Mount Barker Presbyterian Church

Jesus Christ is Lord!

Book Reviews

The Sovereignty of God

by

A W Pink

“To say that God is sovereign is to declare that whatever takes place in time is but the outworking of that which He decreed in eternity.”

“Present day conditions”, writes the author, “call loudly for a new examination and new presentation of God’s omnipotence, God’s sufficiency, God’s sovereignty. From every pulpit in the land it needs to be thundered forth that God still lives, that God still observes, that God still reigns. Faith is now in the crucible; it is being tested by fire, and there is no fixed and sufficient resting-place for the heart and mind but in the throne of God. What is needed now, as never before, is a full, positive, constructive setting forth of the Godhood of God.”

This is an outstanding book. It is a fairly short and easy read,  so great for older teenagers. (Don’t leave your teen years behind without reading it through once: it’s free online!) 

Arthur Pink was a deep thinker who met a variety of personal challenges and underwent a significant theological metamorphosis over the course of his 66 years, so if you detect a pessimistic eschatological allusion or two in this book, do not be surprised. Also, try to avoid the Banner of Truth edition: it’s missing 1/3 of the content.

Pink wrote this inspiring and thoughtful discussion on the Sovereignty of God with an approachable style, considering the application of this central doctrine to creation, salvation, reprobation, the human will, and prayer.

Make The Sovereignty of God your next read! 

Pilgrim’s Progress

by

John Bunyan

“This hill, though high, I covet to ascend:
The difficulty will not me offend,
For I perceive the way to life lies here:
Come, pluck up, heart, let’s neither faint nor fear!
Better, though difficult, the right way to go,
Than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe.”

This is one of my favourite little books, and was a gateway into the rich world of Puritan literature. I first read a child’s version in my early years, but quickly came to prefer the complete and unabridged versions. Behind the Bible, this is my most read book.

We can learn much through this simple allegory of the Christian life, of being a pilgrim and stranger in this world, possessing no continuing city here, but seeking the city which is to come (Heb 13:14).

Charles Spurgeon also loved Pilgrim’s Progress, and opens his Pictures From Pilgrim’s Progress – a Commentary on Portions of John Bunyan’s Immortal Allegory with these words: “Next to the Bible, the book that I value most is John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. I believe I have read it through at least a hundred times. It is a volume of which I never seem to tire; and the secret of its freshness is that it is so largely compiled from the Scriptures. It is Biblical teaching put into the form of a simple yet very striking allegory.”

As Spurgeon said elsewhere, he loved Bunyan because Bunyan bled Bibline.

While Bunyan’s Pilgrim describes the lived experience of many, placing the Slough of Despond and Wicket Gate before the Cross, it must be noted that this is not the ideal path for a Christian. Instead, flee to the Cross first, for it is much easier to journey on the way without a burden on your back.

“Thus far did I come laden with my sin,
Nor could aught ease the grief that I was in,
Till I came hither. What a place is this!
Must here be the beginning of my bliss!
Must here the burden fall from off my back!
Must here the strings that bound it to me crack!
Blest cross! Blest sepulchre! Blest rather be
The man that there was put to shame for me!”

This Christian classic is available in many versions from rewritten for children, to abridged, and modernised English, as well as the complete and unabridged. It has even been translated into more than 200 languages.

This is essential reading for all, and should be in every Christian’s library!

Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

Puritan: All of Life to the Glory of God

by

Albert Mohler; Conrad Mbewe; Geoff Thomas; Gloria Furman; Ian Hamilton; Jeremy Walker; J I Packer; Joel R Beeke; John MacArthur; John Piper; John Snyder; Kevin DeYoung; Leland Ryken; Ligon Duncan; Mark Dever; Michael Reeves; Rosaria Butterfield; Sinclair Ferguson; Stephen Nichols; Steven Lawson

The Puritans differed sometimes on their understanding of a range of issues, yet their agreement and depth of seriousness across the vast expanses of truth and experience is striking. 

In our Christian Fellowship Group we are currently following the workbook and DVD teaching series: Puritan: All of Life to the Glory of God to explore the lives and theology of a range of Puritan thinkers both in England and abroad. The Puritan approach to life is worth our attention, because they viewed all of human experience in light of Scripture. Henry Smith said,

“We should set the Word of God always before us like a rule, and believe nothing but that which it teacheth, love nothing but that which it prescribeth, hate nothing but that which it forbidden, do nothing but that which it commandeth.”

We believe that this is a great lesson for all of us!

Embracing this conviction, our church congregation regularly gathers every other Friday evening to sing hymns, and to explore the lives and theological perspectives of the Puritans, and we follow our study with fellowship, and the important matter of tea and cake.

As this is in a private members home, we invite you to join us by filling out the Contact Us page to get in touch with one of our church elders.

Puritan: All of Life to the Glory of God

Family Worship Bible Guide

by

Michael Barratt; Joel Beeke; Jerry Bilkes; Paul Smalley

Joel Beeke said that to the Puritans, daily family worship was as essential to life as air or water. He wrote that Richard Baxter said that “a Christian family… is church, a society of Christians combined for the better worshipping and serving God”, and that similarly, William Perkins wrote of the goal we should all set before us: “These families wherein this service of God is performed are, as it were, little churches, yea even a kind of Paradise upon Earth.” Beeke continued, [the Puritans] “encourage us to view family worship not as a dutiful burden, but as a joyous delight- a taste of heaven on earth.”

In our busy family, this little book- the Family Worship Bible Guide– has made family worship efficient and productive. Each day, we sing, read a chapter of the Bible plus the rich, devotional thoughts on that chapter from this book, chat about it, and then we pray.

We recommend this book to every family!

The Shining Sword

by

Charles G Coleman

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to be able to actually wear the whole Armour of God: swing the Sword of the Spirit, protect yourself with the Shield of Faith, and call out to God in prayer?

Well, I did not either until I read The Shining Sword, which is a fictional book about the journey of a lost person, (in this book, Lanus), to becoming a Christian, (a follower of the King).

This book is easy to read and fairly short. It is also very gripping and is an interesting story.

I also read Book 2: The Song of the Trumpet. Although a continuation of the story, this second book was written much later. It seems to be more difficult to follow. The main character of this second book is a girl, so I did not enjoy it as much.

I think that everyone would enjoy The Shining Sword, but that The Song of the Trumpet is an optional choice.

Refuting Compromise

by

Jonathan Safarti

Sometimes, from where we sit in the Twenty-First Century, we might be tempted to imagine that some form of Evolutionism is a viable way to explain God’s mechanism for creating the world.

Thinking this way, though is a fad of the modern church. Far more intelligent men than ourselves throughout history have considered the plain reading of the Word of God to be the most reliable source of information on the origin of the universe, and as this book by Jonathan Sarfari shows, the physical evidence is in their favour.

This readable but scientific paperback offers insights into the historical interpretation of Genesis 1-11, as well as Astronomy, the Created Kinds, the Global Flood, and a solid of refutation ‘Biblical’ Old-Age Arguments. Compromise with Evolutionism may be a current fad of the church in the West, but it is not one that can last for long.

Refuting Compromise by Jonathan Safarti