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Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, here in Colossians, chapter number 2, and it says in verse number 14, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross, and having spoiled principalities and powers and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. Now, in Colossians, chapter number 2, the main context here is the fact that Christ is all that we need. Christ is everything. All the doctrine that we need to get is going to be coming from Christ. We don't need anything extra. We don't need to go to the Talmud. We don't need to go to extra biblical sources, and specifically, he's also going to be talking about the fact that there's the Judaizers. There's people that want to continue to bring you back under the law, and he's saying, hey, you need to be rooted and built up in Christ, and you need to not be entangled in the rudiments of this world. And a lot of the carnal commandments were that carnal. A lot of the things that were given in the Old Testament law were just specifically a carnal means to illustrate a spiritual example of Christ. So once you have Christ, you no longer need all those carnal ordinances, all those carnal commandments. You have something different. Now, in the Old Testament, there's all kinds of different things that are taught, explained, things that are still very applicable, but some things you would see in the Old Testament are feast days. You would see a lot of holidays. You would see a lot of things that they had to perform. They had to perform the Passover. They had to perform the Feast of Tabernacles. They had a lot of different holidays and different things that they would have respect unto, and in the New Testament, we have a clear teaching here that when it comes to observing some kind of a holiday, which would be basically Holy Day, just replace the Y with an I, that it's really just up to you personally, and we shouldn't go around judging one another for what kind of holidays or special observances we would have in the New Testament, whereas in the Old Testament, there was very specific days in which you just needed to observe if you were going to be part of God's kingdom. If you're going to be part of the nation of Israel, you have to observe the Passover. If you didn't observe the Passover, you're thrown out. You're kicked out of the nation of Israel. In the New Testament, we don't have such holidays. All the feasts are spiritualized. The Sabbath is pictured with Christ. So in the New Testament, frankly speaking, you don't have any special holidays that you have to observe. It's all up to you. It's a personal conviction, a personal preference. Now, the most recent holiday coming up is Thanksgiving, and Thanksgiving doesn't really have a lot of roots per se in the Bible. You know, obviously the Bible talks about being very thankful and having that type of an attitude and that spirit, and I don't think there's anything wrong with getting together with your family and being thankful and celebrating and taking some days of rest. I actually enjoy that. I think that that's great. We even have other holidays. Halloween wasn't that long ago, was it? Now, this holiday is pretty much literally worshipping the devil. It's worshipping death. It's worshipping devils and demons and goblins. Why would I want to celebrate such a thing, such a holiday as that? But in the future, pretty soon, we're going to have Christmas. Now, I personally, I love Christmas. I think that Christmas is a great holiday, and if you didn't like Christmas, that's fine. I'm not going to judge you for observing Christmas just like you are not observing versus you shouldn't judge me for observing Christmas or not observing Christmas because in the New Testament, it says very clearly in verse 16, Let no man therefore judge you and meet or and drink or in respect of an holy day or of the new moon or of the Sabbath day. So you're saying, hey, we shouldn't go around judging one another on their own personal convictions, their own personal observance of particular holidays or whatnot. Now, somebody would say, oh, so you're judging me for observing Halloween. Well, that's because you're worshipping the devil. Of course, I'm going to stand in judgment of such an event. And when it comes to Christmas, even though I love Christmas, there are things that are attached to this particular holiday that I despise, that I hate, and that I think are very unbiblical, very ungodly. And that's the point of the sermon tonight. The title of the sermon is Why I Hate Santa. Why I hate Santa. I love Christmas, don't hear me wrong, but I hate Santa. And there's a lot of things that we have from the Bible. And I have several points here. But my first point this evening is it takes the honor from Christ. It's called Christmas. It's not called Closmas. You don't have to read the fine print to figure out what's going on. No, it should be all about the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's a great time to celebrate the birth of our Savior. Every single one of us has the right to date on a very often occasion. And that's what's celebrating the year of our Lord. The fact that Christ was born 2,019 years ago. And hey, pretty soon it'll be 2,020 years ago. And then we get to celebrate His birth, one of the greatest events in all of human history. Now, let me just read for you what Christmas is on Wikipedia, okay? It says, Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25th as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. Christmas Day is a public holiday in many of the world's nations, is celebrated religiously by a majority of Christians, as well as culturally by many non-Christians, and forms an integral part of the holiday season centered around it. The traditional Christmas narrative, the nativity of Jesus, delineated in the New Testament says that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in accordance with Messianic prophecies. Now, what's wrong with that? What's wrong with celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and the fact that many people all want to come together at one time and celebrate Jesus? Well, some people get nitpicky about the date, won't they? Look, I don't know when Christ was born. Neither do you, nor does anyone. There's no real clear, obvious answer to that question. Obviously, we have shepherds abiding in the field. Maybe that could point to a particular time. Who knows? But also, he wasn't born in Texas, so whatever our weather is like here has no impact on what it was like over in Bethlehem, okay? So you have to take a lot of things into consideration. But hey, if they wanted to celebrate Jesus' birth on July 7th, great, I don't have a problem with the date, and we shouldn't stand in judgment against somebody that wants to observe a holiday celebrating Jesus Christ. Additionally, it says this in Wikipedia, although the month and date of Jesus' birth are unknown, the church in the early fourth century fixed the date as December 25th. This corresponds to the date of the solstice on the Roman calendar. Most Christians celebrate on December 25th in the Gregorian calendar, which has been adopted almost universally in the civil calendars used in countries throughout the world. For Christians believing that God came into the world in the form of man to atone for the sins of humanity rather than knowing Jesus' exact birth date is considered to be the primary purpose in celebrating Christmas. Even Wikipedia is defending the date and saying, hey, it's not about the date. It's about the fact that we're celebrating God becoming man. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. I mean, what kind of event that God would redeem mankind by becoming like us, becoming like his brethren and suffering and human form so that we can be redeemed to God the Father. I mean, why would I mean, the links that people want to go to attack such events or like, you know, makes me think of these. I don't know what you would call them exactly, but the sacred namers, they want to attack the name of Jesus Christ and try to say it's some Hebrew name or something. Look, that's of the devil, my friend. They say, hey, no one is going around saying Jesus in the Middle East. Okay. They're saying Jesus, because that's in Greek, and it was written above his head in Greek. Hey, Jesus. And you know how you say that in English, Jesus. And why would I want to attack the name of Jesus? Why am I going to attack a holiday that's basically honored by all as celebrating the birth of our Savior? I mean, it's just ridiculous. Let's go to Luke chapter two, chapter two in our Bibles. Let's read the famous passage and get an atonement or get a get an idea or set the tone for what it is that we're looking at. But I love Christmas. And what does Santa do? He takes the preeminence above Christ in many places. He takes away. He's a distraction from the true reason why you would celebrate Christmas, which is the birth of our Savior. Luke chapter two, verse one, the Bible reads, and it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. Oh, I guess it's pagan. I guess Christmas is pagan because Caesar was involved. Look, it's just ridiculous the lengths that you could go to try and attack anything in the Bible. Verse two, and this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. It all went to be taxed, everyone, into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, under the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David. Now think about this. This is an important prophecy that's going to be fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ being born in Bethlehem, yet it comes through the means of a wicked Caesar proclaiming the whole world be taxed. So you know, some people want to say any involvement of the heathen, any involvement of anything that's not from, you know, Bible-believing Christians somehow taints the Bible, taints God. Look, your King James Bible is translated by 54 brilliant scholars, but let me tell you some truth. Probably not all of them were saved. In fact, it's almost an absolute certainty not all of them were saved. Do they have to be? Let's think about this. How many of the scribes and Pharisees were saved when Jesus came? Did you know it was their job to preserve the Bible, to reserve the text? Now obviously, ultimately, it's in God's hands that he's preserving that text. So don't get this weird idea that just because some other person on this planet, you know, has something to do with why we celebrate something that it's tainted. Look, what's the purpose? Is the purpose to celebrate Jesus Christ? Then hey, it's not tainted. Look at verse number five, to be taxed with Mary as a spouse-wife, being great with child. And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered, and she brought forth her firstborn son. Now how can you say she, you know, only had one kid? Firstborn. Wouldn't that indicate there was other born when you got a firstborn? All right, firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. And they were in the same country, shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over the other 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 Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you, ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God, and saying glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. What a great story. What a great portion of scripture to picture, hey, God coming into this earth. We have a heavenly host praising God, singing praises to the Lord. You know, one thing that's great about this conference is just being around so many like-minded people, and when we're all lifting up our voices, it's just so much more powerful and impactful, and it just gives me a picture of what it's going to be like when we're in heaven. There's one big great conference. Some big fire-breathing Baptist conference. They'll all be Baptist by then, they'll finally got the doctrine right. No, I'm just kidding. Look, it's going to be great one day. I'm going to enjoy it. You say, hey, you know, all good things come to an end until we get to heaven, and then they never end. Then we get to be with Christ for forever. But we have the Lord being born here, and this is why we should be celebrating Christmas, if you're going to celebrate it. I mean, if I were to say, hey, I want to celebrate this holiday, it should be about Him. It should be about the Lord. It should be about God manifest in the flesh, but rather the world wants to celebrate some other guy who's fat and weird and sneaks, steals stuff and comes in your house. I mean, what's going on there? Matthew chapter two, go to Matthew chapter number two, look at verse number one, Matthew chapter two, look at verse number one. Now, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea and the days of Herod the King, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem saying, where is he that is born King of the Jews? We have seen a star in the east and are come to worship him. Now I'm going to get to this in a moment, but here's the thing about the wise men. They did not come to worship Jesus Christ on the day that he was born, okay? He was more likely a baby, he was like a one-year-old or two. He was already had been born and was alive for quite a while, but notice they had a reason to come. They wanted to worship his birth. Now are the wise men, again, we could read in the context and do a little more study, but is what the wise men are doing your bad? It's a good thing. It's a positive thing that they're coming and worshiping the Lord. They're celebrating his birth and notice they're giving gifts. So is there anything wrong with celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ with giving gifts? Look at verse number 11. And when they were come into the house, they saw, notice this, the young child with Mary his mother and fell down and worshiped him. And when they opened their treasures, they presented on them gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. So you have shepherds coming, celebrating the Lord Jesus Christ birth. You have the heavenly host celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. You have three wise men coming and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. That sounds like pretty good company for me to be in worshiping the birth of Jesus Christ, doesn't it? Go back to Luke, Luke chapter number one, Luke chapter number one. And the reason why I'm pointing this out is because there's a cult that hates fun. They despise fun or anything that's jovial or anything that's good or righteous. And their name's the Jehovah's false witness. They call themselves Jehovah's witness, okay? I can't say it without saying Jehovah's false witness, all right? But Jehovah's false witness are very well known for the fact that they do not celebrate any holidays. They celebrate none. Now, technically speaking, we're not supposed to judge. If you celebrate no holidays, I'm not supposed to go around judging you. But their verse should be true too. They shouldn't be judging me for observing holidays in the same fashion. And their first argument, I looked it up like why they despise Christmas, but their first argument was the fact that the early Christians did not celebrate Jesus' birth because they considered the celebration of anyone's birth to be a pagan custom. I guess you should have told the shepherds that. I guess you should have told the wise men that one and the heavenly host. Oh, and here's another guy. Let's look at Luke chapter number one, or Luke chapter two, verse one. And it came to pass in those days. I'm sorry, yeah. Luke chapter one, verse 25, Luke chapter one, verse 25. And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the same man was just and devout waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost was upon him, and it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him the custom of the law, then took he up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now let us thou, thy servant, depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou has prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. So you see, hey, we got the shepherds, we got the wise men, we got the heavenly host, we even got Simeon. They're all excited about Christ's birth. And in fact, the wise men are giving gifts for the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. How could I say that it's unscriptural? It's a pagan custom to celebrate one's birth. I mean, that's just to say the whole Bible is a pagan custom. You know why they hate celebrating Jesus' birth? Because they don't believe that Jesus Christ is God. They reject the deity of Jesus Christ. So they despise celebrating Jesus' birth because they don't think that he's Jehovah. Let me help you out. Jesus is Jehovah. Jesus is fully God. We already read in Colossians chapter number two that he was, you know, for in him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, is what the Bible says. He was fully man and he was fully God while he was on this earth. He is God. Now they say, hey, celebrating holidays, we're supposed to come out from among them and be separate, sayeth the Lord. Well, how is the world celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and supposed to come out from that? I thought this morning sermon was a little bit more apical. How about stop murdering your babies? How about celebrating faggots? Let's stop celebrating them going up and down in their little parade. But what's wrong with celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ? Well, for them, they don't believe that God was manifest in the flesh. So that's why they don't celebrate it. They say December 25th, there's no proof that Jesus was born on that day. Well, there's no proof that he wasn't either. They say their third argument is gift giving, feasting and partying. It says a Roman feast celebrated in mid-December provided the model for many of the merry-making customs of Christmas. From this celebration, for example, were derived the elaborate feasting, the giving of gifts and the burning of candles. Well, look, back then, they didn't have lights, okay, so you know how they stayed up past dark? They lit some candles. Did you know in the book of Proverbs chapter 31, it talks about the virtuous woman, her people goeth not out by night? What a pagan custom. She's so pagan. I mean, it's just ridiculous. Gift giving. The wise men gave gifts. You know the best gift giver in the Bible? God. Amen. I mean, the links that these people go to. Now, this is just a rant, okay, we're going to focus on Santa, all right, I promise. They're against Christmas lights. I like light. God is light, okay. They're against mistletoe. Well, throw that one out, I don't care, or do it. Who cares? They're against Christmas trees. They say tree worship is common among the pagan Europeans. One of the ways in which tree... How is a tree pagan? God made trees, okay. There's nothing pagan about what God made. Now, go to Jeremiah 10. I want to finish this thought out, because we're talking a little bit about Christmas. I want to make sure that you're not all scared to worship Christmas. Some people have this idea that like, because we believe there's so many wicked things, but now trees are wicked. They're called Puritans. And Calvinists and Puritans throughout history were very against Christmas, because they were against everything. They're like the Jehovah's Witness. They're just, they're anti-everything. They're anti-fun. Look, hey, we had a lot of fun this week. Hey, the trampoline park, oh, it's so pagan. So worldly. I had a lot of fun. I thought it was great. You know, ice skating. Ice. That's from the pagan god of ice or something. No. God made ice, okay. Just get over yourself. Have some fun. You know, I'm not against fun. I'm not against doing things that are fellowship. I'm not against celebrating. Look, I'm against celebrating the devil. I'm against celebrating wickedness. I'm against celebrating sin. You know, I went to the Fort Worth market, and there's a guy, and he says, I support Planned Parenthood. He has a pink shirt on. The little faggoty dude. That's something that I hate. That's not something to support. But look, I love the King James Bible. I love, hey, Steadfast Baptist Church. I love you guys. I love children. I love things that are holy and righteous. I love all the things God made. Hey, one of those is trees. God likes trees. He made them. Jeremiah chapter 10, look at verse 2. This is where they go to, to try and twist the Bible. Thus saith the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven. For the heathen are dismayed at them, for the customs of the people are vain. The one cut of the tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workmen with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold, eh? Oh, they're cutting down that tree. They're putting it in a house. They're decking it with gold and silver. Look, this is not when you take an evergreen tree, put it in your living room, and put some kind of ornament on it, okay? The whole context here is a graven image. It's an idol. They're worshiping a false god. Look, the last time I checked, I've never been in somebody's house celebrating Christmas, and they've carved out like some wooden statue that they poured gold over, okay? That's what is the context. Look at verse 4 again. They fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not. They must needs be born because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. Now, here's what the context is again. They grave some type of physical man image or some kind of animal image or some kind of demon. They're all demons. And they're saying, hey, you shouldn't be afraid of a piece of wood no matter what it looks like. Looks like the dragon. It looks like Mary. It looks like Santa Claus. I don't care what it looks like. Why? Because it says they can't even move on their own. They have to be born. What does that mean? Someone has to pick it up and carry the stupid thing around. That's what it's saying. They have to be born. They can't do good. They can't do evil. They can't talk. It says in verse 8, but they are altogether brutish and foolish. The stock is a doctrine of vanities. Look, putting a tree in your house, there's no problem. God decorates with trees. Have you seen the earth? He likes trees. He put the man in a garden with trees, and they got to eat from them. It was great. Now, I don't particularly love evergreen trees because they puke pine needles all over my yard. But here's the thing. They're still a great creation of God, okay? And I don't have anything wrong with chopping it down. I think that's great. Chop it down, put it in your house, and then burn it later, okay? Good Isaiah chapter 44. Good Isaiah chapter 44. We're going to see, hey, chopping down those trees is a good thing. And then burning them is a good thing. But some people are so stupid that not only they chop it down and burn it, they use part of it for a graven image. That's what it meant with the stock, okay? A stock can mean a log or a piece of wood, okay? It says in verse 9, they that make a graven image are all of them vanity, and their delectable things shall not profit, and they are their own witnesses. They see not nor know that they may be ashamed. So he's saying, hey, the context is making graven images. It says in verse 14, he heweth them down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest. He planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. Then shall it be for a man to burn, for he will take thereof and warm himself. Yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread. Yea, he maketh a god, and worshipeth it. He maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. Verse 16, he burneth part thereof in the fire, with part thereof he eateth flesh. He rosteth roast, and is satisfied. Yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm. I have seen the fire. Verse 17, and the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image. He falleth down unto it, and worshipeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me, for thou art my God. Think of the foolishness of this. I mean, he's literally chopping down a tree. He's using some of it for firewood. He makes some food. He feels warm. Then he takes another piece of the wood, carves it into a god, and says, You're my God. This is the evolutionist. He worships physical inanimate objects. Somehow that's God, but not the creator of the heavens and the earth, okay? Verse 19, and none considerth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire. Yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof. I have roasted flesh and eaten it. And shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? Shall I fall down to the stalk of a tree? So if we get the context in Jeremiah chapter 10, which they'll try to say Christmas is pagan, it has nothing to do with Christmas, my friend. And again, why is me celebrating the Lord Jesus Christ have to do with any of this? If you have a tree or you don't have a tree, who cares? There's nothing wrong with decorating a house of trees. If you study the Bible, God decorates his temple with all kinds of cedar, with all kinds of wood. He decorates it with trees and flowers and pomegranate. Look, there's nothing wrong with the creations of God. So if you have a tree, great, I don't care. Go over to Romans chapter number 11. Why is it that I want to emphasize these points is because I like celebrating Christmas and giving Jesus the preeminence and not allowing this imposter, Santa Claus, to come in and steal Christ's thunder. And we don't need more Christians to try and say, oh, Christmas is so pagan. How is it pagan? And then they use arguments like Jeremiah chapter 10. Well, that just means you're stupid. Yeah, right. Look, and why are you going out judging people for celebrating the Lord Jesus Christ's birth and allowing Santa Claus to take all the preeminence? No, we ought to just embrace holidays that celebrate Jesus. We don't have that many. Easter, Christmas. I mean, let's celebrate the few that we got. I mean, in the Old Testament, they had lots of feasts. They had lots of celebrations. God likes us celebrating his birth. My number one point of why I don't like Santa is I hate the fact that he steals the thunder from the Lord Jesus Christ. We should take that back. You know, supposedly this is a Christian nation. If all the Christians didn't buy any Santa stuff, let me help you out. The stores would stop selling it. They would stop decorating with it. Look, the stores don't care. People get mad. Oh, Target promotes bags. Look, if everybody in America said, I won't buy any of the stuff that's faggish, Target would stop selling it. Starbucks would stop selling it. Walmarts, everybody sells it, okay? You find me a non-faggot friendly store. Chick-fil-A compromise already, okay? They were somebody's last hope. They weren't mine, but somebody was like, oh, Chick-fil-A. They're gonna come in through me. Oh, nope. Now they still bow down to the golden image of the fag. I mean, just everybody. Look, why? The love of money is the root of all evil, my friend. Look, don't get mad at the store for being a reflection of what's in America's heart. Get mad at America's heart, okay? If you try to go shopping where there's nothing pagan about it, good luck. Have fun with that. Number two point of why I hate Santa, and we're gonna get more into Santa now, okay, is because he's an anti-Christ with a false gospel. Yup, right. Well, let me just give you Wikipedia's definition of Santa, okay? Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas. Oh, yeah, call no man father upon the earth. Saint Nicholas, he's not a saint. Kris Kringle, I don't know where that comes from, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts to the homes of well-behaved children on the night of Christmas Eve, 24th December, or in the early morning hours of Christmas Day. The modern Santa Claus grew out of traditions surrounding the historical Saint Nicholas, a fourth century Greek bishop and gift giver of Myra. The British figure of Father Christmas and the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas, himself also based on Saint Nicholas. Some maintain Santa Claus also absorbed elements of the Germanic god Woden, or Odin, as we pronounce it, who was associated with the pagan winter event of Yule and led the wild hunt, a ghostly procession through the sky. Santa Claus is generally depicted as a portly, jolly, white-bearded man, or just really fat, however you wanna say it. Santa Claus is said to make lists of children throughout the world, categorizing them according to their behavior, and to deliver presents, including toys and candy, to all the well-behaved children in the world, and coal to all the misbehaving children on the night of Christmas Eve. He accomplishes his feat with the aid of his elves, who make the toys in his workshop at the North Pole and his flying reindeer who pull his sleigh. He is commonly portrayed as living at the North Pole and laughing in a way that sounds like ho, ho, ho. Now, that's a pretty accurate description. That's what I was raised to believe. Now, I'll just make a confession. When I was five years old, my parents, they loved Santa. They always wanted to celebrate Santa, and I was told all about him. And we were supposed to leave out cookies and milk. And I left out the cookies and the milk, and I'm getting all excited. And when I woke up in the morning, I had a thank you note from Santa Claus. Now, it doesn't necessarily work with perfect logic, because obviously everything about Santa just doesn't make sense. Fat guy flying around, coming through the chimney. But he used my special paper. I had some special hidden paper that I had in the pantry that no one knew about. And Santa Claus found that paper and wrote on it. And whenever I saw it, I was like, oh, my parents did that. I instantly knew that Santa wasn't real. Of course, of all the leaps and bounds you have to take in order to embrace Santa, for whatever reason, the paper, I was just like, that's not Santa. So then I went to school, and I just told every single kid, Santa's not real, it's a fake. Everybody was so mad at me. And it was like, it was so frustrating to walk up to somebody and give them the truth, and they didn't like it. They liked the lies so much better than the truth. Sounds pretty familiar to me. Go to Romans chapter 11. Now, Santa Claus, he has a list. That sounds like something I remember. Oh, yeah, the Lamb's Book of Life, huh? Now, how do you get written in the Lamb's Book of Life? Do you have to be good? Do you have to be nice to get in the Lamb's Book of Life? He says he gives gifts to the well-behaving children. Let me help you out for everybody that already understands. That's not a gift. That's right. Isn't it so frustrating in America? You have to spend like five minutes explaining to somebody what a gift is? You wanna know why? Because Santa, Santa sucks. He doesn't give gifts. He gives rewards. And the bad thing about it is since Santa actually doesn't exist, and it's the parents that are doing it, well, no parents are gonna give their kids coal. You should let somebody else evaluate if your kids need coal. A lot more, that kid does not deserve presents. They deserve a piece of coal. But think about coal. What is coal used for? Fire. So what is he teaching? He's teaching, well, if you're good, you get to go to heaven, and if you're bad, you go to hell. And guess what? That's how everybody believes. Because guess what? Everybody thinks they're going to heaven because everybody got Christmas presents. Nobody gets the coal. I mean, it's interesting. I've never run into people, very seldom I run into people, and they just admit like I'm going to hell. And if they do think they're going to hell, it's because they're not good enough. They're too bad. They're too wicked. Look, it's a false gospel that Santa's going around preaching at the same time of the birth of the Savior. Hey, that's an antichrist, my friend. There's an agenda there. Don't be deceived. And why would I want to just go through this huge charade of lies and teach my kids all these lies? Oh, but Jesus is real. There's this fat guy that you've never seen. He's just going to give you presents if you're good. He's all fake. You go through all these charades. You see it decorated everywhere. Look, it's to desensitize people to the truth of God's words. Try to make a mockery of the things of God. Romans chapter 11, look at verse number five. Even so then, at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works. Otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then there's no more grace. Otherwise work is no more work. You know, that's the great thing about God, grace. And you know what's great about grace? It's not of work. Because if it was of work, it's no more grace. Look, Santa Claus doesn't graciously give you anything. He rewards you. He wants to reward the well-behaved children. And all, look, very few kids would get rewarded on this planet. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. But the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. The problem is nobody's using the rod anymore. I mean, well-behaved children is few and far between. It's nice coming to a church like this. You think if I just grabbed 100 random strangers with their kids and brought them in here with their children, we could be listening? I mean, right now you can almost drop a pen. It's so quiet. And there's tons of young children in this room. Isaiah chapter 14, good Isaiah chapter 14. Santa Claus destroys what a gift is, and I hate him for that. I hate having to argue with people without a gift. Hey, if Jesus says I want to give you eternal life, but you have to go to church, you have to follow all of his commandments, you have to pray every single day, you have to do everything right. And if you don't, he'll come and take it. Is that a gift? Well, yeah. You're just like, what? They've been brainwashed. By who? By Santa, by telling them that's a gift. You know, you go to the store, we have a special gift for you. If you spend 50 bucks, lie, that's not a gift. I mean, all of America is trying to commercialize gifts. We hate. If you buy two shirts, we'll give you one free. It's not a gift. It's all a bunch of lies. Santa sits on the throne of lies, all right? Isaiah 14, look at verse 13. For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north pole. Oh, wait, what? Where does Santa live again? Oh yeah, the north pole. Oh, and doesn't he fly in the air? You know, in Ephesians 2, it says, wherein in time past he walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Let me tell you about Santa. He's like the devil. And you know what? He transforms himself into a minister of light, into an angel of light. Everybody thinks he's so great and so wonderful. There's nothing wonderful about Santa. He's taking the preeminence from Christ, my friend. Verse 14, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high, yet thou shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. The devil wants to pretend to be God. That's what Santa tries to be. He tries to be this great, you know, wonderful gift giver. No, the true gift giver is God, is the Lord Jesus Christ, the gift that he gave us. So you go to Luke chapter number four, let's look at some more parallels of your favorite little Satan clause. I mean, what other attributes do you want? Now it's interesting because when you think about Santa Claus, a lot of aspects of what he's doing are what's under the guise of magic. But you know, magic is not a word in the Bible. You have wizards, witches, witchcraft, divination. It's all demonic. Those people are supposed to be put to death. But you know, the devil has powers that are beyond normal. Makes me think of Santa. Says in Luke chapter four, verse four, And Jesus answered him, saying, it is written, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And the devil taking him up into a high mountain showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. Magic of the devil. Look, I don't care what he could show me. The Bible says these can come with lying signs and wonders to deceive people. And look, Santa goes around with lying signs and wonders to deceive people, my friend. Go to Romans 12, Romans chapter 12. Second reason why I hate Santa is because he's an anti-Christ with a false gospel. The gospel is free. All I have to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and I'm saved. I don't care how naughty you are. You're still going to heaven. You're not gonna get that lump of coal. Hey, the naughtiest kid on the planet can't change his parents. And you know what? God's not going to send his children to hell ever. Period. My number three point why I hate Santa is because Rudolph is a fag. I mean, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. Look, I'm sick and tired of all this subliminal messaging to try and say, oh, but he's special. He's different. And everybody doesn't like him because he's different. Yeah, because he's a queer. It used to be it was okay to dislike the queer. But now we have to bring him in and we have to, you know, conform to him. Look, I don't want to conform to Rudolph. Romans chapter 12, verse two. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Look, Rudolph, I don't care about how special he is. Isn't that what they want to do? They want to make this dialogue. All these movies, all the agenda now. Oh, he's special. He has different colors. He has the red nose. Look, it's gay, I don't care. And it's not in a good way. Go to Proverbs chapter 29, Proverbs chapter 29. Not only this, but everybody is forced to accept Rudolph against their will. I'm not for it. Sounds like somebody else, I don't want to accept their agenda. Hey, Rudolph can go take a hike. He can go do something else with that red nose. Let's put a bullet in his brain and have deer meat for dinner. I'm not for it, the red nose. Says in Proverbs 29 verse 25, the fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso put of this trust in the Lord shall be safe. Look, they're all pressured into accepting Rudolph. Hey, I'm not going to accept filth. I'm not going to accept wickedness. There's some times you just say, get away from me. But what does the world want to do? Let's be all inclusive. Let's embrace everybody except for Jesus, except for Christians, except for the Bible. Let's be tolerant of everything and everybody except for Pastor Shelley, except for Step Fast Baptist Church. Let's purge him for YouTube. Let's purge him from the internet. Let's get rid of them. Look, this all inclusive stuff is nonsense. We're supposed to, we just, I preached a sermon this morning, hopefully got it. It's about separation. Separation can be good. Come out from among them and be he separate, sayeth the Lord. You know, God's people ought to be different and ought to be unique and not try to conform themselves to the world, to be embraced by the world. You know why Rudolph is a false prophet? Because everybody speaks well of him. Because everybody likes him. Everybody embraces him. You know, if Rudolph was an independent fundamental Baptist, he would have stayed without the camp. They wouldn't have had him do it. He wouldn't have been part of the show. He would have been preaching against Santa. It's ridiculous what kind of undertones they have. Number four, I hate Santa because of the elves. Elf on the shelf. What is an elf? I don't even know, but the elf on the shelf is a little faggoty looking dude too. Why has everybody got to look so faggoty queer? And what is the elf? He just sits there and spies on me and reports to Santa about all I do. You know, the only time I can find spies in the New Testament, go to Galatians chapter two. Let's find some spies that we have in the New Testament. Okay, this queer effeminate little elf going around and making sure that everything is good. Like that's not even a Christian attitude. We're supposed to have forgiveness. We're supposed to have grace. What kind of grace is the elf? And the elf, all he's trying to do is trying to get you to say, hey, I should behave while the elf is looking. What if the elf isn't looking? Look, you know, God's always watching what we're doing. God already notices what we're doing. Say, hey, I like all this stuff. Well, look, you can do whatever you want, but that elf is the queerest looking thing I've ever seen. And I don't like spies. Look at Galatians chapter two, look at verse number four. And that because of false brethren unawares brought in who came in privily to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. There's some spies for you. Now, obviously, in the Old Testament, you have some good spies, don't hear me wrong. But in the New Testament, the only spies I could find are these false brethren coming in unawares to spy on your liberty in Christ. And again, why? Because he has to report to Santa who's well behaved, who's naughty, who's nice, who's gonna receive what. And if you have help on the shelf, you have to have Santa. But I hate Santa. So that's why I hate him too. Go to Psalms chapter 119, Psalms chapter 119. Look, if I throw out all of the true paganism, then I'm left with Christ, that sounds great. I'm not gonna attack Christmas for being pagan because of a tree. But hey, how about Santa Claus? That is pagan, that has nothing to do with the Bible. He has a false gospel, he perverts what a gift is. And in my house growing up, because of Santa, I never got a present from my parents on Christmas. Is that not weird? Isn't it weird? Hey, I got a present from my brother, I got a present from my sister, I got a present from some fat guy that lies to me, but my parents never gave me one present? Isn't that just weird and bizarre? Why is it that you want to not give your kids a present? Obviously, we know who's giving them the presents, okay? Santa. But isn't that just strange? Psalms 119 verse 163, I hate and abhor lying, but thy law do I love. Why do I wanna sit here and lie to my children and say that someone else gave them gifts and have them gain affection towards someone that's not even real? Why wouldn't I wanna give a gift to my child? Go to Matthew chapter seven, Matthew chapter seven. And let me tell you this. You as a father and a mother, you teach your children a lot about what God is like. The model that you represent is going to greatly impact their view towards God. If you're very stern and you never have joy and you never have love and you never have grace, oftentimes they struggle with looking at God as having grace, as being loving. If you're all about fun and joy and you never punish your children, they look at God as just some fat guy just giving you a present no matter what. Look, you gotta have a good balance of punishment and you have to have a good balance of joy. And the Bible says in Matthew chapter seven verse 11, if then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your father which is in heaven could give things to them that ask him? The Bible says, hey, if you can give a good gift to your child, how much more can your father in heaven give you good gifts? Oh, well, my parents don't give me gifts, Santa does. That's weird. Wouldn't you wanna be a parent that blesses your kids with nice gifts so they recognize that you love them? Now, look, it's not all about the credit, it's not all about just the recognition, but rather it just simply is showing the fact that your parents love you, the parents care for you, your parents wanna do good things unto you and you're representing the fact that God wants to give you gifts and wants to love you. Children, my sixth point, I have two more this evening, but my sixth point of why I hate Santa is because children are extremely desensitized to sitting on a stranger's lap. And talking to them. What? I don't want that. You know, you take your kids to public school and they become way desensitized to strangers. They start becoming really trusting with a lot of people that you don't want them to trust. You know, it's really hard to take a five-year-old to kindergarten and drop them off the first time. They kick and they scream and they're yelling for mom, they're yelling for dad, and they start getting desensitized from being away from their parents, from putting their trust in somebody else like, I don't know, the government, Santa Claus, all these people that so care about your children. Let me tell you something, Santa doesn't care about your kid The government doesn't care about a kid. You care about your child. And whenever you're shifting off the burdens of the parent to somebody else, you're ruining your child's love and affection for you. Your child's affection should be towards you, okay? You know who should teach your children the Bible? You. You don't wanna just put it all on the pastor, the Sunday school leader, the Sunday school teacher. You want your children to say, hey, I love the Bible because my dad taught me the Bible. I love celebrating Christmas because of my parents' traditions of celebrating Christmas. I love doing these things. I have great appreciation for my parents. Look, you're gonna raise your children in this church, hopefully, for a long time, and I don't want your kids to have all this affection in the wrong direction. Let's get the affection back towards the parents. And if you put your kids in the public fool system, if you're putting them with the babysitter, if the only one that gives them gifts is, hey, Santa Claus, if it's all about what the government's gonna give them, when they grow up, they don't care about mom and dad. You know what? When kids are raised homeschooled and their parents teaching the Bible and their parents are giving them gifts and their parents are going out and taking them on fun vacations and doing stuff with them, you know what happens when they get old? They wanna come home and see mom and dad. And look, you talk to many people, one of the greatest joys of people is granddabies, is grandchildren. They love seeing grandchildren. I want you to be able to see your grandchildren as much as possible. So you know what you need to do? Invest in your children's lives. Spend more time with your children. Don't desensitize them by giving them off to strangers. The strangers don't care. In 2017, a Missouri man who was known for dressing as Santa Claus during the holidays is facing child molestation charges after a six-year-old girl came forward and told investigators that he molested her. And in a disturbing twist, the young girl's mother reportedly told her to stay quiet about the crimes because the suspect is her boyfriend. What kind of weird stuff? And look, hey, I'm gonna go and have a whole bunch of young children sit on my lap and think that I'm great. Who do you think that sounds really appealing to? Disgusting perverts. Look, I've never seen one of these Santa Clauses and thought, oh, that's such a really nice guy. These guys are creeps and weirdos and freaks. It's like the people say, oh, this male gynecologist, he's such a great guy. No, he's a pervert. He's a freak. And you're just setting it up for freaks and perverts to take advantage of a really weird situation. Why would I wanna take my child to go sit on some strange man's lap? Look, I don't pick my kids up and put them on your lap. And I know you guys, let alone some strange guy. That's weird. That's creepy. 2018, a pedophile with a child abuse conviction was arrested offering his services as a Santa Claus impersonator for children's parties. Robert Bruce Kendall, 48, showed up to Rose Place Park in Orange County, Florida, wearing a full Santa costume for what he believed was a booking, only to leave in handcuffs. So these pedophiles, they go and advertise themselves as Santas. Hey, Santa for hire. Just FYI, I'm a child molester. Why do I hate Santa? Because it gives opportunity for child molesters to enter in. Look, celebrating the true Christmas, that's not promoting fags and pedophile. I mean, there's nothing about that. Hey, worship the Lord Jesus Christ. Celebrate him, celebrate his birth. Go to Romans chapter number 12, Romans chapter number 12. You know, another thing that I hate about it, it's not necessarily a point, but just, it looks so fun, doesn't it? It's so appealing. The bright colors, the fancy songs, all the cartoons. And you have to try and tell your kids, hey, this is, you know, wicked. This is bad. There's nothing good about this. This doesn't have anything to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. And it makes them feel like they're missing out on some kind of fun. And that's what the devil's gonna constantly do to your kids. He's gonna try and dangle sin in front of them and try and make it seem like fun. You know, it's important to teach your kids to say no to things. So then when they have alcohol, you know, presented in front of them, they can say no. They have drugs and fornication and all manner of wickedness and evil. They've learned to abstain themselves from things that are evil, from things that are wicked. Whenever your kids get whatever they want and they don't learn self-control, they have a lot of problems when they get older. We need to restrain our children. But I hate the fact that the devil tries to make it so appealing to the flesh. And you know, and your family just gives you all these stupid gifts with Santa on it. And it's like, I don't want this junk. You know, all kinds of weird, you know, rainbow stuff, you know, with Rudolph on it, queer looking elves. And I'm not into that. But everybody wants to give that because that's what's out, that's what's celebrated. Romans chapter 12, look at verse number eight. Or he that exhorted on exhortation, he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence, he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. The last point of why I hate Santa is the obligation of gifts. And this is not just Santa, okay? There's a lot of application here. But it's not a gift when there's an obligation. It's been, it's no longer a gift. And I really hate how there's all these holidays where there's all this pressure and all this, you know, anxiety to do these type of gift exchanges, what I call them. Look, it really destroys what a true gift is. A gift should be done with cheerfulness. It should be, you want to bless somebody with something. And notice when the wise men came to Jesus Christ and they offered him great gifts from the heart, gold. You know, they weren't like, so where's my knick-knacks? Do you know how much that gold was worth? Where's my gift card, you know? Where's my, they just gave a gift. And that's what a gift's really like. You know that God gives us the gift of eternal life and there's literally no obligation to give anything back? Some people get offended by that. They're like, oh, you can just, you want to go to heaven? Yeah, it's called a gift. It's what a true gift is. But on holidays, all of a sudden, there's all this pressure to give by obligation. That's not fun. I don't like giving by obligation. I'd rather give with cheerfulness. I'd rather see somebody that has a need or somebody that I want to bless or somebody that I want to love, and I just give them a gift. And then there's no obligation for them to give me anything back. And please hear me, if you ever got a gift from me or my family, there is no obligation to give something back. And in fact, I prefer when you don't. Wouldn't it be nice if you just saw somebody and said, hey, this person just really needs something. I just want to give them something. Now they give you an equivalent gift back. It feels like you didn't give them something now. It kind of cheapens the gift that you gave them. If you really want to bless somebody, hey, you take somebody out to dinner and they're like, oh, I got to buy you a gift card to pay back, or here's 100 bucks to give you back. It's like, you can't give somebody something. It's like God trying to give people salvation. And they're just like, nope, I got to go to church. Nope, I got to follow the commandments. It's frustrating. And God's not going to give them eternal life. And we as God's people ought to start representing gifts more correctly so that our doctrine will thunder forth more clearly. Hey, what is a gift? It's just handing somebody something, expecting nothing in return. Another way to look at a gift is you should never expect a gift. Then it's no longer a gift. You've made an obligation. Where's my obligation? And sometimes Christmas brings out the worst in people. I've seen it so many times. Kids throwing all kinds of fits because they didn't get all the gifts they wanted, or they didn't get this. I remember even in my own family, there was times where my parents, they would bless us with extravagant gifts every once in a while. And then you'd watch the next year when they didn't give an extravagant gift. Everybody has this long face. I even knew a person, they spent money on the expectation of a gift they were going to get for Christmas. And then they didn't get it, and they were mad. They were angry. Imagine you thought you were going to get, let's say an extravagant gift. Someone's giving you a $10,000 gift. And you go out and you spend four or five thousand bucks. And then someone gives you $1,000. That's an amazing gift. And they're angry about it. Look, it's insane what people are doing. Why? Because Santa has made it all about gifts. Look, why can't you make Christmas more about what you can give rather than what you can receive? It's more blessed to give than to receive. Go to Luke chapter six. I'm almost finished this evening. But the Bible says in 2 Corinthians nine, But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart. So let him give not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. God loves it when you just give expecting nothing, just like he did, just like he does. That's what a true gift is. And it'd be great to bring that back into our culture to where, hey, we just give gifts from the heart, not because we just feel like we have to. That's why I hate gift exchanges. It's like, we all just, hey, let's all buy a $50 gift and just drop hands. And it's just like, I didn't even want this. What was the point of that? You know, I'd rather just hang out. Hey, if you want to give me a gift, give me a gift. If you don't, don't give me a gift, you know? Don't give me a gift if you don't want to give me one. Please don't. You know, and a lot of times people give gifts to, you know, flatter you or to bribe you or something. You know, that's why I think it's best if you bless somebody, you know, or someone blesses you to bless another person. I think that's the best way to do it. You know, Luke chapter six, look at verse 30. Give to every man that asketh of thee, and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again. And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? For sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? For sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? For sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much again, but love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend hoping for nothing again. And your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the highest. For ye is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." Look at the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is, hey, I'll give something to somebody expecting nothing in return. I'll lend expecting nothing in return. He says, sinners will give expecting something in return. And gift giving is now more like a loan. Hey, I'll buy you this thing. If you buy me that thing, it's a tick for tat. And it's all, look, you cheapen the gift. You cheapen the experience. You ruin it. And I'm not against giving gifts. I think it's great. But let's actually make it a gift instead of obligations. I don't like trading obligations. I like giving gifts. And you know, you as children, whatever your parents give you, you should be extremely thankful and grateful. Don't look at what your parents give you and say, oh, it's not as much as I wanted. Oh, it's not exactly this. Look, don't be a brat about it. Receive the gift with thankfulness. When someone offers you a gift, as long as it's not sinful, I believe you should always take it. And then you should use it. And then you should thank the person. You shouldn't just go around. Look, a lot of times people offer me gifts, and I'm thinking, I don't really, you know, that's wonderful, but I just need to take it so that they can, you know, have the blessing of giving something. It's rude to refuse a gift. It'd be rude to refuse eternal life. God doesn't take it lightly. Romans chapter 14, the last place I return, Proverbs 19 says, he that hath pity upon the poor lendeth in the Lord, and that which he hath given will he pay him again. And look, hey, whenever you give gifts unto the people that can't pay you back, God says, I'll pay you back. That sounds great. I like that system. And you know what? It's in faith, because you can't see it. It's a far off, but we can see through faith. Hey, if someone needs something, I'd rather just give it to them and be a blessing unto them, not expecting something in return. Romans chapter 14, look at verse four. Who out there are the judges? Another man's servant. To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holding up, for God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth unto the Lord, and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth the Lord, for he giveth God thanks. And he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. Look, if people are serving God, just leave them alone. We shouldn't go around, you know, judging one another and exactly how they worship God. If it's not sinful, don't judge. And look, observing a holiday is not sinful. You know what? I wanted to preach this sermon because I hate Santa Claus. And I don't think that, you know, it has anything to do with the Bible. I think it takes away from Christ. Now, some things I might've shared might've been my personal opinion, but at the end of the day, you know, the Bible's crystal clear about what a gift is. And that's the main reason I hate Santa, is destroying gifts. I hope that we can worship the Lord in sincerity and truth, and that we can restore what a true gift is, the gift of eternal life, the only real gift that we get. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for your word. Thank you for what you've given us, the gift of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that, you know, every man that would want to worship you or celebrate you on whatever day, that that would just be a blessing unto them, and that we can give more honor and glory unto you, that we could, you know, separate ourselves from the wicked, you know, pagan, sinful, anti-Christ, and false gospels, that we could restore what a true gift is, and we could celebrate the gifts that you give us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.