I know I have this discussion every Christmas but it is a topic that just angers me again and again and again.  I have never been to a doctor to be diagnosed as an obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) but I often wonder if I have it because there are certain things that I just cannot stand to let go unanswered.  It is no secret if you read the Bible that the world is against God.  People will openly bash on God and this was told of in many places in the Bible.  This alone should make me want to have compassion on those people and desire to see them come to the saving knowledge of Jesus.  Since these people neither want to hear about Jesus nor acknowledge HIS birthday on Christmas, they make a conscious decision to refer to it as holiday.  It does not take a rocket scientist to see this is intentional.  First, the term holiday is three syllables while Christmas is two.  Secondly I hear many times on television where they say “Happy holiday and a happy New Year”.  They make a point to spell out New Year but always refer to Christmas as holiday.

The message is clear.  They want to enjoy the festivities of Christmas without acknowledging Jesus.  In the early days people would say Happy Holiday”s”…plural.  This seemed innocent enough because making it plural could be a generic term to refer to Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year.  As time went on, they started being so bold to take off the “s” and just say holiday.  They speak of making your “holiday cookies”, or “this holiday”.  There have been times where I thought I was just over reacting and my OCD was taking over but then a year ago I found an online discussion on Friendfeed about this very topic.  Someone posted a complaint similar to mine and people were very vicious in their comments back to them.  They were saying that Christmas is not a religious holiday and that you do not have to believe in Jesus to participate in the festivities.  When this notion was questioned, the people were even more forceful in their notion that Christmas has evolved from a religious holiday to an all inclusive holiday for all…not just Christians.  If this is true then I want no part of it.

The last ten or more years this has bothered me more and more.  In recent years I have grown a true hatred for Christmas as a holiday.  It seems that it has zero to do with the original intent of celebrating Jesus’ birth.  Anymore I see atheists on the television news preaching to us that we need to hurry up and buy our loved one a gift and not procrastinate.  How can one procrastinate on doing something that is spontaneous and from the heart?  Christmas gift buying has become a duty and therefore not really a gift at all.  The point being is that if you receive a Christmas gift, there is no reason at all to feel that someone loved you so much that they thought of  you to buy you a gift.  The real truth is that your loved one had an obligation, a duty to fulfill that they would go into debt to participate in this act that is promoted by people that do not even believe in Jesus.  They cannot even bring themselves to say the word CHRISTmas because it contains the word CHRIST.  I recently saw a statistic that more than 50% of Americans are still paying for last Christmas.

Since Christmas festivities are so engrained into our society as a practice, I do not see it going away completely any time soon.  I do see them changing the name of it to holiday on our work and school day off lists. They will eventually, sooner than later, give everyone the “bank holiday” off instead of Christmas.  Remember when we use to have a holiday for Washington’s birthday and Lincoln’s birthday?  Now it is just President’s day.  This is not the same thing and has no relevance to the argument except to say that there is a precedence for making a generic holiday.  You can write this down that  you heard it from me first because this WILL happen.

The media will throw out Hanukkah or Kwanzaa when they are called on their intentional omission of the word Christmas.  They will say they do not want to offend these other religions.  There is nothing to offend!  Christmas is the only one that gives gifts and has Christmas trees.  It is the only one that has a fictitious character named Santa Claus that has reindeer with bells.  You will notice that all of these commercials that use the word holiday instead of Christmas have bells and Christmas songs playing in the background, yet they are referring to Hanukkah or Kwanzaa?  It is clear that these commercials are aimed at Christmas even though they will not say the word.  The way I see it is from Jesus’ own mouth.  He said in Matthew 12:30… “He that is not with me is against me;…” Am I the only one that is offended by this?  To me it is a principal that must be pointed out.  This is a calculated, intentional move and they are not innocent.  For this reason, I have come to the point where I want nothing to do with Christmas.  Since it has been successfully hijacked and people have no problem with it, then it has lost its meaning.  To me it is worse than not participating at all.

I have been sitting here for the last hour or so while my wife has been watching the Food Network. They have been saying holiday this and holiday that but will never say the word Christmas.  Occasionally one of the guests will slip and say the word but none of the hosts will say it.  They keep going from one host to the next and will not say the word Christmas.  This one host came on for a thirty second segment and said the word holiday six times but did not say the word Christmas even once.    If one or two people on Food Network said holiday, I could see it being a slip but when every person and every subtitle uses holiday dozens of times in a 30 minute show, you know it is a company policy.  The program Paula Deen was on and every single person on the show said holiday many times and not one of them said Christmas. I became so mad that I muted the TV.  It is to the point that I just want to mute the TV from Halloween to the New Year so I don’t beat the television off the wall with a club.  This is not innocent and should not be ignored.

It is not often that I want to give praise to a politician but I am very proud of our Senator Inhoffe for refusing to to participate in a Tulsa paraded for changing the name from Christmas parade to Holiday parade.  He has participated in this parade many years until last year when they changed the name of it to Holiday parade.  If you read the comments on the CBS story, you will see just how bad this issue is.  There are those including the Mayor of Tulsa that defend the use of the word holiday because they want to be inclusive.  This is outrageous and anyone with a brain can see.  CHRISTmas is about CHRIST!  Jesus is the CHRIST! CHRISTIANITY is about CHRIST.  As ridiculous as it sounds for me to repeat this again and again, there are actually those that try to say that Christmas has nothing to do with Jesus.  Read the comments of the CBS story above and you will see someone actually trying to make the claim.

I am so sick of Christians with their soft attitudes of not wanting to offend people.  The world is against God whether you tell them or not.  You might just as well tell them because they are going to be offended anyway.  I have had Christians tell me not to speak of homosexuality because it is judgmental and we do not want to offend them.  It is this very wimpy attitude that is causing the church to collapse.  Here you have churches that are too interested in growth that they water down the message.  Christianity is not violen
t, not hate filled, not judgmental but you are going to be accused of it anyway.  Stop being defensive and speak out!  There is a culture war and one side is fighting violently while the other side sits quietly and pretends that it is not happening.  There are those that want Christianity wiped from the world and they are active in their pursuits.  To sit and play nice does not stop them.  To not preach to others will not make them leave you alone.  They want Christianity erased and our failure to speak up and be heard just makes it easier.

The Bible spoke of this many times and it is not going away.  In Romans 8:7 is says…

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Christians need to wake up and realize that the world is coming for them whether they sit quietly or speak out.  They need to understand that they are going to be accused of being hateful, racist, sexist, homophobic no matter whether they sit at home and do nothing or actually get up and speak.

As for Christmas in its current form I say bah humbug because the very people that are pressuring you to go buy your loved one a gift for Christmas are the same ones that will not even say the word Christmas.  They deny Christ and denounce you if you do.  They call you names, they try to silence your voice by calling what you say “hate speech”.  Remember the Bible told you of this many times.  Here are just a few…

Matthew 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Matthew 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.

Mark 13:13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Luke 21:12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake.

Luke 21:17 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.

John 15:21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.

We can sit here and bury our heads in the sand and say that if we play nice to them they will be nice to us but that will be denying reality.  The friendly days toward Christians in the United States are over so do not kid yourself.  The Bible said there would be a falling away…

2 Thessalonians 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

This battle is far greater than just calling it Christmas or holiday.  But Christians need to understand that terms like inclusiveness or open minded are key words that they are not welcome.  I am convinced that in my lifetime, the things that I am saying will result in a conviction of a crime.  I have been involved in many online discussions where Christians were attacked openly as being hate filled and without apology told that we need to be stopped.  These conversations went along the line where Christians were defending themselves saying that they were not hateful and that they did not judge anyone.  They would say these are God’s laws and that it was God saying it, not them.  The opposition would come back with force and ask them “Do you believe it?” and the Christian would say “yes” and then they would pile on even more saying you agree with the hate that is in the Bible.

The world is against God and His Word.  They will read things out of context and try to make the case for contradictions.  They will see where God’s Word will speak against a certain behavior such as homosexuality and then it will be taken as hate speech.  Anyone that advocates the Bible and agrees with it will be considered hate filled and will be listed as terrorists or at least someone that is is dangerous to society.  As incredible as it is to believe, there are actually those that think Christianity is hate filled and violent.  They spread this lie and the actions of a Christian are completely irrelevant.  The Christian can sit at home and do nothing to anyone and they will still be attacked.

I keep using terms like “will” as though this is future tense.  The truth is that it is already happening before our eyes in our own country.  There was a day as recent as the 1980’s when being called a Christian in America was a resume enhancement.  To be called a Christian meant that this person was to be admired.  In just a couple decades the same society has come to place Christians on terrorist watch lists.  Let us not forget that our current Homeland Security Secretary pointed this out in April 2009.  You can read about it here… Article.  This is our own government speaking these things and they have portrayed anyone that believes in traditional values to be evil.  Just remember what the Bible said in Isaiah…

Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

This is not something I made up.  The writing has been on the wall for some time.  The Christmas versus holiday argument is just a symptom of a greater problem.  I would encourage Christians to get involved in politics and journalism and help to write some of these wrongs from the inside.  You can sit at home and pray all day but you cannot expect God to do this for you if you sit at home and fail to act.  Christianity is not violent toward anyone and should not be.  They do however have an obligation to become active in the government that rules the land.  The silent majority is sitting at home being pummeled by stones from the government and the media.  Stand up and let your political officials know that you are there.  If they fail to recognize you, then remove them.  I would like to congratulate James Lankford, of the Falls Creek camp in Southern Oklahoma for standing up and running for Congress and winning.  Acts like these can be done on a greater scale if people stand up and take a stand.