Tidings of Comfort and Joy
The protestations of the mainstream media notwithstanding, it is undeniably and demonstrably true that the institution of Christmas is under siege by secular culture in America. However, as annoying and petty as this is, it is merely a minor reflection on the wider, more serious war on Christians that is taking place worldwide:
In Nigeria, the Hekan church in Kano is facing the seizure of its property by the local government, only two years after its previous building was destroyed.
In Cuba, pastors are being detained and imprisoned without being charged with any crime, while their churches are being closed by the Castro regime.
In Peru, the government has finally ordered the arrest of its "counter-terrorist" soldiers who murdered five young men and a boy at a church service ... only 22 years after the murders were committed.
In China, four house church leaders were sentenced to years of "re-education through hard labour" on July 25. They will be forced to serve their sentence at the Langzhong Detention House, which, according to its director, was "built for Christians."
In Belarus, Pastor Georgi Vladimirovich Vyazovsky was arrested and sentenced to jail for "holding systematic religious meetings in his home without permission from the local authorities."
In India, Christians were attacked in two locations on December 17 by Hindus, after which the police registered a formal complaint against pastor Philip Jagdalla for "hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus," a violation of section 295A of the Indian penal code.
In Australia, two pastors were found guilty of "vilifying Muslims" under the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act, required to publish a statement in several newspapers acknowledging their guilt, and avoid making statements about Muslims and Islam in the future.
In Iran, members of a house church movement were arrested on Dec. 10 by the secret police. Seven men and one woman remain in custody; the authorities instructed church members remaining at liberty not to send news about the arrests to anyone outside the country.
In Iraq, an Evangelical Presbyterian elder was kidnapped and murdered on November 30, just after his body was found, on Dec. 5, Father Samy Abdulahad was kidnapped after leaving his church in Baghdad.
In Egypt, former sheikh Bahaa el-Din Ahmed Hussein el-Akkad was transferred to another prison on Oct. 21, despite his release having been ordered after serving 18 months of provisional detention for "insulting Islam" by converting to Christianity.
In Germany, Christian homeschooling mother Katherina Plett was arrested and sentenced to ten days in prison for violating the 1938 Nazi law against homeschooling.
These are only a small portion of the outrages being committed on a regular basis against Christians by religious individuals and secular governments alike. And while America has not yet attained the post-Christian status of countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom, nor incorporated Sharia into its federal or state laws, the general direction in which the nation is headed can be seen quite clearly if one considers the great changes that have taken place here in the last 25 years.
But if this developing antipathy towards Christmas and all things Christian is something that can be regretted for a variety of reasons - for even the most militant atheist might well mourn the loss of a few days off work in late December - it is not necessarily to be feared or even lamented. For Jesus Christ said:
"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."
American Christians have long been the beneficiaries of a cheap and easy grace. There has been little cost to claiming the name of Jesus Christ and even less hindrance to our worship; as a result, we possess a weak and tenuous allegiance to the very faith which defines us. Today, even our greatest church leaders are corrupted by dreams of secular power when they aren't openly fallen into sin, speaking blatant lies as readily as the evil rulers with whom they consort.
This Christmas, remember that Jesus Christ did not promise us an easy way, but a hard and rocky one. He did not promise that we would be loved and admired, but that we would know hatred and scorn. He did not instruct us to seek the approval of the world, but to stand firm to the end.
The War on Christmas will continue, as will the War on Christians, until eventually it expands to encompass what was once a Christian nation. But there is nothing to fear, be of good cheer, for the War on Jesus Christ has already been fought and won by Him whose birth we celebrate today.
Merry Christmas, every one.