An Old Frontier Church: The Spirit that was America.
What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever.
- Isaiah 5:20-21 (NLT)
I received this picture Saturday morning from one of my best followers and it really struck me as something very special. What could be a better example of the America of years past going all the way back to our foundation as a nation under God? The rough and rugged style as a log cabin church clearly marks it as a place where rough and rugged settlers in the wilderness, men and women who worked hard but also understood the importance of faith in God, could come together on the Lord's Day and give Him their thanks while also asking for His help. Times were tough, outlaws and Indians were ever present and each day was a time of showing their ability to survive against often harsh odds.
But then, thinking about how it also shows its age and lack of care, showing itself as just an empty shell of what it was, I think about the problems that we find ourselves facing in this land of ours today. Just like this church is something of the past, it sadly seems that God is to many something of the past as well. We hear talk of how what was right is wrong and what was wrong is right and we see so many examples of people who truly believe that. Who needs God, they say, thinking themselves capable of doing everything on their own and living for their own pleasures and not in a manner that God intended for all of us. They deny His status as Creator, talk about "big bangs" and what not as the creation and then they scorn those who fail to believe as they do. They have no concept of a Spiritual Law which overrules all other rules of life and as a consequence, they create laws designed to outlaw any disagreement with their jaded thoughts.
So, taking from the passage from Isaiah that opened this commentary, what is wrong and what is right? And the answer is really surprisingly simple. What God tells us through the power of the Holy Spirit in His Word and in our hearts is the truth. When we open our heart to Him and truly believe He is who He is, we also receive the gift of discernment when we keep our inner self alive to Him and it tells us what we want to know. There is no law or no truth that is really valid without applying His discernment to it. And when, through discernment, we are given the ability to truly see Truth, we know how we must live and act and it will come as a true blessing. Oh, the scorn will still be there and there might be some suffering and pain, but it will be in the realm of the human life mortality and will ultimately be surrendered to the Spiritual Life of Eternity with the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit within us keeps us on that path in this world if we listen. We will in our own selves be transformed to wonder so great that it is unimaginable and in our eyes that old wilderness church will appear as if it is the day it just opened its doors, fresh and new.
Isaiah was a great prophet who predicted accurately so many things that would follow after his death, including the birth and life of Jesus. Listen to his words above, they can help us deal with the rising storm of evil that continually runs rampant on this earth, even here in America. Only the truth through the Living Truth of our Lord can set us free.
- Isaiah 5:20-21 (NLT)
I received this picture Saturday morning from one of my best followers and it really struck me as something very special. What could be a better example of the America of years past going all the way back to our foundation as a nation under God? The rough and rugged style as a log cabin church clearly marks it as a place where rough and rugged settlers in the wilderness, men and women who worked hard but also understood the importance of faith in God, could come together on the Lord's Day and give Him their thanks while also asking for His help. Times were tough, outlaws and Indians were ever present and each day was a time of showing their ability to survive against often harsh odds.
But then, thinking about how it also shows its age and lack of care, showing itself as just an empty shell of what it was, I think about the problems that we find ourselves facing in this land of ours today. Just like this church is something of the past, it sadly seems that God is to many something of the past as well. We hear talk of how what was right is wrong and what was wrong is right and we see so many examples of people who truly believe that. Who needs God, they say, thinking themselves capable of doing everything on their own and living for their own pleasures and not in a manner that God intended for all of us. They deny His status as Creator, talk about "big bangs" and what not as the creation and then they scorn those who fail to believe as they do. They have no concept of a Spiritual Law which overrules all other rules of life and as a consequence, they create laws designed to outlaw any disagreement with their jaded thoughts.
So, taking from the passage from Isaiah that opened this commentary, what is wrong and what is right? And the answer is really surprisingly simple. What God tells us through the power of the Holy Spirit in His Word and in our hearts is the truth. When we open our heart to Him and truly believe He is who He is, we also receive the gift of discernment when we keep our inner self alive to Him and it tells us what we want to know. There is no law or no truth that is really valid without applying His discernment to it. And when, through discernment, we are given the ability to truly see Truth, we know how we must live and act and it will come as a true blessing. Oh, the scorn will still be there and there might be some suffering and pain, but it will be in the realm of the human life mortality and will ultimately be surrendered to the Spiritual Life of Eternity with the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit within us keeps us on that path in this world if we listen. We will in our own selves be transformed to wonder so great that it is unimaginable and in our eyes that old wilderness church will appear as if it is the day it just opened its doors, fresh and new.
Isaiah was a great prophet who predicted accurately so many things that would follow after his death, including the birth and life of Jesus. Listen to his words above, they can help us deal with the rising storm of evil that continually runs rampant on this earth, even here in America. Only the truth through the Living Truth of our Lord can set us free.
RSS Feed