End-Month News December 2023

Dear Friends,

Below is the reaction of an African friend to this video:  https://youtu.be/fBRCFlEUNWs  “Wow! I have watched and listened to the video! It’s thought provoking and humbling. I totally agree with your stance. I have shared it on my fb page to various Whatsapp groups. “Let Truth be Told; painful as it may be.”

Churches in my home area seem to be in a battle over Christmas. The Christmas-holiday is the main annual holiday in Kenya. Many Christians realise though, that there is actually no evidence that 25^th December is the anniversary of Jesus’ birth. There is no Kenyan tradition anyway of celebrating birthdays. They thus resist celebrating Christmas as a Christian event.

Here is a must-watch video, of an interview of a Somali-born lady called Ayaan Hirsi Ali: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B6oLMrHQhs

Some people ask, how do I celebrate Christmas? Church services, lasting up to 5 hours, to be on 24^th, 25^th and 31^st December, plus 1^st January. Christmas may be rarely mentioned, and services tend to be like any other – oriented to healing and prosperity. An occasional extra chicken to eat. Kids eat some biscuits and drink some juice. A few home-made decorations for our sitting room.

The wolf will live with the lamb,

    the leopard will lie down with the goat,

the calf and the lion and the yearling together;

    and a little child will lead them.

7 The cow will feed with the bear,

    their young will lie down together,

    and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den,

    and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

9 They will neither harm nor destroy

    on all my holy mountain,

for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord

    as the waters cover the sea.

Christ is Born! Hallelujah! Happy Christmas to all,

Jim