Any true Christian woman that takes her role as a woman seriously, must read this book.

The most important book a female could ever read! Enough said.

It is important for every Christian to have a grasp of God honouring Biblical evangelism. The Lord Jesus has commanded His people to "go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." In the opinion of many Jonathan Edwards is the greatest theologian that this nation has seen. John Gerstner has done a great service to the church of Christ in our generation by distilling for us the evangelistic theology of Mr.Edwards ,something which Edwards himself did not do. What type of preaching does God use in revivals? Edwards gives us his thoughts on the matter p.28 "The consideration of hell commonly is the first thing that rouses sleeping sinners. By this means their sins are set in order before them, and their conscience stares them in the face,and they begin to see their need of a priest and sacrifice" to which Gerstner adds these important words "most wicked men who have heard of hell have internal uneasiness(Prov.29:25).On the other hand a principal means of being lost is thinking there will be no punishment." Portions of this book highlight the importance of preaching on the doctrine of everlasting punishment.This is especially applicable to the spiritual climate in which we presently live as the doctrine of hell continues to be abandoned by some well known 'evangelicals'. If you need to have your thinking crystalized on Biblical evangelism then this book may be as helpful as any chistian book in print to accomplish that end.

This may sound strange, but I rank this little book as one of the two greatest paperback books that a man could own. (you'll have to guess the other)
Why the stupendous claim? Edwards was one of the greatest minds ever given to the Christian Church, and he had an amazing way of seeing life, through the lenses of Scripture, and understanding, like a photo-negative, what hell must be like. Hell, like the beauties of Heaven, is unable to be expressed in human language, and therefore, it can only be "seen" through the use of symbolic language. The horror of hell can not be uttered: if a man were to see hell, he could not live. Like Paul in the vision of Heaven, there are no faculties within natural man to express what he experienced. Edwards finds a way to help.

When you read Edwards on Heaven, you feel almost "other-worldly", ("how long have I been sitting here reading this??), and when you read Edwards on Hell, the holy dread that fills your mind and emotions is overwhelming, as well as life-changing. Dr. Gerstner goes for the Truth, which he unashamedly owns, and has a true gift of representing Edwards' sight to anyone who cares to see. Gerstner does not write with "one eye on impressing the scholar", but with a deep care for the reader, almost pleading with us: "Hear Edwards! If you hear him, you will hear Paul, and therefore, you will HEAR CHRIST!".

The late Dr. John H. Gerstner was one of the most brilliant of Christian apologists. And no where does his light shine more brightly than in his primers on various theological subjects. This book is a complete collection of his primers, and, as such, is of incalculable value. The "Primer on Predestination" alone is worth the cost of the book. Any one with any interest in the subject of theology will find this book well worth their time.

The Beetles Anthology may have a great beat, but Genuine Value: The John Deere Journey is easier to dance to. It's a must for anyone who bleeds green (or industrial yellow). Genuine Value takes you on a pictoral journey through 163 years of history of one of America's oldest and most respected companies. Great photos, inspiring prose, the only thing missing is more pics of the company's many construction products. The back-of-the-book listing of the corporation's 63,676 current employees and retirees is a nice tribute to the many men and women who have and continue to delver genuine value to hundreds of thousands of Deere customers worldwide.

Genuine Value: The John Deere Journey is a magnificent, 286-page, photographically illustrated history and tribute to one of America's most successful and enduring corporations. This is the story of the John Deere contributions to agricultural technology, documented with historical and vintage photos from a John Deere Model A tractor working a field during the Great Depression to today's John Deere high tech, computer-controlled manufacturing line. Of special note is a 42-page timeline describing significant financial and corporate events in the company's history decade-by-decade, and includes a pictorial review of the products of each era. There's even a section which includes the names of every living retiree and employee as of January 1, 2000. Genuine Value will be read and browsed through with enthusiasm by anyone who's life or whose parent's lives where touched by John Deere.

I've been a John Deere man for forty years and have often wondered what farming would have been like if John Deere had not revolutionized the farm machinery industry in 1960. Genuine Value tells the story of that revolution. It is full of great photographs of tractors and farming practices (old and new) like many tractor books, but it is more. It is also a unique look at and tribute to the people and business behind the product lines and factories. I love that it contains the names of all the people who have helped to produce these great products, both current employees and retirees.

John Gerstner writes a wonderful little book on the marks of a true disciple of Christ. He uses the alphabet to begin each truth and illustrates each with a bible verse and then a short explanation of why it is a charachteristic of the Christian life. He cleverly ends each section with a short phrase such as "any man-made security is sure to fail". It is a wonderful little but powerful book that is sure to strengthen your faith in Christ.

Gerstner's introduction to the theology of Jonathan Edwards will prove very helpful to those wanting to map their way through the lofty heights of Edwards' own writings. With quotations from sermons and books, Gerstner summarizes into bite-size portions Edwards' thought on eleven important theological subjects: 1. Reason and Revelation; 2. The Trinity; 3. Man and His Fall; 4. Sin; 5. Atonement; 6. Regeneration; 7. Justification; 8. Sanctification; 9. The Latter-day Glory and Eschatology; 10. Hell; and 11. Heaven. For those who have bought into the literature book caricature of Edwards as a "hell-fire and brimstone" evangelist, this will be an eye-opener. One discovers, instead, that the man behind "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" was a warm-hearted, sharp-minded, philosophically-inclined GENIUS! No student of theology should be without this helpful book.

John MacArthur's book "Justification by Faith Alone" tries to support that one is justified by mere faith apart from works which was the teaching of Martin Luther. The problem with Mr. MacArther's book, it deals with the interpretation of the Scriptures through Martin Luther and other Protestants instead of what the Early Christians taught. I won't even consider this book as a good source for justification for one can blow gapping holes throughout Mr. MacArther's book.

I'm not sure why I bought this book. The more systematic "The God Who Justifies" failed at nearly every turn of the page to refute or even interact with Not By Faith Alone by Robert Sungenis, so how much could I expect from a brief collection of essays that one reveiwer rightfully pointed out leads to overlapping ideas that seem to play like a broken record. In addition to overlapping themes/tangents, the authors also made numerous unproved assertions, gaping holes in their argumentation, contradictions and almost laughable historic gaffes. Here are some examples:

1) Dr. MacArthur asserts at the end of his essay that sola fide was taught by Augustine (which is absolutely hilarious to anyone who has actually READ any of his works). But, the truly hilarious moment comes just a few pages later when R.C. Sproul (quoting Alistair McGrath) says that Augustine had a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of justification (because of the meaning of the Latin word for justificaiton). Wow! Whose the fact checker for this book?!? Moreover, it should be noted that Augustine's sacramental theology was condemned numerous times throughout the book.

2) Dr. Gerstner claims that Aquinas was a Protestant! His reasoning is that since Aquinas teaches justificatio impii (justification of the ungodly) he must've been an evangelical deep down inside. It's amazing that he can claim this given the fact that Aquinas systematized "mertium de condigno" for the church. Moreover, Session 6 Chapter 7 of the Council of Trent said: "For although no one can be just but he to whom the merits of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ are communicated, yet this does take place in this justification of the ungodly..." Was the Council which Gerstner and the other authors who contributed disparraged constantly really a forefather to the Reformed faith? With selective quoting like this, the possibilty might still exist :-) !

3) No one seriously interacts with the fact the only other time "...credited to him as righteousness..." is used in scriptures is to describe Phineas (Psalm 106:30-31), for a righteous quality intrinsic to him. This is obviously a fatal flaw to Protestant theology that forces the Reformed camp to either admit that God actually credits righteousness to people because of a quality in them, just like Abraham (Romans 4:18-21), or it forces them to admit that Paul selectively quotes OT passages and ignores others just to prove a theological point.

4) Dr. Armstrong claims that James is trying to say that Abraham offering up Isaac merely vindicated his actual justification in Genesis 15:6. There are many problems with this, but what I'd like to point out is that if Genesis 15:6 was Abraham's only justification, than he was a lost heathen when he left his homeland BY FAITH (which incidentally is listed by the author of Hebrews in the FAITH hall of fame along with the incidents in Genesis 15 and 22, not bad for one of the lost, eh?).

5) Dr. MacArthur claims to show that Jesus taught Sola Fide, but the majority of the essay is dedicated to the writings of Paul. In addition, passages in which Jesus explicitly says that the final judgement is going to be based on works (Matt 16:27, 25:31-46 etc.) or that salvation is indeed dependent on works (Mark 10:17-31) are not even mentioned!

6) Dr. Gerstner continually maintains that Christians will be rewarded for their works in heaven and that their final justification does not depend on them. He does this by quoting absolutely no biblical passages to prove his point.

7) All of the authors at one point or another say that justification always proceeds sanctification (which therefore protects us from the fatal error of mixing the two). No biblical passages are cited in support of this and the passage that contradicts it (1 Cor. 6:11) is never mentioned.

I could go on and on, but I'll stop the list there. The last chapter is a rebuttal to the book Rome Sweet Home. I haven't read the book, so I can't say how well Gerstner proves his point. But it does serve as interesting insight into how people who belive in Once Saved Always Saved deal with the fact that people abandon the faith.

I found this work to be a decent, sound introduction to the protestant interpretation of sola fide. I am a protestant and agreed with everything said. However, the book does have its lapses. As the editors mentioned in the preface (and the negative reviewers did not notice), none of the authors corraborated with each other in writing this, thus the repetition. The one fault I do have with the book is the tension of how was Augustine portrayed. Macarthur has him affirming sola fide and Sproul has him denying it. Which one is true? I think that Both, if viewed in context, are accurate. Students of Church History know that Augustine was a theological paradox (and in many instances, such as predestination, he changed views later in life). He is known as the father of the reformation and the father of the modern Roman Church. He had a romish view of the sacraments and a protestant view on sin and predestination. Sproul nor Macarthur should have appealed to him.
The Review:
The authors write passionately, not necessarily neutral or overly objective; they write to win souls.
Macarthur did show that Jesus taught sola fide, although implicittly and not as extensively as Paul.
Sproul did a fine job, especially drawing on McGrath's book, Iustitia Dei
John Gerstener and John Armstrong had long sections with extensive bibliographies.
"Rome not Home" by Gerstener can not be judged to be right or wrong. He is merely retelling a lifelong observation of Catholic scholar, Scott Hahn. And for the information one reviewer, Gerstener does shed light on how Reformers view "apostasy", although that is not his intention.

Final Analysis:
The book was passionate, well-written, and mediocrely edited. Unfortunately, that lowers its value in Catholic's eyes. It is an intro, not an exhaustive text. Read it as a springboard for understanding the 400 year old conflict.
By the way, read pp. 160-164 for our understanding of James 2, Romans 3, Genesis 15 and 22.

Dr. Gerstner has written some excellent theological material,particularly on Jonathan Edwards. However, this book goes over theline in its thesis that Dispensationalism is heresy.

Dr. Gerstner's analysis clings to material written by oldlinedispensationalists, some of it over fifty years ago. Dr. Gerstner'sprimary mistake is his equating of Dispensationalism with moderateCalvinism. Because Gerstner condemns moderate Calvinism (especiallydue to its rejection of the Reformed doctrine of limited atonement),he ipso facto condemns dispensationalism.

But moderate Calvinism,whether it is right or wrong, is much broader than Dispensationalism(I know plenty of Southern Baptists who are not Dispensationalists oreven pre-millennial, yet who are semi-Calvinist). Dispensationalismis primarily a set of ideas defining the relationship between Israeland the Church, Moses' law and Christian ethics, the current age andthe age to come. It is not primarily a doctrine of salvation.Gerstner raises some interesting questions worth considering. Butwrongly defining Dispensationalism is Gerstner's fundamental and fatalerror behind this book. This crucial error, combined with Gerstner'svehemence, reams of bibliographical mistakes in the original run,misquotations, and the rather silly foreword which predicted this bookwould make an impact greater than Karl Barth's "Dogmatiks",explain why this book sank so quickly after its initial printrun.

Rev. Jack Brooks...

Dr. Gerstner wrote this book with a desire to demonstrate that the Dispensational view of salvation cannot be held along with a Calvinistic or Reformed view of salvation. Although at times Dr. Gerstner can be hard-hitting, his book presents two systematic theologies that are not compatible with each other. In all, he accomplishes his task in an organized fashion with a more scholastic approach than most authors who have tried the same study

This book was instrumental in my becoming Reformed. (But it was God that changed me, not John Gerstner.) One of the big things that helped me see the truth of the Reformed position was Gerstner's fair analysis of Dispensational beliefs. He was careful not to overstate the dispensational position, and he avoided building faultly straw men to make it easier to tear down.

Gerstner bent over backwards to correctly represent Dispensationalism, then expertly refuted it. I highly recommend it. It's too bad good books like this don't stay in print.

This was a rather intense read about classical apologetics. I would highly recommend it to those that have an interest or prior knowledge and understanding of apologetics. The book is divided into three sections:

--Classical Natural Theology, an overview of problem and method --Classical apologetics, the theistic proofs, the deity of Christ, and the infallibility of scripture --Classical critique of presuppositional apologetics

The first section seemed very wordy to me, and I had a hard time getting through it. The second was very interesting, and providing a great summary of different arguments, including the ontological, cosmological and teleological arguments for God. This chapter also has chapters dealing with the Spirit and Word of God.

The third section is probably the best section (although it still lacked brevity). Chapter 11 is the best chapter in the book; it has great summaries of Luther, Calvin, and Augustine's views on reason as it relates to faith. All should check out this chapter.

This is without a doubt the foremost book on classical apologetics, and the first attempt ever to give a comprehensive critique of presuppositionalism. It summarizes both natural apologetics (the theistic arguments) and supernatural apologetics (the historical evidence for Scripture). Van Til is the main focus of the criticism, but other presuppositional writers like Clark, Dooyeweerd, Frame, and Knudsen are included. There is also a key chapter giving great detail to the evidence that Augustine, Luther, and Calvin were all evidentialists, despite popular charges that that they were not. This book is a must for anyone trying to understand apologetics and the issue involved between the two vastly different types of apologetics!

Sproul rightly critiques Van Til's contradictions about whether non-Christians have "true" knowledge of God. Sproul argues that they do in accordance with Romans Chapter One and shows that Van Til inconsistently admits that they do also even though in other places he says or implies that they don't. One does not need to "presuppose" God because, according to Romans One (and Sproul), all have at least some knowledge of God through God's natural/general revelation. This allows for a common ground between Christians and non-Christians. But Sproul, being a Classical Apologist, still thinks that one must posit proofs for God's existence even though everybody apparently already knows God exists. This is confusing. Sproul, on pages 262 and 263, basically says that the primary task of the apologist is to not let the non-Christians who argue against the truth they already know "escape" by "reminding" them of "arguments which they cannot deny." This, to me, is a ridiculous and weak justification for doing Classical/Traditional apologetics. If God's existence is taken for granted in the Bible (including Romans 1), and nowhere proven because everybody apparently already knows that God exists, then theistic apologetics (distinct from Christian evidences) is a waste of time. (side note: I agree with Mortimer J. Adler who said that "true knowledge" is reduntant and "false knowledge" is a contradiction in terms) - Brad Clark