Our age finds it difficult to come to grips with figures like Winston Churchill. The political leaders with whom we are familiar generally aspire to be superstars rather than heroes. The distinction is crucial. Superstars strive for approbation; heroes walk alone. Superstars crave consensus; heroes define themselves by the judgment of a future they see it as their task to bring about. Superstars seek success in a technique for eliciting support; heroes pursue success as the outgrowth of inner values.
The modern political leader rarely ventures to comment in public without having tested his views on focus groups, if indeed he does not derive them from a focus group. To a man like Churchill, the very concept of focus groups would have been unimaginable.
Thus in the space of a generation, Churchill, the quintessential hero, has been transformed from the mythic to the nearly incomprehensible.
-Henry Kissinger in
the “New York Times Book Review,”
in his review of “Churchill,” by Norman Rose (July 16, 1995)
THE BREATH OF LIFE
The air which our body requires envelops us on every hand. The air of itself seeks to enter our bodies and, for this reason, exerts pressure upon us. It is well known that it is more difficult to hold one’s breath than it is to breathe. We need but exercise our organs of respiration, and air will enter forthwith into our lungs and perform its life-giving function to the entire body.
The air which our souls need also envelops all of us at all times and on all sides. God is round about us in Christ on every hand, with his many-sided and all-sufficient grace. All we need to do is to open our hearts.
-O. Hallesby in
“Prayer”
GOD IN A NOISY WORLD
It is easy to say we believe in God as long as we remain in the little world we choose to live in; but get out into the great world of facts, the noisy world where people are absolutely indifferent to you, where your message is nothing more than a crazy tale belonging to a bygone age, can you believe God there?
-Oswald Chambers in
“God’s Workmanship”
GOD IS NEITHER PSYCHIC NOR POLICEMAN
Looking to God for ad hoc psychic direction in each situation is only a short step away from looking to Him for written rules and regulations for each situation. Both derive from a legalistic outlook, both seek to evade the responsibility of making mature decisions, and both miss the point of how God relates to His people.
-John Boykin in
“The Gospel of Coincidence”
I GOTTA BE ME
If the source of America’s social disintegration is to be pinpointed so that it might be remedied, honesty compels us not to neglect this issue [selfishness]. … Self-centeredness and its related vices—crime, illegitimacy, child neglect—are exploding in America because, after centuries of Western philosophy devoted to the purpose, Americans are glorifying extreme individualism beyond healthy limits, and beyond anything ever experienced by another national culture.
-Andrew Peyton Thomas in
the “Wall Street Journal” (Aug. 9, 1995)
WRONGFUL DEATH
When a woman destroys the life of her unborn child, it is a sign that, by education or circumstances, she has been greatly wronged.
-Susan B. Anthony,
quoted in “Good News” (July/August 1994)
THE DEVIL’S ENTREE
Irritation in the heart of a believer is always an invitation to the devil to stand by.
-Eleanor Doan in
“Speakers Sourcebook”
WHEN PROGRESS ISN’T
Every age has its illusions. History is merely a portrait of the past that reflects the myths of the present. … Those born early in this century were sustained by a misguided sense of progress. They confused technological improvements, of which there were many, with cultural advancement, of which there was little.
-Alston Chase in
the “Washington Times” (May 13, 1995)
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