DAVID JEREMIAH ADMITS RICHARD FOSTER'S "CELEBRATION OF DISCIPLINE" PROMOTES NEW AGE PRACTICES!

DAVID JEREMIAH ADMITS RICHARD FOSTER'S "CELEBRATION OF DISCIPLINE" 

PROMOTES NEW AGE PRACTICES! 

SEE: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/newsletters/2016/newsletter20161211.htm; 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

For many years now, Lighthouse Trails has been trying to warn the body of Christ about the book that first introduced contemplative spirituality into the evangelical/Protestant church. That book, Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster, was released in 1978, and in that first edition, Foster said, “we should all without shame enroll in the school of contemplative prayer.” Since then, and largely because of the influence of that book, contemplative spirituality has saturated the church in no small way, and many Christians have truly “enroll[ed] in the school of contemplative prayer.” Through our research, we have determined that over 90% of the  Christian colleges, seminaries, and universities (the places our future pastors are trained at) have, to one degree or another, accepted Richard Foster’s spirituality via their Spiritual Formation programs (which always use textbooks either by Foster or ones that point to him). What’s more, from years of research and correspondence from believers, we estimate that a copy of Celebration of Discipline sits on the bookshelves of the majority of Christian pastors and leaders today.
While we have dedicated ourselves day and night for 15 years to bringing this issue to the table of present-day Christianity, hoping to see Christian leaders at least acknowledge that there is an issue here, our message has, for the most part, been rejected or simply  ignored by the evangelical  leadership. And yet, one of the most prominent, well-known, and respected evangelical leaders has himself put into print that Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline promotes New Age practices. Here are Jeremiah’s own words from his book, The New Spirituality in the chapter titled “New Age Influence in the Church” (subtitled: In this lesson we see how the New Age movement is changing the church):

Sometimes false doctrine—and in the case of this present study, New Age ideology—gets into the church from within, and sometimes from without the body. Once it infects the church it can spread like an infection. . . .
Dr. Norman Geisler, Christian apologist, was attending one of the most respected, and largest Baptist churches in the country. He was astounded to hear the huge choir singing a song whose lyrics included: “I [meaning God] am the grass you walk in, I am the air you breathe, I am the water you swim in.” That is pure pantheism. God is not the grass, nor the air, nor the water. Those are all elements He created, and He is totally distinct from them. It is shocking that someone in the leadership either didn’t have the discernment to recognize what the lyrics were saying, was too busy with musical things to notice. But that’s how New Age influence enters the church—when no one is watching.
Dr. Geisler has also made some notes on the contents of one of the best-selling Christian books of our day, Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. Geisler noted some 15 different places in the book where New Age and Eastern practices were recommended for Christians—thing such as Transcendental Meditation, turning from “manyness” to “oneness,” meditating on the void (nothing), and others. (The New Spirituality, David Jeremiah, Turning Point, 2002, pp. 106-107; emphasis added)

David Jeremiah acknowledges that once New Age ideology “infects the church it can spread like an infection.” And surely, we have seen this take place.
Two things are sad and confusing: First, Christian leaders must not share David Jeremiah’s concerns about Celebration of Discipline because 14 years after Jeremiah stated wrote this, Foster’s influence has only escalated within the church and Christian colleges. Second, and this we find most confusing, one year after The New Spirituality was published, Jeremiah’s book Life Wide Open was released. In that book, as we have written about in the past on a number of occasions, Jeremiah says there are a handful of people who have learned the secret to living a passionate life (for God), and then he proceeds to name a number of these people which include New Age sympathizers, a Buddhist sympathizer who converted to Catholicism, ecumenist and contemplative advocate Rick Warren, and a Catholic contemplative mystic. You can read about this in our article “David Jeremiah’s Book Life Wide Open – Still Sold on His Website – Still Includes New Agers.”
While we cannot understand how David Jeremiah could favorably point to those with New Age persuasions shortly after warning about the New Age in The New Spirituality, nevertheless,  a major player in today’s Christian church warned about Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline and the practices that book endorses.
Perhaps not too many pastors and leaders read David Jeremiah’s book, The New Spirituality. Perhaps they have no idea what David Jeremiah (and Norm Geisler) think about Richard Foster’s book. If you have a pastor, and you think he might have a copy of Celebration of Discipline in his pastor’s library, you might consider printing this article and giving him a copy. Tell him, this time it isn’t Lighthouse Trails saying it but rather is a leader whom they most likely respect saying it.
Related Article:
“Celebration of Discipline – 38 Years of Influence! – Probably On Your Pastor’s Bookshelf”

SERIOUS CONCERNS OVER BETH MOORE'S NEW SERIES "ENTRUSTED"

 

SERIOUS CONCERNS OVER BETH MOORE'S NEW SERIES "ENTRUSTED"

SEE: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/newsletters/2016/newsletter20161211.htm; 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

LTRP Note: We find it noteworthy that on the eve of our going to press with Roger Oakland’s new book, The Good Shepherd Calls, we read this letter to the editor that arrived in our inbox this morning. The things this letter talks about are some of the same things Roger discusses in the book. What’s more, this letter to the editor is more proof that it isn’t just Lighthouse Trails, Understand The Times, and a handful of other discernment ministries that see what is coming about. (Those whom we challenge and critique want people to think that it is indeed just a handful, but it isn’t.)  Based on the phone calls, e-mails, letters, and social media comments for nearly 15 years, it is clear that many Bible-believing Christians understand the times in which we live and see the apostasy coming upon the church. As for the letter below, we commend this woman for speaking up and warning her church members.
Dear Lighthouse Trails:
My small Southern Baptist church recently finished Beth Moore’s “Entrusted” series which includes articles from her daughter Melissa Moore.  Not having experienced Beth Moore I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.  Being informed by Lighthouse Trails and other discernment websites, I approached the class with a good deal of wariness.  I love Beth and Melissa Moore as sisters in Christ.  I was hoping to find nothing of concern in “Entrusted.”  This was not the case.  Following are some of my concerns.
Quite a lot of this study had to do with unity.  Beth had several pages of praise for the unbelieving “hero,” Rabbi Gamaliel and his speech that unified the Sanhedrin, holding him up as an example for church leaders to follow.  She then contrasted Gamaliel with believers Paul and Barnabas and expressed dismay that they should split in a disagreement over John Mark, as though it was an avoidable incident over a minor problem.  She had a strong emphasis on not “compromising fellowship,” with a major criteria for unity being that we join together for evangelism regardless of denomination, and with the assumption that we all believe the same basic Gospel message.  All other major doctrines seemed to be a minor concern.  There was a quick negative comment about what divides us, the inerrancy of Scripture being one of them. She read Acts 14:3 concerning God’s use of signs and wonders through Paul and Barnabas, saying that she wants and expects wonders and indicated we should as well.  Before one of her grandchildren was born, “a word had been spoken” that led them to believe the child would be a boy, but it was instead a girl . . . a false prophecy.  .  Her daughter Melissa wrote approvingly about traditions of the early church (i. e., Roman Catholic), the liturgy and especially the creeds, with a desire to see all churches united in incorporating these traditions in weekly worship. There was a personal story from Melissa about how comforting she found this form of worship, as she was sharing the same worship experience with churches all over the world at the same time.  Lastly, Beth switched among at least eight Bible versions, including The Message. 

There were other comments scattered throughout the videos and written materials with which I disagreed mixed in with a majority with which I did agree, making it difficult to sift through it all.  However, at the inerrancy of Scripture comment, I couldn’t hold my tongue.  When I told the ladies’ Bible study group that I couldn’t agree with Beth on this, as well as her subtle comments promoting ecumenism, I was met with defensive hostility and warnings about division in the church.  I never intended to cause waves or division, but I love those ladies and I couldn’t let this pass.  There was obvious tension and discomfort at the next church service.

How can we unite in evangelism when we don’t even agree on how to be saved?  How can we unite with those who hold unscriptural views on marriage, sexuality, abortion, health-and-wealth, etc.?  Doesn’t it matter what a new believer is taught?   Is being safely in the fold all that matters?  Most importantly, the world appears to be nearing Christ’s return and we are warned about the increase of apostasy and deception.  The experiential emergent movement, Chrislam, etc. are rapidly transforming the world’s religions by incorporating Roman Catholic traditions and encouraging religious unity.  Aren’t Bible studies like this one leading in the same direction?  Yet churches like mine seem completely oblivious.  Should we not warn them, or at least raise suspicion?
I haven’t been back.  I don’t want to be the focus of the problem.  My hope and prayer is that these brothers and sisters whom I love will instead focus on the major issue of discerning apostasy.  I pray they don’t trust anything that comes from any source without doing a thorough evaluation.  And I pray they discuss everything before admitting it into the church, perhaps electing a trusted group of Bereans to act as a defense against apostasy.
Thank God for Lighthouse Trails Research and similar discernment websites, speaking the truth, and shining the light in the darkness.  Thank-you, LTR!
Cathy
Related Articles:
Remembering the Enticing Appeal of Richard Foster and Beth Moore’s Be Still Film
Beth Moore & Priscilla Shirer – Their History of Contemplative Prayer and Why War Room Should Not Have Used Them
Is Beth Moore’s “Spiritual Awakening” Taking the Evangelical Church Toward Rome?

"CATHOLIC" ST. ANSELM COLLEGE BANS PEOPLE FOR GETTING DEATH THREATS~SO WHY WASN'T STUDENT WHO GOT DEATH THREATS EXPELLED?

 

 DiSalvo and the latte-sipping Levesque: unable to implement basic security measures, or just Leftist ideological thugs and foes of free discourse?
 

 

 

 
 

"CATHOLIC" ST. ANSELM COLLEGE BANS PEOPLE FOR GETTING DEATH THREATS~SO WHY WASN'T STUDENT WHO GOT DEATH THREATS EXPELLED?

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/12/robert-spencer-st-anselm-college-bans-people-for-getting-death-threats-so-why-wasnt-student-who-got-death-threats-expelled; 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

 “Catholic” college sticks up for pro-abortion Trump foe. My latest in FrontPage:

According to a fawning profile in New Hampshire’s Union Leader Sunday, after Lauren Batchelder, a student at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, questioned Donald Trump at a Republican candidates’ debate about equal pay for women and abortion rights, Trump outed her on Twitter as a staffer for Jeb Bush – whereupon, Batchelder claims, she received death threats from all over the country. “Campus security at Saint Anselm was incredibly supportive, she said” – which is ironic, since if Saint Anselm administrators had been consistent, Batchelder would have been expelled: in an ugly demonstration of how only the Leftist point of view is acceptable on campuses nationwide these days, Saint Anselm last year banned me from the campus on the pretext that I have received death threats.
Saint Anselm claims to be a Catholic college, but it is actually just another center for Leftist indoctrination, with a veneer of Pope Francis-type Catholicism. Batchelder’s pro-abortion stance didn’t trouble them at all – but my own opposition to jihad terror, violating as it does so many politically correct shibboleths, troubled them a great deal.
The sorry story unfolded this way. Several years ago, a student group invited me to speak at Saint Anselm. The event was going ahead and posters were being put up advertising the talk when Saint Anselm’s then-President, Father Jonathan DeFelice, O.S.B., canceled my appearance, reportedly citing complaints he had received from Muslim students at the school. Islamic groups, like their Leftist allies, share a taste for shutting down their foes rather than engaging their ideas, and Fr. DeFelice was happy to oblige them.
The following year, after Fr. DeFelice was replaced as President of the college by Dr. Steven R. DiSalvo, and Saint Anselm’s philosophy department tried again to get me on campus, inviting me to be the guest speaker at a symposium. But DiSalvo nixed that appearance as well. Several Saint Anselm professors balked at this, complaining to DiSalvo that colleges were supposed to be centers of free inquiry and intellectual engagement, and that he was acting contrary to what institutions of higher learning were supposed to be all about by banning points of view in line with political correctness.
Cornered, DiSalvo found an excuse: he was all for free inquiry and unpopular opinions (the unpopular question in my case being the rather obvious point that Islam is not really a religion of peace), but he just couldn’t allow me to speak on campus because I had received death threats. He explained that, were I to be present on campus, Saint Anselm students would be endangered – what if a violent extremist were to burst onto campus while I was speaking?
Absurd. Since I first began receiving death threats, I have spoken at universities nationwide, including UCLA, Temple, Penn State, UNC, UVA, Dartmouth, DePaul University, SUNY in both Binghamton and Stony Brook, Brown, Cal Poly, and many, many others. When people who have threatened appear in public, they generally are in the company of security personnel who are equipped and prepared to deal with any incident. Why Saint Anselm considered any kind of security arrangements to be inadequate, DiSalvo didn’t explain, leaving open the question: why is Saint Anselm College so much more unsafe than all other campuses? Other colleges and universities nationwide can and do host speakers who have been threatened, and take measures to ensure everyone’s safety. Saint Anselm, by its own admission, can’t do that.
But as implausible as it was, DiSalvo stuck with his security excuse. And so, on one swing back up to New England last summer, however, I was asked to appear on a Fox News show, but a Fox producer told me that I couldn’t do the segment from the Videolink at Saint Anselm’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics (NHIOP), as she had been told that I was not welcome to use the Videolink there. This was based on the same pretext: because I have received death threats, my presence constituted a danger to the students.
Since I doubt that everyone who has received death threats is banned from Saint Anselm College (and indeed, Donald Trump spoke there after receiving highly publicized death threats over his proposed Muslim immigration moratorium), I went to the college to try to find out why, only to be violently confronted by a security guard, James Stankiewicz, who became hysterical and unhinged, and assaulted me when I asked him mildly if the NHIOP received public funding. I was then banned from going onto the campus altogether, on pain of arrest. When I wrote politely to Neil Levesque, the head of the NHIOP, which was directly responsible for the ban, asking for information about why I was banned and for a list of who else had been banned from campus for receiving death threats, he had a corrupt cop from the Goffstown, New Hampshire police department threaten me with arrest if I contacted Levesque again.
This is how a Leftist “institution of higher learning” deals with dissenting points of view these days. Only one point of view is allowed: when I received death threats, I was banned from Saint Anselm College, but when Lauren Batchelder received death threats, she received protection from the same college, even though her opinions oppose its stated principles — but not from contemporary Leftist fashion. Batchelder can only hope she doesn’t get Jim Stankiewicz mad.
What is happening at Saint Anselm College is happening at colleges and universities all over the country nowadays: deviate from the hard-Left line, and you will be brutalized, roughed up, and threatened with arrest. The idea that Saint Anselm College or any similar institution in the U.S. today is actually an institute of higher learning, rather than simply an indoctrination center for the authoritarian Left, operated by thugs with no respect for civil discourse, is absurd.
Saint Anselm College, like so many other outposts of American academia, has swiftly descended from the days when ideas could be entertained and dismissed on their merits alone. But as ridiculous as it is, the contention of DiSalvo and Levesque that those who have been threatened should not venture onto campus should be taken at face value. Anyone else who has received death threats and goes to Saint Anselm should know that there they are exposed and vulnerable. Who wants to be on a campus that claims that it can’t take elementary security measures?
It’s high time to drain the swamp, in academia as well as in the political realm.

PELOSI'S DAUGHTER LEADS EFFORT TO ROB TRUMP'S ELECTORAL VOTES

 
PELOSI'S DAUGHTER LEADS EFFORT TO ROB 

TRUMP'S ELECTORAL VOTES

 Far-left and rogue elements of CIA setting framework to justify stealing election

BY CLIFFORD CUNNINGHAM

SEE: http://www.infowars.com/pelosis-daughter-leads-effort-to-rob-trumps-electoral-votes/; 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s daughter is leading the effort to steal Electoral College votes from Donald Trump over accusations of Russian hacking made by elements of the CIA.
Ten electors, led by Pelosi’s daughter Christine, have called for an intelligence briefing on claims made by rogue elements of the CIA that the Russian government hacked the DNC and John Podesta’s emails to directly benefit Donald Trump.
The 10 electors in question comprise nine Democrats and one Republican.

In their letter, addressed to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, the electors asked if there are “ongoing investigations into ties between Donald Trump, his campaign or associates, and the Russian government interference in the election.”
“We further require a briefing on all investigative findings, as these matters directly impact the core factors in our deliberations of whether Mr. Trump is fit to serve as President of the United States,” they added.

The electors also called on Donald Trump and his campaign to unequivocally prove “that he and his staff and advisers did not accept Russian interference, or otherwise collaborate during the campaign, and conclusive disavowal and repudiation of such collaboration and interference going forward.”
The Hamilton Electors, a rogue group determined to stop Trump’s victory, are also using the accusations of Russian hacking to push for electors to switch their votes.

“2016 will go down as one of the most successful cyber attacks in US history unless electors do our job and reject Donald Trump at the electoral college,” said Michael Baca, a Democratic elector from Colorado.
Chris Suprun, a Republican elector from Texas, said “the idea that a foreign government has interfered with our elections to undermine their credibility, much less support one of the candidates, indicates a Rubicon has been crossed for our nation, and we need to consider it carefully.”
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) has urged opponents of Donald Trump to stage protests in all 50 state capitols when the electors meet to cast their ballots on December 19 in the hopes of forcing some to switch their vote for Hillary Clinton.
The PCCC, founded in 2009 by former MoveOn organizers Adam Green and Stephanie Taylor, has close ties to far-left Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.
The attempt to steal the election from Trump through the Electoral College comes after the colossal failure of Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s recount effort in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Upon conclusion of the recount in Wisconsin, Trump actually gained a net total of 132 votes. A federal judge denied Stein’s recount request in Pennsylvania, claiming her allegations of voting machine hacking “borders on the irrational.”
The supposed secret assessment from the CIA, first reported by the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post, has not garnered unanimous support from the intelligence community. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has refused to endorse the CIA’s assessment because of “a lack of conclusive evidence” to prove intent.
It is clear that the far-left, in conjunction with the mainstream media and rogue elements of the CIA, are laying out a case to justify stealing the election from Donald Trump, or assassinating him outright.

PROOF FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS DID INTERFERE IN ELECTION; TO HELP HILLARY CLINTON

 

PROOF FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS DID INTERFERE IN ELECTION; TO HELP HILLARY CLINTON 

 Hillary Clinton has received financial compensation from multiple foreign entities

BY KELEN MCBREEN

SEE: http://www.infowars.com/proof-foreign-governments-did-interfere-in-election-to-help-hillary/; 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

Hillary Clinton has a rich history of being influenced by outside forces, yet the media is currently focused on claiming Russia helped Trump get elected despite having no substantial evidence.
Private emails found on Hillary Clinton’s private email servers during her tenure as Secretary of State provide a clearer picture of the “pay-to-play” connections between Clinton’s State Department, the Clinton Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative and the private investment consulting and investment firm of Teneo Holdings, Inc. in Manhattan.
For a full list of the foreign governments Clinton has answered to, you can download an extensive spreadsheet because the list is almost too large to publish in a web-friendly format.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the top two players:
– A Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, bragged about the Saudis funding 20% of Clinton’s presidential campaign earlier this year.
– The Communist Chinese have put massive amounts of money into the pockets of Clinton via U.S. subsidiaries.
Some of the other donors include countries that may surprise you:

From selling millions of dollars of weapons to corrupt governments such as the Saudis, Qataris and Kuwaitis, to “influence-buying” within the Clinton State Dept., there is no shortage of evidence exposing Clinton’s level of compromise.
Alex Jones breaks down the amount of influence foreign countries have on Hillary Clinton:

 

Alex Jones sends an emergency message to Donald Trump that he must fight back against accusations of Russian involvement in our elections:

 

VIDEO: LIBERALS WANT URINALS INSTALLED IN WOMEN'S RESTROOMS FOR TRANSGENDERS

 

VIDEO: LIBERALS WANT URINALS INSTALLED IN WOMEN'S RESTROOMS FOR TRANSGENDERS

 Cultural transformation of American values 

nearly complete
STAND UP SPLASH PANELS TO BE USED INSTEAD OF TYPICAL URINALS OR TOILETS

SEE: http://www.infowars.com/videos-liberals-want-urinals-installed-in-womens-restrooms/; 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

Liberals in California are perfectly OK with urinals being added to female bathrooms in the name of transgender equality, as exemplified in social prankster Mark Dice’s latest video.
“Obama has issued a new transgender bathroom equality bill,” Dice tells a couple walking on the beach, before asking their opinion on urinals being installed in women’s restrooms.
Check out the video for some sad, but hilarious reactions:

TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL: BANNING CHRISTMAS POSTER VIOLATES FIRST AMENDMENT

 

 

TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL: BANNING CHRISTMAS POSTER VIOLATES FIRST AMENDMENT 

BY STEVE BYAS

SEE: http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/education/item/24825-texas-ag-banning-christmas-poster-violates-first-amendment; 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

“She said my poster is an issue of separation of church and state. She said the poster had to come down because it might offend kids from other religions or those who do not have a religion.”
That is how Dedra Shannon, an aide in the school nurse’s office at Patterson Middle School in Killeen, Texas, explained the confrontation she had with the school’s principal concerning the poster she had used to decorate the door to the nurse’s office in the school, depicting a famous scene from the traditional Christmas TV show A Charlie Brown Christmas.
In the scene, a frustrated Charlie Brown asks if anyone knows what Christmas is all about. At that point, his friend Linus quotes the biblical passage about the birth of Christ found in the second chapter of Luke’s gospel, including the words, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord.” Linus then tells Charlie Brown, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”
Inspired by that scene from the TV program that has run for almost half a century, Shannon used the image of Linus, a scrawny Christmas tree, plus the Bible verse that Linus cited, in a six-foot poster on the door of the nurse’s office.
Across America, school nurses regularly inform young teenagers about the availability of birth control pills, and even where they can access an abortion, but this is the poster that is “offensive” in Killeen, Texas?
Shannon put the decoration up on December 5; then on December 7 the school’s principal told her, “Please don’t hate me, but unfortunately you’re going to have to take your poster down.” According to Shannon, the principal said it was “an issue of separation of church and state. She said the poster had to come down because it might offend kids from other religions or those who do not have a religion."

The principal said Shannon could leave up the poster itself, if she removed the Bible verse.
“I just took the entire thing down,” Shannon said. “I wasn’t going to leave Linus and the Christmas tree without the dialogue. That’s the whole point of why it was put up.”
Shannon noted, “Throughout the school there are talks about diversity. Well, you aren’t being very diverse if you are not allowing the Christians to put something up that refers to a Christian holiday.”
Last year, another school canceled a stage performance of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” because of concerns it might violate the First Amendment to the Constitution. Or at least a judge's interpretation of the First Amendment. But it is highly unlikely that James Madison would have viewed a poster of Charlie Brown as a violation of the First Amendment, which prevents Congress from establishing a national religion.
The Killeen school administration defended the principal’s action. “Our employees are free to celebrate the Christmas and holiday season in the manner of their choosing. However, employees are not permitted to impose their personal beliefs on the students. The display in question was a six-foot-tall-plus door decoration in the main hallway of the school building, and included a reference to a Bible verse covering much of the door.” Horrors!
Texas Values, a non-profit advocacy group, is providing legal representation to Shannon. In a letter the group sent to the district, they argue that the display is no more of an establishment of religion than the Pledge of Allegiance (which includes the phrase “under God,” and has been upheld by federal courts).
“It’s amazing that even a quote from ‘Charlie Brown’s Christmas’ is not even safe for some overzealous or misguided government officials,” said the group’s president, Jonathan Saenz.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton weighed in on the controversy, declaring the actions of the school district a violation of both the First Amendment and Texas law. He argued that Shannon’s display is specifically protected by the “Merry Christmas Law,” which was enacted in 2013 by the Texas Legislature. “We passed that law precisely because of this type of discrimination against people of faith," stated Paxton, adding, "No school official in Texas can silence a biblical reference to Christmas. This is an attack upon religious liberty.”
The “Merry Christmas Law” was a reaction to school districts and government agencies telling employees that they could not even so much as say “Merry Christmas” to fellow employees.
This is not the first time in history that the Christian faith in general, and the celebration of Christmas in particular, have come under attack by governmental authorities. In the 1930s, National Socialists (Nazis) in Germany pushed the “de-Christianizing of rituals related to birth, marriage, and death,” according to Klaus Fischer, writing in his book Nazi Germany: A New History. In 1938, carols and nativity plays were forbidden in the schools. Even the word “Christmas,” celebrated in Germany for over a thousand years, was replaced by the secular “Yuletide.”
One is not surprised that a totalitarian regime such as that led by Adolf Hitler would hate the Christian faith, but it is disheartening, to say the least, that such an attitude could prevail in the heart of Texas.
“I’m disappointed,” Shannon said of the school’s censorship of the poster. “It is a slap in the face of Christianity.”
It would seem so. All across the country, Christian beliefs are regularly challenged in the public schools, including beliefs about evolution and creation, the institution of marriage, and abortion. The Christian belief that sexual relations should be within the institution of marriage between one man and one woman is not only ridiculed, it is labeled as bigoted.
Of course, there are hundreds of thousands of teachers in the country's public schools who are devout Christians, but they are often afraid to speak of their faith for fear of being reprimanded, fired, or sued.
Yet, Christmas is a federal holiday. Considering that, shouldn’t students be informed, as part of their education, just what it is that Christians believe about Christmas? After all, without the birth of Christ, no such holiday as Christmas would even exist. In fact, it is very unlikely that the United States of America would even exist had not Jesus Christ been born.
For example, teaching in a civics class what Democrats believe, citing the party’s most recent platform, is certainly not imposing the Democratic Party on students. Teaching what Adolf Hitler, Muhammad, Karl Marx, or Woodrow Wilson believed is not imposing the beliefs of those historical individuals on anyone, either.
Linus, a cartoon character created by Charles Schulz, a devout Christian, accurately summed up what Christmas was “all about" — certainly what Christians believe it is all about. Should school children be shielded from that knowledge? After all, the celebration by Christians of the birth of Christ has generated a wealth of literature through the years, including A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss, and the poem “T'was the Night Before Christmas" by Clement Moore.
Is an explanation of what Christians believe about their own holiday, which places such literature in context, something that should be censored in the public schools? Is it imposing a religion to say that Christians believe the birth of Christ is “what Christmas is all about?”
Perhaps Shannon’s father, Danny Brey, pastor of the Soliders of the Cross Cowboy Fellowship near Fort Hood (located outside Killeen), said it best: “People want us to be tolerant for everything but they don’t tolerate Christianity. They bow down to everything else, but when it comes to Christianity...”
Just as the Apostle Paul demanded his rights as a Roman citizen under Roman law, Christians should likewise demand that they be treated equally in the public schools, which their tax dollars financially support.