"THE General Assembly having exactly examined and seriously considered the LARGER CATECHISM…do find, upon due examination thereof, That the said Catechism is agreeable to the word of God, and in nothing contrary to the received doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of this Kirk; a necessary part of the intended uniformity in religion, and a rich treasure for increasing knowledge among the people of God…" — Westminster Assembly at Edinburgh, Scotland, July 2, A.D. 1648, Act approving the LARGER CATECHISM (condensed)
"I am writing to announce that, effective immediately, same-sex weddings may be celebrated at Washington National Cathedral, which has a long history of advancing equality for people of all faiths and perspectives. The Cathedral is called to serve as a gathering place for the nation in times of significance, but it is also rooted in its role as the most visible faith community within the Episcopal Church. For more than 30 years, the Episcopal Church has prayed and studied to discern the evidence of God's blessing in the lives of same-sex couples. It is now only fitting that the National Cathedral follow suit. We enthusiastically affirm each person as a beloved child of God – and doing so means including the full participation of gays and lesbians in the life of this spiritual home for the nation." — Dean Gary Hall of the Washington National Cathedral, January 8, A.D. 2013
"While giving an anesthetic for a ruptured ectopic pregnancy...I was handed what I believe was the smallest living human ever seen…This tiny human was perfectly developed, with long, tapering fingers, feet, and toes…The baby was extremely alive and swam about the sac approximately one time per second, with a natural swimmer's stroke." — Paul Rockwell, M.D.
"I remember one famous theological writer confidently declaring that the emerging/ent church movement was the kind of paradigm shifting movement that comes along only every five hundred years or so. Sadly, such hyperbole comes along rather more frequently.
Does it not seem only yesterday that Mel Gibson's film, The Passion, was being trumpeted by evangelicals as 'the greatest outreach opportunity of the century'? In retrospect, The Passion surely stands somewhere between A Muppet Christmas Carol and Dave and the Giant Pickle in the honour roll of celluloid contributions to world evangelisation." — Carl Trueman
"MY orders are to fight;
Then if I bleed, or fail,
Or strongly win, what matters it?
God only doth prevail.
The servant craveth naught
Except to serve with might.
I was not told to win or lose,
My orders are to fight."
Ethelwyn Wetherald (A.D. 1857-1940)
The best spiritual defense against temptation is continuous prayer. The best psychological defense against temptation is the prompt dismissal of its first overtures to a mind already filled with the precepts of God. The best physical defense against temptation is flight by the way of escape He promises to His own. There is no defense against temptation where sin is not recognized first as treason against Him and second as the relentless, vicious, implacable destroyer of those enslaved by it.
Some musical dictionaries indicate the Italian a cappella is preferred over the Latin a capella (one "p") yet both are technically correct. Why do those dictionaries muddy the waters with two spellings?
The phrase was first used in Italian Catholic churches, where Latin was the language for sacred text. Thus, the Latin spelling for 'in the style of the chapel' - a capella - has some historical basis. However, most other musical terms - forte, accelerando, and many others - are Italian in origin. Since the Italian spelling is more consistent with other musical terms, it has been used more frequently.
"Behind the phony tinsel of Hollywood lies the real tinsel." — Oscar Levant
"Simon says, 'pat your head.' We pat our heads. Jesus says, 'go and make disciples.' We memorize that verse." — Francis Chan
"Many American churches are in a mess. Theologically they are indifferent, confused, or dangerously wrong. Liturgically they are the captives of superficial fads. Morally they live lives indistinguishable from the world. They often have a lot of people, money, and activities. But are they really churches, or have they degenerated into peculiar clubs?
What has gone wrong? At the heart of the mess is a simple phenomenon: the churches seem to have lost a love for and confidence in the Word of God." — W. Robert Godfrey
"The Bible is not only the world's most widely distributed book (by the billions), it is also the world's most widely banned book. That's because it is not just an eclectic assortment of ancient religious traditions. Rather, it is the ultimate threat to the status quo of prideful, human kingdom-building, the ultimate collection of divinely inspired revolutionary writings." — Michael Brown
"...our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases. Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead? 'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,' says the Lord, 'who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty'." — Psalm 115:3, Acts 26:8, and Revelation 1:8
"The word of God coming forth from His holy, eternal, and infinite mind and heart is the only righteous foundation for human thought and affections. Truly, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
"I have aimed to preach the doctrines of the Gospel in as plain a manner as I could. I have tried to make Divine truth bear upon the heart and conscience. I have studied to send away my hearers dissatisfied with themselves." — Rev. John Crane (A.D. 1756 – 1836)
"A godly man has thoughts of the world, but they are his outward thoughts; his inward thought is reserved for God and heavenly things: but a worldly man has only some floating foreign thoughts of the things of God, while his fixed thought, his inward thought, is about the world; that lies nearest his heart, and is upon the throne there." — Mattthew Henry, commenting on the 49th Psalm
"Since we cannot know all that there is to be known about anything, we ought to know a little bit about everything." — Blaise Pascal
"English mother and Latin mater and many similar maternal words contain the worldwide etymon ma 'breast' + ter an Indo-European agent suffix, so that the etymological meaning of the word mother is 'breast-feeder.'" — William Gordon Casselman
"Religious faith is on the wrong side of an escalating war of ideas – science must destroy religion." — Sam Harris
Mr. Harris, author of the book "The End of Faith" (which attained to the New York Times best seller list) is an advocate of skepticism and has been associated with a belief system called the "New Atheism."
"To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men." — Abraham Lincoln
Concise summation of history: The risen Messiah Who is the Truth and the Prince of life, the only Savior, wages war with His holy ones against the father of lies who brings only death and ruin to all of his wicked followers. Christ and His saints win. End of His story.
"If we, the congregation, can't hear ourselves, it's not worship.
Christian worship is not a concert. In a concert (a particular "form of performance"), we often expect to be overwhelmed by sound, particularly in certain styles of music...(snip)...And there's nothing wrong with concerts! It's just that Christian worship is not a concert. Christian worship is a collective, communal, congregational practice – and the gathered sound and harmony of a congregation singing as one is integral to the practice of worship." — James K. A. Smith, condensed
God does not change. He never became a father, He has always been the Father Who sent His only begotten Son. God doesn't change. He became incarnate as a Man but has always been that only begotten Son. God doesn't change. He has always been the Spirit of the sending Father and the Spirit of the Son Who was sent. Holy! Holy! Holy! From all eternity, three divine Lovers of one another…one God Who is love!
"Self-pitying persons are absorbed in themselves, and need to be shown that the world was not created for them personally, and that it is their pride and self-centeredness that lies at the root of their problems. His focus of concern must be turned from himself to God and to others. Apart from such a thorough repentance there is no solution to his problem." — Dr. Jay Adams, author of Competent to Counsel
One of God's commandments, the keeping of which is to truly practice love, is "Honor your father and your mother." A society that tries to redefine marriage and normalize households that have no father, or alternately no mother, is preventing all the children of such households from obedience to that commandmant of God, which has a promise attached to it ("that your days may be long on the land which the Lord your God gives you").
The utter confusion that will eventuate in the minds of children is staggering! How can a child have two mothers and no father? How about four grandfathers and no grandmother?
O the wicked absurdity of it all!
"In approaching the believers the elders come not merely with good advice and counsel, but being clothed with authority they must instruct and admonish, warn and comfort. Their words, when conforming to the Word of God, come with the official authority of him whom they represent; and all who refuse to submit to such good government in the church do violence to the welfare of their souls." — Pastor Peter Y. DeJong
The Christian's expectation of sin being shut out forever from Heaven, like everything else pertaining to the eternal life already dwelling in him, is rooted in his covenantal and spiritual union with Christ. Included in Glory's consummate perfection is the outworking of the unalterable decree that the saints be unable to sin for all eternity. His eternal bride endlessy continues united to Him Who conquered sin, death, and hell once and for all by His own substitutionary death and victorious resurrection. Sin never was, is not now, and never will be able to destroy the Lord Jesus and those who are His!
"You don't HAVE a soul. You ARE a soul. You have a body." — C. S. Lewis
"The marks by which the true church is known are these: if the pure doctrine of the Gospel is preached therein; if it maintains the pure administration of the sacraments as instituted by Christ; if church discipline is exercised in the punishing of sin – in short, if all things are managed according to the pure Word of God, all things contrary thereto rejected, and Jesus Christ acknowledged as the only Head of the Church. Hereby the true Church may certainly be known, from which no man has a right to separate himself." — Belgic Confession, 16th Christian century
"Through seventy years of exterminating religion in the Soviet Union, it was not religion that was exterminated but in the end the Soviet Union that was exterminated." — Source Unknown
"Life isn't fair and I'm OK with that, and I'm thankful that life isn't fair because there are many blessings in my life that I've received unfairly because of God's grace." — J.K. Barr
The image of God in mankind includes selfhood and neighborhood; these are distinct but inseparable. Sin has corrupted but not eradicated the image of God in us. Therefore every man fails to recognize that he is selfish, yet he despises selfishness in his neighbor. And every man hopes for kindness from his neighbors, but falls short in exercising charity toward them in thought, word, and deed.
Notice to this generation. The Christian faith is a very old faith, beginning in the Garden of Eden. It cannot be taught by tweets, facebook, or bumper stickers, except as to what it is not. You may have to find some old people to explain it to you, for it takes a long time to learn it. You may have to read some old books. God is not called the Ancient of Days for nothing. Those who were up to date in Noah's time died in the flood. — Pastor Bud Powell
"Let him who has love in Christ keep the commandments of Christ. Who can describe the blessed bond of the love of God? What man is able to tell the excellence of its beauty, as it ought to be told? The height to which love exalts is unspeakable. Love unites us to God. Love covers a multitude of sins. Love beareth all things, is long-suffering in all things." — Clement
"Oh, better were it for you to die in a jail, in a ditch, in a dungeon, than to die in your sins. If death, as it will take away all your comforts, would take away all your sins too, it were some mitigation; but your sins will follow you when your friends leave you, and all worldly enjoyments shake hands with you. Your sins will not die with you as a prisoner's other debts will; but they will go to judgement with you there to be your accusers; and they will go to hell with you there to be your tormentors." — Joseph Alleine
"...if we walk and talk with God every hour of the day, we can't help but grow close to him. We breathe easier and talk more easily and talk more around someone we love and delight in. Likewise we pray more easily and are more alive when we maintain a continual conversation with the Lord – talking with Him and walking with Him all day long." — Rousas J. Rushdoony
"Give yourself to the Church. You that are members of the Church have not found it perfect and I hope that you feel almost glad that you have not. If I had never joined a Church till I had found one that was perfect, I would never have joined one at all! And the moment I did join it, if I had found one, I should have spoiled it, for it would not have been a perfect Church after I had become a member of it. Still, imperfect as it is, it is the dearest place on earth to us." — Charles Spurgeon
"A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past; he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future." — Sydney J. Harris
" 'God is love' is a proclamation that liberates us captives from our sin and despair, not a bromide and a platitude which allows us to believe that, and to behave as if, our lust, greed, malice and so forth – sins that I struggled with every day – are not to be despised and cast out, but rather shellacked by a river of treacle." — Rod Dreher, paraphrased
"It is an honour for us to lose our name for God's and it is no matter though we be nothing, so Christ be all in all. A minister should be like one in a crowd, that lifts up another to public view, though himself jostled and lost in the throng; so as Christ is exalted, it is no matter though we suffer loss." — Thomas Manton
"…a devoted person is a 'maximum application' person, rather than a 'minimum requirement' person. Whereas a minimum requirement person looks to find the least they need to do in order to be able to say they are obedient, looking for reasons to do less, and begrudging anything more, the maximum application person is constantly looking for more ways to live out the command, and pursues them with fervour." — Scott Newling
"When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying." — Unknown
"As I have already said, the Church is faulty, but that is no excuse for your not joining it, if you are the Lord's. Nor need your own faults keep you back, for the Church is not an institution for perfect people, but a sanctuary for sinners saved by Grace, who, though they are saved, are still sinners and need all the help they can derive from the sympathy and guidance of their fellow believers. The Church is the nursery for God's weak children where they are nourished and grow strong. It is the fold for Christ's sheep – the home for Christ's family." — Charles Spurgeon in his exposition of 2 Corinthians 8:5
Quote was previously posted here, May 2 A.D. 2004
"Unrealized expectations often are the source of discouragement. We rightly look forward to the glory of God in the triumphant return of Christ. This can lead to the expectation of success in every labor we take on for the LORD. We must remember that our responsibility is to be faithful to the call of Jesus and to leave the results up to him." — Rev. James Smith, Stated Clerk, P.C.A. Presbytery of New Jersey
"Religion today is not transforming people; rather it is being transformed by the people. It is not raising the moral level of society; it is descending to society's own level, and congratulating itself that it has scored a victory because society is smilingly accepting its surrender." — A. W. Tozer (A.D. 1897-1963)
Preaching the Gospel: not marketing a product to discriminating consumers, but offering divine pardon to guilty perps.
"A lot of people are like the mirrors in an amusement park that distort our image making us look shorter and heavier than we are or taller and thinner than we are. People reflect their distortions as they reflect your image back to you. The wisdom is to know which ones around you will give a relatively undistorted view of yourself and that means the good and the not so good." — Pastor Gary Engelstad
"...our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man. God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and made of the substance of His mother, born in the world. Perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood. Who, although He is God and man, yet He is not two, but one Christ. One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God. One altogether, not by the confusion of substance, but by unity of person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ." — from the Athanasian Creed, the most ancient manuscripts of which are from the eighth century of grace; the origin of the creed is even earlier
All things were created for God's good pleasure. He created Mankind to be happy and blessed by Him and with Him. Our loftiest purpose and joy is to bring pleasure to the heart of our loving and good Creator.
The worst thing about hell, the second death, is not the suffering of unimaginable torment by those who will lose happiness forever by rejecting God, the source of all blessedness. The worst thing about the second death is that although His justice will be exalted by this just, certain, and eternal punishment, God has no pleasure in the death of wicked.
As His prophet of old proclaimed, "For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies," says the Lord GOD. "Therefore turn and live!" (Ezekiel 18:32)
Unattributed quotes are the words of the web site editor.
Quote of the Week is sponsored by
Netty Enterprises
Advertising Concepts and Innovations