Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, met his death as a result of liver cancer. Diagnosed with "an aggressive form of the disease'' on Good Friday of last year, Dr. Boice eventually succumbed on June 15, 2000.

But the impact of his godly life and scholarly mind live on in the lives of those whom he influenced as a result of the numerous books he penned during thirty years of fruitful, pastoral ministry.

Yet of all the books he authored, none may end up having a greater impact upon the evangelical community than his posthumous offering "Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace''? For within its pages, Boice issues a clarion call to evangelicals to repent of their capitulation to the spirit of the age and return to the proclamation of the five great doctrinal truths that gave rise to the Protestant Reformation.

"Without these five confessional statements -- Scripture alone, Christ alone, grace alone, faith alone and glory to God alone -- we do not have a true church and certainly not one that will survive for very long,'' Boice argues.

"For how can any church be a true and faithful church if it does not stand for Scripture alone, is not committed to a biblical gospel, and does not exits for God's glory? A church without these convictions has ceased to be a true church, whatever else it may be.'' According to Boice, the evidence of evangelicalism worldliness is characterised by its "pursuing of the world's wisdom, embracing of the world's theology, following of the world's agenda and employing of the world's methods''.

The tragic result of such compromise is the lost of the gospel's effectiveness to transform lives and bring glory to the God in the process. Recalling a time when evangelicals stood uncompromisingly against the rampant tide of liberalism that was rearing its head within many mainline denominations, Boice claims that evangelicals have now been unwittingly seduced by the world's theology.

"Like the liberals before us, evangelicals use the Bible's words but give them new meaning, pouring bad secular content into spiritual terminology,'' he asserts. "We live in a therapeutic age now. So evangelicals have recast their theology in psychiatric terms. Sin has become dysfunctional behaviour.

Salvation is self-esteem or wholeness. Jesus is more of an example for right living than our Saviour from sin and God's wrath. Sunday by Sunday people are told how to have happy marriages and raise nice children, but not how to get right with God.'' Boice maintains that the evangelical church has also been taken captive by the world's methods. "Evangelicals have become like liberals in this area too,'' he argues. "How else are we to explain the emphasis so many place on numerical growth, large physical plants and money? Or that so many pastors tone down the hard edges of biblical truth in order to attract greater numbers to their services? Or that we major in entertainment? Or that so many support a National Association of Evangelicals lobby in Washington? Or that we have created action groups to advance specific legislation?'' Boice is also scathing in his criticism of the Christian Reconstructionist movement that proposes the enforcement of Christian standards of morality on society by political means. Having lost faith in the power of the gospel to transform lives, Boice asserts that evangelicals have sought power and influence through the political process. "Evangelicals speak of `taking back America', `fighting for the country's soul', `reclaiming the United States for Christ.' How? By electing Christian presidents, congressmen, and senators, lobbying for conservative judges, taking over power structures, and imposing our Christian standard of morality on the rest of the nation by law. But we ought to ask: Was America ever really a Christian nation? Does law produce morality? Will any country ever be anything other than man's city? Is there really an American soul to be redeemed or fought over?'' In order to remedy this unfortunate state of affairs, Boice proposes that evangelicals return to the proclamation of the Biblical Gospel, which is the power of God to save everyone who believes it. "We must recover the historic Christian faith,'' Boice maintains. "This will require the serious study of the Bible, and for some it will involve a radical reordering of their entire perspectives, not to mention the way they have been going about their Christian work. For all, it will mean a new reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit to work through the teaching and preaching of God's Word, rather than a frantic search for some tantalising new methodology to persuade unbelievers to attend and join our churches.'' While recognising that the task to recapture evangelicalism for the glory of God is a daunting one, Boice is confident that this can be accomplished. He takes courage from the influence that the Reformers had in their day. "Can we have that power again in our day? We can,'' he affirms confidently. "But only if we hold to the full-orbed Reformation gospel and do not compromise with the culture around us, as we have been doing.

Gospel of grace "If we hold to these doctrines, our churches and those we influence will grow stronger, while other churches go the way of the liberals before us, not vanishing entirely but becoming increasingly insignificant as an effective religious force.'' Lane T. Dennis, President of Crossway Books which has recently released the book, offers this fitting tribute to Dr. Boice in the Publisher's Foreword.

"We would do well then to hear and heed this last message from Dr. Boice -- a prophetic word to us, but equally a message of confident hope in the power of the gospel. As Dr. Boice wrote in the closing words of the book: "There are times in history when it takes a thousand voices to be heard as one voice. But there are other times, like our own, when one voice can ring forth as a thousand. So let's get on with our calling, and let those who say they know God show they actually do -- for his glory and for the good of all.'' With his prophetic call to the evangelical church in this hour, Dr.Boice has proven the power of the old adage that "he, being dead, yet speaks''.

Hopefully, evangelicals will heed the admonitions of this faithful and courageous preacher and defender of the faith who gave his life in the service of the God he truly loved and adored.

State of grace: Dr. James Boice