Wednesday.....Culture.....To Be A Pilgrim

I started this blog on November 27th of last year and had no idea that it would last this long. A few months ago, I thought that it would be good to go an entire year. Right now, it may not be day-to-day, but is probably week-to-week......possibly month-to-month.......probably not year-to-year and definitely not decade-to-decade. You probably get my thoughts on this, but maybe not, possibly don't care and definitely..........you know it's way too easy to type. What we need in this country are regulations that keyboard letters change position every time the computer is booted up. Seriously, I never wanted to do anything more on this blog than be a mailman. If you read the books that I reviewed, you would have little use for the things that I have to say on politics other than hearing them put in a different way. On the Christian topics, I tried to repeat things that have been said for centuries only in a way that might cause one to examine it a little bit differently. I really wanted to address the issue of whether a Christian should be involved in politics or not and to what extent. I'd like to mention two ministries here. The first is that of R. C. Sproul of Ligonier Ministries in Orlando, Florida (http://www.ligonier.org/). If you are an inquirer, a new Christian or just interested in examining the beliefs that you have developed over the years, you can find enough resources here to at least say that you have considered the Reformed position. The second ministry is the White Horse Inn radio program heard here in Pittsburgh on Sunday evenings at 8:30 on FM 101.5. (http://www.whitehorseinn.org/) (If you visit these websites, Ligonier will give you three free months of their Tabletalk magazine, and the White Horse Inn will send you, also for free, an issue of their magazine Modern Reformation and a CD of their radio program.) I'm not a carbon copy follower of the folks at the Inn, in fact they would probably disavow a number of the thoughts I have put forth, particularly on the topic of Christianity and American patriotism, but in reality, I do not differ with their thoughts as much as it might seem at first glance. I wrote before that my concern was that we often overreact to potential problems by avoiding the issue in question entirely. There are indeed, problems that the Christian will encounter while in the political arena. They may have affected me more than I realize but I also am convinced that if we do not do our part, we really have no right to enjoy the benefits from the sacrifices others have made. One main theme of this blog has been that in America, we are most certainly in trouble. What words can I use to emphasize this point? This time period that we are in does not have your run of the mill problems. If we realized this, it would be very hard to sit for an entire afternoon watching football, at least without full cognizance that it is but a respite and that there is work to be done after the games are over. I am not embarrassed by the words I have written on my feelings for this country. There were far too many sacrifices made for me to live the life I live and not remember and try to honor them. I tried to address the issues in the Christian church with humility and that should be the easiest task I have in this life but I was not satisfied with my blog of this past Sunday, for I should have directed the comments more to myself. That may be part of why I am examining where I am going from here. On domestic politics, I acknowledge that compromise with those who call themselves moderates is necessary at times but there is a fine line between moderation and capitulation and that line has been crossed far too often in this politically correct culture. Another main theme here has been that greed got us into this mess, we apparently did not learn a lesson and there are more economic landmines ahead than the ones we have already stepped on. My last thought in today's blog is on the concept of a pilgrim. If you read any book that I have recommended, please let it be John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. I mentioned before that the 20th century London preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon read this book 100 times. It was a Christian literature staple for centuries and with good reason. It describes the Christian, devotion and backsliding, joys and sorrows, faith and weakness through allegory. Referring again to Modern Reformation magazine, the last page of the most recent issue is an editorial by the editor-in-chief Michael Horton entitled To be a Pilgrim. Dr. Horton includes the text from John Bunyan's only hymn of the same title To Be A Pilgrim and these are those words:

Who would true valour see,
Let him come hither;
One here will constant be,
Come wind, come weather
There's no discouragement
Shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent
To be a pilgrim.

Whoso beset him round
with dismal stories
Do but themselves confound;
His strength the more is.
No lion can him fright,
He'll with a giant fight,
He will have a right
To be a pilgrim

Hobgoblin nor foul fiend
Can daunt his spirit,
He knows he at the end
Shall life inherit,
Then fancies fly away,
He'll fear not what men say,
He'll labor night and day
To be a pilgrim.