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"When Charles Dickens wrote The Tale of Two Cities
depicting the French Revolution, he began with the words, 'It was the best of
times; it was the worst of times.' Now at the end of that modern period, we may
again repeat the words of Dickens. We are glad for the decline in modern and
atheistic thought, but a greater foe is approaching on the horizon."
>>>>
"Has there ever been a time like ours, when the believer at one
moment can be so encouraged about the prospects for the gospel and in the next
moment be so disappointed? We rejoice to see the modernism of yesterday losing
ground in many ways, only to be shocked by what we see replacing it."
>>>>
"The battle for the soul of postmodern man is a dilemma: how do
you bring the truth of the gospel to a man who does not believe in truth?
Perhaps Blaise Pascal said it best centuries ago, 'Truth today is so obscure and
error so established, that unless we love truth, we will never know it.'
Today, more than at any time, if the Christian does not have his 'loins
girt about with truth' (Ep 6:14), he will be fooled by the double-speak of a
generation that uses truth (and the truth of the gospel) for its own
convenience."
>>>>
"Regarding music and worship in the church today, there is much
controversy surrounding 'contemporary' versus 'traditional' music in our
services. Some want to know what is meant by the use of the word
'contemporary.' Does it mean the use of rock music or is it simply the use of
praise choruses or is it something else? Is it really important? There is a
great gulf developing in our churches over this issue."
>>>>
"What's wrong with dancing? Why not use dancing as a means to
bring the unsaved to church? Can dancing in the local church be used as an
opportunity for evangelism? . . . Though promoted for the noble purpose of
eventually winning the lost to Christ, these activities must be evaluated. Are
we changing the lost through them, or are the lost changing us?"
>>>>
"William Wordsworth once said, 'Language is the incarnation of
thought,' which may tell us either why conversation is so scarce these days, or
why it is such light fare. But it was Confucius who said, 'When words lose their
meaning, people lose their liberty.' That makes the current state of our
language very critical."
>>>>
"There is no denying we live in a generation that disdains
labels. To assert any belief with a personal label is to be intolerant and
insensitive to those who disagree. The modernist used to simply disagree and was
willing to fight about it. The postmodernist says no one should be so dogmatic
to say they are right and others are wrong. This is a change from our
forefathers."
>>>>
"Almost two years ago I wrote an article entitled 'Worshipping
Worship.' I thought it was time to write a follow-up on worship, so I pulled my
'worship' file and perused the entries of the last two years. It has become a
huge file with men of varied stripe offering comment and observation.
Fundamentalists and evangelicals especially have been justifiably critical of
the irreverence in today’s 'worship style.' But I’ve noticed (as have many
others) that there is an issue that mirrors worshipping worship, and that is
trusting in trust or faith."
>>>>
"Should we be traditional or progressive in our ministry? Are
these two ways of approaching 'how we do church' mutually exclusive, two sides
of the same coin, or are they even choices at all when trying to be biblical in
church ministry? I think we have become, like the world around us, champions of
the definition!"
>>>>
"A.W. Tozer wrote, 'For the church, wherever she appears in human
society, the constantly recurring question must be: What shall we unite with and
from what shall we separate? The question of coexistence does not enter here,
but the question of union and fellowship does. The wheat grows in the same
field with the tares, but shall the two cross-pollinate?' "
>>>>
"The Christian, perched on the on-ramp to the twenty-first
century, is faced with a real dilemma: it's called change. He will have to
accelerate from the avenue speed to the Interstate speed. It's a dilemma because
he knows that most people on this new highway are determined to go as fast as
possible, ignoring all restraints until they crash and become a faceless
casualty on the side of the road. He also knows that an immutable God has made a
world which both changes and remains the same."
>>>>
"A.T. Robertson was born on November 6, 1863, at Cherbury, the
family home near Chatham, Pittsylvania County, Virginia, where he spent the
first twelve years of his life. Though spending a few short years in North
Carolina, and the rest of his life in Louisville, Kentucky, Robertson never
forgot he was a Virginian. From the son of a gentleman farmer to world-renowned
scholar and grammarian, this giant among Baptists always retained his humble and
warm enthusiasm for the gospel that came to him in his earliest days."
>>>>
" 'There is no tangled skein of life too difficult for His divine
fingers if we are willing to cast it into His lap.”' That was the way Dr.
Clearwaters began his autobiography. From a sharecropper’s home in the Kansas
wilderness to a nationally known figure among fundamental Baptists, 'it is God’s
testimony He is protecting, and not you.' For those of us who sat under his
ministry, there was never any doubt that he believed that with all of his
heart."
>>>>
"Perhaps the most seldom used title in the Bible for the minister
is 'Preacher.' It translates the noun form of the word kerux
which means 'a herald.' The job of a herald was a duty-oriented
job. He was employed by a king to announce what the king gave him. He could
not alter the announcement to fit his own whims. It was the message of the king
and it must be delivered exactly as it was given. The herald was not a Groucho
Marx who used to say, 'Those are my principles! And if you don’t like them . .
. . well, I have others.' No, these were the king’s principles."
>>>>
Editor’s Note: My
friendship with Dan Lucarini began after I read his book and arranged to have
lunch with him in Denver. Not only did I discover that we had much in common in
our views of church music, I was immediately taken by Dan’s humility with what
God has done for him and by his genuine sincerity and love for the Lord’s
churches. As we have kept close contact over the last few years, I have found
Dan to be well read and informed on Christian music. I asked him if I could
print his short list of recommended reading for this month’s Book Shelf. He
graciously consented.
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