Lowering the Standard

- Catherine Booth

Therefore, the arch-enemy said, `What must I do? I shall be defeated after all. I shall lose my supremacy as the god of this world. What shall I do?' No use to bring in a gigantic system of error, which everybody will see to be error. Oh, dear no! That has never been Satan's way; but his plan has been to get hold of a good man here and there, who shall creep in, as the Apostle said, unawares, and preach another doctrine, and who shall deceive, if it were possible, the very elect. And he did it. He accomplished his design. He gradually lowered the standard of Christian life and character, and though, in every revival, God has raised it again to a certain extent, we have never got back thoroughly to the simplicity, purity, and devotion set before us in these Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles. And just in the degree that it has approximated thereto, in every age, Satan has got somebody to oppose and to show that this was too high a standard for human nature, altogether beyond us, and that, therefore, Christians must sit down and just be content to be "Oh wretched man that I am" people to the end of their days. He has got the Church into a condition that makes one, sometimes, positively ashamed to hear professing Christians talk, and ashamed also, that the world should hear them talk. I do not wonder at thoughtful, intelligent men being driven from such Christianity as this. It would have driven me off, if I had not known the power of godliness. I believe this kind of Christianity has made more infidels than all the infidel books ever written.

Yes, Satan knew that he must get Christians down from the high pinnacle of whole-hearted consecration to God. He knew that he had no chance till he tempted them down from that blessed vantage ground, and so he began to spread those false doctrines, to counteract which John wrote his epistles, for, before he died, he saw what was coming, and sounded down the ages--"Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil." The Lord revive that doctrine! Help us afresh to put up the standard!

Oh! the great evil is, that dishonest-hearted people, because they feel it condemns them, lower the standard to their miserable experience. I said, when I was young, and I repeat it in my maturer years, that if it sent me to hell I would never pull it down. Oh! that God's people felt like that. There is the glorious standard put before us. The power is proffered, the conditions laid down, and we CAN all attain it if we will; but if we will not--for the sake of the children, and for generations yet unborn, do not let us drag it down, and try to make it meet our little, paltry, circumscribed experience. LET US KEEP IT UP. This is the way to get the world to look at it. Show the world a real, living, self-sacrificing, hard-working, toiling, triumphing religion, and the world will be influenced by it; but anything short of that they will turn round and spit upon.

Excerpted from
Aggressive Christianity - Catherine Booth

We have fallen so far that even "Oh wretched man that I am" Christianity has died!
-Stephen Anderson

Daisy Chains

by by Amy Carmichael

The tom-toms thumped straight on all night and the darkness shuddered round me like a living, feeling thing. I could not go to sleep, so I lay awake and looked; and I saw, as it seemed, this:

That I stood on a grassy sward, and at my feet a precipice broke sheer down into infinite space. I looked, but saw no bottom; only cloud shapes, black and furiously coiled, and great shadow-shrouded hollows, and unfathomable depths. Back I drew, dizzy at the depth.

Then I saw forms of people moving single file along the grass. They were making for the edge. There was a woman with a baby in her arms and another little child holding on to her dress. She was on the very verge. Then I saw that she was blind. She lifted her foot for the next step . . . it trod air. She was over, and the children over with her. Oh, the cry as they went over!

Then I saw more streams of people flowing from all quarters. All were blind, stone blind; all made straight for the precipice edge. There were shrieks, as they suddenly knew themselves falling, and a tossing up of helpless arms, catching, clutching at empty air. But some went over quietly, and fell without a sound.

Then I wondered, with a wonder that was simply agony, why no one stopped them at the edge. I could not. I was glued to the ground, and I could only call; though I strained and tried, only whisper would come.

Then I saw that along the edge there were sentries set at intervals. But the intervals were too great; there were wide, unguarded gaps between. And over these gaps the people fell in their blindness, quite unwarned; and the green grass seemed blood-red to me, and the gulf yawned like the mouth of hell.

Then I saw, like a little picture of peace, a group of people under some trees with their backs turned toward the gulf. They were making daisy chains. Sometimes when a piercing shriek cut the quiet air and reached them, it disturbed them and they thought it a rather vulgar noise. And if one of their number started up and wanted to go and do something to help, then all the others would pull that one down. "Why should you get so excited about it? You must wait for a definite call to go! You haven't finished your daisy chain yet. It would be really selfish," they said, "to leave us to finish the work alone."

There was another group. It was made up of people whose great desire was to get more sentries out; but they found that very few wanted to go, and sometimes there were no sentries set for miles and miles of the edge.

Once a girl stood alone in her place, waving the people back; but her mother and other relations called and reminded her that her furlough was due; she must not break the rules. And being tired and needing a change, she had to go and rest for awhile; but no one was sent to guard her gap, and over and over the people fell, like a waterfall of souls.

Once a child caught at a tuft of grass that grew at the very brink of the gulf; it clung convulsively, and it called-but nobody seemed to hear. Then the roots of the grass gave way, and with a cry the child went over, its two little hands still holding tight to the torn-off bunch of grass. And the girl who longed to be back in her gap thought she heard the little one cry, and she sprang up and wanted to go; at which they reproved her, reminding her that no one is necessary anywhere; the gap would be well taken care of, they knew. And then they sang a hymn.

Then through the hymn came another sound like the pain of a million broken hearts wrung out in one full drop, one sob. And a horror of great darkness was upon me, for I knew what it was-the Cry of the Blood.

Then thundered a voice, the voice of the Lord. "And He said, 'What hast thou done, The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.'"

The tom-toms still beat heavily, the darkness still shuddered and shivered about me; I heard the yells of the devil-dancers and weird, wild shriek of the devil-possessed just outside the gate.

What does it matter, after all? It has gone on for years; it will go on for years. Why make such a fuss about it?

God forgive us! God arouse us! Shame us out of our callousness! Shame us out of our sin!

True Repentance vs False

True repentance seeks to turn to God with all one's heart.

False repentance seeks to avoid God's judgment.

True repentance prays "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth and in me as it is in heaven.

False repentance prays, "My will be done in heaven."

True repentance looks first at my own heart and sin, and only then in love at others.

False repentance begins never looks at self.

Breaking News

Is Israel about
to attack Iran?

June 28, 2009

Israeli elections result in the hard line Netanyahu as PM. Last month Israel conducted huge military and civil defense exercises (May 31) lasting five days. The U.S. military is to be out of Iraqi cities by June 30th. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad retains power after disputed election, and internal dissent has been repressed. Thursday (6/25) Lebanon reports Israeli armor massing along portions of its border with Lebanon.

Israel shows signs of launching an imminent attack. Nothing of course is in the American or Israeli news. If Netanyahu confided anything to Obama, we can be sure that he was warned to do nothing until U.S. forces are safely out of Iraqi cities and in fortified bases. Netanyahu and Obama appeared to me very tense after their meeting.

Last year Bush denied Israel's request for (more?) bunker-buster bombs and flyover rights in Iraq. Israel may now have its own bombs and in 2005 the Pentagon announced it was selling 100 precision guided GBU-28 bunker busters to Israel. The bombs requested last year may have been additional supplies. Would the United States threaten to shoot down the Israeli jets if they fly over Iraq? Not likely. The Democrats are politicians. Shooting down Israeli jets would be as popular as cutting social security.

Since "Bomb-bomb-bomb, bomb-bomb Iran" McCain is not president, Israel probably thinks it must act alone "for the sake of the world." Israel has estimated Iran could have a nuclear bomb by 2010. Iran has been trying to acquire the sophisticated S-300 surface to air defense system from Russia. If Iran gets it, an Israeli air strike would be very costly or might well fail. Time is running out for Israeli action.

June 25, 2009

Brothers and Sisters in Our Lord Jesus Christ,

The hour of testing will shortly come upon the whole world. Now is the time to sanctify Christ as truly Lord of our lives. Put your house in order. Sever those ties that bind you to this world. Set your face like flint to follow Jesus even unto death. "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded."

This is a time to be sober-minded, and discern the signs of the times.

Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.( 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10)

The time has come for us in the West to learn the meaning of "take up your cross and follow Me." Do you think God will pull His Church, the witnesses of Jesus and herald of the Gospel out of the world while multitudes eternally perish? Do you imagine that the God who spared not His own Son, for the sake of sinners like YOU, will withdraw those commissioned to proclaim repentance, pardon, salvation and the return of the King? If so, you have not yet understood the love of God.

For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. (Philippians 1:29)

America and the whole world is accelerating into the abyss of hell. Apostasy is upon us. Many of those calling themselves Christians and leaders deny the Lord with their words and deeds and openly embrace and encourage even the foulest of sins. Men and women living in open homosexual relationships are ordained as bishops, pastors, and priests. Leaders in the Church commit adultery and remain leaders. The charismatic church calls itself spirit filled, but has not the discernment to see the evil in its pulpits, and chooses as apostles and prophets those who speak a smooth word of blessing on those who despise holiness. The Roman Catholic clergy claim the power to forgive sin yet they cannot even deliver themselves from the power of sin. The denominations are just plain dead. The light is gone out. The darkness has advanced so far that evil is now called good and good is evil. Others believe they can build the kingdom of God by carnal means and madison avenue techniques. Money and technology replace the Spirit of God. Most churches show far more interest in maintaining or improving their own comfort on Sunday mornings than fulfilling the Great Commission or loving the brethren.

"Arise, O LORD, do not let man prevail;
Let the nations be judged before Thee.

Put them in fear, O LORD;
Let the nations know that they are but men."

THE LONELINESS OF THE CHRISTIAN

By A.W. Tozer

The loneliness of the Christian results from his walk with God in an ungodly world, a walk that must often take him away from the fellowship of good Christians as well as from that of the unregenerate world. His God-given instincts cry out for companionship with others of his kind, others who can understand his longings, his aspirations, his absorption in the love of Christ; and because within his circle of friends there are so few who share his inner experiences he is forced to walk alone. The unsatisfied longings of the prophets for human understanding caused them to cry out in their complaint, and even our Lord Himself suffered in the same way.

The man [or woman] who has passed on into the divine Presence in actual inner experience will not find many who understand him. He finds few who care to talk about that which is the supreme object of his interest, so he is often silent and preoccupied in the midst of noisy religious shoptalk. For this he earns the reputation of being dull and over-serious, so he is avoided and the gulf between him and society widens. He searches for friends upon whose garments he can detect the smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces, and finding few or none he, like Mary of old, keeps these things in his heart.

It is this very loneliness that throws him back upon God. His inability to find human companionship drives him to seek in God what he can find nowhere else.


"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." -Revelation 12:11