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 CHRISMAS 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).
No comments:
Post a Comment