Links & Quotes

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“Think lightly of hell, and you will think lightly of the Cross. Think little of the sufferings of lost souls, and you will soon think little of the Savior Who delivers you from them. God grant we may not live to see such a Christ-dishonoring theology dominant in our times.” —Charles Spurgeon

I share a lot of quotes from Charles Haddon Spurgeon, but perhaps you may not be as familiar with him. Here is a real short biography on a man called The Prince Of Preachers.

“From the moment a creature becomes aware of God as God and of itself as self, the terrible alternative of choosing God or self for the center is opened to it. This sin is committed daily by young children and ignorant peasants as well as by sophisticated persons, by solitaries no less than by those who live in society: it is the fall in every individual life, and in each day of each individual life, the basic sin behind all particular sins: at this very moment you and I are either committing it, or about to commit it, or repenting it.” —C.S. Lewis

If you are feeling tired, perhaps this will help: 9 Factors That Can Enhance Or Hinder Your Sleep.

David Wilkerson says, “God has given us a powerful weapon to use against any attack on our faith. ” Read more in his post The Great Cloud Of Witnesses.

Science becomes scientism when it is more speculation and theory than it is facts. Here is a case in point: this article about climate change talks about trying to get people to not just look at data, but tries to sell its model/simulation.

I love this! Stop trying to perform for God. It’s holding you back.

[VIDEO] Kids tell us what love is―

Easter Stories (book review)

Easter StoriesMiriam LeBlanc has compiled a lovely collection of stories in Easter Stories: Classic Tales for the Holy Season. The stories themselves are not always classics (in the sense of being well known), but the authors are certainly a Who’s Who list.

Some of the better known authors include André Trocmé, Anton Chekhov, C.S. Lewis, The Brothers Grimm, and Oscar Wilde. The stories were collected in this book because they talk about sacrifice, new birth, new beginnings, and new life: all the themes echoed in the biblical story of Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection.

These are great stories to introduce others to the story of Easter without turning to the passages in the Bible. These stories can introduce the themes of salvation, reconciliation, and new life, which will then allow Christians to lead their family and friends to the foundational stories in Scripture.

This is not only an excellent way to introduce the Easter themes to others, but also to introduce them to some of the more meaningful authors.

I am a Plough Publishing House book reviewer.

Links & Quotes

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Who are the happiest people in the world? These precious people!

“The sense of ownership in general is always to be encouraged. The humans are always putting up claims to ownership which sound equally funny in Heaven and in Hell and we must keep them doing so.” —C.S. Lewis, in The Screwtape Letters

“There are ten thousand actions good in themselves, which it might not be right for me to choose as my vocation in life. … Our prayer should be, ‘Show me what Thou wouldst have me to do’—have me to do in particular; not what is generally right, but what is particularly right for me to do.” ―Charles Spurgeon

J. Warner Wallace gives an important reminder to Christian apologists: The Evidence For Christianity Doesn’t “Tell” Us Anything.

[VIDEO] Here is another helpful reminder for Christian apologists on textual variants―

C.S. Lewis On Agape

C.S. Lewis“Of course taking in the poor illegitimate child is ‘charity.’ Charity means love. It is called Agape in the New Testament to distinguish it from Eros (sexual love), Storgë (family affection) and Philia (friendship). So there are 4 kinds of ‘love,’ all good in their proper place, but Agape is the best because it is the kind God has for us and is good in all circumstances. There are people I mustn’t feel Eros towards, and people I can’t feel Storgë or Philia for; but I can practice Agape to God, Angels, Man and Beast, to the good and the bad, the old and the young, the far and the near. You see Agape is all giving, not getting. Read what St. Paul says about it in First Corinthians Chap. 13. Then look at a picture of Charity (or Agape) in action in St. Luke, chap 10 v. 30-35. And then, better still, look at Matthew chap 25 v. 31-46: from which you see that Christ counts all that you do for this baby exactly as if you had done it for Him when He was a baby in the manger at Bethlehem: you are in a sense sharing in the things His mother did for Him. Giving money is only one way of showing charity: to give time and toil is far better and (for most of us) harder. And notice, though it is all giving—you needn’t expect any reward—how you do gets rewarded almost at once.” ―C.S. Lewis

Links & Quotes

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“You cannot secure the life of the church by any particular system. History shows that churches have prospered, as well as failed, under different systems. The fact is that forms of government have very little to do with the vital principle of the church. The reason why the church of God exists is not her ecclesiastical regulations, her organization, her formularies, her ministers, or her creeds, but the presence of the Lord in the midst of her; and while Christ lives, and Christ reigns, and stands and feeds His church, she is safe; but if He were once gone, it would be with her as it is with you and me when the Spirit of God has departed from us; we are weak as other men, and she would be quite as powerless.” ―Charles Spurgeon

“For this is what it means to be a king [or any leader]: to be first in every desperate attack and last in every desperate retreat, and when there’s hunger in the land (as must be now and then in bad years) to wear finer clothes and laugh louder over a scantier meal than any man in your land.” —King Lune in C.S. Lewis’ A Horse And His Boy

Another Bible study help from the great folks at The Overview Bible Project: a cool look at the book of Jude.

[VIDEO] The amazing story of Lizzie Velasquez―

Links & Quotes

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“‘Amen’ is an exclamation point of hope after a prayer for help.” —John Piper

“You ask ‘for what’ God wants you. Isn’t the primary answer that He wants you. We’re not told that the lost sheep was sought out for anything except itself.” —C.S. Lewis

A good read for Moms―Moms Need Theology Too.

And something for young men―5 Pieces Of Advice For Young Men.

Some United States Senators are more interested in making sure we can kill babies than they are in rescuing human trafficking victims.

Remember when your parents said, “Go outside and get some fresh air”? That advice may save your eyesight.

George Whitefield learned that God’s Word trumps our insights.

Links & Quotes

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Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, had some messed up values! Check out this video where she is interviewed by Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes. If you cannot watch the whole thing, fast forward to the 19:50 mark where she answers a question about sin. She says one of the greatest sins is to bring unfit children into the world(!). Disgusting.

“I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.” ―Harriet Tubman

“We do our Lord an injustice when we suppose He wrought all His mighty acts in days of old, and showed Himself strong for those in the early time, but does not perform wonders or lay bare His arm for the saints that are now upon the earth. … Surely, beloved, the goodness of God of old has been repeated unto us.” —Charles Spurgeon

“Not one life spent in the cause of world evangelization is spent in vain. Not one prayer or one dollar or one sermon or one letter of encouragement mailed or one little light shining in some dark place—nothing in the cause of the advancing kingdom is in vain. The triumph is sure.” —John Piper

“Perfect humility dispenses with modesty. If God is satisfied with the work, the work may be satisfied with itself.” —C.S. Lewis

“Christ lived the life we could not live, and took the punishment we could not take, to offer the hope we cannot resist. Why? Jesus was angry enough to purge the temple, distraught enough to weep in public, winsome enough to attract kids, poor enough to sleep on dirt, responsible enough to care for His mother, tempted enough to know the smell of satan. Why? Why would heaven’s finest Son endure earth’s toughest pain? So you would know that He is able. . .able to to run to the cry of those who are being tempted, tested and tried.” —Max Lucado

Comedian Tim Hawkins shares what songs may be sung at an “atheist church”―

Links & Quotes

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Today is pi day (3.1415), and Seth Godin has a great look at this day in his post Magical and Irrational.

Sadly, religious persecution is alive and well … IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?!? This Navy chaplain has been removed from his unit for―gasp!―preaching from the Bible!

Some very good pro-life news. Scientists have called on their peers to agree not to modify human embryos — even for research. Just because scientists can do something doesn’t mean it should be done.

“Cancer research disagrees with the assumptions of beneficial mutations, millions of years, and junk DNA.” Read more in Cancer Research Inadvertently Refutes Evolution.

“Yes, I know one doesn’t even want to be cured of one’s pride because it gives pleasure. But the pleasure of pride is like the pleasure of scratching. If there is an itch one does want to scratch: but it is much nicer to have neither the itch nor the scratch. As long as we have the itch of self-regard we shall want the pleasure of self-approval; but the happiest moments are those when we forget our precious selves and have neither, but have everything else (God, our fellow-humans, animals, the garden and the sky) instead.” ―C.S. Lewis

Who Needs Sex? An insightful post from Pastor Dave Barringer.

Jim Cymbala asks, “Does anyone really think that America today is lacking preachers, books, Bible translations, and neat doctrinal statements? What we really lack is the passion to call upon the Lord until He opens the heavens and shows Himself powerful.” Read more in Prayer Revival.

“Let me say that for comfort, there is no thought more full of sweetness than that of an eternal God engaged in Christ Jesus to His people; to love, and bless, and save them all. One Who has made them the distinguished objects of His discriminating regard from all eternity, it is the eternal God.” —Charles Spurgeon

Links & Quotes

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Max Lucado told this story―A man was bitten by a dog. When he learned the dog had rabies, he began a list. The doctor said, “There’s no need to make a will—you’ll be fine.” “Oh, I’m not making a will,” he said, “I’m making a list of all the people I want to bite!”

“There is a problem in the church of North America today. The problem is, for the most part, she isn’t hungry for God.” Read more in A Burning Church Is The Only Hope For America.

Evolutionists cannot agree on the mutation rate that holds their theory together.

“You can do two things with pumpkin seeds. Eat them, an excellent source of protein, or plant them, and watch a successful seed bring back 100 more. The farmer who plants the seeds aggressively, without regard for, ‘hey, be careful, I could have eaten that seed,’ often ends up with many more pumpkins and many more seeds. On the other hand, the person who guards all the seeds and then eats them ends up with not much. And of course, money works the same way. Time, too.” —Seth Godin

“According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.” ―C.S. Lewis

Good read: Nothing In Constitution Requires States To Redefine Marriage.

John Stonestreet said, “One reason to stand for religious freedom in America is so that we can speak for our persecuted brethren elsewhere. But turning religion in the U.S. into a purely private matter makes coming to the aid of our persecuted brethren less, not more, likely.” Read the rest of his commentary here.

Links & Quotes

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“Puffery in doctrine leads to its dishonor.” —Charles Spurgeon

“In love’s service, only the wounded soldiers can serve.” —Dr. James Stewart

“Don’t bother about the idea that God ‘has known for millions of years exactly what you are about to pray.’ That isn’t what it’s like. God is hearing you now, just as simply as a mother hears a child. The difference His timelessness makes is that this now (which slips away from you even as you say the word now) is for Him infinite. If you must think of His timelessness at all, don’t think of Him having looked forward to this moment for millions of years: think that to Him you are always praying this prayer. But there’s really no need to bring it in. You have gone into the Temple (‘one day in Thy court is better than a thousand’) and found Him, as always, there. That is all you need to bother about.” ―C.S. Lewis

“The itch of self-regard craves the scratch of self-approval. That is, if we are getting our pleasure from feeling self-sufficient, we will not be satisfied without others seeing and applauding our self-sufficiency.” —John Piper

Some godly women on the front lines of the war against the sex industry.