“Walk always with God, as in his presence, and in the awe of his laws and judgment, that conscience may be kept awake and tender. You will be restrained from vain talk, if you perceive that God is hearing you, and if you remember that your tongue is under a law, and that ‘for every idle word man shall give account in the day of judgment,’ Matt. 12. 36, 37, and that by your ‘words you shall be justified or condemned.’ If the law of God were in your hearts, Psal. 11. 8, and hidden there, Psal. 119. 11, your heart would be fixed, Psal. 57. 7. His word then would be the rejoicing of your heart, Psal. 119. 111; and your tongues would be talking of judgment, Psal. 37. 30. A tender conscience will smart more with an idle word, than a seared, senseless conscience with an oath, or lie, or slander. For fear of God is clean, Psal. 19. 9, and by it men depart from evil, Prov. 16. 6. ‘Be thou therefore in the fear of the Lord all the day long,’ Prov. 23. 17.” – Richard Baxter.
The study of the Word of God will strengthen the conscience.
Grandpa
Friday, January 26, 2007
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Give Me Liberty
We need to pray, seek, and vote for statesmen that will be a blessing because of their character and faithfulness to that which is right and good, and not those who keep promising us benefits that they will vote into law, but will be paid for by reaching into the pockets of the citizens of our Nation.
There is a valuable book written by David J. Vaughan, Give Me Liberty, which teaches The Uncompromising Statesmanship of Patrick Henry. The author writes of this great orator of our nation giving us insight into what a real statesman is: “Henry rightly understood that the moral condition of the American people was a direct product of their religious faith, and that politics and morality were inevitably intertwined. Thus, the political structure ultimately rested on a religious foundation. The ‘great pillars of all government and of social life,’ Henry once observed, are ‘virtue, morality, and religion.’ ‘This is the armor…that renders us invincible’ to all our enemies. But ‘if we lose these, we are conquered, fallen indeed.’”
Question: Is the leadership of our Nation quietly and purposefully chopping away at the moral and Christian foundation of government and people?
Let us not retreat in this matter!
Grandpa
(Continued tomorrow)
There is a valuable book written by David J. Vaughan, Give Me Liberty, which teaches The Uncompromising Statesmanship of Patrick Henry. The author writes of this great orator of our nation giving us insight into what a real statesman is: “Henry rightly understood that the moral condition of the American people was a direct product of their religious faith, and that politics and morality were inevitably intertwined. Thus, the political structure ultimately rested on a religious foundation. The ‘great pillars of all government and of social life,’ Henry once observed, are ‘virtue, morality, and religion.’ ‘This is the armor…that renders us invincible’ to all our enemies. But ‘if we lose these, we are conquered, fallen indeed.’”
Question: Is the leadership of our Nation quietly and purposefully chopping away at the moral and Christian foundation of government and people?
Let us not retreat in this matter!
Grandpa
(Continued tomorrow)
Monday, January 01, 2007
New Year Resolve
New Year Resolutions are, at best, Promises made to be broken. Such resolutions have very little hope to be kept, as they are made upon broken promises of the past year. There are those resolutions which are nothing more than old hopes that were not realized, i.e. elimination of free speech for the Christian. Resolutions as man’s desires have no foundation but that which comes from the human mind; in which case we become like the humanist whose moral foundation is built upon the muck of self-edification.
There is a better way to start the New Year: Resolve to live by truth rather than by the lies which only satisfy one’s own vision, i.e. to live by a world view without a firm foundation. Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of 1828 defines resolution as “v. - To inform, to free from doubt or perplexity; as to resolve the conscience;” and “n. - Fixed purpose of mind, settled determination.” Resolve in its verb form means that we become as informed as possible that our minds and consciences are free from doubt or confusion. He who is the Truth spoke of the nature of truth and where it can be found: “If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples (learners) indeed; and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (Jo. 8:31-32); truth being defined as the unveiling of the reality of things.
Thomas Sowell editorial on today’s Townhall.com (Jan.1 ’07, A dangerous obsession part V) writes, “Perhaps it is one of the fruits of ‘self-esteem’ emphasis in our schools that so many people feel confident to voice strong convictions about things they know little or nothing about – or, worse yet, are misinformed about.” Mr. Sowell illustrates this thought referring to those “think that they, or the government, ought to be deciding how much income people make are in effect saying that they know the value of people’s output better than those who use that output and pay for it with their own money.” Towards the end of his article are these appropriate words, “Are individual decisions made by people deciding what is best for themselves to over-ruled by ignorant busybodies, obsessed by things they do not understand?”
This brings us back to our New Year Resolves! We are being ruled over by many ignorant busybodies, rather then moral statesmen who desire is waddle in pork (my apology to those who provide us with that other white meat); or those who would define for us the meaning of religion and where we can mention the name of our Creator, and thus, to the sadness of many Christians, that we do not honor Him as the Ruler of nations.
Therefore, let us begin with ourselves, to resolve to learn the truth of the matter, and then proclaim and practice it. God’s Book presents us with the picture of the good man in the home, church and, yes, in the halls of Congress: “But whoso looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (Ja. 1:25). Are you ready to make that resolve now, to look into that moral law and continue to live in that righteousness and truth, that your work will be so blessed in that place where you serve in home and nation? That your decisions and actions will stand firm on truth? Then the New Year will be made new, profitable that all will be blessed.
Grandpa.
There is a better way to start the New Year: Resolve to live by truth rather than by the lies which only satisfy one’s own vision, i.e. to live by a world view without a firm foundation. Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of 1828 defines resolution as “v. - To inform, to free from doubt or perplexity; as to resolve the conscience;” and “n. - Fixed purpose of mind, settled determination.” Resolve in its verb form means that we become as informed as possible that our minds and consciences are free from doubt or confusion. He who is the Truth spoke of the nature of truth and where it can be found: “If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples (learners) indeed; and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (Jo. 8:31-32); truth being defined as the unveiling of the reality of things.
Thomas Sowell editorial on today’s Townhall.com (Jan.1 ’07, A dangerous obsession part V) writes, “Perhaps it is one of the fruits of ‘self-esteem’ emphasis in our schools that so many people feel confident to voice strong convictions about things they know little or nothing about – or, worse yet, are misinformed about.” Mr. Sowell illustrates this thought referring to those “think that they, or the government, ought to be deciding how much income people make are in effect saying that they know the value of people’s output better than those who use that output and pay for it with their own money.” Towards the end of his article are these appropriate words, “Are individual decisions made by people deciding what is best for themselves to over-ruled by ignorant busybodies, obsessed by things they do not understand?”
This brings us back to our New Year Resolves! We are being ruled over by many ignorant busybodies, rather then moral statesmen who desire is waddle in pork (my apology to those who provide us with that other white meat); or those who would define for us the meaning of religion and where we can mention the name of our Creator, and thus, to the sadness of many Christians, that we do not honor Him as the Ruler of nations.
Therefore, let us begin with ourselves, to resolve to learn the truth of the matter, and then proclaim and practice it. God’s Book presents us with the picture of the good man in the home, church and, yes, in the halls of Congress: “But whoso looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (Ja. 1:25). Are you ready to make that resolve now, to look into that moral law and continue to live in that righteousness and truth, that your work will be so blessed in that place where you serve in home and nation? That your decisions and actions will stand firm on truth? Then the New Year will be made new, profitable that all will be blessed.
Grandpa.
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