It is easier to, and other quotes

The posting of quotes of human authors does not necessarily constitute agreement with either the quotes or their sources. (I try to confirm the sources that I give, but may miss on occasion; please verify if possible.)

“It is easier to ridicule than commend.” -- Thomas Fuller

“Don’t wait until you have a crisis to decide what you believe.” -- Bill Mounce

“A man doesn’t protect his wife because she is weak. He protects her because she is important.” -- Unknown

“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.” -- Dwight D. Eisenhower

“People ask me what I think about the gender debate. I tell them I don’t have an opinion. God already settled it in Genesis 1:27.” -- Pastor John

“We have to love you, but we don’t have to love your ways.” -- Johnnie Johnson

“Oh how amazing it is that people can talk so much about men’s power and goodness when, if God did not hold us back every moment, we should be devils incarnate!” -- David Brainerd

“Instead of theorizing and speculating about what God might be like, fix your eyes on Jesus.” -- Chad Bird

“Sometimes we go through the motions without knowing where we are going.” -- Dale Faulks

 “Anything and everything the Bible has to teach is illustrated somehow in the Tabernacle.” -- Grant Luton

“Somewhere along the way, too many have become more concerned with being the most celebrated preacher in the room than being the most faithful servant of the text.” -- Andre Jermaine Lewis

“If your worthiness of life is measured by perfection, then none of us qualify.” -- Mikaela Teixeira

“You never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.” -- Peter Barnes

“The life of ministry is helping people with their hurt while you’re hurting.” -- Charles E. Hamilton, Jr.

Revival and Response

Below is something I discovered in a Word Document and decided it is worth posting. The following was a general response on the subject of revival, and specifically to a comment about Jack Hyles: “If immediate outward manifestations measured revival, Hyles did better than anyone I’ve ever seen and on a more consistent basis.”

It is interesting and apparently reflective of our culture, that happenings like the “Jesus Revolution” and the “Asbury University Revival” grasps attention in the wider culture, but “revivals” like those of Jack Hyles did not. Yes, Hyles and those in his orbit had much better “results” over a longer period of time and, as was stated, “on a more consistent basis.” Now, to be clear, I do not think Hyles’s revivals were really any more revival than what is what is happening at Asbury now. Back probably thirty years ago or so, for a while I made a concerted effort to go through and “add up” the revivals reported by evangelists to the Sword of the Lord periodical. It was quite consistent, in having multiple reports over and over with results such as “100 saved, 2 baptisms.” There is something wrong with that when this kind of ratio is consistently true of a large group of evangelists. It does not follow the biblical pattern.

All that said, it is intriguing that people outside of the “revivals” such as the “Jesus Revolution” and the “Asbury University Revival” get caught up in meditating on them as possible heirs to the “Great Awakenings” – while never giving revivalists such as Hyles the time of day. Not sure why that is/was. Regardless, time has proven the fruits of the “Hyles Revolution” were not as tasty as many independent Baptists thought.

No Kings

 

May 22, 1782

Lewis Nicola: “…it will, I believe, be uncontroverted that the same abilities which have lead us, through difficulties apparently unsurmountable by human power, to victory & glory, those qualities that have merited & obtained the universal esteem & veneration of an army, would be most likely to conduct & direct us in the smoother paths of peace…it may therefore be requisite to give the head of such a constitution as I propose, some title apparently more moderate, but if all other things were once adjusted I believe strong arguments might be produced for admitting the title of king, which I conceive would be attended with some material advantages.”

George Washington: “Let me conjure you then, if you have any regard for your Country, concern for your self or posterity—or respect for me, to banish these thoughts from your Mind, & never communicate, as from yourself, or any one else, a sentiment of the like nature.”

Get on board

Resting Wednesday suspended for today.

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. Psalm 20:7

Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. Psalm 108:12

This post is for Christians, for the day after a nationwide election. I don’t expect that the rest of you readers will be trusting in God. Awhile back I scheduled ahead of time on my Facebook page for Revelation 19:6 to post on the morning of the election, and on the morning after the election – to affirm one thing that has not changed in a day.

…Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Revelation 19:6

Many of those whose candidate or candidates won yesterday are congratulating themselves like the euphoric Edomites perched in the clefts of the rock of Mount Seir (Obadiah 1:3). Many of those whose candidate or candidates lost yesterday are cutting themselves like the manic ministers of Baal failing before Elijah (1 Kings 18:28-29). If so, you are both exaggerating the importance of your win or your loss; and you have invested too much in a temporal process that will fail you.

In writing this, I do not suggest none of this matters, or that it is unimportant. I do not suggest that Christians should not pray, should not care, or should not vote. I do not suggest that God does not use means, for he most certainly does. However, Christians, your triumph or your torment should be tempered with the true knowledge of God revealed in the Bible. He is the omnipotent God who reigns over all; the omnipotent God who lifts up and casts down, who rules over the kingdoms of men and gives them to whomsoever he will; the omnipotent God in heaven who does as he pleases; the omnipotent God whose thoughts are not as our thoughts; the omnipotent God who gives his born-again ones the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ – not through the ballot box.

It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. Psalm 118:8–9

His people can and should trust in him. The rest of you better get on board.

Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. Jeremiah 17:5

Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. Jeremiah 17:7

Government of a New Testament Church

Government of a New Testament Church.

Every local New Testament church is an independent, self-governing body, having Christ as its head and the Holy Spirit as its leader.

In accordance with the law of Christ, the members of each local church have the sole right to determine and safe-guard the vital and fundamental principles as outlined for its procedure her in the world for His work.

Places in the Bible where taught:

• The church receives members into its communion. Romans 14:1. Rom. 15:7.
• The church excludes unworthy members. 1st Cor. 5:1-5; II Thess. 3:6.
• The church restores excluded penitent members. 2nd Cor. 1:6-8.
• The church chose another apostle to take the place of Judas. Acts 1:23-26.
• The church chose deacons. Acts 6:1-6.
• The church chose pastors (Elders) in every local organization. Acts 14:23.
• The pastors are not to be rulers over the church. 1st Pet. 5:1-3.
• The deacons are not rulers over the church. Acts 6:1-3.

The Fundamental Faith and Doctrine of those called Missionary Baptists, Compiled and Arranged by Henry Filmore Sanders, Nacogdoches, Texas (Printed by Baker Printing Company, Nacogdoches. No date, no pagination) – with slight punctuation and formatting changes.

Make your marriage a priority

“Make your marriage a priority. Children grow up and move out, parents leave this world, and friends change over time. In the end, it is just the two of you—so build a bond that cannot be broken.”

“Real Mom Thoughts” Facebook page, November 3, 2025

Mercy, O thou Son of David

XCV. Bartimeus. [Mark] x. 47, 48. [8s.7s. meter]

1. “Mercy, O thou Son of David!”
Thus blind Bartimeus prayed;
“Others by thy word are saved,
“Now to me afford thine aid.”
Many for his crying chide him,
But he called the louder still;
Till the gracious Saviour bid him,
“Come, and ask me what you will.”

2. Money was not what he wanted,
Though by begging used to live;
But he asked, and Jesus granted,
Alms, which none but he could give:
“Lord, remove this grievous blindness,
“Let my eyes behold the day.”
Straight he saw, and, won by kindness,
Followed Jesus in the way.

3. Oh! methinks I hear him praising,
Publishing to all around;
“Friends is not my case amazing?
“What a Savior I have found!
“Oh! that all the blind but knew him,
“And would be advised by me!
“Surely, would they hasten to him,
“He would cause them all to see.”

By John Newton, in Olney Hymns, In Three Books, Hymn 95, pp. 117-118.

John Newton (1725-1807) is best known – is some cases almost exclusively – for his hymn “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.” It is certainly a good one! One that has been called a “spiritual national anthem” or “Christian national anthem.” Newton wrote many good hymns on texts of scripture. “Mercy, O thou Son of David” is one of these. In it he takes the historical incident and related miracle of “Blind Bartimaeus” and teaches us a lesson on spiritual blindness. It needs to find broader use in conservative Christian communities. Listen to three four-line stanzas (1a, 2a, 2b) of John Newton’s hymn, sung with the grand tune Villulia. 

J. M. Day wrote this tune, but nothing is known of who he was.

In the seed, and other quotes

The posting of quotes of human authors does not constitute agreement with either the quotes or their sources. (I try to confirm the sources that I give, but may miss on occasion; please verify if possible.)

“In the seed lives the hope of the harvest.” -- J. T. Harris

“It is not the absence of sin but the grieving over it which distinguishes the child of God from empty professors.” -- A. W. Pink

“Slogans are often unhelpful, because they leave too much unsaid and often end up creating more confusion.” -- Tim Barnett

“Social media is warping our reality and our humanity.” -- Kaizen Asiedu

“The clock keeps moving toward an appointment written on a calendar we cannot see” (Hebrews 9:27). -- Rich Bitterman

“A dead man’s calendar can still look busy.” -- Rich Bitterman

“A good day doesn’t begin with perfect circumstances; it begins with a perfect God.” -- Matt Gholson

“Bitterness ensnares you in yesterday. Anxiety enslaves you to tomorrow. Jesus gives peace for today.” -- Garrett Kell

“Many go into court to get wool, but come out closely shorn.” -- Charles H. Spurgeon

“The spiritual enemy doesn’t ‘fight fair.’” -- Shane Wiggins

“The Holy Scriptures are our letters from home.” -- Augustine of Hippo

“Our Father dwells in tents as well as in temples, but his favorite abiding-place is in the hearts of mankind.” -- J. Fred Jones

“You can be born again, but you cannot be born again and again and again.” -- Charles H. Spurgeon

“If you can’t tell the difference between a female athlete and a male athlete in a wig, you’re a pallbearer for the death of common sense.” -- Nancy Mace

“When your funds run out, your ‘friends’ will run out.” -- James V. Peoples