Even as the apostle Paul was dangerously unpopular with those who made a living off of making idols (Acts 19: 23-41), dependent on pagan superstitions, the plain truth about the pagan practices of "Christmas" and "Christmas trees" isn't well received by those entangled in the Christmas tree industry! I sent Jeremiah 10 condemns Christmas trees! to many Christmas tree farms and received this hypocritical response from one woman:
We keep the Christ in Christmas. We hope that you can open your heart and embrace the true meaning of the season - Love - Peace - Joy to all of God's children.
The Bible IS the greatest book ever written - however - much was lost in translation. In your daily prayers, ask God to open your heart and mind to love - not criticize.
God's Blessings,
[name withheld since she didn't want to go public when I asked for permission]
As the article links within Jeremiah 10 condemns Christmas trees! proved beyond any shadow of a doubt: Christ was NEVER in Christmas!
Why I No Longer Celebrate Christmas
Christmas is About Giving -- Says Who?
C.H. Spurgeon on Christmas and Roman Catholicism
Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
The Plain Truth about Christmas
I've opened my heart and mind to hear what God's Word has to say about baptized paganism, popular pagan practices and whitewashed heathen customs, rather than just blindly follow idolatrous traditions. Those who are truly God's children love and obey Him:
1 Corinthians 10:19-21
19 What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? 20 Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons. [No mixing and matching of pagan error with biblical truth]
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? [No diluting, adulterating and polluting of God's truth with pagan blends]Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
"I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people."
17 Therefore
"Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord. [Don't stay stuck in the rut of tradition, but let the plain truth set you free!]
Do not touch what is unclean,
And [then] I will receive you.
18 [on these conditions] I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the LORD Almighty."
Those who are proud and stubborn and insist on tinsel traditions (like pagan Christmas) are not God's children! They're of their father Satan the devil, spiritual drunks and whores, since they prefer religious lies to the plain truth of the Bible. They're "Christians" in denial - refusing to see Christmas is adultery!
Nothing has been lost in "translation," a dishonest argument, especially concerning the clear cut commands against modifying pagan holidays to worship the true God:
Deuteronomy 12
30 and after they [the pagans] have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same." 31 You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates.
God isn't fooled by sanctimonious purrings about the "mass of Christ" or the new wrapping the old religious bull of Saturnalia is covered in today. Some are stuck in the muck of Babylon and don't even know it, but those who have received a God-given opportunity to know the truth and be set free and rejected it condemn themselves and curse our countries!
Don't criticize? Don't rock the boat? Don't slaughter your sacred cows? Don't disturb your darkness?
Is the Plain Truth Too Strong?
"Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression [the Church and Synagogue], And the house of Jacob [the family of Israelite nations - all Twelve Tribes of Israel] their sins. 2 Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God" (Isaiah 58).
God's blessings are upon those who love and obey Him - who receive the pardon and the power to go and sin no more, and submit to His Word - not to accursed Rome and its mass deception!
I trust many of the Christmas tree farms are beautiful (although abusing God's good creation for pagan purposes) and those who own them or work on them are sincere, even if sincerely wrong, but it's past time to move on, to repent of throwing fuel on the fires of pagan practices and heathen customs the Bible and history condemn, and receive God's blessing.
Showing posts with label christmas traditions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christmas traditions. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
"Christmas is about giving" - Says Who?
Who started that BIG LIE? Undoubtedly those with something to sell, the modern moneychangers! Look at the folks about you rushing like sheep to the slaughter, to the "sales" and such that they simply cannot afford. Going into debt certainly isn't biblical, so why not break free from the trance? The "Christmas" rush is a "drug" pushed by commercial pimps prostituting a supposedly Christian holiday for their ungodly profits! They hold hands around the cash register and sing, "What a friend we have in Jesus."
In all honesty, Christmas is about GETTING! The whole idea of giving gifts has gotten out of hand. First it's not Jesus' birthday. Second the wise men didn't exchange gifts with each other but gave their gifts fit for a King to the King of the Jews (two years old and living in a house at that time - which is why Herod slaughtered the children two years and under trying to abort the Messiah's ascension to David's Throne).
If Christmas is supposed to be about Christ (and some sincerely believe it is, still in denial that it's a pagan holiday God wants no part of), why let Santa steal the show? Why do folks pretend they care that Jesus was born when they deny His life the rest of the year? Why do folks get angry when you mention these facts and they're not even religious? The herd doesn't want their trance broken, so they'll go broke keeping alive pagan festivals and foolishness that will be the death of many. Too many prefer tradition over truth, grieved to say.
"Harmless" Christmas celebrations, abominations to God and rejected by Christ, are setting the stage for our worst nightmare: our family and friends are going to be shipped off like cattle, since our countries are prophesied to suffer national defeat and deportation due to such idolatrous ideas and tinsel traditions, as brought out in: Shape up or get shipped out!
WAKE UP: Christmas is an ABOMINATION. That's why I no longer celebrate Christmas, refusing to live a lie. The plain truth of the Bible and history has set me free from such traditional Babylonian bondage!
In all honesty, Christmas is about GETTING! The whole idea of giving gifts has gotten out of hand. First it's not Jesus' birthday. Second the wise men didn't exchange gifts with each other but gave their gifts fit for a King to the King of the Jews (two years old and living in a house at that time - which is why Herod slaughtered the children two years and under trying to abort the Messiah's ascension to David's Throne).
If Christmas is supposed to be about Christ (and some sincerely believe it is, still in denial that it's a pagan holiday God wants no part of), why let Santa steal the show? Why do folks pretend they care that Jesus was born when they deny His life the rest of the year? Why do folks get angry when you mention these facts and they're not even religious? The herd doesn't want their trance broken, so they'll go broke keeping alive pagan festivals and foolishness that will be the death of many. Too many prefer tradition over truth, grieved to say.
"Harmless" Christmas celebrations, abominations to God and rejected by Christ, are setting the stage for our worst nightmare: our family and friends are going to be shipped off like cattle, since our countries are prophesied to suffer national defeat and deportation due to such idolatrous ideas and tinsel traditions, as brought out in: Shape up or get shipped out!
WAKE UP: Christmas is an ABOMINATION. That's why I no longer celebrate Christmas, refusing to live a lie. The plain truth of the Bible and history has set me free from such traditional Babylonian bondage!
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Jeremiah 10 condemns Christmas trees!
Jeremiah 10
1 Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel.
2 Thus says the LORD:
“ Do not learn the way of the Gentiles;
Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven,
For the Gentiles are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the peoples are futile;
For one cuts a tree from the forest,
The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.
4 They decorate it with silver and gold;
They fasten it with nails and hammers
So that it will not topple.
5 They are upright, like a palm tree,
And they cannot speak;
They must be carried,
Because they cannot go by themselves.
Do not be afraid of them,
For they cannot do evil,
Nor can they do any good.”
6 Inasmuch as there is none like You, O LORD
(You are great, and Your name is great in might),
7 Who would not fear You, O King of the nations?
For this is Your rightful due.
For among all the wise men of the nations,
And in all their kingdoms,
There is none like You.
8 But they are altogether dull-hearted and foolish;
A wooden idol is a worthless doctrine.
9 Silver is beaten into plates;
It is brought from Tarshish,
And gold from Uphaz,
The work of the craftsman
And of the hands of the metalsmith;
Blue and purple are their clothing;
They are all the work of skillful men.
10 But the LORD is the true God;
He is the living God and the everlasting King.
At His wrath the earth will tremble,
And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.
Jeremiah 10 condemns idolatry, both in the letter and in the spirit, whether a physical idol or an idolatrous tradition based upon HEATHEN CUSTOMS like the "Christmas tree" that history clearly exposes as pagan in origin. Those who adorn their Christmas trees and remain in denial about its pagan origin, who play deaf, dumb and blind to the facts, who attempt to dismiss or downplay how it's a heathen custom, are living a lie and shamefully reject the clear commandments of God that speak against such spiritual adultery, mixing and matching pagan error with biblical truth, and will suffer the consequences for being so dishonest and deceitful.
Pagan holidays like Christmas and pagan customs like Christmas trees are both abominations to God. True Christians shun both, we avoid them like the plague, because we love God more than idolatrous traditions of apostate men!
Why I No Longer Celebrate Christmas
Christmas is About Giving -- Says Who?
C.H. Spurgeon on Christmas and Roman Catholicism
Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
The Plain Truth about Christmas
1 Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel.
2 Thus says the LORD:
“ Do not learn the way of the Gentiles;
Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven,
For the Gentiles are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the peoples are futile;
For one cuts a tree from the forest,
The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.
4 They decorate it with silver and gold;
They fasten it with nails and hammers
So that it will not topple.
5 They are upright, like a palm tree,
And they cannot speak;
They must be carried,
Because they cannot go by themselves.
Do not be afraid of them,
For they cannot do evil,
Nor can they do any good.”
6 Inasmuch as there is none like You, O LORD
(You are great, and Your name is great in might),
7 Who would not fear You, O King of the nations?
For this is Your rightful due.
For among all the wise men of the nations,
And in all their kingdoms,
There is none like You.
8 But they are altogether dull-hearted and foolish;
A wooden idol is a worthless doctrine.
9 Silver is beaten into plates;
It is brought from Tarshish,
And gold from Uphaz,
The work of the craftsman
And of the hands of the metalsmith;
Blue and purple are their clothing;
They are all the work of skillful men.
10 But the LORD is the true God;
He is the living God and the everlasting King.
At His wrath the earth will tremble,
And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.
Jeremiah 10 condemns idolatry, both in the letter and in the spirit, whether a physical idol or an idolatrous tradition based upon HEATHEN CUSTOMS like the "Christmas tree" that history clearly exposes as pagan in origin. Those who adorn their Christmas trees and remain in denial about its pagan origin, who play deaf, dumb and blind to the facts, who attempt to dismiss or downplay how it's a heathen custom, are living a lie and shamefully reject the clear commandments of God that speak against such spiritual adultery, mixing and matching pagan error with biblical truth, and will suffer the consequences for being so dishonest and deceitful.
Pagan holidays like Christmas and pagan customs like Christmas trees are both abominations to God. True Christians shun both, we avoid them like the plague, because we love God more than idolatrous traditions of apostate men!
Why I No Longer Celebrate Christmas
Christmas is About Giving -- Says Who?
C.H. Spurgeon on Christmas and Roman Catholicism
Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
The Plain Truth about Christmas
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Will God Curse Our Countries For Christmas?
Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
"You don't celebrate Christmas?" Well, not any more.
"You don't celebrate Christmas?" Well, not any more.
1 Peter 4:3-5
For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 4 In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. 5 They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
I realize that those who are still drunk on the wine of the Babylonian Mystery religion (incorporated into the Roman Catholic Cult as brought out in The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop) don't appreciate or comprehend those who are now SOBER and happy to be free from idolatrous traditions for the plain truth of the Bible and history.
The Sabbath-keeping Church of God rejoices in the knowledge and glorious plan of salvation for all mankind that the biblical festivals, the holy days that our Great Creator God has ordained portray - no longer falling for the hollow days of pagan Rome, pimped by Roman wolves in sheep's clothing, false father figures.
The Sabbath-keeping Church of God celebrate that soon everybody will join us in celebrating God's holy days, the "Jewish holidays" in spirit and in truth, and will trash their former tinsel traditions. We are pioneers of the Wonderful World Tomorrow!
Jeremiah 16:19
O LORD, my strength and my fortress, My refuge in the day of affliction, The Gentiles shall come to You From the ends of the earth and say, "Surely our fathers have inherited lies, Worthlessness and unprofitable things."
It is sad when folks continue to fall for all the RELIGIOUS BULL Rome has dumped on the world and pretend they're worshipping Christ who hates such PAGAN ABOMINATIONS. Why remain in denial?
God is truth and despises such religious lies as Christmas and Easter. They're PAGAN to the core and God's People avoid them like the plague, happy with the biblical festivals God has given us to celebrate.
Yeshua, the King of the Jews, the King of Israel, will return and reign supreme from Jerusalem and teach the Torah, slaughtering the papal bull by the sword of the truth.
Isaiah 2:2-3
2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the [Temple] mountain of the LORD’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it.
3 Many people shall come and say,
“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.
”For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem [not Rome].
Yeshua will establish the law of God as the law of the land, the law of all the Earth! That holy law reveals the seven biblical festivals of the LORD that Yeshua will faithfully teach and command all nations to observe or else - not just the Jewish people and British-Israelites.
Yes, too many people have inherited religious lies, and have passed down traditional error from generation to generation; worthless celebrations that God hates and rejects as unclean and polluted.
It bears repeating, since our proud and stubborn peoples have thick skulls that need the truth knocked into them, driving home this biblical message: Christmas and Easter are PAGAN -- those who say otherwise are liars, dishonest with themselves and others, worshipping God in vain (Titus 1:16, 1 John 2:4).
I believe many PROFESSING Christians are actually familiar with the Scriptures that condemn futile attempts to modify pagan holidays and tailor heathen customs to serve the true God (Deut. 12:30-32, Jer. 10:2-3), but they conveniently ignore them or reject them by woeful neglect when such Scriptures step on their traditional toes and make them uncomfortable, demanding change (isn't that what true conversion is all about?), requiring them to learn to love God's truth more than their TRADITIONS (Mark 7:7).
Abominable Christians, those who have the perverted religious preference of tradition over truth, are just like every other sinner unwilling to confess and forsake their sins and seek to whitewash or justify them.
The difference is such professing Christians often pretend to be better or more righteous than those physical idolaters and immoral folks (who also refuse to repent) while they engage in spiritual idolatry (putting tradition over truth) and spiritual immorality (whoring around with other gods and foreign ways) bringing divine judgment upon our nations.
May the servants of God, who know and believe the Bible and its principles and prophecies about blessings for national obedience and curses for national disobedience (Dan. 9:11), plea for diehard Catholics and Protestants to REPENT!
May we take the Word of God seriously and turn from the pagan holidays that God hates so much He let ancient Israel and Judah suffer destruction, defeat and deportation for such "harmless" celebrations and blind observations.
Will we insist on losing our national sovereignty too, brought to our knees to learn to see things God's way or will we repent and spare ourselves, our family and friends, from suffering the dreadful Time of Jacob's Trouble, the Great Tribulation?
1 Corinthians 10:19-21
19 What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? 20 Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons. [No mixing and matching of pagan error with biblical truth]
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? [No diluting, adulterating and polluting of God's truth with pagan blends]Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
"I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people."
17 Therefore
"Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord. [Don't stay stuck in the rut of tradition, but let the plain truth set you free!]
Do not touch what is unclean,
And [then] I will receive you.
18 [on these conditions] I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the LORD Almighty."
Friday, November 21, 2008
Christmas condemned!
C.H. Spurgeon on Christmas and Roman Catholicism
First, because we do not believe in the mass at all, but abhor it, whether it be sung in Latin or in English. Secondly, because we find no Scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Savior; and consequently, its observance is a superstition
Christmas is About Giving -- Says Who?
Going into debt certainly isn't biblical, so why not break free from the trance? The "Christmas" rush is a "drug" pushed by commercial pimps prostituting a supposedly Christian holiday for their ungodly profits! They hold hands around the cash register and sing, "What a friend we have in Jesus."
Why I No Longer Celebrate Christmas
I was blessed to grow up in Risingsun, Ohio next door to my Grandma and Grandpa Hoover on their farm that embraced where we lived, surrounding us with its loving arms on both sides (until the age of 11) and behind, with our woods over yonder a bit, that I loved to walk through as a boy, always looking for my "brother" hawk, circling overhead, to greet me...
Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
Abominable Christians, those who have the perverted religious preference of tradition over truth, are just like every other sinner unwilling to confess and forsake their sins and seek to whitewash or justify them. The difference is such professing Christians often pretend to be better or more righteous than those physical idolaters and immoral folks (who also refuse to repent) while they engage in spiritual idolatry (putting tradition over truth) and spiritual immorality (whoring around with other gods and foreign ways) bringing divine judgment upon our nations.
Plea to Diehard Catholics & Protestants to Repent
Having clearly seen how the practice of homosexuality is a sin (as I testify in God and the Gays), I can now see clearly how SPIRITUAL HOMOSEXUALS, the bloody Roman Catholic whore and her Protestant prostitute daughters (Rev. 17:5), prefer tradition over truth.
Do You Prefer TRADITION Over Truth?
If anybody is honestly interested in knowing whether or not this or that doctrine is actually biblical or merely traditional, all they have to do is objectively search the Scriptures like the noble Bereans did in Acts 17:11, after hearing Paul out, to see whether what he taught was true...
Is the Plain Truth Too Strong?
"Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression [the Church and Synagogue], And the house of Jacob [the family of Israelite nations - all Twelve Tribes of Israel] their sins. 2 Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God" (Isaiah 58)
First, because we do not believe in the mass at all, but abhor it, whether it be sung in Latin or in English. Secondly, because we find no Scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Savior; and consequently, its observance is a superstition
Christmas is About Giving -- Says Who?
Going into debt certainly isn't biblical, so why not break free from the trance? The "Christmas" rush is a "drug" pushed by commercial pimps prostituting a supposedly Christian holiday for their ungodly profits! They hold hands around the cash register and sing, "What a friend we have in Jesus."
Why I No Longer Celebrate Christmas
I was blessed to grow up in Risingsun, Ohio next door to my Grandma and Grandpa Hoover on their farm that embraced where we lived, surrounding us with its loving arms on both sides (until the age of 11) and behind, with our woods over yonder a bit, that I loved to walk through as a boy, always looking for my "brother" hawk, circling overhead, to greet me...
Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
Abominable Christians, those who have the perverted religious preference of tradition over truth, are just like every other sinner unwilling to confess and forsake their sins and seek to whitewash or justify them. The difference is such professing Christians often pretend to be better or more righteous than those physical idolaters and immoral folks (who also refuse to repent) while they engage in spiritual idolatry (putting tradition over truth) and spiritual immorality (whoring around with other gods and foreign ways) bringing divine judgment upon our nations.
Plea to Diehard Catholics & Protestants to Repent
Having clearly seen how the practice of homosexuality is a sin (as I testify in God and the Gays), I can now see clearly how SPIRITUAL HOMOSEXUALS, the bloody Roman Catholic whore and her Protestant prostitute daughters (Rev. 17:5), prefer tradition over truth.
Do You Prefer TRADITION Over Truth?
If anybody is honestly interested in knowing whether or not this or that doctrine is actually biblical or merely traditional, all they have to do is objectively search the Scriptures like the noble Bereans did in Acts 17:11, after hearing Paul out, to see whether what he taught was true...
Is the Plain Truth Too Strong?
"Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression [the Church and Synagogue], And the house of Jacob [the family of Israelite nations - all Twelve Tribes of Israel] their sins. 2 Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God" (Isaiah 58)
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Are you guilty of spiritual adultery?
Some professing Christians need to stop trying to be more righteous than God and the early Church of God (1 John 2:4; Titus 1:16). No matter what excuse they throw up for the PAGAN festival of Saturnalia/"mass of Christ", it remains a PAGAN festival in God's sight (and in the eyes of those who love God's Word more than idolatrous ideas and tinsel traditions).
30 take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you [for their wrong religious practices and behavior], and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.' 31 You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods...
Jude 1:3
I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints [in Jerusalem, not Rome].
Jeremiah 6:16
"Thus saith Yahweh, stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk there in, and ye shall find rest to your souls. But they said, we will not walk therein."
1 Corinthians 10:19-21
19 What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? 20 Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
“ I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.”
17 Therefore
"Come out from among them
And be separate, say the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you."
18 "I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the LORD Almighty."
God hates it when folks mix some biblical truth with pagan error. It's SPIRITUAL ADULTERY. They adulterate, they pollute, the truth by mixing it with condemned paganism. Spiritually, they're whoring around with false gods and flirting with foreign religions.
Why not keep it simple and love and obey God and do as He says, rather than pagan Rome's thing? Forsake Babylon or suffer the consequences.
Why not keep it simple and love and obey God and do as He says, rather than pagan Rome's thing? Forsake Babylon or suffer the consequences.
Deuteronomy 12
30 take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you [for their wrong religious practices and behavior], and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.' 31 You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods...
32 Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.
Jeremiah 10
2 Thus says the LORD: Do not learn the way of the Gentiles...
I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints [in Jerusalem, not Rome].
Jeremiah 6:16
"Thus saith Yahweh, stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk there in, and ye shall find rest to your souls. But they said, we will not walk therein."
1 Corinthians 10:19-21
19 What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? 20 Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
“ I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.”
17 Therefore
"Come out from among them
And be separate, say the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you."
18 "I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the LORD Almighty."
Friday, November 17, 2006
The Plain Truth About Christmas by Herbert W. Armstrong
THE PLAIN TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS
by Herbert W. Armstrong
1952, 1972, 1974 edition
Where did the world get Christmas? ... from the Bible, or paganism?
Here are the astonishing facts which may shock you! Test yourself.
How much do you know of the origin of the Christmas tree -- of "Santa Claus" -- of the mistletoe -- of the holly wreath -- of the custom of exchanging gifts?
WHEN I was a very little boy, I was taught to hang up my stockings on Christmas eve. When I awakened the next morning, they were filled with small toys and sacks or little boxes of candy and nuts.
And beside the mantle, from which my stockings hung, a Christmas tree had suddenly appeared, decorated with shiny tinsel. And on it hung presents. Other presents for us children were piled on the floor underneath.
I was told Santa Claus had come down the chimney during the night and left all these things.
But did I question what my parents had told me? Of course not. I accepted it -- took it all for granted. Didn't you?
Stop and think a moment! Very few have ever reflected on why they believe what they do -- why they follow the customs they do, or from where those customs came. We were born into a world filled with customs. We grew up accepting them without question.
Why? Sheep instinct? Well, not exactly.
But by nature we do tend to follow the crowd, whether right or wrong. Sheep follow others to the slaughter. Humans ought to check up where they are going.
How -- when did Christmas originate?
Does Christmas really celebrate the birthday of Christ? Was Jesus born on December 25th?
Did the original apostles, who knew Jesus personally and were taught by Him, celebrate His birthday on December 25th? Did they celebrate it at all?
If Christmas is the chief of the Christian holidays, why do so many non-Christians observe it? Do you know?
Why do people exchange presents with family members, friends, relatives, at Christmas time? Was it because the wise men presented gifts to the Christ-child? The answer may surprise you.
Most people have "supposed" a lot of things about Christmas that are not true. But let's quit "supposing" and get the facts!
What Encyclopedias Say
The word "Christmas" means "Mass of Christ," or, as it came to be shortened, "Christ-Mass." It came to non-Christians and Protestants from the Roman Catholic Church. And where did they get it? NOT from the New Testament -- NOT from the Bible -- NOT from the original apostles who were personally instructed by Christ -- but it gravitated in the fourth century into the Roman Church from paganism.
Since the celebration of Christmas has come to the world from the Roman Catholic Church, and has no authority but that of the Roman Catholic Church, let us examine the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 edition, published by that church. Under the heading "Christmas," you will find:
"Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church ... the first evidence of the feast is from Egypt." "Pagan customs centering around the January calends gravitated to Christmas."
And in the same encyclopedia, under the heading "Natal Day," we find that the early Catholic father, Origen, acknowledged this truth: "... In the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday. It is only sinners [like Pharaoh and Herod] who make great rejoicings over the day in which they were born into this world" (emphasis ours).
Encyclopedia Britannica, 1946 edition, has this: "Christmas (i.e., the Mass of Christ) .... Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church ...." It was not instituted by Christ or the apostles, or by Bible authority.
It was picked up afterward from paganism. The Encyclopedia Americana, 1944 edition, says: "Christmas .... It was, according to many authorities, not celebrated in the first centuries of the Christian church, as the Christian usage in general was to celebrate the death of remarkable persons rather than their birth ...." (The "Communion," which is instituted by New Testament Bible authority, is a memorial of the death of Christ.) "... A feast was established in memory of this event [Christ's birth] in the fourth century. In the fifth century the Western Church ordered it to be celebrated forever on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol, as no certain knowledge of the day of Christ's birth existed."
Now notice! These recognized historical authorities show Christmas was not observed by Christians for the first two or three hundred years -- a period longer than the entire history of the United States as a nation! It got into the Western, or Roman, Church, by the fourth century A.D. It was not until the fifth century that the Roman Church ordered it to be celebrated as an official Christian festival!
Jesus Not Born December 25th
Jesus was not even born in the winter season! When the Christ-child was born "there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night" (Luke 2:8). This never could have occurred in Judaea in the month of December. The shepherds always brought their flocks from the mountainsides and fields and corralled them not later than October 15, to protect them from the cold, rainy season that followed that date. Notice that the Bible itself proves, in Song of Solomon 2:11 and Ezra 10:9, 13, that winter was a rainy season not permitting shepherds to abide in open fields at night.
"It was an ancient custom among Jews of those days to send out their sheep to the fields and deserts about the Passover (early spring), and bring them home at commencement of the first rain," says the Adam Clarke Commentary (Vol. 5, page 370, New York ed.)
Continuing, this authority states: "During the time they were out, the shepherds watched them night and day. As ... the first rain began early in the month of Marchesvan, which answers to part of our October and November [begins sometime in October], we find that the sheep were kept out in the open country during the whole summer. And, 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 Lord was not born on the 25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields; nor could He have been born later than September, as the flocks were still in the fields by night. On this very ground, the nativity in December should be given up. The feeding of the flocks by night in the fields is a chronological fact ... See the quotations from the Talmudists in Lightfoot."
Any encyclopedia, or any other authority, will tell you that Christ was not born on December 25. The Catholic Encyclopedia frankly states this fact.
The exact date of Jesus' birth is entirely unknown, as all authorities acknowledge -- though if I had space in this booklet I could show you scriptures which at least strongly indicate it was in the early fall -- probably September approximately six months after Passover.
If God had wished us to observe and celebrate Christ's birthday, He would not have so completely hidden the exact date.
How This Pagan Custom Got into the Church
Then how did this pagan custom creep into the Western Christian world?
The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge explains it clearly, in its article on "Christmas": "How much the date of the festival depended upon the pagan Brumalia (Dec. 25) following the Saturnalia (Dec. 17-24), and celebrating the shortest day of the year and the 'new sun' ... cannot be accurately determined. The pagan Saturnalia and Brumalia were too deeply entrenched in popular custom to be set aside by Christian influence .... The pagan festival with its riot and merrymaking was so popular that Christians were glad of an excuse to continue its celebration with little change in spirit and in manner. Christian preachers of the West and the Near East protested against the unseemly frivolity with which Christ's birthday was celebrated, while Christians of Mesopotamia accused their Western brethren of idolatry and sun worship for adopting as Christian this pagan festival."
Remember, the Roman world had been pagan. Prior to the fourth century, Christians were few in number, though increasing, and were persecuted by the government and by pagans. But, with the advent of Constantine as emperor, who made his profession of Christianity in the fourth century, placing Christianity on an equal footing with paganism, people of the Roman world began to accept this now-popular Christianity by the hundreds of thousands.
But remember, these people had grown up in pagan customs, chief of which was this idolatrous festival of December 25th. It was a festival of merrymaking, with its special spirit. They enjoyed it! They didn't want to give it up! Now this same article in the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge explains how the recognition by Constantine of Sunday, which had been the day of pagan sun worship, and how the influence of the pagan Manichaeism, which identified the SON of God with the physical SUN, gave these pagans of the fourth century, now turning over wholesale to "Christianity," their excuse for calling their pagan-festival date of December 25th (birthday of the SUN-god), the birthday of the SON of God.
And that is how "Christmas" became fastened on our Western world! We may call it by another name, but it's the same old pagan sun-worshipping festival still! The only change is in what we call it! You can call a rabbit a "lion," but it's still a rabbit, just the same.
Again from the Encyclopaedia Britannica: "Certain Latins, as early as 354, may have transferred the birthday from January 6th to December 25, which was then a Mithraic feast ... or birthday of the unconquered SUN ... The Syrians and Armenians, who clung to January 6th, accused the Romans of sun worship and idolatry, contending ... that the feast of December 25th, had been invented by disciples of Cerinthus ...."
The Real Origin of Christmas
But if we got Christmas from the Roman Catholics, and they got it from paganism, where did the pagans get it? Where, when, and what was its real origin?
It is a chief custom of the corrupt system denounced all through Bible prophecies and teachings under the name of Babylon. And it started and originated in the original Babylon of ancient Nimrod! Yes, it stems from roots whose beginning was shortly this side of the Flood!
Nimrod, grandson of Ham, son of Noah, was the real founder of the Babylonish system that has gripped the world ever since -- the system of organized competition -- of man -- ruled governments and empires, based upon the competitive and profit-making economic system. Nimrod built the tower of Babel, the original Babylon, ancient Nineveh, and many other cities. He organized this world's first kingdom. The name Nimrod, in Hebrew, is derived from "Marad," meaning "he rebelled."
From many ancient writings, considerable is learned of this man, who started the great organized worldly apostasy from God that has dominated this world until now. Nimrod was so evil, it is said he married his own mother, whose name was Semiramis. After Nimrod's untimely death, his so-called mother-wife, Semiramis, propagated the evil doctrine of the survival of Nimrod as a spirit being. She claimed a full-grown evergreen tree sprang overnight from a dead tree stump, which symbolized the springing forth unto new life of the dead Nimrod. On each anniversary of his birth, she claimed, Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts upon it. December 25th was the birthday of Nimrod. This is the real origin of the Christmas tree.
Through her scheming and designing, Semiramis became the Babylonian "Queen of Heaven," and Nimrod, under various names, became the "divine son of heaven."
Through the generations, in this idolatrous worship, Nimrod also became the false Messiah, son of Baal the Sun-god. In this false Babylonish system, the "Mother and Child" (Semiramis and Nimrod reborn) became chief objects of worship. This worship of "Mother and Child" spread over the world.
The names varied in different countries and languages. In Egypt it was Isis and Osiris.
In Asia, Cybele and Deoius. In pagan Rome, Fortuna and Jupiterpuer. Even in Greece, China, Japan, Tibet is to be found the counterpart of the Madonna, long before the birth of Christ!
Thus, during the fourth and fifth centuries, when the pagans of the Roman world were "accepting" the new popular "Christianity" by the hundreds of thousands, carrying their old pagan customs and beliefs along with them, merely cloaking them with Christian-sounding names, the Madonna and "Mother and Child" idea also became popularized, especially at Christmas time.
Every Christmas season you'll hear sung and chanted dozens of times the hymn "Silent Night, Holy Night," with its familiar "Mother and Child" theme. We, who have been born in such a babylonish world, reared and steeped in these things all our lives, have been taught to revere these things as holy and sacred. We never questioned to see where they came from -- whether they came from the Bible, or from pagan idolatry!
We are shocked to learn the truth -- some, unfortunately, take offense at the plain truth! But God commands His faithful ministers, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression!" Shocking as these facts are, they are the plain facts of history and the Bible!
The real origin of Christmas goes back to ancient Babylon. It is bound up in the organized apostasy which has gripped a deceived world these many centuries! In Egypt, it was always believed that the son of Isis (Egyptian name for "Queen of Heaven") was born December 25th. Paganism celebrated this famous birthday over most of the known world for centuries before the birth of Christ.
December 25th is not the birthday of Jesus the true Christ! The apostles and early true Church never celebrated Christ's birthday at any time. There is no command or instruction to celebrate it in the Bible -- rather, the celebrating of birthdays is a pagan, not a Christian custom, believe it or not!
Thus the ancient idolatrous "Chaldean Mysteries," founded by this wife of Nimrod, have been handed down through the pagan religions under new Christian-sounding names.
Origin of Holly Wreath, Mistletoe, Yule Log
Now where did we get this mistletoe custom? Among the ancient pagans the mistletoe was used at this festival of the winter solstice because it was considered sacred to the sun, because of its supposed miraculous healing power. The pagan custom of kissing under the mistletoe was an early step in the night of revelry and drunken debauchery -- celebrating the death of the "old sun" and the birth of the new at the winter solstice. Mistletoe, sacred in pagan festivals, is a parasite!
Holly berries were also considered sacred to the sun-god. The yule log is in reality the "sun log." "Yule" means "wheel," a pagan symbol of the sun. Yet today professing Christians speak of the "sacred yule-tide season"!
Even the lighting of fires and candles as a Christian ceremony is merely a continuation of the pagan custom, encouraging the waning sun-god as he reached the lowest place in the southern skies!
The Encyclopedia Americana says: "The holly, the mistletoe, the Yule log ... are relics of pre-Christian times." Of paganism!
The book Answers to Questions, compiled by Frederick J. Haskins, found in public libraries, says: "The use of Christmas wreaths is believed by authorities to be traceable to the pagan customs of decorating buildings and places of worship at the feast which took place at the same time as Christmas. The Christmas tree is from Egypt, and its origin dates from a period long anterior to the Christian Era."
Yes, and Even Santa Claus!
But surely dear old Santa Claus is not a creature of pagan birth? But he is, and his real character is not so benevolent and holy as many suppose!
The name "Santa Claus" is a corruption of the name "St. Nicholas," a Roman Catholic bishop who lived in the 5th century. Look in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, volume 19, pages 648-649, 11th edition, where you'll read: "St. Nicholas, bishop of Myra, a saint honored by the Greeks and Latins on the 6th of December .... A legend of his surreptitious bestowal of dowries on the three daughters of an impoverished citizen ... is said to have originated the old custom of giving presents in secret on the Eve of St. Nicholas [Dec. 6], subsequently transferred to Christmas day. Hence the association of Christmas with Santa Claus ...."
Through the year, parents punish their children for telling falsehoods. Then, at Christmas time, they themselves tell their little children this "Santa Claus" lie! Is it any wonder many of them, when they grow up and learn the truth, begin to believe God is a myth, too?
One little fellow, sadly disillusioned about "Santa Claus," said to a playmate, "Yes, and I'm going to look into this 'Jesus Christ' business, too!" Is it Christian to teach children myths and falsehoods? God says, "Thou shalt not bear false witness!" It may seem right, and be justified by human reason, but God says, "There is a way that seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death!" "Old Nick" also is a term for the devil! Is there a connection? Satan appears as an "angel of light," to deceive! (II Cor. 11:14; Rev. 12:9.)
And so when we examine the facts, we are astonished to learn that the practice of observing Christmas is not, after all, a true Christian practice, but a pagan custom -- one of the ways of Babylon our people have fallen into!
What the Bible Says About the Christmas Tree
But if the Bible is silent about telling us to observe Christmas, or recording any such observance by the apostles or early true Church, it does have something to say about the Christmas tree!
This will come as a real surprise to many. But here it is:
Jeremiah 10:2-6: "Thus saith the Lord, 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 with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not."
There is a perfect description of the Christmas tree, termed by the Eternal as "the way of the heathen -- the customs of the people." We are commanded not to learn that way or follow it! It is also viewed in this passage as idolatry. The fifth verse shows that these trees cannot speak -- cannot walk -- must be carried. "Be not afraid of them; for they [the trees] cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good." They are not gods to be feared. Some people misread this to make it say there is no harm in having a Christmas tree, but that is not what it says.
Isn't Exchanging Gifts Scriptural?
But when it comes to the most important part of all in this Christmas observance -- the Christmas shopping season -- the buying and exchanging of gifts -- many will exclaim triumphantly, "Well, at least the Bible tells us to do that! Didn't the wise men give gifts when Christ was born?"
Again, we are due for some surprises, when we learn the plain truth. First, let's look at the historic origin of trading gifts back and forth, then see exactly what the Bible does say about it.
From the Bibliotheca Sacra, volume 12, pages 153-155, we quote: "The interchange of presents between friends is alike characteristic of Christmas and the Saturnalia, and must have been adopted by Christians from the Pagans, as the admonition of Tertullian plainly shows."
The fact is, this custom fastened upon people of exchanging gifts with friends and relatives at the Christmas season has not a single trace of Christianity about it, strange though that may seem! This does not celebrate Christ's birthday nor honor it or Him! Suppose someone you love has a birthday. You want to honor that person on his or her birthday. Would you lavishly buy gifts for everyone else, trading gifts back and forth with all your other friends and loved ones, but ignore completely any gift for the one whose birthday you are honoring? Rather absurd, when viewed in that light, isn't it?
Yet this is exactly what people the world over are doing! They honor a day that is not Christ's birthday by spending every dime they can scrape together in buying presents to trade back and forth among friends and relatives. But I can say by years of experience, as I believe most pastors and ministers can say, that when the month of December rolls around, nearly all professing Christians forget to give gifts to Christ and His cause almost altogether! December often is the most difficult month to keep Christ's work from dying! People are too busy trading gifts back and forth among themselves to think of Him and His Work, it seems. Then, in January and even into February it seems they have to catch up from what they spent for Christmas, so they seldom get back to normal in supporting Christ and His Work before March!
Now consider what the Bible says about the wise men giving gifts when Christ was born. It is in Matthew 2:1-11. "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? ... And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto HIM gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh."
Why Gifts Presented to Christ
Notice, they inquired for the child Jesus, who was born KING of the Jews! Now why did they present gifts to Him? Because it was His birthday? Not at all, because they came several days or weeks after the date of His birth! Was it to set an example for us, today, to trade gifts back and forth among ourselves? No, notice carefully! They did not exchange gifts among themselves, but "they presented unto HIM gifts." They gave their gifts to Christ, not to their friends, relatives, or one another!
Why? Let me quote from the Adam Clarke Commentary, volume 5, page 46: "Verse 11. (They presented unto him gifts.) The people of the east never approach the presence of kings and great personages, without a present in their hands. The custom is often noticed in the Old Testament, and still prevails in the east, and in some of the newly discovered South Sea Islands."
There it is! They were not instituting a new Christian custom of exchanging gifts with friends to honor Christ's birthday. They were following an old and ancient eastern custom of presenting gifts to a king when they came into his presence. They were approaching Him, born KING of the Jews, in person. Therefore custom required they present gifts even as the Queen of Sheba brought gifts to Solomon -- even as many people today take a gift along when they visit the White House for an appointment with the President.
No, the custom of trading gifts back and forth does not stem from this scriptural incident at all, but rather, as quoted from history above, it is the continuance of an ancient pagan custom. Instead of honoring Christ, it invariably retards His Work, often sets it back, at the Christmas season every year.
Does It Really Honor Christ?
Now come two arguments often used to justify Christmas observance.
1) Many will reason this way: "But, even though the exact date of Jesus' birth is unknown, should we not select some date to celebrate as His birthday?" The answer is positively no! Did you not notice the statement quoted from the Catholic Encyclopedia: "Sinners alone, not saints, celebrate their birthdays." The celebration of birthdays is not a Christian, but a pagan custom, observed by sinners!
2) But, many still reason, "Even so -- even though Christmas was a pagan custom, honoring the false sun-god, we don't observe it to honor the false god, we observe it to honor Christ."
But how does GOD answer in His Word? "Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them [the pagans in their customs] ... that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for every abomination to the Eternal, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods" (Deut. 12:30-31).
God says plainly in His Instruction Book to us, that He will not accept that kind of worship, even though intended in His honor. To Him, He says, it is offering what is abominable to Him, and therefore it honors, not Him, but false pagan gods. GOD says we must not worship Him according to the "dictates of our own conscience" -- a term we often hear. But Jesus said plainly, "God is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). And what is truth? God's Word -- the Holy Bible -- said Jesus, is truth (John 17:17); and the Bible says God will not accept worship when people take a pagan custom or manner of worship and try to honor Christ with it.
Again, Jesus said: "In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matt. 15:9). Christmas observance is a tradition of men, and the commandments of God, as quoted, forbid it. Jesus said, further, "full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition."
That is precisely what the millions are doing today. They ignore the commandment of God. He commands, regarding taking the customs of the pagans and using them to honor or worship God: "Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God." Still, most people today take that command of God lightly, or as having no validity whatsoever, and follow the tradition of men in observing Christmas.
Make no mistake! God will allow you to defy and disobey Him. He will allow you to follow the crowd and the traditions of men. He will allow you to sin. But He also says there is a day of reckoning coming. As you sow, so shall you reap! Jesus was the living Word of God in Person, and the Bible is the written Word of God. And we shall be judged, for eternity, by these words! They should not be taken lightly or ignored.
We're in Babylon, and Haven't Known It
Christmas has become a commercial season. It's sponsored, kept alive, by the heaviest retail advertising campaigns of the year. You see a masqueraded "Santa Claus" in many stores. Ads keep us deluded and deceived about the "beautiful Christmas spirit." The newspapers, who sell the ads, print flowery editorials exalting and eulogizing the pagan season, and its "spirit." A gullible people has become so inoculated, many take offense when told the truth. But the "Christmas spirit" is created each year, not to honor Christ, but to sell merchandise! Like all Satan's delusions, it appears as an "angel of light," is made to appear good. Billions of dollars are spent in this merchandising spree every year, while the cause of Christ must suffer! It's part of the economic system of Babylon!
We have professed to be Christian nations, but we're in Babylon, as Bible prophecy foretold, and we don't know it! "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" -- now soon to fall -- is the warning of Revelation 18:4.
This year, instead of gift trading, why not put that money into God's Work?
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by Herbert W. Armstrong
1952, 1972, 1974 edition
Where did the world get Christmas? ... from the Bible, or paganism?
Here are the astonishing facts which may shock you! Test yourself.
How much do you know of the origin of the Christmas tree -- of "Santa Claus" -- of the mistletoe -- of the holly wreath -- of the custom of exchanging gifts?
WHEN I was a very little boy, I was taught to hang up my stockings on Christmas eve. When I awakened the next morning, they were filled with small toys and sacks or little boxes of candy and nuts.
And beside the mantle, from which my stockings hung, a Christmas tree had suddenly appeared, decorated with shiny tinsel. And on it hung presents. Other presents for us children were piled on the floor underneath.
I was told Santa Claus had come down the chimney during the night and left all these things.
But did I question what my parents had told me? Of course not. I accepted it -- took it all for granted. Didn't you?
Stop and think a moment! Very few have ever reflected on why they believe what they do -- why they follow the customs they do, or from where those customs came. We were born into a world filled with customs. We grew up accepting them without question.
Why? Sheep instinct? Well, not exactly.
But by nature we do tend to follow the crowd, whether right or wrong. Sheep follow others to the slaughter. Humans ought to check up where they are going.
How -- when did Christmas originate?
Does Christmas really celebrate the birthday of Christ? Was Jesus born on December 25th?
Did the original apostles, who knew Jesus personally and were taught by Him, celebrate His birthday on December 25th? Did they celebrate it at all?
If Christmas is the chief of the Christian holidays, why do so many non-Christians observe it? Do you know?
Why do people exchange presents with family members, friends, relatives, at Christmas time? Was it because the wise men presented gifts to the Christ-child? The answer may surprise you.
Most people have "supposed" a lot of things about Christmas that are not true. But let's quit "supposing" and get the facts!
What Encyclopedias Say
The word "Christmas" means "Mass of Christ," or, as it came to be shortened, "Christ-Mass." It came to non-Christians and Protestants from the Roman Catholic Church. And where did they get it? NOT from the New Testament -- NOT from the Bible -- NOT from the original apostles who were personally instructed by Christ -- but it gravitated in the fourth century into the Roman Church from paganism.
Since the celebration of Christmas has come to the world from the Roman Catholic Church, and has no authority but that of the Roman Catholic Church, let us examine the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 edition, published by that church. Under the heading "Christmas," you will find:
"Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church ... the first evidence of the feast is from Egypt." "Pagan customs centering around the January calends gravitated to Christmas."
And in the same encyclopedia, under the heading "Natal Day," we find that the early Catholic father, Origen, acknowledged this truth: "... In the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday. It is only sinners [like Pharaoh and Herod] who make great rejoicings over the day in which they were born into this world" (emphasis ours).
Encyclopedia Britannica, 1946 edition, has this: "Christmas (i.e., the Mass of Christ) .... Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church ...." It was not instituted by Christ or the apostles, or by Bible authority.
It was picked up afterward from paganism. The Encyclopedia Americana, 1944 edition, says: "Christmas .... It was, according to many authorities, not celebrated in the first centuries of the Christian church, as the Christian usage in general was to celebrate the death of remarkable persons rather than their birth ...." (The "Communion," which is instituted by New Testament Bible authority, is a memorial of the death of Christ.) "... A feast was established in memory of this event [Christ's birth] in the fourth century. In the fifth century the Western Church ordered it to be celebrated forever on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol, as no certain knowledge of the day of Christ's birth existed."
Now notice! These recognized historical authorities show Christmas was not observed by Christians for the first two or three hundred years -- a period longer than the entire history of the United States as a nation! It got into the Western, or Roman, Church, by the fourth century A.D. It was not until the fifth century that the Roman Church ordered it to be celebrated as an official Christian festival!
Jesus Not Born December 25th
Jesus was not even born in the winter season! When the Christ-child was born "there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night" (Luke 2:8). This never could have occurred in Judaea in the month of December. The shepherds always brought their flocks from the mountainsides and fields and corralled them not later than October 15, to protect them from the cold, rainy season that followed that date. Notice that the Bible itself proves, in Song of Solomon 2:11 and Ezra 10:9, 13, that winter was a rainy season not permitting shepherds to abide in open fields at night.
"It was an ancient custom among Jews of those days to send out their sheep to the fields and deserts about the Passover (early spring), and bring them home at commencement of the first rain," says the Adam Clarke Commentary (Vol. 5, page 370, New York ed.)
Continuing, this authority states: "During the time they were out, the shepherds watched them night and day. As ... the first rain began early in the month of Marchesvan, which answers to part of our October and November [begins sometime in October], we find that the sheep were kept out in the open country during the whole summer. And, 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 Lord was not born on the 25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields; nor could He have been born later than September, as the flocks were still in the fields by night. On this very ground, the nativity in December should be given up. The feeding of the flocks by night in the fields is a chronological fact ... See the quotations from the Talmudists in Lightfoot."
Any encyclopedia, or any other authority, will tell you that Christ was not born on December 25. The Catholic Encyclopedia frankly states this fact.
The exact date of Jesus' birth is entirely unknown, as all authorities acknowledge -- though if I had space in this booklet I could show you scriptures which at least strongly indicate it was in the early fall -- probably September approximately six months after Passover.
If God had wished us to observe and celebrate Christ's birthday, He would not have so completely hidden the exact date.
How This Pagan Custom Got into the Church
Then how did this pagan custom creep into the Western Christian world?
The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge explains it clearly, in its article on "Christmas": "How much the date of the festival depended upon the pagan Brumalia (Dec. 25) following the Saturnalia (Dec. 17-24), and celebrating the shortest day of the year and the 'new sun' ... cannot be accurately determined. The pagan Saturnalia and Brumalia were too deeply entrenched in popular custom to be set aside by Christian influence .... The pagan festival with its riot and merrymaking was so popular that Christians were glad of an excuse to continue its celebration with little change in spirit and in manner. Christian preachers of the West and the Near East protested against the unseemly frivolity with which Christ's birthday was celebrated, while Christians of Mesopotamia accused their Western brethren of idolatry and sun worship for adopting as Christian this pagan festival."
Remember, the Roman world had been pagan. Prior to the fourth century, Christians were few in number, though increasing, and were persecuted by the government and by pagans. But, with the advent of Constantine as emperor, who made his profession of Christianity in the fourth century, placing Christianity on an equal footing with paganism, people of the Roman world began to accept this now-popular Christianity by the hundreds of thousands.
But remember, these people had grown up in pagan customs, chief of which was this idolatrous festival of December 25th. It was a festival of merrymaking, with its special spirit. They enjoyed it! They didn't want to give it up! Now this same article in the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge explains how the recognition by Constantine of Sunday, which had been the day of pagan sun worship, and how the influence of the pagan Manichaeism, which identified the SON of God with the physical SUN, gave these pagans of the fourth century, now turning over wholesale to "Christianity," their excuse for calling their pagan-festival date of December 25th (birthday of the SUN-god), the birthday of the SON of God.
And that is how "Christmas" became fastened on our Western world! We may call it by another name, but it's the same old pagan sun-worshipping festival still! The only change is in what we call it! You can call a rabbit a "lion," but it's still a rabbit, just the same.
Again from the Encyclopaedia Britannica: "Certain Latins, as early as 354, may have transferred the birthday from January 6th to December 25, which was then a Mithraic feast ... or birthday of the unconquered SUN ... The Syrians and Armenians, who clung to January 6th, accused the Romans of sun worship and idolatry, contending ... that the feast of December 25th, had been invented by disciples of Cerinthus ...."
The Real Origin of Christmas
But if we got Christmas from the Roman Catholics, and they got it from paganism, where did the pagans get it? Where, when, and what was its real origin?
It is a chief custom of the corrupt system denounced all through Bible prophecies and teachings under the name of Babylon. And it started and originated in the original Babylon of ancient Nimrod! Yes, it stems from roots whose beginning was shortly this side of the Flood!
Nimrod, grandson of Ham, son of Noah, was the real founder of the Babylonish system that has gripped the world ever since -- the system of organized competition -- of man -- ruled governments and empires, based upon the competitive and profit-making economic system. Nimrod built the tower of Babel, the original Babylon, ancient Nineveh, and many other cities. He organized this world's first kingdom. The name Nimrod, in Hebrew, is derived from "Marad," meaning "he rebelled."
From many ancient writings, considerable is learned of this man, who started the great organized worldly apostasy from God that has dominated this world until now. Nimrod was so evil, it is said he married his own mother, whose name was Semiramis. After Nimrod's untimely death, his so-called mother-wife, Semiramis, propagated the evil doctrine of the survival of Nimrod as a spirit being. She claimed a full-grown evergreen tree sprang overnight from a dead tree stump, which symbolized the springing forth unto new life of the dead Nimrod. On each anniversary of his birth, she claimed, Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts upon it. December 25th was the birthday of Nimrod. This is the real origin of the Christmas tree.
Through her scheming and designing, Semiramis became the Babylonian "Queen of Heaven," and Nimrod, under various names, became the "divine son of heaven."
Through the generations, in this idolatrous worship, Nimrod also became the false Messiah, son of Baal the Sun-god. In this false Babylonish system, the "Mother and Child" (Semiramis and Nimrod reborn) became chief objects of worship. This worship of "Mother and Child" spread over the world.
The names varied in different countries and languages. In Egypt it was Isis and Osiris.
In Asia, Cybele and Deoius. In pagan Rome, Fortuna and Jupiterpuer. Even in Greece, China, Japan, Tibet is to be found the counterpart of the Madonna, long before the birth of Christ!
Thus, during the fourth and fifth centuries, when the pagans of the Roman world were "accepting" the new popular "Christianity" by the hundreds of thousands, carrying their old pagan customs and beliefs along with them, merely cloaking them with Christian-sounding names, the Madonna and "Mother and Child" idea also became popularized, especially at Christmas time.
Every Christmas season you'll hear sung and chanted dozens of times the hymn "Silent Night, Holy Night," with its familiar "Mother and Child" theme. We, who have been born in such a babylonish world, reared and steeped in these things all our lives, have been taught to revere these things as holy and sacred. We never questioned to see where they came from -- whether they came from the Bible, or from pagan idolatry!
We are shocked to learn the truth -- some, unfortunately, take offense at the plain truth! But God commands His faithful ministers, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression!" Shocking as these facts are, they are the plain facts of history and the Bible!
The real origin of Christmas goes back to ancient Babylon. It is bound up in the organized apostasy which has gripped a deceived world these many centuries! In Egypt, it was always believed that the son of Isis (Egyptian name for "Queen of Heaven") was born December 25th. Paganism celebrated this famous birthday over most of the known world for centuries before the birth of Christ.
December 25th is not the birthday of Jesus the true Christ! The apostles and early true Church never celebrated Christ's birthday at any time. There is no command or instruction to celebrate it in the Bible -- rather, the celebrating of birthdays is a pagan, not a Christian custom, believe it or not!
Thus the ancient idolatrous "Chaldean Mysteries," founded by this wife of Nimrod, have been handed down through the pagan religions under new Christian-sounding names.
Origin of Holly Wreath, Mistletoe, Yule Log
Now where did we get this mistletoe custom? Among the ancient pagans the mistletoe was used at this festival of the winter solstice because it was considered sacred to the sun, because of its supposed miraculous healing power. The pagan custom of kissing under the mistletoe was an early step in the night of revelry and drunken debauchery -- celebrating the death of the "old sun" and the birth of the new at the winter solstice. Mistletoe, sacred in pagan festivals, is a parasite!
Holly berries were also considered sacred to the sun-god. The yule log is in reality the "sun log." "Yule" means "wheel," a pagan symbol of the sun. Yet today professing Christians speak of the "sacred yule-tide season"!
Even the lighting of fires and candles as a Christian ceremony is merely a continuation of the pagan custom, encouraging the waning sun-god as he reached the lowest place in the southern skies!
The Encyclopedia Americana says: "The holly, the mistletoe, the Yule log ... are relics of pre-Christian times." Of paganism!
The book Answers to Questions, compiled by Frederick J. Haskins, found in public libraries, says: "The use of Christmas wreaths is believed by authorities to be traceable to the pagan customs of decorating buildings and places of worship at the feast which took place at the same time as Christmas. The Christmas tree is from Egypt, and its origin dates from a period long anterior to the Christian Era."
Yes, and Even Santa Claus!
But surely dear old Santa Claus is not a creature of pagan birth? But he is, and his real character is not so benevolent and holy as many suppose!
The name "Santa Claus" is a corruption of the name "St. Nicholas," a Roman Catholic bishop who lived in the 5th century. Look in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, volume 19, pages 648-649, 11th edition, where you'll read: "St. Nicholas, bishop of Myra, a saint honored by the Greeks and Latins on the 6th of December .... A legend of his surreptitious bestowal of dowries on the three daughters of an impoverished citizen ... is said to have originated the old custom of giving presents in secret on the Eve of St. Nicholas [Dec. 6], subsequently transferred to Christmas day. Hence the association of Christmas with Santa Claus ...."
Through the year, parents punish their children for telling falsehoods. Then, at Christmas time, they themselves tell their little children this "Santa Claus" lie! Is it any wonder many of them, when they grow up and learn the truth, begin to believe God is a myth, too?
One little fellow, sadly disillusioned about "Santa Claus," said to a playmate, "Yes, and I'm going to look into this 'Jesus Christ' business, too!" Is it Christian to teach children myths and falsehoods? God says, "Thou shalt not bear false witness!" It may seem right, and be justified by human reason, but God says, "There is a way that seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death!" "Old Nick" also is a term for the devil! Is there a connection? Satan appears as an "angel of light," to deceive! (II Cor. 11:14; Rev. 12:9.)
And so when we examine the facts, we are astonished to learn that the practice of observing Christmas is not, after all, a true Christian practice, but a pagan custom -- one of the ways of Babylon our people have fallen into!
What the Bible Says About the Christmas Tree
But if the Bible is silent about telling us to observe Christmas, or recording any such observance by the apostles or early true Church, it does have something to say about the Christmas tree!
This will come as a real surprise to many. But here it is:
Jeremiah 10:2-6: "Thus saith the Lord, 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 with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not."
There is a perfect description of the Christmas tree, termed by the Eternal as "the way of the heathen -- the customs of the people." We are commanded not to learn that way or follow it! It is also viewed in this passage as idolatry. The fifth verse shows that these trees cannot speak -- cannot walk -- must be carried. "Be not afraid of them; for they [the trees] cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good." They are not gods to be feared. Some people misread this to make it say there is no harm in having a Christmas tree, but that is not what it says.
Isn't Exchanging Gifts Scriptural?
But when it comes to the most important part of all in this Christmas observance -- the Christmas shopping season -- the buying and exchanging of gifts -- many will exclaim triumphantly, "Well, at least the Bible tells us to do that! Didn't the wise men give gifts when Christ was born?"
Again, we are due for some surprises, when we learn the plain truth. First, let's look at the historic origin of trading gifts back and forth, then see exactly what the Bible does say about it.
From the Bibliotheca Sacra, volume 12, pages 153-155, we quote: "The interchange of presents between friends is alike characteristic of Christmas and the Saturnalia, and must have been adopted by Christians from the Pagans, as the admonition of Tertullian plainly shows."
The fact is, this custom fastened upon people of exchanging gifts with friends and relatives at the Christmas season has not a single trace of Christianity about it, strange though that may seem! This does not celebrate Christ's birthday nor honor it or Him! Suppose someone you love has a birthday. You want to honor that person on his or her birthday. Would you lavishly buy gifts for everyone else, trading gifts back and forth with all your other friends and loved ones, but ignore completely any gift for the one whose birthday you are honoring? Rather absurd, when viewed in that light, isn't it?
Yet this is exactly what people the world over are doing! They honor a day that is not Christ's birthday by spending every dime they can scrape together in buying presents to trade back and forth among friends and relatives. But I can say by years of experience, as I believe most pastors and ministers can say, that when the month of December rolls around, nearly all professing Christians forget to give gifts to Christ and His cause almost altogether! December often is the most difficult month to keep Christ's work from dying! People are too busy trading gifts back and forth among themselves to think of Him and His Work, it seems. Then, in January and even into February it seems they have to catch up from what they spent for Christmas, so they seldom get back to normal in supporting Christ and His Work before March!
Now consider what the Bible says about the wise men giving gifts when Christ was born. It is in Matthew 2:1-11. "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? ... And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto HIM gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh."
Why Gifts Presented to Christ
Notice, they inquired for the child Jesus, who was born KING of the Jews! Now why did they present gifts to Him? Because it was His birthday? Not at all, because they came several days or weeks after the date of His birth! Was it to set an example for us, today, to trade gifts back and forth among ourselves? No, notice carefully! They did not exchange gifts among themselves, but "they presented unto HIM gifts." They gave their gifts to Christ, not to their friends, relatives, or one another!
Why? Let me quote from the Adam Clarke Commentary, volume 5, page 46: "Verse 11. (They presented unto him gifts.) The people of the east never approach the presence of kings and great personages, without a present in their hands. The custom is often noticed in the Old Testament, and still prevails in the east, and in some of the newly discovered South Sea Islands."
There it is! They were not instituting a new Christian custom of exchanging gifts with friends to honor Christ's birthday. They were following an old and ancient eastern custom of presenting gifts to a king when they came into his presence. They were approaching Him, born KING of the Jews, in person. Therefore custom required they present gifts even as the Queen of Sheba brought gifts to Solomon -- even as many people today take a gift along when they visit the White House for an appointment with the President.
No, the custom of trading gifts back and forth does not stem from this scriptural incident at all, but rather, as quoted from history above, it is the continuance of an ancient pagan custom. Instead of honoring Christ, it invariably retards His Work, often sets it back, at the Christmas season every year.
Does It Really Honor Christ?
Now come two arguments often used to justify Christmas observance.
1) Many will reason this way: "But, even though the exact date of Jesus' birth is unknown, should we not select some date to celebrate as His birthday?" The answer is positively no! Did you not notice the statement quoted from the Catholic Encyclopedia: "Sinners alone, not saints, celebrate their birthdays." The celebration of birthdays is not a Christian, but a pagan custom, observed by sinners!
2) But, many still reason, "Even so -- even though Christmas was a pagan custom, honoring the false sun-god, we don't observe it to honor the false god, we observe it to honor Christ."
But how does GOD answer in His Word? "Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them [the pagans in their customs] ... that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for every abomination to the Eternal, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods" (Deut. 12:30-31).
God says plainly in His Instruction Book to us, that He will not accept that kind of worship, even though intended in His honor. To Him, He says, it is offering what is abominable to Him, and therefore it honors, not Him, but false pagan gods. GOD says we must not worship Him according to the "dictates of our own conscience" -- a term we often hear. But Jesus said plainly, "God is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). And what is truth? God's Word -- the Holy Bible -- said Jesus, is truth (John 17:17); and the Bible says God will not accept worship when people take a pagan custom or manner of worship and try to honor Christ with it.
Again, Jesus said: "In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matt. 15:9). Christmas observance is a tradition of men, and the commandments of God, as quoted, forbid it. Jesus said, further, "full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition."
That is precisely what the millions are doing today. They ignore the commandment of God. He commands, regarding taking the customs of the pagans and using them to honor or worship God: "Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God." Still, most people today take that command of God lightly, or as having no validity whatsoever, and follow the tradition of men in observing Christmas.
Make no mistake! God will allow you to defy and disobey Him. He will allow you to follow the crowd and the traditions of men. He will allow you to sin. But He also says there is a day of reckoning coming. As you sow, so shall you reap! Jesus was the living Word of God in Person, and the Bible is the written Word of God. And we shall be judged, for eternity, by these words! They should not be taken lightly or ignored.
We're in Babylon, and Haven't Known It
Christmas has become a commercial season. It's sponsored, kept alive, by the heaviest retail advertising campaigns of the year. You see a masqueraded "Santa Claus" in many stores. Ads keep us deluded and deceived about the "beautiful Christmas spirit." The newspapers, who sell the ads, print flowery editorials exalting and eulogizing the pagan season, and its "spirit." A gullible people has become so inoculated, many take offense when told the truth. But the "Christmas spirit" is created each year, not to honor Christ, but to sell merchandise! Like all Satan's delusions, it appears as an "angel of light," is made to appear good. Billions of dollars are spent in this merchandising spree every year, while the cause of Christ must suffer! It's part of the economic system of Babylon!
We have professed to be Christian nations, but we're in Babylon, as Bible prophecy foretold, and we don't know it! "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" -- now soon to fall -- is the warning of Revelation 18:4.
This year, instead of gift trading, why not put that money into God's Work?
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