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When Jesus was asked to name the top priorities of God’s religion he didn’t mince any words but was straightforward–Love God with everything you have (heart, mind & soul) and love your neighbour as yourself (See Matthew 22:37-40).  When pressed another time about what love of neighbour meant–Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan.  In that story Jesus intentionally mentions two religious people who would pass on by and then someone who wasn’t of the ‘proper’ crowd and did what God wanted (Read Luke 10:25-37) then Jesus issued the command that we are to ‘go and do the same’ (Luke 10:37).

It is soon after Jesus gave the instructions of what is the most important command(s) to follow that he began a critique of the Pharisee model for doing religion (Matthew 23).

Jesus warned his followers earlier of being like or becoming like a Pharisee.  There is a danger that the desire to do what is right can be so strong in us that we grow attracted to this line of thinking.  We need to occasionally stop and assess the direction we are taking in matters of religion and ensure that we are not going down the wrong road unintentionally.  Jesus’ words of loving God and loving our neighbour are not contrary to one another but complementary.  Meaning what?  Meaning that what we do in service of God should be promoting actions that are loving to our neighbour (even a ‘godless’ Samaritan).

Listen to the following verses explain it:

When dealing with acts of religious devotion for instance Paul said: ‘For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised.  What is important is faith expressing itself in love.’ Galatians 5:6

When talking about the need to meet on the Lord’s Day (Sunday) the Hebrew writer said: ‘Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.  And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.’ Hebrews 10:24,25

Or, when talking about religious faith James tells us: ‘So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough.  Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.’ James 2:17

In all these instances and the majority of the emphasis of Jesus–the encouragement to do good is not simply to re-cycle religious actions but to move from our religious practice and devote ourselves to doing good in everyday living.  So, a good question: are our religious acts moving and encouraging us and others, to be better people towards our ‘neighbours’?

Pharisees have certain characteristics Jesus said and one of them that we looked at last time was they like people to notice them.  For some reason this is something that Jesus really doesn’t like.  The opposite of humility is the opposite of him.

Another characteristic that Jesus brings up is this: Pharisees seem to pick and choose what requirements they are actually required to follow.  At times, they will require of others things that Jesus or the apostles never required (the case of circumcision in Acts 15 being a good example).  At other times, while they will require things that aren’t requirements, they will also leave off things that actually are required.

Sound confusing?  Jesus says the Pharisees would be under a great woe because they: ‘said under one instance their word was binding but under another instance it wasn’t but Jesus said that it is always binding’ (Matthew 23:16-22).  They were also under a great woe because they: ‘were very careful to examine all of their possessions, including a little herb, and give a tithe of it but at the same time neglected things such as justice (treating everyone fairly), mercy (treating everyone with compassion and not judgment) & faith (trusting in God).’  Jesus even said that what they were doing was emphasizing lesser things (religious actions) and ignoring greater things (actions that evidenced love of God and neighbour) (Matthew 23:23-24).

This is an interesting challenge–religion can become a satisfying replacement for living life under God’s direction.  It’s challenging due to the fact that we may not even realize this is happening to us.  Earlier when Jesus was being criticized for not following their ‘age-old tradition’ (Matthew 15:2 NLT) he replied that the Pharisees ‘cancel the word of God for the sake of their own tradition’ (Matthew 15:6).  What were they doing?  They were simply saying that by doing something for God they were excused from having to fulfill God’s actual commands of taking care of their parents.

Sometimes we need re-clarification of what it is that God wants to accomplish through His people.  What is it that God wants His people devoted to?  What is it that God considers to be pure and undefiled religion (James 1:27)?  What kinds of things does God say are ‘requirements’ on all that should never be avoided?  How do we not become a Pharisee and begin to insist on things that are traditional while avoiding things that God says are necessary for the care of others?  How do we learn to perform the ‘lesser’ things of the law but emphasize appropriately the ‘greater’ things of justice, mercy & faith?

God Bless and Have a Good Day

Sometimes it is difficult to realize that you were once what troubles you now.  I tried to get on a facebook group that was for ‘my’ tribe of preachers and when I finally was accepted what I discovered wasn’t that great.  It is a group where statements are supposed to be said, opinions expressed, questions asked and all was supposedly to be done in a ‘God-honouring’ way.  What is discovered is that anyone who doesn’t go with the group’s original thinkers is due to receive numerous put-downs and harsh critiques and others who even just offer a question is subject to having their comments removed so others cannot see them and possibly ‘entertain’ them.  There is a difficulty when people want things done one way always and that there can be no real purpose in doing things in other ways.  It is still hard for me to believe that there are a good number (although it is shrinking) of people still out there who think somehow that every way we did church in the 1950′s or 70′s is the perfect, unchangeable way.  What is more difficult is to believe that there are a good number (and this is shrinking too) that thinks anyone who doesn’t want or agree with this is equivalent to something horrible or as one person put it: the spawn of Rubel (which is supposedly a horrible insult).

A lot of us preachers unfortunately were at one time or another like this many years ago.  The church was in quite a bit of trouble due to a group of Pharisees who were Christians but couldn’t tolerate the idea that some new Gentile (non-Jewish) converts could do this ‘God-thing’ differently then they did emphasizing different practices.  They would hound this new group for many years and not give up easily the fight to ‘require’ them to do as they believed should be done.  Sadly, the main defender of Gentile freedom in Christ (See Galatians 5:1) was the apostle Paul who knew the very mindset of being a Pharisee (See Philippians 3).

So, how do we escape Pharisaic thinking that either seeks to demand others follow a set of requirements that Jesus himself never required or one that we ourselves might have?

Pharisee thinking sets as requirements (for ‘good’ reasons) things that Jesus himself never set.  We must be able to answer in the affirmative the question that someone can be faithful if they simply followed the words of Jesus and the apostles.

Pharisee thinking also places heavy burdens on people.  There are some aspects of following Jesus that are difficult, but the Pharisee ideal is one that is ‘burdensome.’  Think about this–it might be difficult to keep confessing your faith in Jesus when it is against the law somewhere but it is burdensome when someone declares that you must read the Bible so many times a day, attend so many meetings a week, make sure you pray every so often, fast often, make sure you….and so many other ‘necessities’ that you are just burnt out and not enjoying your life in Jesus and not being transformed by it either.

One of the other things Jesus told us about the Pharisees is this–they love people to ‘notice’ them.  They want to be noticed especially for their religious practices and abilities.  As Jesus said ‘Everything they do is for show….they love to sit in the seats of honor in the synagogues.’ (Matthew 23:5,6)

When a Pharisee begins to move–watch how often they will describe all that ‘they do’ and how they expect that somehow to ‘wow’ the crowd or ‘move’ others to try to copy them.  Notice that everything they will begin to talk about bears little resemblance with the actually directions Jesus gave his followers in Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.  To a Pharisee the words of Jesus that ‘just a cup of water’ or Paul’s that ‘those who are less honourable we pour more honour on’ aren’t really the truth but instead it is the one ‘who puts on the greatest show’ that gets others to notice that really counts.

The church needs to learn again the important truth that if Jesus is pleased it really doesn’t matter if anyone else is.  With that truth comes freedom–good freedom that allows us to be free from other people’s unnecessary requirements placed on us.

God Bless and Have a Good Day

 ’They wanted to enslave us and force us to follow their Jewish regulations.’ Paul–Galatians 2:4

     As we looked at in the first installment of this series–the Pharisee ideal is a dangerous one seeing that it is somehow very attractive to people who want to be ‘right’ and they were not simply a group that opposed Jesus but became a significant group even within the early church and one of their things was the attempt to make everyone do what they said should be done.  Even though the leaders of the church were affirming the new people coming in who were not following the same traditions, this group thought everyone else had just ‘gotten’ it wrong and insisted that others need to be required to observe what they thought.

     How do we avoid being trapped by others who might be like the Pharisees and how do we avoid becoming attracted to a Pharisaic ideal?

     This isn’t as easy as it sounds.  Jesus warned his followers about the teachings of the Pharisees probable because there is something about being a Pharisee that might ‘seem’ right.  We also need to recognize that there are many people who might at one moment be trapped into a Pharisee mindset but once recovered from that can grow and become great followers of Jesus (see Paul for example).

    Remember one of the traits is the need to place requirements on others that Jesus himself never set.  You would think this was easy to note but when you are caught inside of it–it is not so obvious.  Why?  Because you probably have heard a number of reasons as to why this requirement is required and have been convinced and so you actually think it is equal to a requirement of Jesus.

     Here is another trait of the Pharisee: ‘They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.’ (Matthew 23:4)

    The ideal of the Pharisee places unnecessary burdens on others and they are burdens they themselves never face.  You might wonder how this fits with something like circumcision–every Pharisee would counter–hey, Jesus, we are only asking them to do what we have done. 

     Is that true? 

     There is something in scripture that is very important and that is everyone is different in some respect.  We know this as part of a human condition.  All of us are under different emotional, familial, financial, spiritual, physical and many other stresses. 

A recently divorced mother who is trying to make ends meet and is working a job while trying to keep a household together is certainly not in the same condition as a recently retired, happily married man whose children are all out on their own with well paying jobs.

     What does a Pharisee do?  See no difference and begins to make demands that both of them regardless of what is going on in their lives have to do the same religious acts to show their devotion to God.  Now would you agree that while both might be ‘required’ to do the ‘same’ things, the ‘burdens’ on each are entirely of different weight?

     Going further with what Jesus said though–one of the things about Pharisees is the idea that one is right with God based on how many religious duties one performs.  What you notice is that what is done outside of ‘religion’ is relegated to lesser importance over what one does with these duties.  Jesus however reversed it–what one does in relation to everyday life is of more importance and when our religious duties do not serve how we live day to day–we need to take a second look at what exactly our religion is for.

     ‘Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.’ James 1:27

     ‘But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile converst must be circumcised and required to follow the Law of Moses.’ Acts 15:5

     The church was in some difficulty.  I should say it was facing a difficult time with regards to how it was going to look in the future.  For the first time in history, God’s people was taking on a non-traditional look.  They were no longer bound by the institutional markers and this was causing some unrest.  Non-Jewish people were being freely allowed entry into what was previously a fully-Jewish group and now the questions were starting to be ‘forced.’  What complicated matters was that the apostles, who were supposed to be the guardians of the institution, were not only allowing this but almost celebrating it.  This was the reason for the great Jerusalem council of Acts 15.  Here was finally the opportunity for a significant part of the group to raise their concerns: they laid down their ‘absolutes’, these new people must observe the same things we have been observing for centuries or they cannot really be a part of us.  It is so certain to them that they refuse to acknowledge what the apostles really have to say on the matter!  Even though the apostles and the rest of the assembly come to an understanding of this–they will still continue to hound this question all they way through the early years of the church. (See Galatians 2 for more examples of this).

     The Pharisees are given a lot of press in the pages of the New Testament.  There are cases of their opposing Jesus, cases of some of them deciding to follow Jesus, and cases of when they even defended the rights of someone like the apostle Paul. 

     Jesus gave a couple of warnings to his disciples:

     ‘”Watch out!” Jesus warned them, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisess and Sadducees.”….Then at last they understood that he wasn’t speaking about the yeast in bread, but about the deceptive teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Matthew 16:6,12

     “But I warn you–unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!” Matthew 5:20

     There are a number of things to notice about the Pharisees–many of them were part of this group out of a sincere desire to be and do what is right.  One of the dangers and Jesus’ warning hints at this–is that the Pharisee idea is attractive to people who want to be right and they somehow become deceived by it.  There were many Pharisees who seeing Jesus and the true teachings made the decision to follow him and give up their old ways.  We also need to realize that the danger of following Pharisee teaching is still present even with those who follow Jesus as evidenced by their group in Acts 15.

     Over the next few articles we will look at specific traits of Pharisaism and how we can learn to avoid them or even at times acknowledge when we possess them:

Notice from the opening verse that one of the things that marks a Pharisee is the need to place requirements on others that Jesus himself never set.  They cannot see that these new converts can be good Christians, good members of the church without doing the things that they feel are necessary.  Their problem is not in the things that Jesus says you must do, but in the things they say you must do.

Can people follow Jesus in a proper way, just doing the things that Jesus & the apostles say?  What happens when other people come up with rules and requirements that simply are tradition-based?  How do we show the difference between optional tools and required practices? 

One way is to remember that the goal of the Christian is to be transformed into the image of Jesus.  A question we can always ask is how does this help me become and behave in the wider world more like him? 

Paul put it this way when still being pressed about the circumcision requirement: ‘For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised.  What is important is faith expressing itself in love.’ Galatians 5:6

God Bless and Have a Good Day

     What do you make of people who are strange?  Have you ever stopped and considered that whatever you might feel about them, they might feel the same about you?

     Our church is going through a three year process that is designed to transform our imagination from being an attractional church (this is the common church model of the past forty years at least where the church does whatever it can to try to ‘attract’ people into coming to church which simply feeds a conumer idea of church: ‘unless the church is giving me something that I like I will not be a part of it’) into a missional church (this is where most churches at one time were when they began–the idea that the church is intended by God to be a presence in the community around them and being a part of other peoples lives).

     Anyway, one of the things this process is about is learning how to relate to the strangers around us.  Noticing who they are, becoming involved with strangers so that walls of separation are broken down and maybe some of them will no longer be strangers (maybe a waitress at a local restaurant, a fellow patient at the doctors office etc.)  It is learning to notice them regardless whether or not they ‘have’ anything you feel you need at the moment.

     What might you discover about the stranger?  What might happen when the stranger becomes someone you notice and someone you engage with?  I have had to be very intentional about this: I have spoken to a waiter named Mick at Cora’s who after introducing himself to us we replied with our first names, we all laughed and now he notices us and says, ‘it is good to see you guys again.’  There was a young guy at the mental health who asked me if I knew if there was a photography magazine around and we spoke for 10 minutes about his love of photography and what he hopes to do after high school.  Who knows?

     Here is something my teenage daughter taught us–the percentage of strangers who actually want to do something bad to you is very, very minimal.  Most of our contact with strangers is in very controlled environments which means there is a greater degree of safety.  One thing you might discover is that most of these people we think of as ‘strange’ have a lot of the same questions of life that we do–while there are some who want to remain ‘strangers’ there are perhaps many others who simply want to ‘connect’.

     ‘Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!’  Hebrews 13:2

     ‘Oh, things are going down….’, ‘I am so worried because people should be doing….’, ‘I don’t know what we can do to turn this thing around…’

     Sound familiar?  These are common statements at times of anxiety when families, churches, businesses or anything else is not going according to plan.  ‘Whose plan?’ you ask.  That is the question. 

     Eventually, the life of following Jesus has to grow from truths that we believe in Scripture into truths we know from experience.  There are always going to be basic scriptural truths that serve as the foundation of our faith.  It was true for the apostle Paul, King David and others and it will be true for us.  There is One God, Jesus Christ is God’s Son, Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead and so many others are our faith-foundations.

     Then, there are truths that go along with scripture that add to our faith to make it a solid house.  It was true for teh apostle Paul, King David and others and it will be true for us.  These truths come from experiences that we have with the Living God.  It was experience not an ancient writing that caused David to say: Even though I walk through the valley of the Shadow of death I will fear no evil, for you are with me. (Psalm 23).  It was experience not simply biblical truths that allowed Paul to declare: we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. (Romans

     So, what do we do when things are not going according to plan?  Well, we begin with this:

1) Recognize whose plan it is!  Usually, we are the ones who are making plans and then trying our best to get people to go along with them.  There are certain things that should happen because we have done this.  We work every angle we can to attempt to manipulate the responses of others and then when it isn’t working, we grow anxious.  We tried to put it under our control and are starting to realize we simply don’t have control over it.

2) Allow God to be in control!  The fellowship I am a part of has many great qualities to it.  One of them is the need for biblical guidance.  But, this should not make God unable to lead the church with plans today.  The fact is that God is still leading His church and when we allow Him to be in control there are a few things we learn: a.-we humble ourselves under His mighty hand.  What does this really mean to humble ourselves?  b–He will lift us in due time.  What time?  His time, when it is right!  c–We can cast our anxieities on Him.  We don’t have to be constantly worrying about making things and people turn out right or the way we want them to.  d–because he cares for us.  The reason we don’t have to be anxious about our plans working out, is not because it is a sin, but because God actually cares for us.  (All these points are from 1 Peter 5:6,7)

3) God always leads us in victory!  Paul was anxious about his friend Titus in 2 Corinthians 2.  Things weren’t going the way Paul planned them.  But, what Paul discovered was not an issue of his leadership but God’s!  Paul was then able to tell all Christians for all time that God can be thanked always because God is always in Christ leading us in victory.  Don’t miss Paul’s extreme terms–God is always leading us in victory!

How do we begin to experience these truths of God for our own lives?  It is going to begin with putting into practice our trust in the leadership of God and our trust that the Spirit of God is in us as well as our fellow Christians so that God will be thanked and God will be seen as leading us always in victory.  It is understanding that our plans are not the final test in what God Himself is doing for His people.

God Bless and Have a Good day

     This is not a story about how I have finally discovered that out there in the world somewhere is a lost brother of mine and I just received word from him and we are going to have a long overdue reunion.

     No, it is much, much simpler than that but it is just as meaningful perhaps.  There is an older man in the church that I am a part of that is a real treat to be around.  His name is Bob and he is in his 90′s and he and his wife have been a part of our congregation the past 12 years.  Always there with a firm ‘farmer’s’ handshake and a good joking spirit.

     Anyway–there was something very touching in yesterday’s service at our church.  As I was beginning the lesson, I was going through the history of one of the songs that Christians have been singing for quite a while.  ‘I serve a risen Savior’.  Written as a response to some people’s claims that the story of Jesus was not really true, but only true in the sense that it was inspiration or merely metaphor.  As I then proceeded to speak the words of the song–I was nearing the end of the chorus–’He Lives, He Lives, Christ Jesus lives today, He walks with me, and talks with me, along life’s narrow way, He Lives, He Lives, Salvation to impart…you ask me how I know he lives….’ and that is when Bob said out loud–”He Lives within my heart!”

     That was a great moment and I hope a lot of people heard him.  While I was telling a story and attempting to use it in a ‘teaching’ manner and even as inspiration…Bob spoke out loud something far greater.  Bob spoke a very clear ‘faith statement.’  He was not simply telling everyone he knew what the finish line of that song was.  He was affirming something he has come to know and believe fully…Jesus lives in his heart.  For me that was remarkable–something that will prove to be memorable for as long as my memory is able to recall. 

     Yesterday I was preached to in a very powerful way from a sermon that took Bob only 5 seconds to speak.  Like the grandpa teaching his grandson how to swing the baseball bat–my older brother Bob was guiding me and everyone else on the life of faith with Jesus.  Here was a man who has gone a long time on the journey of life with the Living Lord!  He can say with full confidence that as he is growing older that Jesus has remained a faithful friend.  It is important for these moments to happen as one generation gives way to the next–that the story of Jesus being the One who lives today–who was crucified on a cross and rose from the dead and thus lives among his people–be passed on not simply as intellectual argument but as experienced fact.

     Who can you listen to that tells you the great story of the faithfulness of Jesus and how they have experienced it?

God Bless and Have a Good Day

P.S.  Love this football season so far–really exciting playoffs–not doing to well in my picks–although this weekend I picked both the Pats and the Giants to win.  Will be cheering for the Patriots but the Giants are playing incredibly well and Eli has become more of a money quarterback than his brother.

     It is hard not to think that what you feel is necessary everyone should feel the same.  It is hard not to think that what you feel is wrong everyone should feel the same.  If a great majority of people agree with you and make sure they get their way, you feel pretty good and everyone who disagrees with you is simply ‘out of luck’, ‘in the wrong’ or even ‘downright foolish.’  If however you are in the minority (maybe even a great minority) and are now forced to engage in an activity that you absolutely believe is wrong or forced to not engage in an activity that you absolutely believe is necessary–feelings of resentment, guilt, shame to anger will be experienced.

     One of the important truths Jesus and Paul teach us about following Jesus is that it is voluntary and never to be forced.  No one is ever to be forced to do something that is contrary to their conscience.  Jesus won’t force us, Paul would never force us and as Christians we shouldn’t force other Christians or those who are not Christians.

     Pictured above are my maternal grandparents, Lloyd & Mabel Bailey.  Grandpa was a farmer and a preacher.  He preached for four different churches in Ontario and then served as a missionary in India in the early 70′s.  When he was a missionary far off, grandma took care of the farm back home.  They were extremely dedicated Christians.  They served people in a number of ways in living out their Christian call.  They laughed a lot and were joys to be around.  Grandpa died at the age of 72 and Grandma passed just a couple of years ago at 94.  There were a few things that they disagreed with and I wonder what some people would think of them?

     Recently I read where a very popular preacher who likes to be known as ‘on the edge’ called my grandparents ‘nitwits’.  Another preacher said my grandpa was one of those ‘old-timers who was stuck’.  I hear other such things from people from time to time.  Why do they say these things? 

     My grandparents did not believe that a Christmas tree should be put up either in their home or at the church building.  They never said another person who wanted to celebrate Christmas couldn’t, nor did they refuse to be gracious to those who had trees in their homes (we always had one and we enjoyed each other’s company over the holiday season).  They just believed that Christmas was a man-made holiday and they didn’t feel right observing it.  This might surprise some, but there are still members of the church I attend that feel the same way.  In fact, I was talking to a friend from a different denomination who said the same about his church.

     So, what are we to do?

Paul gives us a clue: ‘One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike.  Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.  The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord.’ (Romans 14:5,6)

     Paul doesn’t just give us a clue–he told us exactly what to do.  Christmas is not a season that Christians should be engaging in war.  Are people nitwits because they don’t agree with the majority?  Should we force people into observing things?  Or, is there room for Paul’s instructions that those who observe the day do so in honor of the Lord and those who do not instead treat all days equally?  Those who would try to make everyone celebrate and those who would try to make nobody celebrate both need to listen to Paul again.

     I love to celebrate Christmas in all the ways it can be.  But, let me throw a caution that we don’t forget to honour the consciences of those around us.  Someone doesn’t have to be a nitwit or an old fool because they choose not to celebrate it!

God Bless and Have a Good Day

     There seems to be no shortage of evidence among us that people are making a war on Christmas and that means they are waging a war against the Christian religion.  After all, people are sending out letters with the words ‘Happy Holidays’ on them.  Others are removing Jesus from the entire story by saying ‘Merry X-mas’.  Some people want mall stores to be open on December 25th and go against the tradition of the founding fathers!  Just the other night someone broke into my house beat me up with my own Christmas stocking and then burned down my tree and took all of our presents out from under the tree.  If you didn’t catch it–that last one is not true.

     Let’s be clear–I love Christmas.  I say ‘merry Christmas’ to all the people I can (but I will not say it to people who I know are of other religions and will not ‘do to them what I would not want done to me.’–those words do come from Jesus I believe), I love singing carols, setting up a Christmas tree and all the other things that go with it.

     But, there are some things that we need to really think about before declaring all these signs that show Christmas under attack.  There are things Christians need to be concerned about but we must make sure that we separate fact from fiction:

1)  The depiction ‘Happy Holidays’ is as honouring of God as the one that says ‘Merry Christmas’.  In fact–no where in the Bible will one ever find instructions of having a ‘Christ-Mass’ on December 25th but you can find the idea of people observing ‘holy’ days unto the Lord.  Did you know that through history some of the biggest opponents to people celebrating a holiday known as Christmas have been Christians?  If these brothers and sisters in Christ do not believe we should ever celebrate an event called Christmas–should we force them into saying ‘Merry Christmas’?

2) Calling the time of year ‘X-mas’ season is not as opposed to ‘Christmas’ as some might have us believe.  The X is simply a capitalization of the Greek letter ‘chi’ which was used as a short form for the name of Christ.  In fact, ‘X-mas’ has been around a very long time as a specific way to refer to ‘Christ’-mas!  So, when a fellow Christian uses the phrase ‘X-mas’ they are not doing dishonour to the Lord in any way–but simply referring to him in another way.

3)  Often, people will talk about how the pilgrims intended their to be religious freedom in America and most of that was intended for Christianity.  Fair enough–I wasn’t there–but a fact that might not be known is that the pilgrims had banned any kind of celebration of Christmas.  Anyone who was found wishing someone else a ‘Merry Christmas’ or was exchanging gifts on this date would be fined.  So, if Christmas wasn’t part of the pilgrims first experiences in the new land, when did the Christmas event become what it became?

4) Some do not realize this fact either–congress actually worked on December 25th in their very first session and in fact, it did not become a federal holiday in the United States until 1870.  Think about this–for almost 100 years from it’s beginning–America did not recognize Christmas as a national holiday.

Both the pilgrims and the early fathers of America would have had no problem with stores being opened on December 25th.

Now, take pride in honouring the name of Christ.  Have fun with your family.  Say Merry Christmas, X-mas, happy holidays to whoever you wish to.  Tell others the story of Jesus and why his coming to earth is such an important event.  Exchange gifts with loved ones, share out of your blessings with the less fortunate.  Truly use this season to tell people about the meaning of the Star, the tree, the angels, the shepherds, the lights and so many other things.  Do so not with an axe to grind but a story to tell.  We are not here to win an argument or a political issue.  We are here to help more people understand how wonderful it is that heaven sent us this gift and announced: ‘peace and good will to all men.’

Maybe there is a war on Christmas–but make sure that all of us who want to honour Christ–want to make this a season of waging Christ’s peace!

God Bless and Have a Good Day

Judgment 3-Are You Confused

The third and final lesson–to help sort out some of the confusion surrounding all these end-times predictions.  Most important thing of all–God wants His people to not be worried