CONVICTION/COMPROMISE

Related Index Topics: Boldness/Shyness, Courage, Doubt, Fight, Neutrals, Popularity, Take Action.

         1. If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.

         2. Is my religion a steering wheel, or only a spare wheel?

         3. Great men forget themselves. That is why they are remembered by others.

         4. To understand the whole work of the Master is not in my power; but to do His will, written in my conscience, that is in my power, and that I know without a doubt. And when I do this, then undoubtedly I am at peace.--Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)

         5. It is not lawful for you to make a compromise with God: To try to fulfil part of your duties, & to omit others at your own pleasure.--John Calvin

         6. An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile--hoping it will eat him last.--Winston Churchill

         7. People who always bend backwards to please everybody soon weaken their spine.

         8. A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I see that God's Truth is attacked & yet I remain silent without giving any sound.--John Calvin

         9. It is better to refuse a request with firmness & courtesy than to make a promise you can't keep.

         10. The collapse of character often begins on compromise corner.

         11. It is important that people know what you stand for; it is equally important that they know what you won't stand for.

         12. Be bold in what you stand for, but careful in what you fall for.

         13. A cool head may sometimes keep a man out of trouble, but more often it's cold feet.

         14. Many great ideas have been lost because the people who had them couldn't stand being laughed at.

         15. It's sad when a person has a head like a doorknob--anybody can turn it.

         16. He who tolerates evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.

         17. If you are holding something back from God, then God is holding something back from you.

         18. If I profess with the loudest voice & clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the World & the Devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Him. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, & to be steady on all other battlefields besides is mere flight & disgrace if he flinches at that point.

         19. God hates compromisers & half-hearted people.

         20. You may not always get the results the first time, but don't quit trying! Keep screaming, keep yelling, keep pounding away! Keep fighting for your rights & for what you want to get done, & eventually the constant dropping will wear away the stone, & by your importunity--like the old lady in the Bible who kept pestering the judge until she finally got what she wanted just so he could get rid of her (Lk.18:2-5)--you may finally convince a few more & a few more until finally the System will just have to yield & make some changes.

         21. The thing that started the Jesus Revolution was an all-out declaration of war against the System & the Churches! It was a call-to-arms, come fight & die with us for the Truth & the Lord!--Drop out, forsake all, join the Family & become a real red-hot rebel, revolutionary disciple. You have to make that choice, whether to stick true & all-out for your message & doctrine & preaching it & practicing it, or choose safety, comfort, convenience, compromise, peace & support.

         22. There's a great temptation to compromise, especially for you poor missionaries trying to raise support, not only compromise at home but compromise on the field for security, support, influence, protection, provision & all the rest. The Devil uses all kinds of tricks to get you to compromise, & once you've compromised, then you begin to become more & more like the System & closer to them until pretty soon you can't tell the two apart!

         23. In a sense the concision Jew-Christians were compromisers trying to straddle the fence, & that's kind of an uncomfortable place if you've ever tried to straddle a fence, trying to have one foot in one World & the other foot in the other World & trying to enjoy both Worlds & please both Worlds & be still respected so that you could hardly tell the difference between what they had been & what they were supposed to be now as Christians. (Acts 21:20)

         24. Even at the expense of hurting someone's feelings, I've had to often ask some people to please stop playing certain kinds of music when I'm around because I don't like it & don't want to hear it & it really gets me down! So for God's sake, don't be afraid to stick up for your convictions & tell off the people who are playing around with such trash & annoying noise of the netherworld!

         25. Watch out about any compromise or pulling your punches for advantage, for finances, for protection, for safety, for anything. Be faithful to the message; be faithful to the method; be faithful to the Word; be faithful to the Voice of God; be faithful to His Family, be faithful to the particular ministry He's called you to--be loyal!

         26. The Devil's answer to God's challenge is always a System-preserving compromise!

         27. When the Church left the arena & started sitting in the grandstands in order to avoid death by braving the lions, the Church died of old age in the stands! I think I'd rather die as a witness in the jaws of the lions than of old age in the grandstand!

         28. Peter was the leader of the rebels, the revolutionaries, the New Church, & God mightily used him & empowered him by the Spirit until he began to compromise with the Old Church, until he began to listen to them & obey them instead of Jesus! He couldn't stand a complete break with the old Jewish brethren. It seemed he couldn't help but compromise with people & roll whichever way the major current was rolling. At that time it looked like the Concision, the Circumcision, was going to win, because there were so many Jews! (Gal. 2:11-21) So Peter lost his crown & reward & a lot of what he might have had because he compromised with the opposition, he tried to please too many people.

         29. Maybe you're trying to be modest & shy & not too aggressive. Well, we don't give any special credit to modesty or shyness or non-aggressiveness in this Family! If you're going to be a witness for the Lord, you've got to be aggressive! You've got to go out & challenge them, you've got to get out there & go on the offensive, & attack, attack!

         30. True courage is like a kite: A contrary wind raises it higher.

         31. The number of people who believe a thing to be true does not create a presumption about it one way or the other.

         32. The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a period of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.--Dante

         33. The real corrupters of society may be, not the corrupted, but those who held back the righteous leaven, the salt that has lost its savour.

         34. Go to church some time. Don't panic. Sitting in a pew is no commitment. You couldn't be safer. Most Christians spend more time on their butts than on their knees anyway. If they ever had to stand up for what they believe, their legs would collapse.

         35. He trespasses against his duty who sleeps upon his watch, as well as he that goes over to the enemy.--Edmund Burke

         36. It often appears that we evangelical Christians today do not hotly pursue or passionately embrace the fundamentals of our faith. Neither, however, do we choose to plunge into the cold waters of crass worldliness. Instead, we end up somewhere in the middle--a batch of tasteless, odourless, & colourless dough--half-warm, half-cold, half-baked, half-hidden & only half-eaten half of the time by half of the people who, themselves, become half-hearted.

         37. The failure to vigorously reject falsehood & evil is soon followed by the failure to accept truth & righteousness.

         38. When the Lord's sheep are gray, all the black sheep feel more comfortable.

         39. It is not the compromise of the cautious but the blood of the martyr which is the seed of the church.

         40. Courage makes both friends & foes.

         41. Nature often enshrines gallant & noble hearts in weak bosoms--oftenest, God bless her!, in female breasts.--Dickens

         42. Last, but by no means least, have courage--moral courage, the courage of one's convictions, the courage to see things through. The World is in a constant conspiracy against the brave. It's the age-old struggle--the roar of the crowd on one side & the voice of your conscience on the other.--Douglas MacArthur.

         43. The true Church is the restraint of evil in the land. When that restraint is lifted by compromise with the World, evil takes over.

         44. Fear isn't cowardice. Cowardice is failure to fight fear. The weakling feels fear & quits. The man of courage feels fear & fights.

         45. Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death.--General Omar Bradley

         46. He is not worthy of the honeycomb that shuns the hive because the bees have stings.

         47. The exhortations of the philosophers are cold & lifeless, if compared with the convictions, affections & boundless energy of the real believers.

         48. The World's smiles are more dangerous than its frowns.

         49. Popularity has killed more prophets than persecution.

         50. Popularity is a result of pleasing people; greatness is a result of pleasing God.

         51. It is when we all play safe that we create a world of utmost insecurity.

         52. God condemned the Kings of Israel & Judah for compromising & not destroying the Sodomites out of the land (IKings 14:24, 22:46), because He knew it would infect the whole society & all the people, because iniquity grows & prospers under the atmosphere of tolerance! So God is not for tolerance!

         53. I heard a true story of a young man who was a very courageous young Christian. After leaving school, he went to a university near his home. During the first few weeks of class, a godless professor asked his class if any students considered themselves to be Christians. It was obvious that the professor intended to embarrass anyone who raised his hand. This young man looked around and saw that none of the two hundred students was going to admit his faith. What should he do? He either had to admit his Christianity or deny it, like Peter did when Jesus was about to be crucified. He suddenly held up his hand and said, "Yes, I'm a Christian."
         The professor made him stand in front of the class and said, "How could you be so stupid to believe that God became a man and lived here on earth? That's ridiculous. Besides, I read the Bible and it didn't say a thing to me."
         This young man looked right at the professor and said, "Sir, the Bible is God's letter to Christians. If you didn't understand it, that's what you get for reading somebody else's mail!"

         54. Ten persons who speak make more noise that 10,000 who are silent.

         55. Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.--Mohandas Gandhi

         56. Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct.--Thomas Carlyle