What Is The Veil - From "The Veil Taken Away” by J. C. Philpot

This is an important little book because until God dealt with my own veil during my  wilderness time with Him, I did not know the veil was there, nor that it needed to be dealt with. Until God deals with our veil, we will NEVER know what it means to enter the holy of holies. It is the difference between having "a knowledge" of the presence of God and truly live it and experience it. You might say, well, I can do without never knowing what it is. I would then say to you " be careful" God holds us responsible for what we do not know.

For My New Year’s Resolution!

Father God, since the only way to truly communicate with you and abide in you is through your dealing once and for all with our souls. Shine your light within us and take away anything that is not of you.  

 To find out why this short prayer, read January 1 post)

 

 This post below is an excerpt from the new uploaded Kindle 

“The Veil Taken Away”  by J. C. Philpot 

 Download the FREE  Kindle  HERE 

There is the veil of IGNORANCE. What a thick, dense, impenetrable covering is that! If we look back to the days of darkness and unregeneracy, in what dense ignorance did we walk. The very doctrines of grace, and the whole scheme of salvation, were hidden from our eyes, and we understood not a single truth of the gospel aright. Our minds were wrapped up in such thick clouds of ignorance, that we knew neither God nor ourselves, neither our state here or hereafter. This veil of ignorance spread over the heart seems spoken of, Isaiah 25:7, "He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations." And again, "Darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people." (Isaiah 60:2.) And thus Paul testifies that the Gentiles walk, "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." (Eph. 4:18.)

2. But this is not the only covering that goes to make up this thick, dense, impenetrable veil. There is the veil of UNBELIEF. So that could man by the dint of his natural faculties overcome his ignorance, and thus strip off one part of the veil, the other part, that of unbelief, would still remain. Look at the scribes and Pharisees; the Lord wrought such amazing and undeniable miracles, as we should think must have convinced them that he was the Messiah—as, for instance, the raising up of Lazarus from the dead. They saw him come out of the sepulcher with their bodily eyes at the word of Jesus; but it had no effect on their minds. They saw the blind restored to sight, the lame walk, and the deaf receive hearing; but it never wrought faith in their consciences. They were, as the Apostle says, "shut up in unbelief." (Rom. 11:32, margin.) This is just our state by nature; unbelief has such possession of our hearts that we cannot believe the things of God until they are made known to us by divine revelation.

3. But again; there is the covering of SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS. What a motley monster is man in his natural state! Full of evil, continually committing sin, daring God to his face by a thousand crimes, and yet setting up his own righteousness! We might just as well expect that a felon in prison, who is there awaiting in the condemned cell the merited punishment of his aggravated crimes, of his murders, robberies, and continued outrage against all human laws, should hope to come out of prison by his good deeds and obedience to the laws of his country, as expect such a vile wretch as man to hope to climb up to heaven by the ladder of his good words, good thoughts, good works, and good intentions. But the veil upon his heart prevents him from seeing that by anything he can do he cannot please God. Self-righteousness in all its forms is so interlaced with every thought of our heart, so intertwined with every fiber of our natural mind, that though we know ourselves to be sinners, yet self-applause and self-complacency bid us do something to gain God's favor.

4. But again; there is the veil of SUPERSTITION. What a hold has superstition over the minds of men! If we go into any country parish, what superstition universally reigns over the minds of those dead in sin! How church and churchyard, ecclesiastical vestments and gown, font and altar, are well near worshiped! And in town, as well as country, in dissenter as well as in churchman, what superstitious feeling prevails; and how much passes off for religion and piety that was never wrought in the heart and conscience by God the Spirit! I believe there are many people who cannot sin comfortably until they have said their prayers, and cannot launch out with an easy conscience into the pleasures of the world, until they have gone to church or chapel. They must needs attend upon the ceremonies and forms of religion to get a license for sin, as a school-boy learns his task to obtain a holiday.

5. And then, there is the veil of PREJUDICE. How deeply prejudiced are men's minds against the truth, and against all who profess or preach it! Have we ourselves not in time past walked in this path? What deep prejudice have our minds been steeped in against the truths of God's word! And have we not looked upon the people who held and preached them rather as monsters than men! When I walk through the streets of the town in which I live, I can see sometimes prejudice staring out from the very eyes of the people, especially the well-dressed and respectable, whom I meet; and though they cannot, through mercy, bring anything against my life and conduct, so great is their prejudice because I hold and preach the truth, that I believe they look upon me as a worse character than an adulterer, a swearer, or a drunkard. The prejudice painted in their very features sometimes almost amuses, and sometimes annoys me; sometimes stirs up my pride, and sometimes makes me thankful that I differ from them, and suffer reproach for the Lord's sake......

Eternal Punishment - Part 1

Excerpt from the book "Fire & Brimstone in Hell"

We take up our pen to write on one of the most solemn truths taught in the Word of God. And before we began, we turned to the Lord and earnestly sought that wisdom and grace which we are conscious we sorely need; making request that we might be preserved from all error in what we shall write, and that nothing may find a place in these pages which shall be displeasing to that Holy One, "whose we are-and whom we serve." O that we may write in the spirit of One who said, "Who can comprehend the power of Your anger? Your wrath is as awesome as the fear You deserve!" (Psalm 90:11).

$0.99 On Kindle 

The subject before us is one that needs stressing in these days. The great majority of our pulpits are silent upon it, and the fact that it has so little place in modern preaching is one of the signs of the times, one of the many evidences that the Apostasy must be near at hand. It is true that there are not a few who are praying for a world-wide Revival-but it appears to the writer, that it would be more timely, and more scriptural, for prayer to be made to the Lord of the harvest-that He would raise up and thrust forth laborers who would fearlessly and faithfully preach those truths which are calculated to bring about a revival.

While it is true that all genuine revivals come from God-yet He is not capricious in the sending of them. We are sure that God never relinquishes His sovereign rights to own and to bless-where and as He pleases. But we also believe that here, as everywhere, there is a direct connection between cause and effect-and a revival is the effect of a previous cause. A revival, like a genuine conversion, is wrought by God by means of the Word-the Word applied by the Holy Spirit, of course. Therefore, there is something more needed (on our part) than prayer-the Word of God must have a place, a prominent place, the prominent place. Without the Word and prayer-there will be no Revival, whatever excitement and activities of the emotions there may be.

It is the deepening conviction ofthe writer, that what is most needed today, is a wide proclamation of those truths which are the least acceptable to the flesh.

What is needed today, is a scriptural setting forth of the character of God-

His absolute sovereignty,

His ineffable holiness,

His inflexible justice,

His unchanging veracity.

What is needed today, is a scriptural setting forth of the condition of the natural man-

his total depravity,

his spiritual insensibility,

his inveterate hostility to God,

the fact that he is "condemned already"

and that the wrath of a sin-hating God

is even now abiding upon him!

What is needed today, is a scriptural setting forth of the alarming danger which sinners are in-the indescribably awful doom which awaits them, the fact that if they follow only a little further their present course, they shall most certainly suffer the due penalty of their iniquities!

What is needed today, is a scriptural setting forth of the nature of that dreadful punishment which awaits the lost-

the awfulness of it,

the hopelessness of it,

the unendurableness of it,

the endlessness of it!

A cooler Hell

This is an excerpt from the book " 

"Fire & Brimstone in Hell! - Don't Kid Yourself, Hell Is Real "

(Thomas Brooks, "The Crown and Glory of Christianity,
 or, HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness", 1662)

"God, I thank You that I'm not like other people-greedy, 
 unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 
 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get." 
 Luke 18:11-12

On Kindle for $0.99 

Many please and satisfy themselves with mere civility and common morality. They bless themselves that they are not swearers, nor drunkards, nor extortioners, nor adulterers, 
etc. Their behavior is civil, sincere, harmless, and blameless.

But civility is not sanctity. Civility rested in-is but a beautiful abomination-a smooth way to hell and destruction.
Civility is very often . . .
  the nurse of impiety,
  the mother of flattery, and
  an enemy to real sanctity. 
There are those who are so blinded with the fair shows of civility-that they can neither see the necessity nor beauty of sanctity. There are those who now bless themselves in their common morality, whom at last God will scorn and cast off for lack of real holiness and purity.


A moral man may be an utter stranger . . .

•   to God,
•   to Christ,
•   to Scripture,
•   to the filthiness of sin,
•   to the depths and devices of Satan,
•   to their own hearts,
•   to the new birth,
•   to the great concerns of eternity, 
•   to communion with Christ, 
•   to the secret and inward ways and workings of the Spirit.

Well, sirs, remember this-though the moral man is good for 
many things-yet he is not good enough to go to heaven! He 
who rises to no higher pitch than civility and morality-shall 
never have communion with God in glory. The most moral 
man in the world, may be both Christless and graceless.

Morality is not sufficient to keep a man out of eternal misery. 
All morality can do, is to help a man to one of the best rooms 
and easiest beds which hell affords! For, as the moral man's 
sins are not so great as others-so his punishments shall not 
be so great as others. This is all the comfort that can be given 
to a moral man-that he shall have a cooler hell than 
others have. But this is but cold comfort.

Morality without piety is as a body without a soul. Will
God ever accept of such a stinking sacrifice? Surely not!