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PAGE 4A — HOGANSVILLE HERALD - THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2016
JOHN KUYKENDALL
PUBLISHER/EDITOR
ANDY KOBER
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
JACK BAGLEY
LAYOUT EDITOR
THE HOGANSVILLE HERALD
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God’s Command
For Christ’s Gift
I know we have heard it so
many times but we needed to
be reminded each year just
what Christmas is about. It is
about the birth of our Saviour,
Jesus Christ.
As we go through the hol- '
iday with our beautiquy dec-
orated homes and trees, eat
those holiday foods we love so
much and purchase presents
for everyone on our list, have
you ever stopped to think that
Christmas is a time to cele-
brate the Savior’s birth. What
present did you get for him
this year?
So, as my present to Him
this year, I’m going to give up
my weekly space for “The
Story of the Birth” as told
through Matthew.
Matthew 1:16: And Jacob
begat Joseph the husband of
Mary, ofwhom was bornJesus,
Who is called Christ.
1:17: Soall the generations
from Abraham to David are
fourteen generations; and from
David mail the carrying away
into Babylon are fourteen gen-
erations; andfrom the carry-
ing away into Babylon unto
Christ are fourteen genera-
lions.
. 1:18:Nowthebirthof.les w
Juras ‘»
espoused to Joseph, before
they came together, she was
found with Child of the Holy
Ghost.
1:19: Then Joseph her hus-
band, being a just man, and
not willing to make her a pub-
licexample, was minded to put
her away privily.
1:20: But while he thought
on these things, behold, the
anch of the LORD appeared
unto him in a dream, saying,
Joseph, thou son of David, fear
not to take unto thee Mary thy
ivife: for That which is con-
teived in her is of the Holy
Ghost. ,«
1:21: And she shall bring
firth a Son, and thou shalt call
His Name JESUS: for He shall
Save His people from theirsins.
1:22: Now all this was done,
that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken of the by
the prophet, saying, 1:23
Behold, a virgin shall be with
Child, and shall bring forth a
Son, and they shall call His
Name Emmanuel, which
being interpreted is, God With
Us.
.7 1:24: Then Joseph being
iaised from sleep did as the
itngel of the LORD had bidden
him, and took unto him his
wife: 1:25 And knew her not till
she had brought forth her first-
born Son: and he called His
Name JESUS.
2:1: Now when Jesus was
born in Bethlehem of Judaea
in the days of Herod the king,
behold, there came wise men
from the east to Jerusalem,
2:2: Saying, Where is He
that is born King of the Jews?
its His mother *4 Mary? was f
TIIE HOGANSVILLE HERAu) is published weekly by Trib Publications,
for we have seen His Star in
the east, and are come to wor-
ship Him.
2:3: When Herod the king
had heard these things, he was
troubled, and all Jerusalem
with him.
2:4: And when he had gath-
ered all the chief priests and
scribes of the people together,
he demanded of them where
Christ should be born.
2:5: Andthey saidunto him,
In Bethlehem of Judaea: for
thus it is written by the
prophet,
2:6: And thou Bethlehem,
inthe landofJuda, artnot the
least among the princes of
Judo: forout of thee shall come
a Govemor, that shall rule My
people Israel.
2:7: Then Herod, when he
had privily called the wise
men, inquired of them dili-
-~228: And he sent them to
Bethlehem, and said, Go and
search diligently for the young
Child; and when ye have found
Him, bring me word again, that
I may come and worship Him
also.
2:9: When they had heard
the king, they departed; and,
lo, the Star, which they saw in
the east, went before them, till
it came and stood over where
the young Child was.
2:10: When they saw the
Star, theyrejoicedwithexceed—
ing great joy.
2:11: And when they were
come into the house, they saw
the young Child with Mary His
mother; andfelldowmandwor—
shipped Him: and when they
had opened their treasures,
they presented unto Him gifts;
gold, and frankincense, and
myrrh.
so , THERIyou have it. The
story of Christ’s birth and his
first birthday present as told
by Matthew.
My question is as you give
presents to those on your
Christmas list, what are you
giving Jesus for Christmas?
The Bible tells us what we
should give.
Romans 12:1: Therefore,
my brothers, in view of God’s
mercy, urge you to present
your bodies as a living sacri-
fice, holy and pleasing to God;
this is you Spiritual worship.
Basically, the verse says
“give your life back to Him as
a generous, sacrificial and on
going
I wish you and yours a very
“Merry Christmas.”
saith. what
,rtamus .
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Jesus Is The ReasOn For The Season
Sometimes we get so
caught up in the hustle and
bustle of the Christmas
Season that we fail to cele-
brate its real purpose. TWO
ladies were shopping for
Christmas gifts and one of
them commented about a
manger scene, “Look at that
religion is trying to take over
Christmas.” We all know that
the birth of Jesus is the rea-
son for the season.
Luke’s gospel shares
facts about the birth of Jesus.
Joseph and Mary traveled
from Nazareth to Bethlehem.
Mary was pregnant and
about to give birth to Jesus,
who would be her first child
and that Jesus was born in
Bethlehem. He goes on to
mention that there was no
vacancy at the Inn and that
Jesus was born in a stable.
If the innkeeper was
insensitive perhaps he
. turned Joseph and Mary
away without caring that she
was about to give birth. If the
innkeeper really cared he
~ could have asked one of his
guest to give up their room
by explaining Mary’s cir—
cumstances and needs or he
could have given Mary and
Joseph his own living quar-
ters.
There was no evidence
that the innkeeper did not
care. Luke seems to leave it
up to us to decide. History
does suggest that inns of that
day were simple and rustic.
Many stables back then were
similar to the inns. They were
reasonably clean, usually
quieter and more private
than the inn. Guest usually
brought their own food and
the innkeeper would provide
a place to heat the food as
well as a place for the guest
to sleep.
The innkeeper would also
provide a place for the ani-
mals to stay and food for
them. Therefore, in Mary and
Joseph’s case the innkeeper
may have been caring by pro-
viding them with the most
privateaccommodations that
he had available.
Chuck Swindoll, a popu-
lar and respected Bible
teacher and preacher, tells a
story regarding the presen-
tation of a Christmas pag—
eant. Wally wasasocially pro-
moted fourth grade student
who desired to be Joseph but
had been chosen to be the
innkeeper because he was
larger than the other boys in
the fourth grade. During
practice Wally did as he was
told by responding to
Joseph’s request for a room
with a gruff voice saying “I
have no more rooms!”
HOWEVER, DURING the
pageant’s first presentation
after Wally said gruffly “I
have no more rooms” he
watched Mary and Joseph as
they walked away. Suddenly,
overcome with emotion and
teary eyed, Wally cried out
“Come back Joseph and
Mary you can have my
room!” For a moment the
Director and the audience
thought Wally’s emotional
outburst would negatively
affect the pageant but
instead it added new depth.
Christmas is usually a
busy time for most of us and
unfortunately even we
Christians can get so busy
that we do not observe
Christmas for the right rea-
son. Let us all make room for
Jesus in our life this
Christmas Season. More
importantly if you have not
already done so make room
for Jesus permanently in
your life as I did 71 years ago
at age ten.
In closing let me share
with you this Christmas
poem written by Helen
Sleiner Rice that is title “Gift
of Love.”
Christmas is a gift of love
that cannot be bought or sold.
It is ours for the asking and
v is worth more than gold.
And this priceless gift of
Christmas is within the reach
of all. The rich, the poor, the
young and old, the greatest
and the small.
So take God’s Christmas
gift of love, reach out and you
will receive, and the only pay-
ment that God asks is just
that you believe.
May you all have a won-
derful and Blessed
Christmas Season and enjoy
the time you will have to
spend with your family
always remembering that
“Jesus is the reason for the
Season.”
The History Of Christmas
Okay, let’s get this over
With
There is no empirical
proof that Jesus was born on
December 25.
Now, before you begin to
chase me with tar and fea-
tures, there is no empirical
proof that he was not born on
December 25, either.
The selection of
December 25 as the day of
celebration was not com-
pletelgar cogding
2 more.
cf January 2, March 25, April
18 and 19, May 20, November
17 and November 20, were
all considered as being the
date of Jesus’ birthday.
Complicating the issue
was the use of the
Macedonian calendar,
Gregorian calendar and
Julian calendar all of which
are different.
So why was December 25
selected?
Who knows?
From history we know
December 25 was the date
Romans marked as the win-
ter solstice. The Romans had
a number of festivals about
that time period so it has been
suggested the date of cele-
brating Christmas was
scheduled to compete with
or perhaps appropriate one
or more of the Roman cele-
brations.
Despite what some peo-
ple, who paid a few dollars
and got an ersatz doctoral
degree from a post office box
u...
the dates :
Bible School somewhere
might profess, in actuality
nowhere in the Bible is
December 25 ever identified
as the birthday of Jesus.
With all that acted, I ask
this question: Does it really
make any difference?
That answer is — it should
not.
For the Christian,
December 25 has been and
will continue to be the day
theChrist-clnldr *
that celebrates the birth of
so HOW did we get from
the birth of Jesus to the leg-
end of Santa Claus.
That’s another story and
much easier to explain.
We can trace the modern
version of Santa Claus to
Saint Nicholas who was a
Christian bishop in the fourth
century.
Saint Nicholas’ actual his-
torical name was Nicholas of
Myra and there is little defin-
itive historical data about
him. History tells us that
Saint Nicholas was cast into
exile and imprisoned during
the reign of Emperor
Diodetian and later released
by Constantine. He died
about the year 350. Some of
his remains and relics are
preserved in the Church of
San Nicola in Italy.
Legend has it that Saint
Nicholas gave gifts to the
poor, helped maidens, and
saved a city from famine
among other good deeds. He
was the patron saint of a num—
ber of groups, including fish-
ermen. ‘
We know the Feastof-St.
Nicholas was Observed‘dur-
ing medieval times through-
out Europe and in honor of
St. Nicholas, the Dutch
placed small gifts in their
children’s wooden shoes.
When the Dutch people
came to America, they
brought with them the leg-
end of Sinter Klaas, which
owed its heritage to Sint
Nicholaas and further to St.
Nicholas, and that became
amalgamated with
Christmas.
GETTING Tomorerecent
history, in 1809, Washington
Irving described the first
modern Santa Claus as “an
old man in dark robes who
arrived on a flying horse on
the Eve of St. Nicholas to give
gifts to children.”
In 1821, Duncan Emrich
published the poem “The
Children’s Friend” in which
Santa was given a flying
sleigh and reindeer.
About a year later, Dr.
History at Or Fingertips Opening the Time Capsule
Clement Clark Moore, pub-
lished the poem, “A Visit
from St. Nicholas” that starts
out with the words, “'IWas the
night before Christmas...”
It was illustrator Thomas
Nast, working for Harper’s
Weekly, who actually drew
the visual image of the mod-
ern Santa Claus. He also
developed the concept of
Santa residing at the North
Pole, along with a. workshop
,filled-wittigelves and the lists
"of good and had. children.“
The most modern réndi-
tion of Santa Claus was devel-
oped by the Coca Cola
Company in 1931 as part of
an advertising campaign.
Santa was no longer an elf,
but a full-size person enjoy-
ing a Coca Cola.
. So there you have the
story of Santa Claus.
On the cusp of being polit-
ically incorrect — which does
not bother me —- to all of you,
our loyal readers, all of us in
the newspaper offices and
our families take this oppor-
tunity to wish you and your
family a very Merry
Christmas.
That’s my opinion.
Andy Kober is a regular
columnist for Trib
Publications. He can be
reached at
andykober@hotmail.com
70 Years Ago in the Hogansville Herald
From the front
ge of the December 19, 1946
Edition 0 the Hogansville Herald:
Survey To Be Made To Ascertain Cost Of Piping Natural
Gas Here
Natural gas may be had in Hogansville, within the next year or
so, according to plans discussed at the called meeting of the City
Council, last Friday night. Representatives of an Investment Banking
company, of Birmingham, Ala., Messrs. J.R. Harrison, Bernie Perry,
and GO. Knight, were present at the meeting, with Civil Engineer
John W. Goodwin.
City Council Accepts Three Resignations
All members of the Hogansville City Council together with Mayor
Zachry, city attorney Render Terrell and city clerk M.P. Hill, were
present at the regular meeting of the board last Monday evening.
Increased Earnings Are Essential For Improved
Telephone Service In Georgia
Earnings of the Southern Bell Telephone Company in Georgia
are dangerously low and must be increased if the Company Is to
be able to provide adequate and dependable services, F.J. Turner
of Atlanta, vice-president of Southern Bell, declared last week in
his testimony before the Georgia Public Service Commission.
Compiler's note: These front pages are from the first year of
publication of the Hogansville Herald, which printed its inaugural
issue on March 4, 1946. It is incredible to realize how much the
city and the surrounding area have grown and changed over the
past 70 years. 7719 newspaper has changed as well, even becom-
ing the “Troup County Herald and “Hogansville Home News” for a
time in the 19805-19903. Front pages from those issues will be
featured soon. ' compiled by Jack BagIey
