I recommend this book to pastors, church musicians and anyone desiring to feel the warmth of the 18th century Wesleyan revival. A Heart to Praise My God: Wesley Hymns for Today, studies each of the hymns of Charles Wesley included in the 1989 United Methodist Hymnal. While one will find more scholarly guides to great hymns, this is one book that provides both a good introduction to the hymns of Charles Wesley as well as good devotional material. S T Kimbrough has the credentials of a Wesley scholar. The notes and brief study guide at the end will help anyone who wants to explore further. But his personal reflections show that he is also in touch with the love of God that originally inspired the Wesley brothers.

I strongly urge everyone to follow closely Mr. Ropp teachings and learn to pass judgment on which of your neighbors are and are not Christians. Until came upon this enlightened man I had foolishly been trying to follow the advice of Christ, himself, when he said, "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if ye also love one another."

Silly Me.

Harry L. Ropp developed this book out of his Master of Arts thesis from Lincoln Christian Seminary, Lincoln, IL. It was originally published by InterVarsity Press in 1977. Tragically, he died in an airplane crash in 1978 in Utah while working with Mission to Mormons.

This edition of his book is actually the second revision, once by Wesley P. Walters and now by Charles A. Crane, President of Boise Bible College, Boise, ID. The longevity of this little book, of some 130+ pages, in spite of the untimely demise of its author, is a tribute to its value.

Mormonism (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)asserts that it has four basic documents: Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and The King James Version of the Holy Bible, insofar as it is translated correctly.

Ropp's research concludes that first three of the documents of the LDS religion are unreliable as a basis for truth. His approach is direct, clear, matter-of-fact, and thought-provoking. He concludes that LDS need to know the truth about the origins, documents, and doctrines of their own religion, and others need to know, too.

His opening chapter is hard-hitting and decisive in it verdict regarding this religion which arose on the American continent, the result of the fertile imagination and clever manipulations of its founder, Joseph Smith, Jr. The LDS religion fails in its treatment of God, Christ, Salvation, and the Bible. While desiring to be recognized as another Christian denominatin, LDS understanding of the subjects above is woefully inadequate and distorts historical Christian views on these matters of faith.

Ropp treats the Book of Mormon as a document of suspicious origin and useless in adding anything historically and archeologically significant to our understanding of either the ancient western hemisphere, ancient religions found here, cultures described, or ethnic origins of native Americans.

Ropp believes the document resulted from Joseph Smith's plagarism of earlier works in combination with his own natural genius. Nearly 4,000 changes have been made to the text of the document and some of them are theologically significant, especially as relates to the deity of the Jesus Christ of normative Christianity.

Ropp similarly treats the other two key documents of the LDS religion, namely, the Doctrine and Covenants (originally entitled Book of Commandments) and Pearl of Great Price. D&C is a collection of revelations, of which many over time, were altered or corrected to suit a changing situation or reflected a measured awareness of conflicts with earlier pronouncements, documents, and doctrines of the religious leaders. PGP is comprised of Books of Moses and Abraham and writings of Joseph Smith. Notably the Book of Abraham purports to be a translation of an ancient Egyptian textual document, claimed to have been written by Abraham, the patriarch, while in Egypt. The "translation" by Joseph Smith has been discredited by competent Egyptologists. The actual document relates to funeral practices among the Egyptians, nothing to do with Abraham at all.

Ropp's book concludes with an excellent chapter on witnessing to Mormons--to do so with grace, armed with facts, and with real compassion for those in spiritual darkness.

Notes and bibliographic material are very helpful.

This is an excellent primer for introducing the uninitiated to the teachings and pitfalls of the LDS religion. It is worth having among your resources on the subject.

Thank you!

Leaden prose, banal observations and ego-centric viewpoints do a disservice both to Wesley and the publisher.