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Why Haven’t Written Many Books, But Have Written Much Online
Books
Sound Music or Sounding Brass
In 1996, I wrote the book, Sound Music or Sounding Brass: The Issue of Biblically Godly Music. I won’t get into the details as to why I wrote it, but that was my first book. After writing it, I found out that for me writing a book was the easy part. What was hard was laying out and printing a book and then selling it. Writing, I would judge, was thirty percent of a book, and the rest of it at least seventy percent. Despite that, I took on a bigger project for book number two.
Thou Shalt Keep Them
Since writing a book was easy, but publishing it was hard, I took a different tact for book number two, first published in 2003. Through the years of my life, I had read historical Baptist biblical books written by numbers of different pastors. I believed I should write a biblical theology of the perfect preservation of scripture. However, I planned on recruiting Baptist pastors to write the book with me as the editor. This group of men and I wrote the book, Thou Shalt Keep Them. I wrote several chapters and edited the whole book, now in its second edition.
When you have several authors, you also get several promoters. Men, who write in the book, will help sell the book. If you don’t have a network for selling books, like most independent Baptists do not, you’ll have a hard time getting the book out there for people to read. That is why you wrote it, right? It isn’t to say, “I have a book.”
Originally the plan was to write a second volume of Thou Shalt Keep Them (TSKT) that would explain the historical aspect of preservation, making application of the preservation passages. It would answer, how was the teaching fulfilled? I’ve written a lot about that here at the blog. The second book, which could still occur, would add some chapters on biblical passages addressing the preservation of scripture and then the realization of God’s promises of preservation through history. It would explain how preservation of God’s Word occurred. TSKT has sold more than any of my books.
A Pure Church
Not too long afterwards, our church in California started a conference, The Word of Truth Conference. Men would come and every year, mostly several years, preach on a particular theme. What was unique about the conference was that the preachers would also write an accompanying chapter for a book. After three years of the conference and another year of writing and editing, in 2012 our church produced the book, A Pure Church: A Biblical Theology of Ecclesiastical Separation.
Like Thou Shalt Keep Them, A Pure Church dealt with the major or classic passages on scriptural topic or a historical doctrine from the Bible. It was written over a period of three years, then edited, formatted, printed, and then sold. It is an important work on the doctrine of ecclesiastical separation.
Other Books
In 1991, before I ever wrote my first book, I wrote a discipleship manual for our church, entitled, Disciplines for Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. We never published it, just copied it on a copy machine. It is a thirty week discipleship with lessons and homework for the thirty chapters. A couple of years ago, we published that discipleship book and its teacher edition to use for discipling new saints in Christ. It is available to buy and use for anyone who wants it (write to here to get it).
The Word of Truth Conference dealt with three other doctrines: Apostasy, the Gospel, and then Sanctification. Men finished all the chapters on apostasy, but the book wasn’t finished. All of the men involved did not complete their chapters. I, however, put all of my chapters into a book format, and have a book ready to print and distribute. It is about one hundred pages and entitled, Lying Vanities. It is not yet published (I’ll let you know if and when).
Another book that I finished writing several years ago, maybe a decade, and formatted for a book, is Fashion Statement: A Biblical Theology of Dress or Appearance. It is a 204 page book that deals with six different principles of dress or appearance. It also has not been published. Our church finished all the chapters for a book on the Gospel, entitled, The One, True Gospel, but it isn’t published either despite a lot of effort. It’s over 300 pages on the gospel. Many chapters were written on sanctification for a book on that subject too, but not finished and not published.
This Blog
Three books that I’ve written are out and I have not continued the effort necessary to see more books published. Why? Since 2005, I have written online almost every week, usually twice a week and sometimes more. I do that here at this blog, What Is Truth?
When I push the publish button on a blog post, it’s done. That 70 percent part is over. Instantly people can read all over the world. Over a thousand a day click on this blog. Every day on average, over 1,000. For one book, just one, I get an order, print it, retrieve an envelope I paid for, address it, get the book from the box, put it in and then seal the envelope, drive to the post office, and pay for shipping of that book to somewhere. For every book, rinse and repeat. Over and over.
I put in time writing here. People then read. It’s free here. That’s true, but I don’t write to make any money. If I was going to write to make money, I would write books that people wanted to read. I could do that, that is, write fiction. It is not my goal to make money from writing. For all these reasons and more, I put my time into writing online, because it is a better use of my time. It’s hard to justify the writing of books for me. I don’t anticipate my book topics becoming bestsellers.
Reasoning for the Blog Over Books
Don’t get me wrong. I’ll probably still publish some books. Maybe you could help motivate me to do that. People have called wanting the other books that are not yet published. I understand the happiness of having a hard copy, pages in the hand, and turning. Even if you don’t read, you look at the shelf and there it is with all the other books. You own that book. I believe I have far, far more impact writing here for free than putting out hard copies of books. It’s easier for me and leaves me more time.
I don’t like the seventy percent part of writing, the legwork, the busy work. Some people have had me edit their books. I can edit. It’s good to have an editor. It is one of the hardest things to do, edit a book, especially someone else’s writing. You’ve got to believe in and respect that person to spend that time. Most people don’t want editing. When you do it, it is a sort of thankless job. That is part of the process of getting books out too. It is difficult, and I don’t know if I want to spend my time like that.
At this point, I could have published many, many books, when you consider all the writing I’ve done here on this blog. I believe this is better time spent for me in the area of writing. People read here. I put in far less time writing here than I would if I had to do the whole publication process, which is very difficult. I’m open to arguments against what I’m saying. Maybe you could persuade me.
Announcement for and Thanks to Thomas Ross on What Is Truth Blog
Biography
Many years ago I met Thomas Ross as a young man. My wife and I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area two weeks after we married in August of 1987. Thomas grew up in San Francisco with a single mother. We came into contact when he was still college age. He had already received Christ, graduated from University of California at Berkeley at the age of 19, and was training to serve the Lord by attending Fairhaven Baptist College (read his testimony tract, his story in html, and his resume).
Thomas Ross came back to the San Francisco Bay Area and served with and at the church I started, Bethel Baptist Church, for several years. I acted as a proxy father to him in his betrothal and marriage to Heather Roberts and stood as his best man in his wedding. He and Heather settled in Wisconsin to minister at Muckwonago Baptist Church under her father, Rhon Roberts, for many years before coming back to California in 2020 after my wife, parents, and I moved to Oregon to start Jackson County Baptist Church in Medford.
What Is Truth and Faithsaves.net
I began What Is Truth? Opinion Based Upon the Bible (also kentbrandenburg.blogspot.com and kentbrandenburg.com) in 2005 and Thomas joined me in 2012 when we were at the old blog address. He started writing or publishing every Friday. As many of you reading here know, I normally write on Mondays and Wednesdays and he writes or publishes here on Fridays. Thomas and I write with different styles and some different content, but we believe essentially the same. We’re almost identical in our belief and practice.
Thomas also has his own website, faithsaves.net, with a wealth of material mainly written by him. I would assess that among independent Baptists almost no one has published as much biblical, scholarly material as Thomas Ross. It is also very helpful, practical, and free at his site. It is a great service to God and the faith and conduct of true Christians and New Testament churches.
Doctrine of Sanctification and Debates
No one in evangelicalism, I would safely say, has done as much work on the doctrine of sanctification. The material by Thomas Ross on biblical sanctification surpasses anything else I have seen. No one knows this subject better than he. I point especially to his one thousand plus pages in his PhD dissertation. The title is The Doctrine of Sanctification: An Exegetical Examination, with Application, in Biblical, Historic Baptist Perspective, to which is Appended a Historical, Exegetical, and Elenctic Evaluation of Influential Errors, Particularly the Keswick Theology (free pdf of it).
In recent years, Thomas began doing scholarly debates. He has taught college and seminary classes and posted them free at his youtube channel. He debates high level scholars on the other side with biblical and historical arguments on many different topics. I was there for the first of his debates in 2005 against Church of Christ foe, Larry Hafley, on the subject of baptismal regeneration. Out of it came his book, Heaven Only for the Baptized? The Gospel of Christ vs. Pardon through Baptism. It is the best book available against baptismal regeneration, a false doctrine that has damned millions to Hell.
Evangelism
Filling a great need in churches, Thomas wrote several evangelistic Bible studies, again available for free at his website. You can also watch them on his youtube channel. He also wrote several various tracts and pamphlets for the purpose of doing spiritual warfare with different strongholds against the true gospel.
No one that I have ever known or met is more evangelistic than Thomas Ross. As scholarly and well-learned as he is and as hard as he worked to become like this, nearly every day he either preaches the gospel to someone or gives one or multiple gospel tracts to people. When he was much younger, I would stop at a gas station to get gas. By the time I left the station, Thomas had given a gospel tract to everyone at the station. If he is on public transportation, someone on the bus or train will probably hear the gospel from him before he arrives at his destination.
I could write many more positive paragraphs about Thomas. However, I am writing this post to announce that Thomas is leaving the What Is Truth blog and writing here with me for the foreseeable future. I will still host his posts here and hopefully edit the format of all of his, so that they become easier to read. You may have noticed that he has not published here for a few weeks. You can still read his writings that will continue to accumulate at faithsaves.net.
Future for Thomas Ross
What are the future plans of Thomas Ross? The Bible says: “teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). For quite a while, Thomas has pondered if he should keep writing on the blog or use that time, instead, for other projects for God’s work. He is not done with writing, Lord willing, but he now has other projects to which he wants to devote himself.
One,
Thomas wants to finish his dissertation on the Biblical doctrine of sanctification. He is almost done, but he needs to finally finish. You can still click on the link above to get everything he did so far.
Two,
Brother Ross wants to write a multi-volume historic Baptist systematic theology. He would rather stand before Christ with this done, but fewer blog posts written, than more blog posts, but that work not completed. You can check faithsaves.net at least on the first and fifteenth of each month to see what is new there from him. He also intends to keep adding useful material on his KJB1611 YouTube channel and his KJBIBLE1611 Rumble channel. You can and should subscribe to those and check in regularly if you are not already doing that.
Three,
Thomas Ross needs to prepare college and seminary classes that need to get done.
Four,
Thomas wants to do some more debates. Debating James White, or Dan Barker, or Shabir Ally, or Douglas Jacoby requires proper preparation, which can be very time-intensive.
Last,
Lord-willing, still living in San Francisco, CA and taking care of his dear mother, Thomas and Heather want to evangelize with the goal of helping an independent Baptist church start there.
All these above goals will take far more time than what Thomas has to do them even without writing here on Fridays. He will move on from here from henceforth. Please pray for him. You can contact him directly at his website — that’s the easiest way.
Conclusion
I would contend that Thomas Ross is perhaps the greatest scholar among independent Baptists. Scholarship-wise he is on the level with any evangelical scholar. This is not his talking, but my saying this. He’s never said anything like this to me. I don’t believe anyone has worked harder or committed more to learning scripture than him either. He continues at an incredible pace, especially with his circumstances. He does it in relative anonymity to maintain his convictions and stand.
With his abilities and work ethic, if Thomas Ross were an evangelical or conservative evangelical, he could make a living teaching in some seminary and then writing books. He could be very well known and a feather in the cap of graduate schools across the country. He chose not to do that. His convictions and commitment to his belief and practice excluded him from that. Not many men would do that. Almost no one, maybe no one, has done that. I commend him for that sacrifice. For many years, he accomplishes what he does by working as a security guard and then economizing as efficiently as anyone with whatever funds he gets.
No doubt, Thomas wishes a loving goodbye to his readers on the blog. He would be glad to write that himself, but I chose to wrap up his time here with my thoughts about him. Know that he wishes you good will and blessing as he and you move into what God has for him and you.
So, I bid Thomas Ross a fond adieu here at my blog. Farewell to him to his future life and endeavors.
Suzerain-Vassal Treaties & the Books of Moses: Joshua Berman
I had the privilege of interviewing Jewish scholar Dr. Joshua Berman, professor of Hebrew Bible at Bar-Illan University in Israel, on the fact that the books of Moses, the Pentateuch, follow the late second Millennium BC format of a suzerain-vassal treaty. This fact strongly supports the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, and, hence, the existence of genuine and unavoidable predictive prophecy in the Bible, and, thus, the Bible’s Divine authorship. Jehovah, the God of Israel, is the suzerain or great King, and Israel is the vassal, the subordinate dependent on the suzerain.
When my wife and I visited Egypt last year as part of a faculty tour of Egypt led by evangelical scholar James Hoffmeier, we had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Berman in Luxor, Egypt, on the issue of suzerain-vassal treaties (he prefers to be called “Joshua.”) Joshua Berman explains the issue quite clearly and effectively, so if you find the terminology “suzerain vassal treaty” scary, watch the video below of the interview, and I suspect you will both understand the issue and see the value of it for Christian apologetics.
I have posted about apologetics videos recorded on this trip to Egypt in previous posts on this blog, such as this one on the famous Merneptah Stele.
Ironically, when I debated president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Dan Barker, on the Old Testament, Mr. Barker claimed that “The Israelis over in Israel … the archaeologists are throwing up their hands saying, ‘No, there’s nothing. None of these stories has any archaeological evidence at all.’” Barker’s assertion was always ridiculous, as was demonstrated within the debate itself, but the interview with Dr. Berman provides even more evidence for the foolishness of Mr. Barker’s argument.
After the interview with Dr. Joshua Berman, other scholars, including Kenneth Kitchen (On the Reliability of the Old Testament), James Hoffmeier (The Archaeology of the Bible), and Meredith Kline (Treaty of the Great King: The Covenant Structure of Deuteronomy) are also quoted. You can learn more about archaeological evidence for the Old Testament here.
So please watch the video below. You can watch the embed below, or view it on faithsaves.net here, or on Rumble by clicking here, or on YouTube by clicking here.
–TDR
Insightful Books, part 2 of 2
Two weeks ago I provided a list of insightful books by well known authors on subjects that might be of interest to readers of this blog. I supply some further resources for your reading pleasure below. Again, feel free to add some comparable titles of interest in the comment section.
Modern English Bible Versions by Gnocer Tanty
Islamic Jihad: Head-Turning Practices by Cho P. Emoff
Infant Baptism by Sprin K. Lem
Evangelicalism Today by Stan F. O’Rnothin
Keswick Theology by Paz Ivity
Ethics: Hard Choices, by Wong R. White
Charismatic Healing by Dozon Wurk
Word of Faith Pentecostalism by A. P. O’Stacy
Speak in Tongues: A Learner’s Guide, by Shalbalauawala Simbakulawakawaka BlabaBlahbaBlubaBlaba
Papal Doctrine by Nunin Fa Lible
Mormonism by Bus M. Burns
The Watchtower Society by Cul Tic
The Goal of the State University by Bray N. Washing
Chinese Fast Food: Is Gluttony A Danger? by E. Tmo Fu
The Key to Biblical Church Growth by Evan G. Lizm
Independent Baptists: A History, by Stanford E. Troot
May these noteworthy volumes by leading authorities on their subjects be a benefit to you.
Insightful Books, part 1 of 2
I have listed below a small bibliography of some interesting and insightful books on a variety of mainly religious themes. While it is generally unwise to judge a book by its cover, the books below can indeed by judged by the distinguished reputations of their authors, many of whom, as one can see from their names, especially if one reads them aloud, are international scholars of high repute.
Lord willing, I will supply a few more of these in a few weeks in an upcoming post. If you have any comparable books to recommend, please feel free to supply their names in the comment section.
Roman Catholicism by I. D. O’Latry
Transubstantiation by Istil Bred
Islam: Religion of Peace by Gno Wei
Jihad: A History by Blough M. Upp
Is Anglicanism Apostate? by Sir Tanley
The New Evangelicalism by Vichy Vashey
Contemporary Christian Music Practices by Kray Z.
Ellen White: A Life by Fals P. Rofet
Put Your Child in Public School by R. U. Nutts
How To Make Your Spouse Happy by Luv Yu
What Should We Do With the Bible? by Obei Itall
Means to Personal Growth: How I Grow as a Person
We’re all going to die and personal growth will then end. At what point does personal growth stop? The older you get, the less years you have left, and maybe it doesn’t matter any more. I don’t know how much time I have left. It could be twenty years. It could be twenty seconds.
Cooperation with God’s Working
Bible Reading
Prayer
Fellowship
Practice
Writing
Reading
Free Logos & Accordance Books!
Free books with Logos and Accordance Bible software–great! I own–and use regularly–both Logos and Accordance Bible software. I believe Accordance has superior resources for detailed exegetical study of Scripture in the original languages, so I use mainly Accordance for my study of the Bible itself, whether for my own devotional reading, for sermons and for teaching, and so on. I also use Accordance in case I need to look a word up while hearing the great expository preaching at Bethel Baptist Church. I use Logos for most of my commentaries and reference tools, because, in my opinion, the books are easier to read and reference in Logos. Logos also has a superior read-aloud feature, so I can listen to practically every book I have in my Logos library read aloud to me while I am doing errands, driving, and so on.
You can regularly get free books with both Accordance and Logos. To get free books on Accordance, sign up here for their mailing list where they tell you about their free books. Make sure you read down or at least scroll down to the end of their emails, as they sometimes put the free books at the bottom, to get you to read the whole thing. There are several free books you can get from Logos each month. Click here to find out about the Logos free book of the month. You can also get on their mailing list so that they tell you each month about the free book. Logos has a Catholic division called Verbum which also offers a free book every month; you can get this month’s free book and sign up to get notified each month here. Sometimes the Catholic free books are idolatrous garbage, since Catholicism is an evil false religion, but other times they are useful works by patristic writers or some other worthwhile volume (at least for free!). Logos also offer free e-books that are not searchable in the same way their Logos and Verbum resources are; I sometimes get those for free as well, although I have not found them especially helpful.
Maybe you say, “I don’t own Accordance or Logos. Why should I get free books from them?” You can get the free books and use them even if you never buy anything with Accordance or Logos. For example, sometimes Logos has given away expensive and very useful commentaries as their free book of the month. (Other months the books are not as useful, but the price is still right.) You can open and read the free books within the Accordance or Logos laptop/desktop or phone apps even if you never buy a Logos or Accordance base package. What is more, if you ever do buy an Accordance or Logos base package, you don’t have to pay for what you already own, so if you have gotten a lot of books for free already, then you are also getting a discount on whatever base package you eventually purchase. (That’s another reason I take the free Catholic book each month as well as the free Christian/non-Catholic one; if they throw the Catholic book into a base package I end up buying later, I am paying less for the base package.)
Why do Accordance and Logos give away free books? They do it because they think you will eventually buy something from them if you sign up. With the free books, they also tell you about discounts on other books in order to get you to buy them. It probably works, too; if you get enough free books, you probably will eventually buy a base package. But that wouldn’t be too bad–both Accordance and Logos Bible software base packages are very useful for studying God’s holy Word. There are definitely worse things to spend money on.
–TDR
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