Christmas Candy

Unsaved people would hear the rumors about signs, wonders, miracles, & often free food; if they would go listen to Jesus talk about the Kingdom of God.

When I was growing up the church that I went to would give a box of Christmas candy & an orange to every child on the Sunday closest to Christmas. We would be told to invite all your friends & there would be a prize for the child who invited the most people to church that day. They would come for the candy, the orange, & the prize; but they would hear the Gospel message of Jesus Christ & have an opportunity to accept Jesus into their hearts.

Those who followed Jesus would come for the signs, wonders, miracles & often the free food; but they would also hear the Divine message about the Kingdom of God. They would be given an opportunity to repent of their sins & be baptized by his disciples.

The church I went to as a child also did something special on Easter Sunday. They would give each child a chocolate Easter Bunny and a peanut butter Easter egg & there would be a prize for the child who invited the most people to Sunday School. They came for the candy; they came for the prize; but they also got the opportunity to hear the Gospel message of Jesus Christ & an invitation to accept him into their heart.

A lot of people only go to church on a holiday like Christmas & Easter never to return; until next year on Christmas & Easter. That’s the way it is today. But back then our church increased numbers because of what we did on Christmas & Easter, the message & most importantly the Invitation to accept Jesus into their hearts. With that commitment, they could hardly wait to come back & hear more!

The crowds that followed Jesus grew for the same reasons. We are supposed to reach as many people as we can with the Gospel message of Jesus Christ & an invitation to invite him into their hearts.

When is the last time (even before Covid) when you went to a church & heard the Gospel message of Jesus Christ followed by an invitation to personally invite him into their heart?

Should we not be following his example? “And John the Baptist’s Disciples complained that Jesus was baptizing more people than John - altho Jesus himself baptized no one; but his Disciples were the ones doing the baptizing.”

After a good sermon, the harvest was ripe & ready to repent & be saved. So much so that altho John the Baptist did the baptizing for his group...Jesus needed more workers, all 12 Disciples were busy baptizing!

“My Friend’s Geneology”

My friend shared his biological genealogy with me, & his research revealed some interesting things.

He had an ancestor of royalty. I was impressed. Then He told me this royal ancestor committed adultery & murdered a man.

He told me He had an ancestor whose clan is considered the most honorable today. I was impressed. Then He told me that man had incest with His daughter-in-law when she pretended to be a prostitute & she wasn’t but he missed his dead wife & was looking for a prostitute in a moment of loneliness & weakness. That resulted in twins.

He told me about an ancestor woman who ran a hotel of questionable usage. I was grossed out. Then He told me she met a spy & he saved her family out of that place & lifestyle & she married him, a prince of one of 12 tribes.

There were many more of his relatives that He told me about... He said we are all a mixture of good & evil. He said remember that & judge no one, for all have or will have a story to tell of good & evil. Esteem no one, & devastate no one by reminding them of their past. All humans are made up of a mixture of good & evil. - Part of the Biological Geneology of Jesus.