Luke 2:14
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace on whom his favor rests.
My Bible has the following notes on this passage:
Peace is not assured to all, but only to those pleasing to God – the objects of his good pleasure. The Roman world was experiencing the Pax Romana, marked by external tranquility. But the angels proclaimed a deeper, more lasting peace than that – a peace of mind and soul made possible by the Savior. Peace with God is received by faith in Christ, and it is on believers that “his favor rests”. The Davidic Messiah was called “Prince of Peace, and Christ promised peace to his disciples. But Christ also brought conflict, for peace with God involves opposition to Satan and his work.
Peace can only be achieved by opposing Satan. This mean evil at all levels. Who decides what or who is evil?
The Great Commission Matthew 28:18-20
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Does the great commission by Jesus mean that everyone is capable of being saved? If that were true, how could anyone justify genocide on the scale that we saw in the last century? Evil exists and it is our duty as Christians to oppose it. Does this mean war? In some cases. In some cases, it means revolution. If we normalize the scale of evil that we face, we only have to understand that we must oppose it. Will we win? Obviously we will win if we define a favorable judgment day as our goal.
We can pray for peace in our time and our children’s time. We can also pray for proper discernment of evil so that we can effectively fight for and with Sacred honor. Our nation was founded on these principles. No nation would have expected a rag tag band of patriots to defeat the world’s superpower. Only divine intervention can be the reason for our independence. There was a reason that the British called the American Revolution, the Presbyterian War. The conclusion is inescapable; as is the evil that has now permeated the Great Experiment.
Ask yourself if the following actions are good or evil:
Action 1. For long, proponents of the drone war, including Obama who has authorized over 300 strikes in just Pakistan, have held that the strikes are precise and successful in their goal to attack only those deemed to be a security threat to the U.S. However, just one look at the number of civilians injured or killed by the strikes proves that this narrative is a false one. Between 2004 and 2013, the number of known civilians killed via drone strikes in just Pakistan is said to be up to 900. Of those, close to 200 have been children. In Yemen, American drones are responsible for the deaths of nearly 400 civilians, of which, at least 25 are children.
Action 2. Billy Vaughn believes his son is dead because the Obama administration put a target right on the back of SEAL Team 6.
Action 3. Sen. Rand Paul suspects the U.S. was secretly running guns through the consulate in Benghazi to arm Syrian rebels. The Kentucky Republican said the Obama administration must provide answers about whether firearms trafficking through Libya was related to the terrorist attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.
Action 4. Illegal surveillance by the NSA.
Action 5. Illegal war in Libya.
Action 6. Obama lying about the use of sarin gas in Syria to start a war.
Although the actions above are not on the same scale as Nazi Germany or Mao’s Reign of Terror, the underlying consequences all lead to death. How would you classify our leaders who support these acts? Good or evil? As we sit and watch this evil overtake every aspect of our lives, we do not have long to wait for the decisions of death panels as Obamacare takes effect in 2014.
“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Pastor Bonhoeffer wrote this truth after witnessing the acts of evil by Adolph Hitler. Keep watching. Or understand your duty to fight evil whenever and wherever it appears.
David DeGerolamo
Last year, Ann Barnhardt enlightened me on the Biblical text “Peace on Earth, Good Will Towards Men” and how it came about. She explained the original writing in an ancient Bible, 3rd interpreted from the original scroll states that the passage actually translated as “Peace on Earth to Men of Goodwill” that totally changes the meaning. I looked on her site for the article however her archives only go back to January 2013. I find it interesting.
Ann’s previous site did not allow her to archive her articles. Which is why I posted them in their entirety. Here is her post:
https://ncrenegade.com//editorial/the-linus-van-pelt-lesson-on-translation-accuracy-ann-barnhardt/
My inspiration for this post came during my pastor’s sermon today on these passages. I wrote this article as a tangent separate from his message.
David, thanks for finding Ann’s article. The Luke 2:14 scripture you have at the beginning of your article I think, says what Ann elaborates on. After reading Ann’s article last year, I wondered how much more was interpreted to meet the needs of mortal men in power at the time (King James). Then the X Files TV series motto came to mind: “Trust No One” or moreso, what one reads. Each day begins with questioning what I have have held as truth as each day ends with asking for divine guidance in seeking veritas and understanding.