Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 1277 ｜ Why We Don’t Do Santa & Why Jesus Wasn't a Refugee

00:00:00.860 Here's why we don't do Santa Claus in our home.

00:00:04.120 Also, Jesus was not a refugee. 0.86

00:00:06.920 We are getting into all of this on today's Theology episode of Relatable.

00:00:11.320 It's brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers.

00:00:12.920 Go to GoodRanchers.com.

00:00:14.280 Use code Allie at checkout for a discount.

00:00:16.140 That's GoodRanchers.com, code Allie.

00:00:27.420 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable.

00:00:29.080 Happy Wednesday.

00:00:30.220 Hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far.

00:00:32.700 All right.

00:00:33.020 We decorated the Relatable set for Christmas.

00:00:35.460 One of you messaged me or you commented somewhere and you said,

00:00:38.940 where's Relatable's Christmas tree?

00:00:41.460 Y'all, I had completely forgotten about that.

00:00:43.900 I think that I would have forgotten if someone had not brought it up.

00:00:47.040 So thank you so much.

00:00:48.620 I wish that I had remembered earlier because I like to max out the Christmas tree behind me as much as possible.

00:00:55.420 I actually think it makes the set look better.

00:00:57.740 And it makes me think I need to paint these walls.

00:01:01.120 Because ever since I got my colors done and I realized that black actually washes me out because I'm in autumn, 0.97

00:01:07.880 I've realized my set is all the wrong color scheme.

00:01:11.200 So one day, maybe next year, you'll show up here and you'll see that we have painted these walls relatable green.

00:01:17.600 We'll see about that.

00:01:18.460 But for now, we just have a yuletide decor.

00:01:22.660 And I know that I'm going to get comments about the reindeer.

00:01:26.440 I don't know what the comments will be.

00:01:28.080 You guys surprise me sometimes.

00:01:30.000 Some of you are going to like it.

00:01:31.800 Some of you are not going to like it.

00:01:33.620 There's going to be a random troll out there that says,

00:01:36.040 you've changed, Allie.

00:01:37.440 You would have never had a reindeer last year.

00:01:39.740 I got a comment just the other day from someone saying,

00:01:42.960 you know what?

00:01:43.620 Stop with this new y'all thing that you're saying.

00:01:46.900 You're trying too hard.

00:01:48.420 And I was aghast because I am a born and raised Texas.

00:01:51.800 What am I supposed to say?

00:01:52.860 You guys?

00:01:53.640 We don't say that here.

00:01:55.200 I don't even know how to say anything besides y'all.

00:01:58.640 It's just efficient.

00:02:00.340 So I know that I'm going to get some comment on the reindeer.

00:02:04.080 I like the reindeer.

00:02:05.380 It's Dasher specifically.

00:02:06.860 I decided that.

00:02:08.420 All right.

00:02:09.320 Let's get into this Christmas-themed episode today.

00:02:12.500 I get asked every year without fail from a new follower, listener, viewer,

00:02:17.960 what do you think about Santa Claus?

00:02:20.120 As a Christian mom, do y'all do Santa Claus?

00:02:23.320 And my short answer is no.

00:02:25.780 And I'll give you the explanation for why.

00:02:28.500 And I first want to say before I give my explanation that this is a Christian liberty issue.

00:02:34.960 So we have freedom as Christians to disagree on this.

00:02:40.180 So you can, of course, post your commentary, post your opinion about this,

00:02:45.580 and you can disagree with me, and that's completely fine.

00:02:48.560 We are both Christians.

00:02:50.280 We both love God's Word, and we're trying to do the very best we can to disciple our children.

00:02:55.500 I don't have any condemnation for you if you are pro-Santa family.

00:03:00.260 And I hope that you will be respectful in your comments to me if you differ from my perspective

00:03:05.920 on this.

00:03:07.600 And I imagine that many of you will, because I grew up as a pro-Santa person.

00:03:13.640 I was raised believing in Santa, believing in the Easter bunny, believing in the tooth fairy.

00:03:19.020 I don't think my parents pushed these things very hard, but it is fun to imagine.

00:03:23.240 And I do believe that imagination is a really important part of childhood.

00:03:28.040 That's why I think reading fiction to your children, like the Chronicles of Narnia,

00:03:32.460 even though those things aren't real, stretching your imagination as a child is really important.

00:03:37.920 And I've always loved having an imagination and loved being creative in that way.

00:03:42.320 So I don't think it took very much for me to believe in Santa Claus.

00:03:46.000 But I was the youngest, and my brothers are 10 and 7 1⁄2 years older than me.

00:03:52.540 And so when you have older siblings, who obviously realize that Santa Claus is not real long before

00:03:57.740 I did as the youngest child, you kind of grow up more quickly.

00:04:01.660 You just do.

00:04:02.340 And I remember I was 6 years old, and I had just lost a tooth.

00:04:06.340 And I looked out the window, and I said something to my 16-year-old brother about the tooth fairy

00:04:11.000 coming, and he kind of made a noise or rolled his eyes or something like that.

00:04:15.540 And I noticed that reaction, and I was like, wait a second.

00:04:20.420 And I don't remember if I asked him if tooth fairies aren't real.

00:04:24.780 He probably just told me.

00:04:25.840 You know how 16-year-old boys are.

00:04:28.140 I don't remember exactly what he said, but his reaction really made me start thinking.

00:04:34.080 And I was thinking all night about that.

00:04:36.320 Hang on.

00:04:36.800 Why did he act like it was silly for me to believe that the tooth fairy is going to come

00:04:42.220 tonight and take my tooth and give me money in exchange?

00:04:44.720 Who else would be doing that?

00:04:46.220 Hang on just a second.

00:04:47.520 Then, of course, I started thinking about everything else, like the Easter bunny and Santa Claus.

00:04:51.560 And I decided, this was in the summer, I decided the next day I was going to confront my mom

00:04:57.000 about this.

00:04:57.840 And I still remember we were in the backyard, and I asked her if the tooth fairy is real.

00:05:02.680 And she just paused, and she told me, no, it's not.

00:05:08.760 And then, shock of all shocks, my deductive reasoning really was kicking in.

00:05:13.860 And this was devastating to me when I asked her, hang on, does that mean that Santa Claus

00:05:19.980 is not real?

00:05:21.260 And she told me the truth, that Santa Claus is not real.

00:05:23.800 And I was like really hurt.

00:05:25.320 I don't think this is the experience of all kids, and I'm not saying it's going to be.

00:05:29.040 I'm not saying you're irreparably traumatizing your child by telling them that Santa is real.

00:05:34.540 But I was legitimately hurt by this.

00:05:37.960 I was shocked by this.

00:05:39.200 And I think also the fact that I was so young and my belief that I really wanted to hold

00:05:44.960 on to was like disrupted while I was still in kindergarten was a little bit jarring for

00:05:50.620 me.

00:05:50.880 But I remember declaring from a young age that I was not going to tell my children that

00:05:56.940 Santa Claus is real.

00:05:59.140 And again, this is not me trying to make the point that you are going to make your child

00:06:04.100 feel betrayed.

00:06:05.000 I have a wonderful relationship with my parents.

00:06:07.840 I trust them very much.

00:06:09.740 I never had a hard time believing and knowing that Jesus is real, even though they told me

00:06:14.940 that Santa was real when he really wasn't.

00:06:16.480 I didn't have all of that stuff that some people warn may happen to your kids if you lied

00:06:22.700 to them about Santa Claus.

00:06:23.860 I just felt hurt in the moment and I just knew that I didn't want to tell my kids that

00:06:28.240 Santa was real.

00:06:29.680 And so that really leads me to my first reason of why we personally do not do Santa Claus because

00:06:38.280 it causes confusion.

00:06:39.940 It is a form of deceit, I believe, and it can cause confusion in kids.

00:06:46.080 Of course, we want our kids to trust us.

00:06:48.140 We want them to believe what we have to say, especially about important spiritual and mysterious

00:06:54.220 matters.

00:06:55.580 And it can cause this kind of dissonance or confusion in a child when we tell them that

00:07:03.580 someone is real, is giving them gifts, is watching them when they're sleeping or when

00:07:09.140 they're awake, is taking a tally of the good deeds they do, the bad deeds they do, putting

00:07:14.700 it on a list and then allocating gifts in accordance to their behavior.

00:07:20.100 And then to tell them one day that that system of morality around Christmastime doesn't exist,

00:07:26.400 I do believe that that causes, even if just for a moment, mistrust between the parent and

00:07:35.280 child and, again, maybe temporarily, confusion about what is actually true that our parents

00:07:42.920 teach us, but what is actually true about the mysterious and supernatural realm.

00:07:49.300 Who does see us?

00:07:50.460 Who does know when we're awake and when we're lying down?

00:07:54.160 Who does see all that we do, good and bad?

00:07:57.720 Who do we have to give an account to?

00:08:00.860 And of course, we as Christians know the answer to that.

00:08:03.800 So we'll get into the theological side of this in just a second.

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00:09:25.200 Okay, so let me give you some perspective from some professionals on this.

00:09:33.040 And again, you can take it with a grain of salt.

00:09:35.760 You can agree with some of it, disagree with other parts of it.

00:09:38.940 That's fine.

00:09:39.620 But I do want to bring us to a place of theological thoughtfulness in all of the things that we

00:09:44.780 tell our children.

00:09:45.480 Not just about Santa Claus, but the media we allow them to watch, the books that we allow

00:09:49.900 them to read the messages that we convey to them, especially in these formative and extremely

00:09:56.060 malleable years.

00:09:57.820 So this is according to the Christian Post.

00:09:59.780 There's a psychologist by the name of Kathy McKay, and she is a co-author of a 2016 study

00:10:05.120 in Lancet Psychiatry.

00:10:06.860 She said this,

00:10:07.600 The Santa myth is such an involved lie, such a long-lasting one between parents and children,

00:10:12.380 that if a relationship is vulnerable, this may be the final straw.

00:10:16.000 If parents can lie so convincingly and over such a long time, what else can they lie about?

00:10:21.480 So I just want to highlight the caveat there that if a relationship is already vulnerable,

00:10:28.080 so this might not describe most of the relationships out there that you have with your children.

00:10:32.620 But if this is already home that is fraught with chaos and fraught with different kinds

00:10:37.020 of distrust and seasons of betrayal, whatever it is, a divorced family, an unstable family,

00:10:42.800 in some way, the realization of this lie can add insult to injury.

00:10:49.680 So it has the potential impact of causing mistrust through deceit.

00:10:55.040 But even more than that, I believe that it causes theological confusion.

00:11:00.180 When you think about Santa Claus, as I've already described, he sees you when you're sleeping.

00:11:05.340 He knows when you're awake.

00:11:06.620 He knows when you've been bad or good.

00:11:08.720 So be good for goodness sake.

00:11:10.740 Be good because Santa Claus sees you.

00:11:12.920 And if you're not good, if you don't do the things that you're supposed to do,

00:11:16.700 then he will not give you as many gifts or your gifts won't be as nice.

00:11:20.980 If you're not as deserving as he deems you to be,

00:11:24.320 then maybe you're not going to have as fun of a Christmas as you could have if you follow his list of rules.

00:11:32.160 And the reason why I think this causes confusion is because that is a legalistic form of Christ, of God.

00:11:40.020 God is the one who really sees us when we're sleeping,

00:11:42.800 who knows when we get up and when we lie down.

00:11:46.040 He is the one who is omnipresent.

00:11:47.900 He is the one who is omniscient.

00:11:49.660 He is the one who not only sees all of our deeds, but hears all of our words and knows all of our thoughts

00:11:55.620 and even judges the intention of the heart.

00:11:58.720 But the incredible thing about Jesus is that he is not allocating gifts based on some tally

00:12:05.880 of whether we've done more good deeds or whether we've done more bad deeds,

00:12:10.080 but he is giving gifts by grace through faith.

00:12:14.540 And the greatest gift is salvation.

00:12:17.020 So there is a real omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient gift giver that I think can be eclipsed by the confusion

00:12:26.860 that a counterfeit form of God in Santa Claus can possibly cultivate.

00:12:34.960 And there's actually an article about this.

00:12:36.940 I hadn't read this article until this year,

00:12:38.720 and I've just articulated the take I gave to you many times over the years.

00:12:43.140 But this is Ligonier, theologian Sinclair Ferguson points out that many people's view of Christ

00:12:48.360 actually looks more like Santa than the God of the Bible.

00:12:51.480 So this is the other side of the confusion, whereas my argument is that people can make

00:12:57.540 Santa Claus look too much like Christ, but adding legalism in,

00:13:02.120 he is arguing that some people can make their Christ look too much like Santa Claus.

00:13:07.600 So he argues that many people imagine a Santa Christ who is basically a Pelagian Jesus.

00:13:13.100 He assumes everyone is naturally good and simply checks if we've been good enough to earn a happy

00:13:17.480 life with Jesus as the cherry on top, rather than the savior of helpless sinners.

00:13:22.420 Others picture a semi-Pelagian Santa Christ who, like Santa rewarding the nice list,

00:13:28.560 gives grace in heaven only to those who have already done their very best on their own,

00:13:32.840 turning salvation into a bonus for self-helpers.

00:13:35.760 A third common version is a mystical Santa Christ whose value lies in the warm feelings

00:13:41.720 and personal spirit of Christmas that he inspires.

00:13:44.640 So it doesn't matter if the biblical story is historically true,

00:13:47.820 everyone can invent their own feel-good Jesus.

00:13:51.300 In all of these versions, he says, Jesus functions like Santa Claus,

00:13:55.460 a cheerful gift giver who makes good people happier,

00:13:58.280 instead of the holy God who invades a fallen world to rescue the spiritually bankrupt. 0.95

00:14:02.960 So well said.

00:14:04.540 The scriptures systematically strip away the veneer that covers the real truth of the Christmas story.

00:14:11.260 Jesus did not come to add to our comforts.

00:14:13.860 He did not come to help those who were already helping themselves,

00:14:17.060 or to fill life with more pleasant experiences.

00:14:20.640 He came on a deliverance mission.

00:14:23.920 To save sinners and to do so, he had to destroy the works of the devil.

00:14:29.260 So what he is arguing, what we're kind of both arguing together, two sides of the same coin,

00:14:35.780 is that Jesus and Santa Claus can get confused if we are presenting two entities that look very

00:14:43.660 similar or both in a different realm, can both defy the laws of physics, both in some way live out of

00:14:52.680 time and have very similar characteristics, but Santa Claus is the one who will give you all of your

00:15:02.120 immediate desires and will fulfill all of the temporary pleasure that you long for because he is

00:15:08.960 giving you something in the form of a tangible gift right in front of you.

00:15:13.600 Like, it's no wonder that we as people, but especially children, have such a hard time

00:15:20.020 actually focusing on Christ, the real gift giver, who doesn't give you everything that you want on

00:15:26.700 your list, who isn't fulfilling all of your desires one morning, but is giving you a gift that is far

00:15:33.140 greater in the form of salvation.

00:15:35.820 So I actually think that the whole Santa Claus narrative and the focus on that has the possibility

00:15:43.400 of eclipsing the gospel message that is central to Christmas.

00:15:48.620 And that is my second reason.

00:15:50.480 So first reason is that the deceit causes confusion and possible mistrust, and that's not good.

00:15:57.520 We're supposed to disciple our children.

00:15:59.340 They should be able to trust us, especially with important things like what exists on the other side.

00:16:04.820 And then number two, the big reason is that I believe it distracts us and especially children

00:16:10.700 and families and society from Christmas's true meaning.

00:16:16.580 And I see people say, well, it's just, you know, there's a mystery to it that makes Christmas really

00:16:23.240 magical when you imagine that there's someone at the North Pole who sees you, who has elves,

00:16:27.720 and who is flying through the night.

00:16:29.740 And while I do think imagination is really fun, we can imagine things while still telling our

00:16:36.100 children the truth.

00:16:37.880 And the reality is, is that there is already a beautiful mystery of Christmas that no one

00:16:44.240 truly understands because we are natural people who were intersected by the supernatural when

00:16:51.880 Jesus became Emmanuel, God with us made flesh.

00:16:55.420 Like that is the mystery of Christmas.

00:16:57.520 John 1 is the mystery of Christmas, that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was

00:17:02.560 God and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and was light in the darkness and light among

00:17:08.740 men.

00:17:09.120 Like that is the mystery.

00:17:11.000 There really is a supernatural realm.

00:17:13.140 There really is this incredible place that we read about, but we can only imagine called heaven.

00:17:19.000 There really is a good and a bad, and there really is a good gift giver who is responsible for giving

00:17:26.820 all of the gifts that we have, both tangible and spiritual.

00:17:31.620 And so like, why would we create a counter narrative to that?

00:17:35.680 A cheapened narrative, a legalistic narrative that gives all of the wrong lessons about morality

00:17:43.020 and about what saves you and about what satisfies you and about what fulfills you.

00:17:48.700 I don't think that it is wrong to have Santa Claus be some kind of side character of Christmas

00:17:57.720 as long as we are telling our kids, sure, like it's fiction, it's fun.

00:18:02.420 We can tell them about St. Nicholas and who Nicholas really was and some of the stories

00:18:07.820 surrounding him, that's something that we've done in our home.

00:18:12.760 We don't forbid all pictures of Santa or all movies that have Santa or Rudolph the Red-Nosed

00:18:20.120 Reindeer.

00:18:21.180 Again, I think fiction is fun.

00:18:23.780 I think that we are hardwired as image bearers of God to love a story.

00:18:28.640 And so I think all stories can be reflections of the greater story.

00:18:34.920 So as long as all of the characters and all of the parts of Christmas, whether it's the

00:18:40.100 Christmas tree or Christmas carols or hot chocolate or the gifts that you give or Santa Claus or

00:18:46.580 Rudolph are all reflections of the greater story, God's eternal plan of redemption and the

00:18:53.440 gospel message that we see at Christmas, I think that's fine.

00:18:56.940 But when Elf in a Shelf, on a Shelf, whatever it's called, we've never done that before.

00:19:03.180 It's too much work, it seems like.

00:19:05.160 When that starts to be the taker of our joy or like the source of our stress and our energy

00:19:13.020 and not discipling our kids and telling them what the advent, the coming of the Lord actually

00:19:19.720 means in their lives, well, then we have veered into idolatry.

00:19:23.520 Then things don't become so much, they're not as much a Christian liberty issue as an

00:19:28.940 idolatry issue.

00:19:30.300 I'm not saying that everyone who does Elf on a Shelf or everyone who does Santa Claus and

00:19:34.960 tells their kids Santa Claus is real is committing idolatry.

00:19:38.640 I'm not saying that.

00:19:40.160 But I do think that wherever we are directing our heart and our energy at any time of year,

00:19:47.300 that it can become idolatry.

00:19:49.320 And I think that we have to do our best to protect our kids from that.

00:19:54.760 Here's some differences that are written out by Desiring God.

00:19:59.080 That's John Piper's ministry.

00:20:01.020 Santa's gifts are earthly material and temporary.

00:20:03.340 Jesus offers eternal joy, salvation, and the fruit of the Spirit.

00:20:06.480 Santa's gifts are offered on the basis of good works.

00:20:09.060 Jesus offers his free gift by grace through faith.

00:20:11.700 Santa Claus is not real.

00:20:12.920 Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.

00:20:15.740 He's not a character, but the true and living God.

00:20:18.580 Santa Claus only comes once a year, but Christ says he is always with us.

00:20:23.000 So why replace the best news with worst news?

00:20:29.000 John Piper writes this,

00:20:30.380 After Easter, Christmas should be the happiest day of the year in Christian worship.

00:20:34.140 The reason I say after Easter is that Good Friday and Easter is the goal of Christmas,

00:20:37.980 the death and resurrection, the salvation of sinners through the death and resurrection of

00:20:42.460 Jesus is the goal of Christmas.

00:20:43.840 Christmas is not the goal of Easter.

00:20:45.620 Christmas is a means.

00:20:47.300 The salvation of sinners on Good Friday and Easter is the goal.

00:20:51.080 I love that.

00:20:52.480 And these are some great passages about what Christmas actually means.

00:20:57.640 Luke 19.10,

00:20:58.720 For the Son of Man, that's Jesus, came to seek and to save the lost.

00:21:02.760 1 Timothy 1.15,

00:21:04.060 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into

00:21:08.240 the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

00:21:13.580 1 John 3.8,

00:21:14.660 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from

00:21:18.700 the beginning.

00:21:19.200 The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

00:21:25.560 That's really good news.

00:21:27.880 This, again, from Desiring God.

00:21:29.540 So the birth of the Son of God, the very God, very man, is simply stunning and glorious

00:21:34.720 and infinitely serious.

00:21:36.920 An overflow of the happy news.

00:21:38.940 The angel called it good news of great joy.

00:21:42.580 Good news of great joy.

00:21:44.200 It was like one descriptor.

00:21:45.620 One positive descriptor wasn't enough.

00:21:48.040 Good news of great joy.

00:21:50.240 Great joy, not small joy.

00:21:52.200 Not a little bit of joy, but great joy.

00:21:54.780 Luke 2.10-11,

00:21:55.920 And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will

00:22:00.540 be for all the people.

00:22:02.160 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

00:22:08.120 That is the good news of Christmas and of the Advent that we are celebrating right now.

00:22:13.720 There are some ways to specifically incorporate Santa into Christmas.

00:22:18.340 Maybe you start right now.

00:22:19.820 Maybe you haven't done it so far.

00:22:21.120 Maybe you're listening to this and you realized, okay, I can put more effort into ensuring that

00:22:26.100 this is the central focus of this holiday season.

00:22:28.760 So let's talk about what that could look like.

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00:23:18.660 I just love feeling so prepared that I always have a freezer full of all American meat.

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00:23:50.860 My mom did such a great job, even though I did believe in Santa Claus for a little bit there.

00:23:57.260 My mom did such a great job, though, at pointing to Jesus.

00:24:01.620 Every year, she would host a birthday party for Jesus, and she would invite all of the

00:24:07.120 kids in our church and in our neighborhood, and we would have a birthday cake that she

00:24:12.340 would make, and we would blow out the candles for Jesus.

00:24:14.960 And it was a fun celebration.

00:24:16.240 Again, not banning Christmas trees and Christmas decor and reindeer and Santa Claus and all of

00:24:23.880 that, but all of that was meant to point to the celebration of Jesus.

00:24:27.700 Now, you might say, well, Jesus wasn't really born on December 25th.

00:24:32.340 That's okay.

00:24:33.220 It doesn't really matter if Jesus was born in September.

00:24:36.980 It doesn't matter, because this is the time that we celebrate his advent, whether it is

00:24:43.260 coming to the earth, whether it happened in September, whether it happened in December.

00:24:46.960 It is okay that we celebrate his birthday on a different day of the year in the Christian 0.99

00:24:53.500 calendar.

00:24:55.140 So that's one thing.

00:24:56.680 You can host a birthday party for Jesus, whether that's just with your immediate family or whether

00:25:01.380 that's with everyone.

00:25:03.260 Reading the Christmas story at the beginning of Luke or the other Gospels and trying to understand

00:25:10.880 this mystery of Christmas and God becoming flesh and what that actually accomplished.

00:25:17.480 We have, my mom especially, but we have too.

00:25:20.060 We have all kinds of, like, nativity scene toys that my kids play with, and we talk through

00:25:24.940 that.

00:25:25.460 There are all kinds of Advent devotionals, and even if you didn't start on December 1st,

00:25:30.500 that's okay.

00:25:31.220 You can start now.

00:25:32.640 There are plenty on Amazon.

00:25:34.060 We have a few.

00:25:34.640 I can't think of what the title is.

00:25:36.360 I think it's just 25 Days of Christmas, like some Advent family devotional that we have.

00:25:42.900 And even if you don't feel like an equipped theologian, even if you don't feel like you

00:25:47.680 know everything about the Gospel or about Scripture or about Jesus, that's okay.

00:25:53.380 This is an opportunity for you to learn, too.

00:25:55.940 And you don't have to be a well-versed theologian to disciple your kids.

00:26:02.240 Is it important for you to read God's Word?

00:26:04.320 Absolutely.

00:26:05.220 Be plugged into a church.

00:26:06.620 Be discipled by people who are further along in their faith than you.

00:26:10.540 Yes, growing in knowledge and wisdom and our understanding of God is so important.

00:26:15.380 But don't let that stop you from teaching your kids what is biblically good, right, and

00:26:20.700 true.

00:26:21.600 God has entrusted those kids to you right now.

00:26:25.420 And it's just like anything else.

00:26:27.320 If we wait until all of the circumstances are ideal, or we think we have the proper amount

00:26:32.880 of expertise to contribute to something, we may never dive in to the thing that God is

00:26:37.800 calling us to do.

00:26:39.000 And so God's grace and His wisdom will meet you where you are.

00:26:43.420 If you don't have an ESV study Bible, get you an ESV study Bible.

00:26:47.460 By the grace of God, we've worked with various ministries this year, and we have given away

00:26:52.700 John MacArthur study Bibles, ESV study Bibles.

00:26:55.760 I think the total has been over 6,000.

00:26:58.460 And I can't, you know, pat myself on the back at all for that.

00:27:01.500 It's the ministries who are extremely generous.

00:27:04.460 All I have to do is post the link, and I am so happy to be able to engage with my audience

00:27:11.220 in that way.

00:27:11.940 And I'm so thrilled that whenever we post those links of the Bibles being free and being donated

00:27:18.440 to you, that they are all flying off the shelves in a matter of like 30 minutes.

00:27:26.020 I mean, we sell out, for lack of a better term, of those books so quickly, of those Bibles

00:27:30.740 so quickly.

00:27:31.440 And so I'm so thankful that there are so many of you who are reading the Bible for the first

00:27:35.300 time this year.

00:27:36.700 And if you don't have an ESV study Bible, that's what I use.

00:27:39.700 I love it.

00:27:40.680 I started reading that when I was a sophomore in college, and it really deepened my understanding.

00:27:46.640 You can get it on Amazon.

00:27:47.820 It's not very expensive at all.

00:27:49.580 So I just encourage you to do that.

00:27:51.300 And maybe before the end of the year, we'll have another giveaway where we'll give away

00:27:54.500 some free Bibles.

00:27:55.860 So just talk about Jesus.

00:27:58.420 Talk about the gospel.

00:27:59.360 Talk about what really happened.

00:28:01.100 You could also talk about St. Nicholas.

00:28:03.720 We could talk about the origins of Santa Claus.

00:28:05.780 This is according to Ligonier.

00:28:07.580 He was a real fourth century bishop who lived in Myra on the southern coast of what is now

00:28:11.780 Turkey.

00:28:12.640 He was born into a wealthy family, but he devoted his life to serving Christ.

00:28:19.120 He gave his entire inheritance to the poor.

00:28:21.500 So he was known for his generosity.

00:28:23.800 He was known for his gift giving.

00:28:25.300 He would travel Europe and give gifts to children on December 6th in his name.

00:28:31.480 Actually, he didn't do that.

00:28:32.520 People started doing that in remembrance of him.

00:28:35.980 It was specifically on December 6th that in the name of St. Nicholas, people would give

00:28:39.600 gifts to children because he was a giver of gifts to children.

00:28:43.260 So you could talk about that history.

00:28:45.020 And then from there, the myth of Santa Claus kind of evolved.

00:28:48.720 Christmas hymns are a beautiful way to meditate on the truth of Christmas and on the truth

00:28:54.760 of what God did for us, why it is so amazing that the Messiah came, that the King came as

00:29:02.380 an embryo and then a newborn baby in very humble means and not as a warrior as so many were

00:29:11.740 expecting and not as adult royalty, but he symbolizes exactly what God always does, is that he defies the

00:29:25.500 expectations of human beings.

00:29:29.300 He doesn't define wisdom and success and power the same way that we do.

00:29:36.220 And obviously, Jesus is God.

00:29:38.360 He is so much more than just a symbol of what God does, but it is so like God to seemingly

00:29:44.180 stack the odds against himself and then to take down all of the powers that be.

00:29:49.460 And that's, of course, what Jesus did, not only in the earthly sense, but also in the heavenly

00:29:55.080 sense.

00:29:56.320 I just want to leave you with a couple passages that really encourage me, that I love how they

00:30:01.300 describe this mystery of Christmas.

00:30:03.080 Colossians 1, 15 through 18, he, Jesus, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn

00:30:09.260 of all creation.

00:30:10.180 For by him, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether

00:30:14.620 thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for

00:30:19.220 him.

00:30:19.660 And he is before all things and in him, all things hold together.

00:30:23.720 And he is the head of the body, the church.

00:30:25.520 He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

00:30:30.160 How much better is that than Santa Claus?

00:30:33.120 So much better.

00:30:34.540 And also just not the image of this wimpy Jesus who just exists to cheerlead you on your

00:30:40.820 path to self-love and self-fulfillment.

00:30:44.020 So much better.

00:30:45.460 The gospel is so much better.

00:30:47.680 Last passage in this segment, Hebrews 1, 1 through 3.

00:30:51.940 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.

00:30:56.080 But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of

00:31:00.720 all things, through whom he also created the world.

00:31:03.980 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.

00:31:08.340 And he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

00:31:11.720 After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

00:31:19.420 So that is who Jesus is.

00:31:20.780 And that is missed so often.

00:31:22.300 And it's not just missed among those who call themselves progressive Christians.

00:31:26.580 We're about to get into them in a second.

00:31:28.200 But gosh, it's missed by prosperity gospel preachers and adherents, those who believe that

00:31:33.560 Jesus really is just like Santa Claus, that he's here to give us what we want, and that

00:31:38.280 a sign of his favor and his love for us is by our material blessings.

00:31:43.040 And that's just not the case.

00:31:45.060 Jesus says, blessed are the meek, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the downtrodden

00:31:52.540 and the destitute.

00:31:53.720 That's my paraphrase there.

00:31:55.720 That's not to say that we have to be materially impoverished, but people who really see Jesus

00:32:02.200 as one who gives fame and success and material and earthly glory, they see him wrong.

00:32:08.240 But on the other side of that, I argue in my first book, You're Not Enough, that the prosperity

00:32:14.780 gospel professing Christians and that the progressive gospel professing Christians, they both believe

00:32:22.800 in a different side of the God of self.

00:32:26.140 The left might see him as a political activist that is here to help them meet their political

00:32:34.240 ends, the prosperity gospel adherents, see him just as a source of their own personal fulfillment

00:32:40.720 and wealth.

00:32:42.120 But neither of those sides really see Jesus for who he is as king, who came to defeat the

00:32:49.560 works of the devil, who came to kill our old self and to kill our sin and to mortify our

00:32:57.800 flesh so that we could take up our cross and follow him, be reconciled to God and live with

00:33:03.100 him forever.

00:33:04.240 Both sides missed that.

00:33:06.000 But I've got some stories specifically on what's going on in progressive churches and

00:33:11.820 how they pervert and manipulate Christmas as they pervert and manipulate all things to

00:33:18.080 make a political point.

00:33:19.620 And in so doing, they completely missed the gospel, which is the saddest part of that.

00:33:24.640 So we'll get into that in just a second.

00:33:26.540 Let me go ahead and tell you about our third sponsor for the day.

00:33:30.940 Y'all will be happy to hear.

00:33:31.940 We only have four sponsors today, so I've got to make them count.

00:33:35.960 Next sponsor is pre-born.

00:33:38.400 All right.

00:33:38.660 If you're thinking about where to give your money at the end of the year before Christmas,

00:33:42.840 put your money where your heart is.

00:33:44.100 You're pro-life.

00:33:44.900 You care about life inside the womb. 0.99

00:33:47.000 I mean, we just talked about Jesus coming as an embryo.

00:33:50.140 We know that God cares about life inside the womb.

00:33:53.020 And one way that you can do that, that you can live out those values is by donating to pre-born.

00:33:59.520 Pre-born is a pro-life organization.

00:34:02.140 They resource a network of clinics across the country with the tools they need to serve pregnant

00:34:07.200 moms in need.

00:34:08.700 Especially this, I think like one of the most important things that they do is supply these

00:34:13.280 clinics with ultrasound equipment.

00:34:16.040 The ultrasound allows that woman to see and hear her baby. 0.74

00:34:19.380 And she sees this is not just a clump of cells.

00:34:22.000 This is a human being.

00:34:23.080 This is part of me.

00:34:24.060 And she is so much more likely to choose life.

00:34:26.500 We know that the other side wants to obfuscate and they want to hide what is actually going

00:34:30.540 on in her womb.

00:34:31.600 We're on the side of truth.

00:34:32.980 We're on the side of transparency.

00:34:34.600 We want her to really know what is going on inside her body.

00:34:38.000 And that is another life growing that God is fearfully and wonderfully knitting inside

00:34:42.800 her womb.

00:34:43.700 So if you want women to see the truth of life and to make that life affirming God honoring

00:34:49.040 choice of protecting her baby, then you need to partner with pre-born.

00:34:53.360 They're the ones that are partnering with the clinics across the country to help save baby

00:34:57.500 lives.

00:34:58.020 Go to pre-born.com slash Allie.

00:34:59.960 Make your donation today.

00:35:01.760 $28 covers the cost of a life-saving ultrasound, but donate whatever you can.

00:35:06.440 Maybe it's $28,000.

00:35:08.460 Maybe it's $2.80.

00:35:09.920 Whatever your best gift is, go ahead and give it now to pre-born.com slash Allie. 0.81

00:35:14.500 That's pre-born.com slash Allie.

00:35:21.980 All right.

00:35:23.020 There's this church in Evanston, Illinois, and I believe that it's called Lake Church.

00:35:30.200 Is it Lake Church?

00:35:31.300 Lake Street Church.

00:35:32.860 Okay.

00:35:33.480 There is a reverend there.

00:35:34.920 Dr. Michael Wolfe.

00:35:37.520 And he has, I guess, ordered the setup of this nativity scene in front of their church.

00:35:47.480 Like, what a shame, by the way.

00:35:48.660 You can tell that this is such a beautiful church.

00:35:50.620 We can put up the picture, full screen 16.

00:35:53.240 And these beautiful churches, which are like mainline Protestant churches, almost all become 0.99

00:35:59.620 woke.

00:36:00.300 It is time for us to retake the beautiful buildings and mainstream, mainline Protestantism and to 1.00

00:36:09.580 make them biblical again.

00:36:11.080 Make mainline Protestantism biblical again. 0.66

00:36:14.100 That's my rallying cry.

00:36:15.100 Okay.

00:36:15.280 That's neither here nor there.

00:36:16.420 So you see this nativity scene and you have baby Jesus wrapped in, I guess it's supposed

00:36:23.100 to be like one of those heated blankets and you see his wrists and zip ties.

00:36:28.520 And then you can go back to full screen 16 and then you see Mary and Joseph in gas masks.

00:36:35.700 And there should be, we might not have it, we'll find it.

00:36:38.740 But another picture of the up close of the Roman soldiers behind them who have, apparently

00:36:46.080 they're supposed to be like ice vests on.

00:36:49.660 It says ice.

00:36:50.500 Um, here's the explanation that this reverend gave of their very disturbing nativity scene.

00:36:57.540 Sot one. 0.58

00:36:58.400 Jesus was born into a context since the Roman empire, right?

00:37:01.400 I mean, uh, people under subjugation and he immediately has to go into exile and flee

00:37:07.000 and become a refugee into Egypt.

00:37:08.460 The display puts Mary and Jesus in modern times with the Christ child wearing zip ties on its 0.94

00:37:14.040 plaster hands.

00:37:15.160 Our baby Jesus has zip ties on his hands because that's an actual incident that happened in our

00:37:20.180 city.

00:37:20.840 Uh, these are real world things that are happening and we're trying to depict them and bring the

00:37:25.200 sacred into it to tell a story.

00:37:29.000 Okay.

00:37:29.620 Well, first I just want to fact check something because I've seen a story going around and

00:37:33.940 this may or may not be the story that he's referring to, but I've seen this story of zip

00:37:37.880 ties of like kids are in zip ties and there was this, um, picture of this precious child

00:37:43.200 that went viral with his hands behind his back, apparently being, um, it looks like he's being

00:37:48.960 arrested and people are saying this is ice arresting toddlers.

00:37:52.240 But Bill Malusian, who is a reporter for Fox news, who worked on the border for years and

00:37:57.780 years, this really an expert on all of this stuff.

00:38:00.260 He said this posted allegation are fake and false.

00:38:03.120 That's not even an ice agent or any kind of federal agent.

00:38:06.000 It's a screenshot from a Tik TOK video in July and a July compilation on juvenile crime.

00:38:11.140 The child in cuffs was a parody, um, but David J beer, I guess he's a journalist couldn't

00:38:17.860 bother to do 20 seconds of research.

00:38:19.960 It was apparently too tantalizing of an opportunity to demonize ice when tensions are at an all

00:38:25.220 time high.

00:38:25.780 Democrats have brought David in to testify on Capitol Hill multiple times regarding immigration

00:38:31.720 matters.

00:38:32.360 That's of course, because Democrats, I don't believe have any moral limits whatsoever, as

00:38:36.940 long as they can accomplish what their goal is.

00:38:40.220 And one of their goals is completely open borders.

00:38:43.020 I wish I were exaggerating.

00:38:44.840 I wish that were hyperbole.

00:38:46.360 It's not hyperbole.

00:38:48.060 No immigration limits whatsoever.

00:38:50.500 Complete, unconditional, illegal immigration. 0.82

00:38:53.100 That might not be every single one of their position, but that is by and large the current

00:38:57.360 Democrat position.

00:38:58.820 And so if they can accomplish that end by lying or hoisting up someone who is lying, taking a

00:39:05.000 TikTok video and making it seem like immigration authorities who are already being targeted by

00:39:10.340 progressive lunatics who are trying to kill them, then they will do that.

00:39:15.340 But of course, as Bill Maluchin said, you can see for yourself on TikTok that that was a parody

00:39:21.080 had nothing to do with ice whatsoever.

00:39:23.200 So this entire idea of this nativity of Jesus reflecting a real life scenario that is happening

00:39:30.140 in the United States, that's not even proven true.

00:39:33.520 But you might say, okay, but the principle itself is true, right?

00:39:38.280 Like the principle itself is true that Jesus was born a refugee and that if he were born today, 0.75

00:39:44.700 Republicans wouldn't want anything to do with him.

00:39:47.600 Republicans would have deported Jesus.

00:39:49.420 Conservative evangelicals would have arrested Mary and Joseph.

00:39:53.800 So there are some other displays like this.

00:39:56.040 Full screen 19.

00:39:57.900 We've got Jesus, who I guess is depicted as some kind of immigrant.

00:40:02.000 And then we've got full screen 20.

00:40:05.000 And this is just all sorts of blasphemy.

00:40:07.480 Not only do you have Mary and Joseph and Jesus in a cage, which by the way, those cages that

00:40:13.720 liberals talk about all the time, who were they constructed by?

00:40:17.140 They were constructed by the Obama administration who deported more illegal immigrants than anyone

00:40:23.560 else.

00:40:24.360 And did you see these kinds of displays when he was president?

00:40:27.400 Did you see all of this outrage when he was president?

00:40:29.700 No, Biden also deported over a million illegal immigrants.

00:40:34.020 Not nearly enough, but he did.

00:40:35.380 And again, did you see this kind of thing when he was president?

00:40:38.060 No, it's not really about these individuals.

00:40:40.700 If it were about these individuals, then you would have seen nonstop, unconditional outcry

00:40:46.100 against deportation in ICE.

00:40:48.760 ICE was also functioning when Obama was president, when Biden was president.

00:40:53.000 Okay, but you didn't see these kind of protests then because it's not about the children.

00:40:56.600 It's not even about the illegal aliens.

00:40:59.540 It is about Trump.

00:41:01.800 It's about being anti-Republican.

00:41:05.060 That's what it's really about.

00:41:07.200 Okay, Oakland's lesbian senior pastor, Reverend Rachel Griffin Allison, said the Holy Family

00:41:11.760 were migrants seeking safety.

00:41:13.700 In Dallas, many families faced the same uncertainty, she said.

00:41:18.720 We even have editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, Russell Moore.

00:41:22.820 He wrote an article in January, he says,

00:41:26.880 the matter right now is not just the global backlash against refugees, but the glee with

00:41:31.640 which some anti-refugee figures celebrate their rejection and revile those who would remind

00:41:36.400 them that Jesus of Nazareth was, in fact, a refugee.

00:41:42.240 So we hear that a lot.

00:41:43.980 In fact, the He Gets Us campaign, a multi-million dollar ad campaign that apparently is trying

00:41:48.840 to shift perceptions of Christ and Christianity, they made the same argument in their commercial

00:41:54.200 as that, too.

00:41:56.260 There was a mother and a father who had a son.

00:42:00.440 They lived in a small village and didn't have much money, but they were happy.

00:42:07.400 One day, they heard the head of their country was sending soldiers to their town because he

00:42:12.820 thought they were part of an insurrection.

00:42:14.500 The young family decided to flee.

00:42:18.680 They grabbed only what they could carry and ran.

00:42:23.740 They hiked for days, wondering if soldiers might still be following them.

00:42:29.800 They were scared, hungry, and exhausted.

00:42:35.540 But they were far away from the atrocities taking place in Bethlehem.

00:42:44.080 That's all Mary and Joseph wanted.

00:42:46.780 A safe place to call home.

00:42:52.780 So I could go on a whole rant about He Gets Us.

00:42:56.200 That's something Charlie Kirk and I did a lot that we both just like loathe these ads.

00:43:02.020 I want anyone to come to Christ by whatever means possible.

00:43:05.900 And so if that accomplished someone hearing the gospel, I'm very thankful for that.

00:43:10.760 But that is despite the bad messaging of He Gets Us, not because of the bad messaging.

00:43:15.360 That's not what the gospel is about.

00:43:16.500 It's not what Jesus is about.

00:43:17.620 It's not by relating to Jesus.

00:43:19.120 It's not seeing ourselves in his story through some political narrative.

00:43:24.760 And it's just not true.

00:43:26.180 That's what I want to get to.

00:43:27.160 It's not true that Jesus was a refugee by the definition that we have refugees today.

00:43:33.480 We can make a separate argument for compassion for refugees.

00:43:37.020 And that does exist in asylum seekers and all of that.

00:43:40.160 We can have a separate biblical defense of defending refugees and how many refugees we should

00:43:47.080 accept and which refugees we should accept from what countries.

00:43:50.000 That's fine.

00:43:51.040 But the argument should not be based in the idea that Jesus himself was a refugee.

00:43:55.840 He was not a refugee in the same sense that we are defining refugees today.

00:44:00.500 So according to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, the 1951 Refugee Convention defines a refugee

00:44:07.800 as a person who, owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion,

00:44:11.940 nationalities, blah, blah, blah, is unable or owing to such fear as unwilling to avail

00:44:17.900 themselves of the protection of that country.

00:44:22.120 So that means that a refugee is someone who is leaving one country and going to another 0.99

00:44:29.660 country to take refuge.

00:44:31.200 But that's not what Jesus was doing.

00:44:33.020 Jesus's family traveled from one part of the Roman Empire to another.

00:44:37.560 They didn't cross illegally into another country and were able to go back after Herod died,

00:44:43.120 which refugees by definition are unable or unwilling to do.

00:44:48.480 So them fleeing to Egypt was an explicit divine command.

00:44:53.260 It was not a breaking of the law.

00:44:55.540 And in fact, they wanted to do everything that they could to follow the law and God's

00:45:00.040 command.

00:45:00.560 We read in Matthew 2, 13 through 15.

00:45:03.240 Now, when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and

00:45:06.820 said, Rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell 0.99

00:45:11.060 you, for Herod is about to search for the child and destroy him.

00:45:13.860 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained

00:45:18.960 there until the death of Herod.

00:45:20.560 This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet.

00:45:23.520 Out of Egypt, I called my son.

00:45:26.240 Completely different scenario.

00:45:28.220 So this is to fulfill prophecy.

00:45:30.260 This is to obey the command of the Lord via an angel.

00:45:33.840 This is to save Jesus's life for the time being.

00:45:37.460 And this is within the same empire.

00:45:40.540 OK, this has nothing to do with them breaking the law, which you'll see something that the

00:45:46.160 left often does is it's such a bait and switch and it's such an effective manipulation

00:45:51.760 tactic is that they will use the word refugee to describe all illegal aliens.

00:45:58.800 Everyone who wants to come here from a poorer country than the United States, which is every 1.00

00:46:02.960 country, by the way, is described as a refugee.

00:46:05.780 And that is such an effective form of toxic empathy, because if you are on the side against

00:46:13.580 refugees, then you are on the side against Christians and you are on the side against 1.00

00:46:17.680 Jesus himself since Jesus was a refugee. 0.83

00:46:20.480 And so there you in your mind, you might feel like you have lost all moral credibility to

00:46:25.800 be for the enforcement of sovereignty and borders.

00:46:29.620 I guess the Christian answer is really just to open up the borders and let anyone in who 0.99

00:46:33.680 wants to come in because America is a safer and richer place than other places.

00:46:38.620 But that, of course, is stupid when you take it to its logical conclusion.

00:46:42.180 That would mean there are no just limitations on immigration.

00:46:45.780 Like there should be no vetting process whatsoever.

00:46:48.820 Anyone who says that they want to come here because the country that they left from is slightly

00:46:52.460 dangerous or economically disadvantaged, they have a right to come here. 1.00

00:46:57.240 Well, then, of course, we're not a country because we essentially don't have borders.

00:47:00.900 And if we're not a country who doesn't have borders, then we're not a sovereign country.

00:47:05.480 That means we don't really have citizenship.

00:47:07.160 That means we don't really have rights and protections that are afforded to citizens only.

00:47:11.160 That means that we don't really have a government who can guarantee those rights and protections.

00:47:17.360 Citizenship and borders and sovereignty and laws that are exclusive to and for the protection 0.71

00:47:23.920 of, rather, citizens is protection for the most vulnerable citizens in the country.

00:47:29.220 You understand that, that God created laws and governments and borders and sovereignty for

00:47:35.640 our good, for our protection.

00:47:37.980 It's not our government's responsibility to take charge of the well-being of every single

00:47:42.900 person from every single country on earth just because they want to come here.

00:47:46.820 And that certainly is not what we are learning from the Christmas story.

00:47:51.600 So back to Jesus, the prophecy that his fleeing to Egypt fulfills is from Hosea 11.1.

00:48:02.700 And then he was commanded by God, their family was commanded by God to go back home, Matthew

00:48:08.180 2, 19 through 23.

00:48:09.640 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

00:48:13.200 saying, Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel. 0.97

00:48:15.840 For those who sought the child's life are dead.

00:48:17.940 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 0.87

00:48:22.360 But when he heard that Archelius was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he 0.86

00:48:28.320 was afraid to go there.

00:48:29.440 And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee.

00:48:32.640 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might

00:48:37.240 be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

00:48:42.080 Melissa Doherty, for Cross-Examined, says it like this.

00:48:45.280 As a child, scripture records him and his family, Jesus and his family, fleeing from

00:48:49.680 one part of the Roman Empire to another.

00:48:51.520 He returned home.

00:48:52.460 Refugees find refuge in another country because they can't or don't return home. 0.97

00:48:56.920 People conflate this story in Jesus' childhood with our understanding of refugees today.

00:49:01.560 It's like nobody seeks to understand, really, Jesus' story.

00:49:05.500 They exaggerate this to make him culturally relevant today.

00:49:08.840 We make it about us instead of about him.

00:49:11.320 That is my big problem with the He Gets Us campaign.

00:49:13.580 In an article for Stand to Reason, it does not make historical sense to take a modern

00:49:18.640 definition, apply it to a situation within antiquity using a modern lens of both situation

00:49:23.540 and geographical borders, of both situation and geographical borders, and then try to apply

00:49:29.100 it to make a political point.

00:49:31.460 This is Wes Huff saying this.

00:49:33.680 The political situation in question is a pressing and serious issue.

00:49:37.880 I think people on both sides of the partisan divide can agree on that, but this type of

00:49:42.960 argumentation that is based on misunderstanding and ignorance at best and misrepresentation

00:49:47.940 at worst is not the way to go about it.

00:49:50.380 It is far too full of holes and far too susceptible to critique simply because it is anachronistic

00:49:57.240 and untrue.

00:49:59.080 So that is a very eloquent way of saying this is historically inaccurate and also just not

00:50:06.040 a good practice.

00:50:07.360 Like, it's not productive.

00:50:08.540 We're not getting more into the heart of Jesus was and more into the reason for Christmas.

00:50:12.940 We are instead trying to extract meaning out of the Christmas story in order to accomplish

00:50:19.260 our political ends.

00:50:21.460 And in so doing, are very distracted from what it really means.

00:50:25.120 All right.

00:50:25.440 A little bit more on this.

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00:51:35.780 What I also find funny is that the people who say this, who stretch the definition of refugee

00:51:41.880 to say that Jesus was a refugee so that what will open all of our borders, they do not see 0.99

00:51:50.360 the sacredness or the importance of Jesus actually coming to the earth as an unborn child.

00:51:56.520 Like that really happened, that we don't have to stretch the definition of what human is

00:52:00.520 or stretch the definition of what embryo is or stretch the definition of the biblical text.

00:52:05.640 Like he really did come as an unborn child.

00:52:07.940 He was even heralded by the cakes of an unborn child, John the Baptist.

00:52:11.780 And so I'm not saying that we should look for like an anti-abortion story in the Christmas

00:52:20.560 story.

00:52:21.080 I'm not saying that that's the point of Christmas.

00:52:23.540 I just find it ironic that if you're looking for politics in the nativity scene, then you

00:52:29.480 certainly would see an anti-abortion position there. 1.00

00:52:35.020 But the very people who are trying so hard to manipulate this story for their political

00:52:42.300 ends, they don't see the contradiction there.

00:52:45.120 And really every bit of moral credibility that the left has is completely destroyed by

00:52:51.480 the fact that they believe it's okay to poison and dismember babies inside the womb.

00:52:57.100 Like let's start there.

00:52:59.120 Let's start there with the morality conversation.

00:53:02.180 Then we can talk about everything else because that's black and white.

00:53:06.740 There's no wiggle room there.

00:53:08.880 There's no nuance for the Christian when it comes to abortion.

00:53:11.920 Is it okay to purposely kill an innocent person?

00:53:16.440 And if not, then abortion is always wrong. 0.89

00:53:21.440 Should it be illegal to kill an innocent person?

00:53:24.540 Most progressives would say, well, yeah, murder should be illegal.

00:53:27.660 Okay, then that should apply to abortion too.

00:53:29.600 Just because that person is in a different location or has a different age or a different

00:53:33.460 size doesn't mean that they shouldn't have the right not to be murdered just like any

00:53:37.520 other person.

00:53:38.540 In fact, they're the most voiceless and the most defenseless.

00:53:42.180 Of course, Christians are called to care for them. 0.94

00:53:44.340 But every other category of vulnerability the left claims to care about except for the most

00:53:48.860 vulnerable.

00:53:49.700 And so if you can't even start there, like if you can't even say with your chest that life

00:53:54.880 inside the womb should not be snuffed out and that murder of babies is wrong or murder

00:54:00.980 of babies should be illegal, I'm not really interested in your moral preening about borders

00:54:06.000 and refugees and immigration.

00:54:08.460 And if you only have the gumption to say something when Trump is president but didn't care at all

00:54:14.760 about this when Biden or Obama is president, I'm just not really interested.

00:54:19.580 And if the point of Christmas to you is about immigration and not the gospel, I'm just not

00:54:27.360 really interested in your theological takes.

00:54:30.300 I'm just not.

00:54:32.040 And by the way, like all of the compassion for the left, I find manifests itself in outsourcing

00:54:38.820 that compassion to the government.

00:54:40.340 And I've seen actually this pastor, reverend of this Lake Street Church, I've seen this

00:54:47.460 clip going around of him saying, you know, Republicans or evangelical Christians, whatever,

00:54:54.700 they don't want the government to intervene when it comes to feeding the poor or protecting

00:55:00.540 refugees, but they do want the government to intervene when it comes to transgenderism and

00:55:05.660 when it comes to abortion.

00:55:08.800 Well, yeah, yeah, like I do believe in the legitimate existence of a government, like

00:55:15.380 I'm not an anarchist.

00:55:17.060 I'm not even a libertarian.

00:55:19.540 And the God-given responsibility of the government, as we read in Romans 13, is to punish the wrongdoer

00:55:25.800 and to reward those who do good, to restrain evil.

00:55:29.540 And we do believe that bare minimum, the right of the government is to protect the rights of

00:55:34.980 its people and to protect its people from very real harm.

00:55:39.860 Now, we have to define harm, but I think murder, we could all say is harm.

00:55:45.680 Being dismembered and poisoned as an innocent person, like that's harm.

00:55:51.320 I would say your body being butchered by cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers or surgery, especially 1.00

00:55:58.340 as a minor, like that's harm.

00:56:01.640 And so, yeah, I do believe it's the responsibility of the government to affirm reality and to uphold

00:56:08.380 morality.

00:56:10.020 And sure, we can debate on what falls in line there, but I don't think it's very debatable

00:56:15.380 that a government has the responsibility to protect its people from murder by punishing

00:56:20.000 murder, right?

00:56:20.820 And trying to prevent it.

00:56:25.100 So, yeah, of course, I don't believe that the government should be a nanny state.

00:56:28.760 And I do believe it's the responsibility of the church and of the individual, as we read

00:56:33.820 throughout scripture, especially in the book of Acts, to give voluntarily and as empowered

00:56:39.540 by the Holy Spirit to those who need it.

00:56:41.540 Now, I'm not against all government help, but I am against the decentivizing of work by

00:56:50.040 giving people unlimited and basically unconditional welfare.

00:56:54.420 There's nothing godly or biblical about that.

00:56:57.480 Someone who believes that we should reduce welfare and make sure that there's no corruption

00:57:01.520 in welfare is not being anti-Christian.

00:57:04.340 In fact, they are being good stewards of not only their own resources, but the resources of

00:57:09.080 all taxpayers who work very hard for the money that we are giving these programs.

00:57:14.780 Doge, it was a righteous process and a righteous pursuit.

00:57:21.440 Outsourcing your compassion and your generosity to the government is not compassionate or generous.

00:57:27.440 It's not godly, okay?

00:57:29.740 You giving of your own volition is what you are called to.

00:57:34.560 You giving your money to the government at gunpoint, which is what taxes are, or by threat of

00:57:40.680 imprisonment, is not generosity.

00:57:42.900 It doesn't count as Christian charity, okay? 0.91

00:57:45.840 So you're not going to manipulate me with that.

00:57:49.460 Every policy prescription that is put forth by progressives sounds like it has good intentions,

00:57:55.400 but it has bad outcomes.

00:57:56.600 And I actually care about how people are affected, not just about feeling good about myself because

00:58:01.860 I sound like I care.

00:58:04.020 And if you want to take down of all of this from a logical, factual, historical, scientific,

00:58:09.860 and most importantly, biblical perspective, I really do encourage you to get Toxic Empathy.

00:58:14.440 That is my book for this.

00:58:15.800 The number one question I get is, what do I say when?

00:58:18.580 What do I say when X?

00:58:19.580 What do I say to this argument about abortion?

00:58:22.840 What do I say to this argument about gender or the definition of marriage?

00:58:26.580 Very controversial one, or justice and race.

00:58:29.940 Very controversial one, or immigration.

00:58:33.100 That's what this book is for.

00:58:34.800 Toxic Empathy, How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion.

00:58:38.280 And if you read any chapter, like I really encourage you to read the immigration one.

00:58:43.140 It was the one that was most daunting to me before I wrote it, but as I wrote it, the one

00:58:48.540 that I felt most passionate about because it is such an obvious and clear issue that I think

00:58:53.840 too many Christians make very muddy and very confusing for no good reason. 1.00

00:58:58.440 So I really encourage you to read Toxic Empathy and learn how the truth and love approach to

00:59:05.180 these issues, cultural, political, moral issues, is so much better and actually much more caring

00:59:11.160 than the Toxic Empathy approach that these progressive churches try to hoist upon well-intentioned

00:59:17.020 people.

00:59:17.460 All right.

00:59:18.500 The gift of Christmas is Jesus Christ, the word that became flesh and dwelt among us,

00:59:22.860 who lived a sinless life, and who died on the cross in our place.

00:59:28.180 He was the ultimate sacrifice for our sins because our sins demand the shedding of blood.

00:59:33.800 So he shed his blood on the cross as the only satisfactory sacrifice to a holy God that wanted

00:59:40.760 to be reconciled to us.

00:59:42.480 And by his grace, through our faith in that sacrifice, we can be reconciled to God.

00:59:48.840 That means that we are no longer his enemies.

00:59:50.780 We can be made friends with God and we can spend eternity with God forever and ever.

00:59:55.680 And the reason we have that hope is because Jesus didn't just die as a sacrifice for our sins,

01:00:00.460 but he rose again.

01:00:01.360 He defeated death three days later.

01:00:02.960 And one day he's coming back and he will rule in perfect peace forever and ever.

01:00:07.400 And we will no longer have any sin or sadness or brokenness or deception, but he will rule

01:00:14.600 in perfect victory forever.

01:00:16.080 That's what we have to look forward to.

01:00:17.440 So if you want hope, if you want a real gift, if you want real excitement and anticipation

01:00:22.260 this Christmas, you don't have to look in the political realm and you don't have to look

01:00:26.620 to Santa Claus.

01:00:27.600 You can look to Jesus Christ, the real gift giver, the real gift himself.

01:00:32.040 All right.

01:00:32.340 We'll be back here on Friday.

01:00:33.240 We'll be back here on Friday.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - December 10, 2025

Ep 1277 ｜ Why We Don’t Do Santa & Why Jesus Wasn't a Refugee

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