The other night, 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, because of the increasing groundswell of the antichrist who opposes personal, church, and social dedication to the preserved words and will of God. I see it in my own family, as well as in how the lies of paganism have invaded and influenced societies across the world, since I was a child. It is no wonder that Christian, Jewish, and Islamist purists see Western Culture as pagan and unholy, as all societies, in general, have abandoned the Law and promises of God: our social practices and legal deeds are almost totally contrary to the Law of God, even as many nations and communties have literally changed their laws ‘on the books’ in opposition to how God has always said to do things for the betterment of society in obedience to Him.
One increasingly popular thing, that is contrary to God's words and ways, is the “santa claus” mythology is an idolatry, which steals the hearts, minds, and spirits of children. It also continues to 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. How is it that so many nominally professing believers in Christ stray from God's words to pursue "santa claus"; that so few biblically honor the God who created all things (John 1:1-5)?
Even as a spiritually lost man (before I ever trusted God's preserved words or God's Christ, Jesus), I knew in my heart and mind that the “santa claus” mythology was a gateway of sin, a massive lie that corrupts individuals and our society, … even though, personally, I had no desire to have anything to do with Jesus Christ at that time! Still, I could see the ravages of sin that are brought to bear on us all by the “santa claus” lie.
Years later, I had heard a preacher re-spell “santa claus” as “satan claus”... the letters are all there and demonstrates the biblical truth about Satan being able to appear as an “angel of light” even though he is NOT OF God’s Light. The whole “santa claus” mythology is just another (from the Greek allos meaning another of the same kind) pedestal on Mars Hill (Acts 17), just another (from the Greek heteros meaning another that is totally different) way of Satan promoting his own agenda, for Satan's way of leading us astray usually starts with “Yea,…hath God said?”, as Satan led Eve astray in the Garden of Eden.
Nicolas, a Christian proselyte at Antioch (Acts 6:5), was a biblical saint in the 1st Century. Biblical saints are souls who have personally chosen to put all their trust into the preserved words of God, God's plan of salvation, and God's Christ, having heard the words of God and accepted them as God's eternal truth, they come to the Lord God and the Lord Jesus Christ in and by repentance and faith and allow God to live in and through those willing souls, according to God's biblical promises.
By contrast, the “santa claus” myth that has developed over the last few centuries is no person, has no soul, and therefore cannot be a saint, for “he” is not real. The grievously sad part, spiritually, is that “his” believers argue that “he” has some of the attributes of God Almighty, such as knowing all things, seeing all things, being able to answer the prayers of children, and being able to deliver all requested ‘gifts’, all in one night, all around the world. What a terrible delusion and lie to teach to and promote with children! Why not teach children all of God’s Truth about Jesus Christ? ... for only The One True God is capable of really doing all that the acolytes of "santa claus" claim.
The Lord Jesus Christ quoted the OT to Satan, when Satan vainly tempted Jesus in the wilderness.
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.
By quoting God's faithful words in the OT, Jesus rebuked paganism and idolatry: Jesus reiterated that God has commanded us all, to worship God in Truth, and defined that true godly worship. By that rebuke of Satan, Jesus said that we are all to ONLY serve 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.
This, God’s first law, is true, adamant, eternally 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 imaginary “santa claus” for anything is idolatrous worship … So is expecting “santa claus” to deliver what is asked for by prayer, letter, or phone call. The act of seeking that assistance from an imaginary entity is an act of false worship, for by such actions we lie to ourselves and deceive ourselves by seeking the friendship, fellowship, or help from that which is not real, AND it is NOT God, nor from God.
According to God’s eternally preserved biblical truth, parents and others deny Jesus Christ to the degree that they lie about and for “santa claus” by claiming that “santa claus” is real. They deceive their own children and others. They defend those who do the same. By their lies and defense of "santa claus", they each bow in service to that idol and false god, and they idolatrously serve that myth by decorating and promoting it with the 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 by promoting "santa claus", before or alongside of Jesus Christ (and awarding that myth the powers of God), that they, as parents, are cheating their children out of God’s whole truth about Jesus Christ? Do they not see and understand that they are failing to teach their children fidelity to God; failing to teach obedience to God’s preserved words?
Why are people 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 please themselves, to cheat, to lie to self and God, to steal true credit from God and from others; teaching children 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 most assuredly teaching children 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 increasing numbers of children and generations grow from that fantacy world of self-service, self-pleasure, lies, and self-deceit, to become all manner of discontented souls, engaging in crime and self-destruction because they cannot deal with reality of real life and their need to repent of sin?
The deceit and destruction of human souls has always been Satan's objective, as one can see by reading God's Bible. Satan love is when we fail to love, obey, and abide in God and in God's Way. But, are we really so blind that we do not or cannot recognize that by our defense, encouragement, and pursuit of the lies of the "santa claus" mythology, we are really encouraging spiritual failure?
Let us not fail to heed God's warning about our hearts leading us astray from God, as the LORD says in Jeremiah 17:9: “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? (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).
How can one KNOW for sure that this writer is not just blowing smoke? Well, let's 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.
As we see, above, 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. So, the holy question becomes, ARE WE REALLY of God? Do we REALLY believe and trust God? Or are we going about to establish our own way and our own righteousness? (Romans 10:3).
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:
By His above statement, The Self-existent Son of God, Jesus, has shown us that HE has grave concerns about those who speak that which is NOT of God, and, as the Lord Jesus Christ, He said called His Spirit, “the Spirit of truth”, AND that “he shall testify of me.” God never approves of vain myths and vain imaginations (Romans 1:21)… thusly, does not and cannot God approve of “santa claus”. In light of God's commands, why do so many professing believers in Christ, yet continue to contend less for the faith of Jesus Christ than 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 (John 1:1-3). Why are we preferentially and prejudicially lying to children to engage them in the “santa claus” mythology, instead of us (who claim to believe in Jesus Christ) fulfilling God’s great commission by which God wants us to tell the children that Jesus Christ is THE ONLY Way, Truth, and Life, our only true and faithful help in all of life? Why do we fail to teach children that all else is idolatry? Why are we defending idolatrous prayer requests to an imaginary non-entity? Why are we promoting “santa clause” more than we promote Jesus Christ? For, ONLY Jesus Christ, who IS God with us, God in the flesh, who, Himself, 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. The vanity and lies of "santa claus" cannot accomplish anything except to lead souls astray from Jesus Christ. For any among us who seek or promote the lie of "santa claus", 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, that we can and must know whether we are really thinking, believing, and acting as Christians (who really follow and walk with the Living God, Jesus Christ, and in accordance with God's preserved words of God's Bible). The above verses exemplify 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, as well as away from souls depending wholly on God’s ONLY Christ).
Therefore, let us test all that we imagine, think, say, and do by God’s test (that we give ourselves permission 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 God and God's preserved words of God's Bible (as we try to get our own way)? Are we, or are we not, really being self-deceptive and pretending to love and respect Him and the blood of Jesus Christ, as we practice and teach our children and others to believe and worship the imaginary and false god of “santa claus”? Why are we choosing to NOT train 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 (Mt 12:36).
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.
Will we give ourselves permission to continue to chase the lies, lusts, and imaginations of Satan, the world, and our own flesh, … OR will we give ourselves permission to walk in the Light of God (according to all God's holy counsel, that He alone has set before us in His Bible)? Will we addict ourselves to "santa claus"? OR, will we addict ourselves to God, His preserved words, to His Way, Jesus Christ? God's Spirit yearns to lead and guide us out of the darkness of the world, away from the lusts of the flesh, and into that Light of God which IS 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, pieces, and revisions, 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). The information in this link has proven helpful to many souls on their spiritual journeys.
