by Rob Pue, New American Prophet, ©2023
(Dec. 13, 2023) — We’ve been living in days of very bad news for a very long time now, and every day it seems to get worse and more intense. Our country — and the world — has become something I never thought I’d live to see. I suppose every generation experiences some of that as they reminisce about the “good old days.” And in retrospect those “good old days” were not as good as we probably remember them, but again I never thought I’d see the day when _____________ (fill in the blank): there are plenty of options to choose from.
But today I want to try to put all of that stuff aside. Quite honestly, I’m tired of it. Sick to death of the “new normal,” the mandates, the commands, the New World Order, the Great Reset, the Jab, the depopulation agenda of the globalists, the lies of the mainstream media, the filth of Hollywood and the censorship of the truth. I will need to get back to reporting on what’s happening soon enough. But this week, as a Christian, I’ll be celebrating Christmas with my family. And even that is controversial now.
After this message goes out, I’ll undoubtedly get plenty of flak from well-meaning “Christians” who don’t celebrate Christmas and feel the need to correct me. As always happens, I’ll be told it’s a pagan holiday, that we were never told, in Scripture, to celebrate the birth of our Savior, that it’s a “Catholic thing,” even that it’s satanic. It’s not bad enough that most retail stores have now banned the word “Christmas” or that God Himself has been thrown out of every public institution. Cities ban nativity scenes from public property. The White House doesn’t allow Christian-themed decorations on the official Christmas tree. The very use of the greeting “Merry Christmas” will draw the ire of many in our post-Christian America now. It never used to be this way.
When I was growing up, we always looked forward to this time of year. It was a wonderful time of year, starting with Thanksgiving. I remember how special those family Thanksgivings were. My parents had six children, three girls and then three boys. I’m the second to the youngest, number five out of six. By the time I came along, all my sisters were all pretty much grown up and moved away. Thanksgiving was a special time when everyone would be home again, and I looked forward to my sisters and their husbands joining us. My Mom was an amazing cook, and I remember the smells of the turkey in the oven, the stuffing, the pumpkin pie. The fun we had when the family was all together.
And I remember that the Christmas season would really begin right after Thanksgiving. There was no such thing as “Black Friday,” — or “Cyber Whatever” — when I was a kid. But right after Thanksgiving we’d start spending all of our Saturdays at church. That was when us kids would start practicing for the annual Sunday School Christmas program. Usually, it was a play depicting the Christmas story. Each of us kids would play a different part. Being a part of the Christmas program taught us many things, not the least of which was diligent Bible study and learning to experience and teach God’s Word ourselves, as we would study and then act out the parts and read Scripture aloud to the grown-ups in the audience.
When it was over, the church gave everyone a special gift bag of Christmas treats. I remember there was always a popcorn ball and always an orange, among other candies and sweets. The church Christmas program was always a centerpiece of the entire Christmas season. My own kids took part when they were young. But then, over the years, it became more and more difficult for the church to find grown-ups willing to organize and put the Christmas program together. Eventually they quit doing them altogether. It’s a shame that kids today will never experience that. It’s even sadder to think that most kids today don’t have a clue as to Who Jesus is or understand their need for the Savior, why He came to earth, what He taught us, why He was crucified, died, was buried, rose again and where He is now — and that He most definitely is coming again soon.
We also celebrated Christmas in my public school. Students performed an annual Christmas Concert. This was different from the church’s program because there were songs about Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. But there were also songs like “Silent Night,” “Joy to the World,” “O Holy Night,” and “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” Nobody ever complained about the Christian Christmas carols — much less sued the school district over them — and there was no confusion that the celebration at hand was, indeed, Christmas. Imagine that. Today even Linus is censored and cancelled — no longer allowed to speak the true meaning of our celebration in “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
One of my favorite memories was, every year, about the first week in December or so, my dad would bring home the Sears Wish Book. How fun was that?! Of course, you would pass right over the front half of the catalog because that was all clothes and boring stuff. But in the second half… now that was where the fun began! I remember many times, laying on the floor in my footie pajamas, paging through the Wish Book and seeing all the neat things that looked like fun. And my parents would make sure there were good things for each of us kids under the tree every year.
And us kids also took what meager funds we had available and either made or bought modest gifts for our parents and each other as well. Even though we were kids, we knew what it was to be thoughtful and generous, and to do nice things for one another. That it was more blessed to give than to receive. We received our Christmas gifts with gratitude and thankfulness. And they were good gifts too…. fun things. Craft projects, model airplanes, science kits, things that helped us learn, be creative, productive, and responsible.
When I look at the way kids experience Christmas today, I’m sad for them. Christ has been all but totally removed. If they somehow happen to hear about Jesus and ask their parents about it, the parents, in most cases, are not even able to tell them what Charlie Brown knew. No more Sears Wish Book either. Today, kids make their lists on their smart phones using Amazon Prime. And the gifts they ask for are not wholesome, creative, or learning tools. They’re usually the most expensive, newest digital device or video game on the market… these things don’t encourage learning or creativity or productivity. They just dumb the kids down further into a mind-numbed cyber stupor.
Read the rest here.