Christmastime is here, and millions of children are getting their lists ready for Santa Claus in the hopes of big dreams coming true. Christmas is celebrated as both a religious and secular holiday these days and means different things to different families. Can we all just get along and let people do their Christmas thing in peace? Of course we can't.
One man in particular, David Harold Grisham, really can't keep it to himself. He decided to dress up as the Grinch and stand in front of a Texas elementary school with a sign reading, "Santa Is Fake, Jesus Is Real." Unsurprisingly, people were unhappy, and the police showed up to take the green and red nightmare away. The whole thing has a lot of parents wondering why any adult would think this was a good idea.
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Grisham said he wanted to tell the kids the truth.
He calls himself a pastor with Official Street Preachers and told KVII he showed up at Sleepy Hollow Elementary School in Amarillo so kids would know that Jesus is real and Santa is not. He seemingly understood that some parents would be upset, but he didn't care.
"I understand why they're upset," Grisham told the news station. "They're upset because they're prideful and don't want to admit that lying to their child is wrong in spite of what God's word says. They're more concerned with the traditions of men rather than the truth. And they double down on the lie because of pride and they are angry because they want to blame the person telling the truth than the one who told the lie that prompted the truth to expose the lie."
Grisham posted a video on YouTube.
Grisham's nearly 40-minute video shows children walking into the school, and you can hear him yelling to people in cars dropping kids off, "Santa Claus is fake! Jesus is real!" Even when parents approach, one taking his sign and tossing it to the ground, he is not deterred. He clearly wants his voice to be heard.
For this pastor, there is no 'magic' in Christmas.
Grisham takes a biblical approach to the holiday season and focuses on the nativity story, and he thinks parents are doing their children a disservice if they do otherwise.
"They don't want to be seen as a liar in the eyes of their child. But the facts say they are," he said.
He added that he doesn't care that he is ruining anything for kids. "I'm not concerned about the 'magic' of Christmas but the MIRACLE of Christmas in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ," Grisham said, per KVII.
The parents were not happy.
To no one's surprise, parents thought Grisham took it too far. Principal Kelsey Williams told the TV station that Grisham was not a guest at the school.
"I'm saddened by the fact that some of our kiddos and families were frightened because of him," Williams said.
And when Amarillo police showed up, they couldn't arrest the Grinchy Grisham because he wasn't breaking any laws. He eventually left the school but not before ruining the holiday season for some kids.
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Grisham's antics received mixed reviews.
Some believed he was doing the right thing.
"Good job!!! We have too many Woke folks in this country and we have to return to Jesus and his Teachings…. Amen!!!" one person commented.
But most thought that Grisham was not only hurting the kids but also making a bad name for other Christians who do not support his thinking.
"As a Christian I do not approve of this! I was raised as a Christian, I believe Christmas was of course about Christ but my parents also gave me the joy, and magic of Christmas which included Santa Claus!" another person wrote. "I did not worship Santa Claus I worshipped Christ. And I'm certainly not going to h— just bc I believed in Santa Claus. It's ok to preach Christ to adults but leave this to the parents when it comes to teaching children!"
"You are doing real harm to Christianity. Your tactics are terrible. I think it portrays your evil intentions," another comment reads. "You could be spreading the gospel to children in various ways but you choose this. You can tell you have brought noone to the Lord."
Others were just plain upset.
"Dude would be on the ground quick. seriously. let kids enjoy their childhood," one person commented.
"how miserable do y'all have to be to ruin something so innocent for children?" a YouTuber asked.
"Shame on you," another person wrote.
A quick look at his social media posts shows that Grisham just needs to go away. No one needs this kind of hatred in their life. Bah humbug, dude.
