This time of year you see manger scenes and you usually see the three wise men coming to offer their gifts to the Christ Child.

Guess what? They weren't there. And with me today to discuss that is Pastor Tom Hughes, who comes to us from San

Jacinto, California, the 412 Church.

And Tom, let's talk about Christmas.

Sounds terrific. Love being here. Let's talk about Christmas.

And let's start with the wise men. You know, in the December 2015, Prophecy Watcher, our magazine,

I have written an article about the birth of Christ and about

the wise man. And the title of the article is there were more than three kings.

We hear the, and in your head you can almost hear it right now. We three kings of Orient are.

And there is this tradition of the three kings coming and offering gifts at the manger scene

with the Christ child. But in fact, the Christmas story is very complex. It's very

politicized in the Bible. It has to do with Herod and with Caesar, the political times.

It has to do with the Magi who were very, very heavily involved in the politics of the era.

Yes. In fact, the major scenes that we have today in the Christmas,

it's very homogenized from what the real Christmas was.

Busy time, political time, even in a sense very, very difficult times.

But I look at the manger scenes and at Christmas every year in our church, I do a Christmas message,

usually the Sunday before Christmas.

And I have to preface it with these words, okay, I don't want to ruin your Christmas.

However, I'm going to tell you the truth.

But if you understand, you will love the true story of Christmas.

Indeed.

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