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Don’t miss Jesus’ values this Christmas

Wednesday, December 23, 2009, 6:36 pm |

The natural family is the foundation of civilization. But Jesus is the foundation of Christmas. Without Jesus Christ as the main focus of December 25, it is no longer CHRISTmas!

Think about it. Do you enjoy the 1965 TV special, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” ? I sure do, because it’s deep and touches the soul. Charlie Brown, feeling like a failure as a Christmas pageant director, cries out, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is about?” And Linus says, “Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about.”

Although he was earlier worried over memorizing his part of the pageant, Linus goes to center stage, asks for stage lights and recites the Christmas story verbatim from Luke 2:8-14 in the King James Bible. He concludes and turns to a visibly moved Charlie Brown, saying, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”
 
On this sacred holiday, I want to remind you that understanding the real meaning of Christmas can provide you joy and peace no matter your family or economic or health situation. True joy is found in the Reason for the Season — Jesus Christ, who was born, lived, died and rose again for you.

THE REAL MEANING OF CHRISTMAS

The literal definition of “Christmas” is Christ’s Mass, a feast commemorating the Virgin Birth of God miraculously coming in the human form of Jesus to offer Himself as a sacrifice for our sins and to offer us eternal life now and after physical death. Truly, He is the best gift of all, satisfying the restless human soul. With the Spirit of Jesus in your heart, you can be joyful despite anything else.

THINGS THAT MAKE CHRISTMAS MEANINGFUL

What are your traditions that help you worship God? Here are five ideas on making your Christmas more meaningful to yourself and others:

1. Reignite the joy of the Lord by going to a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day church service. You can also view Christmas Eve church services, such as at harvest.org.

2. Before opening any presents, read aloud and talk about the Christmas story  in Luke chapter 1 or Matthew chapters 1 and 2.
 
3. Before your Christmas Day meal, pray to God specifically to thank Him for the gift of Himself, coming as Jesus Christ, to offer to save us from our sins by taking our punishment on Himself on the cross. In this special Christmas prayer, let Him know you regard His gift as incomparable to any other!

4. Reach out to the lonely or needy. Invite them into your home or visit a convalescent home and take your children or grandchildren. The elderly or disabled in convalescent homes love talking with visitors and seeing young children.

5. If someone can play a musical instrument, join together to sing sacred Christmas carols, remembering the sweet love of God expressed in Jesus’ miraculous birth.

ANOTHER CHRISTMAS GIFT TO CONSIDER

As 2009 comes to a close, please remember SaveCalifornia.com in your year-end giving. This is a crucial time for us and we need your help. Click here to donate online or by mail.

Celebrate with us 10 years of SaveCalifornia.com serving you on the front lines — working, leading and fighting for pro-family, moral values in government, media and the culture.

Catch the vision for 2010! I invite you to see SaveCalifornia.com in action and hear from my heart.
Watch my 3-minute video report on our 2009 accomplishments and 2010 goals.

Thank you. Again, JOYous CHRISTmas to you and your family!

Randy Thomasson
Founder and President
SaveCalifornia.com | SaveAmerica.com

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Senate health-care bill paving way for “single payer” control

Monday, December 21, 2009, 2:22 am |

Watching C-SPAN yesterday, I saw Dick Durbin of Illinois, the #2 Democrat in the U.S. Senate, promise liberals all they wanted in the future if they will just support the Democrats’ new health-care bill.

In his floor remarks, Durbin noted that when Social Security was first approved in 1935, it was relatively small, dealing with old age, poverty, unemployment, widows and fatherless children. But as Durbin said, “we added substantially to it” over the years. Today, Social Security is a mandate for all Americans, and you can’t get out of it unless you’re a bona fide pastor who objects to it. Durbin said the gradual expansion of Medicare is another example.

This incremental approach is how liberal politicians have successfully desensitized Americans to their loss of liberty and personal responsibility. Over and over, by getting the camel’s nose under the tent, big-government politicians have been able to systematically flip the tent over.

It’s probably the biggest reason to oppose the Democrats’ Senate health-care bill. HR 3590 will lead to universal mandates, universal coverage and complete government control of health care. The Senate bill is paving the road to “single payer” health care, where the government pays for everything, controls everything, and rations care based on who deserves it and who doesn’t.

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Will Jesus’ name and the First Amendment be honored or trampled?

Saturday, September 26, 2009, 11:28 am |

Religious freedom is the foundation of America. It’s why Christians came here in the first place. Many of the original Pilgrims wanted to practice their faith apart from the Church of England, which as the official state denomination, had been persecutory of “non-official” Christian denominations.

They provided the vision for the First Amendment to the United States Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

What was happening here? In 1789, when the Bill of Rights was written, “religion” meant a single denomination or system of worship. Thus, in clear, understandable terms, Congress prohibited itself from establishing a national denomination (such as Congregationalist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Baptist, Quaker, etc.).

Our Founding Fathers did not want to be like England, which had an official state church called the Church of England with the King as its head. So they prohibited themselves from promoting one Christian sect or denomination above another, i.e. “no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

Yet beyond this narrow exclusion of an official Christian denomination of the United States, our founding fathers clearly wanted Christian values and religious freedom — including religious freedom within the federal, state and local governments — to be permitted, protected, and respected.

Fast forward to 2009 and California. For decades, pastors have been coming to city council meetings in Lodi, just north of Stockton, to “give the invocation.” Most pastors have included “in Jesus’ name” in their prayers.

When an atheist group complained, the Lodi City Attorney told pastors not to pray in Jesus’ name anymore. You can imagine the firestorm this has caused between atheists and Christians.

Guess what — Jesus’ name is OK at government meetings. Even the U.S. Supreme Court says so!

ACTION: The Lodi City Council will hold a special hearing and vote Wednesday, Sept. 30. For the sake of Jesus, religious freedom, and our U.S. Constitution, please email all five city council members and attend the city council meeting, which starts at 6:30 p.m. 

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