- Joined
- Jun 19, 2008
- Messages
- 5,780
And said unto Him, All these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me
Matthew 4:9
Octavius Winslow - Christ and the Christian in Temptation -1877
Alas! the world constitutes one of the most seductive temptations of the Christian.
The world is satan's great weapon.
satan is constantly presenting it in endless forms of attraction, wearing as many disguises, and backed by every species of argument.
It is his chicanery to present only the bright side of the world, carefully concealing the darker and more repulsive one.
he presents
the flower; and conceals the thorns
its emptiness and heartlessness
its selfishness and malice
its deceitfulness and malignity
its ingratitude and baseness
its hollow friendships and its false loves
Oh! these are the thorns the cunning tempter conceals when he presents the world and the glory thereof, in exchange for the homage and the worship he asks.
There is not a stratagem satan does not employ by which to bring the world to bear upon the Christian . . .
the eye delighting in beauty;
the ear ravished with sounds;
the taste delicate and dainty.
"The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye and the pride of life" are so many media through which the attractive power and ascendancy of the world attain an easy conquest in the mind of the Christian.
Seduced by its power,
convinced by its arguments,
ensnared by its glitter,
the world may enchain you a slave at its feet.
The deceiver attempts to draw:
the heart from Christ;
the mind from devout meditation;
and the whole soul from things that are divine, heavenly and eternal!
**********
And be not conformed to this world:
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Romans 12:2
Matthew 4:9
Octavius Winslow - Christ and the Christian in Temptation -1877
Alas! the world constitutes one of the most seductive temptations of the Christian.
The world is satan's great weapon.
satan is constantly presenting it in endless forms of attraction, wearing as many disguises, and backed by every species of argument.
It is his chicanery to present only the bright side of the world, carefully concealing the darker and more repulsive one.
he presents
the flower; and conceals the thorns
its emptiness and heartlessness
its selfishness and malice
its deceitfulness and malignity
its ingratitude and baseness
its hollow friendships and its false loves
Oh! these are the thorns the cunning tempter conceals when he presents the world and the glory thereof, in exchange for the homage and the worship he asks.
There is not a stratagem satan does not employ by which to bring the world to bear upon the Christian . . .
the eye delighting in beauty;
the ear ravished with sounds;
the taste delicate and dainty.
"The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye and the pride of life" are so many media through which the attractive power and ascendancy of the world attain an easy conquest in the mind of the Christian.
Seduced by its power,
convinced by its arguments,
ensnared by its glitter,
the world may enchain you a slave at its feet.
The deceiver attempts to draw:
the heart from Christ;
the mind from devout meditation;
and the whole soul from things that are divine, heavenly and eternal!
**********
And be not conformed to this world:
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Romans 12:2
Last edited:
