The life of many religious people, I fear, in this age, is nothing better than a continual course of chasing after novelties. They are always morbidly craving fresh excitement; and they seem to care little what it is — if they only get it. All preaching seems to be the same to them; and they appear unable to “see differences” so long as they hear what is clever, have their ears tickled, and sit in a crowd. Worst of all, there are hundreds of young unestablished believers who are so infected with the same love of excitement, that they actually think it a duty to be always seeking it. Insensibly almost to themselves, they take up a kind of hysterical, sensational, sentimental Christianity — until they are never content with the “old paths;” and, like the Athenians, are always running after something new! – J.C. Ryle
Today I met a man in Israel I will never forget. Fifteen years ago he was voting in a primary for candidates of the Likud party. At the polling station, two Palestinian terrorists burst in upon the crowd who were choosing their candidate for the next election. They sprayed the crowd with automatic gunfire. Seven people fell to the floor, wounded by the barrage. The terrorists moved among the fallen, stopping to shoot each one between the eyes to make sure that they were dead. Six people died that day. Today I met the seventh. He was wounded four times in the initial burst of gunfire - once in each leg, once in the arm and once in the side. The terrorists then put a gun two feet from his face and put a bullet between his eyebrows. I saw the deep scar with my own eyes. The next year he spent in a coma. Today I met him at the little restaurant he owns outside the gates of the ancient ruins of Beth She'an. He stood in f...
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