Daily Deprogramming

In re-assessing the words and story of this old Hymn I can surely unite with the writer ’s heartfelt intent in  soul and spirit . It makes our hearts  (though weak and frail) pound with the energy to serve our Lord and King!  It strengthens our Faith and Courage to face the foe, and stand up for His TruthI   I found this story  of “Am I A Soldier Of The Cross?” on line entitled, “Gospel Hymn Stories.”

The Hymn, “Am I A Soldier Of The Cross?”  Was written by  English -born Isaac Watts in 1709.  The music score was written by Thomas A. Arde in 1762.  Ralph Harrison did the arrangement of the music score.  Isaac Watts first wrote the words, following a sermon he preached on 1Corinthians 16:13, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, *quit you like men, be strong.” (* quit ye is a term meaning not to accept defeat)

As a young child , Isaac had to battle like a soldier.  His father was a Non-conformist of the Church of England.  Twice the man was imprisoned for his religious opinions. As a baby, he and his mother would visit his father in prison. Still as a youth, a local doctor offered to help him with a college education.  However, Isaac turned down the offer and entered a Nonconformist Academy.  At age 20, Watts left the Academy and began composing Hymns. “Am I a Soldier Of The Cross? ” asks each one of us are we willing to stand up for  our faith.

Watts earned his Doctor in Divinity and moved to London, where he became a minister.  He grew tired of the Psalms other churches used as hymns and decided to write some of his own. This was met with opposition, but soon his hymns became commonly used in nearly all churches.  ”Am I A Soldier Of The Cross?” remains a popular hymn today.

Here are the words to this  glorious heart-moving hymn.  We here at Anchorabuse.org stand upon their truth today.  We are honored to be counted among such  true Christians  as Isaac Watts and his father who was “imprisoned for his religious opinions”  and suffered for the sake of the Truth and the Faith. 

Am I A Soldier Of The Cross?

Am I a soldier  of the cross,

A follower of the Lamb?

And shall I fear to own His cause

Or blush to speak His name?

Must I be carried to the skies

On flowery beds of ease,

While others fought to win the prize

And sailed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face?

Must I not stem the flood?

Is this vile world a friend to grace,

To help me on to God?

Sure I must fight if I would reign:

Increase my courage, Lord;

I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain,

Supported by Thy word.

How thankful we can be for those true servants of the Lord who have gone before, leaving us their footsteps in which to follow.  Just reading these words  today bring great hope, comfort and  the desire to press on no matter the cost!  They encourage and increase  our faith and trust in His faithfulness. Praise the Lord, God in Heaven The Almighty One , Who Alone by His Grace  gives us the strength to endure through every opposition,  and through every hardship.  May we , as Christians be willing to shamelessly stand up and contend  for our faith!

This morning I would like to tell a brief  story:

There was an engineer who was in charge of a train.  It was a passenger train and would be full of people this particular night.  Everything seemed to be in order for the trip. The conductor yelled , “All aboard!” Everyone climbed aboard and got settled in. It was an all night trip.

The train started out. Some folks were sleeping, some were eating .  There were some couples on board with small children, and some old folks.  All seemed well.  They were all in the dark for the whole night and couldn’t see much except for right inside the train where the lights were dim.

Everything seemed  totally normal.   Everyone couldn’t wait to reach their destination.  They had all boarded the right train.   In the cab of the  the train where the Engineer sat there was an instrument panel  where  on the lower right, a yellow warning  light  soon began  blinking.  He chose to ignore it because everything  was in order and there was no problem.  He had checked everything thoroughly before he had left the station and  he knew for sure all was well. 

Another warning light came on , this time a huge red blinker. It was on the left of the panel.  He chose to ignore it too and continued on, at peace in the darkness, with his precious cargo sitting in the cars  behind him, mostly sleeping, content that the engineer knew exactly what he was doing. They had in essence put their lives into his hands.  The engineer was a Christian man, so he thought about all the wonders of God and  how much he trusted the Savior. How thankful he was for all God had done for him.

As the engineer  drove along  at 60 miles an hour his radio came on blasting , “abort! stop!    He  alone could hear it, but chose to ignore it again.  He was thinking, “I’m so thankful I know this train so well.  I trust my instincts.  I trust the Lord.  But I wonder why the alarms are going off so often?   Well, I will give thanks that I know everything is fine ,and I won’t ask why.”    “I won’t look to the left or to the right, but straight ahead so I will make it to my destination on time.”

The reality was,  he was on the wrong track with a load of people.  An evil villian had arranged a  devious plan to switch the  tracks soon after the train left the station.  He knew the engineer was so sure of himself, and his knowlege of trains that he would fall for his scheme.   The track  now led to a dead end.   At the end of the  tracks this time  was  a  1,000 foot , rocky cliff which  loomed in the darkness.  Just as  the villian had surmised,  the engineer  was so sure he was right about the conditions of the train, and his own understanding of the circumstances,  that he  continued as if there were no danger at all.  The Engineer was racing  for all he was worth to the end of the line , and certain destruction for everyone on board the train! 

What would  the engineer  do?  If he was wise he would listen to the warnings his friend the dispatcher was screaming out to him.  As to how much time remained to abort the run, before sure disaster,  and a devastating train wreck,  no one but God knows. 

 There is no end to this story as yet.   It represents the Anchor Missionary Church and it’s leaders.  They are on the wrong track,  they have been deceived,  and they refuse to heed the  urgent warnings from those who care.  Moral of the story:  Don’t stand around giving thanks when you need to ask why.