Set Apart: Discovering Personal Victory Through Holiness

Long misrepresented by Satan as a regimen of dull abstemiousness, holiness is actually an""irresistible"" lifestyle, according to this earnest but somewhat lackluster work of Christian exhortation. Wilkinson, author of The Prayer of Jabez, is a salvation-through-grace-not-works absolutist, but he allows that there are steps Christians can take to be more holy and thereby express their appreciation for Christ's sacrifice. The book is a blend of sober moral philosophy, evangelical dogma and motivational strategies. Wilkinson condemns outward displays of holiness without a pure heart as hypocrisy, and admonishes readers to stop blaming external enticements for their transgressions, but he also provides""temptability quotient"" charts to alert us when physical or emotional stress makes the flesh weak. His approach plays to a male audience similar to the Christian men's groups he leads; things like pornography and revealing blouses head the list of obstacles to holiness. A long chapter on sexual morality decries non-marital sex and""anything done by yourself for the purpose of sexual arousal,"" right down to""lustful thoughts""; to compensate, he sternly reminds spouses (read: wives) that God requires them to satisfy their partners, warning that""if you withhold your body when your partner seeks sex, it is Biblical fraud."" Once marriage has removed the occasion for sin, the upside of holiness is an equally dutiful program of Bible-reading, fasting and rigorously scheduled prayer. Wilkinson wants to reposition holiness as something found""riding around in trucks, wearing boots and working nine-to-five,"" but few new believers may be called to his rather stolid exposition of it.