Christmas Makes Strange Bedfellows

TITLE: Christmas Makes Strange Bedfellows
DATE: December 26, 2018
TEXT: Acts 2:38 - (ESV)  And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
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In the San Francisco Bay Area this year, Christmas was a community celebration.

One of the most obvious places of civic cooperation was found in a small park where hundreds of decorated Christmas trees welcomed visitors to stand in awe of  the diversity of the groups and the differences in their ornamented celebration of the Savior’s birth.

There is no doubt one of the trees getting some of the greatest attention was sponsored by Satanists from the San Francisco Bay area.

Christians at the Christmas tree display were  quick to point out that Christmas is the celebration of the Savor’s entry into this world as the Sacrifice Which would break Satan’s spiritual stranglehold on the souls of fallen sinners.

To many of the regular observers, it seemed as if the Satanic display was an insult, a poor joke, a publicity scheme or a combination of all the above. I don’t know if the Satanists weighed in on that discussion.

You see, they had a problem of their own.

The problem was: when the devil-worshippers had decided to sponsor a Christmas tree, they also decided to go “all out.” This they did by hand-crafting 140 ornaments, you know, the traditional Christmas ornaments, like pentagrams and upside-down crosses.

The Satanic worshippers have been quite upset that people seem to be stealing the ornaments from their tree. There are three different suggestions being offered to explain this malicious action:

1. Sponsors of other trees are trying to short-circuit the Satanists.
2. Some people motivated by envy, are  taking the ornaments for themselves.
3. My own opinion is: I think a pentagram, which is a five-pointed star, can just as easily be described as a “star of Bethlehem” and it doesn't take too much work to turn an upside-down cross into a right-side up cross.

After making a public service plea for the thievery to be curtailed, the Satanists added, “If this keeps up, we might have to put some kind of curse on the new ones (ornaments) – or maybe just stick something gross on the backside, we haven't decided yet.”

With that last little bit about using “curses” and “gross things” to preserve their ornaments, I believe the Satanists may have shown their true colors and revealed they may not have fully grasped the Savior or the purpose of His mission of love.

So, what shall we do with the devil-worshippers next year when they want to put up another tree?

• We could tell them, ”No!” and end up with them suing us.
• We could “lose their paperwork” until December 26th.
• We could give them five Christian ornaments for every one of theirs which is stolen. In this way we will slowly transform their tree and make it one of ours.
• Or… we could point out the Savior’s love is so great it even extends to those who crucified Him and those today who oppose His sacrifice done to save sinners.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, Your love reaches out to sinners in every time and location. Today we ask you to touch those who have pledged their allegiance to Satan. Let them realize, while there is time, that Jesus is the only Mediator Who can bring them to the Father, forgiveness and salvation. In the Redeemer’s Name I pray. Amen.

The article which inspired this devotion was written by Kayla Kosloski and carried by Christian Headlines on November 29, 2018. The article can be found at this address: https://www.christianheadlines.com/blog/satanic-bay-area-group-warns-christmas-tree-park-visitors-to-stop-stealing-their-ornaments.html

The music which introduces and concludes our devotions was written by Guy Baumann, one of my long-ago confirmands. He is singing with three brothers. This song comes from the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html