holiness

Pistol City Holiness
$13.97
The music trade magazines should have headlines that read, "Move over Freddie King and Jeff Beck because there is a new ax murderer in town and his name is Dave Perkins". If you like blues/rock music this album is a must buy. Dave Perkins is a gifted musician, singer, song writer, and producer who tears up his guitar's fretboard on this album! His version of "Going Down" is the best I have ever heard.
Quotes from Bluestown:

"If there is a style of American music that calls for guitar, chances are Dave Perkins has played it, and played it with passion and skill. With Pistol City Holiness, Perkins comes full circle to his first love--the blues."

"Pistol City Holiness builds on the traditional Chicago blues band, where guitar, piano and harmonica play important roles as solo instruments"

"A brew of musical energies, Pistol City Holiness blurs boundary lines between styles, and makes an artistic statement that speaks to the variety and depth of Perkins' experience--musical and otherwise--all while keeping the blues as the emotional, musical, and spiritual center."

With thundering drum tracks and chest thumping bass lines the other players on the Pistol city Holiness project bring serious talent to the table. Woven into the fabric of these songs are some of the best blues harmonica you will hear anywhere and the piano work on this album shines brightly in the frantic honky-tonk/boogie-woogie style of Leon Russell or Nicky Hopkins. You really need to hear this album.

The Holiness of God
$13.99
The holiness of God is one attribute of God usually treated in standard systematic theology texts. In this book, Prof. Sproul goes deeper into the subject; a much needed reminder since we live in a profane age that, coupled with our falleness, pollutes our view of God. The introduction doesn't impress me much as Sproul talks about his midnight encounter with the holiness of God at the campus chapel. But he did very well in bringing up what the holiness of God means in the subsequent chapters. The holiness of God consisting of not only his moral perfection but also his transcendent separateness is best learned when we study the kind of responses we give as fallen creatures toward it as the Scripture teaches. The responses include immense trembling, hatred, discomfort, awe and humble adoration.

Isaiah's encounter with God gives us an idea about the sense of terror when a fallen human being is brought into a direct presence of a holy God (Isa 6:1-5) that results in what Sproul describes as a personal disintegration (p.35). "In that single moment, all of his (Isaiah's) self-esteem was shattered. In a brief second, he was exposed, made naked beneath the gaze of the absolute standard of holiness. The instant he measured himself by the ultimate standard, he was destroyed - morally and spiritually annihilated" (p.36).

A hostile response toward holiness can be learned from the account of the Pharisees' encounters with Jesus recorded in much of the New Testament. The Pharisees, being the persons of counterfeit holiness are not only uncomfortable, but also raging mad when exposed by the Person of true holiness, Jesus Christ. There is much to think about here. "Jesus saved his severe comments for the big boys, the theological professionals. With them, He asked no quarter and gave none. The presence of Jesus represented the presence of the genuine in the midst of the bogus. Here authentic holiness appeared; the counterfeiters of holiness were not pleased... nothing dispels a lie faster than the truth; nothing exposes the counterfeit faster than the genuine" (p.78). Here is what strikes me. As I look at the proliferation of famous preachers and Christians being broadcast everywhere in the cyberspace, there is a tremendous temptation and pressure for the less-famous or even to the relatively unknown to be famous as well; to be the darlings in the evangelical circle like them, by showing off my advanced theological knowledge through blogs and other social media. What I often forget is unless my theology is a head and heart theology, not head only, I become like the Pharisees. In fact, the inordinate consuming narcissistic desire to be a renown Christian itself for the sake of the praise of man is a dangerous symptom of a Pharisaical hypocrisy. This may also show up in what Sproul calls "majoring in minors" that often displays itself in a harsh, bitter and contentious spirit, picking fights with other Christians over matters of secondary importance for the sake of winning an argument to show that I am right and you are wrong, or I belong to the right club and you don't. "Our marks of piety can actually be evidences of impiety. When we major in minors and blow insignificant trifles out of proportion, we imitate the Pharisees" (p.197). Dreadful is the condition where, God forbid, one shows himself to the world to be an eminent example of a seeming godliness, while the reality behind the scene proves otherwise.

I enjoy the chapter about Luther's insanity where the theme is Luther seems to be possessed by an extreme guilt complex. Such a condition might be the result of the fact Luther studied law and he was burdened continuously by the question how he can be righteous before God. In other words, Luther understood God's standard and demand of perfect conformity to His law. "[Luther] concluded that if the Great Commandment was to love God with all the heart, then the Great Transgression was to fail to love God with all the heart. He saw a balance between great obligations and great sins" (p. 107). Sproul calls it bizarre that Luther exercised a habit of daily confession (p. 103) which I thought is great, but not until I read the kind of excess Luther struggled with that led him to spend six hours in confessing his sins (p. 104) until he discovered the liberating grace in Christ as he read Romans. But my guess is the problem today is not that we are excessively but too lightly burdened by our sense of guilt. Thus Sproul writes that if Luther were insane in his struggle with guilt complex, then may "God send to this earth an epidemic of such insanity that we too may taste of the righteousness that is by faith alone" (p. 116).

Sproul teaches the lesson of the sense of awe and adoration toward the glory of God being an inseparable link to His holiness from the Psalmist in Psalm 8 in which he covered three other attributes of God that point to His holiness; goodness, truthfulness and beauty (p.239). At the end of each chapter, there are useful questions worth mulling over intended to help the readers to reflect and put what they learn into actions; for examples, "Describe your recent experience in which God revealed Himself to you through nature? How can you cultivate the sense of God's presence and holiness in your life?" (p. 243, 265).

When read and studied seriously, this book could be a life-altering book for the better, not only through the content, but also through the heart-searching questions.

Holiness
$18.00
This is a book of considerable depth despite being only one hundred pages long. Systematic theologians have not always been strong on the doctrine of holiness so Webster's contribution is very welcome. This is "confessional" theology, confident in God's Trinitarian self-revelation. It bears the characteristically Reformed and Barthian emphasis on what is usually called "positonal holiness" and also shares Barth's nervousness about the piety of the sanctified. Though its dominant note is positional holiness it avoids any antimonian implication by stressing the genuine godliness of the elect. As well as covering the Holiness of God, the Holiness of the Church and the Holiness of the Believer, perhaps the most fascinating chapter is the first on the Holiness of Theology itself. It will need to be read slowly, carefully, and thoughtfully, but this book makes a great contribution to contemporary discussion on the doctrine of holiness and is highly recommended.

Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots
$16.95
One of the great aims of the believer is to become "holy as God is holy" (1 Peter 1:16). So while we proclaim a "gospel of grace" (Ac. 20:24) and celebrate freedom in Christ (Gal. 5:1), we realize we were saved for a glorious purpose. We were not rescued from hell simply to bask in sin and lawlessness. We were, as Paul says, "created in Christ Jesus for good works" (Eph. 2:10).

Yet how do we take tangible steps toward this goal? Holiness can feel so abstract, so unattainable, that I fear many Christians never really take pains to achieve it. Over a century ago, the Lord gave us tremendous help through this classic book by J.C. Ryle.

Interestingly, Ryle begins his book on holiness by discussing sin. "He must dig down very low if he would build high...Wrong views about holiness are generally traceable to wrong views about human corruption" (p. 1). From there, Ryle devotes his early chapters to the nature of sanctification and holiness, the fight for holiness, its cost, and the need for growth.

The middle chapters of the book focus on several fascinating character studies. Moses, Lot, Lot's wife, and the thief on the cross serve as examples and warnings toward holiness.

The latter chapters (12-20) deal with a variety of topics. Ryle discusses Christ's power, His promise to build the church, and His restoration of Peter, among other things. These chapters are solid expositions, though more loosely tied to the main thesis of the book. Ryle closes with a fitting reminder that Christ is all. "Christ is the mainspring both of doctrinal and practical Christianity...He that follows after holiness will make no progress unless he gives to Christ His rightful place" (p. 300).

I found this book a tremendous blessing. Though written in the late 19th century, Ryle communicates in a style that is both eloquent and earthy; both poetic and practical. Every page was full of encouraging and convicting truth. As I read it slowly, marked its pages, and saturated myself in it, I found it affecting my thoughts and prayer life and giving me a greater hunger and thirst for righteousness.

For Christians just beginning to learn about holiness, I would recommend first reading Jerry Bridges' book "The Pursuit of Holiness." It is much shorter and more contemporary. But Ryle definitely belongs on the Christian bookshelf and is worthy of multiple readings. What a difference it would make if every Christian in our church fed on such edifying material.