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July 16, 2021 5:00 am
https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Santa-Claus-Wayne-Van/dp/1732771006
Wayne Van der Wal tell his vision for the book
It’s Christmas Eve, and a troubled Joe and Mary and their three children are taking the train to visit family. Suddenly, a bearded stranger with a twinkle in his eye takes a seat and begins spinning a provocative tale that intrigues, delights, and inspires. Masterfully weaving past and present through story, lessons, and devotions, The Gospel of Santa Claus follows the incredible story of Saint Nicholas, born in third century A.D., who overcomes childhood tragedy, feels called by God to take a vow of poverty, endures horrific persecution for his religious faith, and goes on to become one of the most beloved, generous, loving, and famous figures in human history. A meaningful, touching story to be shared with the entire family, Wayne Van Der Wal’s powerful debut historical novel will raise important questions, ignite hope, and reaffirm your faith in God and the human spirit.
Welcome back to and uses it to build the kingdom now you don't find everybody every day that has a passion.
The NRB for Santa Claus but there was Wayne Vander Wade wrote the book on it is called the gospel of Santa Claus inspired a true story of St. Nicholas. So welcome way how find what a neat book and what a beautiful title and I'm excited to know you know how does a youth pastor from Reno, Nevada, and the break about cynical thank you Robbie for having me. I'm so excited to be here and now the story is actually a sort of sad story on how the book came about.
It was the year 2008 and I went through divorce and so was my first holiday season is a single, divorced father to single income disillusion with the whole materialism of the seas and and you're just rough times family split up our sad times and so what I set out to do that Christmas season was to learn more about Christmas.
More about Santa Claus or about St. Nick. I knew there is a connection between St. Nicholas in Santa Claus, but I really didn't know much about it and so started doing research and discovering his story is true story with a what they research to know about them just blew me away in and truthfully what we learned during that season about him really change the way we did Christmas my children. I and also changed early in our Christian faith.
In many ways. So you actually were single batting.
It sounds like yeah yeah in this book, you know, you've heard the phrase God brings beauty out of ashes and that's what he did during that season for us now, so take a spare a little bit of lately swept appetite. Of course you have to go to Amazon get the whole book is about yeah yeah yeah it's have a website.
The gospel Santa Claus.com and there's a purchase pages everywhere. Thankfully, I have been a real blast of Amazon and Barnes & Noble, Walmart on e-book everywhere and even audiobook I have a narrator who from Hollywood that does voice as he did a unique voice for every single character in the book, so it's really fun. Audiobook. But yes hello how it changed us just some of the highlights of St. next life was his morning to 70 A.D. so just a couple centuries after Jesus was around, so Christianity was still a very young religion. At that point and it he was born in the country called Alysia, which today is Turkey and so is rented a heavy Turkish. But at that time it was a Greek culture. So imagine being this young Christian family in the Greek culture great country road with all their Greek gods, ruled by the Roman Empire, with all the Roman god and then Emperor Diocletian at that time, proclaiming himself a God so very diverse, very unique. Time for Nicholas to be born in and what was miraculous to me about that is his family was asked actually wealthy to be Christian in that time. And that location and to be wealthy when it was incredible. Tragically, his parents died when he was young, by the play and so he inherited their vast fortune.
He felt called by God to give it all away to the for the sick and the suffering that started his legend is the tradition of being generous and jolly soul as far as all that. He went on to become a priest and a bishop in the church and again that was earned. Diocletian's time.
Emperor Diocletian persecuted Christians and hated them and also Nicholas was persecuted and was actually imprisoned for five years. So Santa Claus is on time in the big house people don't know that persecuted first base and so so is learning about, you know, the tragedy learning about him. He experience loss and grief and pain at such a young age and then went on to, you know, suffer persecution and hate for his faith and have experienced all that but yet he overcame it all and got through it all with his faith. Faith in Jesus.
He was sold out for Jesus. He loved God that he may take as well.
20 was impressed. While that point he had pretty much given it away by then as a priest and bishop.
They just living off of people's tithes and offerings of the church but yeah just to finish my thought on what happened with us just learning how he survived all that got through it. No true with his faith know joy and love all the fruits of the spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness that he is able to to you know suffer through all that but yet still turn that turn the cheek can be loving and caring and be the person that we know him to be today.
As far back as yeah so you may as well go back to your question, yeah.
He was for that point at the point he got out of out of reality was my guesstimate. I am in the book in his late 20s early 30s. It's hard to say. Specifically, when Diocletian well yeah he is 30 to 35. Basically seller in those five years. What happened after that. After that he got out and Diocletian had sickness and so he was actually the first Roman Emperor to ever step down from being Emperor there usually kill assassinated or died of old age and deftly as a first end actually ever step down and so then it changed hands. You know, people were waiting for leadership that during that time were talking 3053 10 beast A.D. at this point and then what happened by 315-ish.
Constantine became Emperor and held onto that and we know how things went. From that point with Constantine, so it's interesting Nicholas's life is like coincided with Constantine, and during that time and Constantine's known for creating the Council of Missy Nicaea have in 325 A.D. and he called 300 bishops to get on the same page about the Holy Spirit about when Easter is going to be about all these different very important topics to have the Christian religion consistent throughout, and Nicholas was part of that counsel and so he is around with Constantine, and part of Constantine's during Constantine's rule. Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire. Nicholas was part of all that during that time, which is fascinating. Absolutely absolutely fast so you came to the conclusion here, then the title of the gospel of Santa Claus. How do you relate that to the gospel itself. So yeah it's a little controversy over first when a friend mentioned that title and I thought about it long way to let it go because it sounds a bit sacrilegious but when you break it down the word gospel means good news message and so the gospel good news message of Santa Claus really is the gospel good news message of St. Nicholas, who we know, was sold out for God and then I just liken it to the gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. What was it was the good news of Matthew sharing about Jesus, the good news of John the gospel John Sharon about Jesus and so the gospel St. Nicholas door the Santa Claus who we know is really the gospel of Jesus to Sharon about who Jesus is. Yeah. And so that hardly St. Nicholas is life itself was a testimony yeah his old life exactly what he if he was here today is the story is all about Jesus was right out St. Nicholas got exactly allowing me to love my culture at the time. Yeah I just putting wealthy Slated for all of us so we would drive the next season. It may be a bit before before Christmas this year but hey what a cool book to give as a gift now got.
I have a lot of get five or six and then by all means come back and write it is the gospel of Santa Claus by Wayne Manor wall and may I make one comment about the format of the book.
So what I did was one of my pastors mentioned, but I'd love it to be like a devotional where I can read my grandkids so what I ended up doing was splitting it up into 30 chapters to be read to 30 days before Christmas and so starting on November 25. Families agree to make children before bed and so that was what I meant to do was to break it up so families can read it together each evening and sort of absent kind of an yeah exactly and it goes along with the advent season.
Also read after a night starting November 25 and it climaxes an enzyme December 24 actually Christmas Eve and I think The character and and so and there also add a devotions at the end of each chapter. For those who want to go a little deeper with the content of each chapter.
So yeah, I'm really excited gospel of Santa Claus down again.
Inspired by the true story of it took me seven years to write him a school psychologist so I could only had time to write on Christmas, Easter and summer vacations that actually took me seven years right and so during that seven years was a journey for me in my own personal law so so this book in a lot of ways with was therapeutic for me and spiritual for me so there's a lot of personal things that have difficulties and enjoys that that translated into the book itself just for my own personal life as well so that is personable that way now.
Thanks so much for having
