DISCIPLE

In Mark 7:37 the multitude praised the Lord Jesus with these words: "He hath done all things well," and they were right. But I wonder if we spend much time thinking about what those words mean. Our Lord never did anything half-heartedly or halfway. He is the master worker, the heavenly artisan. If His works were on display at a great Fair, they would be covered in blue ribbons!     What the multitude said admiringly that day, we can say adoringly and gratefully every day. We who are saved ought to praise and worship our blessed Lord for the perfections of all His work as the Son of Man. "All things well." Did we ever know the Lord to do things any other way? Of course not!     Did He ever leave anyone half-way healed? We remember the man in Mark 8:24 who received his sight gradually, but he was completely healed – the Lord knew what He was doing and He did it well. Did He ever give the blind vision in one eye, restore only part of the hearing to the dea...

by A. W. Tozer The current effort of so many religious leaders to harmonize Christianity with science, philosophy and every natural and reasonable thing is, I believe, the result of failure to understand Christianity and, judging from what I have heard and read, failure to understand science and philosophy as well. At the heart of the Christian system lies the cross of Christ with its divine paradox. The power of Christianity appears in its antipathy toward, never in its agreement with, the ways of fallen men. The truth of the cross is revealed in its contradictions. The witness of the church is most effective when she declares rather than explains, for the gospel is addressed not to reason but to faith. What can be proved requires no faith to accept. Faith rests upon the character of God, not upon the demonstrations of laboratory or logic. The cross stands in bold opposition to the natural man. Its philosophy runs contrary to the proce...

When don't we have to obey God?   Ask the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 2:7-8   "took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.". John 8:29   "I do always those things which please him."     C. H. Mackintosh wrote: “Obedience is due from us to God’s Word, simply because it is His Word. To raise a question, when He has spoken, is blasphemy. We are in the place of a creature. He is the Creator; He may, therefore, justly claim obedience from us. The infidel may call this “blind obedience,” but the Christian calls this intelligent obedience, inasmuch as it is based upon the knowledge that it is God’s Word to which he is obedient. If a man had not God’s Word, he might well be said to be in blindness and darkness... All that we want to know is that God has spoken, and then obedience becomes the...

Question: Recently I joined a yoga class for fitness and relaxation. During the class, mantras are used. The teacher explained the meanings such as “all is truth.” Is it wrong to participate in these mantras? Can I just substitute Christian words such as “Jesus”? Or should I not participate in the class at all? Everyone I have asked seems to think there is no problem with this but I feel uncomfortable and do not know why. Response: I am glad that you feel uncomfortable about being involved in yoga. Drop the class immediately! Yoga is the very heart of Hinduism. It is sold in the West as science but in fact is religion. It is promoted in the West as beneficial to health, but in the East it is a technique for dying. The goal is to reach  moksha , allegedly escaping the world of illusion ( maya ) of time and sense into liberation from the endless cycle of birth and death and rebirth through reincarnation. The latter is another of Satan’s appealin...

This article appeared in The Alliance Witness May 15, 1963, just two days after the death of Tozer. In a sense it was his valedictory, for it expressed the concern of his heart. Since this condition existed in the 1960s, one can only wonder what he would say of the evangelical churches in the 21st Century.     - - - -   HERE IS THE BURDEN of my heart; and while I claim for myself no special inspiration I yet feel that this is also the burden of the Spirit. If I know my own heart it is love alone that moves me to write this. What I write here is not the sour ferment of a mind agitated by contentions with my fellow Christians. There have been no such contentions. I have not been abused, mistreated or attacked by anyone. Nor have these observations grown out of any unpleasant experiences that I have had in my association with others... Let me state the cause of my burden. It is this: Jesus Christ has today almost no authority at all among the ...

This chapter first appeared in The Alliance Witness in 1937. Twenty-three years later (1960) it was reprinted because, said Dr. Tozer, "apparently it had little or no effect, for the conditions it describes have grown increasingly worse year by year. And to make matters still more serious, crippled churches have now been accepted as normal. . . . When will this abuse end?" The article has been widely circulated since then and still bears repeating. [Note: it is more needful than ever in 2018 when practically all semblance of Christian faithfulness has disappeared and churches have become entertainment and cultural centers. It is doubtful that many give more in offerings to the Lord than what they spend on annual vacations, or show as keen an interest in Christian growth and sacrifice as they do in "fun" and "relaxation." In 1937 When Tozer wrote his article, some churches suspended the evening service in the summer months, and in 1960  when he reprint...

The message of the cross offers eternal life and the blessedness of the Holy Spirit indwelling the soul. These distinguish Christianity from every other religion; and it is significant that these distinguishing marks are of such a nature as to be wholly above and beyond the reach of man. They are altogether mysterious and divine and are unaffected by race, politics, economics or education. The life of God in the soul of man is wholly independent of the social status of that man... ...Undoubtedly Christian groups have been influenced in their moral practices by the society in which they lived, but we should see it for what it is and not try to explain it away. "Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:19a).      That we Christians modify the moral teachings of Christ at our convenience to avoid the stigma of being thought different is a proof of our ba...