Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Special Delivery Letter

Dear Children,

 It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks
 
are taking My name out of the season. Maybe you've forgotten
 that I wasn't actually born during this time of the year anyway.
And that it was some of your predecessors who decided to celebrate
my birthday on what was actually a time of a pagan festival . . .
although I do appreciate being remembered anytime!
How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be
most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed
with children of your own.

  I don't care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate
 My birth, just GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

  Now, having said that, let Me go on. If it bothers you that the
  town in which you live doesn't allow a scene depicting My
  birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santa's and snowmen
  of your own and put in a small Nativity scene on your own
  front lawn. If all My followers did that, there wouldn't be any
  need for such a scene on the town square because there would
  be many of them all around town.

 Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree
 a holiday tree, instead of a Christmas tree. It was I who made
 all trees. You can remember Me anytime you see any tree.
 Decorate a grape vine if you wish; I actually spoke of that
 in a teaching, explaining who I am in relation to you and
 what each of our tasks were. If you have forgotten,
look up John 15: 1 - 8.

  If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth
  here is my wish list. Choose something from it:

  1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My
   birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope
   to soldiers away from home.  They are terribly afraid and
   lonely this time of year.  I know, they tell Me all the time.

  2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don't have to know
   them personally.  They just need to know that someone cares
   about them.

  3. Instead of writing George complaining about the wording on
   the cards his staff sent out this year, why don't you write
   and tell him that you'll be praying for him and his family
   this year.  Then follow up.

   4. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can't
   afford and they don't need, spend time with them.  Tell them
   the story of My birth, and why I came to live with you down
   here.  Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love
   them.

  5. Pick someone that has hurt you in the past and forgive him
   or her.

  6. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take
   their own life this season because they feel so alone and
   hopeless?  Since you don't know who that person is, try giving
   everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make the difference.

  7. Instead of nit-picking about what the retailer in your town
   calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there.
   Give them a warm smile and a kind word.  Even if they aren't
   allowed to wish you a "Merry Christmas" that doesn't keep you
   from wishing them one.  Then stop shopping there on Sunday.
   If the store didn't make so much money on that day they'd
   close and let their employees spend the day at home with their
   families.

  8. If you really want to make a difference, support a
   missionary - especially one who takes My love and Good News to
   those who have never heard My name.

  9. Here's a good one.  There are individuals and whole
   families in your town who not only will have no "Christmas"
   tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or
   receive.  If you don't know them, buy some food and a few
   gifts and give them to the Salvation Army or some other
   charity which believes in Me and they will make the delivery
   for you.

  10. Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief
   in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Christian.  Don't do
   things in secret that you wouldn't do in My presence.  Let
   people know by your actions that you are one of mine.

 Don't forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love
 Me and do what I have told you to do. I'll take care of all
   the rest.

  Check out the list above and get to work; time is short. I'll
   help you, but the ball is now in your court. And do have a
   most blessed Christmas with all those whom you love and
   remember!

   (~Earthly Author Unknown~)



Monday, December 10, 2007

O.K! O.K.!

Snopes runs the universe!
The Twelve Days of Christmas is just urban legend, eh! 
Folklore, not hidden truth, they say!
 
Whatever and whoever Snopes is, they appear to have won again!
 
However, my metaphorical mind has soaked up fresh meaning to the word pictures seen in The 12 Days of Christmas.
I shall sing it with new gusto! Snopes or no Snopes!
 
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good fight . . . of faith, that is! 
(Gotcha' . . .smile!)
We're off to a party!
 

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Do You Know The Real 12 Days of Christmas?

 
I admit to having not heard this explanation before!
Could there be hidden messages in other songs we sing?
This one gave me warm fuzzies through and through!
 
 
The Twelve Days of Christmas are not the twelve days before Christmas as many people believe. They are the days between Christmas and January 6th, which is called Epiphany. This is the time in which the three wise men traveled to see the baby Jesus, arriving on Epiphany, January 6th.
 
 
This Christmas song seems to be a silly repetitious rhyming song telling of an unusual list of gifts a suitor sends to his true love during the Christmas season. The song actually was created for a serious religious purpose.

During the years from 1558-1829 it was against the law for Catholics in England to practice their faith in public or in private. There were severe penalties for those caught practicing the Catholic religion. Thus the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was created as a memory aid for children so that parents could teach them important elements of their faith by hiding their true meanings within the silly symbols used in the song. The children could sing it openly without the authorities knowing of the religious meaning behind the song, and the parents could pass along their religious beliefs to the children at a time when that would have been forbidden.
 
The "true love" of the song is not a suitor but is actually God Himself. The "me" who receives the presents represents every baptized person. "A partridge in a pear tree" is the symbol for Jesus Christ. This symbol is used because a mother partridge will appear to be injured when a predator is near to lure him away from her helpless chicks, representing the sacrifice she is willing to make.

The other verses of the song contain these other elements of the faith:
2 turtle doves: the Old and New Testaments
3 French hens: faith, hope, and charity
4 calling birds: the Four Gospels
5 golden rings: the first five books of the Old Testament
6 geese a-laying: the six days of Creation
7 swans a-swimming: seven gifts of the Holy Spirit
8 maids a-milking: the eight Beatitudes
9 ladies dancing: the nine Fruits of the Spirit
10 lords a-leaping: the Ten Commandments
11 pipers piping: the eleven faithful Apostles
12 drummers drumming: the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed

This fascinating bit of history sheds a new light on one of the most popular songs of the Christmas season
.
 
May Your Family Christmas Radiate With The Warmth of Truth and Reality . . .
(Not just the reality of over-spending on our credit card!) 
Rather, the Truth of  Who 'the partridge in the pear tree' really is . . . Jesus!
Instead of us paying the price, He paid all, to give us the Gift of LIFE! 

Monday, December 03, 2007

Peace . . . On The Homefront!

The elderly Mexican lady hugged me as she handed me a letter before disapppearing into the crowd of black-haired people making their way out of the building.  I had just concluded my seventh and final message of the weekend in Peubla, Mexico.  We flew home the next day.
I humbly share her words with you exactly as she wrote it:
 
"Dear Sister Greta,
 
Just a few words to let you know how grateful I am with you. The Women's Congress was a complete success.  The Holy Spirit made me free of the prison of the past.  My soul was restored.
But the most extraordinary thing was your speech on Sunday.  I have been praying for direction and confirmation for my own testament and you were talking about the heritage in your childhood church, your new ministry; about women working in church and being honoured for doing it.  You were really an instrument of God. God bless you! 
"Sometimes guests will be like angels. You're one of them!" 
In Jesus Christ,
Mom Araceli
 
The Womens Congress, for which I went to Mexico, was well attended by just under 400 ladies. There is not space enough here to express or describe the incredible presence of a Holy God in the midst of His daughters. Sue Borja and her committee are to be commended for their leadership in administrating the event.
 
I spoke to the entire Communidad Church Sunday morning.  Attending the Congress were certain women who were victims of physical / verbal domestic abuse.  One feels helpless when hearing their stories of fear and intimidation at the hands of so-called christian men. Most of the churches don't tolerate it.  But tragically there are a few leaders who have learned a false tradition from their own fathers that it is scripturally justifiable for a husband to physically and verbally force his own wife into submission!  I thank God that the pastors I worked with abhor and decry such traditions.
 
Nonetheless these were bound and broken wives of legalistic husbands.  I was troubled in my spirit in the night hours of Saturday; crying out for words that would help!  How could I address the evil of domestic violence in christian homes?  Where would I go in  the scriptures to turn the man-made tradition off and turn on the botton of God's great love and desire for His daughters?  
 
God came through as usual and directed me to speak on the Women of Romans 16.  How Paul set the example of honoring women and showing them respect.  He mentioned in a detailed letter those women and couples who worked with him in the planting of churches.  As I talked, a fresh revelation of the New Covenant came real to me.  Jesus died to liberate ladies from old testament rules that had strangled their freedoms, liberties and giftings.  It started with the resurrection when Jesus let all of society know that He respected the abilities and feelings of women!  He gave them the Headline Scoop of the day!  The tomb was empty when the women arrived!  He had risen like He promised!  Then He appeared and said: Go tell Peter and the others not to fear.  I am alive". I 'm sure CNN and other networks would have been green with envy had they been in existence at that time.
 
My second point was to encourage the people present to think back on those who had influenced them.  Who was it that directed you to Jesus?  Who planted the seed in your life? Honor them by making mention of them....whether they are dead or alive.
 
I mentioned that morning Len and Connie Hearn from Vancouver, B.C.  They fled Cuba where they were engaged in missionary work in the early days of Castro.  They felt a forceful call to  flee to Mexico.  There they established the Communidad church in the very spot where we were gathered together that morning.   I recounted those in my own life, making mention of the pastor who knocked on our farmhouse door in Edmonton, Alberta, inviting my mother to take us to Sunday School. She did!  We heard about a man, Jesus Christ, who loved us!  We invited Him into our life and He has never left!  I am going to look for Pastor Tenove as soon as I enter the pearly gates.  He brought us the gospel.  I wouldn't have been in Mexico had that humble little preacher man felt it was too far to walk to the outskirts of the city and knock on the Douglas Farm house door that chilly Saturday morning. He was part of my destiny/purpose in life.
 
So are you!  Thank you for being my friend....
Let us all love each other for who we are, not what we are!
So many hurting, lonely hearts need a touch, a listening ear, an encouraging hug.
It doesn't cost a thing and you don't have to tramp through a mall to find it.
Start from the chair where you are sitting.... a phone call, a letter, a knock on your neighbours door.  Whoever or whatever!  Give a gift of love this year to a lonely heart.
 
Let's do what we can to end domestic violence in the earth.
Let there be peace this Christmas in the hearts of men on the home front.