The songs of Christmas pronounce the very meaning, the genuine heart and the vivid story of this holy season. The carols that have grown so vibrant throughout the decades embrace the heartfelt message of Christmas in every stanza—in every melody—and in every word.

More than the food of holiday parties, the songs of this season fill all the ravenous places in humanity.

More than the lights on every home on every street, the hymns of Christmas light up the darkness with His presence.

More than the mountain of gifts under the family Christmas tree, the joyful and hopeful anthems of Advent give generously to a world awash with expectation.

“A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices!”

Into our weariness came a Savior. The tired travelers of life are now rejoicing because of hope. The weary ones, the discouraged ones and the empty ones are joining the chorus of the angels because of the song that only hope sings. Do you hear the song of hope? Is hope singing in your world today?

“Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy has walked where angels trod?/When you kiss your little Baby you kissed the face of God?”

Mary—the virgin who was no more than a girl herself—kissed the face of God. Oh! To be there that night when the angels sang and the shepherds danced. Oh! To watch this young mother fall in love with heaven’s darling.

“Hallelujah! Oh, how the angels sang! Hallelujah! How it rang!/And the sky was bright with a holy light! ‘Twas the birthday of a King!”

His birthday was a night when the darkness of a world in pain exploded with rare and glorious colors. The night Jesus was born was a night when the voices of an angelic choir roared in victory. That night!

“Oh come to my heart, Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for Thee.”

I am my own innkeeper, and I must decide if there is room for Him or not. Will I cast away other interests and distractions in order to make a place in my heart for Him? Or does my heart embarrassingly declare, “No Vacancy”?

And we dare not overlook this triumphant theological treatise that fills the canyons of our frightened world with joy explosive:

“Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Son of Righteousness!/Light and life to all He brings, Risen with healing in His wings./Mild He lays His glory by, Born that man no more may die;/Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth;/Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King!”

Jesus, the Son of the Most High God, left the glory of Heaven so that you and I would not have to experience the pains of death. He was born so we could be born again. No wonder the angels sang.

My heart joins in the Christmas anthem that resounds through eternity. I can’t stop singing the melodies, the lyrics and the hymns that declare Christmas.

One of the greatest miracles of Christmas is that the entire world joins in the proclamation! Christmas has a singular and dynamic song that cannot be stilled and will not be silent. Christmas awakens each one of our hearts to hope … to joy … and to the light of the world.

Don’t let the pain of the past year silence your song or stifle your joy. The song of Christmas is a song that resounds over the mountains and the valleys of life. The anthem of this season echoes triumphantly over human pain and in spite of deep disappointment. 

The joyous carols of Christmas have the intensity it takes to boil away the distractions of the season and help us to focus anew on why He came. He came for you. He came for me.

That’s what Christmas is all about. He came. 

He came so we could sing. 

He came so we could hope. 

He came so we could live. 

My deepest prayer is when you sing the songs of Christmas this year, you will be reminded of the matchless and glorious miracle of Christmas. This Baby—the little boy in the manger—changed everything for you and for me.

“What can I give Him poor as I am?/If I were a shepherd, I would bring Him a Lamb/If I were a wise man, I’d sure do my part/So what can I give Him? I’ll give Him my heart

“I’ll give Him my heart, Give Him my heart/What can I can give Him but all of my heart?/I’ll give Him my heart, Give Him my heart/What can I give Him but all of my heart?

“What can you give Him? What can you bring?/What can you offer that’s fit for a King?/Bow before Jesus that’s where you can start/What can you give Him? Just Give Him your heart/Give Him your Heart! Give Him your Heart!

“What can you give Him but all of your heart?/Give Him your heart! Give Him your heart!/What can you give Him? Just give Him your heart!” {eoa}

Carol McLeod is an author and popular speaker at women’s conferences and retreats, where she teaches the Word of God with great joy and enthusiasm. Carol encourages and empowers women with passionate and practical biblical messages mixed with her own special brand of hope and humor. She has written five books, including No More Ordinary, Holy Estrogen!, The Rooms of a Woman’s Heart and Defiant Joy! Her most recent book, Refined: Finding Joy in the Midst of the Fire, was released last August. Her teaching DVD, The Rooms of a Woman’s Heart, won the Telly Award, a prestigious industry award for excellence in religious programming. You can also listen to Carol’s “A Jolt of Joy” program daily on the Charisma Podcast Network. Connect with Carol or inquire about her speaking to your group at .

We are designed to produce fruit in our lives, manifesting the ways of God through changed lives and relationships that display His ways. Yet there is nothing more discouraging than feeling as though your life is not producing any fruit.

If we are honest, we’ll admit that accusation and condemnation can pummel the mind, keeping us wondering whether our life even makes a difference.

Although I never try to answer questions with pat answers, I do think there are two critical things to keep in mind if you honestly feel you are not seeing the fruit you believe God can manifest in your life.

1. Your investment needs more time. In the natural, we all understand when you plant a seed in the ground, it is utterly foolish to expect fruit the next morning. But we tend to treat our spiritual life as though the fruit should show right away.

It doesn’t work that way in the natural, nor does it in the spiritual. Seeds need to grow into plants. Plants, over time, blossom and produce fruit. A lot of time and care go into the full process.

There are seasons for growing a harvest, and you need to know what season of life you are in. If you are an overcoming believer, odds are you are planting seeds everywhere. You would never drop a seed in the ground and expect to eat fruit the next day. But we tend to do this with our spiritual life.

The quick-results mindset of today does not fit into the Kingdom of God. Most major changes often work through a lifetime of investment. Even bigger changes can take generations to take place. So we must keep the bigger picture in mind of what we are contending for long-term.

We also need to find who we are in the process of what God is doing. If we connect to our role effectively, the overall work God is doing will increase in effectiveness.

There is no overnight success, no matter what people may think. Those who appear to manifest overnight success have years of investment and faithfulness that brought about the fruit. It appears to others that fruit just appeared overnight. Yet behind the scenes, there was a lot of prayer, contending, disappointment and tenacity involved.

Fruitfulness takes steady perseverance, the ability to hang in there when everyone around you has quit. It also takes resilience, the ability to bounce back from falling down or being hurt.

The most fruitful people learn to live as overcomers. They don’t let life push them back from their potential. They keep the big picture in mind and daily invest into that larger vision.

I have a hunch you may just need to stay the course and not quit. Millions start strong. A minuscule amount of people remain to see it through.

2. You are being pruned. As pruning helps a tree in the natural, the same is true in the spiritual. Our Father in heaven is the vine dresser who loves us deeply. He cares for us so much that He prunes areas that do not represent the person God made us to be. He also prunes areas that can be hindrances to us producing the maximum amount of fruit over the long term.

Most believers hate pruning, but we don’t need to dread this process. It’s painful for some because the areas God is pruning have become so much a part of their lives that living without them becomes painful.

It’s hard when God starts causing us to face our fears rather than running from them. We get pruned when God wants us to stop blaming other people and grow up into greater maturity. Pruning gets hard when we have to let go of our addictions as comforts for our life. The anger’s gotta go. The false coping has gotta go. The pity parties have to stop.

God is so loving. He knows exactly how to prune us, because He is the perfect vine dresser. He doesn’t condemn us, use guilt or accuse us into conformity. He knows in the beauty of love how to address the areas of our life that will hurt us in the long run. But most avoid this process at all costs.

Many of our coping patterns and areas of reliance become idols. We focus on them so much we cannot see God in our situations. We lean on them for life, but they are killing us in the long run. Our self-loathing, fears, unworthiness and addictions, to name some, seem to serve us but are destroying our fruitfulness.

Pruning only works well if you get to the root of that particular branch. Otherwise it just grows back. So many waste their time trying to clip the ends of the branches, when God needs to get to a deeper root system. When we hit the root system, we address the areas that get to the heart. It exposes what we live by to cope, heal and function. Our Father wants us firmly rooted in Christ and established in the love relationships He has for us as the perfect dad. Everything else is a cheap imitation.

The issues God didn’t create us with all need to die and burn away. As a planting of God, we must know there are areas of our life that are not in alignment with the person He made us to be. Pruning addresses this.

During pruning seasons, things seems slow, and fruit doesn’t seem to be popping everywhere. But just wait. If you let the process of transformation have its effect, you will have more fruit than you will know what to do with!

Many people try to avoid or medicate away their pruning process. Instead of letting a loving Father teach them into the next stage of breakthrough. We wander around the mountain over and over.

Why avoid it, when amazing fruitfulness is right around the corner? {eoa}

Mark DeJesus has served as an experienced communicator since the 1990s. As a teacher, author, coach and radio host, Mark is deeply passionate about awakening hearts and equipping people towards transformational living. His message involves getting to the core hindrances that contribute to the breakdown of our relationships, our health and our day-to-day peace. He is well-versed on struggles that originate within our thoughts. Through his own personal transformation, Mark is experienced in helping people overcome and live fruitful lives. He is the author of five books and hundreds of teachings. He hosts a weekly radio podcast show called “Transformed You” and blogs at . His writings have been featured on sites like .

For the original article, visit .

(There is always an attempt to de-emphasize the true spiritual significance of Christian holidays and place emphasis on Santa, toys, bunnies, baskets and candy. That is a sincere cause for concern. This article assumes that is understood. I respect those who may disagree and who may have a valid cause for concern.)

Every Christmas season, I receive emails such as: “I’m sorry, but every time I tried to watch the sermon, the decorated Christmas trees in the background were disturbing to my spirit. I turned it off. I am discouraged and disappointed because of the trees.”

Her statement begs the question, “Can we redeem holidays?” Redeem means to recover the ownership of something. Can we, in good faith, redeem Halloween, Christmas and Easter with their roots saturated in paganism, superstitions and the occult?

Redeem and celebrate are not unfamiliar to Christians. God redeems man from a state of darkness, and we celebrate this transformation of heart. Simply stated, it’s about why, who and how we celebrate.

For example, Halloween, a mixture of Celtic pagan superstition and early traditions, is associated with witchcraft and satanic activity. This is not something to be celebrated, nor can it be redeemed as it stands, with themes such as horror, death and fear.

We have children, and we can’t always avoid the gory and grotesque decorations, so we change the theme in order to redeem. We use the opportunity to redefine Halloween to “good overcame evil day.”

We don’t celebrate Halloween per se; we remember Jesus’ victory on the cross and how He overcame evil. Many churches offer Fall Festivals and celebrations for this very reason—to redeem the theme of Halloween.

What about Christmas? Rooted in pagan practices, it is abused and commercialized, but can it be redeemed?

Christmas, unlike Halloween’s message of horror and death, celebrates eternal life through the birth of Christ. Most Christians I know don’t falsely worship the tree and the decorations referred to in Jeremiah 10:1-10; we worship the Creator of heaven and earth.

Early on, Christmas was a combination of “Christ’s Mass” celebrating Jesus’ birth and St. Nicholas Day. St. Nicholas was bishop of Greece and was portrayed as a man who saved kids from slavery and helped the poor. After the Reformation, many discontinued St. Nicholas Day because of its unhealthy fixation on saints. The Puritans did not celebrate Christmas for this very reason, but the Germans celebrated Kris Kringle (Christ child).

Eventually, Christmas morphed into what it is today: a mixture of religious and secular activities. I’m not aware of the early church celebrating Christmas; Easter was the Superbowl holiday.

Rich in symbolism, the Christmas tree can point to the cross: once a dead and barren tree, supporting a lifeless Savior, it now stands evergreen as the symbol of eternal life that darkness cannot overcome (cf. 1 John 1:5). In my opinion, Christmas is really a heart issue: Whom and what do we worship—consumerism or Christ?

Gift-giving can also represent peace and goodwill among men (cf. Matthew 2): “The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). It can, however, lead to extravagant spending and debt; this should be avoided.

Let’s look at this another way. I am sure there are a number of Christians who do not acknowledge holidays because of how they originated, and I respect that. But let’s follow that line of thinking in other areas: Should we not acknowledge days of the week whose names originate from false gods—Sunday from the sun god, Monday the moon god and so on?

Again, these issues are heart-issues. God does not desire superficial sacrifice and religiosity; He desires a broken and contrite heart. Pleasing God is the most important issue of the heart. We can avoid celebrating holidays, yet still be rigid, arrogant and judgmental. The heart is the main focus of this article.

Considering that liberty has its limits, if all that we do honors God, He is pleased. Again, the key is to avoid arrogance, judgmentalism and worshipping the wrong things. Strive to follow Paul’s advice and not spend time “arguing over opinions,” and “live peaceably with all men” (Rom. 14:1, 12:18). For example, what the previous-mentioned online viewer failed to realize was that I did not place the trees on the stage. The building was not ours. She neglected to err on the side of grace.

Whatever your position, the question to ask is, “Is my stance leading to love, joy, peace, contentment, gentleness and kindness? Or is it leading to rigidity, arrogance, legalism, divisiveness, criticism and anger over non-essentials?” The former is the filling of the Spirit; the latter is the slippery slope of judgmentalism. If not celebrating truly draws you closer to Christ, wonderful, but don’t judge others who feel differently.

There are those who derail Christmas and its commercialism, yet purchase a $3000 plasma TV on credit, book expensive vacations each summer and never serve the community or help those in need. Time is spent posting videos exposing the roots of holidays, but no time is spent in prayer, truly seeking God. Others ridicule the secularization of Christmas and Easter, but allow their family to watch ungodly entertainment.

Again, celebrating holidays is often not the issue; the issues is what, or whom, we choose to worship—the attitude of the heart. Holidays, in many cases, are redeemed when the focus is on Christ. {eoa}

Last week, we told you that despite liberal mainstream media reporting to the contrary, President-elect Donald Trump was well ahead of the curve when it came to rolling out the nominations for his incoming Cabinet.

Friday, during an appearance on “Fox & Friends,” he suggested his work might well be done long before most presidents even start rolling out their nominations. The president-elect said:

“We have tremendous people joining the Cabinet and beyond the Cabinet, so you’ll be seeing almost all of them next week. You know, we’re getting credit for having one of the greatest Cabinets ever picked.

“These are people of great distinction, great success, which is what you need. You know, you’re negotiating with people. You can’t have people that didn’t know how to get there.”

So far, Trump has announced his nominees for seven of the 15 Cabinet positions and four additional Cabinet-level appointments. With an aggressive agenda planned, it’s likely the president-elect wants his Cabinet ready to hit the ground running.

The eight Cabinet positions yet to be announced are:

• secretary of state
• secretary of the interior
• secretary of agriculture
• secretary of labor
• secretary of housing and urban development
• secretary of energy
• secretary of veterans affairs
• secretary of homeland security

Trump has yet to name appointees for the following Cabinet-level positions as well:

• director of the Office of Management and Budget
• administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
• U.S. trade representative
• chair of the Council of Economic Advisers
• administrator of the Small Business Administration
• director of National Intelligence

In all, the Trump Administration has about 4,000 appointments to make prior to Jan. 20. Approximately 1,500 of those require Senate confirmation. {eoa}

Over and over I hear, “I just want to know God’s will for my life.” but the will of God is not complicated. When you are born again, the desire to do His will becomes part of your nature. As you grow in your relationship with the Lord, His will for your life becomes a natural flow that leads you into the plans and purpose He has ordained for your life.

The Scripture is actually very clear on the will of God: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:2). Your first step is to change the way you think. This is a work in progress throughout your life. There is only one way to change your thinking: you must understand how God thinks by reading His Word.

A key scripture in my life is Proverbs 4:20-23 (NLT)” “My child, pay attention to what I say, listen carefully to my words. Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body. Guard your heart above all else for it determines the course of your life.”

“Above all else.” What does that mean? Above everything in your life. What’s in your heart determines the course of your life. That includes following God’s plan for your life. This Scripture is key to the Kingdom lifestyle.

If you want to know God, you must pay attention, listen carefully and not lose sight of His Word; then you will walk in His perfect will for your life.

As you read and study the Word of God, the Holy Spirit will open the eyes of your understanding, and the Word of God will become life to you (Eph. 1:15-23).

God’s will is not focused on what you eat for dinner, where you go to school, what you do when you grow up or whom you will marry. It is about what we do to position our heart with His heart to hear His voice. Jesus tells us in John 10:4b, “And the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” Your heart needs to pick up the heartbeat of God.

I don’t understand how it all happens, but I know only God can change a person’s heart. Phil. 2:13 tells us, “For God is the One working in you, both to will and to do His good pleasure.”

It is not about trying to do more but trusting more. As we learn to yield our heart by asking the Holy Spirit to work in us, He will work to revive, renew and regenerate us.

How do you guard your heart? As always the answer, is in the Word of God. Scripture speaks about our lifestyle as a child of God: “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thess. 5:16-18).

Rejoicing, praying and giving thanks are acts of our will, especially in times of trials and temptations. Thanksgiving draws attention from heaven. A heart of thanksgiving comes from a humble attitude which calls out to God, praying for His wisdom for your life. This is a lifestyle we develop, not a reaction during a crisis. Trials in our lives have a way of exposing the degree that our mind is renewed.

As Jesus was preparing the disciples for His departure, He gave them what I think of as the ultimate promotion: “I no longer call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I have heard from My Father have I made known to you” (John 15:15). He has made known all things from the Father in His Word. This invitation is an open invitation for you and me today. God’s heart desires relationship, and our heart must respond with thanksgiving. A servant does not know what the master is doing, but a friend knows and understands what his master is doing. A servant works to please; a friend enjoys His presence.

Our friendship and communion with the Lord is the power source of our life that connects us with our purpose in life. You do not have to try to figure out your life. When your heart is yielded, your mind renewed and your body surrendered, you will walk right into that place called “there” for you in this life!

Thanksgiving is not a day; it is a lifestyle. It prepares the way for a miracle and is the voice of faith. Thanksgiving is the bedrock of Christianity from which you build your Kingdom lifestyle to do the will of God for your life. {eoa}

Joyce Tilney is the Founder of Women of God Ministries, teaching women today from women of yesterday. She is an author and Bible teacher. Visit for more information. Her book and workbook, Why Diets Don’t Work—Food Is Not the Problem, share her testimony of how the Lord helped her lose 90 pounds. Visit the website: for information.

The topic of alcohol will split the Christian community in two as sides debate complete abstinence verses moderation.  

Famous pastors such as Perry Noble and Clayton Jennings have fallen due to alcohol abuse.  

One person asked Billy Graham: “I wish my wife would get off my back. She says I need to get treatment for my drinking, but I can stop any time I want to. What’s wrong with a few drinks, anyway?” 

Graham responded: 

What’s wrong in your case is obvious: your drinking is clearly interfering with your life and your marriage. If it weren’t, your wife wouldn’t be so concerned—but she loves you and she is concerned about you, and she hates what alcohol is doing to you.

But something else is wrong in your case: alcohol is distorting your judgment by making you believe something that simply isn’t true. You say you can stop at any time—but why don’t you? I suspect the real reason is because you can’t; you’ve become too dependent on alcohol to see you through. Instead of facing your problems, you find it easier to dull your mind and avoid dealing with them. In reality, however, you’re only making your situation worse. The Bible warns, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whoever is deceived by it is not wise” (Prov. 20:1).

Don’t misunderstand me, however, or assume I’m only trying to make you feel guilty—because I’m not. The most important truth I can tell you is this: God loves you, and He wants to help you. This is why I urge you to face honestly your need to overcome your alcoholism, and seek God’s help.

Begin by asking Jesus Christ to come into your life—and He will. He’ll not only erase the past, but He’ll give you a new love for others and a new desire to live as you should. And if you need professional help to deal with your problems, ask Him to guide you to the right program in your community. May God bless you. {eoa}

Only one can be true: either the liberal mainstream media are incapable of reading a basic jobs report, or they’re incapable of telling the truth about the government, regardless of who is in charge.

While they parrot the Democratic Party’s falsehoods that the November jobs report was “good news,” the underlying fact that went unreported is that labor participation has fallen to its lowest level since 1978. Meanwhile, manufacturing jobs continue to flee the country at an alarming rate.

The Presidential Transition Team’s chief economic adviser, Peter Navarro, issued the following statement in response to the Obama Administration’s November Jobs Report:

The November jobs report showing a decline in the labor force participation rate further demonstrates an urgent need for President-elect Trump’s America First economic plan. We have not seen levels this low since 1978. The 4,000 manufacturing jobs that disappeared last month come on top of the over 300,000 that have been lost under President Obama.

Even before taking office, President-elect Trump has proven that protecting and creating jobs will be among his highest priorities as president. His determination to save 1,000 Carrier manufacturing jobs in Indiana, announced this week, is just a preview of his agenda of prosperity for all.

Furthermore, the Cabinet picks of Steve Mnuchin for Treasury Secretary and Wilbur Ross for the Department of Commerce signal a seismic and transformative shift in trade policy—one that works for American workers and domestic manufacturers, not for the multinational corporations shipping jobs offshore. {eoa}

We live at a time when Jewish people are being accused of dwelling unnecessarily on the memory of the Holocaust. But at the same time, we are seeing swastikas being painted on doors, walls and even tombstones across the globe.

Mahmoud Abbas was unanimously reelected as leader of Fatah, and the West is supposed to get excited about the man they believe could make peace with Israel. Let us not forget he is a Holocaust denier who wrote his thesis in 1982 on that very topic under the title “The Connection between the Nazis and the Leaders of the Zionist Movement.”

Populist parties are gaining tremendous ground in Europe as the desire to stop and control the migrant crisis becomes a priority. With them, they bring the deep rooted European racial antisemitism we thought was defunct.

Only a couple of years ago on the streets of Paris, I heard people marching and chanting, “Jews to the ovens.” It seems a lot of people are either denying the Holocaust, wanting another one or worse, are clueless about the first one.

I don’t think we speak too much of the Holocaust, but we don’t think about it in its proper context.

Scholars, philosophers, theologians and historians have all grappled with the Holocaust, trying to come to terms with the immensity of its evil in strength and scope. Some within classical Jewish religious thought believe the Holocaust was God’s retribution or payback for Israel’s sins. In other words, it was God’s desire to discipline Israel for her sins and, as such, was part of God’s plan all along.

The common name for it is Mi-penei hata ‘ einu (Hebrew for “because of our sins we were punished.”) It refers to divine punishment for the sins of Israel. It is true that the Tenach is replete with stories about the sins of Israel and their consequential discipline from God.

Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize laureate, Elie Wiesel, wrote in 1962 of the religious Jewish reaction to the Holocaust in Commentary Magazine: “The feeling of guilt was, to begin with, essentially a religious feeling. If I am here, it is because God is punishing me; I have sinned, and I am expiating my sins. I have deserved this punishment that I am suffering.”

Wiesel, along with many others, feel that while the punishment inflicted by the Holocaust might not be proportionate to the sins committed by Israel, the two are related. Incidentally, if one believes that—as the Bible teaches—the price for our sins is death (Ezek. 18:4), then the Holocaust could be justified. But why would God wait almost 2,000 years to punish Israel, and why inflict pain and suffering on generations that are so far removed from the previous ones?

Others see Israel as the Suffering Servant of Is. 52:13-53:12. They will assign the suffering of the Holocaust to all Israel (all Jewish people.) Although it is beyond the scope of this article to discuss the meaning of Isaiah 53, let’s state that this controversial passage definitely speaks of suffering, humiliation and death in no uncertain terms. But it can also refer to a person and not Israel as a whole. If indeed it refers to a person in particular, Yeshua of Nazareth is the only one who would fit that description, especially since toward the end of the passage, after humiliation, suffering and death comes resurrection.

Some speak of Hester Panim (“hiding of the face,”) also known as “the eclipse of God.” Ps. 44:23-24 speaks of God hiding His face: “Awake; why do You sleep, O Lord? Arise; do not reject us forever. Why do You hide Your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression?”

Was God absent during the Holocaust? From the standpoint of protecting the victims from suffering and death, it would certainly appear to be true. Each and every one of the six million innocent victims—if they could speak—would most likely testify of God’s absence or lack of involvement.

Yet, when we speak of the eclipse of God, we must recall what an eclipse is all about: a visual disappearance while the physical presence remains. In other words, God might have been eclipsed or might have been hiding His face during the Holocaust, but He was always there and always within reach. Not only was He there, but He felt the pain of the victims as Isaiah 63:9a tells us: “In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them; In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them.”

Many religious people, Jewish and Gentile, wound up in the camps. If God was silent, some of His people weren’t. The eclipse of God was not because He didn’t care, but possibly because for a time, He removed Himself from the affairs of men, leaving the fate of many in the hands of a few. At the very least, He allowed for the Jewish people not to be under His protection, as He had done repeatedly in the long history of the children of Israel.

Isaiah tells us God cared as He suffered affliction for His people. Additionally, God took no pleasure in the death of the many. Even assuming Israel was being punished by the Holocaust for being wicked—a case that cannot be made with absolute certainty—the prophet Ezekiel speaks of God when he writes, “Say to them: As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezek. 33:11a).

The Holocaust prompted many Jews who survived the Holocaust to come to the conclusion that God is dead. Again Elie Wiesel, this time in his seminal work Night, depicts the agonizing hanging of a young boy:

“Where is God? Where is He?” someone behind me asked … For more than half an hour [the child in the noose] stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes. And we had to look him full in the face. He was still alive when I passed in front of him. His tongue was still red, his eyes were not yet glazed. Behind me, I heard the same man asking: “Where is God now?” And I heard a voice within me answer him: “Where is He? Here He is—He is hanging here on this gallows.”

But if God died during the Holocaust, why did it come to a halt in 1945? The Nazi war machine was well-oiled and extremely efficient. The liberation of the camps and the capitulation of Germany would militate towards God not being dead and, on the contrary, being instrumental in the end of World War II. This is also in line with His promise never to completely destroy Israel as found in Jeremiah (Jer. 31:35-37.)

I could continue to look at the Holocaust and wrestle further with causes for it. Regardless of how many approaches with come up with, we will most certainly come back to evil being at the core of the catastrophe.

This leads us to the problem of evil. The existence of evil in the world is a topic that is highly debated. Very few believe evil doesn’t exist. The Holocaust and how low humanity could bring itself proved evil exists.

Hitler wasn’t insane. Insanity would exonerate him of all responsibility for the so-called “Final Solution to the Jewish problem.” But Hitler was pure evil. But even when we recognize that, the source of all evil must still be identified.

I don’t believe we can properly do such a thing without building our case on a biblical foundation. Morality is based on the balance between good and evil, which is best brought forward by looking at what the Tenach says.

Good and evil cannot exist independently of one another, since one defines the other. Going back to the first book of the Tenach, Genesis, we find out that one of God’s most special angels, Satan, rebelled against God and fell from grace. From that point on, he has been working very hard at hating what God loves and loving what God hates. That puts the Jewish people and Israel directly in his crosshairs.

Satan knows that through the Jewish people, more specifically through the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10), will come the Redeemer of mankind, the Messiah of Israel. His goal is to stop that from happening, because at some point in the future, Messiah will put an end to Satan’s career, and he doesn’t care for his retirement plan.

I am often asked if the birth of the modern state of Israel is a direct result of World War II and the Holocaust. I believe the answer is a resounding no. Rather, the Holocaust was an attempt by Satan to destroy the Jews right before they would start fulfilling one of God’s most amazing prophecy about their return to their biblical land (Ezek. 36-38.)

There is no doubt in my mind that Satan was aware of the return of the Jews to Israel in the end times. He had to stop it, or at least try, thus the Holocaust. He used Pharaoh to try to stop Moses from being born, he used Herod to try to stop Yeshua from being born and he used Nazi Germany and Hitler to try to stop the Jews from moving back to Israel and fulfilling God’s covenantal promises. Satan exploited the fact that the Jewish people weren’t under God’s protection and were more at the mercy of the nation to attempt their total eradication. He almost succeeded, but God is greater. Not only God is greater, but He is interested in every single soul that exists. God wants to draw them to Him, one soul at a time.
So again, it is not that we speak too much of the Holocaust, but maybe that we speak of it in the wrong context. {eoa}

Olivier Melnick is the author of They Have Conspired Against You, a book on the rebirth of worldwide anti-Semitism and how to fight it, as well as the novel The Rabbi’s Triad, an evangelistic thriller. He is also a guest commentator on WorldNetDaily, Times of Israel and other websites such as his blog site at . Olivier serves as a Regional Director in Washington state. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Chosen People France.

Bob Fife was raised in a dysfunctional home and, despite an early conversion to Christianity, had an uneasy young life. Nothing prepared Bob for being sexually molested by an older boy he trusted—or for what happened in his heart afterward.

From the confusion of his teen years, to his marriage and fatherhood, to his discovery and embrace of the flamboyant Toronto gay scene, the path Bob took became increasingly indulgent. He even abandoned his young family to follow his new lifestyle around the world. But an unexpected visit from his college-aged son over a decade later caused Bob to confront the consequences of his excesses—and find his way back to a restored relationship with the God who loves him.

For those seeking to deal with their same-sex attractions, not celebrate them, Bob’s fascinating story points a way to grace and redemption. Today he devotes his time to mentoring men and women who are looking for alternative ways to deal with same-sex attraction.

Q: You share some very personal and difficult details of your life in Out. What moved you to write this book?

Many times when I shared my testimony, friends and fellow believers would say, “You should write a book.” I prayed about it a lot and felt this was what the Lord wanted of me. However, I also knew I was not a writer. When I invited Ron Hughes to help me with the writing process, he agreed, and the book became a possibility. As we worked together, I discovered I had three goals. I want the book to offer hope to those who are reluctantly same-sex attracted. I want it to give an example of how a church might provide support to them. I hope it will help begin a calm loving conversation the church needs to have about ministering to same-sex attracted individuals.

Q: Can you share about your family situation growing up? What was your relationship like with your father?

I was the youngest of six children. My father was very abusive to my mother, my siblings and me. I felt he particularly targeted me, and I had no meaningful relationship with him in my formative years. My oldest brother, who had joined the military, dominated me. My other brother was mentally challenged, and I couldn’t relate to him as a peer. I never had a healthy male role model and didn’t want to be like any of the males in my family. I didn’t respect them for a variety of reasons.

Much is sometimes made of the relationship between same-sex attracted boys and their mothers. I can’t say I identified with my mom, though she often defended me against my father. I sought the friendship of my sisters, but when I was young, they formed a block and kept me at a distance, though individually I did have something of a relationship with each of them.

My family during my childhood could only be described as dysfunctional, with the ruling emotions being anger and fear. I understood affection as expressed in the care of my mother, but because she worked when I was little, I didn’t have much time with her to experience the nurturing and cherishing I later learned is typical of maternal love.

Q: Though you didn’t recognize it as such at the time, you were molested by your sister’s boyfriend when you were a child. What role did that experience play in you later identifying as gay?

That loss of innocence had a profound effect on me. While I had no real idea of what was happening to me, it came to represent masculine acceptance. Because of the unfamiliar and powerful sexual urges of adolescent males, I bonded strongly to Roger. Since I had had no sex education at home, school or church, I assumed our relationship was typical of all male friendships. At this time in my life, I was forming my identity, values and worldview. Subconsciously I concluded sex was the way men expressed regard for each other. Perhaps, because I had never sensed healthy love and respect from my father and brothers, I perceived Roger’s attentions as love. In that highly moldable period of my life, I decided love means sex, and sex means love.

Q: Did your experience growing up in church have any effect on your choices to enter—and eventually leave—the homosexual lifestyle?

Typical of the time, sex was a taboo subject in the church. When it was referred to at all, it was done using scriptural language of the 1600s, which meant nothing to me. No one was explaining words such as “fornication” and expressions such as “burning with lust.” When I was an adolescent, even popular terminology such as “petting” and “necking” were vaguely understood to be bad things that older teenagers did (though I wasn’t sure exactly what). While heterosexual behavior was referred to in incomprehensible jargon, homosexual activity was not even obliquely referred to. We young people were on our own to figure out what sex was all about. So in the absence of any meaningful guidance, I can’t say the church had any effect at all on my choice to begin engaging in homosexual activities when I was an adolescent, other than leaving a vacuum.

Later, after my encounter with Lance and my introduction to the gay scene in downtown Toronto, I had a clearer sense of the traditional sexual morality espoused by the church, but by then my earlier experiences had shaped my attitudes at such a deep level that my faith, such as it was, did not act as a deterrent.

My decision to leave the gay community was not really affected by the church, since I hadn’t been in one for years. However, once that decision was made, the church where I sought to rebuild my relationship with the Lord played a huge role in my following through on that decision. The believers in that fellowship gave me the spiritual support I needed as I learned how to develop and maintain non-sexual relationships with men and to relate in a meaningful way to women. I know God provided these people in my life because I sincerely doubt I could have moved out of the gay community without a welcoming church family to hold me in its embrace. Actually, I learned early on that the depth of relationship I could attain with individuals in the church was greater than anything I had known in my gay relationships, even the longer-term ones. They all seemed to come with an implied expiration date. On the other hand, some of the first Christians who befriended me are still my best friends after 25 years.

Q: You met your wife, Audrey, in a Bible study group. What attracted you to her and what changed your relationship after you got married?

In my late teens, I was looking for acceptance and relationships. I had not  been successful in developing lasting homosexual connections, so I was looking anywhere to get my emotional needs met. When the opportunity to join this home Bible study group came along, I took advantage of it. It offered much of what I was looking for. I saw Audrey as a beautiful person, both physically and spiritually. She was a young woman with real depth of personality and strength of character. I soon came to admire and respect her. Before very long, I came to love her intensely. As a godly Christian woman, she was not looking for a sexual aspect of our relationship to develop. I was insecure when even contemplating the idea of sex with a woman. Consequently, we suited each other very well.

I believe two main factors had a negative impact on our relationship. Firstly, my career became my No. 1 priority. I neglected my relationship with God and soon thereafter my relationship with Audrey. The less time I spent with Audrey, the less appealing she seemed. We were also young parents at the time, and while I loved little Sean, I preferred to avoid the aspects of his care that required constant devoted attention. Secondly, I had never faced and dealt properly with my childhood experiences and attractions. They were a secret part of me, and secrets have a way of festering in the dark, neglected parts of our minds. My memories turned into imaginings, and my imaginings became fantasies. When I was introduced to Toronto’s gay scene, all of these were unleashed in a torrent of experimentation and experience. Dear Audrey didn’t stand a chance!

Q: What advice would you give to someone struggling with homosexual temptations?

First of all, “the struggling” thing is really important. Lots of LGBTQ people are perfectly happy where they are and defend their lifestyle choices loudly and proudly. There’s no struggle for them. I know about this, as do other people I mentioned in the book. I felt this way myself for years.

However, eventually for some of us, a struggle begins. It may be self-driven, perhaps a longing for an earlier identity we have abandoned. It may be socially driven, perhaps a desire to fit into a different group where social needs are met without sexual expectations. It may be Spirit-driven; perhaps God is behind the struggle. It may be any combination of these factors. The point of all this is that at some point, a real struggle begins.

If you are struggling with temptations regarding homosexuality and you want out, I’m here to tell you there is hope. You’ll hear a lot of voices these days tell you sexuality is fluid and can be changed. Other voices tell you sexuality is fixed and cannot be changed. Still other voices will say you can only change in one direction but not the other. It certainly is confusing. My experience is that meaningful change can be experienced, so don’t give up!

Add to the issue of orientation the idea of sexual addiction, which can crop up in anyone, and things get even more complicated. Sexual addiction is the strongest of all addictions, and it seems impossible. Often people make attempts to change on their own and are met with defeat. My advice, to begin, is to cry out to God, the giver of life. However, as in my case, you’ll probably discover God uses people to help you. Counselors, pastors, friends and family are all resources God uses in our lives. Sometimes God does truly miraculous things, but that doesn’t mean we can just pray something like, “God, deliver me!” and then carry on until a thunderbolt strikes from the blue. Take positive steps of your own as well. The book tells about the things I did that helped me, things such as getting into a program, purging physical triggers from my home and establishing non-sexualized relationships.

Q: What would you say to the individual who is as immersed in the gay culture and lifestyle as you were and who wants to get out? What resources are available to him or her?

I would say a few things.

1. Cry out to God and ask for forgiveness and deliverance.
2. Seek out a few Christians who will support you (ideally an understanding church).
3. Seek a ministry that can help you develop the identity you long for and deal with the issues, whether issues of the past (such as childhood molestation) or of the present (sexual addiction and so on).
4. Take time to grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ. This is most important!
5. Share your story only with a few you can trust, until you are strong enough to come out to the world. {eoa}

Learn more about Out and Bob Fife at or .

Dear President-elect Trump: 

Aware Americans want the federal government out of our healthcare, out of our schools and away from our property rights and community rule.

President-elect Trump, we are tired of politicians’ lies. That is why we voted you into office.

The Nazis did not coax Jews into boxcars by telling them they were going to gas chambers. They told them they were meeting their families and would soon be freed.

Hitler seduced Germans into passively accepting his abominations by plying them with food stamps, free healthcare and free college. He provided government jobs repairing the infrastructure, preached the dangers of cigarettes and the value of organic farming.

So, too, Americans have been soothed into government dependence.

Washington’s lies about Obamacare, HUD relocation programs and Common Core student data collection may not kill us. They will strip away our right to control our own property, to live in the homes we choose next to the neighbors we like and to send our children to school knowing they are safe from sexual predators or social and emotional manipulation.

Worse, these political lies will consign our children to a lifetime of debt, taxes, dashed dreams and economic mediocrity.

President-elect Trump, we do not want to “repeal and replace” Obamacare any more than we want to “fix” Common Core or “tinker” with HUD’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing. We want these centrally controlled mandates run down, rooted out wherever they lead and vaporized until there is no trace they ever existed.

There are and always have been far superior free market solutions.

We are either a constitutional republic operating within the bounds our founders established for a limited government; bounds that have fed over 200 years of American exceptionalism, or we are a socialist member of the global community standing in line awaiting our instructions.

There is no “half-way” compromise that will make America great again. 

President-elect Trump, conservatives have answers and stand ready to assist you in fulfilling the promise our nation desperately needs. {eoa}

John Anthony is the founder of Sustainable Freedom Lab. Mr. Anthony is the former Director of Sales and Marketing for Paul Mitchell Systems, Inc. In 1989, he founded Corporate Measures, LLC, a management development firm. In 2012, Mr. Anthony turned his attention to community issues including the balance between federal agency regulations and local autonomy. In January 2016, Mr. Anthony was a guest at the prestigious Rutgers University School of Management Fellowship honoring Dr. Louis Kelso. In March 2016, he was the keynote speaker on property rights at the Palmetto Panel at Clemson University.

This article was originally published at . Used with permission.