★★★★★ 4
Great help for escaping the snare of the devil (2 Tim. 2:24-26)
Format: Kindle
The five lies this book was written to expose and equip believers in Christ to dismantle were well selected. The list represents the myriad falsehoods unleashed in our present age by the liar and father of lies, the devil (Jn. 8:44). And, that our present age is anti-Christian is evident to anyone using the Bible as the rule for Christian faith and practice. In fact, the seemingly universal celebration of all who reject the created order of the two sexes—whichever way they choose—practically confirms the truth of Scripture. The false community it forms has no other unifying factor than shared rebellion against biblical authority.
Like Carl Trueman, in his book The Strange New World, the author succeeds in calling for a compassionate but firm response to deceptions about human personhood. In her case, deceptions she once held dear, and by which she was once held captive. A difference is that, while Trueman’s approach is more historical and philosophical, Butterfield’s is more personal, pastoral, and Bible oriented. The testimony of her own conversion is compelling. Like the apostle Paul who became a planter of churches after having persecuted the Church, she balances her warnings against the lies with biblical exhortations of how to live-out the truth.
In her chapters on modesty, she demonstrates how the internet in general, and social media in particular, have been abused to blur the distinction between what is public and what should be kept private. Her observations about narcissism, non-accountability, and exhibitionism, are worth noting.
The only reason I give this book four stars instead of five is that the appendix seemed superfluous. In my opinion, the oft-quoted statement attributed to Mies Van Der Rohe (1886), “Less is More,” applies. While I believe the guidance on how to read the Bible is generally good, it seemed to promote the author’s loyalty to her denomination rather than adding anything germane to the book. It also seemed more appropriate for a pastor to teach his congregation than for a pastor’s wife to teach the Church at large. For me, it detracted from the very modesty of role that the book otherwise encouraged so well.
That said, I recommend the book as a whole. The Scripture it brought to mind is Ephesians 4:14-16.
As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. (NASB 95).
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Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2023
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