Trying To Get Back To It!

I'll try to get back to the series on exposition soon. Looks like the book recommendation project didn't go very well while I was gone. Sorry, especially to the one who requested it. I think the easiest way will be for me to just do what I was doing before, that is listing books from time to time as their importance comes up in the discussion.

I will recommend a few commentaries though: Darrell L. Bock on Luke (2 vols.) and Acts in the Baker ECNT series; Bruce Waltke on Proverbs in the Eerdmans NICOT series. Great resources, whether you always agree with the conclusions or not (remember, commentators are still just "common taters", although some are indeed quite brilliant and helpful). Since I'm currently preaching through Hebrews on Sunday mornings, let me say that I inevitably keep coming back to Homer Kent on Hebrews (BMH). Preaching through Ezekiel on Sunday nights, I have not found yet anything to improve on Charles Lee Feinberg (Moody), but I'm open to recommendations.

Someone asked me recently what novels I read. I confess that I do not have tons of time to put into novels right now, but I do try to stay aware. While I am into one now, the last one I finished was The Appearing by Kristen Wisen (daughter of the late Robert VanKampen). It was recommended to me, and yes it is one of those end-time fiction type novels. This book was written from the "pre-wrath" viewpoint, of course championed by Wisen's father, and the book is endorsed by Marv Rosenthal. It is well written and has a captivating story line. However, I would have to say that it confirmed all of my worst fears about the application of the "pre-wrath" position. What the church in the novel does is stockpile food and provisions, buy land out in the mountains where they make caves into dwellings, leave their jobs and homes behind, and so on. My concerns that warning or threatening Christians that they will go through part of the time of Jacob's Trouble causes them to not live by faith, take their focus off of the Blessed Hope, diverts them from the preaching of the Gospel, and leads them to rather selfishly head for a bunker were all validated in this book. Yes, there were, thankfully, some heroes of faith in the story. But, overall, I give the book a "thumbs-down" on the point it is trying to make.

OK, last one. I've started using Beale and Carson's Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Baker) and am finding it a valuable time-saving tool when this comes up in the text. I just used it for Hebrews 7 and Melchizedek and appreciated the sourcework I saw there.