Mighty to Save

Author Clifford Pond is associated with Grace Baptist Mission, which indicates that he would be of the ‘Reformed’ school of writers. With this in mind, there are, as one would expect, some elements of ‘five point Calvinism’. The book traces the movement of God in salvation from man’s lost condition, through the work of God in Christ, and on to the results of that work and the assurance which comes from taking God at His word. However, the book is a well balanced and lucid discourse, with appropriate examples and illustrations from personal experience and everyday life. These make the book eminently readable for believers from early teens and upwards. The gospel element also provides helpful material for those who are seeking salvation. The chapters, which are short and to the point, all close with a brief but challenging summary under the heading ‘think of this’. The author’s own stated aim is to ‘make believers aware of God’s great work in saving them from sin, and enabling them to live to please Him’. There is every reason to expect that this aim will be achieved for many who read this book.

Unusually, for writers from a ‘Reformed’ background, the scripture quotations are from the NIV. For those readers who are not familiar with this translation, some of the quotations are not instantly recognizable. However, this apart, the book has much to commend it.