Christmas Billboard Campaign Growing in Arkansas

Christmas
Photo Credit: Arkansas Catholic (Katie Zakrzewski)

A Christmas billboard campaign sponsored by various churches is growing in Arkansas.

The effort led by the Knights of Columbus encourages people to “keep Christ in Christmas.”

The billboard campaign began earlier this fall, and the Arkansas Catholic reports churches have placed several Christmas billboards throughout the central Arkansas area.

Between corporations working overtime to cash-in on the Christmas season and atheist groups going out of their way to censor the holiday, it’s refreshing to see churches make a point to remind people of the true meaning of Christmas: The birth of Christ.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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What is The Most Well Known Scripture Verse?

Christmas,

If you asked the people at your church, “What is the most well known passage of scripture in America?” most might say it’s John 3:16.

But the answer might actually be Luke 2:8-14. Here is why:

In the summer of 1965 television executives approached Charles Schultz, creator of Peanuts, about writing, drawing, and animating a Charlie Brown and Snoopy Christmas TV special.

Schultz and his team finished the Christmas cartoon a week and a half before the broadcast date. Most of the production team believed the special would be a complete disaster. They didn’t like the music, the storyline, or the message at the end.

Television executives even said they would have canceled the program had their TV schedule allowed it.

On December 9, 1965, an estimated 15.5 million homes tuned in to watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” It has aired every December since.

The simple story is part of what makes this Christmas special so endearing. Charlie Brown searches for the true meaning of Christmas. The answer finally comes when Linus van Pelt recites Luke 2:8-14:

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Because of the Charlie Brown Christmas special, Luke 2:8-14 may be the most widely heard passage of scripture from the entire Bible. It certainly is the most widely broadcasted in the history of television. For nearly six decades, millions of children and adults have heard these words each December.

You can watch Linus recite this famous passage of scripture by clicking here.

This December, may you and your family take time to remember “what Christmas is all about.” Thank you for your friendship and support to Family Council and the Education Alliance.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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One Solitary Life

Christmas

In 1926, Dr. James Allan Francis wrote a short essay titled, “One Solitary Life.”  Please join me in pondering this original version of those simple words about the Savior of the World.

One Solitary Life
A child is born in an obscure village. He is brought up in another obscure village. He works in a carpenter shop until he is thirty, and then for three brief years is an itinerant preacher, proclaiming a message and living a life.
 
He never writes a book. He never holds an office. He never raises an army. He never has a family of his own. He never owns a home. He never goes to college. He never travels two hundred miles from the place where he was born.
 
He gathers a little group of friends about him and teaches them his way of life. While still a young man, the tide of popular feeling turns against him. One denies him; another betrays him.
 
He is turned over to his enemies. He goes through the mockery of a trial; he is nailed to a cross between two thieves, and when dead is laid in a borrowed grave by the kindness of a friend. Those are the facts of his human life.
 
He rises from the dead. Today we look back across nineteen hundred years and ask, what kind of trail has he left across the centuries? When we try to sum up his influence, all the armies that ever marched, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned are absolutely picayune [worthless] in their influence on mankind compared with that of this one solitary life.

From all of us at Family Council, merry Christmas! As we enjoy this wonderful time of year, may we all take time to reflect on the true reason we celebrate Christmas: The birth of our savior, Jesus Christ.

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