We picture idolatry as the worship of something evil. However, most of our idols are good servants that we have made lords - @MichaelHorton_
Showing posts with label idols. Show all posts
Showing posts with label idols. Show all posts
Tuesday, 7 February 2017
8 Feb 17
PRAYER is beyond any question the highest activity of the human soul. Man is at his greatest and highest when upon his knees he comes face to face with God.― D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
We picture idolatry as the worship of something evil. However, most of our idols are good servants that we have made lords - @MichaelHorton_
We picture idolatry as the worship of something evil. However, most of our idols are good servants that we have made lords - @MichaelHorton_
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Love is a grace which many professing Christians think far too little about; but it is of infinite value in the eyes of God. Love is the most characteristic feature of Christ’s image in a renewed man. Love is the most precious fruit of grace; and yet the fruit which too many of His professed followers seem to think themselves hardly under any obligation to cultivate.- John Angell James
If by doing some work which the undiscerning consider “not spiritual work” I can best help others, and I inwardly rebel, thinking it is the spiritual for which I crave, when in truth it is the interesting and the exciting, then I know nothing of Calvary love.- Amy Carmichael
Nothing is a surprise to God; nothing is a setback to His plans; nothing can thwart His purposes; and nothing is beyond His control. His sovereignty is absolute. Everything that happens is uniquely ordained by God. Sovereignty is a weighty thing to ascribe to the nature and character of God. Yet if He were not sovereign, He would not be God. The Bible is clear that God is in control of everything that happens.- Joni Eareckson Tada, Is God Really in Control, Joni and Friends, 1987, p. 1
Are we honest and sincere in our professed desire to be true Christians? Have we given up all our idols? Is there no secret sin that we are silently clinging to, and refusing to give up? Is there no thing or person that we are privately loving more than Christ and our souls? These are questions that ought to be answered. The true explanation of the unsatisfactory state of many hearers of the Gospel, is spiritual idolatry. We need not wonder that John says, "Keep yourselves from idols." (1 John 5:21.) ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 240, 241.
If by doing some work which the undiscerning consider “not spiritual work” I can best help others, and I inwardly rebel, thinking it is the spiritual for which I crave, when in truth it is the interesting and the exciting, then I know nothing of Calvary love.- Amy Carmichael
Nothing is a surprise to God; nothing is a setback to His plans; nothing can thwart His purposes; and nothing is beyond His control. His sovereignty is absolute. Everything that happens is uniquely ordained by God. Sovereignty is a weighty thing to ascribe to the nature and character of God. Yet if He were not sovereign, He would not be God. The Bible is clear that God is in control of everything that happens.- Joni Eareckson Tada, Is God Really in Control, Joni and Friends, 1987, p. 1
Are we honest and sincere in our professed desire to be true Christians? Have we given up all our idols? Is there no secret sin that we are silently clinging to, and refusing to give up? Is there no thing or person that we are privately loving more than Christ and our souls? These are questions that ought to be answered. The true explanation of the unsatisfactory state of many hearers of the Gospel, is spiritual idolatry. We need not wonder that John says, "Keep yourselves from idols." (1 John 5:21.) ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 240, 241.
Friday, 1 October 2010
There came a gentle tapping ‘let me in!’
I opened and beheld a very little sin.
He entered with apologies and scarcely raised his eyes
As if abashed to contemplate tempting one so wise.
I found myself amused at this and set out to explore
This little cunning sin I’d let inside my door.
I petted him and teased him and gave him bread and wine,
Grew fond of him, then adopted him, this little sin of mine.
He twined around my heartstrings and grew so very dear
I loved him and assured myself he was too small to fear.
He soon spied out my weakness and therein was the rub,
He built himself a treadmill, my weakness at the hub.
With every revolution my darling little sin
Enlarged himself and multiplied over and over again.
At last he stooped and lifted me and placed me on his knee,
Now he is my besetting sin and makes a pet of me.
-- credited to Irene Holsted
The best Christian is still a poor Christian - R.B. Kuiper
Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God- Martin Luther
The Kingdom must be advanced not merely extensively, but also intensively. The Church must seek to conquer not merely every man for Christ, but also the whole of man - Greg Bahnsen
Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on earth. -John Wesley
I opened and beheld a very little sin.
He entered with apologies and scarcely raised his eyes
As if abashed to contemplate tempting one so wise.
I found myself amused at this and set out to explore
This little cunning sin I’d let inside my door.
I petted him and teased him and gave him bread and wine,
Grew fond of him, then adopted him, this little sin of mine.
He twined around my heartstrings and grew so very dear
I loved him and assured myself he was too small to fear.
He soon spied out my weakness and therein was the rub,
He built himself a treadmill, my weakness at the hub.
With every revolution my darling little sin
Enlarged himself and multiplied over and over again.
At last he stooped and lifted me and placed me on his knee,
Now he is my besetting sin and makes a pet of me.
-- credited to Irene Holsted
The best Christian is still a poor Christian - R.B. Kuiper
Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God- Martin Luther
The Kingdom must be advanced not merely extensively, but also intensively. The Church must seek to conquer not merely every man for Christ, but also the whole of man - Greg Bahnsen
Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on earth. -John Wesley
Friday, 3 September 2010
The dark night of the soul always gives way to the brightness of the noonday light of the presence of God. - R.C. Sproul
Men are idolaters, and want something to look at and kiss and hug, or throw themselves down before; they always did, they always will; and if you don't make it of wood, you must make it of words. --Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) _The Poet at the Breakfast Table_ [1872]
A sound mind in a sound body, is a short but full description of a happy state in this world. --John Locke (1632-1704) _Some Thoughts Concerning Education_ [1693], Section 1
Measure your growth in grace by your sensitiveness to sin. --Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) _Disciples Indeed_ [1955]
We have but a very few sins which we can observe and detect, compared
with those which are hidden to ourselves and unseen by our fellow
creatures. I doubt not it is true of all of us who are here, that in
every hour of our existence in which we are active, we commit tens of
thousands of unholinesses for which conscience has never reproved us,
because we have never seen them to be wrong, seeing we have not studied
God's laws as we ought to have done. .... Let all of us who know our
sins, offer this prayer after all our confessions: "Lord, I have
confessed as many as I know, but I must add an etcetera after them, and
say, 'Cleanse thou me from secret faults.'~ Rev. C. H. Spurgeon 1834-92, Sermon (No. 116) Delivered on Sabbath Morning, February 8, 1857, at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.
Men are idolaters, and want something to look at and kiss and hug, or throw themselves down before; they always did, they always will; and if you don't make it of wood, you must make it of words. --Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) _The Poet at the Breakfast Table_ [1872]
A sound mind in a sound body, is a short but full description of a happy state in this world. --John Locke (1632-1704) _Some Thoughts Concerning Education_ [1693], Section 1
Measure your growth in grace by your sensitiveness to sin. --Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) _Disciples Indeed_ [1955]
We have but a very few sins which we can observe and detect, compared
with those which are hidden to ourselves and unseen by our fellow
creatures. I doubt not it is true of all of us who are here, that in
every hour of our existence in which we are active, we commit tens of
thousands of unholinesses for which conscience has never reproved us,
because we have never seen them to be wrong, seeing we have not studied
God's laws as we ought to have done. .... Let all of us who know our
sins, offer this prayer after all our confessions: "Lord, I have
confessed as many as I know, but I must add an etcetera after them, and
say, 'Cleanse thou me from secret faults.'~ Rev. C. H. Spurgeon 1834-92, Sermon (No. 116) Delivered on Sabbath Morning, February 8, 1857, at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.
Sunday, 29 August 2010
The great cause of neglecting the Scriptures is not want of time, but want of heart, some idol taking the place of Christ. - Robert Chapman
We must remember that our experience of union with God, our
feeling of His presence, is altogether accidental and
secondary. It is only a side effect of His actual presence in
our souls, and gives no sure indication of that presence in any
case. For God Himself is above all apprehensions and ideas and
sensations, however spiritual, that can ever be experienced by
the spirit of man in this life. - Thomas Merton (1915-1968), No Man is an Island, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1955; reprint,Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002, p. 225
Do not trust your memory, it is a net full of holes; the most beautiful prizes slip through it. - Georges Duhamel
It is commonly observed that a sudden wealth, like a prize drawn in a lottery or a large bequest to a poor family, does not permanently enrich.- Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803 - 1882
Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.- Theodore Roosevelt, 1858 - 1919
I can forgive Alfred Nobel for having invented dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize. - George Bernard Shaw, 1856 - 1950
We must remember that our experience of union with God, our
feeling of His presence, is altogether accidental and
secondary. It is only a side effect of His actual presence in
our souls, and gives no sure indication of that presence in any
case. For God Himself is above all apprehensions and ideas and
sensations, however spiritual, that can ever be experienced by
the spirit of man in this life. - Thomas Merton (1915-1968), No Man is an Island, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1955; reprint,Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002, p. 225
Do not trust your memory, it is a net full of holes; the most beautiful prizes slip through it. - Georges Duhamel
It is commonly observed that a sudden wealth, like a prize drawn in a lottery or a large bequest to a poor family, does not permanently enrich.- Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803 - 1882
Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.- Theodore Roosevelt, 1858 - 1919
I can forgive Alfred Nobel for having invented dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize. - George Bernard Shaw, 1856 - 1950
Monday, 2 August 2010
Counterfeit Gods
One of the signs that an object is functioning as an idol is that fear becomes one of the chief characteristics of life. When we center our lives on the idol, we become dependent on it. If our counterfeit god is threatened in any way, our response is complete panic. We do not say, “What a shame, how difficult,” but rather “This is the end! There’s no hope!”
This may be a reason why so many people now respond to U.S. political trends in such an extreme way. When either party wins an election, a certain percentage of the losing side talks openly about leaving the country. They become agitated and fearful for the future. They have put the kind of hope in their political leaders and policies that once was reserved for God and the work of the gospel. When their political leaders are out of power they experience a death. They believe that if their policies and people are not in power, everything will fall apart. They refuse to admin how much agreement they actually have with the other party, and instead focus on the points of disagreement. The points of contention overshadow everything else, and a poisonous environment is created.- -Timothy Keller,Counterfeit Gods, p98
Another sign of idolatry in our politics is that opponents are not considered to be simply mistaken, but to be evil. After the last presidential election [i.e. 2008 election which Obama won], my eighty-four-year-old mother observed, “It used to be that whoever was elected as your president, even if he wasn’t the one you voted for, he was still your president. That doesn’t seem to be the case any longer.” After each election, there is now a significant number of people who see the incoming president lacking moral legitimacy. The increasing political polarization and bitterness we see in U.S. politics today is a sign that we have made political activism into a form of religion. How does idolatry produce fear and demonization?
Dutch-Canadian philosopher Al Wolters taught that in the biblical view of things, the main problem in life is sin, and the only solution is God and his grace. The alternative to this view is to identify something besides sin as the main problem with the world and something besides God as the main remedy. That demonizaes something that is not completely bad, and makes an idol out of soemthing that cannot be the ultimate good. -Timothy Keller,Counterfeit Gods,
The great danger is to single out some aspect or phenomenon of God’s good creation and identify it, rather than the alien intrusion of sin, as the villain in the drama of human life… This “something” has been variously identified as … the body and its passions (Plato and much of Greek philosophy), culture in distinction from nature (Rousseau and Romanticism), institutional authority, especially in the state and the family (much of depth psychology), technology and management techniques (Heidegger and Ellul)… The Bible is unique in its uncompromising rejection of all attempts … to identify part of creation as either the villain or the savior.- Al Wolters quoted in Timothy Keller,(Counterfeit Gods,
This accounts for the constant political cycles of overblown hopes and disillusionment, for the increasingly poisonous political discourse, and for the disproportionate fear and despair when one’s political party loses power. But why do we deify and demonize political causes and ideas? Reinhold Niebuhr answered that, in political idolatry, we make a god out of having power. -Timothy Keller,(Counterfeit Gods, p101)
This may be a reason why so many people now respond to U.S. political trends in such an extreme way. When either party wins an election, a certain percentage of the losing side talks openly about leaving the country. They become agitated and fearful for the future. They have put the kind of hope in their political leaders and policies that once was reserved for God and the work of the gospel. When their political leaders are out of power they experience a death. They believe that if their policies and people are not in power, everything will fall apart. They refuse to admin how much agreement they actually have with the other party, and instead focus on the points of disagreement. The points of contention overshadow everything else, and a poisonous environment is created.- -Timothy Keller,Counterfeit Gods, p98
Another sign of idolatry in our politics is that opponents are not considered to be simply mistaken, but to be evil. After the last presidential election [i.e. 2008 election which Obama won], my eighty-four-year-old mother observed, “It used to be that whoever was elected as your president, even if he wasn’t the one you voted for, he was still your president. That doesn’t seem to be the case any longer.” After each election, there is now a significant number of people who see the incoming president lacking moral legitimacy. The increasing political polarization and bitterness we see in U.S. politics today is a sign that we have made political activism into a form of religion. How does idolatry produce fear and demonization?
Dutch-Canadian philosopher Al Wolters taught that in the biblical view of things, the main problem in life is sin, and the only solution is God and his grace. The alternative to this view is to identify something besides sin as the main problem with the world and something besides God as the main remedy. That demonizaes something that is not completely bad, and makes an idol out of soemthing that cannot be the ultimate good. -Timothy Keller,Counterfeit Gods,
The great danger is to single out some aspect or phenomenon of God’s good creation and identify it, rather than the alien intrusion of sin, as the villain in the drama of human life… This “something” has been variously identified as … the body and its passions (Plato and much of Greek philosophy), culture in distinction from nature (Rousseau and Romanticism), institutional authority, especially in the state and the family (much of depth psychology), technology and management techniques (Heidegger and Ellul)… The Bible is unique in its uncompromising rejection of all attempts … to identify part of creation as either the villain or the savior.- Al Wolters quoted in Timothy Keller,(Counterfeit Gods,
This accounts for the constant political cycles of overblown hopes and disillusionment, for the increasingly poisonous political discourse, and for the disproportionate fear and despair when one’s political party loses power. But why do we deify and demonize political causes and ideas? Reinhold Niebuhr answered that, in political idolatry, we make a god out of having power. -Timothy Keller,(Counterfeit Gods, p101)
Monday, 21 June 2010
22 Jun 10
Those who believe in the Union, if they also believe in devolution, must accept that unless they are contemplating Lord Home-type proposals for a federated United Kingdom, the present arrangement will...lead to enormous and legitimate resentment on the part of the 46 million people who live in England.— Malcolm Rifkind Hansard, 31 January 1978.
We cannot solve the problems that we have created with the same thinking that created them. Albert Einstein
Living or dying, we are the Lord’s. If we live, Jesus will be with us; if we die, we shall be with Jesus. — C.H. Spurgeon
The human heart is a factory of idols...Everyone of us is, from his mother’s womb, expert in inventing idols.” - John Calvin
Only where our piety forgets about itself and focuses on Jesus Christ will our piety be nourished by the ongoing resources the Spirit brings to us from the source of all true piety, our Lord Jesus Christ.- Sinclair Ferguson
Graham J Weeks M.R.Pharm.S
http://www.christiansquoting.org.uk 10201 quotes 654 topics 2452 authors indexed
http://www.ipc-ealing.co.uk/ Our church
http://groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/Christiansquoting Daily quotes
http://christianquoter.blogspot.com/ My blog
http://www.cpaparty.org.uk/ Christian politics
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overindulgence in media and technology creates a soul that is nourished by distraction-.AlbertMohler
===============================================================
We cannot solve the problems that we have created with the same thinking that created them. Albert Einstein
Living or dying, we are the Lord’s. If we live, Jesus will be with us; if we die, we shall be with Jesus. — C.H. Spurgeon
The human heart is a factory of idols...Everyone of us is, from his mother’s womb, expert in inventing idols.” - John Calvin
Only where our piety forgets about itself and focuses on Jesus Christ will our piety be nourished by the ongoing resources the Spirit brings to us from the source of all true piety, our Lord Jesus Christ.- Sinclair Ferguson
Graham J Weeks M.R.Pharm.S
http://www.christiansquoting.org.uk 10201 quotes 654 topics 2452 authors indexed
http://www.ipc-ealing.co.uk/ Our church
http://groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/Christiansquoting Daily quotes
http://christianquoter.blogspot.com/ My blog
http://www.cpaparty.org.uk/ Christian politics
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overindulgence in media and technology creates a soul that is nourished by distraction-.AlbertMohler
===============================================================
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)