Logic on Fire: The Life and Legacy of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, reviewed by R. T. Kendall
Logic on Fire: The Life and Legacy of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Media Gratiae, 2015). Matthew Robinson, director. 3 disc DVD set with 5 postcard prints and cloth-bound book (128 pages).
Logic on Fire is a documentary film about the life and ministry of the greatest preacher of the twentieth century, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981). I hope that all Christians, especially ministers, will view it. He was known by all as “the Doctor” because he was a physician before he entered the ministry. Following G. Campbell Morgan, he became the minister of Westminster Chapel (1938-1968). His close relationship with the renowned Lord Horder, the king’s physician, is given space in the film; it is essential to understanding the Doctor. Having learned to diagnose patients by going “from the general to the particular”– ruling out what would be a false diagnosis or illness, Dr. Lloyd-Jones approached Scripture in much the same way; he ruled out what a text could not mean and came to understand what it does mean. He became possibly the greatest Bible expositor of all time.
What struck me most about watching this film – which gripped me from the start – is how they emphasized the importance and urgency of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the main reason every person under the sun should view it. If viewers are unconverted or unconcerned about their souls and final destiny before they watch this they will be changed afterwards. For the Doctor was chiefly an evangelist. One of the most striking statements in this video was made by Christopher Catherwood, one of Dr. Lloyd-Jones’s grandsons, explaining that the Doctor’s ministry was not only “not seeker friendly”; it was in fact “seeker unfriendly”. Really? Yes, because an unsaved person should be uncomfortable not comfortable in church! If people would leave in anger after hearing the Doctor he would observe that it is “a good sign” that God is dealing with them. People like this usually return sooner or later in tears and repentance.
Therefore the great benefit of watching his video is that one will gain a fresh grasp of the Gospel and, almost certainly, imbibe a lot of good theology without realizing it. This video has the potential of changing lives like the Doctor’s books have done.
One of the best things about this video is that the viewer can get a glimpse of Martyn Lloyd-Jones the man. We are taken through his medical training, we see him in his first pastorate in Wales and then what it was like at Westminster Chapel during World War II. It is not long before you realize that the Doctor had an extraordinary mind, the kind that perhaps comes along once in a century. The video contains several interviews with people, some of whom knew him. One must admit that the doctor was a bit eccentric. You never saw him except in a three-piece suit, even when he went to the beach with his family! Andrew Davies noted that many preachers tried to imitate his ways and some even wore a suit when going to the beach!
Much space is rightly given to Iain Murray, the doctor’s biographer. I played and replayed some of his cogent comments. And yet the most heart-warming part of the documentary is interviews with his two daughters Elizabeth Catherwood and Ann Beatt. I could go on listening to them for hours. You become immediately aware also of the rare quality of their minds. Each one of the six grandchildren is interviewed. I was moved by his grandson Jonathan Catherwood; he recounts how the Doctor was so patient with him during his teenage years when he was off the rails. From Jonathan we also learn that the Doctor loved to watch wrestling, a fact that used to shock some of the more proper saints at Westminster Chapel!
The doctor was no cessationist.
Reviewed by R. T. Kendall
Visit www.LogicOnFire.org for trailers and exclusive behind-the-scenes content.
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LogicOnFireFilm
Listen to and download 1,600 sermons, without cost, by Dr. Lloyd-Jones at the Martyn Lloyd-Jones Trust.
Category: Church History, Fall 2015