Quotable

The victories of Christianity, wherever they have been won, have been won by distinct doctrinal theology; by telling men of Christ’s vicarious death and sacrifice; by showing them Christ’s substitution on the Cross and His precious Blood; by teaching them justification by faith and bidding them believe on a crucified Saviour; by preaching ruin by sin, redemption by Christ, regeneration by the Spirit; by lifting up the Brazen Serpent; by telling men to look and live, to believe; repent and be converted. This is the only teaching which for eighteen centuries God has honoured with success, and is honouring at the present day both at home and abroad.

—J. C. Ryle

When a man bows before an idol of ivory, begging for salvation, and you tell him it cannot answer—is this hate?

When someone’s little girl...must tell her thoughts, her emotions and temptations to an unmarried priest in the confession box, and you tell her she need only confess to Jesus—is this hate?

When a poor grieving widow pays from her meager substance for Masses for her dead husband, desperately hoping to end his pain in purgatory, and you tell her there is no purgatory—is this hate?

When one billion souls, for whom Christ died, trust a well-fed pontiff dressed in gold and fine linen to give them the keys to Heaven, and you tell them they need no one but Jesus—is this hate?

When Jesus, God’s gift of love to all mankind, pointed his finger at the Pharisees and called them so many snakes—was this hate?

When the Apostle Paul stood on Mars Hill and dared tell the philosophers of pagan mystery religion that they were too superstitious—was this hate?

NO!

To free a man from Satan’s chains, you must first tell him he is a prisoner. You must convince him that he is lost and without hope....There are those who call [evangelical] literature “hate literature.” But they do not know the true meaning of hate.

True hatred hides the gospel in beautiful words that upset no one, and therefore bring no conviction of sin. True hatred stands in selfish silence as hell’s population grows.

—Battle Cry, May-June 1993