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"When the Lord your God cuts
off before you the nations which you are going in to
dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their
land, beware that you are not ensnared to follow them,
after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not
inquire after their gods, saying ‘How do these nations
serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’ You
shall not behave thus toward the Lord your God, for
every abominable act which the Lord hates they have done
to their gods; for they even burn their sons and
daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command
you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to
nor take away from it." Deuteronomy 12:29-32
"Thus says the Lord, ‘Do not
learn the way of the nations, and do not be terrified by
the signs of the heavens, although the nations are
terrified by them; For the customs of the peoples are
delusion; Because it is wood cut from the forest, the
work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.
They decorate it with silver and with gold; They fasten
it with nails and with hammers so that it will not
totter." Jeremiah 10:2-4
"Then the Lord said to me in
the days of Josiah the king, ‘Have you seen what
faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill and
under every green tree, and she played the harlot
there.’" Jeremiah 3:6
"Beloved, while I was making
every effort to write you about our common salvation, I
felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you
contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all
handed down to the saints. For certain persons have
crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand
marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who
turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny
our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now I desire to
remind you, though you know all things once for all,
that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of
Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not
believe." Jude verses 3-5
In our first text we learn that God does not want His
children to worship Him using the same customs that the
pagan nations used to worship their gods - even saying
that those customs are an abomination to Him.
Our second text has been interpreted by some as
describing the Christmas tree and it’s decorations -
some Bible translations use "tree" where the NAS that I
quoted from uses "wood." But whether this Scripture is
describing the
Christmas tree or not does not take away from the point
the Prophet is making - that God does not want us to
"learn the way" the pagans worshiped their gods even
saying that their customs are "delusion."
Our third text is one of many Scriptures that speak out
against worship which involves the use of an evergreen
tree. A "green" tree is a tree which remains green year
round giving it the term "ever"green. The evergreen tree
is an ancient symbol for wicked Nimrod who was a sworn
enemy of God.
Our fourth text is an appeal from Jude, the brother of
Jesus, who wanted to write a nice letter about our
common salvation in Christ Jesus. However, the Holy
Spirit compelled him to write that the Church must
earnestly contend for the original Apostolic faith. We
see that certain false teachers had infiltrated the
Church and were teaching heresies which were contrary to
the teachings of Jesus’ Apostles.
I am not writing this article to point out the pagan
roots of the observance of Christmas and the customs
associated with the holiday - for more on that you can
read my booklet "Where
Did We Get Christmas?" or
just check any encyclopedia. However, I would like to
include a short statement before going on to my main
point.
The celebration of the Saturnalia during the winter
solstice was to honor Dies
Natalis Solis Invicti which
means "the
birthday of the unconquered sun." The
earliest historic record of December 25 as a Christian
holiday was in 354 AD. According to a Roman document
written in that year Catholic Christianity imported the
Saturnalia festival hoping to take the pagan masses with
it. Catholic leaders "succeeded" in "converting" to
Christianity large numbers of pagans by promising them
that they could continue to celebrate the Saturnalia as
Christians.
The problem was that there was nothing intrinsically
Christian about the Saturnalia. To remedy this the
Church leaders named December 25 to be Jesus’ birthday.
The change was in name only as the new Catholic converts
were allowed to observe the Saturnalia in the same
decadent way - using the same pagan customs and
practices. In return for ensuring massive observance of
the "anniversary" of the "Savior’s birth" by assigning
it to this resonate date, the Church agreed to allow the
holiday to be celebrated more or less the way it has
always been - with drunkenness, sexual indulgence,
singing naked in the streets, etc.
I realize that Christmas, at least in America, is not
observed like this today - I haven’t seen any naked
carolers lately - but I felt that it was important that
we understand when, how and why the Catholic Church
introduced a "Christianized" Saturnalia festival to the
Church.
(1.) The
primary purpose of it’s introduction was not to follow
an Apostolic teaching. (2.) The
primary purpose of it’s introduction was to bring the
pagan masses into the Church. (3.) The
pagan practices and customs were permitted to entice
them to join the Church. (4.) Jesus’
birth was assigned to December 25 because there was
nothing "Christian" about the Saturnalia - and this date
was already a holiday celebrating the birth of the
unconquered sun-god which could easily be thought of as
the "birth of the unconquered Son."
One of the glaring problems with all of this is that
none of it is true. The pagans were not truly converted
from paganism to Christianity - December 25 is not the
birth date of Jesus - Jesus cannot be honored using
pagan customs, nor can God be worshiped in a lie
because, -"God is spirit,
and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and
truth" (John 4:24)
The Saturnalia is not the "Mass of Christ" (Christmas).
And as most Protestants would affirm, the Roman Catholic
Church had become apostate by this time and was not the
"pillar" and "support" of the "truth" that the Church is
called to be, -"I am writing
these things to you, hoping to come to you before long;
but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know
how one ought to conduct himself in the household of
God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar
and support of the truth." (1 Tim. 3:14-15)
In fact the Roman Church, with the power of the Empire
behind it actively persecuted the scattered few who
refused to join their ranks. The "support" is the
foundation which all true teachings are built upon -
Jesus Himself is the living Truth and
the Chief Corner Stone - a Stone which the builders
rejected "then" and most still reject "now."
Everything we know about the birth of Jesus we know
because the Apostles recorded it in the Gospels. Gabriel
the angel coming to Mary and telling her that she was
going to bear the Son of God - the journey to Bethlehem
where the child was born in a lowly manger - the angels
announcing His birth to a group of shepherds in the
fields - the Magi who traveled from the East to honor
Him as a King - Herod’s plot to kill the child to
preserve his own throne, etc. We know these historical
facts because the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostles of
Christ to record it in written form.
These men were specifically chosen by the Father to be
the Apostles of Christ who were ordained to take the
Gospel message and the teachings of Christ to the world,
establishing congregations along the way, - "Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded
you;" (Matt.28:19-20)
These men lived with Jesus during His ministry here and
loved Him with all of their hearts. I must emphasize
here that no one has ever loved Jesus more than His
Apostles, and no one has ever desired to honor Him more
than them. I say this because, of all their love for
Jesus they did not celebrate His birth. One must wonder
why.
Those who celebrate His birth today say that they do so
because they love Him and want to honor Him - yet, those
closest to Him - those who actually wrote the accounts
and details of His birth, didn’t celebrate His birth. In
fact, no one celebrated His birth for more than three
hundred years after the Church began and even then the
purpose was to "convert" pagans not to truly honor His
birth - His "birth" was assigned to "Christianize" the
pagan festival.
Even today, honest Bible students understand that the
season, practices and customs associated with the
observance of Christmas are not very "Christian." This
is why we hear "let’s
remember the reason for the season" and "let’s
put Christ back in Christmas." Most
Christians know that the practices and customs do not
really point to or magnify Jesus, though many strain to
make connections.
When you compare the Passover observance with Christmas
observance it becomes painfully evident. Jesus told His
followers to keep the Passover and instructed them in
how to do it. The Passover is observed on the
anniversary of the very day that Jesus was crucified.
The wine represents Jesus’ Blood which was shed for our
redemption and the bread represents His Body beaten for
our healing and crucified for the penalty of our sins.
Jesus introduced foot washing to teach His followers to
be and remain humble servants of one another. And
regarding the Passover, Jesus said, -"Do
this in remembrance of Me."
The practices and customs in Christmas observance cannot
be so easily connected to Jesus. The winter solstice,
December 25 -the practice of bringing an evergreen tree
into your house and decorating it lavishly -placing
gifts under a tree - the hanging of the mistletoe - the
burning of the yule log - a time for family - stringing
your house with lights - hanging stockings - a jolly old
elf named Santa who brings gifts to the good children of
the world - a flying sleigh pulled by flying reindeer -
Yule Tide season - twelve days of Christmas, etc.
You may consider Christmas observance as harmless fun,
but it really is a difficult stretch to make the case
that all the fun stuff you are doing for yourself and
your family is primarily to honor Jesus - which is why
Christians constantly tell each other -"Don’t
forget the reason for the season!"But honestly,
isn’t the reason today basically the same as it was when
the Roman Church introduced it - as a way of
"Christianizing" the things people are already doing or
want to do?
I know that some Christians who do not celebrate
Christmas use Scriptures in which God forbids adding or
taking away from anything that He has commanded - but we
should be careful to not be so strict in our application
of that fact. Hanukkah and Purim which are not named
among God’s appointed times but were added later, were
observed by Jesus and His Apostles. Of course these were
not considered "Holy Days" but as national
commemorations relating to Israel. In America we have
similar commemorations in Independence Day and
Thanksgiving.
Personally, I am convinced that today’s Christmas
observance is nothing but a more morally acceptable
Saturnalia with the name of Christ attached to it. I am
sure in my own mind that God hates the customs used in
the observance of Christmas and that He is not pleased
or honored by the practice.
But what if someone celebrated the birth of Jesus in a
completely different way and on a date which is not
associated with the birth of a pagan god - would that be
wrong - could that honor the Lord? The thought that
would go through my mind is "why
didn’t the Apostles commemorate the birth of Jesus?"
All I know about the event is what they recorded for me
but they received it face to face and directly from the
Lord. Even so, they never observed the day of His birth.
They loved Him with all of their heart and desired to
please and honor Him - yet they never observed the day
of His birth. They had the authority to bind whatever
they were moved to on earth and were promised that it
would be bound in heaven - yet they never observed the
birth of Jesus.
I sometimes wonder, did the subject ever come up? Surely
it must have - I mean, it is the event when God came in
human form as a tiny baby - an event announced by a star
in the heavens and the singing of angels - yet the
Apostles never observed His birth. One may argue that
the Apostles didn’t give a command to not celebrate
Jesus’ birth - that may be true, but sometimes silence
can be deafening.
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