Yesterday at many churches, two different holidays were celebrated – Ascension Day and Mother’s Day. Ascension Day was actually on Thursday, May 9^th, but most churches recognize Ascension Day on the following Sunday instead of having a separate service. Now at first, there might not seem to be a great connection between these two observances, but as our society grows increasingly pagan a link between the two becomes more apparent.

I’m sure most of us never dreamed we would live in a time when Mother’s Day would be seen as controversial in any way. It was one of the few holidays that everyone agreed on. Yes, we should honor our mothers. After all, we normally assume even the most hardened of criminals have a soft spot for mom and maybe a heart-shaped tattoo with “Mom” in the middle – at least according to the old cartoons and movies.

Yet, our society is becoming increasingly hostile to motherhood as a whole. Even the title “mother” is attacked by radicals that want to replace it with “birthing persons” or some nonsense like that. Thankfully, that hasn’t completely caught on, but it is disturbing to see entities like hospitals and medical insurance companies start to make those changes in wording. How sad it is that our children have to hear grown adults say with a straight face that men can have babies. What a sad commentary on our fleeting grip on reality. Just the other day I heard that two “women” were surprised that one of them became pregnant, even though one of those “women” was a biological man. We are at a place where we have to further qualify the terms “man” and “woman” to know which one someone “really” is. How did we get there?

This is where Ascension Day comes in. My favorite passage of Scripture for Ascension Day is Psalm 2. It has also become my go-to Psalm at times when I am disheartened by the state of our nation and the world as a whole. Psalm 2 begins:

¹ Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?
² The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together
against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,
³ “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.”

⁴ The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.
⁵ He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
⁶ “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.”

These attacks on mothers and motherhood are nothing short than an attack on the rule of Jesus Christ. Scripture tells us that the goal of the “kings of the earth” and the “rulers” is to band together against the Lord – and against His anointed, His Christ, His Messiah. They see the commands of the Lord as chains and shackles and want to be free to rule over earth in their own way. To that end, they conspire and plot, but the Psalmist says that they do so in vain.

I love the reaction of the Lord, “The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.” He goes on to rebuke them and terrify them with the proclamation, “I have installed my king on Zion, my Holy Mountain.” Not only has Jesus been crowned as King, but His reign is firmly and eternally established on the Holy Mountain of God.

When we see motherhood vilified, when we see pregnancy itself spoken of as if it were a curse, we are seeing the attack of Satan on one of the primary foundations on which the Lord established His Creation. Abortion, the obsessive promotion of birth control, especially hormonal birth control, the calls for zero-population growth, the disparaging of the stay-at-home mom, the militant feminist movement, they are all attacks on the very first command God gave to Adam and Eve: “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28).

To the world, children are an inconvenience, but to the Lord, they are a blessing. To the world, gender is a personal choice and promoted as changeable (although not one person has actually changed genders), but to the Lord, He created us, perfectly and unalterably, male and female. To the world, human beings are a disease that needs to be subdued, but to the Lord, human beings are the pinnacle of Creation, created in His image, and tasked to subdue the world as faithful stewards of the land and animals – even if we don’t always live up to our responsibilities.

So, if you really want to make the Devil flee, honor the Lord by honoring your mother. Husbands, honor your wife for her faithful work as a mother and let your children hear your praise. May you honor all the mothers in your circle and encourage those who may be going through a difficult time. Go out of your way to praise the Lord for the great gift of children – whether they are your own children or the children the Lord has allowed you to be a part of their lives.

And I know, Mother’s Day is also a difficult day for many. It is hard for children who have lost their mothers or have never known the love of a mother, it is hard for mothers and fathers who have lost their children either to death or estrangement, it is hard for mothers who live in regret of past abortions, and it is hard for those women who so desperately want to have children but are unable to do so. But in order to properly minister to the hurting, we need to see and extol the tremendous value of motherhood. The world doesn’t know how to comfort because it doesn’t understand the hurt. To understand the hurt of loss requires knowing the value of what was lost.

As faithful servants of the Kingdom of Christ, we need to honor our King by honoring and respecting His order of Creation. At times, that can be as simple as going out of our way to honor our mothers, and all mothers, and the wonderful gift of motherhood as a whole. When the world tells us to be quiet, we need to shout the praises of our King. For this is a spiritual battle and our primary enemy is the Great Deceiver. To win this battle:

First, we need to pray. Yes, there is also action that is needed, but all of our actions need to be covered in prayer. When we pray, the Lord gives us strength, wisdom, and direction. Prayer also mobilizes the army of Heaven.

Second, we need to praise the Lord – publicly, loudly. We cannot live ashamed of our King. Satan flees at the name of Jesus. So let everything we do be done in the name and authority of Jesus.

Third, we need to laugh at the plotting and schemes of the rulers who plot against God. Now, of course, there is nothing funny about the evil they do and the harm they cause to others, but we laugh at the futility of their rebellion. We mock the idea that Christ is somehow threatened by their schemes, and we do this so that we might grow bold. Too often we as Christians are scared into silence. In those moments, we need to laugh at the absurdity of the world and honor and praise our King. Now we do need to take care that we do not personally attack people, but we do need to be willing to mock ideas that fly in the face of reality.

Make no mistake, Satan is busy at work deceiving the nations in a way that we would have, at one time, thought impossible. However, we know the truth. God has installed Christ on the throne, and nothing can move Him from that throne.

Blessings,

Barry Nelson