To Tell The Truth

To Tell The Truth
By John Appleby
Grace Publications. 144 pages. £5.95
ISBN 0 946 462 42 9

The point of the old joke about the bald seller of hair restorer certainly applies to anyone who has the courage to write a book about the biblical principles of communication! Happily in this case, the writer is a first rate practitioner, as the book itself clearly demonstrates.
The danger with the book is that it might be read only by those whose minds are already open to its message. This would be a very great pity, because there is no doubt that one of the greatest needs of evangelical Christians today is to take to heart these 'biblical guidelines to help Christians talk about the faith'.
There are those for whom reliance on the Holy Spirit makes such a study unnecessary or even dangerous. For them the ideal is to pray for revival and to do their best to present the message in the language of Whitefield or Spurgeon. They assume that there is something unspiritual about the subject - a fleshly resort in days of spiritual dearth. Others, however, press on with more and more entertaining methods of communicating the Christian message, apparently unaware that the Bible has anything to say on the subject.
Both attitudes are subjected to the scrutiny of Scripture and found wanting. John Appleby's contention is that the principles he sets before us are part of the very presentation of scripture itself, they are God-given, and therefore to ignore them is to be unbiblical and disobedient.
The book begins with a detailed examination of the problems confronting the Christian communicator. Then, from Scripture teaching and examples, beginning with God himself as the supreme communicator, we are shown the biblical solution to these problems. We are given a brief history of the study of this subject by secular researchers and find how close their conclusions are to the teaching of the Bible.
As a good communicator, John Appleby applies the teaching as he goes along. These applications are not only addressed to preachers, but also to every believer in his or her daily witness, to teachers of children and youth groups, to door-to-door visitors, producers of tracts and to writers of music for worship. Church buildings, words of Christian songs and hymns and Bible versions are all subjected to the test of Scripture.
There is no suggestion here that success will inevitably attend the efforts of those who apply these principles. Such application is a matter of human responsibility and discipleship. God is sovereign and he uses who or what he wills; our business is to obey what he has taught us.
David Smith, Principal of the Northern Bible College, gives the book warm encouragement, which confirms the serious view that it should be compulsory reading for all Bible and theological college students.

C.C. Pond