It seems as I am getting older I am becoming more and more aware of certain things that I was oblivious to in the past, such as world’s secularization of the Christmas holiday and its true meaning. There are only a few stores I can name that still actually support the term “Merry Christmas”. Corporate American hides behind this very statement, “Not everyone celebrates Christmas and we must be respectful of their beliefs, also we are recognizing that there are other holiday’s in this time frame”. I agree, not everyone believes that God came to earth to live among us as a man for 33 years to die for our sins, but just because they don’t believe that doesn’t mean we have to change the name of Christmas to “Happy Holidays”.

It’s absurd to advertise products with Christmas themed music / pictures and then blatantly state “Happy Holidays” or Holiday gift- nobody purchases gifts for Thanksgiving and New Years. The real reason why the name is changed is because people don’t want to hear the name of Christ in a positive way; they don’t want to know the real reason of Christmas and reason for Easter. If you don’t believe in Christmas, why celebrate it or even the skewed version of it?

I’ve heard a lot of hoop-la about today’s date, June 6th, 2006 or 6/6/06. So many people that do not fully understand what this set of numbers mean relate it to the end of the world.

What does this widely talked about number mean? It comes from the Bible, the Book of Revelation specifically. When you read the Bible, any number you see has a meaning and or purpose to it. The number 6 is man’s number, the day man was created. The number 666 is the sign of the Beast, or the Anti-Christ, the person(s) that come to power during the 7 year Tribulation.

A lot of people believe that during the Tribulation people will have to have a mark on their forehead or hand to be able to purchase food or items, this is true, but not necessarily a physical mark. In the Old Testament people who worshiped God or false gods referred to having a mark on their forehead, this was a spiritual “mark” not a physical one. This is one of the reasons why the Anti-Christ wants everyone to have this mark, he wants to be worshiped. The mark on the hand will probably be so sort of pledge of allegiance to the beast and or a device that allows you to purchase items.

That’s a very quick summary of the 666 mark, I may at some point write an article on it for my Christianity section. I hope that you have learned something- if you have any questions or comments, let me know!

Here’s a comic poking fun at the 666′ers, enjoy.

I hope that everyone’s Easter went well. My Easter Sunday went well. I arrived extra early to church – knowing that it would be a more than full service since people flock to church on Easter – and found I was still too late. I sat up in the balcony for the service. It’s good to see new people at church; I always hope that they will be lead to Christ. Any day is a good day to come to Christ, but on Easter it’s even better because people who are not saved get to hear – possibly for the first time – that Jesus died for sins, to become our propitiation and rose from the grave 3 days later, triumphing over death.

After church I was invited to dinner with my grandparents at my aunt and uncle’s house in Ripley. We had a good time there. I visited with Dad after we finished dinner.

I received a package in the mail from Mom yesterday. Here’s a photo. I was surprised to get this, and have already started to eat my way to the bottom of the egg. Thank you Mom!

This week has been decent weather wise, it snowed but it melted a day or two later. I almost wore my spring jacket, that’s how warm it’s been this week, spring is almost here. Some trees are already budding and the eminent burst of leaves is near. I working on a spring theme, hopefully it’ll be up soon.

Last night I read Left Behind: Tribulation Force for about 2 hours, I didn’t realize how fast the time went by! I really like this series. I wish that I could have the courage that some of the characters in the book have to speak out for Christ. I am ashamed of myself that I cannot talk about the Lord with anyone, my Savior who died for me. This is something that I have been praying about and working on for awhile and I just ask that if you area Christian that you’d pray for strength in this area. I want to talk to my Dad about Christ because I am not sure where he stands. The Church has ordered new material from The Way of the Master and is going to arrive soon. It helps you witness to people from a heart to heart perspective. Any and all prayers will be very much appreciated!