Recommended Reading

Monthly book reviews by various authors.

Monthly book reviews by various authors.

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT ANGELS

A. C. Gaebelein, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1975, paperback edition, 116 pages, $1.25.

With the new interest in the occult there has also come a revival of interest in the study of angels. Such a study makes a fascinating and very helpful subject for evangelistic meetings and an excellent introduction to the subject of the origin of evil. This little volume, first printed in 1924, can be very helpful as a reference book. It traces the record of angels through the Old and New Testaments, discusses the nature and ministry of angels, and closes with a chapter on Luci fer, his glory and fall. Although there are parts that we would not entirely agree with, it is an excellent treatment of the subject, written in a style that holds the interest from first to last.

Orley M. Berg

PREACHING FROM GENESIS: THE PERFECTING OF THE BELIEVER'S FAITH

J. W. Lee, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1975, 137 pages, $4.95.

Few books in the Bible are as important as the masterpiece that begins the whole canon, Genesis. Out of a lifetime of study and ministry, J. W. Lee, currently professor of Old Testament at the Baptist Bible Institute of Graceville, Florida, has provided busy pastors with a complete set of sermon outlines based on this important book. Every chapter in Genesis is represented with at least one outline, while the out lines themselves include suggested introductions, applications, and illustrative material. Dr. Lee's approach, it seems, is not to try to do the minister's thinking for him, but to provide suggestions to stimulate his thought. Many of his themes are interesting and clever ("The Heavenly Matchmaker" [Gen. 24], "You Cannot Go Home Without Your Brother" (chap. 44).

For the most part, the out lines are true to the original text of the Old Testament and what is known about it, but the author does indulge in homiletical and dogmatic speculation on occasion (Noah's ark had a displacement of 43,000 tons [p. 29]; our loved ones are "already" in heaven [p. 65]). Consequently, a pastor will have to be discriminating in his acceptance of some of the ideas presented in the book. However, Preaching From Genesis offers an excellent beginning for a minister who intends to do just that. Combined with his own study, the sermonic fare that is bound to result would be spiritually nourishing in these Biblically starved times.

Jerry Gladson

A NEW LOOK AT GOD

Philip S. Chen, Ph.D., The Chemical Elements Publishing Company, Camarillo, California, 1962, 1975, 228 pages, $5.95.

Dr. Philip S. Chen is well known as a teacher, scholar, and Christian. His first edition of A New Look at God has been well received by many teachers and scholars.

The book has been revised, and a second edition is off the press. As in the original book, Dr. Chen utilizes recent scientific discoveries and technological developments as confirming evidence for the Christian's acceptance of divine design.

Dr. Chen uses astronomy, chemistry, biology, medicine, nutrition, atomic physics, and other areas of scientific expression to illustrate his empirical evidence for the existence of God. While some may feel that his conclusions are not always complete, logical, and beyond challenge, no one can read the book without gaining a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between science and religion and appreciating a point of view that is thought-provoking, if not inspiring. Deletion of certain theories in the former text, with certain illustrations of doubtful origin, have made this second edition more acceptable to the careful Christian reader who has some scientific orientation. It is well worth reading, and I recommend it to readers of THE MINISTRY.

Willis J. Hackett

A WORLD TO WIN: PREACHING WORLD MISSIONS TO DAY.

Roger S. Greenway, ed., Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1975, 135 pages, $3.95.

We are witnessing a revival of Protestant interest in world missions today. Perhaps no one single factor can be singled out as a cause, but Roger Greenway feels that the "greatest forward movement of the gospel in world history is about to begin." To further this much-awaited end, he has collected a series of sermons from veteran missionaries and teachers of missiology in A World to Win.

This is clearly not a how-to-do-it book, but is rather intended to spark Christian enthusiasm for world missions. The appeal is both to the man or woman in the pew and the minister behind the pulpit.

Most of the sermons collected here are models of homiletical and inspirational craft. R. R. De Bidder's, "The Great Com mission" (pp. 41-49), for instance, is a paradigm along lines of textual preaching, while others manage to incorporate neat turns of phrases that drive the shaft of truth home (e.g., "Theological doubts have made some Christians uncertain of what they should tell the world" [pp. 75, 76]).

The main value of Greenway's collection, however, lies not in forms. All of us need to face the truths presented herein. Then, armed with the resources provided in A World to Win, we can go to our pulpits, and proclaim with new conviction, "Go ye into all the world. . . ."

Jerry Gladson


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Monthly book reviews by various authors.

June 1976

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More Articles In This Issue

Finishing the Work

"These are serious indictments that stand between us and the finishing of the work."

"Preach, Preacher, Preach"

Some who once were "dying" to be ordained now "would rather die" than hold an evangelistic series.

"Someone's Brainstorm"

Project for Reaching Every Active Clergyman at Home.

The Troubled Waters of Evolution

The monthly science and religion column

Does the White Estate Suppress Secret Documents?

The Editor Interviews the chairman of the Ellen G. White Estate Board of Trustees.

"Return and I'll Return"

"God looks for born-again men, sanctified men, fruitful men—in that order—and a balance between the three."

Warning—City Living Is Dangerous to Your Health

"Do not consider it a privation when you are called to leave the cities and move out into the country." ——Country Living, p. 14

Unseen Killers

"The air, laden with smoke and dust, with poisonous gases, and with germs of disease, is a peril to life." —Ministry of Healing, p. 262.

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