Wednesday, 19 December 2007
Christmas, Entertainment and Big Business (updated)
As the info below shows, a large number of businesses have voluntarily chosen to try to erase Christmas from American life, especially the Christ part of Christmas. Hollywood and the entertainment industry are some of the
biggest offenders. Please join me the weekend of 12/21,22,23 in refusing to see
any MOVIE at any THEATER that has chosen to NOT show a movie that shows
Christians and the Christmas traditions in a positive light. Let's rent good and
wholesome DVDs for that weekend or go see the Christmas programs at our
local churches that weekend. If the entertainment industry, which has chosen to schedule movies showing murder, violence and anti-American military personnel propaganda, chooses to not retain God in their knowledge (Rom 1:22-32) and would have us forget about God and Christ, we can at least refuse to support them with our money during the weekend before Christmas. I know some theater managers might not share the entertainment industry's animosity towards Christians and Christmas, but it is the only way I know to effectively "have no fellowship, no joint-participation and no support of the unfruitful works" (Eph 5:7+11; 2 Cor 6:14; Rom 1:32) of the entertainment industry's evil, sin and darkness. Remember, before you pay for that movie ticket, rent or by that DVD, or go to a particular chanel, give it the Phil 4:8 test before you let it into your thoughts/mind: Is it True? Is it Honorable?
Is it just? Is it pure? Is it commendable? Is it possibly acceptable to Jesus? Is it excellent? Is it worthy of praise?
The following information about and list of companies censoring out Christmas is from Focus on the Family, http://listen.family.org/daily/A000000807.cfm (The Attack on Christmas 2007: How Retailers Rate) and http://www.citizenlink.org/
There are companies that appear to be rejecting the centuries old Christmas season traditions, the word "Christ" and the centuries old concept of a season celebrating His birth. Why is that a big deal?
+++"21 . . . they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. . . . 28And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, " Rom 1 ESV
As I understand the Focus on the Family link above, the following companies appear to see fit to "acknowledge" Christmas, to make a serious and conscientious effort to keep the Christmas that includes the celebration of Christ's birth, encouraging a Christian Christmas. Please patronize them, doing as much of your Christmas shopping as possible at their stores. These stores obviously care about what Christians think or how Christians feel, so Christians can give such companies their money, knowing they're friendly?
Pro-Christmas stores:
Amazon
American Eagle Outfitters
Bath and Body Works
Bed, Bath and Beyond
Big Lots
Dillard's
Dixieline
Hobby Lobby
Home Goods
JC Penney
JoAnn Fabrics
KB Toys
Linen N' Things
Long's Pharmacies
Lord & Taylor
L.L. Bean
Macy's
Michael's
Mrs. Field's Cookies
Neiman Marcus
Radio Shack
Ralph's Kroger's Food 4 Less
Sam's Club
Sears
Wal-Mart (Donated one million dollars to Salvation Army and encourages SA
bell ringers in front of store. Shop here but don't buy anything that
is made in China and is made to touch your skin or go in your mouth)
As I understand the Focus on the Family PDF link, the stores listed below appear to consistently and deliberately see fit to not "acknowledge God", censoring out Christmas, its traditions, and especially the word "Christ'. Apparently they have rejected complaints about their censorship of the Christmas traditions, apparently not caring that Christians are offended.
Please don't shop at their stores and let their management know how you feel about their apparent anti-Christmas decision. Apparently they don't care about what Christians think or how Christians feel, so why should Christians give such companies their money? The store names followed by +
indicated token acknowledgement of Christmas after Focus on the Family exposed their censoring of Christmas.
Banana Republic
Barnes & Noble
Circuit City
Dick's Sporting Goods
Discovery Chanel Store +
Disney Store
Ebay
Eddie Bauer
The Gap +
Land's End +
Lane Bryant
Marshalls +
Nordstrom +
Office Max +
Old Navy
Petco
Pier 1 Imports + significant www improvement & response
Sports Authority
Walgreens http://www.walgreens.com/ +
As I understand the Focus on the Family link, the following stores appear to reluctantly recognize Christmas and the Christmas season. If possible shop elsewhere. If you shop there let the manager know how you feel about their apparent half-hearted recognition of the "Christmas" season. Apparently they don't care about what Christians think or how Christians feel, so why should Christians give such companies their money? The store names followed by + indicated token acknowledgement of Christmas after Focus on the Family exposed their censoring of Christmas.
Ace Hardware
Best Buy
Bloomindale's
Borders
Home Depot +
KMart +
Kohl's
Lowe's +
PetSmart
Staples
Target
Toys R Us +
Why not avoid shopping at the anti-Christmas and anti-Christian stores all year round?
Christmas, Entertainment & Big Business (updated)
MERRY CHRISTMAS ! WE ANNOUNCE TO YOU GLAD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY FOR ALL PEOPLE. HE IS GREAT, THE MESSIAH, THE KING OF KINGS, THE SON OF THE MOST HIGH GOD, AND HIS KINGDOM SHALL NEVER END.
Merry CHRISTmas!!! God’s Spirit enabled Mary to birth a Son, and called His name JESUS for He saves from evil those who trust in Him. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of God, the Highest; and of His Kingdom there shall be no end. . . . “I announce to you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people;” for the Redeemer was born to you in Bethlehem, Messiah Jesus, the King of all Kings.
Dear E-Friends,
Thanks for your friendship, your fellowship, your help on this pilgrimage we are all in and/or your support of my E-groups. I wish for you the blessings He has poured out on me and my three daughters, two sons-in-law, and nine grandchildren. I wish you could see how the faces of my loved ones convey the spirit and Love of Christmas this season. Please permit me to share a few Christmas thoughts with you.
MEMORIALIZING EMMANUEL'S NATIVITY WITH FACES, HANDS, FEET & HIS WOMEN
EMMANUEL'S NATIVITY can be such a special time, especially for children and the ones who love those children. Because the children are loved so much, and because the ones who love them seek to prepare special things for them to show them how much they are loved, it makes those who love them so happy to see them happy and rejoicing in their circle of love. The icing on the cake is when
the children are so aware of the gift of love that they appreciate it, value
it and are thankful for it. There are few greater joys for a parent than when
the love bestowed on a child is echoed back with appreciation and thanks,
love returned. That appreciation and thanks reveals that the child values the
love expressed, that the child understands what it is to be loved, and that
the child wants to be in good relationship with the loving parent. It is even
a greater blessing to see that beloved child pass on to another that precious
gift of Love in deed, love with hands and feet. The Love has begotten Love.
This all lets the parent know that the child has chosen love, its giving and
its receiving, its scarcity and its preciousness, and is on the way to
becoming a person of Love in and by Jesus who is LOVE embodied.
Loving parents do much in preparation for EMMANUEL'S NATIVITY'S sharing of family love. It is a high point in a life daily filled with small acts of caring, affirmation, devotion, receiving and giving love. God the Father Loved
people so much that He gave His only Son to be born of woman and then to live and to die in their place so that they could be saved from death and saved to compassionately cherishing Love, enlightening Truth, and Everlastingly abundant and joyful Life. He had given people His Word over the centuries, but there came a time when God would enter and live in a human body to make the Way for people to come back to Him. He who is compassionately cherishing Love wanted to enable His people to joyfully and abundantly Live in His great Love, both on earth and in Heaven. Father loved us, His children, so much that He didn’t let the basic incompatibility of our natures, His perfect and holy nature and our imperfect and unholy nature, keep us apart. He knew we couldn’t live in His presence as we are, finite, imperfect and unholy, and He knew that we would be consumed by the Holy Consuming Fire that He is; so He sent His Son, Jesus, to overcome the incompatibility by letting His own body be consumed by death in our place so that our spirits can live with Him forever. All who believe, trust, rely and depend on Jesus to make them compatible with the Father are covered by Jesus’ sacrificial death, so that as He lives forever in the presence of Father, we may also live with Him there forever.
To prepare His people for the coming of His beloved Son, Father sent his
messenger, John the Baptist, filled with the Spirit from birth in order to
make ready His people to know and receive the Wisdom of His Love and their
need to recognize, accept and obey the merciful Justice of His Love
[Lk1:17,18]. But even before John and Jesus were born He sent His angel to a
young girl, not to kings, princes, the rich , the powerful or the proud.
Indeed He "has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise;
. . the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
. the base things of the world, and things which are despised, and things
which are not, in order to bring to nothing things that are; so that no flesh
should glory in His presence. . . so that, according as it is written, "He
who glories, let him glory in [the] Lord." [1Cor1:26-31]. So He chose men to lead his people, and a poor young girl to give birth to the King of all Kings, the Messiah.
A little town of ill repute, a small town occupied by Roman soldiers, a teenage girl, a young carpenter, an old priest and his old wife, and common shepherds were all ordinary, common, foolish to high society, base and despised by the ruling class, and weak to the politically powerful. God chose them to be the first to know that His Son, King Jesus, had come and He blessed them mightily. Do you feel or appear foolish, weak, base, lowly, despised and feeling like a nobody? Rejoice because He has chosen such to save souls and bring glory to His Name! Let Him make you ready for that priceless opportunity.
Doing what was foolish to the society and the worldly wise, choosing a weak young girl instead of a mighty queen, choosing one who was base and despised in the royal and aristocratic society of the day, His angel announced to this young girl the news that would forever change human history. This young girl was told first by one of God's most powerful angels that God was going to
have a Son by her and that this Son of God would reign, as promised centuries
before, on the throne of David in Jerusalem, reigning over an everlasting
Kingdom [Lk1:31-38]. What was the Spirit enabled response in this weak, lowly
and despised young woman? Does God really care about those who society
esteems as foolish, weak, base, lowly and despised?
The Word He filled Mary's mouth with was the message that He cares about the lowly, the weak, the foolish and the despised; that His mercy is poured out on those who humble themselves before Him in reverential awe; that He scatters the proud and shatters their vain plans and designs; that He exalts the lowly and removes kings from their thrones; that He cares about the hungry and fills their need, while humbling and humiliating the proud rich and mighty; and that He always remembers to be merciful to His own dearly beloved children [Lk1:31-38]. This is what the first Christmas meant to Mary. Shouldn't today's Christmas have the same meaning for us?
How great His love for His daughters, the girls and women who have become His by coming to Him in faith in Jesus! He chose to reveal His first coming first to Mary and Elizabeth, later to men in positions of authority and power. He chose to reveal Himself resurrected and living eternally first to His beloved daughters, and then later to the Apostles He had chosen.
Any man who is wise in God will realize how much His daughters mean to Him, will realize how great is His Love for and to the girls and women who have been called by Him to follow Him in His footsteps in a way more Christlike and difficult than that to which He has called His boys and men [1Pt. 2:18-3:7]. Indeed we do well to live with them according to His wisdom for they often are His chosen vessels unto His Honor [1Pt3:7]. It is very easy to understand why Jesus deals so severely with those who offend, stumble, grieve and abuse His daughters who have yielded themselves to Him to be His vessels of honor for the doing of righteousness. A godly woman in Christ is a great treasure to be greatly treasured. Both the incarnation and the resurrection were first and personally revealed to women, and that should give us a very good idea of how important women are to Jesus. Godly Women - Fragile and Precious, Handle With Care!
Only after revealing so much to the women, did He choose to speak to the men who were in positions of authority and influence. Finally He fills the mouth of His man, Zacharias, to declare that the Most High God had not forgotten His people but had effected redemption for them, and had raised up a mighty Deliverer for them In the house of David His servant . . . to deliver His people from their foes and from the power of all who hate them. He dealt mercifully with our forefathers, and remembered His holy covenant, the oath which He swore to Abraham our forefather, to grant us to be rescued from the power of our foes and so render worship to Him free from fear, in piety and uprightness before Him all our days. . . To give to His People a knowledge of salvation In the forgiveness of their sins, through the tender compassion of our God, through which the Daybreak from on high will come to us, dawning on those who now dwell in the darkness and shadow of death--To direct our feet into the Path of Peace [Luke 1:67-73]. Do you see how Mary's praise theme is echoed here by Spirit filled Zacharias? This is what that first Christmas meant to them. Shouldn't our remembrance of EMMANUEL'S NATIVITY mean the same to us today?
So why did Father give us this great gift of His Son and His Kingdom? So that we may serve Him and His Love, Truth, Light and Life without fear, having been set apart for Him eternally by His dear Son to live with Him in the joy and glory of His righteousness forever. [Lk1:74,75]. He gave us the great gift of His Love in His Son to forever save us and finally to remove us from sin, hatred, evil, vileness, wickedness, injustice, cruelty, unkindness, bitterness and malice. He gave us this great gift of His Love in His Son to us who lived in darkness and in the shadow of death daily, to guide our feet into His way of peace and joy forevermore. [Lk1:76-79].
Having been so richly blessed and so greatly Loved, we have been made in
Christ Jesus to be vessels unto His honor through which He may continue to
pour out His great and merciful Love. We have been called to pass on the good
news given to Mary and Zacharias, that others may come to Life, Love, Truth
and Light in Christ Jesus [Mt 28:19,20]. We have been called to be the
vessels through which He pours out His Love on those who are esteemed by
people to be foolish, weak, base, lowly and despised.
We are called to clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned, feed the
hungry, give drink to the thirsty, to house the homeless, doing all of this
as we would do it to Jesus Himself [Mt. 25:33-46]. He has called us to serve
and care for the women who are bereft of their men, and children who are
bereft of the parents [Jam1:27]. Hasn’t He called us "To loose the bands of
wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed ones go free,
and that you break every yoke? 7 . . . to break your bread to the hungry,
and that you should bring home the wandering poor? When you will see the
naked and cover him; and you will not hide yourself from your own flesh/family? 8 Then shall your light break out as the dawn, and your health shall spring out
quickly; and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD
shall gather you. 9 Then you shall call, and the LORD shall answer; you shall
cry, and He shall say, ‘Here I am]’.” [Isa58:6-12
O COME LET US ADORE HIM! O COME LET US SERVE HIM! O COME LET US LAY DOWN OUR LIVES IN LOVE AND SERVICE, ONE FOR ANOTHER IN CHRIST JESUS! BY THIS SHALL ALL MEN KNOW THAT WE ARE HIS DISCIPLES AND HE SHALL BE LIFTED UP IN PRAISE AND THANKSGIVINGS!
Oldservant Tyler & loved ones
MemorializingEmmanuel'sNativity
Merry CHRISTmas !!! God gave birth by Mary to a Son, and called His name JESUS for He saves from evil all those who wholly rely on Him alone for such salvation. He is great, and is called the Son of God, the Highest; and of His Kingdom there shall be no end. . . . I announce to you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people; for the Redeemer was born to us in Bethlehem, Messiah the King. If you wish to respond my post, please do so directly to one of my email addresses. If you no longer wish to receive Email from me personally, please reply with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line and indicate the source address of the Email. www.persecutedchurch.org, www.persecution.com; - www.preda.org, www.africanchildrenschoir.com - wwwwatoto.com, www.bibleleague.org/persecuted/index.php, http://groups-beta.google.com/group/friends_of_ron_tyler
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FriendsOfRonTyler
Dohnavur(Fellowship)TirunelveliDistTamilNadu627-102India
I announce to you glad tidings of great joy
