If you are a Christian or a conservative, you are probably more optimistic than you were a year ago. Is it because Donald Trump won the election?  Maybe, but his victory is only a symptom of something I believe is more significant: an important shift in the thinking of many Americans.

And Christmas might be an appropriate time to clarify what that shift is and direction it needs to go. I believe those who see the election results as a mere personality cult centered in Donald Trump are mistaken. It is one step in the right direction, but many more are needed.

In order to set a better course for the nation, we must understand where we got off track. America was founded on Judeo/Christian teachings and values, so much so that the U.S. Supreme Court actually called it a “Christian nation.”

America was never a theocracy, but it was so closely identified with Christianity that over seventy years ago God-hating leftists set out to change it fundamentally. (It is not a coincidence that President Barack Obama boasted of his plan to “fundamentally transform” America). Change has been gradual, but it has been profound.

The political and cultural landscapes of the nation are now radically different from a hundred years ago, and recent events have clearly exposed the ultimate objective of leftists. The contentious, and often violent divide we are experiencing in America’s public life, which many have declared to be unbridgeable, is the result of the left’s persistent hammering out their hatred of everything Christian and thus much that is foundational to American’s greatness.

Christians are generally gracious, so few of them have attacked the left; but during this recent election cycle the left’s façade has been removed, the truth laid bare, and all who are honest and aware can now see the wickedness that is leftism.

Lest any miss the connection between the left and America’s current chaos, let us consider the fruit produced by the left in our culture:

1.) The rejection of God and Christ has brought about an atheistic “values free” culture where there is no objective truth, no authority, no right and wrong, no respect for life and property, and a rejection of excellence. In the absence of generally accepted authority, there has risen the “imperial I” where each person believes he can live as he chooses without regard to God or the consequences to others.  The worst thing one can do is to call another person or action wrong, which has led to chaos and conflict across the nation. People hate others over differences of opinion, and many family members won’t speak with one another.

2.) The rejection of God has led to the rejection of His word, the Bible. Thus, confusion reigns. Problems beset us and solutions elude us. God’s “Answer Book,” is ignored and even forbidden, while people and lives are destroyed by moral darkness and foolishness. Violence and chaos as America has never before experienced dominate the culture.

3.) Lawlessness abounds. “Whatever happened to sin?” is a question rightly asked. Sin, the source of all mankind’s problems, is a forbidden topic. From speeding on the highway, to shoplifting, to ‘porch pirates” on our streets, and murder and mayhem in the cities, the law is scorned. The police are disrespected, and many politicians apparently want it that way.

4.) The “end justifies the means” immorality dominates to where the trust necessary to maintain a civil and safe society is undermined. Whereas it was once the greatest of insults to be called a liar, lying is now common and even expected.  Whether it be politicians, journalists on TV, the salesman at the store, or one’s neighbor, we now assume they are probably lying to us.  This recent election cycle has exposed abundant lying by the Media, commentators, politicians, entertainers, and educators. Truth is not a leftist value.

5.) Life has little or no value. God alone imbues humans with value, and without God, there is no respect for human life. We now abort babies for any or no reason.  We elevate having a career and despise children. We tolerate the innumerable violent deaths of teens in the inner cities and from illicit drug use; and many encourage the euthanizing of the elderly and infirm. Some politicians have publicly stated their goal to eliminate babies with birth anomalies such as Downs Syndrome via abortion.

6.) The sexual revolution introduced by leftists has devastated the nation. It has destroyed families, devalued children, undermined the trust necessary to build strong relationships, increased cultural instability, violence, and STD’s. Absence of fathers is the number one factor behind the vast number of violent deaths of young men in America.

7.) The left has also created a host of other issues which have negatively affected America: I refer to things like the war on Christmas, lower standards of modesty, and vulgarity expressed in public discourse, art, music, and comedy.

Chronicling the chaos and violence fostered by the Left would require a book. And the chasm between the left and right is so large some suggest that we are on the verge of a second civil war or a division into two countries.

If you want to know what’s wrong with atheism and leftism, just look at the disaster they have brought to America!

By God’s grace, the machinations of the left have been exposed and Americans are waking up to the destructive path down which they have been leading the country. In November millions voted differently from previous elections because their eyes have been opened.

For the first time since leftists began their assault upon America, it appears most citizens realize the evils they represent.

Which leaves only one real option: I would suggest that the path back to “One Nation Under God,” is the pathway to the Christ of Christmas.

Most Americans enjoy Christmas, and many acknowledge the “Babe of Bethlehem,” but the day has been largely sanitized of its deeper, spiritual message. If your Christmas celebration envisions only a child born in the Judean wilderness two thousand years ago it is nothing more than a sentimental nod to a holiday tradition in which folks smile a bit more, spend a lot of money, and children are favored with toys and candy.

Such a celebration ignores the stark shadow cast years later by a Roman cross on a hillside near Jerusalem involving that same child.

The full message of Christmas must acknowledge the dark truth about mankind’s fallen nature and the ghastly cost of our rescue: the Babe of Bethlehem, some thirty years later, crucified upon a Roman cross.

Celebrating the Child without the cross is a mockery which hints at a loving God but leaves us to an infinite destruction. The real joy of the Season is not the Babe in the manger, but His mission: to be the Christ, the “Messiah,” crucified for our sin, and risen to provide forgiveness and salvation to all who believe!

In Luke chapter two we encounter the message which the angels delivered to the shepherds on that night,

“Unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”

Yes, Christmas joy begins with the reality that we all need a Savior because we are all sinners and alienated from God, but He has provided redemption!

So, just who is this Savior? Examining His scriptural names gives us a good idea of who He is. He is called:

Emmanuel, meaning “God with us.” Having kicked God out of our culture, would it not be a good thing to invite Him back!  Christ is God and we must deal with Him now as Savior, or in eternity as judge!

“The Way.” He is the way to God and to all that is good.

“Truth.”  The relativism of the left is debilitating and destructive. Americans of all ages are reaping the consequences of a lying and deceitful society. We need “Truth!”

“Love.”  The definition of love is to ”give.” And John 3:16 states that

“God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

The “Prince of Peace.” Is there anything better than to be at peace in one’s soul?  Jesus Christ, the babe of Bethlehem, came for the purpose of bringing peace between God and us, between us and others, and within our hearts.

The “Lamb of God.”  Without Christ, we must all die for our own sins, but as John the Baptist said of Christ, He is

“the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

The “only wise God.” Because He upholds all things and knows the end from the beginning, and because He is our Creator, He knows what is best for us and what makes us truly happy and contented. You and I can depend on Him completely to forgive us, to save us, and to keep us for all eternity, if we but trust Him to do so!

Every December, there are a multitude of new movies and reruns of many more, each purporting to, in some way, remind us of the “real reason for the season.” They generally fall short and rather present mostly what one might call sentimental drivel, having little or nothing to do with Christ, Himself!

Christians should use the season to stir up reminders of mankind’s dire plight without God, and of His gracious gift of Christ who came, lived, died and rose again as payment for our sins, in order to restore our relationship with God.

For those who come to understand what it is that makes Christmas so significant: the manifest love of God for us in providing salvation, the season will shine with a glow it never had before!