WHO RADIO JAN MICKELSON'S 2009 CHRISTMAS LETTER

Posted here with Jan's permission--for all to enjoy and contemplate!

Hope this year finds you healthy, employed and blessed… or even unhealthy, unemployed but blessed anyway. 

 So much is going on in our country and culture which makes my job easy…a culture in decline is a target rich environment for a guy doing a talk show.  However, as I frequently say…I would trade that in a second for a healthy culture.  People in my profession in gentler times filled the air with chatter about kids, kitties and recipes…seems a little boring and dated doesn’t it?  Almost like the “good old days”.

 Now, it’s war, cultural paganism, political instability, with a run-amuck government and a currency collapse…indeed uncertain times.  That makes the meaning of Christmas even more important.    I’ve never been more certain than now, that the Gospel is the remedy for this rebellious generation.  Those who thought that separation of church and state meant a declaration of independence from the jurisdiction of the Almighty upon the affairs of men have been given a rude shock.  When we told God that we can handle it all without Him, He said, “Ok, give it your best shot”. 

 So, now we have a country which cannot define war or peace…can’t define what a family is, won’t adhere to the clear language of the Bible or the Constitution, won’t define our borders, and can’t maintain an economy or a currency.    So the obvious question is,

“How’s it workin’?”

 Some of us who are getting older and were hoping for a time of tranquility and peace where we could gently fade from the scene and coast into the next world are re-calculating.   That legacy isn’t going to be our calling.  God has ordained that my generation is being called to stay in the game longer…to work, to serve and carry the load, longer.  Because we should, and because we have to.

 This is only right.  As God’s people, we allowed this to happen on our watch.  By our neglect and rebellion, we have inherited what we have earned. 

 “Mickelson this is a little dark for a Christmas letter”.

 Yes, it is.  But here’s is the encouraging part.  I like being in the game.  I never did like sitting the bench.  So, I look at this as an opportunity to stay in the fight. 

 The message of Christmas is “Joy to the World, the Lord has come…let Earth receive her King”…  Those words aren’t just nice Bible babble words and they are not just “seasonal”.  “…and the government shall be upon His shoulders”…are not just the lyrics of a seasonal cantata.   They are profound statements of truth.

 So, is there any part of our government, self or civil, which actually rests “upon His shoulders”?  On the national level I can think of only a few examples of self-aware members of the political class giving any more than lip service to the Savior of mankind.  In fact, the last two presidents of the USA went out of their way to assert “…there are many paths to God”.  It is now illegal for a government institution to acknowledge the sovereignty of God and to do so could be considered a hate crime.  Think of it.   To teach about the eternal love of God could now be a prosecutable hate crime!  If this Christmas letter reads more like a rant or a blog, I apologize, but *II Chronicles 7:14 is still true.

 I’m still jabbering on the radio…WHO Radio…in Iowa..  www.whoradio.com.   

 Jan Mickelson

* II Chronicles 7:14   If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.