It was December in 1940.,  Usually we didn’t have much snow in Ohio that early but Mom and Dad said Santa Claus would be coming to the square in downtown Newark on Saturday.,  I was a little puzzled because his reindeer and sleigh, it seemed, would have to make a landing on the bare courthouse lawn.,  But, there were a couple of days to go so maybe it would snow in time for the sleigh runners to use.

The days passed slowly as I got half-way through my,  Dick and Jane reader at Conrad School and the teacher said tomorrow would be the last day of school until Christmas. She said we would have our Christmas program the last thing in the PTA room in the afternoon.

Mom came to my program and brought Bill and Ann too.,  I can’t remember much about it now but the Rhythm Band played for the program.,  The PTA room was packed with parents and little kids.,  When it came time for the Rhythm Band to play the teacher had us all come up front and sit in the red wooden chairs.,  The sticks sat in the front row with the other kids around with their things to play.,  The tambourines stood up to play because they had to hit the side of their tambourines every once in a while to make a sharp sound.,  One pretty girl stood up with her triangle that had a metal stick to it for ringing at the right time.,  There were more shakers, the ones who sat by us, along with the sticks, than anyone else. My red sticks were okay but they just clicked.

I always wondered if the teacher would ever ask me to play the triangle or the tambourines, to make a pretty sound,,  but she never did. We played a song or two and everyone clapped.

Mom always talked to the teacher when she went to PTA meetings and programs like this.,  She didn’t say much so I thought maybe I was doing all right in school and maybe I would pass and be in second grade next year.,  I liked to read and use the big red pencil Mom got at Emersons Store.,  They cost a lot, five cents I think, but the lead was big and you could use both ends because they didn’t have an eraser. Finally the program was over and we all went home for our Christmas time off.

I dont remember how many days before Christmas it was but I think we all went in the old Hudson downtown the next day to see Santa.,  His red suit and snow-white beard made me scared but I knew I didn’t have to sit on his lap because he was in a little house.,  It was about as big as Grandpa and Grandma Pierponts outside toilet except it had windows on the sides and the front was open with a shelf and there sat Santa!,  I dont remember what I asked for that year either but he gave me some candy and Bill and Ann got some when they saw him too.,  Then we walked around the square and places and then got some food at Doniffs and went home.

Dad wasnt around at night because he worked at Owens-Corning late at night and didn’t come home until almost time for me to get up.,  Mom and Dad kept saying “Santas coming, youd better be good.”,  I knew from before if you werent good you might not get anything for Christmas so I tried not to hit Bill or Ann too much.

Our Christmas tree had short green needles and some pretty balls on it with silver tinsel and Mom had put a sheet around the bottom. That was where the presents would be when we got up on Christmas morning.,  We didn’t have a very big chimney for Santa but I thought maybe he could sneak in the front door if he didn’t make too much noise on the front porch.

Since I was six, I knew where to turn the radio knob to listen to Santa read letters from other little kids.,  He was on in the afternoon before supper and I think the program came from Columbus which I knew was a long way off, maybe over thirty miles.,  But I didn’t think they had any trouble over there tuning in to the North Pole because they did it every year. Santa had a friendly big voice and his laugh made me feel good even though I knew I had never mailed a letter to him.,  Other kids did and he promised them nice things so I knew he would have something for me too.

Finally the night before Christmas came.,  Mom never set anything out for Santa like other moms were supposed to do.,  But, I knew the letters of other kids had said he would be getting hot cocoa and cookies and sandwiches and things, so he probably wouldnt be hungry.

Dad was getting ready for work before we went to bed and I knew he remembered it was Christmas because of the tree and how excited us kids were.,  There was just a little snow on the ground now and it was pretty cold outside but the stove in the living room put out nice heat that reached my room and Bills.,  Anns little bed was in Mom and Dads room that was at the front of the house and the heat went through that door to her bed too, I suppose.

We never prayed before bed that I remember but we were excited this night because Santa was coming so we went right to bed.,  In later years I got to stay up longer than Bill and Ann because I was the oldest, but I think Mom put us to bed early so she and Dad could listen to the music on the radio sometimes before he went to work.

Sometimes Mom would have me stay up a little bit though, because we made Dads cigarettes on the little machine.,  I would sort out the little papers and have one ready to put in the little canvas swing between the rods on the machine.,  Then Mom would pour some of the tobacco from the Bugler bag into the swing where the paper was.,  I turned the crank and out came a cigarette.,  We were pretty busy sometimes because Dad took a whole Bugler package with them in it to work every night.

But, this was Christmas so we went right to bed.,  Bills bed was across from mine and had wooden sides like mine with a feather tick too.,  Our room had a doorway to the left of my bed with Bills bed on the other side.,  At the foot of my bed was the doorway to the living room.,  I was pretty excited that night but I finally got off to sleep anyway.

I usually thought of lots of things to do during the daytime.,  Mom got really mad at me sometimes because I would start fires.,  I think I must have started most of them when dad was away hunting or working during the day for someone to get extra money.,  One day I put a bunch of leaves in Dads trailer and set them on fire.,  One cold morning I put the bathroom comb in between the little slits of the gas stove Dad had put in the bathroom.,  I jerked it out when it caught fire and threw it down on the floor.,  Mom ran in and stomped the fire out. She was upset.

The fire I started in the outside basement window ledge must have been the worst one though.,  I packed the hole full of leaves and set them on fire.,  I think when the neighbor lady saw the flames licking up the side of the house that she called Mom on the telephone because she raced out and threw water on the fire.,  I dont remember if I got a licking for it but I probably did.

But, now it was Christmas Eve and I know I was really excited this year.,  I tried to think of waking up early and catching Santa at work putting things under the tree.,  It must have been about 12:30 that night that I did wake up.,  I even startled myself thinking, “Im awake and its not even Christmas yet.,  Maybe I can catch Santa!”

I got out of bed, scared, and tip-toed around the corner to see the tree.,  I was really surprised: under the tree were several things I had told Mom that I wanted Santa to bring me.,  Some other things were there too.,  There was no bike or sled like some of the kids asked for but I saw two wind-up little tractors that Bill and I liked.,  There was a doll there too, for Ann and some other things and a red wagon, I think.

I stood there in my night shirt that went down a little below my knees.,  For a while I looked at the tree with the presents.,  Then, I began to feel like I was doing something wrong.,  I thought, “I can’t help it if I woke up.,  At least I didn’t catch Santa.,  I better tell Mom, Im sorry I got up.”,  I turned around and went into Mom and Dads room.,  There was Ann, by the wall,,  asleep in her little bed.,  But, Mom and Dads bed was empty.,  I couldn’t believe it.,  Mom was still up.,  What if Santa had seen her?,  But where was she?

The basement didn’t have any lights and the floor was dirt.,  I knew she couldn’t be there.,  I ran to the back door and pushed it open.,  I looked around it down the long back yard.,  The light down to the old barn was on and it was hazy.,  Mom couldn’t be there.,  But I yelled for her anyway: “Mom!”,  “MOM!”,  “MOOOM!”,  She didn’t answer.,  She was nowhere around!,  What could I do!

Then I started to remember.,  Our neighbor lady, the one who told on me, had been asking Mom and Dad to come over.,  I didn’t think they ever would because they had a really nice house and things and I think Mom didn’t want to try it.

But I remembered, this was Christmas.,  Maybe the neighbor lady and man, who knew Dad was at work, had asked her to come over.,  But, even if not, maybe they could help me find her.,  I opened the front door and ran out onto the porch and down the two steps.,  When I hit the yard the cold snow under my feet shocked me.,  I hardly noticed.,  I ran past the big sycamore tree up toward the neighbors house.,  Buena Vista Street was on a big hill, too big even for the Soapbox Derby because they only ran it one year starting right at our house.

When I got to the neighbors high porch I didn’t know what to do next.,  So, I yelled!,  “Mom!” I called.,  I was really scared now and a little ashamed too. I was the biggest and there I stood in the snow, yelling for Mom.,  I yelled again, really loud.,  There were lights in the neighbors house so they must have been up.,  Just as I yelled again, the door opened and there stood the neighbor lady at the door.,  Mom ran out and they brought me into their nice room.,  Now I was really embarrassed.,  I saw they had little glasses with something to drink.

Moms glass was at a nice chair she went back to with me but I could see she was upset.,  I think she was very embarrassed too.,  She said, “Im sorry” and “Thank you” to the neighbors and then set her glass down and,  rushed me home.,  I dont remember anything else about it that night but I am sure she put me back to bed.,  And the next morning, sure enough, the tractors were for Bill and me and the doll was for Ann.,  We played with them.

Mom and Dad may have put our things for,  Christmas under our tree instead of Santa Claus.,  Maybe they put them there just before Dad left for work.,  Maybe Mom was lonesome and needed someone to talk to.,  Im sure it wasnt easy to raise two ornery little kids plus me.,  I guess, when I ran to the neighbors I was really thinking, maybe Santa Claus was next door.,  Now that I think of it, that was probably right.

The next time I saw the little red chairs like we had in Rhythm Band was the Sunday morning, not long after that, when Mom took us kids to St. Pauls Lutheran Church.,  It was what they called “Sunday School.”,  There, in the big room for boys and girls they had an altar, smaller than the one in the church, but it had candles on it with what I learned later was a Bible.
It was Grandma Sassers church, I found out later.,  I dont think we went there very often then but later we got started going to the church service.

Just before Christmas time the next year the Japs bombed Pearl Harbor.,  Dad went into the Navy and we came to live with Grandma and really started going to her church then.,  When I was nine, all of us kids were put into the Youth Choir at church.,  Sometimes we went to Sunday school too, but I dont remember that much.,  We did take Mrs. Tiner to church with us though.,  Some people said things about people like her because she was German.,  She was very small so I know she couldn’t hurt anyone.,  Mom made Bill and me help her and Grandma into church.,  Everyone always came up to Mom and said what nice boys we were.,  But, I knew it wasnt true because most Sundays Mom had to pinch us during the service.

Sometimes I remember back to that night when I couldn’t find Mom.,  I think when she heard my frantic voice on the front lawn as she sat there with the little glass it did something to change her.,  I dont know if that was the time but I do know that several years before she died she told me, “Ken, I wish we had all been Christians when you were growing up.,  It would have been a lot different.”,  I felt sorry for Mom that night because I knew I had embarrassed her.,  In a way, though, I guess I was really just looking for Santa Claus.,  As it turned out, I think he really was next door.

Merry Christmas!
Kenneth F. Pierpont

Having named himself, Pope Benedict XVI, this new “Vicar of Christ” quickly established himself as the pope intent upon “uniting all Christians and reaching out to all religions of the world.”

Media reports have stated that the population of Rome, usually put at about four million, doubled during the time Pope John Paul II lay in state through the installation of Cardinal Ratzinger. Note some of the comments of those who attended or reported: “I have no doubt the Holy Father [the deceased John Paul II] was interceding for us.”(A Vatican authority) “It was one of the most spiritual experiences anyone could ever go through.(Observer) “It was overwhelming.” (Onlooker) “I saw tears running down your cheeks.” (Reporter to devotee)

And of the new pope: “He is a shy professor of great holiness and integrity.” (Reporter)”He is the guardian of doctrinal orthodoxy.” (Vatican spokesperson)

With speculation running high that the College of Cardinals would elect either a man from Latin America or one from Africa, many were surprised at the election of the first German pope since the eleventh century. No one should have been!

WHY THIS MAN?

Cardinal Ratzinger has for many years held the post of “Grand Inquisitor of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith.” It is reported to be the second highest office in the Catholic Church. As defender of church dogma, Ratzinger has been called by the media, “God’s Rottweiler.” No wonder, “Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith” is the modern name for “The Inquisition.”

American Catholics have clamored for change in church doctrine to loosen restraints on birth control, abortion and a celibate clergy composed only of men, to name but a few popular issues on which ancient Roman Catholicism is “out of step” with current social “norms.” Most are saying none of this is likely to come about under the new pope, Benedict XVI.

So, why would the College of Cardinals choose someone who is certain to uphold beliefs that are unpopular among millions of Catholics? Why choose someone from Germany? Why not choose someone from Latin America where the largest concentration of Catholics in the world is found? The answer to these questions may not seem important to Bible-believing Christians. The truth is, this new pope’s mission puts him on a collision course with historic fundamental Christianity!

THE DRIVE TO “UNITE” ALL CHRISTIANS

Those believers who prefer to identify themselves as “evangelicals” rather than fundamentalists have been represented for more than ten years now by the movement entitled “Evangelicals and Catholics Together.” The respected evangelical theologian, J.I. Packer, summarized the initial introduction of this effort in Christianity Today on December 12, 1994:
(ECT) is the title of a programmatic statement composed by eight Protestants (leader, Charles Colson) and seven Roman Catholics (leader, Richard John Neuhaus) and composed by 12 more Protestants and 13 more Roman Catholics.”

Packer goes on to say that the statement by these men is in no way official and does not commit the churches, institutions and organizations these men represent to anything they may decide. Good thing: Southern Baptist scholars and others have since realized just how far evangelical Christianity would have to go to satisfy Rome. Some who initially signed the document have since withdrawn their names.

Defending himself as a signer of this document Packer states: “So I find that ECT is not a sellout of Protestantism, but is in fact a well-judged, timely call to a mode of grassroots action that is significant for furthering the kingdom of God.”

ECT continues to this day. Pope Benedict XVI may find it helpful at some point to encourage this or some similar effort to “unite” Christians. His credentials as a thoughtful German theologian will lend great support.

The question of whether or not evangelicals should apologize to the Catholic Church for the Protestant Reformation and the resulting split away from Roman Catholicism that has fostered the establishment of innumerable denominations and “sects” of Christendom is one that continues to be addressed. Weak evangelical writers seem content to raise mild objections.

As a biblical fundamentalist, I am frankly appalled by the notion that some future “union” of Catholics and Protestants could ever find favor with a majority of evangelical church leaders. Most certainly, such compromise could never be justified by Scripture. We must never forget that it was fundamentalist believers of yesteryear (though not known by that title, of course,) who were hunted down by Rome’s Inquisition and tortured and killed for raising some of the same objections we would feel obliged to raise today.

When Pope Benedict XVI states, as he does, that he wants to reach out and unite all Christians, we must bear in mind that he has also stated that he finds non-Catholic Christianity “deficient.” That blunt judgment should leave little doubt as to who will be expected to do the compromising to effect change!

THE POPULAR MIND

If you followed any of the proceedings from the death of John Paul II through the installation of Benedict XVI, you saw, as I did, the adoring masses of people thronging Vatican Square and St. Peter’s Basilica. These devotees are putty in the hands of Roman Catholic authorities who exercise authority over soul and body, doling out “salvation” as it were, on the installment plan. The sobering reality of this is that we are talking about a billion people under the authority of this mighty religious force.

One must also realize that there are many people with a spiritual hunger who are mightily influenced by the dazzle and pomp of Roman Catholic practice who are ripe for conversion to Rome. One such example is a young man who was interviewed by a television reporter in St. Peter’s Square: “I was so moved by it all that I went out and bought a rosary and became a Catholic,” he proclaimed.

The new pope may be rightly regarded as Rome’s watchdog over theology, change and adaptation to our modern world. He also may just be the one who lives to usher in the fall of “Babylon the Great,” of Revelation chapter seventeen! We shall see.

Looking Ahead: Our next paper will deal with Pagan Practice in Catholicism Today.