Dr. Robert Sumner passed away in December 2016. The Biblical Evangelist newspaper is no longer being published and the ministry of Biblical Evangelism has ceased operation.

The remaining inventory of his books and gospel tracts was transferred to The Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles and may be ordered here.

Book Reviews
Editorial unless noted

GOD, GUNS, GRITS, AND GRAVY by Mike Huckabee; St. Martins Press, New York, New York; 18 Chapters, 258 Pages; $26.99; $31.50, Canada

When I finished reading this book and set it down I said to myself, “Man, he’d make a great president!” I think he would, too, but I sincerely doubt that the power brokers will ever let it happen. Because of gravy? No! Because of grits? No! Because of guns? Probably not! Because of God? Ah, there you have it? He is too religious for the average Joe and Jane – at least on the “presidential maker” level anyway.

This volume is not written in highbrow SpeakEase; every reader from the high school level (make that junior high) on up will understand what he is saying. And what he says makes sense. (Let me correct part of that: the secular Ph.D.s may not understand him.)

He contrasts the wisdom of the southern Bubbas with that of the rest of the country’s Bubble-villes and the latter come off looking rather stupid in the area where the rubber meets the road – in the arena of common sense, that is.

Quite a bit of what he says has been said before (with the majority not listening). And considerable of what he writes will be familiar as having been said by others. For example, he quoted his dad on one point and I said to myself, “My dad said the same thing.” (But both Huckabee and I know Honest Abe Lincoln was the first to say it!) Anyway, Huckabee rightly called profanity “the forcible expression of a feeble mind.” Which is the same thing, using different words, my dad used to say.

We especially liked his positions on “term limits” for the Congress and the Senate (and judicial appointees), something Thomas Jefferson and his Virginia crew called for from the beginning, but were outvoted; his arguments about States Rights; the farce of our TSA; and some of his other points.

By the way, did you know that Lord Acton, the English historian and author, who made the famous statement we hear quoted so often, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely,” went on to say in the very next sentence, “Great men are almost always bad men”? Neither did I until I read this book.

You don’t necessarily need to be into politics to enjoy this book. You might even say “Amen!” when he refers to the IRS as “a criminal enterprise.”

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THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST by Samuel L. Hoyt; Grace Gospel Press, Duluth, MN; 12 Chapters, 236 Pages; $19.95, Paper

THE GOSPEL OF GRACE AND TRUTH by Michael d. Halsey; Grace Gospel Press, Duluth, MN; 12 Chapters, 339 Pages; $15.95, Paper

Here are two titles from the same publisher that we will review together.

The first book, enhanced through a Foreword from the venerable Dr. John C. Whitcomb (who said, among other things, “What a blessing it has been to read this manuscript and to think what our Lord has planned for His Bride and Body!”). Actually, the theme was Hoyt’s topic for his doctrinal dissertation in 1977 and Whitcomb was on his advisory committee. Since that was considerably more than a third of a century ago, Hoyt has greatly expanded it in this current release.

In fact, that Whitcomb wrote the Foreword and was on his doctrinal committee (probably when John was a Grace Theological Seminary professor) and one of the old Grace faculty members was Herman A. Hoyt (who wrote such fine books as The New Birth; The First Christian Theology: Studies in Romans; etc.) made me wonder if this author were not a kin to Herman – perhaps a son or a grandson (there are five references to Herman A. Hoyt in the bibliography). But, no matter.

The front cover of Judgment Seat tells us that it is a Revised Edition (actually, first published in 2011; we wrote a very favorable review in our November 2011-January 2012 issue) and is “A Biblical and Theological Study.” We certainly agree with the latter. And we concur as well with Warren W. Wiersbe’s endorsement on the back cover: “Occasionally sermons are preached on this subject, but very few scholarly studies have been published, and this is one of the best … Take the message of this book seriously; it can change your life and ministry.” Our friend Elmer Towns wrote the back cover’s other endorsement.

After a few introductory chapters (“Introduction,” “The General Judgment Theory” (which, alas, Spurgeon held – he was premillennial, but no fan of dispensationalism, something Hoyt doesn’t mention), and “The Etymological and Cultural Backgrounds of the Bema”), the next seven chapters relate to the Christian’s Judgment’s setting, nature, purpose, standards, extent, negative aspects and positive results (general rewards) and positive results (crown rewards). The final chapter is simply “Conclusion.” There are also two appendices (“The Old Testament Saints’ Judgment” and “Who Are the Overcomers?”), a Bibliography, an Author & Person Index, and a valuable Scripture Index.

In chapter 5, “The Nature of the Christian’s Judgment,” looking at the Judgment Seat and Punishment, he goes after some of the reviewer’s friends/acquaintances rather strongly: Bob Ketcham, Ken Dobson and George Dollar for their thinking carnal Christians would be confined in outer darkness for their sinful, unconfessed failures. No problem. We rebuked them years ago stronger than Hoyt does here; they were obviously wrong in their interpretation of the Lord’s parable of the talents in Matthew 25. Our main answer then to the erroneous idea of punishment for sin at the Bema Seat was that Christ declared the punishment for sin finished at Calvary (John 19:30).

He also quotes throughout the book a number of our friends very favorably.

Probably most Christians are more interested in the “crowns” than any other aspect of the Bema Seat and Hoyt devotes one full chapter to that discussion (chapter 11). Also of special interest is the author’s appendix regarding judgment for Old Testament saints (time, nature, results). In that appendix he also deals with the time, nature and results of the Tribulation saint, and a brief paragraph about the millennial saints’ judgment (admitting Deuteronomy 29:29 applies).

Hoyt is currently a Systematic Theology Adjunct Professor with Liberty Theological Seminary here in Lynchburg and is the founder of TRAIN, Inc., a mission organization. We are glad to add our endorsement to this helpful – and needed – volume!

Regarding The Gospel of Grace and Truth by Halsey, when we saw the title we feared it might be a tad more Calvinistic than we dig (for my non-hip readers, “tad” is Texan for “a little” and “dig” is slang for understand/appreciate/digest). I was wrong. That is not to say the matter doesn’t come up

In his Introduction he starts with a contrast between Harriet B. Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and John’s Gospel that is certainly interesting (and quotable). Other features of the Introduction relate to the date, author, uniqueness, style, misunderstandings, symbolism and asides – and, of course, a summary.

As for the text itself, Halsey has chapters on John’s purpose (“that ye might believe”), narrative form (signs, discourses, instruction, history) and his theology: of the Bible (“your word is truth”), of Jesus Christ (“the Son of God,” His Deity, Messianic, Kingship, Judge, etc.), of the Holy Spirit (“the Spirit of Truth,” personality, titles, work, etc.), of Angels, of Man, of Salvation (“not perish, but have eternal life”), of the Church (“whom you have given me”), and of Last Things.

Without agreeing with every detail – including the meaning of water in John 3:5 – he agrees with a longtime friend with whom I had many heated discussion – this is a good, helpful book and worthy of your investment. And his definition of Lordship Salvation is not how I define it at all.

The amazing thing is that while the second title is over 100 pages more than the first, it is $4 less expensive. While I understand that different things enter into book pricing, I don’t understand this. While the first title is a revision of a former work (that one was 10 pages less and $1 cheaper), that should make this less expensive than Gospel, not more (in my humble judgment which, with an additional 50¢, might get you a first class USPS stamp, if rates don’t go up again before this is printed).

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