Book Reviews

If you do not yet own this children’s Bible, you have missed out on the top-seller in children’s books in the last two years. Why is everyone in children’s ministry so energized by this book? There are hundreds of children’s story Bibles. What makes this one special?

“Every story whispers his name.” That is the subtitle and it is what sets this storybook apart from the rest. In the key stories from both the Old and New Testament, Lloyd Jones communicates to us and our children that Jesus is the Word. It is all about him. Most of us would say “of course, he is!” But as you begin to read these stories to your children, you will be convicted of the fact that many times you have taught these great Bible stories and have missed the point.

Here’s just one example of what Lloyd-Jones accomplishes throughout this wonderfully illustrated volume:

Many years later, God was going to send another Messenger with the same wonderful message. Like Jonah, he would spend three days in utter darkness. But this Messenger would be God’s own Son. He would be called “The Word” because he himself would be God’s message. Everything God wanted to say to the whole world – in a Person.

As I read these stories to my grandson, every one of them reminds me that he must see Jesus. He must know that the Word was written that we might come to know and love Jesus, the one true God.

Give this book to your children’s teachers. Give this book to your children’s parents and grandparents. While they are reading to the children, they will also be learning that “every story whispers his name.”

This parent/student handbook is an alternative to the traditional age-based Communicant’s Class, offering Reformed and Presbyterian churches of any size a way to bring students into the church as communing members when they are ready.

Covenant Discipleship gives the oversight of teaching the essence of church membership back to parents, providing them with the tools and resources to guide their children through the process of learning about the essentials of the faith, importance of church membership, and the core values and theology of a Reformed and Presbyterian church.

This book is being used in many of our churches as a tool for training parents in a small group setting. It does exactly what the subtitle describes – practically tells us ‘how the Gospel shapes and transforms parenting.’ Farley is deeply concerned that children raised in the church have grown up and left the faith. There have been thousands of books written on parenting but this one surely takes us to the heart of the problem.

Drawing upon his two life experiences of reading the Word and raising his own children in the church, Farley has this observation. The results of parenting has nothing to do with wherethe child was educated or how regular was their church attendance. The common denominator between success and failure seems to be the spiritual depth and sincerity of the parents, especially the spiritual depth and sincerity of the father.

“In my experience”, writes Farley, “the most effective parents have a clear grasp of the cross and its implications for daily life.” So, this writer begins his book with the Gospel and its power in your life. This is the perfect beginning to his fleshing out of Godly fear, holiness, love and grace as it affects every area of parenting.

Church leaders and parents should read and study this book. The one conclusion from this book that can not be overlooked is this: We must teach our children. Delegating that task to others will not work unless we are first doing it at home. This seems to be the clarion call ringing across the evangelical church today. Gospel-Powered Parenting gives clear and practical teaching to the need of the hour.

This is a twelve chapter book and would be perfect for a twelve-week study in your church’s adult education program. There are several excellent Study questions at the end of each chapter. If you are a parent, read it. The Gospel is rich and will bring power to what you are doing in your home every day.

A number of years ago, a highly respected Christian educator and communicator said, “Readers make leaders.” I have been challenged over and over by that statement. I love to read, but only God will know how much that has developed into leadership. I confess I do not do much reading for pleasure, at least as some would define it. Other than having so many books I would love to read but lack the time, which gives rise to some frustration, my pleasure in reading comes from three areas. First, there are those books that confirm my thinking and encourage me that I am not out in left field. The other area that brings me pleasure comes from reading those books that challenge, encourage, and enable me to think more clearly and deeply about life and reality. I pray regularly for a teachable spirit as I read. There is a third area that challenges and gives me pleasure regarding reading and that is encouraging others to read, to think through issues, and sharpen their world and life view from a kingdom of God perspective.

Why this personal confession? The following comments relate to a book that I must admit when I read the manuscript, I struggled. First of all the author is a personal friend whom I admire, appreciate, and highly respect. He is a faculty member and part of the administration of a seminary where I serve on the board. He has demonstrated deep commitment to truth in some most insightful ways in the years that I have known him. He is a thinker, willing to think out of the box if this enables him to arrive at truth.

You must also know that Carl Truman is from Britain. His background will come through quite clearly in this provocative little book. His comments reflect that cultural setting while at the same time challenging him and us to think biblically. As the title and subtitle suggests, this little book is about politics, and we realize that people have gone to war over religion and politics. Carl does not pull punches with his challenges. When Dr. Peter Lillback, to whom the book is dedicated, wrote the forward, he made a “right on” statement: “I heartedly recommend you read this book. But you do so at your own peril.”

Having read the manuscript and now the book, I concur with that statement. As a matter of fact, Dr. Lillback’s foreword has helped me realize what Carl Truman was attempting to do. Both are dear Christian brothers and colleagues, and there is a demonstrable affection and respect for one another, even at points where they differ.

This would be a good place to say something I have said so many times for years and that is that two Christians can be attempting to operate from a Christian kingdom world and life view and come to different conclusions regarding application, but rather than create conflict or raise a barrier between them, they can be “iron sharpening iron,” at those points of difference. You will find that to be the case in Republocrat. Read it and do not be afraid to think and even re-think where you believe necessary the author’s positions. Also, let the witness and testimony of Dr. Truman’s relation with Dr. Lillback be an encouragement and challenge to us to be willing to work through issues with those in the family of Christ with whom there is a difference of opinion and thought.

The entire political scene in our country and throughout North America could not be more uncertain, divisive, and fragmented. We need a clear Christian perspective on the political philosophy and its application.

Rather than pointing out those places that cause me concern in the book and definitely move in a different direction, read the book and let it challenge you to think. Enjoy letting this little volume challenge you to do some fresh and refreshed thinking on politics, how and where it fits within the Christian framework. I must say to Carl, “I do appreciate Fox News.”

I have longed for this book only to discover that it has been available for some time. This is not your general concordance; this one is for your study of individual books of the Bible. Rather than looking up a word and finding every reference to it in the whole Bible, I want to work with just the individual book I am studying.

Recently I have been preparing to teach the book of Titus for a seminary exegesis class. This book gave me great details I needed about Titus, in Greek. I can tell the class how many verses there are in Titus, but I cannot tell them how many words, because every translation has a different number. This work tells me how many there are in the Greek (291). It then takes me through every word in Titus alphabetically, giving the Greek word followed by the English. It then lists every occurrence, even the ones only used once. At the end of each book there is a frequency list, both alphabetical and by frequency.

Let me demonstrate one thing I learned while studying Titus this way. The word hina occurs 13 times. I had the students isolate these 13 hina clauses. They each proved to be an important statement Paul wanted Titus to get across to the believers on the Isle of Crete.

This is a very expensive book, but if you do word studies like I do, it is a great help, worth the investment. I only hope that Logos Bible Software picks this up and incorporates the concept, because the OT edition of this would require a wheelbarrow to carry.

By Allan McLean. Have you ever been hurt by the church? It comes in different forms and at different levels of involvement, but regardless of how it comes, the results can be devastating and leave scars. These things are hard to deal with and we easily feel alone in our hurt which isn’t the case at all. Many have gone before us and are around us suffering from wounds inflicted by fellow church members and/or church officers and pastors. I recently had the privilege of being involved in a small way in the restoration process of a pastor and his wife who suffered through years of pain inflicted by church officers and members who turned away rather than implementing biblical restoration.

The title of this book is probably one of the most blatant paradoxes you will ever read. Let the words sink in and think about what they reveal. The church inflicting wounds and having to heal its way back to “…a people drawn from darkness to God and to one another.” This seems so contradictory however the local church is not immune to the tentacles of the evil one trying to dismantle the promises of God and taking a toll on her members.

God in his wisdom and infinite grace has described his Church, the body of Christ, as the bride of Christ. In the author’s words, “She is the fulfillment of God’s plan for creation and revelation of God’s wisdom to the powers of the age. She is the lover for whom Jesus eagerly awaits, the dispenser of justice and truth the devil dearly fears, and the body of the Christlike called from the nations of the earth. This is the Church-universal and invisible and pure. She is splendid and glowing, the mystical vision of believers through time.”

Do you belong to a church like this? If you are a believer embracing Jesus as your Savior you do belong to this church but what we see this side of heaven as church members is the version that meets locally and has walls and where we become involved in all aspects of church life. This is where Satan is busy doing what he can to destroy, wound, and cause friction leaving hurting people in his wake.

Not only does God tell us what his Church looks like and how majestic and glorious it is, he tells us what we look like and the potential that resides in all of us, both good and bad. “In fact, one of the most endearing features of the Bible is how God chose to portray people without apology in their raw and fallen state.” We learn about David and his sin as a liar, a murderer, an adulterer, and a thief; yet God called him a friend. What we see in the Scriptures is the nature of humanity and the many ways this nature is played out in our lives. The author explains, “Christianity is not the absence of stupidity and hurt. Christianity is the message of God who uses our stupidity and hurt to make us what we are destined to be. It is the truth of God who became like us in order to lift us from our smallness and our spite and make us into a people he is willing to call friends.”

Stephen Mansfield brings to the forefront through personal testimony and from others who have been kicked while down how deeply and severely we can be hurt by the church. Mansfield reminds us: “Every Christian has a capacity for the potential to commit the most disgusting and horrible acts of the flesh. This is the reality of the Christian life and we fool ourselves if we think otherwise.”

In the last chapter of the book, Mansfield gives “…three practical bits of wisdom…” that are very practical in helping people who have “suffered a church hurt.” Every pastor and ruling elder if not every member of the church should read this book. We are called to make disciples and sometimes this means helping wounded brothers and sisters recover.