Preachers: Don’t Flatter, Speak Truth :

Well would it be for the Church of Christ, if it possessed more plain-speaking ministers, like John the Baptist, in these latter days. A morbid dislike to strong language - an excessive fear of giving offence, a constant flinching from directness and plain speaking - are, unhappily, too much the characteristics of the modern Christian pulpit. Uncharitable language is no doubt always to be deprecated. But there is no charity in flattering unconverted people, by abstaining from any mention of their vices, or in applying smooth epithets to damnable sins. There are two texts which are too much forgotten by Christian preachers. In one it is written, “Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you.” (Luke 6:26) In the other it is written, “Obviously, I’m not trying to be a people pleaser! No, I am trying to please God. If I were still trying to please people, I would not be Christ’s servant.” (Gal. 1:10)
~ J.C. Ryle

H.T. Erik Kowalker

Theological word of the day, Heresy :

[hair'-uh-see] (Greek hairesis, “choose”)
Describes a deviation or departure, doctrinally speaking, from the Christian faith, usually of a significant variety. This deviation must be from an established doctrine, dogma, or canon of truth that has been historically accepted as a defining characteristic of the faith. Arguably, the most common and serious heresies center on the person of Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity.

Here is an example :

Rob Bell Teaching Universalism



Eph 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.

Thomas Watson Quote :

"God is the best friend--but the worst enemy! If He can look men into their grave, how far can He throw them? What fools are they, who, for a drop of pleasure--drink a sea of wrath!"

~Thomas Watson 1620—1686

How Many Times Have You "Got Saved" ? :

Content in the Holy Spirit, Not Feelings :

"Feelings, no doubt, fill a most important office in our personal Christianity. Without them there can be no saving religion. Hope, joy, peace, confidence, resignation, love and fear, are things which must be felt, if they really exist. But it must never be forgotten that there are religious affections, which are spurious and false, and spring from nothing better than animal excitement. It is quite possible to feel great pleasure, or deep alarm, under the preaching of the Gospel, and yet to be utterly destitute of the grace of God. The tears of some hearers of sermons, and the extravagant delight of others, are no certain marks of conversion. We may be warm admirers of favorite preachers, and yet remain nothing better than stony-ground hearers. Nothing should content us but a deep, humbling, self-mortifying work of the Holy Spirit, and a heart-union with Christ."
~ J.C. Ryle

C.H.Spurgeon on Conversion :

If the Saviour has not sanctified you, renewed you, given you a hatred of sin and a love of holiness, He has nothing in you of a saving character.

True religion is something more than correct opinions. A man may as well descend to hell being orthodox as heterodox.

Conversion is the mysterious work of the Spirit upon the soul. That great change could not be produced by the fear of imprisonment, the authority of law, the charms of bribery, the clamour of excitement, or the glitter of eloquence.

Though no man is free from the commission of sin, yet every converted man is free from the love of sin.

The vital spark that regenerates a soul is kindled in an instant. Instantaneous conversion is not the exception, it is the rule; there cannot be any conversion but that which is instantaneous.

That conversion which is all joy and lacks sorrow for sin, is very questionable.

~ C.H.Spurgeon

Take Heart During Persecution

Let it never surprise true Christians if they are slandered and misrepresented in this world. They must not expect to fare better than their Lord. Let them rather look forward to it as a matter of course, and see in it a part of the cross which all must bear after conversion. Lies and false reports are among Satan’s choicest weapons. When he cannot deter men from serving Christ, he labors to harass them and make Christ’s service uncomfortable. Let us bear it patiently, and not count it a strange thing. The words of the Lord Jesus should often come to our minds – “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you.” [Luke 6:26] “Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.” [Matt. 5:11]
~ J.C. Ryle

Octavious Winslow Quote :

“I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.” John 16:32.
Oh, what words are these! Who can harm you now? What can befall you? When and where can you be alone, if your heavenly Father is with you? He is with you on the ocean; He is with you on the land. He is with you in your exile; He is with you at home. Friends may forsake, and kindred may die, and circumstances may change- but “my Father is with me!” may, still be your solace and your boast.
And, oh, to realize the presence of that Father- to walk with God in the absorbing consciousness of His loving eye never removed, of His solemn presence never withdrawn, of His encircling arm never untwined- welcome the solitude, welcome the loneliness, welcome the sorrow, cheered, and sweetened, and sanctified by such a realization as this! “I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.”

~Octavious Winslow

C.H.Spurgeon : Romanism

One reason why Romanism is so popular is because it allows a man to get a deputy to do his thinking for him, and to do his praying for him; but what a poor affair it is with the man who keeps his brains in somebody else’s head, and carries his heart in somebody else’s bosom!

~C.H.Spurgeon, the prince of preachers - June 19, 1834 – January 31, 1892

John Macarthur, Speaking in tongues :

I am thoroughly convinced that the biblical description of the charismatic gifts is incompatible with the charismatic gifts practiced in Pentecostal and Charismatic churches today. For example, Acts 2 is explicit in describing the gift of tongues as the ability to speak previously unlearned foreign languages. The rest of the New Testament affirms this same understanding (as does the testimony of the church fathers). But that is the very opposite of the nonsensical gibberish that characterizes modern glossolalia.
So I would challenge them to explain why they hold on to a modern practice that, in reality, has no biblical precedent—especially when that modern practice is the gateway to all sorts of theological error.

False Prophets Are Often Extremely Subtle :

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

Most people who have a modicum of discrimination can detect a heretic. If a man came into a pulpit and seemed to be doubtful about the being of God, and denied the deity of Christ and the miracles, you would say that he was a heretic. There is not much difficulty about that, or anything very subtle about it.
And yet, you notice, our Lord’s picture suggests that there is a difficulty, and that there is something subtle about this. You notice the very terms in which He puts it, this picture of the sheep’s clothing. He suggests that the real difficulty about this kind of false prophet is that at first you never imagine he is such.
The whole thing is extremely subtle, so much so that God’s people can be misled by it. You notice how Peter puts it in the second chapter of his second Epistle. These people, he says, “creep in unawares.” They look like the right people, they have sheep’s clothing on, and no one suspects anything false. Now the Bible, in the Old Testament and in the New, always brings out that characteristic of the false prophet. It is his subtlety that really constitutes the danger. Any true exposition of this teaching, therefore, must give due weight to that particular element. For this reason, then, we cannot accept it a being merely a warning about heretics and their teaching.
But the same thing applies to the other side. It is obviously not something outrageous in conduct. There again everybody could recognize it, and it would not be subtle, or constitute a difficulty. The picture we need to have in our minds, therefore, should rather be this. The false prophet is a man who comes to us, and who at first has the appearance of being everything that could be desired. He is nice and pleasing and pleasant; he appears to be thoroughly Christian, and seems to say the right things. His teaching in general is quite all right and he use many terms that should be used and employed by a true Christian teacher.
He talks about God, he talks about Jesus Christ, he talks about the cross, he emphasizes the love of God, he seems to be saying everything that a Christian should say. He is obviously in sheep’s clothing, and his way of living seems to correspond. So you do not suspect that there is anything wrong at all; there is nothing that at once attracts your attention or arouses your suspicions, nothing glaringly wrong. What then can be wrong, or may be wrong, with such a person? My suggestion is that finally this person may be wrong both in his teaching and in his type of life for, as we shall see, these two things are always indissolubly linked together.
Our Lord puts it by saying, “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” The teaching and the life can never be separated, and where there is wrong teaching in any shape of form it always leads to a wrong type of life in some respect. How then can we describe these people? What is wrong with their teaching? The most convenient way of answering this is to say that there is no “strait gate” in it, there is no “narrow way” in it. As far as it goes it is all right, but it does not include this. It is a teaching, the falseness of which is to be detected by what it does not say rather than what it does say. And it is just at this point that we realize the subtlety of the situation.
As we have already seen, any Christian can detect the man who says outrageously wrong things; but is it unfair or uncharitable to say to say that the vast majority of Christians today do not seem to be able to detect the man who seems to say the right things but leaves out vital things? We have somehow got hold of the idea that error is only that which is outrageously wrong; and we do not seem to understand that the most dangerous person of all is the one who does not emphasize the right things. That is the only way to understand rightly this picture of the false prophets. The false prophet is a man who has no “strait gate” or “narrow way” in his gospel.
He has nothing which is offensive to the natural man; he pleases all. He is in “sheep’s clothing,” so attractive, so pleasant, so nice to look at. He has such a nice and comfortable and comforting message. He pleases everybody and everybody speaks well of him. He is never persecuted for his preaching, he is never criticized severely. He is praised by Liberals and Modernists, he is praised by Evangelicals, he is praised by everybody. He is all things to all men in that sense; there is no “strait gate” about him, there is no “narrow way” in his message, there is none of “the offense of the cross.”

~D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

We Add Nothing to God :

“Let us consider and marvel that ever this great and blessed God should be so much concerned, as you have heard He is in all His Providences, about such vile, despicable worms as we are! He does not need us, but is perfectly blessed and happy in Himself without us. We can add nothing to Him.”

~ John Flavel

H.T. John Flavel Quotes

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God :

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

Confessing Christ Boldly To Others :

The wickedness of being ashamed of Christ is very great. It is a proof of unbelief. It shows that we care more for the praise of men whom we can see, than that of God whom we cannot see. It is a proof of ingratitude. It shows that we fear confessing Him before man who was not ashamed to die for us upon the cross. Wretched indeed are they who give way to this sin. Here, in this world, they are always miserable. A bad conscience robs them of peace. In the world to come they can look for no comfort. In the day of judgment they must expect to be disowned by Christ to all eternity, if they will not confess Christ for a few years upon earth. Let us resolve never to be ashamed of Christ. Of sin and worldliness we may well be ashamed. Of Christ and His cause we have no right to be ashamed at all. Boldness in Christ’s service always brings its own reward. The boldest Christian is always the happiest person.
~ J.C. Ryle

Feel the Importance of Your Sins Forgiven :

Do you feel anything of the importance of being forgiven? Then, in the name of God, I call upon you to encourage that feeling more and more. This is the point to which we desire to bring all people’s souls. We want you to understand that religion does not consist in professing certain opinions, and performing certain outward duties, and going through certain outward forms. It consists in being reconciled to God, and enjoying peace with Him. It consists in having our sins cleansed away, and knowing that they are cleansed. It consists in being brought back into friendship with the King of kings, and living in the sunshine of that friendship.
Do not listen to those who are inclined to persuade you that if you only “go to church” regularly you will go to heaven. Settle it rather in your mind, that true saving religion, such as the Bible teaches, is another kind of thing altogether. The very foundation of real Christianity is to know that you have many sins, and deserve hell – and to feel the importance of having these sins cleansed away, in order that you may go to heaven.
~ J.C. Ryle