Strange Dreams
The Returning King, by Vern Poythress
Reviewed by Laurence Windham

Vern Poythress has a new book, do da do da, It's on Revelation, oh, the do da day! Sorry. Just trying to add a little excitement to this section of our magazine. Anyway, Poythress does have a new book out entitled, The Returning King (P&R Publishing). In this handy little tome (200 pages) the author tackles the meaning of the symbolism found in the book of Revelation. That's right, the Big R.

I cannot tell you how great this book is. The way Poythress lays out the major themes, different schools of interpretation, and the purpose of the book Revelation, you will think yourself a scholar after reading the first 57 pages. I tell you, the mystery is gone (I hope he tackles the book, Song of Solomon, next) and the truth revealed is awesome, inspiring, and comforting.

Allow me to reveal a little of the content to you. One of the major themes in Revelation is the act of counterfeiting. Here is a sample from pages 16 & 17:

Consider the picture in Rev. 13:1, "And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name." Now there's a strange vision! But it is not quite so strange if we have already read about the Dragon in Revelation 12:3. The Dragon on the shore is a frightful monster. The beast of Revelation 13:1-8 is likewise a monster. The Dragon has seven heads. The Beast coming out of the sea likewise has seven heads. The Dragon has ten horns. So does the Beast. The Dragon has crowns on his heads. The Beast has crowns on his horns. What is going on here? The Beast is strikingly like the Dragon. In fact, he is an image of the Dragon. The Dragon stands on the shore of the sea in a way that is reminiscent of the Spirit of God hovering over the waters in Gen. 1:2. And then comes forth his "creation," the Beast, made in the image of the Dragon. Have we seen a process like this before? Of course we have. "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him" (Gen.I:27). The Dragon is a picture of Satan (Rev.l2:9), who in Revelation 13:1 imitates what God did in Genesis 1:27.

Poythress continues by showing that the Dragon, Beast and False Prophet form an evil, counterfeit trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is also an unholy counterpart to the Bride.. .it is the Harlot of Revelation 17.

There is much more in The Returning King that really does a marvelous job of unpacking what has been a difficult book to understand for many of God's people through the centuries. I recently shared the content of Poythress' book with a fellow who has done a great deal of writing on eschatology but has yet to read this book. When I was done explaining the content of The Returning King to him, he simply said, "That is brilliant!" So, there you go.

Bound to Be Good
Bound Only Once, edited by Douglas Wilson
Reviewed by R.C. Sproul Jr.

There is always a danger that when one exposes folly for being folly that one gives exposure to folly. Just a week or so ago I had a mini-celebration/pity party based on this same principle. It seems that Dave Hunt, that dispensational heresy humter, turned his aim toward me in a recent edition of his newsletter, The Berean Call. I felt great that my book Almighty Over All warranted a look from Mr. Hunt, but was saddened to discover that he thought he was yelling at my father. I can't catch a break.

Douglas Wilson may make more people aware of the heresy of open theism with the publication of this book. But if people take the time to read it, I doubt the open guys will have too many more adherents. The book is a devastating, sweeping indictment against those who claim God knows not the future. The contributors include many of the Moscow minds that contribute to that other magazine (Wilson, Jones, Nixon, Leithart, Merkle), and a wide variety of outsiders, (Tom Ascol, John MacArthur, Frame, Schlissel and your friendly reviewer.)

The approach is to look at the three great virtues, goodness, truth and beauty, and how embracing openness destroys them all. This is vintage Wilson, looking at abstract theological issues and showing the fruit that flows from it. What we find is that men like Clark Pinnock and Greg Boyd not only deny fundamentals and essentials of the faith, but in doing so destroy any hope of understanding these virtues, whose font is the almighty, all-knowing, immutable God of the Bible. In short, this errant theology teaches an errant and erring God. It demonstrates clearly that this is not merely a bad option, but that it is damnable heresy. It reminds us that these folks are bad company, and such creates bad morals.

The chapters vary in their approach. Some are more exegetical, some more philosophical. Some are easier to read (like my chapter, because I'm not smart enough to say anything that would confuse a reader), some are more complex. Such only makes the read that much more rounded, stretching the reader here, and reminding the reader there.

Despite the danger inherent in publishing this book, I'm glad our friends have done it. If God has ordained that this noxious notion that God does not ordain should spread widely in the church, He at least will have ordained that someone, or one group of men gave an answer. No one will be able to say that the faithful surrendered without firing a shot, or that these modern heroes of the faith hid in their foxholes when the enemy attacked. If this pernicious doctrine should spread, you would be well advised to be equipped with the firepower this book provides. The book is published by Canon Press, who also carries it. However, we too have copies available. You can read about that in the Stuff You Can Get column.