A friend sent this.
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It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season.
How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own. I don't care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth, just get along and love one another.
Now, having said that, let Me go on. If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn't allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santas and snowmen and put in a small Nativity scene on your own front lawn. If all My followers did that there wouldn't be any need for such a scene on the town square because there would be many of them all around town.
Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree a “holiday” tree instead of a Christmas tree. It was I who made all trees. You can remember Me anytime you see any tree. Decorate a grape vine if you wish: I actually spoke of that one in a teaching, explaining who I am in relation to you and what each of our tasks was. If you have forgotten that one, look up John 15:1-8.
If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth, here is my wish list. Choose something from it:
1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to soldiers away from home. They are terribly afraid and lonely this time of year. I know, they tell Me all the time.
2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don't have to know them personally. They just need to know that someone cares about them.
3. Instead of writing the President complaining about the wording on the cards his staff sent out this year, why don't you write and tell him that you'll be praying for him and his family this year. Then follow up. It will be nice hearing from you again.
4. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can't afford and they don't need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and why I came to live with you down here. Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love them.
5 Pick someone that has hurt you in the past and forgive him or her.
6. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take their own life this season because they feel so alone and hopeless? Since you don't know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make the difference.
7. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren't allowed to wish you a "Merry Christmas" that doesn't keep you from wishing them one. Then stop shopping there on Sunday. If the store didn't make so much money on that day they'd close and let their employees spend the day at home with their families
8. If you really want to make a difference, support a missionary, especially one who takes My love and Good News to those who have never heard My name.
9. There are individuals and whole families in your town who not only will have no "Christmas" tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don't know them, buy some food and a few gifts and give them to the Salvation Army or some other charity which believes in Me and they will make the delivery for you.
10. Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Christian. Don't do things in secret that you wouldn't do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of mine.
Don't forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love Me and do what I have told you to do. I'll take care of all the rest. Check out the list above and get to work; time is short. I'll help you, but the ball is now in your court. And do have a most blessed Christmas with all those whom you love and remember…
I love you.
- Jesus
Thank you for posting this. I Love it. DH and I were just saying this morning that 85% of the people claim to be Christian, but are just paying lip service. If they would actually practice it our society would not be in the mess that we are in.
ReplyDeleteAnd we do have a nativity scene in the front yard every year. We are just waiting for someone to be offended so that we can tell them how very much WE DON'T CARE.
Thank you for your blog Patrice. It brightens my day every time I log on. Hug your family for us and have a very Merry Christmas.
Dawn
Yes, He can take care of Himself. Now if "Christians" would just pull the plank out of their own eyes before pointing out everyone else's splinters we might be onto something.
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff.
ReplyDeleteThis is something we'd do well to read throughout the year, isn't it?
Thanks for putting this up for us, Patrice, and Merry Christmas.
A.McSp
I love this letter. It doesn't matter where you fall on the political spectrum-- if you believe in Christian values, it holds true. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteAll I can say about this is WOW. Thank you for sharing it, please thank your friend too. Merry Christmas.
ReplyDeletePatrice,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great letter. Captures the true meaning of Christmas. As a side note, this year my boys and I are going to read aloud Matthew 2: 1-11 Just before we eat Christmas dinner as a reminder of the "reason for the season".
Rob
As I've been taught, Our Lord is Management, we're in sales :). Jennifer
ReplyDeleteI hate to be the apparent lone dissenter, but this "Letter from Jesus" left me feeling a bit uncomfortable. Oh, it makes some very good points that I agree with, but right off the bat it says "if you want to celebrate My birth, just get along and love one another." There are many folks who will say they get along fine with others and they love lots of people... and they're not Christians. I just can't believe Christ would ever say that. And "stop worrying about people calling it a 'holiday tree'?" Seeing as how that's a major part of how Christmas is being removed from our lives, again, I can't believe Christ would ever say that, either. It sounds suspiciously like something our liberal overlords would want us to believe. You know, "Lets stop worrying about all these things, hold hands, sing kumbaya and be one with the world."
ReplyDeleteAs for not complaining about the wording on the president's cards and praying for him instead, how about we do both? When we shut up and STOP complaining, they've won. I think Christ knows that, too. Again, that sounds like something liberals would want us to do. #7 on the list says to stop shopping on Sunday in a store that doesn't wish you a merry Christmas, so its employees can have the day off. I can't see Christ ever recommending we do something like that, either. Sunday isn't a particulary special day to a Christian, any more than is Saturday. We should seek Christ all 365 days of the year, not just on Sundays. Even those who work on Sunday can still get to their church's evening service if they so choose. Finally, it just doesn't ring true to me that Christ would say "I am God and can take care of myself. Just love me." That rings false to me. I do like #10, however. That's something we all need to work on. Merry Christmas, everyone!
As a "liberal," I don't know what you're talking about. Nothing you said about "liberals" applies to me. You should not generalize about people that way.
DeleteI really don't want to start a fight. It would be like tracking mud into Don and Patrice's home and that would be a lousy thing for a guest to do. But I wouldn't mind a calm discussion about some things that have been bothering me. And I'd value D & P's input, as I do on all things.
ReplyDeleteWe have always been upset by the secular attempts - especially by the long and growing arm of Los Federales - to "take the Christ out of Christmas" and have resisted or fought back in whatever small ways presented themselves. And of course the vast over-commercialization has gone way beyond annoying, with Christmas displays hitting the stores even before Halloween for crying out loud.
But over the past year or so we have spent more time studying the Word and have begun to question our lifelong adherence to, and defense of, this holiday. There is little or nothing in the Bible to support "Christmas" as a Christian holiday. In the very early days of this country's founding, celebrating Christmas was actual outlawed by Christians as a pagan event. Wow, how far have we come from THAT?
While we certainly shout "joy to the world" over God's incredible gift of His love, nowhere are we encouraged to celebrate the occasion of Christ's birth. No one, not even the disciples, did. We celebrate what His death and resurrection gave to us.
We don't even know when Christ was born. But there are things to suggest that of all the seasons, winter was the least likely.
But there ARE many things in the Bible and in the history of various cultures that suggest MANY of the objects and themes we accept and defend as "Christmas" have pagan origins, and may actually be distasteful to the Lord.
I'm not sure that we can "get away with" saying, "Well, yes, once upon a time the Druids did this or the pagans did that, but we adopted it and took it over and 'converted' it and NOW it means something different."
(That makes me thinks of rainbows and THAT just p*sses me off.)
Here's just one example:
Jeremiah 10:1-5
1 Hear what the LORD says to you, O house of Israel. 2 This is what the LORD says: "Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them.
3 For the customs of the peoples are worthless;
they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.
4 They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.
5 Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried
because they cannot walk. Do not fear them;
they can do no harm nor can they do any good."
Doggoneit, I love my Christmas tree, I grew up with Christmas trees. And now my son enjoys ours as well. But are we doing what we are supposed to be doing? What the Lord would have us do? I'm beginning to wonder.
And if you think stopping the secularization of the season was an uphill battle, try telling Christians they may have it all wrong and that the "holiday" may actually - in the eyes of the Lord - best be left to the secularists!
You might as well stand up at an NRA convention and yell, "Charles Schumer may be right!".