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News From Your Friends At Compass
December, 2010
Yo Compass Friends!

Ah Christmas ... the biggest holiday of the year... over 2 billion Christians around the world celebrating Jesus birth - if you count all the Catholics and Protestants who name the Name of Jesus.

In the United States, Christmas is of course huge, since we are the largest Christian nation in the world. Below are the top 10 nations with the largest Christian populations according to Adherents.com:      

Rank - Nation - Number - Percentage of Population
1USA224,457,000
85%
2Brazil139,000,00093%
3 Mexico86,120,00099%
4Russia80,000,00060%
5China70,000,000
5.7%
6Germany67,000,00083%
7Philippines63,470,00093%
8United Kingdom51,060,00088%
9Italy47,690,00090%
10France44,150,00098%




But Satan has made major inroads into diminishing its Biblical significance in the U.S., his largest Christian target, by inserting Santa Claus as a Jesus substitute. Satan has quite successfully moved the emphasis from Jesus birthday and replaced it with nothing more than a bald face lie.

Below is an article questioning the wisdom of allowing Santa into your home. It might spark some interesting discussions at Christmas dinner. :-)

Merry Christmas!

Bill Perkins


Satan's Clawssanta-halo

A typical question we receive often receive in Good Morning Lord letters:

"Is there anything wrong with Christians allowing their children to think Santa Claus is real?"

Typical answers by Christians:

"Give me a break, children are usually so young when they are doing Santa that it could hardly matter!"

"My parents played the Santa game and it didn't hurt me, so what's the big deal?"

"When my children ask if Santa is real, then I will tell them the truth. But until they ask, I enjoy watching their little eyes light up on Christmas morning."

A pastor with a large national following once said:

"I find it impossible to believe God will be eclipsed by the silhouette of Santa's sleigh rising in the Christmas sky." (http://www.livingway.org/articles/SANTA2.html)

A recent MSNBC article said this:

"Fully 86 percent in the poll believed in Santa as a child. And despite the multiethnic nature of the country, more than 60 percent of those with children at home consider Santa important in their holiday celebrations now."
AP-AOL News poll <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16329025/>

So, with so many Christians intertwining Christmas with Santa, at least when their kids are at an early age, could anything really be wrong with it? I think there's a strong case it's VERY wrong. Here's why.

Let's start with a simple question, "Should Christians lie?"

God says:

"Truthful lips will be established forever, but a lying tongue is only for a moment." Proverbs 12:19

The Bible says we have a sinful nature:
Bible
"Transgressing and denying the LORD, and turning away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving in and uttering from the heart lying words."
                                              Isaiah 59:12,13

And the sinful nature doesn't go away when we trust Jesus shed blood and are born again:

"For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not." Rom. 7:18

The Bible says this about lying:

"There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue..." Proverbs 6:16,17

Based on the Word of God, God hates lying - all lying about anything, anytime. He hates it so much that lying will be non-existent in the New Heaven and Earth (Revelation 21:27, 22:15).

So the next question is: "Is allowing your kids to believe that "Santa" is real the same as lying to them?" Yes it is. And once your kids realize that you mislead/lied to them about Santa, no matter how good your intentions, you have a credibility problem when you tell them about the things of God. They can't see Santa, they only believe what you say about him. Neither can they see God.

Liar-pants-fireWebsters' definition of "lie" includes this phrase:

" . . . a situation involving deception or founded on a mistaken impression."

So it seems pretty clear that Christians who mislead their kids about Santa are lying to them and that's clearly not what God wants.

What's even more remarkable is that the truth is so much better. What in the world is wrong with teaching our kids that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus, our Savior?

I realize that debunking Santa in your home, especially if you have kids, is not easy. We took the "no Santa tack" as we raised our two girls. It caused several awkward moments because there were so many kids and adults into Santa Claus.

We simply taught our kids that Christmas was Jesus' birthday and Santa was a lie. We also taught them that they were sinners and needed a Savior. You can imagine what happened when well-meaning adults would come up and say,

"Is Santa coming to see you?"
santa-bag
They would say emphatically, "nooooo!"

That invariably brought on the next question,

"Well, have you been bad?"

And the kids would respond,

"Yes."

By the time they explained their limited understanding of "He who says he has no sin deceives himself," that Santa was for non-Christians, and they thought it was wrong to pray to the Jesus substitute "Santa Claus," the adult was usually red-faced with embarrassment.

But the upside was that our Christmas celebrations have been, and still are, full of joy. There are gifts, and surprises, and wonderment - but it's always centered around Jesus, not a fictional character who mimics the omniscience and omnipresence of God. Santa Claus is nothing more than a poor Jesus substitute promoting an ungodly works doctrine ("He knows if you've been bad or good . . .").

Susie and I are the first to admit we made a lot of mistakes with our kids! So please don't think for a moment that we're saying "do what we do." I'm just pointing out that it can be done - by the graciousness of God - and a lot of prayer! So our hope is that you ask the Lord to give you wisdom and confidence in this tricky area. Because Santa Claus may very well be Satan's Claws in disguise!

May you have an incredible celebration of Jesus' birthday!

Bill Perkins
Executive Director
Compass International, Inc.

(See interesting facts about Bethlehem below)

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Bethlehem - did you know...

Bethlehem at the time of Christ,
located 5 miles south of Jerusalem


When singing the famous song, "Oh little town of Bethlehem," people often have the image of a sleepy and dreamy town in Israel.

But today, Bethlehem is one of the areas of high tension in Israel that has been completely given over to Palestinian autonomy. The Palestinians control everything, including the multi-faith Church of the Nativity, the only site of interest but which is highly questionable as far as authenticity.

Because the Bethlehem of today is so far removed from that original quiet little village, we have opted in recent years to view it from a different vantage point - a high overlook across the original shepherd's fields where the angels first heralded the "Good News". It's fascinating to see the hills and valleys that Joseph and Mary traversed on their journey, and to see the same vantage point the wise men had as they followed the star in search of the King.

A couple of interesting facts about Bethlehem...

Bethlehem-city
Bethlehem from a distance
doesn't look so bad.


The word "Bethlehem" means "house of bread" in Hebrew.

Jesus is called the
"Bread of Life."
____

Bethlehem's main industry at the time of Jesus' birth was raising sheep for sacrifice at the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem,
Bethlehem-sheep-fields
Fields outside Bethlehem today
are still used by shepherds.
which was only five miles to the north.

Josephus, a noted historian at the time of Jesus, wrote that there were 230,000 sacrifices at Passover each year. The vast majority of those sacrifices were sheep. That's a lot of sheep to be raised in fields around Bethlehem.

Jesus was born in the middle of all those sacrificial sheep to be a sacrifice for the sins of the world.
____

Herod the Great's grave is located not far from Bethlehem. He's the guy who tried to kill Jesus to keep away any
Herod's Grave-distance
Herod's mountaintop grave
near Bethlehem
competition for the title he held as "King of the Jews." The flat-topped mountain is visible from the southern edge of Jerusalem when you look south at Bethlehem.

So you have an interesting contrast...

Herod,
the King by Might


verses
Herod's Tomb- above
Herod's Tomb from above


Jesus,
The King by Right.

(Note: Since Herod's death in 4 BC, he has been a believer in Jesus.)
We hope you enjoyed the December Compass eNews!

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February 2011
Steeling Crowd
Prov 27:17
As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another!

If you love the Lord, love your Bible and love to learn, join us for a great day of spiritual armoring by top Bible teachers in America tackling tough Biblical subjects.

Coeur d'Alene, ID
Saturday, February  12, 2011
Register Today!

CLICK HERE FOR Conference brochure, registration, speakers, topics, discount tickets, discount hotel room rates at the Coeur d'Alene Resort!

Stay at the Coeur d'Alene Resort for only $89 per night!
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Great speakers:
Josh McDowell, TX
Paul Van Noy, ID

Tom Cloud, GARiddle-circle
Eric Barger, TX
Mike Riddle, KY
Dave Moore, CA

Mike Gendron, TX
John Loeffer, ID

Tough Topics!
Apologetics (Defense of the faith)
Doctrines of Demons
Bible Prophecymouth
Biblical Leadership
Christian Finances
Heresy in Church
False Conversions
Signs of the Times
Tolerance-NOT for Believers!


Praise / Worship by
Buck Storm

Register Today!

CLICK HERE for Steeling conference brochure, prices, registration, speakers, topics, discount tickets, discount hotel room rates at the
Coeur d'Alene Resort!

Contact Compass for conference brochures for your Sunday school, small group or friends: 800-977-2177
[email protected]

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Join us in March 2011 for the
Biblelands Cruise

The trip of a lifetime!
Cristal Cruise Ship
March 7-19, 2011

You're invited to join Compass and friends on an incredible Holyland trip at an affordable price! 

We'll be visiting awesome sites: Athens,
the Egyptian Pyramids,
Jerusalem,
Galilee,
Cyprus, Dome of the RockRhodes, Ephesus, Patmos, with options to visit Corinth and Petra, Jordan! Wow!
.

CLICK HERE TO GET ALL THE DETAILS OF THIS INCREDIBLE TRIP TO GOD'S SPECIAL PLACE ON EARTH-THE HOLYLAND!

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