Merry Christmas

2004-12-25 06:43:00

My Friends,

The greater the light the greater will be the attack of the forces of darkness upon the Light or upon His name.

The greatest Light in our history is the Christ. The attack on His name and the truth behind His teachings have never ceased since He was nailed to the cross.

Much of the attack in the past has been upon distorting his teachings and corrupting His image so that which is seen as the Christ, is anti-Christ, and that which is the truth of Christ is veiled and replaced with deception. Alas, for much of the last two thousand years the love of Christ has been replaced with fear, the light of Christ has been replaced with darkness and the words of Christ has been replaced with words to empower the little minds of those who seek power and glory for themselves.

We now live in an age where much has changed and the light and love of Christ are difficult to suppress and hold back. Bibles are no longer chained to the pulpit, the scriptures, and other words of light, are no longer the domain of the few. The fact of "Christ in you" is being sensed by the many.

Today, the anti-Christ forces realize that the flow of information is so powerful that other methods of attack must be used.

In the past, to placate the masses, they extolled the name and image of Christ, but it was the wrong image and a corrupted understanding of the name. Thus they could seemingly praise the Christ while controlling the people with their own version of him.

In this age many are awakening to the fact that the true Christ is the Lord of love, and not fear, so a direct attack is being used. Instead of distortion they are now seeking to ban the use of his name. If the name of the Christ is dropped from public consciousness then people will forget the Master and what he stood for.

Many efforts are being made to erase the Christ (as well as any mention of God). Many stores are banning bell ringers from the Salvation Army.

A most powerful ban from public consciousness begins with our education system.

Even though Christ was definitely a historical figure with the perhaps the greatest influence of any man who ever lived it is generally forbidden to teach anything about him, his teachings and his influence even from an historical prospective.

Even though Christmas is a federal holiday in the U.S. created by Abraham Lincoln, this holiday honoring his birth is losing his name. It is now politically correct to say "happy holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." Christmas trees are called, "community trees" or "holiday trees." Throughout the nation and the world bans are being introduced by governments on singing Christmas Carols, nativity scenes, verses from the scriptures, Christian symbols, Christmas cards, Christian floats in parades, and in many cases even the mentioning the name of Christ, or God.

Much of this is done in the name of political correctness with the idea of not offending minority religions and atheists. Yet no other religion or religious figure is attacked in this manner. For instance, in some schools where talk of Christ is forbidden students are ordered to read the Koran and study the customs of Islam.

The other argument for banning Christ is the separation of Church and state.

The Founding Fathers did not want to ban religion or talk of religion, but wanted to prevent the establishment of a state religion. Talking of religion and wearing the symbols of religion as an individual has nothing in common with the establishment of a state religion. On the contrary, such speech is in harmony with the first amendment of free speech.

The bottom line is this. Christians, Buddhists, Moslems, atheists and all other forms of thought should not be banned by anyone. If citizens wish to express themselves in a harmless manner let then do so without fear of reprisal.

While I have often criticized the Christian churches for their errors I am very much against restricting them from expressing their love for Christ or God. The world takes one of the few things they have right and fights against it seeking to place them in total darkness.

Let us take the best that religion has drawn from Christ and expand upon it. Let us not be ashamed of his great name and wish others a Merry Christmas, sing some of the great Christmas carols and send forth good will in the name of the Master.

Meditate on the words of the angels, "Peace, peace, on earth good will to men." Can you reflect upon these great words of power more than a few seconds without wiping a tear from your eyes? Can you listen to a Christmas Carol and really hear words like "Joy to the World," without welling up inside with overflowing hope and inner joy?

Christmas is not perfect, but it does direct our attention to the Christ and his message of hope and love. Let us not let any person or agency take that focus from us.

Merry Christmas -- may His Spirit be with you.