Praise God He is ever faithful!

I just got back from visiting my grandfather who is in the veteran’s home. I must say that the home there in Mount Vernon, Missouri is remarkable! I have never before seen such a wonderful care facility. The place is spotless. Beyond that however it was a trip blended with both joys and sorrows. My grandfather is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and it was a huge shock to see how different he was from the last time I was able to get back to Missouri and see my family. I remember hearing RC Sproul once say that he likes to find theological significance in daily things and it has been my practice to look for them as well. As I was watching one of my greatest heroes in life who has lost most all of the memories that he once held dear, my mind couldn't help but consider that one day, if the mercy of God does not prevent it, that could be me sitting there surrounded by those who I once held to be the most prized of possessions and have the memory of who they are come and go depending on whether it was a good or bad day. I know that he knew we were family but I don't think he really knew any of us except my dad and my grandmother the first time we visited. The second trip far surpassed my expectations after our first visit. We were able to talk a little and much to my surprise even sing some songs and hymns together.



As we were walking out of the building after the first visit, I began to think of just how wonderful it is to have such a faithful God. Even suffering from Alzheimer’s my Grandfather was able to sing hymns and not miss a word. He even remembered singing these hymns and a few other songs when my Dad went back to see him before coming back home. It is so comforting to know that these songs still bring peace and joy to his soul.




I also began to think about how thankful I am that though we (even as children of God) be frail and defective by the nature of sin that resides within us, our God is not subject to feebleness and fragility. He has known and ever will know His people;

‘But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his…”’ (2 Tim 2:19 ESV)

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10: 27-30 ESV)

My heart is encouraged by the faithfulness of God. My mind clings to the scripture that so boldly proclaims that if He has begun a work, He shall complete that work! I am thankful for His steadfast love and his mercy.

‘But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."’ (Lam 3:21-24 ESV)

By the Grace of God and For His Glory,
Justin Walker



Click the link below to go to the artist, Linda Westbrook's, myspace sight for One More Memory and read the story behind the song.

Thoughts on Truth and Compromise

After reading this post Pyromaniacs: Some Thoughts about Truth­­­­ and the one following Pyromaniacs: How Vital Is the Truth?, a good bit of my already small mind was devoted to thinking on some of the things I had read, especially from the comment of one of the defenders of the “emergent” or “emerging” church movement (ECM) that seems to be all the rage these days. I recalled some words from Thomas Watson that spoke to me about what our response to such movements as the ECM.

“…the profaneness of the times should not slacken but heighten our zeal. The looser others are, the stricter we should be. In those degenerate times when men were arrived at the acme and the height of impudence, and dared to speak treason against heaven, then they that feared the Lord spake often to one another. When others were plaintiffs these were defendants; when others spoke against God, these spoke for God.” (Thomas Watson-The Great Gain of Godliness)

In these times when men will say that the Word of God is not wholly true, when men say the truth is unknowable and there is nothing certain, let those who believe in a great God, a sovereign God, “Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth,” (Eph 6:14 ESV) and declare the Word of God. Let those who would not mock the Creator stand unmovable though the whole world be armed against them. May they not be swayed with the popular philosophy of the day, but deeply rooted in the sure foundation of the Scriptures which reveal unto us an Immutable and Holy God.

“The old serpent has taught men crooked windings, and to be for that religion which does not have truth on its side, but power.” (Thomas Watson-The Great Gain of Godliness)

If you are being sucked into the relativistic thought that seems to be so much in power in these day, I beg you to turn to the word of God and search for the one who is the Truth.

I think of the Apostle Paul and the struggles he went through in his ministry.

“…with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure…” (2 Cor 11:23-27 ESV)

In all of this Paul still labored to preach the truth of God. Don’t you think he might have told Timothy that this just isn’t working the way he had planned? There is too much suffering, too much hardship. Maybe tell Timothy to make the message more pleasant, more appetizing, less authoritative and piercing so he wouldn’t have to worry about offending his listeners and by pleasing their ears bring more to Christ? No! Paul even warned Timothy that men would do this very thing.

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (Eph 4:1-4 ESV)

And he previously charged Timothy two chapters earlier,

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. (Eph 1:8-14 ESV)

Does this leave any doubt where the child of God’s heart should be?

“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20 ESV)

“Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.” (Proverbs 23:23)

Now what is it that causes men to turn from both Godliness and trust in His Word? I will answer once again from Watson, Fear! Not a godly fear (awe, reverence, love) but fear that is born of being persecuted; carnal fear. The fear of being laughed at and scoffed for not conforming to the wisdom of the world. Watson says, "if a lame man laugh at you for walking upright, will you walk with a limp?" (paraphrased) Then later he quotes Aristotle when the philosopher stated that a chameleon changes colors so much because of excessive fear. Then Watson writes something that is so true of many people, "Fear makes men change their religion as the chameleon does her colors."

Why should we fear? What is the worst that may happen to us for standing for the truth of God's Word? Ridicule? Tribulation? Death? Are we, who are christians, to fear these things having been given the promise of eternal life?

"But now thus says the Lord,he who created you, O Jacob,he who formed you, O Israel:“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God,the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.I give Egypt as your ransom,Cush and Seba in exchange for you." (Isaiah 43:1-3 ESV)

By the Grace of God and for His Glory,
Justin Walker

FOXNews.com compiled a list of 21 questions representing some widely held beliefs and misconceptions about Mormonism and posed them to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Link to questions:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,317272,00.html

I think "misconception" was not a good choice of wording as the replies to the questions fall short of the full scope of their doctrine.

Link to a more in depth look at the answers by Rob Bowman: http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2007/12/18/straight-answers-to-foxs-21-questions-about-the-mormon-church/

Al Mohler blog's about the new movie The Golden Compass and its author.

http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=1065

"The history of six thousand years of evil has been lost on man. He refuses to read its awful lesson regarding sin, and God's displeasure against the sinner, which that history records. The flood of evil that has issued forth from one single sin he has forgotten. The death, the darkness, the sorrow, the sickness, the tears, the weariness, the madness, the confusion, the bloodshed, the furious hatred between man and man, making each a suburb of hell, -all this is overlooked or misread; and man repels the thought that sin is crime, which God hates with an infinite hate, and which He, in His righteousness, must condemn and avenge. If sin is such a surface thing, such a trifle, as men deem it, what is the significance of this long sad story? Do earth's ten thousand graveyards, where human love lies buried, tell no darker tale? Do the millions upon millions of broken hearts and heavy eyes say that sin is but a trifle? Does the moaning of the hospital or the carnage of the battle-field, the blood-stained sword, and the death-dealing artillery, proclaim that sin is a mere casualty, and the human heart the seat of goodness after all? Does the earthquake, the volcano, the hurricane, the tempest, speak nothing of sin's desperate evil? Does man's aching head, and empty heart, and burdened spirit, and shadowed brow, and weary brain, and tottering limbs, not utter, in a voice articulate beyond mistake, that sin is GUILT, that that guilt must be punished, -punished by the Judge of all, -not as a mere "violation of natural laws," but as a breach of the eternal law, which admits of no reversal, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die?" For without law, sin is nothing. "The strength of sin is the law" (1 Cor. xv. 56); and he who makes light of sin must defend moral confusion and injustice; he who refuses to recognize sin as guilt, must dissolve the law of the universe, or ascribe imbecility and injustice to the Judge of all. The world has grown old in sin, and has now more than ever begun to trifle with it, either as a necessity which cannot be cured, or a partial aberation from good order which will rectify itself ere long. It is this tampering with evil, this refusal to see sin as God sees it, as the law declares it , and as the story of our race has revealed it, that has in all ages been the root of error, and the wide departure from the faith once delivered to the saints. Admit the evil of sin, with all its eternal consequences, and you are shut up to a divine way of dealing with it. Deny the evil of sin, and the future results of that evil, and you may deny the whole revelation of God, set aside the cross, and abrogate the law. "By the law is the knowledge of sin." Therefore the connection between sin and law must be maintained, both in condemnation and in pardon. God's interposition in behalf of man must be a confirmation, not a relaxation of law: for law cannot change, even as God cannot change or deny Himself. Favour to the sinner must also be favour to the law. Favour to the sinner which would simply establish the law, or leave its sanctities untouched, would be much; but favour to him which would deepen its foundations, and render it more venerable, more awful than before, is unspeakably higher and surer. Even so has it been. Law has not suffered at the hands of love, nor love been cramped and frozen by the law. Both have had full scope, fuller scope than if man had never fallen. I know that love is not law, and that law is not love. In law, properly, no love inheres. It is like the balance which knows not whether it be gold or iron that has been laid upon it. Yet in that combination of the judicial and the paternal, which God's way of salvation exhibits, law has become the source and the vehicle of love: and love law's upholder and honourer; so that even in this sense and aspect "love is the fulfilling of the law." The law that was against the sinner has come to be upon the sinner's side. It is now ready to take his part in the great controversy between him and God, provided he will conduct his case on the new principles which God has introduced for the settlement of all variances between Himself and the sinner; or rather, provided he will put that case into the hands of the Divine Advocate, who alone knows how to conduct it aright, and to bring it to a successful issue, -who is both "propitiation" and "Advocate," -the "propitiation for our sins" (1 John ii. 2), "the Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John ii. 1)."

--from the book, THE EVERLASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS by Horatius Bonar