Christmas: Without It Earth Would Be More Of A Hell (Than What It Already Is!)

Christmas: Without It Earth Would Be More Of A Hell

(Than What It Already Is!)      By Kelly Durant 

Psalm 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

 

2. How many of you have seen a movie called, “Back to the Future”? It was about a young man that went back into time and then goes back into the future. There is one part where something didn’t happen the way it was supposed to in the past, and if he didn’t get things the way they were supposed to be, in his case it was the getting together of his parents to marry, then the world was going to become a different, horrible place, a living hell full of crime and no love! Thank God Michael J. Fox was able to fix it and make it right!

 

This imaginative scenario provoked me to reflect and ask myself this question, what would the world be like today if it had not been for the birth of the Son of God on Christmas over 2024 years ago? (More or less, Gregorian calendar has flaws) Imagine a world today without a deep concept of love, without Christ followers who are salt and light, those who are wonderful examples of Jesus’ love, compassion, and salvation? And without those helping others in need?

 

But because there are people who listen to the spirit to God, much peace has been brought into our world. In my youth we use to sing, “All we are sayin’, Is give peace a chance”! Well, there is peace in Jesus and He said in John 14:27

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

 

3. Imagine a world totally hell bent on destruction without any leadings from God’s gentle Holy Spirit? Imagine a world without churches & social work helping the desperate, without missionaries bringing a better standard of life to the poor, imagine living without the wise teachings of Jesus Christ and most of all the fact that His message of the forgiveness for sins through repentance offers ‘whosoever will’ the opportunity to have eternal life? Eternal life was God’s Christmas gift to us! And this life is something money cannot buy, nor does anyone earn it by points with God! Jesus’ message changes lives totally!

 

The world today I speculate would be a thousand times more full of violent atrocities; it would be even worse dominated by many Satanic cults as were historically in Europe and the Americas with human sacrifices devastating innocent life with abuse, violence, and war. More wars would have prevented our technological progresses of electricity, transportation and more. Ignorance, oppression, and misery would be the norm as it was for thousands of years and is today in places where the gospel is suppressed and not allowed due to atheism and false oppressive religions. 

 

This picture of anarchy, chaos and violence is the way the world recently was in many places before European missionaries went to immigrate into the world on ships about 500 years ago. On the islands and in most continents, people had never heard the gospel of Jesus. It was the Christians who helped the world progress out of the dark ages of murderous false religions, cannibalism, demon worship, and slavery. 

 

Christians were the ones who founded all of the prestigious colleges of high learning in Europe and in the Americas. It was the Christians who developed the world scientifically, through great Christians like Galileo, Da Vinci, Pascal, and others. Christians also were the ones who fought for the freedom of slaves. Conservative Christians have been influential in and putting the brakes on rampant debauchery, alcoholism, prostitution, and vices which have destroyed the lives of spouses and children. 

 

4. Jesus has been the best gift this world has ever received! But let’s look at what attributes were involved in order for his birth to happen. First, there had to be a willingness to give. God, our Father, was willing to give His only Son from the Kingdom of heaven for us on earth. Jesus himself had to give of his own self to be willing to be born in humble circumstances and then to be horribly treated by those of this world, even those of his own flesh and blood. Take note of the mystical part, God prepared his coming by dozens of prophesies even a thousand years prior so that when Jesus came, all who are studious and wise would make no mistake in recognizing Him as the chosen Messiah, the savior of the world, worthy of our honor, worship, and service.

 

Jesus renounced heaven, his home which is a place of pure perfection, and love and peace, in order to come here to be on this hell of an earth to give Himself, and his life’s body as a human sacrifice in frail flesh on the cross, to die a horrible death so whosoever believes can be saved!  Only Jesus is the Prince of Peace!  

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

 

The first thing that Christmas, (Jesus coming), should do to you is convict you (and me) to give everything of ourselves to serve Him, because he really is the only King of kings of all ages! No other being so loving powerful and peaceful is going to be born! You and I must give our lives to Jesus in gratitude, and this includes teaching our families to obey to Him, loving Him with all our hearts and minds, and souls because no other gift in return to Him is acceptable! 

 

5. Jesus gave the ultimate example of humility, he was born in a humble little manger from a poor family, and came not to be rich, nor powerful as the kings of earth are, but he came to serve and to give his healing power and life for all of us! 

 

There are many people in the world still that are ignorant of His love and they live by the total opposite of His example. They believe that Christmas is a time to be extravagant and party, and to ask, receive, and to get. I know as a child I got picky and demanding about what I wanted my mother to give me for Christmas and that was being spoiled and wrong. Being gift focused is a mistake and the opposite of what Christmas should be all about!

 

Since I had no father in the home, my mother, always tried to make it up to me by giving me many extra toys at Christmas time. But the toys were fun only for a few days before the reality of the world’s brokenness would come back. All that I had received did not bring me a lasting happiness. The newness disappears within days! 

 

6. It was later in my life that I learned the joy of giving after I dedicated my life to the Savior, the one who started the Christmas celebrations. If you want happiness then give Jesus to others! 

 

Acts 20:35 

I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. It is more blessed to give than to receive! One more time… Jesus said, it is more blessed to give than to receive! 

 

We need to teach ourselves and our children to give to others so that neither we nor they just think about their own fun and own selves at Christmas time.  Give your time in service to God, give your food, your money, your will, everything to serve Jesus; and if you do, then you will be following the words and example of Jesus and you will be celebrating what Christmas is really about! 

 

7. Today there is a serious problem of people trying to take Jesus & God out of Christmas. They say, “Happy Holidays”, and across the nation not everyone say “Merry Christmas” anymore. This nation is losing it’s peace and power! From the office of people in power, from the people in huge business corporations, even from your own families people are minimizing God & Jesus and the “reason for the season”!  People have become so materialistic and worried about gifts and the details of parties that the people of this nation, and of most others as well, have forgotten who the party is for and how He wants those at His party to be! Which is to be in Christian love celebrating His birth. There is no logic, and it is a huge insult, if Jesus is being left out of His own party! 

 

What should come to my mind about Christmas is that it brings a message of hope and salvation to a corrupted dying world! What did God have all the angels announce to the humble poor shepherds when Jesus was born? They all declared, “Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth and good will towards men”! 

 

God showed his love and favor to all of us in such a miraculous strange way with a virgin, with angles, with shepherds, with kings from the orient, with animals in a manger. Jesus has brought you and me a new hope, a new life, a life of peace, an internal peace that gives us strength. 

 

8. God gave us His good will and peace. God gave us His goodness and without Jesus there is no goodness and peace! You and I have a deep obligation to honor Jesus as the angels did, and know that the way we honor him is by sharing and obeying His words, and giving as He gave. Without Jesus people are beasts, full of jealousies, violence, adulteries, & selfishness. If we forget God at Christmas and every day then we will end up as  described in Psalm 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

 

I have travelled a lot like many of you and seen this, that the communities that are authentically Christian with a variety of Christian churches have much less violence and crime and more peace than the rich corrupted materialistic dying mega-metropolis Gotham city hell holes in our world today.

 

When we pause to remember the birth of Jesus, we are giving ourselves and the world a fresh hope that there is someone much better and more beautiful than ourselves that can solve all problems by bringing peace, saving our souls, and giving us a hew hope and perspective on how to live.  Christmas unequivocally indicates that by accepting Jesus we accept love and peace and the fact that you and I must change everything about our lives in order to model this love, humility, peace, and giving of one’s self! 

“Know Jesus, Know peace!” But “No Jesus, no peace!”

Christmas Is About Bringing Unusual People Together!

Christmas Is About Bringing Unusual People Together! By Kelly Durant Re12-15-24

 

Psalm 68:6 God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

 

2. Sometimes I feel very sad for many people! You and I can all observe that there are a lot of people out there that have very few friends! They often don’t have any family nearby either! At times my wife and I get a call from someone, can you take me to the hospital, can you take me to work? Can you help me move because I’m getting evicted!? Too many people are very alone in this world! We have helped dozens of people move, but I’m getting too old to do that anymore!

 

We are here to serve one another in love and not let our right hand know what our left had is doing, but I am shocked and saddened over the poverty of many people! It is a poverty not so much of a lack of food or money, but a poverty of having no friends or family! It’s sad when no one is willing to do anything for another, right? But God makes us meet people we normally wouldn’t meet!

 

Thank God Christmas can change this! Christmas is all about giving and receiving, and in supporting each other, in supporting strangers you may never even meet either! This happens when people buy gifts to donate to children. The kings gave gifts to Jesus but the gift of Maria and Joseph getting to make friends and meet new strangers such as the kings and the shepherds was what made it all special! 

 

3. The first strange encounter that Mary had was with the angel that told her she would bear a child by the Holy Spirit. Of course, messengers, such as angels, do not stick around for you to make friendships with, but Christmas would not be what it is without the sudden appearance of the host of angels. Christmas connected us humans with God’s angels, and that is a rare thing we must value!

 

The shepherds got to see all of the angels in heaven as well.  13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:  Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” 15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”  

 

So, the first ones on the first Christmas got to meet angels! Have you ever wondered how many people have been ‘angels’ doing good to people they didn’t know at all? This happens at Christmas time. Christmas has inspired many people to act as angels, to be messengers of the good news of the arrival of Jesus, and be generous to help people with gifts, and often they are helping people they do not even know. All, even non-believers, see lights, manager scenes, exchange gifts, and hear about Jesus.

 

4. One unusual uniting of people was that of the shepherds meeting Joseph and Mary. This divine holy couple was chosen by God to raise the Savior of the world, but they were nothing more than small town folks whose friendships probably did not extend any further than with their neighbors and family nearby.

 

So now they are making new friendships with the shepherds who live outside the city. Imagine a bunch of strangers arriving after your baby is born saying we have come here to this barn, no hospital back then, to meet you 3 and to worship the newborn child! What? It must have surprised them for sure!

 

Mary and Joseph made new friends that night! The humble shepherd folks, met up with humble servants of the Lord. What they had in common was they both experienced something heavenly and supernatural, and they both were aware that a chosen special child was born, Jesus, the Christ.       

 

5. The next characters to appear on the scene were the kings of the Orient, the wise men. Think about this, these men were strangers and did not know each other until they met each other in Bethlehem after their long journey. They probably did not speak the same language, but they did have the same purpose in common, to meet Jesus! Here we see it again, Jesus is uniting people together.

 

They then went on to meet Mary, Joseph, and Jesus by following the unexplained phenomena of the star over Jesus’ temporary residence. These kings would never have left home and travelled for months had they not been on a spiritual mission to see the mystery at the end of their journey. They wanted friendship with the King of kings whose presence was foretold, even foretold in the stars! All of their entourage witnessed seeing Jesus as well.

These wise men knew to bring gifts, but how? They knew the star was leading them somewhere special, they knew they would meet someone special, but I suspect they really did not expect to find some common folks with a baby so small! What we observe here is that when you have Jesus with you, you can expect kings to come, pay respect, and be generous to support the mission of God’s work! Common people make friendships with the rich to do Jesus’ work!

 

6. I love the verse of study today with God’s promise of “God sets the solitary in families”. This is what Jesus was all about, to bring together you and me and all kinds of groups of people together that never would meet under ordinary daily circumstances. With Jesus we become family! Your flesh, or blood family, may often let you down, but Jesus gives you a real family in God!

 

I observe most everyone, either rich or poor, live quite isolated from each other. But Jesus wants to bring us all together over Himself! Jesus is the supernatural uniting force that causes you and me to meet and to be friends with each other!

 

The people of the Christian faith travel to do mission work and make friendships that last a lifetime. Christians make deep friendships with unusual characters far and wide because it is all about Jesus! Jesus was the first one to get poor shepherds and rich kings to come together and be in awe at the work of God. With Jesus, and your Christian family, you should never be alone!

 

7. Here is something to ponder, Jesus not only united odd people together, He was the first to unite everyone on all levels, a socio-economical-racial-&-religious one! He united the uneducated with the educated, which was Mary & Joseph with the shepherds, Jesus was with the kings and wise men, and He is with you and me! 

 

Jesus united the rich and powerful with the common folks, Mary and Joseph with the Orient Kings. And here is another factor, the kings were of different races too, Jesus unites us all from different races!

 

And what about religion? Jesus unites those of other faiths to Him! The kings had a religion that included astrology and who knows what else, they were not Christian before meeting Jesus. God loved them anyway and revealed Himself to them. Jesus and God brings us all together when often our own people will not be close to us. Spiritual brothers and sisters are formed over our common faith in Jesus, and we should value each other as family.  When Jesus called His disciples, they too were from very diverse backgrounds; Jesus was iconoclastic to the established set of societal customs. He was counter-culture!

 

8. Psalm 68:6 God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land. So, we see now how God unites us, an odd family, over Jesus but what about the rebellious, the faithless, the haters and the ones who refuse to honor Jesus?

 

The rest of this verse makes it clear, if you have God with you, and His Son Jesus as your focus, you can expect prosperity and the blessings of God. It is an observable truth that many of the children of poor immigrants, or people in poverty, have risen above their level because they received the support of their family of friends, those from the Christian church community.

 

“But the rebellious dwell in a dry land”! In all families, and throughout the world, there are so many that seem to go from bad situations to worse ones and why? Often because they are just brute beasts, living selfishly to survive, never thinking of helping others, never considering making friends with people unlike their own selves. If a person doesn’t have Jesus, either by ignorance or flat-out rejection, then this person will not learn the beauty of being made rich with friends and family that are near them everywhere   

 

9. Christmas is about family and new friends, and the sharing of good experiences together, even with people very different from you. Giving gifts and getting gifts can reveal to you that there are good people out there! Who knows, you might even make new friends this Christmas.

 

Take advantage to tell others about Jesus this Christmas, that is the best gift you could ever give anyone! Giving Jesus to another means you are opening up the door for them to learn a new way of life, one where God is in control, one where God forgives, and one in knowing you are loved so that you will go to heaven in the end! 

 

Because of Jesus, life is worth living! Because of Christmas we can all meet new people! I have made friendships with a few thousand people in my lifetime, and this never would have happened if it were not for Jesus telling me to go into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature. Some people are creatures too! I have been to more than a hundred cities in my life preaching Jesus and Jesus has blessed and protected me beyond my wildest dreams!

 

I thank God I have met you, you who are here today, and I met you because we share in the same faith, that of having Jesus! And I thank God you are in the Salvation Army serving God as well! What a great organization, a type of end-time church, that includes rich and poor, and all races, and all countries (Up to 134 now!) so everyone can know the power of Jesus’ name!

Christmas: Mary’s Song

^{Christmas: Mary’s Song                     Kelly Durant 12-24-23}

^Luke 1:46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord,
⁴⁷  and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
⁴⁸ for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
    For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
⁴⁹ for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
    and holy is his name.
⁵⁰ And his mercy is for those who fear him
    from generation to generation.
⁵¹ He has shown strength with his arm;
    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
⁵² he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
    and exalted those of humble estate;

53 He has filled the hungry with good things,
    and the rich he has sent away empty.
⁵⁴ He has helped his servant Israel,
    in remembrance of his mercy,
⁵⁵ as he spoke to our fathers,
    to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

2. Christmas is all about Jesus, right? Some want it to be all about gifts, Santa, and parties, but the truth is it is about Jesus! We worship Jesus from the time He was born! Now, think about this, Jesus Himself chose His own mother! And what kind of a mother did He want? He wanted one like Mary! Joseph should be respected as well, he stuck with Mary not fully knowing all that was going on! Well, the angel did come to him in his dreams, right? The Manger scene of Jesus with Mary & Joseph is beautiful, and we should focus on them every Christmas and discover new things from God about how this all came about.

Some call her “The Holy Virgin Mary,” and we as Christians honor her as the most humble, willing, servant that was worthy to be Jesus’ vehicle for His arrival on earth; she is the means by which He could come into this world but with purity, through someone worthy and pure. 

There are many traditional prayers made for Mary, but I think some in the Christian faith have it all wrong, we should be focusing in on the song in prayer that she did instead of repeating prayers that men in the past have made to her. After all, if her heart was as the heart of Jesus, shouldn’t we give some attention to her words? We can honor her without worshipping her and look at her as one who was preparing the way for Jesus’ coming.

3. In her prayer she starts out praising the Lord! Do you and I do that enough? God does do great things for us and we must praise His name always! Her spirit rejoiced to know she would be sharing her life with Jesus, raising Him from birth until being a man. She could foresee that all Christians for all generations would look at her as “blessed” recognizing that she was humble and willing, a chosen one by God for her attributes.

She recognized that God was doing a great work in her and she honored God as Holy for that! That should make you and me all reflect deeply and ask; do I accept what God wants to do with me and what He is doing in my life? Do I accept His plans for me with humility, proclaiming Him to be Holy even when I do not understand it all? Even if God’s plans seem to create a conflictive situation for me? Mary recognized it was God’s mercy on her, (which takes humility) and we too must praise God like never before knowing that His mercy is on all of us, through Jesus, and it is forever! And for all who will receive Him! Lord, thank you for your mercy on me!

She also was very pleased that the proud people would be brought down! She knew that Jesus’ life and words and His Kingdom would be established and that He, being the Messiah, would conquer and put in their place all the evil proud rulers on the earth. She knew that He would be strong to overcome all evil powers and make things right. The complete fulfilment of this is still yet to come, as Jesus will return as a warrior with His angels to eliminate all evil doers and separate the wheat from the weeds, the sheep from the goats, and the righteous from the unrighteous. 

 

4. How prophetic Mary knew Jesus would accomplish this: “He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.” Knowing how this world is full of so many poor humble and often sad ‘hungry spiritually’ people, she was inspired and rejuvenated with this insight from God, that there would be true justice! Imagine how she witnessed the horrible abuses by the Roman government, abuses which all authorities have done. When Jesus was born the Romans were imposing a tax and everyone had to travel back to their birthplace to pay it! That’s the governments of Satan’s world, always scheming to get richer! Jesus was destined to do many miraculous and amazing things and I am sure she was amazed by Him and His wisdom every day when he was growing up! Imagine how she felt when she would get the news of all the healings and wonderful things He did throughout all Israel! And now, as it has been for over 2,000 years, Jesus still is our only hope for real justice in the world!

 

She knew He would be the expected Messiah, the promised one to come to save Israel, but she had no idea how the future “Israel” would be made up of Christ believers, how God’s people would grow to include mega millions from all nations and tribes…for perpetual generations.  She knew God’s mercy would be on everyone continuing His promise, of salvation, which began with Abraham of which she was a descendant. Recall that Abraham had faith, the exact thing we all need to please God! Do you have real faith in Jesus? Mary definitely had amazing faith, a wholehearted trust, and a love for God that made her soul be glad!  So glad she wrote a prayer in a song!

Christmas, being a day to remember when Jesus came, is beautiful pause in our day-to-day activities! Enjoy it! Share God’s love with family and friends! And share it even with strangers! And if you get touched by the Holy Spirit, write to Jesus a song, or a prayer as Mary did! Have you ever done that? Wrote a song or a prayer down for Jesus? You could, or should, as Jesus touches all of us in a profound joyous way! Honoring Him by all means possible is worshipping Him! Worship Him today, and every day! Be humble like Mary, and the angels, the shepherds, and the kings!

Christmas Controversies: It’s Been Scandalous from the Beginning

Christmas Controversies: It’s Been Scandalous from the Beginning  

By Kelly Durant   12-17-23

                                                                                                                     

And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Luke 1:30-33 KJV

 

2. News outlets for several years now have made it known that many U.S. companies have created policies that do not allow greetings or signs with Merry Christmas in them anymore! Have you noticed it is all about Santa and you cannot even find the manger scene anymore! More and more the persecution of baby Jesus persists! How does Satan attack God’s people? Quite often he uses the scandal tactic! Satan and his followers are the ultimate guilty hypocrites seeking always to scandalize all the things of God. Satan empowers demons in humans to create conflicts, commit murders, start wars, spread disease and immorality with the goal to destroy humanity through the lusts of the flesh with pride while accusing others of being guilty of his own crimes! He hates pure and innocent ones like how is represented Jesus’ birth. The people of the world are already in Satan’s pocket, but his target is God’s men and women who are active. And sadly, some fall from temptation due to their pride, adultery, theft, and scandal! Some abandon the purpose for the Christmas tradition as well!  

 

Scandal is a violation of the society’s norms. Today the ruthless media uses a double standard to create scandal. For example, they steal information and then instead of paying for their crime of theft, they defame others with this scandalous information which often turns out to be outright lies. Both parties may be guilty and should be punished but only one attacked and gets condemned and the public condemnation comes with no trial or any proof of truth in the accusations. Satan is the ultimate hypocrite who accuses and condemns others while being totally corrupted himself! But God beat him at his own game by creating scandal for him with something wonderful, something we love and enjoy, Christmas!

 

The Nativity starts with an out of wedlock baby scandal! Who likes babies? Everyone, right? A baby seems to make even the hardest hearts warm and smile. Most people inherently want to give new life a chance in this world. Most everyone when they smile and talk to a baby will get a smile back! How controversial of God to send a baby to rid the world of evil! God controls countless legends of angels but instead of an attack on earth to right the wrongs he sends a baby! God’s attack on evil and Satan begins with innocence and purity in a body weak and dependent on the father and mother for survival. Our lives in Jesus must start there too, in a rebirth of purity of mind, heart, and soul, with a total dependence on God.

 

3. All of the elements in Christmas and in Christians are controversial according to the world’s double standards! Have you ever noticed that? Jesus was a shock to the world and the world has never been the same ever since! Christmas keeps surviving by the efforts of all Christians! 

 

The next controversial Christmas principle, that for many philosophical types is an illogical absurdity, that God could claim to have a Son that is born miraculously from a human, of Mary the virgin. This premise, that God can be the Father of an earth born child, was scandalous when He was born, and it is scandalous still today with many other world religions and is considered heresy by many. People are getting beheaded and killed daily even today for affirming that God had a Son whose name is Jesus, a name above all names! That name, offensive to some yet dear to us who love Him, is Jesus Christ the Lord! His life of miracles and resurrection prove He was God’s son, supernatural, glorious, and worthy of our eternal adoration! 

 

The problem originates from the antiquated Greek agnostic line of thought that erroneously deducts that God is made up of pure good positive spiritual material, but that man and this earth is made up of all bad imperfect negative material so therefore the good and bad can never mix together for there to be a son of God. This is an absurd conclusion since the obvious is we as humans contain a spirit, a piece of the pure God, living in our degenerating material bodies. 

 

No evidence supports this premise yet many hold onto it in current world religions. All things are made up of positives and negatives, and common knowledge taught in science proves that matter in our material world, as in atoms, contain negative charged electrons and positively charged protons. God, however, is not containing Himself within or without the material physical systems of our simple universe operating solely within harmonious duality systems. We observe that His material creation is one huge conglomerate of mixtures, of the light and of the void, yet purity is refined out of the material earthly mixtures as one refines gold. Our spirits must be refined as well.  

 

God’s person is in fact pure holiness but God’s attributes are not paralleled succinctly into to His diverse created worlds. God is above restricting Himself within the world He created because He transcends His own creation of weak and great physical forces and spiritual mysteries. Satan desires that all people reject the fact that it is possible for purity, as in baby Jesus, to have entered into our imperfect world but the scandal remains that it did! Another fact is that because Jesus came, you and I too can become perfected by holy living as Jesus lived full of love, grace, and truth. God’s purity of heaven can exist within this hell of a world within our hearts if we connect with the source, Jesus! Christmas with its pretty lights cause many to imagine how wonderful heaven must be where Jesus is preparing a home for us!

 

4. The next scandal that many cultures have a hard time accepting is that God chose not a noble person but a humble woman, a simple pure person, a virgin, through whom to manifest Himself and fulfill all prophecies through in order to establish a righteous kingdom forever. That’s over 300 prophecies too! God found only her to be willing and worthy enough to become the mother of the future savior of the world. It is obvious that this world is filled with evil, but for God to choose to combat evil with the weapon of a simple, respectful, obedient woman is too humiliating for many men of distinct cultures to accept. In general 9/10ths of the world’s men are macho with little regard for women and what they can do in the things concerning God’s mission.

 

Imagine, Mary was told not to fear over the fact that she would become pregnant by the Holy Ghost and she, contrary to an average person, actually trusted and did not fear! She knew that by trusting God she was risking rejection from her future husband, rejection and maybe a death sentence from her own people for a perceived fornication, or the possibility of living the rest of her life as an outcast in shame. Yet she obeyed and trusted God. How many people have this kind of trust in God today? In her shoes, would you accept a challenge similar to this one and be found worthy for your willingness gaining God’s favor on your life?

 

So the scandal hitting Satan in the face was the fact that a pure, humble person, Mary, honoring God would actually accept anything that God wanted to do in her life. Satan lost this same battle with Job (trying to prove that humans will betray God if subjected to adversities or seemingly unfair requests). Satan is persistent and what he wants is for everyone in the world to believe that it is unfair and unreasonable to accept the controversial things God wants you and I to believe or go through for His high purpose. The truth is many Mary’s do exist in the world, and humble sweet, ‘obedient to God people’ do suffer rejection by the world but God protects them supernaturally as He protected Mary! Take note: Mary did not fear rejection; she preferred God’s will above all! Are you close enough to God to not fear but to trust and accept whatever God wants to do with your life?      

 

5. Here is a detail we must not overlook in the verses of today, what is implied by the part of the verses of today in verse 33? “And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. 

 

Certain Jews were familiar with this prophecy and the local ones would also have known that Mary was from the house of David, a bloodline descendant. But the spiritual leaders of the Jews, the ones chosen of the 12 tribes to teach and live exclusively in service to God were the Levites. You had to be born within that family bloodline to grow up to be a leader, teacher, rabbi, or guide. 

 

David was from the tribe of Judah so what do we conclude? The Levites must have been scandalized to discover that God would choose his Messiah from the tribe of Judah and not from their refined hierarchical spiritual ranks.  So Jesus came to establish a kingdom like David’s. Didn’t a form of this kingdom already exist within the Jews? The verses here indicate however that Jesus would reign over all the tribes of Jacob forever. This is in essence inferring a new kingdom that would be established over all people and His kingdom will be forever and ever.

 

6. Referring to a new kingdom presenting itself, scandals occur when the envious controlling people of Satan in this world get threatened by someone hinting that they may suddenly lose their power. Herod was scandalized when he found out through the wise men that a king was born in his region so decided to kill all the babies soon afterward to stop that! What a horrible way to prevent a new king from rising! In the 1980’s they found a mass grave of baby skeletons near Bethlehem in Israel confirming this account of what is recorded in God’s word. 

 

Imagine Roman soldiers pulling the babies from the arms of their mothers and fathers and killing them! The entire region of Bethlehem was scandalized by the fact that their despotic envious leader was killing all their babies over a jealous rant believing the prophecies were true, that a new king was born. But the infant king was protected by God and escaped to Egypt. Imagine Herod, a despotic man with absolute power to kill anyone and yet he was in fear of baby Jesus! 

 

7. So Christmas began with several scandals and true Christians that worship Jesus Christ still draw ire by those who will not accept the celebration of Jesus birth. Sadly, self-righteously, some Christian sects will not honor a remembrance of Jesus’ birth either claiming December the 25^th is a pagan holiday. But we must take away the worship of the devil and direct it to Jesus, no matter the date! It should be 365! When you declared that you had received Jesus Christ in your life and that you would serve Him did some of your friends or family get scandalized by your announcement? Mine did! Most everyone’s does! In high circles you get blacklisted and discriminated against!

 

The message of Jesus birth communicates that one who accepts Him must have a total change of mind, heart, and soul. The mind programed by the world, by Satan’s indoctrinations, refuses to accept the fact that God did send his perfect Son and that He is the savior of humanity in this disastrous world. It goes against our logic to believe in the virgin birth, but faith confirms to us it is miraculously possible. A Jesus believer experiences Jesus, and we know He is real!

 

Human hearts have to get over having pride to understand Christmas. Most people are shocked at how rich wise men and poor shepherds alike contained so much humility that they bowed to worship Jesus even when he was just an infant. To connect with Christmas one’s soul must merge with God’s spirit in obedience to become touched by His innocence and holiness. Mary’s heart was holy, so we get the message that it is imperative we too must submit to God’s will to bring about His plan for a new kingdom. The implication is that God expects that we let our lives get totally interrupted by Jesus’ birth and this creates an internal controversy that all of us must resolve within ourselves. Scandal and all hell breaks loose when you get saved and speak up and worship and serve Jesus!

 

Accepting God’s kingdom means we leave behind our petty dreams of grandeur in order to adopt the kingdom dreams of Jesus, to bring about a new world with new loving people with hearts converted made new, full of joy, and love for God and their neighbor.

 

8. Jesus said that offenses (scandals) would come but he also said in Luke 7:23 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. And imagine today some people refrain from even pronouncing the words Merry Christmas because it offends some people! Shame on the ‘offended’ people, they will regret it when they face Jesus for the judgment of their lives.

 

Concerning Christmas and its original message that some deem offensive we can conclude that the people without faith, that people with mental confusion concerning the mechanics of God’s creation, that the people who reject God’s miracles, that the proud jealous people in high places, that the people governed by their own close minded cultures, that the people who believe they run God’s kingdom or Jacob’s house already… all collectively are rejecting Jesus until this very day today! Christmas to them is an offense! Christmas to us who love Jesus, however, is a beautiful wonderful time to celebrate and remember the fulfilment of prophecy that a savior was coming and He did. It is a story of worship, dedication and humility. It is a happy celebration that reminds you and me to be thankful, to be humble, pure, giving, and loving. Christmas is where our salvation began! Culture has jazzed it up with lights and decorations, but each year there is a new chance to tell the wonderful story of Jesus to others!

                 

Is there a controversy happening in your life? Is it from God to use you for something great? This Christmas don’t let the date pass you up without thanking God and appreciating what it meant for God’s love to be expressed through baby Jesus willing to come down in frail human flesh to be one of us. Merry Christmas and may Jesus’ love flood your soul!

Christmas Controversies: It’s Been Scandalous from the Beginning!

Christmas Controversies: 

It’s Been Scandalous from the Beginning  

By Kelly Durant  12-18-22

                                                                                                                     

And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Luke 1:30-33 KJV

 

2. We have known for the past 20 years that many U.S. companies have created policies that do not allow greetings or signs with Merry Christmas in them anymore. Evil people want Christ out of Christ-mas! More and more the persecution of baby Jesus persists! How does Satan attack God’s people? Quite often he uses the scandal tactic! Satan and his followers are the ultimate guilty hypocrites seeking always to scandalize all the things of God. Satan empowers demons in humans to create conflicts, commit murders, start wars, spread disease and immorality with the goal to destroy humanity through the lusts of the flesh with pride while accusing others of being guilty of his or her own game. He hates the pure and innocent as represented by Jesus birth. The people of the world are already in Satan’s pocket but his target is God’s men and women who are active Jesus lovers, and sadly some fall from temptation due to their pride, adultery, theft, and scandal! Some abandon the Christmas tradition as well!  

 

Scandal is a violation of the society’s norms. Today the ruthless media uses a double standard to create scandal. For example, they steal information and then instead of paying for their crime of theft, they defame others with this scandalous information which often turns out to be outright lies. Both parties may be guilty and should be punished but only the one attacked gets condemned and that public condemnation comes with no trial or any proof of truth in the accusations. Satan is the ultimate hypocrite who accuses and condemns others while being totally corrupted himself! But God beat him at his own game by creating scandal for him with something wonderful, something we love and enjoy, Christmas!

 

The Nativity starts with an out of wedlock baby scandal! Who likes babies? Everyone, right? A baby seems to make even the hardest hearts warm and smile. Most people inherently want to give new life a chance in this world. Most everyone when they smile and talk to a baby will get a smile back! How controversial of God to send a baby to rid the world of evil! God controls countless legends of angels but instead of an attack on earth to right the wrongs he sends baby Jesus! God’s attack on evil and Satan begins with innocence and purity in a body weak and dependent on the father and mother for survival. Our lives in Jesus must start there too, in a rebirth of purity of mind, heart, and soul, with a total dependence on God.

 

3. All of the elements in Christmas and in Christians are controversial according to the world’s double standards! Have you ever noticed that? Jesus was a shock to the world and the world has never been the same ever since! Christmas keeps surviving by the efforts of all Christians! 

 

The next controversial Christmas principle, that for many philosophical types is an illogical absurdity, is that God could claim to have a Son that is born from a human, of Mary the virgin. This premise, that God can be the Father of an earth born child, was scandalous when He was born and is scandalous still today with many other world religions and is considered heresy. People are getting beheaded and killed daily even today for affirming that God had a Son whose name is Jesus and His name is above all names! That name, offensive to some yet dear to us who love Him, is Jesus Christ the Lord! His life of miracles and resurrection prove He was God’s son, supernatural, glorious, and worthy of our eternal adoration! 

 

The problem originates from the Greek agnostic line of thought that erroneously deducts that God is made up of pure good positive spiritual material, but that man and this earth is made up of all bad imperfect negative material so therefore the good and bad can never mix together for there to be a son of God. This is an absurd conclusion since the obvious is we as humans contain a spirit, a piece of the pure God, living in our degenerating material bodies. 

 

No evidence supports this idea, or premise, yet millions hold onto it. All things are made up of positives and negatives and common knowledge taught in science proves that matter in our material world, as in atoms, contain negative charged electrons and positively charged protons. God, however, is not containing Himself within or without the material physical systems of our simple universe operating solely within harmonious duality systems. We observe that His material creation is one huge conglomerate of mixtures, of the light and of the void, yet purity is refined out of the material earthly mixtures as one refines gold. Our spirits must be refined as well.  

 

God’s person is in fact pure holiness but God’s attributes are not paralleled succinctly into to His diverse created worlds. God is above restricting Himself within the world He created because He transcends His own creation of weak and great physical forces and spiritual mysteries. Satan desires that all people reject the fact that it is possible for purity, as in baby Jesus, to have entered into our imperfect world but the scandal remains that it did! Another fact is that because Jesus came, you and I too can become perfected by holy living as Jesus lived full of love, grace, and truth. God’s purity of heaven can exist within this hell of a world within our hearts if we connect with the source, Jesus! Christmas with its pretty lights cause many to imagine how wonderful heaven must be where Jesus is preparing a home for us!

 

4. The next scandal that many cultures have a hard time accepting is that God chose not a noble person but a humble woman, a simple pure person, a virgin, through whom to manifest Himself and fulfill all prophecies through in order to establish a righteous kingdom forever. God found only her to be willing and worthy enough to become the mother of the future savior of the world. It is obvious that this world is filled with evil, but for God to choose to combat evil with the weapon of a simple, respectful, obedient woman is too humiliating for many men of distinct cultures to accept. In general 9/10ths of the world’s men are macho with little regard for women and what they can do in the things concerning God’s mission.

 

Imagine, Mary was told not to fear over the fact that she would become pregnant by the Holy Ghost and she, contrary to an average person, actually trusted and did not fear! She knew that by trusting God she was risking rejection from her future husband, rejection and maybe a death sentence from her own Jewish people for a perceived fornication, or the possibility of living the rest of her life as an outcast in shame. Yet she obeyed and trusted God. How many people have this kind of trust in God today? In her shoes, would you accept a challenge similar to this one and be found worthy for your willingness gaining God’s favor on your life? 

 

So the scandal hitting Satan in the face was the fact that a pure, humble person, Mary, honoring God would actually accept anything that God wanted to do in their life. Satan lost this same battle with Job (trying to prove that humans will betray God if subjected to adversities or seemingly unfair requests). Satan is persistent and what he wants is for everyone in the world to believe that it is unfair and unreasonable to accept the controversial things God wants you and I to believe or go through for His high purpose. The truth is many Mary’s do exist in the world, and humble sweet, obedient to God people do suffer rejection by the world but God protects them supernaturally as He protected Mary! Take note: Mary did not fear rejection; she preferred God’s will above all! Are you close enough to God to not fear but to trust and accept whatever God wants to do with your life?      

 

5. Here is a detail we must not overlook in the verses of today, what is implied by the part of the verses of today in verse 33? “And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. 

 

Certain Jews were familiar with this prophecy and the local ones would also have known that Mary was from the house of David, a bloodline descendant. But the spiritual leaders of the Jews, the ones chosen of the 12 tribes to teach and live exclusively in service to God were the Levites. You had to be born within that family to grow up to be a high priest, leader, teacher, or guide. 

 

David was from the tribe of Judah so what do we conclude? The Levites must have been scandalized to discover that God would choose his Messiah from the tribe of Judah and not from their refined hierarchical spiritual ranks.  So Jesus came to establish a kingdom like David’s. Didn’t a form of this kingdom already exist within the Jews? The verses here indicate however that Jesus would reign over all the tribes of Jacob forever. This is in essence inferring a new kingdom that would be established over all people and His kingdom will be forever and ever. This was a scandal for the Levite bloodline!

 

6. Referring to a new kingdom presenting itself, scandals occur when the envious controlling people of Satan in this world get threatened by someone hinting that they may suddenly lose their power. Herod was scandalized when he found out through the wise men that a king was born in his region so decided to kill all the babies soon afterward! What a horrible way to prevent a new king from rising! In the 1980’s they found a mass grave of baby skeletons near Bethlehem in Israel confirming this account of what is recorded in God’s word. 

 

Imagine Roman soldiers pulling the babies from the arms of their mothers and fathers and killing them! The entire region of Bethlehem was scandalized by the fact that their despotic envious leader was killing all their babies over a jealous rant believing the prophecies were true, that a new king was born. But the infant king was protected by God and escaped to Egypt. Imagine Herod, a despotic man with absolute power to kill anyone and yet he was in fear of baby Jesus! 

 

7. So Christmas began with several scandals and true Christians that worship Jesus Christ still draw ire by those who will not accept the celebration of Jesus birth. When you declared that you had received Jesus Christ in your life and that you would serve Him, repent, and follow Him, did some of your friends or family get scandalized by your announcement? Mine did! Most everyone’s does!

 

The message of Jesus birth communicates that one who accepts Him must have a total change of mind, heart, and soul. The mind programed by the world, by Satan’s indoctrinations, refuses to accept the fact that God did send his perfect Son and that He is the savior of humanity in this disastrous world. It goes against our logic to believe in the virgin birth, but faith confirms to us it is miraculously possible.

 

Human hearts have to get over having pride to understand Christmas. Most people are shocked at how rich wise men and poor shepherds alike contained so much humility that they bowed to worship Jesus even when he was just an infant. To connect with Christmas one’s soul must merge with God’s spirit in obedience to become touched by the innocence and holiness which implicates one’s repentance. Mary’s heart was holy, so we get the message that it is imperative we too must submit to God’s will to bring about His plan for a new kingdom. The implication is that God expects that we let our lives get totally interrupted by Jesus birth and this creates an internal controversy that all of us must resolve. Scandal and all hell breaks loose when you speak up for Jesus and serve Jesus!

 

Accepting God’s kingdom means we leave behind our petty dreams of grandeur in order to adopt the kingdom dreams of Jesus, to bring about a new world with new loving people with hearts converted made new full of joy and love for God and their neighbor.

 

8. Jesus said that offenses (scandals) would come but he also said in Luke 7:23 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. And imagine today some people refrain from even pronouncing the words Merry Christmas because it offends some people! They replace Jesus with only gifts and Santa too!

 

Concerning Christmas and its original message that some deem offensive we can conclude that the people without faith, that people with mental confusion concerning the mechanics of God’s creation, that the people who reject God’s miracles, that the proud jealous people in high places, that the people governed by their own closed-minded cultures and base carnality, that the people who believe they run God’s kingdom or Jacob’s house already… all collectively are rejecting Jesus until this day! Christmas to them is an offense! Christmas to us who love Jesus, however, is a beautiful wonderful time to celebrate and remember the fulfilment of prophecy that a savior was coming and He did. It is a story of dedication and humility. It is a happy celebration that reminds you and me to be thankful, humble, pure, giving, and loving. Christmas is where our salvation began! Culture has jazzed it up with lights and decorations, but each year there is a new chance to tell the wonderful story of Jesus to others!

                 

Is there a controversy happening in your life? Is it from God to use you for something great? This Christmas don’t let the date pass you up without thanking God and appreciating what it meant for God’s love to be expressed through baby Jesus willing to come down in frail human flesh to be one of us. Merry Christmas and may Jesus’ love flood your soul!

Christmas Is About Bringing Odd People Together Who Normally Would Never Meet!

Christmas Is About Bringing Odd People Together!      By Kelly Durant 12-11-22

 

Psalm 68:6 God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

 

2. Sometimes I feel very sad for many people! You and I can all observe that there are a lot of people out there that have very few friends! They often don’t have any family nearby either! Often my wife and I will get a call from someone, can you take me to the hospital, can you take me to work? Can you help me move because I’m getting evicted? Too many people are very alone in this world!

 

We are here to serve one another in love and not let our right hand know what our left had is doing but I am shocked and saddened over the poverty of many people! It is a poverty not so much of a lack of food or money, but a poverty of having no friends or family! It’s sad when no one is willing to do anything for another, right? But God makes us meet people we normally wouldn’t meet!

 

Thank God Christmas can change this! Christmas is all about giving and receiving, and in supporting each other, in supporting strangers you may never even meet either! This happens when people buy gifts to donate to children. The kings gave gifts to Jesus but the gift of Maria and Joseph getting to make friends and meet new strangers such as the kings and the shepherds was what made it all special. 

 

3. The first strange encounter that Mary had was with the angel that told her she would bear a child by the Holy Spirit. Of course, messengers, such as angels, do not stick around for you to make friendships with, but Christmas would not be what it is without the sudden appearance of the angels. Christmas connected us humans with God’s angels, and that is a rare thing we must value!

 

The shepherds got to see all of the angels in heaven as well.  13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:  Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” 15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”  

 

So, the first ones on the first Christmas got to meet angels! Have you ever wondered how many people have been angels to people they didn’t know at all? This happens at Christmas time. Christmas has inspired many people to act as angels, to be messengers of the good news of the arrival of Jesus, and be generous to help people with gifts, and they are helping people they do not even know. 

 

4. Another unusual uniting of people was that of the shepherds meeting Joseph and Mary. This divine couple was chosen by God to raise the savior of the world, but they were nothing more than small town folks whose friendships probably did not extend any further than with their neighbors and family nearby.

 

So now they are making new friendships with the shepherds who live outside the city. Imagine a bunch of strangers arriving after your baby is born saying we have come here to this barn door to see you and to worship the newborn child?! It must have surprised them for sure!

 

Mary and Joseph made new friends that night! These were humble folks, and they were humble as well. What they had in common was they both experienced something heavenly and supernatural, and they both were aware that a chosen special child was born, Jesus the Christ.       

 

5. The next characters to appear on the scene were the kings of the Orient, the wise men. Think about this, these men were strangers and did not know each other until they met each other in Bethlehem after their long journey. They probably did not speak the same language, but they did have the same purpose in common, to meet Jesus! Here we see it again, Jesus is uniting people together.

 

They then went on to meet Mary, Joseph, and Jesus by following the unexplained phenomena of the star over Jesus’ temporary residence. These kings would never have left home and travelled for months had they not been on a spiritual mission to see the mystery at the end of their journey. They wanted friendship with the King of kings whose presence was foretold and foretold even in the stars!

 

These wise men knew to bring gifts, but how? They knew the star was leading them somewhere special, they knew they would meet someone special, but I suspect they really did not expect to find some common folks with a baby so small! What we observe here is that when you have Jesus with you, you can expect kings to come, pay respect, and be generous to support the mission of God’s work! Common people make friendships with the rich to do Jesus’ work!

 

6. I love the verse of study today with God’s promise of “God sets the solitary in families”. This is what Jesus was all about, to bring together you and me and all kinds of groups of people together that never would meet under ordinary daily circumstances. With Jesus we become family! Forget your flesh family as many of them may often let you down, Jesus gives you a real family in God!

 

I think most everyone, either rich or poor, live quite isolated from each other. But Jesus wants to bring us all together over Himself! Jesus is the supernatural uniting force that causes you and me to meet and to be friends with each other!

 

The people of the Christian faith travel to do mission work and make friendships that last a lifetime. Christians make deep friendships with unusual characters far and wide because it is all about Jesus! Jesus was the first one to get poor shepherds and rich kings to come together and be in awe at the work of God, was He not? With Jesus and your Christian family, you should never be alone!

 

7. Here is something to ponder, Jesus not only united odd people together, He was the first to unite us on all levels, a socio-economical-racial-&-religious one! He united the uneducated with the educated, which was Mary & Joseph with the shepherds, He was with the kings and wise men, and He is with you and me! KD 

 

Jesus united the rich and powerful with the common folks, Mary and Joseph with the Orient Kings. And here is another factor, the kings were of different races too, Jesus unites us from different races!

 

And what about religion? Jesus unites those of other faiths to Him! The kings had a religion that included astrology and who knows what else, they were not Christian before meeting Jesus. God loved them anyway and revealed Himself to them. Jesus and God brings us all together when often our own people will not be close to us. Spiritual brothers and sisters are formed over our common faith in Jesus, and we should value each other as family.  When Jesus called His disciples, they too were from very diverse backgrounds; Jesus was iconoclastic to the established set of societal customs. 

 

8. Psalm 68:6 God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land. So, we see now how God unites us, an odd family, over Jesus but what about the rebellious, the faithless, the haters and the ones who refuse to honor Jesus?

 

The rest of this verse makes it clear, if you have God with you, and His Son Jesus as your focus, you can expect prosperity and the blessings of God. It is an observable truth that many of the children of poor immigrants, or people in poverty, have risen above their level because they received the support of their family of friends, those from the Christian church community.

 

“But the rebellious dwell in a dry land”! In all families, and throughout the world, there are so many that seem to go from bad situations to worse ones and why? Often because they are just brute beasts, living selfishly to survive, never thinking of helping others, never considering making friends with people very unlike their own selves. If a person doesn’t have Jesus, either by ignorance or flat-out rejection, then this person will not learn the beauty of being made rich with friends and family that are near them everywhere.   

 

9. Christmas is about family and friends, and the sharing of good experiences together, even with people very different from you. Giving gifts and getting gifts can reveal to you that there are good people out there! Who knows, you might even make a new friend this Christmas.

 

Take advantage to tell others about Jesus this Christmas, that is the best gift you could ever give anyone! Giving Jesus to another means you are opening up the door for them to learn a new way of life, one where God is in control, one where God forgives, and one in knowing you are loved that you will go to heaven in the end! 

 

Because of Jesus, life is worth living! Because of Christmas we can all meet new people! I have made friendships with a few thousand people in my lifetime, and this never would have happened if it were not for Jesus telling me to go into all the world to preach the gospel. I have been to more than a hundred cities and Jesus has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams!

 

I thank God I have met you, you who are here today, and I met you because we share in the same faith, that of having Jesus! And I thank God you are in the Salvation Army serving God as well!