Augustine: The Farmer’s Boy of Tagaste, by P. De Zeeuw, J. Gzn
(Inheritance Publications, 1988; translation of Dutch original), 93 pages.

This book, though from the same series as the Athanasius book, was better written. The author does a good job in showing how Augustine chased sin and its consequences. I think the story is told in such a way that is useful to young boys who themselves are tempted to pursue their own pleasure without regard for what is right. Augustine’s need for a new heart is clear and his inability to change himself is conveyed well. This is very helpful in setting up conversations with your children about their own situation, how they parallel Augustine, demonstrated by their own inability to overcome their sin, and how they need God to change their hearts. Augustine’s conversion is told well also. Often times conversions are poorly told, so it was good to see this one handled well.

In the ministry of Augustine the author takes the opportunity to stress the importance of right doctrine, the need to counteract error and the place of courage in pastoral leadership.

“Masses of inhabitants fled before the threatening enemy. What made Augustine very angry indeed was that many bishops and other spiritual leaders fled even sooner and faster than the members of their congregations. He believed that the church would not remain in Africa if her leaders deserted her. His advice was to remain in the place of calling. If need be, he would die for his faith rather than leave his congregation.” (p 90)

There are some weaknesses in the book. The author states that Augustine was in no way connected to what became Roman Catholicism. In fact most scholars refer to places where Augustine lays the basis for Roman Catholic teachings and other places where he lays the basis for Protestantism. I don’t favor Augustine’s more Roman leanings, but we must not revise history. There are also a couple of places where I was skeptical about the historicity of the account.

In the end the strengths outweigh the weaknesses, and I recommend this book. It is a good way to introduce children to this important man of the faith. I read it to my boys when they were 9, 7 and 5 years old.

Against the World: The Odyssey of Athanasius, Henry Coray.
(Inheritance Publications, 1994), 111 pages

The idea of a children’s book on Athanasius, especially one designed to relate the heroism of the man and his stand for orthodoxy, is definitely appealing. However, this book was a disappointment to me. The book is designed for children, but it seems the author did not consider enough how to write for such an audience. There is much excitement and adventure in the story he seeks to relate but it does not come out in the writing. The style is laborious, wordy and unnecessarily complicated. Here is a sample:

As is sometimes the case when ecclesiastics assemble to transact church problems, no sooner had Hosius called the council to order and prayed than confusion reigned. In religion, as in politics, preconception and prejudice too frequently displace calm, deliberate reflection.

Why use the word “ecclesiastics”? Why use the wording, “to transact church problems”? Is transact the most natural verb here? The structure of the first sentence is not particularly inviting. In spite of the alliteration in the second sentence, “preconception” is not a particularly helpful word. Perhaps the author intended to write for an older audience, but I think it could have been written more clearly even if being written for adults.

Now, I am not one to balk at the use of good vocabulary and complex issues. I have read the Chronicles of Narnia, Brian Jacques’ Redwall stories and many other books (which claimed to be written for older age levels) to my boys, and they have enjoyed them. Sophisticated writing is not complex, wordy writing. Profound truths can be communicated with simplicity and power. In my opinion, this book most often lacked both. What I found myself doing most often was adapting as I read or pausing after a section a retelling it with a bit more verve and in words more readily understandable. In the end I did not read the whole book to my boys.

Recently my wife was struggling with one of our sons to get him to do his homework. Eventually he had to be placed off to himself with his stack of work to complete. He did finally complete his work, but we discovered that he had mistaken his math assignment doing something like Lesson 73 instead of Lesson 23. Since he was 50 (!) lessons ahead there were several things he did not understand, but he worked through them marking some he had to skip. The last problem asked him to work with a rhombus, a shape we had never discussed to that point. In answer to the question he wrote simply:
“Wut is a rhombus in e way?”
We couldn’t help laughing at his candor.

I am convinced, however, that many professing Christians in the West today, when pressed about the importance of the church (whether concerning membership, devotion to, labor for, etc.) would respond with a blank stare saying, “What is the church anyway?” Bonhoeffer once stated the word “church” to Protestants “has the sound of something infinitely commonplace, more or less indifferent and superfluous, that does not make their hear beat faster; something with which a sense of boredom is so often associated.”

If we are going to understand the gravity of oversight and the role of pastoring, we must have a proper understanding of what the church is. However, we are often deficient in this area because for so long there has been so little attention given to the church. Many church leaders (often the ones who we hear from the most) basically suggest all of theology is clear and settled and the only thing we need to think about now is strategy and marketing. How sadly untrue this is becomes clear in seeing how radically off course we are from New Testament descriptions of the Church. Paul highlighted the connection between the identity of the church and the role of the pastor when he urged the Ephesian elders to “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).

One important Pauline statement on the identity and mission of the church is found in 1 Timothy 3:14-15: “I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”
Here is a link to one attempt to preach on the identity and importance of the church from the incredibly compact statement of Paul in 1 Timothy 3:15.

John B. Leuzarder’s book by this title is a great find. You can read an earlier short review here.

I have previously reviewed the three commentaries (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus) written by Nancy Ganz and published by Shepherd. I think these are great books. You can read the review here.

With all the movie buzz, The Chronicles of Narnia will be good books to start with. These books are favorites of mine and my boys. We read them all two years ago when my boys were 6, 5, and 3 years old. They absolutely loved them. The writing is excellent (in fact it made it hard to take up other books- the writing clearly paled in comparison), the action and adventure is compelling, and the messages are wonderful as well. I cannot recommend them too strongly. I read them and loved them as a kid (and still as an adult!), and my boys have as well. It is fun to find my boys playing outside and hear that they are playing “Narnia”!

You can find the books in other forms. First, of course, there is the movie just released. I enjoyed the movie, and I think it was the most faithful adaptation to movie of any book I have ever seen. However, “the movie” is never as good as “the book.” It never can be. Various aspects of the book were missing or changed from the book- too many to list, though topping my list would be the significant lessening of the heroism of the children and the absence of the discussion of Aslan as not a tame lion in the conversation in the beavers’ home. Also, I will not take my children to the movie yet because I think it will be frightening to some of them just yet. I am glad that the movie has been made and hope it does well, but it cannot hold a candle to the book.

More compelling to me are audio versions of the book. Harper Audio has a well done audio book version featuring the reading of the full text of the books by Michael York. York does an excellent job changing his voice for characters and inflecting his voice. We only have The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe in this collection, but we have really enjoyed it. This book comes on four CDs and runs for four hours.

Another exciting edition is Focus on the Family’s Radio Theatre version of the entire series. This differs from the York CD in that it is not a straight reading of the book but a dramatized audio complete with background sounds, multiple voice actors, etc. This one is also well done and a favorite in my family. Once my father was visiting and heard one of the CDs while riding with us. He went home and immediately bought himself a copy and has listened to it multiple times.

So, I recommend the books themselves first and then the audio versions. With these we have covered the books various times with the result that the books are gradually working themselves into the basic psyche of my family- a thing for which I rejoice.

NOTE: I looked back at my annual lists of books read and saw I had previously given the wrong ages of my boys when we first read the Narnia books. In case others are wondering about ages for their own children I have corrected the ages now.

There are various common, well entrenched but false notions which inhibit us in sharing the gospel. One is what I call the “poor God syndrome.” We plead with people to give God a chance. We remind them of all God has done for them and ask them how they could be so unkind as to not receive Him. Sometimes even appeals are given describing God as the poor mistreated one who desperately longs to be loved by humans but is being stood up by us.

This is a desperately deficient view of God. It is true that He deeply loves His creation, but he is not in need of us. We are in need of Him. The gospel proclamation is not that God needs us to sign up but that He graciously calls us to repent in spite of ourselves- and that if we do not we will be judged. In speaking the gospel we are not to emotionally manipulate people from the concern of hurting God’s feeling! Rather we are to proclaim to them that we all, in ourselves, stand under the holy wrath of God deserving nothing but judgment. The love of God is seen not in Him being a jilted lover waiting for us to give Him a chance, but in Him not destroying us straight away. His love is shown in Him providing a way, at much cost to Himself, for our sins to be dealt with that we might be reconciled to Him. Gospel preaching then calls on people to repent lest they fall under the judgment of God!

John Angell James, an 18th century pastor spoke to this issue as well. He wrote “It is as if he had said, ‘wherever we go, we find men in unprovoked hostility, inveterate enmity, and mad rebellion, against God’s holy nature, law, and government: we carry with us, as his ambassadors, the proclamation of mercy through the mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ: we tell them that we are appointed by God whom they have offended, and who could overwhelm them with the terrors of his justice, to call upon them to lay down their arms and accept the offer of eternal pardon and peace: but we find them every where so bent upon their sins, and the enjoyment of their worldly occupations and possessions, that we are compelled to use the language of the most vehement entreaty, and to beseech and implore them in God’s name, and in Christ’s stead, to come into a state of reconciliation'” (An Earnest Ministry).

I think Psalm 2, properly understood, teaches us much about this. Here is a link to my attempt to expound Psalm 2.

Barry Maxwell, a pastor in TX, whose writings I recommended once previously, began a blog, Blind Man’s Fancy, during the time I have been away. As I recommended his devotional musings so I commend his blogging. Barry is a faithful, thoughtful pastor with a gift for writing ad his humility is evident in the title and format of his blog. May the Lord continue to bless your labors, Barry.

I‘ll break the silence of my self-imposed holiday hiatus by pointing you to an excellent sermon I was privileged to hear today. My fellow elder/pastor Lee Tankersley continued the series through 1-2 Samuel today taking up 2 Samuel 9-12. The audio is not up yet but it should soon be available at the church website. Actually the last two sermons are both especially good examples of preaching the Old Testament well in light of Christ and of dealing with a larger section of text. Lee took up 2 Samuel 4-8 on Christmas day focusing especially on chapter 7 and the covenant with David which is ultimately fulfilled in the coming of Christ (Christmas). His summary of biblical history and how it culminates in Christ is especially helpful.

In the sermon on 2 Samuel 9-12, one might say that preaching the Bathsheba episode is easy enough (there is much to apply there). However, Lee pointed out appropriately pointed out that the passage not only provides us with a good warning about lust, hiding our sins, etc. but also serves to say that as great as David is there must be another yet to come. The faults of David force us to look further for the ultimate king. Furthermore, I especially appreciated his handling of chapters 9 and 10. Chapter 9 shows us David’s gracious treatment of Mephibosheth. Although Mephibosheth was by birth an enemy of David (being of the house of Saul), and of no use to David’s kingdom (being lame), David showed him grace and mercy in amazing abundance because of a covenant he had made with another (Jonathan). The parallels to Christ’s treatment of believers in the gospel are obvious. Chapter 10 then foreshadows Christ’s response to those who reject Him. David offers expressions of kindness to those who are outsiders, but they reject it and set themselves up as his enemies. In response David destroys them. So also says the Scripture is the fate of those who reject and despise Christ. Christ calls but will destroy those who continue to rebel (Psalm 2). I can only briefly summarize here, but the presentation of these two chapters in the sermon is well done and very helpful in sharing the gospel with others.

Here is the poem that inspired the title for this blog.
I was first introduced to it through the writings of Doug Phillips at Vision Forum, specifically the book Poems for Patriarchs which I warmly recommend.

Between the dark and the daylight,
When the night is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the day’s occupations,
That is known as the Children’s Hour.

I hear in the chamber above me
The patter of little feet,
The sound of a door that is opened,
And voices soft and sweet.

From my study I see in the lamplight,
Descending the broad hall stair,
Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra,
And Edith with golden hair.

A whisper, and then a silence:
Yet I know by their merry eyes
They are plotting and planning together
To take me by surprise.

A sudden rush from the stairway,
A sudden raid from the hall!
By three doors left unguarded
They enter my castle wall!

They climb up into my turret
O’er the arms and back of my chair;
If I try to escape, they surround me;
They seem to be everywhere.

They almost devour me with kisses,
Their arms about me entwine,
Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen
In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine!

Do you think, o blue-eyed banditti,
Because you have scaled the wall,
Such an old mustache as I am
Is not a match for you all!

I have you fast in my fortress,
And will not let you depart,
But put you down into the dungeon
In the round-tower of my heart.

And there will I keep you forever,
Yes, forever and a day,
Till the walls shall crumble to ruin,
And moulder in dust away!

– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow