Kenny Rogers - Christmas in America

Have you been wondering whats happened lately to Christmas in America? Have you noticed that in many places Happy Holidays is now a more common greeting than Merry Christmas during this most wonderful time of the year? Have you noticed your childs school calendar now schedules a Winter Break, not a Christmas Vacation? Have you wondered what ever happened to that lovely manger scene that used to be in front of city hall every year? Is Jesus still legal?

If youve been wondering about these questions, or perhaps more importantly, if you have not noticed whats happened to Christmas in the 21st century, this is the book for you. Between the covers of this book, you will learn what the politically correct crowd is trying to do to Christmas in America and what you can do to stop them. This book might make you angry. It might make you sad. Hopefully, it will make you think about what Christmas really means to you and what God might want you to do about that.

This book is primarily designed to encourage you with both legal and practical knowledge so that you are able to legally keep Christ in Christmas, including the public celebration of Christmas, regardless of what others might do. The law and tradition in America are both on the side of continuing public celebrations of Christmas. But Christians must do their part to make sure that Jesus continues to be legal at Christmastime in America.

Angels, shepherds, and wise men celebrated Jesus miraculous birth more than two thousand years ago. They sang, rejoiced, brought gifts, and worshipped Him. But the Bible tells us not everyone was rejoicing at Jesus birth. Some were not ready to fall on their knees. Herod the king was troubled by news of Christs birth and did everything in his power to find and destroy the young child.

More than two thousand years ago wise men from the east came to Jerusalem looking for Jesus. They asked King Herod, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. (Matt. 2:2). Herod was not willing to lose his crown to anyone, so he demanded that the chief priests and scribes tell him where this new king would be born. When Herod learned about the prophecy of Jesus birth in Bethlehem of Judaea, he sent the wise men there, and told them, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also. (Matt. 2:8).

The wise men found Jesus, but they never returned to Herod. God warned them in a dream not to go back so they departed into their own country another way. (Matt. 2:12b). Herod never wanted to worship Jesus. He wanted to get rid of Him. This earthly king saw Jesus as a threat that needed to be eradicated.

We are seeing in 21st century America that those who want to remain kings of their own lives are again seeing Jesus as a threat that needs to be eradicated. These people do not see Jesus as Gods gift to us as Savior of the world. Herods agenda was to remain king by eliminating anyone who might challenge him. In our own day, those who see Jesus as a threat to their lifestyleor who want their own religion (or non religion) to become the religion of Americaare still attempting to eradicate Jesus.

Those Americans hostile toward Christianity are not attempting to eliminate Jesus by killing all the children under age two as King Herod did. Instead, their goal is to make Jesus invisible in our 21st century culture. This includes eliminating any public celebration of Jesus birth. Jesus was born to die as the Savior of the world. Those of us who understand Gods purpose in sending His Son to earth as a babe in a manger must make it our goal to keep Christ in Christmas.

Wise men still seek the Christ child today, more than two thousand years later. Others still seek to destroy him, even in America. Today, in 21st century America, if wise men from the east came to your town looking for evidence of Jesus at Christmastime, would they find it? Or have your local government officials succumbed to legal threats and intimidation by those mistakenly advocating a complete separation of church and state, something that is not required by our Constitution? Does your local city council, your mayor, or school board mistakenly believe it would be unconstitutional to exhibit religious symbols of Jesus during the Christmas holidays?

Some communities and public schools have unnecessarily eliminated all mention of Christmas and now celebrate a completely secular Winter Holiday instead. A five-year-old boy in America today might warn any wise men who came seeking Jesus that talking about Him could get them in a lot of trouble. He might tell them he had gotten in trouble himself talking about Jesus at school. He might add that he had been required to get the help of a Christian lawyer to defend his right to use a pencil inscribed with the words Jesus loves the little children in his classroom and to draw a picture of the manger during his class holiday party.

A senior citizen might tell any wise men who came seeking Jesus that carolers had long ago ceased walking through her neighborhood singing Christmas carols after some residents complained about the noise. She might mention that the city council had passed a noise ordinance that made door-to-door Christmas caroling illegal in residential neighborhoods. A store clerk might tell the wise men that all evidence of Jesus birth had been removed from her workplace during the holidays because her employer feared customers might be offended and one employee had complained.

If the wise men themselves decided to go to the stores customer service desk to complain about Jesus absence, they might be told to just get in the Santa line with their wish list if they want to get into the holiday spirit. Or, if the towns Christmas parade happened to be approaching, the wise men might be told that decorative floats and bands would soon be passing by with Santa at the end throwing candy to the children. Would Jesus be part of the parade celebrating his birth, they might ask? Probably not, unless the wise men happened to catch a glimpse of demonstrators brandishing signs stating: The Christ Child is a myth. The wise men would likely be told that if they wanted to find Jesus they would need to seek him inside the churches or inside Christian homes, since it has now become politically incorrect for Jesus to be seen in public on his birthday.

Is it too late? Or might it still be possible to keep Christ in Christmas in 21st century America? The legal information in this book will help you to separate myth from fact. Hopefully, it will also help you do your part to make sure Christ remains part of Christmas in your town, church, and home.

Every year at Christmastime, millions of American Christians still celebrate the birth of Jesus with singing, rejoicing, gift giving, and worship for the Savior of the world. At the same time, however, there are other Americans today who, like King Herod, are troubled by even the mention of Jesus name. These folks are doing everything in their power to publicly eradicate His memory. It is alarming that in 21st century America, more than one-quarter of our citizens mark none on census forms when asked to identify their religion.