Today’s Bible Verse:
Luke 2:8-14; ‘And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
Encouraging Word:
The other night as I was sitting at my computer, I felt like watching a couple Christmas movies from when I was a child. I always looked forward to “A Charlie Brown Christmas” “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” “Frosty the Snow Man” and “The Grinch who Stole Christmas” to mention a few. Ever since I was a child, these movies have always brought me happiness, and still do today. Let me share with you the reason that I started this study with today’s Bible verse. When I would watch a Charlie Brown Christmas, my favorite scene is when Linus would take center stage, and tell the Christmas story as it is written in Today’s Bible Verse. It was so special to me, that for that moment in time, I felt a sense of peace that was unlike anything else.
But sadly, it seems that every year society removes a little bit more of what Christmas truly means to those of us that keep Christmas in our hearts. As I was watching “A Charlie Brown Christmas” from my computer, I had my heart torn out! When they got to the part where Linus told the Christmas story, YouTube blocked it and cut that part out. I know that our society is turning more and more evil every day, but when they took out the whole reason why we celebrate Christmas from "A Charlie Brown Christmas," I felt extremely hurt, and extremely angered at the same time. We have crossed the threshold of evil, and unless Jesus turns our country around, and brings it back what our nation once use to be, it is over, and you can expect judgment in the same way that Sodom and Gomorrah suffered.
Society has gotten so politically correct, (or should I say, incorrect) that they are destroying everything that Christianity stands for because they don’t want to offend those that aren’t Christians. These are those that have come to our country illegally and through other ways that we aren’t even aware of. Our current administration has allowed all these illegals into our country and as a matter of fact, they encourage them to come in. This in and of itself is against our constitution and everything that America stands for. There is a thing called due process. We welcome anybody into our country as long as they go through the correct process. But putting this aside, what angers me as it should you, if you truly understand what is taking pace, is the fact that we cater to their religions and the culture that they came from. Most of these came from a culture that they hated only to bring the same culture here to America. If they want to practice their religious beliefs, fine, let them believe what they want as far as their religion goes, but here in America, they should conform to our culture, but that is not the case anymore. We have been a Christian nation from the time the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock until about the last fifty years or so. About fifty years ago is when we kicked God and Prayer out of our schools and then committed spiritual suicide when we legalized abortion in 1973. Ever since the early sixties, America has been on a downward trend to remove Christianity from our nation. It took a few years to get to where we are today, but our Anti-Christian leaders have finally succeeded with their agenda. The more evil that we allowed to take over our country, the more evil they continue to being in.
God had put His full hedge of protection over America for the last three hundred years or so, but since 1962 when we removed God, Prayer and the Bible from our classrooms, we have seen a spiritual decline in America. Since 1962, God has been removing His hedge of protection more and more as we continued to fall deeper and deeper into what I refer to as the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. Yes, we are now known as the modern day Sodom and Gomorrah and if you have any idea how God judged them, you can be sure that that same judgement is coming soon to America. Scoff and mock as you will, but know this, if you have not given your life over to Jesus Christ, you will be part of all the evil that will come down on the world. I don’t actually enjoy sharing this kind of message, but it is imperative that everybody is aware of what the Bible prophesied as to what will happen in the end days. Staying ignorant of the truth is not going to change things, everything that is written will come to fruition whether you believe it or not. If you choose to ignore it, then all this will come to you as a thief in the night as we read in the following Bible verse.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-3; “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.”
The day of the Lord is when all hell will break loose on the earth and those that have rejected Jesus Christ. Once you enter this time that has been prophesied by Prophets of old and Jesus Christ Himself, there will be no escape from the evil that is coming to our unbelieving world.
Now, let me read the rest of this message that we find in;
1 Thessalonians 5: 4-11; “ But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.”
As these verses plainly teach, this is our only escape from what is coming. And once again, it is our choice. When it says, "But you, Brethren’" it is referring to those that have been born-again into the Holy Spirit! This message is telling us that those that have received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will be spared from “The Day of the Lord”.
Here is a warning from God that we read in Luke 21:36; “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” This verse in Luke is telling us that we can escape all the evil that is about to come to the earth.
Now, I tell you all these things so that you will know that we are very close to the days that the Lord told us about that will happen in the end days. Getting back to the topic of this message, I have been noticing that every year, if you are a Christian, you have less and less rights every year. Freedom of speech here in America does not apply to you if you are a Christian or stand for Christian values. Such is the evidence that I shared at the beginning of this message. The anti-christian government is doing everything that they can to erase Christmas and Christianity from our society, and they will succeed. The only thing holding back all the evil that is coming to our world is found in the following Bible verse.
2 Thessalonians 2:5-8; “Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.”
Read this verse and listen to what it is saying. “And now you know what is restraining.” This verse is speaking of the Born-Again Christians that are keeping the one world order from coming to fruition. “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.” God is saying that the mystery of lawlessness is already at work in our society, which we can plainly see, and it will remain this way until the restrainer is taken out of the way. (That will happen at the Rapture of the church) “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.” Once the church is gone, the lawless one will be revealed. That is the one world leader, or better known to us as the Antichrist that will take over the world, but God will destroy Satan and all the evil that he brought upon the world at the end of the seven year tribulation.
This is coming whether you choose to believe it or not and with all the warnings that God is sending us, it is not too far off. Listen, I’m not sharing this message to scare anybody, I’m sharing it in hopes of those that I love finally get the message. The door to salvation will eventually close as did the door to Noah’s Ark. Once the door to Noah's Ark closed, all those that were left on the outside perished. The message was bleak to all those that chose that route back then, but, for the born-again believers of today, it is the Blessed Hope to all who come to Christ. If you choose to live for Christ in the here and now, you have absolutely nothing to fear. If not, well, then you have a lot to fear.
I don’t want to end this message on a sad note. So, Let’s take a stroll down memory lane. I’m going to share what it was like when I was child and I’m sure that many of you can relate. I’m referring back to the sixties, when it was still politically correct to belong to a church and celebrate Christmas. I remember, once Thanksgiving was in sight, I could already feel a sense of peace and harmony that already filled the air. For the next four weeks there was a lot going on that had to do with celebrating Christmas. There were parades, beautiful displays of the nativity scene and almost everybody seemed to have a Christmas tree in the front windows of their homes. I remember walking in downtown Oshkosh, listening to bells being rung by the salvation army, Christmas music playing from the Exclusive company and all kind of other events that filled you with the Christmas Spirit. For those of you that lived in Oshkosh, I’m sure that you can relate. It was a very special time for me when I was a child, and nobody is going to steal that away from me.
Now, I’m sure that some of you are going to get bent out of shape because of the pagan roots that much of the Christmas revolves around, but aside from that, try to remember the feelings that you had before you let people destroy the season that we refer to as Christmas.
A little side note, Based on understanding the Bible, and knowing scripture, It’s obvious that Jesus was not born of December 25th. But know this, We aren’t celebrating the day, we are celebrating the occasion. So whether Jesus was born in September or October or any other month, it shouldn’t matter what day we celebrate it on, it’s what we are celebrating, the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We should celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ every day of the year. Those that say they will not celebrate Christmas because of the pagan roots, know this, If you can reject Jesus on this particular day, what are you saying. Ask yourself that question and let your conscience be your guide.
I loved going to church and listen to Christmas carols at various churches in the area. On Christmas Eve, the last song that was sung at our church was “Silent Night.” Every time I’ve heard this song, it sometimes caused me to shed a tear. It gave me a feeling that I could never describe and one that only came this time of year.
But weeks prior to Christmas, when we were all in Sunday School, each service had to put on a Christmas program that was put on by all the children from kindergarten through sixth grade, which once again was priceless. I always wanted to be a Wiseman, but I always got stuck being a Shepherd. I guess I wasn’t wise enough to fill that role of a Wiseman, but none the less, I loved every minute of it. Then finally came Christmas Eve. It was the only day of the year that I wanted to go to bed at 8:00 and it was the only night of the year that our parents made us stay up will at least 9:00. It was also the only day of the year when I wanted to get up early, 6:00 I might add. But all through the night, I must have had what felt like about hundred dreams. Some I’m glad I woke up from, and some I was angry that I woke up from. There is a part in "Twas the night before Christmas" that says, “While visions of sugarplums danced in their heads.” this was something I’m sure every child went through on the Night before Christmas.
Let me end with this beautiful message. Christmas is a season of spiritual reflection on the foundations of the Christian faith. It’s also a celebration of the arrival of Jesus Christ. Christmas is a time for Christians to praise God’s love for the world through the birth of the Christ Child: Jesus. The Bible tells of His birth hundreds of years before it came to fruition, even fulfilling prophecies as far back as from the Old Testament.
We read one such verse from the Old Testament in; (Isaiah 9:6) "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
Read the full Christmas story from all four books of the Gospel. Find the accounts of the Angel Gabriel visiting the Virgin Mary, the nativity of Jesus Christ, Angels visiting the Shepherds, and the three Wisemen bearing gifts for the newborn King. Also, discover the scriptural meaning of Christmas that gives revelation of why Jesus became man and "The Word became flesh."
The Christmas season is the annual celebration of Christ's birth. Let us give thanks for the glory of Jesus and the eternal life given to all who repent and believe in Him!
Please look beyond all the distractions of people that want to steal the blessing of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Remember why He came in the first place. It was to save the world through His birth, Life, Death and Resurrection. He came to die for you so that you can have eternal life. Remember, this is the God of the Universe, He must love you pretty much to go through what He went through so you can fellowship with Him all through eternity.
And now, To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
May God bless you will all His riches and take care!
And may God also bless you this Christmas and beyond.
Amen! 🙏. Thank you for sharing this message with us!