of John, in the book that bears his name, the apostle writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The preposition translated “with” comes from the Greek term prós which means “face-to-face.” From all eternity, Jesus has been with the Father.
Third, Jesus is our Advocate. An advocate is a helper or an intercessor. An advocate acts as a representative for someone. In this case, the advocate stands before the Father and represents sinners like you and me. This Advocate stands in our defense. He pleads our case. Lloyd-Jones adds, “Unlike a defense attorney who may argue that his client is innocent of all charges, this defense attorney recognizes your guilt before God. The Advocate turns to the Father and says, ‘… I am here just to remind You that the law has been fulfilled, that the death has died, the punishment has been enacted; they are free because I died for them.”4
And so we fail to meet the divine standard. The Divine Representative stands in our defense. All these things clear the path for the divine accomplishment, which John unfolds in 1 John 2:2 – “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).
When the gavel falls, a verdict will be rendered. Will you bear the weight of your sin and thus, endure 10,000 degrees of white-hot wrath? Or will you trust Jesus to stand in your defense? When the gavel falls, will you stand condemned or will Christ’s sacrificial death pardon you, grant peace (Rom. 5:1), and welcome you into his presence where you will enjoy the pleasures of God forever (Ps. 16:11)?
Chad and Emily Van Dixhoorn, Gospel-Shaped Marriage: Grace for Sinners to Love Like Saints (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2022), 155 pp.
Gospel-Shaped Marriage: Grace for Sinners to Love Like Saints by Chad & Emily Van Dixhoorn is a short, encouraging book that leads couples on a God-honoring path that is illuminated by the light of the gospel. The husband and wife team unveils the biblical context of marriage, which is grounded in covenant and unfolds several practical principles for mirroring the triune God.
The authors helpfully define submission as “respect that leads to serving.” However, the emphasis on the notion of “mutual submission” weakened the overall argument. I urge readers to refer to Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism, edited by Wayne Grudem and John Piper for a different perspective.
Overall, though, the book is helpful and encouraging. The essence of the book may be summed up in one critical sentence: “Let it be the prayer of every Christian person reading this book that the marriages in their church will serve as a wonderful picture of the gospel and that this gospel will be the most important thing in our marriages.” In other words, the gospel drives this book and fuels marriages that honor the Lord Jesus Christ.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.
Dustin Benge, The Loveliest Place (Wheaton: Crossway Books), 2022), 198 pp.
Mention the word “church” in a casual conversation. The opinions offered will likely render a broad range of adjectives. Some people have been wounded in the church. Some people feel used by the church. Others feel that the church has run its course in this world.
The Loveliest Place by Dustin Benge offers a perspective on the church that is encouraging, edifying, heartwarming, and most of all – biblical. The author writes:
This book has one aim: to set before you a thoroughly biblical portrait of the church that derives its life from the sweet fellowship of the Father, Son, and Spirit, creating a community of love, worship, fellowship, and mission, all animated by the gospel and empowered by the word of God.
Benge maintains that the church is beautiful because God is beautiful. He utilizes the exegetical thunder of John Gill who demonstrates an allegorical portrayal that exists between Christ and the church. Benge observes:
The church is beautiful because the lens through which Christ regards her is his cross – the focal point of blood, righteousness, forgiveness, union, justification, regeneration, and grace. His cross makes her beautiful. His perfection makes her beautiful. It is his sacrificial, substitutionary, sinless blood that washes her garments as white as snow. The cross of Christ makes her beautiful not only inwardly by justification but also outwardly through sanctification. From giving second birth to final glory, the righteousness of Christ creates a beautiful church.
This stunning portrayal of the church sets the stage for the remainder of the book where the author presents a series of descriptions including the church as our helper and beautifier, a pillar and buttress of truth, and feeding the flock, to name a few.
To say that The Loveliest Place is breathtaking would be an understatement. Dustin Benge has wonderfully captured the essence of the church in a short book that is eminently readable, accessible, and biblical in every respect.
Highly recommended!
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.
Thomas R. Schreiner, Covenant and God’s Purpose For the World, Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2017, 136 pp. $9.97
Biblical theology is the discipline that reveals the storyline of Scripture. It looks at the big picture, which begins at creation and culminates with the new earth, where God makes all things new. “The purpose of biblical theology,” according to James Hamilton “is to sharpen our understanding of the theology contained in the Bible itself through an inductive, salvation-historical examination of the Bible’s themes and the relationships between those themes in their canonical context and literary form.”1
Thomas Schreiner makes a significant contribution to the field of biblical theology with his latest work, Covenant and God’s Purposes For the World. This volume, which is part of Crossway’s Short Studies in Biblical Theology Series is not as extensive as Hamilton’s work noted above or Peter Gentry and Stephen Wellum’s, excellent volume, Kingdom Through Covenant. But the brevity of Schreiner’s short book is a real strength, as we shall see.
Dr. Schreiner’s book unpacks the various covenants that unfold in Redemptive history including the covenant with creation, Noah, Abraham, Israel, David, and the new covenant. “The covenants,” writes Schreiner, “help us, then, to see the harmony and unity of the biblical message.” Ultimately, the author achieves this goal as he alerts readers to the apex of God’s saving work: “The promises of Abraham are fulfilled in the new covenant that Jesus brings, for he is the true offspring of Abraham, and all those who belong to him are the children of Abraham. The land promise is fulfilled in an inaugural way in his resurrection and then in a consummate way in the new creation.”
Covenant and God’s Purposes For the World demolishes the “cookie cutter” approach to hermeneutics that Dispensationalism offers. In its place, is a clear portrait of God’s redemptive plans for his people – a plan that promises “a new world of peace and righteousness is coming in which God the Lamb will reign … The promise that David won’t lack a man on the throne is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He reigns now from heaven at God’s right hand as the son of David, as and Lord and Christ.”
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.
James Hamilton, God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 47. ↩
R.C. Sproul. Are We Together? A Protestant Analyzes Roman Catholicism. Sanford: Reformation Trust, 2012. 126 pp. $14.73
There are at least 1.2 billion Roman Catholics in the world – a stunning number to the unsuspecting. It would be a massive understatement to confess that Rome has had and continues to have a titanic influence on Western thought and culture. In recent years, some evangelicals have taken steps to bridge the divide between the Roman Catholic Church and Protestantism. Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT) is the most well-known statement that sought to unify the two camps. More recently, the Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience made attempts to unify the two groups.
The efforts to bring unity is commendable but misguided as these two documents fail to account for the unmistakable doctrinal divide between Rome and Reformation principles. R.C. Sproul addresses these important topics in his book, Are We Together? A Protestant Analyses Roman Catholicism.The author analyses six critical areas of disagreement between Rome and evangelicalism. He addresses scripture, justification, the church, the sacraments, the papacy, and Mary. Each topic is addressed in separate chapters and include Rome’s stance which is contrasted with the biblical view of Protestantism.
Sproul’s work is historically accurate and biblically sound. While he does not address the matter comprehensively, he does tackle the most important matters in the church. In that sense, he leaves no stone unturned. The book is a terrific introduction to the Roman Catholic Church and should be digested by every evangelical. Sproul is gracious in his assessment of Rome. Yet, he is not afraid of speaking candidly about the numerous doctrinal errors that have been and continue to be promulgated by Rome.
At the end of the day, readers will become aware of the grievous doctrinal errors of Rome and encouraged to embrace the teaching of the Reformers. Indeed, the crux of the matter is the gospel. Sprout affirms, “I am happy to make common cause with Roman Catholics on social issues, bu we have no common cause in the gospel. Rome has compromised the gospel with her unbiblical doctrines. I firmly believe that she is ‘teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'” I commend Are We Together? A Protestant Analyses Roman Catholicism and trust that many readers, both Roman Catholic and Protestant alike will be encouraged by the biblical reality that is presented in this powerful little book.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.
Kyle Mann and Joel Berry, The Postmodern Pilgrim’s Progress (Washington D.C., Salem Books, 2022), 210 pp.
Between 1672 – 1677, John Bunyan penned a book in the confines of a jail cell. Pilgrim’s Progress saw the light of day in 1678 and has since been translated into at least 200 languages and is arguably the best-selling book of all time (behind the Bible of course). Bunyan’s allegory is a theological tour de force that touches on a wide variety of topics from evangelism, to justification by faith alone, sanctification, temptation, discouragement, and our battle with sin.
Spurgeon drove this point home in one well-known remark about John Bunyan: “Why, this man is a living Bible!” Prick him anywhere; and you will find that his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his very soul is full of the Word of God.”
Almost 350 later, the minds behind the Babylon Bee, Kyle Mann and Joel Berry have endeavored to write a new book that explores similar themes that were important to John Bunyan. The Postmodern Pilgrim’s Progress is a book for our times. Mann and Berry skillfully utilize the framework first created by Bunyan and manage to build a new story that addresses sin, anger, hypocrisy, discouragement, hope, fear, and the scourge of social justice – among other things.
The Postmodern Pilgrim’s Progress tackles subject matter that is unique to our day including the prosperity gospel, humanism, evolution, skepticism, and abortion.
The writing is typical Babylon Bee – witty, creative, and sarcastic. The authors demonstrate a good working knowledge of Bunyan’s work but are quick to draw the attention of readers to specific contemporary concerns that relate to postmodernism.
As usual, the Babylon dudes have written a real winner. My hope is that young readers will gobble up The Postmodern Pilgrim’s Progress and move on to read the original.
Thomas R. Schreiner, Covenant and God’s Purpose For the World, Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2017, 136 pp. $9.97
Veritas et Lux 