The Best Christian Teachings and Readings

Today we hear the world crying out for more rights. More freedom. Two hundred years ago, the great statesman, Edmund Burke, penned this warning: "Men qualify for freedom in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains on their own appetites. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power is put somewhere on will and appetite, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters." Contemporary history is filled with movements for the rights of men. But no man can change the world until he himself has been changed. No man can free others until he himself is truly free. Nearly two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul wrote to a little group of people living in the capital of the world's greatest civilization. Some were rulers, some were servants. Yet all had been freed from one form of slavery and had gladl

Over one hundred years ago, revival swept America. Thousands of souls entered the Kingdom of God under the searching sermons of a humble servant of Christ, Charles G. Finney. It has been estimated that over half a million were converted to God as a direct result of his ministry, and that by a conservative estimate over 80% remained true to Christ to the day of their death, without backsliding or falling by the wayside. The years have passed, and century 21 is almost born. Yet no voice has been raised strong enough to stir the church and shake the world. A wave of watery Churchianity, militant proselytism, and unintelligent "evangelicalism" threatens to be the only apparent forms of "conversion" confronting a reality-hungry generation. The church world is fast drifting into an "easy-believism" salvation that Christ would not recognize. Lest He be grieved, Who bought the Church with His blood, men who profess salvation must meet anew God's own c

"For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" (John 12:43). This verse describes men who refused to confess that Jesus was the Christ because He was extremely unpopular with the scribes and Pharisees, leaders of Jerusalem. These men were, of course, never saved. They chose to respect men rather than God, and as a result forfeited life. They were representatives of the third main class of religious people without true faith. We shall call them the "people-pleasers." No mere regard for reputation has led the people-pleaser to choose religion. This has always been too unpopular with the crowd. But where it is not generally unpopular to become a professing Christian, where it will not lessen, but increase chances of popularity with many, a complex motive operates. It is the hope of securing happiness in a future world and to increase reputation here. This is their basic motive. Many profess conversion or religion, when o

Much is said today about the "carnal Christian." Such a one, we are told, has made Jesus "Savior" but not Lord. It appears by this that a man can be saved, but not surrendered to Christ; following Him, but still serving self. And it is easy to see why this idea has arisen. Preachers and personal workers are at a loss to explain the strange contradiction of a self-pleasing, self-centered person who claims the name "Christian" without bearing any resemblance to this Savior they profess to love. Yet ask them, "Do you believe in Christ? Have you accepted Him as your personal Savior?" "Oh, yes," is the invariable answer. If these are all the basics, they are apparently in order, so another source of counsel must be sought other than conversion. Out of a morass of uncertain Christianity, men have looked for a way to distinguish between an "effective" Christian who lives like his Lord, and the "believer" who seems n

Have you ever been hurt in your life? Hurt is a universal problem. It's impossible to find anyone in today's society who hasn't been hurt. Back in the 1960's, a young man committed a horrible crime in a New York City park. An old man was resting on a bench reading a paper, and a 16-year-old boy pulled out a huge butcher knife, and stabbed the man about 130 times. When the police finally pulled the boy off the body, he was still stabbing him. They arrested him of course, and they tried to find out why he had done this. For the longest time the boy wouldn't say a thing. The police finally said to him, “Look, who was this guy?” He said, “I don't know.” They asked, “Well, what did he do to you?” “Nothing.” “What did he say to you?” “Nothing.” They said, “You mean you just went up to a total stranger, who didn't do or say anything to you, and killed him?” “Uh, huh.” With disbelief they asked, “Why did you do that?” The boy said, “Do you really want to

The Bible isn't like any other book that's ever been written. The claims of the Bible are unlike any other book - it's not a human book! God called His Word living. But unless you have a rock-solid commitment to truth, the Bible won't change your life - it will only be so many words in a sea of words. Many of the Eastern thought forms use Scripture. They use it to capture people's hearts. That's because the Bible is so powerful you can't ignore it. God has built life into His Word, and all of the strong cults rip it off. They steal bites out of the Bible and use it They use the truth of it to try, to justify the lies they tell. Just the fact that pieces taken out of context are powerful enough to draw men's hearts should tell you what the whole Word, used under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, can do! Some Credentials- Here are some facts that will be valuable for anyone with an open heart. Now, you don't have to throw your mind away in