Despite the solemn message of death, suffering and need I was presenting, people still left the meetings with laughter and gossip on their lips. I was offended at the spirit of jocularity in the churches: It wounded me. So many times we went out to eat after I had just shared the tragedy of the thousands who starve to death daily or the millions of homeless people living on the streets of Asia.

– K.P. Yohannan

   There are two ways of coming down from the top of a ladder; one is to jump down, and the other is to come down by the steps: but both will lead you to the bottom. So also there are two ways of going to Hell; one is to walk into it with your eyes open–few people do that; the other is to go down by the steps of little sins–and that way, I fear, is only too common. Put up with a few little sins, and you will soon want a few more. . . . Jeremy Taylor very clearly described the progress of sin in a man: “First it startles him, then it becomes pleasing, then easy, then delightful, then frequent, then habitual, then a way of life! Then the man feels no guilt, then obstinate, then resolves never to repent, and then he is damned.”

-J.C. Ryle

1816 – 1900

   Our woes began when God was forced out of His central shrine and  “things” were allowed to enter.  Within the human heart “things” have taken over. Men have now by nature no peace within their hearts, for God is crowned there no longer, but there in the moral dusk stubborn and aggressive usurpers fight among themselves for first place on the throne.

– A.W. Tozer

1897 – 1963

Bad doctrine is tolerable; a long sermon most certainly is not. The timing of the benediction is of far more concern to the average churchgoer than the content of the sermon. Sunday dinner and the feeding of our mouths takes precedence over Sunday school and the nourishment of our souls . Long-windeness has become a greater sin than heresy.

– John MacArthur

  I was discouraged by the poor response–especially from churches and pastors. Many times it seemed as if my presence threatened them. Where, I wondered, was the fraternal fellowship of working together in the extension of the kingdom? Many days I called on people for hours to get only one or two new sponsors. Pastors and mission committees listened to me and promised to call back, but I never heard from them again. It always seemed as though I was competing against the building fund, new carpets for the fellowship hall or next Sunday night’s Jesus rock concert.

– K.P. Yohannan

Everywhere there is apathy. Nobody cares whether that which is preached is true or false. A sermon is a sermon whatever the subject; only, the shorter it is the better.

– Charles Spurgeon

1834 – 1892

   If God were not just, there would be no demand for His Son to suffer and die. And if God were not loving, there would be no willingness for His Son to suffer and die. But God is both just and loving. Therefore His love is willing to meet the demands of His justice.

– John Piper

   The trying of our faith works patience and hope into the fabric of our Christian lives. No one, I am convinced, will follow Jesus very long without tribulation. It is His way of demonstrating His presence. Suffering and trials–like persecution–are a normal part of the Christian walk.

– K.P. Yohannan

   Judge not lest you be judged has become the most misquoted verse in, well, the world. Many people now are using this to justify not making a judgment about anything. In fact, this is certainly a sign that many people have accepted the post-modern worldview that says truth and reality are created by man. In fact, you may hear someone say, “That may be truth for you, but not for me.” They’re really saying, “Judge not lest you be judged.” Well, this is not what the Scripture is saying. This is why we need good hermeneutics, or study the Bible in context. Jesus is saying don’t judge harshly, don’t judge for selfish reasons. Don’t be a hypocrite. And get the log out of your own eye before you get the speck out of someone else’s. Another words, judge, but do it for the right reasons. In fact, a few verses later Jesus Himself calls people pigs, dogs, and wolves in sheep’s clothing. And in Revelation chapter 2 verse two, Jesus Himself commends the Church of Ephesus for judging false teachers.

– Brannon Howse

   Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and that servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all.

– A.W. Tozer

1897 – 1963

If you take contemporary Christianity in America you can find no equal to her in the past. She’s a devient, she’s separated, she’s cut herself off from her root and no longer Christian.

– Paul Washer

   We Christians are ashamed of many of our ancestors who did not act in the spirit of Christ. No doubt there are traces of this plague in our own souls. But true Christianity–which is radically different from Western culture, and may not be found in many Christian churches–renounces  the advance of religion by means of violence. “My kingdom is not of this world,” Jesus said. “If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting” (John 18:36). The way of the cross is the way of suffering. Christians are called to die, not kill, in order to show how they are loved by Christ.

– John Piper

Keep company with an unsaved man, and it is more probable you will, in the end, become like him. That is the general consequence of all such friendships. The good go down to the bad, and the bad do not come up to the good. The world’s proverb is only too correct: “Clothes and company tell true tales about character.” “Show me who a man lives with and I will show you what he is.” . . . But depend on it, bad company in this life is the sure way to procure worse company in the life to come.

-J.C. Ryle

1816 – 1900

   This present generation of Americans, particular, is receiving the most unearned and undeserved favor of all time. God has made this people the richest nation on earth, yet Americans carry on as if this wealth were a natural right–as if they have no obligation to a lost world, dying in darkness without Christ. God has been so patient with us. Why this awesome grace continues must be a question all heaven asks! Surely the United States today deserves His judgment and punishment. Yet the Lord has continued to show mercy to these wayward descendants of the Mayflower and Jamestown believers. The living God has been keeping the covenants those first settlers made with Him, mercifully keeping His promises to a prodigal people.

– K.P. Yohannan

   I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate. The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long, in vain.

– A.W. Tozer

1897 – 1963

One of the most impressive blessings in America is religious liberty. Not only do Christians have access to radio and television, unheard of in most nations of Asia, but they are also free to hold meetings, evangelize, and print literature. How different this is from many Asian nations in which government persecution of Christians is common and often legal. . . . Coming from India, where I was beaten and stoned for my faith, I know what it is to be a persecuted minority in my own country. When I set foot on Western soil, I could sense a spirit of religious liberty. Americans have never known the fear of persecution. . . . From India, I always looked to the United States as a fortress of Christianity. With the abundance of both spiritual and material things, affluence unsurpassed by any nation on earth, and a totally unfettered church, I expected to see a bold witness. God’s grace obviously has been poured out on this nation and Church in a way no other people ever have experienced. Instead I found a Church in spiritual decline. . . . These people, I knew, were capable of so much more. They were dying spiritually, but I knew God wanted to give them life again. He wanted His Church to recover its moral mandate and sense of mission. . . . God did not shower such great blessing on this nation for the Christians to live in extravagance, in self-indulgence, and in spiritual weakness.

– K.P. Yohannan

   Now, the word legalism is oftentimes brought up today. And it’s just used totally out of context. Anybody who has any kind of conviction about anything, seems to be called a legalist. Now a legalist is someone who believes that they are going to have a right standing before through their own obedience, their own virtue and merit; and that’s a legalist. Now, Jesus Christ said, also in Matthew chapter 7, He said, “depart from me, you workers of lawlessness, I never knew you.” And what He’s saying there basically is depart from Me all of you who claim to be My disciples but lived as though I never gave you a law to obey.

– Paul Washer 

  There is much in the attitude of professing Christians in this day which fills me with concern, and makes me full of fear for the future.

-J.C. Ryle

1816 – 1900

  What so breaks my heart is when men are more concerned for coddling carnal unregenerate men than concerned for the glory of God and the God who died for them.
– Paul Washer

   How tragic that we in this dark day have had our seeking done for us by our teachers. Everything is made to center upon the initial act of “accepting” Christ (a term, incidentally, which is not found in the Bible) and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls. We have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we have found Him we need no more to seek Him.

– A.W. Tozer

1897 – 1963