When God gives a promise, He always tries our faith. Just as the roots of trees take firmer hold when they are contending with the wind, so faith takes a firmer hold when it struggles with adverse appearances.-Robert Murray McCheyne, Comfort in Sorrow, Christian Focus, 2002, p. 40,

I would be true, for there are those who trust me;
I would be pure, for there are those who care;
I would be strong- for there is much to suffer;
I would be brave, for there is much to dare.
I would be friend of all- the foe, the friendless;
I would be giving, and forget the gift.
I would be humble, for I know my weakness;
I would look up- and laugh- and love- and lift.
Howard Arnold Walter

The English Established Church... will more readily pardon an attack on 38 of its 39 articles than on 1/39 of its income. - Karl Marx, Capital

Have you ever noticed that to the Left, political ideology is a
religion, while to the rest of us, religion is the antidote to their
political ideology?
The bedrock of the Left's political philosophy is the principle that the state is dominant over man. That forms the basis for Marxism, Socialism, Nazism, or any of the other -isms proven over the past century to be a failure. Religion, particularly Christianity, teaches that only God is superior to man.
Therefore, the Left cannot accept religion and must denigrate those who do. In the alternative, they must substitute allegiance to and worship at the altar of a statist ideology with particular emphasis on unfettered abortion rights, with the same fervor and belief as do those who believe in the direct relationship between God and man.
The United States, founded on the tenet that the state serves the citizen, whose rights come from God, has become the most successful nation in the history of mankind. In order for the Left to change the United States into a socialist paradise, they must overthrow the founding principle of the country. - Steve McCann, Have You Ever Noticed?
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/08/have_you_ever_noticed.html