God Is God

I believe in the Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior for two reasons: hope and peace. Hope because I have three children, a wife, friends, family, and a soul. I have hope when my 19-year-old daughter goes out with her friends on weekend night that she returns safely home. Hope that my 13-year-old daughter will stay on track with her rock-steady grades and bubbly attitude. Hope that the adventure- or crisis-of-the-day for my 9-year-old son at school is something I can laugh about. Hope that my wife forgives me when I am thoughtless and selfish and away from home too many nights in a given week. Hope that my dad, who suffers from a lung disease that will eventually kill him sometime soon, not sure when, not tomorrow probably, but not sure when, will make peace with God before he dies.

Peace because stuff happens. I don’t know why and I don’t ask why. It just happens. Peace when a close relative passes away. Peace when my dad will pass away. And I know whom I can turn to because despite the most obvious signs to the contrary. God is in control. There was a time when if I couldn’t touch it or feel it, I didn’t believe it, that it wasn’t the truth. But slowly over time I have realized that there are more than facts to truth. There’s truth in mystery. There’s truth in what I cannot fully understand. There’s truth in what I don’t know. In fact, I don’t fully know what I don’t know. Most of us think in terms of what we know and not in the terms of what we don’t know. But hope and peace are wonderful things because they help me deal with what I don’t know, what I don’t understand, and what I ignore and shouldn’t.

Wicca is a religion largely on symbols, seasonal days of celebration and deities from ancient Celtic society. While there are some positive attributes of Wicca especially around stewardship of the earth, it’s a polytheistic pagan religion. It relies on rituals that some people associate with witchcraft or Satan, but Wiccas are very careful to note that they are not satanic. Personally, in my black and white Christian mind, I don’t see much of a difference. I tell Wiccans all the time that I’m really worried for her and that she is in my prayers.

I received an email on Sept. 12th (2001) that claimed that Nostradamus predicted the disaster at the WTC. Now Nostradamus was a French astrologer and physician who lived in the 1500s. He became famous for his innovative medicine and treatment of the plague during his lifetime. He began making prophecies about 1547, which he published in 1555 in a book entitled Centuries. Astrology was at a peak during the 1500s in France. In the email was supposedly a quote from Nostradamus:

"In the City of God there will be a great thunder, two brothers torn apart by Chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb.

In the city of york there will be a great collapse, 2 twin brothers torn apart by
chaos while the fortress falls the great leader will succumb third big war will
begin when the big city is burning.

On the day of the 9 month that two metal birds would crash into two tall
statues, in the new city, and the world will end soon after."

You might have seen or gotten this email. After a little research, I discovered that most of it is made up. Some of these words cannot even be found among Nostradamus’ writings. Even with the words that can be attributed to him, there are huge pitfalls in mistaking Nostradamus' vague, abstract poetry for predictions of future events.

These pitfalls exist too when reading parts of the Bible like the Book of Revelation. But for me the difference is that the Bible is about a man who claims to be the Son of God. No other prophet has ever made that claim – none. And any prophecy about Jesus Christ is a mystery that I think is worth keeping.

Now, in what or whom will we find comfort when things don’t go our way? Or when tragedy strikes us personally? Or when awful things happen to other people? Seems like our choices are a God in whom we can have a personal relationship with, a God who says that He loves us? Or selfish, greedy gods and goddesses who could care less about anyone but themselves. And as for reincarnation, personally, I only want to die once, not many times to only come back as something or someone else, to live another punishing life, and to do this over and over again until I get it right. Salvation is ours the first time we die if we chose Christ.

So who is it going to be: Nostradamus or Jesus? Jesus or Nostradamus? Christianity or Wicca? Wicca or Christianity? Let’s choose Christ. If we choose Christ, we choose hope and peace - which are really forms of love.