I went to a lot of trouble to make sure that the first Christmas happened in a very rough, dirty, human, unreligious way.

Mark Holloway's picture

But Religion has tried to sanctify and whitewash the story.


God do you have anything you want to say about Christmas?

Mark are you serious?


Why do you say it like that?

I don’t want you to get the wrong idea Mark, this is not a reprimand, this is me God down at your level, like a friend, just wanting a conversation with you like any good friend would.

Okay??

I’m asking if you’re honestly serious? You HONESTLY want to know if I, God, have anything to say about Christmas??? Seriously????

Okay, umm, yes I guess I sort of do want to know that. (Feeling a bit dumb).

Mark Christmas was my idea – an idea I had before time began. And it’s more than just an idea, it’s an agreement between the three of us that I would come as a man. That God himself would come down to your level and be a man with you to show how serious we are about a relationship with you. We invented Christmas.

But God what about all the trappings and commercialisation? The Christmas trees and presents and festivities – are you okay with those things? Some people don’t like all that.

We love it. We like the rough and ready, every day human sort of celebration of Christmas – family, resents, festivities – we like that better than the sanctimonious religious celebration of Christmas.

What?? You love it? But you don’t like the way we’ve made it a religious occasion?

It’s supposed to be a time of family Mark, a celebration that something special happened on that day long ago. We’re absolutely fine with it. But there is a problem to do with Christmas that has NOTHING to do with festivities, celebrations and presents and much more to do with the way that Religion has reduced the real life significance of Christmas.

What’s that?

There’s nothing wrong at all with the festivities. We like all that, but Christmas was meant to start a discussion, a conversation between God and man. A very human sort of conversation, not another religion. We didn’t want you to start a religion, just a conversation. An ongoing conversation in your everyday life. But because you didn’t there’s nobody who really wants to know what I have to say about Christmas. You believers think you already know, and the rest of the world doesn’t realise that I have anything to say about anything. You believers have taught them that I’m grumpy and angry and don’t want to converse. I want to talk to you about that. There are three problems Mark.

Three problems?

Yes three problems that stop me telling you all what I really think about Christmas – and none of them has anything to do with commercialising Christmas. I like all the gift giving and the family getting together and even the parties. Yes even the parties. That’s a different conversation, but it’s true.

Okay so there are three problems? Is this a reprimand, do you want us to repent or something?

Not at all. I’m not cross Mark. Your enemy is cross and he pretends to you that I am.

What then?

I’m not reprimanding you, I’m inviting you to talk.  There are three problems that prevent me telling you what I think about Christmas. Three problems because there are three groups of people. First there are those who don’t believe I exist. They don’t want to know what I think about Christmas because they don’t think that I think.

Then there are those of you who believe. You’re a much bigger problem at Christmas than those who don’t believe.

REALLY?? We’re worse?

Yes. You’re much more of a problem. You believers can be divided into two groups – the first group are those who think I’ve already said everything I wanted to say about Christmas, they’re the ones who believe in the traditional sanctified ‘holy’ Christian Christmas and they teach each other the same message every year, they teach each other that what you already know about Christmas is all I’ve got to say. They don’t invite me to say more. They just repeat the same old story.

So is a traditional Christmas bad?

Not at all. I enjoy it. Every culture does Christmas a little differently, but that’s simply humans interpreting what Christmas is about. There’s nothing wrong with that.

Well what’s wrong then??

There’s a difference between you celebrating a great day according to your own traditions – and actually asking if I have any more to say about Christmas. The problem is that you involve me in Christmas without really involving me in it at all.

Religion has taught you, whatever denomination you belong to, that i seldom say anything much in a clear human sort of way. And you certainly don’t expect me to say anything new at Christmas. You think you already know all about it. Everyone knows the story. There’s nothing wrong with what you know, nothing wrong with celebrating it, but I would love to tell you more. There’s so much more to tell. The first Christmas was supposed to start a billion conversations. Thousands of years of thousands of conversations with millions of people Mark.

So who’s the third group, I guess they’re the ones who ask you what you think about Christmas?

No. That’s not a big enough group to really even call a group in this discussion.

Really?

Really. Mark very few of you ever ask what I think about Christmas.

Why?

Because you think you already know and you’ve never been taught that I want a back and forward conversation with normal every day people. That’s just not inside the normal Christian frame of reference.

That’s too big a subject to get into now God, just tell me who the third group are?

They’re the believers who think I’m cross about the way you celebrate Christmas. They’re wrong too. They think that I’m mad at you, that I think you’ve cheapened Christmas with all the shopping and giving presents etc, but I’m not cross about that at all. I like it. At least you’re doing something very human to place value on a day that I WANTED to be very human.

What have we been taught?

To remember that this is a special time of the year. And it is. This is when God demonstrated his desire to be on the same level as ordinary average human beings. I came to a dirty farm building smelling of animals and poo. I came as the illegitimate child of an unmarried mother. I came smack bang in the middle of my people being counted by a brutal occupying army. I didn’t come to deliver them from that but to be part of it, a defenceless baby caught up in the middle of it.

In human terms the first Christmas was a bit of a mess Mark, fraught with all the problems of life. That was always the plan. I wanted to demonstrate my willingness to fit with humanity. Not to be distant and above all its problems. I wanted to get involved. I want conversation with you ABOUT your problems. Discussion. Not sanctimonious or hurried offerings of prayer with no expectation of intelligent response. The angels didn’t announce my arrival to pastors and preachers, they didn’t appear in the middle of a bunch of believers - instead they told the story to a few rough and dirty farm workers who had no real affiliation of faith. Can you see the picture Mark?

Yes that’s what we get taught. That’s the whole Christmas story.

Yes it is. But you’ve made it a nice ‘holy’ sort of story, when I went to a lot of trouble to make sure it wasn’t. It’s great to celebrate it but can you see why I got the angels to tell the story to non-believers, just farm workers, not people of faith?

You tell me God.

Because the unchurched take things at face value Mark. They have no religious understanding, no preconceived ideas that I must fit with before they’ll hear me. But you believers are different. You make a religion out of everything I do and set up structures that I must fit within. Christmas is one of your most complex efforts in that regard.

I’m getting a bit lost God.

No need. Let me lead in this conversation. I’m not lost. I told the Christmas story to farm workers with no strong connection to organised religion because the Christmas story isn’t for organised religion. It’s for people. Christmas isn’t supposed to be the property of church. It’s the property of mankind. Christmas belongs to the world, not to Religion. I’d like Church to stop acting like they own Christmas, to stop giving it religious overtones. I went to a lot of trouble to make sure that the first Christmas happened in a very rough, dirty, human, unreligious way. So I’m not happy with the way Religion has tried to sanctify and whitewash the story. Christmas isn’t a whitewashed story it’s a very down and dirty human story. Give it back to the world please. Not in a Churchy, sanctimonious sort of way. But in my way.

How?

You’ll have to ask Mark. That’ll be interesting. Christmas is for and about people. Normal people with lives that are far from perfect, people who party too much, smoke too much, eat too much and worry even more. And people who don’t. People who are just trying to get along – those who aren’t quite making it and those who are. It doesn’t much matter. Just people. Christmas is a time to celebrate, however you want to celebrate it. I like that you make up your own ways to do so because it means you are adding to an event that’s about you and me. Not just about my birth as a man, but about the reason God was born a man, and the reason is you.

There’s a but though isn’t there??

No there’s not Mark. You Christians are always looking for a ‘but’, always looking for me to be cross or for there to be a need for humans to be better behaved. Is it any wonder that normal society finds you all so painful? You can’t enjoy life and you can’t enjoy the real me or the real reason for Christmas because you’re so busy worrying that everything needs to be better, cleaner, whiter before I’ll be happy. I CAME IN THE MIDST OF MESS AND I CAME IN A MESSY WAY MARK. Because I like humanity. I wanted to demonstrate that I’m as accessible as accessible can get. I wanted to show that the Pharisees and temple rulers and teachers of the law were about as far from the truth of what I’m like as they could be, and Mark nothing much has changed. Organised religion in its many guises STILL fails to demonstrate to the world what I’m like or what Christmas is ACTUALLY about.

PRAISE FOR THE FREEDOM DIARIES

The Freedom Diaries will stretch you. It describes Mark’s real life struggle with Doubt as he discovered that he could hear God’s voice every day.Dr Mark Virkler. Author of 4 Keys to hearing God’s Voice. Buffalo. New York.

Like a child on Christmas morning, I was delighted to discover how simple yet wonderful it is to place my hand into the hand of God and listen to his whispers and enjoy his affection.  I could only ask why no one had ever told me he was this good and this close.  I wish I had read this book a long, long time ago.  Daniel Walker. Founder and Executive Director of Nvader. Author of God in a brothel.

This is new and exciting. It’s not the idea of hearing from God that’s new, it’s having conversations back and forth, question and answers. That’s new for most of us. Now I am enjoying my own conversations with God, which always leave me with hope. David Garratt of Scripture in Song. Hawaii.

You can purchase your own copy of Mark Holloway's book, 'The Freedom Diaries - God Speaks Back' on this website.

IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE THINKING IT'S YOUR OWN IMAGINATION WHEN YOU TRY TO HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH GOD - read the 'Practical Tips' section. How to have your own conversation with God in The Freedom Diaries 

 

Related Resources: 

How to Hear God's Voice!   

Related Blogs: 

How to Hear God’s Voice   
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Comments

Anonymous's picture

Just awesome stuff!

- Alice

Mark Holloway's picture

Listening to the silent voice of an invisible God is difficult - putting the right words on what you hear him say takes effort and i always find that effort seems worthwhile when someone like you, someone i have probably never met, living in a place i have probably never been, gives me encouragement. Thank you so much.

Mark.

PS: Did you have a great Christmas? Where do you live?  My family and i have just celebrated Christmas in Tauranga New Zealand. That's home for us and all our family gathered around.

Anonymous's picture

Thank you for your reply! It was a nice surprise.
I had a good Christmas, busy at first, with cooking and cleaning and making sure the
kids got their presents. Then, when all was done, it was nice seeing their happy faces.
We have no snow here where I'm at, but the Christmas lights in the evening make up for it!

Best wishes to you and your family from Sunny California!

Alice

Anonymous's picture

Hello. Just wanted to jump in and say thank you. Thank you for making the effort to write what God is saying. Your blogs really bless me, aand they take away all religiousness from Christianity.
Have a great new year.

Andy

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4 Keys to Hearing God's Voice

4 Keys to Hearing God's Voice

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 305 Pages | Retail: $16.99

Have you ever wished you could just sit down and have a long talk with the Lord? Wouldn't it be wonderful to move beyond having a theology that states that God loves you to actually hearing Him whisper words of love into your heart? When you're worried or confused, wouldn't you love to see the situation from His perspective and hear how He wants you to respond?


Price: $14.95

Dialogue with God

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 296 Pages

This top seller for 30 years from Bridge Logos provides a narrative, right-brain presentation of the principles of how to hear God's voice. Especially enjoyable for personal use, it makes a great gift for introducing a loved one to the voice of God. This book teaches the four keys to hearing God's voice in readable style, and also devotes two entire chapters to moving samples of people's journaling (i.e. their two-way dialogue with God).

Price: $17.95
Hear God's Voice Guaranteed Package

Hear God's Voice Guaranteed Package

9 Books | 10 CDs | 10 DVDs | Save Over 20%

Have you ever wished you could just sit down and have a long talk with the Lord? Wouldn't it be wonderful to move beyond having a theology that states that God loves you to actually hearing Him whisper words of love into your heart? When you're worried or confused, wouldn't you love to see the situation from His perspective and hear how He wants you to respond? When things don't seem to be going your way and your prayers aren't answered the way you had hoped, wouldn't it be great to hear Him tell you where He is in the midst of it, and what He is working out in your life? Are you ever just a little bit jealous of others who say with such confidence, "The Lord said...."?

Price: $175.00

How to Hear God's Voice

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 317 Pages

We recommend that you order the newest revision of this book titled 4 Keys to Hearing God's Voice. It includes 95% of the content of How to Hear God's Voice but is reorganized so it fits perfectly with the 10 DVDs on this subject by Mark Virkler. In addition, it gets you started using the four keys earlier in the book and gives you more journaling samples and exercises. Since we have removed the large margins, it is a smaller and less expensive book.

Price: $24.95

Prayers That Heal the Heart - Revised & Expanded 20th Anniversary Edition

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 320 Pages

Prayer counseling that breaks every yoke! Everything you need to experience deep healing of your soul and spirit.

Did you know that you don’t need to be continually plagued by negative thoughts, feelings, pictures or memories?

It is not part of the "human condition" to feel the constant nagging of doubt, insecurity, or anger. No matter what sin you are trying to overcome, what lie you think you’ll always believe, or what traumas your heart has suffered in the past, you will receive total freedom and restoration by praying these prayers in faith. 

Price: $19.95

Twelve Weeks to Spiritual Mastery - Group Coaching

A group coaching experience with Mark Virkler

Because I could not find a Spirit-anointed teacher/coach, I spent ten extremely frustrating years seeking to hear God’s voice!!! Suggestions offered did not help me, things like: “You just know that you know. It is a still small voice. He speaks from your heart.” No one could give me the answer I needed which was: Hearing God’s voice is as simple as quieting yourself down, fixing your eyes on Jesus, recognizing His voice as spontaneous, flowing thoughts and writing down His flow as it is coming. Test what you have written after the flow is done, NOT while it is occurring.

Price: $1,200.00

Counseled by God

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 146 Pages

Have you ever been defeated by negative emotions such as anger, fear, guilt, inferiority, condemnation or depression? Have you tried to fight them off unsuccessfully? Is there an answer that is deeper than simply trying to mentally reason yourself out of these emotions? Is there a way that Jesus can speak a word of life into the depths of your emotional despair and bring healing on a deep level? Is there a form of Christian counseling that begins and ends with the movement of Christ within your heart, rather than simply with the words of man?

Price: $10.95
Hear God Through Your Dreams Workbook Cover

Hear God Through Your Dreams Workbook

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 92 Pages

A newer book has been released that accompanies this workbook: Click here for Hearing God Through Your Dreams by Charity Kayembe and Mark Virkler (featured on Sid Roth's "It's Supernatural", with almost a million views just on YouTube).


Do you often wake up feeling there was a significant message in your dream, but you’re just not sure what it is? Like Daniel and Joseph, do you long to be able to help others understand their own dreams and win them to Christ as you explain His night messages to them? Wouldn't it be nice if you could receive mid-course corrections from the Lord while you sleep? Do you wish you could be receiving divine inspiration, creative solutions to problems, and direction from the Lord during that third of your life that you’re “just” sleeping?

Price: $11.95

Hearing God Through Your Dreams

by Mark Virkler and Charity Virkler Kayembe | 292 Pages

Learn How to Hear God’s Voice, Even When You Are Sleeping

It is always fun to be on the winning team. Well look what God has done with Charity's new dreams teaching. It has taken off like a rocket with a live TV interview on Cornerstone Network and her Sid Roth interview which has almost a million views on YouTube!

Price: $16.99

Everyday Angels

by Charity Virkler Kayembe and Joe Brock 289 Pages

You can partner with Heaven’s angelic hosts!

Do you have guardian angels? Does God want you to know them? Find out what Scripture reveals and how YOU can interact with the company of Heaven!

The supernatural realm permeates our natural world! Therefore, experiencing angels should be an everyday occurrence–we simply need to open our spiritual eyes to their reality and role in our lives.

Price: $16.99

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