FRI HR 1 122923

Everybody's choosy about something. It might be your favorite snack. Two scoops of rocky road, please. Your style. Those earrings look amazing on you.

Or the things you like to do with your best friend. You can be choosy when it comes to getting a COVID-19 vaccine, too. If you're thinking about getting an updated vaccine, there's more than one type available.

You can find out more at WeDoVaccines.com. This message was brought to you by Novavax. I am Pastor Ernie Sanders, the voice of the Christian resistance. Stay tuned. My radio broadcast, What's Right, What's Left, is coming up right now.

Coming to you live from Independence, Ohio. We change our life for the better in many different ways. Heard around the world every Monday through Friday. Pastor Sanders is always years ahead of the rest of the media, telling you exactly what they're covering up.

This is What's Right, What's Left. I tune in every chance I get to hear exactly what's going on with the voice of the Christian resistance. Unabashedly cutting through the rhetoric by exposing the hard topics facing our society and world.

A lot of the other news media don't pick up the news items like he does. And bring into light the enemies of freedom who are out to steal your rights, your children, and enslaving you. You really get the truth out. I can tune into your show and hear the unvarnished truth.

Thank you. This is What's Right, What's Left with Pastor Ernie Sanders. John, are you there? Good evening and welcome, everyone.

We've got a little bit of a glitch there. This is Randy Gaye. John, are you there? Joe? I'm here. Hello. Okay, go ahead, Joe.

Take it away. Yeah, I was. We couldn't hear you.

Most of us were broadcasting. Anyway, good evening. Welcome to the program. This is Pastor Joe Larson sitting in for my teacher, mentor, and friend, Pastor Ernie, who's been out all week with the flu. And we've asked you to keep him in prayer, and hopefully he's getting some well-deserved rest and recovering.

Didn't speak to him today, but he was able to start eating yesterday. So we've got a special program tonight. We've got Johnny on the board.

Johnny's going to be our engineer tonight, trying to keep us out of trouble. And with me, I've got two co-hosts, my friend Randy Gaye and your old friend of the ministry, Chaplain John McKernan. John, are you there? I'm here. Hello, and God bless you and all our listeners. Hello.

Welcome. And Randy, I know you're there. We started talking over each other. Oh, yeah. Be blessed. No stress. Yeah, we lost you for a second.

All right. Today is the 29th of December, and so this program will also be played again New Year's Day. So it's kind of the last show of the year and kind of the start of the New Year's. But I had a question. Everybody's been busy saying I'm hearing more Happy New Year than I heard Merry Christmas. The question I had was, what's the best way to secure a Happy New Year? And I guess I asked that to Randy earlier and you had a comment.

What was it, Randy? Well, come on. I don't know how there would be any light, life, et cetera, and so forth in this world without Jesus. Jesus is the reason for the season and for happiness. And let's call it joy is better than happiness anyway.

Right. So basically, the idea would be to keep Christ in Christmas and then keep Christ in our heart and lives all the New Year. So I thought for Bible study, we're going to do kind of a Christmas thing.

Out here in Missouri, we did kind of a special service. It was called Decorating the Christman Tree. And what that is, it's a Christmas tree that has nothing but decorations that are biblical, that point to our Lord, that have to do with the Lord Jesus and his word, his scripture. And we turned it into a Bible study and it makes a wonderful Bible study. But it's something that you parents and grandparents can do because all the decorations we used, we made.

They were all handmade and you get an interesting variety. But the idea was as the decorations were made, you can teach the children or grandchildren what those decorations mean. And then we did have a special service that is we decorated a tree in the church. We placed these on and read from the scripture according to the decoration going on the tree. So I thought this might be a wonderful idea to give the listeners out there to maybe start a new family traditions, maybe to spend some time with your children and grandchildren making Christmas decorations for next year and starting a new family tradition in a new year.

So here we go with the Christman Tree, Keeping Christ in Christmas. And what is going to happen, I'm going to start and read the first one and then we're going to go down. All of us are going to read a section and we're going to start with the decoration scrolls. Now the scrolls stand for prophecy. The prophecy, you make a scroll, you know what those look like.

And start with Isaiah 53 verse 1 through 9. Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He hath no form or comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him.

He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our grief, suffered our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, and he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of peace, our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray, and we have turned every one to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb.

So he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, because he had done no violence, neither was there any deceit in his mouth. And Randy is going to tell you about the lights. He's going to help place lights on the Christmas tree. Absolutely, and you know we talked about that yesterday very briefly about Martin Luther and putting lights on the tree. But this is John 12, 46. I am come, a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And then 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 4 through 6. In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, least the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servant, for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And then we've got other decorations coming from John.

I'll let it go then. He's going to do angels. Yeah, that'll be Hebrews chapter 1 verses 4 through 9. Being made so much better than angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day I have begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he bringeth forth, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels, he saith, who maketh his angels spirits and ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son, he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom.

Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above all thy fellows. All right, and then we place shepherds on the tree.

Randy? Sure, I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd, and this is the Lord Jesus, of course. I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. But he that is a hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, yet the wolf cometh, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of my sheep, of mine, excuse me, as the Father knoweth me, even to know I am the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.

And that was from John chapter 10. Now, along with the sheep, we put on the shepherd's staff. And actually there's not too much in scripture about it, but the staff was used in about three different ways. The first was to draw sheep together into an intimate relationship. This was of special use during lambing season, because in a large flock there are dozens or scores of lambs being born at the same time. It's easy for the ewe to lose her lamb in the confusion, and the shepherd has to make sure the right lamb stays, gets with the right ewe. Second, the staff was used to reach out and grab a lamb for close inspection. So it proceeded this idea of passing under the rod, the shepherd hooks it by the neck or leg, and leads it to where it can be examined for its health or an injury. And third, the staff was used in guiding sheep when they're moving along, because, well, sheep tend to wander, kind of like we do.

They always think the pasture is greener somewhere else, and they start to wander. And the rod suggests sterner measures, and is also used as a defensive or defensive weapon with which the shepherd protected his sheep. And we know in John 16, 13, where Jesus told his shepherds that he would never leave them to fend for themselves, that he would provide for them, and that he would always be there to take care of them. So then we have, John is going to tell us about the sheep.

Yeah, and that is John 10, verses 7 through 11. Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep do not hear them. I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and should go in and out and find pasture. The thief cometh, but not to steal, to kill, and to destroy.

But I came that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd given his life for the sheep. All right, and then we put on the tree wise men. And wise men comes, we use the Bible verse from Matthew 2, chapter 2, verse 1 through 6. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born king of the Jews?

For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them, Where does Christ should be born? And they said unto him, Well, in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou, Bethlehem, and the land of Judah, are not the least among the princes of Judah. For out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel.

So then we put on the tree gifts. Then Herod, when he heard privately. Do you want to give the Bible verse first?

Sure, oh yeah. I'm following Joe, we're going to Matthew 2, and we're going 7 through 12. And so we're just going on in the same passage. Then Herod, when he had privately called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go, and search diligently for the young child, and when you have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also. And when they had heard the king, they departed, and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy, and when they were coming to the house, they saw the young child with Mary as mother, and fell down and worshipped him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold, frankincense, myrrh. Interesting that gold is the gift for a king, frankincense is obviously incense, and myrrh is an interesting spice in that the more that myrrh is crushed, the more fragrant it becomes, and I think that really does describe the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Then we put lamps on the tree.

John? That is Matthew 25, verses 1 through 13. Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil, and their vessels with the lamps.

While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was made a cry, Behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye and out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you.

Ye go rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they were ready, went in with him into the marriage, but the door was shut. Afterwards came also other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour, for in the Son of Man cometh.

Amen. Keep your lamp lit, right? So I thought I'd add, the scripture refers quite often to lamp lighting the way of your path, because what Jesus is the light that enables you to walk through the world. And then I'm going to do donkeys.

We made little donkeys, and the cookie cutter worked real well, there were some cookie cutters reused. And it comes Matthew 21, verses 5 through 9. Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold thy king cometh unto thee, meek and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the full of an ass. And the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.

And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way, others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. Now, scripture tells us that when a Jewish king went to make peace, he rode on a donkey.

If he went to make war, he rode on a white horse, like you'd see Christ in Revelation. Okay, now we're going to have Randy do the crosses. And I'm going to read from 1 Corinthians, and that's chapter 1. I'm going to do three passages. 1 Corinthians 1, verses 18 and 19, Mark 8, verse 34, and then I'm going to do chapter 12 in Hebrews, and that would be verse 2. Okay, so here we go, in 1 Corinthians, it says, For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wives, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Now to Mark 8, 834, and when he called the people unto him with his disciples, also he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. And then over to Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 2, Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and it sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Amen. Then on the tree we place doves. John, do you want to do doves? Yeah, and that is John, again, chapter 1, 29 through 34. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before me. And I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest through Israel. Therefore I come baptizing with water. And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God. Amen.

Then I think we just have time before the break to do fish. I'll do that in Matthew chapter 4, 18 through 20. And Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

And they straightway left their nets and followed him. I think we might have time to do the one more, the crowns. Okay, and then here we go. And I'm going to do crowns, and the verses that I'm going to do are James 1-12, and we're going to do Revelation chapter 4, verses 9 through 11. Okay, and then James, verses 1-12, Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord have promised to them that love him.

And then Revelation chapter 4, verses 9 through 11, And when the beast gave glory and honor, and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth forever and ever, And the four and twenty elders fell down before him that sat on the throne, and worshipped him that lived forever and ever, And cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Amen. Johnny, I think we're just about ready for a break, aren't we?

Yes, we are. Let's take it away, we've got a song for you. Set the night free to the new land Do you see what I see? Do you see what I see? When you're in the sky, new land Do you see what I see? Do you see what I see?

A star, a star, dancing in the night with a tale as big as a kind, with a tale as big as a kind. Set the little land to the shepherd boy Do you hear what I hear? Do you hear what I hear? Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy Do you hear what I hear? Do you hear what I hear? A song, a song, high above the tree, with a voice as big as the sea, with a voice as big as the sea. Set the shepherd boy to the mighty king Do you know what I know?

In your palace war, mighty king Do you know what I know? A child, a child, shivers in the cold Let us bring him silver and gold Let us bring him silver and gold Set the king to the people everywhere Listen to what I say Grateful be his people everywhere Listen to what I say The child, the child, sleeping in the night He will bring us goodness and life He will bring us goodness and life Do you hear what I hear? Do you hear what I hear? Do you hear what I hear? Well, welcome back.

Do you know what we know? Tonight you're listening to Pastor Joe Larson, and you're listening to Randy Gaye and Chaplain John McKernan. We're in for Pastor Ernie Sanders.

This is What's Right, What's Left of Radio Ministry, the voice of the Christian resistance. And we're doing kind of a special Bible study called Decorating the Christman Tree, or How to Keep Christ in Your Christmas. And if you're just tuning in, this is a way to make decorations for your tree. Everything on the tree tells something about the story of Christ. And it's something you can do through the year with your children, with your grandchildren, with your families.

You can make these special decorations, start a new family tradition. And as we're continuing, John, a tree wouldn't be the same without a star, would it? Yeah, that's the big tradition up on top, right?

Yeah, up on top for some reason, so take it away. All right, Matthew chapter 2, verses 1 through 10. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born king of the Jews?

For we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him. And when Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes and the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea, thus it is written by the prophet, O thou Bethlehem and the land of Judah, art thou not least among the princes of Judah?

For out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and search diligently for the young child.

And when you have found him, bring me word again, that we may come and worship him also. And when they had heard the king, they departed. And lo, the star which they saw in the east went before them, till they came and stood over where the young child was. Then they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And we'll add to that, when the star led them not to Bethlehem, but to a house where Mary and the toddler, Jesus, babe, and not baby, not the babe and the manger, but a toddler, a different word, different definition, usage of the word, so the star led them away from Herod.

And so the story goes. And next we are going to put on our tree a circle. And the circle can be multiple circles, circles within a circle, and I put a cross in the middle for alpha and omega. Alpha and omega. You'll know why when I read Revelation 1 verse 8 and Revelation 1 18. I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

I am He that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell and of death. Then we have, after that, the eyes of God.

Randy? Yes, I'm going to read two. The eyes of God. I'll read two scriptures.

Ephesians 1 18. Just a sec. I wanted to read something. Oh, you've got that line? Yeah. Okay, go ahead and read it.

I'm sorry. Yeah, it says, through the eyes of God, we are reminded that God can see even unto these, to the depths of the human heart. And we're going to, I'm going to read now Ephesians chapter 1 verse 18 and Hebrews chapter 4 verse 13. So let's do it with 1 18, the eyes of your understanding, being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And then over to Hebrews. Neither is there any creature that is not manifested in this sight to all, for all are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

Beautiful. And then we have what I call the faith ball. And John, do you want to tell us about the faith ball? Well, I'm going to go to Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8. And that says, For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Then we're going to go over to Ephesians 3 17. And that verse says, That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in love. And then we're going to finish this off in Romans 5 verses 1 and 2. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Amen. That faith ball, you can just make a beautiful white ball, pure white ball, because what faith is going to lead us to eternal life. And then Randy, let's talk about eternity. You've seen that symbol for infinity, eternity, the same kind of thing.

Oh sure, yeah. You can make your own, and there's different designs, but tell us about eternity. Okay, eternity. It says, The cross is placed inside of the circle, or several circles, that may represent eternity. And I'm going to read Romans chapter 6 verse 23, Ephesians chapter 3 verses 11 and 12, and then we'll go to John 3 15 and 16. So starting with Romans 6, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And I think that is so precious that that actually touches my heart every time I read it. Now Ephesians 3, According to the eternal purpose that he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with the confidence by the faith of him. And then going over to John 3 15 and 16, and it says, That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever should believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal everlasting life. Excuse me. Amen, Amen. And John, underneath the tree, we place what? A manger, right?

A manger scene. That's found in Luke chapter 2 verses 1 through 7. And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

And this taxing was first made when Serenius was governor of Syria, and all went out to be taxed, everyone into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, to Judea, onto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house of the lineage of David. To be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. That, under the tree, and I have seen some decorations for their little nativity scenes that you can actually put on top, I guess, on the branches of the tree also, for a thought. And then I add two things to the tree that aren't in Scripture, but to me they fit. One is little American flags. And the reason, you know, it stands for this Christian nation. We were founded a Christian nation, one nation under God. And the colors tell the story. Well, what red symbolizes strength and valor, white symbolizes purity and innocence, and the blue symbolizes vigilance, perseverance, and justice. And, you know, the flag's standing for that nation under God, and if we are no longer a nation under God, well then we are a nation, as one of our great presidents said, we're a nation gone under. Do either of you by any chance know the story of the candy cane?

We did that on the Bible study here a couple nights ago, I did that, and that's why the last thing I put on the tree are candy canes. Right, right. Yeah.

And do you remember what some of the things it stands for? Sure, the shepherd, the blood of Jesus Christ, the purity of Christ, oh gee. It's hard, like the rock of ages? Yeah, exactly, that's right, like the rock of ages.

Yeah, there are several things. The spices remind us of the spices, there was a scriptural verses about the spices, the white stands for purity, and on and on there's... Yeah, it goes on. And the spices, in the scripture, talks about spices of mint and anise and cumin, talks about the myrrh and frankincense are also listed as anointing oils and incense are also called spices. That's right. It says in Exodus 30 23, principal spices of pure myrrh, myrrh, and it goes on, so some of the things that were given the Lord were a spice, and then the cane looks like a shepherd's staff. The shepherd's staff right through the other curve. Turn it upside down, the candy cane looks like the J for Jesus.

Jesus, that's right. And the stripes are the stripes with which he was scourged, instead of us, he took the beating for us, and the red is also for the blood he shed for you and me and for many for the sins of the world. You know it's sad to...

It can be a Bible study in itself. The other thing that, to me, I bet you if you ask most children, they couldn't tell you why the star was even included in Christmas. Because they don't know the story anymore. People don't tell it anymore.

They don't read it anymore. You know, I'm sure both your moms and mine did too, read you the Christmas story and we read it, we saw it, we watched it, you saw it at church, acted out as a play, whatever it was. And all of that's going away now. Well, that's why I'm hoping what we did tonight will give the people something new for a tradition, something they can do in their families, with their children, their grandchildren, and it might just be a way to help keep Christmas the rest of the year, right guys? That's exactly right, you know. And I'm hoping that somebody tonight heard it for the first time. I hope so.

So do I. I've talked to a lot of people. Most people that I've talked to had never even heard of a Christman tree. They were so busy with putting Rudolph and Mickey Mouse and the Grinch, everything on the tree, but something that told the story of Jesus. And if you notice, John, we could have put a lot more Bible verses on that, couldn't we?

Oh yeah, yeah, sure. I think it was nice. I think it was kind of comprehensive, the way it was laid out, a lot of verses and all was nice.

And I appreciate that. It was just one of those that seemed to go, and I was just thinking, you know, there's so many more that could be added to it so people could make their, look through their, do their Bible study, add their own verses that they want. And that story I gave up, in fact, I want to give that book title again for the parents. You can get this on Amazon, for sure. Some bookstores still have it. The book of The Candy Maker's Gift. The Candy Maker's Gift, and it's by David and Helen Hadel, H-A-I-D-L-E, Candy Maker's Gift. It's an older book.

It was back, let's see here, it started in 1996, redone probably in 1998, and it's still available. And it's a marvelous thing to read with your children, grandchildren, and then that's just one more thing. When you put the candy canes on the tree, there's a whole other Bible study in what all the meanings that are in the candy cane. So, I knew ideas for Christmas, and if you guys come up with any more, well, you can contact the office at, well, you can call at 440-338-1367, that's 440-338-1367.

And if you have some other ideas like that, you can leave them and leave a message and I can call and talk to you. Or you can just write if you're writing in, you can write us at WRWL Ministries, 14781, that's 14781 Sperry Road, S-P-E-R-R-Y Road, and the City of Newberry, N-E-W-B-U-R-Y, Ohio, 44065, and all that information is there on the website, WRWL.org. And we also take prayer requests still. We certainly do. Thank you for reminding me, and asking everybody to pray for Ernie, right? That's exactly right, but we take yours as well, we do, and you don't have to, a lot of people probably think you just have to contribute to that, no, we take prayer requests. We always do, and it's a privilege and an honor for us to pray for you, and we want to pray for you, and that helps us fulfill our mission as Christian men.

And tell them when you do this, you do it Thursday mornings flying? Yes we do, but it's nothing for us to do it on Sunday before church, at our meeting there, it's nothing for us, as you all know, when you call in to donate, we pray for you. We try to do that as best we can, and it's not about anything at all. We want to, we want to pray for you, and I don't know about you, but I always need prayer, and I'm always pleased, and we can praise God when people say, well, I don't have anything pressing, anything. What a wonderful way to be in life, for those times when nothing's going on, and you should praise God for that.

The prayer of thanksgiving, I've got some good news, and I want to tell, I want you guys to comment. I found, just a little while ago, before the show, at ChristianHeadlines.com, the Bible is consistently the best-selling book of the year. Amen, that's right. And this was according to the New Yorker, it's been the best-selling book of the year every year, and they were talking about calculating how many Bibles are sold is pretty hard, but a conservative estimate back in 2005, Americans had purchased some 25 million Bibles, that's twice as many as the Harry Potter books, and the amount spent annually on Bibles has been put at more than half a billion dollars, they say it's the best-selling, continually the best-selling book of all time, according to the Guinness Book of Records, and it's maintained its number one status. The only trouble I have is, a lot of people have Bibles, but unfortunately, when they show me their Bibles, they don't look very worn, pages aren't bent or torn or ruffled, and people are afraid to mark in them. Do you mark in yours, Big John? Well, I confess I have an electric Bible. I'm one of those, and Pastor Ernie is always, shall we say, tiding me for it, and he wonders what I'm going to do when electricity isn't there, and I have a backup paper Bible. But anyways, yes, I confess that I use an electric Bible. Well, see, Pastor John, I'm going to have to pick on you a little bit on the ear, because I was always taught that, I listened to Pastor Joe talk about the condition of your Bible, I was always told that when you see somebody where the pages are falling out and they're marked up and dogged, they always said that if your Bible is falling apart, your life is probably together. Amen, that's what I was told, because I mark in mine, I make notes, I circle things, I underline, I write words, definitions, and then when you go back over it, it helps you because, well, the older I get, my memory is not as good as it used to be, right?

That's right, that's exactly right. Especially when you've had your head scramble a couple times, it's even harder, so I appreciate those notes that I wrote in my Bible back when I was still thinking clear, but it's something I was just trying to get out to people, that it's a book to be used, to be worked with, and God is not going to mind if you circle things, write in it, write notes to yourself. He is trying to use it to touch your heart, help teach you, lead you, and anything that helps in that direction, I think, is a blessing, not a problem. So many people, oh, it's so holy, we can't touch it. Well, then it's no good, right?

That's right, that's right, because think about it, if you can't touch the Word of God and God says he's the Word of God, then you're really not touching God. Yeah. Anyway, a lot of people may disagree with me that, oh, you're marking up something, but I figure I can always buy a new Bible, and I start all over with a new one when I wear one out, and I've got two or three Bibles that have been kind of worn out, and I keep them, because there's all kinds of neat stuff in them, and I go back and use them when I can't remember something, and one of the old ones I've got a note somewhere, and I just counted a blessing.

So, I wanted to do a couple stories with you guys. As we start this new year, I'm one of those people, I go, every day should be a new day. Every day God gives you is a new blessing to what I call live, love, laugh, work, and serve him, and we're to enjoy it and serve him with joy in our hearts and appreciate every day, so what's more important, a new year or a new day? Well, in a way, they're the same. Aren't they? I mean, think about it, the year is a day, right? In a way, 10,000 years is like a day for the Lord, but for us, yeah, you have to do it step by step, so we're told what everybody else says, take it one day at a time. Yeah. Well, isn't that how you eat an elephant? One bite at a time?

And what do you think? Yeah, absolutely, it's very important that we take it one day at a time with the Lord with us, and we don't run ahead of him and lag behind him, but let him lead us one day at a time. Okay, we've got a couple of minutes.

We've got a couple of stories, and what I want to do is do a story that kind of represents things, and we can comment on the story. The one story is right there in Ohio. Oh, no. Our Governor DeWine? Yeah, he vetoed a bill that would have banned gender reassignment treatment and surgeries for minors and blocked transgender women and girls from participating in female sports leagues in Ohio, and you guys passed the SAFE Adolescence from Experimentation Act, or SAFE, and he's not going to sign it.

You know what's sad is that I remember how he used to be 50 years ago. I remember when he first went into politics, and I met him, and I'm going to tell you something happened to them when they got involved. I think it was Governor Voinovich. I might be wrong. It was either him or it might have been even far back as Dick Celeste, but that's going real bad, but for whatever reason, they got involved with that China's sister cities with the cities here in Ohio, and he's never been the same since.

And that's a fact. They got involved with China, and I'll never forget that he was a Christian guy. DeWine has eight kids.

He was a devout Catholic, but without getting into that, he was very much pro-life, very sincere, and when he started out, he was very approachable and touchable because I was able to contact him. You could go into his office, but it's like he's another guy now 50 years later. He really is.

There's a definition of rhino in the dictionary to his pictures by it. John, do you think that these people, when they have a little too much power, it goes to their heads? Yeah, power and then the money that goes with it, but your previous governor was just the same way. I don't know if he was the previous. I think he was the previous governor.

I remember, I thought he was really good, and then all of a sudden, the decisions he was making from Columbus were an abomination. All right, we're coming up to a break, folks, and we've got a lot more coming at you, so hang tight. We'll be right back. Ah, ho ho ho. Hey, what's wrong, Santa? Well, it's these elves. The new ones all feel entitled. They don't want to work their way up the ladder.

In fact, they hardly want to work at all. Then there's those social justice elves. They keep pointing out everyone's differences, dividing the elves and getting them all riled up. And don't get me started about the reindeer rights elves. The shop floor just isn't the happy little place it used to be. We should have used red balloon.

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