DISCIPLE

Chapter 12 of  THIS WORLD: PLAYGROUND OR BATTLEGROUND? by A. W. Tozer Books and Moral Standards     The late Jimmy Walker, playboy mayor of New York during the roaring 20s, was widely quoted for a quip viewed as the distilled essence of gospel truth by those who wanted to believe it. "I never heard," said Jimmy, "of anyone who has ruined by a book."     These profound words were tossed off, as near as we can remember, during an official inquiry into the effect of certain questionable literature upon the morals of the reading public. Now, we can offer no proof that Mr. Walker had ever heard of anyone who had been ruined by a book, but that could only mean that the man's knowledge of the subject was vastly small or that his idea of what it meant to be "ruined" was not the same as that of the more conscientious persons within our population who still feel bothered about the effect of bad reading upon the collective public mind. Whatever t

by William R. Newell "In these days of 'respectable' Christianity, with its great cathedrals, churches, denominations, colleges, seminaries, 'uplift movements,' etc., you may say, Men no longer have any temptation to be 'ashamed of the gospel.'  But lo, and behold, it is not the gospel they preach; but a man-reforming, world-mending message of fallen flesh!  Who today preaches of the wrath of God?  But Paul speaks of wrath twelve times in Romans, and says: 'If God visit not with wrath, He cannot be the Judge of the world,'  Who preaches of the awful things we are about to find true of the Gentile world in the end of this chapter?  Who preaches, that even among the moral philosophers, the 'better' classes (in the first part of Ch.2): or the 'religious' world as represented by the Jew (last part of Ch. 2); or in the whole world (3:10-20), that 'none is righteous,' ' none doeth good'?  Who preaches that the wh

Newell, commenting on Romans 1:22, writes: "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools" - rejecting the light of God's knowledge in their consciences, men now arrogated to themselves wisdom, and became - what? "Fools."  "The fear of the Lord is the beginning" - of both knowledge and wisdom (Prov. 1:7; 9:10; 15:33; Ps. 111:10; Job 28:28).   "They sit at the feet of 'professors' whose breath is spiritual cyanide.  They idolize the hog-sty doctrines of a rotten Freud*, and count themselves 'wise!' They say, 'God is not a person; men evolved from monkeys; morals are mere old habits; self-enjoyment, self-expression, indulgence of all desires - this is the path of wisdom.'  It is the path of those who go quickly down to the pit and on to judgment!  The very morals of Sodom, as our Lord foretold, are rushing fast upon us, and God will bring again the awful doom of Sodom (Luke 17:28-31)."     "Now if

"Philosophy has tried to give us answers. But the philosophical concepts concerning God have always been contradictory. The philosopher is like a blind person trying to paint someone's portrait. The blind person can feel the face of his subject and try to put some brush strokes on canvas. But the project is doomed before it is begun. The best that philosophy can do is to feel the face of the universe in some ways, then try to paint God as philosophy sees Him." Tozer, from page 27 of the book Jesus: The Life and Ministry of God the Son

"Study long and well the record and the teachings of Jesus while He was on earth. In them lies the answer. It is a sin for the children of God not to hate what ought to be hated. Our Lord Jesus loved righteousness, but He hated iniquity. I think we can say He hated sin and wrong and evil perfectly!     If we are committed, consecrated Christians, truly disciples of the crucified and risen Christ, there are some things we must face.      We cannot love honesty without hating dishonesty.      We cannot love purity without hating impurity.      We cannot love truth without hating lying and deceitfulness.     If we belong to Jesus Christ, we must hate evil even as He hated evil in every form. The ability of Jesus Christ to hate that which was against God and to love that which was full of God was the force that made Him able to receive the anointing - the oil of gladness - in complete measure. On our human side, it is our imperfection in loving the good and hating the evi

by A. W. Tozer     It is difficult for us to shake off the notion that a person is as spiritual as he or she feels. Our basic spirituality seldom accords our feelings. There are many carnal personas whose religious emotions are sensitive to every impression and who manage to keep themselves on a fairly high plane of inward enjoyment, but who have no marks of godliness upon them. They have a low boiling point and can get heated up over almost anything religious at a moment's notice. Their tears are close to the surface and their voices carry a world of emotional content. Such have a reputation for being spiritual, and they themselves may easily believe they are. But they are not necessarily so.     Spiritual people are indifferent to their feelings - they live by faith in God with little care about their own emotions. They think God's thoughts and see things as God sees them. They rejoice in Christ and have no confidence in themselves. They are more concerned with obedi

Excerpts from A. W. Tozer    Are you ready for the appearing of Jesus Christ or are you among those ho are merely curious about His coming?     Let me warn you that many preachers and Bible teachers will answer to God some day for encouraging curious speculations about the return of Jesus Christ and failing to stress the necessity for "loving His appearing"!      ....I cannot think of even one lonely passage in the New Testament which speaks of Christ's revelation, manifestation, appearing or coming that is not directly linked with moral conduct, faith and spiritual holiness.     ....The prophetic teacher ho engages in speculation to excite the curiosity of his hearers without providing them with a moral application is sinning even as he preaches.     There have been enough foolish formulas advanced about the return of Christ by those who were simply curious to cause many believers to give the matter no further thought or concern. But Peter said to expe