"A highway shall be there, and a road,
And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.
The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others.
Whoever walks the road, although a fool,
Shall not go astray.
No lion shall be there.
Nor shall any ravenous beast go upon it;
It shall not be found there.
But the redeemed shall walk there,
And the randomed of the LORD shall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy and gladness,
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away."
~~ Isaiah 35:8-10
This is just beautiful. The believer has nothing to fear and everything to gain...
However, not fearing the world is hard--the fear of persecution, pain, suffering, even death--distresses us. I wish I had the faith displayed by Stonewall Jackson; but I don't. Sometimes I am frightened by the thought of such faith...I am a weak young woman and I don't like to streach myself a lot. On the other hand, to be able to face those who hate me, because I love the Lord, with bravery and confidence in my God is my upmost desire. There is but one place to turn for such courage...God Himself.
This is a topic I think on not too infrequently (though I certainly don't exclusively set my mind to it), because life is scary right now. Our whole way of life is being threatened. Our culture is deranged, our President is a radical communist, there is a lack of strong, steady men, and many of our churches are dead. That is frightening to a young woman not quite 21 who for years has looked forward to getting married and raising a family in peacefulness.
Something else also bothers me during this pre-election season. I would love for all Reformed Christians to be unified in their vote this year. However, as I have quickly found from reading the blogs of particular brothers in Christ, there are vast differences between many of the conservative Christians and I myself politically. I agree with them 100% on much of what they say, but I cannot accept that a Christian can only vote for a Christian. Follow my logic and correct it if I'm wrong...but if a Christian can only vote for a fellow Christian, then only a Christian government is legitamate. But Scripture itself does not say this (Romans 13:1-7; Titus 3:1; I Peter 2:13-17). We are told to obey our Governments (render to Caesar what is Caesar's), with out denying God and His Law (render to God what is God's).
Here they would agree with me...but the application is different! I cannot quite understand how if a non-Christian government or ruler is legitamate, how they come to the conclusion that they cannot vote for a non-Christian (in the case in point, a member of the Morman cult.) We have a responsiblity to future generations and voting third party in this election is in effect a handing of the presidency back to Barak Obama--essentially transforming our Republic into a Tyranny. Tryanny breaks all the laws of God.
So how does voting Mitt Romney keep us from taking that step into Tryanny? He too, it is true, is a Socialist (though not a Communist like Obama). It is a delaying tactic. (I think in military terms since I was raised that way.) Look...it has taken us over 100 years to reach the state we are at now. It is going to take us some time to get out of the hole we are in (and I'm not talking ecomonically.) People that my aforementioned brothers would vote for will not be elected. We are still a two party system. (In my opinion, rather than try to come up witha third party, those in the third/fourth/whatever party who are conservatives, ought to be working within the Republican party, trying to reform that.)
These brothers would call me pragmatic--perhaps I am. But I cannot in good conscience 'throw my vote away' to use that expression. I am working to further the kingdom of my Father. I desire to live peacably with all men--so far as I am not required to break His Word. If it comes to that, I pray God to give me the strength and courage, aye, the faith to hold strong and fight. I will fight to protect those I love and the Truth. (It is times like these that I get that ever so slight nagging 'if only I had been born a boy'. Not that it would change much--I would still be frightened, though probably in a different fashion.)
Aim small, miss small...To God be the Glory!
And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.
The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others.
Whoever walks the road, although a fool,
Shall not go astray.
No lion shall be there.
Nor shall any ravenous beast go upon it;
It shall not be found there.
But the redeemed shall walk there,
And the randomed of the LORD shall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy and gladness,
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away."
~~ Isaiah 35:8-10
This is just beautiful. The believer has nothing to fear and everything to gain...
However, not fearing the world is hard--the fear of persecution, pain, suffering, even death--distresses us. I wish I had the faith displayed by Stonewall Jackson; but I don't. Sometimes I am frightened by the thought of such faith...I am a weak young woman and I don't like to streach myself a lot. On the other hand, to be able to face those who hate me, because I love the Lord, with bravery and confidence in my God is my upmost desire. There is but one place to turn for such courage...God Himself.
This is a topic I think on not too infrequently (though I certainly don't exclusively set my mind to it), because life is scary right now. Our whole way of life is being threatened. Our culture is deranged, our President is a radical communist, there is a lack of strong, steady men, and many of our churches are dead. That is frightening to a young woman not quite 21 who for years has looked forward to getting married and raising a family in peacefulness.
Something else also bothers me during this pre-election season. I would love for all Reformed Christians to be unified in their vote this year. However, as I have quickly found from reading the blogs of particular brothers in Christ, there are vast differences between many of the conservative Christians and I myself politically. I agree with them 100% on much of what they say, but I cannot accept that a Christian can only vote for a Christian. Follow my logic and correct it if I'm wrong...but if a Christian can only vote for a fellow Christian, then only a Christian government is legitamate. But Scripture itself does not say this (Romans 13:1-7; Titus 3:1; I Peter 2:13-17). We are told to obey our Governments (render to Caesar what is Caesar's), with out denying God and His Law (render to God what is God's).
Here they would agree with me...but the application is different! I cannot quite understand how if a non-Christian government or ruler is legitamate, how they come to the conclusion that they cannot vote for a non-Christian (in the case in point, a member of the Morman cult.) We have a responsiblity to future generations and voting third party in this election is in effect a handing of the presidency back to Barak Obama--essentially transforming our Republic into a Tyranny. Tryanny breaks all the laws of God.
So how does voting Mitt Romney keep us from taking that step into Tryanny? He too, it is true, is a Socialist (though not a Communist like Obama). It is a delaying tactic. (I think in military terms since I was raised that way.) Look...it has taken us over 100 years to reach the state we are at now. It is going to take us some time to get out of the hole we are in (and I'm not talking ecomonically.) People that my aforementioned brothers would vote for will not be elected. We are still a two party system. (In my opinion, rather than try to come up witha third party, those in the third/fourth/whatever party who are conservatives, ought to be working within the Republican party, trying to reform that.)
These brothers would call me pragmatic--perhaps I am. But I cannot in good conscience 'throw my vote away' to use that expression. I am working to further the kingdom of my Father. I desire to live peacably with all men--so far as I am not required to break His Word. If it comes to that, I pray God to give me the strength and courage, aye, the faith to hold strong and fight. I will fight to protect those I love and the Truth. (It is times like these that I get that ever so slight nagging 'if only I had been born a boy'. Not that it would change much--I would still be frightened, though probably in a different fashion.)
Aim small, miss small...To God be the Glory!
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