A radical message – there is nothing better under the sun
In many European churches, the Christmas story degenerates into a political statement. Some visitors wonder whether they have wandered into a socially critical NGO meeting rather than a spiritual church service. Churches around the world are full – and not just at Christmas – when the child in the manger is mentioned in the same breath as the man on the cross and the risen Savior. In these gatherings, guests find clear water that can quench their thirst for life. Fortunately, secular churches – especially in the spectrum of the Protestant world – are rapidly killing themselves off. Their naves remain empty throughout the year. Pandering to a fashionable zeitgeist doesn’t get anyone out of bed on Sunday morning. They are deader than dead and a caricature of the gospel.
Diospi Suyana’s missionaries and some Peruvian friends also celebrated a Christmas Eve service yesterday afternoon. “Jesus is the light of the world!” This statement was in the foreground. General surgeon Dr. Lukas Steffen placed the birth and work of Christ in the context of Old Testament prophecies. His coming 2000 years ago was not a maudlin legend from a pious storybook. His death on the cross was not the accidental result of a horrendous miscarriage of justice.
No, Jesus Christ made God visible to us. He died to forgive our sins and offers us eternal life if we trust him. And it is precisely this message that will always endure. Political trends change every 10 years. Doctrines from the hobby box of the New Age create hype today, but tomorrow they will be old news. It is the words of Christ that have encouraged, comforted and changed millions of people for two millennia.
For God so loved mankind that he gave his only Son for them.
Everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (Joh. 3, 16 according to Hfa)
Of course Diospi Suyana is socially active. Over 600,000 visits by poor patients to the hospital, over 200,000 participants in the weekly children’s clubs since 2005, youth festivals that generate millions of clicks via social media, bear witness to this. Our radio program inspires thousands and thousands of listeners in five states with a message of hope. And it can be summed up in a short formula: Jesus Christ is the answer! /KDJ
