That day, when it was evening, Jesus said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.”

They left the crowd, and took him with them in the boat he’d been in. There were other boats with him too.

A big windstorm blew up. The waves beat on the boat, and it quickly began to fill. Jesus, however, was asleep on a cushion in the stern. They woke him up.

“Teacher!” they said to him, “We’re going down! Don’t you care?”

He got up, scolded the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence!” Shut up!”

The wind died, and there was a flat calm. Then he said to them, “Why are you scared? Don’t you believe yet?” – The gospel according to Mark 4: 35-40

In this Christmas account, Jesus is NOT Away in the Manger. (Nor are you, Lord, working to fit us for Heaven To live with Thee there, as the song incorrectly goes on to say.) Jesus won’t abide in our sentimentality nor in our desires to escape earth and its capsizing gales. No. In this Christmas account Jesus, God with us, is in the same boat as we are.

He asked us to carry him over to the other side. We did what he asked and then BAM! A situation arises that looks devastating. We become desperate. And, like the winds, we lash out: “Don’t you care!”

The world around us is in freak-out mode. Paranoia is growing. And, so is mental illness.

What do people do with the constant waves of fear porn battering them on all sides? Many scramble to sit at the feet of the purveyors of fear porn. They want them to allay their fears, to bring them salvation. The world always has an answer for your fear of DEATH!

If CNN or MSNBC, for instance, reported on the above account, those talking heads would demand immediate action on climate change to assuage your fears. OSHA, another onlooking savior, would mandate life preservers and limited boat capacity To SAVE LIVES! Politicians would go on TV and demand more of our tax money to look into building a bridge to the other side To SAVE LIVES!

And of course, the CDC via OSHA would mandate that passengers in close quarters wear a mask and be quadrupled-vaccinated before going to the other side To SAVE LIVES! The world always has an answer for your fear of DEATH!

Now, there are people who feed on the spirit of fear and its high drama. They keep the mandates going. They cry for more. The COVID drama or the Climate drama or the XYZ drama gives meaning to their meaningless lives. But, who do you think is behind the spirit of fear drama?

Jesus scolded the disciple’s spirit of fear – “We’re going down! Don’t you care?” – with “Why are you scared? Don’t you believe yet?” Jesus had made it clear and calming that he had the wherewithal to deal with the forces of nature that would take us down, even as he was asleep on a cushion in the stern.

The reason Jesus could sleep during a big windstorm was the same reason he could lie sleeping as a helpless infant in a manager when deadly forces were out to get him – Jesus had complete and utter trust and confidence in the Father’s love. He abided and slept peacefully in that love.

For the Father loves the Son,” Jesus says. (John 5:20) 

Why do you think you the spirit of fear is being given out? It is done to drive you away from complete and utter trust and confidence in the love of God as expressed in Jesus.

Jesus would go on to teach his disciples As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love (John 15: 9). So, this Christmas . . .

“Why are you scared? Don’t you believe yet?”

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This Christmas, it is time to take a deep breath and rest on what you know to be true. It is also time to tell the mouthpieces of evil– human and inhuman – “Silence!”

It is time to tell Anthony Fauci, Francis Collins, Joe Biden, Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates, Bill DeBlasio, Lori Lightfoot, J.B. Pritzker and the rest of the godless ill-winds to “Shut up!”

It is not time to retreat. It is time to tie up and plunder the strong man’s house (Mark 3:27)

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(Something to keep in mind: We read in the first chapter of the gospel according to Mark that Jesus came into Galilee announcing God’s good news.

“The time is fulfilled,” he said. “God’s kingdom is arriving. Turn back and believe the good news.”

Would God allow his kingdom to go down in a boat? No.

There is a persistent remnant theme in Scripture. When others have fallen away because they have become disillusioned with God and the word Jesus speaks, and concern themselves with the worries of the present age, and the deceit of riches, and the desires for other kinds of things (Mark 4:18), the believing faithful are delivered and brought forward. Take a deep breath, fall back on what you know to be true, and move forward.)

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2 Timothy 1:7 reveals, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear (phobos), but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Romans 8:15 also said, “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear (phobos).”