Recommended Reading
Books are expensive. The time it takes to read them is even more expensive. Readers want to know, Will this book be worth my time and money?
I want to tell you briefly about four books I have read recently that were, indeed, worth the money and the time. Each of them relates in some way to the Remnant theme of this issue of Adventists Affirm.
Voices from the Sky
Voices from the Sky will remind you of what this church's message is all about, and how vital and challenging it really is to be a part of the Remnant people. After briefly recounting the author's own remarkable conversion story, the opening chapter, "Misplaced Dynamite," outlines today's problem for the church.
The book is structured around the three angels' messages of Revelation 14. In fresh, engaging style, the author presents the condition of the church without being down on the church, and the cure for her problems without being simplistic or other-worldly. Doward devotes a chapter of the book to each of the primary portions of the three angels' messages of Revelation 14:6-14.
With memorable, relevant illustrations he helps the reader see the essential truths of the "everlasting gospel," and what the commands to fear God, give Him glory, and worship Him really entail. His approach to the judgment question is direct and helpful. Unlike some of today's evangelists, Doward is not afraid to speak about Babylon nor to offer a thought-provoking scenario regarding the mark of the beast. [1]
Stranger In My Home
This book is now available in an enlarged, revised edition, thirteen years after its first publication by Southern Publishing Association. I read the book when it first came out and found it deeply impressive then. Time has not changed my view nor lessened the book's impact.
The book is autobiographical, tracing the author's background, conversion to Christ, marriage, call to and entrance into the Lutheran ministry, and subsequent intense struggle when his wife accepted the Bible message as proclaimed by Seventh-day Adventists. The remarkable leading of God to bring about a resolution that preserved both his marriage vow and his ordination vow makes for gripping reading.
Following that are several testimonials, letters he has received from people who read the first edition of the book and whose lives were changed by it. Do your faith a favor. Read the new edition of Stranger In My Home. [2]
No Turning Back
No Turning Back tells the other half of C. Raymond Holmes's story. Mrs. Holmes is that "stranger" who had the courage to become a Seventh-day Adventists while her husband served as an active and successful Lutheran pastor. What would enable a person to make such a radical, devastating step?
The answers, it seems, are not simple. If anything, the book indicates that the courage and determination to follow where Jesus leads found its very roots in the Finnish Lutheran culture and beliefs that Mrs. Holmes would later be called upon to confront and separate from. Her choice to walk in Christ's advancing light was the extension of the commitment she had made to her Lord in the comfort and familiarity of that Lutheran background.
The book evidences its real "bite" in the second half, where the author describes her marriage, her husband's ministerial work, and her own deepening involvement with the Seventh-day Adventist message. At its heart the book is a tracing of the inner pilgrimage of a woman committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. [3]
Wine in the Bible
This book, subtitled A Biblical Study on the Use of Alcoholic Beverages, fills a long-standing need in the Christian world and, sad to say, in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Most of the Protestant churches have adopted the view that it is drunkenness, not drinking of alcoholic beverages, that is condemned in Scripture. Today, if they take a stand at all on the matter, it will be against what they call alcohol abuse, not its use.
In light of this situation, and with alcohol problems increasing in our church, Wine in the Bible is a very timely book. It challenges head-on the contention that the Bible permits and even endorses the "responsible" use of alcoholic beverages. Bacchiocchi has assembled an impressive amount of evidence from both Biblical and non-Biblical sources to demonstrate that the Bible endorses the use of unfermented grape juice as a blessing from God, but condemns the use of alcoholic wine.
Chapters in the book deal with such topics as the meaning of "wine," ancient methods of preserving grape juice, Jesus' relationship to wine, wine in the apostolic church, and "problem" passages that are widely misunderstood. When the Remnant are being challenged to abandon their distinct lifestyle, this book fills a real need in providing answers to some challenging questions. [4]