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December 25, 2015
Hugh Hefner
Playboy Mansion
10236 Charing Cross Road
Los Angeles, CA 90024-1815
Dear Mr. Hefner,
Around 50 years ago Francis Schaeffer said that Hugh Hefner’s goal with the “playboy mentality is just to smash the puritanical ethnic.” HUGH you would think that you would never get married, but a few years ago I read about your Christmas of 2010. “Hugh Hefner Proposes to Girlfriend on Christmas Eve” by Robyn Ross | Dec 26, 2010 9:45 AM EST noted:
Hugh Hefner gave his girlfriend a pretty good Christmas gift.
The 84-year-old Playboy founder proposed to his 24-year-old girlfriend, Crystal Harris Friday night. “I gave Crystal a ring. A truly memorable Christmas Eve,” Hefner tweeted. “When I gave Crystal the ring, she burst into tears. This is the happiest Christmas weekend in memory.”
Hefner later clarified that he did indeed ask Harris to marry him. “Yes, the ring I gave Crystal is an engagement ring,” he wrote. “I didn’t mean to make a mystery out of it. A very merry Christmas to all.”
HUGH not only am I glad you have embraced marriage but I am also glad that you have NOT embraced the HAPPY HOLIDAYS politically correct point of view these days. There has been such an effort to get away from even using the phrase “A very merry Christmas to all.” The reason for that is very simple. There are those who don’t think that Christ has any place in our celebration of Christmas.
HUGH you seem to make a big deal out of Christmas but do you know the true meaning of Christmas. Listen to what Linus had to say in the Charlie Brown Christmas Show.
A Biblical Response to ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’
Well Done, Linus
BY CP GUEST CONTRIBUTORDecember 11, 2009|5:01 pm
(Photo: ABC)
On Tuesday, countless households tuned in to watch as Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang pondered the meaning of Christmas. I admit that I have watched the show from my youth, and have always enjoyed both the characters and the special, “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
The Christmas special, originally believed to be a failure in the minds of those bankrolling the project back in 1965, has become as much a part of “Christmas Americana” as other well known favorites like, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
Even conservative Christians who believe the Bible to be the divinely inspired, plenary (look it up), infallible, authoritative Word of God show excitement when this favorite returns to the airwaves. How can this be, you ask, when these people are typically known for having a disdain for most things secular? I believe it all hinges on 60 seconds of footage toward the end of the cartoon.
After being terribly frustrated with the consumer mentalities around him, not to mention how badly things are going with the Christmas play, blockhead-turned-director Charlie Brown asks the pivotal question: “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”
To the credit of Charles Schulz and Bill Melendez, the show’s main creative forces, Linus responds by stepping onto the stage, and reciting Luke 2:8-14 from his King James Bible, reminding us of the true “Reason for the Season,” that being the virgin birth of the promised One, the Messiah, the Lamb of God: Jesus Christ.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
I still get shivers up and down my spine when Linus shares the gospel with his cartoon friends….We can be sure that Schulz and Melendez did all they could to bring these biblical truths to their Christmas special. Under the conditions in which they were working, it is surprising that any Scripture made it to the viewers at home. Turning people away from their “consumer Christmas” mentality, though, isn’t enough. We need to remember that, unless our loved ones understand of their great need of the Savior, and turn to faith in Christ, a fiery eternity apart from God awaits them…May we, like little Linus Van Pelt, be faithful to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to our family and friends. May we be committed to the hard thing, the uncomfortable thing – for the sake of He who was committed to the most difficult of things when He allowed Himself to be scourged and slain so that sinners might be saved – and share the Father’s wonderful plan of salvation with our loved ones this Christmas season.
WHAT IS CHRISTMAS ALL ABOUT? It is about the messiah who left heaven to live 33 years on this earth as the GOD-MAN and died for our sins. WANT SOME EVIDENCE? Take a look at this article below from Walter Kaiser, Jr.
The Promise of the Messiah
By Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. • November 22, 2006
In his “Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy,” J. Barton Payne itemized 127 Messianic predictions involving more than 3,000 Bible verses, with a remarkable 574 verses referring directly to a personal Messiah! My book “The Messiah in the Old Testament” examined 65 direct prophecies about the Messiah. These incredible promises formed one of the most central themes of the Old Testament: the coming Messiah.
The word Messiah or Anointed One (or in Greek, Christ), is taken from Psalm 2:2 and Daniel 9:25-26. The term took its meaning from the Jewish practice of anointing their priests and kings. But this term was applied in a special sense to the future Ruler who would be sent from God to sit on the throne of David forever. He is the One that God distinctly identified many years ahead of His arrival on earth, as Acts 3:18 affirms: “But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ [Messiah] would suffer” (NIV).
Likewise, according to 1 Peter 1:11, the Old Testament prophets predicted “the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow” (NIV). The Messiah’s coming was not a secret left in a corner, but the repeated revelation of God to His people in the Old Testament.
Here are some of the definite clues about this coming that God gave in the Old Testament:
- The Messiah would be the seed/offspring of a woman and would crush the head of Satan (Genesis 3:15).
- He would come from the seed/offspring of Abraham and would bless all the nations on earth (Genesis 12:3).
- He would be a “prophet like Moses” to whom God said we must listen (Deuteronomy 18:15).
- He would be born in Bethlehem of Judah (Micah 5:2).
- He would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14).
- He would have a throne, a kingdom and a dynasty, or house, starting with King David, that will last forever (2 Samuel 7:16).
- He would be called “Wonderful Counselor,” “Mighty God,” “Everlasting Father,” “Prince of Peace,” and would possess an everlasting kingdom (Isaiah 9:6-7).
- He would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, righteous and having salvation, coming with gentleness (Zechariah 9:9-10).
- He would be pierced for our transgression and crushed for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5).
- He would die among the wicked ones but be buried with the rich (Isaiah 53:9).
- He would be resurrected from the grave, for God would not allow His Holy One to suffer decay (Psalm 16:10).
- He would come again from the clouds of heaven as the Son of Man (Daniel 7:13-14).
- He would be the “Sun of Righteousness” for all who revere Him and look for His coming again (Malachi 4:2).
- He is the One whom Israel will one day recognize as the One they pierced, causing bitter grief (Zechariah 12:10).
The prophesies about the Messiah were not a bunch of scattered predictions randomly placed throughout the Old Testament, but they form a unified promise-plan of God, where each promise is interrelated and connected into a grand series comprising one continuous plan of God. Thus, a unity builds as the story of God’s call on Israel, and then on the house of David, progresses in each part of the Old Testament.
However, this eternal plan of God also had multiple fulfillments as it continued to unfold in the life and times of Israel. For example, every successive Davidic king was at once both a fulfillment in that day as well as a promise of what was to come when Christ, the final One in the Davidic line, arrived. Each of these successive fulfillments gave confidence that what was in the distant future would certainly happen, because God was working in the fabric of history as well. And although the promise was made to specific persons, such as Eve, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David, it was cosmopolitan in its inclusiveness. What God was doing through Israel and these individuals was to be a source of blessing to all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:3).
Some insist that the Messiah whom Christians revere is not the same one that Jewish people also look forward to meeting. Some years ago, I had an opportunity to be part of a televised debate with a rabbi who is a Jewish New Testament scholar around the question, “Is Jesus the Messiah?” The rabbi explained the Jewish point of view: “Evangelicals believe the Messiah has two comings: one at Christmas and one at His second coming. We Jews believe He will only come once, at a time of peace on earth just as the prophet Zechariah declared in Zechariah 12-14. Since we still experience wars, Messiah has not yet come.”
I responded, “It says in Zechariah 12:10 that ‘They will look on me.’ Who is the one speaking here?”
He replied: “The Almighty, of course.”
I responded, “It says, ‘They will look on me, the one they have pierced.’ How did He get pierced?” He answered that he did not know. I said, “I have an idea. It was at Calvary.” He did not counter with any further argument.
The Bible is saying that on that future day of His Second Coming, Jews and Gentiles will personally see the One who was pierced for the sins of the world. In other words, that “future day” will not be the first time they have seen Him. So even the Old Testament, it turns out, anticipated two comings of the Messiah: one at His birth and another when He comes as triumphant king at His Second Coming.
What would this world be like without the Messiah? What would Christmas be like without the fulfillment of all those ancient promises and the prospect of Messiah’s coming yet once more as King of kings and Lord of lords? His arrival has made the difference between light and darkness itself. Think what His triumphal appearance once more will mean to this world. Everyone, including all of nature itself (Romans 8:20-21), will let out a burst of praise such as has never been heard: Here comes the King Himself, our Lord and our Savior! Joy to the World!
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This was the 11th letter I have written to you in the last three months. Thank you again for your time and I know how busy you are.
Everette Hatcher, everettehatcher@gmail.com, http://www.thedailyhatch.org, cell ph 501-920-5733, Box 23416, LittleRock, AR 72221
PS: Again I have quoted you and then responded to what you have said. If your mother (Grace Caroline Hefner) were here she would urge you to take a few moments and look up these scriptures that are cited. You may not have become a missionary like she prayed you would but at least you take a few moments and try to discover what the true meaning of Christmas is.
(In a handwritten note) It is obvious how much love is in this picture below. I am glad my parents are still here to celebrate Christmas with me and I wish your parents were here for you. MERRY Christmas Hefner family from the Hatchers!!!!!
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Crystal and Hugh Hefner from 2015 Christmas Card
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Featured artist is Henry Moore
Moore, Henry – by H.R. Rookmaaker
Henry Moore searches for a new kind of sculptureby H.R. RookmaakerComplete control of mass, material and space
Sometimes we say of a painting that ‘it doesn’t rise above the paint’,
whereby we mean that the artist was unable to make us see past the
medium itself – instead of seeing trees, grass and so on, we see only
green and brown paint. The same kind of thing could be said about
some sculptures. But the remarkable thing about the sculpture of Henry
Moore is that in his work the material not only holds its value but is
emphasized. The weight and the mass, the structure of the stone or
wood or whatever, receive their own expressiveness and significance.
That is an important facet of Henry Moore’s search for a new kind
of sculpture – one that is really sculpture and not a semblance of reality.
The image must remain an image, not becoming, as it were, the subject
itself – which is what has sometimes threatened to be the case in the
previous era. Initially Moore drew his inspiration mainly from early
Mexican sculpture, which is also heavy and imposing but nevertheless
has an expressiveness that makes all the later European art look sickly
and frail.
After having in a similar way reinvested his material with its own
natural weight, and after having giving his work a dynamically expressive
power, he sets out to discover the possibilities for pure sculpture. The
expression of an actual subject was largely lost, but the sculpture now
‘people’ and we get beings with heads that look like car parts or little
stumps; because we see them that way (for, after all, it is impossible for
one to detach oneself from the subject), they do not satisfy in the long
run. Then we would prefer the completely unrecognizable pieces, for
there our associations do not hinder us; or we would prefer the work in
which the structure of the person as such is not affected but is rendered
and represented (not imitated or copied) in a truly sculptural way.
In summary, it is very difficult to evaluate Moore’s work in its
entirety: sometimes it is acceptable, sometimes not; sometimes it is
enjoyable and sometimes not; but we are always convinced of the great
talent of this sculptor.
Published in Dutch in Trouw, 20 June 1953.
Published in English in M. Hengelaar-Rookmaaker (ed.): H.R. Rookmaaker: The Complete Works 5, Piquant – Carlisle, 2003. Also obtainable as a CD-Rom.
piquanteditions.com/product_info.php
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The Daily Hatch 