Thanks 2016.  It’s been real.  Time to welcome a New Year 2017.  Ring it in with a prayer.

Thank You, Lord God, for another year to live for You!  To bring people to see the mercy and grace You offer us in Your Son Jesus Christ.  Thank You for all the good that happened to us in 2016 and all the ways You watched over us and protected us.  Thank you for valuable Kingdom work to do and people to love.  Thank You for all You are planning on doing in this New Year 2017.  We thank You that Your mercies are new every morning and Your grace is more than enough to cover us and to see us through any difficulties ahead.  We praise You that nothing takes You by surprise and somehow–even when we cannot see how it is possible–You still specialize in the impossible and use impossible people to accomplish Your will.

For those whose 2016s were marred by death and violence, by sadness and job loss, by alienation and unfriending, by injury and illness, and by any of the other tragedies large and small that afflict us on this planet, we ask for Your healing hand.  Your special care and loving touch so they will know they have not been forgotten or forsaken by You.  Remind Your people of ways we can minister to each other in the body of Christ and to trust in You.  That You will pay back the years the locusts take away and to bestow that crown of beauty instead of ashes.  May we know Your favor and comfort.  Lord, help us to share Your good news with those who need it the most.  Pour Your Holy Spirit out upon this land and upon this people.  May we bring glory to You in 2017 by our faithful obedience.  For Your lovingkindness lasts forever and our gratitude is eternal.  Amen.

A Scripture of hope quoted (in part) by Jesus as He proclaimed its fulfillment in Himself:

Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion– to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. 4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. 5 Aliens will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards. 6 And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast. 7 Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs. 8 “For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity. In my faithfulness I will reward them and make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the LORD has blessed.” 10 I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.

Happy New Year 2017!

2016 was kind of a confusing year. It’s like the confusing message I saw on the sign from Georgia’s I-75 on my way home from a Christmas break with the kids.

Message 3.

What is that supposed to mean?

(Gee, I didn’t bring my super-secret Georgia decoder ring with me on the trip.)

* * *

I know, I thought, I’ll ask Siri!

• Hey Siri … What is Message 3?
• You have no unread messages.
• Hey Siri
• I’m listening
• Message 3
• To whom should I send your message?
• Aarrgh!
• I didn’t catch that.
• Hey Siri…Georgia highway message 3
• I didn’t find anything for Georgia highway message 3.

I gave up before she gave me locations for Massage Envy or “my sage tree.”

I’d be willing to bet that if I did finally decode Message 3 it would say something like:

• “Stop using your cell phone. Distracted driving kills”
• “Siri’s worthless. Why do you keep trying?”
• “Learn to ask better Siri questions.  Helpful tips.  Take a look.”
• “Hang up and drive”
• or maybe, “None of your business. That message was not for you.”

There’s a lot about 2016 that I found confusing. What’s ironic is that with a world of information at our fingertips, we are able to look up why the Amish can drive golf carts, the origins of the trucking company SAIA, or when Harvey Korman died, but so many of us seem to have lost sight of what’s really important.

Maybe Message 3 would be to look back over the year and find what’s been good and carry that into 2017.

Hey Siri, what would the Apostle Paul say about how to make life less confusing?

She probably wouldn’t understand that question either, but I’d like for her to say, “OK, here’s what I found. Take a look.”

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable– if anything is excellent or praiseworthy– think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me– put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Yeah, I think that’s a pretty good answer and a great message to conclude a confusing year.

He was shuffling along as I encountered him on my walk. “Good morning! How are you today?” I greeted him. His reply was one word: “Happy.” To be in the final quarter of life and to have that as your reply is indeed a happy thing. It got me feeling a bit envious that one word could sum up his life’s outlook and maybe not my own. Maybe it’s because I’m wordy. Or maybe I don’t spend enough time being grateful and contemplating the importance of ending well.

As we conclude a very strange 2016 and prepare to turn the page to 2017, I think back to last year’s wish of a Happy New Year. I shared 16 biblical ways from Hebrews 12 to Bring it in 2016!  Summarized, they were:

#1 Let the past go.

#2 Focus on the right stuff.

#3 Keep encouraged.

#4 Keep some perspective.

#5 Accept God’s course correction.

#6 Endure hardship.

#7 Discipline teaches respect.

#8 Become strong.

#9 Become level-headed and able-bodied.

#10 Find peace without compromising integrity.

#11 Grace trumps bitterness.

#12 Treasure today’s inheritance of godliness.

#13 Come to the right place.

#14 Shaken not stirred.

#15 Harbor gratitude.

#16 Worship like you know He’s God.

Maybe it’s a good time to end 2016 well by focusing on those things. Like the man I encountered on my walk who had far more New Years behind him than ahead of him.  Don’t worry.  Just be happy.  It is well with the Christian’s soul.

How can we be in that happy place?  By remembering that the LORD is God and He ever expected us to replace Him or do His work for Him. And by allowing God to orient us toward the future.  Jesus is “God with us” not only at Christmas but beyond.  Therefore, we can end well with gratitude to God for yesterday and find happiness in today.  Ending well is a choice we can all choose to make.  Our future will be better for it.

More than just a baby in a manger, here’s what Christmas means:  Jesus was born because the world needed Him! 

Because He came, dust to dust doesn’t need to be our final and only destiny.

Because He came, sin’s perpetual curse doesn’t need to be our lot.

Because He came, we can be forgiven, once for all time!

Because He came, humanity’s attempts at saving ourselves never need to be our only resource.

Because He came, the True Light penetrated the darkness and the darkness will never overcome Him.

Because He came,, God demonstrated that His love is so magnificent it would show supremely in the ultimate sacrifice.  And it’s while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!

Because He came, the death the world conspired to achieve would be the very means by which God desired to save us.

Because He came, there is a tomorrow. Of hope.  Of peace.  Of joy.  Of love.  Of everlasting life.

Because He came, sin no longer rules over us.

Because He came, death has been defeated.

Because He came, the gates of hell will not overcome us.

Because He came, the gates of heaven are open wide!  And the angels sing each time someone who has been lost is found!

Because He came, the good news is really, really Good!  It’s good for you.  And it’s good for me.

Because He came, we have seen the Father!

Because He came, we know the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Because He came,, we can know, enjoy, and take part in the Resurrection!

Because He came, we can find the narrow door and have access to the very throne room of God in prayer.

Because He came, the Holy Spirit can dwell in our hearts and remind us of everything Jesus taught in His lifetime.

Because He came, we know what Love looks like.

Because He came,  our lives have purpose and meaning!

Because He came, we can wrestle through the splendid mystery of how the Almighty God—the very One who created the entire universe– fit in such a tiny package as this Infant Holy, Infant Lowly, lying in a manger.

Because He came, God’s angels sing, God’s people rejoice, and demons tremble with fear.

Because He came, Christmas means far more than what money can buy or what comes from a store.  Jesus’ birth made all the difference!

Because He came,

our greatest joy on Christmas morning can be found in a manger, and not under a tree.

Because He came, we know the very meaning of Merry Christmas!

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This concludes our Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages  which began November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love are ours in an enduring way as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.  Merry Christmas!

Luke 2:1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Merry Christmas Eve!

In A Charlie Brown Christmas, Charlie Brown seeks out advice from Lucy who is a 5-cent psychiatrist and happens to be “Real In” when he wants to talk about the source of his depression. She says that if he can identify his problem, then he’s part-way to solving it so she lists a bunch of phobias. Our culture is quick to apply labels and to assign phobias (e.g. homophobia, Islamophobia, xenophobia) and other assorted hatreds. There are two groups that it’s apparently okay to hate: Christians and Jews. It’s connected if you understand the Jewishness of our Savior.  The Jewishness of the Messiah, the Christ, who was born to Jewish parents in Bethlehem, the ancestral home of their father King David of Israel.  You know, that Jewish event we celebrate as Christmas.

I’m not sure when anti-Semitism became okay, culturally speaking. It’s not okay with me. It never has been.

But there was a day worldwide when we experienced a collective grief about the Holocaust, and anti-Semitism was very real for a time. Lately however, we don’t hear too much about that. Israel, for too many people, is seen as a problem state of land and religion…and Jews as a problem people.

They aren’t. Israel isn’t. God never revoked Chosen People status in order to bring the Gentiles in. 

Salvation is still from the Jews.

Isaiah 9:1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan– 2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. 3 You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder.

Indeed God has enlarged the nation and increased their joy because of the Jewishness of our Savior, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus Christ, the Messiah foretold by the prophets.  He’d be born a Jew but would save Gentiles too.

Isaiah 9:4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. 5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

The Messiah of Christians and Jews–all who believe in His Name for their salvation– Jesus, will reign on David’s throne and over his forever kingdom as promised in Scripture. It’s the Jewishness of our Savior. And Christians can rejoice as ones grafted into the olive tree by faith (Romans 11)! There is no phobia or anti-Semitism as God will continue to reach out to the unbelieving Jewish people as He does to everyone without prejudice.  He desires that all come to faith and no one perishes.  It’s why He came.

For further reflection read Romans 11 and  John 4: 21 Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

Jesus came to remind us of God’s Government -a government that existed back in Eden before Adam and Eve rebelled against God and ushered sin into this world. God’s Government might be called Walking with God.

It is something we will not have again in fullness until Jesus returns. But God’s Government is here and now spiritually because Christ was born. He rules in our hearts from the throne of the Cross.  Spiritually, we can walk with Him even if we won’t physically until we see Him face-to-face.

During this series called Timeless, we’ve been looking at what is timeless about the message of Christ and trying to keep what is political, what is fake, what is secular, and what is simplistic from turning a Rock My World event into a pile of tinsel, a tree at the curb, crumpled wrapping paper in a garbage bag, and happy songs about how cold it is outside.  But Christmas is more.  Isaiah said so.

Isaiah 9:1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan– 2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. 3 You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. 4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. 5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

Isn’t it strange to think that a human solution to war and violence is to do it better than our adversary? Be a better warrior? Oppress more oppressively?

Somehow, God shatters the yoke and reduces our enemy to rubble…without becoming a worse oppressor than the evil oppressing us now (death and sin).

Reflect today on whether you have allowed God’s Government to preside over your heart. A government based upon the righteous rule of a Christ Child who went to the Cross so He could truly be God with us.

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

It’s really easy to lose sight of how a tiny baby in a manger could change absolutely everything.  Jesus Rocks Our World. Don’t you find it interesting how the world of Christ-haters and Christ-deniers hate Christ’s birth every bit as much as they hate Easter? Easter I can understand, but Christmas? A little baby? Are you serious?

Absolutely serious. Jesus Rocks Our World.

It’s why we can expect protests against Nativity scenes and terrorist attacks on Christmas events…even ones called “holiday parties.” The world of Christ-haters and Christ-deniers knows that He came to Rock Our World and they don’t want theirs rocked.

Christ’s birth was no common deal. His birth showed us that any foundation of understanding, any basis for morality, any knowledge of the Truth, any conceptualization of true power, and any hope for humanity is centered upon Jesus Christ. In His birth, the Rock experienced inauguration…and at His death, coronation. At His return, He’ll bring Judgment.

So, these modern-day Grinches fight His Christmas birth thinking they can stop Christmas from coming, His rule from occurring, and His judgment from happening. Fools. Reading our passage in Isaiah 9:1-7, we see He is no ordinary child. He’s a Son but the Everlasting Father. He’s a baby but He’s Mighty God. He’s a newborn, but He’s a Wonderful Counselor. He’s Truth in the flesh, sharp as the sword coming out of His mouth in judgment, and yet, He’s the Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9: 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

Reflect on how the zeal of the LORD Almighty then and now accomplishes this. And forever, Jesus Rocks Our World.

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

Even in the organized Church, we can’t get away from fake news. Twisted Scripture has always existed, but it has become part of the order of the day for modern Christians, even the Pope according to Christmas reminds us that Jesus was a migrant like today’s refugees, says Pope Francis

(Sorry Pope Francis, I call them as I see them. Jesus was not a migrant like today’s refugees looking for permanent residency and asylum.  To conflate them does a disservice to both.  Let’s keep the Jesus in Scripture, okay?)

In a recent Catholic Sun article entitled, The Child Refugee, Jesus, the author Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted writes,

As we recall during this holy season how Jesus, as a little child, suffered the hardship of being a refugee along with Mary and Joseph, let us not grow weary of welcoming the Lord Jesus among the smallest and most vulnerable who come, in our day, to our beloved country.

True, Jesus’ parents fled to Egypt only long enough to escape Herod’s slaughter of the baby boys (Matthew 2:13-18) and that WAS political persecution, but they weren’t looking to be forever residents of Egypt (see verse 13). In all of those things, God was fulfilling Scripture.  Far from hardship in one sense, Jesus’ parents had the Magi’s gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to fund their escape and to provide for their livelihood while they were in Egypt. They also came back to Israel after Herod died (Matthew 2:19-23). Why? God tells us in verse 23 “and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

It’s twisted Scripture to equate what happened with Jesus (fulfilling Scripture) to what is happening with today’s migrants: a confusing combination of politics, Hijrah (jihad-by-migration), and a genuine, horrific humanitarian crisis. 

Still others tell wild stories of Mary and Joseph being homeless, Jesus being homeless…which also is twisted Scripture. Mary and Joseph had a home. Jesus had a home. Not if you read this opinion piece with thinly veiled political fake news stating that Jesus would be an “undocumented immigrant.” The letter’s author, David Iacono, states that Herod was a developer (hint, hint) and then he writes:

What would happen if Jesus returned to America? He would return as a Jewish person of color living in poor communities and helping the “least among us.” Since Jesus would be considered an undocumented immigrant, he likely would be rounded up by immigration officials, held in a for-profit detention center, and eventually deported. He likely would be involved in nonviolent acts of civil disobedience against social, economic and environmental injustice. He probably would be pepper-sprayed, beaten, thrown in jail or sued for exercising his First Amendment rights. After all, we can’t have any competition or challenge to the wealthy and powerful in this country.

Fake news is not Jesus’ story.  Justice and Truth are.  It’s a story that’s Timeless!

There is a Jesus in Scripture and that’s all we need.

The truth is Jesus’ parents had documentation. Hello?  They went to register because it was the law!  But it wasn’t an immigration roundup but registration of citizens–at the place of their ancestral birth–for paying taxes (especially in the case of the Jews who were exempt from the other purpose of the census: military service).  Therefore, it was more like an extended trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles (only giving birth along the way). There was no room at the inn for a reason (Scripture doesn’t say, but God’s pattern is to avoid the shrine aspect of “God slept here” and maybe also so the shepherds would be the first visitors and not an innkeeper’s wife casting doubt upon the whole thing). Furthermore, Jesus and His parents had a home after His birth and lived there for some months before they fled to Egypt. Joseph’s work skills as a builder/carpenter would have made it fairly easy to set up shop even if it was uncommon in those days to be so mobile.  No matter how many Nativity sets have wise men, the Magi didn’t come to the stable in Bethlehem, but to a house which proves Mary, Joseph, and yes, Jesus were not homeless.

And Jesus wasn’t pepper-sprayed, Mr. Iacono, He was crucified. And that, too, was to fulfill Scripture.

For further reflection, ponder how politicizing the birth of Christ is a disservice to Jesus and His Word.  Read the birth narratives in Luke and Matthew for the Truth of what happened to the Jesus in Scripture.

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

Isn’t it rich? The people most loudly decrying fake news these days are often the very people who have been telling us for years that there is no absolute truth. It is relative: what’s true for you and what’s true for me can be two different things. Therefore, you must give up your holy roller Christianity and finally acknowledge moral relativism so I can do what I want without guilt. Who are you, Christian, to push your beliefs on someone else? And yet someone else now can determine what’s fake and what’s real when it comes to “news.” Does anyone else find this incredibly ironic? The truth suddenly matters and it’s not relative at all.

The big and original Christmas event–the birth of Christ–is Evidence Exhibit A that truth is absolute and He is a person. Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 )

Yes, the Christ Child, Jesus, is God’s means of bringing about judgment. And justice, reconciliation, peace, mercy, punishment, and even wrath. There will be no deliverance without His Truth, and no life without His Christ.  Salvation is found in no one else.  Acts 4:11 [Jesus] is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.’ 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Consider all the “fake news” out there about the birth of Christ, His life, and ministry.

• Jesus was just a good moral teacher and a prophet. The Quran says so.
• He wasn’t born of a Virgin. A consensus of scientists says that would be impossible.
• He isn’t God’s only Son. Elvis says so,  Santa knows that we’re all God’s children. That makes everything right.  Fill your hearts with Christmas cheer. ‘Cause Santa Claus comes tonight.
• He isn’t Savior. It’s dust to dust like for all the animals. Darwin said so.
• Jesus isn’t God’s unique Son, but was elevated to godhood because He lived such a good life. We’ll all get to be gods if we do likewise. Joseph Smith of Mormonism heard that from the Angel Moroni.

Bunk.  Fake news.  Totally false!

Now get this: Longtime atheist activist Rob Sherman died a few days ago in a plane crash. Sherman loved to push a false narrative – fake news – about Christianity in particular. He was the Green Party candidate for Congress this year and wrote this into his platform.

No more God on our money. No more God in the Pledge. It’s time for the federal government to stop bullying atheists that way. Eliminate Christmas as a federal holiday. Christians want to put Christ back into Christmas. That won’t happen as long as the government is involved. When the government is involved, Christmas has to be bland, generic and secular. Christians want Christmas to be religious. You do that by getting the government out of Christmas. Also, I will sponsor legislation to eliminate the National Day of Prayer. The government has no business telling us when to pray or if we should pray since, when you pray, Nobody is listening. Nobody lives in Heaven.

Here’s the interesting thing about fake news… it’s not fake if it’s true. I wonder what Sherman thinks of Nobody now and whether he wishes he’d been listening to the One alive in heaven. 

Reflect on this truth:  Not even the government can take the Christ out of Christmas.  The angels said so.

Luke 2:11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

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Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!