Musings of a Snickerdoodle

…Spurgeon observed many, 'who, by hearing continually the most precious doctrine that belief in Jesus Christ is saving, have forgotten other truths, and have concluded that they were saved when they were not, have fancied they believed when as yet they were total strangers to the experience which was not grounded upon the divine word rightly understood, 'nor proved by any facts in their own souls.'  They resented any suggestion of self examination by gospel tests as 'an assault upon their assurance' and 'defended their false peace by the notion that to raise a question about their certain salvation would be unbelief.' Their ill-placed certainty has put them in a hopeless condition and they ignore biblical warnings and admonitions by 'their fatal persuasion that it is needless to attend to them.'  Their historical knowledge of the work of Christ has settled them in a conviction 'that godly fear and careful walking are superfluities, if not actuall...

Made for the Journey by Elizabeth Elliot is an account of her first year as a missionary to Ecuador.  I've read it before as it was previously published as These Strange Ashes.  Elliot started her missionary full of excitement and triumphal expectation.   She was heading out the jungle to attempt to learn the Colorado Indian language in order to reduce it to writing and translate the Bible into that language. There is a note of underlying criticism throughout of the 'traditional' missionary way of doing things. Having started her work, she fights to have success in even figuring out the language.   She combats laziness in herself, but does start making some progress with the language.   Then everything falls apart.   People die, in tragic ways, including her main language informant.   She has difficulty continuing the study, but does have a good amount of language information to leave with those who would stay while she moved on to differen...

Long Before Luther by Nathan Busenitz is book that examines history to demonstrate that the concepts of Salvation by faith alone, through grace alone…etc. were not invented by people like Martin Luther and John Calvin in the 16th Century, as some have claimed.  Rather these concepts are very old, coming from the Scriptures themselves. As the subtitle of this book indicates, this book traces " the heart of the Gospel from Christ to the Reformation". The book is divided into four parts, part one is, " The Reformers and Justification", which examines what the Reformers believed and where they discovered those beliefs in the Bible.   Part Two deals with the " Church Before Augustine" . "The Reformers looked primarily to Scripture to establish their understanding of justification by grace through faith alone, yet they also claimed secondary affirmation for their position from the writings of Christian leaders throughout church history."   Thi...

Yes, that is how it ever has been, ever must be with the people of God.  Until we are carried quite out of our depth, beyond all our own wisdom and resources, we are not more than beginners in the school of faith.  Only as everything fails us and we fail ourselves, finding out how poor and weak we really are, how ignorant and helpless, do we begin to draw upon abiding strength.  "Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee," not partly in Thee and partly in himself.  The devil often makes men strong, strong in themselves to do evil…. The Lord on the contrary makes His servant weak, puts him in circumstances that will show him his own nothingness, that he may lean upon the strength that is unfailing.  It is a long lesson for most of us, but it cannot be passed over until deeply learned.  And God Himself thinks no trouble too great, no care too costly to teach us this.    - Dr and Mrs. Howard Taylor Quote from their book : The Growth...

Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss is one of my favorite works of Christian fiction.  Written in the 1800s, it is still very interesting and relevant to people in our current day and very readable. Prentiss tells the story using the format of a diary written by a woman named Katherine, who records her life struggles, from young womanhood through much of her married life.  She gives the events of various days (sometimes skipping days, months or even years, but giving updates along the way), and writes down many of her inmost thoughts, questions and struggles with sin.  She has questions about her salvation and whether or not she is being sanctified.  God brings along many different people to teach her and to help her recognize that He really is working in her and making her more Christ like. God also brings along many different trials to grow her spiritually.  There are several interesting dialogues with others that are recounted by Katy, I give...

This book, Jesus' Terrible Financial Advice , was in a list of books available for review in the book reviewing program of which I'm a member.   The description of this book caught my attention.  It was described as not being the book that the author, John Thornton, intended to write.  He wanted to write about how his family had gotten to a debt free state and wanted to back it up with biblical principles.  But then He went to the Bible to study the topic and found that Jesus' teachings on money shocked him, they really seemed like irresponsible teachings, teachings that didn't seem like the type of instructions that God would give wise stewards to follow.  He put off writing the book for a long time.   I was intrigued by this information and so I requested the book.  Thornton later decided to dive in and write the book with this perspective,  "If my theology disagrees with God, one of us is wrong, and it's not Him."   ...

Answers to Prayer by George Müller is part of the Read & Reflect With the Classics Series (I am reviewing the hardcover version) which provides thought provoking questions and also prayers at the end of each chapter.   Müller's book details various accounts of God's all sufficient grace in the works that God had prepared for him to do. The way that Mueller approached the ministries that God graciously gave him is very unique compared to most present day Christian ministries (and perhaps most ministries in Müller's day as well).  Ministries today are very focused and reliant upon, money.  They  hold fundraising drives, have commercials on the radio asking for people's support, and some will send tons of letters and emails begging for monetary help. I think of one ministry in particular, which, although its founders believe in God's absolute sovereignty, they contradict their belief by implying that their ministry cannot continue without the help of peo...

World War II England, and in particular, WWII London, was an intimidating place to be; itt seems that around 40,000 civilians in total were killed in England during the war.   During this time, when many bombs were being dropped by Nazi Germany on the civilian population, the director and the assistant director of the BBC's Religious Broadcasting department, James Welch and Eric Fenn, were searching for someone to draw people to the religious programs they were broadcasting on the BBC's radio station which were apparently being passed by in deference to stations/programs that were entertaining.   C. S. Lewis was the man they ended up recruiting.   C. S. Lewis and Mere Christianity by Paul McCusker is the story of how C. S. Lewis' book, Mere Christianity came to be.   It took a little bit for me to get used to the way the book was put together.   The story is told, not by mere sequence of events, but also by 'flashbacks' to C. S. Lewis' history, and consta...

Can a biography be focused too much on its subject?   This may sound odd, but I think it can.   As Christians, we know that our faith comes from God, and we know that He has ordained whatever good works we do in our service for Him.   We are also not after the praise of men, nor do we consider it a great compliment to be praised by them.   We try to do our good works as unnoticed by people as possible, seeking the praise of God alone.      Knowing all of this, it seems quite strange for this biography of D. L. Moody to begin with telling how Moody was praised by three U. S. Presidents, and that he, " gained an immortality only presidents can bestow: their genuine respect".   You'd think that as a Christian Moody would resent the praise of the 'great' people of the world.   Kevin Belmonte made too much of the man. One statement in particular makes it seem as though God was dependent on him. "Consider as well how history would have ...

Excerpt from a letter written bv Hudson Taylor, in China at the time, to a friend in England.  Taylor's wife and new-born son Noel had just died(their oldest son, Samuel, died earlier that year). Their second youngest child was staying with friends elsewhere in China and the other children had been sent to England not long before this event:   It is Sunday evening.  I am writing from Mr. White's bungalow.  The cool air, the mellow, autumnal beauty of the scene, the magnificent Yangtze - with Silver Island, beautifully wooded, reposing, as it were, on its bosom - combine to make one feel as if it were a vision of dreamland rather than actual reality.  And my feelings accord.  But a few months ago my home was full, now so silent and lonely - Samuel, Noel, my precious wife, with Jesus; the elder children far, far away, and even little T'ien-pao in Yang-chow.  Often, of late years, has duty called me from my loved ones, but I have returned, and s...

An ordinary life of faith.  Not very exciting sounding, is it? Ordinary...what is good about the ordinary? What purpose can be found in it? The most important purpose. God's. Mrs. Prentiss wrote books, that was exceptional. But for the most part, her life was that of a Christian housewife's: cooking, taking care of the house, children, helping people in need. She did have several of her children die in childhood/infancy, but a lot of people did in her day. She always seems to be visiting a deathbed or potential deathbed, but her age was different from ours, people were dying all of the time. Nowadays, going to a funeral is the exception, not the rule. Ironically, a life of faith in ordinary circumstances is just as, if not more, extraordinary as a person who exercised faith in extraordinary circumstances. In a letter to a friend, Mrs. Prentiss wrote: "...As to domestic cares, you know Mrs. Stowe has written a beautiful little tract on this s...

What constitutes a 'happy ending' in our eyes?  Usually it is the protagonist of the story receiving all that he ever hoped for, all he ever wanted.  The stories that we like to read, watch or hear about are not usually those in which the main character is mistreated the whole of their life.  If the person has a happy end to their life, I suppose we could live with that.  But  what about a story where someone lives and dies unloved, hated, persecuted, materially poor and who doesn't get his promised inheritance? A person who lives every day killing their own dreams, desires and aspirations, and this deliberately?  Not trying to be their own person, but Another's? A person who determines to ignore their own heart and follow Another's?  A person who doesn't assert their own 'rights' but lets others trample on them?  Would we consider that a happy ending?  From a human perspective, I think not.    And yet, these are people s...

Teems writes weird. By 'weird', I don't mean bad, I just mean 'different'. I wouldn't call this book an account of Tyndale's life, rather, I would call it a 'conversation/discussion' of his life. Perhaps my choice of words seems strange as one can't really have a conversation or a discussion without a participant; but those are the words that come to mind. In a sense, I did feel as though I was participating. Mr. Teems gives you his own thoughts about different events, stating what he finds humorous, and giving his opinion of the various 'characters' in Tyndale's day. You may agree or disagree with what he thinks. He strikes me as a 'one-on-one' teacher; one who gives you, not only the people, time period, events, books and letters that were written, but gets you to think about them, to ponder certain questions, he gets your thoughts rolling.  For instance, he'll give you Tyndale's translation of ...