Christmas is above all a season of hope, a chance to throw off all the media induced fear porn we have been bombarded with over the past eleven months and to renew our faith and hope in the One who alone conquers fear and death. Fear is the enemy of both true faith and hope, as the recent pandemic has so copiously illustrated. I say true faith and hope because today we are presented with a counterfeit version of faith and hope which contradicts, and even opposes, those great theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity whose proper object is the Son of God, of whose birth we are celebrating.

The fear mongers in today’s world are working hard and long to distort and secularize the authentic theological virtues so that they are no longer religious, rather they become transformed into humanist values. Faith thus becomes a misplaced faith in human science and progress, not faith in God and His providence. Our hope is no longer for eternal salvation but only a brighter future here on earth. Charity which is an ardent love for God becomes an exaggerated love and concern for nature and the planet. In order to draw our minds away from contemplating the divine Creator as the proper object of faith, hope, and love, the enemies of God are using fear to heighten anxieties over temporal concerns. Thus they redirect the theological virtues towards purely materialistic ends. And the catalyst they have used over and again to effect this devilish transformation is fear.

The mandarins of modern-day culture have been peddling fear and anxiety for my entire lifetime. Christ said, “fear not, I have overcome the world.” Today’s secular mouthpieces (New York Times, CNN, etc.) preach the exact opposite, that we live under constant and imminent existential threats. Crises loom on every horizon: nuclear holocaust, overpopulation, starvation, wars, environmental catastrophe, terrorism, racism, killer viruses, climate change, and much more. In a culture as plugged in to media and social messaging as is ours it becomes quite difficult to step away from the carpet bomb effect of all those fearful scenarios which seemingly confront us in order to regain our composure, which is to remember that God, after all, is in full control of the situation.

But that is the whole pint of the incessant barrage of bad news and fear porn, to distract one from the greater reality that we have nothing to fear if we truly believe; if we truly hope in the promises of Christ. What the enemy actually hopes and intends is that, in our desperation, we do just the opposite and begin to blame God for all the terrible situations in the world. Why doesn’t God simply wave His divine wand and correct all those (humanly created) messes? Now the enemy, having instilled such doubts in us, executes the kill shot. Perhaps it’s because God doesn’t really care about the human race, or better yet He doesn’t even exist.

Once the enemy has credibly planted this perverse idea in our minds we will inevitably fall under his control. If God cant, or won’t, help us then it’s up to us to help ourselves. Yet individually we are too limited to meaningfully impact such overwhelming problems, so we must turn to science, technology, education, and ultimately government for answers instead of turning to God. This view has become the new, modern world paradigm ~ humanity drawing itself up by its own bootstraps. It is also the very essence of Communism, at least as it works in theory. Communism is unique in world history in that it instituted a model for human society predicated on absolute atheism. Atheism is the very marrow of its bones. It is atheistic materialism par excellence.

In this country we have long had the materialism, but from its inception America was also a highly religious nation. That longstanding bulwark against Communist ideology has been seriously breached over the past half century so that today, religious Americans are often regarded by mainstream culture as being un-American. Consequently, socialism and even Communism have acquired a greater appeal among younger Americans, especially those under the age of 35 or religiously indifferent. Despite all the neo-con rhetoric which for generations has underwritten greedy defense contractors, Communism was never a real military threat to America. It always was, and still remains, a moral and societal threat ~ invading our schools and institutions from within to weaken our morals, our confidence, and religious faith.

Because God is the one thing Communism cannot abide it has waged a 60 plus year war to subvert and erase His influence over the minds and hearts of the American people. The enemy intends that the only place they will have to turn in times of any given (or manufactured) crisis is to a secular and progressively amoral government. The past three years in our history attest eloquently to the success of those leftist fearmongers who increasingly populate and control corporate, educational, and governmental leadership roles, both nationally and globally. This corrupt, entrenched oligarchic class relentlessly exploits fear porn to rob the people of those essential virtues of faith; of hope; of filial love for God above all else. Instead they cynically offer the carrot of faith in their power agenda and hope in a forced genetic vaccine to get what they really want – a Great Reset yielding a world without God, or any authority higher than themselves. They will settle for nothing less than total servile compliance to the atheistic oligarchy which they represent.

The only true crisis in the world today has nothing to do with Co2 or some mystery virus. The real crisis is a loss of hope and trust in a loving God whose concern for our welfare is so tremendous that He once became incarnate as a tiny child so that a world hopelessly mired in sin might be redeemed and restored. Fear is useless because fear comes from the darkness. Jesus promised, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life… If you remain in my Word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (Jn. 8:12;31-32) Therefore, this Christmas cast aside all fear. Walk away from those who sell it. We have great cause for hope this glorious Christmas season as we celebrate the birth of the only true “Light of the World.” Rejoice, and Fear Not!

Francis J. Pierson +a.m.d.g.