Author: Wes White

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The English are Celtic?

When you think of Celtic heritage, you may think of the Irish, the Scots-Irish, the Welsh, or the Scots.

You probably don’t think of the English because they are called Anglo-Saxons after the Germanic tribes that invaded at the end of the Roman Empire. They also don’t claim a Celtic heritage the like the Irish, Welsh, and Scots do.

That’s wrong, says Bryan Sykes, on the basis of his research into the DNA of the people living in the Isles today.

Sykes describes his research in his book Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland. If you like detailed stories of scientific discovery, then you will love this book. If not, here’s a brief summary of what he found.

There are two main questions that arise in considering the genetic history of the British Isles. First, are all of the people who were there prior to the Roman invasion of common descent?

To answer the first: there is a basic, common “Celtic” substratum that exists throughout the Isles.

In answer to the second: not very much.

The Roman invasion left almost no mark on the DNA of the British Isles.

It is difficult, according to Sykes, to distinguish the DNA of the Normans, Vikings, and Anglo-Saxons. They were all basically from the same Germanic people group. The Normans were simply Vikings that extorted the King of France into giving them Normandy and then ended up conquering England.

These groups left a minor impact on the genetic makeup of the isles. Sykes estimates that their DNA constitutes about 10% of the DNA in the southwestern part of England. Above the Danelaw line, the percentage rises to around 15% and to a high of 20% in East Anglia.

Americans who came from England are often called WASPs: White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestants. Based on Sykes’ research, they may need to be called WCPs: White, Celtic, Protestants. The English are much closer to the Irish and Scots than any of them would have believed.

For, according to Sykes, the English are basically Celtic.

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Will God Forgive Me?

A young man came into my office after our worship service one Sunday morning. He was clearly distraught. As he told me of the wrong things he had done and the guilt he had experienced, tears came to his eyes.

What message did I have for him?

The most basic message of Christianity: no matter what we have done, where we have been, or how much we have sinned, God freely offers to us a restored relationship with Him and the healing and forgiveness that go with it.

Guilt is a universal phenomenon. It is based on the fact that we have not done what we should have done and and not become what we should have become. It is a basic reality of human existence (this side of Adam’s fall).

What are we to do with the guilt we feel? The message of evangelical Christianity is to come, come back to God, come home, and receive forgiveness and new life.

I love the way Isaiah describes this. He compares a life of a restored relationship with God to eating at a banquet table. He says: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost” (Is. 55:1).

This is a message not only for unbelievers. It is a message for believers. As Christians, we have not made our Christian life what it should have been. But: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

I have encountered so many people who have felt that they were worthless because they had failed. They failed God. They failed other people. They failed themselves.

The good news: God still wants to use you. He wants to restore you. He wants you to come home. He values you even others don’t, even when you don’t value yourself.

It’s crucial to see that though this forgiveness is free for us, it cost God something very weighty: His own Son. Isaiah 55 comes on the heels of Isaiah 53: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (5–6).

He pays. We get life for free.

That is an astonishing and joyful message. It is a message for the weary soul burdened with guilt and for those searching for meaning. It’s the joy of this message that led people like Billy Graham to preach to millions. He wanted to let people know that the way to God was wide open because of Jesus.

In Isaiah 55, there are several pictures of what happens when people receive this offer.

One of these pictures of new life in God is this: “instead of briers the myrtle will grow” (v. 12). Since I’ve been in the South, I’ve grown to love the myrtle trees. I finally got tired of the ugly trees on the side of my driveway and replaced them with two myrtle trees this winter. I have great hope that these will beautify my landscape and symbolize the beauty of God’s forgiveness.

Isaiah also says that these things are “for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.” I recently hiked the Chickamauga National Military Park. There are monuments everywhere: to man’s sacrifice and to his strength in the face of battle.

When people accept God’s forgiveness, they become monuments, too. Not to man’s strength and sacrifice, but to God’s sacrifice and grace.

And we can be sure that God’s Word will produce such monuments wherever we announce God’s free grace. “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (10–11).

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What Is Evangelicalism?

The overwhelming majority of white American evangelicals voted for Donald Trump in the last presidential election. This fact is as controversial as the president himself is, and, to many, it sullies the reputation of evangelicalism.

The important thing to note here is that we are talking about the majority of “white” evangelicals in America. It’s very important to note that there are also African-American evangelicals and Hispanic-American evangelicals who have a very different perspective.

Please also consider that all of the above are “American” evangelicals. There are also Korean evangelicals, African evangelicals, European evangelicals, Chinese evangelicals, and so on.

This shows us that evangelicalism is something independent of America, ethnicity, nationality, and even Donald Trump. Continue reading “What Is Evangelicalism?”

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No Room at the Resort

Clay and India Huddleston. Saint Simon’s Island, GA. Those were the names on the online registration form for guests of Evergreen Church (where I pastor). Clay and India were planning to visit on Sunday, March 24th.

I quickly emailed them back. “I’m excited to have you.” I wrote. “We have some Huddlestons in our church, and, ironically, we’re planning on coming down to Saint Simon’s Island on April 2nd.”

I had planned to go to Saint Simon’s Island on our way to Florida for spring break. This was my daughter Anna’s first year in public school, and I thought it would be a nice gift to bring her and two of my younger daughters down to Florida to enjoy the ocean and warm weather during spring break.

About 6 months prior to spring break, I had gotten a great price on a hotel at Daytona Beach and so made reservations to stay 3 nights at the Grand Seas Resort. This was going to work perfectly, I thought. Continue reading “No Room at the Resort”

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War, Peace, and Easter

I am not a pacifist.

I believe that war is sometimes necessary in a fallen world.

As I think of my ancestors, I remember the multitude of men who fought and who even died in military service. My Grandfather Lloyd Babb was a decorated soldier who did tours of duty in World War 2, Korea, and two in Vietnam. I think I justly feel some pride at his ability and willingness to serve in this way.

However, war can also be terrible. I think of my 3rd great grandfather Levi Parks Keith. He served in the Illinois Cavalry in the Civil War. He, like many others, succumbed, not to bullets or cannon, but to disease. In the midst of the Civil War, Levi grew ill. Here is how my cousin described the story as it came down to her:

My father related a story told him by his father, James Mason Keith. Grandpa said the only memory he ever had of his father was when he lay on his death bed. Levi was sick in Missouri and wanted to come home. They put him on a train for Crothersville, IN. This was the winter of 1863. The family met him with a wagon, filled with hay and lots of quilts, and took him home to Paris, Jennings Co., IN. This is how Grandpa remembered him, and this is where he died on 2 Jan. 1864.

Levi left behind four young children and his wife Charlotte. This is so often the legacy of war.

If you research your ancestry, one thing you will quickly find is that you don’t have to go very far back in time to find farmers. Most of my ancestors were farmers of one sort or another. Even those who weren’t farmers farmed.

There is a whole different glory in farming than there is in war, but there is a glory nonetheless. I was reminded of this recently as I labored to remove a small stump of a relatively small tree from my yard. It was hard, grueling work. It made me appreciate what my ancestors had done in clearing this continent for productive farming. Continue reading “War, Peace, and Easter”

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