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Dozens of children had their Christmas ruined by an evangelical preacher who turned up to tell them that Santa did not exist as they waited in a queue to see him.

Angry parents confronted Last Frontier Evangelism preacher Dave Grisham after he sidled up to the line of excited children waiting to visit Father Christmas at Amarillo Texas Mall, and launched into his rant.

"The Christmas season is about Jesus. Jesus was born 2016 years ago in a manger in a small town called Bethlehem, and that's the truth about Christmas," he shouted.

"The man you're going to see today, is just a man in a suit - dressed up like Santa. But Santa does not exist. Santa's not real."

(Image: Facebook)

As the confused-looking children turn around, their parents plead with Grisham to stop his monolgue.

But he carried on undeterred, addressing the parents by saying: "Parents, you all need to stop lying to your children and telling them that Santa Claus is real when in fact he's not.

"Don't lie to your children and tell them there's such a thing as Santa when you know in reality there are no flying reindeer, there is no workshop at the North Pole, there is no elves making toys, that you buy all the gifts and put them under the tree."

As the parents got increasingly irate and told Grisham "enough", one dad left the queue and went over to the preacher to tell him to "chill out" and to "stop".

Confronting Grisham he said: "Stop. I have my kids over there and we don't need you coming over here and blabbing whatever the hell you are blabbing. Go. Now."

He was then joined by other dads, who try to get Grisham to stop as he continued shouting that Santa is not real.

(Image: Facebook)

The video, uploaded by Grisham himself, has gone viral on Facebook and has since been viewed more than two million times.

Commenting on his post, Allyson Picard wrote: "This David 'preacher' is sick. Why would you even think for a second that this is okay?

"That's not your place to tell other children that aren't yours that Santa isn't real.

"How about the fact that you're video taping children and posting it on social media for everyone to see without their parents permission? Stick to your church buddy no one wants to hear that."

And Dana Cicirelli wrote: "Guess what? In my family, not only did we believe in Santa, but we also rejoiced and celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ.

"It is not your place to decide how parents raise their children. This was extremely distasteful and mean spirited."