Storm Warning by Billy Graham; published 2010 by Thomas Nelson; available from John Ritchie Ltd; 288 pages; price £9.99.(9780849946912)
Storm Warning is the revised and updated edition of a volume written in 1992.
The subtitle announces "Whether global recession, terrorist threats, or devastating natural disasters, these ominous shadows must bring us back to the gospel".
In the Foreword, Billly Graham’s son Franklin shows how the Word of God pulls back the curtains of the sky in Nahum 1.3, "The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm". He observes, "God created the storms – whether to quench our thirst with his spiritual water or to drench our wayward eyes with tears because of our disobedience".
In the Introduction the author states, "I believe the storm clouds are darker than they have ever been…warning…of impending doom".
In the first chapter, entitled "Winds of Change", the focus is upon the almighty Creator "who walketh upon the wings of the wind" (Ps 104.3). The chapter is divided into four sections with practical lessons applied from: 1. Winds of warning; 2. Winds that batter; 3. Winds of fear; 4. Winds that shift.
Storm Warning then reviews the state of the world in these troubled times, while examining the problems confronting us today "in the light of the only reliable standard: the Bible".
Various sections of the book of Revelation are then considered from a premillennial standpoint with pertinent lessons emphatically applied. The repeated challenge is, "Read and study the Scriptures daily. They are a personal and compelling revelation for all time – whatever storms may come".
One expressed concern is that Satan’s deception has crept in amongst believers with the gospel being watered down "under the guise of love and forgiveness, without repentance and transformation. We have turned a deaf ear to the truth". Despite the storms, the author has the eye of faith fixed upon the Lord: "I am watching and waiting and praying for His return. But I must also keep working until He comes".
-AC
Christian Devotedness by Anthony Norris Groves; published by Gospel Folio Press; available from John Ritchie Ltd; 54 pages; price £2.99. (9781897117972)
In 1825 Groves published his pamphlet Christian Devotedness. Its purpose does not appear to have been other than the promotion of the Christian devotedness the title proclaimed. However, it did seem to challenge the socio-economic conditions that pertained in western Europe and certainly in Hanoverian England. When it was first published, Anthony Norris Groves was 30 years of age! This 54-page booklet "is taken from" the 1829 revised edition of the controversial first edition. It is now published in 21st century English to make it more accessible to present-day readers.
Groves was converted soon after he established his dentist practice. Unquestionably the young Groves was exercised about how a Christian should live and how he should give "as God hath prospered him" (1 Cor 16.2). His initial giving of a tithe of his income grew to a quarter, then to a point when he retained only enough to meet the immediate needs of his family. He believed a Christian should live by faith. He did not see living by faith as incompatible with pleading for support for the Lord’s work in his home assembly in 1852.
Groves, with other prominent brethren, was exercised about Baghdad and later India. The principles he set out in Christian Devotedness were tested there. The Preface to this booklet notes that Groves "answered God’s call to leave his beloved homeland, disposing of all he possessed and going to a foreign missionary field without licence or support of any missionary society". In explaining such boldness, it makes reference to Grove’s self denial and reliance on our heavenly Father. These features contrast starkly with the selfishness and greed seen by many as the besetting sins of this day.
The writer of the Preface advises "careful and prayerful reading of this little book" and the Scriptural principles it contains. A re-assessment of our values is never out of place in any life at any time.
-TW
