The film, The Insanity of God, is based on the book with the same title; it tells the story of Nik and Ruth Ripken’s involvement in missions. Ripken, by the way, is not their real name, it is a pseudonym. The film is narrated by the Ripkens and contains reenactments of some of the accounts from the book.

In the beginning of the film the Ripkens tell the story of how they got involved in missions. Ruth knew at a very early age that she was called to missions, Nik, her husband, came to this realization later in life. He was convinced by the words of Jesus in the Great Commission passage in Matthew 28 that he too should be involved in missions. The Ripkens began their ministry in pastoral work. After a missionary ministered in one of the churches that they pastored they felt that they needed to make their move and get onto the mission field. They initially went to Malawi and loved it, but due to recurring bouts with malaria they had to leave the country. They then moved to South Africa. After this they were told that there were a couple of other African countries that they could consider: the Sudan or Somalia. Their leadership felt that they were to go to Somalia.

Nik said that when he went to Somalia he felt like he had flown into hell. The needs there were overwhelming. By his third night in the country he wanted to leave, however, he did not. He stayed and tried to help in whatever ways he could, mostly through relief work. The seeming lack of progress, the execution of four Somali Christians whom he had shared communion with, and a family tragedy eventually resulted in the Ripkens returning to the United States. They were broken by their experience. In the film Nik asks the question “What do you do when everything seem to be crucifixion and no resurrection?”

Their experience was a difficult one, but it led them on a search. They wanted to find out how Christians could grow and thrive in difficult places, in lands where believers are persecuted. Nik journeyed to a number of nations where Christians suffered persecution to try to find out how they were able to bear up under it and thrive. He went to learn and conducted many hours of interviews with believers in these nations. This is the resurrection part of the story.

The film features stories from three different nations: Russia, China, and an unidentified country in Central Asia. It is virtually impossible not to be moved by these stories. The account from Russia focuses on a Christian man who was arrested and imprisoned for seventeen years for his faith. How he kept his faith during this time and the impact that he had on his fellow prisoners is truly an amazing story. The segment about China gives attention to the response of the Chinese Christians when they heard about the persecution of the believers in Somalia. And, the portion about Central Asia focuses on one man that Nik Ripen called “the toughest man I ever met.” I am purposely not providing a lot of details because I do not want to spoil the film should you decide to see it (which I hope you do). I believe that you will be impressed by the faith, dedication, obedience, and perseverance of these believers who have lived under persecution.

The Insanity of God does not gloss over the harsh realities that believers face in lands where Christianity is not welcomed. It asks the tough questions. The film is both challenging and inspiring. I have also read the book The Insanity of God and would recommend that as well, it contains more information than is included in the film. The book and the film are very important resources. I hope that they receive wide spread exposure. All Christians, particularly those interested in missions, should see this film. I highly recommend it. The Ripkens have done a great service to the Body of Christ in sharing their story and the stories of those they have interviewed.

Reviewed by John Lathrop

Companion website: http://www.insanityofgodmovie.com/

A film documentary about a Korean pastor saving abandoned babies.

The Drop Box is a documentary about the ministry of Pastor Lee Jong-rak in Seoul, South Korea. A significant problem in that city is the abandoning of babies. Some of these children are abandoned because they were born out of wedlock; others are abandoned because they have disabilities. Many have been left out on the streets. If they are not found in time they will die.

Pastor Jong-rak became aware of this problem and in 2009 set up a “drop box.” A person who is going to give up their baby can, from outside of the building, put their baby into this box. The box is in the wall of a house and so the baby is safe and kept out of the weather. Once the child is in the box the person dropping the child off can then ring a doorbell and the pastor will come to get the baby out of the box. The pastor has saved hundreds of children using the drop box.

This is a film about life, physical life and spiritual life. In the film some of the children who have been saved are shown. Many of these children have disabilities; they have been saved physically. The man who made the film was saved spiritually while making this film. He became a Christian as a result of what he saw while making this film.

One cannot help but be struck by the love, patience, self-sacrifice, compassion, and commitment of Pastor Jong-rak and his wife. They have a twenty-six year old son that they care for who has disabilities and in addition to that responsibility they carry on this ministry. In one scene in the film the pastor takes a child out of the drop box and immediately offers prayer thanking God for sparing the child’s life.

Pastor Jong-rak has his own health issues and yet he makes himself available even in the middle of the night to help these children. He believes that every human life has meaning and that children who have disabilities are our teachers. He and his wife have adopted other children with disabilities. He said that he adopted them because God adopted him.

This film shows a man moved with compassion and moved to action. My wife made the observation that this film shows the harsh realities of doing this ministry, they are not glossed over. If you are able to see this film be prepared to be moved by it. You can learn more about the film by going to the drop box website.

http://www.thedropboxfilm.com/

Reviewed by John Lathrop

Robert W. Graves, ed., Strangers To Fire: When Tradition Trumps Scripture (Woodstock, GA: The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship, 2014), 604 pages, ISBN 9780996044509

If you are a person who stays current with regard to books related to the work of the Holy Spirit, the first part of the title of this book may sound familiar to you. If you find this to be true, it is probably because there was a book published in 2013 that had a somewhat similar title. I am, of course, referring to John MacArthur’s book, Strange Fire. MacArthur’s book was very provocative, indeed antagonistic, toward Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians. The book attracted a lot of attention and drew responses from key Christian leaders from both inside and outside of the Pentecostal/Charismatic movements. The preface of Strangers To Fire tells us that Strange Fire was the impetus that caused this current volume to be published (xxvii). Strangers To Fire was published to address and correct some of the issues that were raised in MacArthur’s book. In fact, some of the chapters were written in direct response to Strange Fire.

Cover for the November 2016 re-release by Empowered Life.

The introduction states that this volume consists of thirty-five chapters of which the first seven were written in direct response to MacArthur’s book (xxxi). These chapters make up Part One of the book. The majority of direct responses to Strange Fire were previously published online by Charisma News and PneumaReview.com. Part Two of the book, “Classic Replies to Cessationism and the Misuses of the Charismata,” consists of chapters drawn from other books and publications written between 1968 and 2013 (xxxi). While these additional chapters were not written in direct response to MacArthur’s book, they do touch on issues pertinent to his book, indeed to the cessationists’ view in general. The afterword of Strangers To Fire states the purpose of the book. “It is our fervent prayer that this anthology may aid in the release of cessationists so they might be able to pray the biblical prayer, ‘Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief’ (Mark 9:24 KJV)” (523).

The contributors to this work are: Stanley M. Burgess, Randy Clark, Ronald Cottle, William De Arteaga, Jack Deere, Paul Elbert, Andrew T. Floris, Robert W. Graves, Gary S. Greig, Wayne Grudem, James Hernando, Melvin L. Hodges, Eddie Hyatt, William K. Kay, Craig S. Keener, Robert Menzies, J. P. Moreland, Douglas A. Oss, Cecil M. Robeck Jr., Jon M. Ruthven, Mark Rutland, Omer Jaye Sharp, Gary Shogren, Sam Storms, Horace S. Ward, and David A. Womack. A quick look at their biographical information will demonstrate that they are highly educated people, many with earned doctoral degrees.

John P. Lathrop, The Power and Practice of the Church: God, Discipleship, and Ministry (Waltham, MA: J. Timothy King, 2010), 120 pages, ISBN: 9780981692555.

In John P. Lathrop’s second book,[1] The Power and Practice of the Church, readers will find a stimulating compilation of various seminary papers, previously published magazine articles, and sermons which have been reformatted to make up the book’s eighteen chapters. Readers please note that the author of this review is the nephew of John Lathrop.

Seminary papers make up the majority of the text (chs. 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14) and cover such topics as the spiritual gifts of tongues and prophecy to the Persons of Christ and the Holy Spirit. These chapters contain the most technical and mentally stimulating writings found in the book. The second largest portion of Lathrop’s book is comprised of various articles written for Vista Magazine (chs. 4, 5, 6, 10, 16, 17, 18), and focuses more on the individual believer’s walk with Christ while in his/her earthly dwelling. The smallest section of the book, former sermons Lathrop has preached and here converts into full-length chapters (chs. 11, 12, 15), imparts very practical tips in order that believers may have a fuller spiritual life.

Lathrop shows great aptitude for writing in a very simplistic manner without sacrificing content. The reader will find that although many of the chapters cover somewhat technical (and sometimes controversial) topics, the author is able to strike a fine balance between theology and practical application with seeming ease of the pen. One would be hard-pressed to find a lack of Scriptural support for any of the positions taken by Lathrop, whose conclusions are doubtless the result of many years of diligent study of the Word of God. Perhaps the biggest flaw in the book is its lack of even more technical chapters, which would further evidence the author’s wide-ranging knowledge of Scripture.

The Power and Practice of the Church is impressive in that it covers a wide variety of topics which the inattentive reader may not be able to see a connection between, but which Lathrop effortlessly pulls into his overall themes of “God, discipleship, and ministry” (p. 8). As such, the reader is not left wondering why any of the chapters were chosen for the book, as unfortunately is the case with many other compilations. The author begins his book by speaking to the sometimes controversial topics of tongues and prophecy (chs. 1-2). From here, he moves smoothly into a discussion of the work of the Holy Spirit in modern times and backs it up with examples from the Scriptures (chs. 3-4). Lathrop then sets off with much practical advice for those seeking a deeper walk with Christ. He touches on everything from the avoidance of spiritual conceit (ch. 6) to “Being a Barnabas” (ch. 18). In fact, it is the final chapter (“Being a Barnabas”) that may be the most powerful in the book. In this chapter Lathrop satisfactorily sums up the overarching theme of the book when he says:

As we look back over the list of the things that were characteristic of Barnabas’ life – being a giving person, seeking to help one that others shunned, being able to work with people who were different from himself, and fostering the spiritual growth of others – we see that all of these qualities were good. In fact, more than good, they were Christ-like. May we seek to follow in the steps of Barnabas as he followed in the steps of Christ.

This eloquent paragraph contains the essence of the Christian life. While Christ works on each believer to conform him/her to His own image, it is the Christian’s responsibility to allow the Holy Spirit to touch their lives in order that they may become more Christ-like. The Power and Practice of the Church is wonderful way to help each of Christ’s followers achieve this end.

Reviewed by Jonathan P. Davis

Notes

[1] See Lathrop’s 2008 release, Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers: Then and Now (Xulon Press), 149 pages, ISBN: 9781606474594.

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How Shall We Lead the Church?

In this Pneuma Review conversation, Pastor John Lathrop says that New Testament leadership should be scripturally based, marked by servanthood, Spirit-empowered, and equipping everyone for ministry.

Jesus Christ has a very real relationship with the church. He described the church as His and said that He would build it (Matt. 16:18). Paul, in his address to the elders of the church of Ephesus said that God purchased the church with His own blood (Acts 20:28). The reference to purchasing with blood indicates that Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, is the one being referred to in this verse. The church belongs to Jesus. In a couple of other texts the apostle Paul affirms that we (believers/the church) have been purchased by Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 6:19-20; 7:23). In addition to His ownership of the church Paul also says a number of times that Jesus is the head of the church (Eph. 1:22; 5:23; Col. 1:18). Jesus’ leadership of the church is not just a position of power and authority, but also one of service. Ephesians 5:29 tells us that the Lord feeds and cares for the church. Romans 8:34 and Hebrews 7:25 indicate that He is now constantly praying for His followers. The one who has the highest authority in the church is its greatest servant. The Lord can, and certainly does, feed and care for us as His people; He does this for us both as individuals and as a body. The Lord can minister to us directly, or He can work through the earthly spiritual leadership of the church. These men and women have been placed in the church by Him (Eph. 4:11) to accomplish His plans and purposes.

In the New Testament we find a number of different words used to describe leadership ministries in the church words like: apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, elder, overseer, teacher, deacon and deaconess. All of these words describe various leadership ministries.

Without question all of these ministries existed in the New Testament church, and I believe that all of them exist in the church today. However, some of these leadership ministries do not seem to have been found in every local church. For example, there is no concrete evidence in the New Testament that every church had apostles and prophets who remained in the congregation on an ongoing basis, they seem to have been more mobile ministries¹ Local church leadership seems to be entrusted more into the hands of pastors/elders, teachers, deacons and deaconesses.

It is not my intent to make this a highly academic paper. Neither do I intend to go into a detailed description of any of the ministries listed above. Instead I would like to focus on four characteristics that I believe should mark all leadership ministries of the church. These four essentials of ministry are that it should be: scripturally based, marked by servanthood, empowered and directed by the Spirit, and should equip people for service.

Let us turn our attention now to a brief consideration of these four essential qualities.

Scripturally Based

The church belongs to God, because this is so we need to build it in accordance with His instructions. These instructions are found in Scripture; the Bible should be the blueprint for the church. Now I know that not everyone holds the same view about how a church should be governed. Some people feel that a church should be pastor/elder led, based on texts such as 1 Timothy 5:17, Acts 20:28 and 1 Peter 5: 1-3. In these verses elders/pastors are given the responsibility of providing direction and oversight to the congregation. Other Christians lean toward a more congregational form of government. They may cite Acts 6 where the larger church body chose the seven men to take care of the widow’s distribution. It should be noted in this case that the larger church body made the decision only after the apostles gave them the criteria for who could be considered for this ministry. The apostles authorized the congregation to make the choices. I personally believe the Bible teaches that the church should be led by pastors/elders. Regardless of the view that you or your church holds we should all agree that the Bible is to be the source of authority for the beliefs and practices of the church.

John Lathrop has written an excellent survey of what is commonly called the “five-fold ministry gifts” of Ephesians 4:11, giving special attention to the ministries of the “apostle” and “prophet” since these are the most controversial in the contemporary Pentecostal\charismatic movement. He carefully examines each ministry in the light of Scripture and brings balance and clarity to what has been, in recent years, an over-emphasis on the restoration of apostles and prophets and their governmental authority.

He brings balance by showing from Scripture why these ministry gifts should be seen as ministries and functions rather than offices and titles. He clearly shows that all who function in these ministries do so as servants, not as despotic rulers. In a unique and clever way he alleviates potential concern about designating people as apostles or prophets by pointing out that these words have taken on unwarranted connotations of magnitude and importance, and reminds his readers that apostle can mean “messenger” and prophet can mean “an inspired speaker.”

Lathrop is not only Biblical and theological in his approach, but also practical. He is very thorough in delineating what a modern apostle or prophet will look like and what they will not look like. He also shows from Scripture that women may also function as prophets, apostles and pastors and points out that, apart from Jesus, no Christian leader in the New Testament is referred to as a pastor.

Overall, I consider this an excellent work and I highly recommend it to anyone who desires to better understand the five-fold ministry in the Church today, especially that of apostles and prophets.

Reviewed by Eddie L. Hyatt

Publisher’s page: www.xulonpress.com/bookstore/bookdetail.php?PB_ISBN=9781606474594

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