DILEMMA OF CHRISTMAS

1. I use the word, DILEMMA with permission to portray perennial hysteria over dates and canonical traditions of Christmas. Brethren, the record we have of Christ’s BIRTH was of JOY and GOOD TIDINGS not of rancour, “… GOOD TIDINGS of great JOY, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a SAVIOUR, which is Christ the Lord. … GLORY to God in the highest, and on earth PEACE, GOOD WILL toward men” [Luke 2:10-14] The message of Christmas is PEACE with God through Jesus Christ and GLORY to God in the Highest; where is the PEACE, where is the GLORY in our annual orgy of mudslinging and canonical vituperations on etymology of pagan festivals, dates, papal history, what to buy, what not to eat, etc. Our copious letters deriding one another may massage our ego, they do not SAVE SOULS and worse, place us in danger of greater condemnation, “My brethren, BE NOT MANY MASTERS, knowing that WE SHALL RECEIVE THE GREATER CONDEMNATION” [James 3:1] Let us bring our zeal in subjection to God’s LOVE, lest we be deceived into setting standards of righteousness contrary to Christ’s SIMPLICITY, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent BEGUILED Eve through his subtilty, so your MINDS SHOULD BE CORRUPTED from the SIMPLICITY THAT IS IN CHRIST” [2 Corinthians 11:3]

 2. DILEMMA OF CHRISTMAS is never so palpable as now, as we are daily inundated with theories denying birth of Jesus Christ, “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the LAST DAYS SCOFFERS, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” [2 Peter 2:3-4] How do we preach Christ to who it is hid and warn the world of His imminent appearance, when we cannot agree on the basic element of our FAITH, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the GLORIOUS GOSPEL OF CHRIST, who is the IMAGE OF GOD, should shine unto them” [2 Corinthians 4:4] Listen carefully, we do not own the GOSPEL, the GOSPEL owns us and we are called to preach without contention of, “… the precious BLOOD OF CHRIST, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was FOREORDAINED BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, but was manifest in these last times for you” [1 Peter 1:19-20] Let us be careful not to be found working for the adversary, our energetic arguments for and against Christmas will not win one SOUL to Christ; sheathe the sword and preach God’s LOVE, “For GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, that HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, that WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH in him SHOULD NOT PERISH, but HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE” [John 3:16]

3. DILEMMA OF CHRISTMAS is nowhere more profound than in the Church, where the “LEARNED” overburden the “UNLEARNED” with genealogies and vanities of human history, “But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain” [Titus 3:9] Which is more important, the TRUTH of Christ’s BIRTH or the date of His birth? If we have issues with CHRISTMAS in December, which many rightly do, how about EASTER, the Jewish calendar being different from Gregorian calendar, “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.  He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it… “ [Romans 14:5-6] The DAYS and DATES we ascribe to so-called gods and fallen angels negate our FAITH in Christ as the Creator of all things including days, months and years, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” [John 1:3] If we believe Jesus Christ is the Almighty God manifest in flesh and blood, He owns all days; why think to ascribe a day or season to gods who had no hand in creation, “For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but ONE GOD, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and ONE LORD JESUS CHRIST, BY WHOM ARE ALL THINGS, and we by him” [1 Corinthians 8:5-6]

4. DILEMMA OF CHRISTMAS is suitably illustrated by China; a country whose government openly deny existence of God is the world’s leading producer and exporter of Christmas goods, at $11.1 billion in 2022. Satan knows Jesus was born in Bethlehem and is not bothered by the date but worried of what follows, as it is written: ‘ …Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that HE HATH BUT A SHORT TIME” [Revelations 12:12] His SHORT TIME began some 2,000 years ago and will soon run out, when the Lord shall descend in with great glory and glory,  “And the DEVIL that DECEIVED THEM WAS CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” [Revelation 20:10] Every Christmas is a reminder of God’s LOVE and of His GRACE freely given in Jesus Christ to deliver us from everlasting damnation reserved for Satan and his angels [Matthew 25:41] God was indeed BORN in Jesus Christ to SAVE us from SIN and reconcile us to God, “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” [2 Corinthians 5:19] This is the GOSPEL, accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, amen