GEORGE WHITEFIELD: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE GREAT EVANGELIST OF THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY REVIVAL, Vol. 2, by Arnold A. Dallimore. Westchester, Illinois: Cornerstone Books, 1979; first edition, 1980. 602 pages. $22.50. Reviewed by Rev. Jerome M. Julien, minister of the First Christian Reformed Church of Pella Iowa.

A wait of nearly ten years for Dallimore’s second volume on Whitefield has been more than amply rewarded. The finished product is a superb, completed, definitive biography. Historical accuracy and careful scholarship mark this work. Now, I know, to say this about a book is to make some feel that it is not for them. To dispel these fears, let me say that it is not a dry, technical, plodding work. While Dallimore has not, of course, written in the style of fiction, he has given a lively, interesting work which should warm the hearts of all who want to know how God has worked in His Church. It is lively and interesting but not froth.

George Whitefield, the fountain–head of Calvinistic Methodism, is a personage we cannot pass by if we are to learn of the development of the Church in the eighteenth century. His spiritual influence was great since he rubbed shoulders with the great and the relatively unknown in both Great Britain and America. He was a man singularly blessed of God and mightily used of Him. Nevertheless, he was beset by trials—persecution, misunderstanding, financial, physical. Dallimore deals with all of these carefully and, I do believe, not one-sidedly. His greatest grief was his difficulty with John and Charles Wesley. This Dallimore deals with by giving some new insights from historical sources. It is a mystery to me, however, why later in life he seemed to compromise not on his beliefs in sovereign grace but on cooperation with the Wesleys with whom he still had major theological differences.

In his last chapter, Dallimore does a fine job of analyzing the importance of this great evangelist.

While the cost of this set is quite high we will do well to read this excellent work.

WHAT SHOULD WE THINK OF “THE CARNAL CHRISTIAN?” by Ernest C. Reisinger. Edinburgh, The Banner of Truth Trust, 1978. 24 pp. $.75 paper. Reviewed by Rev. Jerome Julien, minister of the First Christian Reformed Church of Pella, Iowa.

In this short pamphlet, the Rev. Reisinger ably shows the error of believing that there are three kinds of people: natural man (the non~Christian), carnal man (the Christian who believes on Jesus as Savior but trusts Him not as Lord) and the spiritual man. He shows that while this is taught in the notes of the Scofield Reference Bible, it is not taught in Scripture. In fact, it is contrary to the whole teaching of God’s Word. Instead, there are only two kinds of men: Christian and non-Christian. He pleads for a return to the Biblical teaching of conversion.

This little work will not tax your mind but it will increase your Biblical knowledge and foster a new humility and joy in the Lord.

HOW TO ESTABLISH A JAIL AND PRISON MINISTRY: A BASIC TRAINING GUIDE by Duane Pederson. Foreword by Corrie Ten Boom. Published by Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1979. 126 pages, $3.95. Reviewed by John Lamsma, Chaplain, Federal Correctional Institution , Milan, Michigan.

The last few years many individual Christians and churches have become interested in some form of ministry to prison or jail inmates but have often become frustrated because they did not know where to begin. Pederson’s book has been written specifically to help overcome some of the frustrations in starting such a ministry.  This book is short, but very readable and deals with some of the unique aspects in beginning a jail or prison ministry.

“The need for such ministry is tremendous: in 1979 the total inmates in state and federal prisons alone reached 314,083, up from 275,000 men and women in 1977. This number is greater than all the members of the Christian Reformed Church in the U.S. and Canada!” Add to that those incarcerated in local jails and their dependents and we are talking about three million men, women and children who are affected each year by imprisonment. The Scriptural mandate to minister to these men and women cannot be questioned (Matt. 25:39, 40; Heb. 13:8). Christ’s Great Commission certainly is not meant to exclude prison inmates and their families.

The Christian volunteer is essential to any form of ministry to the incarcerated. If a prison does have one or more staff chaplains the volunteer will help minister to a larger number of inmates than would be possible by the chaplains alone. If a prison or jail has no staff chaplain the Christian volunteer may be the only one communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ to the inmates. The need for Christian volunteers is, of course, greatest in those institutions with no staff chaplains. This includes those institutions where there are only volunteer clergy. Volunteer clergy, no matter how many at a given institution, simply are no substitutes for well-trained staff chaplains (This, in my opinion, cannot be emphasized strongly enough).

Pederson repeatedly encourages the volunteers to become familiar with the rules and regulations governing the particular institution in which they desire to minister, for the rules and procedures vary with each institution and level of security. That is the reason why working through the chaplain or the coordinator of religious services. if there is no chaplain, is so essential.

According to Pederson a volunteer must have three key qualities in order to be effective in prison or jail ministry: proper motivation, commitment and preparation. Only mature Christians are able to deal effectively with and give of themselves to the inmates. Inmates have been disappointed so often in their lives and Christian volunteers often promise much more than they are able to deliver, hoping that in this manner the inmates will come to accept the claims of the gospel. To be prepared goes without saying, yet many volunteers feel that enthusiasm and a love for the Lord is enough. It is not.

The author helps the congregation assess its resources and search out the needs of the institution where it plans to minister. The process for the church is as follows: investigate, evaluate, pray, prepare and act. At the end of each chapter a number of questions for review and discussion are found covering the material of that chapter.

This book is a must for those who are seriously considering a ministry to those who are incarcerated. Pederson, I think, has accomplished what he set out to do: to develop a basic training guide. Much more can be learned and, perhaps, should be learned about jail and prison dynamics than is found in this book. A good bibliography is included.

   

WOMEN AND THE WORD OF GOD by Susan T. Fob. Published by Presbyterian and Reformed., c. 1979, 261 pp. , paper, $6.95. Reviewed by Paul lngeneri.

This extensive and well–researched treatment of a burning issue in our denomination should be well received by those on both sides of the issue. Ms. Fob goes right to the heart of the debate . . . the authority of Scripture and how that authority affects our methods of interpreting the Bible. She sees two main problems with the Biblical feminists’ concept of Scripture: (1) Once the possibility of inconsistency or cultural conditioning is admitted, how does one determine what parts or doctrines of Scripture are of abiding authority and value? What parts of Scripture constitute the analog:y of faith which is to be the standard? (2) The Biblical feminists do not account for the interpreter’s human limitations. According to their understanding of the Bible, human reason becomes the judge of what is really God’s word and what is not. But human reason is finite and affected by sin. The appearance of contradiction may result from a deficiency in our understanding. (p. 7) Unless Biblical feminists or “progressives” are willing to answer these “charges” with clarity, the discussion of the issue will not progress. On the other side, the reasons why headship is not seen as cultural while slavery and other institutions are, has been clearly answered by “conservatives” and by the book under review.

Ms. Fob not only clearly reveals the presuppositions of Scanzoni, Hardesty, Mollenkott, Jewett et al (and often from their own books) but on the positive side supplies us with a clear statement of what headship does imply in marriage and the church and what women can be and are doing ecclesiastically. And it is this last section, “what women can do in the Church,” that is most thought provoking. Because of the differences between New Testament worship and our services today and because of the nuances that develop depending on where one sees the Biblical emphasis (ordination, headship, official teaching and preaching, office structure . . . ?), airtight conclusions beyond forbidding eldership and the pastorate are difficult to arrive at. But here again Ms. Fob ventures her conclusions and Biblical rationale. All in all the book fulfills admirably its subtitle, “a response to Biblical feminism,” and it would be an excellent work to give to active feminists in the congregation, after you have read it yourself of course.

GOD’S ETERNAL GOOD PLEASURE by Herman Hoeksema. 371 pages. Reformed Free P ublishing Association. Distributed by Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1979. $9.95. Reviewed by John Vander Ploeg.

Whether agreeing or disagreeing with him, whoever heard the late Rev. Herman Hoeksema preach could not gainsay that he was endowed with superior ability. I can well recall seeing him in the pulpit in his heyday, an open Bible in his hand, with his large audience captivated by his every word. The man had charisma, and, human nature being what it is, it is not difficult to understand that he had such a large following when the break came with the Christian Reformed Church in 1924.

Hoeksema’s sermon material, as is evident from the sermons in the book under review, was substantive, leaving no room for anyone to doubt that in his work he was an able and independent thinker. His sermons are such a far cry from today’s pap and piffle being dished out to some longsuffering congregations doomed to a severe case of spiritual malnutrition. There is not a hint in Hoeksema’s messages of any catering to “itching ears,” the blight of so much sermonizing in our day.

Based on chapters 9, 10, and 11 of Romans, these sermons (part of a series on the entire epistle) were preached to “overflow audiences” at the First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan forty years ago. That sermons composed of such sturdy stuff could draw such a large attendance week after week is a tribute to the man who preached them as well as to the worshipers of that bygone day.

The repeated emphasis in these sermons by Hoeksema is God’s absolute sovereignty in saving His people according to His “eternal good pleasure.” This is indeed a welcome sound because it is the lost chord in so much of today’s misguided theological orchestration and pulpit utterances. Too often, sermons do not rise above the horizontal level whereas Hoeksema is constantly teaching and preaching with a vertical reference. It is this emphasis that makes his message invigorating, challenging, and awe–inspiring.

Be all this as it may however, one soon discovers that Hoeksema unfortunately stares so much at the brilliance of God’s absolute sovereignty that he becomes blind to other realities close at hand. To him there is no sincere offer of salvation to all who hear the gospel. As to those of us who do believe this he states:

“On the one hand, they claim to be Reformed and to believe the doctrine of the absolute sovereignty of God; on the other hand, they teach that God earnestly seeks the salvation of all men and graciously offers them His salvation in the preaching of the gospel . . . this double-track theology is no mystery, but plain evasion and nonsense . . . .” (p. 69).

“The well–known ‘First Point’ adopted by the Christian Reformed Churches in 1924” according to Hoeksema, “teaches that through the preaching God is gracious to all who hear the gospel. And if then you still want to keep up the pretention of being Reformed, and maintain that God efficaciously calls unto salvation whomever he will, you are confronted with an insoluble problem. For how could God in grace direct His Word to.any sinner without causing it to be efficacious unto repentance and faith?” (p. 201). Our reply is, of course, that the CRC position is less concerned about being logical in resolving an “insoluble problem” than it is about being Scriptural in accepting what we are convinced the Bible teaches.

Hoeksema’s logic leaves no room for any grace whatsoever for the wicked. Thus we find him saying toward the close of his final sermon in this volume:

“He [God] always reaches His purpose, in time and in eternity. And the only result for the wicked, who stands awry in the midst of the divine scheme of things, is that all things work against him, work to his eternal destruction, crush him into everlasting desolation and outer darkness!” (p. 370). It is not difficult to understand, highly gifted though he was, that there were those who were constrained to take issue with some of the conclusions to which Hoeksema clung so tenaciously to the end.

To read Herman Hoeksema’s theology presents an interesting challenge; to read it profitably one must do so not only with appreciation but also with the necessary discernment and discrimination.

MARRIAGE, DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE IN THE BIBLE by Jay E. Adams. Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1980. 99 pages. $3.50. Reviewed by Rev. John R. Jackson, Pastor, Walker Christian Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, Mich.

“Because the issues of divorce and remarriage have been avoided in the recent past, there is very little substantive material available. . . . (F)undamentally, the church leadership has floundered and its members are floundering with them.” (from the introduction) with this explanation, Dr. Jay E. Adams presents us with a short but very important book on a vital topic. It is to be expected that a study such as this will be somewhat controversial; there is little that may be said on this subject that will receive unanimous endorsement even within the Reformed community. But Adams certainly deserves a hearing in the light of his expressed desire “. . . to honor Christ by being as Scriptural as I can be.”

Dr. Adams has done a remarkable job of presenting complex exegetical arguments in a clear and concise manner, so that the average layman will be able to follow the discussion with little difficulty. At the same time, he covers the full range of questions that the church must deal with relative to this subject.

The most effective way of summarizing the contents is to refer to the principles listed near the end of the book:

“A. Marriage:

1. is a divinely-ordained institution,

2. is the first and most fundamental institution,

3. is covenantal and binding,

4. is a covenant of companionship,

5. is the place for true intimacy,

6. is to conform to the model of Christ and His church.

B. Divorce:

1. always stems from sin,

2. is not necessarily sinful,

3. always breaks a marriage,

4. is never necessary among believers,

5. is legitimate on the grounds of sexual sin,

6. is legitimate when an unbeliever wishes to divorce a believer,

7. is forgiveable when sinful.

C. Remarriage:

1. in general, is desirable,

2. is possible for a divorced person,

3. is possible for a sinfully-divorced person through forgiveness,

4. is possible only when all biblical obligations have been met,

5. is possible only when parties are pre-pared for marriage.”

(pp. 97–98) Even if you find yourself in disagreement with Dr. Adams at some point, you will profit from the exercise in Biblical reflection provided by this study.