How the War on Christmas is the War for America’s Future - rebroadcast from Dec 2013

How the war on Christmas is actually the war for America's future. That is the topic we'll discuss today in this last live broadcast of the Christian worldview this year, where the mission is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to share the good news that all people can be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ.

I'm David Wheaton, the host, and our website is thechristianworldview.org. Well, so glad you joined us this weekend before Christmas here on the Christian worldview radio program. Hope you and your loved ones are having a meaningful time remembering the coming commemoration of the birth of Christ. Over the last many decades, almost every sector of life in America, whether it's the public schools or government, media, corporate America, just to name a few, have incrementally and systematically eliminated Christmas for what it is.

The commemoration of the birth of the Son of God and the Savior of mankind, Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas is chastised in favor of happy holidays, Christmas break in schools is now winter break, and Christmas trees are, well, festive trees. Now all this may seem sort of insignificant, a matter of being quote inclusive and being quote non-offensive in our pluralistic society, which also includes Jews and Muslims and non-believers and atheists.

But there is actually something much greater here than just altering speech. The war to remove Christianity from the season is really the bigger ongoing war to remove Christianity from America. So this weekend on the Christian worldview, we're going to discuss this war against Christmas and Christianity. We're also going to discuss how Christianity Today, their latest editorial by editor Mark Galley entitled Trump Should Be Removed From Office, that actually provides aid and comfort to those seeking to eradicate the faith that did make America great.

So hope you're staying tuned with us today here on the Christian worldview. I read an article this week, a column by radio host Dennis Prager. And if you've listened to this program, you know, we've talked about Dennis Prager in the past. He's Jewish. He's not a believer. He doesn't believe in Christ as the Son of God, but he has a conservative worldview. And therefore there is some crossover in what he believes with a Christian worldview. And he wrote a column this week on this issue of the war on Christmas. And he starts out by saying many on the left, and he makes a distinction between the left and liberals. Liberals were people who are, you know, slightly more liberal than Republicans and so forth. But the left is more of a socialistic Marxist type worldview that's starting to take a strong foothold in this country.

So he makes a distinction there. He says many in the left have been warring on Christmas for more than a generation. Leftists always deny there is a war on Christmas and mock those who claim there is. There is a mind blowing chutzpah, he says, or lack of self awareness when people do something, and yet deny that they are actually doing it.

But the evidence is overwhelming. The left has stopped schools from calling Christmas vacations by that name, the name schools called them throughout American history into the last couple of decades. Almost every non Christian school in America now calls Christmas vacation quote winter break. Fewer and fewer Americans, stores, companies or media wish people a quote Merry Christmas, preferring the neutered Happy Holidays, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of Christmas Americans actually celebrate Christmas. And in but one generation, virtually every American business has gone from having a quote Christmas party to having a holiday party. Now having written in the past about the falsehood of Merry Christmas or Christmas vacation and Christmas party not being inclusive, I will not reiterate the point here, he writes suffice it to say that it takes a breathtaking level of narcissism for a non Christian to be offended by mentions of Christmas, and a breathtaking level of meanness to seek to deprive deprive the vast majority of fellow Americans of the public mention of their holiday.

That's how he starts out his column by Dennis Prager. Now I was thinking about that, you know, saying Merry Christmas and Christmas party and Christmas break and so forth. I mean, if someone says Happy Hanukkah to me or Happy Kwanzaa to me, I mean, what would I do? I'd say, well, thank you for your well wishes, but I'm a Christian, I celebrate Christmas. There's no reason for me to be offended.

It's just the person misidentified me as a Jew and okay, whatever, I'm not going to go on holding it against the person and, and try to make sure that person never says Happy Hanukkah to anyone else. It's not imposing Christianity on anyone for stores to say, Merry Christmas, or for schools to call it Christmas break, that that is the history of this country. And history plays a very important role place in what countries do. I looked on Wikipedia said Christianity is the most adhered to religion in the United States is professing Christianity, with 65% of polled Americans, adults identifying themselves as Christian in this year in 2019, 65%. Now notice this, this is down from 85%. That's 20% lower than in 1980. And 81%, sorry, 1990, 81% in 2001, and 12% lower than the 78% reported for 2012. That is actually very, very significant. Of course, you know, 70-80% of people professing to be Christians doesn't mean they're actually born again, truly saved believers. But there's a profession there. And this is exactly what the war on Christmas is all about lowering that number and making it unmentioned and non influential in the public square.

That's the goal of the left to eradicate Christianity, because it stands in complete opposition to what they believe. And they've been very successful. Look at those numbers. 65% this year, as opposed to 85% 30 years ago, that's a 20% drop.

That's huge. Let's go on with the article from Dennis Prager. He continues, I want to try to explain why this has happened, why they stopped, why there's been a war on Christmas. The inclusive argument is so absurd. I'm a religious Jew and cannot even fathom being offended or feeling quote not included by an invitation to a Christmas party, that there have to be other or at least additional reasons for the left's neutering of Christmas.

He says there are. One is that the left sees in Christianity its primary ideological and political enemy. That's a very important line that is read there.

I'm going to get back to that in a second. One is that the left sees in Christianity, its primary ideological and political enemy, and it is right to do so, Dennis Prager writes. The only large scale organized opposition to the left comes from the traditional Christian community, whether evangelical Protestants, traditional conservative Catholics, faithful Mormons and Orthodox Jews. Leftism is a secular religion, and it deems all other religions immoral and false.

That is also a very important line. Leftism is a secular religion, and it deems all other religions immoral and false. From Karl Marx to Vladimir Lenin to George Soros, the left has regarded religion in general and Christianity in particular as the quote opiate of the masses, a drug that dulls the masses into accepting their oppressed condition and thereby keeps them from engaging in revolution. The left understands that the more people believe in Christianity, and he puts in Judaism, the less chance the left has to gain power. The left doesn't concern himself.

This is interesting. The left doesn't concern itself with Islam, because it perceives Islam as an ally in its war against Western civilization. And I'll add this against Christianity, because Islam wants to take over the world, and Christianity is an obstacle to do that. And because leftists do not have the courage to confront Islam, they know that confronting religious Muslims can be fatal, whereas confronting religious Christians entails no risks. That's the first reason right there that Christianity is a primarily ideological and political enemy of the left. That's number one why there's a war on Christmas and Christianity.

Number two, he says, secondly, the left regards Christianity in America as an intrinsic part of American national identity, an identity it wishes to erode in favor of a quote world citizen identity. The left has not only warred against Christmas, it has sought to undermine other national identity holidays. For any number of reasons, not only including the left, Americans no longer celebrate George Washington's birthday, it has been replaced by the utterly meaningless President's Day, or they don't celebrate Abraham Lincoln's birthday as they did when I was a child. The only American celebrated in national holiday is guess who?

Martin Luther King Jr., which is acceptable to the left since he is not white. One proof of the left desire to undermine specifically American national holidays is its war in the two remaining specifically American holidays, Independence Day and Thanksgiving. The left deems Thanksgiving a historical fraud and an immoral celebration of genocide of the American Indians. We went over this a few weeks ago in the program, which is what American children are now taught in many American public schools. We played that soundbite a few weeks ago about Thanksgiving, you know, undermining all the European settlers came over and it was about genocide and killing off the Indians.

They didn't exactly say that, but that was the the intent of saying that. And Happy Thanksgiving has been replaced by Happy Holidays or Turkey Day or Football in America Day. As for Independence Day, the New York Times is leading the undermining of that celebration of American birthday by declaring the real founding of America was 1619, the year the New York Times asserts of African slaves first arrived on the American continent. You can read and do a search for this article online by Dennis Prager this week.

I think it was called something like the war on Christmas or something like that. Just do a search for his most recent column. Now, what he said there at the very top of what I read, the left sees in Christianity, its primary ideological and political enemy, and it is right to do so.

It's a very important line which he wrote there. That is the war taking place right now and it has been taking place for a long time that will determine America's future. Notably, Christians aren't waging war to coercively eradicate the left, but the left is waging war to coercively eradicate Christianity from this country.

So the question is why? Well, the answer is very simple, because the principles of Christianity, the belief in God, biblical principles of morality, the belief that were made in God's image and the right to life, the principle of work and incentive, and God's definition of a family, are completely opposite to the religious beliefs of the left. The left is skeptical that God exists or guess is all. They believe in a perverse kind of morality. They don't believe in the right to life, of course. Their highest sacrament is to kill unborn children. They believe in a welfare state, not an incentive to work, and they redefine the family. Their values are completely opposite to Christianity. And this war is not primarily political, but it's primarily fundamentally religious.

It's humanism or leftism, where it's man-based worldview, versus Christianity, a Christian or biblical-based worldview. Now it gets manifested, partly in politics, because Christian principles have largely influenced the Republican Party. That's why the Republican Party is for limited government and the right to life and basically the mostly God's definition of marriage and free markets and nationalism and religious liberty. That's because Christianity has influenced the Republican Party, and the left is just for the opposite. But then along comes Christianity Today this week, supposedly Christian publication, writing an article about Trump being removed from office.

We'll discuss that next, right here on the Christian Real View. I'm David Wheaton. David Wheaton here to tell you about My Boy Ben, a story of love, loss, and grace.

Ben was a yellow lab and inseparable companion at a stage of my life when I was single and competing on the professional tennis tour. I invite you to enter into the story and its tapestry of relationships with Ben, my aging parents, with a childhood friend I would finally marry, and ultimately with God, who caused all things, even the hard things, to work together for good. Order the book for your friend who needs to hear about God's grace in the gospel, or the one who has gone through a difficult trial or loss, or just a dog lover in your life. Signed and personalized copies are only available at myboyben.com or by calling 1-888-646-2233.

That's 1-888-646-2233 or myboyben.com. The mission of the Christian worldview is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to share the good news that all people can be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. For when Christians have a stronger faith and when unbelievers come to saving faith, lives and families and churches, even communities, are changed for the glory of God. The Christian worldview is a listener-supported ministry. You can help us in our mission to impact hearts and minds by making a donation of any amount or becoming a monthly partner.

All donations are tax-deductible. You can give online at thechristianworldview.org or by calling us toll-free 1-888-646-2233. When you give, we'd like to thank you by sending you a current resource.

Monthly partners can choose to receive resources throughout the year. Call 1-888-646-2233 or go to thechristianworldview.org. Thank you for your support. Thanks for joining us today here on the Christian worldview radio program. I'm David Wheaton, the host. Our website is thechristianworldview.org.

Now just a quick announcement. There's some bad news here about our website. It is completely down. It's completely blank if you go there. Our web hosting company and others are working hard to rectify this. They don't know why this has happened.

It'd be very interesting to find out why this has happened, but we don't know yet. It's completely off the internet at this point, so we're trying to get it back up as soon as we can, and when it is, you can just go back and check in the next day or so probably, and hopefully, Lord willing, it'll be back up, and you can go there to get resources, of course, and to support the Christian worldview here at the end of the year, and we so much appreciate that. We've been getting a lot of response from our end of the year letter, and so we're just a special thank you to all of you who have reached out and supported us, both in encouraging notes and ordering resources and making donations.

It just makes a gigantic difference, so thank you very much. Today, again, we're talking about how the war on Christmas is the war for America's future. If you just joined us in the first segment, we read just a portion of an article by conservative radio host Dennis Prager, who's actually Jewish, talking about the war on Christmas, and one of his points in that column was that the left sees in Christianity its primary ideological and political enemy, and it is right to do so. There's a war here, and it's fundamentally a religious war. It's not fundamentally a political war, although we see it manifested a little bit in politics because that's what gets covered in the news, but there's a level deeper than that.

In the deepest fundamental level, it's between humanism, a man-based, Satan-inspired religion, where man is God, versus Christianity, where God is God, and that's where this huge war, this battle is taking place. So with that as context, along this week comes an article by Christianity Today, and their editor, Mark Galli, and he writes an article that is entitled, let me get the exact title of it here, it's Trump Should Be Removed From Office. I wonder what this column is going to be about.

He says this, let's grant this to the president. This is the main article on Christianity Today. It was covered by every news organization. It was the top featured story on the Drudge Report.

It was covered everywhere. Let's grant this to the president, he writes in his column. The Democrats have had it out for him from day one, and therefore nearly everything they do is under a cloud of partisan suspicion. This has led many to suspect not only motives, but facts in these recent impeachment hearings.

And no, Mr. Trump did not have a serious opportunity to offer his side of the story in the House hearings on impeachment. Well, you know by now that President Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives this week on a purely partisan vote. Not one Republican in the House of Representatives voted for to have Trump impeached, and actually all Democrats except for three, I believe two voted against impeaching him and one voted present.

Okay, purely a partisan vote in the House this week. And now they're deciding whether they're even going to send the articles of impeachment over to the Senate to see whether it will be voted on there will certainly go down in the Republican majority Senate. But the point I mean, Trump's not going to some people thought Trump is now going to be removed from office. This doesn't mean he's removed from office. It's a it's a similar type of thing that happened to Bill Clinton back in the 90s when he was impeached in the house, but not removed from office in the Senate. But after that first paragraph there, he said, this is purely a cloud of partisan suspicion. Mr. Trump didn't have a serious opportunity to offer his side of the story. But so he's going to conclude that he should be removed from office because of a partisan vote. Okay, let's go on with the article.

But the facts in this instance are unambiguous. Here's his charge. The President of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader Ukraine president to harass and discredit one of the president's political opponents. This is not only a violation of the Constitution, more importantly, it is profoundly immoral. The reason many are not shocked about this is that this president has dumbed down the idea of morality in his administration. He has hired and fired a number of people who are now convicted criminals. Okay, he himself has admitted to immoral actions in business and his relationship with women, about which he remains proud. His Twitter feed alone, with its habitual string of mischaracterizations, lies and slanders is a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused.

This is Christian and today writing this. Trump's evangelical supporters have pointed to his Supreme Court nominees, his defense of religious liberty, and his stewardship of the economy, among other things as achievements that justify their support of the president. We believe the impeachment hearings have made it absolutely clear in a way the Mueller investigation that partisan investigation did not that President Trump has abused his authority for personal gain and betrayed his constitutional oath. The impeachment hearings have illuminated the president's moral deficiencies for all to see.

Whether Mr. Trump should be removed from office by the Senate or by popular vote next election, this is a matter of prudential judgment. That he should be removed, we believe, is not a matter of partisan loyalties but loyalty to the creator of the Ten Commandments. To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record, we might say this.

Remember who you are and whom you serve. Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump's immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don't reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come?

Can we say with a straight face that abortion is a great evil that cannot be tolerated and, with the same straight face, say that the bent and broken character of our nation's leader doesn't really matter in the end? Now, he said a lot more than this in his column. You can link to it. You can't get it on the Christian Rule View right now because the website's down, but you can find it online.

It's everywhere online. Now, let me just say this in response to those first couple paragraphs I read there from the column. Christians would love a moral leader of high character and personal rectitude.

We love nothing more than that. No president, though, has ever been impeached for being, quote, immoral. However, Christianity today is defining that. Bill Clinton, he was impeached for lying to a, I believe, a grand jury lying under oath in obstruction of justice. And I read in Wikipedia, the charges stem from a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Clinton by Paula Jones and from Clinton's testimony denying that he had engaged in a sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. He lied to a grand jury, lied under oath, and obstructed justice. Trump, they said the charges were that he had obstruction of Congress, not obstruction of justice, but obstruction of Congress. And the second charge is fleeing my memory right now.

What was it? I'll think of it as we go on here in the program today, but none of them, none of the charges against him were actually what the Constitution states for having a president impeached, which is treason, trying to undermine and defeat your own country, bribery or high crimes and misdemeanors. None of the charges for Trump had anything to do with those impeachable charges laid out in the Constitution. Now, interestingly, Mark Galley of Christianity today, as far as I could tell, has not written about the morality of any of the Democrat candidates for president. I've never seen a column by him on Pete Buttigieg, who commits what the Bible calls abominable acts with another man on a regular basis. Or Elizabeth Warren, who faked her heritage to get ahead in her career, faked being having an Indian DNA. Or Joe Biden, who actually admittedly and bragged about threatening to withhold aid to Ukraine unless a prosecutor was fired, who was investigating the oil and gas company on which his son Hunter was getting paid tons of money. I've never heard Mark Galley write about that kind of immorality. And I wonder why.

I mean, listen to what Joe Biden said here about this situation where he brags about firing this prosecutor who is going to be looking into the company on which upon which his son Hunter had no experience in the oil and gas industry in Ukraine was on their board. I remember going over convincing our team or others to convincing us that we should be providing for loan guarantees. And I went over, I guess, the 12th, 13th time to keep. And I was supposed to announce that there was another billion dollar loan guarantee. And I had gotten a commitment from Poroshenko and from Yatsenyuk that they would take action against the state prosecutor.

And they didn't. So they said they had they were walking out to press conference and I said, I'm not going to or we're not going to give you the billion dollars. They said, you have no authority. You're not the president. The president said, I said, call him. I said, I'm telling you, you're not getting a billion dollars. I said, you're not getting a billion. I'm going to be leaving here. I think it was what, six hours. I look, I believe in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you're not getting the money. Oh, son of a.

Got fired and they put in place someone who was solid at the time. Where is the Christianity Today column on that? Or Pete Buttigieg or Elizabeth Warren or Joe Biden or or what about Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama? Where are the columns about their immorality and whatever, however they define that? I think they have a different version of immorality, different definition of immorality than the Bible does. All of these people that I just mentioned ardently support the killing of the unborn.

It's a sacrament to them. All of them support the homosexual and transgender revolution in this country which seeks to criminalize basically criminalize Christian speech and Christianity. But Trump gets the article about the one who's immoral, like he's more immoral than they are.

In America, we have two political choices between two political parties and it's all comparative. The question is, are the policies of the left or the policies of the right closer to a biblical world view? That's the choice for the Christian.

When we come back, we'll talk more about that when we return to the Christian worldview. Social justice is a gospel issue. This has become the mantra of many evangelicals. Rectifying perceived inequities of race, gender, sexuality, poverty, immigration amongst others is considered a top priority. But what exactly is social justice? Is working for social justice a biblical mandate and application of the gospel? Cal Beisner has written an insightful booklet entitled Social Justice, How Good Intentions Undermine Justice and Gospel. Also included in this revised 44 page booklet is a copy of the just released statement on social justice and the gospel. You can order this social justice booklet for a donation of any amount to the Christian worldview.

Go to thechristianworldview.org or call 1-888-646-2233 or write to box 401 Excelsior Minnesota 55331. Thanks for joining us today here on the Christian worldview radio program as we discuss how the war on Christmas is actually the war for America's future. And how Christianity today in the recent covered everywhere opinion editorial piece by Mark Galley, their editor in chief, on why Trump must be removed from office actually aids and abets the other side, the left, in that war against Christianity. The left gets empowered they are going to do whatever they can to diminish Christianity in America. So he's aiding and abetting them by saying Trump's removed from office because he is right now Trump is the man who is not the only man, but he's one of the reasons the left can't have their way because he has political power.

Now, Franklin Graham wrote a response to this, this article by Christianity Today, which I'm going to read in just a minute. But I was saying before the break that we have just two choices between parties in America. It can vote third party. But the reality is that one of two parties wins in this country. That's that's the reality. And until a third or fourth party can be viable, the only two viable winners in this country are going to be a Democrat or Republican. So the question is, are the policies of the left or the policies of the right, which is represented now by Donald Trump closer to a biblical worldview?

And there's absolutely no question about that. While the right is not perfectly aligned with God and his word by any stretch, the left stands in complete ideological, as Dennis Prager said, opposition to God and his word. He didn't say the God and his word part, but that's that's what it is. I'm not going to sit here and defend Donald Trump as a person. I will say, though, that for being a pretty arrogant, narcissistic, self-aggrandizing and even sometimes a bully, and I don't believe he's a born again Christian for one second, that Donald Trump has remarkably conservative policy positions, whether it's on morality or the economy or family or Israel or whatever. I mean, for being someone who is not doesn't seem to be very, let's say, principled, conservative personally, his public policies actually are fairly conservative. That's sort of something I didn't really recognize when Trump was running for office. He was probably one of my least favorite of all the Republican candidates coming out. I thought with his kind of his personal behavior that he usually people with when they have personal behavior like that, they usually govern away their public policies are usually more liberal than that.

But it's he's been sort of a paradox that way. And finally, for Christianity today to believe the partisan show trial that we just saw in the House of Representatives and the impeachment hearings leading up to it. I mean, why would I mean, it's completely partisan. Why would you think that this is anything other than a partisan show trial? It's just aiding and abetting the left.

Only a fellow leftist would take that particular position, not be able to discern through what is taking place by Adam Schiff and Gerald Nadler and Nancy Pelosi and others who who did this show trial to try to make up charges that weren't even impeachable and fences to get the president impeached in the House. Now, as I mentioned, Franklin Graham immediately wrote a response to this Mark Galley Christianity Today column on Franklin's Facebook page. And he says this Christianity Today released an editorial stating that President Trump should be removed from office. And they invoked my father's name. He did because in the Galley article, I didn't read that portion of it talked about Christianity Today being founded by Billy Graham. Therefore, you can trust us, that kind of thing. You know, he's they invoke my father's name, which Franklin says, I suppose to try to bring legitimacy to their statements.

Exactly. So I feel it is important for me to respond. Yes, my father Billy Graham founded Christianity Today, but no, he would not agree with their opinion piece.

In fact, he would be very disappointed. I have not listened to this important here. I have not previously shared who my father voted for in this past election.

But because of this article, I feel it is necessary to share it now. My father knew Donald Trump. He believed in Donald Trump, and he voted for Donald Trump. Billy Graham voted for Donald Trump.

He believed that Donald J. Trump was the man for this hour in history for our nation. For Christianity Today to side with the Democrat Party in a totally partisan attack on the president is unfathomable. Franklin Graham writes, Christianity Today failed to acknowledge that not one single Republican voted with the Democrats to impeach the president. He says, I know a number of Republicans in Congress, and many of them are strong Christians. If the president were guilty of what the Democrats claimed, these Republicans would have joined with the Democrats to impeach him.

And I'll agree with that. If there was really an issue here, there will be some really convicted, principled Republicans in the house that would have voted for impeachment, but not one did. But the Democrats were not even unanimous in their own side.

Two voted against impeachment and one voted president. This impeachment was politically motivated, 100 percent partisan. Why would Christianity Today choose to take the side of the Democrat left, whose only goal is to discredit and smear the name of a sitting president? They want readers to believe the Democrat leadership to believe the Democrat leadership rather than believe the president of the United States. And look at all the president talks about the presence that has accomplished in a short time.

You're just going to skim through this quickly. He's the most pro-life president in modern history. He's been a staunch defender of religious freedom at home and abroad.

He's appointed conservative judges. And then he criticizes Christianity Today for saying, should we ignore that as Christians? Christianity Today said it's time to call a spade a spade. Last few sentences here.

The spade is this. Christianity Today has been used by the left for their political agenda. It's obvious that Christianity Today has moved to the left and is representing the elite liberal wing of evangelicalism. Is President Trump guilty of sin? Graham writes. Of course he is, as we're all past presidents and as each one of us are, including myself, he writes. Therefore, let's pray for this president as he continues to lead the affairs of our nation. That from Franklin Graham on his Facebook page.

So let's come full circle now. How does this all fit into the war on Christmas, which is the war for America's future? Back to Dennis Prager's first point, the left sees in Christianity its primary ideological and political enemy, and it is right to do so. Even though Trump is a is no born again biblical Christian. I know he's a professing Christian, but I don't see evidence of that.

This is that this is just my opinion, because I don't know the man personally, but my opinion, I'll give my opinion on this. I don't see the fact that he's a born again biblical Christian. OK, maybe you disagree with that one, but he somewhat surprisingly advocates that for policy positions that Christians, I think, should support or at least he's not doing what the left does.

He isn't trying to actively reject God in his word at least 90 percent of the time. So those on the left hate Trump because they represent what they hate God and his authority over the affairs of life. And that is the war on America. And will the secular and religious left prevail in that war or will traditional Christian America prevail? The war on Christmas is that exact same war. Will the secular and religious left prevail and eradicate Christmas? Try to take any mention of Christmas out of our society?

They've been very good at doing so. Or will Christians prevail? And I'll say this, I think the secular left is probably very likely just knowing the sin nature of mankind and the history of how nations, the progress of nations, I think the secular left probably will sadly prevail in this country. But let me tell you who's going to win in the end.

Jesus Christ will be victorious in the end. The lies of Satan bring strong delusions on man. The left is able to couch their wicked and vile policies to make them sound good and noble and fair and reasonable. And evangelicals like Mark Galley and Christianity Today and this evangelical elite who talk about, well, you know, Christians shouldn't side with one party or the other. Remember the Tim Keller article in the New York Times sort of said, you know, Christians shouldn't be associated with one party. Well, what is he trying to say there? That Christians can vote for the policies of the left that stands in complete opposition to God and his word. I can understand the Christian who says I can't vote before that.

I still don't agree with that position. And again, the political, the political is only the surface battle. That's the one that we can see. It's the battle beneath that. It's the religious war that's beneath that.

That's where the battle really is. I want to read from Psalm 2 that describes what this war is like. Psalm 2 says, Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing?

And that's what leftists are doing in this country right now. And those who who fellowship and abet them, they're devising vain things. The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together.

Who do they take counsel together? Against the Lord and against his anointed one. And they say, Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us. In other words, let's get out. Let's get God out of the way. He's enslaving. We don't want his authority.

We don't want him. Verse four, Psalm 2, But he who sits in the heavens, God, he laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. Then he will speak to them in his anger and terrify them in his fury, saying, But as for me, I have installed my King Jesus upon Zion, my holy mountain. I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord.

He said to me, You are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will surely give the nations as your inheritance, your son.

That's Jesus' inheritance. And the very ends of the earth is your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall shatter them like earthenware. Now, therefore, O kings of the earth, show discernment. Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling.

Do homage. In other words, bow down to the Son, that he may not become angry and you may perish in the way, for his wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in him. And I'll add, in him is Jesus Christ. There's the war and there is who is going to win the war.

And we all have a choice of which side we want to be on. We'll talk about that next here in the last segment of the year on The Christian Rule of Your Radio program. David Wheaton here to tell you about My Boy Ben, a story of love, loss and grace. Ben was a yellow lab and inseparable companion at a stage in my life when I was single and competing on the professional tennis tour. I invite you to enter into the story and its tapestry of relationships with Ben, my aging parents, with a childhood friend I would finally marry and ultimately with God, who caused all things, even the hard things, to work together for good. Order the book for your friend who needs to hear about God's grace in the gospel or the one who has gone through a difficult trial or loss or just the dog lover in your life. Signed and personalized copies are only available at myboyben.com or by calling 1-888-646-2233.

That's 1-888-646-2233 or myboyben.com. There's an abundance of resources available in Christian bookstores and online, but the sad reality is that many of them, even some of the most popular, do not lead to a sound and strong faith. A key aim of The Christian Worldview is to identify and offer resources that are biblically faithful and deepen your walk with God. In our online store, we have a wide range of resources for all ages, adult and children's books and DVDs, Bibles and devotionals, unique gifts, and more. So browse our store at thechristianworldview.org and find enriching resources for yourself, family, friends, small group, or church.

You can also order by calling our office toll free at 1-888-646-2233. That's 1-888-646-2233 or visit thechristianworldview.org. This is the final segment of the day, actually the final segment of the year here on The Christian Worldview radio program.

Next week we'll play a previously aired program the weekend after Christmas. And again, hopefully our website will be up soon if you're going there and planning to get some resources and supporting The Christian Worldview here at the end of the year. How the War on Christmas is actually the war for America's future. And this war is a war between humanism, which is a man-based Satan-inspired religion. That's the religion of man, and it's a war between that and Christianity, which is a God-based religion, so to speak, God-sourced belief. That's where the war really is. And we have a choice, every person has a choice, what side of the war, what team, so to speak, you're going to be on, what army you're going to be on. And by the way, being a Republican and believing in conservative principles does not necessarily make you, you may be helping a little bit on the side of the principles of God, but that doesn't save you. Republicanism doesn't mean regeneration or being born again.

There's a big difference there. And so at the end here of the program today, I'm going to play Hark the Herald Angels Sing as we read Luke chapter two, starting in verse eight, where it says, in the same region, there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terribly frightened.

But the angel said to them, do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people. For today in the city of David, there has been born for you a savior who is Christ the Lord. That right there is the meaning and the reason of this season, that God sent his own son into the world to be the savior of mankind, to be the savior of you. If you repent of your sin and believe in who Jesus Christ is, the son of God, and what he did for you on the cross, he took the punishment that you deserve to pay for your sin. You deserve the death penalty for your sin, but Jesus Christ, because he loved you so much, took the penalty for you so that you could be forgiven and made right with God. That is the good news of Christmas. And I hope you make that decision to repent and to believe in Jesus as your savior and Lord, because that will not only change your life, but that will determine, the Bible says, where you spend eternity. The final verse to the song we're playing says, born that man no more may die, born to raise the son of earth, born to give them second birth.

Jesus was born to offer you second birth, that you might be born again so you can avoid God's just judgment and instead have God justify you and forgive you of all your sin. That is truly the great news. And there's that war. What side are you going to be on? We all have a choice. What we're going to do with that message, that revelation, that message of the gospel. Are you going to repent of your sin and put your faith, not knowing your own good works, that you've gone to church, you've been a relatively good person, or you give the charity, you've been baptized as an adult or a child. No, you don't put any trust or faith in that as making you right with God. That doesn't remove your sins. What removes your sins is putting faith in what Jesus did for you on the cross. It's faith alone in Christ alone, not in your own perceived acts of goodness. Those are the evidence of saving faith, not the means of gaining it.

So once you do that, you've gone from being on that army of humanism. Satan's side, you're a child of Satan when you don't have him put your faith in Christ. That's what the Bible says. But God adopts you into his family, and he takes you as one of his own. And he'll never forsake you or un-adopt you. Once you enter into God's family by faith in Christ, you're never un-adopted.

That's incredibly good news. You can't lose your salvation. And so I hope as we enter Christmas, that is the reason for the season that God sent his Son to be the Savior of mankind. He can be not only the Savior of mankind, but he can be your Savior. If you simply respond in faith to what Jesus said, repent and believe in the gospel, the good news about who Jesus is and what he did on the cross for you.

And I hope you will do that today so you can be right with God and be forgiven of your sin and receive eternal life with God in heaven. I want to thank here at the end of the year, so many folks who have really contributed and helped so much to this radio program. I want to start with our listeners. We have many listeners who write to us, who listen every week, who encourage us, who pray for us.

And just, just, I think, not keep us going. I don't want to say that because I think it's by God's grace that this radio program, I know it's by God's grace that this radio program has been on the air for now 15 years and that we've had the support to be able to do so. So, but we couldn't do it, of course, without listeners who support this program.

So thank you to our listeners and supporters. I also want to thank our board of directors and our volunteers for this ministry. The Christian Rule View is a volunteer ministry nonprofit organization, and we have an excellent board who is of the same mind. That's so important for an organization.

That's where organizations stray, Christian organizations stray when there's not a like-mindedness on the principles of God's word in leadership. And so I'm just thankful for a board that is like-minded in our faith and beliefs. And for volunteers, like my wife Brody, who does so much of the administration behind the scenes, and Sue, who does all our resource fulfillment. Larry, who does all our phone calls. And of course, Bobby, our studio director in Dallas, who's been with us for, I was asking this morning, how many years you've been with us, Bobby? It's been eight or nine years that he's been faithfully week by week, helping so much with this program and the podcast and so much else. So thank you to all of them for doing so much to help this program be whatever it is. We strive to do the program in a way that's honoring to God, to just being biblically sound and accurate to sharpening people's biblical worldview and being clear and accurate about the gospel and asking and pleading with people to forsake their old way and put their faith in Christ.

So thank you to all of you who've in some way contributed or listened to this program. We're looking forward to a Christmas here again in just a few days from now. And our family, as we celebrate Christmas, we really try to focus on what the reason for Christmas is.

It's the coming of the Son of God into this world. And I hope your family takes time this Christmas in the midst of what can be a very distracting and busy season to read the Christmas story. Read what Christmas is all about in one of the gospels.

Read the birth of Christ. That would be a very meaningful element to your Christmas celebration. I hope you do it. Thank you again for another wonderful year of the Christian worldview. May God give us more according to his will.

And we wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas. Until next time, we urge you to think biblically and live accordingly. And you can start doing that when you repent and believe in the gospel that Jesus Christ is who he says he is, the Son of God and Savior of mankind. We hope today's broadcast turned your heart toward God, his word and his son. To order a CD copy of today's program or sign up for our free weekly email or to find out how you can be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, go to our website, the Christian worldview dot org, or call us toll free at one triple eight six four six twenty two thirty three. The Christian worldview is a weekly one hour radio program that is furnished by the Overcomer Foundation and is supported by listeners and sponsors request one of our current resources with your donation of any amount. Go to the Christian worldview dot org or call us toll free at one triple eight six four six twenty two thirty three or write to us at Box four zero one Excelsior, Minnesota, five five three three one. That's Box four zero one Excelsior, Minnesota, five five three three one. Thanks for listening to the Christian worldview. Until next time, think biblically and live accordingly.