December 2005

December 2005

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
~ From all of us in the Benham Family

Christmas is all about what happens when the Word of God becomes flesh. Christmas is a living parable of what happens when God (Jesus) comes to dwell among men. Though this is wonderful news for those of us being saved, it is very bad news for the devil, his minions, and those who choose to follow him. The coming of Jesus spells the end for the devil. This is precisely why the world hates the true meaning of Christmas.

When Jesus came to the earth, the devil did all to kill Him. Just note Herod slaughtering the children in Bethlehem destroying the seed of the woman. But it is this seed of the woman (“…those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus”—Revelation 12:17) that will ultimately crush his head.

When the Word of God becomes flesh in us, we, too, should expect no different from the devil. He will do all to stop us from holding fast to the testimony of Jesus. But we have a promise that is straight and true: though the devil may bruise our heel, we will crush his head! Our Christmas story below is from, of all places, France .

LESSONS FROM FRANCE

We are witnessing before our very eyes the utter failure of the secular French government to deal with religion. Government without reliance upon Almighty God makes cowards of all men. All of her extravagant boasts about being multicultural, where true freedom and diversity reign, have proved emptier than a vacuum in a radio tube. There is no freedom in France – only terror. France is burning and the devil is laughing.

How did it get this way? In 1572, the French government and “the church” conspired together and killed 72,000 French Huguenots in one day. The Huguenots were those Christians (all Protestants) whose hearts had been set free by the Gospel of Christ. The Word of God had become flesh in them (Christmas) and the devil was enraged. Men, women, and children were murdered in the streets of France because they loved Christ and would not deny Him. This slaughter was a physical manifestation of the battle between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. The devil, in all of his ferocity, attempted to silence the great reformation that was sweeping over Europe. The Word was becoming flesh and the devil was going to stop it at all costs.

By 1791, France had become weary of even the Catholic Church, and there was an active campaign to de-Christianize France. The Temple of Notre Dame became reconsecrated as a “Temple to Reason.” Churches were ordered to close and be converted to poor houses and schools. Church bells were melted down and used to cast cannons. The National Assembly of France passed a resolution declaring, “There is no God!”

The French Revolution simply replaced the God of Revelation with the Goddess of Reason. Blood literally coursed through the streets of France as Madame Guillotine severed heads from the bodies of those deemed enemies of the state. The devil hates people, and the more blood he can shed the better he likes it. However, his real ire is toward those who claim Christ. Those in whom the Christmas miracle takes place he hates most of all.

The French Republic was birthed on September 22, 1792, called “Year One,” thus obliterating Jesus Christ as the focal point of history. The Republic then replaced the seven day week with a week of ten days, eliminating Sunday as a day of rest. Both Sundays and Christian feast days were abolished.

Why should anyone be surprised, then, when this nation displays such cowardice and an “appeasement at all costs” mentality, the likes of which the world has never seen? Why should we be surprised that France rolled over and betrayed neighbors and friends into the hands of the Nazi Socialists? France has absolutely no cause for which it is willing to die. No upper case God, no lower case god. France is all about France. If there is no God, this life is all she has; save your life at all costs. Therefore an enemy roams the Champs de Lysee.

SOUNDS LIKE OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS TODAY

Doesn't this sound a lot like what is happening in our public schools in America today? We have removed every vestige of Almighty God from the collective memory of our kids. One is not allowed even to talk about the true meaning of Christmas here. Jesus has been expelled from school and banished from the schoolyard. Our kids are now becoming “enlightened” – just like France.

Forget about the fact that they cannot read with comprehension, compute with accuracy, or write with articulation. They do know how to put on condoms. Of course, they also know all about reproductive freedom (abortion), the wondrous benefits of enslavement to homosexual lust, and the benefits of all religions, sans Christianity.

What is happening today in France and throughout Europe should serve as a launch pad to presenting the Gospel of Christ to kids in public schools. France has no answer to Islam and the violence and conflagration that is consuming her, and we know the reason. France has forsaken the one true “Living God.” France has no Charles (the Hammer) Martel to turn back the Islamic hordes as she did in 732 A.D. (Do you remember the Battle of Tours?) Therefore she only appeases Islam, hoping that she will be the last to be eaten by this ravenous monster. France did much the same with the Nazis. France will not fight because France has no God, and secularism has NEVER found a cause for which it is willing to die.

Our kids in public schools find themselves in the very same situation. The schools have become totally secularized, and those in authority like it that way. Therefore, any enemy the devil raises up (drugs, gangs, premarital sex, rape, abortion, suicide, etc.) robs, kills, and destroys with impunity. This did not happen over night any more than it did in France . God was removed from the hallways of our schools long before the senseless violence we are experiencing today took His place. We need the Christmas miracle to be present in our schools, the Word of God becoming flesh. There will be no stopping the violence in our schools, or in France, apart from Jesus!

LESSONS FROM OUR PILGRIM FOREFATHERS

The beloved pastor of our Pilgrim forefathers, Rev. John Robinson, preached a sermon on July 22, 1620, an excerpt of which is found below. The occasion was the embarkation of the Pilgrims from Delfthaven, Holland, to religious freedom in the New World. Pastor Robinson did not make the trip to the New World with those God had chosen to bring His Gospel (the Christmas miracle) to the shores of what is now called America.

William Bradford wrote of Pastor Robinson, “Yea such was the mutual love, and reciprocal respect that this worthy man had for his flock, and his flock to him, that it might be said of him …that it was hard to judge whether he delighted in pastoring such a people, or they having such a pastor.”

The text for Pastor Robison's final sermon to the Pilgrims was from Ezra 8: 21-22. Though the devil had done all he could to kill the seed of the woman (our Pilgrim forefathers) and to waylay and detour them, God Himself brought them safely across the Atlantic to these shores. His purpose? That Jesus might be glorified, and that America would become a shining city set upon a hill, that all the world might know that Jesus is God and apart from Him there is no other!

“I charge you, before God and his blessed angels, that you follow me no further than you have seen me follow the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has more truth yet to break forth out of his holy word. I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the reformed churches, who are come to a period in religion, and will go at present no further than the instruments of their reformation. – Luther and Calvin were great and shining lights in their times, yet they penetrated not into the whole counsel of God. – I beseech you, remember it - 'tis an article of your church covenant - that you be ready to receive whatever truth shall be made known to you from the written word of God.”

The Christmas miracle began as a small mustard seed with Jesus, and continued its growth with the Pilgrims. As we continue to grow under its awesome splendor and wisdom, it becomes a tree in which many find refuge. Pastor Robinson was exhorting his Pilgrim congregation, in no uncertain terms, to continue to unwrap the package of God's Word. It is new every morning. We are to continually move “further up and further in” to God's Kingdom. If we don't, we will become like France and our own public schools – the enemies of God and the friends of the devil.

STARBUCKS – AN ENEMY OF GOD

What is happening in France and in our public schools is manifesting itself in many different ways in America, including the business world: same enemy, different venues. Starbucks Coffee has been a closet enemy of our Lord Jesus for years. Remember, the real bottom line for Starbucks is money, so the company has been careful to try to avoid alienating the Christian community. Christians, after all, love coffee and the coffee at Starbucks is considered one of the best. Starbucks has now, however, come out of the closet. It has reached the place where it believes that Christians will be more loyal to their coffee drinking than they will be to their Lord. What utter arrogance! Sounds reminiscent of one who was in heaven and then was thrown out because of his blatant rebellion against God. What will we do? Serve the god of our belly, or serve the One who calls us to be light and salt in the midst of a perverse and wicked generation? Let your local Starbucks know your conviction and gather others to join you in exposing them for their evil deeds.
On several occasions recently, gentle Christians made their presence known at the newly opened Starbucks in Concord with the message of freedom and life in Christ. We unsheathed the Sword of the Spirit and let it do its awful, yet magnificent, work!

Keep storming the gates,

Flip