That is what this thread has become
but it was not my original intent.
When I heard/saw that song with its words it blessed me seeing that young man singing that song at the Grand Ole Opry. I know that "Country Singers" have lots of problems with drinkin', dopin' and cheatin' and those things are sung about a lot, but, many of them did their first singing in Church and to many of them the Lord is still close to their hearts. Some of them have regular prayer, worship, and Bible Study on their tour busses.
I don't know anything about this young man. I don't know if this was throwing out a "religious bone" to a portion of his audience or not. He looked awful young to have a grandfather in World War 2 so the song may not have been his "personal testimony" but I think it had a good message.
When I heard him sing about his grandfather reading that Bible from childhood, through young manhood in the European war zone, and then all through his life I thought of myself, now almost 75 years old, and how the KJV has guided, strengthened and sustained me for over half a century. I'm not "KJV only" but the KJV has always been my favorite. A passage that has blessed me and that I preached on a while back is
Isaiah 46:1-4 which reads as follows in The Living Bible (the one I read my text from when I preached on "A Long Term Commitment"):
1-2 The idols of Babylon, Bel and Nebo, are being hauled away on oxcarts! But look! The cart is turning over! The gods are falling out onto the ground! Is that the best they can do? If they cannot even save themselves from such a fall, how can they save their worshipers from Cyrus? 3 Listen to me all Israel who are left: I have created you and cared for you since you were born. 4 I will be your God through all your lifetime, yes, even when your hair is white with age. I made you and I will care for you. I will carry you along and be your Savior.
The thought there was that God knew us in the womb before we were born and has been there with us and for us throughout all our life and when we get older, He will not abandon us for some "trophy bride." The idea was that we made a long term commitment to God years ago and He has made a long term commitment to us.
Of course I talked a little about those 4 Hebrew kids who may have been as young as 10 or maybe as old as 13-15 who were carried away captive miles from home, given new names which were about foreign gods instead of their given names which were about their God, and yet they made a commitment to God and refused to compromise. About 70 years later we still find Daniel, an old man but still faithful to God. And we find God still faithful to him when he was arrested, charged, and thrown into a den of lions. I also mentioned Jacob who at the end of his days said, "The days of my pilgrimage are 130 years" (
Gen 47:9) and when he blessed his grandsons he testified about how his God (the Angel of the Lord) had been with him over the years (
Gen 48:16), and about how in his old age he worshiped leaning on his staff (
Hebrews 11:21). Now, since the time I preached that message I have to use a cane or a walker and I think about old Jacob worshiping while leaning on his staff while I lean on my cane or walker and worship the Lord.
Also, in the song, how the Bible was passed on down to his mother who turned to it in time of need. And how the Bible was now his and he needed it. It reminded me of Timothy who received his faith and teaching through his grandmother Lois and then through his mother Eunice (
2 Timothy 1:5). I also thought about Paul's admonition to Timothy: "But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that
from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."
2 Timothy 3:14-15. In The Message Bible it says, "You took in the Scriptures with your mother's milk."
OK, I'm an old man. I've been reading and feeding on, and preaching from the KJV for over half a century. I just took the song for what it was as I listened to it and did not try to consider that kid's motive for singing it or how real it might be to the singer. I saw it as a message of how the Word of God can keep us from generation to generation because it is the Word of God. Of course I also thought of Paul's admonition to the Overseers/Elders of the Ephesian assembly when he met with them and commended them to God and to His Word which was able to edify/build them up (
Acts 20:32).
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