Christmas is a Declaration of War

I thought it was a strange statement when I first heard it. Isn’t there enough war going on with the current spin of peace deals and ceasefires and radicalized violence? Do we really need to turn Christmas into a battle? The world is collectively waging war on itself and there can be no winner. There will be no victor. Right?

In truth, victory is sure. But not without Christmas.

So, what does it mean that Christmas is a declaration of war? Didn’t the Baby come to bring peace on earth, goodwill to men? The angels declared it. The message of Christmas is peace. The miracle birth was humble, unimpressive, accomplished through everyday people and announced to a bunch of lowlifes on a hillside taking care of dirty animals. There was no grand proclamation of the King’s arrival to upend the hopeless fate of humanity. And yet, that’s what happened.

Christmas is more about death than birth. The prophesized King arrived exactly as predicted, only some were expecting a warrior, not a baby. “And it shall be a sign unto you” was not the sign desired by most. What was expected was a long-awaited triumph over mortal oppressors. But make no mistake, this was war. From the moment of the Fall, a war had to be fought. The Baby came to wage a battle against sin, death, and hell. The infant was an immediate threat to Satan. He was the absolute redeemer of the rebel creation. He was God. And man. He was the only One who could declare a war that no one else could win.

He grew up perfectly perfect. Sinless. If His birth had not been the result of a miraculous conception, He would have carried the sin nature in His humanity. But He was free of it. He was the Warrior King who would win the battle and set His people free. As He hung dying, He proclaimed IT IS FINISHED. No more needed to be done to defeat the enemy. Death was conquered. When Jesus stepped out the grave, He won the ultimate victory.

The birth is nothing without the death. Peace on earth is impossible without a declaration of war. Has peace come? To a follower like me, peace is real and constant, even when it’s not. It’s inexplicable. It can’t be explained, only experienced. To the world at large, there is no peace, no matter who declares it so. But it’s coming. It was promised, and so it will be. Only the King, born in a manger, killed on a cross, and raised from a grave can bring true peace. Even if you can’t see it now, even if you don’t believe it, the war was, and is, and will be over. Merry Christmas.

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  

Isaiah 9:6

 

 

 

 

Do You Hear What I Hear?

 

“Do You Hear What I Hear?” is not one of my favorite carols. And hearing a hundred different versions of “The Little Drummer Boy” on the radio drives me to listen to the forbidden secular music. While everyone else is humming an appropriate tune for the merry season, I might be singing a pop song, or some classic rock, under my breath. It’s not that I’m a Grinch or anything. A little Trans-Siberian will get me in the Christmas spirit, and I could listen to “How Many Kings” from the group called Downhere until the cattle are lowing. But while the local CCM station does keep all those “Drummer Boy” renditions on their loop, I’ve only heard my favorite modern carol once this year.

Of course, it’s not about me. Or the little guy with the drum. Or the talented artists who sing every old carol with a new beat or come up new songs to add to the mix. We keep the message in our hearts and on our lips so we remember why we’re shopping and decorating. As if the catch phrases weren’t enough—Keep Christ in Christmas, Jesus is the reason for season, and others we feel obligated to repeat. After all, it’s Christmas and we’re Christians—this is our celebration. When someone spouts “Happy Holidays”, we make a point of returning the greeting with a quick “Merry Christmas.” Sometimes an un-merry attitude comes across when we do that, so watch the tone.

Speaking of merry, I learned something new this holiday season about one of those old songs that causes me to switch on over to the music of the dark side. (Don’t worry, I don’t stay there if the lyrics are filthy, and I’m more than convinced my salvation doesn’t rest on my choice of radio stations.) Anyway, I heard the story behind “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and I have new respect for the gentlemen in question.

With no record of its origin, the song became popular among the English peasants more than 500 years ago. But what means one thing in the modern world meant something else to those who crooned the tune on a cold Christmas Eve so long ago. Not the kind of song that would have been sung in the local cathedral, it was a folk song for Christians wanting something a little different than the dry Latin lyrics and gloomy music they heard at services. (Seems the issue of “Church music” has been going on for a while.)

When families and neighbors gathered to offer their praise for the glorious gift of the newborn babe, they sang what we would assume meant God, grant some relief to these happy men. But that wasn’t the message of this upbeat song. A little study on the language of the time tells a different meaning in the opening line.

The word rest didn’t refer to a long winter’s nap. It meant to make or to keep. The word merry, to us means happy and joyful. But to the sad peasant who lacked the means for a better life, it meant strong or mighty. And according to experts, there is some missing punctuation. It was lost over the years when modern interpretation gave the line new meaning. A comma once stood before the gentlemen. So, in the minds and on the tongues of the original band members, the popular hit song went something like this: God keep you strong, gentlemen. Or: God make you mighty, gentlemen. Maybe the ladies were included as well, but these words were an encouragement to the downtrodden men of the day that God would increase their strength by the telling of the great plan of salvation. The line “to save us all from Satan’s power when we have gone astray” meant then exactly what it means now.

That’s what it’s all about. The reason for the season.

The next time I hear this particular old song I get tired of hearing, I won’t change the station. I will sing along.

“God make you strong, you guys and gals, let nothing bring you down.” Well, maybe I’ll just sing the old words, but I’ll remember their original meaning. As for meeting the inoffensive “Happy Holidays” with a quick retort, maybe next time I’ll cheerfully say, “And a Mighty Christmas to you!”

Drums and dancing don’t impede

Instruments woodwind and reed

Lift your bow to string

Lift your voice to sing

Come with me and blow your horn

A savior came that blessed morn

Great gain for life for death will fall

A mighty Christmas day to all

The Art of Crying Holy

 

I’m not an emotional Christian. While there are a few songs that might bring me to tears in a worship service, I’d rather experience such intimacy in a private moment. When I observe a friend—in the terminology of modern Christianese—getting her worship on, I consider she must be more spiritual than me, more attuned to God. An all-around better Christian. Then I chuckle under my breath. She’s not that good of a Christian. Of course, neither am I, or my eyes wouldn’t wander during worship and I wouldn’t judge my extroverted friend.

A while back, I quit worrying that I’d ever be able to change from introvert to extrovert. I decided I was okay reading in the far corner of the room while others engaged in conversation. God knew when He made me how I’d turn out. Then he married me off to an extrovert and provided a good balance.

My propensity for quiet retreat gives me insight perhaps unknown to the overt worshiper. But still, I wonder sometimes if I’m missing out. The closer we get to the return of Christ, the more I sense my natural disposition bubbling near the edge of the supernatural.

In the past, when I considered the return of our Lord to gather His Church, I would often gaze upward to the clear blue sky. I’d breathe in God’s wonder. And I’d think, no, not yet. And God would ease my mind into a holding pattern. Not so any longer.

Maybe it’s because I’m older. Or because the world is getting nuttier. Or because, while I’m not always demonstrative, I do feel things, and I feel that my Deliverer is coming. I no longer view the pleasant sky as a sign. I sometimes hold my breath to listen for His call. But I’m not afraid. It might seem to others that I’m unenthusiastic. But that’s just me. Without spectacle, void of anxiety, I await the soon-coming King.

I’m glad for the whooping from my brothers and sisters. I’m happy for their raucous verbal acknowledgement of King Jesus. Their cries echo in the hushed well of my soul.

           Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

                      You are holy, Lord. Holy.

There’s an art to crying holy. Like the painter’s stroke, the poet’s verse, the singer’s refrain, or the musician’s skill, the cry erupts from deep inside. Like the builder’s monument or the engineer’s design, it carries great benefit for the whole community. The art of one is unlike the art of all the rest, and yet it arises in the same Spirit. It’s original. It’s true. It’s beautiful. And God delights in it.

When I'm standing before the Throne, I might join the celebration with a loud voice. If it happens that way, I won’t fret. How could I resist in the presence of my Savior? Or perhaps there will be an introvert section in the choir, where I can blend in. But I doubt we’ll remain quiet for long. Our cry of holy, holy, holy will surely resonate in glorious tribute to fill Heaven.

After such personal revelation, can I remain still and subdued in the here and now? Sure I can, and I won’t fret over that either. But the day is closer, the art more devoted, and maybe I’m crying holy just a little bit louder. 

The Day the Conversation Died

 In memory of Charlie Kirk

Of course, a conversation only dies when the participants stop talking. That has not happened. Now everybody’s talking. The motivator died, but the motivation became amplified. The initiator is gone, but the gut-wrenched souls, once they caught their collective breath, began to speak with no muddled voices. The detractors spoke up too, and some of them must regret their rush to blabber because it cost them their jobs. Mixed feelings about free speech and all that? Me too. But if opinion can end a man’s life, perhaps the setback of a career is not so terrible. They can learn a lesson in civility and move on.

It's not the first conversation to take a hit. And it’s not the first celebratory response to an assassination. People who resist the establishment and stir up the public are always met with cheers and jeers. When I was a child, a great American voice was extinguished by evil. The months that followed brought riots, blame, hate, political unrest, the deployment of the national guard, another assassination, great upheaval, and eventually, necessary steps in the direction of change. But in the first moments of darkness, some people who didn’t approve of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s mission shouted for joy. And that was, and is, disgraceful.

You may say that I should not dare compare that man to this one, and I’m not. But MLK’s infamous speech is one of my favorite writings of all time. It still speaks loudly to me and to anyone who listens. And so, for me, comparison is instinctual. A man died for a cause and the world took notice. As for the words of Charlie Kirk, I didn’t follow his interactions with college students closely. But I do now. I’ve never read any of his books. But I will now. The conversation lives on.

I understand that some of his quotes, taken out of context, may provoke some people who live angry lives to speak angry words. Again, the conversation lives on. Whether or not everything he ever said was clearly understood, whether or not his ideology was acceptable, ending his life was wrong. The killer said that some hate can't be negotiated out. End of conversation. Nothing left to do but silence the voice in the most heinous way possible. That. Is. Wrong. Can't we just agree on this one point? 

I think I heard Charlie say something once that I didn’t like, but I don’t remember what it was. He didn’t speak perfectly and I don’t listen perfectly. He did address our culture, the indoctrination of young minds, the role of government, the responsibility of parents, and other issues that many, many of us care about. 

Above all else, he followed Christ. He carried the Gospel to the stage of the world. I can only accept the challenge of this man’s example and continue to proclaim the truth.

 No Charlie Kirk quote here, only this…

“If any earthly institution or custom conflicts with God’s will, it is your Christian duty to oppose it. You must never allow the transitory, evanescent demands of man-made institutions to take precedence over the eternal demands of the Almighty God.”                                                                               –Martin Luther King, Jr.

The conversation must live on. Evil snuffed out the flame of one voice, but watch out, there’s a fire burning. 

Yes King

 

In response to recent protests, I heard that our president said, “I’m not a king. If I were a king, I’d have a lot less trouble.”

I don’t know about that. What I do know is that a new bitter root has sprung up to grow another hearty weed. It’s no garden-gracing bloom. It has no substance. No fruit. It won’t become a mighty oak. For now, it’s a bit of color on the rocky ground. It does have a good bit of fertilizer to sustain it. It’s being watered by the same spigot that brought us a few other weeds in recent years. But it will get mowed down. By a king? By an authoritarian ruler? More likely it will be taken out by whatever source of dark money crimps the garden hose. I could take a guess about that, but I’d rather address this demand for no kings.

Didn’t we do that already? Didn’t the founders of our country say no to the king of the country they abandoned for the new world? Have we ever, in our nearly two-hundred fifty years of sovereignty, been threatened with the forceful installment of a king? We live in a land of no kings. We don’t have a king. We don’t want a king. We don’t need a king. But thank you for protesting the obvious.

I say no to kings. If I saw one coming, I’d… Wait, I do see one coming. And I say, yes King. In photos of the protests over the weekend, one stood out. Among the homemade and professionally created placards that left little impression on my sense of reason, one sign caught my attention. It was a picture of Jesus, not as King, or Savior, but appearing as a fighter. Not the all-consuming force he will be when he comes, but a street fighter. The portrait was not impressive as he didn’t really look much like King Jesus, but the words got me. NO KINGS EXCEPT THIS 1.

YES KING! This is the King the world needs. Not that the world understands. But the church should understand. Christians have parted along battle lines in a world that is not our home. This should not be. Some friends and associates of mine declare that a real Christian would never support our current POTUS. Others insist a true follower of Christ couldn’t possibly stand for the cultural mindset of the disgruntled attention grabbers.

I’m not challenging opinions. Christians are individuals who view the world from various perspectives. So be it. But our King is coming, and we should not be so brazenly divided by politics, or the mind-bending media, or the culture clash of the lost. The lost need to know the truth.

The truth is God appoints rulers, be it kings or presidents. The truth is the church should pray for our leaders. The truth is that sin is still sin and Jesus still saves. The truth is the battles we try to fight are only flashpoints in a spiritual war that will not end until the one true King ends it.

I don’t believe I can change too many minds. But I do believe Jesus changes everything. I will pray and obey as best I can. I won’t build my own kingdom. I will seek God’s truth and display it. Because the truth is, time is short. Use it wisely.

 

They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.

Revelation 17:14

Ants, Men, and the Machine

 Since I wrote this in 2017, one of the men I mention has died. The other man is now in a position of weighty power and influence. And the world has accelerated its evolution into strangeness. 

If you haven’t noticed, the world has gotten stranger lately. I can’t be accused of trying to hold on to normalcy since I wrote a weird story about a futuristic man. If you want to become a human like the one I wrote about, just hold on a few years and you might get the chance. In my fiction, an inept government fails to establish a new and improved human race. But more than that, it’s the hand of God that keeps the government from achieving the goal completely. 

I don’t claim to be an expert on the subject of Artificial Intelligence, but I've done some research in order to make the fiction more real. I certainly don’t pretend to know the mind of God, but I study and pray to acknowledge His everlasting holiness and discern His will as best as I can in my fallen human condition. And this is how I know the world is getting stranger, and that the human race is becoming more aggressive in its quest for power, and that God is patient.

In a recent article, physicist Stephen Hawking gives warning about the coming age of A.I. and how it might take over and possibly destroy us. Not on purpose, but simply by unwaveringly efficient design. Hawking said:

“You're probably not an evil ant-hater who steps on ants out of malice, but if you're in charge of a hydroelectric green energy project and there's an anthill in the region to be flooded, too bad for the ants. Let's not place humanity in the position of those ants.”

When reading this, I had to wonder if Hawking knows the book of Proverbs extols the ants for their wise and efficient toil for self-preservation. Hopefully, we’re at least as smart as ants.

This statement also appears in the article: Tesla CEO Elon Musk shares a similar viewpoint, having recently warned that humans are in danger of becoming irrelevant.

Hawking’s answer to the problem? A world government coming together for the purpose of protecting us from technology. From our own developments? From all that we cleverly invent to make our lives better? Are the computers really going to take over?  

In one regard, it’s good that the great minds of our time recognize we’re headed into unprecedented circumstance. But they aren’t suggesting we take a step back. They simply believe there is no other possibility and we must be prepared for the future reshaping of our world.

In my novels, I point out the similarities between the coming cyber world and the Tower of Babel. The need for power and the requirement of dominance once brought about something that now seems mundane: the building of a city with a great tower. Not so dangerous, but at the time God saw fit to end it. The endeavor itself was not unreasonable, it was the pursuit of power that needed to be tamed. But that fire inside us has been allowed to remain through the ages. Now our city is an artificial territory one may enter from any place at any time, and the tower we’re building is an all-powerful machine. And then, as God noted in the book of Genesis, nothing we plan will be impossible for us. Except perhaps preserving our own existence. A tower was attempted in the first book of the Bible. Could the events of the last book bring a virtual tower and a new world order to rule its exploits?

The rise of mankind to reach the heavens is nothing new. The desire to rule the world is rooted in our deeply aggressive nature not by, as Hawking states, the hard-wiring of Darwinian evolution, but because of the Fall. We exist by the grace of God and we continue to exist because of His will. We will not end ourselves by building a fierce monster of a machine. God is bigger and fiercer than anything we can come up with. He’s also loving and merciful, and He will be the One to reshape this world. But are we taking a strange step toward our own annihilation as God carries out His plan? As one redeemed, I will resist the machine and rely on the power of Christ. He’s coming to my rescue.