Book Review: Digression

DigressionDigression is the latest book by Aaron Erhardt in which he tackles the threat of apostasy within the Lord’s church that comes as a result of Christians failing to see the church as being distinct from the churches of man. Once the Lord’s church is seen as being no different than a human denomination, then these denominations become something to be emulated rather than opposed.

What Aaron deals with in his book is nothing new. Every generation must be taught about the one true church and the need for Bible authority in all that we do. Our generation is no different. If these lessons are not taught and learned, then we should not be surprised when the Lord’s church cannot be distinguished from the denominations. We sometimes hear, “the church is only one generation away from apostasy.” This is true. And that is why Aaron’s book is so important.
Continue Reading

Book Review: Lifelong Zeal

Lifelong Zeal by Phillip ShumakeLifelong Zeal: How to Build Lasting Passion for God is a new workbook by Phillip Shumake. In it, he shows how we can develop the type of zeal that God wants us to have by taking us through the seven step process that Christ used to develop this sort of zeal in the life of Peter.

The book contains 22 chapters. Each chapter has a few pages of reading, some thought questions, and more, making it helpful for both individual and group Bible studies.

What I liked most about this book is that it explained how to be zealous in a very practical way. We have all heard that we are to be “zealous for good deeds” (Titus 2:14). But how can we keep our service to God from becoming a grudging obligation? How do we develop and maintain the desire to serve God and do what is right? Phillip does a good job explaining in practical terms how we can move past merely doing good deeds – often grudgingly, apathetically, or incompletely – to being “zealous for good deeds.”

Read more about Lifelong Zeal at the book’s website: LifelongZeal.com. If you are interested, you can purchase the book through that site or through Amazon.com.

Book Review: Coming To Christ

Coming To Christ: A Study of the Detailed Conversions in ActsI recently finished reading Aaron Erhardt’s book, Coming to Christ: A Study of the Detailed Conversions in Acts. As you can probably gather from the title, this book examines the conversion accounts in the book of Acts in order to show the consistent pattern for God’s plan of salvation.

Aaron does a good job explaining these passages in a way that is easy to understand. The Scriptures teach the essentiality of baptism for salvation and Aaron points this out in every case. Of course, much of the religious world denies that baptism is necessary for salvation. So Aaron also has a chapter addressing several arguments that are made against baptism.

The material in this book would be good for anyone who needs to learn what the Bible says about obeying the gospel. It is also good for Christians so that they might be prepared to teach others who are outside of the body of Christ and be equipped to show them what God requires of man.

You can learn more about this book by visiting the author’s website: Erhardt Publications.

Book Review: Hard Core, Defeating Sexual Temptation with a Superior Satisfaction

Hard Core: Defeating Sexual Temptation with a Superior Satisfaction (cover)Jason Hardin’s book, “Hard Core: Defeating Sexual Temptation with a Superior Satisfaction,” deals with the problem of pornography and its impact upon those who view it. One who questions just how much our society, families, and even churches have been infected by pornography needs only to read chapter four to be impressed with the statistics. The numbers are staggering. This problem cannot be ignored.
Continue Reading

Book Review: Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up

Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up (cover)David W. Bercot’s book, Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up, compares Christianity today (defined by the author as the Evangelical Church) with the early Christians (2nd through 4th centuries). The book is very easy to read, but contains some challenging and thought-provoking material, specifically for Evangelicals. But it is helpful for others as well.

This book shows the sharp contrast between what many denominations today teach and what the early Christians taught. The early Christians believed that salvation by grace was conditioned upon obedience, that baptism was tied to salvation, and that predestination refers to God’s foreknowledge, rather than His selection of certain individuals for salvation. Many denominations teach just the opposite (salvation by grace/faith alone, baptism not essential for salvation, God predestined some individuals for salvation and some for damnation).

This book helps one get an insight into what the early church was like and what they taught. But before I can recommend the book, I need to caution you about a few things:
Continue Reading

Book Review: Silenced Cries, A Study of Abortion

Silenced Cries, A Study of Abortion by Aaron ErhardtAbortion is one of the defining moral and political issues of our time. In his new book, Silenced Cries, A Study of Abortion, Aaron Erhardt provides some valuable material on the subject and presents it in a way that is easy to understand.

The book deals with every aspect of this issue. Aaron addresses the doctors and the abortion clinics, their tactics and procedures. He talks about the consequences, not just for the aborted child, but for the mother and the rest of the family. He responds to some of the common arguments in favor of abortion. In the book he also mentions the twisted irony that some of the ones who disregard the lives of unborn children are often the same ones who militantly defend the “rights” of animals and even plants.
Continue Reading

Book Review: On Civil Government by David Lipscomb

David Lipscomb’s book, “On Civil Government: Its Origin, Mission and Destiny and the Christian’s Relation to It,” was first published in the Gospel Advocate in 1866-1867, shortly after the time of the Civil War. His purpose of the book in the end was to try to show that citizenship in the kingdom of Christ requires that we remain separate from human governments, and that Christians are therefore to avoid holding public office, serving in the military, voting, and anything else that supports the human government. I do not agree with all of his conclusions. But much of the work in the book up to that point is very good.

Lipscomb began by establishing the fact that there are two types of government over man – the divine government (God’s rule), and human government. He demonstrated that human governments began as a rebellion against God. In the Bible, we first read of the beginning of Nimrod’s kingdom (Genesis 10:8-10) which developed into the central power of Babel, or Babylon (Genesis 11:1-9).
Continue Reading