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
customs being 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
Nicolas)
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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