Journey of Cross and Quill

Hosanna to the royal son
Of David’s ancient line!
His natures two, his person one,
Mysterious and divine.

The root of David, here we find,
And offspring, are the same:
Eternity and time are joined
In our Immanuel’s name.

Blest he that comes to wretched man
With peaceful news from Heaven!
Hosannas, of the highest strain,
To Christ the Lord be given.

Let mortals ne’er refuse to take
The Hosanna on their tongues,
Lest rocks and stones should rise and break
Their silence into songs.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.
Psalm 118:8 ESV

There are some things that need to be addressed especially toward those who call themselves followers of Christ Jesus. Tonight is one such night I feel compelled to remark upon the recent events surrounding the passage of the health care bill. Many are angered and this is a fine response to what amounts to the final death knell of the usurpation of the American Constitution. I would like to reiterate here that for the past one hundred and fifty or so years the Constitution has been disregarded by various means and until now there has not been much of a cry against it. Herein I issue a sharp rebuke especially to those who are Christians and conservatives. Read the Constitution carefully regarding the enumerated powers. The biggest bone I have to pick regards government education. Do you send your children to public schools? Shame on you, you hypocrite! The American Constitution allows for no such thing but most importantly, the Law of God forbids passing of your responsibility of training your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord to the godless humanists where every vestige of the King of Kings is stripped away and any mention of our LORD Jesus Christ is met with derision.

Now on to the second point. We have replaced our trust in Christ with that of the State. There is no salvation in the State. It cannot save us. That is a humanist concept. Education can not save us. The “right” politicians can not save us. Have we forgotten that our LORD God is sovereign? He directs the course of our paths. There is nothing that does not have His design on it. Yet we cry foolishly when men disappoint us. Mankind will always disappoint! He is corrupt to the core!

Do you not believe that God is in control? That he orchestrates history according to His perfect and pleasing will? Even evil men will do His bidding. He has made us more than conquerors and His story is being played out exactly as He wrote it long before time began. Ungodly men cannot thwart His plan. Our disobedience will not thwart His plan. Beloved, put your trust in the Author and Finisher of our faith! From the ashes of Rome God brought about Christendom. He will do so again!

At one point in history the Turks were invading from the South, the Vikings from the North, and the plagues from the East. Many thought it to be the “end times.” But it was not so! Christ Jesus is placing his enemies under His feet! Christendom experiences setbacks in that its silver is being refined. I encourage all who read this to look back throughout history and see what God has done!

Kings and nations plot and rage but do so in vain. If you place your trust in man you will always be disappointed. Instead, look to Him. Return to the Law of God and see His wisdom. The Ten commandments, its case laws, and applications are so much more relevant than anything politicans can propose. Return to Him and forsake the world for friendship with the world is enmity with God. To this I recommend heartedly two of my favorite resources:

The Sovereignty of God by A. W. Pink (available free here)

and

Institutes of Biblical Law by R. J. Rushdoony (available here)

May the peace of God be with you,
Cheryl L. Stansberry

I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of the Invocation of the Trinity:
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.

I bind to myself today
The virtue of the Incarnation of Christ with His Baptism,
The virtue of His crucifixion with His burial,
The virtue of His Resurrection with His Ascension,
The virtue of His coming on the Judgement Day.

I bind to myself today
The virtue of the love of seraphim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the hope of resurrection unto reward,
In prayers of Patriarchs,
In predictions of Prophets,
In preaching of Apostles,
In faith of Confessors,
In purity of holy Virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I bind to myself today
The power of Heaven,
The light of the sun,
The brightness of the moon,
The splendour of fire,
The flashing of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of sea,
The stability of earth,
The compactness of rocks.

I bind to myself today
God’s Power to guide me,
God’s Might to uphold me,
God’s Wisdom to teach me,
God’s Eye to watch over me,
God’s Ear to hear me,
God’s Word to give me speech,
God’s Hand to guide me,
God’s Way to lie before me,
God’s Shield to shelter me,
God’s Host to secure me,
Against the snares of demons,
Against the seductions of vices,
Against the lusts of nature,
Against everyone who meditates injury to me,
Whether far or near,
Whether few or with many.

I invoke today all these virtues
Against every hostile merciless power
Which may assail my body and my soul,
Against the incantations of false prophets,
Against the black laws of heathenism,
Against the false laws of heresy,
Against the deceits of idolatry,
Against the spells of women, and smiths, and druids,
Against every knowledge that binds the soul of man.

Christ, protect me today
Against every poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against death-wound,
That I may receive abundant reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ in the fort, [i.e., at home]
Christ in the chariot seat, [i.e., travelling by land]
Christ in the poop. [i.e., travelling by water]

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of an invocation of the Trinity,
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.

One thing most likely to rouse me out my constant procrastinating state is the sudden compelling urge to pound out a blog entry in response to statements ignorantly spewed by either non believers or those wearing the latest style in sheepwear. The latter plagues me the most and if I were to allow myself to listen to the constant bleating I’d probably be sitting here at the desk with much more frequency. I recently allowed myself to fume while listening to the latest podcast featuring John Lofton of The American View (Listen HERE.) and although a day later I’d like to offer up a few thoughts.

My first thought while listening to this particular podcast is that if these local public servants were typical of others in employ by state and federal governments then we are in a world of hurt. It is appalling enough that students attending government run humanistic institutions of re-education, otherwise known as the public schools, lack common sense and basic knowledge. This is a case of the blind leading the blind. It’s the pied piper all over again except in this case the piper has no idea what tune he’s playing. The fish does not know it is wet and most humanists, unbelievers or “Christians” in mutton chaps, have no idea they are immersed in a humanistic worldview.

I decry humanistic influence. What humanism? I’m asked. Stop feeding into the rightwing conspiracy theory. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. As a Calvinist, I know God has made vessels unto honor and vessels unto dishonor. It’s no less frustrating. The blind cannot see no matter how much I point out the beauty of God’s law and His indescribable glory. Still, I cannot deter from the command to pursue righteousness and expose the deeds of darkness. I know not the chosen and so I must persevere in doing my part for Christendom–discipling the nations by means of the role God has given me.

There are three areas I cannot escape from: ungodly government schools and the command for parents to teach and nurture their own children, biblical law and it’s relevant application to everyday life, and the influence of Christianity on Western Civilization (especially as pertains to the United States). Dead horses may abound and I’ve a great cache of broom handles.

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:13-16 ESV)

Once Christianity was indeed the City On A Hill, its light permeating western civilization and propagating the world for Jesus Christ. It was raw, unstained by the corruption of paganism and it spread as fire is wont to do in a dry, brittle land. History now has become for us a useless tirade of dates and places unrelated and irrelevant and we indeed have exchanged the truth for a lie as we cower before the almighty alter of humanism. Once God was sovereign over every thought and action and now we have relegated the Alpha and Omega to a personal and private area of our lives. He is placed upon a shelf and brought down only for those special occasions or for times in dire need then placed in seclusion once again. We decry the omnious outpouring of immorality and corruption stretching the finger of blame at the pagans for their misdeeds without realizing we instead need to turn inward and gaze upon the dirtied reflections of our own souls. Do we not understand that by abdicating our God given responsiblities for self-government and of discipling the nations we have forfeited the very victories our forefathers have tirelessly labored for and sacrificed? Instead we have tiptoed around society giving approval to the various outworkings of sin by our silence and refusing to speak less we offend the pagan deities.

We send our children to be educated by Caesar. We elect corrupt God hating officials who have no respect for the Constitution nor even more importantly, the inspired Word of God. We compromise and give up territory that exclusively belongs to God. Approval and status mean more to us than truth. We praise God and sing hallelujah for one hour and declare ourselves good Christians. One profession of fill in the blank faith and by golly we’re good to go. There is no transformatioin of society save that of pagan institutions. Instead of tearing down those ungodly towers we baptize a brick and pass it on.

There is no knowledge of church history, no acknowledgement of God’s Providential hand, no recollection of great reformers. We have replaced serious study of the Holy Scriptures and its relevant application to all of life with a pagazined theology sprinkled in with a few pious sounding words and declared the Bible a nice book of morals and stories disconnected from reality. We kill our children and call it choice or defend those who do for it would be a monstrosity to tell someone else what to do. We vomit upon God’s created order and call it civil rights, pushing homosexual “marriage” and promiscuity and labeling dissenters bigots and prudes.

Christians has declared God’s law to be void and legalistic but openly approve of the litany of laws promulgating any and all of the whims of our pagan leaders. We decide what is just based on feeling and experience because a fixed standard of truth does not exist in our worldview.
Everyone does what is right in his own eyes and that is fine with us as long as God’s law is not promoted.

We call progress the overt destruction of God’s foundations and build on its rubble a city of inequity. We gaze on dung and declare it beautiful and on seeing the Cross call it excrement.
Material comforts and entertainment consume us yet thoughts of our First Love drift further from us. We have become the world and none seek after God. There is no City on a Hill. Our lights have extinguished.

Return, beloved, to that fair City On a Hill. Shed your filthy rags and bathe in the seas of grace. God’s Sovereignty remains and His Kingdom will continue to spread out over the earth. You, who were chosen of God, gather with us. Come out of the pagan nations whose destruction is certain and judgment is swift.

What I perceived as an easy project has in fact turned out to be a Pandora’s box of research. I threw together my first paper in a matter of days as procrastination overtook me and my class deadline loomed. However, a simple idea has instead expressed itself as needing further development. There can be no easy explanation of Christianity’s influence on the American Constititution without first laying the foundation of biblical principles in law and government and recalling the great Christian thinkers of times past whose work heavily influenced the writers of America’s covenant. I forsee two distinctions: biblical principles inherent in the document itself and the foundation upon which it rests.

O God, beneath thy guiding hand
Our exiled fathers crossed the sea,
And when they trod the wintry strand,
With prayer and psalm they worshiped Thee.
Thou heardst, well pleased, the song, the prayer—
Thy blessing came; and still its power
Shall onward through all ages bear
The memory of that holy hour.
Laws, freedom, truth, and faith in God
Came with those exiles o’er the waves,
And where their pilgrim feet have trod,
The God they trusted guards their graves.
And here Thy name, O God of love,
Their children’s children shall adore,
Till these eternal hills remove,
And spring adorns the earth no more.

Leonard Bacon (1802-1881)

As we turn to this Word and are instructed thereout, we discover a fundamental principle which must be applied to every problem: Instead of beginning with man and his world and working back to God, we must begin with God and work down to man-”In the beginning God!” Apply this principle to the present situation. Begin with the world as it is today and try and work back to God, and everything will seem to show that God has no connection with the world at all. But begin with God and work down to the world, and light, much light, is cast on the problem. Because God is holy His anger burns against sin; because God is righteous His judgements fall upon those who rebel against Him; because God is faithful the solemn threatenings of His Word are fulfilled; because God is omnipotent none can successfully resist Him, still less overthrow His counsel; and because God is omniscient no problem can master Him and no difficulty baffle His wisdom. It is just because God is who He is and what He is that we are now beholding on earth what we do-the beginning of His outpoured judgements: in view of His inflexible justice and immaculate holiness we could not expect anything other than what is now spread before our eyes.

From Sovereignty of God, p. 9.

I’m currently beginning research for my next paper, “The Influence of Christianity on the American Constitution.” Unlike my previous paper, this one will not be written for a class. I will periodically post updates on its progress. I forsee this one being much longer and even so I regret it will not be as thorough as I’d like. When completed, I will post the link on top of my blog as a separate page just like the previous one.

Account of the First Harvest Feast and Thanksgiving