One in a Thousand

In Job 33:22-24 we read of a man who is lost. He is drawing near to death. the funeral undertakers are not far away. The angels of death are ready to remove this list soul to hell. Suddenly a messenger intervenes. It is a visitor who comes to the bedside of this sick man. This messenger tells him the way of salvation. He describes a ransom that has been made for sinners and proclaims the gift of eternal life for every repentant believing soul. Hope is kindled in the dying man. He believes the good news of salvation. He embraces the Saviour. His physical condition begins to improve. His life is spared. His soul is saved. As Matthew Henry puts it, 'These joyful tidings delivered to him by God's messenger shall revive his spirit, and by degrees restore his former health and vigour.' But who is the kind visitor who has brought glad tidings? Who is this man of knowledge who cares for souls? He is described as 'One in a Thousand'.

'This book is a gem. It is a distillation of a life-time’s experience in the pastoral ministry and passion for training pastors. It should be prescribed reading in every seminary preparing men for ministry. He begins with an explanatory chapter: ‘What is a Pastor?’ Every page is saturated with Scripture: the first two of the 8 biographical sketches making up the body of the book are straight from the Bible: the Chief Shepherd, the Compassionate Servant described in Isaiah, and Paul, the pastoral theologian.The remainder are selected robustly to display essential characteris-tics of a biblical pastor, from the Reformation to the 21st century. This is inspirational writing to encourage men labouring faithfully, wheth-er in townships of Africa or great cities of Europe or America. Erroll writes in a pithy style with short sentences giving the whole book a momentum which grips the reader.'
Irving Steggles, Pastor Birchleigh Baptist Church, South Africa, Chairman of the Board of the London Theological Seminary and Director of African Pastors Conferences.

'A God-sent preacher is ‘one among a thousand’. Such men are sore-ly needed today. They are men who build up God’s Church by solid biblical preaching, by godly pastoral affection and by constant prayer-fulness. Erroll Hulse conducts us through a gallery of well-selected preachers from Paul and Luther down to men of recent times. This is a well-written book with a message for us all today. It deserves to be widely read by all who love God’s cause.'
Maurice Roberts, minister in the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing), Inverness, Scotland.

The front cover picture shows the Wartburg Castle, where Luther was protected from his enemies while he completed his translation of the Bible into German.