Celebrating Christ's Coming

[And I'm not the only one who's noticed? Please forgive me, but Terry James on Rapture Ready seems to have touched on this better than I have. I'm not sure for the last few years I have really been a "fan" of Christmas myself ... but that might be missing the point. I share this with you, David]

Christmas 2015, to me, seems strangely removed from Christmases of the past. By that I mean the culture has changed in America to the point that Jesus is now truly marginalized. He has been, it seems to me, moved by opposition forces to the periphery for the first time in the nation's history of celebrating His birth. The ambience of the season feels different this time.

News reports tell almost daily of public schools that have changed the name of the season's celebration to something other than Christmas. Calling it Christmas is forbidden within a growing number of corporate entities and organizations. We must now refer to the season as Happy Holidays rather than as Christmas. People are more and more offended by anything associated with the name of Jesus Christ, or so it seems according to the politically correct--the minority that has been allowed to rule American society over the past number of years.

Christians watched and protested mildly while witnessing Christmas go from a celebration of Christ's birth to becoming more and more commercialized. The desensitizing messages of the entertainment industry and of the advertising world paved the way to acceptance of the fear of offending spiritual infection we suffer today. Christianity, thus Christmas, represents a narrow-minded, bigoted, homophobic restrictiveness that the post-Christian, "liberated" American need not endure.

Celebration of Christ's birth was until very recent times an inseparable part of America's rich heritage. But, as the American home began to come apart at the seams, the Christmas celebration so much a part of family life suffered a schizophrenia of sorts.

The first coming of Christ as a babe to Bethlehem is now seen by fewer and fewer numbers of U.S. population as something to look back on with reason to celebrate. With the advent of this presidential administration, which began with the new president declaring that we are no longer a Christian nation, the unraveling of America's moral fabric --already underway--began in earnest. The reweaving of that fabric has been taking place ever since.

Everything Christian is frowned upon, and morality has been redefined. Tolerance is the mantra of the day. Things the Word of God says are wrong, those in control of the reins of governance declare to be good. The shedding of the blood of the innocent is legally stipulated to be a good thing for the sake of giving women the right to choose. God's definition of marriage is considered narrow-minded and evil because it restricts the right to "love" as one chooses. Man with man and woman with woman in the sexual union, and in marriage, is lauded and applauded by the neo-pagan culture as proof that we are becoming an enlightened people.

While God's Son and Christianity are pushed out of society and culture, a false religion, whose worshippers behead and commit other atrocities upon those who won't bow the knee to their false deity, is given governmental protection at every turn by this president.

Those who continue to make strides to diminish the influence of true Christianity on the culture have celebrated a number of victories through Supreme Court decisions the past seven years. Despite these apparent losses believers in Jesus Christ have suffered in the culture war, the Christian is not defeated. A future celebration is scheduled even more wonderful than is celebration of Christ's birth two thousand years ago.

The infant who came to earth, sent as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world, escaped the infanticide of that day. Herod, Israel's chief murderer of babies, couldn't defeat that tiny baby and His mission to provide the only way to redemption. Neither will the abortionists and anti-God forces of today defeat the baby of Bethlehem who is now fully in authority over all of creation and is about to bring God's kingdom to planet earth.

We who name the Name of Jesus--who are redeemed by the crucified and resurrected Christ--will one day --perhaps very soon--be called into His presence (Revelation 4:1). He will take us to the Father's house, where He has prepared mansions in which we will dwell forever (John 14:1-3). That will indeed be a time of eternal celebration!

--Terry