A child is born!

(Isaiah 9:6)  “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;”

Once again there is no change to the habitual pattern of my morning, the birds are singing, the sun is rising and there is a peaceful serenity to my mood and surroundings. Yet, there is a difference for most compared to every other morning; last night was a night where children across the globe waited in anticipation for the night to end, so that the day would bring with it lots of pleasant surprises, gifts accompanied by lies and all under the name of Christ. We know that the bible is very clear with certain truths, it leaves no wiggle room for manipulation and yet because we carry with us these “bodies of death” we like to wiggle a lot.

Today is the holiday known to the western world as Christmas, a holiday with origins hijacked from Pagan worship a long time ago? I will not go into this with much detail as I have in the past and most have already made their decision on where they stand concerning the celebration of Christmas. I once in my ignorance celebrated Christmas with great intend but now look to avoid it for the sake of the unbeliever. Or for the nominal Christian who believes what they do on the 25^th of December will score them points with God.

The Christmas celebration could be classed amongst the greatest of dead works.

It is not Christ’s birth that we are required to remember but that Christ came to “live to die” so that we could go free. In other words, birth speaks of new life, Christ birth spoke of trial after trial and anguish upon anguish, “foxes have holes and birds have nests but the Son of man had nowhere to lay His head.” We have been commanded to remember His death. Be that as it may, the arrival of the birth of the boy child Jesus was the beginning of new hope for lost sinners, as well as for all those in Abraham’s Bosom (Paradise- the holding cell prior to Christ’s victory on the cross). The angels in heaven were now paying very careful attention if it were possible that they had neglected their posts before. Satan and his band of demonic angels were also showing great interest and already from the outset plotting to have God’s plan stopped; a futile exercise, nevertheless King Herod search the Lord out to have him executed. He failed!

Why is it that God dealt so harshly with the men of old who would not break down the temples of the false God’s? Idolatry a serious sin in God’s economy, He is not willing to share His glory with another, as if He should ever entertain such a thought, God forbid we reason with such disrespect. But when we take this holiday and introduce lies to it all under the pretense that we remember a child being born, and then we have Santa Claus figurines and Father Christmas hats on our heads as we celebrate the day, we have now just crossed the line, Idolatry the order of the day!

Let me ask a question, can God lie? No He cannot! “…in which it is impossible for God to lie…” (Hebrews 6:18): - So then when people chose to tell their little children that it is Father Christmas that brings them their presents and also that it is the day the Lord Jesus was born, which one is it? One is the truth and the other a lie! In fact both are probably a lie as we have no proof the today was the day Christ was actually born. Can God lie? And yet we lie under the banner of acceptance and the title “fun”. Let us not run with the masses when they lie to their Children, let us be clear on what this perverse holiday speaks of, and let us be the salt of the earth. Today is an opportunity to preach the gospel with accuracy, use it with loved ones and family, take them to that junction in the road and force them to chose! Do not let them get away with thinking that nominal Christianity will keep them safe from God’s judgment.

“We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas: first, because we do not believe in the mass at all, but abhor it, whether it be said or sung in Latin or in English; and, secondly, because we find no Scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Saviour; and, consequently, its observance is a superstition, because not of divine authority. Superstition has fixed most positively the day of our Saviour's birth, although there is no possibility of discovering when it occurred. Fabricius gives a catalogue of 136 different learned opinions upon the matter; and various divines invent weighty arguments for advocating a date in every month in the year. It was not till the middle of the third century that any part of the church celebrated the nativity of our Lord; and it was not till very long after the Western church had set the example, that the Eastern adopted it. Because the day is not known, therefore superstition has fixed it; while, since the day of the death of our Saviour might be determined with much certainty, therefore superstition shifts the date of its observance every year. Where is the method in the madness of the superstitious? Probably the fact is that the holy days were arranged to fit in with heathen festivals. We venture to assert, that if there be any day in the year, of which we may be pretty sure that it was not the day on which the Saviour was born, it is the twenty-fifth of December. Nevertheless since, the current of men's thoughts is led this way just now, and I see no evil in the current itself, I shall launch the bark of our discourse upon that stream, and make use of the fact, which I shall neither justify nor condemn, by endeavoring to lead your thoughts in the same direction. Since it is lawful, and even laudable, to meditate upon the incarnation of the Lord upon any day in the year, it cannot be in the power of other men's superstitions to render such a meditation improper for to-day. Regarding not the day, let us, nevertheless, give God thanks for the gift of his dear son.” (C.H.Spurgeon)

Signing off

Tyrone