Did your house welcome the visit of the jelly-bellied Santa Claus into your Christmas celebrations this year - bringing gifts to children manufactured by elves at the North Pole, that were carried at light-speed around the globe by the jolly old elf in a flying sleigh pulled by reindeer, to those who were fortunate enough to be on his 'good list'? Did boys and girls in your family stay up late, listening for hooves on the roof-top and swear they saw something flying through the air that must have been the man in red? Were they excited to find the traditional cookies and milk (or whatever you may be leaving) partially or completely consumed by the gift-giver this Christmas morning? If so, you may be unwittingly leading your children away from the Lord. Don't believe it? Keep reading.

My father was a Methodist preacher and my mother - in the early years - first, a homemaker, then eventually aspiring to - and achieving - vice presidential rank of a trust-bank. They loved their children and wanted only the best for all five of us. Our earliest Christmases were humble little gatherings around the tree to find gifts from Santa Claus sprawled out in fancy fashion, designed to inspire the imagination of my siblings and their youngest, little brother. Milk and cookies would always be left half consumed with crumbs scattered on the plate - in a ruse to prove that Santa had eaten only what he could handle, since he was partaking of these tithes at every house he visited. Unbeknownst to them, they were helping to confuse their children and heap 'evidence' onto a pile of false promises that a young teen boy would eventually believe proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that their was no God.

Around the age of six or seven, this youth was getting up in the middle of the night one Christmas eve, needing desperately to relieve himself of too much festive feasting on the usual holiday junk-food and super-sweet beverages. As he crept out of his door and down the hall toward the bathroom, he stopped to take a peak, just to see if Santa had already made his family's tree en route to deliver the world. What he saw was at first, nothing strange or incriminating. Mom and dad sat, putting together toys that I have since learned with my own children always say "some adult assembly required" - which means you would need an architect and an engineer to complete the task successfully. This, of it's own accord, was an innocent production seen through the eyes of this child, since we always got gifts from them too, and no suspicion was merited by the sight, whatsoever. This child saw a certain pinball machine he had written Santa about and had been praying for all year. Again, this could have been just a coincidence - and maybe mom and dad were just getting the jump on Santa. It didn't matter in the wee hours of the night, since he was getting what he had dreamt of and there it stood in all of it's glory, half standing sentinel by the tree and half in my dad's aggravated hands who was politely discussing the ways in which he'd like to see this contraption fly through the window - and commenting on why they had to make it complicated? It was nice to see daddy enjoying himself so much as he hooked this little boy up (to borrow from the lingo of today) with the prize of a lifetime. The problem came later on that Christmas morning, when the 'jig was up' and a boy was let down.

At the traditional hour of about 5:30 am, when we couldn't stand feinting sleep any longer, my youngest older sibling would make the usual pit-stop by my door - to have her accomplice handy - and we would quietly slip into the livingroom to the bottom of the giant evergreen prize-pole and stand in awe at the wondrous toy-land that would always skirt it's piney bottom. There it was, the stand-up, 'poppable' (any pin-ball aficionado will understand), five ball, coin activated pin-ball machine that would, of course, make all of his friends jealous at the mere mention of it's 'dings' and lights. Momma and daddy came sleepily lumbering in to fall on the couch and said, "Wow! Looks like Santa got you that pin-ball machine you were fussing over." Huh? I didn't let on. "Yeah...I guess he did."

They had no way of knowing - nor did I - that would be the catalyst that kindled a fire in me against my Lord for almost thirty years. Though it made no sense to me growing up, I have come to understand why, now. Santa Claus is an Antichrist. Oh, yes, he is. Please let me explain why and how - and help you see you may be hindering your children, keeping them from seeking after the One who is able to save mankind, and possibly even making them zealously run in the opposite direction. It's about trust - and it is Biblical. To the naysayer, please just consider the following with an open mind and heart and then decide.

We find a careful command of the Lord in the twentieth chapter of the Exodus - the ninth commandment, to be exact - expounding the great Truth of God..."thou shalt not bear false witness." To a child who is himself authoritatively experienced in the art of fibbing, this has no real meaning except that others should not lie to you. Sad but true - the only time a young boy really understands what lying can do to trust is when it is perpetrated against him. My mother's favorite saying was, "if there's two things I hate more than any, it's a liar and a thief." Unfortunately, she had no way of knowing then, that she had planted seeds of rebellion in this kidling's heart. I'm not supposed to lie to you, but you can to me? This is not lost on children and the old favorite catchphrase, "do as I say, not as I do," is not sufficient for the yearning of a child to be able at all times and all cost, to trust a parent. The proverb, "practice what you preach" comes to mind, but I digress.

In this seemingly innocent 'little white lie' we might think it's OK, it's simply a fun game that parents play with their children, but do not be deceived. It is disruptive and damaging, even if no one sees it at first. Had my parents never tried to pass off the jolly fat man as truth, I would never have been less happy to receive the gifts they graciously gave, but looking back, I don't remember many of those gifts - I still remember the lesson in lying. I also remember the little voice in the back of my mind, if that's a lie...then what else? The tooth fairy, the Easter bunny...God?! Yes, destructive is the lie that tells a child "your playing the fool." Maybe this is why I didn't believe them when they told me, "only dopes smoke dope." I discovered the hard way this is true - unfortunately, when you have reason to doubt the word of authority, the only way to be absolutely sure is to find out for yourself. So many wasted years have I spent being wasted. So many dreams unrealized all because of a little white lie. I do not blame them, God rest their souls. They had been deceived themselves, into believing this worldly little Christmas game was fun for children - which it is, while the wool is firmly stretched over your eyes like the pre-salvation scales that cover the spiritual eyes of the non-believer - until you discover you were not only ignorant, but everyone else was in on the ruse. I would say this lesson only serves to harden the heart of a child, who is willing to believe anything mom and dad says - and then find out he's truly on his own in this world. Sounds harsh, maybe, but true. Welcome to the real world little fellar, you gotta' figure things out for yourself, now.

I began this article with the promise of delivering the head of Santa Claus on a silver platter as proof he is of the adversary, and I hope my story helps to soften your own heart a little, looking back at what it's like to be a child who gets a lesson in the life of hard knocks - possibly the first chink in the armor of innocence -causing a little one to doubt even the existence of the Lord. Heretofore, I will switch to the Biblical and provide the meat of my evidence, the hard facts that Satan is behind the Santa lie - even if you never saw it that way.

The moniker 'Antichrist' from the Latin antikhristos, is a derivative of two words the - second being Christos, the Latin for 'anointed one' or 'chosen' - used to translate the Hebrew-Aramaic 'Moshiach' or (transliterated) 'Messiah' - I trust most, if not all, will get this without any other explanation. We will, then, stick with exploring in detail, the first.

The etymology of the word 'anti' (Latin) or 'ante' (Greek) as found at Dictionary.com, is as follows:

An'ti [Gr. against. See Ante.] A prefix meaning against, opposite or opposed to, contrary, or in place of; -- used in composition in many English words. It is often shortened to ant-; as, antacid, antarctic.

1st John 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

Exodus 20:2-6 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

1 - Children cannot see Santa Claus - nor can they see Jesus

2 - Kids are told they have to 'be good' to get the gift - the secular world is under the false assumption that 'being good' will get you into heaven - this is works based forgiveness on both accounts and makes perfect sense to a child...even though it is completely false.

3 - Santa keeps a 'naughty or nice' list - much as God has His books in which the names of the 'saved' and the 'condemned' are written.

4 - Santa's colors are red and white - Jesus' colors are Red = His shed blood, and White = the color of the spotless Lamb of God and the garments of the believer, signifying purity.

5 - Santa is gushed over at Christmas and in many homes is the only name mentioned in relation to the Day Christians hold dear - Jesus is left out of His birthday party in many a household.

6 - Santa supposedly flies through the air around the globe in one night, visiting all who believe in him giving gifts and bringing joy - Jesus, the Passover Lamb and the Angel of God who brought death to the firstborn of every household in Egypt who had not the blood of the lamb on the door-posts, showing they were believers in the Word of the living God, will also come back seven years prior to His second advent to visit the homes of believers and carry away His bride, the thief's booty, the pearl of great price.