Along with countless thousands of others, my family and I met today and celebrated the greatest event in the history of the world.  One granddaughter was absent, being elsewhere with her parents, but we shall see them tomorrow.  The only other immediate family member that was missing was our youngest son; deceased, but celebrating the event with the throngs in Heaven.  As the custom has been, we exchanged Christmas gifts – not “holiday” gifts.  The world’s greatest event was pivotal.  It was a turning point in history, and in the method of recording world events in relation to time.

Of course there could be only “one” such monumental event, and that being the birth of the Christ Child to the virgin, Mary.  Mankind had advance warning of his arrival – for several centuries!  This innocent, sinless child was born into this world to become a sacrifice for all men’s sins, for the sole purpose of re-establishing a bridge whereby all people could once again gain fellowship with their Creator.

Jehovah God forecasts what He is going to do, gives more than ample time to prepare, and then he does what He said, as proof of His truthfulness, majesty and power.  There are no other “gods.”  Though men create “many gods,” there is nothing comparable to Jehovah God.  No other “so called god” prophesies and fulfills exactly as foretold.  Everything that exists was created by God, but man has perverted much of His creation.

The foretelling, or prophesies pertaining to the coming of the Christ child covered many centuries and detailed many explicit details of the child’s arrival.  All this effort and involvement of time was done so that man might know and prove the love and power of God.

One pastor recently commented that he had identified at least 108 prophesies pertaining to Christ’s birth.  The odds of all those prophesies being fulfilled, to the letter, were mathematically calculated to be “10” to the 17th power!  Taking “faith” out of the equation, is that scientific enough?  Just what is “10” to the 17th power?  Write the number “10” and add seventeen zeros!  That would look like 1,000,000,000,000,000,000.  Since that was inconceivable to me, and many others, the following example was given in order to help understand the magnitude of “everything” happening exactly as prophesied:


God has supplied us with hundreds and hundreds of prophecies.  Many prove the past.  Many foretell the future.  All provide guidance, and a means to prove to ourselves who He is.  There are those today who are becoming vocal about the celebration of “Christmas,” and the beliefs of Christians.  Did you know that this was foretold?  Power over people seems to be one of the greatest motivators in our world.  Christ was deemed to be a threat to the religious leaders of his day.  They instigated his death.  All down through time, domination of others has fueled men’s dreams.  Some seek fame, some seek world domination and control, some seek to control and manipulate the people working for them, and some seek mind control.  That’s coming.  It’s foretold.

God gave mankind ten rules to live by.  Ten, not hundreds.  This proved to be more than mankind could handle.  God knew that in advance, and He had given these rules so that man could recognize that he was imperfect and that he needed his Creator, and the Creator’s love, grace and forgiveness.  Why are people now speaking out about the visible display of The Ten Commandments?  The Ten Commandments are a visible reminder to many, that they are not living up to God’s standards, and furthermore, they don’t intend to change their ways or even want to be reminded of this fact.  The Commandments are the standard we should strive to live up to.  Christ died because we couldn’t, and God provided an open door for those who recognize their inadequacies – and yet strive to do better.

Now, this next part is strange:
God has given each of us “free will” in living our lives.  In essence, He has said, “You can live this way (and be blessed), or live that way and suffer the consequences.  I won’t hinder you.  The choice is yours.”  But today, many non-believers are not happy with the liberty of their own “free will.”  It is here that we move back into the “control” or “power” mode.  “It is my prerogative not to ‘believe,’ but I’m not happy with that, I don’t want you believing in God either.”  Politicians are like flags in the wind.  Whichever group makes the most noise is the way our laws will go, because after all, what they want is the power given them by the vote.  In this situation, and in many others, believers quote: “turn the other cheek” as the reason not to stand up for our beliefs.  Christ didn’t try to defend himself because He knew that He had to die.  This was the singular purpose of his birth.  He charged us to be “salt and light.”  When we turn the other cheek to the evils of this world, we are salt without savor, and light that is dim. 

This year, many of you will find yourself painted into a corner.  You will be in that predicament either because of your actions, or inaction, or due to circumstances beyond your control.  I’m not making a prediction, or administering a curse.  Difficult things happen to good people – all people!  Some of these situations will present problems that seem to be insurmountable.  God is the giver of good gifts.  Consider then the source of your affliction.  There is always help, love, forgiveness, and grace available.  All these things are available from the one who loves you – God! 

I’m not going to preach you a sermon.  You’ve heard it all before.  So I’ll not bother you with the details of how to obtain the solution to your problem.  All I’m going to do is to point you in the right direction.  Seek God with all your heart, mind and soul, and you will find Him and His treasures.          

Harley