What They Said

"Nothing whatever, whether great or small, can happen to a believer, without God's ordering and permission.

The providential government of God over everything in this world is a truth of which the Greek and Roman philosophers had no conception. It is a truth which is specially revealed to us in the Word of God.  Just as the telescope and microscope show us that there is order and design in all the works of God's hand, from the greatest planet down to the least insect, so does the Bible teach us that there is wisdom, order, and design in all the events of our daily life.  There is no such thing as "chance," "luck," or " accident" in the Christian's journey through this world.  All is arranged and appointed by God.  And all things are "working together " for the believer's good. (Rom. viii. 28.)"

J.C. Ryle

"It sounds indeed much better to murmur at the course of the world or the state of things than to murmur at providence, to complain of the seasons and weather, than to complain of God, but if these have no other cause but God and His providence it is a poor distinction to say that you are only angry at the things but not at the cause and director of them."

William Law

(Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life)

"Religion today is not transforming the 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

"The heart of the gospel is redemption, and the essence of redemption is the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ. They who preach this truth preach the gospel in whatever else they may be mistaken; but they who preach not the atonement, whatever else they declare, have missed the soul and substance of the divine message."

Charles Spurgeon

"The Nation that destroys its soil destroys itself."

Franklin D. Roosevelt

"The Church of Christ is the multitude of all them that believe in Christ for the remission of sin; and of a thankfulness for that mercy, love the law of God purely and without glosses; and, of hate they have to the sin of this world, long for the life to come."

William Tyndale

"You cannot control your children, you say. Then the Lord have mercy on you!  It is your business to do it, and you must do it, or else you will soon find they will control you. No one knows what judgment will come from God upon those who allow sin in children to go unrebuked."

Charles Spurgeon

"In our case, murder being once for all forbidden, we may not destroy even the fetus in the womb, while as yet the human being derives blood from other parts of the body for its sustenance. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man-killing;  nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to the birth.  That is a man which is going to be one; you have the fruit already in the seed."

Tertullian

"For I must tell you that self is the most treacherous enemy, and the most insinuating deceiver in the world.  It will be within you when you are not aware of it, and will conquer you when you perceive not yourselves much troubled with it;  and of all other vices is both the hardest to find out, and the hardest to cast out; the hardest to discover, and the hardest to cure.  Be sure therefore in the first place that you have self-denial; and then be sure that you use it and live in the practice of it."

Richard Baxter

"If you find a professing Christian indifferent to his Bible, you may be sure that the very dust upon its cover will rise up in judgment against him." 

 Charles Spurgeon

"To be in Christ is the source of the Christian’s life; to be like Christ is the sum of his excellence; to be with Christ is the fullness of his joy."

 Charles Hodge

"Let us mark this well.  There is nothing which shows our ignorance so much as our impatience under trouble.  We forget that every cross is a message from God, and intended to do us good in the end.  Trials are intended to make us think -- to wean us from the world, to send us to the Bible, to drive us to our knees.  Health is a good thing; but sickness is far better, if it leads us to God.  Prosperity is a great mercy, but adversity is a greater one, if it brings us to Christ.  Anything, anything is better than living in carelessness, and dying in sin.  Better a thousand times be afflicted, like the Canaanitish mother, and like her flee to Christ, than live at ease, like the rich "fool," and die at least without Christ and without hope. (Luke 12:20.)"

 J.C. Ryle

"Oh, how great peace and quietness would he possess who should cut off all vain anxiety and place all his confidence in God."

 Thomas A' Kempis

"Troubled by the non-problem of pain, most people do not feel the real problem. The real difficulty is the problem of pleasure. While in a sinful world, pain is to be expected, and pleasure is not to be expected. We should be constantly amazed at the presence of pleasure in a world such as ours.

It is easy to understand why this confusion has come about. Pain is a painful subject. Pleasure is a pleasurable subject. People do not like pain. They do like pleasure. And people associate problems with what they do not like. Because they do not like pain, they call it a problem.

The fact is that pain is no problem, whereas pleasure is an excruciating problem; and if one ever begins to think about that it can become intolerable. How could there be pleasure in a sinful world? People do not like thinking about pleasure in such a light because then they must admit their own sinfulness."

John Gerstner

"Unaccompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Bible is inactive, inoperative; a mere dead letter!"

 Octavius Winslow

"Two truths cannot be contradictory to each other.  If, then, I find taught in one place that everything is fore-ordained, that is true; and if I find in another place that man is responsible for all his actions, that is true; and it is my folly that leads me to imagine that two truths can ever contradict each other.  These two truths, I do not believe, can ever be welded into one upon any human anvil, but one they shall be in eternity: they are two lines that are so nearly parallel, that the mind that shall pursue them farthest, will never discover that they converge, but they do converge, and they will meet somewhere in eternity, close to the throne of God, whence all truth doth spring."

Charles Spurgeon

(Sermon No. 207)

"The true Christian was intended by Christ to prove all things by the Word of God, all churches, all ministers, all teaching, all preaching, all doctrines, all sermons, all writings, all opinions, all practices.  These are his marching orders.  Prove all by the Word of God; measure all by the measure of the Bible; compare all with the standard of the Bible; weigh all in the balances of the Bible; examine all by the light of the Bible; test all in the crucible of the Bible.  That which can abide the fire of the Bible, receive, hold, believe, and obey.  That which cannot abide the fire of the Bible, reject, refuse, repudiate, and cast away.  This is the flag which He nailed to the mast.  May it never be lowered!"

John Wycliffe

"You don’t have to go to heathen lands today to find false gods. America is full of them. Whatever you love more than God is your idol."

D.L. Moody