In Light of Eternity, The Life of Leonard Ravenhill Quotes

“Do you have a weekly prayer meeting in your church? Your answer reflects how spiritual you are and how much you are depending on God or on human ability and organization. The first thing the early church did was pray. It’s the last thing the modern church does today. The early church saw mighty things in answer to prayer. We see little today because of the neglect of prayer. Prayer was their first choice. Today it’s our last resort. Before the early church did anything else, they prayed. We do everything else but pray. It was their first priority. It’s our last priority. The New Testament saints had divine enduement without any equipment. Today we have the equipment but not the enduement. If we are weak in prayer, then we are weak everywhere.”
― Mack Tomlinson, In Light of Eternity, The Life of Leonard Ravenhill

“In the sight of God, there are no great men and small men, but only faithful and unfaithful.”
― Mack Tomlinson, In Light of Eternity, The Life of Leonard Ravenhill

“The greatest miracle God can do is to take an unholy man out of an unholy world, make him holy, put him back into an unholy world, and keep him holy. L.R.”
― Mack Tomlinson, In Light of Eternity, The Life of Leonard Ravenhill

“One sees more and more that folk either have head religion or dead religion, or a very shallow view of the real thing. It seems these days the average evangelist offers too much for too little. A shallow repentance, if that is what it can be called, is accepted and then the person is guaranteed immunity from divine justice, eternal security, escape from hell, and the title deed to a first class mansion in heaven. What a travesty of the real thing. May God pity us. Newsweek has reported that six prominent Americans have been converted to Christianity recently. But none mentioned conviction of sin or of receiving Christ as Lord. So I see more than ever the weakness of modern evangelism. We get folks to walk an aisle and say a sinner’s prayer to ask forgiveness. But when do sinners, who are rebels against God, ever cry for mercy? Mercy, like repentance, is a dirty word with most evangelists. The old school view of evangelism is that people did not come to an altar for five minutes and leave, but would stay seeking the face of God until they had a real breakthrough.”
― Mack Tomlinson, In Light of Eternity, The Life of Leonard Ravenhill

“When Leonard was invited to come to the youth service at the local church, he replied in all seriousness, “I’m not interested in a dog and pony show,” to which they said, “Well, it’s going to be a prayer meeting.” He then asked, “How long are they going to pray—ten minutes?” “No”, they said, “It’s going to be an all-night prayer meeting.” Leonard said, “Well then I’m interested; I’ve not been to any youth meetings where they want to pray all night.”
― Mack Tomlinson, In Light of Eternity, The Life of Leonard Ravenhill

“The greatest miracle God can do is to take an unholy man out of an unholy world, make him holy, put him back into an unholy world, and keep him holy.”
― Mack Tomlinson, In Light of Eternity, The Life of Leonard Ravenhill

“Men have itching ears, but I have no commission from God to scratch them.”
― Mack Tomlinson, In Light of Eternity, The Life of Leonard Ravenhill

“There were a few books he always recommended, such as Christian in Complete Armor by Gurnall, Looking unto Jesus by Isaac Ambrose, Fair Sunshine by Jock Purves, The Soul of Prayer by P. T. Forsyth and The Hidden Life of Prayer by D. M. McIntyre. These headed up his recommended reading list, along with The Diary of David Brainerd.”
― Mack Tomlinson, In Light of Eternity, The Life of Leonard Ravenhill

“As a hymn writer, his great hymns Jehovah Tsidkenu and When This Passing World is Done gave him a place with the immortals.”
― Mack Tomlinson, In Light of Eternity, The Life of Leonard Ravenhill

“Today we are witnessing the most broken down, miserable, and immoral people of all time. Amidst their carnality and confusion, they need to hear from heaven. How shall they hear without a preacher, and how shall he preach unless he is unctionized? To unctionize is God’s prerogative.”
― Mack Tomlinson, In Light of Eternity, The Life of Leonard Ravenhill

“There are no great or small people in the kingdom of God, only faithful and unfaithful.”
― Mack Tomlinson, In Light of Eternity, The Life of Leonard Ravenhill

“While I am thinking of it, you must get the book, The Justification of God, by P. T. Forsyth. Spurgeon said that Forsyth was born a hundred years before his time. Read him; he may shock you at times, but he has a message for this day.”
― Mack Tomlinson, In Light of Eternity, The Life of Leonard Ravenhill

“It seems these days the average evangelist offers too much for too little. A shallow repentance, if that is what it can be called, is accepted and then the person is guaranteed immunity from divine justice, eternal security, escape from hell, and the title deed to a first class mansion in heaven. What a travesty of the real thing. May God pity us.”
― Mack Tomlinson, In Light of Eternity, The Life of Leonard Ravenhill

“It is a sad commentary on theological education that most seminaries and Bible colleges virtually neglect the Holy Spirit’s role in preaching specifically and in the Christian ministry in general.”
― Mack Tomlinson, In Light of Eternity, The Life of Leonard Ravenhill

“The pulpit today has never had more education and never less revelation. L.R.”
― Mack Tomlinson, In Light of Eternity, The Life of Leonard Ravenhill

“The church used to be a lifeboat rescuing the perishing, but now it’s a cruise ship recruiting the promising. L.R.”
― Mack Tomlinson, In Light of Eternity, The Life of Leonard Ravenhill

“The opportunity of a lifetime must be gained during the lifetime of opportunity.”
― Mack Tomlinson, In Light of Eternity, The Life of Leonard Ravenhill