In recent years, federal, State, and local governments have increasingly sought to remove God from the public square. Manger scenes have been barred from being on government property and the Ten Commandments has been barred from display in schools, and in court and legislative buildings under the pretext that it would appear to indorse religion. They also have tried to ban songs and displays of Christian themes while they allow Muslim and humanist religious songs and displays. They know and fear how much Christ can affect the culture. That doesn’t prevent churches and individual Christians from doing so on their own property or the private property of others, willing to let you use it. Christmas is a wonderful time to tell everyone the God has come in Christ to redeem His people. When I was young, a lot of people put up displays with all kinds of themes from Christian to Santa Claus, to just cartoon displays with a Christmas theme. After I was married, my wife and I used to go around at Christmas time to see them. Such displays are increasingly rare. More people are switching to simple light displays. My wife and I still go out to see them but it isn’t like it used to be. While a lot of people like to see light displays at Christmas, in response to the increasing darkness in our society, it provides only momentary relief. My wife and I have never had much money to spare because you don’t get rich ministering to the poor, but I have tried to have a display whenever possible. It has ranged from a small picture of a manger scene in my window facing the street, like I have now, to a 4×8 foot board out front displaying the manger scene, to a glassed-in porch covered on all three sides with a scene of the manger in front, flanked on one side by a scene of the wisemen, and on the other by a scene of the shepherds, to tell the Christmas story. We didn’t have lights because it would have run up the electric bill, but it was visible during the day. It gets people to wondering. Why have a display of a baby in a stable? What does it mean? It will get them to asking about the meaning of Christmas, and hopefully get them to research it. If you can include a sign or even a limited range radio broadcast like synchronized light displays have that include Christmas carols and an explanation of the Christmas story, it will help let them know that hope is more than a momentary thrill of seeing a nice light display, it resides in the arrival of Christ who has conquered the darkness that lies in men’s souls. Every year for over 14 years, our church has had a display of manger scenes that are donated by local residents. It includes over 500 displays and one year had over 700. People walk through the church and view the displays while hymns tell the Christmas story and church members are available to answer questions. Hundreds of people walk through the church viewing the displays. Many have no church connection but just like to see something interesting and are exposed to the real meaning of Christmas. For those interested in creating a manger scene, I have a booklet with outlines that can be used to make a coloring book for the kids, a picture of the manger scene to decorate the house, or can be used to cut out figures from black paper to cover a window that can be seen from the street, available on request.
Marriage-III-G
The “Respect For Marriage Act” (H.R. 8404) was passed by the Senate and has now gone back to the House to pass the amended bill. President Biden is sure to sign it if both houses of Congress pass it. Contact your House representative and tell them to vote NO. This must not become law or anyone opposed to same sex marriage will be subject to frivolous criminal charges and civil lawsuits by those who seek to silence any opposition to same sex marriage. There would be no protection for those of faith since it voids the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996”. Liberal politicians are determined to push this through before they lose control of the House in January. This poses a great threat to Christians and others who believe in the sanctity of marriage as being between a man and a woman.
First Sunday of Advent-Nov. 27
First Sunday- God With Us-Christmas reminds us that Jesus left heaven and came to earth to save us. (He didn’t have to, He did it for us) We have hope because He knows our trials. He lived among us and experienced all the temptations we faced, but did not sin. He suffered and died for our sins, setting us free from the power of sin and death so that we can break free of our sin. He rose from the grave and returned to heaven to intercede on our behalf. While we do have to suffer the consequences of our sin, we do not have to continue to suffer for our sins. Afterward, He did not leave us alone, He sent the Holy Spirit to teach us, to guide us, and to strengthen us. God is not somebody far away who doesn’t know what we face. He came down from heaven and dwells with us, an ever-present help in time of need.
Persona note-H
Having seen a great opportunity for change in the last election fail, many are asking “Where Do We Go From Here?”. One day Christ will return and clear away all the corruption around us, but until then, God expects His people to redeem the world around them. Before we can do that, we have to know how to do it. God showed us the plan, all we have to do is follow it. Man without God is like a baby who wants what it wants, when it wants it. He must have the law to control him, just as a child needs to learn discipline. Liberals think children can decide what is best for themselves, but only when it benefits the liberal cause. They know that children can be easily confused or deceived because they haven’t learned how to govern themselves. Man must learn to do what is best, not what he thinks is best. What he thinks is best is what is only best for him. Even when man considers the needs of others, it is designed to benefit him. Not just any law will do. Making laws alone won’t do it. Man-made law is subject to man’s control and is designed to benefit those who make the law. They make the law and can change it or ignore it when they want or use it to harass those who stand in their way as those seeking to corrupt our government are currently doing. That is why God gave His law to the Israelites. God’s law was made by God and only God can change it. Even the king (or president) is subject to the law (Like Samuel informed King David). However, laws alone won’t do it because man seeks to get around the law if he can, to get what he wants. Jesus came to show us a better way. The best leader is someone who knows the love of God and is guided by the Holy Spirit to do what is best for everyone. No one is capable of ruling over others, regardless of what liberals tell you. That is why the framers of the Constitution designed it so that the people are the ultimate rulers in America and the politicians serve at the people’s will, and under their direction. However, they observed, and rightly so, that it would only work if the people at large knew God and served Him. We are seeing what happens when the nation turns away from God. The people select leaders to rule that will benefit them personally. This leads greedy politicians to give away money to buy votes, which we are seeing now. The recent vote showed that many voters are seeking politicians that will benefit them personally, not ones that will rule wisely for the benefit of all. Many voters in the last election indicated they believed the promises of free money and voted for candidates promising to give it to them, with no thought that they are going to have to pay the money back in taxes, with interest. To get back to where we need to be, God’s people need to turn back to God and seek His will. God’s people then need to select politicians that will seek what is best for everyone, not just themselves. They must be politicians who themselves seek God’s will and respond to the will of the people. They must enact laws that control those who don’t know God to keep them from hurting others and that allow those who are guided by God to serve God freely. They must be politicians who will apply the law fairly, not just in a way that benefits them. Then God’s people will be free to win souls to serving God through their example and through preaching the Word of God. Preaching alone won’t do it for there will be unbelievers who don’t know God and must be restrained by the law until Christ returns and removes those who don’t serve Him.
politics-AB-S
The Prime Minister of Italy gave a great speech recently in which she accurately illustrated the problem today. She knows because Italy fell under a dictator and was allied with Nazi Germany in World War Two. She said that those who seek to control us want to destroy the family because it is the source of our identity. They want to confuse us about our gender because it is a source of our identity. They want to destroy our religion because it gives us identity. They want to destroy everything that gives us identity as a person so that we will become just a number, a nameless part of the whole so they can enslave us and control us. That is the same thing that we are seeing in America today as they attack the family and seek to confuse children about their gender. They attack religion and those who belong to any group other than the one of the ones they support. They try to break down the power of the States and our identity as Americans by opening our borders to all who come. They are trying to dumb down children so they will not think for themselves but will accept everything the rulers tell them. They want to prepare us for the ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT that they are trying to establish. They are working to set up a financial system that will be controlled by a computer chip imbedded in the hand to enable buying and selling, like a credit card that can’t be stolen, and they are trying to prepare us for it through expanding the use of credit cards and crypto-currency. Those things are not bad in themselves but in the hands of the wrong people are highly dangerous, because they would allow those controlling them to determine who can buy and sell. They can easily exclude anyone they don’t like. People say that isn’t going to happen, however, we are getting a little taste of that in the censorship being exercised by those controlling the social media. Imagine what life would be like if the rulers can decide to bar whoever they want from buying or selling, and from owning a house or car, or anything else. Hitler came to power that way by excluding the Jews and liberals today are working to exclude Christians and Jews from a voice in society, so they can have their way. The Bible predicts that in the last days, before Christ returns, there will be a one world government that will be ruled by the anti-Christ. The Bible tells us that the One World Government will require a mark on the hand or forehead that will be required to enable us to buy or sell. It is scary to think that Christ may return in our lifetime. The most important identity of all is the identity of being a child of God. We must protect the true definition of gender because it is based on the abilities that God gave us as males or females and is the building block of the family. We need to protect families because they are necessary to train up children to be responsible adults and we need to protect our country because it is based on the rule of the people and the freedoms that we enjoy because of it must be protected. However, our commitment to God must preempt everything else. Our family and our country must be founded on the Word of God or they will not survive. That is why they want to destroy our religion. Our religion is our worship of and service to God and they want to erase any knowledge of God from society because they know that true Christians and Jews put God’s law above man’s law and will not serve anyone who tries to force them to disobey God’s law.
See ‘Value of the Rule of Law” and “Value of the Family” course on Udemy. Links and promos available by selecting “previous posts” and then selecting “videos”.
Sanctity of Life-A-4-W
A law allowing abortionists to kill a baby up to 28 days AFTER birth has just taken effect in California and other States are considering similar bills. Abortion was just a smoke screen to open the door to eliminate unwanted people, including severely injured, terminally sick, the elderly, and the mentally ill. All we have to do is watch what is taking place in Canada, Britain, and elsewhere in Europe. We have watched as they have legalized infanticide, mercy killing of those terminally ill or severely injured (their consent is not required), and assisted suicide, or are in the process of doing so. Margaret Sanger started what has become Planned Parenthood to limit the spread of Blacks and the poor and cashed in on government funds available for women’s health care to make it financially profitable. Planned Parenthood expanded to include abortion once it became legal to back up contraceptives which are terribly unreliable and to cash in on additional government funds which liberal politicians made available for it. A lot of the government funds they receive goes to elect politicians that will protect their cash cow and vote them additional funds. They then expanded into selling body parts gleaned from abortions to add to their income. Now, Planned Parenthood is expanding services in their college-based clinics to include gender transforming drugs and surgery and pushing for government funds. It seems that Planned Parenthood is getting increasingly greedy at our expense. While the media continues to play up every attack on an abortion clinic (which occur only occasionally), they totally ignore attacks on pro-life centers which are occurring almost daily. It is estimated that pro-life centers are attacked 22 times as often as abortion clinics. That doesn’t include churches that are attacked for their pro-life stand.
Eleventh Sunday of Kingdomtide-Nov 20
Freedom and Domination-The prophets were very clear about responsibility. The saying had been, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge”, implying that the children suffered due to the sins of their parents. While all mankind suffers because of the sins of Adam and Eve, it is because we choose to follow their example and choose our way over God’s way. God gave the law to direct our behavior towards what God had intended but our desire is to obey the letter of the law while getting around it to get our way if possible. Since our heart seeks to disobey, even when we outwardly obey, our heart isn’t in it and we are rebelling against God’s law, and the penalty for sin is death. The people later demanded a king like the other nations but God warned them that the king would tax them and conscript their sons and daughters for his benefit and would lead them away from God. In fact, that is what the kings did. The prophets reminded the people that “the soul that sins will die”. Each man is responsible for his own behavior. Men want to have someone else in charge to make decisions and take the heat for bad decisions. When we appoint leaders over us, we are authorizing them to make decisions on our behalf. We then become responsible for their decisions. If they don’t do what we want, we should remove them if we can. If we can remove them and do not, we are consenting to their decisions. When leaders take power by force and try to force us to do something that violates God’s will, we must decide whether we will obey them or obey God. We cannot claim we violated God’s law because man told us to, because no man has the authority to override God’s commands. Ultimately, God will hold us accountable for our behavior and will hold them accountable for theirs.
Schools-education-I-W
A large number of young people voted in this recent election and the majority voted for liberal politicians. They thought they were voting to protect democracy but were deceived. The only education they get is in schools where they read socialist friendly textbooks and from the media and social media that are heavily controlled by liberals. Most young people have no understanding of the issues involved because they have been fed a continual stream of liberal propaganda. They think the socialism being pushed by liberals is democracy and socialists like Joe Biden continually talk about how they are protecting democracy, while seeking to undermine it. In the early 1970’s, during the Vietnam War, many hippies were upset by the materialism of their parents and were escaping to communes where they lived a carefree life with no laws or responsibilities. The socialists flooded the college campuses with stories about how the United States had invaded Vietnam and was trying to enslave them. The kids had no idea that China had invaded Vietnam and the United States was trying to help Vietnam protect itself. The kids equated Communism (which was really socialism) with their life in the communes. As a result, the young people protested the war and eventually forced the United States to withdraw from the war allowing Vietnam to fall to the Chinese Socialists. Many of the socialists active then like Bill Clinton and John Kerry are still active in government and are now seeking to create a socialist government in the United States. The church must step up and educate the kids in the facts of the issues. That is why I have written the series on the value of life, the value of law, and the value of marriage and gender. (see promos and links to the courses on our blog under Study courses)