DISCIPLE

"We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly, we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas: first, because we do not believe in the mass at all, but abhor it, whether it be said or sung in Latin or in English; and secondly, because we find no Scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Saviour; and consequently, its observance is a superstition, because [it's] not of divine authority. Superstition has fixed most positively the day of our Saviour's birth, although there is no possibility of discovering when it occurred..."  Spurgeon, C.H. "Joy Born At Bethlehem," A sermon: delivered on a Lord's Day Morning, December 24th, 1871. Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, pp. 697-698. When he said, "We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons," he spoke the language of the believers of his time. Since then the number of the "superstitious" ...

Today I read a news article about an assistant university basketball coach who after a problem with drinking went to a rehab center to get help. He said:    “that man changed my life. John Lucas changed my life ”   -- Rod Strickland We are certainly glad that he got help, but the transformation is short of what really needs to be done. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can forgive sin, and only by faith in Christ can a person be born again and get a new life: 2 Corinthians 5:17  says: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." THAT is a changed life!  To stop drinking or smoking is one thing. To become a new person on the inside is something completely different. Only Jesus Christ can give a new life. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life," He said, "no one comes to the Father but by me" (John. 14:6). Don't stop short with external reforms, getting rid of a bad habit o...

Dear sister: Are you lonely, hoping to be married, and looking for a good, faithful husband and companion? There are two people who want to provide you with a man. The first one is called in Ephesians 2:2 the “prince of the power of the air.” He has a large family and they are called “the sons of disobedience.” They have not obeyed the gospel (see 1 Peter 4:17), and the Apostle John calls them “children of the devil” (1 John 3:10). A daughter of God who marries one of these will have the devil for a father-in-law, and it will be impossible to keep him out of the home. But the devil is astute, and he and his can disguise themselves as angels of light or ministers of righteousness, in order to deceive a believing woman and set a trap for her. More than a few have professed to be believers in order to marry a believer that they capriciously “fell in love” with. They will say they believe, pray a prayer, get baptized, go to church meetings, join a church, and do nearly whatever i...

Many who call themselves Christians are adopting the vocabulary of the world instead of sticking to the terminology of inspired Scripture. For example, things that the Bible calls “sin” are now called “sicknesses”. Stealing is “kleptomania.”  Drunkenness is said to be a sickness instead of a sin. And much of the world now calls homosexuals "gays," and the word "gay" means "happy."  Some versions of Scripture translate the word "blessed" as "happy."  Why would a Christian say “Happy are those who sin"? And since it happy means blessed, are we now supposed to say, "Blessed are the homosexuals"?  God's Word exhorts Christians thus: "Hold fast the form of sound words..." ( 2 Timothy 1:13). The unsaved talk however they want, but true Christians should allow God to govern their speech, yes, even their vocabulary. In the Old Testament we read the word “sodomites” (1 Ki. 14:24; 15:12; 22:46; 2 Ki. 23:7), bein...

"Tempus Fugit" No, friends,  it isn’t a new chocolate dessert, nor the name of some movie!  It’s a Latin expression that means, “time flies”.  Have you ever seen time fly? As children we used to ask the riddle:  “What happens when you thrown an alarm clock out the window?”  And after the briefest of pauses we supplied the answer that we thought only we knew:  “Time flies!”  But it is no joke, and February, the shortest month of the year, is a good time to remember how quickly time passes and how short our lives are.  The Psalmist puts it this way in Psalm 90:4-12: For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past,             And like a watch in the night.  You carry them away like a flood;             They are like a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which grows up:             In the morning it flourishes and gro...

"I was once a farm boy. I learned that when it came time for eggs to hatch, we did well not to help the process along. The chick that had been helped in its birth could be spotted every time. It was weak, and it walked with a stagger. But that is what we do with penitents who want to get right with God. Well-meaning people kneel down with the seeking sinners, find a Bible text and pray away until they see a little sign of life. Then, like eager midwives in the hen house, they pull the penitents from their shells, dry them off, write down their names as converts - and later wonder why they do not develop. But when the Holy Spirit brings penitents to the new birth, they bounce out into the world healthy and howling. Their sins are forgiven, their burdens have been lifted! A.W. Tozer, excerpt from page 82 of his book FAITH BEYOND REASON, Christian Publications

"Satan by his propaganda has brought into disrepute many of life's verities, including the conscience. When conscience is mentioned now in learned circles, it is mentioned only with a smirk. That is one way the devil has of getting rid of things - getting us humans to make jokes about them. It is part of the process by which the mind is corrupted, for whenever any humor takes holy things for its object, that humor is devilish.    In our day Christians are fast becoming sacrilegious jokesters. They joke about death and life. They joke about prayer and God. And they joke about the conscience... That Light which God has set within the human breast, which can isolate a soul and hang it between heaven and hell, as lonely as if God had created but that one person - that is not a joking matter. Joke about politics if you must joke. Politics is usually funny anyway. But do not joke about God..." excerpt from page 70 of A.W. Tozer's book FAITH BEYOND REASON, Christian P...

by Donald Norbie I n years past there was much personal exercise of heart about giving. Individuals prayed specifically for certain home workers and missionaries and gave to them personally. After a meeting a worker might receive a warm handshake with words of appreciation and find in his hand a bill or check. Or else he would receive an encouraging letter with some funds enclosed. Today this custom is dying out in many areas and all giving is done to the assembly.      One can remember receiving a check and a letter from a missionary in New Guinea. "You taught me the Word in years past and I have been convicted that I have never shared with you financially. The Word states, ‘Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches’ ” (Galatians 6:6). Such personal exercise of heart is tremendously encouraging to the worker and also blesses the giver. It is true that much of one’s giving will be through the local assembly (1 Corinthians ...

This book should be read by every believer, and probably more than once. It is a classic.  Here is chapter one. I. Obedience: Its place In Holy Scripture. In undertaking the study of a Bible word, or of a truth of the Christian life, it is a great help to take a survey of the place it takes in Scripture. As we see where, and how often, and in what connections it is found, its relative importance may be apprehended as well as its bearing on the whole of revelation. Let me try in this first chapter to prepare the way for the study of what obedience is, by showing you where to go in God's Word to find the mind of God concerning it. 1. TAKE SCRIPTURE AS A WHOLE. We begin with Paradise. In Gen. 2:16, we read: 'And the Lord God commanded the man, saying.' And later (3:11), 'Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?' Note how obedience to the command is the one virtue of Paradise, the one condition of man's abiding the...

Donald L. Norbie Society and culture seem to be in a process of constant change. To be contemporary and in step with the times is almost to be dated, because very soon change will come, especially in a culture which denies absolute truth and believes all is relative. Styles of clothing change from season to season. Advertising and sales feed on change. The message is that one must keep up with the times and the latest trends. To appear old-fashioned is a cardinal sin. But, is all change good? Many such changes may be largely cosmetic, but who wants to drive a car that looks old? Ethical values are changing, fuelled by a philosophy of relativism. Society used to frown on divorce; marriage was honourable and should be preserved. A sexual liaison outside of marriage was condemned. Abortion and homosexuality were viewed as criminal acts. That which was once abhorred by decent society is now accepted and legal. Similarly, churches are under pressure to change and to become con...

The following letter was written by an American college student who had been converted to Communism in Mexico. The purpose of the letter was to explain to his fiance why he must bread off their engagement:  "We Communists have a high casualty rate. We're the ones who get slandered and ridiculed and fired from our jobs and in every other way made as uncomfortable as possible. A certain percentage of us get killed or imprisoned. We live in virtual poverty. We turn back to the Party every penny we make above what is absolutely necessary to keep us alive. We Communists don't have time or the money for many movies or concerts or T-bone steaks or decent homes and new cars. We've been described as fanatics. We are fanatics! Our lives are dominated by one great overshadowing factor, the struggle for World Communism. "We Communists have a philosophy of life which no amount of money could buy. We have a cause to fight for, a definite purpose in life. We subordinate ou...

or "Heroism—The Lost Chord of Christianity" by C. T. Studd HEROISM is the lost chord; the missing note of present-day Christianity! Every true soldier is a hero! A SOLDIER WITHOUT HEROISM IS A CHOCOLATE SOLDIER! Who has not been stirred to scorn and mirth at the very thought of a Chocolate Soldier? In peace true soldiers are captive lions, fretting in their cages. War gives them their liberty and sends them, like boys bounding out of school, to obtain their heart's desire or perish in the attempt. Battle is the soldier's vital breath! Peace turns him into a stooping asthmatic. War makes him a whole man again, and gives him the heart, strength, and vigour of a hero. EVERY TRUE CHRISTIAN IS A SOLDIER—of Christ—a hero "par excellence!" Braver than the bravest—scorning the soft seductions of peace and her oft-repeated warnings against hardship, disease, danger, and death, whom he counts among his bosom friends. THE OTHERWISE CHRISTIAN IS A C...