When Everyday Will Be Like Christmas

Christ gives us joy - a joy that nothing and nobody can take away. He gave us the perfect gift - that of Himself, so that we may be perfectly reconciled with God. He makes it possible for us to enjoy this season, and the rest of life, regardless of circumstance. With joy, we immerse ourselves in the celebration of Christmas, in the music and concerts, the closeness of family, the symbols and legends, the feasts, and the goodwill.

The celebration of Christmas is just a few days of the year. We know it will end, then the routine of daily existence takes over. However, Christmas creates a universal longing for its permanence, as expressed in the song by Elvis Presley:

I hear the bells
Saying Christmas is near
They ring out to tell the world
That this is the season of cheer.

I hear a choir
Singing sweetly somewhere,
And a glow fills my heart;
I'm at peace with the world
As the sound of their singing fills the air.

Oh, why can't every day be like Christmas!
Why can't that feeling go on endlessly!
For if everyday could be just like Christmas,
What a wonderful world this would be.

I hear a child
Telling Santa what to bring.
And the smile upon his tiny face
Is worth more to me than anything.

Oh, why can't every day be like Christmas!
Why can't that feeling go on endlessly!
For if everyday could be just like Christmas,
What a wonderful world this would be!

This longing gives us a picture of the role of Christmas as a pointer to the time when Christ establishes a new heaven and a new earth, and comes to establish His dwelling among men permanently, a time when everyday will be like Christmas.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."

And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new " And He said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true."

(Revelation 21:1-5)

Obama Starts Balancing Act

Barack Obama, the president-elect, has selected Pastor Rick Warren of the Saddleback Church to say the invocation at his inauguration. This upset homosexuals, whose foremost spokesman is Barney Frank, a Massachusetts congressman. The gay supporters of Barack Obama have no objections to a pro-gay rights pastor, Rev. Joseph Lowery, whom Obama invited to give the benediction. Lowery is the one who shamelessly made political statements at a funeral ceremony. Lowery directed attacks at president Bush who was then present with him at the funeral of Coretta Scott King in 2006.

The gay activists are upset that Obama invited Warren to the inauguration because Warren has made comparisons between homosexuality and incest. Barney Frank and the gay activists call Warren a bigot. If Warren is a bigot because of his views on homosexual behavior, then God must be the biggest bigot of all, for he instructed his people not to practice homosexuality or incest, but condemned both those behaviors.

"If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination;..." (Leviticus 20:13)

"If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, ... they have committed perversion;" (Leviticus 20:11-13)

"'Cursed be anyone who lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.' (Deuteronomy 27:22)

The Power of the Name of Christ

Christmas is a time when we can appreciate the power of the name of Christ. More than two thousand years have passed since His birth, but the celebration of His birth cannot be extinguished. Secular fundamentalists try their best to remove the significance of Christmas, or dilute its meaning, to no avail. Under the cover of the "separation of Church and State" they try to remove depictions of Christ's birth from public places, take to court individuals and school officials who allow Christ's birth to be depicted in public schools, ban the Salvation Army from doing good at storefronts, rewrite the history of the U.S. to obscure its religious roots, and so on.

Christians should never be defensive about Christmas. It is a time for celebration, a time when the whole world is compelled to acknowledge the Name. We should embrace Christmas with all our heart and not get distracted by Bary Lynn and the People for the American Way or the American Civil Liberties Union who cannot extinguish the truth behind Christmas no matter how many lawsuits they bring. They will even try sometime in the future to remove Christmas from being a Federal holiday.

Soon, Christ the Lord will give them what they long for. He will rapture the church, and there will be no one left on earth who will genuinely celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.

"O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger."
(Psalm 8:1-2)

"The name of the LORD is a strong tower;
the righteous man runs into it and is safe."
(Proverbs 18:10)

Wildebeest Stampede At Wal-Mart Store

Wildebeests in Kenya stampede during migration. Nothing can stop them. They will trample down anything and anyone who stands in the way, even their own kind, in their drive for food.

This stampede was recreated this Thanksgiving weekend at a Wal-Mart store in Long Island, New York, where two thousand shoppers couldn't wait for the store clerks to open the doors. They broke down the doors trampling on the hapless clerks, killing one of them in their mad rush for the sales.

A wise man once said that in death, men are like the beasts since the same fate awaits both man and beast. The Wal-Mart stampede reminds us of that truth and shows that the similarity does not stop there.

"I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?"

Ecclesiastes 3:18-22