As 2018 is winding down, it is worth taking a moment to look back over the year and consider some of the top stories. We often find that stories that start in one year continue to the next. Sometimes new stories in the coming year remind us of stories of the previous year.

Of course, 2018 was an election year. Coverage of the congressional campaigns dominated much of the news coverage especially in the fall. Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives, and we should expect conflict and gridlock this next year.

One of the other major political events of 2018 was the Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Brett Kavanaugh in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Confirmation hearings are always full of conflict and political theater. This time the conflict reached a new level with the testimony by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller continued his investigation that already cost more $25 million. We should get a final report in 2019.

Earlier in the year were the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. The medal winners and the political intrigue made them worth watching each night.

Finally we had a number of natural disasters that destroyed large sections of land and killed so many people. Hurricane Florence devastated the Carolinas and surrounding regions, with up to 40 inches of rain, severe flooding, and winds up to 90 mph. More than 40 people died. In November, multiple wildfires burned in both northern and southern California. The Camp Fire was the deadliest American fire in 100 years. It burned over 150,000 acres and killed 85 people. The Woolsey Fire burned over 96,000 acres in Southern California.

As 2018 comes to a close, it is worth remembering some of these and other news stories that made this year one to remember.

We have heard quite a bit these days about fake news, but what about fake science? That is the title of the book by Austin Ruse. He has served as the president of the Center for Family & Human Rights where he testifies to our government and the United Nations about important issues. He was on my radio program recently to talk about some of the misinformation and false information presented in the media and in various governmental hearings.

Some of the book deals with homosexuality and the transgender issue. One chapter addresses whether homosexuals are “born that way” and whether such orientations of immutable. In other words, can people change their sexual orientation? Another chapter addresses the studies that attempt to argue that there is no difference between traditional parents and homosexual parents rearing children. This “grand experiment on children” has been detrimental to their physical and psychological health. That is why he wanted to set the record straight.

Some states have very strict labeling laws for food. Even a miniscule amount of a naturally occurring chemical must have a warning label. But Austin Ruse points out that in order to hit the cancer target zone for acrylamide, a child would have to eat 182 pounds of French fries every single day. A teenager couldn’t even do that on a dare.

For decades, Austin Ruse has been testifying on pro-life issues. He reminds us in one chapter that nearly everything the secular media and pro-abortion groups say about abortion is a lie. The same could be said about what these groups say about sex education and sexually transmitted diseases. And he laments how the population control advocates are driving many countries toward a demographic winter.

I recommend you read the book. And if you are skeptical of the claims, check out the more than 40 pages of endnotes documenting his critique of fake science.

Biology books that teach evolution tell certain stories to illustrate the evolutionary process. Back in 2000, Dr. Jonathan Wells wrote the book, Icons of Evolution. He explained that these ten icons of evolution were false. Many of them were fraudulent and known to be so. Nevertheless, they appeared in these textbooks.

In his latest book, Zombie Science, he asks a simple question. If these icons of evolution published 17 years ago were just innocent textbook errors, why do so many of them still persist? In his book, he also adds a number of other icons that are also wrong. The book’s title Zombie Science gets its name because these false icons of evolution don’t die but live on to mislead the next generation of students.

When he was on my radio program, he talked about Darwin’s tree of life and provided a catalog of what he calls the survival of the fakest. This includes scientists’ prebiotic simulations, Haeckel’s embryos, the Peppered Moths, and Darwin’s Finches. These erroneous icons were present in textbooks decades ago, and continue to show up in textbooks today.

One of the newest icons of evolution is the “walking whales.” This story shows up in many textbooks today because paleontologists found a wolf-like creature they claim would be the ancestor of the blue whale. Jonathan Wells spends a chapter critiquing that spectacular claim.

In a previous book, he also dealt with the claim that we have so much junk DNA and addresses that again in this book. If evolution is true, we might expect to have lots of leftover and unused DNA. He shows that is not the case.

This book not only will be helpful to science students with questions, it can also be a manual for activists. After all, our tax dollars each year go to purchase textbooks that have erroneous icons of evolution.

We need to help the next generation learn to navigate the culture. That is why I am so excited that John Stonestreet and Brett Kunkle have written, A Practical Guide to Culture. The rowboat on the cover reminds us that this emerging generation will have to navigate through choppy waters.

John was on my radio program recently to talk about the book and share his experiences from Summit Ministries and the Chuck Colson Center. Both of the authors have ministered to thousands of students and their parents. They are facing a range of challenges from digital media to pornography to drugs to transgender issues.

They not only focus on the hot-button issues we hear about and read about every day, they also focus on the undercurrents in the culture we often miss. Those would be: consumerism, materialism, addiction, the sexual revolution, racial tension, extended adolescence, and key principles of wisdom and virtue.

On our radio program we often talk about the challenges the millennial generation face especially in an age with greater hostility toward Christianity. They also must do so in a digital world that moves much faster than in previous generations. This book will equip them and their parents to address many of the cultural issues other generations never had to consider.

Another helpful aspect of the book is the attempt to answer or refute many of the cultural lies in our society. Technology helps spread these lies quickly. Christians will need biblical discernment to deal with so many lies that are assaulting biblical truth.

They say that young people can either: celebrate, create, confront, co-opt, or correct cultural trends and habits. Obviously we must stand for biblical truth and correct culture trends, but we also must do it with love and compassion. This book provides a model for all of us to follow.

On this Christmas day, I think it would be good to reflect for just a moment on the Incarnation. God became man and took on human flesh. This is a great theological wonder and mystery.

Malcolm Muggeridge wrote this to describe the importance of the birth of Christ: “Thanks to the great mercy and marvel of the Incarnation, the cosmic scene is resolved into a human drama. A human drama in which God reached down to relate Himself to man and man reaches up to relate himself to God. Time looks into eternity and eternity into time, making now always and always now. Everything is transformed by this sublime drama of the Incarnation, God’s special parable for man in a fallen world”

God reached down to us by sending the second person of the Trinity to earth to become part of the human drama and human dilemma. God stepped out of eternity into time to become part of the human community. What an incredible act of love and mercy.

God did not just come to dwell among us and comfort us. He came that He might raise us up through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Although we celebrate the birth of Christ today, we also look to the death and resurrection of Christ that we celebrate at Easter. Romans 5:8 proclaims, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 1 Peter 2:24 says that Christ “bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed.”

On this Christmas day, we should pause to reflect on why Christ came to earth and what He did for us on the cross.

During this Christmas week, I have taken the time to discuss the theology of some of the Christmas hymns and carols that we sing. Today I would like to talk about The First Noel. It is an English song dating back to the sixteenth century. Some people believe that the First Noel was French because of the French spelling of Noel, but it actually an English song. The French word Noël does mean “Christmas” and it relevant to the lyrics of the song. The First Noel was first published in 1833 when it appeared in the work, Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern.

The first line of the song suggests that a December date for the birth of Christ: “The first Noel, the angels did say; Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep, On a cold winter’s night that was so deep.” Although many doubt that Jesus was born in December, there are some theologians (such as the author of the Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ) who believes that a December date is possible.

Whatever the case may be about the date of the birth of Jesus, the song continues: “Born is the King of Israel!” It reminds us that a king was born that night. Yet few understood the significance of a birth in Bethlehem.

Even the wise men from the East did not completely understand the significance of His birth, but they were guided to Him by a star. “For all to see there was a star;
Shining in the east, beyond them far; And to the earth it gave great light, And so it continued both day and night.”

The song goes on to say that “three wise men came from country far.” The Bible does not tell us how many wise men there were. We know there were three kinds of gifts
(gold, frankincense, and myrrh).

What the Bible clearly teaches, however, is that Jesus was born and that He is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

It is estimated that Charles Wesley wrote over 6500 hymns. Perhaps his best-known hymn is “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.” Over the years it has been edited slightly, but the meaning and theology remains as he wrote it more than two centuries ago.

It begins with a proclamation of the birth of Jesus: “Hark! the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King; Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.”

The hymn reminds us why Christ came to earth. Jesus came into the world to bring peace, but many who sing this song fail to realize that it was to bring peace between us and God. Wesley’s hymn reminds us that His birth was so that God and sinners would be reconciled. We are the sinners in this hymn, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). All we like sheep have gone astray (Isaiah 53:6). We have broken God’s commandments and need to be reconciled with God. This was done when Christ died for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3).

This hymn by Charles Wesley goes on to describe who Jesus Christ is. “Christ by highest heaven adored; Christ, the everlasting Lord! Late in time behold Him come, offspring of the Virgin’s womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail the incarnate Deity,
Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.”

This is the wonder of the Incarnation. Jesus became the “offspring of the Virgin’s womb.” God became man and was “veiled in flesh” even though He was the “incarnate Deity.”

This Christmas week, let us once again reflect upon the Incarnation. How wonderful yet mysterious that God would become man and dwell among us. And that He would be willing to die on a cross for our sins.

This is Christmas week, and so I thought we might reflect on the hymn, “O Holy Night” by John Dwight.

“O holy night! The stars are brightly shining. It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining, Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.”

Jesus came into the world to save us and so we feel valuable and our soul feels its worth. Perhaps the most quoted verse in the Bible is John 3:16. It tells us that Jesus came because “God so loved the world.” He came so that our souls would feel their worth to God.

This hymn also asks us to consider the fact that the King of kings was born as a human infant and placed in a manger. “The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger, In all our trials born to be our Friend. He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger. Behold your King, before Him lowly bend.”

Isn’t amazing that there were some who were willing to worship him even while merely a babe in a manger? The hymn then talks about how we should respond to one another in humility.

“Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love and His gospel is peace. Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother, And in His name all oppression shall cease.”

We no longer have slavery in this country, but many people are still enslaved to various forms of sin and need Jesus as their Savior. And we as believers are to model the humility that Jesus demonstrated when He stepped out of eternity into time and gave up His rights as God.

This is a message we not only need at Christmas, but every day.

This is Christmas week, and I thought it might be worthwhile to spend a moment to reflect on the words to the hymn, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” It was written in 1867 by Phillips Brooks (an Episcopal pastor from Philadelphia). He had been in Israel two years earlier and had celebrated Christmas in Bethlehem. He wrote this song to reflect on what the night of the birth of Jesus might have been like.

O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light; The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

While the streets of our cities are quiet on Christmas day, most likely that day was just like any other day for the people in Bethlehem. But as evening came, the town grew quiet and something remarkable took place.

In the second verse the hymn says, “While mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wondering love.” This is just like today. Our world goes about its business, usually oblivious to the spiritual realities around it.

Jesus came into the world quietly. Yes, there was the angelic announcement to the shepherds, but most other people were unaware of the fact that the most significant event in history was taking place. God became a man. But he was born in a stable and laid in a feeding trough. There was no pomp or circumstance as you would expect of a King.

Jesus came not only to live among us but to ultimately die for our sins. He took upon Himself the sins of the world (your sins and my sins) and paid the ultimate penalty that we deserved to pay that we might have everlasting life.

During this Christmas week, I hope you will stop long enough to consider what happened in that little town of Bethlehem. But even more so, I hope you will think about what Jesus did for you at Calvary.