God Is Faithful

https://www.oneplace.com/ministries/compass-hey-howard/listen/god-is-faithful-934680.html

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ALBERT MOHLER: 2021 WAS QUITE A YEAR

https://townhallreview.com/podcast/episode/7515/albert-mohler-2021-was-quite-a-year

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Westside requiring masks in January: ‘We’ve seen a large increase in the number of confirmed cases’

We have school shootings taking place today and our schools are making students wear masks. Might be a good reason to check out a private school or to start homeschooling.

Read the story.

https://www.3newsnow.com/news/coronavirus/westside-requiring-masks-in-january-weve-seen-a-large-increase-in-the-number-of-confirmed-cases?fbclid=IwAR1SSj_eBxlI-0kVIm2I58Dg-TphlBdIMUYGxGRLJa1EUr10tC-2j9qh8yA

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Doctor Told “Sound of Music” Heroine Maria von Trapp to Abort Her Disabled Baby, She Refused and Baby Was Healthy

https://www.lifenews.com/2021/12/28/doctor-told-sound-of-music-heroine-maria-von-trapp-to-abort-her-disabled-baby-she-refused-and-baby-was-healthy/?fbclid=IwAR26htOYMejz1BOHpYlky7AKUF1XglI_eiO8qu2G1MZJqPTMuGELadoVZrM

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Billy’s commentary wrong fight at Christmas time

https://twistedwave.com/audio_files/557620/b85ec566a0f4e736e6abde0e5adbe2e3

There use to be fights every Christmas holiday over city Nativity-Scenes. People of faith would file court cases for the right to display Nativity-Scenes. I have come to the view those folks are misguided. 

       When I was growing up people often said we need to put Christ  back in Christmas. Cal Thomas wrote a newspaper column a number of years go saying he thought it was time to take Christ out of Christmas. I tend to agree with Cal. 

     Today most of the holiday has nothing to do with God. Sadly the church has copied too much of the culture.

    What church play have you gone to which has had three wise  men or the wise men being there at  the birth of Jesus ?The Bible does not say how many wise men there were and they didn’t arrive until after Jesus was born.

   Also the main holiday for us who know Christ is not Christmas but Easter. When we have our Easter then we will have our Christmas back. Because all the other gods have a birthday but none of them have a day when God raised them from the dead. That is what makes Jesus so different and worthy of our lives. 

I will close with this poem.

It is not Christmas until it happens in your heart so take Jesus today. Then it really will be Christmas for you. 

From Omaha, Nebraska 

Until next time

I’m Billy David Dickson 

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A SUGGESTION TO ELIMINATE THE VIRUS

CAL THOMAS COMMENTARY DECEMBER 24, 2021

                  IT’S CHRISTMAS EVE. MANY OF US WILL BE ATTENDING CHURCH SERVICES WITH CANDLES AND 

CAROLS AND POSSIBLY FOR AN HOUR PUTTING ASIDE THE GLOOM AND DOOM SURROUNDING THE 

CORONAVIRUS.

                  WHILE THANKING GOD FOR SENDING HIS SON INTO THE WORLD TO TAKE ON OUR SINS AS A 

PERFECT AND ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICE, I THINK WE SHOULD ALSO BEGIN A CONCERT OF PRAYER AND 

REPENTANCE AND ASK GOD TO REMOVE THIS SCOURGE FROM AMONG US.
 POLITICIANS AND SCIENTISTS CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH. AND THEY HAVE NOT SUCCEEDED WITH ALL THEIR

BRAIN POWER AND MONEY IN CONQUIRING THE VIRUS. LET’S ASK GOD TOGETHER TO TAKE THIS VIRUS 

AWAY FROM US THAT HE MAY BE GLORIFIED AND THAT WE MIGHT RESOLVE TO LIVE A DIFFERENT LIFE THAT 

IS PLEASING TO HIM IN 2022. HAPPY CHRISTMAS. I’M CAL THOMAS.
 https://calthomas.com/2021/12/a-suggestion-to-eliminate-the-virus/

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Billy’s commentary Christmas Eve 2021

https://twistedwave.com/audio_files/557211/f0d4716e2149c324116f6fad62d1ccb7

It is Christmas Eve 2021. In the many years of posting on my blog on this day I have tried my best to stay away from political stuff, and culture stuff. It is getting harder every year. This year is no different.

    This thought did come to me this Christmas Eve 2021. Do you not have the so called Christmas spirit this year ? Has it been a hard year. You might be facing a divorce, the first Christmas without a husband or wife or other love one father, mother. Perhaps as a preteen , or teen your parents have split up. And you are sad because you can only spend the holiday with one parent.

    Well that first Christmas things won’t so peaceful despite what you get on the Christmas cards in your mail box. After Jesus was born an evil king ordered all young boys to be killed. Also do you have any idea what traveling is like when you have a child on the way.  They had no cars then with AC or heaters.  Jesus also was the only man born to die. Then three days later God the father raised him from the dead.

      Jesus went through all he did including a painful death because all of us have fallen short of God’s plan which is to be perfect. But we can still be made right with God if we will repent ( turn away ) from our sin and embrace  Jesus as Savior, Lord, Master. You don’t get that by doing good works, or going to church. It is a free gift.

From Omaha, Nebraska

I wish you and all your love ones a blessed Merry Christmas 

Until next time 

I’m Billy David Dickson  

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Is Christmas a Pagan Holiday?

Last week we received a note from a listener concerned with the pagan roots of the Christmas holiday. It’s something you hear a lot this time of year, that Christians “borrowed lumber” from pagans to build the traditions of Christmas.

Often, critics point to things like the Christmas tree, the alignment of Jesus’ birth with the Egyptian God Horus, and the Christian culture war against the practice of Saturnalia. A lot of these arguments gained traction in a documentary called Religulous by liberal critic Bill Maher.

To address this and many questions, Shane Morris invited Dr. Glenn Sunshine to the Upstream podcast. The two unpack the historical roots of the church embracing December 25^th for the Christmas holiday. They talk about what it means to “spoil the Egyptians,” as St. Augustine put it. They also lay a Christian worldview foundation for the celebration of Christmas.

Listen to this deep dive into the Christmas holiday on Shane’s Podcast, Upstream, or you can watch our What Would You Say? Video, “Is Christmas a Pagan Holiday.”

https://www.breakpoint.org/is-christmas-a-pagan-holiday/ 

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The Rich Theology of Christmas Carols

At the risk of falling into the current debate over whether Christians should tone down the language and imagery when it comes to their faith, the Bible presents the Incarnation as an act of War against Satan, sin, and death. 

In fact, the Incarnation is at the center of the larger story of the conflict between good and evil; a battle for a world never fully lost by God but recaptured in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus. This part of the Christmas story is missing from the 24-hour holiday music stations, most Christmas plays and pageants, and many Christmas Eve sermons. 

Still, at this time of year, there is a source that confronts our culture with the whole Gospel, offering some of the finest Christian teaching ever produced by redeemed Image Bearers. Christmas offers us the amazing opportunity to not only immerse ourselves in these deep Christian truths, but also present them to others. 

I’m talking about Christmas carols, which offer a level of incredible clarity and depth that is so rare. As an example, consider the “Wexford Carol.” 

Good people all, this Christmas time, 
Consider well and bear in mind 
What our good God for us has done 
In sending his beloved son 
With Mary holy we should pray, 
To God with love this Christmas Day 
In Bethlehem upon that morn, 
There was a blessed Messiah born 

 

You get a sense of the rescue mission that was the Incarnation in the traditional English carol, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.”

God rest ye merry gentlemen 
Let nothing you dismay 
Remember Christ our Savior 
Was born on Christmas Day 
To save us all from Satan’s pow’r 
When we were gone astray 
Oh tidings of comfort and joy 
Comfort and joy 
Oh tidings of comfort and joy 

 

In the haunting beauty of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” the coming of Christ is presented in the context of God’s Old Testament promises.

O come, O come, Thou Lord of Might, 
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai’s height, 
In ancient times didst give the law, 
In cloud, and majesty, and awe.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free 
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny; 
From depths of hell Thy people save 
And give them victory o’er the grave. 

 

And few hymns offer a Christology as rich as “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,” which, if Wikipedia is to be believed, is the brainchild not only of the great hymn-writer Charles Wesley but also, in part, the great revivalist, George Whitefield.

Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see, 
hail the incarnate deity 
Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus, our Immanuel 
Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus, our Immanuel

Hail the heaven born Prince of Peace, 
hail the sun of Righteousness Light 
life to all he brings, ris’n healing in his wings 
Christ the highest heaven adored, 
Christ the everlasting Lord 
Come desire of nations come, fix in us thy humble home 
Come desire of nations come, fix in us thy humble home

 

And, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” describes the hope of how this cosmic battle will eventually turn out.

And in despair I bowed my head: “There is no peace on earth,” I said, “For hate is strong and mocks the song Of Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: “God is not dead, nor doth he sleep, The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, With peace on earth, good will to men”peace on earth, good will to men”

Till, ringing singing, on its way, The world revolved from night to day, A voice, a chime, a chant sublime, Of peace on earth, good will to men!

 

These songs, and others, tell the fullness of the Christian story: a world that belongs to God, our lost plight due to sin, our captivity to Satan’s schemes, the working of God through the ages, His promises revealed in the long path of redemption which God worked through the Patriarchs, prophets, and kings, in fulfillment of promises given so long ago; the wonders of the Incarnation, the fear and hope of Mary and Joseph, and the realization and glory of angelic hosts proclaiming their king, and ours.

Each year these hymns remind us that God did not leave us in our broken state, but came and lived among us so that He might die for us. We have in these songs the whole gospel of God.

And, as comforting and instructive as they are to our own hearts, at what other time of the year do otherwise disinterested friends, neighbors, and family members find themselves humming along with theology? What greater opportunity will we have to share the Christ than at a time when our listeners are already hearing its truths every day?

As a colleague once observed to me, Christmas is a moment to emulate the witness of Philip to the Ethiopian. The world around us knows their need. They might hide it under vain pleasures and false narratives, but they also know that things are not quite right. What they need is to hear how things might be made right in Christ Jesus.

Let’s take this opportunity, singing our way through Christmas, to share the joy that has been given to us that this joy may spread to others.

https://www.breakpoint.org/the-rich-theology-of-christmas-carols/ 

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Do you think we should say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays”?

https://jashow.org/podcast_episode/do-you-think-we-should-say-marry-christmas-or-happy-holidays-2/

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