Lonnie Wilkey
One of my favorite Christmas songs is “Go Tell It on the Mountain.” It’s an upbeat, simple song that proclaims a timeless truth: “Go, tell it on the mountain over the hills and everywhere. Go, tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born.”
In today’s world, it is more imperative than ever before that we keep proclaiming the news of the birth of Jesus Christ and what that means to a lost world.
As Christmas approaches in just a few days, it is a reminder that another year has come and gone.
Like the past two years, 2022 had its share of highs and lows. The economy has gone south and it is taking a toll on many families, not only in our churches and communities but all over the world.
I went to buy a dozen eggs recently and they were over $4 a dozen. Just a year or so ago, they were less than $2 a dozen. Gas is hovering around $3 a gallon and has been for more than a year.
Christians are falling behind in the culture war at an alarming rate. Moral values are becoming obsolete.
Things that once were taboo on network television, such as profanity and relationships outside of traditional marriage, are commonplace and celebrated.
Just last week, President Joe Biden enacted a bill that redefines marriage and mandates federal and state recognition of any same-sex marriage considered legal in the state it took place, according to Baptist Press.
Since COVID-19 entered our vocabulary, substance abuse and drug-related deaths have increased dramatically.
In March of 2021, the Senate Republican Policy Committee reported there were 99,000 drug overdose deaths in the first year of the pandemic, an increase of nearly 30 percent from the previous year.
The World Health Organization reported in May of this year that in people, ages 20-39, approximately 13.5 percent of deaths are attributable to alcohol.
There is a war in the Ukraine. The list can go on and on.
One bit of good news in 2022 was that the United States Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision on abortions.
If we dwell on just the negative things in our lives and our world, we will be so depressed, we would never get anything positive accomplished. News flash! That’s what Satan wants.
How do we combat it? It all goes back to that “lowly manger” where Jesus Christ was born more than 2,000 years ago.
The birth of Jesus brought the world hope — hope that is still available today to anyone who will seek Him, confess their sins, and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
It is up to Christians and the church in general to spread that message “on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere” more diligently than ever before. Jesus Christ is our only hope — whether it is in our personal lives, our communities, our churches and our world.
I apologize for painting such a bleak picture in my column before Christmas, but that is the situation our world is in today. We can hide our heads in the sand or we can “spread the good news that Jesus Christ is born.” The choice is ours.
Merry Christmas! B&R
