Quote of the Day

The longing to see Christ that burned in the breasts of those first Christians seems to have burned itself out.  All we have left are the ashes.  It is precisely the 'yearning' and the 'fainting' for the return of Christ that has distinguished the personal hope from the theological one.   Mere acquaintance with correct doctrine is a poor substitute for Christ and familiarity with New Testament eschatology will never take the place of a love-inflamed desire to look on His face.

If the tender yearning is gone from the advent hope today there must be a reason for it; and I think I know what it is, or what they are, for there are a number of them.  One is simply that popular fundamentalist theology has emphasized the utility of the cross rather than the beauty of the One who died on it.   The saved man's relation to Christ has been made contractual instead of personal.  The 'work' of Christ has been stressed until it has eclipsed the person of Christ.   Substitution has been allowed to supersede identification.   What He did for me seems to be more important than what He is to me.   Redemption is seen as an across-the-counter transaction which we 'accept,' and the whole thing lacks emotional content.   We must love someone very much to stay awake and long for his coming, and that may explain the absence of power in the advent hope even among those who still believe in it.  

Another reason for the absence of real yearning for Christ's return is that Christians are so comfortable in this world that they have little desire to leave it.   For those leaders who set the pace of religion and determine its content and quality, Christianity has become of late remarkably lucrative.   The streets of gold do not have too great an appeal for those who find it so easy to pile up gold and silver in the service of the Lord here on earth.   We want to reserve the hope of heaven as a kind of insurance against the day of death, but as long as, we are healthy and comfortable, why change a familiar good for something about which we actually know very little?   So reasons the carnal mind, and so subtly that we are scarcely aware of it.

Again, in these times religion has become jolly good fun right here in this present world, and what's the hurry about heaven anyway?   Christianity, contrary to what some had thought is another and higher form of entertainment.   Christ has done all the suffering.   He has shed all the tears and carried all the crosses; we have but to enjoy the benefits of His heartbreak in the form of religious pleasures modeled after the world but carried on in the name of Jesus.  So say the same people who claim to believe in Christ's second coming.

- A. W. Tozer

Quote of the Day

"Snacking (on isolated verses in the Bible) hides things to be sure, but it also distorts the things it does show us.  For example, ,the Snacking Bible is not great news. It has gospel verses, but no gospel, because the gospel is the announcement of a particular turn of events within an ongoing story.  The gospel is not a sentence about justification by faith or a verse reference on the forgiveness of my sins.  The gospel is not the Romans Road.  The gospel is not John 3:16.  What the apostles Paul and John wrote - what God's Spirit enkindled in them - was something entirely different than these boiled-down reductions.  Evangelist D. L. Moody said he could write the gospel on a dime.  Well, Paul and John couldn't, and didn't."

- Glenn R. Pauuw

Quote/Excerpt of the Day

We do have our favorites.  They tend to fall into the general category of Scripture Encouragement.  There are many sacred words and they say many things, but it’s the Bible Balm that has caught our eye.  With a partitioned Bible preparing so many options for us, you might think it would be hard to choose.  But no.  The people have voted.  The customers know what they want. 

·        *  Jeremiah 29:11

·        *  John 10:10

·         * Philippians 4:13

·         * Joshua 1:9

If you didn’t already know, the addresses direct us to these:

·         “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

·         “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

·         “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

·         “Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Good, positive verses all.  But the shocking news to most people is that there is a parallel universe Bible.  It is rarely talked about and almost never explored.  In that other world every positive and negative is reversed.  Every verse has its anti-verse.  In the parallel universe Bible, the favorite anti-verses are:

·         * Deuteronomy 28:29

·         * 2 Corinthians 2:16

·         * Isaiah 49:4

·         * Deuteronomy 28:65

What? You don’t know these?  You’ve never seen them on a scenic piece of Christian framed art?  OK, well, here’s what they say:

·         “You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you.”

·         “We are an aroma that brings death.”

·         “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all”

·         “The LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart.”

The real revelation may be that these anti-verses too are in the Bible (our Bible, in this universe).  They are set apart, numbered and included in the lineup just like all the rest.  It’s just that nobody ever wants to use them.  They aren’t ever selected.  They are more like bombs than balm.  But there they are.  Why?  If they are unusable, why are they there?  Do we need them for anything at all?  (And why do I have a suspicion that anyone being confronted with these verses will suddenly develop a strong interest in the original context, so as to nicely distance themselves from any unpleasant implications?)

- From "Saving the Bible from Ourselves" - By Glen Paauw

Quote of the Day

 Jesus didn't treat these interruptions like intrusions, He let needy people elbow into His life, even when His closest friends tried to block their way.  In fact, one could argue that Jesus did much of His work during moments of interruption.  We often grown annoyed at disruptions, feeling as if life has been put on hold.  When are we missing out on some of life's holiest moments?

- Apply The Word Study Bible

Quote of the Day

When Satan cannot hide the truth, he works to hinder the practical application of it.

- William Gurnall

Quote of the Day

Writing specifically of the veil which Satan casts over the minds of men, F.C. Jennings states:  'He so weaves the course of this age:  its religious forms, ceremonies, external decencies, respectabilies, and conventionalities as to form a thick veil, that entirely hides 'the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus,' which consists in righteous mercy to penitent sinners only.  This veil is not formed by evil-living, depravity, or any form of what passes as evil amongst men; but by cold formality, heartless decency, proud self-complacency, highly esteemed external respectability, and we must add, church-membership - all without Christ.  It is the most fatal of all delusions, the thickest of all veils, and the most common.  It is the way that because it is religious, respectable, decent 'seems right unto a man but the end thereof is death'; for there is no Christ, no Lamb of God, no blood of Atonement in it'

- From Lewis Sperry Chafer's Systematic Theology (section on Satan's motives)

Quote of the Day

When you look around and see the devil's vast empire and what a little spot of ground contains Christ's subjects - what heaps of precious souls lie prostrate under Satan's feet and what a tiny regiment of saints arch under Christ's banner of grace - perhaps you ask yourself, "is hell stronger than heaven?  Are the arms of Satan more victorious than the cross of Christ?"  But if you consider what I am about to tell you, you will wonder that Christ has any to follow Him rather than that He has so few. 

Every son of man is born in sin (51:5).  So when the prince of this world first approaches a young soul with this or that wicked proposal, he finds the soul unarmed and in its natural state already familiar with his policies.  Yielding to Satan's control will therefore not cause much of a stir in the naturally sinful heart.  But when Christ campaigns for a soul, He proposes sweeping changes.  And the selfish soul, which generally likes things as they are, answers Him with the same scorn as the rebellious citizens in the parable:  "We will not have this man to reign over us!" (Luke 19:14).  The vote is unanimous:  All the lusts cast their ballots against Christ, and rise up like the Philistines against Samson, whom they called the destroyer of their country (Judges 16:23-24).  If God's grace did not step in and override the veto, the whole world would be held in Satan's sway. 

Satan's conquests are limited to itnorant, graceless souls who have neither strength nor strength to oppose him.  They are born imprisoned to sin; all he has to do is keep them there. But when he assaults a saint, whose freedom was won at the Cross, once for all, then he is laying siege to a city with gates and bars.  Sooner or later, he must retreat in shame, unable to pluck the weakest saint out of the Savior's hand.  Doubt your own strength, but never doubt Christs's.  In your gravest conflicts with Satan, trust Him to bring you out of the devil's dominion.

- William Gurnall (Daily Readings from: The Christian in Complete Armour)

Quote of the Day

 You should find great strength and encouragement in the knowledge that your commission is divine.  God Himself underwrites your battle and has appointed His own Son "the captain of [your] salvation" (Hebrews 2:10).  He will lead you on to the field with courage, and bring you off with honor.......For bravery none compares with our Lord.  He never turned  His head from danger, not even when hell's hatred and heaven's justice appeared against Him.  Knowing all that was about to happen, Jesus went forth and said, "Whom seek ye?" (John 18:4).  Satan could not overcome Him - our Savior never lost a battle, not even when he lost His life.  He won the victory, carrying His spoils to heaven in the triumphant chariot of His ascension.  There He makes an open show of them, to the unspeakable joy of saints and angels.    As part of Christ's army, you march in the ranks of gallant spirits.  Every one of your fellow soldiers is a child of a King.  Some, like you, are in the midst of battle, besieged on every side by affliction and temptation.  Others, after many assaults, repulses and rallyings of their faith, are already standing upon the wall as conquerors.  From there they look down and urge you, their comrades on earth, to march up the hill after them.  This is their cry: "Fight to the death , and the City is your own, as now it is ours! For the waging of a few days' conflict, you will be rewarded with Heaven's glory.  One moment of this celestial joy will dry up all your tears, heal all your wounds, and erase the sharpness of the fight with all the joy of your permanent victory."

- William Gurnall
from Daily Readings from The Christian In Complete Armour (William Gurnall)