I Hate Christmas..Love, no I hate, no I love........

I have a love hate relationship with Christmas. I know that I love Christmas time because the entire world practically is celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. I hate it because everybody seems to get so crazy. Another reason I love Christmas is because I love watching Christmas movies. One of my favorite Christmas movies of all time is a movie called How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Ron Howard directs this film and of course Jim Carrey plays the infamous Grinch. I especially like Ron Howard’s portrayal of this Dr Seuss short story because I think Jim Carrey is really funny and he does a really great job of bringing that Grinch character to the big screen. Anyone who has watched Jim Carrey play other roles knows that he is really good at over acting and I guess, at least for me, that is what makes him so funny.

I don’t know if you’ve ever watched this Hollywood blockbuster and if you haven’t, I’m certain that I can’t ruin it for you. I don’t think there’s a person on the planet that hasn’t heard of this short story originally penned by Theodor Seuss Geisel affectionately known as Dr. Seuss. This story is all about a Grinch like character that hates Christmas and oh yea, some tiny little Who people that are obsessed with it. Ordinarily, a person hating Christmas would be completely understandable but if you reside in Whoville hating Christmas doesn’t seem to be an option at all. Now enters onto the scene Cindy Lou Who. Little Cindy Who, the youngest of Who people, set out to do her own investigation to try and find out exactly why the Grinch, who was the only Who in Whoville, hated Christmas? Of course anyone who has seen the movie or read the book knows that not only did little Cindy Lou learn some things about this Grinch character, she also learned a lot more about the true meaning of Christmas. Now that’s a statement that is loaded with peril.

I'm not going to get on a soapbox here and argue that the Christmas holiday was initiated to compete with a pagan winter festival. Honestly, I won't argue this because I don’t think debating this issue really accomplishes a great deal. Many well-meaning Christians will argue that if you put up a Christmas tree or exchange gifts you are in sin because by doing these things you are participating in a pagan religious holiday. However, I think it would be good to take a hint from Cindy Lou Who and perform your own personal investigation. It’s just better to draw your own conclusion as to why you think it’s good or bad for Christians to celebrate Christmas? If you’ve read this far, not going to disappoint you, I’ll just give you a few things that little Cindy Lou Who learned about the Grinch and more importantly what Cindy Lou learned about Christmas.

Cindy Lou discovered that the Grinch hated Christmas because the people of Whoville were more concerned with receiving gifts than giving them. You remember, all the trash that the Who's threw away some how found its way up the mountain into the Grinch’s layer. Their trash, the Grinch would wear it, burn it or use it as a trash ball to throw against Mayor Augustus' larger than life photo. Whatever the case, the Grinch was on to something. If Christmas was about giving why were the people of Whoville so self-absorbed and mainly concerned with receiving?

The Grinch realized that the Who’s joy was superficial and it was based on getting stuff, stuff and more stuff. So with hate as his fuel the Grinch devised a plan. Armed with hate he dressed up as Santa Clause and he decided to steel everything from the Who’s that remotely reminded them of Christmas. Every Christmas tree, every toy, every candy cane...he stole everything.

So what did Cindy Lou and the Grinch learn from all this? I need to give you some truth to drop into your spirit, don’t want you to get lost in this incredible storyJ.

Cindy Lou Who learned that family and friends are the greatest gift of all. The Grinch learned that there is no greater gift than sacrifice. The Grinch was faced with saving Cindy Lou’s life or holding tightly to his hate for the people of Whoville and as we all well know love conquered hate.

The gift of Christmas is not about receiving gifts but about giving them. Jesus came as a gift to the whole world and the Scripture is clear that whoever receives that gift has everlasting life Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” I don’t care about Christmas competing with a pagan holiday. That stuff does not matter to me at all. What does matter is that this is a day on just about every calendar in the world where everyone is making much of my Jesus the Son of God. The whole world recognizes the greatest gift the world will ever receive and that Gift is Jesus Christ...Don't you just love Christmas?

We’ve got help…no really we do!!!!

I have spent the last several weeks investigating and teaching about angels and yea fallen angels too, which by definition a demon is considered to be a fallen angel. Personally around Christmas time my interests seem to peek on the subject matter of the celestial kind. This is especially true as I sit and listen to the different accounts of the birth of Christ being read or retold, usually by some little kid reading from a poem that he/she has had to memorize for their Church’s Christmas pageant. My wife will certainly attest to the truth that I have a very vivid imagination. So, with that being said, whenever I read about angels appearing in the scriptures, whether these angels are singing or relaying messages to someone in particular, my imagination just kicks into high gear. Lets look for example at Luke’s account of the birth of Christ.

Dr. Luke, in Luke chapter 2, records that the Shepherds were in the fields watching over their sheep and the Angel of the Lord appeared and announced to them that Jesus the Christ had been born that day in their part of the country. Now when most people read that, they may just think “oh, how nice some sheep herders spoke to some Angles, wow that sounds pretty cool.” Not me man, remember I warned you earlier about this imagination of mine. I picture this huge gigantic man looking person. Bigger than any man that I’ve ever seen before. Who to look upon was a picture of strength and elegance. I also picture that the Angel himself had a brilliance about him self. I mean a glow or glory that just seemed to emanate from his entire body. Kind of like a radiance that is so bright and dazzling that to look upon is almost blinding to the naked eye. I could go on but I think your getting the picture that’s in my mind. And it’s true…I do think in color. While investigating the angelic activity in scripture I realized that Angels play a huge role in helping the people of God finish the work of God while living here on earth.

Let me explain, check this out Heb1:13-14 “But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Now at this point we have learned that context, obviously, is the number one rule to help us learn the bible. So, before we break this passage down let me try and give you the context.

Paul, I believe, is writing to the Hebrews of his day. Of course this should be obvious given the title of the epistle or letter itself. It would appear from the beginning of this letter that Paul was writing with the intent to prove to these Hebrews that Jesus was indeed the messiah that they (Hebrews) all were waiting for. Paul, as part of proving the Messiahship of Jesus explained that Jesus, that young man from Galilee, was active and responsible for creating the universe. Paul also goes on to explain that angels worshiped this Jesus, this man from Galilee. This of course should have been an obvious clue or sign for them that this Jesus was no ordinary man. Their own sacred writings clearly stated that only God was to be worshiped, yet all Jews everywhere knew that this baby was worshiped by angels whenever he was born in Bethlehem.

Ok, now armed with that bit of context, Paul says something about angels in verse 14 that I find very interesting. Paul says, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation” Now, remember the context is about Jesus, his Messiahship and Angels. Now in verse 14 Paul refers to these angels as “ministering spirits.” Paul is letting us know that these celestial messengers are sent forth to also minister for the heirs of salvation. Heirs of Salvation are those folks who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ. So then we need to examine this word minister to fully understand what angels are supposed to do for us, who are the heirs of salvation? Again that is what Angels are sent forth to do. They are sent forth to minister. To minister means to: comfort, to care for, to attend to, to protect and to serve. So then we, that is, those of us who are heirs of salvation, have Super Natural Angelic help to assist us in accomplishing all the purposes of God in our life.

OK, what does this mean? God is very interested in your success. So then as you pray for God’s Holy Spirit to fill and control you, don’t forget to also call on that heavenly host that God has created as a way of providing you the help you need in time of trouble. Now don’t go getting all confused and judgmental on me. I am in no way saying that we should pray to angels because that would be unbiblical. I am saying that your prayers should be for God to give charge over his Angels to come down and help you whenever you need it. It works, friend, it works. Let me tell you what happen to me just this morning.

I was on my way to work. And my car has been running really hot. I don’t have the money to fix it. So I woke up this morning and prayed for God to send his Angels to help keep my car from over heating. I had to get to work on time and didn’t want to be late and my only source of transportation was this car that is constantly overheating. My God came through. As I was driving, the car was starting to really get hot, but about that time I really began to pray specifically for God to send one of his Angels to fix the car and keep it from overheating. Just as I was beginning to pray, the temperature gauge was completely in the red and the car was starting to smell. Wouldn’t you know it, just as I said “Amen?” I watched that gauge with my own eyes, go from red to cool, in a matter of seconds, and I drove that car to work without a single problem. I know this may be hard to believe especially for the skeptical of heart, but it happened. Ask me how I know? I was thereJ.

So never forget this simple truth…you have supernatural Angelic help. God indeed has given to us His Spirit to minister To Us inwardly, but don’t forget, that God has also given us His Angels to minister For Us outwardly.

We are not alone…..

Have you ever felt like someone was watching you? I remember being in high school and there was a song that gained popularity called I always feel like Somebody’s Watching Me written by a group called Rockwell. I personally think that this song gained popularity because so many folks empathize with its lyrics. You may never admit it, but I’m sure there have been times that you were completely alone and knew it and yet you’ve felt the presences of someone else in the room. Well have no fear the bible gives us a biblical explanation for this sort of phenomenon……and here it is…. “We are not alone.”

You have to see this so that you don’t think that I’m making this stuff up. Note Ephesians 6:11-12: 11“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].”

Now obviously, according to the bible, there are things in this world that we wrestle against, that we simply cannot see with our eyes. This passage does say clearly that our wrestling is not against flesh or blood. By this, the Apostle Paul is saying “Listen folks, your fight is not against people.” Then he drops the bomb of truth on us and, by the way, this is the part of the passage where most folks miss it. Certainly the Devil himself is glad that we miss this simple truth. Our war, or fight, is against Principalities, Powers, and Rulers of Darkness and against spiritual wickedness in high places. I think it’s time for us to take our Greek lesson for the day because we get a lot more understanding whenever we look to the Greek form of the English word being used in the text.

The word “principalities” in the Greek is pronounced “är-khā” it means the same as the first order/rank in a hierarchy of demons or fallen angels. So, then Paul wants the Christian to understand that we are fighting against a sect or group of “Fallen Angels”…literally.

The word “powers” in the Greek is pronounced “eks-ü-sē'-ä.” The word exorcism is also derived from this same Greek word. Paul uses this word because he is communicating that we are warring against a dark power that also has the ability to oppress and or posses the human spirit. Christian’s differ on whether or not a believer can be possessed. That is a different discussion for a different day. However, Paul is definitely communicating that these dark demonic spiritual powers have the ability/power to both possess and oppress the people in this world. That is a fact.

The phrase “rulers of darkness” should be broken down into two parts in order to gain the full meaning of what Paul wants to teach us from the text. Now the word “rulers” in the Greek is pronounced “ko-smo-krä'-tōr.” This word means: Lord of the world or prince of this age. We can find other passages in the bible were Satan is referred to as the Prince and power of the air ref Ephsians2: 2. the word “darkness” is pronounced in the Greek “sko'-tos.” It can be interpreted to mean darkness in the sense of the metaphysical or unseen. If you put these two words together, rulers of darkness, Paul is simply saying that we fight against the ruler of this dark unseen world. So, then we know that the ruler of the dark unseen world is the same as the Devil himself. The other phrase that Paul uses in the text is “spiritual wickedness in high places”. By now we should not need to see the Greek explanation behind this same phrase to understand what Paul is communicating. Paul is clearly conveying to us that we are fighting against wicked powers that exist in another realm. Now remember this world can’t be seen with the naked eye. Paul, however, is letting us know from the text that Satan is the Prince and Power of the air that controls this Dark unseen world. I know some of you who are reading this, may be a skeptic but hang on a minute. I would like to run some quick real life stories down the hallway of your mind to deal with the skepticism of your heart.

What kind of power can take over a man and cause him to believe that it was his duty to eliminate an entire race of people because he felt that the ethnic group of people he represented was superior? Before Adolf Hitler’s blind hatred was finished he convinced the entire country of Germany to assist him in killing over 6 million Jews. Let me cite a quote from this mad man and you judge as to what realm his thinking originated from, “Anyone who sees and paints a sky green and fields blue ought to be sterilized.” Hang on, I’m not finished yet. What power would cause two teens to plan the death of several of their classmates and then turn the weapons on themselves? I’m just getting warmed up. What power will make a grown man go to a window were a young girl is asleep in her bed, snatch her out of her window, take her to a designated location, have intercourse with her and kill her? I got one more story I heard just this week. What power would cause a man to go into another man’s house beat and kill the husband, kill the two teen daughters, rape the wife and then burn the house down? I will tell you of such dark power. The master mind behind all this evil wickedness is the arch enemy of God, Satan himself, that once anointed angel who was perfect in his ways until iniquity was found in him. His crime was that he thought he knew more than God the creator of the universe.

So the next time you think you’re alone just remember that according to that sacred book….. We are never alone. There is indeed another world. This unseen world is involved in a Holy War and what we see in our reality is in truth a manifestation of a reality that we cannot see. So, the next time that child rebel: that husband or wife steps out, that friend gives you the cold shoulder for no apparent reason or that loved would refuses to offer up forgiveness. Just remember this simple truth your fight is never against people. Our fight is against a foe whose greatest weapon is to keep us thinking and behaving as if he does not exist. The truth is if you are part of God's family you have overcome that wicked one. He may be at present winning the battle in your life but according to scripture the war is already won.