1. Introduction
'What a strange question,' you may exclaim. 'Of course Christmas is Christian: it commemorates the birth of the Saviour of the world - Jesus Christ - the Son of God!'Stunning as the following facts may appear, it is essential to bring them to your notice.
- Christmas is a PAGAN not a Christian festival.
- The 25th December was celebrated in ancient days as the birthday of the unconquerable SUN god, (variously know as Tammuz, Mithra, Saturn, Adonis or BAAL) centuries before Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem.
- Nowhere in the Bible are believers in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob required to celebrate Christmas.
- The early Christian church did not celebrate Christmas. Instead it celebrated the sacred festivals mentioned in the Bible, in Leviticus chapter 23.
- In order to win Gentile converts to the Christian faith, the Roman Church, centuries after the apostolic era, adopted this ancient pagan winter festival of the SUN god and renamed it 'Christmas' mistakenly thinking that it would honour the SON of God.
- Scholars
have for centuries known these facts. They can be confirmed in any
reference library.
Christ's
Mass = Christmass = Christmas
A
Roman Catholic Mass is an ongoing mystical reenactment of the death
of Christ. “Merry Christmas” then becomes a joyful phrase of
celebration that Christ has been killed.2. Celebrating Christmas is breaking the commandments of God
By adopting Christmas from the various pagan gods of the world - we would be breaking the commandments of God, primarily the very first of the ten commandments.
The
First Commandment:
Exodus
20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Deuteronomy
6:14-15 Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the
people which are round about you; (For the LORD thy God is a
jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled
against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
Deuteronomy
9:3-5 Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he
which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall
destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so
shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath
said unto thee. Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD
thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my
righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but
for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out
from before thee. Not for thy righteousness, or for the
uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but
for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them
out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the
LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Deuteronomy
12:30-31 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following
them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and 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 LORD, which he
hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their
daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
Deuteronomy
32:16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with
abominations provoked they him to anger.
“But that's only one
commandment,” some may say. Yes, you are correct. However it is
the primary commandment that God has delivered and placed in the most
important position, because he knows our tendency to follow our own
desires to worship whatever we want. Additionally, breaking any one
commandment brings guilt of breaking all:
James
2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in
one point, he is guilty of all.
While no further proof is needed to convict anyone of
transgressing the law of God, here are some more of the ten
commandments that are transgressed in the celebration of Christmas:
The
Second Commandment:
Exodus
20:4-5 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any
likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the
earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou
shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.
When
we set up these traditional Christmas images of trees, stars, angels, and other objects due to the season, even though we may not physically bow down to
them, we are in effect serving
those things that are detestable to God by closely aligning ourselves
with their meanings, and giving our assent to them.
The
Third Commandment:
Exodus
20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for
the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Saying that Christmas is
the birthday of Jesus is taking the name of the Lord in vain [in
emptiness; without purpose], because this holiday has never
been about him!
The
Fourth Commandment:
Exodus
20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
We are reminded to keep
the weekly sabbath day holy (and with it all of the biblical feasts
of the Lord), NOT the holiday traditions of men. Yeshua/Jesus says
we transgress [i.e., violate or go contrary to] his commandment when
we choose our traditions over his commandments. In doing this, we
make his commandments of no effect when we choose to follow our own
traditions over his commandments:
Matthew
15:3, 6 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also
transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? ...Thus have ye
made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
The
Seventh Commandment:
Exodus
20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Anytime we choose to
follow other gods, Yahweh considers it equivalent to adultery.
Jeremiah
3:6-9 The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king,
Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone
up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and
there hath played the harlot. And I said after she had done all these
things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous
sister Judah saw it. And I saw, when for all the causes whereby
backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and
given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared
not, but went and played the harlot also. And it came to pass
through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and
committed adultery with stones and with stocks [i.e., idols of
stone and wood].
Ezekiel
23:37 That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their
hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and
have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them
through the fire, to devour them. Moreover this they have done unto
me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned
my sabbaths.
The
Ninth Commandment:
Exodus
20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Continuing to promote the
myths of Santa, reindeer, elves, and the false date of Dec. 25 as the
birthday of the Messiah is equivalent to bearing false witness to the
truth of God.
John
4:23-24 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for
the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and
they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
The
Tenth Commandment:
Exodus
20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not
covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant,
nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
The
commercialization of Christmas and the gift frenzy demonstrate how
covetousness is equivalent to idolatry and “the love of money is
the root of all evil” (1 Tim. 6:10)
“...all
uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among
you, as becometh saints” Eph. 5:3
...”and
covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the
wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience” Col. 3:5-6
3.
Other scriptural commandments and exhortations to remove ourselves
from the things of this world.
James
1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this,
To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep
himself unspotted from the world.
1
John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the
world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not
in him.
Jeremiah
10:2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen...
2
Corinthians 6:14-15 Be ye not unequally yoked together with
unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And
what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that
believeth with an infidel?
Proverbs
25:26 A righteous man falling down [side-slipping,
wavering] before
the wicked is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring.
Ephesians
5:6-11 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these
things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be
not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes
darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of
light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and
righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but
rather reprove them.
Perhaps
you have participated in the celebration of Christmas up until this
point in your life, how shall you proceed, having learned these
scriptural truths? The good news is that even if sins are committed
in ignorance, God will forgive, if he is sought with the whole heart
in repentant attitude. However, having this knowledge of the truth of
the pagan origins of Christmas and still choosing to follow the
traditions of men over the commandments of God is a reproach against
the Lord, and carries dire consequences.
Numbers15:28-31
And the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sinneth
ignorantly, when he sinneth by ignorance before the LORD, to make
an atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him. Ye shall
have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for
him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger
that sojourneth among them. But the soul that doeth ought
presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger,
the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off
from among his people. Because he hath despised the word of the LORD,
and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off;
his iniquity shall be upon him.
We
no longer need to offer sacrifices of animals, because Yeshua/Jesus is our high priest forever, who
has
once for all offered himself as the perfect sacrifice for sins. Turn
your back on the pagan traditions handed down to this generation, and
with humility seek his forgiveness, and you will be forgiven.
Hebrew
10:11-14 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering
oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But
this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever,
sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his
enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath
perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
I'll
end this article with a prayer that the Holy Spirit will grant you
the humility, understanding and courage you will need in order to
break with paganism and take your stand for the Truth of the Almighty
God as revealed in His Word.
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