And That's What Christmas Is All About: Seeing Calvary Through Smokey Mountain

Six months ago, I was halfway around the world, walking through the slums of Manila. I was walking on glass and human waste mixed with mud and mashed up food scraps and holding sticky hands in mine and feeling the sun beat down and bake all the garbage around me in an oven of heat and putrid filth. Even the air smelled polluted. And I was struggling in the midst of all this poverty to hold back tears and not stare too hard at what I was stepping on or what I was breathing in but to pray. To cry out to God above with my breaking heart and trust Him in the midst of such heartbreaking destitution. And I prayed. 

{excerpt from my journal on 6/28/2014}

These people have nothing and it breaks my heart. Really, nothing. Yet they're happy and glad to be alive. The Christians are so willing to serve and so joyful. I can't say I enjoyed it. Seeing all that poverty was heartbreaking. But it opened my eyes. I'll never forget the feeling of loving and reaching out to grimy kids with blackened bodies and sticky hands who have probably never bathed for months. Or seeing kids gnawing on bones atop a pile of trash or climbing Smokey Mountain with a grand view on top of a hill that almost looks natural, if not for the garbage and pieces of glass protruding from the dirt. It's. . .hard to find a word to describe the conditions there. It's very difficult to wrap my mind around it all without crying. Yet God is faithful.

I will always remember one little boy who stood naked from the waist down, blackened and grimy and tugging on my shirt, arms outstretched, begging to be held. A half-naked little boy. Dirty. Just wanting to be loved. And I tried to hide. I tried to say no. I tried to withdraw. His filth and nakedness repulsed me, and I wanted to shrink away and cry. Everything Western and sanitary screamed at me not to touch him.

But in that moment, I was reminded of Calvary's love. If Christ left all the glory in heaven above to live among the filth and waste of our sin, if He sacrificed everything He had for His glory and our salvation, if God Himself came to live and die among sinners in the slum of our hearts, in the depravity of our sin, how could I not love this child? How could I not give myself up and follow after the example of my Savior? If Christ died for me, how could I not love others? 

And in that moment, God taught me a precious lesson. 

Because now when I think about the incarnation of Christ and Christmas, of Christ coming down to earth and being made man, of Him leaving His heavenly throne and the riches of heaven for earth, of being born in the lowliest of places, of living among sinners who repelled Him with our wicked hearts in rebellion against Him, I think of the slums of Manila. I think of Christ, coming down to the filth of our sin and the garbage of our dark hearts, to work and live and love us. Our sin and our hearts were like garbage to Christ, like those sticky, blacked hands and that half-naked body and the human waste lying everywhere on the path. We were repulsive to Him with our thieving, lying, murderous, adulterous hearts. Yet Christ saw us in the spiritual slum of our depravity and He loved us. He loved us enough to come down and live among us, to die for our sins, that we might be freed from our bondage of sin and become adopted sons and daughters of the Most High.

And that's what Christmas is all about. How Christ came down to our level, to the spiritual equivalent of Smokey Mountain, to the filth of our hearts, for His glory and for our good. What an incredible God we have, a God so compassionate and loving and merciful, a God so patient with us in our sin and a God full of grace and blessings that we do not and cannot ever deserve. 

Lord, may we live life each day in light of all that You are and all that You've done.

Understanding the Culture: I'm Born This Way and Letting It Go: The Hidden Message Behind Disney's Soundtrack

"Let It Go," a watered down version of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way." 

I have nothing against Frozen or the song itself, but its poisonous message, being spoon-fed to our generation, undermines Christianity and standards upheld by society, producing more Lady Gagas in our world today.

The main problems I have with "Let It Go" can be found in these stanzas:

The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn't keep it in;
Heaven knows I've tried

Don't let them in,
don't let them see
Be the good girl you always have to be
Conceal, don't feel,
don't let them know
Well now they know

Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore

Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door
I don't care
what they're going to say
Let the storm rage on.
The cold never bothered me anyway

It's time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me,
I'm free!


Let it go, let it go
That perfect girl is gone

Elsa teaches us that we all possess an uncontrollable innate behavior. We try to hold it back from wreaking havoc, but we cannot. We have to let it go and sin. Due to societal pressure and restrictive moral standards, we've always had to play the good girl, but now, we don't have to be the good girl. We don't have to abide by a moral code. The perfect girl is gone, and thus we can be truly free.

This is what six-year-olds sing today in our households, in our neighborhoods, and in our churches. Hollywood and Disney has brainwashed us from recognizing the message sugarcoated behind such an innocent sounding song. Frozen seems like such a sweet movie about love between sisters, and it's true. It is a sweet movie. On the outside.

First of all, Elsa sings about how rules prohibit freedom.

This is not only false but unbiblical. Freedom abounds when rules are obeyed and followed. Without rules, there is no freedom.

We see this concept in society today. Rule-abiding citizens enjoy the most freedom. Without laws, there would be anarchy. Each man would live for himself without any enforcement or protection of individual rights. 

The laws in our society today defend the individual freedoms of each person. Because we value the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, we have these laws regarding murder, child abuse, theft, etc. Those crimes violate the freedom of others, and this is why they must be restrained. 

When we live according to the law, everyone experiences true freedom and success. However, when we violate it, we experience the penalty for our actions and become restricted, whether through imprisonment or a monetary payment, as a direct consequence for violating the freedom of others.

In the same way, when we look at Scripture, we see that God's laws in the OT were placed there for a specific reason, as a reflective mirror that demonstrates our sin. Without the law, we wouldn't have a standard to compare ourselves to. But with this standard, we notice our dependency on God. We see how we constantly fall short of His standard of perfection. This law, this mirror allows us to see our own depravity.

We were all born as slaves to sin, and these laws imparted to us a realization of the inherent sin nature of mankind.

Elsa also equivocates freedom with a lack of moral standards. Yet, true freedom is when we acknowledge the standard of good and evil and choose to abide and live by this standard.

However, Elsa clearly disagrees. According to "Let It Go," true freedom is about doing whatever you want, even if it's against societal standards, even if it's against the law, even if it's wrong.

And kids are singing this. A Lady Gaga song watered down to our younger generation. This is horrific. 

There's nothin' wrong with lovin' who you are
She said, 'cause He made you perfect, babe
I'm beautiful in my way
'Cause God makes no mistakes
Rejoice and love yourself today
'Cause baby, you were born this way

Isn't this the same message as "Let It Go?" Can you see the similarities? Both idolize the bad girl. Both celebrate our depravity. Since we are born to sin, let's throw a party over it.

Society and Hollywood embraces this lifestyle. Instead of feeling shame over sin, instead of concealing and not letting people know, we let sin go. The loss of the perfect girl is glorified, and America rejoices over depravity openly. Look at the gay marriage legislation passed in numerous states today. Look at the immorality celebrated in TV shows, in movies, and in our neighborhoods. Look at the greed in society.

All this is a direct result of embracing the ideals in "Let It Go." In a children's movie. 

Think about it. Pray about it. Talk to your friends and family about it. Christianity provides a way out of our depravity and of the way we're born in. Let's effectively analyze the beliefs presented to us by Hollywood before we let it go. 


{For more information, please listen to Ben Shapiro's incredible analysis on Frozen starting 10 min into his podcast at:
 http://mynorthwest.com/?nid=577&a=9969383&p=1093&n=The+Ben+Shapiro+Show  }