         Santa Claus Or Satan's Claws?

Have you ever been duped, tricked, or made a fool of. I don't mean just for fun I mean by someone who hates you and wants to get the upper hand or your money.  You know what I mean.  It's like the time my grandfather sent $1.00 and a self addressed stamped envelope in response to a magazine ad that guaranteed it wasn't a gimmick, would cut his heating oil bill by 50% or more with a simple technique, which you'll wonder why you didn't think of it yourself.  A week later he received a letter.  Opening it to find a note with only two words that read, "burn wood".  He crumpled the paper in his fist, and said,"I've been duped !".

Now let me ask you, how long have you been participating in the "Santa Claus" gimmick?  "What gimmick?" you say "He doesn't hurt anyone and it's fun for the children!" (Or so you think).  All right, let's look at Santa Claus.  Have you ever considered what a counterfeit he is or who he is counterfeiting?  He claims supernatural power and godly omniscience ("I know when you've been good [righteous] or bad [sinful]), and also to be omnipresent (all places at once), and offer propitiation ( appeasement and forgiveness with rewards) without requiring any kind of expiation (payment for wrongon your part).  Can you think of anyone else who fits that description?

God's Word, the Bible, furnishes us with truth(1) so we can know God and what his will is for us(2). It tells us that God can not lie(3), that He can be our heavenly Father and(4), that His love for us was so great, that He sacrificed His only Son for us(5).

(1) John 17:17  (2) Micah 6:8, 2 Tim.3:16-17
(3) Titus 1:2, Heb. 6:18
(4) John 1:12    (5) John 3:16

                  OMNISCIENCE & OMNIPRESENT
The Lord Jesus Christ is truly the only one who is omniscience & omnipresent.  "The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good."(6)  "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his (Christ) sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."(7)  "For his (Christ) eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings."(8)  "For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings."(9)  "O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.  Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.  Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.  For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether."(10)

                           PROPITIATION
"And he (Christ) is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."(11) "The blessing (forgiveness of sin, salvation) of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow."(12)  ".... godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come."(13)  "He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For, as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.  As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.  Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him."(14)  

(6) Prov. 15:3              (7) Hebrews 4:13
(8) Job. 34:21              (9) Prov. 5:21
(10) Psalm 139:1-4     (11) 1 John 2:2; 4:10
(12) Prov. 10:22         (13) 1 Tim. 4:8            (14) Psalm 103:10-13

                           EXPIATION
MADE SIN FOR US "Who his own self (Christ) bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."(15) "Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the FREE GIFT. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous"(16) 

(15) 1Peter 2:24     (16) Romans 5:14-19

                                       THE LIE
Now stop and consider for a moment the feelings of a small child. Jimmy has just been told by an older boy that "Santa Claus isn't real. Your Dad and Mom have been lying to you. There is no such thing as Santa Claus!" The heart broken child runs to Dad or Mom for comfort and reassurance only to find that it's true, "Dad and Mom have been lying!". Now not only is Jimmy's heart broken, but his spirit is also broken. Jimmy cries and will not be consoled, for he feels betrayed, for those whom he trusted most have conspired together to hurt him. The parents say to each other, "He'll get over it in time. Everybody does."

Time passes and Jimmy is maturing. His parents now feel it's "the right time" to tell him about his heavenly Father. "No Jimmy, you can't really see God, but trust me, God is real! He knows your heart and can see what you are doing all the time. Just ask Jesus to save you, and he'll give you the free gift of eternal life." Jimmy doesn't say anything, but remembers the time when his parents told him about someone else whom he couldn't see, knew when he was bad or good, and gave free gifts. The enemy, Satan, has just had another victory.

                                THE LIAR
"Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said......";(17)  He is still subtil today. "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness..."(18), like jolly "Saint Nick". So how could anyone hold out a lie to their children and rob them of an abundant life in Jesus Christ? "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."(19)  His desire is to keep you from the truth. He is "The thief that cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy."(20)  The scheme is clear, our common enemy wants to steal from everyone real joy and peace. To kill our desire to serve the one and only true God and corrupt our minds with falsehood thereby destroying  truth.

(17) Gen. 3:1        (18) 2 Corth. 11:14-15
(19) John 8:44     (20) John 10:10

                               TRUTH
"Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?"(21)  God says: "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."(22)  "Lie not one to another", and "Put away lying, speak every man truth"(23) "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children WALK (not talk about) in truth."(24) "Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom."(25)  Jesus said: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."(26) To have this abundant life it requires that you accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior. He says: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.(27) 

                              AMBASSADORS
Parents are God's representative on earth to HIS children. A child's physical father should be the model of his heavenly Father. If the child's father is true to God's Word (his instructions), it will be easy, when the child matures, to transfer his trust to his heavenly Father and have real insight and understanding as to the character of God.

(21) Gal. 4:16                 (22) John 8:32,36
(23) Col. 3:9; Eph. 4:25   (24) 3 Jonh 1:4
(25)  Psalms 51:6           (26) John 10:10
(27) John 14:6

                             IT'S YOUR CHOICE
Will you walk in truth and lie not? Or will you be one of Santa's (Satan's) helpers. There is no middle ground; "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad."(28) "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."(29)

(28) Mat. 12:30     (29) Mat. 18:6



uploaded by: Steve Nearman
e-mail: snearman@aol.com
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