Why Do They Confess Christ but Refuse to Join a Church?

Thomas Jefferson once wrote to his friend Benjamin Rush, “I am a Christian, in the only sense he [Jesus] wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence; and believing he never claimed any other.” Was Jefferson’s claim to be a Christian trustworthy? Jefferson highly esteemed the ethics of Jesus Christ, and yet he didn’t believe Jesus Christ was God. How should we think about someone’s confession of...

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Charles Spurgeon on Persecution & the Danger of the Church Being Admired by the World

“A smiling world is worse than a frowning one. She saith, ‘I cannot smite the man low with my repeated blows, I will take off my mailed glove, and showing him a fair white hand, I’ll bid him kiss it. I will tell him I love him: I will flatter him, I will speak good words to him.’ John Bunyan well describes this Madam Bubble: she has a winning way with her; she drops a smile at the end of each of her sentences; she talks much of fair things, and tries to win and woo. Oh...

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Zacharias Ursinus about Lukewarm Christians Who Confess Christ but Show Little Interest in Repentance and Holiness

“He, therefore, who boasts of having applied to himself by faith the death of Christ, and yet has no desire to live a holy and godly life, that he may so honor the Savior, lies, and gives conclusive evidence that the truth is not in him; for all those who are justified are willing and ready to do those things which are pleasing to God. The desire to obey God can never be separated from an application of the death of Christ, nor can the benefit of regeneration be experienced without that...

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