Lyle's Blog

The great deception is simply this: we can save ourselves. Christmas is a time we celebrate the great gift of God, Jesus Christ. Psalms 7:11 “God judgeth the righteous and is angry with the wicked every day.” But He wanted to make a way for peace with mankind. He wanted to forgive their sins and make them His children. The story of the birth of Jesus is not just a cute thing to tell kids. In fact, if we tell them the lie of Santa Claus which they later find to be a false hope, what do you suppose they will think of Christ; is His story a lie too?

Santa Claus is coming to town. He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake. God also knows when you are sleeping or awake. He knows when you’ve been bad or good. But it’s for the sake of Christ that we should be good. And it is He that determines what is good.

Don’t teach your children two contradicting things. Mathew 6:24 tells us we can’t serve two masters. We’ll end up serving the one and hating the other. Your children could end up loving Santa and all the gifts and fanfare of Christmas (money) and hating God who offers a cross to bear. Choose this day who you and your family will serve. Peace on earth, good will toward men; have a very merry Christmas!

At a press conference on Wednesday, Monsignor Bruno-Marie Duffé, coordinator of the Holy See delegation, said that the climate crisis has got to be dealt with now. Pope Francis says we must listen attentively to the cries of the earth, which is “groaning out in travail.”

At first, it seems odd that the Vatican would be so consumed with the climate change hoax. The left, rightfully so, has been pushing for the Catholic Church to come clean concerning the sex habits of its priests. This isn’t to say the left has clean hands in the perversion category. But they are right about one thing even if they don’t know it; judgment begins at the house of God.

I wish someone would remind the pope of what scripture clearly tells us about the earth: “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth together in pain until now” Romans 8:22 And Collosians 3:2 “Set your affections on things above, not on things of the earth”.

Luke 21:26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

The pope is not the head of the church; it is Christ. Mat 23:9 “And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven”. We should only worry about being worthy to escape the things to come by understanding we can’t escape the book of revelation. The pope apparently doesn’t know the word of God or perhaps for reasons of power, reject it.

I’ve witnessed many baby dedications at our church. Publicly pledging to bring your child up in the fear and admonition of God is the right thing to do. It reminds me of the story of Hannah in the first book of Samuel. Her husband Elkanah had two wives. Peninnah had children and Hannah had none. Peninnah would taunt Hannah by reminding her that God had not blessed her with children. It would seem that Peninnah regarded herself more worthy in the site of God; Hanna obviously wasn’t worthy to be a mother. It would appear that God loved Peninnah more than Hannah.

Peninnah was right about one thing; everything comes from God. But she was wrong to judge what Hannah’s worth to God was. Yes, God gave many children to Peninnah. But the one child of Elkanah that would become a great prophet of God came through Hannah. Hannah, after praying in the temple, came away refreshed, believed God, and conceived. Before the conception, she dedicated Samuel to God. After being barren so long, that was an act of immense faith in God.

First Samuel 2:3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. Peninnah didn’t grasp the whole truth. God knew before Hannah was born that she would have a son named Samuel. God knows the future, all of it. Verse 6: The Lord killeth and maketh alive; He bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up.

God gives us life; we are breathing His air. With wisdom and knowledge, God created the heavens and the earth. We are not to judge one another by perceived blessings. We don’t know anything of the children Peninnah bore. Her cruel taunting of Hannah indicates that her children were born for her pleasure and not for God. Hannah gave the first fruits of her womb to God. That is a lesson we all need to hear and understand. God can only bless what we give. He can’t bless what we keep for ourselves. Dedication of our whole life is reasonable service to Christ. All we have to offer God is our lives and the lives of our children.

Prime Minister May reached an agreement with the European Union, 585 pages of gobbledegook. Anytime government proposes a law that has that many pages, you know the citizens are getting screwed. Exiting the EU could be easy by doing two simple things: have no tariffs or import quotas. The upside to this is that buyers and sellers of goods would benefit. The downside is that the government would get less money.

Which is why it will never happen. Governments love money, your money, my money, anybody’s money. You need few words to implement a policy like that.

We’re always promised a simple tax form, something no bigger than a postcard. Never going to happen. All of us have managed our money/income to facilitate this larceny. We need all the “loopholes” to remain intact. Financial planning is longterm whether you’re a business or an individual. Simpler is better but it’s not a word that’s in a government’s vocabulary.

Lots of talks but little or no actions.