Before I begin this review I want to nominate the 19th-century preacher Charles Spurgeon’s newsletter The Sword and the Trowel for the title of Coolest Newsletter Name Ever. It captures both sides of the Word of God—the sword of truth and the layer of foundation upon which our lives are built.
I’m a big fan of Christian bookstores, and whenever I’m in a hurry or have errands to run I scoot by them as fast as possible; my presence within somehow triggers a time-contraction effect whereby I can spend what seems like a few minutes inside… and like Narnia in reverse, when I finally step out an hour or two have passed. At any rate I was browsing through some church ministry titles when my eye picked out Ashamed of the Gospel: when the Church Becomes Like the World, by John MacArthur.
It’s always a touchy business pointing out error, and I know from experience that the topics of religion and politics generate far stronger emotion and attachment than any other. (Oftentimes weaker debate too, as views clash that are passionately taken for granted, or someone thinks they can out-argue careful reasoning with a short, witty quip.) AotG is an analysis of current trends within the Christian church and how unsound and harmful they might be. I fully expected to read of other professing believers and to be able to gloat at how spiritually deluded they were and how our orthodoxy and loyalty to the Word was so much better than theirs.
Just kidding; there’s no place for that kind of pride. But there is a place for loving correction of error. Hell. The Virgin birth. Biblical inerrancy. The physical bodily Resurrection of Jesus Christ. All these have been denied in whole or part by professing Christians, against the plain language of Scripture, and it’s important that the believer on the ground knows where he stands, why he stands there, and by whose power he does so. As James Braga’s book How to Prepare Bible Messages says, it’s one thing to drag yourself to hell, but another altogether to take an entire congregation with you.
