Keith Warrington, Discovering the Holy Spirit in the New Testament (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2005), 230 pages, ISBN 9781565638716.

Every pastor should have in their library this reference on the work of Holy Spirit in the New Testament. It is a scholarly and a practical book; it is not for the casual reading, although it would be good to skim through to know what you will want to refer to later.

Keith Warrington is a member of the Elim Church in England and the director of post-graduate studies and a lecturer in New Testament at Regents Theological College in Cheshire, England.

As Pentecostals we claim we know much more than other Christian groups on the work of the Holy Spirit, while this may be true when discussing topics such as on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit, most Pentecostals will have problems explaining the work of the Person of the Holy in the book of Revelation. This book will be helpful to provide a well-rounded biblical understanding of the ministry of the Spirit as it takes us through every book in the New Testament.

Keith Warrington

Discovering the Holy Spirit in the New Testament is divided into 19 chapters, each chapter is divided into a mixture of scholastic and practical information. For example chapter 8 on the book of Galatians describes the setting, what the author says about the Spirit, exposition, significance to the original reader and a bibliography.

The following is an example of the book of Romans: “What does the [canonical] author say about the Spirit? The Spirit: is set apart and sets believers apart (1:4); provides spiritual gifts (1:11; 12:6-8); provides a balance to the law (2:29; 7:6, 14; 8:2, 4); is the channel for the love of God (5:5; 5:30); opposes the flesh and identifies and empowers believers as God’s children (8: 5-13); affirms adoption for believers (8:14-17); is the ‘firstfruits’ for believers (8:23); prayers for believers (8:26-27); empowers the believer (14: 17; 15: 13, 16, 18-19).” In his section on exposition and significance for the original reader, Warrington says of Romans 8:23,

Not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit groans inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

In the context of the final redemption, Paul describes believers as having the “firstfruits,” identified as the Holy Spirit. The term “firstfruits” regularly referred, in a sacrificial sense, to the first of the flock or the first of the fruits of the harvest that worshippers gave to God (Exod 23: 19, Lev 2:14). Here, Paul uses the term to describe a down payment or guarantee of something to come. The gift of the Spirit is foretaste of what is to come …

The Spirit provides a glimpse and an insight into the life that believers will know in its fullness when the resurrection occurs. The Spirit is a flavor, a whisper, a breath of what is to come (91).

Reviewed by Aldwin Ragoonath

Keith Warrington’s introduction: http://keithwarrington.co.uk/?page_id=198

Publisher’s page: www.hendrickson.com/html/product/638719.trade.html (including sample chapter)

The mission of the Foundation is “to lead Pentecostal/charismatic believers to a greater understanding of God’s Word and assist church leaders in equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. We also long for greater dialogue between Evangelicals about doctrine, and by way of an open forum, to promote Biblically-centered theological discussion on the gifts of the Spirit.” We appreciate how the Lord is using you to carry out a similar mission and we are encouraged by your efforts.

Thank you for taking this opportunity to have an informal interview with us to explore some of these thoughts in greater depth. Kingdom Triangle is a particularly challenging book. Those of us on the editorial committee that have been reading it know we need to finish it if we have not already. Your book has already sparked many conversations for us, and we would be delighted to work with you in the future as your schedule permits.

The Pneuma Review: Why did you write Kingdom Triangle?

J.P. Moreland: I have been burdened by the low quality of spiritual competence in the American church and the small impact we are having compared to our numbers. I believe a focus on cultivating the three legs of the Kingdom Triangle lies at the heart of the way forward.

PR: What are some practical things church leaders can do to encourage a restoration of the Christian mind?

JP: I lay out a strategy in Kingdom Triangle in this area, but two things stand out: 1. We need occasions where more serious intellectual teaching, preaching and discussion takes place in the church calendar. This needs to be a stated goal of the church. 2. Book reviews, reading groups, CD discussion groups, all need to be more visible in the church’s life and values.

PR: Why is academic learning not enough to develop a Christian mind?

JP: Because of two factors. First, a Christian mind is interested in wisdom and not simply knowledge, though the latter is important for the former. Today, academic learning is completely removed from the task of forming wise, virtuous people who know how to live well. Second, the Christian mind is interested in cultivating the habit of focusing on God more and more throughout each day and that is not an academic matter.

PR: What difficulties are there for teachers in the church if they adopt a postmodern worldview?

JP: It will be difficult to get people to internalize important differences between the Way of discipleship and the values and lifestyles of the culture. Postmodernism tends to be an accomodationist approach at its heart. Further, postmodernism is weak on truth, knowledge and appropriate authority in one’s life. These are all central to the Christian life.

PR: In your chapter “Renovation of the Soul,” you say that “the Sunday morning service was never intended to be the staple for growing world-changing communities or for producing radically different people under the shelter of God’s wings” (143). What can church leaders do to better equip the whole body for ministry, especially if they are finding it difficult to move away from centralized leadership?

JP: Two things. First, leaders should concentrate more time on fewer people—intensify the training and discipleship of a core group in the church who will themselves carry out the work of the church. Second, there should be times for intense spiritual formation—entire days of prayer and worship, emphasis on home groups that can intensify personal relationships and spiritual formation in a more accountable, relational context.

PR: What is lost when the good news of the Kingdom is shared unaccompanied by the Spirit’s power?

JP: We lose the ministry of Jesus. He taught, proclaimed and demonstrated the Kingdom’s power and we should, too. We also lose the distinctively supernatural aspects of our religion. Finally, we lose intimacy with God because the power and presence of God are often two sides of the same coin in scripture.

PR: In Kingdom Triangle, you give some advice about how churches can encourage growth in the miraculous. Have you seen these ideas work out in churches newly open to the contemporary ministry of the Spirit?

JP: I have seen this. What is important is for each church to locate where they currently reside regarding these issues and be who they are, yet with an eye on growing a bit in this area. Then each church must be willing to take some risks and step out in faith such that God may not show up but if He does it will be obvious. Finally, each church must learn from its failures and continue to go forward.

For further reading, visit the Kingdom Triangle Discussion Forum: www.kingdomtriangle.blogspot.com

Be sure to read the review by W. Simpson of Kingdom Triangle in this issue.

Vinson Synan wrote this book at the urging of the publisher and Bert Ghezzi, his good friend. I know that name but cannot remember why. This book is a small soft covered volume that contains a quotation, testimony or witness from 60 men and women who over the centuries have contributed to the Pentecostal movement, though most lived in the last 2-300 years.

Each testimony runs 2-3 pages. I recognized 52 of the people Synan chose to include. I have spoken to eleven on the list and worked for two of them. It is interesting to read about the Pentecostal movement when one has been part of that movement.

The great majority of those listed had no idea that their words would ever go farther than the audience to which those words were originally directed. I tell my Bible college students that they will speak words like these, words that God will take and use to ignite others to do great things for this world because my students are part of another Kingdom.

I will no doubt bring this little book to classes in the future and read various testimonies at appropriate moments. Our Pentecostal world needs to assemble all it can to describe and define our history.

Reviewed by H. Murray Hohns

Mark A. Noll and Carolyn Nystrom, Is the Reformation Over?: An Evangelical Assessment of Contemporary Roman Catholicism (Baker Academic, 2005), 272 pages, ISBN 0801027977.

“Is the Reformation Over?” This is the question raised in a recent book by Mark Noll and Carolyn Nystrom. In this work, the authors do not attempt a “final” or “universal” assessment of Roman Catholicism” (13), instead their principle goal is an evangelical assessment of contemporary Roman Catholicism within primarily North America, with special attention given to the dramatic changes that have taken place since the Second Vatican Council (13). Understandably, then, there are large segments of Roman Catholic life and history that are not addressed in this work. As a secondary goal they seek to “provide evangelical interpretations, grounded in both classical Christian theology and the broad history of Christianity, of what we see in the contemporary Catholic Church” (14).

This exceptionally well researched book begins with an overview of the developments between Catholicism and Protestantism over the past fifty years. They note the strategy of Billy Graham and his adjustments over time as he sought to work more ecumenically with Roman Catholicism. Additionally, they offer numerous examples of evangelical individuals and organizations 50 years ago and how their reactions to Roman Catholicism ranged from deep hostility to mere suspicion, and the changes they have gone through over the decades, becoming more and more amenable to the idea that Roman Catholics are genuine brothers and sisters in Christ.

The second chapter chronicles the relationship of different groups from the time of the Protestant Reformation to the present. As before, many examples are provided that serve both as documentation and as illustration. “So Why Did Things Change?” This is not only the logical question from the preceding, but it also serves as the title for chapter three. In short, they suggest that things have changed because “God willed the changes to take place” (59). The authors see the change from hostility to friendship as the work of Divine providence, and hail it as a unity sent by God. They note significant changes within the Catholic Church, especially since Vatican II. These changes lead evangelical theologian David Wells to conclude that Protestantism must, therefore, revise its analysis of Catholic doctrine as most of it is now “obsolete” (60).

The book continues as it follows a number of the “Ecumenical Dialogues” since the time of Vatican II. These conversations have occurred among a wide range of groups, including Anglicans, Pentecostals, Disciples of Christ, Baptists, and Reformed churches, just to name a few. They continue by examining the “Catechism of the Catholic Church (chapter five), and provide a truly exceptional summary of the Catechism and its teaching. This is significant because the Catechism is “the official teaching of the Catholic Church,” and therefore it “speaks (officially) for everyone within the church” (116).

A fresh reminder from Chas Carrin about how amazing the Bible is and how the Spirit speaks through it today.

Pentecost exploded onto the ancient world with such power that it forever altered the work of scribes and the production of books. The overwhelming demand for the written account of Jesus had no precedent in world history. As a result, the New Testament numerically eclipsed all the combined works of Plato, Aristotle, Herodotus, Euripides, Homer, and other ancient writers. Today, there are 5,686 ancient Greek New Testament manuscripts still surviving. In contrast, only 7 copies of Plato survive, 49 of Aristotle, 8 of Herodotus, 9 of Euripides, etc., and all of these were copied at least 1,000 years after the original. This is not true of the New Testament; we have portions of the gospels going back to the first century and a fragment of the Book of John that was written about 29 years after the original. None of the secular books can make such a claim.

Copyright Stan Myers. Used with permission.

But there is more to tell. Besides Greek copies, there are some 19,000 ancient New Testament transcripts in the Syriac, Latin, Coptic, and Aramaic languages. This support-base of 24,000 historic New Testament manuscripts gives scholars opportunity to compare them for accuracy. The result: These books are about 99.5% textually pure. No other ancient writing has such a record. Not only so, but these copies are better preserved than any other document from the past. Also, keep in mind that when the original documents were written there were numerous people still alive who had heard Jesus for themselves and would have protested loudly had the writing been inaccurate. No such complaints exist. None of Plato or Aristotle’s hearers were present to edit the copies we now accept as valid.

Questions: If thousands of New Testaments survived the ravages of time when secular ones did not, how many more must have originally been written?! What was the motivation behind such an explosion of gospel books?

Answer: Pentecost impacted the world of its day with such cataclysmic power that there was an almost frantic-copying of thousands of New Testaments to meet the demand. For example, only 30 years after the death of Jesus, Christians in the city of Rome had become so numerous that when Emperor Nero set fire to the city he blamed them for the destruction. In the frenzy that followed, thousands were slaughtered-many crucified – but instead of eliminating them, Roman Christians grew in unprecedented numbers. They too experienced the same baptismal-power the Holy Spirit put upon disciples in the Upper Room. With that anointing, some preached from their crosses and more unbelievers were saved. Bibles were desperately needed. Today, Pentecost is still bringing people into personal encounters with the Holy Spirit – and intensifying the need for more copies of the New Testament.

The Bible Edition Which Most Impacted The English-Speaking World Is The One Known As The “King James” Or “Authorized” Version.

King James came to the Throne in 1603 when England was gripped in the fiery contest between Puritan “renewal” and Anglican “resistance”. Of himself, the King had little to recommend him. By London’s standards, he was crude and untrustworthy. The French King referred to him as the “wisest fool in Christendom”. Upon his appointment to the English Crown, King James left Stirling Castle in Scotland and by horse-drawn carriage started toward London. But things did not go as planned. On reaching the English border, he was immediately stopped by a group of Puritan ministers who presented him with a list of grievances. The urgency of their cause would not allow them to wait until his Coronation. Puritans demanded change; they were God’s preaching voice in that day. The Church of England, of which King James was titular “Head”, adamantly held to ritual and tradition. Though he responded favorably to the Puritan encounter that day at the border, King James was far from being their friend. Soon after his arrival in England he said of them, “I will make them conform or I will harry them out of the land – or else do worse.” This was not a bluff. In that day, dissenters were still being burned alive at the stake, having their ears or noses cut off, imprisoned, and abused in other horrendous ways. But in spite of King James’ threats, the Puritans had a temporary reprieve and God used the opportunity to bless humanity.

  From the Conversations with Readers department appearing in the Spring 2008 issue.

In Tony Richie’s review of Roland Chia, Hope for the World: A Christian Vision of the Last Things (IVP, 2005), Pastor Richie says “While Chia briefly notes ‘historic premillennialism,’ he focuses almost exclusively on ‘dispensationalist premillennialism.’ The former builds on the apocalyptic literature of the Scriptures and the patristic teaching of the early Church, the latter on an ultra-literalist hermeneutic of Scripture shaped by a prefabricated paradigm popularized by J. N. Darby and C. I. Schofield [sic] around the turn of the twentieth century. Increasingly, informed classical Pentecostals are identifying irreconcilable differences with such fundamentalist versions of dispensationalism. Dispensationalists are chiefly strong advocates of cessationism, and often entrenched opponents of Pentecostalism.”

The distinctions that Richie criticizes Chia for not making are not genuine distinctions. Dispensationalism is not one-size-fits-all; there are a lot of significant differences among dispensationalists. Here are some examples of different dispensational views: cessationists who use ultra-dispensational arguments to keep the charismata in the early church, many Pentecostals that believe there will be an outpouring of the Spirit before the Rapture (whereas non-Pentecostals say that the apostasy of our culture is that mark of the end coming soon), and many Pentecostals who hold the idea that if you are not right with God that you will not “go up” in the Rapture. I agree that Chia should not lump all pre-tribulation pre-millenarians together. However, Brother Richie appears to have created a straw man of what he feels is dispensationalism. To say that dispensationalism is built on an ultra-literalist hermeneutic is simply incorrect. These are like theological swear words. I fail to see how “belief in the chronology and reality of rapture-great tribulation-millennium” is something other than dispensationalism.

Richie has developed a good reputation for himself through his writings in this publication, and I do appreciate what he has done here, even if we disagree on what dispensationalism is.

—DJ

Response from Tony Richie:

I appreciate D. J.’s penetrating insight and gracious attitude. Biblical and theological conversations in this kind of mode are always a pleasure for me. They also tend to be more informative. Moreover, I think D. J. is correct in his general assertion that dispensationalism is a complex category. We ought to avoid oversimplification. However, in a short book review, the original author’s, in this case, Chia’s, discussion limits one’s range. Yet D. J.’s critique concerns itself with my own definition of (and disputation with?) dispensationalism. Particularly, he resists charges of “ultra-literalism” and challenges whether retaining commitment to the rapture-tribulation-second coming-millennium continuum avoids dispensationalism after all. Mostly, he wishes to call attention to the complexity of the dispensationalist classification. I hope I understand and represent him correctly. Assuming I am, I will proceed to clarify my own position.

In a sense all Christians are dispensationalists in that they distinguish between the Old/New Testaments (Covenants) of Moses and Jesus (John 1:17). Furthermore, Pentecostals are generally dispensationalists in their belief in a pneumatological eschatology, or “latter rain” outpouring of the Holy Spirit (cf. Joel 2:23). However, “classic dispensationalism,” goes much farther, compartmentalizing God’s dealings with humanity to a point of historical discontinuity. In other words, they tightly seal off the “dispensations” of history until the unchanging character and nature of God and his Word appear inconsistent or, worse, incongruous. Though there are other versions, for instance, the more recent (and more palatable) “progressive dispensationalism” of Marvin Pate and others, the classic form of Darby and Scofield, albeit updated and expanded by Chafer and Ryrie and others, is still by far the most prominent. In fact, later adaptations are more like departures because they acquiesce on traditionally key points. For example, they abandon or seriously alter, the traditional dispensationalist doctrine that God has two separate peoples and programs, Israel and the Church, with the Church being merely “a divine parenthesis”—as they term it—in redemptive history. As this duality was a defining tenet of classic dispensationalism, to what extent they are still truly dispensationalist remains debatable. The extreme literalism (I don’t mean to “swear”!) of classic dispensationalists is indisputable to anyone who has ever waded through tons of discussion about why kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God in the Synoptic Gospels must mean totally separate things or the difference between Israel and Jacob as denominatives for the OT theocracy. The same mindset lies behind the typical hard distinction between Israel and the Church. Although many liberal critics, such as Barbara Rossing, miss the point, belief in the Rapture is not necessarily dependent on dispensationalism. Excellent Pentecostal scholars such as Stanley Horton (The Promise of His Coming, 1967) and Hollis Gause (Revelation: God’s Stamp of Sovereignty on History, 1983) are not dispensationalist but do believe in the pre-tribulation Rapture of the Church. For me personally, belief in the pre-tribulation Rapture is a matter of imminence as much as anything. I believe the Bible teaches Christ could come at any moment and we had better be ready (e.g., Matt 24:44; Lu 12:40).

I am grateful to D. J. and to PR for an opportunity to engage each other on these important matters of our faith. I look forward to a continuing and deepening discussion.

—Tony

Pastor Mur shares a story of how God answered a prayer in ways he never expected.

There are nearly 50 Foursquare churches in Hawaii, and 75,000 people get to go to these great churches each weekend. They are full gospel churches that grew out of the ministries of two men – Ralph Moore and Wayne Cordeiro who founded Hope Chapel and New Hope.

I attended a Foursquare church for the first time in November 1976. I had come from New Jersey to California to speak at a construction industry seminar, and planned my trip so I could attend that Sunday morning service at Angelus Temple, its founder’s church. It was the first time I had ever been to California.

I was 30 years old when God saved me in 1961. I had no background in Biblical Christianity when that happened. I had moved to Philadelphia earlier that year, and made a friend who invited me to a Billy Graham Meeting, and late one night two weeks after that meeting, Jesus came into my bedroom and my heart.

I immediately wanted to be an evangelist like Mr. Graham, and enrolled at Philadelphia College of the Bible in January 1962 after executing its written agreement never to attend a full gospel church. I unintentionally broke that agreement 18 months later, and was soon involved with full gospel churches. My dad had taught me to love to read, and in those days I read everything I could find about the Holy Spirit. My construction work moved me around, and I had to drop out of Bible College.

While there were no Foursquare churches where I lived, I discovered the writings of Aimee Semple McPherson, the founder of the Foursquare movement, and decided that I would go to her Angelus Temple if I ever got to Los Angeles. I was 45 years old when I got there for the first time.

The Angelus Temple, Church of the Four Square Gospel, built by Aimee Semple McPherson and dedicated January 1, 1923. The temple is opposite Echo Park, near downtown Los Angeles, California.
Image: 2005 photograph / Wikimedia Commons.

When the Temple’s morning service ended that day, I walked up onto the platform and stood behind the pulpit. No one paid any attention to me. I looked out into those 4,000 seats, and tried to imagine what the place looked like 50 years earlier when Sister Aimee was in her prime; and then I did something outrageous and even silly: I prayed that God would somehow involve me in that Temple and in the church it had spawned.

I said outrageous and silly because I lived 2,500 miles from there. I was the founder of a small, though growing, consulting engineering firm that demanded my attention virtually every hour of every day. Those demands had also led to a failing marriage and all the hurt and misery that entailed. My prayer lacked a serious foundation; there was nothing to build on, and I soon forgot my words. But looking back today, I realize that the first thing I learned at that church is that God answers the prayers uttered at that altar.

“To read the Bible as God’s word one must read it with his heart in his mouth, on tip-toe, with eager expectancy, in conversation with God. To read the Bible thoughtlessly or carelessly or academically or professionally is not to read the Bible as God’s Word. As one reads it as a love letter is read, then one reads it as the Word of God.” – Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

“Too often in the body of Christ we are content to let God help us cope when He is fully prepared to fully deliver.” – Jason Knight

“‘Pentecost does not belong to any one denomination,’ says Frank M. Reid, who has been pastor at Bethel – begun by freed slaves in the late 1700s and among the founding members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church – since 1988. ‘It is part of every Christian’s journey. … Every Christian must have a Pentecostal experience – there’s no way around it.'” – Source: http://www.charismanews.com/a.pl?ArticleID=7508

“Forgiveness means the deed is no longer connected with us; we have nothing to do with it, or it with us. Forgiveness is absolute and complete. When we have been forgiven, there is nothing left for which we can be forgiven again. Trying, then, to offer a sacrifice to God to prove our sincerity or to live up to His free gift misses the truth of forgiveness. It would be like tying a string around your finger to remind you not to forget to buy the carton of milk you purchased at the market two days ago! I have been forgiven; you have been forgiven – for all things for all time.” – Daniel A. Brown

“The great Christian revolutions come not by the discovery of something that was not known before. They happen when somebody takes radically something that was always there.”
– H. Richard Niebuhr

Gordon D. Fee, Pauline Christology: An Exegetical-Theological Study (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2007), 707 pages, ISBN 9781598560350.

Gordon D. Fee, Professor Emeritus of New Testament Studies at Regent College in Vancouver, and noted Pauline scholar, offers exhaustive coverage of Pauline Christology in this book. Readers of the Pneuma Review need to be aware that Fee is unabashedly Pentecostal, the Spirit holding a central place in his studies, having already released his compendium volume regarding the Spirit within the Pauline corpus (God’s Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul, 1994). Seemingly rejecting a narrative approach to Paul’s Christology, Fee opts for the combination of exegetical analysis of passages and a theological synthesis of the materials; the same structure as his earlier work on the Spirit in Paul. Ascribing all of the traditionally credited books to the authorship of Paul, Fee descriptively details each book and its Christological content individually for the better part of 450 pages (10 chapters), and then offers a constructive synthesis of the data as it relates Paul’s distinctive Christology. I note the expansive exegesis so as to highlight the fact that Fee does not lightly hold the Biblical writ, but bases his understanding of Pauline Christology on it, and not upon conjecture (Pneuma Review readers would do well to read his practical guide, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth). Fee’s constructive synthesis provides the following themes: 1) that Christ is the Divine Savior, 2) that Jesus is the Second Adam, effectively undoing what the first Adam did, 3) and that Jesus is both the Son of God and the exalted Lord of heaven and earth. In so doing, Fee demonstrates that Paul possesses a very high view of Christology. Fee consistently shows that Paul is unequivocal in his declaration that Jesus of Nazareth is both God and man at one and the same time. This is supported strongly within Paul by the ease with which he transitions between speaking of the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ, hence equating the two. Pneuma Review readers will value the attention to detail, along with the various chapter appendices serving as compendia of the relevant passages.

Reviewed by Bradford McCall

Publisher’s page: http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/pauline-christology/334413

David Ravenhill, Surviving the Anointing: Learning to Effectively Experience and Walk In God’s Power (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image, 2007), 198 pages, ISBN 0768424437.

David Ravenhill, son of the late Leonard Ravenhill, served in pastoral ministry for a number of years, in more recent times he has embarked on an itinerant preaching ministry. Surviving the Anointing is his attempt to address, and hopefully help curtail, some of the significant ministerial fallout that has been taking place in recent years. One figure that he gives in the book states that an average of 1500 ministers are leaving the ministry each month.

David Ravenhill

Sportscasters sometimes say that sporting events are won or lost based on the athlete’s ability to execute the fundamentals of the game. The fundamentals, though basic, are vital to success. This same principle holds true in the kingdom of God. In this book David Ravenhill does not set forth any secret formulas, on the contrary he reminds us of things that we should already know the fundamental elements of a healthy walk with God. The book contains fourteen chapters. He devotes a chapter to each of the following subjects: dependency, intimacy, authority, persistency, purity, empathy/compassion, humility, worship, diversity/variety, family, adversity, integrity, unity and eternity.

The book is easy to read, but it gives the reader a lot to think and pray about. Ravenhill’s words call us to reflect and take personal inventory as to where we stand with reference to the qualities that he addresses in each of the chapters. He does not sugarcoat issues. He sets forth the challenges that leaders face as well as the solutions to these challenges. Each chapter contains a significant amount of bible teaching and a number of contemporary stories are used as illustrations throughout the book. This is a “hard” book in that it calls us to apply ourselves to matters of purity, persistence and discipline. However, it is not an “angry” book; it does not beat up but seeks to build up. It seeks to call out the best in us. It is in some measure a call for us to watch our life and doctrine closely (1 Timothy 4:16). It is a book of “grace” in that it demonstrates that our only hope to survive in the midst of the battle with the world, the flesh and the devil is to stay close to the Lord and to follow His principles.

2013 edition.

Surviving the Anointing is an important book in this time when many ministers are falling or failing. It will also be an important book in the years to come as human nature and the challenges of ministry remain largely the same. However, this book is not just for ministers, the counsel it supplies is vital to all Christians. Some of the difficulties that those in ministry experience are demonic to be sure, but not all are. Some of the difficulties are due to a person’s own failures some have made unwise choices some have let down their guard, and some have become proud. This could happen to anyone of us if we are not careful. This book is an appeal for us to excel in the basics, for by doing so we can stand and “survive the anointing.”

Reviewed by John Lathrop

Preview Surviving the Anointing: http://books.google.com/books?id=GPQ7_T9aj7MC