" But the latest is the ultimate denial of faith: DON'T SAY MERRY CHRISTMAS BUT SAY HAPPY HOLIDAYS. My fear is that when something starts in America, before you know, it will be acceptable in other parts of the world..."

The Bible says that in the last times perilous times will come. And starts to enumerate all the things that will happen, some of us are myopic enough to limit it to wars and natural disasters like the Katrina, the Rita, the tsunamis, to name but a few. But there is a subtle approach that the devil is using, that even the so called Christians are negligent or nonchalant about it. But thank God that some of us are on to him and by the Grace of God we are not ignorant of his strategies.

The devil has gradually and consistently gotten the church to the point where it continues to yield ground to him, all seen in the way that the church is continually lowering its standards to accommodate current worldly trends.

America is in the centre of this. The super power of the world has been reduced to the sounding board of the devil. It started with getting God out of the picture. No mention of God in schools and work place, no prayers in school and all the funny laws they keep coming up with.

But the latest is the ultimate denial of faith: DON'T SAY MERRY CHRISTMAS BUT SAY HAPPY HOLIDAYS. My fear is that when something starts in America, before you know, it will be acceptable in other parts of the world.

I was listening to Bishop Eddie Long and he said that if America continues to relegate or sideline God they will continue to pay for it, giving instances with the recent onslaught of the various hurricanes and tornadoes that hit the country this year. Statistics show that the year 2005 has the highest number of hurricanes and other kind of storm in the history of America .

I am still trying to make sense of this merry Christmas and happy holiday issue. They said it's because they want to be politically correct and don't want to offend non Christians, but the question is, how did we come about Christmas in the first place? For those of us that maybe don't know, it's the commemoration of the birth of Christ. In other words, Christ is the Christmas. How then do you celebrate Christmas without saying merry Christmas? Beats me.

Christmas is the celebration for the Christians and the whole world does not have to be part of it. Whoever does not want to celebrate it with us can back out. If America wants a national holidays they can come up with their own date, after all there are 365 days in a year, then they can do all their shopping, decorations, gift sharing and their eating on that date and proudly say happy holidays.

" And if there are Christians in the law making arm of America, let them speak out ... to let America ... know ... that C-h-r-i-s-t in Christmas is from Jesus Christ,... and if they don't want to celebrate with us, they can go get themselves another day for their holiday...

My concern however is with the Christians. In a world where everybody wants to be politically correct, what is the attitude of Christians? This is the time of the trial of faith. Like peter answered in the book of the Acts of Apostle, who do we rather obey, God or the dictates of the society. It's really obvious that this is the time to identify those who really do know their God, that will be strong and do exploits.

It's all evident in our surroundings. The other day, I drove past a McDonalds; they had merry Christmas on one side and happy holidays on the other, nothing wrong with that, somebody will say, at least they have merry Christmas somewhere in there. I am sure that some businesses or homes owners won't even bother, they will just go with the happy holidays that is more politically correct, after all they don't want offend the non Christians.

It all boils down to one thing though. How proud of God are we? Jesus said that if we deny Him before men, He will deny us before His father and the angels.

I know that there still a cross section of believers that will hold onto what they believe, and will have merry Christmas written boldly on their home and business premises even if it means supposedly loosing their customers and their friends knowing that the God of Daniel, Peter, Esther, Shadrach, Mesahach and Abednego will come through for them. This is also the time we know the true believers from the church goers.

For those of us back in Africa, this is a fore warning so we can be fore armed, especially for those of us in the multi-religioned countries. Its time for us to be privy of the subtleness of satan in this end time.

And if per adventure there are Christians in the law making arm of America, let them speak out for the entire Christian community, to let America and the people know [perhaps they don't], that C-h-r-i-s-t in Christmas is from Jesus Christ, the God of the Christians, and if they don't want to celebrate with us, they can go get themselves another day for their holiday.

On a final note, know who and whose you are and stand for it.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEWYEAR TO ALL MEN AND WOMEN OF GOODWILL!!!