The Knowledge of the Holy

I am currently reading A.W. Tozer's book "The Knowledge of the Holy" and let me say, it's very good. I am almost finished with it and wanted to share a quote from chapter 17 "The Justice of God". Tozer ends this short chapter with this paragraph,

"But God's justice stands forever against the sinner in utter severity. The vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions. It hushes their fears and allows them to practice all pleasant forms of iniquity while death draws every day nearer and the command to repent goes unregarded. As responsible moral beings we dare not so trifle with our eternal future."

Tozer wrote this book in 1961, but I think it is very relevant for today. I just heard there was a poll of Evangelicals Christians where 56 percent believed Jesus is not the only way to heaven or have eternal life. That is a scary number to say the least.

I think there is an argument that can be made that the Church has failed in helping people see God the way He is. I believe, as many others do, that this failure happened when the Church moved from preaching God's Law, mans transgressions against God's Law, repentance***(very important) and then giving the Good News. What did the Church move to? Feel good preaching. You better not point out that God hates sin and you better not point out that people are sinners, or the people will not come to Church. The Church only focuses on God’s grace, mercy and love. These are all very important attributes of God, but not a complete understanding of who He is.

The next Chapter talks about the mercy of God, but unfortunately God's mercy will go unused with many people, because they do not see the need for it.