A CHRISTMAS CAROL is a famous novel written by Charles Dickens, which
has been greatly popularized by numerous movie versions of the book.
Tragically, it propagates a demonic message of self-righteousness and a
false view of salvation. Here is a short excerpt from the book, A
Christmas Carol, where Ebenezer Scrooge vows to improve his ways to
avoid eternal doom...
`Good Spirit,' he pursued, as down upon the ground he fell before it:' Your nature intercedes for me, and pities me. Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life.'
The kind hand trembled.
`I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone.'
SOURCE: A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens; Stave 4: The Last of the Spirits Page 10
That is a false gospel. Honoring Christmas is NOT a plan of salvation. Dickens falsely portrays Ebenezer Scrooge as avoiding punishment in the afterlife simply because he turned over a new leaf. The Bible condemns such a notion as heresy. Ephesians 2:8,9 state: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." No one has ever avoided punishment in the afterlife by amending their ways and becoming a generous person.
The greedy retailers love A Christmas Carol, which is why they make sure it is aired hundreds of times on TV throughout December every year. A Christmas Carol ought to be called "The Retailers Gospel," because every Holiday Season America's retailers get filthy rich at Christmas time. The entire moral of the movie, A Christmas Carol, is to stop being greedy, spend that money, and splurge on everyone you know. When will the American people figure out that the greedy retailers are exploiting them? The Bible doesn't instruct believers to honor Christ's birth. Christmas is just another day.
The entire message taught by A Christmas Carol is that kind, caring and generous people will have a peaceful existence in eternity; but greedy, uncaring and selfish people will bear heavy burdens of chains and sorrow forever. That is all a big lie of the Devil. The Bible warns in 2nd Thessalonians 1:8,9... "In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." According to God's Word, people who die in their sins, having refused to obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ, will suffer the vengeance of a holy God in the fires of Hell forever. Charles Dickens failed to mention that.
You can be as sweet, caring, generous, and wonderful as possible and still go straight to burn in Hell in your arrogant self-righteousness. You'd better fall on your knees before God in repentance, admitting that you're a GUILTY sinner for violating God's holy Law. You'd better trust upon the Lord Jesus Christ, Who paid for your sins with His literal precious blood, to forgive your sins and save your vile soul. Salvation is the gift of God, based solely upon God's unconditional love, mercy and grace. Ebenezer Scrooge, if he was a real person, is burning in the fires of Hell this moment. You don't get your sins forgiven by honoring the spirits of Christmas, or by becoming a caring and generous person. That's a guaranteed road to Hell, because it's rooted in one's self-righteousness.
Romans 10:3,4 state...
"For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."
God is not impressed with our self-righteousness at all. To be saved, we need HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, i.e., the righteousness of Jesus Christ...
"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
Matthew 6:33 states...
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS; and all these things shall be added unto you."
Oh listen my friend, you need Christ's righteousness to get to Heaven. No amount of goodness on your part can remove the sins already on your eternal record. That's why Jesus had to die for our sins, because we couldn't pay for our own sins. We needed a Savior. Charles Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol, teaches a corrupt gospel of self-righteousness and offers a false hope of eternal bliss to those who turn over a new leaf. Only by genuinely becoming BORN-AGAIN in Christ Jesus can anyone ever hope to enjoy eternal peace and happiness.
Charles Dickens' novel gives the deceptive notion that a person can have all the love, care and joy of a true Christian; but without Christ. No wonder so many people commit suicide at Christmas time. It's all a big, empty, meaningless illusion if Jesus Christ is forgotten. Christianity is not merely a mindset; it is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that adopts one into the family of God. This relationship begins the very moment we come to God as a guilty, dirty, rotten sinner, and place our trust upon Jesus as the Christ to forgive our sins and give us eternal life...
"To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins" (Acts 10:43).
