Book Review: Strange Fire

(short) Book Review: A book that may be of some interest....

(Review by  Remnant Publications)

Strange Fire

by Doug Batchelor & Dwight Hall

Pages: 64, paperback

"An increasingly popular activity in today’s church is to question and dismiss the Bible distinctions

between men and women as ancient chauvinistic customs. Should Christians base their conclusion regarding the different gender roles on Bible or cultural pressures? Strange Fire answers this question and others. In examining the role of women in the church, the authors note that
from the moment man and woman were created, there were marked variances between them. God did not create the first man and woman in the same way. Nor did He create them at the same time. He made man from the dust of the earth, but He made the woman out of the man. Then God named the man, but man then named woman. So even in God’s creative process we see distinct differences between man and woman. Throughout the Scriptures we see both men and women called to ministry. The same is true today. Each of us are called to serve the Lord in some capacity, and the Bible makes it clear that women are indeed to be a part of leading souls into the kingdom of heaven. There are no exceptions in the great gospel commission found in Matthew 28:18–20. In another example “daughters” are included in the list of those who will prophesy (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17–18). In fact, throughout the Scriptures we see both men and women as prophets, but at no point did women prophets take on a priestly role, except in pagan ritual. Those who tried to change the structure of God’s organized

plan paid dearly. Miriam became leprous. Nadab and Abihu lost their lives. Those who reinterpret the Bible tread on dangerous ground. To arrive at conclusions that attempt to change what God has established, His order of things, requires different hermeneutics than to allow the Bible to interpret itself. “God has placed in His word no command which men may obey or disobey at will and not suffer the consequences. If men choose any other path than that of strict obedience, they will find that ‘the end thereof are the ways of death.’ Proverbs 14:12” (Patriarchs and Prophets, 360). Unflinchingly, Doug Batchelor and Dwight Hall use a simple, compelling, and biblically sound approach to address the polarizing issue of women’s ordination in the church. They generate more light than heat in the process."
The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife,
1 Timothy 3:2 HVN