Thinking back, I have always been a Christian activist. I never prayed for God to make me like this. I just realized that I was a daughter of the King of the Universe; so stepping out in faith – even in the face of adversity – came very naturally to me.
Was I a bit nervous? Of course! But that feeling would finally dissipate when I realized that the Lord was with me – strengthening me.
Our kids grew up in the 1980’s. Public schools were not as bad as they are now, but they were certainly not welcoming to anything “Christian.” I remember the day that a notice came home from school in November.
The notice said: “Parents – we would like to extend the opportunity for you to come and share the spirit of your holiday.” I immediately discerned that they were not speaking of Christmas. They were opening the way for other religions to speak to the children about their holidays…like Ramadan.
A thought came to me (I’m certain that this was the Lord) that they could not discriminate against me if I wanted to share what Christmas meant to me and my family. What a perfect opportunity to share the true meaning of Christmas, not Frosty the Snowman or Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer!
I filled out the form and said that I would like to come into school and share my holiday – Christmas – and what it meant to me. The principal and some of the teachers knew that I was pretty outspoken. I had to chuckle when I pictured them opening my form. I could just see the rolling eyes.
The principal called me and asked what I had in mind. I told her that to a true Christian, the holiday was not secular. I told her that we were celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. She asked what I would be doing. I told her that I would be singing some Christmas carols with the children and would talk about the true meaning of Christmas. This lady was not thrilled with me – I didn’t expect her to be – but she did give me a date that was open. I told her that I would be there.
The Christmas presentation
The day arrived for me to come into school. I was a soloist in church, so I had many accompaniment tapes for Christmas songs. I brought a tape for a medley by Sandi Patty. I also brought in our Nativity Set. I did notice a couple of teachers giving me what could be described as “the evil eye” as I set up the Nativity, but I just smiled and let it roll off. I mean, how could I explain the true meaning of Christmas without the Nativity with the baby Jesus?
There were about three or four classes assembled. Little faces looking up at me from the floor – I prayed in my head that the Lord would touch these children, and that they would never forget this day. I told the kids that I wanted to explain to them what Christmas meant to a true Christian. I told them that the holiday was about the birth of Jesus Christ, who was our Savior.
I put on the accompaniment tape and sang the medley, telling the kids that if they knew the songs to feel free to sing with me. I again saw a couple of adults shoot me an evil eye. I just smiled….
After the music, I turned to the Nativity scene. I had brought my Bible with me and had planned to read the Christmas story from Luke. I opened the Bible and began to read, when suddenly one of the teachers took the Bible from my hands! She leaned over to whisper to me: “I’m sorry, but our principal says that you cannot read from the Bible in school.”
I turned to the kids and said, “Well, I can’t read to you from my Bible, but that’s okay – I know this story by heart! And I began to tell them all about Mary and Joseph and their trip to Bethlehem.
I told them that they had to stay in a stable because there was no room for them at the inn. I told them that an angel appeared to shepherds who were in the fields, and that they were very afraid; but the angel told them not to be afraid because this night was born to them the Savior of the world – Christ the Lord!
You could have heard a pin drop as I told the children about the host of angels praising God, and how the shepherds had been told where to find the baby Jesus. I said that the shepherds were so excited and said, “Let’s go and see this for ourselves.” The eyes of the kids were like silver dollars! It was then that I realized that the Lord had intended for me to tell the story and not read it.
The four little girls
I had brought little candy canes for the children, and as I was handing them out, four girls began to ask questions about Jesus and heaven. I saw the group of teachers along with the principal heading my way, so I quickly told the girls to find Bibles and they could read for themselves all about Jesus. They were so excited!
The children were all taken into their classrooms as I cleaned up and got ready to leave. I felt that this day had been straight from the Lord. I thanked Him and prayed for all of the children. I prayed especially for the four little girls who had been so excited.
God Opens Doors
When I got home, I realized that God had opened that door for me to have that time with these children. I could have looked at the invitation which had come home, and thought to myself, “They would never allow me to do this.” It had to be the Holy Spirit who gave me the idea of writing back and asking if I could share the spirit of my holiday.
I know that the principal and some of the teachers were not thrilled with my presentation. But seeds were planted that day. It was a day I will never forget.
Writing a Rebuttal to a Front-Page Article praising WICCA
“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Since I was born-again in 1983, I have been a Christian activist. It certainly wasn’t something I aspired to be. But as time passed, it became evident that God had planned to use me in this way.
It began with writing letters to the editor on moral issues. I had a wonderful mentor, an older brother in Christ whom I had met at church. He had been writing letters to the editor for years and took me under his wing. He is now with our Lord Jesus.
I wrote a lot about the horrors of abortion. I wrote about God being taken out of schools. One day, my mentor showed me his hometown newspaper, and on the front page was a story about WICCA. It spoke of WICCA in a way that seemed to glorify it. I called the editor of that paper and told him that I was disappointed that a small-town paper would print such a thing. I told him that I was a Christian, and asked if he would ever publish a similar story about being Christian.
The editor said that if I wished to write a rebuttal to the piece on Wicca, that he would publish it on the Op/Ed section of the paper – not as a letter to the editor, but as a stand-alone article along with my picture. I agreed and he sent out his photographer.
I prayed for the Lord to help me write this article. I wrote that Wicca promotes worship of the earth. I said that born-again Christians worship the Creator of the earth and that we have a relationship with Him.
I wrote that worshiping the earth was like going into an art museum and seeing a magnificent painting, only to praise the piece itself, never seeking out the artist who painted it. Not only do Christians know who created the earth, but we love and worship Him, and know Him because of His Word in the Bible which He left for us. Needless to say, that article caused a firestorm of rebuttals, condemning Christianity and exalting Wicca.
I shared the Gospel in that article. Untold number of people read how they could be saved in their hometown newspaper!
SASSY MAGAZINE
This happened in 1986:
One night at choir practice, my writing mentor dropped a magazine in my lap. He said, “You’ll know what to do.” When I got home, I read through the magazine and was horrified. The name of the magazine was Sassy. I read that this magazine was marketed to girls ages 12-15. Being a Christian woman, I cannot write here what I read in Sassy. I will say that it was pornographic and so very disgusting.
I received James Dobson’s Focus on the Family magazine, and was surprised to read that there were Christian women in various parts of the country actively exposing Sassy as pornography for our young girls. I realized that in my part of the country, no one was doing this—not yet!
The Mass Mail-Out
I prayed that God would show me what to do. First, I found out where Sassy was being sold. Then I typed up a cover letter to each of these stores, and made copies of the most offensive pornographic material to send with the letter. The letter read:
Dear Marketing Manager,
I want you to be aware of a magazine that is being sold in your stores. I am quite certain that you are unaware of the pornographic content in this magazine, which is marketed to girls ages 12-15. If you had known, surely you would have rejected Sassy magazine.
I did a mass mailing out to the stores. After about a week, I received a phone call from Sassy magazine in New York! I was very surprised that they had my name and my number. The woman told me that they had lost distribution in most of the larger retailers in our area. She said that Sassy was told that I had done this.
She asked me if I was affiliated with Jerry Falwell. I told her I was not, but that I was affiliated with God.
There was a long silence on her end.
Then she went on to say that they were getting push back in many parts of the country. I asked her why that should surprise her. She had no answer.
The woman said that Sassy originated in Australia, and did not receive such criticism in that country. I told her that she was in America, not Australia, and that her magazine was smut. Once again, she asked me with whom I was affiliated. I told her that one person following God is like an army.
Again, she had no response.
About a week later, she called once again. This time, she told me that she and the owners of Sassy realized that the format of their magazine had to change. She said that they had compiled the first new edition and wondered if I would look through it and give them my feedback. I told her that would be fine. In a few days, it came in the mail. (I have it to this day.)
I read all the way through it. It was vastly different – more like Seventeen magazine. I didn’t love that magazine either, but it was in no way pornographic. I received another call from the lady from Sassy, asking if I received the new and improved Sassy, and what did I think of it. I told her that it was acceptable to me; still not wholesome, but certainly not smut.
The Question I did not expect
Then she asked me a question that I did not see coming. She had the audacity to ask if I could write to the stores from where I had Sassy removed, and ask them to please reinstate it.
I’m sure that she did not expect my response to her as well. I told her that she and her staff had gotten themselves into this mess, and they would have to figure out how to market Sassy again without my help.
SASSY is gone
Sassy folded in 1994. Now if that isn’t a testimony of how one person can change things, I don’t know what is!
A SCHOOL PROGRAM CHANGED BY GOD
When my kids were young, I did in-home daycare to help with the finances. When I interviewed prospective parents, I told them up front that their child would hear about Jesus. I told them that I read Bible stories to the kids, and that we pray together. I asked if that would be a problem, and only one set of parents declined using my services because of this.
One day in late November of 1987, Jason, one of my daycare kids, told me that they practiced singing their songs for the “Winter” concert. Back when political correctness did not reign, these concerts were called “Christmas concerts.”
Jason wanted me to see the words of a song. He was troubled by them. The song was called, “The Twelve Days After Christmas.” Here are some of the lyrics:
“On the first day after Christmas, my true love and I had a fight
So I chopped the pear tree down, and burned it just for spite
Then with a single cartridge, I shot that blasted partridge
My true love, my true love, my true love gave to me.
The second day after Christmas
I pulled on the old rubber gloves
And very gently wrung the necks
Of both the turtle doves
My true love, my true love,
My true love gave to me.”
The song went on and on in like manner, and was to be sung by third graders. I asked Jason if I could see the other songs they would sing. As I looked through the list, it became obvious to me that the Lord wanted to use me once again to effect change.
There were four Chanukah songs, and five secular holiday songs, like Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman, etc. There was not even ONE sacred Christmas song.
The next day, I called the Board of Education for our county. I asked to speak with the supervisor of music for the entire county. As I began to speak with this man, I realized that he was a bit on the edgy side, and was not happy with my call. Exactly what I expected.
I began to tell him about the inappropriate song for the age of the children, reading him some of the lyrics. I told him that perhaps high school students would get a laugh from a song like that, but that it was definitely NOT for young, impressionable children.
He told me that he would get a panel of educators together, and if I would come in, the panel would hear me out. I told him that was fair, and that I would come in any time this was scheduled.
But then I asked him about the other music. I told him about the Chanukah songs, and that there were only secular Christmas songs—not even one sacred song about the birth of Jesus. I told him that I loved Chanukah, and that I was a Jewish Christian.
There was a long pause on his end, but then he said “Well, that’s interesting.” I went on that since the children were singing about Chanukah (The Festival of Lights) and the miracle of the oil burning for eight days when there was only enough oil for one, then there also should be sacred songs about Christmas (with the birth of Jesus in the lyrics).
Surprisingly, he agreed. He said that he always asked his music teachers to be fair about the music at this time of the year. He asked me to call the school and request a meeting with the music teacher. He then asked me to get back to him with the outcome.
I called my children’s school and got the music teacher on the phone. After asking for a meeting, the teacher told me that her time was limited because of the concert, and asked if we could speak by phone. I told her that I was concerned about the music program because not even one sacred Christmas song was part of it. I said that I noticed that Chanukah was well-represented in the list of songs.
I distinctly heard a sigh. Then the teacher explained to me why she did not put any sacred Christmas songs into the program. She said that in her first year of teaching in this school, she did choose three sacred Christmas songs. She said that the Jewish teachers blasted her so badly, and said that this was not allowed. She said the pressure from the other teachers was intolerable, so she just decided to cooperate with them.
I told her that I was a Jewish Christian, and that I felt that it was wrong to discriminate against the Christians, because of some Jewish teachers. She said she was very sorry, but that she could not endure another year like her first.
I called the Supervisor back to let him know how things went. He said he was not surprised, and he thanked me for doing my part.
He said, “Now I will visit this teacher, and I will tell her that both Chanukah and Christmas should be represented in the music.” He went on, “And one or two secular Christmas songs are fine, but there should also be sacred Christmas songs about the birth of Jesus.”
He told me that if the Jewish teachers came against her, then she would be able to say that she had no choice; that the Supervisor of music for the county directed her to make this change.
I was so grateful to this man. I knew that the Lord had really placed this on my heart, and this was the outcome. Before we got off the phone, he told me that it wouldn’t be necessary for me to come in about the other song. He took the song to a few of his peers, and they immediately said that it was not age appropriate. That song was banned in all elementary schools in my county.
The Winter concert was a lovely mix of Chanukah songs and Frosty the Snowman-type songs, but also “Silent Night,” “Let’s Run to the Stable” and “Away in a Manger” were sung!
Brethren, these things were changed back in the 1980’s. I’m not saying that it would be impossible to do this today. But I will say that because of the silence of Christians in the face of evil for so many decades, the enemy has stood his ground, and, in many cases, has taken it away from us.
It’s Never Too Late to Start
I hear it said that it is just too late to even try to battle the enemy in America. How do we know that? How do we know that God will not open doors if enough of His people begin to show up at public schools and libraries?
Perhaps some of us might go to jail.
Brethren, it would be SO worth it if God would just use us to speak of His righteousness to an unbelieving world!
Trust HIM and step out in faith!
Shalom b’Yeshua
MARANATHA!!
grandmageri422@gmail.com (copy and paste this address into your email to write to me)
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