Don't Take Christ out of Christmas

Our world is becoming increasingly darker. Here in America, the Name of Jesus Christ is invoking more and more hostility. You can freely say "higher power". You can even say "God" in some cases. But it is the Name of Jesus that brings hostile objections. It shouldn't surprise any of us. The bible makes it clear that things will get steadily worse before Jesus returns. The days are evil and continue to become more and more so. Christmas is just one example of the anger and hostility towards the Lord of life and glory. It breaks my heart as I'm sure it does every Christian here in America. Christmas is the time that we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We recognize that He humbled Himself and chose to come down to earth in the form of a Man in order to suffer and die for our sins. A baby in a manger. Lowly beginnings that ended in the death of the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. He said; "Father, I will go". He loved us so much that He was willing to come down to the very earth that He created to save sinful man from his sins and the penalty of everlasting hell. He took the sins of every saved person and bore those sins on the cross. And His earthy journey began one night over 2000 years ago in the small town of Bethlehem. There was no fancy hotel for His parents to stay in so He had to be placed in an animal trough called a manger. His coming to earth to die for our sins so that we might live for Him here on this earth and forever in heaven is why we celebrate Christmas.
There are increasingly more retailers who have decided to take the word "Christmas" out of their ads and away from their stores. It is an effort to be politically correct. It is an effort to not be offensive to those who don't recognize Jesus Christ as God, Lord and Savior. It isn't just retail stores. It is also restaurants and grocery stores. The only reason a store would do this is to try to make more money by pleasing the most amount of people in America. It's a sad statement for the spiritual condition of our country but it is true. And the retail stores have come up with several catchy titles for Christmas like the word "holiday". In so many stores, you no longer even purchase a "Christmas" tree. Can you believe they've even changed the name of the tree? Anything to keep from using the word "Christmas". All they care about is the mighty dollar. Many businesses have even forbid their employees from saying, "Merry Christmas" because it might offend. We've even fallen so far down that some stores are forbidding the Salvation Army bell ringers.
I know if you are a true child of God and are anything like me, most of the critical issues of our country seem so overwhelming that you wonder what you can do to really make a difference. But this is something that every single person who cares about Christ staying in Christmas can do. I was going to give a big list of offensive businesses but the list keeps changing. I don't want to give outdated information. There are some good websites that you can go to and keep track of the businesses who are failing the Christmas test. Three of these sites are StandForChristmas.com, FocusOnTheFamily.com, and AFA.net. Here you can find an updated list of businesses and see where they stand. They are rated in three different categories. One is good, the other is not as good as it should be and the last is offensive. I'll tell you one change that AFA is reporting. AFA initiated a boycott on Gap because they have been on the offensive list, them and their sister company Banana Republic. Because of the tremendous response from customers that refuse to shop at Gap, they have put out a commercial that shouts of "Christmas". That resulted in them being taken off the offensive list. Some of the bad companies will surprise you and sadden you. I'm not sure about the other websites but on AFA you can even scroll down and read hundreds of comments and helpful suggestions. There are lots of people who are contacting these companies and letting them know that the store has lost their business. It is making a difference, one consumer at a time. That means you, and that means me. We can do our part and refuse to give our money to these wicked companies. Even if you have to drive further out of your way to go to a Christmas friendly store, it's worth it. We have to take a stand for our Beloved Jesus! HE is worth it! And if you have the time, call or write these businesses in addition of not shopping or eating there. Every little bit can and will make a difference. Please take a stand for Jesus.