Category: Random

Come Be My Light

Now father, since 49 or 50, this terrible sense of loss, this untold darkness, this loneliness, this continual longing for God, which gives me that pain deep down in my heart…

Darkness is such that I really do not see, neither with my mind nor with my reason, the place of God in my soul is blank. There is no God in me, when the pain of longing is so great, I just long and long for God, and then it is that I feel He does not want me, He is not there.

God does not want me. Sometimes I just hear my own heart cry out, “my God!” and nothing else comes. The torture and pain, I can’t explain…

—Gonxha Agnes Bojaxhiu | Skopje, Albania

Indecision

Many leaders fail simply because they refuse to make a decision. Some insist on more and more information. They fail as they experience analysis paralysis. Others will not make a decision because they fear failure. Ironically, they experience the failure they feared because of their failure to make a decision.

—Thom Rainer

Preaching versus Brainwashing

The preaching of the gospel is not brainwashing. It is building the case for Christ over a period of time. Paul did it to the Ephesian Jews (Acts 19). He reasoned with them until it was clear to him that they were not going to believe the gospel he was preaching. Paul gave them the freedom to accept or reject his message.

Brainwashing, on the other hand, attempts to weaken the critical facilities of the audience, wearing them down, physically and mentally, until they just don’t care to think critically any more. Religious cults do this.