Foxe's Book of Martyrs is now available

Christianaudio.com is a site that has a wide variety of Christian books (both classics and modern) in audio format. As with a regular Christian bookstore, discernment is needed, but if you are the type of person who spends a lot of time on the road or in other settings where listening to a book (rather than reading a book) is a legitimate possibility, you can find much on the site that is helpful. One of the nice features of this site is that every month they feature a "Free Audiobook of the Month." Many of which, over the time that I have been aware of the site, are classics that they have turned into audiobooks. In previous posts, I have alerted readers to their Free editions of Richard Baxter's Reformed Pastor, Jonathon Edwards' Religious Affections, and John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. There selection for this month is a book that once had great influence and is one of those books with which every believer should be familiar. Foxe's Book of Martyrs by John Foxe (also Fox) is a classic that traces the history of Christian martyrdom from the days of Stephen in the book of Acts through the days of "Bloody Mary". It is a read that is tough at times, but also a read that will challenge you and inspire you to stand strong when testing comes. James Miller Dodds commented in English Prose that, "After the Bible itself, no book so profoundly influenced early Protestant sentiment as the Book of Martyrs. Even in our time it is still a living force. It is more than a record of persecution. It is an arsenal of controversy, a storehouse of romance, as well as a source of edification." If you want to get it before the month is out, head on over to Christianaudio.com and download it. You will need to use the code MAY2009 (which you apply at checkout) to get it for free. Here is the link directly to the Foxe's Book of Martyrs page. BTW, if you want to read it online, the Christian Classics Ethereal Library has it available here. Just my thoughts, Frank

My Thoughts on the Recent Controversy

My title is taken from Andy Efting's post on Unsearchable Riches. As most of the Fundamentalist blogosphere is aware, there has been a virtual dust-up in regards to some comments that Pastor Danny Sweatt made at a recent FBF Regional Meeting. I have been too busy to actually listen to the message (and thus, I have not made any comments on any location about this), but I have read enough of the comments and read enough of the sections that others have quoted to get a pretty good feel of what was said. While Bob Bixby, Kevin Bauder, Dave Doran, Chris Anderson, Don Johnson, John Piper, Andrew Naselli and others have all commented on either the sermon itself or on the response to the sermon, so far the thoughts of Andy Efting seem to reflect my thoughts the best. So, while Andy adds some personal comments that I have not experienced, let me say that I think his post on this controversy is (so far) the closest to my thoughts on it as well. In particular, he addresses two of the concerns that I have on this issue: 1. The promotion of Hyles and Gray - I was hoping I was reading this wrong and he didn't actually do that. 2. The idea that Fundamentalism and Calvinism are somehow incompatible. It surely does not take a Calvinist to look at the influence in Fundamentalism of men like Michael P.V. Barrett, Ian Paisley, John McKnight, J. Greshem Machen, Dave Doran, et al to see that Calvinism is not incompatible with Fundamentalism. While there are legitimate issues with the ministries of Piper, Driscoll, etc., from a Fundamentalist perspective the issues with their ministries is not because of their Calvinism, but because of their associations, ministry philosophy, language, etc. So, if you are dying to know what I think about this (which I am sure no one is), reading My Thoughts on the Recent Controversy by Andy will be the closest thing to my thougths that you are likely to see regarding this. (At least until/if I get a chance to listen to the message and formulate some thoughts.) Just someone else's thoughts, Frank