Christmas and Santa

As Christmas is coming upon us, it brings with it fond memories of growing up in northern Ohio. Snow covered streets, sledding, building snowmen and making snow angels! Houses were decorated with Christmas lights on every corner making it that much more exciting as a child to go out driving around looking at all the lights! It also brings wonderful memories of going out and picking out a real live Christmas tree with family and decorating the tree! I still can smell the pine needles mixing with mom's baking! And, of course, an abundance of shopping mall "Santa Claus's." There is something very warming about this time of year that can't be explained, only experienced!

It's also during this part of the Christmas season for all of the feel good movies to come out with the "miracles of Christmas" themes with Santa Claus being the bearer of those miracles. We become inundated with how Santa Claus performs miracles, brings families together, "saves" marriages, mends broken hearts, and gives hope to all who "believe and have faith." We see how he brings joy and hope and "love" to all the lonely boys and girls whose hearts are broken with his magic. It's a festive time of year, no doubt, however, it's NOT Santa Claus that should be the center of this special holiday reminder of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ! Santa Claus is a fictional, secular, imaginary being that comes bearing "free gifts" to all those who believe in him. The wise men came bearing gifts to the newborn King too! Not to mention he delivers those "free gifts" on a sleigh with flying reindeer......   

Let's examine who, or what, Santa is......and what he isn't. First of all, it is NO coincidence that this fictional character who, in many unsuspecting ways, preys on our children's innocence, faith and belief, is given the stage at Christmas! Christmas is the celebration of our Lord Jesus Christ's birth! The very one who shed His blood for all of our sins, and gives to us, His FREE GIFT OF SALVATION to ALL THOSE WHO BELIEVE AND HAVE FAITH! Sound familiar? It should. Satan is the master of mockery, deception and DISGUISE. He will make all things pleasing and appealing that is sinful and deceptive.

Now, if you know how much Satan is jealous of God and all of His creation, then you will also know Satan wants to devour all that he can, including the innocent and the unsuspecting, as mentioned in 1 Peter 5:8, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." The Bible teaches Satan’s primary attack is the most vulnerable.

In Luke 10:18, Jesus Christ compares Satan to lightning, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven". Lightning, like Satan, always travels the path of least resistance. The Bible also likens the devil to a "roaring lion." The lion is a predator of opportunity. The lion looks for the injured, the youngest, the smallest, or the weakest – the one with the least ability to run or fight. So it is with Satan. He is actively "seeking" those "whom he may devour."

Here are a few Biblical facts that need to be established:

The Bible clearly teaches a powerful, rebellious, subtle, evil being called the Devil, Lucifer or Satan.
"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." Revelation 12:9

The Bible teaches Satan rebelled against God. Satan rebelled because he desires to be like God. Satan’s mission is to de-throne God and persuade mankind to rebel against God.
Isaiah 14:12-14 tells us this:

12) How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13) For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.


The Lord Jesus invites, and encourages little children to come unto him. The younger years are by far the most spiritually fruitful in the life-cycle of an individual. In Proverbs 22:6, the Bible explains the lifelong fruits of training a young child in the way he should go. That early training is so strong and so deep – as that child grows and matures – they will not depart from it. "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." But. . . The flip side is: if that same child is trained by the ways of Satan and the world, chances are that child will not depart from it. If the most productive time of salvation are the pre-teen years, and if the pre-teen years are the most vulnerable – doesn't it stand to reason that Satan would fiercely attack this time in their lives? Can we not see the overwhelming evidence of this Satanic attack on our children? From the sexual, sensual music of Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj or any number of today's musical "stars", to the occult and witchcraft of Harry Potter and the Twilight series – there is an attack aimed directly at our children. It is assaulting them from the TV, the music, the Internet, the peer pressure, the movies, the public schools – Satan literally "seeks" to "devour our children" in any way he can, or rather, in any way a society ALLOWS.

In Mark 9:17-29, God details a frightening occurrence. A man brings his "spirit possessed" son to the Lord Jesus Christ.
17) And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;
18) And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.
19) He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.
20) And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
21) And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.
22) And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
23) Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
24) And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
25) When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
26) And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
27) But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.
28) And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?
29) And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

It is interesting how the apostles could not cast out this kind (vs 29). Jesus said, "This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting." What kind of possession was it? What was different about this possession? I believe the answer is found in the only question the Lord Jesus asked. Jesus Christ asked the man "How long is it ago since this came unto him?" And the man answered, "Of a child". These hard to cast out kind are those that enter in a child. Is it because the possession reaches so deep and so strong that they’re almost impossible to remove? Something to think about the next time there is a false security that believes our children will naturally "grow out of it" or "they’re just sowing their wild oats" or maybe "they’re just being kids".

Now here's the anagram for Santa....SATAN! Yes, if you take the "n" and put it at the end of the word, you will get SATAN. Look how easy it is to transform SATAN into SANTA! What better disguise to lure, deceive and trick the innocence of a child than to create some fantasy that flies around in a sleigh with flying reindeer, (one with a glowing nose, nonetheless!) leading his way around the world dropping off all his gifts to sleeping boys and girls? The rearranging of letters (called anagrams) to hide secret names or words has long been practiced in the occult. The Jewish Encyclopedia writes of the Jewish occult book called the Cabala:

The golden age for anagrams began with the Cabala. The Platonists had strange notions as to the influence of anagrammatic virtues, particularly of anagrams evolved from names of persons. It is not surprising, therefore, that the cabalists, like all the Neoplatonists, pretended to discover occult qualities in proper names and in their anagrams.
www.jewishencyclopedia.com

New Agers and satanists believe that it isn't the words that are important in the anagrams, but the LETTERS because they hide their true "god." So what about "claus?" Well, that is another anagram for Lucas. Lucas and Lucis are new-age "code words" for Lucifer. Claus sure sounds a lot like "claws." Maybe Santa Claus means "Satan's Claws"? Like a lion's "claws"?

If you really stop and think about what Santa Claus represents, it might truly open your eyes to just how devious and deceptive the Devil really is! The FIRST thing to recognize is Santa was "born" at Christmas, first coming on the scene mimicking Jesus Christ's birth! Santa is supposed to be all knowing,  to know our secrets and our hearts, performs miracles, gives us hope, joy and love. He is all powerful, he judges who is naughty or nice, and he is everywhere. In a moment, "in the twinkling of an eye. . ." (1 Cor. 15:52) – Santa appears – all over the world! He just quietly "tip-toes" in – and "tip-toes" out. You hear nothing. You see nothing. He even has a throne just like our God! Isaiah 14:13 says, "For thou [Lucifer] hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north." He appears like a "thief in the night". (1 Thess. 5:2). The comparisson is unbelievable! Our little children truly believe with all of their hearts that Santa is everything above and more! But in Matthew 22:35-38, it says, (v35) Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, (v36) Master, which is the great commandment in the law? (v37) Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. (v38) This is the first and great commandment."

This child-like faith in Santa Claus is the very thing the Lord God asks of US! This is found in Mark 10:15, "Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." Child like faith is beautiful, innocent and strong! It runs very deep and that's what Jesus wants us to do...believe in Him as a child would. The tragedy of child-like faith in Santa is not teaching them the same faith in the REAL Savior, Jesus Christ! The one that shed His blood for them! He wants the world to know Him, to have a relationship with Him and to walk with Him! His free gifts are everlasting, eternal and much better than a make believe, God-mocking imaginary being.

Matthew 7:7-8, 117) Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8) For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. . . .
11) If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"

James 1:17
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

Satan wants to consume this time of the year by replacing Jesus and His birth with Santa and his lies.....Are YOU going to let your children have more faith and belief in Santa than in Jesus Christ?