Van Til Tool

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2

AMERICA'S CHRISTIAN HERITAGE CLEARLY SEEN IN FRANK WILDHORN'S "THE
2008-11-16 20:52:00
AMERICA'S CHRISTIAN HERITAGE CLEARLY SEEN IN FRANK WILDHORN'S THE CIVIL WAR DRAMABy Forrest Wayne Schultz On Friday night I saw a performance of The Civil War oratorio, whose composition was based on a careful study of historical documents, so that what is presented to the audience is authentic, by allowing the persons involved to speak for themselves. Among the many striking features of this performance was how how much of the conversations, songs, speeches, letters, and writings was infused with christian ideas and attitudes. And this, by the way, is not a "christian" play! It is because it is so historically authentic that you hear and see all of these christian ideas and principles in the songs and actions on the stage. (This is not to say that every single idea in it is christian -- there is one scene where the soldiers are getting drunk and praising their whiskey!) The ending of it, though, is difficult to assess. The final scene is Heaven where thr...
More About: Christian , Heritage , Frank

FRACTALS AND BIBLICAL ECCLESIOLOGY
2008-11-03 17:28:00
FRACTALS AND BIBLICAL ECCLESIOLOGYbyForrest W. SchultzFractals are structures in which a part of the structure resembles the whole structure. Thisfeature is referred to as "self-similarity across scale". For instance, in a fractal branchingnetwork each branch resembles the branch from which it branched because all the branchesare formed in accord with the same recurring pattern. In fractal geometry the resemblance isexact. In the fractal structures in nature the self-similarities are approximate.In Biblical theology there are two fractals which immediately come to mind, each of whichpertains to the communion of the saints. The communion of the saints is most frequentlydesignated by Scripture as the Church of Christ and as the Family of God, whose membersare brothers and sisters in Christ under the Fatherhood of God.It is interesting to observe that Scripture uses the same term "church" either to referto a local church or to the universal church. The universal church is composed of a...

BIBLICAL ONTOLOGY AND TIME TRAVEL
2008-11-02 15:50:00
A TRANSCENDENTAL ANALYSIS OF TIME TRAVEL:WHAT REALITY MUST BE LIKE FOR TIME TRAVEL TO BE POSSIBLEBy Forrest Wayne Schultz I have been a science fiction fan for a very long time, I was the President of a local science fiction club for a while, and I have spoken at many science fiction conventions. One of my favorite kinds of science fiction is time travel stories. I do not know if time travel by means of a chrononautical device has ever happened, ever will happen, or if it is even possible for man to be able to do so. One thing I am sure of, however, is the main feature reality must have for time travel to be possible. Most theoretical discussions of time travel have focussed on the technological factors and the "paradoxes". I shall discuss neither of these here. I shall be discussing the relevant features of that branch of philosophy known as ontology, which means the most fundamental nature of things. One of the most interesting of all topics about a thing is a study of wh...
More About: Travel , Time , Time Travel , Biblical , Ontology

JOHN M. FRAME ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LAW AND GOSPEL
2008-10-28 23:48:00
LAW AND GOSPELBy John M. Frame It has become increasingly common in Reformed circles, as it has long been in Lutheran circles, to say that the distinction between law and gospel is the key to sound theology, even to say that to differ with certain traditional formulations of this distinction is to deny the gospel itself.Sometimes this argument employs Scripture passages like Rom. 3:21-31, emphasizing that we are saved by God's grace, through faith alone, apart from the works of the law. In my judgment, however, none of the parties to the debate questions that justification is by grace alone, through faith alone, by the imputed righteousness of Christ alone. But it is one thing to distinguish between faith and works, a different thing to distinguish law and gospel.1. The Traditional DistinctionThe distinction between law and gospel is not a distinction between a false and a true way of salvation. Rather, it is a distinction between two messages, one that supposedly consists exclusive...
More About: Relationship , Gospel

THE MEANING OF REFORMED AND VANTILLIAN AND RECONSTRUCTIONIST
2008-10-26 21:04:00
THE MEANING OF REFORMED AND VANTILLIAN AND RECONSTRUCTIONIST By Forrest Wayne SchultzI am Reformed and VanTillian and Reconstructionist. Actually, I am a bit hesitant to call myself by any of those names because there are misunderstandings about all of them.For instance, until fairly recently, there were few Reformed who had a concern for the arts. And it is no wonder when you look at the typical traditional Reformed systematic theology books, e.g. Hodge, Shedd, Berkhof. When you look under the doctrine of God there is NO mention, let alone discussion or emphasis, of God being beautiful and caring about beauty, of God having a great imagination, of God being creative, of God having a sense of humor, and of God being interesting. But I do not interpret this lack the way many people do by saying that we need to ADD to the Reformed theology a concern for the arts. NO! We need, rather, to say that traditionally Reformed theol...
More About: Meaning

BRIAN GODAWA, CHRISTIAN RECONSTRUCTIONIST FILMMAKER, SPEAKS TO WORLD
2008-10-25 21:12:00
BRIAN GODAWA, CHRISTIAN RECONSTRUCTIONIST FILMMAKER, SPEAKS TO WORLDVIEW CONFERENCE AT DISPE BIBLE COLLEGE By Forrest W. Schultz Here is another example of a Dispe bible college moving toward Christian Reconstruction. This is the same one I mentioned in previous posts, Philadelphia College of Bible (One of the nation's top Dispe bible colleges; C. I. Scofield was one of founders, etc.) now called Philadelphia Biblical University, the same one where Dr. Nancy Pearcey recently became Prof. of World View Studies. This concerns their upcoming PBU Worldview Conference. The conference is entitled "Beauty, Art, & The Church". One of the speakers is none other than Brian Godawa, who has often been referred to as an example of Christian Reconstruction in Filmmaking. His books and movies have been reviewed favorably in the Chalcedon Report and he was spoken about and written articles about the CR of films. To end this on a humorous note, in one of his films th...

ROBERT L. REYMOND ATTACKS THE NOTION OF BIBLICAL ANTINOMIES
2008-06-23 18:58:00
ROBERT L. REYMOND ATTACKS THE NOTION OF BIBLICAL ANTINOMIESBy Forrest Wayne Schultz In my Epistemology Position Paper I make it clear that I repudiate Van Til's notion of Biblical antinomies because it is out of accord with the Van Til Perspective itself. I am not the only Vantillian to do so. I was still wrestling with this when I read Robert L. Reymond's epistemologicl masterpiece The Justification of Knowledge. This helped solidify my position. In this great work Reymond begins by giving Van Til well deserved credit for developing what we now call the Van Til Perspective. Having done so, Reymond then goes on to criticize Van Til for holding to the Biblical antinomies notion. The sections quoted below are written for that purpose. I would ask everyone reading this to pay very careful attention to what Reymond says, because this is a very important matter. Here is a direct quotation from Robert L. Reymond's The Justification of Knowledge (Presbyterian &...
More About: Attacks

MISSION FRONTIERS ATTACKS ANTI-INTELLECTUAL FAITH
2008-06-12 20:13:00
MISSION FRONTIERS ATTACKS ANTI-INTELLECTUAL FAITH AND OTHER PERVERSIONS OF CHRISTIANITY The March-April 2008 issue of Mission Frontiers magazine contains an article by Jonathan Rice discussing the tragic consequences of the anti-intellectual conception of faith in 19th century British Christianity (pp. 11-14) and an article by Vishal Mangalwadi advocating a Christianity with a strong emphasis on knowledge and truth (pp. 15 - 18) and an article by Rick Wood lamenting our proclamation of a defective Gospel (pp. 9 - 10). One of the results of today?s perverted, sub-standard Christianity is noted on page 4 by the Editor Ralph Winter: ?Kenya, with over 400 denominations and almost as many Evangelicals as in all of Europe, has exploded before our eyes -- into nasty and unprecedented intertribal warfare -- despite being 80% Christian, just like the USA. Nearby, the Central African Republic is considered by some to be one of the most dangerous and corrupt countries of the...
More About: Faith , Intellectual , Anti , Attacks

BEST BOOKS ATTACKING MODERNISM -- OLD, NEW, AND POST-
2008-06-12 19:58:00
BEST BOOKS ATTACKING MODERNISM -- OLD, NEW, AND POST-One of the best books showing the incompatibility of real christianity with the old liberalism was J. Gresham Machen's very fine work Christianity and Liberalism.One of the best books showing the incompatibility of christianity with what used to be called the new liberalism, i.e. existentialism, was Cornelius Van Til's brilliant work Christianity and Barthianism.One of the best showing the incompatibility of christianity with the latest liberalism (today) is Gene Edward Veith, Jr.'s Post modern Times.Another way of naming the three phases is old modernism, new modernism, and postmodernism.Machen and Van Til were conservative Presbyterians. Veith is a conservative Lutheran. Machen was the founder of Westminster Seminary and Van Til was one of the profs there. Veith in 2006 became the Academic Dean (or Provost) at Patrick Henry College.John Frame noted that the "and" in the title of Machen's and Van Til's books is the di...
More About: Books

THE NEW BISHOP ROBINSON (GENE, NOT JOHN) IS AT IT AGAIN
2008-06-12 19:44:00
THE NEW BISHOP ROBINSON (GENE, NOT JOHN) IS AT IT AGAIN !!!! When I was a young man, shortly after my conversion, in the early 1960s, a young British ultraliberal Anglican Bishop named John A. T. Robinson caused an uproar with his best-selling book Honest To God, which in no way taught anything new, but merely repeated the heretical notions found in such liberals as Paul Tillich and Rudolf Bultmann, who were very popular with liberal Protestants back then. What was new was a BISHOP saying these things which were clearly contrary to the official doctrinal stance of the Church of England. Now there had been plenty of Anglican clergy who thought as he did but at least they did not come out and say it in front of the servants! (You should not come out and say such things publicly; they should stay "in the closet", don't you know.) There was such a firestorm ignited by this (then young, but now old) Bishop Robinson that a new book soon appeared entitled The Honest To God Debat...
More About: Gene

NANCY PEARCEY INSTALLED AS PROFESSOR AT DISPE BIBLE COLLEGE
2008-06-07 18:03:00
IS DISPE CHANGING ?? (PART TWO)NANCY PEARCEY INSTALLED AS PROFESSOR OF WORLDVIEWSTUDIES AT LEADING DISPE BIBLE COLLEGE OK, guys, I have already shocked you by my post in which I quoted from Nancy Pearcey's Commencement Address in which she advocated christian reconstruction at a prominent dispe bible college. Now prepare yourself for another -- she now is the professor of worldview studies at that same institution! This school (now called PBU --Philadelphia Biblical University) was formerly called PCB -- the Philadelphia College of Bible , one of the staunchest of all dispe bible colleges, which not only uses the Scofield Bible in all their courses, but of which Scofield himself was one of the FOUNDERS !! My source for her address was impeccable, PBU's own magazine. And my source for her appointment as Prof there is also impeccable, it is found in the Pearcey Report, which gives a bio of Nancy. Here it is:NANCY PEARCEY Nancy R. Pearcey is editor-at-large o...

IS WORLD-VIEW OF DISPES CHANGING?? NANCY PEARCEY ADDRESSES DISPE B
2008-06-07 17:17:00
NANCY PEARCEY ADDRESSES DISPE BIBLE COLLEGE From time to time I have been noting significant changes in the outlook of dispes today. Now let me tell you of one of the most interesting of these because it is occurring at a dispe Bible College with impeccable dispe credentials -- this is Philadelphia College of Bible (PCB), which was formed by the union of two dispe schools, one of which had as one of its founders none other than C. I Scofield !! When I was living in Philly, during the 60s and early 70s and was in very close touch with PCB, they used the Scofield Reference Bible for all classes, they had a very close relationship with Dallas Seminary (the premier dispe seminary), PCB was regarded as either the top or one of the top dispe Bible Colleges in the USA, there was no concern for a Biblical world-view and their ?secular? courses were taught no differently than at Humanist colleges, and their Academic Dean (Clarence E, Mason, Jr.) made it crystal clear in his Sylla...
More About: World , Changing , View

WHAT IT MEANS TO STUDY THE BIBLE AS LITERATURE
2008-06-07 17:09:00
WHAT IT MEANS TO STUDY THE BIBLE AS LITERATUREA Review of Leland Ryken & Philip Ryken (Editors), The Literary Study Bible , English Standard Version (ESV) (Wheaton, IL: Good News Pubs. [Crossway], 2007) ISBN: 978-1-58134-808-8 1913 pp. $49.99By Forrest Wayne Schultz I first encountered Leland Ryken as an excellent commentator on C. S. Lewis, one of my favorite writers and thinkers. With the passing of Clyde Kilby, Ryken assumed the mantle of the leading American authority on Lewis, and, indeed, quite appropriately, Ryken, is now the Clyde S. Kilby Professor of English at Wheaton College. I learned of Phil Ryken after he became the senior pastor of "Tenth Pres" (The Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, PA), which I discovered by means of a visit to the Tenth Pres website. Tenth Pres was the...
More About: Literature , The Bible

DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN A COPY AND THE ORIGINAL
2008-06-07 16:39:00
DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN A COPY AND THE ORIGINAL In his allegory The Pilgrim?s Regress, C. S. Lewis shows that the way to defeat the Freudian notion that God (as Father) is a psychological projection of one?s (human) father is by the ability to distinguish between a copy and the original. Freud wrongly regarded the human father as the original and God as the copy. The Bible rightly shows that God is the Original and that humans are ?copies? of God, created in the image of God. In fact, the Biblical definition of man is the creaturely image of God. Van Til placed a great stress not only upon the Creator/creature distinction but also upon the all important point that this distinction consists in man?s being a finite analogue of God. Van Til went so far as to state that man is a finite replica of the being of God insofar as this is possible for a creature. That is, man is as much like God as it is possible for a creature to be. In short, God is the Original, man is the creaturely cop...
More About: Copy

LEGAL (AND SPIRITUAL) SUSPENSE "WITH A TWIST"
2008-06-07 16:28:00
Legal (and Spiritual ) Suspense ?With A Twist ?A Review of James Scott Bell The Whole Truth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008)ISBN 13: 978-0-310-26903-8 337 pp $14.99 The literary phrase ?with a twist? is an understatement because it refers to tales which actually have a number of ?twists?, not just one. A good example is provided by the novel under review here. I really cannot elaborate without ?giving away the story? so I will say no more than to encourage you to read Bell?s latest legal thriller to find out what I mean by these multiple twists. Let me also say that if you liked his Presumed Guilty, you will like this one too. The story focuses upon a recovering drug-and-alcohol-addict, Lawyer Steve Conroy, who is barely staying afloat and is hardly in any shape to undertake the untying of any Gordian twists. To the contrary, his inept efforts result in his own body being tied up -- literally. One of his methods of coping, which makes reading this book such a delight, is hi...
More About: Legal

ANNUIT COEPTIS: Where It Comes From and What It Means
2008-06-07 09:58:00
Annuit Coeptis: Where It Comes From And What It Means Well, after all these years I finally found out where this famous Latin sentence comes from and what it means. (This is the motto found on the top of the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States.) My source is the fascinating newly published book Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin by the excellent writer and scholar Nicholas Ostler (NY: Walker & Co., 2007), where the following is found on pages 287 - 289. Since the time I was a boy I was told that ?Annuit Coeptis? meant ?He has favored our undertakings?. This turns out to be close but not exact. According to Ostler the verb literally means ? nodded to?, as when a person who is asked a question nods his head ?Yes?. The source for this famous Latin sentence is that very important epic of ancient Roman literature, Aeneid (ix, 625) penned by the great poet Virgil. It is recounting a famous episode in the life of Aeneas?s son Ascantius, who asks Jupiter for his ...

VARIOUS IMPLICATIONS OF CREATIONISM
2008-06-07 09:49:00
VARIOUS IMPLICATIONS OF CREATIONISMBelow are several recent posts on this subject which I made to email discussion groups.THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CREATION WEEK AS ARCHETYPAL PARADIGM In several recent posts I stated that Creation Week must be regarded as an archetypal paradigm, i.e. that God?s work of creation is a model which man is expected to follow in his work. The Fourth Commandment clearly states that the reason why man is supposed to work for six days and then rest on the seventh is because this is what God did during Creation Week. Now there is a great significance in this which is not usually noted when this is discussed.The Hebrew verb for work or labor (abad) which is used in the Fourth Commandment (Ex 20:6) literally means ?to serve?. Work or labor is to be regarded as service -- we are supposed to serve one another and, in so doing, thereby also serve God. It is very significant that Moses was instructed to tell Pharoah -- ?Let My people go that they may serve Me? (the ...
More About: Creationism , Implications

A WARNING AGAINST EASY BELIEVISM
2007-04-06 19:51:00
A WARNING AGAINST EASY BELIEVISMEdward Mrkvicka, Jr. Be Not Deceived [ Victoria , BC ( Canada ): Trafford Pub., 2006]Reviewed by Forrest W. Schultz The book under review here contains an abundance of Scriptural quotations which clearly refute the ?easy believism? notion which has wrought enormous harm to contemporary Christianity by claiming that one can receive salvation from Christ without obeying the commandments of Christ. However, antinomianism is not a distinctively modern notion, as the author sometimes implies, but has been a plague throughout the history of the church beginning with first century AD Nicolaitinism, which the author himself discusses as something that Christ hates. The author rightly inveighs against the man-centered nature of antinomianism but he leaves himself open to the charge of being man-centered by failing to place his discussion of the receiving and retaining of salvation within the context of the drawing power of God and the keepin...
More About: Warning , Again , Easy

HANDICAP HANDLED
2007-03-27 23:24:00
HANDICAP HANDLEDJames Walker, Growing Up With Jessica, A True Story, (Xulon Press, 2005)Reviewed By Forrest Wayne Schultz In this account of his daughter Jessica’s severe lifelong handicap, James Walker focuses the reader’s attention on the Providential provision of the persons the family needed to handle the handicap: the spiritual counsel of Josh McDowell and James Dobson plus the practical help provided by the doctors, the lawyer, and the photojournalist noted. The book is also pertinent for those interested in the detrimental effects sometimes produced by vaccinations. And, finally, Walker’s experience shows that the Federal Governmental bureaucracy is still alive and ever thwarting the efforts of those trying to use it and unresponsive unless threatened with dire results! Although the photos in the book are unfortunately in black-and-white, the front cover is graced with a beautiful color photo of Jessica in which no trace of the handicap is apparent. This R...
More About: Hand , Handle , Handicap

ISLAM UNMASKED
2007-02-06 05:02:01
ISLAM UNMASKEDA review of Marvin Yakos, Jesus, Jews, and Jihad, rev. 3rd printing, (Xulon Press, 2006) Jesus, Jews, and Jihad is the latest in a series of recently published books by various authors which clearly demonstrate that the ideas and practices of today?s Islam ic ?fundamentalists? are consistent with the Qur'an and the Hadith and the life of Mohammed and therefore must be regarded as authentic Islam, rather than a deviation from it. The book also provides sufficient information to make it crystal clear that Islam is a radically anti-Christian religion, not a higher form of Christianity. However, the discussion of the ?dhimmis? (which is misspelled ?dhimnis?) on page 136 is misleading and at odds with the conclusions in the carefully documented studies of scholar Bat Ye?or found in her ?Dhimmitude? books, which are recommended by Egyptian Pastor Dr. Saleem Almahdy on page 9 of the August 2002 issue of the Voice of the Martyrs. The dhimmis are not slaves (in the ...
More About: Mask , Slam

FAITH HEALING EXAMINED
2007-01-11 04:41:01
?FAITH? HEALING EXAMINEDA review of Brad Burke, Does God Still Do Miracles, ( Colorado Springs : Victor, 2006) ISBN: 13-978-0-7814-4282-4 160 ppBy Forrest Wayne SchultzJanuary 4, 2007 The erroneous theological notions of modern ?faith healers?, such as Benny Hinn, have been discussed by the researchers in the Spiritual Counterfeits Project and similar ministries. The main emphasis of the book under review here is upon studying the actual results Hinn achieves and how the methodology he employs accounts for those results. The gist of the matter is that the kind of psychological atmosphere generated by Hinn?s mass meetings can produce an emotional ?high? which can temporarily alleviate some of the symptoms of sick people, but that no actual cures are produced, contra Hinn?s claims. The author, Brad Burke, is a medical doctor who provides in his book a great deal of helpful medical information which is germane to the subject...
More About: Faith , Healing , Faith Healing , Mine , Exam

JODI COWLES: A LOOK AT HER DEBUT NOVEL
2006-12-09 16:16:01
JODI COWLES:A LOOK AT HER DEBUT NOVEL By Forrest Wayne SchultzA review of Jodi Cowles The Minor Protection Act, (Sisters, Oregon: VMI Publishers, 2005) ISBN 19332-0411-7 V4 $14.99 286 pp The unwarranted intrusion of the civil government into American Christian families has been going on for a long time now and has taken various forms. The book under review here is an imaginary but quite realistic story of how this intrusion could be taken to the next level. The story would be better told if more of this historical background had been included. Although the oppression of the Minor Protection Act was new, it was not unprecedented but merely the latest in ?a long train of abuses?. Cowles? story contains good discussions of the ethical struggle forced upon Christian parents by the notorious Act but is surprisingly silent about any concern over the ethics of the plan hatched and successfully executed to escape from the Act. It is also...
More About: Novel , Look , Debut

An Example of Christians Finally Showing Some Environmental
2006-12-02 16:10:08
CHRISTIANS IN MERIWETHER COUNTY, GEORGIA SHOWING SOME ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNFORREST W. SCHULTZ703 West Grantville RoadGrantville, GA 30220770-583-3258schultzf_2002@yahoo.comL ETTER TO THE EDITORFebruary 21, 2006Sleeping Giant Is Awakening in Meriwether County The term ?Sleeping Giant? has rightly been applied to American Christian ity for its indifference to all kinds of evils, especially those of an environmental nature. At the time I wrote my master?s thesis on the Biblical view of ecology 35 years ago there was almost no environmental concern, even among the church?s theological leadership. Well, it looks like the Sleeping Giant is beginning to awaken in Meriwether County in response to the realization of the horrendous damage which would be caused by the proposed Landfill. The action meeting of concerned citizens held at The Lone Oak Community Center last night was opened and closed in prayer to God, which was done sincerely, not in any perfunctory way. At several time...
More About: Environment , Mental , Environmental , Show

A Christian Review of Brokeback Mountain
2006-12-02 16:10:08
A CHRISTIAN REVIEW OF BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN BY BRETT MCATEE"Homo On The Range" [December 20, 2005] Source: http://www.acidink.org/200512archive001.a spBrokeback Mountain , a film developed to continue to mainstream all things sodomite upon American culture, is already old news. The film is but one more example of how the 'love' that was once described as one that dare not speak its name now won't close its piehole. Brokeback Mountain seeks to make the audience feel sorry for these two Cowpoke lovers whose innocent love can't be lived out publicly for fear of the consequences. This film is one more step into the breach of mainstreaming all things sodomite in as much as it is the first film produced for a broad audience that films the perversion that goes on between two excited but confused males in heat. Christ ian s must not make the mistake of referring to this perversion as 'sex' lest we surrender the meaning of the word for its anti-meaning. Whatever it is that two men do ...
More About: Review , Back

Are Church Fires Hate Crimes ?
2006-12-02 16:10:08
From Danny Carlton at www.jacklewis.netIn spite of glaring evidence, church fires not considered "hate-crimes"After all this time not knowing who set fire to all those churches in the south, we finally have the culprits, and all the MSM can focus on is that they liked to drink...ignoring the obvious...From WorldNetDaily...Benjamin Moseley and Russell DeBusk, 19, were theater students at Birmingham-Southern College. Matthew Cloyd, 20, lived in the same dorm as DeBusk, an academic overachiever and son of a doctor....An academic standout, Cloyd grew up a doctor's son in Shelby County. His true love was deer hunting. But hunting was intertwined with alcohol, and a rebellious anger crept into Cloyd's personality. Cloyd wrote to Moseley last summer, as the two planned a road trip: "Let us defy the very morals of society instilled upon us by our parents, our relatives and of course Jesus." About the same time, DeBusk and Moseley started dabbling in the occult, according to a report by Re...
More About: Church , Crime , Hate , Hat , Fire

JAMES SCOTT BELL: A MASTER OF LEGAL SUSPENSE
2006-12-02 16:10:08
JAMES SCOTT BELL:A MASTER OF LEGAL SUSPENSEBY FORREST W. SCHULTZA Review of James Scott Bell , Presumed Guilty (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006) $12.99 316 pp ISBN-13: 978-0-310-25331-0 Let me begin by making two confessions. First, in my title of this review I shamelessly stole the designation of Bell as ?A Master of Legal Suspense? from the Library Journal. Secondly, the book under review here is the only one by Bell which I have read and so it is ?presumed representative? of the rest of his novels. Two things, though, which I can say for sure is that (1). Presumed Guilty is excellent legal suspense and an excellent literary embodiment of the Christian world-view; and, therefore, (2). I intend to read the rest of Bell?s novels based upon my favorable experience with this one, and I would encourage you to do likewise. If the rest of Bell?s novels are as good as this one, which would appear to be the case, then it can be said with ce...
More About: Pens

NATURAL LAW AND REFORMED THEOLOGY
2006-12-02 16:10:08
NATURAL LAW AND REFORMED THEOLOGYBy Forrest Wayne SchultzA Review of Stephen J. Grabill, Rediscovering The Natural Law in Reform ed Theological Ethics ( Grand Rapids , Michigan : Eerdmans, 2006) ISBN 978-0-8028-6313-3 310 pagesThe Relevance of The Synod Of Dort I hold in my hand a book whose front cover is adorned with a beautiful print of an excellent painting of a very important historical event ? the convocation of the Synod of Dort during 1618 ? 1619 in the city of Dordrecht in Holland . I do not know if the author of this book ? the one under review here ? requested this particular cover art or not, but it is quite appropriate for the book?s content. The deliberations of the Synod of Dort were characterized by careful and courageous thinking, which enabled the participants to learn and be faithful to the particular truth of God needed to meet a serious deficiency in the church of that time. Dort, therefore, provides ...
More About: Theology , Reformed Theology , Form

CHRISTIAN ACTIVIST FIGHTS PEDOPHILE WEBSITE
2006-12-02 16:10:08
CHRISTIAN ACTIVIST FIGHTS PEDOPHILE WEBSITEGoogle hosts 'boy love' siteFamily counselor presses Web giant to dump itPosted: April 11, 20061:00 a.m. Eastern© 2006 WorldNetDaily.comA marriage and family therapist intern is trying to convince Google to drop a website from its popular, free blog host that promotes "boy love," sexual relationships between men and adolescents.Stacy L. Harp of Orange, Calif., told WorldNetDaily one of the readers of her weblog pointed out the site, called "Paiderastia: The Boy Love Revival."At the top of its homepage, the site explains it's all about "erotic/mentor/spiritual love between adolescents and adults."Harp said, however, that not long after she exposed it yesterday morning, the "Paiderastia" site removed its most recent posts, including one dated April 9.Also removed, according to Harp, was a podcast ? a file with a radio-style report ? that mocked the FBI. It was created through the podcast provider Liberated Syndication.The site now begins w...
More About: Christian , Website , Fights , Fight , Site

TRIALS -- LEGAL AND SPIRITUAL
2006-12-02 16:10:08
TRIALS -- LEGAL AND SPIRITUALBy Forrest W. Schultz A Review of Craig Parshall, Tria l By Ordeal (Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House, 2006) $12.99 ISBN 0-7369-1513-3 Craig Parshall belongs to the new breed of exemplary Christian fiction writers which began arriving on the scene about a decade ago to produce the literary feast we now enjoy so much that we have forgotten the thirty year famine that preceded it! Parshall's newly published Trial By Ordeal is most noteworthy for the way in which it takes legal suspense to a deeper level by showing how God can use legal hassles to awaken a man to his spiritual wretchedness. History professor Kevin Hastings' plan to get rich quick through real estate speculation lands him into a nightmare of legal entanglements plus threats from the local Mafia. And the attorneys he hires are further complicating instead of solving the mess. Things look bad until godly attorney Daniel Petranelli arrives on the scene an...
More About: Legal , Spiritual , Ritual

REVIEW OF SPRING 2006 SCP JOURNAL AND SCP NEWSLETTER
2006-12-02 16:10:08
REVIEW OF SPRING 2006 SCP JOURNAL AND SCP NEWSLETTERBy Forrest W. Schultz During the past year or so I have been reading many news items about the persecution of Christians in India. It was therefore interesting to read the SCP Staff Report about ?India?s Spiritual Background? which presents the impressions the staff members received from their recent visit to India. There were two items I found especially striking. One was the abundance of miracles the Indian Christians are experiencing, a situation they regard as normal, not extra-ordinary. The other was the concern about the false teachings emanating from various ?Christian? teachers on American ?Christian? television. This latter topic is dealt with extensively in an article entitled ?God TV? by Alan Morrison in the SCP Journal , which focuses on the three false teachings in the ?Prosperity? Gospel ? that God wants all Christians to be wealthy, that this wealth can be obtained through ?word power? (The Name...
More About: News , Review , Spring , Letter