Oh Really Peace on Earth Already starting in October the trend is very predictable: Shop windows change d isplays, shopping

malls change background music, shoppers faces take on fiercenes s in features not being seen during the rest of the year. Christmas is coming. T he season of peace on earth is looming like a dark cloud, must-have gadgetry is ad vertised with frenetic intensity, and credit cards are extended to breaking poin t. Christmas is coming. An exhausted man in a red suit with a jolly smile on his face sits on a golden chair in the centre of the shopping mall; a photographer stands off to the side ready to take the picture of the bemused toddler which is planted on Santas knee for that unique shot which will re-emerge on the toddlers wedding day in some twenty years time. Christmas is coming. In Seattle and Atlanta the police squads come out in force two days before Chris tmas. Nike launches its new Air Jordan, this collectors epitome on basketball sho es. Crowds build up prior to shops opening. Aggression builds to boiling point. S hoving, fist-cuffs, scuffles, deadly elbows, looks-that-kill, shop personnel mem bers thinking about writing their last will and testament; the Air Jordan must b e under the Christmas tree, gaily wrapped to emphasize the love of Christmas. Pe pper spray and arrests ensure that only the right people manage to lay their han ds on the coveted item; the really and naturally bad people are prevented from g etting what they dont deserve; the police men and women thus make their own contr ibution to preserve peace and goodwill in the shopping mall. Christmas is coming . You will never know real peace in your life until you embrace Jesus Christ as Sav iour and Lord, intones the minister from the pulpit. Enduring peace, real peace wi ll only come to you and me when the birth of Jesus Christ convinces us of the di re need we have to receive atonement for our sins. The birth of Christ is essent ially an in your face event for mankind as this extreme measure God becoming man w as necessary because of the deadly bleakness of mans condition. This is what need s to be rubbed into our faces. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of Go d is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6: 23). In your face is very much a basketball expression; players dominate and (strive to ) intimidate the opposition which fabulous athleticism as expressed in slam-dunk s, alley-oops, and other displays of sporting prowess. Michael Jordan is still t oday the epitome of the man who could fly as he would jump up and appeared to be suspended in mid-air as he did the most amazing things with the basketball to t he bemusement of fellow team players and in your face to opponents. Air Jordan is the shoe named after him and is idolized by fans even to the point that many buy those shoes and either wear them only on special occasions or never even take t hem out of the box! Get some perspective. The real and eternal in your face has been produced by God A lmighty. He demonstrates the pathetic state of mankind when left to its own devi ces. Not even the pre-Christmas hype is able to engender peace. Mans aggression b ubbles to the surface over something as comparatively insignificant as a pair of basketball shoes which can be obtained at any time later as Nike is not silly a nd will produce what people will buy and this despite the constant blaring in s hoppers ears that there must be, there is peace on earth. Peace is out the window as the devil focuses the fallen mind on cant miss out and must have as soon as it is in the shops. The tragedy of Christmas is man in his fall from created nobility. The tragedy i s that God the Son had to come in to mankind, not with pepper spray, but with th e eternal and self-sacrificial love of God to save shoppers from themselves and the devil. Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts (Hebrews 4:7b ). Those who are blessed with a renewed heart because of Jesus will not be found

in the shopping mall scuffles to fight for the disputable, short-lived happines s of obtaining Air Jordan shoes at the cost of some one elses life and limb. Such people will celebrate the coming of Christ not just at one particular event, bu t throughout every minute of all the years God gives them on earth and into eter nity. They will live in awe of the God Who came to take their deadly disease and nail it to the Cross of Calvary. Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face Ronal d Reagan, USA President 1981-989. Dr Herm Zandman 26/12/2011