As we enter the season of Advent, here’s a little ditty I got from somewhere. Makes you think . . .
T’was the month before Christmas, When all through our land,
Not a Christian was praying, Nor taking a stand.
The P.C. Police had taken away
The reason for Christmas — watch out what you say.
The children were told by their schools not to sing
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.
It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say.
December 25th is just a ‘Holiday.’
Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit,
Pushing folks to the floor just to get it!
CDs from Madonna, an Xbox, an iPad,
Something was changing, something quite odd!
Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.
As Target was hanging the trees upside down,
At Lowe’s the word Christmas was nowhere to be found.
At Kmart and Staples and Penny’s and Sears
You won’t hear the word Christmas; it won’t reach your ears.
Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty,
Are words that were used to intimidate me.
Now Boxer, Now Biden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen,
On Pelosi, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!
At the top of the Senate, there arose a huge clatter
To eliminate Jesus, in all public chatter.
And we spoke not a word, as they stole our faith,
Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace.
The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The reason for the season, stopped before it started.
So as you celebrate ‘Winter Break’ under your ‘Dream Tree’
Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me:
Choose your words carefully, choose what you say;
Shout "MERRY CHRISTMAS," not Happy Holiday!
Christians, join together and
wish everyone you meeta MERRY CHRISTMAS
Christ is “The Reason”
for the Christmas
Season!
*The views expressed in this blog are in no way intended to represent the views of Child Evangelism Fellowship©.They are exclusively the expressed views of Curtis Alexander.
Here’s one man’s lifetime of struggle, a man who maintained his attitude of gratitude despite huge disappointments and titanic tragedies. When he was seven years old his family was forced out of their home, and he went to work. When he was nine, his mother died. He lost his job as a clerk when he was 20.  He wanted to go to law school, but didn’t have the education for it. Three years later he went into debt to be partner in a small business. When his business partner died, he was saddled with debt that took years to
repay.
At 28, after courting a woman four years, he asked her to marry him. She turned him down. On his third try he was elected to Congress, at age 37, but failed to be re–elected. He married a woman with recurring mental illness. His son died at four years of age. When this “unlucky” man was 45, he ran for the Senate and lost. Two years later, at age 47, he ran for the Vice–presidency of the United States—another loss. But at age 51, against
mountainous odds, he was elected President of the United States.
 As President he was cruelly ridiculed. In fact, he was perhaps the most criticized and disparaged man ever to occupy the oval office. Five years later his “un–luck” finally ran out. He was assassinated while watching a comedy at Ford Theater.
Abraham Lincoln learned to face discouragement and move forward. It was he who, in the midst of the Civil War in 1863, established the annual celebration we call "Thanksgiving." Lincoln had learned how important it is to thank God despite great difficulties.
It’s no real challenge to thank God for his bles-sings when things are fine! It’s easy to be grateful for family, home and food, safety and
peace. But life is not all warmth and friendship, safety and peace. Into each life some rain falls (a truth to which we here in Washington state can attest). Sometimes the rain we needed during growing season waits until harvest time. And it’s then, when things are soggy and muddy, that giving thanks is hardest, but most needed—and most helpful.
Find time this week to thank God, if not for the things in your life, then in spite of them. The sun will shine again, and God will smile, and life will be good. Just practice thankfulness.
 Lost in the desert, a man was dying—literally—for a drink of water. Then he saw an old shack, shimmering in the heat. Was it real or a mirage? He shuffled across the burning sand and fell against a weathered wall—it was real!
The shade gave little relief from the blazing orange fire in the sky. Then his eyes focused on an old pump in the yard, and his heart leaped—water!
Crawling over, he grasped the handle and yanked it up and down . . . squeak, squawk it sang, squeak, squawk, but it gave no water. In desperation he pumped until he was gasping and sobbing. Finally he dropped to the ground.
Then he noticed an old, dirty jug up against the shack. With trembling hands he rubbed the dirt from one side. There was a message: “Water for priming the pump.” He shook it and sure enough, water splashed inside. A weathered cork kept it from evaporating.
Then he realized his dilemma. He could drink the water inside the jug and survive, at least for a little while. It probably was warm and stale. But it was a sure thing. What if he poured the water down the well to prime the pump and it didn’t work? Death was certain. On the other hand, if he exercised his faith in what was written on the jug and it worked, he would have an unlimited supply of cold, clear water. What should he do?
Finally he pulled the cork from the bottle, unscrewed the top of the pump and poured the precious liquid in. It made hollow splashing noises going down. Then he pumped again. At first—nothing! Then, a trickle of water dribbled out, then a small stream, then a gushing flood of life–giving water.
 He filled the jug and drank, then again and again. After drinking his fill of fresh, delicious water, he topped off the jug one last time
and replaced the cork for the next person. His faith had saved his life!
As that man examined the jug of water, many people examine the Bible. Can they trust what it says? If they put their faith in it, what will
happen? It can do them no good until they try. Millions have found the Bible trustworthy. Like them we will discover that faith primes the pump.
The views expressed in this blog are in no way intended to represent the views of Child Evangelism Fellowship©. They are exclusively the expressed views of Curtis Alexander.
 Note: With the quadrennial presidential election tomorrow, the following blog is modified from the Fall 2012 edition of Missionary Church Today magazine, written upon editorial request by Curtis Alexander. It isn’t an endorsement of any politician. It is an endorsement, however, of a radical idea: support the candidates you believe in, and trust the God Who knows what He’s doing in this year’s election.
In the wee hours of a November Wednesday morning many years ago, election returns poured in—bad news from a host of crucial “swing” states. I could see the handwriting on the leader board: America had elected a president who would plummet us into godlessness and ruin. My sleep was scarce, my rest restless, and I awoke with dread to a gray, cold day and the bleak realization: the USA was doomed.
I phoned a ministry colleague to have coffee and poured out my fear and angst. He just smiled. He seemed at peace with the election results. I was calumnious, he was calm; I was contentious, he was content; I was censorious, he was centripetal. What constituted his composure? It was simple. He comprehended God’s sovereignty; I was apparently clueless.
With a wry grin he said, “Doesn’t Romans 13 say there is no governmental authority except those that our sovereign God has established? And don’t forget,” he added his coup de graĉe, “the Bible says the one in authority is God’s servant for your good.” Those disturbing words were written by Paul to a people under the thumb of godless, wicked Roman Emperors like Caligula, who died just as the early church was taking root, and Nero, who used tar–coated, flaming Christians to illuminate his evening bacchanalia.
My colleague’s confidence challenged my consternation. Disagreeing with the Bible is much more serious than differing with a colleague. He was right. If I had an objection to the election results, my argument was with the sovereign God, not with him.
It reduces to one simple question: Do I trust God, even in politics?
What ‘sovereign’ means
The WordWeb Dictionary© defines this adjective as “not controlled by outside forces,” as in, God is not
subject to the whims or directives of any electorate, government or political party. It also means,“Greatest in status, authority or power.” Synonyms are autonomous, independent, self–governing and supreme.
In terms of political governance, can I trust God as greatest in status, authority and power even when people I think are ungodly are elected to office? Admittedly, that sounds like the God the [authentically Christian]
Church follows. And if I truly believe that, how can I do anything but trust God to manage the lifting up and bringing down of governing authorities, including presidents I don’t trust nor agree with? What are the implications of that?
Some have concluded, don’t bother to vote or even pay attention to anything political. God will accomplish His perfect galactic will without our involvement. But that doesn’t fit with the Bible’s instructions to Christians
to be good citizens. Others act as though one party, or one candidate, can save the world. Good luck with that one; let me know how it turns out!
God’s sovereignty in daily life
Think of it in terms of three kinds, or levels, of God’s will. God’s planetary will encompasses those events that lead to the accomplishment of what He has decreed will happen, with or without humanity’s cooperation. When
God led His people out of Egypt, He used Pharaoh to accomplish the liberation of the Hebrew people, even though Egypt’s supreme ruler was a recalcitrant, headstrong man determined not to obey nor even acknowledge the sovereign God of the Hebrews.
The second level is God’s preceptive will as revealed in Scripture. Anyone who seeks to do God’s will and secure His approval must line up his or her thoughts, words and actions according to the precepts God inspired in Scripture. Disobedience short–circuits the process of finding the third level of God’s will, His personal plan for me as it conforms to His overall plan.
In accordance with God’s planetary will, and in obedience to God’s preceptive will, there is God’s personal will, what He wants [you or me] to do, in contrast with what [we] want to do. If I am trying to persuade God to let me do something that runs afoul of His planetary will, I may as well butt my head against a concrete wall. If I’m not living in obedience to God’s preceptive will as revealed in Scripture, I’ll be equally unsuccessful in finding and following His personal will for me.
God’s sovereignty in American politics
No candidate, party or constituency can circumvent what the sovereign (autonomous, independent,
self–governing and supreme) God intends. Though he or she may wish to accomplish the opposite, every elected
official will ultimately play her or his small—or large—part in God’s great cosmic plan. The anti–Christ himself will unintentionally fulfill God’s will as we see it in Scripture.
InThe Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon listed several trends that characterized Rome at the end of its empire. At least three resonate with twenty–first century American society. They are: 1.) a growing pursuit of luxury and a life of ease; 2.) obsession with all kinds of sex, including homosexuality; and 3.) a move
away from self–reliance toward a desire to live off the state, to be taken care of by the government.
These same trends are at issue in the election [tomorrow]. In my opinion, no candidate of the major parties addresses these three trends in terms of God’s sovereignty and humankind’s responsibility to live
biblically in the realms of luxury, sexuality or social and economic entitlement.
Is all of this contradictory to what the sovereign God of the universe wants? True, many political decisions and courses of action violate God’s law. But all will ultimately bend to His sovereign eternal will.
God’s sovereignty and my politics
It all comes down to this: Christians have several responsibilities in the political realm. 1.) take an active interest in politics; 2.) influence those you can to work and speak for godly values in politics; 3.) vote; 4.) pray for those who are elected or appointed to positions of authority; and 5.) interpret political events in light of a God who is autonomous, independent, self–governing and supreme. Do your best to promote godliness in society, and know that God is perfectly orchestrating all things to result in His eternal glory through individuals, nations and the world at large.
It is, after all is said and done, a simple matter of trusting the loving, holy God who is universally sovereign.
The views expressed in this blog are in no way intended to represent the views of Child Evangelism Fellowship©. They are exclusively the expressed views of Curtis Alexander.
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