Should Christians Celebrate Christmas

Is Christmas a Christian holiday and should they celebrate it.
A. Jesus was most likely not born around that time because the angels annouced Jesus birth to the sheperds that were with the sheep in the fields. If it was winter they would not be in the fields!

B. Even the date of Christmas, December 25, was borrowed from an occultic religion. At the time Christmas was created in AD 320, Mithraism was very popular. The early Christian church had gotten tired of their futile efforts to stop people celebrating the solstice and the birthday of Mithras, the Persian sun god. Mithras’ birthday was December 25. So the pope at the time decided to make Jesus’ official birthday coincide with Mithras’ birthday. No one knows what time of year Jesus was actually born but there is evidence to suggest that it was in midsummer.

C. Christmas comes from a pagan festival in honor of the birth of the son of the queen of heaven read. Jer.7:18.

D. Christians should not celebrate christmas according to Jeremiah 10:2-4 which reads
2. "Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
4. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not." This sure sounds like a Christmas tree to me.
So if it's what the heathen do [Christmas] then we as Christians should not celebrate It.

E. We also go preaching in Chicago after Thanksgiving on Black Friday and these people are not receptive, if the holiday of Christmas is about Jesus's birth then why do they reject the gospel?

F. Plus Santa Clause is not real. If Christmas is about Jesus, why Santa at all? He has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus so why lie to kids about him. This has broken friendship with some of our relatives because my parents taught that Santa Claus isn't real.

Samuel Porter Jones

Born on October 16th 1847 in Oak Bowery, Alabama, to the family of John and Queenie Jones, John was a real estate agent and Lawyer. Samuel's granddad was a Methodist preacher. At the age of ten he moved to Cartersville, Georgia. He never went to college because of an unknown medical problem, he started drinking alot despite his Methodist background, he had at least seven ministers. Sam eventually became a lawyer like his dad. He then went to Kentucky to marry Laura McElwain whom he had became friends with during the Civil War. He destroyed his job be drinking and quit being a lawyer. In 1872 he started driving freight wagons. His daughter died that year, that same year he was called to his fathers deathbed where he promised never to touch liquor again a week later he walked the isle and was converted he then went on to become one of the worlds greatest evangelist.
Here are some of his quotes
1."Quit your meanness."
2."I always did despise theology and botany, but I do love religion and flowers."
3."The curse of the age is that we have put gold above God, chattels above character, and mammon above manhood. we have inverted God's order of things"
4."The tune of America is pitched to the dollar"

Indy 500

Well we've been out to the Indy 500 Parade, race, and Georgetown to preach. We had a several groups from all over. We had Brother Dan and his family, Greg and Sally, Brother Kevin D, and Kevin B, Brother Will and his son Pastor T with a group from his church, Brother Jimmy, and Brother Jeff. At the parade on Saturday we had a good time. I witnessed to a JW who said hell was not real, and we were in hell right now. Then he started arguing about Jesus being God and walked off. We had an immature Catholic come up trying to blow bubbles on us. Plus, dad dealt with the clowns for Christ and No Greater Love.

Saturday night we went to Georgetown where a policeman came up to dad and said we needed a permit to be there. Dad said we didn't, then the Officer told dad to step back. When he did, the police officer cuffed dad, then turned to Josiah and I and told us to back up. The officer did this as Josiah was reading the Supreme Court Rulings to him concerning our first amendment rights to preach. As we stepped back the police officer shoved both of us further back. At this time he uncuffed dad. Immediately after, a female officer came up and said that we didn't need a permit and we were fine. After she went over and explained to the first officer, he came over and tried to cover up what he had done.

Dad and brother Dan got attacked by an older man, A Catholic that looked like a biker. Also a younger Catholic man attacked them and some of the other preachers. He was upset at the way the Catholic Church treated him as a child.

We preached the race on Sunday. A man rammed dad and threw water on us. Other than that we had some good conversations. It was a great time of preaching and there were about 300,000 people at the race alone to preach to.

Spring Break and Masters Club

Well we did the spring break just last month which was really fun we got some good witnessing in. Some people would listen others got upset like one man who was angry because dad had on a hat that had the army star on it and went around trying to knock it off dad's head drawing blood on our pastors son he also started shoving people. His wife also lifted her dress all the way up so dad said she was like a whore so the guy went off again trying to get to dad. The wal-greens store also put up a sign that said We do not support this group the next day we were out it was not working. Other then that there was nothing really exciting except there was one man who dad witnessed to and the guy said that we were building walls so dad pointed out all the people that were talking to us and that they must be climbing over the wall then he talked to him for a few more minutes then the man left. But the next day dad saw him while we were eating and talked to him for a few minutes he listened and dad offered to buy him lunch but he rejected. Then we did Masters Club Saturday and the kids had alot of fun they got a bunch of awards like first and third place quizzing. Right now we are in Cincinnati to go to the Creation Museum. Hope you enjoyed reading.

Endure the hardness

In second Timothy.2:3 it says [Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.] We are going to meet trials and tribulations we're going to face hard times like the Bible says in second Timothy.3:1. Hard means. Harsh, severe, painful, difficult.
Here is some people who endured hardness
Elijah everyone was against him.
Jeremiah was put in a pit.

David his brothers were against him when he went to fight Goliath.

Job lost his family and his wife turned against him.

Even Jesus was spit upon, his beard pulled out, they whipped Him, then he was crucified.

All of the apostles faced hardship.
Verse four says [No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.] A person should stay away from the wickedness of the world like the videos and bad books magazines and video games
Paul says in the same book chapter four verse seven [I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:] Here at the end we see that Paul has fought a good fight stayed to the finish. At the end of our fight when its all over will we be able to say I have fought and good fight and kept the faith.
Thanks for reading.

Gasparilla

Last Saturday we were preaching at the Gasparilla parade which is supposed to be a family
event, which it is not.
It was pretty good, not as many people as last years event, but it was still good. We had brother Will from Chicago, and brother Greg and Jeff from New York, plus Lewis and Clark from north Florida, and brother Dave from Florida, and brother Glen also from Florida, and the Maynard boys and Rob and brother Brian from home in Panama City, Florida.

The day before we preached in Ybor City and we had this kid come up trying to mock us but he was drunk and did a lousy job. He did not get Mom's humor, she called him a snot nose punk. When he asked where we lived Mom told him that we lived in the mountains and came out and danced at night in robes so he asked Mom, "are you mocking me?"

Saturday we got out to the parade at about 10:30 and stayed out almost all day. Dad dealt with a man that used to be Catholic and had converted to Muslim. We had some signs out there that they did not like, they did not like the one about the women being keepers at home.


Dad

Brother Brian Glen and Rob

Aaron and I


Clay witnessing

New Book

This is a book I got called Elijah the Prophet of Confrontation, by John G Butler.

1. About the author, he was born in Iowa. And has been preaching in Baptist churches for about fifty years, he has pastored in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Iowa. He went to Tennessee Temple University and Cedarvile University. He also served in the navy. He has done about twenty seven of these books.
2. About Elijah. Elijah's name means my God is Jehovah. He is the second most written about prophet in the New Testament. If you look at James 5:16-18 you will see he was a man of prayer. Elijah was the one who preached against and mocked Baal 1 Kings.1:9,10. And was fed by the ravens 1 Kings,17:2-7. He also healed the young boy 1Kings.17:8-16. And he never died 2 Kings,2:1-12. He also controlled the rain for three years, he was the perfect weather forecaster, unlike those today!
   

Elijah was a Tishbite said to have been born in a place called Tishbe, a place which has not been discovered.
In 1 Kings 18:21-46, is where he and the Baal worshipers go up to Mount Carmel to see who the real God is. The Baal worshipers cry out all afternoon to their supposed God and he never answers them. So Elijah mocks them and makes fun of them saying he must be sleeping or maybe he is taking a walk. Then it is Elijah's turn and he tells them to dump water on the logs. Then he prays to the real God, and the fire comes down from heaven and burns everything up right away.
That's a real man of God he lives his life for God. No matter what they said against him he honored God, even when the children made fun of him he still stand for God. But the children did get what they deserved, when the bears came out of the woods and ate them.
I would like to be like Elijah, a man of God who preached against sin no matter what.