So many are saying; "It just doesn't feel like Christmas this year." Could it be that the Bible prophesied, "spirit and end-time era of anti-Christ," has cast its dark and foreboding shadow over the season, that we have historically and joyfully remembered the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ?
"For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist" (II John 7).
The beloved apostle, John, warned that the spirit of anti-Christ was at work even in his day; "Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that is the last time" (I John 1:18). Well, what would John think if he could come back and spend just one day in this present age? I am confident that just one day, reading, watching, hearing, the news reports of current events, would provoke the beloved apostle into a Holy Ghost inspired tirade that the end-time is upon us.
One can hardly find a nativity scene anywhere this Christmas, on public or private property. How many Christmas songs has anyone heard, with a religious tone; at the mall, in the stores, or on the radio? Faithful watchmen have warned for years about the growing war on Christianity, with little notice from the average Christian, "at ease in Zion"; the Biblical description of a church-age asleep, (see Amos 6:1).
Now, a national news outlet reports that an atheist group is planning the first ever TV Christmas special, supposedly debunking the story of Christ at Christmas. Billboards have risen up in some cities, saying, "Who needs Christ at Christmas" and another showing a little girl writing to Santa Claus, saying, "All I want for Christmas is not to have to go to church, I am too old for fairy tales."
All this at a time when the battle rages; military chaplains not allowed to pray in Jesus' name, while Wiccan witch worship is permitted at one of our noted military academies; when a child is suspended from school for saying "God bless you" after another student sneezed. Some schools are changing what has always been called "Christmas break" to "Holiday break". In Wisconsin a road sign that read "Merry Christmas" was taken down because of a complaint. It was not that long ago, when the Christian Supreme Court Chief Justice was expelled from his office for refusing to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the Alabama Supreme Court building, at the same time there were statues depicting characters from pagan mythology in the same building.
Some public schools that forbid Bible reading and prayer, are now teaching sensitivity classes for Islam, and punishing Christian students who rightfully protest that if Christ is not allowed in the classroom, why should they be forced to study an anti-Christ religion.
Satanist are persistent with their attempts to erect a monument to Satan at the capitol in Oklahoma. Our President, speaking at a Christian university on a nationally televised event, demanded that the name "Jesus" behind him be covered with a black cloth. He is on record saying, the USA is not a Christian nation. Furthermore, he has said; "The future holds no place for those who disrespect the prophet of Islam."
Increasingly, "Merry Christmas" has been replaced with "Happy Holidays". Christmas parties are called holiday parties. The trend started casually years ago, when Christmas, became Xmas. Think about it! Such hatred for Christ, they had to take Christ out of the word Christmas, and replace it with an X. "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not" (John1:10).
It is more than simple nostalgia; but, a sense of loss for the spirit of a bygone era, when Christmas was noticed as that "special" time of the year, even some called it "magical". When everywhere, people spoke of a season of good will toward all. Christmas then was more than Santa Claus, reindeer, trees, and gifts; we still have those in abundance; but, something now is missing. None other than an angel heralded that momentous night in Bethlehem, two millenniums ago, when Christ was born, saying; "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people" (Luke 2:10). When Christ is evicted from anyplace, real joy leaves with Him!
When Jesus came the first time, He was ignored, unnoticed, and unwanted; as the blessed Christmas carol says, "No place to lay His sweet head." Only a modest manger awaited Him, and a few wise men sought Him out. It is not an idle cliché to say, "Wise men still seek him."
Just before He comes to Earth again, and Bible prophecy cannot be clearer; if the world has no place for Him; cultures, governments, and religions turn Him away; let us who adore Him, welcome Him into the humble mangers of our hearts.
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