Christmas Remembrance 2007 - by Dr. Paul E. Bellino

REMEMBRANCE – Commentary by Dr. Paul E. Bellino, GHC Chaplain

On December 20, 1860 South Carolina seceded from the Union. The United States found itself on the threshold of "The Brother's War." That Christmas season promised a turn of events that would cost more than six hundred thousand lives. In December, 2007 we face a serious division in the re-united states. It is virtually based on the constitutional issue of states rights verses a form of federal socialism and religious liberty verses moral decadence.

We are the sons of forefathers who have inherited the whirlwind of "The 2nd War for Independence". How then shall we live in this time of moral, judicial and spiritual crisis? We must look to the immortal words of the same Holy Scriptures our Southern forebears held sacred. General Robert E. Lee's favorite hymn causes us to give pause at this Christmas season in remembrance. "How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word! What more can He say then to you He hath said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled".

In II Peter chapter 1 verses 12-15 we read,

"Wherefore I will not be neglegent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance: knowing that shortly I must put off this my tablenacle even as the Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me: moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance".

Peter thought it "meet", in other words, that it was his duty! And it was said of General Lee, that "duty was his captain." Peter also felt obliged "to stir them up", to awaken believers, to remind them of the truth they had been taught. The Apostle Peter was aware he would "shortly put off" his body in death. He was willing to die for Jesus. Peter recalled what Jesus told him in John 21:18-19, that he would die a prisoner of his Lord. Therefore, the Apostle Peter would "endeavor" to see that we as Christians would have a Scriptural reminder of these truths "always in remembrance" of "these things".

"These things" are the truths of the "good news of the Gospel", that Jesus is our personal deliverer, our Lord and Savior from sin, the grave, and hell itself! We need to be reminded always of this truth because it is easy for us to forget "the pit from whence we were dug".

In I Corinthians 5:1, the Apostle Paul tells believers he was ministering to them, "to remind you of the Gospel I have preached to you". The solution to the heresy of that day long ago was not a new teaching---but correct understanding of the old teaching of the Gospel. In II Timothy 2:8 and 14 Paul reminded Timothy, when he was faced with error to first "remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead", and then to "keep reminding them (Christians) of these things". In order that they surely are not "being led away with the error of the wicked (lawless men) as described in II Peter 2:17.

We too must be in remembrance of "these things", or we will be compelled to repeat the painful experience of past history, if we allow ourselves to be led away "with the error of the wicked".

Let us resolve to be faithful to God's Word, and carry the light of the Gospel to all men, starting in our own "Jerusalem...Judea...Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 1:8)". We have a high calling in Christ Jesus to bear witness at this Christmas to the truth of the Word of God, in our daily lives, for our children, for our homeland, and to all as did our Southern followers of the Savior one hundred and forty-seven years ago. What a legacy they left us as soldiers in gray and as true soldiers of the cross. Dare we do less in our hour of duty this Christmas season?

Live and share the Gospel in remembrance of Him and them, our forefathers, who fought so valiantly for the truth and their homeland against insurmountable odds. Have a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

Dr. Bellino is the Chaplain for the Georgia Heritage Council and Founding Pastor, Atlanta's Church of All Nations in Stone Mountain. He is also Chaplain for Blue Ridge Rifles, Camp 1860, Sons of Confederate Veterans in Dahlonega, and the MOS&B President Jefferson Davis Camp in Gainesville, and the Georgia Association of Police Chiefs.