I’m not sure how to condense so many amazing and wonderful facts and details about this dynamic man. This is a very well written biography, and almost every stage of his life is noteworthy. Many of us are enjoying his “Dust to Glory” series at the Gathering on Tuesday evenings. But how many of us are aware that he wrote over 100 books, 32 Crucial Questions Booklet Series, oversaw 26 Ligonier National Conferences, led various tours to the Holy Land, Britain & Scotland, Luther’s Germany and Calvin’s Geneva?
He founded Ligonier Ministries (1971), and the Reformation Bible College (2011), and was professor of systematic theology at the Reformed Theological Seminary (1982), wrote hymns and worked on 2 CD hymn projects.
His circle of acquaintances and friends is immense. We are not surprised that he knew: Billy Graham, Dr John Gerstner, James M. Boice, J. I. Packer, Van Til, D. Martin Jones, D. James Kennedy, Bill Hybels, Tim Keller (Sproul officiated at his wedding) and Chuck Colton. He played a game of golf with Alice Cooper (who attended a conference in San Diego), Gene Hackman (during the filming of “Mississippi Burning”), and was thanked in the liner notes of a Van Halen album. Christopher Walker quoted him in the 1995 movie, “The Addiction”- ‘We are not sinners because we sin, but we sin because we are sinners. I have used this quote in my Sunday School classes, but didn’t know who said it!
God had an amazing encounter with Sproul while at Westminster College. One evening he felt COMPELLED to walk to the chapel around midnight (1958). At first, he felt as if he were all alone, then suddenly felt another presence. On his knees, he felt both a dreadful fear, and yet an overwhelming sense of peace. “…I had a sudden epiphany of the grandeur, of the otherness, of God.” This moment began his lifelong pursuit of the holiness of God. > God is holy…We are not…We need a substitute.
Before the age of 30, he had gone as far as possible within the seminary system. Now God led him to not stay within the ‘ivory tower’ of academia, but to reach out and connect with students. He absolutely loved talking with young people and laypeople. This is why “Dust to Glory” is such a great series- you don’t have to be theologically trained; you just need to want to know God.
There is much, much more in this book: Sproul’s views on different issues of the Church over the past 50 years, the inerrancy of the Bible, the Holiness of God, knowing truths of the Christian faith and much more.
If you are interested in reading this wonderful book (Stephen Nichols is with Ligonier), you can find it at Christianbooks.com, Amazon, or Lifeway.
Reviewed by Jo-Ann Beck