Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. –Isaiah 58:1 (KJV)–
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How couldst thou speak of Heaven and Hell in such a careless, sleepy manner? Dost thou believe what thou sayest? Art thou in earnest or in jest? How canst thou tell people that sin is such a thing, and that so much misery is upon them and before them, and be no more affected with it? Shouldst thou not weep over such a people, and should not thy tears interrupt thy words? Shouldst thou not cry aloud, and shew them their transgressions, and entreat and beseech them as for life and death? –Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor, pp. 238-239–
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Dr. John R. Rice, Why Preach Against Sin? (Sword of the Lord, 1985).
—. We Can Have Revival Now, ch. 9: “God’s Way to Mass Revival.” In another city known to me, good pastors got together to have a “revival campaign.” But so there would be no hard preaching against sin, no issue raised about movies, dances, lodges and other worldliness, they asked a good pastor to lead in the “revival campaign.” He preached good sermons. But he did not take the time for preparation of Christians, preaching against sin, getting them to pray and win souls, as Moody and Torrey and Billy Sunday and other blessed evangelists have always done. He simply preached sermons to the unsaved, good, sound sermons on the blood of Christ. But not many unsaved attended the services, there was a notable lack of real conviction, and pastors were disappointed because there was no genuine revival. There are a lot of good preachers, sound preachers, devoted preachers who are not evangelists. They are not called to be evangelists, not anointed to be evangelists.
The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. –Titus 2:11-12 (NKJV)–
Someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? –James 2:18-20 (NKJV)–
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All of these books teach the doctrines of salvation from a pro-lordship point of view. All of them except for the last two are Calvinist and teach a lordship-based perseverance of the saints: found in the Southern Baptist Church (SBC), the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC), and the Confessional Baptist Association (CBA). The last two are from a Wesleyan-holiness view of lordship. Mine is at the bottom. Those denominations that would be agreeable to them would be the Church of the Nazarene, the Wesleyan Church, the Free Methodist Church, Church of God (Cleveland) (COG), and the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC). Most of these books will name Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS), Grace Evangelical Society (GES), Zane Hodges, and Charles Ryrie as the top false teachers of the antinomian, anti-repentance, anti-obedience, cheap grace gospel teaching, which eventually came to be called the no-lordship view of salvation. Drs. Robert Peterson and Christopher Morgan’s Hell Under Fire (Zondervan, 2004), and Bill Wiese’s Hell: Separate Truth from Fiction (Charisma House, 2008), should fill in all the gaps about the doctrine of Hell.
John MacArthur, The Gospel According to Jesus (Zondervan, 2008).
—. The Gospel According to the Apostles (Thomas Nelson, 2005).
Paul Washer, The Gospel’s Power and Message (RHB, 2020).
—. The Gospel of Jesus Christ (RHB, 2016).
Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr, Lord of the Saved (P&R Publishing, 1992).
Curtis I. Crenshaw, Lordship Salvation: The Only Kind There Is! (FP, 1995).
Robert Lescelius, Lordship Salvation: Some Crucial Questions and Answers (RL, 1992).
Harald Lindstrom, Wesley and Sanctification (FAP, 2000).
The overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. –1 Timothy 3:2-6 (NIV)–
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Wesleyan denominations that teach the second and third uses of God’s law after justification, in other words, gradual imperfect obedience to the moral law for sanctification–the Free Methodist Church, the Church of the Nazarene, the Wesleyan Church, Church of God (Anderson), and Church of God (Cleveland) which is Pentecostal; and when it comes to Calvinist denominations–the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC), the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), the United Reformed Churches (URCNA), and the Confessional Baptist Association (CBA).
Ronald Enroth, Churches That Abuse (Zondervan, 1992).
Dr. Thomas C. Oden, Pastoral Theology: Essentials of Ministry (HarperOne, 1983).
—. John Wesley’s Teachings, Volume 3, Pastoral Theology (Zondervan, 2012).
Stanley Gundry, ed. Five Views on Law and Gospel (Zondervan, 1996).
Thomas Watson, The Ten Commandments (Banner of Truth, 1965).
Dr. John Gerstner, Jonathan Edwards: A Mini-Theology (Tyndale, 1987).
Dr. Kenneth J. Collins, Wesley on Salvation (Zondervan, 1989).
Mark Jones, Antinomianism: Reformed Theology’s Unwelcome Guest? (P&R, 2013).
John Fletcher, Checks to Antinomianism (Beacon Hill Press, 1948).
Many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. –Acts 19:18-20 (ESV)–
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I HAVE THE DEEPEST RESPECT EVEN FOR PAGAN MYTHS, STILL MORE FOR MYTHS IN THE HOLY SCRIPTURE. –C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, p. 66– I CANNOT GIVE PEDERASTY (PEDOPHILIA) ANYTHING LIKE A FIRST PLACE AMONG THE EVILS… I THINK THAT OF VERY LITTLE RELEVANCE TO MORAL JUDGMENT. –C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy, p. 109–
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Wilson, Weldon, and Martin have great Bible-based material that clearly show the real life occult influences in the area of modern day witch cults. However, only Harry Potter is condemned by Martin. Both books teach that Narnia and Lord of the Rings are spiritually safe, because of the presence of Christian allegories in them. I personally believe this was a blind spot on their part, because the heroes of these books and movies are still using occult power to fight their enemies. However, both of them clearly condemned the Force in Star Wars to be none other than New Age pantheism. Figure that out! Truth be told–all of these fantasy stories are influenced by occult concepts; and should be avoided by Bible believers. But in terms of the blatant and obvious use of a hero’s occult power as a means of fighting his enemies–in terms of actual occult clarity in these stories–I suppose I would rank them like this: 1. Harry Potter. 2. The Lord of the Rings. 3. The Chronicles of Narnia. 4. Star Wars. I’d say that the first three should make a Christian seriously ask questions; and drive you to your Bible about whether or not they are sinful in the eyes of God; but I’d say that number 4 leans more towards the area of personal conscience. This isn’t me saying that I think the Bible supports Star Wars–its me saying that the vagueness of Star Wars’ spirituality really is so vague and general–that I don’t think it would lead kids to join up with some witch cult at the local school. But Harry Potter on the other hand, should be considered at the extreme opposite end of the occult spectrum, because so much of it actually reflects real life cults like Wicca and Satanism. 1 Samuel 15:23: “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee.” If this verse hits home; if you think that one of your little ones could be seduced into some witchy group at school, and that any of these movies are playing a role at influencing this rebellious anti-Christian behavior, then it should be a no brainer for parents: throw it out!
North American Anglican, “The Salvation Theology of C. S. Lewis.” “It is not possible to ignore the urgency and necessity of George MacDonald and his universalist ideas in the development of C. S. Lewis’ theology. While it did not force Lewis into a total belief in universalism, it is certainly the case that it broadened Lewis’ theology of salvation, to the point that it differs considerably from orthodox, traditional beliefs within both Protestantism and the Roman Catholic Church. It is likely, as can be seen in The Great Divorce, that Lewis leaves open the possibility of universal salvation, limited only by our own innate ability to deny God, even in death. This results in a reality that renders the possibility of universalism unlikely, even within Lewis’ expansive theology of salvation. We must again acknowledge his fairly unorthodox belief that other religions contain truth that points back to God. This is a very large leap of faith on Lewis’ part because it flies in the face of many accepted and traditional beliefs within the universal church. Again, however, in choosing to argue for this possibility, Lewis is ultimately arguing for the supreme sovereignty of God to act in any way God deems fit. Lewis does not outright reject the idea of universalism. Instead, Lewis makes provides explicit and detailed examples that together show salvation, while not being universal, is much broader, merciful and understanding than the church has often taught.”
