This is the time of the year when many of us are fighting through crowds at the malls and super-stores, trying to buy those last minute gifts that we just have to get for those loved ones on our lists.
I don’t know. Maybe it’s because we have gotten older or maybe its because all our kids are grown and the list of kids [seven], their spouses and their kids [now 13 of them] and their kids’ kids [2 of them] plus sisters [4] and their families, pastors, close friends, neighbors… but we don’t “DO” Christmas the way we used to do it.
Today we buy ‘reasonable’ presents for just the kiddies and stop once they leave school. We still pour out our love to all of them but set our goals to let them all see Jesus in this season, not Santa Claus.
We are sorry that many stores, while making their biggest sales of the year selling people things for “Christmas” will not use the word Christmas in their signage or advertising. In some stores, the clerks are prohibited from saying, “Merry Christmas.”
I was at a local grocery store buying a few things Carol had asked me to pick up and as I was checking out, the young man at the register smiled broadly and said, “Have a Happy Holiday!”
Because I was in the mood to be just a bit contrary, I asked, “Which Holiday?’
He stared blankly at me for a second and asked, “What?”
“Which Holiday do you want me to be happy for?”
“You know, the ones coming up.”
“What ones coming up?”
Blank stare. Nothing was coming out of his mouth.
“Can you say, ‘Merry Christmas?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I could lose my job.”
“Tell your boss that you lost a customer instead. Merry Christmas.”
Because these stores are afraid of offending ‘someone/anyone’ they would rather offend the Christians, who by definition are supposed to smile and turn the other cheek. They would rather offend us while they take our money than face the chance of being accused of actually recognizing an official national holiday called Christmas, because it is named after Christ, Jesus, the reason for the season.
Mega stores like Loews and Costco went the ‘holiday’ route in spite of making mega millions in Christmas sales. Target, on the other hand, Features the ‘Christmas” word boldly, even on their TV advertising.
Costco just saw the light [from above?] and bowed to Christians finally complaining and brought back Christmas to its stores.
I have been saying that we are in a post Christian America, that we Christians have forfeited our rights to the anti-Christ movement and unless we get a bit bolder in our walk and talk, we are going to lose a lot more than a Christmas display or two.
Please, express yourself in the marketplace these next few weeks, boldly speaking out something as wild as “Merry Christmas. May the Lord bless you!”
I know it may offend a few, but even invite someone to church with you for your Christmas Eve program or Candle light service. Someone may actually come with you and be blessed. Now that’s nice Christmas gift.
Your Brother in Christ,
Ed Decker
Books I have No Intention of Reading
The forewarnings we brought a few years back that the ‘harmless’ Harry Potter books and that genre would inoculate even the Christian youth to the occult have come true.
The December 17, 2008 USA Today, Section D, Front Page, Snapshot listed the top 5 best selling books in the nation.
1. The Tales of Beedle the Bard J.K. Rowling
2. Twilight Stephanie Meyer
3. New Moon Stephanie Meyer
4. Breaking Dawn Stephanie Meyer
5. Eclipse Stephanie Meyer
On December 18,2008, USA Today ran the following glowing review of Meyer’s books.
Meyer stakes her claim as top author
By Deirdre Donahue, Jocelyn McClurg, Carol Memmott, Bob Minzesheimer and Craig Wilson, USA TODAY
Last year, our book of the year was J.K. Rowling's wonderfully satisfying final Harry Potter title, Deathly Hallows. This year, we're giving a big shout-out not to one book, but to one author — Stephenie Meyer, queen of the teen vampires.
Her four-title "Twilight" series — about a teen girl smitten with a smoldering (but honorable) teen vampire — took a huge bite out of book sales this year, and the hit movie version of Twilight confirmed Meyer's status as a pop-culture phenomenon. Her Twilight books claimed the No. 1 spot on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list a dominating 18 times in 2008.
Meyer, 34, wasn't satisfied with making just her teen readers swoon: She also had an adult best seller with The Host, a science-fiction tale of aliens subjugating the human race. Not bad for a Mormon mom with a (chaste) taste for blood.
I was speaking to an on fire, young Christian woman who had just finished taking some post graduated classes at a very strong Christian University who asked me about the book and movie, Twilight. She commented that so many of the young women in her dorm were enthralled by the book. She was a little concerned about the occult slant to the book.
In case any of you doubt that the occult has a death grip on our youth, not only in the world, but in the church, please read this important report:
Bringing Twilight out into the Son
Blockbuster books and hit movie confuse evil with good
By Eric Barger @
http://www.ericbarger.com/emailers/2008/update11-26-2008.htm
The Presbyterian Church Really said this about Freemasonry
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The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), with denominational offices in Louisville Kentucky, has approximately 2.3 million members, more than 10,000 congregations and 14,000 ordained and active ministers.
Presbyterians trace their history to the 16th century and the Protestant Reformation. Their heritage, and much of what they believe, began with John Calvin (1509-1564), whose writings crystallized the basic tenets of the church
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Constitutional Musings: Note 7
Secret Societies, Masons
From time to time the Office of the General Assembly is asked if the Assembly has stated a position on secret societies: whether they are cults or heretical; whether a person is permitted to be minister or an elder while being a member of a secret society.
There is no reference to General Assembly actions relating to Secret Societies or to the Masons in more than seventy years. It took some digging to find but the most recent action is from the United Presbyterian Church in North America, Article XXXV of The Confessional Statement, adopted in 1925:
Of Church Fellowship
We believe that all who have accepted Christ as their Redeemer should unite themselves with some branch of the visible Church, in order to share in the privileges and responsibilities of its members and confess Christ before men; that under Christ they should yield the Church their supreme loyalty, honoring its ordinances and seeking its welfare in season and out of season; and that with this they should forsake all associations, whether secret or open, that they find prejudicial to their Church allegiance and a hindrance to the fulfillment of Christian duties. (Digest, 1942 page 16)
Another note:
In Alexander's PCUS Digest, published in1910, at page 37 there is a note to the General Assembly minutes, 1904 page 42: “The Assembly records its hearty commendation of the brave stand taken by the majority in the Synod of Brazil in refusing to make membership in the Order of Free Masons a bar to communion in the Church.”
Ask Your Pastor About Your Church’s Stand on Secret Societies
ONLY IN UTAH
In Utah, the Parowan Prophet predicts disaster will prevent Obama from taking office
Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times
Leland Freeborn and 12 other survivalists meet every Monday at his home. The group believes Leland is a prophet and they come to hear his predictions.
'He will not be the next president,' Leland Freeborn warns those who will listen. He and his followers expect nuclear explosions this Christmas season.
By PETER H. KING LATimes
December 13, 2008
Reporting from Parowan, Utah -- Our trip to the Parowan Prophet began with a letter to the St. George Spectrum. It was set among missives proposing that oil companies bail out Detroit automakers, that county inmates be forced to winter in tents, that lawyers be barred from public office. A rough crowd.
This particular letter to the editor in the St. George, Utah, newspaper carried the headline " 'Prophet' shares grim forecast," and it was signed by one Leland Freeborn of Parowan, who wrote that he was known to many as the Parowan Prophet.
After establishing his bona fides as an international talk radio guest and proprietor of a survivalist website that has "passed more than 100,000 hits," Freeborn wrote:
"I think that you should hear what my opinion about the Obama election is: that he will not be the next president. I said on my home page in August that if he lost to expect to see the 'riots' that 2 Peter 2:13 tells us about. He didn't lose. But the story is not finished yet. I still think they may begin the riots before Christmas 2008, as I said."
These riots, according to his prophecy, will encourage the "old, hard-line Soviet guard" to seize the moment and rain down nukes on the United States, killing at least 100 million of us.
"Prepare now," Freeborn's letter concluded. "We are downwind from Las Vegas. I hope you can survive."
King is a Times staff writer.
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Tuesday, November 25, 2008 ReligionCause.blogspot.com
Yesterday the United Nations General Assembly's Third Committee (which focuses on social humanitarian and cultural issues) adopted a controversial resolution urging countries to combat the defamation of religion. Canwest News Service reports that the resolution passed 85-50, with 42 abstentions.
The 6-page Resolution includes a call for "all States to provide, within their respective legal and constitutional systems, adequate protection against acts of hatred, discrimination, intimidation and coercion resulting from defamation of religions and incitement to religious hatred in general...."
Similar resolutions have been put forward in other U.N. venues as part of a campaign by the Organization of the Islamic Conference. (See prior posting.) Canwest says that "While this year's draft is less Islam-centric that resolutions of earlier years, analysts note it is more emphatic in linking religion defamation and incitement to violence."
The American Jewish Committee, in a release yesterday, said that the resolution, sponsored by Belarus, Uganda, and Venezuela, "stifles valid scrutiny of radical Islam and condones intimidation as a response to insensitive speech." Scoop News says that this year's vote in favor of the resolution reflected a decline in support, stemming from efforts by groups such as the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and UN Watch to muster opposition the measure.
Time is still Short
Remember? Last month I warned about the “Hate Bill” H. R. 1592, that appears to be directed toward discrimination against gays, but held the power to close down churches and ministries that spoke out about, first homosexuality, then any words that would offend people of any minority or faith. I believe that this will be in force within the next few years.
It is already at work in Canada and other countries. DO not give up your biblical rights to speak out against the ‘doctrines of demons” that have already shut down much of the Christian rights and voices in the USA.
Stand with us as we battle for the souls of those lost in spiritual darkness and send in a gift to get us out of the Red and end the year in the Black. We really need your financial help and your prayers.
Speaking of Prayers
As many of you who have been around for a while know, I spend a few weeks at each year end, pa raying for the ministry and for the specific needs of those who write or email in or use the prayer feature on our website.
Drop me a quick note and let me know how to pray for your needs so that I can join with you in lifting up your prayers to the Lord. A lot of prayers we have shared have been answered. Praying together works!
We Could Use Some help right now.
Please take a moment and send us a gift. Help us help the lost and help us end the year in the black instead of the red. Every gift, large or small, makes it possible for us to stay on the web and to keep ministering to those lost in spiritual darkness
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Have a Wonder-filled Christmas
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