"So, this is Christmas and what have you done?" asked John Lennon and Yoko Ono in their 1971 song "Happy Xmas (war is over)".
Tomorrow, the world will awake to the 2014th celebration of Christ's birth. For believers, the birth of Christ means peace, hope, joy and love because the Bible says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Peace because the troubled soul can find rest. Hope because the dying sinner can look for eternal salvation. Joy because the sinful world has seen a light. And love because God, the creator of the universe, in all his glory and majesty decided to strip himself right down to become a mere mortal to pay the ultimate price for our salvation. It is a truth so profound that you need to have the heart of a child to believe.
Someone said it takes more faith not to believe in God. I would venture to say that believing in God and what God did for you through Jesus is the only deciding factor in your life that has an eternal effect. If you haven't done so or if you are on a crossroad, I sincerely hope you will make this day your day of decision.
The Bible even says, "Today is the day of salvation".
We know that when we sing, "Silent Night, Holy Night. All is calm, all is bright", all is not calm and all is certainly not bright today. If we look around the world, especially around the region where Jesus was born over two thousand years ago, death and destruction seem to be the norm of the day.
In Sydney and all across Australia, law enforcement agencies just cannot relax. They are on high alert because of terrorism within Australia. Death and destruction seem to be the agenda of these evil people.
In India, the political base of the ruling political party is starting to show its ugly head. We know that the Hindu fanatics see the Indian government not as a force for restraint but rather a protector and sympathiser of its radical ideology. Hundreds of Christians in India, including other religious minorities, are ever more under threat from Hindu religious fanatics today. Time will tell if the "Hindu nationalist" Prime Minister will be faithful to the Constitution or whether he will let the Jekyll in him take over.
In the state of Mizoram, majority of the people are singing Christmas carols. They are preparing for the most festive time of the year. They are singing songs in praise of the God that has come to be with his created beings - God the Immanuel. Yet, in their heart of hearts they fear what tomorrow will bring because when the carols are over and the merry makings have ended, they will enter into a new year full of apprehension. Surely God is with them but God does not always intervene to break His order of things. For He has placed them to be used and managed wisely.
The holder of public trust - the government of Mizoram - has literally squandered the public treasury with total disregard for the solemn oath it took "to do the right" under the highest law of the land - the Constitution. According to various reliable sources, the Mizoram government is almost bankrupt and 2015 will not usher in happy times. In fact, it may very well spell doom for the government that seems to continue in its path of unchecked spending of public money.
The result? Scores of government employees are or have not been paid their rightful wages. Only a few weeks ago, some 1300 Hindi teachers were denied their wages for 7 months. And a host of Centrally Aided school teachers face similar crisis. Crisis because these teachers are husbands and wives with kids and family. They need to pay their bills and buy food and other things to live.
I know a single mother of three whose last three months pay hasn't come. In her desperation, she goes to her parents for money. Money that she borrows until her employer - the Mizoram government - pays her salary. She doesn't find it easy because no parent finds it easy to ask their parents for money. But there may be hundreds more even more unfortunate than this teacher with no parents to lend them money while the government scrambles to balance the books.
I am afraid that the resentment towards the incompetence of the government will be so great in the coming year that we will see a movement willing to break the norms of established order even in a violent way. We have seen it all over the world by the disaffected population. Some were held back by their oppressive governments while some succeeded in uprooting the governments that have lost their legitimacy.
In my opinion, the government of Lalthanhawla has lost its legitimacy. It is out of touch with the common people. It is not faithful to the solemn Constitutional oath that requires it to "faithfully and conscientiously discharge" its duties and to "do right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution and the law without fear or favour, affection or ill-will."
Thomas Jefferson, one of the most profound thinkers among the Founding Fathers of the United States and drafter of the US Declaration of Independence, was convinced that governments are temporary entities established to serve a purpose, some of which are the preservation of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. He believed, as he acted out his belief during the revolution, that “whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends [life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness] it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government...”
When the government fails and continues to utterly fail, then we, according to Jefferson, have the right to replace the government.
If Edmund Burke was right when he said, "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" then surely there are good men and women willing to do something about it. If this strikes a chord in your heart, count yourself in.
As you look forward to celebrating the birth of the Saviour of the world, our family wishes you a very merry Christmas. May your heart be strengthened with all might, for God is still on the throne even when evil seems to triumph in this fallen world.
