Should We Celebrate Christ’s Birth?

This was a question we asked ourselves a few years ago. As a child I was reared in a godly home and there was a complete abstinence from all the glitter and glamorous decorations and a godly resistance to the whole Santa Claus spirit. As I later realized, this is none other than a distraction from the enemy to get the minds of the people away from Jesus. Just think about it! The same thing has happened to Easter. The devil created the Easter bunny and Easter eggs to distract little innocent minds away from the awe and wonderfulness of Christ’s resurrection. Just ask most any child off the street about Easter, and the first thing that pops into their mind is the bunny and colored eggs. The devil is indeed sly. He studies our weakness and plans temptations accordingly. He understands the imaginative mind of a child and what appeals to them and is planting his seed early.

In both cases, mythical characters have been created. Children are told that Santa Claus knows if you have been good or bad. Children are encouraged to write letters to Santa and leave cookies for him to enjoy when he brings them gifts. After awhile the children grow up and realize that there is not a Santa after all. Their parents have been tricking them by telling all these untruths. Now for the real trap the enemy has set! Children have been told about these mythical characters and thought they were real. In many cases these same children have been told about God and that He also knows and sees you all the time, too. Can you see the trap? After the child realizes Santa is not real, the natural question is: is God not real either? Parents beware! Don’t fall into these seemingly innocent little pleasures. These are really deep, dark traps of a sly, evil enemy. We may think that Bin Laden is our enemy, but he is just getting his ideas from the master enemy who plans and schemes continually for the destruction of our souls and the souls of our children.

Having exposed the devil in his way of celebrating Christmas, is there a correct way, or should we not remember it at all? These thoughts were our prayer: “Lord, direct us. Do you want us to celebrate Your birth?” There are many voices out there. One family celebrates it in September, as that seems to be a more accurate time according to their research. Others even abandon having a nativity scene. The list goes on… and our prayer continued, Lord, what do you want us to do?

December came and our younger daughter was directing activities for a couple of neighbor children. The same nativity scene that our children had learned from was brought out, and now our daughter was telling the story of Jesus’ birth as each figure was carefully unwrapped. These two little children—the oldest was in kindergarten and the other a little younger—had never heard the real Christmas story! As I observed the young teacher and the little ones, my heart was blessed and our prayer had been answered. What could be a better way to teach children about Jesus’ birth!

In reading the Word of God, we find this was a great event. It was prophesied, and it was an event for which people were waiting (Luke 2:25). God sent a multitude of angels to announce the birth of this holy babe. This was and is the very means of our salvation and the devil is working very hard to cover it all up by the cheap glamour and lies of Satan. May God help us to keep proclaiming His birth and telling the wonderful story.