Allison: our vulnerability to heresy

Saturday, November 4, 2017
Meditation:
    And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
    —2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We are susceptible to heretical teachings because, in one form or another, they nurture and reflect the way that we would have it be, rather than the way God has provided, which is infinitely better for us. As they lead us into the blind alleys of self-indulgence and escape from life, heresies pander to the most unworthy tendencies of the human heart.
    ... C. FitzSimons Allison (b. 1927), The Cruelty of Heresy, Harrisburg, Pa.: Morehead Publishing, 1994, p. 17 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 4:3-4; 1 Kings 22:22; Isa. 6:10; Hos.13:6; John 12:40; 2 Cor. 3:14; 2 Tim. 4:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, prevent my desires from leading me away from Your truth. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacDonald: doubts

Friday, November 3, 2017
    Feast of Richard Hooker, Priest, Anglican Apologist, Teacher, 1600
    Commemoration of Martin of Porres, Dominican Friar, 1639
Meditation:
    Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
    —1 Thessalonians 5;21 (KJV)
Quotation:
    A man may be haunted with doubts, and only grow thereby in faith. Doubts are the messengers of the Living One to rouse the honest. They are the first knock at our door of things that are not yet, but have to be, understood... Doubt must precede every deeper assurance; for uncertainties are what we first see when we look into a region hitherto unknown, unexplored, unannexed.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “The Voice of Job”, in Unspoken Sermons, Second Series, London: Longmans, Green, 1886, p. 241-242 (see the book)
    See also 1 Thess. 5:21; Job 4:13-15; Isa. 40:27-28; John 20:25-29; Rom. 8:18; 1 Pet. 1:6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You answer my doubts. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Allen: unity in the Holy Spirit

Thursday, November 2, 2017
    Feast of All Souls
Meditation:
    Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.
    —1 Corinthians 12:3 (ESV)
Quotation:
    It will perhaps be said that in our present state of schism this assertion of spiritual principle [as in 1 Cor. 12:3] can give us no definite guidance for action, can provide us with no clear programme, and must remain unfruitful. Surely that is not wholly true. It certainly must help us if we recognize that it is the presence of the Holy Spirit which creates a unity which we can never create. If men believe in the existence of this unity, they may begin to desire it, and desiring it to seek for it, and seeking it to find it. If, when they find it, they refuse to deny it, in due time, by ways now unsearchable, they will surely return to external communion.
    ... Roland Allen (1869-1947), Pentecost and the World, London: Oxford University Press, 1917, included in The Ministry of the Spirit, David M. Paton, ed., London: World Dominion Press, 1960, p. 58 fn. (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 12:3; John 14:20; 17:20-23; Eph. 4:3; Col. 2:2-3; 1 John 1:3; 3:24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we acknowledge that our unity comes from Your Spirit alone. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Saphir: God loves

Wednesday, November 1, 2017
    Feast of All Saints
Meditation:
    But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
    —Hebrews 3:6 (KJV)
Quotation:
    The abstract metaphysical monotheism, the constant emphasis laid on God’s unity and infinite and incomprehensible essence, could not give light to the mind or peace to the heart... How human is the God of the Old Testament—the God who appears, speaks, guides, who loves and is loved, even as the Man of the New Testament, Christ Jesus, is divine! This difference between the idea of an absolute and infinite God and the God of Scripture is, after all, that which separates the true believer and Christian from the natural man.
    ... Adolph Saphir (1831-1891), Christ and Israel, London: Morgan and Scott, 1911, p. 8 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 3:6; Ps. 2:7; Isa. 9:6-7; John 3:35-36; Heb. 1:1-4; 3:1; 12:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are personal. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Luther: learning the Scriptures from God

Tuesday, October 31, 2017
    500th Anniversary of the 95 Theses
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.”
    —John 6:45 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We cannot attain to the understanding of Scripture either by study or by the intellect. Your first duty is to begin by prayer. Entreat the Lord to grant you, of His great mercy, the true understanding of His Word. There is no other interpreter of the Word of God than the Author of this Word, as He Himself has said, “They shall be all taught of God.” (John 6:45) Hope for nothing from your own labors, from your own understanding: trust solely in God, and in the influence of His Spirit. Believe this on the word of a man who has experience.
    ... Martin Luther (1483-1546), in a letter (see What Luther Says: An Anthology, #233), quoted in History of the Great Reformation of the Sixteenth Century in Germany, Jean Henri Merle d’Aubigné, London: Walther, 1838, p. 320 (see the book)
    See also John 6:45; Isa. 54:13; John 3:9,10; Rom. 8:16; Heb. 4:12; 2 Pet. 1:21; Rev. 2:7; 19:10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the only true source of all learning. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Luther: Christ and the Bible

Monday, October 30, 2017
    Commemoration of Martin Luther, Teacher, Reformer, 1546
Meditation:
    And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.
    —1 Thessalonians 2:13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christ is the master; the Scriptures are only the servant.
    ... Martin Luther (1483-1546), quoted in The Religions of Authority and the Religion of the Spirit, Auguste Sabatier, London: Williams & Norgate, 1904, p. 158 (see the book)
    See also 1 Thess. 2:13; Matt. 17:1-5; Mark 9:2-7; Luke 9:28-32; John 1:14; 2 Pet. 1:16-21; 1 John 1:1-3; 4:14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your Scriptures speak abundantly of Christ, to my eternal benefit. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Willard: knowing God's will

Sunday, October 29, 2017
    Commemoration of James Hannington, Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, Martyr in Uganda, 1885
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
    —Mark 8:35 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I fear that many people seek to hear God solely as a device for securing their own safety, comfort and righteousness. For those who busy themselves to know the will of God, however, it is still true that “those who want to save their life will lose it.” My extreme preoccupation with knowing God’s will for me may only indicate, contrary to what is often thought, that I am overconcerned with myself, not a Christlike interest in the well-being of others or in the glory of God.
    ... Dallas Willard (1935-2013), Hearing God, Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1999, p. 28 (see the book)
    See also Mark 8:35; Matt. 10:39; 16:25; Luke 17:33; John 12:25; Acts 20:23-24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You speak to me for Your glory. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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