Dr. Gary Tyra has served in pastoral ministry and is currently a professor at Vanguard University where he teaches theology courses. He is also the author of several other books, these include Getting Real and The Holy Spirit in Mission [Editor’s note: See the review by Malcolm Brubaker]. In The Dark Side of Discipleship he addresses the subject of spiritual warfare. He has written this book because he has seen many believers who are not well prepared in this area of their Christian lives.

The main body of the book begins with an introduction, after that the text is divided into four major parts. One of the subjects Tyra raises in the introduction, and refers to at other points in the book, is the subject of faithfulness. He feels that there are three key areas in which disciples of Jesus need faithfulness. They need to have spiritual faithfulness, moral faithfulness, and missional faithfulness (page 1). One thing that can disturb or disrupt this faithfulness is the activity of the devil (page 2). He attacks believers in such key areas as “worship, nurture, community, and mission” (page 9). Though the reality of the devil is downplayed by some believers, especially in the West, he should be taken seriously (pages 2, 7). The author says that there are at least 238 references to an evil spiritual being in the New Testament (page 3). In the introduction Tyra states that the purpose of the book is to enable believers “to experience a vibrant, fruitful, enduring walk with Christ” (page 4) in spite of the attacks of the devil. He sees spiritual warfare as an important component of “spiritual endurance training” (page 6).

Part Two is called “Forewarned is Forearmed: How the Devil Seeks to Derail Christian Discipleship.” This section is made up of four chapters. The chapter titles pretty much explain the focus of each chapter. Chapter 3 is called “Seduction: The Devil and Christian Worship, Chapter 4 is “Deception: The Devil and Christian Nurture, Chapter 5 is “Alienation: The Devil and Christian Community, and Chapter 6 is “Temptation: The Devil and Christian Mission.” These chapters deal with four key areas in which Christians will be attacked by the devil. Tyra mentioned them in the introduction of the book (page 9). In these chapters he identifies various ways in which Christians are attacked and how these attacks can be dealt with.

Part Four is called “Standing Firm in the Faith: Why the Devil Must be Dealt With.” This section is made up of two chapters, chapters 9 and 10. Chapter 9 deals with the ultimate “why” question. This question is “If God is both great and good, why is there so much pain and suffering in the world?” (page 226). As he seeks to address this question Tyra interacts with the writings of Gilbert Bilezikian and Gregory Boyd (pages 227-445). Both of these authors hold to the open theist point of view (page 233). While Trya values some of the insights of these writers he does not agree with everything they have written. In Chapter 10 the author writes about God’s end game. Here he offers some adjustments to the theology of Bilezikian and Boyd. He also writes about God’s justice with regard to things like the world (pages 260-261), the cross of Christ (pages 262-263), and the church (pages 269-273).

In the conclusion, Tyra wraps the book up with mention of a Bible verse that he has cited a number of times in the course of the text. The verse is the one in which Jesus speaks about receiving the commendation of the Lord for being good and faithful servants (Matthew 25:21). It is possible, and defeating the devil is one of the things that needs to be done in order for it to happen.

One thing you will not find in the book is a section on exorcism. The author does allude to it a couple of times (pages 197-198) but does not go into any detail about it. He knows some readers would be interested in this aspect of spiritual warfare. But he does not cover it because while Scripture does speak about this ministry Tyra believes that the majority of the New Testament focuses on the believer’s drawing near to God (page 198). The main focus of the book is discipleship. That is, preparing yourself, and others, to stand up against the attacks of the evil one. In this regard, I think The Dark Side of Discipleship has some good information and insights to offer. Christians will find profitable material that can help them identify and defeat the devil’s  work in their lives.

Reviewed by John P. Lathrop

Publisher’s page: https://wipfandstock.com/9781532691218/the-dark-side-of-discipleship

Author Gary Rogers speaks with Kirk Hunt about his book, Unlocking The Power Of Fatherhood, and the need for effective men’s ministry in churches.

Kirk Hunt for PneumaReview.com: Who or what inspired you to write Unlocking The Power Of Fatherhood?

Gary Rogers: It started at 4:30am on a Saturday morning. I got up, made my coffee, went upstairs to my office, and asked the Lord what he had to say.  I spent about 2 hours with the Lord as he explained a few things to me. So that you understand the rest of the story, I need to introduce you to my dad.  As a young boy, he contracted polio that left him with a paralyzed right leg. It also left him with a compromised immune system that failed him again, with finality, at the age of 53. The child that the doctor said would never crawl, much less walk, learned to walk without a cane, crutch, or brace.  The child that was destined to become an invalid became a man that everyone turned to in the time of their greatest need. Every day in the life of my youth I got a lesson in Character and Courage. I learned what it was to be a man, and I learned what it was to be a father. I grew up seeing an example of how to overcome the impossible. Through his example, I learned how to take on the challenges of life meant to turn me into a victim and come out the other side as a sovereign. On that Saturday morning, I was inspired to share his life story.

Kirk Hunt: What was the most positive aspect of the process of creating Unlocking?

Gary Rogers: I think it was the journey to discovery surrounding the purpose of the hard times that we all seem to endure. For, it is in the hard times where we are transformed into the people we need to be, to accomplish the purpose for which we were created. That was an epiphany for me, as I had previously seen those times in my life through the lens of failure. More importantly, I think that this revelation has the potential to help many overcome the scourge of victimization that weighs heavily upon them. Seeing the difficult season in a positive transformational light has the potential to set us free to walk into the high purpose of God’s plan for us.

Kirk Hunt: What was your most significant challenge while writing Unlocking?

Gary Rogers: Basically, I had no idea what I was doing, as I am not a professional writer. Everything I wrote was from my own experience without the benefit of research. All I had was a preliminary list of potential chapter headings. I would literally sit down to begin a chapter with only one or two sentences in my head. Things would just flow from there. After 9 or 10 pages of handwritten text, I would come to the end of the chapter and not remember everything I had written. I would go back and review it wondering where all that had come from. I see this entire work as a grace gift from the Lord.

Kirk Hunt: How has your experience with Unlocking informed or influenced your writing?

Gary Rogers: After writing the book I have come to realize the great need for building up men. I have been somewhat surprised by the positive responses I have received from people who have read the book. My passion is growing for making a positive impact on others and empowering them to live life to its fullest.

Unlocking The Power Of Fatherhood (Unlocking) starts with the courageous story of Billy Ray and his parents as they confronted the diagnosis of his polio infection. Their decision to raise Billy Ray without concession to his polio-induced impairment (referred to frequently as his “bum leg”) indeed showed significant foresight and courage. All the more exceptional when you consider the era and locale. Billy Ray’s story of living life fully and victoriously, are used to illustrate many points within the book.

Despite its title, Unlocking is primarily a primer on living a structured, disciplined and principled life. Even in the first chapter, Sovereignty of Choice, much credit is given to Billy Ray’s mother for her character and courage. Author Gary Rogers is describing his own grandmother, with much warmth and affection, but not exclusively a father. The title points to fathers, but the contents are about living as “men (and women) of honor.”

I agree whole-heartedly with Unlocking’s eleven chapters; Sovereignty of Choice, Dark Night on Striker Creek; Standards; In Search of Destiny; The Measure of a Man; Protection, Provision, Perseverance; Transformation in the Storm; The Value of Failure; Culture of Honor; Foundational Pillars of Honor; End of Our Tale. The book is full of classic wisdom and traditional values, especially regarding personal integrity. Each chapter starts with an apropos quote from a significant artist or thinker. Still, I struggle with the lack of an explicit moral or religious structure or system to support Rogers’ assertions of truth or right living.

Knowing the right thing to do or say is important. Knowing why (or how) what right thing you do or say is critical beyond measure. While I came across gem after gem regarding integrity and personal responsibility, I failed to see any objective structure or system that makes the pattern plain or repeatable. Even the chapter review questions did not help me see the author’s pattern.

An astute listener will want to know how they can evaluate what they are hearing through critical thinking and reasoning. Unlocking does not provide the structure or framework needed for such analysis. If the structure were there, a reader could glean wisdom and encouragement from each re-reading of this text, even if they missed it in the first perusal.

As I read, I wondered about the author, his moral system and his motivation. Clearly, he loves his parents and grandparents. Is the author an atheist ethicist? A principled secularist? Is he a Christian attempting to (stealthily) mainstream Biblical values? I could not come to understand Roger’s intention through his work. I found these questions became a distraction for me as a reader.

After discovering the book was not what I thought it would be, I could not discover a reason to trust the reasoning of the author. I want to trust this author, but there is no discernable structure or system that allows me to anticipate his beliefs or evaluate his statements. I suspect that Mr. Rogers and I have a similar worldview, but I am not sure we have a common framework for that view.

Given the emphasis on personal integrity and honorable living, I can (only) guess that this work is intended for those at risk of, or recovering from, personal failures. Without a structure or system to support his comments, such an audience can only accept his words on blind faith. Blind faith may be part of the reason why they are such an audience.

Based on just the title of this book, I wanted to like it. I could have overlooked a miss-match between the content and the cover. I am disappointed that so much strong content does not add up to a good book. I am prayerful that the author will have a chance to edit up this work to match the potential I suspect is here.

Reviewed by Kirk Hunt

Author’s companion website: https://rethinkingfatherhood.com/

David Wilkerson: The Cross, the Switchblade, and the Man Who Believed is an honest and candor assessment written by the son of David Wilkerson (founder of Teen Challenge and personality behind the famed story The Cross and the Switchblade). As he reminisces with graphic stories from his childhood, Gary Wilkerson evaluates his father’s life and ministry until his death in 2011. Wilkerson’s chronicle contains a window into the verve of a man who pioneered an inner city ministry and also prophesied of the end-times. For myself, as a youth, The Cross and the Switchblade was the first book I read from cover-to-cover. The astonishing stories caught my attention as I sought to discover the foundational experiences of a preacher who left his pastorate in rural Pennsylvania and moved to New York City.

Wilkerson’s formative years were based in a strict Pentecostal-holiness home, as the second child of five children. His father, also a pastor, ran a tight ship as a parent. As the son of a preacher, “no” was the operative word. No movies, no sports, no television, no extracurricular activities in this Pentecostal-holiness culture. Gary, as his son, was privy to his father’s private stories, sharing them with serious reflection and humor.

David Wilkerson’s amazing ministry had many twists and turns, yet the foundation remained living by faith on every occasion. Whether he ministered to a recovering drug addict or proclaimed a message about judgment in America, Wilkerson was never deterred by problems or money. However, what is remarkable about this memoir was Gary’s openness about his father’s successes and failures. Though Teen Challenge is by all accounts a success story, he also relates the tragedies. On one occasion, he shares the story of a police officer who contacted the ministry because a Teen Challenge card had been found in the hands of a dead woman who overdosed on the roof of a building.

Many well-known personalities associated with Wilkerson’s ministry were depicted with frank fondness. Nicky Cruz, the converted gang member of the Mau Mau’s was a noticeable figure. Dallas Holm, the musician and songwriter, became a friend to Gary, teaching him the enjoyment of motocross while his family lived in southern California. Pat Boone, intrigued by the miraculous stories contacted Wilkerson. Ultimately, without the television star’s persistence, the movie version of The Cross and the Switchblade may have never materialized. In due course, David’s brother, Don Wilkerson associated himself with Teen Challenge. Leonard Ravenhill, one of the few mentors David accepted, introduced him to Puritan writings and books. Of course, David’s wife, Gwen and their children’s’ sacrifices for the ministry are intertwined throughout the book.

Wilkerson’s visionary ministry at World Challenge in Texas and the consideration that he was a prophet, from his book The Vision, are deemed as trail blazing works and controversial. However, when he founded Times Square Church in Manhattan, as a pastor, his message turned toward grace. The newsletter World Challenge Pulpit Series, included his current sermons, which were mailed to millions throughout the world.

I have three take-aways from reading this book. First, God can do miracles when you live by faith. An ordinary preacher from rural Pennsylvania believed God called him to New York City and he obeyed God’s voice. Second, one can struggle with being good (because of a legalistic background), yet encourage others to higher acts of faith. Gary Wilkerson keenly wrote that his father’s “authority came from his own suffering” (205) and related numerous moments when his soul was in anguish. Third, humility, dedication, and sacrifice remain the essential virtues to aspire in the Christian ministry.

In short, I would highly recommend the reading of this book for pastoral ministry. David Wilkerson, though imperfect and vulnerable regarding his sense of significance, discovered strength only in a fervent prayer life with the Lord. Gary Wilkerson’s raw and visceral description of his father’s spirit produces a full view of authentic ministry based on the God’s grace. David Wilkerson struggled all his life with self-worth, yet he recognized that God loved him deeply as he preached that same message to others. Indeed, a discerning reading of the book declares that the cross is mightier than the switchblade.

Reviewed by Cletus L. Hull

Preview: https://books.google.com/books?id=pFxtAgAAQBAJ

Publisher’s page: http://www.zondervan.com/david-wilkerson

This is a very fine book about Charles Wesley. Yes, I did say “Charles Wesley”. As author Gary Best points out, there have been many books written about John Wesley, but his brother Charles has not been so fortunate. This biography seeks to address that imbalance and in the process reveal Charles Wesley to be much more than a hymn writer, though his hymns and other poetry are scattered throughout the book’s pages. Best argues that Charles has not been given the credit due to him for his important part in the founding of Methodism.

Charles, like his brother, was a traveling preacher for many years. Some contemporaries regarded him as a better preacher than John. It could be said that John’s preaching was logical, Charles’s was passionate, and their contemporary George Whitefield’s was dramatic and dynamic.

Charles Wesley was born prematurely and nearly did not survive. Probably partly because of that, in later life he suffered from a range of medical conditions, which limited his outdoor ministry from late middle age. His happy marriage to Sally Gwynne also contributed to his giving up the life of a traveling preacher, though this did not stop him ministering in London and Bristol in the south of England.

He was four years younger than John, and usually bowed to his older brother’s authority. Yet it was Charles, not John, who started the Holy Club at Oxford, though when John moved back to Oxford he took on its leadership. It was even Charles who first experienced his heart being warmed by God’s Holy Spirit in May 1838. That is, Charles was converted a few days before his older brother (assuming that the experiences of God that they had at that time were their conversions).

One mistake, I think, the Wesley brothers made was to insist on Methodism remaining in the Church of England. With the benefit of hindsight, it appears to have always been a vain hope. John insisted that the movement remain in the Established Church, though he occasionally wavered; Charles insisted on it and never for one moment doubted the correctness of his belief and actions. Yet when both were dead Methodism drifted from the Anglican Church.

At times the brothers clashed. One area of dispute was over the issue of Christian Perfection. Both Charles and John believed that a Christian could be perfect in this life (though there is disagreement about what they meant by that). John wrote a book about it, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, and Charles, inevitably, wrote hymns that taught it. One of his hymns on perfection is “God of all power and truth and Grace”. It has such lines as “perfect holiness in me”, “Purge me from every evil blot”, “cleanse me from every sinful thought”, “Give me a new, a perfect heart”, and, in case those prayers might be thought to refer to our existence in heaven, he says “O that I now, from sin released…”

But while the brothers agreed on the teaching they did argue on its outworking. John was more ready than Charles to regard some fellow Christians as having reached perfection. Charles warned his brother that many of those who were claiming to be perfect were boasting about the fact. In other words, not unreasonably, Charles thought that the boasters were far from perfect. John disagreed and this did cause tension between them.

There is, I believe, one major problem with this book. Best gives what I think is an unfair picture of John Wesley. He makes a lot of criticism of him and offers too little praise. It is true that John wanted to be boss, made sure that he was boss, and made it clear to everyone, including Charles, that he was boss, but there was a better side to him. He was often compassionate and caring, and he had a wonderful rapport with the poor that few, if any, well-educated men of his time could match.

Having offered that criticism let me make it clear that this is a fine book and well worth reading. It is also an important book because of the lack of other material on the life of Charles. Gary Best captures Charles Wesley as a man of courageous action as well as a thoughtful churchman, theologian and poet. He also gives some wonderful insights into early Methodism. Make sure you read it.

Reviewed by David Malcolm Bennett.

Gary Shogren is a New Testament scholar you should read and get to know about if you are interested in a biblical defense of the continuation of the gifts of the Spirit.

Gary and his wife, Karen, in Spain, 2012.

Dr. Shogren has been a professor of New Testament for more than twenty years, teaching in the USA and now in Costa Rica. Currently, he is the Professor of New Testament at Seminario ESEPA, San José, Costa Rica. You could call him a missionary-scholar or a global Christian. Dr. Shogren says of himself, “I’m the non-Pentecostal whom my Pentecostal brethren like to cite.”¹

With a focus on Pauline theology, he has written numerous commentaries that are of interest to renewalists (Pentecostals and charismatics).

Here are some of his writings you may want to read:

Gary Shogren, “How Did They Suppose ‘The Perfect’ Would Come? 1 Corinthians 13.8-12 in Patristic Exegesis,” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 15 (Oct 1999), 99-121.

This is a technical study of how the Church Fathers interpreted Paul’s prediction of the cessation of tongues, prophecy, and knowledge. “But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away” (1 Cor 13:10 NKJV). Dr. Shogren’s conclusion is that nearly all of the orthodox fathers believed “the perfect” referred to the age to come.

The full article is available [as of July 9, 2014] on his blog: openoureyeslord.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/shogren_1-cor-13-perfect-in-patristic-exegesis.pdf

Gary S. Shogren, “The ‘Ultracharismatics’ of Corinth and the Pentecostals of Latin America as the Religion of the Disaffected” Tyndale Bulletin 56:2 (2005), pages 91-110.

From the abstract:

This paper arises from research on 1 Corinthians within a Latin American milieu. It shows the value of studying God’s word from non first world perspectives, particularly with regard to the themes of societal status and the charismata in the first century church.

The full article is available from TyndaleHouse.com: www.tyndalehouse.com/TynBul/Library/TynBull_2005_56_2_06_Shogren_UltracharismaticsCorinthLatinAm.pdf

Gary S. Shogren, “The gift of tongues in the post-apostolic church: a rejoinder to Cleon Rogers”

The paper opens:

In 1965 Cleon Rogers published a short study about the gift of tongues in the centuries after the apostles.[1] It is late in the day to refute an article already a half century old; but since people keep quoting it as authoritative, it is worthwhile pointing out some of its grave logical and historical flaws.

Available on Dr. Shogren’s blog: openoureyeslord.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/shogren_the-gift-of-tongues-in-the-post-apostolic-church.pdf

Gary Steven Shogren, “Christian Prophecy And Canon In The Second Century: A Response To B. B. Warfield” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 40:4 (Dec 1997).

This article is available from the JETS website: www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/40/40-4/40-4-pp609-626_JETS.pdf

Gary Hal Graff, Can a Christian Have an Unclean Spirit? Volume I: Satan and the Angels (El Cajon, CA: Christian Service Network, 1999), 200 pages, ISBN 9781879854802.

Gary Hal Graff, Can a Christian Have an Unclean Spirit? Volume II: The Theology and History (El Cajon, CA: Christian Service Network, 1999), 249 pages, ISBN 9781879854147.

Gary Hal Graff, Can a Christian Have an Unclean Spirit? Volume III : The Psychology and Book Apologetics (El Cajon, CA: Christian Service Network, 1999), 232 pages, ISBN 9781879854222.

Writing a book on demonology is a risky business, because you will always find enough “enemies” as well as “friends.” To one of the most sensitive, thus often avoided, theological question, the author’s answer is an affirmative “yes,” that believers can have an unclean spirit. Now this is good enough to turn many people off. However, not so fast.

Even if many (including myself) have a fundamental disagreement to the author’s belief/thesis, this book contains an exhaustive amount of valuable information, especially two long lists of potential objections: logical (24 items, ch. 5) and biblical (56 items, ch. 6). He responded to each one of them. For me, even these lists alone provide valuable information as they are gathered in one place for the first time, and would make a copy of this book worthy. Also uniquely valuable is the History of Exorcism (ch. 10), again perhaps the very first in this magnitude.

This book is also quite different from many popularly know third wave authors who propose many “how-to” stuff. Nor is the book fadded with plenty of stories. This volume mainly deals with biblical, theological and historical arguments to support the author’s thesis.

It is expected that the author comes from a predetermined firm conclusion, thus, making his arguments consistently one-sided, obviously leaving no room for any valid counterarguments. But this is how a good book is written (although it will be the readers to decide on this, not me): to call for a serious dialog, discussion and debate, and even a response to the same “objections” from a radically different perspective of beliefs.

Do not let the academic qualification of the author fool you. The author has only a B.A., his serious and diligent work can shame many graduate and post-graduate degree holders who have never taken time to make a serious contribution like this.

This book sermons a loud call for an equally serious and exhaustive response.

Reviewed by Wonsuk Ma

Gary M. Burge, Jesus and the Land: The New Testament Challenge to “Holy Land” Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic: 2010), 176 pages, ISBN 9780801038983.

Affirming the normal human practice of attaching oneself to land—of having a place to call home—Burge recognizes the practical and political challenges this desire poses for both Palestinians and Israelis. In agreement with D. Boyarin’s A Radical Jew: Paul and the Politics of Identity (1994), Burge says that “If the Jewish people are the indigenous people of this land, then the Palestinians are indigenous nowhere. And if the Palestinians are indigenous there, then the Jewish people are indigenous nowhere” (x, xi).

He addresses how he believes Christians can view the “competing land claims” of the Palestinians and Israelis by isolating and offering key questions for an ongoing discussion. What is the relationship between land and theology in the New Testament? What did Jesus and the New Testament writers think about the territorial claims of ancient Israel? Did they retain the view of the sanctity of Jerusalem and its Temple? Were they rethinking the relationship between faith and locale? Or were they confident that a sacred place was still to be held for believers?

Burge, of course, answers these questions. For example, he believes “the early Christians possessed no territorial theology; and “Early Christian preaching [was] utterly uninterested in Jewish eschatology [that] devoted [itself] to the restoration of the land” (59). In his view, for instance, the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews would “never have been inclined to see the politics of Judaea as an appropriate venue for Christian interest” (107). This is because God’s focus is not the Land, but the world. The Land is but a small, though vital, part of that world.

While some readers may not feel comfortable with some of his amillennial leanings; nevertheless, his discussion pushes the conversation forward. Now we know the questions we should be asking.

Reviewed by Carolyn D. Baker

Publisher’s page: bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/jesus-and-the-land/322870

As the title indicates, this book is concerned with who owns the Holy Land. At the outset, Gary Burge explains how he struggles with rival biblical versus historical claims to the land by both Jews and Arabs, asking if it can really be justifiable to evict Arabs who have lived on the land for centuries on the basis of an ancient promise made in the book of Joshua. He also questions the eschatological zeal driving Christian Zionism which he believes ignores major ethical problems in Israel today. Hence, Burge is keen to provide an alternative view of the situation in the Middle East to Christians he believes are not being told the entire story. Yet despite championing Palestinian self-determination without Israeli interference, nonetheless he also believes Israel’s security and right to exist must be secured if there is to be lasting peace in the region. Moreover, while the Old Testament covenant has been abrogated, this “should not diminish the church’s respect for Judaism nor the rights of the Jewish people to live in the land of Israel” (xviii).

The book begins with a description and historical survey of the land, before moving on to theme of land ownership in the Old Testament. Burge demonstrates how the land is intimately connected to God’s covenant with Abraham and Israel. Yet control of the land was conditional upon Israel’s faithfulness: “Possession of the land is linked to covenant fidelity” (74). Israel does not actually own the land, rather she is a tenant entrusted with it only as long as she is in a covenant relationship with God. Thus, the promise of the land is indeed eternal, but only provided Israel remains faithful to God.

Burge then moves on to explore the theme of the land in the New Testament, noting how, by and large, it is absent there. Focusing on the abrogation of the Old Testament law, he argues that the promises made to Abraham are now spiritualised in and through Jesus, who is a new Moses:

Jesus himself becomes the locus of the holy space … Just as Moses was leading the people of Israel to their promised land, so too, Jesus leads God’s people. But now we learn that Jesus himself is in reality that which the land had offered only in form. To grasp after land is like grasping after bread—when all along we should discover that Jesus is ‘the bread of life’ (175).

Gary M. Burge is professor of New Testament at Wheaton College and Graduate School.

Thus, the book argues, the true descendants of Abraham (that is, Christians rather than simply Jews) will inherit the whole world, rather than simply the tiny strip of land which is modern day Israel. Yet Burge cannot quite bring himself to reject fully the notion that the Jews and Judaism retain some special significance in the divine plan, stating that unbelieving Judaism is still beloved of God and retains an ‘enduring role’. “For the sake of their history, for the sake of the promises made to their ancestors, God will retain a place for Jews in history” (187). But whether Burge is simply suggesting Jewish believers are grafted onto the Church (cf Rom 11:17ff), or else something more substantial, is unclear. The book concludes with a brief survey of Palestinian Christianity, a critique of Christian Zionism (“Many of us within the evangelical church are offended by Christian Zionism”, 246), and highlights Evangelical organisations that reject Christian Zionism.

The Power of the Cross: The Biblical Place of Healing and Gift-Based Ministry in Proclaiming the Gospel

How the New Testament describes the supernatural can tell us a great deal about how we should see the miraculous.

Continued from Part 1 appearing in the Winter 2007 issue

III. Signs, Wonders, and Miracles Are Intended to Encourage Belief and Deepen Faith in Christ

It is true that “signs do not in themselves create faith in the hearts of observers and can even harden hearts,”⁴¹ as in the case of the Pharisees. F. F. Bruce noted this as well:

What about the signs he [Jesus] actually performed? Why were they not sufficient to convince his questioners? … If the restoration of bodily and mental health could be dismissed as a work of Satan, no number of healing acts would have established the divine authority by which they were performed…While the healing miracles did serve as signs of the kingdom of God to those who had eyes to see, they did not compel belief in those who were prejudiced in the opposite direction.⁴²

But Scripture also shows that one function of signs, wonders, and miracles in the ministry of Jesus and the Early Church was to awaken and encourage faith in the gospel being preached. Why else would the Early Church have prayed prayers like the following, asking God for signs and wonders of healing to accompany its evangelism?

Acts 4:29-30—“Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” God obviously granted such requests in the Early Church (e.g., Acts 5:12-16; 6:8; 8:4-8, 12-13, 26-39; 9:17-18, 32-42; etc.).

Jesus more than once challenged his listeners to believe His word on the basis of His miraculous works:

John 10:37-38—“Do not believe me unless I do the miraculous works (ta erga⁴³) of my Father. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the miraculous works (tois ergois), that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”

John 14:11—“Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miraculous works themselves (dia ta erga auta).”

Mark 2:10—“‘But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…’ He said to the paralytic, ‘I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.’” In his Gospel, John calls all of Jesus’ works of miraculous healing “signs” (sēmeia; Jn. 4:54; 6:2; 9:16: 12:17-18)—e.g., Jn. 6:2, “They saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick.”⁴⁴ The miraculous healings of Jesus are also called “works” (erga) in John’s Gospel.⁴⁵ Jesus provided abundant “signs” of miraculous healing to those who were open and seeking God, as every one of the Gospel accounts show. John then said of the signs, “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (Jn. 20:31).

In His condemnation of Korazin and Bethsaida’s lack of repentance and faith, Jesus indicates that His miraculous works were intended to produce repentance and faith in Him (Mat. 11:21; and Lk. 10:13):

Matthew 11:21—“Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” Paul expected to proclaim the gospel “in the power of signs and wonders through the power of the Spirit” (Rom. 15:18-19; I Cor. 1:6-7; 2:4-5; II Cor. 12:12; I Thes. 1:5), and he expected God to continue to distribute spiritual gifts and work miracles among the churches to confirm the gospel and build up and encourage the church (Rom. 12:6-8; I Cor. 1:7; 12:1-14:40; Gal. 3:5; Eph. 4:7-13; I Thes. 5:19-22; I Tim. 4:14; II Tim. 1:6-7). Paul says that the gift of prophecy is a sign “for believers” (I Cor. 14:22).⁴⁶ As a sign it encourages and builds up the church in its faith (I Cor. 14:1-5). Through it God gives supernatural insight into the secrets of people’s hearts (“the secrets of his heart will be laid bare” I Cor. 14:25),⁴⁷ and thus it demonstrates that “God is really among you!” (I Cor. 14:24-25).