While I was attending Grace Theological Seminary in the mid to late 1970s, I would procure taped messages from Believers Chapel in Dallas, Texas. Like a number of my ThM colleagues at Grace, I was initially mesmerized by the messages of the late Dr. S. Lewis Johnson, who died on January 28, 2004. While S. Lewis Johnson’s messages and articles had a significant influence on my theological development, I began listening in the late 1970s to some tapes by another great teacher at Believer’s Chapel, C. Samuel Storms, who had joined the pastoral staff of Believer’s Chapel in 1977. While listening to Storms teaching ministry in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I bought two books that I still recommend to this day for my seminary students: Chosen for Life and The Grandeur of God. When I read both of these books, not only was I stimulated in theological development but I was moved to worship.

What I have always admired about Storms is that he is able to take theological truth and to clearly explicate it for the average Christian. This is a skill that all Bible teachers should seek to emulate. However, as much as I admire his ability to articulate some biblical truth, I was surprised when I heard in the early 1990s that Dr. Storms had become involved with the Third Wave, or the Signs and Wonders movement, lead by Peter Wagner (see his book The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit). Since I have followed Storms ministry from a distance for a number of years, I did not have clarity about some of his other beliefs on subjects such as eschatology and cosmology (for a quick glimpse of the sources that have influenced Storms, see his interview on April 12, 2006 by Adrian Warnock).

If you would like to know more about Dr. C. Samuel Storms’ theology, you should check out a post from his blog on December 6 entitled “What’s Your Theology?” As he states in his opening paragraph: “On numerous occasions I’ve had people ask me about my theological convictions, most likely because I appear to be an odd mix of views that cannot be found in any one confession of faith or reduced to a single label, system, or denomination.” If you are anything like me, I have wondered about this since the late 1980s when I heard that he had some charismatic leanings. Needless to say, his opening paragraph arrested my attention in such a way that I had to read the whole post. In a way that is typical of Storms, he clearly explains his core theology. On the one hand, I do not agree with his views on theological issues, such as non-cessationism, amillennial eschatology, and old earth creationism. On the other hand, I am glad that he clearly articulates his basic theological beliefs for all to see and am grateful for his commitment to and commendable ability in articulating an orthodox view of God and a God-centered soteriology. Storms’ “What’s Your Theology” provides clarifying insight about his core beliefs (for a list of his published material, see his Published Writings).

I have been following Mitt Romney’s campaign with interest because he is a Mormon and he has positively changed from a pro-choice view of abortion to a pro-life stance, with this occurring over the last two years. His “Religion Speech” yesterday at the George Bush library was designed to confront suspicions about his Mormon background. There have been numerous blog posts about this speech. For starters with running down various blog links, I recommend that you check out Justin Taylor’s Between Two Worlds.