History Repeating Itself

The difference between the Old and New Testament is the difference between a man who said, "There is nothing new under the sun" and a God who says, "Behold, I make all things new."  --Ronald Knox

Have you ever seen a movie remake?  If you had seen the original, were you disappointed in the newer version?  Sometimes it seems like Hollywood has not had an original idea for 50 years, but copying successful media stories goes back even further than that. 

On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles wrote and directed a radio broadcast of HG Wells 1898 novel "War of the Worlds."  It caused quite a stir, because the story was not introduced a work of fiction.  Most Americans got their news from the radio, and Welles' direction was so realistic that many thought that the alien invasion was real.  It was not until the end of the broadcast at 9 p.m. Eastern Time that the audience breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that this had been, in fact, a radio drama.  For a few terrified listeners, however, the broadcast was so believable that they ran outside to witness the terrible carnage.  Some even grabbed their guns, intent on defending their way of life.

However, English theologian and author Ronald Knox had broadcast a very similar story in January, 1926. Knox broadcast a simulated live report of revolution sweeping across London, entitled Broadcasting from the Barricades. In addition to live reports of several people, including a government minister being lynched, his broadcast mixed supposed band music from the Savoy Hotel with the hotel's purported destruction by trench mortars. The Houses of Parliament and the Clock Tower were also said to have been flattened. Because the broadcast occurred on a snowy weekend, much of the United Kingdom was unable to get the newspapers until days later. The lack of newspapers caused a minor panic, as it was believed that the events in London caused this. Four months later there was considerable public disorder during the General Strike, so real was the possibility of a revolution at the time.

Disinformation creates discord, vagueness leads to violence, and what was meant to be entertaining became, for some, a terrifying reality.  As we can see, there really is nothing new under the sun.

One hundred years before I was born, the United States had just begun the Civil War.  For a child born today, one hundred years before he or she was born was the beginning of Prohibition.  The year I was born President John F. Kennedy was sending military aid and personnel to Viet Nam, and America was thrust into a war for which Congress never made a formal declaration.

Today, President Trump is criticized for selling arms to Saudi Arabia without congressional approval; he is also lambasted for sending additional troops to the Middle East without Congress ever declaring war.  Because of the failed impeachment attempt, liberals on the Coasts are pitted against conservatives in the South and Midwest.  If Trump is re-elected in November, there is a real possibility that this nation could take up arms again, and that the United States could be thrust into a second Civil War.

Over the past 50 years, America has thrown off prohibitions against abortion, Sodomy, and gay marriage.  Just like Prohibition being reversed in 1933, people have always chafed against rules designed to make them do the right thing.  The justification for reversing these morally based laws is that people do them anyway.  People in the 1920s made and consumed their own liquor, despite laws against the manufacture and sale of alcohol.  Women have always tried to find ways to end unwanted pregnancies, despite laws against medically assisted abortions.  Therefore, the argument goes, if so much effort is placed on breaking moral laws, let's just repeal the moral laws on grounds of "freedom".

Just as sin is a constant throughout history, so is God's grace.  "Noah found grace (unmerited favor) in the eyes of the Lord." (Genesis 6:8).  I love the KJV reading of Lamentations 3:22-23: "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness."

Different people respond to grace differently.  Some will continue in their sin, because there is no consequence.  The Apostle Paul warned against that: "What shall we say then?  Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?  By no means!  How can we who died to sin still live in it?" (Romans 6:1-2)  The Bible exhorts us to respond to grace by laying aside "every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shae and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1-2)

You see, there will come a Judgment, either in this life or the next.  God's Judgment will not nullify His grace, but will merely "separate the sheep from the goats", the ones who respond to His grace by setting aside their will and putting on His nature, versus the ones who continue in sin because grace is so abundant.  Child of God, keep on being renewed by His presence and His power, and do not rely on yourself.