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I've read several of Stam's books and brochures from the Berean Bible Society {link to their website}. His Things That Differ attempts to cover the basics of dispensationalism, but is for me not so easily accessible. His 4-volume Acts Dispensationally Considered is perhaps the book that got me to reconsider the theology I'd learned from my father (Primarily because, early on, it considered and provided a scriptural counterweight to my father's assertion that the Eleven were mistaken in choosing Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot. Dad argues that Paul was God's choice as the replacement.)
Stam's best, in my opinion, is The Controversy because it combines autobiography and theology, history and controversy, making a highly readable book. He writes:
In listening to, and observing, the men of God [who preached at my father's church] it was thrilling beyond words to see the spiritual oneness of believers everywhere in Christ, yet I could not help noticing that practically they were not one, for they were far from united in teaching and practice. The greatest divider of all, I soon became convinced, was water baptism. Fundamental, evangelical believers were -- as they remain today -- sadly confused and divided over this issue, yet each held tenaciously to his particular view. It was largely through hearing the messages and listening to the conversations of great men of God who did subscribe to water baptism for this dispensation [though, Stam footnotes here, in sharp disagreement as to who should be baptized and how and why] that I first came to realize the Paul's apostleship was wholly distinct from that of the twelve and that water baptism has no place whatever in "the dispensation of the grace of God."[pages 16-17, 103, 150, 238-239, 275]The Church needs... once more, to be delivered from the error that "the words of our Lord Jesus Christ," are those only which are emphasized in the "Red Letter New Testament."
You must know that the Old Testament (Covenant) was not put away by King James at Malachi 4:6, but by Christ at Calvary, and even this was not historically done until some time later (See I Tim. 2:6; Heb. 8:13).
Water baptism has doubtless been the subject over which most of the difficulty has arisen but the so-called "great commission," the distinctive character of Paul's message and ministry, the mystery of the one Body and other truths are all involved and it is difficult to keep away from too many Bible subjects at a Bible Institute! Therefore class discussion on the subject of baptism is generally discouraged if not forbidden.
Where are the Bible teachers of yesterday? They are vanishing fast. And the pastors: more and more they speak only in generalities. They dare not be more specific. More and more their sermons are "devotional" and "inspirational" while their hearers long for food and light from the Word... Indeed, the feeling it quote prevalent that missionaries and evangelists need not be proficient in doctrine -- their business is to win souls!
It was the teachings of such men as Ironside, [Arno C.] Gaebelein, [Lewis Sperry] Chafer, Haldeman, Pettingill, Newell, Ottman, and Gray that led us to the position we now hold. We saw that their dispensationalism, as a system of interpretation, was sound, but were increasingly convinced that their failure to see the absolute distinctiveness of Paul's apostleship lay at the root of their many doctrinal differences.
CONCLUSION: This is for those interested in meat, not milk. I recommend it.
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Updated May 15, 1997