MWIR #4

Leave it to Jesse Jackson to prove that no one defines ridiculous quite like him. Since the liberal crowd he chooses to run around with was not able to remove Christ from Christmas, Mr. Jackson, being the consumate opportunist, has now chosen to politicize the birth of our Lord.

Jackson's most recent venture into the land of no nonsense has him comparing the economic policies of President Bush to those the Roman Empire was enforcing upon the Jewish nation at the time of Christ's birth. Recently on pMSNBC Jackson said, "In the last [Bush] budget, we cut housing again, and that was Jesus' dilemma. In Bethlehem, his family ended up homeless." But fear not young grass hopper, he then goes on to add more to this madness by saying, "Rome was a wealthy country that left Jesus and Mary and Joseph, in a sense, homeless," he complained. "He was born an at-risk baby."

Jesus was born as an "at risk baby" due to the GOP like regime of the Roman Empire and their right wing economic policies. For some reason i must have missed this part of the lecture EVERY TIME it was offered during my years in college as a Biblical Studies minor and in the seminary i graduated from that was known as the one of the most academic in the US.

First of all, by saying the Roman Empire was responsible for the manner in which the Christ Child was born totally negates the soveriegnty of God from the picture. God chose to make His presence known in our world, so Christ came, He was "Emmanual" which means "God with us" in Hebrew. God allowed for the cencus to be called for so that His Son may be born in the City of David, which is Bethlehem, as God's Word prophesied; otherwise His birth would have been in Nazareth. And by allowing His Son to enter into our world in the means in which He came, the event could be celebrated by common shephards who God chose to invite to the celebration. God could have chosen the biggest courtyard in all of Jerusalem to send His Son, surrounded by kings, rulers and priests; instead He chose a barn in Bethlehem with sheep herders as a witness. Why? Because God chose to make it that way, not the economic policies of Rome. Obviously New Testament survey and systematic theology was not required when Mr. Jackson received his "ordination" in the mail.

Second, Mr. Jackson may want to brush up on his basic koine Greek to find out that Jesus was not born in a manger due to His family being "impoverished" as he suggests, or even because the inn was full as we have been traditionally taught. A more accurate reading of the text in Greek suggests that the inn keeper's message to Mary and Joseph was that there was no suitable place for them in the inn; meaning they were about to have a baby and an inn in Bethlemen during a census makes a college frat party look tame. Mary and Joseph were not sent away by a cruel heartless inn keeper, more than likely the inn keeper was looking out for their best interests. But then again, I would guess that even learning the Greek alphabet wasn't required for Jesse Jackson's mail order ordination either.

And finally, President Bush and his campaign was accused of successfully "marketing the language of religious values" during this most recent election by Mr. Jackson. No pun intended, but isn't that the pot calling the kettle black? Jesse Jackson has stolen millions from hard working Americans and successful American corporations with his lies and distortions, while using "Reverend" in front of his name, as if he is speaking on God's behalf. There is a fine line, in my belief, when it comes to the First Commandment that says, "Do not take the Lord's name in vain"; and saying you are speaking on God's behalf (like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, et al does) when you really aren't (like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, et al) is indeed breaking the First Commandment, and it is not a place where i would want to be.

I pray for Jesse Jackson, i pray that he would find the grace and mercy that only Jesus Christ can offer him through salvation; because if you can tell a Christian by his fruits, i'm only seeing dead branches when i look at Jesse Jackson. And i do hope that he finally gets the religious training he needs if he insists on calling himself a "Reverend", or at least try reading his Bible in context for a change.

There you go America, Jesse Jackson, our first 2 time winner of the Most Ridiculous Item of the Week.