AMERICA is the paradise of heterodoxy. All sorts of wild, strange and even abominable religions flourish unchecked, side by side, and generally without violent collision. The wild dreams of the fervid Oriental imagination; the vague shadowings of Gothic mysticism; the coarse materialism of French infidelity, and the ideal fancies of Greek and Asiatic; all the errors and worn out theories of the Old World, of schisms in the early Church, the monkish age and the rationalistic period, find here a free air, a fertile soil, a more congenial clime and a second native country, as it were, in which new and more luxuriant growths spring rapidly from the old and half dead stocks of pseudo-theology. — J.H. Beadle, from the Preface of Life in Utah; or, the Mysteries and Crimes of Mormonism being an expose of the secret rites and ceremonies of the Latter Day Saints, with a full and authentic history of polygamy and the Mormon sect from its origin to the present time (1870)
After all it is those who have a deep and real inner life who are best able to deal with the irritating details of outer life. — Evelyn Underhill
A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true. — Martin Luther King, Jr.
Christ summarized the perfect and holy law in two great commandments. One reason He could do this is because the full version, given in multiple commandments, is a unified whole. It is essentially "love's manual." Love is keeping the commandments of the God.
The linking of the Christian church with the ruling political regime is not essential to the life and fruitfulness of Christian faith. On the contrary, such linking has more often proven to corrupt the essential spirit of Christ, who typically uses the weak things of the world to shame the strong (1 Corinthians 1:27), and whose life-saving weapons do not consist in media monopolies, commanding wealth, or civil laws. — John Piper
Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. — G.K. Chesterton
A fetus isn't a potential child, but a child full of potential. — Pastor Robert Arendale
...Darwin introduced historicity into science. Evolutionary biology, in contrast with physics and chemistry, is a historical science – the evolutionist attempts to explain events and processes that have already taken place. Laws and experiments are inappropriate techniques for the explication of such events and processes. Instead one constructs a historical narrative, consisting of a tentative reconstruction of the particular scenario that led to the events one is trying to explain. — evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr
The duty of government is to leave commerce to its own capital and credit as well as all other branches of business, protecting all in their legal pursuits, granting exclusive privileges to none. — Andrew Jackson
The use of force alone is but temporary. It may subdue for a moment; but it does not remove the necessity of subduing again: and a nation is not governed, which is perpetually to be conquered. — Gelett Burgess, d. A.D. 1951 (according to Wikipedia, he coined the term blurb)
However many blessings we expect from God, His infinite liberality will always exceed all our wishes and our thoughts. — John Calvin
Man may by his appointment make a good day (Esther 9:19), but it is God's prerogative to make a holy day; nor is any thing sanctified but by the stamp of his institution. As all inherent holiness comes from his special grace, so all adherent holiness from his special appointment. — Bible commentator Matthew Henry on Leviticus 23
Actually, the culture wars have only just begun. Since the 1970's, when Christian conservatives awoke from their self-induced, decades-old stupor to reengage politics, they took their strategy from the political playbook lying right before them: the Left's. This meant: politics. For the last 40 years or so, Christian conservatives haven't been fighting a culture war; they've been fighting a culturally driven political war. They've assumed that politics is the most natural path toward cultural renewal. — P. Andrew Sandlin
Those who do not think about their own sins make up for it by thinking incessantly about the sins of others. — C. S. Lewis
Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them – every day begin the task anew. — Francis de Sales
If we grow wiser and more learned in our intercourse with wise and learned persons, how much more will we gain in our inner life by communing with God in prayer. — Huldrych Zwingli
When someone allows you to bear his burdens, you have found deep friendship. — Real Live Preacher
The sentimental secularism of modern Western culture, with its exalted optimism about human nature, its shrunken idea of God, and its skepticism as to whether personal morality really matters – in other words, its decay of conscience – makes it hard for Christians to take the reality of hell seriously. The revelation of hell in Scripture assumes a depth of insight into divine holiness and human and demonic sinfulness that most of us do not have. However, the doctrine of hell appears in the New Testament as a Christian essential, and we are called to try to understand it as Jesus and His apostles did. — J. I. Packer, Concise Theology
The effectual calling of God in Christ makes the one called humbly thankful to the core of his being. That one is astounded to be an object of the divine love. It is so deliberate in its passion, so far beyond comprehension, and it will not be denied! But arrogant boastfulness about a professed depth of understanding into the high and holy mysteries of sovereign grace does not come from the Spirit of grace. It is not of Him Who calls the lowly and despised.
"The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night."
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The whole past time of your faith will profit you nothing, unless now in this wicked time we also withstand coming sources of danger. … Take heed, lest resting at our ease, as those who are the called, we fall asleep in our sins. For then, the wicked prince, acquiring power over us, will thrust us away from the kingdom of the Lord. … And you should pay attention to this all the more, my brothers, when you reflect on and see that after such great signs and wonders had been performed in Israel, they were still abandoned. Let us beware lest we be found to be, as it is written, the "many who are called," but not the "few that are chosen." — Ante Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, pg.139
Since 1998, more than 31,000 American scientists from diverse climate-related disciplines, including more than 9,000 with Ph.D.s, have signed a public petition announcing their belief that "…there is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate." — Larry Bell, Forbes magazine contributor
Consider with horror the realm of American entertainment and its gross profligacy. Study with sorrow the radical, oppressive agenda of academic leaders and their indoctrination of our youth. Be enraged at the routine duplicity of civil leaders as well as with more spectacular instances of ethical misconduct in high places. Be disgusted with junk science, fake news, and with the folly, waste, greed, and callousness that abound.
Worst of all, grieve at the disobedience of God's people and their carelessness of His ways. LAWLESSNESS is the order of the day in America. Now look up in the Bible what the Lord Christ will say on the day of judgement to those who practice LAWLESSNESS. Then, pray fervently and continually for a spiritual revival the likes of which the world has never known!
It is not wrong to desire to be the object of the love and affections of others. Some desires are wicked lusts, but longing to be appreciated, valued, and wanted by others is a good and righteous desire. The second great commandment is love your neighbor AS you love yourself, not "love your neighbor, and DESPISE yourself."
The practical outworking of that? Strive to live in love (obedience to God's commandments) at all times. Appreciate, value, and encourage others with all your might. Never behave deceitfully and selfishly in order to coerce or entrap others into doing those things for you. When you are slighted, take it as a call to humility, not vengeance. Above all, remembering that God loves all His children far more than they can fathom (Matthew 7:11, Ephesians 3:19), make sure of your standing with the heavenly Father.
Jesus told some people of His generation that they were children of the devil (John 8:44). Who's YOUR daddy?
The early 1900s saw the rise of strain of liberal theology famously caricatured by [Reinhold] Niebuhr's brother, H. Richard Niebuhr, in the sentence: "A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross." Reinhold joined his brother in disdaining this glib gospel, especially in light of the horrors of WWI and WWII. — Elesha Coffman, May 19 A.D. 2017 edition of Christianity Today
I beg you be persuaded that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution. — George Washington
The simplest questions are the most profound. Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you going? What are you doing? Think about these once in a while and watch your answers change. — Richard Bach
The first cremation in America took place in 1876, accompanied by readings from Charles Darwin and the Hindu scriptures. For many years, relatively few persons (mostly liberals and freethinkers) chose cremation. — Timothy George, Cremation Confusion, article published in Christianity Today, May 21, 2002
...the words 'theoretical,' 'speculative,' and 'contemplative,' have all lost their honorable connotations in our culture. Instead of referring to truth, the words 'theoretical' and 'speculative both now connote 'uncertainty.' And 'contemplative' is limited to monks and mystics.
This is a symptom of deep cultural decay, and stems largely from Francis Bacon, who announced a radically new Summum bonum (greatest good) for our culture: the conquest of nature by applied science. In other words not truth but power; not conforming the human mind to reality but conforming reality to the human will. — Peter Kreeft
If you are fighting sin, you are alive. Take heart. But if sin holds sway unopposed, you are dead no matter how lively this sin makes you feel. Take heart, embattled saint! — John Owen
This is a course of study found the current Episcopal Divinity School catalogue:
"T 2010 Contemporary Christologies — Who is Jesus Christ for us today? is course will explore a number of contextual christologies, including the Black Christ, the feminist Christ, the womanist Christ, the Asian Christ, the Asian feminist Christ, the Latina Christ, the queer Christ, and the disabled Christ. is course will also explore the intersections of postcolonial and queer theory with contemporary christological reflection."
Has the word IS been substituted deliberately for THIS in the course description or did the same typo occur twuce?
Deep reading is harder than ever. Today, given the amount of written words that come into our lives on a given day, we have simply grown careless. "Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words," laments writer Nicholas Carr. "Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski." We can hardly get submerged into the serious work of reading a book before we feel the desire to digitally surface and Jet Ski (skim) over easier waters. — Tony Reinke, in his book 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You
I have always supported measures and principles and not men. I have acted fearless and independent and I never will regret my course. I would rather be politically buried than to be hypocritically immortalized. — Davy Crockett
So are you simmering, or sacrificing? Do you watch the news and spout denunciations, or do you turn off the screen and simply go DO SOME GOOD IN THIS WORLD? Call a lonely friend, counsel a hurting young person, donate your time and skills to another in need. Don't just give money to a cause and keep complaining. Get messy. — B. Rickert
I am known as a frequent critic of Christianity and have never been de-platformed for that. Why do you give Islam a free pass? Why is it fine to criticise Christianity but not Islam? — so remarked Richard Dawkins, prominent a-Theist, evolutionist, and author of The God Delusion, after the cancellation of an event at which he had been scheduled to speak
Belief in the miraculous is integral to Christianity. Theologians who discard all miracles, thus obliging themselves to deny Jesus' incarnation and resurrection, the supreme miracles of Scripture, should not claim to be Christians: the claim is not valid. The rejection of miracles by yesterday's scientists sprang not from science but from the dogma of a universe of absolute uniformity that scientists brought to their scientific work. There is nothing irrational about believing that God Who made the world can still intrude creatively into it. — J.I. Packer
In the pluralistic society that we see around us today, families that wish to pass their faith to their children are compromised by their inability to isolate them from the irreligious ideas of individuals or groups they come in contact with. Many mature, doctrinally orthodox Christian parents are sorrowing over wayward children and grandchildren. They feel they have done a reasonably good job of raising them and don't understand why they have left the faith. Parents can do an excellent job and yet have it be subverted by a trusted friend or schoolteacher or anyone the child comes in contact with who impresses him or her favorably.
Sports figures, TV personalities, books, movies, popular music, and social media exert a cumulative effect on the mind of the growing, learning child or youth. To think that the cultural impact on the faith is negligible or easily compensated for is extremely foolish. It is a highly charged and relentless propaganda that drives home the message that there is no God. Perhaps the most insidious form this takes is simply the omission of any reference to God througout a book or movie or during the whole day at school. The silence is effectively a loud declaration of the non-existence of God. — Lou Poumakis
What capacity is there in our nature of such a habitation? But hereof the Lord Christ hath given us a pledge in Himself. Our nature in Him is passed through these aspectable heavens, and is exalted far above them. Its eternal habitation is in the blessed regions of light and glory, and He hath promised that where he is, there we shall be, and that for ever. — John Owen
"Augustine says that Judas for money sold his salvation – and with that same money, the Pharisees bought their damnation. So we see that happiness is not to be fetched out of the earth. Those who go to the creature for blessedness go the wrong box." — Puritan preacher and author Thomas Watson (d. A.D. 1686), in his exposition of the Beatitudes
[Concerning the Word preached:] "Do we prize it in our judgments? Do we receive it into our hearts? Do we fear the loss of the Word preached more than the loss of peace and trade? Is it the removal of the ark that troubles us?
Again, do we attend to the Word with reverential devotion? When the judge is giving the charge on the bench, all attend. When the Word is preached, the great God is giving us his charge. Do we listen to it as to a matter of life and death? This is a good sign that we love the Word." — Puritan preacher and author Thomas Watson (d. A.D. 1686)
The Old Testament may be likened to a chamber richly furnished but dimly lighted; the introduction of light brings into it nothing which was not in it before; but it brings out into clearer view much of what was in it but was only dimly or not even at all perceived before. The mystery of the Trinity is not revealed in the Old Testament; but the mystery of the Trinity underlies the Old Testament revelation, and here and there almost comes into view. Thus the Old Testament revelation is not corrected by the fuller revelation which follows it, but only perfected, extended, and enlarged. — B.B. Warfield
Truth is not only violated by falsehood; it may be equally outraged by silence. — Henri Frederic Amie
The great design of God in sending Christ into the world – His incarnation, humiliation, death, and passion – were all about this: the conquering and destroying of sin. How great an enemy was this that God must send out His Son to conquer it? He can arm flies, lice, frogs, the meanest of creatures, to overthrow the greatest power on earth; but no less than His Son was strong enough to conquer sin. — Samuel Bolton
According to 1 Corinthians 10:2, the people of God were baptized in the (Red) Sea. But wait a minute! They probably were only SPRINKLED with sea spray as a mighty miraculous wind held back those two great walls of water as they walked through. However, when the enemies of the people of God tried to follow, they were quite submerged – that is IMMERSED.
Hopefully you chuckled at this playful observation. Let the Credo-Paedo debate continue. The blessed Holy Spirit is a wise Teacher. By that debate, it appears that He impels those on "both sides" to dig deeper into the Word of God, and thus we all learn more of the gracious covenant revealed therein.
How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy...improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.
A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. — Winston Churchill
Throughout 1 John, the Apostle presents some indications to determine if someone is living in the light or living in the darkness. One he mentions the most often is in this passage – hating a brother.
It is possible for someone to claim confidently to be living in the light, even appearing to live a very devout life, and still be living in the darkness. It is possible to do this without even realizing it, because of eyes blinded by the darkness. 1 John 1:8 tells us that we can fool ourselves when we refuse to see and admit our sin. — Ray King
So it looks like there's a new religion abroad in our land: VALUE-ISM. And it already has rival sects within itself: Traditional Valueism and Progressive Valueism. Both claim to be the heir of orthodox American Valueism.
Do the Traditional Valuists have a canon of those values which they hope to help endure? Can the Progressive Valuists cogently expound on that to which they want to progress? From whom or what do either group derive their values? Come to think of it the term value itself seems quite vague, no? To paraphrase the question barely heard in the song of the same name by one hit wonder Wang Chung, "Can you tell me what a value is?"
Yours truly is clinging to that invaluable, eternal, incorruptible treasure – salvation in Jesus. Accept no tawdry substitutes of human device. Across the nation, around the world...everybody repent tonight...everybody trust Christ tonight!
Only be not thou careless, but take courage, and strengthen thy family. For as the smith hammering his work conquers the task which he wills, so also doth righteous discourse repeated daily conquer all evil. Cease not therefore to reprove thy children; for I know that if they shall repent with all their heart, they shall be written in the books of life with the saints. — The Shepherd of Hermas, an anonymous early Christian writing (c. A.D. 110 — c. A.D. 140)
Conservative Christendom insists upon the plenary inspiration of Scripture; a logical (albeit often overlooked) corollary to plenary inspiration is the 'plenary significance' of Scripture. That is, since all the books are inspired of God, all are profitable (2 Timothy 3:16-17). — Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.
Pastor Dan Phillips of Houston TX pointed out "...the great truth that our society keeps bumping its head against: we are not actually God; we just want to play Him on TV – and we want the whole world to be our TV show!" — in his article in the June 2017 Christian Healthcare Newsletter about a judge who granted a resident of the state of Oregon the "right to be genderless"
What is sin? It is our poverty; it is the sickness and languor of our souls; it is a noisome and pestilent disease; it is lameness, blindness, and impotency; it is a monstrous and loathsome deformity; it is a dungeon with fetters and vermin; in a word, it is misery. It is really as great an evil to our souls as these are to our bodies. It is so represented in the Word of Truth. It is all these; it is more; it is worse than all these; and what an advantage would it be to be rid of such a horrid, hideous evil as this. — David Clarkson
And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people FROM THEIR SINS. — Matthew 1:21, emphasis added
Length of days does not profit me except the days are passed in thy presence, in thy service, to thy glory.
Give me a grace that precedes, follows, guides, sustains, sanctifies, aids every hour, that I may not be one moment apart from thee, but may rely on thy Spirit to supply every thought, speak in every word, direct every step, prosper every work, build up every mote of faith, and give me a desire to show forth thy praise, testify thy love, advance thy kingdom.
I launch my bark on the unknown waters of this year, with thee, O Father, as my harbor, thee, O Son, at my helm, thee, O Holy Spirit, filling my sails.
Guide me to heaven with my loins girt, my lamp burning, my ear open to thy calls, my heart full of love, my soul free.
Give me thy grace to sanctify me, thy comforts to cheer, thy wisdom to teach, thy right hand to guide, thy counsel to instruct, thy law to judge, thy presence to stabilize.
May thy fear be my awe, thy triumphs my joy. — from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions. Arthur Bennett, editor
Unattributed quotes are the words of the web site editor.
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