Thus saith the
LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen… For the customs of the
people are vain…” (Jeremiah 10:2-3)
“And after they
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.” 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.”
(Deuteronomy 12:30-31)
Many of the
customs that now are practiced during the Christmas season are of pagan origin.
Many of them had their origin during the roman festival of Saturnalia that was
celebrated every year from the 17th of December until the 24th.
The god that was worshiped was called Saturn. During those days all work and
business were suspended. During those days the slaves were given their freedom
and they were allowed to do what they wanted. The moral restrictions were put
aside. The streets were filled with tremendous crowds. A fictitious king was
chosen. There was a special greeting during those days of festivity:
io-saturnilias. They would exchange gifts among themselves, especially candles
and dolls.
SHOULD A CHRISTIAN CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS?
There is no Biblical
warrant, precedent, nor precept for remembrance of the day of Christ's birth as
a day of special religious celebration. This is not to say that we
shouldn't remember Christ's birth and its significance, but for religious
commemorations or celebrations, we must have Biblical command or precedent! The
fact of the matter is this, the early church did not celebrate
Christ's birth, but such celebration only came into the church with the
"Christianization" of pagan rites as Catholicism was made the state
religion by Constantine in the fourth century A.D. Since the Word of God
does not support the tradition of Christmas, the church should not
and must not celebrate Christmas.
The Christmas
celebration as we know it today is clearly pagan in origin, it has Satan's
prints all over it. When researching it anyone can see it is clearly not a
Christian holiday. Many preachers know what it is and still do nothing about
it. They stand in the pulpit year after year and do not tell the church, that
it is one of the pagans most sacred days. Why is this? Do these preachers not
know about it? The reason is the church would not accept it and would run the
preacher off! They will let the church drown in sin at risk of losing their pay
check and position. This is what it boils down to! It’s time for Gods people
to stand up and preach the truth about Christmas. We best do something or God
will.
CHRISTMAS EVE
"Yule"
is a Chaldean word meaning "infant." Long before the coming of
Christianity, the heathen Anglo-Saxons called the 25th of December "Yule
day", in other words, "infant day" or "child's day"
the day they celebrated the birth of the false "messiah"! The night
before "Yule day" was called "Mother night." Today it is
called "Christmas Eve." And it wasn't called "Mother night"
after Mary, the mother of our Lord. "Mother night" was observed
centuries before Jesus was born. Semiramis (Nimrod's wife) was
the inspiration for "Mother night," and "Child's day" was
the supposed birthday of her son (Tammuz), the sun-god!
NATIVITY SCENES
Nearly every
form of pagan worship descended from the Babylonian mysteries, which focus
attention on the "mother-goddess" and the birth of her child. This
was adapted to "Mary-Jesus" worship, which then easily accommodated
the multitude of pagans "converted" to Christianity inside
Constantine's Roman Catholic Church. If a Christian was to erect statues (i.e.,
images) of Mary and Joseph, they would be accused of idolatry. But at Christmas
time, an image of a little baby is placed with the images of Mary and Joseph,
and it's called a "nativity scene." Somehow, the baby-idol
"sanctifies" the scene, and it is no longer considered idolatry! (cf.
Exo. 20:4-5a; 32:1-5a; 9-10a).
CHRISTMAS WREATHS
In pagan mythology, evergreen means eternal
life and a never-dying existence. Made from evergreens, Christmas wreaths were
most frequently round, which symbolized the sun (just as do halos in most
religious art). Hence, the round Christmas wreaths stand for an eternal sun, a
never-dying or self-renewing sun. Because of these pagan associations, the
Christian church was initially hostile towards the use of wreaths and other
evergreen derivatives. But in the same way it Christianized other pagan
traditions, the church soon found a way to confer its own symbolic meanings. For
example, the sharp pointed leaves of the "male" holly came to
represent Christ's crown of thorns and the red berries His blood, while the
"female" ivy symbolized immortality (Sulgrave Manor, "A Tudor
Christmas," p. 6). Holly berries were considered sacred to the
sun-god. Wreaths were used by pagans to decorate buildings and places of
worship at the feast which took place at the same time as Christmas. Such
wreaths now not only adorn churches at Christmas time, but are also appearing
during the equally pagan Easter season.
MISTLETOE
The use of the mistletoe can be traced back
to the ancient Druids. It represented the false "messiah," considered
by the Druids to be a divine branch that had dropped from heaven and grew upon
a tree on earth. This is an obvious corruption of God's prophetic Word
concerning Christ, "the Man the Branch," coming from heaven. The
mistletoe was used at the festival of the winter solstice because it was
considered sacred to the sun, because of its supposed miraculous healing power.
Kissing under the mistletoe became a custom since a kiss was a well known
symbol of reconciliation. Both were tokens of reconciliation. 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.
YULE LOG
The Yule log was considered by the ancient
Celts a sacred log to be used in their religious festivals during the winter
solstice; the fire provided promises of good luck and long life. Each year's
Yule log had to be selected in the forest on Christmas Eve by the family using
it, and could not be bought, or the superstitions associated with it would not
apply. In Babylonian paganism, the log placed in the fireplace represented the
dead Nimrod, and the tree which appeared the next morning (which today is
called the "Christmas tree") was Nimrod alive again (reincarnated) in
his new son (sun), Tammuz. (Still today in some places, the Yule log is placed
in the fireplace on Christmas Eve, and the next morning there is a Christmas
tree!)
Today's Yule log tradition comes to us from
Scandinavia, where the pagan sex-and-fertility god, Jule, was honored in a
twelve-day celebration in December. A large, single log was kept with a fire against
it for twelve days, and each day for twelve days a different sacrifice was
offered. The period now counted as the twelve days between Christmas and
Epiphany was originally the twelve days of daily sacrifices offered to the Yule
log. (What, then, are we really doing when we send "Yuletide
greetings"? Are we really honoring Christ by sending greetings in the name
of a Scandinavian fertility god? These are the same customsbeing
practiced today as in ancient paganism! Only the names have changed.)
The Yule log was considered the dead stock
of Nimrod (or Tammuz, depending on the specific nation involved), deified as
the sun god, but cut down by his enemies; the Christmas tree is
Nimrod revived, the slain god come to life again. Yet today professing
Christians speak of the “sacred Yule-tide season”!
CANDLES
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 reaches the lowest
place in the southern skies! Candles were lit by the ancient Babylonians in
honor of their god, and his altars had candles on them. And as is well known,
candles are also a major part of the ritualism of Roman Catholicism, which
adopted the custom from heathenism. Candles approached the Yule log in ritual
importance. Like the Yule log, they had to be a gift, never a purchase, and
were lighted and extinguished only by the head of the household. Such candles
stood burning steadily in the middle of the table, never to be moved or
snuffed, lest death follow. The Yule candle, wreathed in greenery, was to burn
through Christmas night until the sun rose or the Christmas service began
(Sulgrave Manor, "A Tudor Christmas," p. 9). Obviously, candles
should have no part in Christian worship, for nowhere in the New Testament is
their use sanctioned.
SANTA CLAUS (Saint Nicholas)
The name “Santa
Claus” is a corruption of the name “Saint Nicholas” a Roman Catholic bishop who
lived in the 5th century. This saint was honored on the 6th of
December, subsequently transferred to Christmas day. He was canonized as the
“Patron Saint” of the children by the Catholic Church.
The putting of candy, fruit and gifts or
money in socks during the Christmas season, originated with Saint Nicolas. It
is said that his parents were very rich and upon their death he was left with
all their money. He then dedicated himself to give the money to needy people.
Upon hearing
that there was a man who had three daughters which he was going to give to a
life of shame because he did not have any money so they could get married, he
then went by night to their house and from the chimney let fall a bag of money.
For three nights he did this, but on the third time, the father found out who
was doing this, and Saint Nicolas begged him that he not tell anyone what he
had done. This is where we got the custom of filling the children’s stockings
at night while they sleep and then tell them that it was Santa Claus. That's
why, the association of Christmas with Santa Claus.
THE CHRISTMAS TREE (Jeremiah 10:1-15)
The Christmas
tree is, today a symbol of the birth of Christ; and it is a decoration that
decorates many homes during the Christmas season. However, the Bible and
history tells us that its origin is totally pagan and that through the years
people, even considering themselves Christians, have involved themselves in
this worship that is completely pagan, erroneously believing that it is part of
the celebration of His birth, when in fact it is an abomination to Him (Ezekiel
8:14-15).
History goes back to Babylon (Isa.
13:19-20; Rev. 14:8, 17:5), whose first queen, Semiramis, propagated the
story how a green tree had blossomed from a dry trunk on the tomb of her beloved
son Tammuz, whose birthday took place on December 25th. From there
on, they began to worship the green tree and leave gifts next to it. And so,
the evergreen trees began to be symbols of good luck and of eternal life; so
much, that they worshiped them and from its branches made crowns in order to
reward the winners of competitions. The customs of this Babylonian culture
became part of the Syrian, Phoenician, Egyptian, Grecian and Roman customs and
from there it came to us.
The dictionary of the Catholic Bible of
Mons. Dr. John Staubinger, says in page 24: Tree: “It is not strange that
between some of the pagan, the trees are objects of worship.” From the book
“The Gold Branch” of Frazer (Castilian edition of 1944, page 1142-175): diverse
rites, including human sacrifices, in the worship of the tree and the complete
forests; among them Lithuanian, Celtic, other Europeans, African, Orientals,
etc. And it is seen how each nation made this custom their
own.
In at least ten Biblical references, the “green”
tree is associated with idolatry and false worship, of course all trees are
green at one time or another; apparently then, the references to the “green”
tree refers to a tree that is especially noted for being green, all the time,
the evergreen tree.
In Jeremiah
10:2-6 we have a perfect description of the Christmas tree, termed by God as“the
way of the heathen.” We are told not to learn that way or follow it!
The fifth verse shows that these trees “cannot speak, cannot walk, and
must be carried.” “Be not afraid of them; for they (the tree)
cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do god.” Many misread
this to make it say there is no harm in having a Christmas tree, but that is
not what it says.
The Christians should not have Christmas
trees in their homes, being that it is something that was, and is used by
pagans as an idol. Just as we got rid of the idols of bone, wood, stone, etc.
in the same way we should stop using this idol.
DOES CHRISTMAS REALLY HONOR CHRIST?
An argument often used to justify Christmas
observance is “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.”
What does the Bible say! In Deuteronomy
12:30-31, God says plainly that He will not accept that kind of worship, even
though intended in His honor. He says it is taking what is abominable to Him,
and therefore it honors, not Him, but false pagan gods. “God is a
Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship him in spirit and in truth”
(John 4:24).
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