I recently sent the following text message to a world renowned bible teacher in our denomination…

How do you interpret Matthew 11:12? “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” Do you take it to mean that ‘Pharisees are trying to hijack the kingdom of God and Satanically infuse it with their superficial traditions and delusional notions of merit?’ Or do you agree with Thomas Watson, “Men could be content to have the kingdom of heaven; but they are loathe to fight for it. They choose rather to go in a feather bed to hell than to be carried to heaven in a ‘fiery chariot’ of zeal and violence.”

– a text message sent by me

This got me to thinking about something else Tommy Watson says in his book Heaven Taken by Storm: Showing the Holy Violence a Christian Is to Put Forth in the Pursuit After Glory (published 1669)…

“Many people think it is enough to bring their bodies to the assembly, but never look at their hearts. They satisfy themselves that they have been at church, though they have not been with God there.”

– Tommy Watson, Heaven Taken by Storm: Showing the Holy Violence a Christian Is to Put Forth in the Pursuit After Glory (published 1669)