“As the bigger picture illustrates beyond any doubt, the record business is inherently cyclical. Fallow periods tend to follow bumper harvests. Today’s predicament, in which an ever-dwindling generation of rock ‘n’ roll impresarios finds itself tiptoeing into the terrifying crosscurrents of the digital age, can only make sense when viewed within a complete time frame. Difficult as market conditions are today, our struggling record business has not become extinct; a tribe of indie diehards is currently trudging through the desert–surviving on weeds, puddles, and their undying belief in music. In fact, today’s open field is probably the place of immense opportunity. When the rivers flow again, the elected will build viaducts, hanging gardens, new temples, and new marketplaces” (Gareth Murphy, Cowboys and Indies: The Epic History of the Music Industry, xi).

“We tend to measure how the culture is doing by how we are doing at the moment, which simply means we are sentinels who can be bribed and bought off” (Douglas Wilson, Against the Church, 7).

“God did not give us the Bible to have something for seminarians to study. The Scriptures are the covenant document for all God’s people” (Douglas Wilson, Westminster Systematics: Comments and Notes on the Westminster Confession, 9).

“The Scriptures are holy from the beginning of them unto the end; they do not savour at all of anything that is earthly and impure; especially the laws of the word are holy, commanding everything that is holy, and forbidding everything that is impure and unholy; whence it is evident that the Scriptures are the word of the holy God, and that the holy men which wrote them were acted herein by the Holy Ghost” (Thomas Vincent, The Shorter Catechism Explained from Scripture, 18).

“But we have to be careful not to overestimate ourselves. The fact that we have mastered the art of identifying idols that we have forged in our minds and hearts does not mean at all that we have repented of forging them out of metals we dug from the ground” (Douglas Wilson, Against the Church, 2).

“Although the Bible objectively teaches truth, it does not follow that dead men can read it. A man must be born again if he is to see the kingdom. He must be born again in order to really see the passages of Scripture that point to the kingdom” (Douglas Wilson, Westminster Systematics: Comments and Notes on the Westminster Confession, 8).

“The Word of God is objectively what it is. But it cannot be seen for what it is unless the Holy Spirit illuminates the text” (Douglas Wilson, Westminster Systematics: Comments and Notes on the Westminster Confession, 7).

“Our aim in studying the Scriptures is not merely to know more ancient history or to learn useful life principles, but rather to be brought to see in a new way the glory of God in Jesus Christ and to bow our hearts before him in adoration and praise” (Iain M. Duguid, Is Jesus in the Old Testament, 14).

“[T]he central message of the Old Testament is Jesus: specifically the sufferings of Christ and the glories that follow–both the glorious resurrection of Christ and the glorious inheritance that he has won for all of his people. Certainly, understanding this gospel should lead to a new morality in the lives of believers. It should motivate and empower us to seek to meet the needs of the lost and broken world around us and should engage our passion for the new heavens and the new earth that will be realized when Christ returns. But the heart of the message of the Old Testament is a witness to Christ, which centers on his suffering and glory, his death and resurrection” (Iain H. Duguid, Is Jesus in the Old Testament, 11).

“Why should we expect to see Jesus in the Old Testament? The simple answer is that this is how the New Testament teaches us to read it [see Luke 24:25-27, 44-48]” (Iain M. Duguid, Is Jesus in the Old Testament, 8).