Our Lord forewarned us that false Christs should come. Mostly we think of these as coming from the outside, but we should remem, ­ber that they may also arise within the sanctuary itself.

We must be extremely careful that the Christ we profess to follow is indeed the very Christ of God. There is always danger that we may be fol, ­lowing a Christ who is not the true Christ but one conjured up by our imagination and made in our own image.

I confess to a feeling of uneasiness about this when I observe the questionable things Christ is said to do for people these days. He is often recom, ­mended as a wonderfully obliging but not too dis, ­criminating Big Brother who delights to help us to accomplish our ends, and who further favours us by forbearing to ask any embarrassing questions about the moral and spiritual qualities of those ends.

"˜The Root of the Righteous,' a.w.Tozer