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coVenants prior to Christ

were

marked

by antidpation and administered

by

foreshadows of the Savior,

while

the

jjlJ6Dment

or substance came in

peISOn

and redemptive work of Christ, who

established the New Covenant today in

the imemational church of

Christ.

(ro

BE

CONI1NUED)

Further Investigation

For further swdies regarding God or

covenant theology on

tape

-

especially

"The

Distinctives of

the

Reformed Faith"

--

write foracatalog from

CovenantTape

Minisny,24198Ash

Court,

Auburn,

CA

95603.

To receive Dr.Bahnsen

's

free

monthly

newsletter, Penpoint, write

to

Southern

California Center for Christian Studies,

P. O. Box

18021,

Irvine, CA

92713.

yron Snapp

ook Review

During the recent upheaval within

theformerSovietUnionmanywondered

i

Russia,

their largest state, would take

actionagainstthemuchsmaUerdi.s9mting

states. How would world opinionhave

reactedifthe Russianmilitary hadmoved

into

Georgia

or the Uktaine and opened .

fire on the dissidents?

This

possibility

caused me

to

thinkaboutan

event

on our

own. oil a little over a

centUlyago.

The War

Between the States gives

us

thisscenario. TheSouthernstatesthought

they had every right to

secede

from the

Union and establish their own country

''theConfederateStatesofAmerica. They

put their

beliefs

into actions.

The

Union

took the position

th t

individual

states

couldnotseCede fromthe Union Putting

theirbeliefs imo action, they invaded the

South. Theyviewedtheconflictasadvil

war.

The South saw it as one nation

invading another nation without any

warrant for so

doing.

The South Was ight

by James R

Kennedy

and Walter

D. Kenny

(land

and

Land

,

P.O

.

Box 1921

Baton

Rouge,

La. 70821 Ph. (504)344-1059 $19.95

$2.00 shipping and handling 210 pp.,

including addendum and

index

hb.)

providesuswith

excellemmaterial

tonot

only more correctly interpret

our own

history, but to also have a better

understanding of current events both

here and abroad.

The

authors show the

reader

that

much of he history taught regarding the

WarBetWeen the

States is

a myth. They

believeithasbeenwrittenfromaNorthem.

perspective. Did

the South

fight

the War

to preserve slavery? The authors

point

out that

"75%

to 90% of

the Coufederate

soldiers and sailors were NOT slave

owners"Cp

.16). Was

the

SoUthbetter

off

as a result of losing the War?

Many

students are taught that this is

true.

Yet

we

must look at the facts:

..

one year

after

the

War the

state

of

Mississippi

allotted one fifth of it's revenues

for

the

purchase of artificial anns and

legs

...it

wasnotuntil1951 thatthe taxable assets

of the state of Georgia surpassed the

value

of

1860"(p.18).

Examining the 1980 census the

authors report that 'The

U.S.

Census

Bureau

found

thatthepovertyrateforthe

South was 20% higher than the nation

as

a

whole. All

the

states

with the

highest

poverty evelswerein theSouth,whereas,

a of the states with the lowest

poverty

rates

were in the North"(p. 20).

The

authors believe

this

poverty is traceable

totheimpoverisbmentofthesouthduring

and after the War.

KennedyandKennycontend that the

Northwasinvolvedinslaveryandheavily

involved in the slave rrade. They point

outthattheNorthernersenslavedIndians

andprolitablyshippedthemtoCaribbean

islands.

"The Yankee slave commerce

was to continue legally until 1808 and

illegally until the War for Southern

Independence" (p.35). You may

well

be

surprised to learn of the first

state

that

6

THE

COUNSEL

of

ChaIcedon November,

992

attempted to prohibit the importation of

slaves as

well

as

how

slaves were

freed

in

the North

Northern acrocities upon the South

during the War

are recoumed.

These

atrodties continued in a

different way

following the War.

The

North set the

tenns by

which

Southernstates

could be

readmitted

to

the

Union.

The

authors

remind us that

this was the "same Union

from which the North had previously

s id we could

not

withdraw "

(p.80).

Local

governmental

power began

to

be

replaced increasingly by a powerful

centralgovernment. We continue

to

see

this

growth of power and its · esults

throughout society

today.

The

authors contend that

the

South

w s right in

its

stand and it's fight. But

neither

the

authors nor this

reviewer

support Southew

slavery

.

The

warwas

not fought over slavery. It was fought

over

the issue ofsovereignty. Does such

sovereignty

rest in individual states by

the consent of the

governed,

or

does

it

rest in a powerful central government?

The North's victory

paved

the way

for a

strong central gOvernment. .

Ahigblightofthisveryreadablebook

is the

amount of

research

that

is made

available

to

the

reader. Although many

quotations

are given, hviU

ouIymention

aquote ofAbraham UncoIn in the 1847

Congressional Record "Any people

whatever have

a right to

abolish

the

existinggovemment

andform anew

one

that suits

them better"

(p.145).

Addendum sections include the

Constitution

of

the Confederate States

of

America and

it's comparison

with the

U.S .SenateandDavis' inaugural

address

as President of the Confederate State of

America.

TheauthorstracetheSouth'sposition

on

secession

to John Milton and John

Locke.

1

believe this

is a

drawback to the

book. Actually the understanding of

civil

govemmE;ll.t and the governedmust

be traced back to the triune God. While

a

development

ofthis thought

is

beyond

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the scope of

his

review, somespacemust

be given to this

concept.

Within the Trinity we have the

solution of the problem regarding the

importance of the one and the many.

God

is

one

God, yet He exists in three

persons. Narurnllywe cannot

saywhich

member of the

God

head is most

important.

U

members

are equal.

Yet

each member of the Godhead has an

important

role

in

salvation. The Father

elects a

people

to be

saved. The

eternal

Son took on human i1esh and lived and

died to redeem the

elect.

The

Holy Spirit

opens the sinners hean to the

Gospel

andappliessalvationtoourlife.Applying

this

to

dvil government

one cannot

say

that the

cenlml

government

is

most

important or

that

local government

is

most important.

U.s.

Civil

government,

as

a result of Christian iniluence,

is

a

covenantalgovernmeru.

Themanystates

representing

the

dtizens within

them,

freely entered into a covenantal

relationship with a central government

giving,

by

means of

the

Constirution,

certainpowers to

the

centralgovernment

When

those

powers

were

abused the

states understood that

having

freely

entered into the relationship they

could

withdraw from tas aresult ofthe

central

government

encroaching

on

the powers

ofthe state, thus breaking the covenantal

relationship. Bytheirrefusaltoallowthis

action to occur unhindered the North

was

insisting that the Union,

(the

One)

is

all important.

Thus

a failure to properly

understand the relationship between the

one

and the many

has

resulted in

an

acquiescenceto theruledofaevergrowing

central

govemment.

In proposing a remedy the authors

rightly point out the imponance of

becoming

involved

in

ocal

government.

Ibelieve they

are

right in stating that

too

much emphasis isplaced on the national

level

to

the neglect of the local political

contests.

However their remedy

is

too

man-<:entered.

Regarding the South's

economic

development

they write,

We

must look

to ourselves

for oureconomic

salvation: (p.137) I

do

not believe we

can trace all ofour economic woes

to

the

War Between the

States.

We in the South

as well as

those in the North are inmany

instances covenant

breakers with God.

For

example

we have abortion

clinics.

Pornography exists in the South.

Deuteronomy 28 clearly teaches that a

nation cannot

continually

sin against

God without sever economic

consequences.

The book's drawbacks do not hinder

it from being avaluable resource

for the

discerning reading. I profited much

from the authors' research and believe

you will

also .n

Royer Schultz

ook Review

JohnEidsmoe,

Columbus andCortez

Conquerors orChrist(GreenForest,AR:

New Leaf Press, 1992) $9.95. 304 pp.

Index.

Endnotes.

Columbus and Cortez is

an

excellent

andtimelyworkforthe5OOthanniversary

of Columbus'

voyage.

Heavy

attacks

on

Columbusandhislegacybythepolitically

correct have badly distorted the

real

explorer. nd as

Eidsmoe

shows,

such

attacks are actually thinly veiled

challenges

to

the

Westem

tradition and,

in particular, to Christianity.

Columbus and Cortez will help set

the record straight Eidsmoe discusses

the motivations of

European

explorers

and conquerors, drawing on passages in

theirjournalsthathistorianseitherignore

or radically reinterpret.

He

is also candid

about the problems and inconsistencies

of the

Spanish,

showing that

they

were

sinnersand hadvaried

motivation,

such

as

wealth, fame, and power. But he

correctly insists that their Christian

convictions

mustalso be taken seriously.

The

book begins with excellent

background chapters on the Norseman

and Islam. Eidsmoe describesthefaith of

new convert Leif Ericsson who,

commissionedby the king of Norway to

evangelize Greenland, stumbled unto

America. The struggle between

Christianity and paganism within the

Viking

community is

fascinating, as is

the history of

the

church in Greenland.

Find out what Greenlanders used in

place

of wine in communion and the

unique

way Mrs

. Eric the Red tried to

conven her husband.

The

mainchallenge to Christianity at

the time ofColumbus' birth was Islam,

an

aggressive,

militaristic religion

pledged

to world domination. In 1492 Spain

scored a decisive victory of

Mohammadanism, taking the Moorish

stronghold at Granada, and became the

bastion of

ctUSading

Christianity.

Columbus' voyage

was

inspired by

this crusading spirit. Sailing west in

1492,

he hoped to outllank Muslims in

the east. He earmarked gold discovered

on

the

voyage for recapturingJerusalem.

A devout Christian, Columbus was

concerned about the spirirual condition

of "Indians" In the Caribbean and

encouraged

their

evangelization.

MostinterestingisthewayColumbuS

saw his work

fitting

into God's plan. He

believed

that the Lord had shown him

the way

to

America.

He

made much of

hisname, Christopher(mearting"Christ

bearer"),andbelievedhisvoyagesfulfilled

the prophecy of Isaiah (e.g., Is 49:6).

Eidsmoe does anexcellent jobofshowing

Columbusasasincereandcourageous-

iftanenandsomewhat driven-Medieval

Christian.

Cortez

was

the

same

type

of man.

Despite his reputation

as

a blood-thirsty

conquistador, Conez

evangelized

and

sought friendly relations with the tribes

he encountered. His conquest

was

successful largely because he made

alliances with oppressed Indians who

CONrlNUEDON P GE 4

November,

992

THE COUNSEL ofChalcedon 7