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A journey in purity: A theological novel

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A Journey in Purity: A Theological Novel by Richard P. Belcher; 1990, 213 pp. Richbarry Press, Columbia, SC. richbarrypress.com Church discipline. These words bring many different reactions to the average member of a local church. Dr. Belcher's second novel cuts to the heart of the issue as the story of First Baptist Church of Collegetown unfolds in this sequel to Journey in Grace. Pastor Ira Pointer accepted the call to this church with deep concern that only sixty of the thousand members were active. While he is faithfully teaching the obedient remnant, the sleeping giant of nine hundred inactive members awakens and tries to swallow both the pastor and the faithful members. Seventy of the inactive members form an opposition party with the ability to draw three hundred other inactives to any business meeting. The struggle for survival is on. This exciting novel is full of surprises with many twists and turns. Once I began reading it, it was nearly impossible to put down. In the midst of the struggle, Pastor Pointer takes his deacons through an expositional study of a number of New Testament passages on church discipline. Thus, after you have read this book, you will not only enjoy an exciting story and be acquainted with the personal pain carried by all faithful pastors, but you will also be very familiar with biblical church discipline. This is a book for everyone. Pastors and their wives will devour it and identify with the Pointer family throughout the story. Christians will enjoy it and learn some needed truths. Even older Christians who would be unwilling to read even a pamphlet on church discipline will read this work from cover to cover. Mature Christians will read it with tears of concern over the ruthless tactics of lost church members towards God's people and with tears of joy as they see God, in His sovereign grace, reach down and save sinners who are the least likely candidates to human eyes for grace. With our local churches being filled with unregenerate and often hostile inactive members, this is a needed book for our undisciplined age. Our churches need to begin and/or continue on their journeys in purity. May God raise up a host of Pastor Pointers who will pay the price to follow the Scriptures in shepherding God's flock.

It took me seven years to pick A Journey in Grace from my shelf and finally read it. I so enjoyed it that I immediately turned to the sequel, A Journey in Purity which had been sitting beside it all this time. Where the first title in this series of theological novels addresses the doctrines of grace (ie the 5 Points of Calvinism), the second title examines the purity of the church.

The story of young pastor Ira Pointer picks up precisely where it left off in the final pages of A Journey in Grace. Ira is faced with a church with a huge membership, but with low attendance. The book describes his struggle in attempting to purify the church by making membership meaningful. He leads the deacons of his congregation through the long process of discovering what the Scriptures teach about church membership, responsibilities and discipline and then leads them through a difficult time of change as the leadership attempts to purify the church. There is plenty of intruige and some fun plot twists that keep the book a novel rather than solely theology.

I was delighted to see that A Journey in Purity is better fiction than its predecessor. Richard Belcher is still more a theologian than a story-teller, but this title shows a marked improvement over the first. And as with the first novel, this one presents deep theological truths in a way that is accessible to anyone who enjoys reading a story. I recommend this series.

Having finished this book I did a bit of research and found that there are ten more titles in this series and they cover a wide variety of topics. I doubt I will ever read them all, but I do intend to purchase the next two books at some point so I can at least read that far.