December and the Real Meaning of Christmas

December is a month stock full of significant historical events for Americans. There is Pearl Harbor day on the 7th, the "day that will live in infamy," when, in 1941, the Japanese surprise attack on Hawaii killed over 2400 US servicemen and brought the United States into World War II.

The 8th is another infamous day for those who are fans of John Lennon, who was gunned down outside his apartment in New York City thirty years ago. Lennon was a cultural icon for the sexual revolution and the hippie movement of the 60's and 70's. Often called a brilliant musician, he is said to have influenced a generation. Indeed he did, but his legacy was one of moral impurity, drug abuse and atheism; hardly a role model any decent parent would want for his children.

On December 11 and 12, 1862, Union General Ambrose Burnside wrecked an entire corps of the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Fredericksburg. He ordered his men to charge across a half mile wide open field to dislodge Confederate troops under Robert E. Lee, who were well entrenched behind a stone wall. Thousands were cut down and many of the wounded left on the field died in the freezing temperatures of the night. When the sun rose Burnside wanted to try the same folly again but finally gave it up. The battle left a bitter pall over the nation that Christmas, and a growing fear that the Civil War could not be won by the North.

The 14th of 1799 was a tragically sad day as well. The Father of our Country, George Washington, at age 67 was in excellent health and condition. A few days before he had been out riding his horse, even jumping fences, when a winter storm blew in and he got caught in the weather. He came down with a severe cold that lingered until a medical doctor decided to bleed the bad blood from his body. In so doing he bled the life right out of Washington. Modern critics of the Bible often say it is unscientific, but 3,500 years ago Moses, under the inspiration of God, penned the first five books of the Old Testament and declared in Genesis 9:4 and Leviticus 17:11 that the life is in the blood. George Washington could probably have lived a much longer life if the medical profession had examined and followed the "unscientific" Word of God.

Twenty-six years earlier on the 16th of 1773, the Sons of Liberty, led by Samuel Adams and Paul Revere, boarded three British merchant ships in Boston Harbor and dumped their entire cargoes of tea into the bay. The event became known as the Boston Tea Party. It was a reaction to the Stamp Acts which had levied a number of taxes against the colonists. Protests were so severe that most of the taxes were repealed, but the tea tax was left intact. The result of the Tea Party was the Intolerable Acts, passed by Parliament to close Boston Harbor to all shipping in 1774. This led to the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord a year later and brought on the American Revolution.

Ironically, four score and seven years later on December 20, 1860, South Carolina voted to secede from the Union setting in motion the events which led to the Civil War. The South stood on the 10th Amendment to the Constitution as the right to nullify Federal laws and secede from the Union, but the war ultimately decided there was no right of secession given to the States. Unfortunately the Republican led Union victory also opened the door to big government which in our day has become so enormous, that now Republicans are appealing to the 10th Amendment and talking about nullifying Federal laws. The State of Missouri even voted on and passed a law declaring parts of the Obama Healthcare law void in the state.

Christmas Day is an extremely important day in our history for more than the real meaning of Christmas. The year 1776 had been a bad one for George Washington and the Continental Army. They had been driven from Long Island, then Manhattan, then all the way across New Jersey in a series of delaying actions which kept the British at bay until the army escaped across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania and both armies went into winter quarters. A force of 1400 Hessians, German mercenaries hired by the British to fight the colonists, held the town of Trenton, New Jersey, and had settled down for Christmas dinner and ale. No one expected an attack, night patrols were not sent out, and most of the Hessian soldiers, including their commander were fast asleep on the morning of the 26th.

Washington, who was not only the commanding general of the Continental Armies, but the one man, the only man, who could possibly have kept the colonies united in the struggle for freedom, wisely decided a daring stroke was needed to finish the year and encourage Americans to keep on. At 11pm on the night of Christmas, his army of 2400 men crossed the freezing waters of the Delaware in a snow storm. The storm prevented another 1200 men from crossing, but by 3am all that were coming were across. At 8am the colonists attacked, taking the Hessians completely by surprise and in ninety minutes the battle was over. It was a severe blow to the British cause but a catalyst for the Americans, convincing colonial leaders to continue the fight for independence.

The birth of Christ, of course, is the true reason for the season. We are living in a day when hatred for Christianity is so severe that the un-American un-Civil non-Libertarian dis-Union (ACLU) spends all of its efforts at this time of the year trying to remove nativity scenes from public places. Many businesses no longer allow their employees to say, "Merry Christmas." Just this week the Federal Reserve told a bank in Oklahoma that they had to remove all Christmas decorations they had put up in their lobby. It's an atheist attack upon the founding principles of our country and nothing else. It has nothing to do with "separation of church and state" or the Constitution. It is simply a small minority (1.8% of Americans claim to be atheist) of the population trying to bully everybody else into bowing to their ungodly will.

We won't do it. America was founded as "One nation under God," and as Ronald Reagan once enjoined us, "if we forget that ... we will be a nation gone under." It is high time we remember the Christ of Christmas, not only when we shop and tell the clerk "Merry Christmas," but at all times. Jesus is the reason for Christmas. Born in a lowly manger some 2,000 years ago, Jesus left the glory of heaven to become man so that He might redeem fallen mankind to Himself. Without that promise there is no hope for eternity. Do you know Christ as your Savior? Are you sure you are on your way to heaven? If you cannot assuredly answer these questions in the affirmative, may I encourage you to read the third page on my blog, entitled, A Free Gift.

To all of you who have faithfully read these postings over the last several months and to the many who have commented, mostly by e-mail but some here on the blog, my sincere thanks and I hope that you all have

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS.