Be Thou My Vision

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art-
Thou my best thought by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.


Be Thou my Wisdom, Thou my true Word,
I ever with Thee, Thou with me, Lord.
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.


Be Thou my battle-shield, sword for the fight,
Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight.
Thou my soul's shelter, Thou my high tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.


Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art.


High King of heaven, after victory won,
May I reach heaven's joys O bright heaven's Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all. Amen.

(Ancient Irish, tr. by M.E. Byrne)


This is my favourite hymn, although I have many that are dear to my heart. Somehow, these old ones have something that most contemporary Christian music lacks. Perhaps it is because they were written with blood sweat and tears at the foot of the Cross, or perhaps it is because they come from times when the Church had not yet become so wayward in its doctrine....

I sometimes contemplate whether, in a prison cell, I would be singing a hymn such as this, or would I be bopping along to "Jesus is my best buddy down the road...."?

All praise and glory to His wonderful Name. God bless you.

My Testimony

TodayI visited my dear sister in the Lord, Hope, after my patchwork class. I don't have much contact with the outside world these days, since I only work on Fridays now. We were talking, amongst other things, about our testimonies and how the Lord drew us both out of sin, and the world, and gave us new life in Him. I never cease to be amazed at how He could call someone like me, with all my stubbornness, laziness and faults, and make me into a new creation. What a marvellous God we serve.
I grew up in a church environment, but it was a dead, traditional church and I don't remember that I ever heard or responded to the Gospel. With the little that I did know, I remember that I did love Jesus from an early age, and considered myself to be a Christian. However, because I was not truly born again, I had no power over sin, and I lived a duality - church on Sundays and flirting with the world the rest of the week.
During my years at university, I continued to struggle with sin, and decided that perhaps I should become an atheist like most of my lecturers. It was then that I was given a vision of a white handkerchief flapping in the wind, almost flying away......except that a hand was holding that handkerchief by one thread. From that moment, I knew that I could never leave Him and that He was hanging onto me. Despite my sin and rebellion, He had not let me go. And the search began.
I went through a time of deep repentance, and there was a battle for my soul in those days. I had dabbled in many carnal and even occult activities. I still could not say that at that time I was born again. Although I had returned to church and my heartfelt desire was now to love and serve the Lord, I still struggled with sin.
But the Lord is longsuffering and abounding in mercy. How patiently He bore me!
I married, assuming that my husband was a Christian with the same deep desire for God as me. This was not the case, but the Lord uses all our circumstances and sorrows and trials to bring us to that place of complete surrender to Him. That is the work of the Cross.
One day I prayed "Lord, I am willing to completely surrender my life to you - to go all the way up the mountain - and I am no longer afraid of the cost". It was a couple more years, however before I was ready - the ground still needed tilling!
I was finally born again in May 1995, and what a birth it was! On my face on the loungeroom floor, I wept as I saw myself for what I was. I had no love. All the love, goodness or compassion I imagined myself to have was worth nothing because it was my own and not His. If I did not love Him with my whole heart, then I could not love Him at all, so therefore I was fit only to be sent to hell!
And He saved me. Even me!
I would love to say that from that time on, my life was one beautiful sucess story, that my husband got saved, my children all grew up in the Lord, I walked in sinless perfection ever after.....
But that is not the reality. The process of sanctification is a daily refining, and there is work to be done in me yet, and there always will be whilst I dwell in this old tent.
"But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ. And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death, if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already made perfect, but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 3:7-14
May the Lord bless you all dearly,
Yours in Christ
Bonny

Election Eve

Well, the elections are over and the results now finalised. Last week in the lead up, during the height of the media driven campaign, the 'church' was asked whether it should have a political opinion, and if so, how should 'Christians' vote? Apparently there was no single, authoritative answer given, at least not that I heard. Surely it is the duty of a Christian, in a democratic country, to choose carefully, examining the moral and ethical stance of all parties? Surely we must be guided by such things....but apparently not. Do we just accept the claims of both major party leaders, that they are Christians or do we examine their walk, their speech and their integrity before validating their vote-catching claims?
I know that there are powers and agendas at work in politics which go way deeper than we will ever be allowed to see. I know that in these times, Satan has powerful men and stooges where he wants them, throughout the world, in preparation for antichrist to be revealed. The Lord knows. But I pray for and respect our leaders, whether good or evil, as we are commanded in Scripture to do (Romans 13, I Peter 2:13-17, 1 Timonthy 2:1-4) that some may turn and be saved.
We know also from Scripture that man's choice is often not God's choice. This is evident in the choosing of Saul as King, again later after the death of Solomon, when the kingdom was divided on account of Israel choosing Jeroboam, who was not the rightful heir. We ultimately get what we deserve.
There is a sense that hard times are ahead, with rising fuel prices, interest rates and hints of world recession on the horizon. But I dwell on Jesus' words in John 16:33. He has overcome the world, and what is more, He will be back to reign over every nation. We are not to fear the days to come. He is our hiding place and Redeemer. He is our Provider. And although we must live bodily in this world, and go about our business here, remember that we are not global citizens, dear brethren. Our citizenship is in Zion, our kingdom is elsewhere.
Trust Him alone for the times ahead.

Treading on Sacred Ground

I think in these last days we are seeing a greater separation between those who know and truly seek the Truth, and those who are happy to stay in apostate churches. Most churches are filled with false converts, who have never truly repented in order that they may believe and be saved. Few live the Christian life. I say this with love and with great sorrow, fully acknowledging that I myself was in error for years, and because I have sat under many bounty-hunting dogs who work and use their congregations to death. I could really go into more of this, but I wanted to share a sad realisation......and forgive me for offending because I know that I am standing on what is, for many, sacred ground.

Did you ever go to a Billy Graham Crusade? Did you ever say the sinner's prayer there and go forward with the masses, asking Jesus into your heart as your personal saviour? How many think that because they have repeated the 'sinner's prayer' they are are saved, and then spend the rest of their days wondering why they have no power over sin in their lives? Why is there no growth, no love for the things of God? Why do so many 'fall away'?

I hold Billy Graham to account for the thousands, if not millions, of false conversions in the evangelical church, and for perpetuating the lie that repeating the sinner's prayer can save a person.

Sadly, this man has revealed in a recent interview that he does not believe Jesus Christ to be the only way of salvation. No true believer would say that. Billy Graham embraces catholicism and other religions.



He considers high level freemasons and satanists to be amongst his best friends, and the world respects him. In John 15, Jesus says "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own". Beware of those whom the world loves.

This book by Dr Cathy Burns is worth reading.

http://www.cephas-library.com/evangelists_new_book_about_graham_by_cathy_burns.html
I have said my piece for now.

Please Take This Seriously

If you are Australian, please substitute 'Australia' for 'America'. There is no difference. For more Paul Washer sermons and other classics, I will shortly provide some links.

Welcome to my blog.....

This is my first entry. I hope that what I write will always be truthful, encouraging and thought provoking. I hope that my friends will feel welcome. I hope you will enjoy the links to other sites and blogs. I named the blog 'View From the Mountain' because I live on a mountain, but more importantly, because Isaiah 52:7 says the following:
"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good; that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth!"
My God reigns!