By Kingsley Baehr
I realize that this is a November devotional, but I want to talk about
halloween and Christmas.
October, this year, has been hounding us with:
Hideous halloween decorations and yard displays—uglier every year.
Shelves and shelves of halloween paraphernalia in stores.
Weird halloween music assaulting our ears whether we like it or not.
Horror-filled halloween programs and movies for our viewing displeasure.
An ever-increasing halloween emphasis on ghouls and goblins,
the scary, and the macabre,
and vicious, bloody scenes of violence and death.
Ghostly and ghastly halloween costumes on many small children
[as they want the treat without doing the trick].
And all this for financial gain which is gaining every year!
Shelves and shelves of halloween paraphernalia in stores.
Weird halloween music assaulting our ears whether we like it or not.
Horror-filled halloween programs and movies for our viewing displeasure.
An ever-increasing halloween emphasis on ghouls and goblins,
the scary, and the macabre,
and vicious, bloody scenes of violence and death.
Ghostly and ghastly halloween costumes on many small children
[as they want the treat without doing the trick].
And all this for financial gain which is gaining every year!
The amazing thing is that halloween is supposed to be a children’s holiday!
What are we thinking?!
Have we gone crazy?!
Do we have any idea any more of the damage we are doing to the
minds, emotions, souls and spirits of our younger generation?
And guess what? When Christmas rolls around, there will be:
What are we thinking?!
Have we gone crazy?!
Do we have any idea any more of the damage we are doing to the
minds, emotions, souls and spirits of our younger generation?
And guess what? When Christmas rolls around, there will be:
Fewer and fewer manger-scene decorations;
No nativity creches on display in public venues;
Very little Biblical paraphernalia on store shelves;
No Christmas carols wafting through the halls in malls;
An increasingly scanty selection of programs and movies
about the birth of Christ—
Only X-mas* trees
Fake Santa Clauses,
reindeer, elves, and snowmen;
And more and more expensive toys and games
trying to bring X-mas* cheer to children of all ages,
And all this to mollify the ire of rejectors of the God Who created them!
[*We have to take the “Christ” out of “Christmas” these days!]
No nativity creches on display in public venues;
Very little Biblical paraphernalia on store shelves;
No Christmas carols wafting through the halls in malls;
An increasingly scanty selection of programs and movies
about the birth of Christ—
Only X-mas* trees
Fake Santa Clauses,
reindeer, elves, and snowmen;
And more and more expensive toys and games
trying to bring X-mas* cheer to children of all ages,
And all this to mollify the ire of rejectors of the God Who created them!
[*We have to take the “Christ” out of “Christmas” these days!]
There will be a decreasing emphasis
on the glory surrounding that miraculous birth 2000 years ago
that changed the course of history,
And little attention to Jesus Christ,
[the Reason for the season
before the treason of the season was foisted upon us],
on the glory surrounding that miraculous birth 2000 years ago
that changed the course of history,
And little attention to Jesus Christ,
[the Reason for the season
before the treason of the season was foisted upon us],
And a disregard for:
The purity of His Person,
The wonder of His love,
The selflessness of His sacrifice,
And the glory of His gift of eternal life.
What are we thinking?!
Have we gone crazy?!
Don’t we realize that His tender love,
His measureless mercy,
and His great grace
are what our children, our society, and our nation need to be celebrating?
O Lord God of heaven and earth,
please forgive us for our failure,
please save us from our sinfulness,
and please restore us to our right minds.
This is our November prayer to You this year, 2007.
The purity of His Person,
The wonder of His love,
The selflessness of His sacrifice,
And the glory of His gift of eternal life.
What are we thinking?!
Have we gone crazy?!
Don’t we realize that His tender love,
His measureless mercy,
and His great grace
are what our children, our society, and our nation need to be celebrating?
O Lord God of heaven and earth,
please forgive us for our failure,
please save us from our sinfulness,
and please restore us to our right minds.
This is our November prayer to You this year, 2007.