“No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” — Matthew 6:24

As I scrolled through Facebook today, I saw a plethora of wishes for a “Merry Christmas,” despite recent rantings of President Donald Trump and Fox News-inspired reports of a “War on Christmas.” This purported “war” is as phony as Netherlands Ambassador Peter Hoekstra, our former congressman, with his charge of “fake news” to a Dutch reporter who caught him in his lie.

All you have to do these days in order to run afoul of the Christmas police is say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” Or you can point out a truth bomb like I do, that is guaranteed to annoy fundamentalist and evangelical Christians everywhere.

I have a nasty habit of now and then posting on Facebook the comment that there is absolutely no evidence that Jesus of Nazareth was born on Dec. 25. It’s 100% true. There is no such evidence. But telling the truth, as Orwell once warned us about a totalitarian society, apparently is a revolutionary act.

The first time I posted that fact, I immediately was “unfriended.”

There are too many people in the public arena who are deliberately creating issues that actually don’t exist. For example, President Trump, in telling us he’s going to bring back “Merry Christmas,” falsely suggested his predecessor failed to use that greeting. But there are 22 videos of Barack Obama saying exactly that.

In this instance, President Trump has about as much respect for the truth as Hoekstra.

It was also fascinating to learn on Facebook (with nod to Jeff Salisbury) that the celebration of Christmas was forbidden by our hallowed Puritan ancestors in Massachusetts and the holiday was not made official until 1870. Yet many believe the narrative that somehow Christmas was some kind of annual holy observance since the earliest days of Christianity.

We humans didn’t even get Christ’s year of birth correct from the get-go. We mark our years (A.D., in the year of our Lord), dating the birth of Christ, but now virtually all biblical scholars agree that Christ was born four years B.C. (Before Christ) and lived until 29 A.D.

Then there is the constant battle between the supposed humble beginnings of Jesus in the manger and explain the buying of gifts because of the account of the “Three Kings” who brought gifts to the child. This has created a long-running war between “The Reason for the Season” and Santa Claus and consumerism. Somehow, we steadfastly believe we can do both — worship the Lord, and worship money or mammon by throwing ourselves into a buying and selling frenzy, starting with Black Friday, continuing with Cyber Monday and stressing out on getting that last-minute gift before the big day arrives.

I can’t believe it’s just coincidence that older people so often are the ones who don’t want any Christmas gifts. That is, those who are older and wiser, the folks who have grown weary of worshipping at the altar of mammon.

I have grown weary of the stress of this time of year. I’m tired of frenzied consumerism, politically correct greetings and all the other trappings we’ve allowed ourselves to get into.

My humble and genuine respect goes out to “One Small Voice” columnist Lynn Mandaville, who we should be glad graced our community with her wisdom. And like her, I did not buy any Christmas gifts and only reluctantly received two.