Helpful Hints To Better Understand The Bible

I talk to many people in church and out of church who say they either don't read the bible at all or they read it very little. The primary reason I hear is not lack of time, it is lack of understanding. Many have said they try to read the Bible and give up shortly after they start because they don't get anything out of it and they don't understand what they read. I know, because I used to be one of those people. My Bible had more dust on it than a TV screen in the same room with a fireplace that hasn't seen Windex in a month.

I'd like to share some things I have learned about getting more out of reading the Bible and hopefully these will be helpful. I found from personal experience that once I understood the Bible more, I wanted to read it more. By reading it more, I understood it more, etc.

The scripture reference I'd like to use is in James 1:21-25

"21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror:
24 For he beholds himself, and goes his way, and straightway forgets what manner of man he was.
25 But whosover looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed."

When looking at scripture it is important to know who is writing, who is being written to and why. James (a Jew) is writing to his fellow Jewish believers telling them how to be saved, but we can certainly still learn from it. Now you may say, hold it. What do you mean James is writing to fellow believers telling them how to be saved? If they are believers they are already saved. Well, yes they are. However, salvation comes in 3 tenses... past, present and future. You may ask what's the difference. I'll see if I can explain it and let the answer begin with the letter "P" for easier recall.

Past Tense Salvation - This happened the instant you trusted Jesus Christ as you Savior. You will never have to die and go to Hell because Jesus paid the price for you. Past tense salvation means you no longer are under the Penalty of sin.


Present Tense Salvation speaks of being saved from the Power of Sin. Look at the end of verse 21 "... which is able to save your soul." The greek word for soul is 'Psuche'.. which roughly speaking is your mind, emotion and will. James is telling us how to keep our mind, emotion and will in check and in line with God.


Future Tense Salvation comes when Jesus returns and we are changed into a new sinless creation. This is being saved from the Possibility of Sin. Once Jesus comes back and we are changed in a twinkling of an eye, we will be perfect and there will be no sin in us or even the possibility of sin in us because there is no sin in a Holy Heaven. What a time to look forward to.


Ok you say, that's nice and all but how does that help me better understand the Bible? Well this passage in James gives 4 ways to better receive God's Word when you read it. Instead of the letter "P", I am going to let each of these begin with the letter "R".

1) We should welcome the Word with a Repentant Spirit

Look again at verse 21 "Lay apart all filthiness and superfluidity of naughtiness." The word translated here as filthy is "rhuparia" and it is closely related to the term used for ear wax. James is telling us to get the spiritual wax out of our ears. How do our ears get this spiritual ear wax and how do we get rid of it? This wax comes from unconfessed sin in our lives. That's why it is important to repent of the sins you recognize or "come clean" before you attempt to hear from God through His word. Another analogy could be having spiritual weeds. Remember the parable about the sower. God's word is seed and any farmer knows before you plant the seed, you have to weed the garden. If we expect to hear from God, we have to do a self examination and come clean with or repent of those sins which hurt our fellowship with God. That is why the first step to better understanding the Bible is to approach the Bible with a Repentant Spirit.

2) We Should Welcome the Word with a Receptive Spirit. Look again at verse 21 "... receive with Meekness.." What is meekness? Meekness is not weakness. It is power under control. We can not dig into the Bible and treat it like a math or science book and try to draw truth out. Notice the word "receive". There are two words in the Greek for receive. One is "Lombano" which means to grasp, to reach out and take for youself. James does not use that meaning here because we can non just snatch truth out of the Word of God. James uses the other word for receive and it is "Decomai" which means to welcome, to openly receive as you would receive a guest in your home. We must come to the Word of God with a receptive, meek spirit and ask God to show us the truths He would have us to see. God is under no obligation to show anyone His truths if they don't first come to the Word with a repentant spirit.

So the next time we sit down to study the Bible we need to ask ourselves, are we meek? First question is are we clean, second question is are we meek and the two go hand in hand. If we are not meek we are not even going to admit when we are not clean.

3) We must welcome the Word with a Responsive Spirit. Look now at verses 22-23... "be doers of the Word and not hearers only." We can be clean and meek but if we are not obedient to what we read, God is not going to reveal any new truths to us. There a couple of scriptures that address this.

Matthew 7:26-27 "And every one that hears these sayings of mine, and does them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."

Luke 11:28 " blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it."

If we want a blessing, if we want to build our faith on a strong foundation, we need to be obedient to what we read. Once we do that, God will then trust us and reveal more truths to us.

Here is a practical example of what I mean. Suppose you had a young child and you assigned them certain household duties to perform in order to earn an allowance. The more difficult the job, the more allowance they would earn. You assign them to clean their room. They don't do it. Then later, when there is a new video game out that they want to get and need extra money, they come to you and ask if they can mow the lawn with the new fancy riding mower that even you have to read the manual to figure out how to operate. What would your reaction be? Would you say sure? Not hardly. What you would probably say is "why should I teach you how to operate this complicated mower when you didn't even do the simple task of cleaning your room?"

The Best way to understand the parts of the Bible that we don't understand is to obey the parts we do understand.

4) We must Welcome the Word with a Reflective Spirit. Look at verses 23-24: "For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: For he beholds himself, and goes his way, and straightway forgets what manner of man he was."

So many of us are guilty of reading the Bible with a cavalier, casual glance. We are much like the person who looks at themselves briefly in the mirror and soon forgets what they see. Many times we read the Bible and may come across an interesting new truth but later on forget what it was. It is a good idea to have a pen and notebook with us when we read. Much like in a classroom, doing this shows God we are expecting to hear from Him and are ready to write down and meditate on what is revealed to us.

The Bible is not like any other book. We read other books, the Bible reads us. We see ourselves when we read the Bible that is why James uses the metaphor of a mirror. The Bible will reveal things in us that we need to address. Shortcomings that many times we don't want to face up to. You know the expression that says "mirrors don't lie." Well, just like the mirror, the Word of God doesn't lie and we may even discover things about ourselves that make us uncomfortable but we need to hear. This is also where the meek spirit comes into play. We must be willing to accept what we see about ourselves and not turn away from it.

We all like to receive a blessing don't we? Look at verse 25 again "But whosoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed."

This verse tells us that if we look into God's Word, continue in it, meditate and remember what we read, and are then obedient to what we read that we shall be "blessed indeed."

The Next time we sit down to read the Bible we need to think about the 4 "R's".... Repentant Spirit, Receptive Spirit, Responsive Spirit, and Reflective Spirit. I believe if we follow this pattern that the Bible will begin to come alive to us and not only will we understand more of what we do read, we will actually want to read more of it more often. Let's keep those dust bunnies off our Bibles and truly experience what God would have us to from His Word.

Right On The Money or Worry Free Living

We are wrapping up the series on "Managing God's Money" and I have some take aways from it and the subject in general.

First, and nothing else will work if this is not your belief, we must realize that it is not our money, but God's money. As such, we are not "owners" we are "stewards". Given this fact, every decision we make concerning money is no longer a financial decision but a Spiritual decision.

The scripture reference is a well known one from the Gospel of Matthew 6:33 but it is normally not a good idea to just pull 1 verse alone without prior verses to set the context (especially since verse 33 starts with the word "but").

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Let's take a detailed look at these verses. The word "worry" is mentioned 6 times in this passage of scripture. This chapter is more about worry than money, but God knew that the largest source of our worry would be about money and material things. God knows that we in our human nature are natural "worry warts" or else He would have not been so emphatic in telling us not to worry. If you want to be technical, worry is actually mentioned 7 times, not 6, if you count the phrase "you of little faith" as another way of saying "worrier". We should be warriors for Christ, not worriers for ourselves. God can not use a worrier to do His will and work that He wants done on the earth; He will only use warriors. How does one become a warrior and not a worrier? Stay tuned for the answer.

Let's tighten the focus on verse 33 since that is the popular verse. Look at the first few words... "seek", "first" and "kingdom". Seek doesn't mean looking around hoping to find something (like those old seek and find puzzle books where we used to look for hidden words). The word seek here is talking about a deliberate pursuit. The way a thirsty man seeks out something cold to drink or the way a hungry man seeks out food. This is why in the beatitudes, Jesus says "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness". This is not something we are going to be able to obtain through osmosis, hearing a sermon, or having someone else bring it to us. We have to make the conscious effort to pursue it on our own with all we have. (kind of reminds you of the 1st commandment doesn't it?)

So we see what seek is and how important it is. Now go to the other word.. first. This speaks of priority. As followers of Christ, God doesn't just want a place in our lives or even to be a priority... He wants and demands preeminence. Jesus said in Luke 9:62 "“No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” And why does He demand this? To be mean? Of course not. He demands this so that we do not become self sufficient, but God sufficient.

OK, on to Kingdom. What is the Kingdom? In this context it is not a literal geographical place. It is referring to a rule or reign. The Kingdom then is allowing God to be the dictator of your life.. the sole ruler. Who heads a kingdom? The King. What is the requirement of those living in the kingdom? To do what the king says. What is the obligation of the king? To take care of the needs of those in the kingdom. When we "seek first the kingdom" what we are doing is putting every area of our life (not just financial, but everything) in the King's hands and trusting Him to meet all our needs. Notice I said needs, not wants. God is smart enough not to always give us what we want, but He will always give us what we need.

Again, this goes back trust. You can not trust and worry at the same time. If you are worrying, then you really haven't fully trusted. It amazes me sometimes how people will trust God for their eternity but they don't trust Him to provide to pay a certain bill, keep them in good health or for basic transportation. As an aside, the word trust in the Greek is "pisteuo". Unfortunately, in most bibles the Greek word pisteuo is inaccurately translated "believe" instead of trust. Many people believe in God (make a mental ascent that there is a God), but for salvation we have to believe,trust, pisteuo that Christ's death, burial and resurrection is sufficient to pay our sin debt. This is known as the Gospel.

This then leads me back to my earlier statement that every decision we make concerning money is a Spiritual decision, not a financial one. If we parade every decision through the lens of two things then the decisions become quite clear and easy to make. The two tests are: 1) is this spending decision beneficial to the kingdom? and 2) is it adding to my righteousness.

So how do we know what is righteous for the kingdom? We have to know the King? We have to not just know about the King, but KNOW the King. How do we know that we know the King? Two tell tale signs will let you know if you really know the King and can act as your Spiritual thermometer to take your Spiritual temperature. They are the calendar and check book. We can look at each of these and know if we are or are not connecting and really knowing the God we claim to love and trust in.

The calendar. How do we spend our time? How much of our time is set aside to spend time with God, fellowship with others, and serve God? Sadly, most of us come up short in this area. God gives each and every one of us the same 24 hours to do with what we please. There is no saying "I wish I had as much time as this other person does". The fact is, we make time for the things that are most important in our lives. I believe that if we want to really connect with God and know Him, we must spend time DAILY in His word and His presence. This is not optional. We must also spend time with other believers in fellowship.. not just on Sunday mornings but in bible study groups, home groups, prayer groups, etc. Finally, we must take time to serve. It can be helping someone with a need, teaching someone God's word so they can understand it, or visiting someone in a hospital or prison. (see Matthew 25) If we were to keep a balance sheet of how we spend each day, we would probably be shocked to see how little time we give to God.

The checkbook. There is an old expression that goes "put your money where your mouth is" but I prefer (and so does Jesus) to express it this way "put your money where your heart is". (see Matthew 6:21) If we are to connect and know God we must give back a portion of what He has so richly given us. This can be tithing at your local church, giving to missions, etc. If we decide to keep all that God has given us to ourselves and not give (the tithe for example), we are saying that we do not trust God to take care of us using the remaining 90%. This makes no sense if you think about it. We are telling God, "God, I trust you to raise me from the dead, but I don't trust you to pay the light bill so I need to hoard all I have just in case".

OK, so how does one become a "warrior" for God instead of a "worrier" for self? The key is not in the word warrior or worrier but in the words that follow... God and self. If we truly seek the Kingdom, we put the perfect "God" on the throne of our lives, trust Him with everything we have, which frees us up to be a mighty warrior to serve Him and provides joy unspeakable in our lives. If we put "self" on the throne, then we are trusting in our imperfect selves which can only lead to worry, mental breakdown, misery and, at best, lack of joy.

Will you be a warrior or a worrier? The choice is yours.

Book'em or The Blotter Report

I have talked to a few people who were confused or in error as relates to the “Lamb’s Book of Life”. All realize that this book contains the names of all the redeemed (those who have trusted Jesus as their Savior). The confusion seems to be centered around the order in which this happens. I believe that some churches teach this incorrectly (if it is even taught at all which is rare these days in the modern church). If it is taught, it is taught that once you accept Christ your name is written in the book. This is an incorrect teaching. The name of everyone who has ever been born and who will be born was written in the book from the beginning of time. If someone dies without having received Christ as their Savior, then their name is stricken from the book. The Bible calls this having the name “blotted out”.

Let's look at scripture that backs this up. After all, if scripture can not back up a belief, it is just an opinion. The primary text is from Psalm 69:22-28 although verse 28 is the primary text.

" 22 May the table set before them become a snare; may it become retribution and a trap.

23 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.

24 Pour out your wrath on them; let your fierce anger overtake them.

25 May their place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in their tents.

26 For they persecute those you wound and talk about the pain of those you hurt.

27 Charge them with crime upon crime; do not let them share in your salvation.

28 May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous."

From the context, this Psalm is talking about asking God to punish the evil people. In verse 28 the ultimate request was made to have their name "blotted out" of the book of life. It stands to reason that if a request is made to blot out their name that their name has to be in the book of life already. Since the people being referred to are evil it is obvious the text is not talking about people who were saved.

Here are two more scriptures that mention the names in the book of life from creation. The first is Revelation 13:8

"All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world."

The second is Revelation 17:8

"The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come."

Want another reason for eternal salvation assurance? Check out Revelation 3:5

"He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels."

Ok, so you say "but that is only if you overcome". True. But what does the Bible say about who the overcomers are. Scripture always interprets scripture. Look in 1 John 5:4-5

"4 For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.

5 Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?"

So as we can see, the true believers in Christ are the overcomers which means that all true believers in Christ will never have their names blotted out (which is another way of saying they will never lose their salvation).

On The 6th Day of Christmas the Lord Revealed To Me ......

...... modern bible translations are grossly falling short of the truth. If the translation says "New" it's probably best to avoid it. In fact, there is nothing "new under the sun" when it comes to these faulty translations. In fact, there was a movie a few years ago called "Lost In Translation" and boy are these "New" versions ever lost.

A great example of this is the birth of Jesus Christ as told in Luke 2, specifically verses 10-12.

Let's see what the New International Version or NIV has to say about this:
10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

This is how the New American Standard tells it:
10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;
11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
12 "This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

This is how something called the New Century Version tells it:
10 The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I am bringing you good news that will be a great joy to all the people. 11 Today your Savior was born in the town of David. He is Christ, the Lord. 12 This is how you will know him: You will find a baby wrapped in pieces of cloth and lying in a feeding box."

Now, in contrast, let's look at this scripture in the King James Version.
10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

Did you notice the words in bold in each translation and the distinctive difference in the King James version of this account? The King James version is the only one that uses the term "swaddling clothes". You may say, "so what". Well, I am here to tell you what. This is tremendously significant and symbolic and is just another example of losing so much meaning in translation.

The "New" versions just say the baby Jesus was wrapped in a "cloth".

But the question arises, why would a baby in cloth be a "sign" to the shepherds that this was the Christ-child? The angel didn't mention the manger first, he mentioned the swaddling clothes. What is it about swaddling clothes that would be a sign?

The term swaddling clothes is still used today by nurses who wrap the baby after birth. Unfortunately, that term is a 2000 year old misnomer. The origin comes as a result of the harsh countryside in the Middle East. As people took off on trips that often lasted days into months, it was not uncommon for sickness or accident to take place. There we deaths in these journeys.

The Middle Eastern culture developed a way to deal with in-journey deaths. Each person would take a long, thin, gauze-like cloth and wrap it around their waist many times. This would be one of the bottom layers of clothing. This cloth would be reserved for death. If someone died during the journey, their friends or family would remove the "swaddling cloth" and wrap them from head to toe so they could compete the journey.

The baby Jesus was wrapped in Joseph's death cloth. The sign for the shepherds wasn't that they'd find a baby wrapped in a blanket in a manger. The sign was that they'd find a baby prepared for death. Jesus came to earth to die for our sins. That was his purpose. This was shown even from the instance of his birth.

By the way... this makes the wise man's gift of myrrh even more appropriate. Myrrh was the spice used for death. It was basically deodorant for the dead. Even though the wise men didn't actually show up until he was toddler, the theme continues.

Another neat fact is the baby Jesus was wrapped in the death clothes of a man named Joseph, and thirty three years later was buried in the tomb of a man named Joseph?

It's sad to think of how many people are going to miss the significance of this scripture because they only read the "New" versions of the Bible and never are exposed to such great truths.

Or what about Colossians 1:14, where it says "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." Why has "through his blood" been removed from all of the "New" translations? Do you really believe that you can be saved without the shed blood of Jesus Christ?

On The 8th Day of Christmas, the Lord Revealed To Me ......

........ that Angels do not look like the above pictures as they are not children nor female and they do not sing.

Are angels male or female?

Angels are referred to in the Hebrew language as bene elohim, or "sons of God." Bible scholar Dr. Henry Morris says about the angels:

"The only obvious and natural meaning [of the designation, “sons of God”]... is that these beings were sons of God, rather than of men, because they had been created, not born. Such a description, of course, would apply only to Adam (Lk. 3:38) and to the angels, whom God had directly created (Psa. 148:2, 5; 104:4; Col. 1:16)." Dr. Morris explains further:

"Whenever angels have appeared visibly to men, as recorded in the Bible, they have appeared in the physical bodies of men. Those who met with Abraham, for example, actually ate with him (Gen. 18:8) and, later, appeared to the inhabitants of Sodom in such perfectly manlike shape that the Sodomites were attempting to take these ‘men’ for homosexual purposes. The writer of Hebrews suggests that, on various occasions, some ‘have entertained angels unawares’ (Heb. 13:2).

‘It is true that the Lord Jesus said that...in the resurrection they ‘neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven’ (Mat. 22:30). However, this is not equivalent to saying that angels are "sexless," since people who share in the resurrection will surely retain their own personal identity, whether male or female.

Furthermore, angels are always described, when they appear, as ‘men,’ and the pronoun ‘he’ is always used in reference to them. Somehow they have been given by God the capacity of materializing themselves in masculine human form when occasion warrants, even though their bodies are not under the control of the gravitational and electromagnetic forces which limit our own bodies in this present life."

Yet how many times do we see figurines of Angels as female and often as babies. Yet another "tradition of man" that we have bought into as a society.

As far as angels singing, there is a famous christmas carol called "Hark The Herald Angels Sing" yet not once in scripture does it record angels singing. See Luke 2:8-14
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, (not singing) Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

I am not saying don't sing the song Hark The Herald Angels Sing if it gives you the warm fuzzies, but realize you are singing incorrectly.

Incidently, one of the arguments some have that claim angles sing is in Revelation verse 5:11-12 "Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang:
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!"

There is one problem. This is from the NIV which has more errors in it than I care to go into.

Compare this same scripture in the King James

"And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;
Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing."

In Job 38:7, even the NIV doesn't mention that the angels sing
"while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?" Obviously, there is a great difference between shouting and singing.

This time of year is a great time to dig into the Bible and see what it really says and not rely on the church or the "traditions of men" for your doctrine.

On the 9th Day Of Christmas the Lord Revealed To Me ..........

.......... Santa Clause or "St. Nick" is no saint at all.



While Saint Nicholas was originally portrayed wearing bishop's robes, today Santa Claus is generally depicted as a plump, jolly, white-bearded man wearing a red coat with white collar and cuffs, white-cuffed red trousers, and black leather belt and boots.

Let's look at 4 characteristics of Santa Claus and see how they falsely parallel those of Jesus Christ's. In a sense, Santa Claus is a type of anti-christ. In fact, the very name is close, just take the "n" and move it to the end and you have "satan".

1) Santa is portayed as "all knowing".
You've heard the song... "he knows when you've been sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows when you've been bad or good ..."

Here, Santa is said to be able to know all about you and to be able to see you at all times. Not only you, but everyone in the world. This ability is only something God can do.

2) To piggy back off of # 1, Santa judges based on works. According to the rules, the only way kids will get toys is if they are good. The bad kids will go without. In contrast, Jesus imputes his righteousness to us when we trust Him for our salvation. True, He knows when we are obedient and not obedient but it does not affect our salvation, only our fellowship.

3) Santa is portrayed as being able to be everywhere at one time.
It is physically impossible to cover the entire globe in one night yet that is what Santa is supposed to be able to do with the special power of his magical reindeer. Even Jesus could not be everywhere when He was walking the earth. This is the reason when He left He sent the Holy Spirit to endwell us. Because it indwells us, He (the Holy Spirit) can be anywhere we are.

4) Santa dresses in all red. Red is the color of sin. Scripture says our sins are scarlett (red) yet Jesus washes us white as snow. In contrast, white is the color of purety. Jesus is always seen in a white robe. When the lost are to be judged before being condemned to Hell, they will stand before the Great White Throne.

Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

Revelation 17:3 "So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns."

Daniel 12:10 "Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand."

Matthew 17:1-3
1 And after six days Jesus takes Peter, James, and John his brother, and brings them up into an high mountain apart,
2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

I know many people are well intentioned with this whole Santa Claus thing, but thanks to "tradition", young children are deceived and when they become adults they pass on the tradition of deception to their children. I don't believe the deception is intentional but founded in ignorance of the truth. As Jack Nicholson said in the movie "A Few Good Men" some ... "can't handle the truth."

On The 11th Day of Christmas, the Lord Revealed To Me .....

.... The Wise men were no where near the Manger that night. Also, there is no mention in the Bible of the exact number of wise men. Since the Bible lists 3 gifts they are carrying, human tradition chooses to say there were 3 wise men, but there is no biblical proof of this.

We have all seen it and probably even have it in our homes. I am talking about a nativity scene, usually a decorative add on to the christmas tree. What does every nativity or manger scene have? Everyone I have ever seen has the baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, shepards, farm animals and yes, Wise Men. Most do not even question it because including the Wise Men is a "tradition". I believe that if we are going to display a nativity scene that we should at least be accurate.

If we go to the scriptures (always a wise idea don't you think?) we will find the account of the Wise Men in Matthew 2:1-16

1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:
6 ‘ But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’”

7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”
9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.
The Flight into Egypt

13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”
14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, 15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”[b]
Massacre of the Innocents

16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.

As we can see in verse 11, the Wise Men did not arrive at the manger the night Jesus was born. Because their journey was so long, they arrived at the "house" of Mary and Joseph some 2 years after the birth of Christ. This is shown in that King Herod ordered to have all male children up to 2 years old killed. This was Satan's attempt to kill Jesus before He could fulfill the will of God to be the Messiah for us.

There are also some interesting observations that can be made about the gifts that were brought by these Wise Men. In our modern christmas celebration, the Wise Men would have exchanged gifts with each other. How silly would that have looked? Let's look at the 3 gifts closely.

1) Gold
Gold symbolizes kingship on earth. The Wise Men knew Jesus was King of The Jews and this is why they brought gold as one of the gifts. It is also believed that the gold gift symbolized virtue.

2) Frankincense

Frankincense is an incense that symbolizes priesthood.
Hebrews 7:23 "Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them."

Frankincense is also said to be symbolic of prayer. Jesus is at the right hand of the Father and is constantly making intercessory prayer on our behalf.
Hebrews 7:25 "Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them."

3) Myrrh
Myrrh is an embalming oil and is used to symbolize death. The baby Jesus had but one main function and that was to die.. to die for the sins of the world so we could be made right with God the Father. Myrrh is also said to symbolize suffering. We all know how Jesus suffered (both physically and emotionally) shortly before His death. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He suffered in the thought of what He had to do so much that he perspired drops of blood.

So we can learn something from the entire account. This christmas season when we see a nativity scene with Wise Men we know it's historically incorrect but we can use it as a teaching lesson. We can see how the gifts given were not just random gifts but they all had meaning and were very symbolic of the nature of Jesus.