Comments from Ed Nill.  Gary T from Arizona not only purchased a copy for his friend in SD, but also copies for each of his adult children.  The suspense as to the real “why” he ordered these extra copies was too much for me, so I called the cell phone number that he had provided at the bottom of his note.  Our conversation begins: “Gary, there are many books on the market that you can purchase, please tell me why you purchased extra copies of my book?”  Gary: “Mr. Nill, that is an easy answer – you are not trying to sell your religion!”  Ed: “What do you mean I’m not trying to sell my religion?”  Gary: “Well—you are telling me why you believe what you believe but you never tell me that I must believe exactly like you do!  You ask me to refute what you write.  I tried.  But with the clear scriptural references and the history that you provided on such topics as baptism, the sinner’s prayer, grace, worship, etc., I found it difficult to refute your thoughts.  I also appreciated your writing style.”  Ed: “Thank you, Gary”.  

What is the “style” that Gary is referring to?  Colossians 4:6, “Let your conversation be always full of grace seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”  Also, I Peter 3:15, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect.”  Paul is telling me in Colossians that I need to be gracious in my writing and Peter is telling me to be gentle and respectful of the intelligence of my readers.  As my dad once said, “Don’t jerk the halter of the horse you are leading to water because it won’t drink when you get there; rather, give it a cube of salt and the horse will gladly drink.”  In other words, harsh words won’t lead anyone to Christ.  Gracious respectful words seasoned with salt stand a much better chance. 

But does that style lend itself to being agreeable to all opinions?  Not at all!  As I write, I keep in mind II Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.  Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”  And let us not overlook I Timothy 4:16, “Watch your life and doctrine closely.  Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”  As an author, no matter my efforts, there will be times that I step on a toe or two.  When that happens, I can only say what Paul said in Galatians 4:16, “Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?” 

 No, I do not agree with all opinions.  That is why I give definitions of key Biblical words from the Greek as defined during the time in which the New Testament was written.  Words such as baptize, faith, gospel, religion, works, church, worship, work of faith, pastor, etc.  And, since I understand German, I spend time telling you what Martin Luther said about baptism.  Not what people say Luther said; but rather, I quote directly from his original writings called Luther’s Works.  When he uses the German word for baptism, which is “Taufe”, I know what it means because my German Bible tells me.  (If you permit a shameless plug here, the book is worth the price for just this one chapter!)  If you are unaware, our English word baptism is not actually a translation from the Greek that was used to write the New Testament.  However, the German word “Taufe” is a translation from the Greek and thus makes for a very interesting discussion.   

When it comes to the sinner’s prayer concept.  I give a complete history of the movement with a discussion of the pros and cons.  On the topic of the rapture, I have a bit of fun when I discuss the various versions of how one is to understand the rapture.

Ok. Enough.  The Table of Contents gives you all the subjects addressed.  I do not think you will be disappointed.  Give it a read.  Thank you.