October 15, 2020 Show with Kurt M. Smith on “Thundering the Word: The Awakening Ministry of George Whitefield”

George Whitefield, Christian Heroes, and the Need for a New Biography

Live from the historic parsonage of the 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors, Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 tells us, Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Matthew Henry said that in this passage, we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have a view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions. And now, here's your host, Chris Arnzen.

Good afternoon, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida and the rest of humanity living on the planet Earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com. This is Chris Arnzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Thursday on this 15th day of October 2020.

I'm thrilled to have back as a returning guest to this program, Pastor Kurt M. Smith, who is pastor of Providence Reform Baptist Church in Pine Mountain, Alabama. He's also an author, and we're going to be discussing his latest book, Thundering the Word, The Awakening Ministry of George Whitefield, published by Free Grace Press.

And it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Pastor Kurt M. Smith.

Thank you, Chris.

Here's all mine, brother, and tell our listeners about Providence Reform Baptist Church in Pine Mountain, Alabama.

And for anybody who wants to look up more information.

About Providence Reform Baptist Church of Pine Mountain, Alabama, you can go right to their website, which is PRBC, which stands, obviously, for Providence Reform Baptist Church. 1689, obviously, for those of Reform Baptist listeners know anyway what that means.

That's a reference to the 1689 London Baptist Confession .org, PRBC1689 .org. Well, as you know, being somebody who has a ferocious appetite for literature and reading, and especially, perhaps, neck and neck with theology, I know that you happen to be a great lover of history, so you are fully aware that there are a lot of things written about George Whitefield.

There are things that have been available in print for quite a number of years. Why did you think that this new volume, Thundering the Word, The Awakening Ministry of George Whitefield, would be a needed added volume to that which is already available?

Of course, men that we uphold in the Christian church as heroes, who have that blemish upon their record as having owned slaves, they did not invent slavery. In fact, they were born into a culture that already had experienced and practiced the idea of slave ownership, and many of them were left in the dilemma on how to respond to this, because if everybody at a certain point in time just began, well, not everybody, but if certain individuals, many individuals, began just letting their slaves free, that could have meant instant and certain death for them.

So people don't really think things through, because of the fact that there were so many who were indeed evil people that hated black people and viewed them as no more than chattel and as inhuman and so on.

So people who were genuinely Christian had to be very careful how to respond to this whole area of life.

Amen.

And what you were saying before about a certain segment of academia who has vilified or just tossed Whitefield into the trash heap of history, this reminded me of a very surprising conversation I had a number of years ago with a Presbyterian pastor who was a minister, an ordained minister, he was actually, he is no longer in this denomination, but he was in one of the more biblically sound Presbyterian denominations, and he was telling me that he had no use for Whitefield at all and that he was just another voice in the unbiblical revivalism of American history and really just downplayed any value that he had.

And I remember being totally shocked by this, hearing a Reformed pastor speak so lowly of this great hero of the faith. And I'm so glad that one of the major Christian publishers and ministries in the UK and in the United States, the Banner of Truth, they think so highly of George Whitefield that his image is actually their logo.

Preaching with Passion Versus Dry Formalism

Well, tell us about, to start off with, the Thundering the Word title, the Awakening Ministry of George Whitefield. That immediately is an attention grabber because there is a division in the body of Christ on the importance of the manner in which someone declares and preaches the Word.

You have many fundamentalists on one side who are guilty of practicing form over substance, where they seem to be more concerned about the loudness of voice and the animation and the passion with which somebody is preaching or yelling than they are over any kind of real thorough exegesis going on during a sermon.

And then you have those who are more from our background where you have some in our midst in the Reformed faith that really elevate substance in a much, much, much, much, much higher level of importance than form.

They either don't think that it's all that relevant or important that a minister preaches with passion, that he preaches with urgency, that he preaches as a clarion in appropriate times raising his voice.

They either think that it doesn't really matter or sometimes they might even go as far as to say that's emotional manipulation. So you do have this division even amongst the Reformed. And in fact, I was born again in a church that was pastored by Mike Gaydosh, who is a friend of yours I know as well.

And Mike Gaydosh has an extraordinary gift for preaching and he was not so jealous and overly protective of his pulpit. I mean, he was protective of his pulpit, but he was not overly protective of his pulpit to the extent that he did not share it with anyone.

And we had a lot of Bible conferences. And thankfully, because of the excellent discernment that Mike had when he was my pastor, the preachers were all superb. I could probably think of a couple that perhaps were not all that passionate when they preached, but that was a tiny minority.

Most of them were very passionate preachers, either Reformed Baptist or Presbyterian. And I remember when I was hearing the insult from the non-Reformed about the dry, dull, lifeless, spiritually dead preaching of Reformed ministers that have no passion for the lost and no urgency in their gospel message, I was shocked and like, what are you talking about?

Because it was so far into my experience. But having been a Christian for decades now, I have seen that the stereotype, although it is slanderous to broad brush us all that way, because there are some of the most powerful and passionate preachers, not only of history but even of today, that are Reformed.

But it does exist, that whole phenomenon of the pastor being more of a professorial lecturer than he is a preacher. But tell us about this title again, The Thundering Word, and why you chose that as the title for a book, a biography about George Whitefield.

Proudly with dead earnest the glory and wonder of God's saving mercy in Christ. Whitefield, therefore, could not speak of such things like the Archbishop in Flexionfield, where the content is good and true, and it's their paper which God has given him.

Thank God that he did. And by the way, I know that Spurgeon lived a century after Whitefield, but I couldn't help but remember one of a number of quotes of Spurgeon when he spoke of the importance of how one uses his voice when preaching, and this quote from Spurgeon I think is very relevant.

What a pity that a man who from his heart delivered doctrines of undoubted value in language the most appropriate should commit ministerial suicide by harping on one string when the Lord had given him an instrument of many strings to play upon.

Alas, alas, for that dreary voice, it hummed and hummed like a mill wheel to the same unmusical turn, whether its onerous spake of heaven or hell, eternal life or everlasting wrath. It might be, by accident, a little louder or softer according to the length of the sentence, but its tone was still the same, a dreary waste of sound, a howling wilderness of speech in which there was no possible relief, no variety, no music, nothing but horrible sameness.

And I have been at conferences where some of the most brilliant Christians in the literary world were among those on the speaking roster, and I remember, especially as a young Christian, how disappointed I was to hear these men speak after reading their books and being so amazingly blessed with what they've written, to hear them speak in this very monotone, boring voice.

I won't say the name of this brother who is now in heaven, but I can remember hearing a preacher at a very prominent Reformed conference back in the 80s, and I could not help but think, I'm listening to Henry Kissinger right now.

He had that same very monotone way of speaking, very unexcited, unenthusiastic, and the sermon was like 45 minutes long at least, so that was quite difficult to endure. But we are going to return with more of our discussion on George Whitefield after our first break.

If anybody would like to join us on the air with a question of your own, our email address is chrisarnson at gmail dot com, chrisarnson at gmail dot com, and as always, please give us at least your first name, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence if you live outside the USA.

Please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal or private matter. Let's say your pastor is one of those that we were discussing earlier who despises what he knows, or perhaps even the slanderous stereotype of Whitefield that he is familiar with, and you don't want to obviously identify yourself so people will know who you're referring to.

It could be a number of things. You could be a pastor and your fellow elders despise Whitefield, and you are trying to convince them to have a contrary view of what they are currently holding. Whatever the case is, when it's personal and private, we understand you remaining anonymous.

But otherwise, if it's just a general question about the history, the theology, the teaching, life, and legacy of George Whitefield, if it's just a general question, please give us at least your first name, your city and state, and your country of residence if you live outside the USA.

Don't go away. We'll be right back with Curt M. Smith after these messages from our sponsors. When Iron Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the New American Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors.

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George Whitefield, Open-Air Preaching, and the Holy Club

Welcome back. This is Chris Arnzen. If you just tuned us in, our guest today for the full two hours is Curt M. Smith, and we are discussing his new book, Thundering the Word, The Awakening Ministry of George Whitefield.

Let me just read a couple of commendations for this book. Sam Waldron, a name very well known to most Reformed Baptists globally, says, In this, the 250th anniversary year of Whitefield's death, Curt Smith has produced a challenging, devotional, and balanced look at a man and preacher used mightily of God to call sinners to repentance.

And world-renowned Presbyterian minister and author and conference speaker Derek Thomas has said, The life of the 18th century's most celebrated evangelist and preacher is told with clarity and cultural sensitivity.

The Whitefield that emerges is that of a passionate evangelist, a pragmatic entrepreneur, an astute citizen of the British Empire, and alas, a flawed, culturally compromised individual. A most valuable read, and there are many more commendations that are really glowing about this book by very gifted men in their own right, and I would highly recommend that you get a hold of this book.

If you could go back to why the peers of Whitefield especially in the Anglican Church, why is it that so many of them despised him? And drew the conclusions that you mentioned earlier about him. I mean, was it because of the fact that he was not trapped by the formality of the stoic liturgy of Anglicanism that is so common amongst those churches?

And I don't mean this as a slam. I know I have many Anglican listeners. But it can become dead formalism. It is not always dead formalism, but it can become that. Were they just too alarmed by his passion and the raising of his voice and the fact that he did things in an untraditional way, not unbiblical way, but the whole concept of open air preaching and so on?

Do you know what led Whitefield to adopt the manner with which he proclaimed.

The Gospel or the manner for which he is most popularly known? The passionate open air preacher and so on. And was this something that was always a part of his life after coming to Christ? In fact, if you could even give us an idea of when he consciously repented and turned to Christ and so on.

I mean, I know that there are different testimonies of those who are among God's children. We have those that were raised in Christian homes since infancy, and they don't even remember a time when they didn't know and love Jesus.

And then you have others who have more stark contrasts in their life where they may have spent years and possibly many decades in darkness and rebellion and hostility toward God. And then there is a more night and day vibrant crisis experience, if you will, where there is an 180 degree turnaround and notable total transformation and change in someone.

So what about Whitefield? And then going back to my other question is, can you trace when this became a part of his typical manner of proclaiming the gospel, something that was very passionate and so on, and wanting to preach in the open air, where many Christians might be too self-conscious or even embarrassed, which may reveal more about whether or not they're ashamed of the gospel.

But if you could, tell us something about his background.

...love to make himself my club, like, end up ruining his health. He would really fear...

Doing what exactly that would bring him near death?

Well...

In fact, you know what would be a good idea, so I don't have to cut you off right in the middle of explaining and describing that. I have to go to our midway break, so I'd rather do it right now, and we'll remember where to pick up where we left off.

Folks, please be patient with us, because the middle break of the show, as anyone who listens regularly knows, is the longer break on the show, because Grace Life Radio, 90 .1 FM in Lake City, Florida, has to localize Iron Trip and Zion Radio to that area of the country, Lake City, Florida, and they do so by airing their own public service announcements and other local things.

While they do that, we air our globally heard commercials. So, please use this time wisely, write down as much of the information as you possibly can for as many of our advertisers as you possibly can, so you can more frequently and successfully patronize them, which will hopefully lead to them wanting to remain as our advertisers for a longer period of time.

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Write down a question for Kurt M. Smith about George Whitefield, and send it to ChrisArnzen at gmail .com. ChrisArnzen at gmail .com. Give us your first name, city and state, and country of residence if you live outside the USA.

Don't go away. We'll be right back with Kurt M. Smith, right after these messages from our sponsors. Iron Trip and Zion Radio depends upon the financial support of fine Christian organizations to remain on the air, like the Historical Bible Society.

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Banu Gadi earned a doctorate in pharmacy degree and is very knowledgeable on the current coronavirus pandemic. Please contact Dr. Gadi so he and his expert staff can give you proper guidance amid all the contradictory confusion we are all hearing in the media.

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Greetings in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ. My name is Banu Gadi. I'm a pharmacist in New York, which is the epicenter of the latest crisis the world is going through. In Psalm 139 verse 14, the psalmist offers praise to the Lord like this,.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, and wondrous are your works that my soul knows very well. He saw God's goodness and mercy, kindness, and the beauty in what God has designed, and he has erupted into praise.

In any crisis or problem, brothers and sisters, our only fallback position is to trust God's design. And once we do, there is nothing for us to do but to erupt in praise to him. When the whole world is searching for a solution, God in his infinite mercy has given us what we need to address this illness which can be very serious.

Such is the beauty of his design. Knowing that design, how can we not erupt in praise to our great God like the psalmist did? May God bless you and give all of us wisdom to see greater things in his design.

Thank you.

Whitefield, Wesley, Calvinism, and Arminianism

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Here's a great way for your church to help keep Iron Trumpet's Iron Radio on the air. Pastors, are your pew Bibles tattered and falling apart? Consider restocking your pews with the NASB and tell the publishers you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Trumpet's Iron Radio.

Go to nasbible .com. That's nasbible .com to place your order.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said,.