| When we heap adulation on talented individuals, or | | | | when all our earthly desires are satisfied, these |
| even perhaps on individuals with little talent, we | | | | things can be bought. But inner peace and joy |
| invest our hope in people. Our modern, | | | | everlasting are as far away as ever. |
| twenty-first century society, is hysterical in its | | | | In the past, in religious societies where belief in |
| pursuit of mortal, living heroes. The sports and | | | | God was near one hundred per cent, heroes |
| entertainment industries have been the most | | | | were not sought, they were thrust upon us. We |
| successful in producing such worshipful figures, | | | | still talk with awe about Churchill, about Wellington, |
| and a recent survey of children around the world | | | | about Nelson, about Drake, not because these |
| demonstrated that our youth have no more | | | | men were necessarily the most talented mankind |
| ambition than to be the next Beckham or the | | | | has produced (they had their weaknesses like |
| next Katie Price. There is nothing wrong with | | | | anyone) but because they were men who were |
| being Beckham or Katie Price, or any other | | | | called to a fine purpose at a certain time and |
| successful person who succeeds in captivating our | | | | carried out that purpose without demur. What if in |
| imagination, but it is wrong, and unfair, to invest | | | | those days, with trouble knocking at the door, |
| them with all the hopes of mankind. | | | | people had been more engrossed in football or |
| When I see people on X-factor who have failed | | | | fashion catwalks or pop fads? What would have |
| to progress to the next stage, so distressed by | | | | happened to our liberties then? |
| the prospect of a life outside the spotlight, my | | | | Today, as we spend hours weeping for our little |
| heart goes out to them. I want to tell them that | | | | Emmas and our little Ethans who after all will not |
| this dream of stardom is not the be all and end all | | | | be making the grade as the next superstar |
| of life. Far from it. It is not even close to a | | | | phenomenon, the enemy is plotting a more |
| perfect answer to life. And it certainly has no | | | | sinister fate. The world is in such a state it needs |
| answers to the awful corollaries of life, Death, | | | | real heroes, and the greatest hero of all is Jesus |
| Disease and Disorder. The three D's do not have | | | | Christ. Our hope must rest solely on Him. The |
| the same respect for celebrity that we do. | | | | proper response to the real problems facing us is |
| Certainly, a life in the spotlight will bring wealth and | | | | a spiritual one. The heroes of tomorrow carry not |
| fame, but the extent to which wealth and fame | | | | real swords, but swords of faith, because the |
| can be trusted as purveyors of happiness is | | | | invader is arriving not in galleys or warplanes, but |
| unreliable. Short term highs, childish satisfactions, a | | | | in the misguided hearts of a lost generation. |
| constant reliving of the perfect Christmas day | | | | |