Review of Liberalism: Its Cause and Cure. Another Pair of Angel Wings - Awarded.

The Holy Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, contains numerous severe warnings about false teachers who have been, and will ever be, polluting the pure Word of God. Just one such warning comes from the Holy Spirit in 2 Peter 2:1-3: "But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping." NIV

In "Liberalism: Its Cause and Cure" Rev. Dr. Gregory Jackson details several shady agents of these false teachers, found stomping across and upon the Word. He forces open their wide coats, empties their pockets, and spills the clanging contents of their apostate toolboxes onto the ground. Jackson masterfully takes up each tool into the Light of the pure Word to determine its methods and reveal its Scripture-hating mechanics. Instead of telling you what these tools are, he invites you to come closer and have a look-see with your own eyes, using the very words of these deceivers. "Liberalism" is full of quotations taken directly from the scheming plans of the apostates. In this book, you are given a front seat, the agents are named, and there is no wiggle room available for them. No quarter is given. Their own words are laid bare.

To be noted is the fact that the author has attended or graduated from several seminaries, and has advanced degrees from both Yale and Notre Dame. Jackson is highly qualified to be writing on this subject. He has been in its trenches.

A history of apostasy is presented to trace the long lineage of liberalism. A mere sampling of the agents of apostasy include the historical-critical method of Biblical interpretation, the "new" Yale University, the World Council of Churches, Methodism and its fabricated "social gospel" and many more, each given turns in the Light. The truth laid bare can be a horrifying thing.

The tools themselves are given examination, after wiping the layers of muck away. Many of them are found in the toolboxes of apostates across a wide spectrum. Examples of these are pietism, revivalism, pentecostalism, charismatic renewal, speaking in tongues, ecumenism, works righteousness, and the theory of evolution (trying hard to be provable scientific fact for more than 158 years and counting).

Pages 72-73 contain a type of timeline of the stages from which a congregation or church moves from the pure Word to the infection of liberalism and the diseases of apostasy. I invite you to read through them, with an honest heart, to see where your church lies on this timeline. It was very eye-opening for me.

Jackson does not leave us in the spirit of hopelessness. A cure for the infection of liberalism is shared, or more accurately, we are reminded that it has been with us all along. There is a helpful chapter on how we can dialogue and debate with the enemies of the Word.

This title is highly recommended to those with love for the pure Word, regardless of your religious affiliation.