The Untold Story of
Christmas
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"Life without Christmas? That would be like
Christmas has become the standard for traditional
holidays in society today. It’s taken for granted that families will gather
during the week of December 25th to share in the merriment. It’s a
time when billions of dollars in gifts are exchanged and when most do their
utmost to revel in a "merry" spirit unique to this celebration.
But wait. Beneath all the holiday hype, all the
dancing sugar plums and cheer, have you ever sensed that something isn’t quite
right? Many have expressed it. Many more have felt it. Newspapers tell of
increased crime in the frantic pre-Christmas spending spree that keeps most
retailers afloat for another year, and the mental depression afterward.
If Christmas is a celebration of the birth of the
Savior at
Yet we don’t. Why? Why isn’t the celebration of
Christmas year after year helping to make our world better? Is it simply that
people fail to catch and hold the "spirit of Christmas"? Or could
there be something more, something inherently flawed with this observance?
Looking for a Biblical Christmas
Christmas,
after all, is supposed to be rooted in the Bible. It was at one time assumed to
be in honor of the birth of the Savior of men in a manger at
Do you yourself know what Christmas is all about? Are
you mildly amused each year with newspaper and magazine articles detailing the
strange, irreverent customs of Christmas? On the other hand, maybe you have
found these facts somewhat troubling. Isn’t it time you honestly investigated
the matter?
If Christmas is that significant –the biggest holiday
of the year taking a good deal of your time and money—shouldn’t you at least
know what it is all about? This is especially critical considering the
religious overtones of Christmas. The great Creator in heaven may just have
some definite feelings about the observance of this hybrid holiday that you
need to be aware of!
Isn’t it odd that we carry on much in life without
giving a second thought to what we do? Our routine traditions are simply
accepted. We eat bacon and eggs for breakfast, we answer the telephone with
"hello," we shake hands when we are introduced, we buy turkey for
Thanksgiving, and we celebrate Christmas on December 25th. Oddly
enough, we never ask why.
Time to Pop the Question
Okay,
so let’s ask: Why observe Christmas, because it’s in the Bible? Try as you
might, you will not find Christmas anywhere in the Scriptures. There is neither
a call to observe it nor an example where someone in the Bible observed it.
Shocking? Millions are ignorant of this simple fact!
As one authority puts it, "There is no historical
evidence that our [Savior’s] birthday was celebrated during the apostolic or
early postapostolistic times, The New
Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, "Christmas,"
p.47.
Another writer makes this astounding statement:
"The day was not one of the early feasts of the Christian church. In fact
the observance of birthdays was condemned as a heathen custom repugnant to
Christians," The American Book of
Days, by George W. Douglas, p. 658.
How can this be? Does he mean that the single most
important religious holiday observed today in Christianity would have been
FORBIDDEN in early New Testament times? That is exactly what he and many other
historians and scholars are saying.
Now read this candid admission from The New Catholic Encyclopedia, "Inexplicable though it seems, the date of the [Messiah’s] birth is not
known. The Gospels indicate neither the day nor the month," vol. 3, p.
656.
And the Cyclopedia
of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical literature corroborates,
"The fathers of the first three centuries do not speak of any special
observances of the nativity. No corresponding festival was presented by the Old
Testament … the day and the month of the birth of [the Messiah] are nowhere
stated in the Gospel history, and cannot be certainly determined,"
"Christmas," p.276.
"But what about the manger scene?" you ask.
Yes, that is described in the Bible, but was never established as a precedent
for continuing the observance of the birthday of the Savior Yahshua* the
Messiah.
If Christmas is as popular and pervasive as retail
sales indicate, why isn’t it mentioned anywhere in the Bible? Why doesn’t the
Bible even tell us which month, let
alone which day to keep it?
Manger Myths about Christmas
Let’s
look at some popular misconceptions about the manger scene or nativity. Matthew
2 opens with wise men or magi (oriental scientists or astronomers, see Dan.
2:2) seeing a star and inquiring of the Savior. There is no indication of just
how many wise men there were, only that they gave three kinds of gifts. No
doubt there was an entourage of servants and camels with them.
By the time they got to the Messiah, from the east, He
was in a house. They presented their gifts and left, avoiding an inquiring King
Herod. Herod’s plot to find the young Yahshua and kill Him was foiled.
Thereafter he decreed that all male children in and around
*The Savior of the Bible was a Hebrew. His actual
name, Yahshua reflects His mission to earth as the salvation of His Father
Yahweh. His name Yahshua means "Yahweh is salvation." His name was
changed by translators who were poor scholars of the Hebrew. There was no “J”
in the Hebrew of Greek languages. Write for our revealing study, How the Savior’s Name Was Changed.
Shepherds came to the manger, but the wise men visited
a house up to two years later—long after the manger had reverted to livestock
use. Here’s the account, right from Matthew 2:11: "And when they were to come into the house, they saw the young
child with Mary [Miriam] his mother, and fell down and worshiped Him: and
when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts: gold, and
frankincense, and myrrh."
Scripture never says the shepherds worshiped the babe
in the manger, incidentally. Luke
Usually during Christmas plays someone will read the
account in Luke 2:8: "And there were
in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their
flock by night." Is this Scripture describing a cold, wintry December
scene?
According to Jeremiah 36:22, December is wintry in the
Notice: "It was a custom among Jews to send out
their sheep to the deserts about the Passover [early spring], and bring them
home at the commencement of the first rain" (Clarke’s Commentary by Adam Clarke, vol.3, p.370). Clarke says the
first rain commences in October or November. He adds, "As these shepherds
had not yet brought home their flocks, it is a presumptive argument that
October had not yet commenced, and that, consequently, our Savior was not born
on the 25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields …the
flocks were still in the fields BY NIGHT. On this very ground the nativity in
December should be given up." Night in December is not a time for flocks
to be in the field.
Another indication that the Savior was born in the
fall rather than in the winter is the fact that Caesar Augustus had declared a
census be made of the empire, and each citizen had to report to his hometown to
register, Luke 2:1-5. That is probably why the inn was full with travelers.
Now, the Romans were very conscious not to upset their
subjects. Ordering the people of the empire to travel great distances in the
middle of winter would have surely incited a revolt, at least among the Jews in
The Son and the Sun—A Deliberate Mix
If
Christmas is not in the Bible, where did it ultimately come from? The answers
to that question are found in nearly every encyclopedia any many newspapers, or
magazines appearing around December 25th. What they have to say
about the roots of Christmas should shock every honest Bible believer into
taking a hard, critical look at the annual observance.
"Christmas" is a contraction for
"Christ’s Mass," a Roman Catholic observance. It was designed to
compete with a heathen Roman feast of Saturnalia in honor of the sun deity
Mithras. Mithras bore a remarkable similarity to the Biblical Messiah and the
Mithras feast, like Christmas, was to commemorate his birth.
Notice the astounding parallels, as detailed by
Joscelyn Godwin, professor at
Godwin remarks, "No wonder the early Christians
were disturbed by a deity who bore so close a resemblance to their own, and no
wonder they considered him a mockery of [the Messiah] invented by Satan."
These two popular movements were vying for the
dominance in the
Caught in the middle were the Roman emperors, who wanted
to unify and solidify their diverse empire. They didn’t need divisive religious
factions. Their motivation was political and not particularly religious.
Therefore the Roman rulership saw great advantage in synchronizing and
harmonizing these similar religious beliefs into one.
The Romans knew that religion was a powerful means for
assimilating other peoples and cultures. If you respect a man’s deities, you
are halfway toward winning his friendship. They had been doing it for years.
The Romans had Latinized the Greek Olympus, giving Latin names to Zeus
(Jupiter), Hermes (Mercury), Poseidon (
Although this syncretism or combining of diverse
beliefs into one was never more than a political benefit for the Romans, it had
a profound effect on Christianity. Even today, much of what is accepted as
Bible-based is the direct result of compromising and mixing with heathen
religion.
Roman Emperor Constantine, a former pagan himself, was
to give the most significant push to the Christian-pagan blending of teachings.
Among other things, he would decree that worship for Christianity switch from
the seventh day Sabbath to the first day of the week—Sun-day—the day the pagans
worshiped the sun.
"This tendency on the part of the Christians to
meet Paganism halfway was very early developed," says Alexander Hislop in
The Two Babylon's, p. 93. Interestingly, Hislop notes that at the same time the
pagans gave up precious little of their own beliefs and practices. "And we
find Tertullian, even in his day, about the year 230, bitterly lamenting the
inconsistency of the disciples of [Messiah] in this respect, and contrasting it
with the strict fidelity of the Pagans to their own superstition."
Hislop then quotes Tertullian, the most ancient of the
Latin church fathers whose works are extant, as he decries the early church
observances: "By us who are strangers to Sabbaths and new moons, and
festivals, once acceptable to [Yahweh], the Saturnalia, the feasts of January,
the Brumalia, and Matronlia are now frequented; gifts are carried to and fro,
new year’s day presents are made with din, and sports and banquets are
celebrated with uproar."
Why a Death Celebration in Honor of a
Birth?
A “mass”
is a celebration of the Eucharist, or the emblems of the death of the Savior.
Yet, "Christ-mass" is an observance supposedly in honor of His birth.
Why? The answer is found with the secular ancients.
Mithras was known as the Sun Deity. His birthday, Natalis solis invicti, means
"birthday of the invincible sun." It came on December 25th,
at the time of the winter solstice when the sun began its journey northward
again.
Pagan people were overly concerned with life and
fertility. They saw life fading in the darkness of winter and held festivals in
honor of, and to beckon back, the sun to give life and light to earth once
more. Christmas was not observed for at
least three centuries after the Savior’s birth!
The Dictionary
of the Middle Ages explains how a
mass came to be celebrated for the supposed birthday of the Savior: "In
patristic thought [the Messiah] had traditionally been associated with light or
the sun, and the cult of the Sol
invictus, sanctioned as it was by the Roman emperors since the late third
century, presented a distinct threat to Christianity. Hence, to compete with
this celebration the Roman church instituted a feast for the nativity of [the
Messiah], who was called the Sol
iustitiae …. Usually when Christians celebrated the natalis of a saint or martyr, it was his death or heavenly
nativity, but in this case natalis was assigned to be [the Messiah’s] earthly birth, in direct competition with
the pagan natalis," pp.317-318.
(That is, to compete with the birthday of Mithras.)
So confused were some about what or whom they were
worshiping that Pope Leo I (440-461) chastised Christians who, on Christmas,
celebrated the birth of sun deity!
The sun cult was particularly strong at
Where did Mithraism come from, this Roman religion
that venerated the sun deity and influenced Christianity so greatly? Kenneth
Scott Latourette in A History of
Christianity traces Mithraism to the mystery religion of
"Almost all the mystery cults eventually made
their way to
Nimrod: The Granddaddy of Them All
As
we have seen, Christmas as the observance of the Savior’s birth did not come
into existence immediately. It was not observed for at least three centuries
after the Savior’s birth! That’s a period longer than the entire existence of
the
But Christmas as a pagan holiday traces back thousands
of years before to a man named Nimrod, founder of ancient pagan
Ancient "forefather" to Mithras, Nimrod
began a counterfeit religion in the Book of Genesis that was to compete with
the True Faith of the Bible in every conceivable way through the centuries. The
Bible refers to it as the religion of Mystery Babylon. It is the ultimate false
religion that will be destroyed when the Savior Yahshua comes to set up His
throne on earth, Revelation 18.
From Babylon sprang up all false worship, including
the Mystery Cults, Mithraism, the Greek and Roman mythologies, modern Eastern
religions and today’s New Age Movement.
The Madonna and child theme, which is universal and
evident in hundreds of religions down through the centuries, had its origin in
Her son was Tammuz, also called Bacchus, Adonis, and
Osiris. Supposedly, he was the reincarnated Nimrod. He came back to life when
the dead Yule log was cast into the fire and the Christmas tree appeared as the
slain king-deity reborn at the winter solstice (The Two Babylon's, p. 98). More on the Christmas tree later.
The similarity with Biblical elements found among
pagan religions is not simply coincidence. It is evidence of the designs of the
Adversary to sidetrack seekers of truth into believing they are worshiping
according to Scripture. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in the
Babylonian’s reverence for Tammuz, a false messiah:
"This son, thus worshiped in his mother’s arms,
was looked upon as invested with all the attributes, and called by almost all
the names of the promised Messiah … Under the name of Mithras, he was worshiped
as the ‘Mediator.’ As Mediator and head of the covenant of grace, he was styled
Baal-berith, Lord of the Covenant," The
Two Babylon's, p. 70.
Saturnalia: Forerunner of Modern Christmas
Tammuz,
the sun deity, was the first counterfeit savior. The Bible condemns ancient
"Then
he brought me to a door of the gate of Yahweh’s house which was toward the
north; and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. Then said he unto me,
Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see
greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of
Yahweh’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of Yahweh, between the
porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward
the temple of Yahweh, and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped then
sun toward the east. Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man?
Is it a light thing to the house of
Ezekiel
8:14-18
Elements of this worship are still found in today’s
Christmas rites. (see "Yuletide Customs," p.14). The Romans worshiped
Tammuz as the sun deity Mithras in a special observance called the Saturnalia.
The Saturnalia was named for Saturn, otherwise known as Cronus. Cronus is an
alias of Tammuz. His wife and mother was Rhea (Semiramis). The Saturnalia,
therefore, was just another observance for Tammuz, the counterfeit redeemer.
The Roman kept the Saturnalia in December, at the time
of the winter solstice in honor of the returning sun. The festival lasted seven
days. "All classes exchanged gifts, the commonest being waxed tapers and
clay dolls," says the Encyclopaedia
Britannica, Eleventh Edition. "These dolls were especially given to
children. Varro thought these dolls represented original sacrifices of human
beings to the infernal god," vol. 24, p. 231.
During the Saturnalia the social structure was turned
upside down. Frequently the master would serve the slave, who could shout at
his master and carry on as lustily as he pleased. Social permissiveness
reigned.
A King of the Saturnalia was chosen by lot. He
"ruled" according to his wildest whim, bringing unrestrained laughter
to his subjects. His counterpart was Lord of the Misrule in medieval
Anciently the King of Saturnalia was sacrificed in a
primitive fertility rite at the turn of the year, ensuring that the soil would
continue to be productive (Celebrations,
by Robert J Myers).
Legend has it that the Saturnalia was instituted by
This fact is supported by the New International Dictionary of the Christian Church, p. 223:
"December 25 was the date of the Roman pagan festival inaugurated in 274
as the birthday of the unconquered sun which at the winter solstice begins
again to show an increase in light. Sometime before 336 the Church in
Hislop observes, "That Christmas was originally a
Pagan festival, is beyond all doubt. The time of the year, and the ceremonies
with which it is still celebrated, prove its origin," The Two
This blending of observances only served to confuse
worshipers. By the middle of the fifth century, Pope Leo the Great rebuked his
over-cautious flock for paying reverence to the Sun on the steps of St. Peter’s
before turning their back on it to worship inside the west-ward-facing
basilica. Even some bishops, like
Christmas-Saturnalia Travel North, West
As
the
The decorated tree, St. Nick, Yule log, wreaths,
cookies, berries, mistletoe, bonfires, roast goose, roast pig, wassailing,
caroling, and other familiar fixtures, were added or embellished for the
Christmas-Saturnalia in various countries.
When the Protestant movement attempted to rid itself
of the excesses and sins of Roman Catholicism, there also came an opposition to
Christmas that almost obliterated it entirely in
For a period of 12 years the staunch Puritans kept the
shackles on Christmas, making it an ordinary day of business and even a day of
fasting. Yet "with the Restoration in 1660 the citizens reclaimed
Christmas, but it was a different festival from what it had been. The religious
aspects were often neglected, with the result that the secularization of the
holiday was well under way, "ibid.
In
It was to take many years for the regard for Christmas
to grow to what it is today in
Most of today’s popular Christmas customs are rooted
in ancient rites of pagan peoples who worshiped the sun, green trees, and life.
The Yule log and tree trace back to Babylonian beliefs that the dead deity
Nimrod, depicted by the tree stump, came back to life in the form
of a palm tree through the power of the serpent Aesculapius. In
When I was a boy I wondered what Christmas was. I knew
there was such a time, because we had an Episcopal church in our town, and I
saw them dressing it with evergreen, and wondered what they were taking the
woods in church for; but I got no satisfactory explanation. A little later I
understood it was a Romish institution, kept up by the Romish church."
Eventually the major Protestant denominations accepted
Christmas, "although they reacted violently against the corruption of the
Christkindl, the Christ Child, into ‘Kris Kringle,’" Celebrations, pp. 315-316.
Yuletide Customs Reign Dear
As
we have been able to see so far, the roots of and motivations behind Christmas
are quite different from what is usually implied by this so-called Mass of
Christ, and very unlike what its celebrators assume.
Can anyone who sincerely seeks to worship in purity
and truth continue practicing a legacy from rank Mystery worship? Can you feel
totally comfortable and conscience-free knowing that by observing Christmas you
are perpetuating anti-Messianic paganism?
"But Christmas brings so many memories,"
some may argue. "What’s so wrong with giving the children happiness and
joy at this time of the year?" From a purely human standpoint, probably
nothing. If Christmas existed apart from a Creator in heaven who has very clear
expectations for worship, then no harm would be done to celebrate it.
Christmas, however, is a religious holiday as well as
a secular observance. It is rife with many pagan rites that Almighty Yahweh
outright and forcefully condemns. Because of that fact alone we must heed when
He thunders, "Learn not the way of
the heathen!" Jeremiah 10:2.
Simply because Christmas is a worldly holiday, too, is
no excuse to mentally disassociate oneself from its pagan religious aspects in
order to keep the secular ones. Nor is it acceptable to the Creator in heaven
to take only what seems to be properly religious about Christmas and downplay
the pagan attributes. Those seeking True Worship simply cannot mix the holy
with the profane. Paul writes, "Wherefore
come out from among them, and be separate, says Yahweh, and touch not the
unclean thing; and I will receive you," 2 Corinthians
Let’s examine the popular trappings and customs of
Christmas more closely to see just exactly what they mean.
The Christmas Tree
Perhaps
it is because trees resemble human beings in shape, or maybe it is because
trees give food, shelter, and heat for survival that man has from ancient held
them in such high regard. Trees are so versatile and have been so vital to
human existence that nearly all ancient cultures have some form of tree
worship.
Greek philosophers Aristotle and Plutarch thought that
trees could reason! Others have thought that trees speak as they creak in the
wind or cry out when they are cut down. It isn’t hard to understand why
ignorant pagans would worship trees.
In Old Testament times an indispensable part of Baal
worship involved the asherah, a sacred tree stem or pole (from which we get the
May pole and totem pole). The asherah was a carryover of even more ancient tree
worship.
These asherah were found in high places among the
Canaanites, or in what the King James Version calls "groves."
Typically these sites included an altar and a stone pillar (a survivor of even
older stone-worship).
According to the Dictionary
of the Bible; James Hastings, the asherah "was a tree or stump or a
tree, planted in the earth, Deuteronomy 16:21; it could be artificially made,
Isaiah 17:8, 1 Kings 14:15, 16:33; it was made of wood, Judges 6:26; it could
receive an image-like form, 1 Kings 15:13; it could be ‘cut down,’ Exodus
34:13, ‘plucked up,’ Micah 5:14, ‘burnt,’ Deuteronomy 12:3, or ‘broken in
pieces,’ 2 Chronicles 34:4," p. 165.
"At first [asherah] may have been living trees
(Deut.
Rather than condemn and destroy this Canaanite Baal
worship that they found in Promised Land, the Israelites, as was their custom,
chose instead to indulge in it. It didn’t matter whether Yahweh hated it or not
–
Notice 2 Kings 17:9-11: "And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were
not right against Yahweh their Elohim, and they built them high places in all
their cities … And they set them up images and groves [asherah] in every high
hill, and under every green tree … and they wrought wicked things to provoke
Yahweh to anger."
The "green tree" is mentioned 13 times in
Scripture and in every instance it is linked with idolatry! Can we find much
difference between the idolizing of trees with anciently and what is done at
Christmas in millions of homes today? Contests are held for the best decorated
tree while today’s "Canaanites" spend hours adoring its tinsel and
lights and placing gift offerings beneath it. Sadly, most are ignorant of what
they are doing and of the abominable custom they are keeping alive. A custom
their Creator calls vain.
Notice what the prophet Jeremiah wrote in connection
with tree-idol worship: "Thus says
Yahweh, learn not the way of the heathen … for the customs of the people are
vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the
workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and gold; they fasten it with
nail and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but
speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go … " 10:2-5.
It is a historical fact that trees were decorated and
adored by ancient people in honor of pagan deities. Their tree trunks were not
necessarily carved into images, as this source reveals:
"We cannot find enough instances of the use of
trees, even decorated ones such as a pine tree on which images of the god Attis
were hung amid rows of ribbons at a spring festival, to convince us of the
ultimately pagan origins of our custom," Celebrations, p. 331.
Although based in mystery worship, the modern
Christmas tree as we know it traces to
How the evergreen tree was popularized for Christmas
in
"He was trying to stamp out the pagan rite of
sacrificing people to the oak tree. He led his followers into a forest at Yule
time. Showing them a fir tree, he said it pointed straight upward to the
[Messiah]. ‘Take this tree into your homes,’ he said, ‘as a sign of your new
worship [Christianity]. Celebrate [Yahweh’s] power no more in the forest with
shameful rites, but in the sanctity of your homes with laughter and
love,’" Compton’s Encyclopedia and
Fact Finder, vol. 5, p. 326.
Whether this legend is accurate, it does provide an
excellent example of how pagan rites were synchronized into Christian worship.
Rather than abolishing what was heathen-based, the practice became to modify it
–to make it fit somehow into Biblical worship.
Recall that the ancients were very concerned about the
dead vegetation in December and the waning of the sun. Fir trees were always
green, symbolic of life, and to the ancients represented immortality in a dead
world. They were often set on fire to portray and beckon back the sun, hence
the modern practice of stringing trees with Christmas lights and round bulbs
and balls.
Ultimately, the Christmas evergreen springs from that
old Babylonian, Nimrod. It represents the resurrected and reincarnated
man-deity. "Now the Yule Log is the dead stock of Nimrod, deified as the
sun-god, but cut down by his enemies; the Christmas tree is Nimrod redivivus
–the slain god came back to life again," The Two Babylon's, p. 98. He was reborn as his son Tammuz. Hence,
Semiramis was both his wife and mother.
Yule (from huel meaning
wheel) was a Germanic and Celtic sunfeasts in the period December-January which
became absorbed into Christmas. It commemorated the turn of the sun and the
lengthening of the day. It was a pagan festival in
The Christmas tree wasn’t found in
Santa Claus
The
jolly old gent is actually three traditions in one. The original is St.
Nicholas, a Catholic bishop in Myra of Asia Minor during the first half of the
fourth century.
A supposedly generous individual, he became the patron
saint of a number of countries and cities, as well as merchants, bakers,
mariners, and children. To this last he developed into a giver of gifts on the
eve of his feast day, December 6, among the Dutch and Flemish. The Dutch called
it the Feast of Sinterklaas (a form of Sint Nikolaas), hence the anglicized
corruption, "Santa Claus."
During the Protestant Reformation, the St. Nicholas
image was nearly banished permanently to the North Pole. Taking his place was a
more secular figure known as Christmas Man, Father Christmas, or Pope Noel. The
Dutch clung tenaciously to St. Nick, however, and although his religious
attributes died, the profane ones brought by the new Santa live on in the
confused minds of youngsters everywhere.
Children are taught that Santa Claus brings them
blessings for being good, and he’ll check his list twice for those who are
naughty or nice. These little ones must wonder who this observance is for,
anyway—a babe born in a manger or a fat old elf named Santa! Who should I be
good for, for goodness sake?
When the Pennsylvania Dutch came to
When we tell our children lies about the existence of
fantasies like Santa Claus, we introduce them at an early, impressionable age
to the sin of deception. That is inexcusable. Not only do we mislead them in to
believing myths, but by doing so we also shut out the true Giver of blessings,
Almighty Yahweh. Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train
up a child into the way he should go," not in the way of traditions
that replace the truth. Santa is an insidious counterfeit (Rev. 1:13-16; Dan.
7:9).
Gift Giving
Today’s
biggest Christmas rite is the giving of gifts. Why do people give presents to
one another at Christmas? Shouldn’t gifts go to the Savior Yahshua if this is
supposed to be His birthday?
True to form, the practice of gift giving also rests
with the ancient heathen. The Romans gave gifts to one another at the
Saturnalia merrymaking (Encyclopedia
Britannica). They also exchanged gifts at the Roman New Year.
The argument goes that we give gifts at Christmas because
the wise men gave gifts to the babe in the manger. As was shown, the wise men
never came to the manger, but to the house to see the child who could have been
two years of age (Matt.
Had the wise men been setting a precedent for modern
Christmas gift giving, they would have been given their gifts of gold,
frankincense and myrrh to one another!
The only place in the Bible where we find the masses
exchanging gifts is in celebration of the deaths of Yahweh’s two witnesses at
the end of the age, Revelation 11:10. Those who rejoiced over their deaths by
exchanging gifts soon afterward faced the wrath of the Heavenly Father. How
could the Heavenly Father expect His people to observe a holiday steeped in
heathen rites?
While American colonists were not accustomed to the
gift giving obsession, since the 1920’s Christmas has become a commercial
bonanza. If Christmas is an annual greed fest, merchants must bear a large
portion of the blame. They keep it hyped up year after year through their ever
more premature promotions.
Their day is coming, however. We find that the
destruction of
Virtually every Christmas custom is connected with
some man-made rite or tradition that has little or nothing to do with the Bible
or True Worship.
·
Mistletoe is a
Druidic survival that was thought to cure everything from epilepsy to
infertility, the wax berries of this parasite thought to be a sex stimulant.
·
Holly’s green
leaves and red berries were respected in medieval times as protection against
witchcraft and the evil eye; a good luck charm for men.
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Wreaths with their
round shape symbolize the returning sun at the winter solstice; made of laurel,
they depict the sun’s comeback victory over darkness and death (Nimrod
reincarnates to Tammuz).
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Christmas candles
trace to the burning Yule log and the reincarnation of Nimrod.
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Ham is eaten
because Tammuz (Adonis) was thought to have been killed by a boar. In his
memory, pagans sacrificed and ate swine at the Saturnalia.
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Christmas cookies
trace back to the cakes that were made to the Queen of Heaven or Semiramis
(Jer. 44:19). Round ones were made for the Saturnalia and Brumalia to symbolize
the returning sun.
True Biblical Holy Days Are Commanded
Once
we are enlightened to the truth of Christmas, we find the holiday not only
artificial, but also abominable. Even a Roman Catholic priest and editor of the
U.S. Catholic magazine, Peter J Riga, recently wrote that it is time to
"come out of the
One ironic fact is inescapable: If Christmas were
commanded in the Bible, there would be precious few observing it—as opposed to
the vast hordes we see indulging in this heathen rite today. Messiah Yahshua
said the way is broad that leads to destruction and many are on it, Matthew
7:13. Contrarily, few will find the narrow pathway to everlasting life, verse
14. It seems that whatever Almighty Yahweh says to observe, man ignores.
Whatever He commands against, man indulges in.
How could the Heavenly Father expect His people to
observe Christmas, steeped in heathen ritual? He kept the month as well as the
day of the Savior’s birth hidden. The answer is quite apparent and clear—He
never wanted it to be observed! If He did, there would be no question as to the
proper time. And He would have specifically commanded it, as He does His true
holy days.
He does expect His True Worshipers to keep the Bible’s
holy days, however. We know because not only are they commanded, but He also
carefully lists these annual holy times in no fewer than five main books:
Exodus 12,23, 34; Leviticus 23; Numbers 28, and Deuteronomy 16. Ezekiel 45-46
shows they will be kept in the Kingdom.
These seven annual observances are not only named, but
we also find precisely detailed how to calculate when they occur and exactly
what is permitted to be done on them. Nowhere in the Bible can you find any
other "holidays" to be observed. Not Christmas, not Easter, not New
Year’s, not Halloween or any of the other major, man-made holidays! They simply
are nowhere commanded in Scripture.
The Apostles and the Savior Himself observed these
seven commanded holy days in the NEW Testament. In no place can you find any
mention that they observed a single one of today’s popular holidays—not one!
Almighty Yahweh says, "Concerning the feasts of Yahweh, which you shall proclaim to be
holy convocations, even these are MY FEASTS," Leviticus 23:2. Did you
catch that? He says these are HIS Feasts, not Jewish Feasts, not ancient,
outdated, done-away-at-the-cross Feasts! His observances are described as
commanded "FOREVER" in Leviticus 23:14, 21, 31, and 41.
His Feasts were specifically given, commanded, kept,
and passed on throughout both Old and New testaments. Shouldn’t that be ample
reason for us to keep them? And His holy days carry promises of blessings for
eternity for those who keep them! Time to Make a Choice
If you still think you can have it both ways, read 2
Corinthians 6:14, 17: "Be not
unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship has
righteousness? Wherefore come out from among them and be separate, says Yahweh,
and touch not the unclean thing: and I will receive you."
We can fool ourselves by arguing that we are in a
paganistic society and therefore we can’t help becoming involved in its ways.
Yet the Savior Yahshua asked the Father in John 17:15, "I pray not that You should take them out of the world, but that
You should keep them from evil." It is possible to be in the world and
yet not be a part of it.
Some will argue that Christmas is mainly for the
enjoyment of children and is of no real harm. If there is no Creator in heaven,
they are probably right. But the Mighty One of the Bible is quite particular
about how we worship Him and He has no tolerance for heathen traditions or
man’s reasoning. He says, "There is
a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of
death," Proverbs
Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16 that everything we
need to know for everlasting life is in the Scriptures, and we need not to go
outside the Bible for anything—especially to indulge in rites of ancient
pagans.
"Learn
not the way of the heathen," Yahweh thunders in Jeremiah 10:2. As for doing what is right in our own sight,
He commands, "What thing soever I
command you, observe to do it: you shall not add thereto nor diminish from
it," Deuteronomy
Could Christmas be in fact a sinister diversion of the
Adversary intended to deflect our attention from the true holy days of the
Bible and get us all caught up in man-made ones that give him glory? Or can we
just brush it off as an innocuous time of good cheer, no harm done?
Paul wrote to the Corinthians, asking the same
question of them. They had a problem with wanting to go back to their old
familiar, Babylonian ways too, even after knowing the truth and accepting it.
Paul made it clear. You cannot mix unholy worship with holy worship.
"What
say I then? That the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice
to idols is any thing? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles
[unconverted] sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to Yahweh: and I
would not that you should have fellowship with devils. You cannot be partakers
of Yahweh’s table, and of the table of devils. Do we provoke Yahweh to
jealousy? Are we stronger than He?" 1 Corinthians 10:19-22.
A person who knows what is right but doesn’t follow it
commits sin, according to James 4:17. Only going halfway toward rooting out
error makes one lukewarm. Yahweh says a lukewarm person He will spew out of His
mouth, Revelation 3:16.
There is simply no alternative. We either worship
correctly and scripturally—all the way—or we don’t. Going halfway doesn’t cut
it. That would be better than none at all. A little leaven affect the whole,
eventually.
Just because we live in a society that ignores the
Bible doesn’t mean we ourselves will be excused. It is much more difficult to
swim against the current, for sure. But that is what true worship is all about.
In fact, thousand know better than to observe legacies
from pagan religions that the Bible condemns. Yet they are afraid of what
family, friends or children might say if they stop. You, too, may feel such
pressure.
Yet, now that you know what is right, you must make a decision. Just ask yourself this: Can family, friends, or children grant me everlasting life? If they can’t, then you should obey the One who can and inherit His many blessings for obedience.
© 2007 Yahweh’s Assembly in Yahshua
View us online at: www.YAIY.org
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Main Line: (573) 642-4100
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