By entertaining of strange persons, men sometimes entertain angels unawares: but by entertaining of strange doctrines, many have entertained devils unawares. — John Flavel
We are not called to fill the pews with bodies. We are called to fill the world with disciples. — adapted from Doctrines of Grace Facebook page
...not as the devils, who believe and tremble; nor as carnal men, when the judgments of God are in the earth, hide themselves in fear of him; nor as hypocrites, whose fear or devotion is only outward, and is taught by the precept of men; but as children affectionately reverence their parents: Job feared God with a filial and godly fear, which sprung from the grace of God... — The Pulpit Commentary
Scripture diagnoses sin as a universal deformity of human nature, found at every point in every person. Both testaments have names for it that display its ethical character as rebellion against God's rule, missing the mark God set us to aim at, transgressing God's law, disobeying God's directives, offending God's purity by defiling oneself, and incurring guilt before God the Judge. — J.I. Packer
Our nature, by the corruption of the first sin, being so deeply curved in on itself that it not only bends the best gifts of God towards itself and enjoys them (as is plain in the works-righteous and hypocrites), or rather even uses God himself in order to attain these gifts, but it also fails to realize that it so wickedly, curvedly, and viciously seeks all things, even God, for its own sake. — Martin Luther
The antidote to fear is a good memory. — Christopher Wright
Angry pharaoh hot on their heels, Red Sea opens…Winds and waves threatening, Jesus calms them…Assyrian army about to destroy Jerusalem, when it gets destroyed by a mighty angel…Elisha's servant full of fear until he sees the chariots of fire…the list goes on.
REMEMBER? If you do, should you be afraid?
Those who live a life of communion with God are constantly safe under His protection, and may therefore preserve a holy serenity and security of mind at all times. — Matthew Henry
Words are very awful and wonderful things, for they come from the most awful and wonderful of all beings, Jesus Christ, THE WORD. He puts words into men's minds. He made all things, and He made words to express those things. And woe to those who use the wrong words about anything. — Charles Kingsley (A.D. 1819 – 1875)
It's time to boycott the worship industry because money shouldn't drive what churches sing. It's an industry, for goodness sake. It must make money, and it must keep strategizing ways to bring in even more. So it doesn't give us what we really need, as good church music does, it gives us the entertainment that we've come to crave.
While congregational song was once crafted by pastors, theologians, and poets, the worship industry has made worship in its own green image, giving us only the most marketable 'artists' and music.
And like all good marketing does, it appeals to the least discerning parts of us. So instead of looking for beauty and artistry, we've let ourselves get hooked on the mundane. — Jonathan Aigner, in the Ponder Anew blog hosted by Patheos
The more knowledge you have of divine things, the better will you know your duty; your knowledge will be of great use to direct you as to your duty in particular cases. You will also be the better furnished against the temptations of the devil. For the devil often takes advantage of persons' ignorance to ply them with temptations which otherwise would have no hold of them. — Jonathan Edwards
The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes. — Martin Luther
Resurrection is a powerful theme found throughout the plot of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Many of the characters in the novel are involved with the intertwining themes of love, redemption, and good versus evil. The theme of resurrection involves certain aspects of all of these themes and brings the story together. — Unknown Commentator
The guilt of sin and the reigning power of it are now taken away in the saints, nevertheless, sin dwells in them (Romans 7:20), but then, in eternity it shall be no more. The corrupt nature will be quite removed. That root of bitterness will be plucked up and no vestiges of it left in their souls. Their nature shall be altogether pure and sinless. There shall be no darkness in their minds but the understanding of every saint when he has come to this kingdom will be as a globe of pure and unmixed light. — Thomas Boston
Because we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion…our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. — John Adams
Where the tide flows towards increasing State control, Christianity, with its claims in one way personal and in the other way ecumenical and both ways antithetical to omnicompetent government, must always in fact ( though not for a long time yet in words) be treated as an enemy. Like learning, like the family, like any ancient and liberal profession, like the common law, it gives the individual a standing ground against the State. — C.S. Lewis
I have been accustomed to call this book, I think not inappropriately, 'An Anatomy of all the Parts of the Soul;' for there is not an emotion of which anyone can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror. Or rather, the Holy Spirit has here drawn to the life all the griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, cares, perplexities, in short, all the distracting emotions with which the minds of men are wont to be agitated. — John Calvin on the Psalms
The real problem is this: the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, individually or corporately, tending to do the Lord's work in the power of the flesh rather than of the Spirit. The central problem is always in the midst of the people of God, not in the circumstances surrounding them. — Francis Schaeffer
God is wise and mighty enough to pack into one Book all that billions of lost people need to know for redemption: the gift of forgiveness of sins and eternal life through Jesus Christ, the book's heart and soul…its "protagonist" and main theme. Divine power is unleashed as the Holy Spirit operates by and with the infallible words of Jesus and His servants which are recorded in that Book.
I can take my telescope and look millions and millions of miles into space. But I can lay it aside, go into my room, shut the door, get down on my knees in earnest prayer, and see more of heaven and get closer to God than I can assisted by all the telescopes and material agencies on earth. — Sir Isaac Newton
The Bible is the chief moral cause of all that is good and the best corrector of all that is evil in human society, the best book for regulating temporal concerns of men and the only book that can serve as an infallible guide to future felicity. — Noah Webster (yes, 'the dictionary guy')
The Bible does contain a number of apparent contradictions. Believing in the inspiration and inerrancy of the Word of God we know that all of these can be reconciled. It may be that a complete explanation will not come until heaven. For example, think of the Old Testament saint, who read in one text that the Messiah would suffer (Isaiah 53:1-6), but in another that He would triumph over His enemies (Psalm 2:7-9). Only in the light of our Lord's first coming (and His teaching concerning His return) can we understand that which puzzled Old Testament saints, even prophets (1 Peter 1:10-11). — "Admin" @ Bible dot org (emphasis added)
No man shall ever behold the glory of Christ by sight hereafter who does not in some measure behold it by faith here in this world. Grace is a necessary preparation for glory, and faith for sight. Where the subject (the soul) is not previously seasoned with grace and faith, it is not capable of glory and vision. — John Owen
The forgiveness of our sins, the separation from the circumstances of our sins, the removal from our temptations, everything that the Lord can do for us, are but leading on to this, that he shall fill us with himself, that we shall make our lives the very utterance of his life and of the life of the Father, that comes to us from him. — Phillips Brooks, author of the Christmas carol, 'O Little Town of Bethlehem'
Nothing so becomes a church as silence and good order. Noise belongs to theatres, and parades, and market-places. But where such doctrines are taught, there should be stillness, and quiet, and calm reflection, a haven of much repose. — John Chrysostom
Let no such dishonor be reflected on the Gospel, that whereas the faith of it, and obedience unto it, are usually accompanied with outward troubles, afflictions, persecution and reproaches, as we are foretold they should be; that it does not, by its inward consolations and divine refreshments, outbalance all those evils which we may undergo upon the account of it. — Dr. John Owen, A.D. 1616 –1683 (minor editing of form, i.e. does for "doth")
The Lover of the world Who pitied our condition gave His only begotten Son to die as a substitute for sinners, and thus made a way for them to be completely forgiven. It is a FREE GIFT. But those who scoff at and ignore this gracious, divine offer – the glorious Gospel of Jesus – heap up greater condemnation to themselves.
If true religion is to beam upon us, our principle must be, that it is necessary to begin with heavenly teaching, and that it is impossible for any man to obtain even the minutest portion of right and sound doctrine without being a disciple of Scripture. — John Calvin
Confident pluralism assumes either a balance of power or a basic common decency between the various sides in any of the cultural debates. The balance and the decency no longer exist. Nor does it matter that there might be a democratic majority supporting the dissenter in whatever public-square conflict occurs.
Power is not a function of numbers any more, if it ever was. It is a function of organization and of having one's hands on the levers of cultural and legal power. Expect no quarter in the conflicts that are already upon us, however many of your neighbors may initially express sympathy with you. — Professor Carl R. Trueman
May my desires be enlarged and my hopes emboldened, that I may honour You by my entire dependency and the greatness of my expectation. — Oswald Chambers, author of the devotional classic My Utmost for His Highest, born July 24, A.D. 1874
There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously - no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. — C.S. Lewis
The big bang, molecules to mankind, evolutionary cosmogony (theory of origins) claims to be based on scientific knowledge not available in ages past, but it is really the same old same old.
Bible commentator Matthew Henry writes as follows regarding Acts 17:28 – [Ancient philosophers] "...of the school of Epicurus fancied 'that the world was made by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, which, having been in perpetual motion, at length accidently jumped into this frame.' "
Epicurus died 270 B.C. Truly, there is nothing new under the sun. Big boom to goo to you by way of the zoo? Noo!
The Lord empties before he fills. He makes room for himself, for his love, and for his grace. He dethrones the rival, casts down the idol, and seeks to occupy the temple, filled and radiant with his own ineffable glory. Thus does he bring the soul into great straits, lay it low, but to school and discipline it for richer mercies, higher service, and greater glory. Be sure of this, that, when the Lord is about to bless you with some great and peculiar blessing, he may prepare you for it by some great and peculiar trial. — Octavius Winslow
That woeful, cursed invention of framing images of Him [Christ] out of stocks and stones, however adorned, or representations of Him by the art of painting, are so far from presenting unto the minds of men anything of His real glory, that nothing can be more effectual to divert their thoughts and apprehensions from it. — Dr. John Owen, A.D. 1616 –1683
The question 'how do you know X?' is not the same question as 'Is X is true or false?' One man has been taught that Papua New Guinea exists, and is persuaded that it does. Another man has absolutely no knowledge that there such a place on Earth.
One man has come to the knowledge of its existence, and another has not yet attained this knowledge. Neither the first man's knowledge nor the second man's ignorance determine whether or not Papua New Guinea exists! Invite a skeptic of the faith's truth claims to concentrate on the question itself, not on how you know the answer to it.
[The Gospel] "...is divine in its origin, free in its communications, satisfying in its effects, constant in its supplies, active in its operations, merciful in its powers, and glorious in its results.
It is a system perfectly adapted to the probationary state of man. It is light to the darkness of reason, peace to the tumult of his conscience, joy to the anguish of his soul, and hope to the gloom of his despondency." — Brookes
"Basic research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing." – Wernher Von Braun, bona fide rocket scientist, A.D. 1912 - 1977
One time Nazi party member Von Braun also said, "to us, Hitler was still only a pompous fool with a Charlie Chaplin moustache," and that [Hitler was] "wholly without scruples, a godless man who thought himself the only god".
Believe me, one word of warning spoken to keep a little child out of sin, one crust of bread given to a beggar because he is your brother for whom Christ died, one angry word checked on your lips for the sake of him who was meek and lowly of heart, the smallest endeavor to lessen the amount of evil which is in yourselves and those around you is worth all the speculations, and raptures, and visions, and frames, and feelings in the world; for these [actions] are the good fruits of faith, whereby alone the tree shall be known whether it be good or evil. — Charles Kingsley, A.D. 1819 – 1875
"…no significant evidence exists for flat earth beliefs among scientists going back to the Greeks. Indeed, a Greek scientist named Eratosthenes of Cyrene (276 – 194 BC) calculated the circumference of the earth (to an amazing degree of accuracy).
Within the circles of Christian scholarship, no notable theologian seems to have believed in a flat earth, not only because of it so obviously is not, but also because the Bible does not claim it is. Notable theologians throughout the Christian era believed the earth is spherical. Even in the midst of the falsely-named "Dark Ages", the leading Anglo-Saxon scholar and monk 'the Venerable' Bede (AD 673 – 735), one of most widely-read scholars for the next 1000 years, wrote that the earth:
'…in its width it is like a circle, and not circular like a shield but rather like a ball, and it extends from its centre with perfect roundness on all sides.' " [source: creation.com/refuting-absolute-geocentrism]
If a man does not exercise his arm he develops no biceps muscle; and if a man does not exercise his soul, he acquires no muscle in his soul, no strength of character, no vigor of moral fiber, nor beauty of spiritual guards. — Henry Drummond
You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested in money, compliments, or publicity. — Thomas Wolfe
So here we are...a society which approves murderous practices euphemistically called partial birth abortion and euthanasia...a culture which has created a whole new genre of cinematic entertainment which we might call Zombesque...a people who has turned what was once the evening before a Christian observation called All Hallows' Day into a major national festival celebrating death and all things dark. What could go wrong?
When all the macabre galas are over, the costumes are discarded, and some are "hung over" and feeling like a jack o' lantern on November 1, all the saints of God will go on that day and every day rejocing in the life, light, and redemption they have as a free gift through the glorious resurrection of Christ our Lord!
We may glorify God in death, by being ready for it whenever it comes. The Christian who is found like a sentinel at his post, like a servant with his loins girded and his lamp burning, with a heart packed up and ready to go, the man to whom sudden death, by the common consent of all who knew him, is sudden glory – this, this is a man whose end brings glory to God
We may glorify God in death, by patiently enduring its pains. The Christian whose spirit has complete victory over the flesh, who quietly feels the pins of his earthly tabernacle plucked up with great bodily agonies, and yet never murmurs or complains, but silently enjoys inward peace – this, this again is a man whose end brings glory to God. — J.C. Ryle, A.D. 1816 – 1900
Let us be neither over-sanguine nor over-melancholy of immediate results. Our perspective of time is only slowly synchronized to the clock of providence. — Thomas Chalmers
Such is the irresistible nature of truth that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing. — Thomas Paine
We should change a common expression, and more importantly the attitude which is usually behind it. Instead of giving someone the "benefit of the doubt," let's determine to give every person in every circumstance the benefit of HOPE.
Do we claim to have faith in the God Who has so often made Himself known by bringing good out of evil, Who commands us not to judge by appearance only, and Who is patient and longsuffering to each of us? Then let us exercise that faith in the realm of what we expect will come our way through other people according to His wise providence.
The deliberations of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were held in strict secrecy. Consequently, anxious citizens gathered outside Independence Hall when the proceedings ended in order to learn what had been produced behind closed doors. The answer was provided immediately. A Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, "a republic, if you can keep it."
God's holiness and love of righteousness include an implacable hatred of evil. Thus the burning zeal of the living, triune God once for all provided an exactingly thorough, propitiatory sacrifice for the guilt of His people. That zeal is working even now to establish a Kingdom which in its consummate state will be free of even the tiniest blemish of sin's corruption...holy as He is holy...perfected in righteousness, peace, and joy...eternally bringing glory to Him. How should the poor, helpless sinner respond to these things?
By faith adore the Father, willing to make that incalculably costly sacrifice. By faith behold the incarnate Son, not counting His equality with the Father a thing to be grasped, but humbling Himself as a servant obedient to the point of a death; its excruciating physical pain was not the limit of its unfathomable agony. By faith cease insulting and resisting Him and rather be melted by the divine grace of the blessed Holy Spirit Who, through ordinary means and out of "jars of clay," is perpetually pouring out this redeeming balm, this glorious Gospel message effectual to save!
Here your reputation may be wounded from ignorance, envy, prejudice, or malevolence. But when your Saviour comes He will place you among those whom God hath justified, and whom no man can condemn – in whose society calumny cannot reach you, and reproach cannot hurt you. — A. Thomson
Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." — John 18:37
Unattributed quotes are the words of the web site editor.
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