A CHRISTMAS POEM

© 1965 R.B. Thieme, Jr.

The Night Before Christmas

By Robert B. Thieme, Jr.

‘Twas the night before Christmas,

   and all through the world

A message was preached,

   a challenge was hurled:

Believe on the Son

   and thou shall be saved!

The road to heaven with His blood

   was paved.

Out of the darkness of sin

   and despair

God’s salvation – the fairest of fair-

Was born in a manger;

                             no room in the inn.

    God in the flesh,

         He died for our sin.

     The angels sang;

        the shepherds rejoiced,

     Messiah has come!

         The message was voiced

     By joyous believers both far and near;

     Christmas has come!

     Immanuel is here!

EVIL

Much has been said in the past week since the tragic massacre of innocent children in Newtown, Connecticut concerning evil within our culture. The questions seem to hinge on just what can we do as a nation to ensure this is never repeated. I can assure you that legislation of any sort will only act as one of those cheap bandages that refuses stick more than two hours.

Men have the choice between good and evil. Most choices are thought out based upon our learning of the difference between the two. It stands to reason that we consider two points in this connection: 1) what basis should be used to determine what good is and what evil is; and 2) if the culture desires individuals to choose that which is good, than should not all be taught from the same basis?

And that is the crux of the matter. Who or what decides what good is and what evil is.

The only long lasting solution is to change the hearts and minds of people. This is obviously easier said than done. Our culture is not interested in any type of morality training. The forced secularization of our culture and its open hostility towards “religion” makes it considerably hopeless.

However, this is the answer. According to theologian Lewis S. Chafer, “moral evil is an ultimate fact in the universe which can neither be explained nor explained away.”[1] Evil takes on many forms. Not only in the form of the recent massacre, but it includes all murders, all crimes, hatred towards others, disobedience to parents, parents who abuse their children, spouses who abuse each other, and the list could go on, but you see the point.

There is a tendency by the secularists to believe that most things in our culture are normal, except for the tragedies. When in reality, most do not recognize the fact that man does not exist in a state normalcy. Chafer points out this problem when he states that man “is created to be God-centered. To become self-centered is a contradiction of the basic law of creature existence.”[2]

Man is out of sync with his Creator’s divinely intended ‘basic law of creature existence’ – to serve Him and bring glory to His name.  The individual needs to experience the normalcy of his existence. This entails accepting the Creator’s remedy from what separates the individual from Him – namely sin (the evil of self-centeredness). Jesus Christ was sent to mankind to die on the cross and provide the atonement possible for all mankind. (I believe this is why we celebrate Christmas!)

Trusting Christ as savior and accepting His work on your behalf begins a relationship with the Creator which brings normalcy to your existence, and the power to counteract evil in our own lives. That is how hearts and minds are changed and evil averted in our culture, one person at a time.

   

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[1] L.S. Chafer, Systematic Theology, 2.31

[2] L.S. Chafer, Systematic Theology, 2.31

WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE MORAL INFRASTRUCTURE OF OUR CULTURE?

Thomas Sowell made a very astute observation in his May 10, 2012 Columbus Dispatch editorial: “There has been much concern, rightly expressed, about the rusting of bridges around the country, and the crumbling and corrosion of other parts of the physical infrastructure. But the crumbling of the moral infrastructure is no less deadly.”

Many Christians claim that our nation was grounded at its origins in Judeo-Christian principles. Within this belief system, it is stated that the governing authorities that exist are appointed by God (Romans 13:1). The passage goes on the say that these governing authorities (whether they choose to believe it or not) are God’s ministers to us for good. This can only imply that those who are the rulers over the masses (congressmen, presidents, etc.) have a responsibility to maintain and promote good morals and values. Good, meaning according to God’s standards, not according to the ‘good’ defined by the culture. Today’s political correctness only leads to anarchy – doing whatever the individual deems right in their own eyes – and moral decay.

Amazingly, those without a belief system still uphold certain Christian principles. They believe that murder, infanticide, pedophilia, and bestiality (to name a few) should be prohibited. But why is sodomy not included? Because the liberal scheme is to smash the Judeo-Christian morals of our culture. Over the past 60 years we have seen the slow demise of marriages in our culture – over 50% end up in divorce. The traditional family of the 1950’s is gone. And now a minority of our society has fostered the notion of same sex marriage under the guise of demanding “equal rights.”

What is not surprising is that President Obama and Vice President Biden have bought into this errant idea along with their Hollywood cronies that “equal rights” supersedes the higher laws of God. We have been utterly abandoned by those who are supposed to protect us from that which violates the moral intents of the Divine and the founders of our great country. Remember, nothing ‘good’ will come to our country when the last pillar of the moral infrastructure comes crashing down.

THE DEFEAT OF OHIO SENATE BILL 5 

Taxpayers capable of sensible thinking would certainly desire an adequate and fully equipped police force, fire department, hospital or schools, including the best teachers. To think that anyone should want anything less is ludicrous. But what taxpayers and school children have in common is an aversion to bullies. That is exactly what has happened for the past 28 years with unionized public employees who have had virtually unrestricted access to taxpayer money. Senate Bill 5 (SB5) would have removed their foot in the wallet of the taxpayers in its attempt to control the spiraling costs of state spending.

The drive of the unions to maintain their stranglehold on the taxpayer is evident by the terminology which they employ concerning collective bargaining: their power, their leverage – the old “might is right” mentality. Their campaign for the continuation of collective bargaining could be verbalized thus: “We want your tax dollars to increase our net income at the expense of your shrinking income, and you will have no to say in the matter.”

To illustrate their intense desire to defeat SB5, they collected a record 915,000 signatures and over $30 million dollars. It appears that these well-educated guardians of the rights of a few may have out-smarted themselves. If they could mount this type of crusade to get something on the ballot, than they could do it for anything else that would be in the interest of the public (or themselves). It wasn’t necessary to defeat SB5 if they had the resources to bring their issues to a taxpayer vote. Could it be that they don’t want the public to have a vote concerning their tax dollars contributing to the job security, pay and benefits of public employees? Are they hooked on their bullying tactics of collective bargaining? Society generally does not enable addicts and abusers. But it appears that the majority of voters have been successfully duped by the disingenuous ad campaign or they must enjoy sanctioning free access to their wallets by public employees.

 THE MODERN MYTH OF SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

It has become fashionable to re-write our history in order to advance ones agenda to fundamentally change the original intents of the founding fathers for these United States. The greatest attack upon our country’s heritage is the underlying Christian foundation designed by the founders. The Judeo-Christian morals were to be the basis for our laws and the orderly administration of our government, in order to ensure liberty and freedom for all of our citizens.

It has been assumed that the founding fathers of our country were all Christians. However, more precisely, the representatives of the original 13 colonies were affiliated with a variety of Christian denominations as well as non-Christian religions. The New England colonists were largely Puritans, who led very strict lives. The Middle colonists were a mixture of religions, including Quakers (led by William Penn), Catholics, Lutherans, and Jews. The Southern colonists had a mixture of religions as well, including Baptists and Anglicans. The founding fathers desired to assure these religious men and women would be unhindered in their worship of God, then as well as for future generations.

The founding fathers believed that the federal government should rule with a moral compass to guide their enactment of laws and the administration of their governmental responsibilities. Their moral compass was contained in the inspired pages of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures. The “wall of separation” between Church and state, which Thomas Jefferson mentioned, was not an appeal for a government guided by the whim of the majority devoid of Christian principles. It was so that the federal government would refrain from the error of the British Crown which deemed the Church of England to be the only acceptable religion for the British peoples, thus restricting individual rights to worship God as one considered fitting. Also, the “wall of separation” was never intended to eradicate Christian principles as the foundation for the moral guidelines of the United States.

Thus it can be safely stated that the founding fathers believed that all men should live under established law in an orderly and moral society, and that this could be realized by permeating the fabric of our culture with the values of the Judeo-Christian ethic.

This can be supported in a number of instances: (1) in the opening paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, the phrase “Nature’s God” demonstrates the framer’s belief that there is a Creator and that even nature is subject to Him; (2) beginning the second paragraph, the statement is made “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” This is an obvious declaration that the framers believed that all men have a Creator regardless of one’s religious affiliation OR non-belief. Those who choose not to believe in God are responsible to live under the laws of the land. By deliberate intent, they are unable to escape from the moral foundations designed by the founders in order to maintain an orderly and moral society.

The founders knew that their authority was established by God (Romans 13:1), and that they were to govern in accordance with God’s standards. The Federal government – this includes all three branches of our government – has the responsibility before God to govern based upon the precepts of His Word, and to maintain high moral standards at all costs, even when challenged by an anarchical majority.

Note that on July 30, 1956, just 60 years ago and 180 years since our country's establishment, our Federal government recognized the rightful place of God in our society. On that day, President Eisenhower and a Joint Resolution of Congress declared “IN GOD WE TRUST” the national motto of the United States. 
It is painfully obvious how far afield our Federal government has led us over the past 60 years.

© 2022 David M. Rossi

 THE WORLD BEFORE A WATCHING CHURCH 
By David M. Rossi
WestBow Press 
ISBN 978-1-4497-2069-8

Have you ever wondered about all the different denominations of Christian churches? Has it ever bothered you that they all claim Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, and yet they rarely ever seem to get along? Does it appear to you that the truth of Christianity seems to be just spinning its wheels, and the Gospel message has little or no effect on our culture?

In The World Before A Watching Church, Dave Rossi explains why these apparent problems exist in Christianity today and how the universal church, the Body of Christ, can become unified in doctrine and fulfill its purpose here on Earth. Beginning with the Biblical explanation of the nature and the ruler of the world, the principles of Christian living in this world are then examined based upon the relevant Biblical directives. A course is then laid out challenging every Christian to become knowledgeable of the unifying doctrines of the Christian faith:

• Scripture                • Man and Sin
• God                       • Salvation
• Jesus Christ            • The End Times
• The Holy Spirit

But it doesn’t stop with just being challenged and learning. Believers are urged to apply these truths in every area of life, in order to make the biggest impact for Christ in our culture.

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