The violation of the seventh commandment is the sin above all others, that, as Hosea says, “takes away the understanding” (Hosea 4:11). It is the sin that leaves deeper scars upon the soul than any other sin that a man can commit. It is a sin that destroys thousands of young men in every age, and has even overthrown a few of the saints of God in the past. Samson and David are fearful proofs. It is the sin that a man dares to smile at, and smooths over using the terms: thrills, love, uncontrollable passions, and natural desires. But it is the sin that the devil rejoices over, for he is the “unclean spirit;” and it is the sin that God abhors, and declares He “will judge” (Hebrews 13:4).

– J.C. Ryle

1816 – 1900

I will not shrink from warning all young men to remember the seventh commandment; to beware of adultery and sexual immorality, of all impurity of every kind. I fear that we don’t very often speak on this part of God’s law. But when I see how prophets and Apostles have dealt with this subject, when I observe the open way in which the Reformers of our own Church denounced it . . . I for one cannot, with good conscience, hold my peace. The world becomes more wicked because of our failure to teach and preach on this commandment. For my own part, I feel it would be false and unscriptural delicacy, in addressing men, not to speak of that which is preeminently the “young man’s sin.”

– J.C. Ryle

1816 – 1900

In my prayers I began to seek a message from God that would bring a change in lifestyle to the American Church. It came over a period of weeks. And that message came loud and clear: Unless there is repentance among Christians–individually and in concert as a community of believers–an awesome judgment will fall on America.

– K.P. Yohannan

The only thing that’s going to save the Church in America–there’s only two possibilities: One is total reformation in our preaching, in our study of the word of God. Or the other is fierce horrifying persecution. That’s the only thing that’s going to save the Church in America.

– Paul Washer

Think seriously how Christ, and His apostles, the holiest servants in all ages spent their time. They spent it in praying, and preaching, and holy conference, and in doing good, and in the works of their outward callings in subserviency to these: but not in cards, or dice, or dancing, or stage-plays, or pampering the flesh, nor in the pursuit of the profits and honors of the world. I read where Christ spent “all night praying” but not where He spent an hour playing. . . . And therefore if Christ and His holy servants were sparing of their time, and spent it in works of holiness and obedience, have not you greater need to do so than they?

– Richard Baxter

1615 – 1691

We do not want, as the newspapers say, a church that will move with the world. We want a church that will move the world.

– G. K. Chesterton

1874 – 1936

Sound Protestant and evangelical doctrine is useless if it is not accompanied by a holy life. It is worse then useless: it does positive harm. It is despised by keen-sighted and shrewed men of the world, as an unreal and hollow thing, and brings religion into contempt.

– J.C. Ryle

1816 – 1900

I have had a deep conviction for many years that practical holiness and entire self-consecration to God are not sufficiently attended to by modern Christians in this country. . . . The immense importance of “adorning the doctrine of God our Savior” (Titus 2:10), and making it lovely and beautiful by our daily habits and tempers, has been far too much overlooked. Worldly people sometimes complain with reason that “religious” persons, so-called, are not so amiable, and unselfish, and good-natured, as others who make no profession of religion. . . . Sound Protestant and evangelical doctrine is useless if it is not accompanied by a holy life. It is worse then useless: it does positive harm. It is despised by keen-sighted and shrewed men of the world, as an unreal and hollow thing, and brings religion into contempt.

– J.C. Ryle

1816 – 1900

God intends for the afflictions of Christ to be presented to the world through the afflictions of His people. God really means for the body of Christ, the Church, to experience some of the suffering He experienced so that when we proclaim the cross as the way to life, people will see the marks of the cross in us and feel the love of the cross from us.

– John Piper

I cannot withhold a growing suspicion that the great “mass-meetings” of the present day, for the ostensible object of promoting spiritual life, do not tend to promote private home religion, private Bible-reading, private prayer, private usefulness, and private walking with God. If they are of any real value, they ought to make people better husbands and wives, and fathers and mothers, and sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters, and masters and mistresses and servants. . . . It is far easier to be a Christian in a public room than to be a consistent Christian in a quiet, retired, out-of-the-way, uncongenial home.

– J.C. Ryle

1816 – 1900

When Christ bids a man come, he bids him to come and die.

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer

1906 – 1945

The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them . . . providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the church . . . the need is for Biblical doctrine, so understood and felt that it sets men aflame.

– Charles H. Spurgeon

1834 – 1892

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.

– G. K. Chesterton

1874 – 1936

It is only when one sees the anger and wrath of God hanging like grim realities over the head of one’s enemies that one can know something of what it means to love them and forgive the.

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer

1906 – 1945

Christianity is so entangled with the world that millions never guess how radically they have missed the New Testament pattern. Compromise is everywhere. The world is whitewashed just enough to pass inspection by blind men posing as believers.

– A.W. Tozer

1897 – 1963

Your worship will never rise higher than your view of God.

– A.W. Tozer

1897 – 1963

Satan has done a masterful job of deception within the body of Christ. Christianity has been redefined to fit modern society. It is now a good moneymaking business. The Christian music and entertainment industry skyrockets, while the Word of God is peddled for profit and the authentic Christian life of surrender and obedience is tossed aside as legalism. More then 2 billion people who do not know Jesus head toward hell to perish for eternity, while the Church laughs its way to hysteria, claiming this is the sign of the last days’ outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Instead of laying down our lives to serve the purposes of God, we try numerous ways to make the Almighty God our servant to fulfill our dreams and desires. My brothers and sisters, this is not Christianity.

– K. P. Yohannan

That this world is a playground instead of a battleground has now been accepted in practice by the vast majority of fundamentalist Christians. They are facing both ways, enjoying Christ and the world too.

– A.W. Tozer

1897 – 1963

He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

– Jim Elliot

1927 – 1956

When I came out from solitary confinement and was with other prisoners and heard them speaking, I wondered why they spoke! So much of our speech is useless. Today men become acquainted with each other and one will say, “How do you do?” and the other answers, “How do you do?” What is the use of this? Then one will say, “Don;t you think that the weather is fine?” and the other thinks, and says, “Yes, I think it is fine.” Why do we have to speak on whether the weather is fine? We do not take earnestly the word of Jesus who says that men will be judged not for every bad word, but for every useless one.

– Richard Wurmbrand

1909 – 2001