DECEMBER 2004
Dear members and friends of
I found
the following figures exceptionally interesting, even intriguing. I hope you do too! Please study them for a while before going
on.
If you could shrink the earth’s population to a
group of 100 people with all the existing human ratios this is what you would
see.
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the
8 Africans
52 Females
48 Males
70 Non-whites
30 Whites
70 Non-Christians
30 Christians
6 would possess 59% of the
world’s wealth and all 6 would be from the
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death
1 would be near birth
1 would have a college
education
1 would own a computer
(These figures come from Philip M. Harter, MC,
Now
many, many conclusions may be drawn from these statistics. To read that in our day and age, 99 out of
100 do not have a college education, and only 30 out of 100 are able to read,
is almost unbelievable.
To read
that 50% of the people in the world are suffering from malnutrition, and that
80% are living in substandard housing, is sobering.
Surely,
there must be more that we as citizens of a nation of abundance and a people of
prosperity can do to improve the lives of those who suffer such poverty.
But what
has to be of even greater concern to all of us is that 70 out of 100 souls are
living in the darkness of sin and unbelief, and are speeding toward a
Christ-less eternity. Just because they
will have lots of company in hell will not make hell any less horrendous, nor
their never-ending anguish any less dreadful.
We
Christians are about to celebrate another Christmas. What joy fills our hearts and resounds in our
throats and lives! What peace sweeps
over our minds as we ponder the sweet release of all sin and shame to our
Savior who is Christ the Lord! What hope
permeates the very fiber of our souls – the certainty of forgiveness and
heaven! What love covers us like a
gentle blanket of snow as we ponder God’s gracious Gift lying in a manger!
Yet as
we celebrate, dare we forget the 7 out of 10 who do not know the joy and peace
of Christmas? Dare we do the
unconscionable: refuse to invite even one single, solitary person to share in
our celebration of sure hope and true love?
“Can we whose souls
are lighted
With wisdom from on high,
Can we to those benighted
The lamp of life deny?”
But John
also records this profound truth: “Yet to all who received Him, to those who
believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God - children
born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but
born of God.” Thus, the fact that 30
out of 100 people in the world call upon Jesus as Lord and Savior is evidence
of God’s tender mercy and saving grace.
That you and I are numbered among the children of God is a mighty
miracle – an enormous blessing – an undeserved act of divine grace!
To be
sure, we live in a very diverse world.
We must respect cultural issues.
We need to be aware of and sensitive to personal feelings and opinions. On the other hand, to refuse to let our light
shine; that is, to fail to declare clearly and boldly that we are Christian and
that Christians celebrate “Christmas”, is to withhold from others “the right
to become children of God.”
May this
Christmas be a very special Christmas for you and yours! Make it especially meaningful by sharing “the
Reason for the season” with someone who needs to know and believe!
The one person out of 100 who owns a computer
will not necessarily go to heaven. The
one who trusts in Jesus will spend an eternity there.
Giving
someone a computer for Christmas may make a difference in his or her earthly
life, but giving someone Jesus will make a “forever” difference.
Which
will it be? …
Pastor Carl Henkel