Years ago, I spoke with a friend and his wife who had just lost a pretty substantial sum of money.  Their retirement investment had soured and several thousand dollars of their nest egg had vaporized with a little hiccup of the market.  At the same time, the malfeasance of the investment firm that had been handling their account was discovered, and it was apparent, some hundreds of dollars of their hard earned money had been embezzled.  As I listened to their story, my mind was captivated by the thousands lost in the market while the hundreds of embezzled dollars seemed to me to pale in comparison.  I was a little taken back when my friend explained, “We’re okay with the loss of our investment dollars; we understood and agreed to the risks when we invested.” “The real issue here is that people we had  trusted have stolen from us—that is a bitter pill to swallow.”  My friends were “victims” in the classical sense, suffering personal loss at the hand of someone who intended them harm.

  One might ask, “Why would anyone choose to harm or defraud another?”  The answer is simple, and biblical, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)”  This is not to say that mankind is incapable of doing anything right, but still, the nature of man is inherently selfish, greedy and often bold in its effort to satisfy itself.  Consequently, a nation, community, business, home, or even an individual is measured by its propensity to do good, or to do evil.  While you and I vacillate on the spectrum somewhere between doing right and doing wrong, we unwittingly judge others according to how they measure up to to our own standards.  Without some help, we are all hopelessly destined to end up in a downward spiral toward disarray and eventual destruction.

  My point is very simple; we were created to be subject to the Almighty, to live our lives according to His principles and precepts.  He alone is able to save us from ourselves.  Questions? …There are about 1,700 pages of answers in the Bible!

  It seems apparent that contemporary minds are content to turn Christmas, and all of the holidays (holy-days), into feeding frenzies for the appetites of the flesh, or occasions to flatter themselves and their constituents with imaginative self-worth.  But it is not compulsory that you or I conform.  It is perfectly acceptable for us to maintain the perspective of those in whose minds these celebrations were established. 

  Both the word Christmas, and the season, begin with Christ.  Someone aptly stated, “He is the reason for the season.”  Consider how it all began in the mind of God, who, because of His great love, purposed to send His own Son to purchase a pardon for sinful men, at the cost of His own life’s blood.  Without the forgiveness that He offers, no one would ever be worthy to stand in the presence of Holy God—all would be destined to a devil’s hell.

  Just before that first Christmas, Jesus, the eternal Son of God, left the splendors of Heaven to inhabit the body of a babe and to be born of a Jewish virgin named Mary.  The seed of a man was supernaturally placed in her womb by the Spirit of God.  The birth of Jesus Christ, the “God Man,” is the sole reason for our celebration of Christmas.

  After 33 years of sinless perfection, Jesus was executed by Roman soldiers at the bidding of their governor, who played puppet to a group of self-serving hypocrites pretending to be instructed by God.  Nevertheless, He was the only sacrifice sufficient to pay the price of forgiveness. He was buried, and rose again on the third day, which assures us of His sufficiency, God’s acceptance of His sacrifice, and His power to forgive.

 Those who will place their trust in Jesus for forgiveness of sin will be placed in good standing before God and are assured an eternal home in His presence.  Jesus, and the forgiveness He offers, is God’s gift to you this Christmas season, but like any gift, you must be willing to receive it.  “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12)”

   At the risk of sounding political, perhaps certain things need to be voiced by every freedom loving American.  Let me begin by ascribing to a list of priorities in which God is first.  America has been a great nation, an exceptional nation, because it was founded upon exceptional principles that are rooted in the Bible, the Word of God.  We once fancied the motto, “In God We Trust.”  We pledged our allegiance as “One Nation Under God.”  We were a God minded people.  America has been great because it has embraced a Great God.  America is falling away, because it has relaxed its grip on goodness and godliness in order to satisfy the egocentric, godless appetites of baseless fools who constitute a very vocal minority.

  Is there yet hope for America?  God has purposed to bless a nation that will humbly acknowledge and walk before Him, a nation that will turn from the wicked ways of fallen flesh and realize its dependence upon Him. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14).”  We, who love America, must take it upon ourselves to honestly review our past, in order to learn from our mistakes. We must return to God’s moral absolutes and embrace that which God has chosen to bless.  We must once again acknowledge our dependence upon Him as a nation. We owe it to our forefathers whose blood nourished the seed of our nation just a few generations ago.  We owe it to our progeny who seem destined to experience life under the thumb of godless socialists and communists who, even now, vie for power in the midst of a swelling tide of turmoil.  We owe it to our faithful God who has abundantly blessed the feeble masses that attempted to walk in His light for the greater part of two centuries.

  God is not the God of a nation until He is the God of its people.  “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:17)”   Will you be part of the solution?

  Those who fight for “women’s rights,” with no regard for the rights of unborn children, are forever at odds with those who agree with God, and call themselves pro-life.  Seldom do they realize how little their opinion matters in decisions that God has reserved for Himself.  Be still little man! …and know that He is God.

  In the laws given by God to the Jews in a prior dispensation, men were held accountable for causing a woman to miscarry:  If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit (unborn child) depart from her, and yet no mischief (harm) follow: he shall be surely punished,… and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief (harm to the child) follow, then thou shalt give life for life, 24 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, (Exodus 21:22–24)

  Almost everyone agrees, there is life at conception, and if life, it would have to be innocent human life.  God says,  “These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,… (Proverbs 6:16–19)”

 “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them…(Psalm 127:3–5)”

  The Psalmist writes, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. (Psalm 139:14–15)”

  The Lord said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. (Jeremiah 1:5)”

  God is the giver and sustainer of life.  He alone has the right to determine when a little life is given, and when it is taken away.  He alone is God!

  This seems to be the sentiment of many across our country and around the world today.  Others feign an appreciation for the things of God, supposing to add clout to their scripture laced humanistic philosophies and satanically inspired dogmas.  What went wrong in our “One Nation Under God?”  Perhaps those who have been ordained to resound “Thus saith the Lord…” have shrunk in fear or fawned over the flattery of man.  God help us to return to the Judeo-Christian principles that have proven themselves worthy of acceptance through countless generations, even among the ungodly.

  Perhaps an example is in order.  Though it may not sound politically correct, God has given instruction pertaining to the family, which, He says, consists of one biological male and one biological female, who are united in holy matrimony for life, and their biologically male and female offspring.  He would know; He created humanity with its two genders, and instituted marriage, as recorded  in Genesis, the book of beginnings.

  God puts it like this, “But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;  And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.  What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.  And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter.  And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.  And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery. (Mark 10:6–12)”  Obviously there are those who feel differently, and in America, for the moment, they have a right to be wrong, to disagree with Almighty God.

  If you and I disagree, we could both be wrong, but we cannot both be right.  There can be only one truth, only one right in moral issues.  He is a fool who would argue that truth is relative, …only a fool would argue with God.