Christmas time is here, and everyone is busy bustling around finding gifts for their loved ones and relatives. I mean what better time to show how much you love them, than the birthday of Christ. (except He was actually born in the spring). I certainly think that it's a wonderful time to show the love of Christ to others, and give. But before you go off and start buying gifts please take a moment to consider if Christ would approve of your gifts. I decided to make a list of things you should NOT buy as gifts. 
    1. Electronics
 I know they are something teens love, and frankly everyone seems to love them. The problem with them is that they are produced by slaves, in both African mines, and Chinese factories! The second reason is that they're very addictive. I know, I waste so much time on my phone and the computer. We most certainly don't need any more distractions to keep us from spending quality time with God, and our family and friends. 
     2. Chocolate
   The moment I tell someone I don't like chocolate I get a round of horrified gasps, and immediately the questions pop up. Truth is this is many people's favourite food. It certainly seems like a good gift, but I beg you don't buy it. All the big chocolate companies use child labour and slave labour to produce the chocolate. Think about it, if the person you're buying the gift for were working there with no pay, using dangerous chemicals would you still buy it? If you really really want to buy chocolate please make sure it's fair trade, so at least there some chance that it hasn't been produce through forced labour. Nestle, Hershey, and Mars are just a few of the really bad companies.
     3. Clothes
 Some clothes are fine to buy but there are many companies who I strongly urge you not to buy from. H&M, Nike, Victoria's Secret, Walmart, Gap, La Senza, Disney (I know I'm really disappointed that they use sweat shops.), Sears, Joe Fresh, Forever 21, Urban Outfitters, Aeropostale, & Mark and Spenser. There are many more but these are some of the worst for using sweat shops, and slavery. 
       4. Cheap Toys and Toys R' Us
    It might seem a good idea to find a last minute gift for a nephew or grandchild, or cousin, but please do not buy china made toys. Dollar store toys are most probably made in a factory by children, and Toys R' Us has been found to use forced and child labour. Think about it the toys you're buying for a child, were made by a child, and not in good terms either. If the child you are buying the gift for was in that situation would you still buy it? 
   7. Bath & Body Works
This is a very popular place to buy christmas presents. Every time I walk into that store I literally feel sick. It smells horrific to me, but that's not why I included it on this list. Did you know that it funds planned parenthood? So does Ben & Jerry, and Avon, so please don't buy from them. 
    8. Starbucks
  It might be tempting to simply get a starbucks gift certificate but please don't. On top of them using slavery for their coffee, they also fund planned parenthood.
    Here's an official list of the companies that fund planned parenthood. Adobe, American Cancer Society, American Express, AT&T, Avon, Bank of America, Bath & Body Works, Ben & Jerry’s, Clorox, Converse, Deutsche Bank, Dockers, Energizer, Expedia, ExxonMobil, Fannie Mae, Groupon, Intuit, Johnson & Johnson, La  Senza, Levi Strauss, Liberty Mutual, Macy’s, March of Dimes, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Nike, Oracle, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Progressive, Starbucks, Susan G. Komen, Tostitos, Unilever, United Way, Verizon, Wells Fargo.
    Please don't think that it's impossible to find a gift. It's not, I'm just asking you to consider whether you will still buy the item if your friend was the one making it, if your nephew or niece was the one being aborted. Also ask yourself if Christ would approve of this gift. 
    I know that I appreciate gifts that are homemade, or something that will help me spend time with the giver. A good book can always do the trick also! Also don't forget that we should be giving our money to those who need it most, and not only this time of year.
    Sincerely, Rachel

  I've been hearing a bit about the 'red cup controversy', especially among Christians. From what I've picked up, many people are upset that Starbucks' Christmas cup is red. Yeah, it used to have fancier designs, snowflakes and stuff I guess, and this year it's just an ombre red or something. So of course there's an uproar that they're raging the war against Christmas, and thus Christ.
     Well, I've got a lot to say about this. It makes me quite angry, so naturally I had to write about it.
 
     First off, why does this bother you so much? Starbucks has never been a Christian company, and why should we expect more? If you're worried about your cup not looking 'Christian' why don't you worry about the goddess logo on the front? She's topless in, case you haven't noticed, and she's what's called a siren. Don't know what that is? It's a mythological creature, who is kind of like a mermaid, except she's a temptress who lures men to their death. Sorry to have to break the news to you, but I don't think Christ would want His name on a cup that has that on it's as the logo.

      Did you know that Starbucks supports planned parenthood? They also match their employee's donations to planned parenthood. Just in case you're wondering if there's anything they do bad beside killing babies and selling their body parts, they're also pretty racist.

As LifeNews previously reported, 79% of all Planned Parenthood’s abortion facilities are located near minority neighborhood. In fact, since 1973, approximately 13 million black babies have been lost because of abortion, and out of the approximately 4000 abortions that are performed daily in the United States, 1452 of them are performed on African American women and their unborn children.

 It's not hard to know God's stance on the subject.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart..."                                                                                                    - Jeremiah 1:5

Whoever shed the blood of man (unjustly), by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God has God made man.      -Genesis 9:6

      Thirdly, what's inside the cup? Coffee, I guess it's obvious. Maybe you have tea in it, but I'm going to focus the majority have coffee in their cups.
        Where does the coffee come from? Starbucks has been continually ignored the demand for fair trade coffee. As we've seen before, products with a high demand have been made with slave trade, because there's just so much needed. This goes for coffee as 99% of it is not fair trade, and has been harvested and grown by slaves. For example Guatemala is one of the leading country to produce coffee, and it has been known to use children as workers, mostly underpaid workers, called 'family helpers'. There are over 1/2 million children workers involved in the process of growing coffee, in Guatemala alone! Adult workers have to pick 100 pounds of coffee beans, just to reach the local minimum wage. That's $3 is you wondered. Over half  the workers assessed didn't reach that amount, so who knows what they were paid. Below is a chart of their policies.
     What does God think about slavery? Here's one of the many verses on the subject. It's pretty strong I'd say.

     "He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor." Psalms 72:4

     So do are you still worried about the red cup? Do you think Jesus wants His birth to be glorified on a cup that has a logo of a temptress on it, supports a company that kills babies, and is filled with a drink made of coffee beans harvested by slaves. I sure don't.
    In fact I never want to drink or eat anything from Starbucks. I don't care if people think I'm being radical, because I'd rather be called radical and be on the side of Jesus, than be on the side of the world.
   Please think about this next time you're considering buying a starbucks, or complaining about it's lack of Christmas decor.
     Sincerely, Rachel