Most of my night was distressed and filled with prayer regarding the paganism that pervades our families, professing Christian fellowships, and our supposedly Judeo-Christian society, for the groundswell of antichrist opposes personal, church, and social dedication to the preserved words and will of God. I see it in my own family, as well as how the lies of paganism have invaded and influenced societies across the world. It is no wonder that Christian, Jewish, and Islamist purists see our western culture as pagan and unholy, for all societies have generally abandoned the promises and Law of God, in and by our social and legal deeds, if not having literally changed the laws ‘on the books’.
The “santa claus” mythology is an idolatry that steals the hearts, minds, and spirits of children and continues to blindly lead adults to teach and defend the sins of lying, selfishness, and idolatry to their children. Any honest soul must admit that, at least across the board in the USA, from a public and commercial perspective, and almost religiously, the mythology of “santa claus” receives more honor and service than most people give to Jesus Christ or to the body of His church. How is it that so many stray and so few biblically honor the God who created all things (John 1:1-5)?
Even as a lost man, before I ever got saved, I knew in my heart and mind that the “santa claus” mythology was a gateway of sin, a massive lie that is corrupting our society… even as, personally, I had no desire for anything to do with Jesus Christ at that time! But, I could see the ravages of sin that are brought to bear on us all by the “santa claus” lie. Years later, I heard a preacher, once, re=spell “santa claus” as “satan claus”, for the letters are all there and the revisionism fits the biblical truth about Satan being able to appear as an “angel of light”, though he is NOT of God’s Light. The whole “santa claus” mythology is just another (allos) pedestal on Mars Hill, just another (heteros) way of Satan promoting his own agenda of “Yea,…hath God said?” … for “santa claus” is no saint, for “he” is not real, though “his” believers argue that “he” has many attributes of God Almighty, knowing all things, seeing all things, being able to answer the prayers of all Earth’s children, and being able to deliver all requested ‘gifts’ in one night all around the world. What a terrible delusion and lie to teach to and promote with children, in lieu of telling children all God’s Truth about Jesus Christ.
Did not Jesus Christ correctly quote the OT to chasten Satan’s vain temptation?
Matthew
4:10 (KJB):
10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is
written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Did Jesus not decry paganism and idolatry, by reiterating what God has commanded us all, about true godly worship, for that alone serves only the God of Creation, The Almighty, The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world? … to whom be honor and glory forever. Amen.
Mark
12:29-30 (KJB)
29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is,
Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is
the first commandment.
God’s first law is true, adamant, and eternal, immutable and forever uplifting for any and all souls who are willing to repent of their sin and trust the salvation of the LORD in, by, and through our Lord Jesus Christ.
However, believing in, lying about, lying for, or asking the imaginary “santa claus” for anything is idolatrous worship… So is expecting “him” to deliver what is asked for in prayer, letter, or phone call.
According to God’s truth, parents and others deny Jesus Christ to the degree that they lie about “santa claus” by claiming that “santa claus” is real to any degree. They deceive their own children and others. They defend those who do the same, even as each of them are bowing in service to that idol and false god; even as they idolatrously serve the myth by decorating and promoting it with images of that mythology.
How is it that professing Christians believe, follow, defend, and promote the idolatrous mythology of “santa claus”? Do subscribers and defenders of that myth not understand that they are cheating their children out of God’s whole truth about Jesus Christ; failing to teach their children fidelity to God; failing to teach obedience to God’s preserved words?
Why are they so willing to worship that false image and doctrine by giving equal or more time, effort, and attention to “santa claus” than they give to Jesus Christ, our Creator, God’s ONLY Savior? Do we not understand, as parents, teachers, elders, and pastors, that, by the acceptance and promotion of “santa claus” we are teaching moral relativism, teaching children to cheat, lie to, steal from God and from others, as well as how to delude themselves and to avoid God, His words, and His ways? As bad as those sins are, by teaching, promoting, and defending the “santa claus” myth, we are also teaching our kids to doubt and disdain the literally preserved words and commands of God. (By those sins, we promote the worldly fleshly appeal of emotional imaginary and mythologies. Is it, now, really any wonder that children grow into drug addicts?) Do we not recognize that such spiritual failures (the success of Satan and the flesh) are falling under the warning about our hearts leading us astray from God, as the LORD says in Jeremiah 17:9, that, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”? Why do professing believers give greater weight to the imagination and mythology of “santa claus” than they do to the warnings and advise of God, as in 2 Corinthians 10:1-7? The ways of the world and the flesh are NOT of God, as the Holy Spirit has so adamantly stated (Jas 4:4).
Let us consider what God has said about the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error.
John
14:15-17 (KJB)
15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another
Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth
him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you.
Jesus Christ, Immanuel, our Creator and Savior is NOT joking about what it means to love and serve God, nor is He kidding around about how the Holy Spirit in real believers leads us in “the Spirit of truth”, for “the world cannot receive” God’s truth, nor can those who are of the world.
John
15:20-26 (KJB)
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not
greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute
you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's
sake, because they know not him that sent me.
22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had
sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.
23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.
24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man
did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my
Father.
25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be
fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you
from the Father, even the
Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of
me:
The Self-existent Son of God, Jesus, has grave concerns about those who speak that which is NOT of God, and, as the Lord Jesus Christ, He said of His Spirit, “the Spirit of truth”, that “he shall testify of me.”… NOT of “santa claus”. Why, then, do so many professing believers continue to contend NOT for the faith of Jesus Christ, but they actively promote, defend, and contend for the mythology of “santa claus”?
John
16:7-15 (KJB)
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you
that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but
if I depart, I will send him unto you.
8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and
of righteousness, and of judgment:
9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;
10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me
no more;
11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear
them now.
13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:
for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that
shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and
shall shew it unto you.
15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I,
that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
We must ask ourselves why we allow ourselves to be led toward the mythology of “santa claus” and away from godly adherence to the holy truth of Jesus Christ, who IS The Word of God. Why are we preferentially lying to children about the “santa claus” mythology, instead of fulfilling God’s great commission? Why are we defending idolatrous prayer requests to an imaginary non-entity? Why are we promoting “santa clause” more than we promote Jesus Christ, who, as God with us, God in the flesh, He sacrificed His blood and life for our sin, and then by His own power raised Himself from the dead and ascended into heaven to be with our heaven? We are in grave danger of willing ourselves into that spiritual trap that James 1:22 descibes, wherein we delude ourselves into sin instead of choosing to obey God’s preserved will, words, and ways.
1 John
4:4-6 (KJB)
4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them:
because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world,
and the world heareth them.
6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is
not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
The Holy Spirit gave John this most excellent and severely agape loving test to know whether we are really thinking, believing, and acting as Christians who really follow and walk with the Living God, Jesus Christ. This exemplifies God’s ‘tough love’ approach to sin, whereas, … the “santa claus” mythology IS SIN, for it is NOT of God because that mythology leads souls away from wholly trusting, believing in, and obeying God’s preserved words and depending on God’s ONLY Christ. Therefore, let us test all that we imagine, think, say, and do by God’s test, to discover and rightly judge whether we are really promoting God’s Spirit of Truth, OR IF we are promoting the fleshly and worldly spirit of error. Let us repent of any and all things that can and might distract, deter, or deflect us from abiding in and obeying the preserved words and will of God, for God’s ways are NOT our ways and our ways are NOT God’s ways (Isa 55:8-11).
Let us honestly ask ourselves, ARE we REALLY willing to allow God to have HIS way with us, that we may choose to walk in HIS WAY, … not in our own ways? Or are we still fighting Him, as we try to get our own way? Are we, or are we not, really being self-deceptively, pretending to love and respect Him and the blood of Jesus Christ, as we teach our children and others to believe and worship the imaginary and false god of “santa claus”, instead of training up children the way that the Self-existent Eternal One has always said to train all children? We shall all give account of all that we have thought, felt, said, and done.
Matthew
12:36-37 (KJB)
36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall
speak, they shall give
account thereof in the day of judgment.
37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words
thou shalt be condemned.
Romans
14:11-13 (KJB)
11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every
knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
12 So then every
one of us shall give account of himself to God.
13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge
this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his
brother's way.
Hebrews
13:12-17 (KJV)
12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people
with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp,
bearing his reproach.
14 For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to
come.
15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to
God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his
name.
16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such
sacrifices God is well pleased.
17 Obey
them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for
your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and
not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
This is all supposed to be done in accord with the preserved will and words of God, NOT of or by the will or imagination of mankind.
1 Peter
4:1-7 (KJB)
1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh,
arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the
flesh hath ceased from sin;
2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in
the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
3 For the time past of our life may suffice us to have
wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts,
excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:
4 Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them
to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you:
5 Who
shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.
6 For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that
are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live
according to God in the spirit.
7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober,
and watch unto prayer.
And so, we each have to make a decision of whether we shall continue to chase the lies, lusts, and imaginations of Satan, the world, and our own flesh, … OR will we will ourselves to walk in the Light of God according to all His holy counsel that He alone has set before us in His Bible, that we might addict ourselves to Him and to His Way, Jesus Christ, whose Spirit yearns to lead and guide us out of the darkness of the world and the flesh, into the Light of God in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Have a blessed day as you seek God's answers. His preserved words, in English are in the centuries old text of the Authorized King James Bible (where you get all God's Truth, not just bits and pieces, as with other versions).
If you do NOT already know for sure whether you are saved from your sin then you CAN know today, by the assurance of God's own recorded testimony in and from His Bible. Read the Bible books of John and Romans for a jump start on your spiritual journey. This link ( https://www.godssimpleplan.org/languages-in-print ) is to a short overview of God's good news for all sinners (for we are all sinners), and has proven helpful to many souls on their spiritual journeys.
