A Subtle Deception!

Although, I originally wrote this in November of 2005, it bears repeating (in my not-so-humble opinion!):

As you well know, the members of the secular world are doing everything they can to distract us from the true meaning of Christmas, having launched their schemes weeks ago, even months.

On the surface, it appears that the secularists are using this season of the year to pursue the almighty dollar—to get rich (I heard Bill O’Reilly say, just last night, that the secularists ought to be on their knees thanking Jesus for Christmas; otherwise, they would not be making all the money); however, I am afraid their roots grow much deeper than the mere pursuit of money.

Underlying this façade is the deep root of the power of sin, and it is working overtime; albeit, stealthily, to energize the forces of evil—the demons of hell. No longer lurking behind the scenes, they are out in full force and their goal is not what it appears. The power of sin has them energized to use the commercialization of the holy, righteous, and good day of Christmas to deceive us into believing that God is, somehow, out of control and the true significance of Christmas is being lost. In other words, the power of sin wants us to believe that the forces of evil are winning-out over the power of God! It knows that, as soon as we are convinced, we will launch an all-out assault on the commercialization of Christmas and in doing so, never engage the real enemy. The power of sin knows that wars are never won unless the true enemy is engaged; consequently, it will do anything to camouflage itself.

I see a very significant parallel between “the power of sin and the commercialization of Christmas” and “the power of sin and the Law.” If you remember, the power of sin used the holy Law of God to convince Paul that his relationship with God was determined by whether or not he kept the Law, i.e., if he kept the Law, God would be pleased with him; however, if he failed to keep the Law, God would be displeased with him. In other words, the power of sin convinced Paul (at least for a while) that because he could not keep the Law, try as he might, it was his enemy, the enemy that prevented his living in continued fellowship with God. As you can see, the power of sin was purposing to deceive Paul into believing the lie of all lies (righteousness comes through the Law), which by the way, will always make the Law appear to be your enemy.

One must admit that in Paul’s life, the power of sin was successful; at least, for a predetermined season. For sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me (Romans 7:11). I think it goes without saying; if Paul was susceptible to this deception, so are we!

Ultimately, the power of sin did not want to be revealed as Paul’s enemy for the same reason that it does not want to be revealed as the enemy of Christmas—it knows that wars are never won unless and until the true enemy is engaged. To be sure, the power of sin did not want Paul to see the Law as his true friend, the one that would drive him to Jesus, because it also knows that when that truth is revealed, its power is terminated.

The power of sin uses the commercialization of the holy and good day of the birth of Jesus to deceive us into believing that the success or failure of the celebration is determined by how effective we are at eradicating the commercialization. In other words, the power of sin wants to get the onus off its own back and onto the “back” of the commercialization of Christmas. It would much prefer that we focus our energies on eradicating the commercialization of Christmas, rather than on resting in Jesus’ finished work, that way its power continues its effectiveness! You can rest assured that the power of sin wants us to see the commercialization of Christmas as our enemy, certainly not as our friend. It does not want us to realize that it is the commercialization of Christmas that drives us to the true meaning of that Blessed Holy Day because it knows-well that the moment that truth is revealed, its power is terminated!

MY PERSPECTIVE: If we allow Satan to deceive us into viewing the commercialization of Christmas, instead of the power of sin, as our enemy, we will become so preoccupied with “righting” what is “wrong” that we will miss what is “right”—The Celebration of the Birth of Jesus! What we can see becomes much more important than what we cannot see, and Satan laughs—loudly and proudly!

Thought I would remind you—