Christmas Leftovers by Soteria Magazine

soteriamag.co.uk

Christmas Leftovers Freely Given

Jan â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;09

Whatever you do, don’t forget to take the batteries out of the singing reindeer / santa / dalek when you pack away the decorations until next November. The presents are open, your younger siblings are busy ignoring the all-singing, all dancing toys in favour of playing with the boxes they came in. You can finally sit down, relax and watch all that wonderful postChristmas TV and listen to the X-Factor Christmas number one! This time we’ve got all the fad diets you could ever need, how to handle the sales sensibly and all the leftovers from the Christmas story that people would rather not think about. I mean what’s it all about really, when you get down to it? What’s the point of the baby, the shepherds and the wise men? So run your fingers over our glossy pages in amazement, then make yourself a turkey and sprout sarnie and settle down with a glass of bubbly (coke) to peruse our left overs.

If you are a Christian we want to help you understand the Bible by offering practical everyday Bible guided advice. If you haven’t made a decision about Jesus we want you to see what Christianity is all about! Soteria would like to thank everyone who supports us in prayer and with finance. We are still looking for more ‘friends’ who will donate £5 per month (less than an hours wage) to help us continue to produce the magazine. Contact rob@soteriamag.co.uk for more details.

If you’re still battling through the six tins of Quality Street then you can always send the purple ones to us, we love them!

Rob

Soteria is an independent Christian Youth Lifestyle magazine with two aims.

If you have read this magazine and liked it, and even if you didn’t, we would love to hear from you. You can write by snail mail to: Soteria Magazine 27 Trevenson Road Pool Redruth Cornwall TR15 3PN or e-mail us on editorial@soteriamag.co.uk

A New Resolve...

Starting a new year could mark the start wrong and we are tempted to break that of a new beginning. When making New resolution? Years resolutions we often think in terms of stopping something... like a bad habit, For example, we may decide to make time something negative. Smokers may try to (say 15 minutes) every day for prayer. At quit smoking, drinkers may try to cut back what time are we going to pray every day? on alcohol consumption, shopaholics may Is it a bad idea to attempt to make space try to cut back on their spending. What for quiet time first thing in the morning, about trying to be healthier by not taking when the rest of the household is bustling? the bus to work and walk or cycle instead? What action will we take if we accidently Maybe give up on takeaways and junk sleep in and miss that valuable time of food, and the things we loved to eat in the prayer? Maybe we will find time a little run up to Christmas, like chocolate. We later in the day, rather than miss it out may even aim to try to control our temper, completely. With regard to things such as or make a greater effort to be more prayer and Bible reading it is ultimately amenable! between us and God. However, we should not be afraid to seek counsel or guidance The things that we enjoy the most often from another Christian who is more causes us the most harm physically, experienced in the faith. Remember this, particularly through ill health, and leave us Proverbs 20v25 states that, ‘ It is feeling somewhat guilty for our dangerous to make a rash promise to God indulgences. We can focus on the bad before counting the cost’. things in our lives, and in our own strength try to turn them around. The trouble is, we If you are reading this before (or even start off with really good intentions and after) January 1st 2009, you don’t need to through boredom and lack of motivation, wait until the start of a new year, to wipe courtesy of our human nature, we simply the slate clean and start a new activity. If give up. All the positive changes that we you present your promise(s) before God in once dreamed of making and the vision of a reverent and sincere way, God will how life could be, all seem to vanish. accept what you intend to do and say, regardless of the time of year! And so it is with our spiritual lives too... we may think in terms of reading our Bibles in Your prayers do not need to be limited to a regular fashion, make the effort to pray, matters of a spiritual nature. There is no make ourselves more available in church, reason to suggest that God would not be show up in church more regularly, or interested in someone who wishes to give simply show up! Again, with all the best up smoking, or watching too much TV. We will in the world, we often try to do things should include God in this decision making in our own strength, and somewhere down process, and maybe give up smoking the line, inside we admit defeat as we knowing that we have taken into account allow other things to creep in and crowd that the body is a temple for the Holy out those things of a more godly nature. Spirit. We could cut down on how much TV we watch, knowing that we could be doing Regardless of whatever New Years something more constructive, by using Resolutions we make, maybe we should this time to spend with God. consider first, exactly what we are it of God undertaking, what efforts we will make to led by the Spir re a o h w ll ensure that we keep up the ‘good work’? a r :14 Fo od. Romans 8 G f o n What action will we take when things go re ild ch are

Ok so Christmas has been and gone again for another year, the presents are all unwrapped, there’s an enormous amount of card and paper kicking about the house and there is enough turkey meat left to feed most of West Cornwall! We need to get back to a point when the house can be useful again, things need tidying up. What can we do...

Cards

Recycle Everything

Contrary to popular belief the humble Christmas Card has more that just the one use of sending it for many miles in the second class post to someone you aren’t going to get to see at Christmas; that’s right and here it is…

you appreciate the gesture the reality is that you’ve already got one of these things!

So what do you do? Yes, you could be really selfish and sell them on ebay, however I’m not going to recommend that. Instead firstly I’d recommend giving unwanted items to charity, this not Seeing as everybody tends to write their Christmas message on the right-hand side only takes the unwanted item off your hands but benefits some of the card, usually the back of the front (I hope that made sense) is completely clean. needy cause. What you do then is cut the card in half If that is not an option for you, you could along its spine, perhaps trim it up a little and you have some very festive looking gift use FreeCycle (www.uk.freecycle.org). Here you have a web-based free classified tags ready for use next Christmas. The other half of the card can then be put in the advert section that allows people to give away any unwanted items. normal cardboard recycling bins. This not only reduces waste and helps the God’s creation, but it will also save you buying gifts next year and saving money too!

Food

How do you recycle food left-overs? Chances are you have a lot of turkey leftover, so here’s your chance to be a culinary creative genius; just how many turkey themed things can you Wrapping Paper make? Sandwiches, salad, Let’s face it most of us do rip wrapping paper off from any given item at Christmas, soup…where will your imagination take you? so short of using it for papier mache sculpting, the best thing is to send this That Christian Christmas Tract entire collection of ripped, multi-coloured This is one paper document that shouldn’t paper to your local recycling station. be thrown out or recycled. The message of the gospel is just as relevant today as Unwanted Gifts when it was new, so don’t get rid of the This is an unfortunate situation but it happens anyway all too often. Some loved little Christmas message, but instead pass one has given you something but although it on for another person to read and hopefully be blessed.

Not Scrooge! After a series of battles Samuel put a large rock in the ground and called it Ebenezer - The Stone of The Help. This was done to say “This far God has brought us.” So as we have a new shiny magazine, we decided to raise our Ebenezer and look back at the history of Soteria. 7 issues including these 2 were produced during this time.

April ‘93 st issue Soteria’s fir

Dec ‘94 Soteria’s last issue?

April ‘01 Soteria:The Re-launch

‘01 November the editor) Rob (now Team ria te So e joins th ria website & the Sote . rn bo is

The Soteria website moved to it’s .org.uk add ress in May 2002

June ‘05 One of ou r fave cove and we int rs, erviewed Newsboys It was a cr ! acking mag azine too!

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The Present

Apr ‘04 ting, Colour prin o, a new log y TV Sk tic as a fant , Competition e th of e and on ligious biggest re lea re sed! films ever

Apr ‘03 The website moved to it’s current home at www.soteriama g.co.uk 2 Sept ‘0 Oct ‘03 vers from raid onic co One year on ’t af many ic and we of e weren W ne O s. tackle the y year big one, se oo! rl ea x, cooby D event! sexuality an S eria’s ot on S d the church e” to take ark Sid . had a “D We even continue e and website The magazin be printing issue we will is Th nd! w. gro to one for a frie es, so ask for 500 magazin bsites we ia ter So Besides the 2 co.uk. w.Meetjesus. we also run ww with a website out We also help rch and for a local chu y.co.uk rdsphotograph www.clivericha

from Soteria The first album ilable now. Division is ava Worship Music Rose Grigg. Dayspring by music.co.uk m www.soteria The core Soteria guiding team is currently: Rob Allwright, Greg Messam and Jon Richards Order one fro However many, many people have been involved over the years with writing, advice, ideas and distribution. Thanks to them all!

There was a time when the “January Sale” started 9am on January 1st, not so anymore. Then the sale advertising became “Starts 9am, Boxing Day!”, but recently they went even further by starting the sales in mid-November! How best do we handle the situation? While I believe it’s good to get value for money, I don’t want the goods that I may buy to be so cheap because they were made with slave-labour. Also the cheapest of any given item may not always be suitable for the job, or be of such low quality that it falls apart too quickly. BRING IT TO GOD We must remember the Jesus is our Lord; that means of everything in life including our money, so He’s always the first to consult when shopping for things. Scripture teaches quite a bit about money and the temptations that go with it. TEMPTATION So we do need to apply common sense here, but also be aware of how tempting the power of money and advertising can really be. Don’t give in to the pressure of advertising, think if you really do need the item before buying it. The temptation to show off and buy lots of flashy things to impress others must be resisted. Hard I know when it’s THAT pair of shoes, or THAT brand of top. QUALITY It’s always tempting to buy the cheaper option when you think you’re getting something for less. However let’s think about those imitation Gucci bags, and fake Rolex watches; you are not getting the same quality as if you shelled out hundreds of pounds for a real one. All you have bought is the look of a quality product that will most likely not last the distance that it should. In a sale you often can get a quality product for cheaper, however still ask yourself if it is really something you need to buy in the first place? SUITABILITY What about suitability to the task then? By that I mean buying one product because it’s cheaper, even if it won’t do the job properly. This strikes me as madness as you might pay less in the short-term but in not too long a time the unsuitability will creep back in and you’ll have to pay out again. In a sale situation this is all the more relevant as you may well think that as a certain branding of a product is now cheaper you could get that instead of your original choice. However if the product you already use does the job well enough do you really need to change just because the branded version is cheaper than it used to be? (I’d imagine that even at a reduced price a branded product is more expensive than your original one.) CHARITY Also in the midst of all this sale-mania that is all around us at the moment, let’s not forget that charity is still a must for us all. There are some people around who desperately need our help, think of that before you buy the next pointless item and ask if God would rather have you bless someone else with that money?

So Christmas has come and gone, and by the time you receive this magazine your mind may have already wandered away from the festive season. It may seem strange to put out a Christmas issue after Christmas, but I think it makes perfect sense! After the fripperies and cheap tat have been put away we can spend some time truly remembering what God has done. For us it’s a build up and one day and it’s all over. What God actually did in the life of Jesus took 33 years of growth, life, happiness, pain, tears, joy, teaching, listening and ultimately agony, so that all of history may be redeemed. Now may be the perfect time to concentrate on what God wants to do in your life.

Perhaps you know God personally already through Jesus, does He want to take you deeper this year? Of course He does, but are you willing to follow where He is guiding you, no matter the cost? That’s a toughie, and I have to answer that question too as I write this! Maybe you’ve heard a lot about this Jesus Christ and you want to find out what it’s all about, or you are searching for something missing in your life? Now is the accepted time, today is

the day of salvation. Today you can come to have a relationship with God, and His Spirit can come and live within you. It may all sound a bit odd, you may not understand how it works (if you do understand then tell me) but God asks us simply to believe in Jesus Christ. Not just as the little baby, or even as the man on the cross, or who conquered death, but as the only One who is offering to take away the barrier between you and God and allow you to have a full relationship with Him!

As I get older Christmas doesn’t seem to mean as much to me as it once did. Perhaps that sounds a little sad to you, or perhaps you’re beginning to feel that yourself? Perhaps it’s because, as a man, it’s hard to look forward to the gifts I receive of socks and mugs, these are somehow a letdown compared to the items received when I was a child. Not that I was particularly spoiled, but there’s something about tearing giftwrap from a toy, any toy, that unwrapping socks just can’t equal! Of course I know that Christmas isn’t really about the presents, in fact Christmas is about the presence of God dwelling with humanity in a corporeal sense, and the value of the human beings that I am fighting with in the post Christmas sales. It’s not about me, I was never brought up to believe that it was...and yet I don’t get excited by the season of “peace on earth and goodwill towards men” that ends with barging people out of the way on Boxing Day to get the best stuff in the NEXT sale. For one day we set aside everything to remember the magnificence of God coming to earth and we spend it moaning that the TV programmes aren’t as good as last years and the new socks are a bit itchy!

The Nativity:

danger, in our modern world, of becoming another fairy tale!

The Jewish leaders saw a challenge, and looked for a way to defeat it. The truth is that this After years of obscurity baby, as all babies do, He was once again to grew up. He became a stand before the nobles, child, the only child to and the common people. ever live in total 100% This time they wouldn’t At the end of the school obedience to His Father. be worshipping as the nativity we are left with As a man He lived and Wise Men and the the lovely image of we assume He worked Shepherds. Mary, Joseph, Baby until He was 30 years of Jesus, the Shepherds, age. It’s amazing that To the puppet King the Wise Men, the this person who had Jesus was not to animals and possibly such a heralded arrival be revered, but the angels. A warm should remain relatively simply an glow is cast over the unknown for most of His amusement, stage from the glitter life. to the covered star hovering people over the scene and all Then for three and a half whipped the children not years He went around into a currently on stage the countryside of a frenzy he spring from somewhere provincial outpost of the was not an and sing “Away In A Roman Empire declaring object of worship Manger” and we all that a new kingdom was but an object of hate as leave thinking that coming. His fame spread they demanded that somehow everything is amongst the people Pilate crucify Him! right in the world! squashed under the leadership of an The glory of the angels We leave out the facts of occupying army. The in heaven that a dingy stable, the hope of a new kingdom announced His birth waiting around for a and a return to the glory made no appearance as couple of years for the days of their ancestors He was led out to die in Kings and what the Gold, like King Saul or King one of the most horrific Frankincense and Myrrh David. Only Jesus wasn’t and barbaric ways ever really meant to a little thinking of the type of known to man. As He baby. Instead we focus kingdom with a human hung on the cross and on the warmth of leader, but a Kingdom cried out about the something that is in with God as the centre. feeling of abandonment

What Happened Next? the whole earth was dark with expectation. The idea of a man who was God, being put to death by human hands caused the creation to rock the city. The temple curtain separating the ordinary people from the Holy of Holies was torn in two, but not by a human hand, this huge curtain was torn from top to bottom!

defiance were now huddled together for safety. Then the faithful women made a discovery in the Garden tomb, the grave was empty, Jesus was alive.

in a just an even manner those who have denied Jesus will be punished.

So do we believe this as reality, or is it a representation of the In multiple occurrences meta-myth? A modern over many days Jesus fairytale to make us live was seen by thousands correctly and be nice to of people who each other? To believe recognised Him, this story beyond the including appearing to little baby Jesus is a his friends and followers step of pure faith. Could to settle their doubts. one God-man take away The angels, He commissioned them the wrong and the sin in the to tell about His the world? Could He celebration Kingdom and to even now be reaching and the continue the work, and down from Heaven perfect life then left them to be straining to take you in had been seated at the right hand His arms, to rescue you building to of God. from the sure and this certain punishment and moment, the The story of Jesus to replace that with the culmination of the doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t end there. The hope of Heaven? Is that perfect death. Ushering prophecies of God tell us what the Nativity is in the way to the new that Jesus will return really all about? Kingdom that Jesus had with a host of angels talked about so often. one day. We are told that Jesus will Life returned to normal judge the living for most people who and the dead. only experienced the Those who symptoms of a sinful have believed, creation rejecting the regardless of creator. Jesus followers race or were running scared, circumstance those that had spoken will be with boldness and rewarded, and

Another Japanese number logic puzzle game! Place the numbers 1-9 in the grid. Each row and column can only contain each number once. The difference with this game is you also have to obey the inequality constraints. For example on this grid the number in the first square (top left) must be larger than the number below it.

Wikipedia Treasure Hunt If it be treasure ye seek to Wikipedia.org ye must head, When there enter your request and click to begin your search. Upon that page you must see also a handy tool for finding magnetic booty.

The language I speak, though not very well, is the link to be clicked, if you got it right time will tell. In 1066 these people arrived, but they sound like a kid from Fireman Sam. Click on the link or read more for your history exam.

Treasure comes in many forms, find the proposed item linked from this page When William was king and continue forward. an impact on music was made, tadpoles with rigor If located right ye are a mortis on a washing line link somewhere on this were displayed, but where page there is to the time of could this idea come year most recently passed. from? Find this Abbey and from this page you’ll have Select the correct Son the gone. Lord of all to speed forward toward the goal. A funny spelling on this page there be,

Of the great Viking King who failed to halt the sea. Find the city attacked by a man with a beard, it’s not too far down, isn’t that weird? The people of this city are not a bunch of fairies, but the answer we need is about the people they call The Canaries . Armed with this knowledge, head to our site, Go to the competition tab and fill in the form, for your chance to win some type of delight.’ Entries received by 1st March there must be, to be in with your chance, also check out our sites t&c!

* Five winners there’ll be picked at random, and the prize shall consist of what we can get our hands on! Obviously Wikipedia is out of our control and is subject to change without notice.

Fat

rs hte g i F

Set yourself realistic goals... If you are following a diet, it is not impossible to lose around 21bs per week, but if you are hoping to lose significantly more than this, you may have set your sights too high. See your doctor... Before committing yourself to any diet and exercise regime, it is advisable to visit your GP. Particularly if you suffer from a condition such as asthma. Don’t beat yourself up!... If you don’t reach a target that you have set, don’t give up or put yourself down. Instead review what you have done towards your goal, and if necessary make further changes. For example if you know you didn’t make it, because you did not resist temptation when maybe you should have, think of ways to avoid this temptation. Remember you may lose more weight at the start of a diet, than a little farther on... You may also find that you lose weight in stops and starts; this may be due to your body adjusting to your weight loss. You will need to take this into account before starting any diet. Beware of fad diets... Any diet that suggests you need to cut out any particular food group (including fats which are an essential part of a healthy diet), should be avoided. There is no subsitute for a healthy diet and regular exercise, no matter how persuasive some advertisers may appear to be! Drink plenty of water... before a meal can aid digestion and can be used to replace sugary drinks.

Snap, Crackle and P p! There are two distinct kinds of testimony; the first type is the dramatic & sudden, “I used to be terrible but now everything’s great”, and the second sort was the much calmer “I’ve just grown up into it”. These two groups tend to envy one another, the calmer converted love the dramatic flair of the first type, and the dramatic converted wish they had the calmer conversion so that they didn’t have to go through the nasty stuff first. My story is half-way between these two types, yes I was brought up in a Christian home, went to Sunday school etc, but it still has dramatic flair. Allow me to explain…

I was seven years old, having been brought along to Redruth Baptist since I was born and listened to countless sermons, messages and bible lessons by then, and even though I was beginning to be able to quote chapter and verse Bible references, I still didn’t have much of a real heart feeling about this Jesus character.

the calm and pleasant land of nod. The dining room, where I was sat up to the table which seemed huge at the time, was quiet and just faint, distant voices could be heard penetrating the wall 1,2,3 Aaah! between me and the He hasn’t room where the changed a bit! people were sitting around drinking my mother’s tea.

Now you could well say; well hang on Jon, you were only seven that’s hardly a level to try to reason things out, and you’d be right. This is why my story is not one of I gradually figured it out, it was a big emotional but carefully thought response to God Himself calling.

I was relatively content there munching away. When suddenly, with that same nagging feeling you get when you know you’ve forgotten something, my heart felt heavy in my chest, and the thought occurred to me that I should pray.

the I could physically feel it smack between the lungs! So I stopped the munching and thought, “well what do I pray?” I know God exists and that His son, Jesus, died 2000 years ago to make up for my bad doings, but what am I supposed to say? Now I know this was the first real time of coming before the throne of grace itself. I plucked up courage from somewhere, closed my eyes, and quietly muttered the words “Lord Jesus, come into my heart.” Then what happened? Was there a crash of thunder, a huge bolt of lightning or the voices of angels singing that another ‘lost sheep’ had been saved? No, none of that. In fact all that actually happened for the rest of that night was I finished the Krispies and went to bed. For the rest of my life however, God Himself has been with me, He’s there to help me with anything I’m going through, He is my guide and friend, as well as my master and King.

In the 21 years since that day God and I have had some pretty big adventures, all of which have in the long run increased and It happened one evening, strengthen the faith winter, 1987. There was some At the time I had no that He instilled in me kind of big, grown-up’s clue what was going at seven years old, but meeting going on in my house; on, I had no idea they are stories for OK, maybe just a another occasion. the sitting room was stuffed that this would little bit! full of people. I’d been dressed become a familiar Through these in my PJs ready for bed, method of experiences and sound (clearly I hadn’t been invited communication God would use discipline by my church leaders, to the gathering) and was with me over the years. This God has taught me that He is given a bowlful of Rice Krispies was direct touching of the Holy always there for me, no matter to eat before heading off to Spirit on me to such an extent how bad I may screw things up God still loves me.

The Sims 3 Publisher: Electronic Arts Format: PC Due: 20th February With a whole new game engine The Sims 3 is set to be one of the biggest releases of the year. There will be a whole range of new features, including the possibility to make your Sim completely unique. A new form of neighbourhood and a free roaming option will allow your Sim to interact with it’s surroundings much more than has previously been possible!

Empire Total War Publisher: Sega Format: PC Due: 6th February This new game in the “Total War” series will be set in the 18th Century and will for the first time feature 3D naval battles. This game will feature turn based strategy and real-time battles in the unique mix that has made the Total War series so successful.

Star Trek XI Due: 8th May This is a release that all Trekkies (what are you looking at me for? - Ed) have been waiting for. J.J. Abrams, the man behind the successful “Lost” TV series takes on one of Hollywood’s biggest franchises. With a new cast for the original series characters this will either work brilliantly or be booed off the screen!

Transformers Revenge Of The Fallen Due: June The original Transformers movie was a huge success and revitalised the toy sales, so a sequel was inevitable. Shia LeBoef and Megan Fox return with promises of more action and more laughs. Lets hope that this time there is a little more plot depth too!

X-Men Origins Wolverine Due: 1st May It has been said that the X-Men movies went in the wrong direction for The Last Stand. Whatever your feelings you will be reassured that Hugh Jackman is reprising his role as Wolverine for this movie about his mutation. If this is successful expect more X-men origins!

Christmas Leftovers

r quite get finished off!! The bits of Christmas that neve We’ve already talked turkey, wrapping and other things that are always left over after Christmas (if you missed it check back to page 4) so what can we possibly mean by Christmas Leftovers? Well it’s all the stuff about Christmas that doesn’t get talked about. Often they are the things that, in order to keep our rosy festive warmth we turn a blind eye to. So if you have an awkward question about the Christmas you’ve just had, read on, we may have covered it.*

they were often outcasts because they wouldn’t join in celebrations. Maybe, as it was a recognised holiday, the early church decided that would be a good time to celebrate Christ’s birth and their were two distinct and separate celebrations. Whatever the truth here Jesus wasn’t the only reason for the season! Prophetic Fulfilment.

Lots of Christians love this poster, or they write it in the bottom of their Christmas cards. “Oh yes,” they think “that will sort out those people who don’t believe. If you don’t believe in Jesus how can you celebrate Christmas? Eh?”

When Herod found out that the wise men from the east had tricked him, he was very angry. He gave orders for his men to kill all the boys who lived in or near Bethlehem and were two years old and younger. This was based on what he had learned from the wise men. So the Lord's promise came true, just as the prophet Jeremiah had said, "In Ramah a voice was heard crying and weeping loudly. Rachel was mourning for her children, and she refused to be comforted, because they were dead." (Mat 2:16-18)

Unfortunately this is a little bit simplistic. In the Christian calendar Jesus’ Birth is what we celebrate, however the Christians did kind of borrow someone else’s celebrations! Although there is some debate it seems that the early Christians in Rome would partake in some of the celebrations of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti - The birth of the Unconquered Sun. This celebration took place on December 25th, because this was the day after the winter solstice. So it was odd that Christians celebrated this festival with the Romans, as

How can this be in the Christmas story? This isn’t light and fluffy with angels singing and the ox and cattle lowing! No, this is the gritty reality of a King who truly believed the prophecy of a new King who might overthrow him. This is the story of one man’s power and paranoia. This is also a double fulfilment of prophecy which shows how accurate these prophecies were. Not only is the birth, and the precise place of the birth, foretold but also Herod’s reaction is prophesied too!

Jesus is the reason for the season?

*Is is also possible that we haven’t!

Instead the birth was in a It doesn’t fit into our rosy shed! No access to festive picture so we gloss running water and a over it. There are no bunch of filthy animals records outside the Bible have just been turfed that contradict this, out for the night so that many Kings were there? We don’t know but however it isn’t mentioned How you can finally get you wouldn’t complain about those cards! elsewhere. However given some rest when these that Bethlehem was a small blokes turn up. village, then the number of children would have been small. This action is certainly in keeping We have actually combined two accounts into with Herod’s temper and this is a very small one here, because Matthew never mentions incident compared with many of Herod’s other the Shepherds and Luke never utters a word atrocities. about the wise men. When the shepherds visit it is clearly the same night. However the Kings The prophecy itself doesn’t concern the visit Mary and Joseph in a house. Clearly this slaughter of these children directly, instead it is no longer a newborn baby either, but a child. refers, I believe, to Mary and Josephs escape In further support of this Herod asked them to Egypt and subsequent return. Head back to when they first started following the star, on Jeremiah 31:15 and read it in that context and their answer he works out to kill all the boys it makes sense. younger than 2. The Kings didn’t arrive the same night but anywhere up to 2 years later! We Indeterminate Number Of Kings... Gold, Frankenstein and Myrrh Actually this isn’t about the number of kings or wise men, it’s about their awful sense of timing. No it was Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. 3 If you believe the nativity story, as told in gifts is where the 3 Kings number comes from, schools up and down the country (when they but what were the gifts all about? A toy train, a are allowed to!) then they arrive shortly after spiderman figure and a cuddly toy would have the shepherds. been better surely! Oh yes, that’s just what a woman who has just given birth wants. Can you imagine it happening in a maternity ward today? Still waiting for the epidural to wear off so that you can get up and move around and a couple of passing shepherds pop in for a quick look at the baby. Then a bunch of foreigners turn up out of the blue looking for your baby specifically. They are not exactly going to catch a mother at her best!

Gold represents the majestic nature of the child, paying him monetary tribute. Frankincense is a costly spice, given as an offering to God. Myrrh speaks of the man, and the death that would ultimately come. Surely they could have left a cuddly camel as a mark of their visit though? Apparently not!

RESERVE YOUR PLACE TODAY! No matter what your idea of paradise is, there is one operator who has got it covered. The flight is booked, the cost is all paid for you by the agent, personally. First class accommodations have been prepared especially for your arrival. "Don't be worried! Have faith in God and have faith in me. There are many rooms in my Father's house. I wouldn't tell you this, unless it was true. I am going there to prepare a place for each of you. After I have done this, I will come back and take you with me.â&#x20AC;? - Jesus

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