Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him… And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15,17)

Although A.W. Tozer wrote these insightful, and I dare say inspired, words below over fifty years ago those with ears to hear can also see within them the counterfeit works of men like Rick Warren, Brian McLaren, Rob Bell and Joel Osteen:

Any appeal to the public in the name of Christ that rises no higher than an invitation to tranquillity must be recognized as mere humanism with a few words of Jesus thrown in to make it appear Christian…

Christ calls men to carry a cross; we call them to have fun in His name. He calls them to forsake the world; we assure them that if they but accept Jesus the world is their oyster. He calls them to suffer; we call them to enjoy all the bourgeois comforts modern civilization affords. He calls them to self-abnegation and death; we call them to spread themselves like green bay trees or perchance even to become stars in a pitiful fifth-rate religious zodiac. He calls them to holiness; we call them to a cheap and tawdry happiness that would have been rejected with scorn by the least of the Stoic philosophers…

We can afford to suffer now; we’ll have a long eternity to enjoy ourselves. And our enjoyment will be valid and pure, for it will come in the right way at the right time. BAM141-142

“Lord, may I be faithful to call people to that which is important to You, at whatever cost. Amen.”
(Tozer on Christian Leadership, December 27)