With looming food shortages and the threat of nuclear war, is Christmas still relevant?
As we go to press, ministers are drawing up contingency plans to deal with food shortages if farmers go on strike over the Treasury’s inheritance tax raid on farms.
Louise Haigh, the Transport Secretary, said the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) would set out contingency plans to ensure food security over the winter and summer.
Farmers descended on London in their thousands in November to protest against plans that they claim will destroy or break up family farms across the country. Their last resort will be to go on strike and empty supermarket shelves.
Going nuclear
Meanwhile outgoing President Joe Biden has given Ukraine the green light to use US-supplied long-range missiles to strike targets deep within Russia for the first time.
The US president has signed off on the use of ATACMS rockets within the Kursk region, according to the New York Times. Shortly afterwards, Britain authorised Kyiv to use its Storm Shadow missiles, resulting in Kyiv firing them into Russia on 20 November.
This could be seen as baiting the Russian bear, because President Putin has stated that if the West’s weapons are used against Russia, he will consider it a declaration of war by NATO and ballistic missiles will be met with a nuclear response. “We will use nuclear weapons if a mass enemy missile or UAV is launched towards Russia or when these weapons cross into Russian territory.”
As we go to press, the West and Russia are the closest to World War Three than they have been since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Our government has also signed up to a new UN Pact, which Rev Andrew Baguley, an author and Bible teacher, calls “a blueprint for world government” (details are in his latest newsletter). The Bible prophesies clearly that the end of history will see a one-world religion and one-world government.
Historical proof
So what has a cute baby in a manger to do with these looming threats to our way of life?
Plenty.
The child born over 2,000 years ago to the virgin Mary grew to be the only man in history who rose from the dead after three days in a tomb. There is medical and historical proof that Jesus died physically and his body was laid in a tomb, secured by an enormous stone. Indeed, lawyers who examined the evidence in the Gospels and historically (thanks to Josephus) have been unable to make the case for his body being stolen by his disciples, as is sometimes claimed.
What made Jesus’ death and resurrection unique was his claim to be God himself, to have come to earth to pay the price for everyone’s sins by suffering an excruciating death. The Bible says that sin can only be atoned for through the shedding of blood, which is what Jesus did in our place. None of us can think that we’ll get to heaven by being a ‘good’ person. We are warned that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Only Jesus ever led a sinless life.
Peace on earth
Of course we can scoff at the commercialisation of Christmas and point out that Jesus never told us to celebrate his birth – only his death and resurrection, which we honour when we take communion, the bread and wine that symbolise his broken body and shed blood. We are also aware that the date originally coincided with the pagan mid-winter festival and there are more than a few overtones of that event in some of the excessive eating and drinking that symbolise Christmas for millions.
Nonetheless, from the nativity play to the moral exhortations to shelter the homeless and take in the lonely, Christmas can bring out the best in us. Above all, it should make us think of the child whose birth heralded the promise of “Peace on earth”. Nations that have been founded on Christianity, including the Commonwealth nations, have enjoyed greater peace and prosperity and fewer wars than other nations.
And even in the midst of war, Christians can find the supernatural peace that Jesus promised his disciples: “Peace I leave with you” (John 14:27).
How do you or I find that peace to face the days ahead? By opening our hearts to Jesus and inviting him into the ‘inn’ of our lives. Do say the prayer on this page if you haven’t already done so, and find a local church where you can celebrate a Midnight Mass or Christmas morning service!