Christmas
This holiday is
probably the biggest of all holidays, and how it got started is
interesting. Before we look into its
origin, let me state a few facts about this day. Christmas, as we are told, is the celebration of the birth of
Christ, But every theologian knows, that whatever day that Christ was born, for
no one on earth knows which day it was, He wasn't born on December 25th! Reading in the Bible we are told in Luke
Chapter 2 verses 8-11 And there were in
the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch
over their flock by night. And, lo,
the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round
about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good
tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour,
which is Christ the Lord. Take note
of the fact that the shepherds were "abiding
in the field," something
they never do in the dead of
winter! Obviously, the Lord was born in
the spring, summer, or fall. Not in the
winter!
The name Christmas, comes
from the Roman Catholics; it is really two words put together "Christ's
Mass" Mass is the bloodless
sacrifice of Christ over and over again.
Each week Catholics "go to Mass."
A few interesting
facts about this day
1.
Drunkenness
is very prevalent on this day.
2.
More
people commit suicide on this day than any other day of the year!
3.
If
this is indeed supposed to be the Lord's birthday, why does a fellow named
"Santa Claus" take center stage on this day?
4.
What
part does the Christmas tree play? What
connection is there between the Christmas tree and the birth of Christ?
Let’s take a look at the historic origin of this day that is called "Christmas."
Excerpts
from the book " History Of The Church" Vol. 3 Chapter 7 Page 2.;
"In the Christmas festival, which from the fourth century spread from Rome
over the entire church, the holy commemoration of the birth of the Redeemer is
associated—to this day, even in Protestant lands—with the wanton merriments
of the pagan Saturnalia. And even in the celebration of Sunday, as it was
introduced by Constantine, and still continues on the whole continent of
Europe, the cultus of the old sun-god Apollo mingles, with the remembrance of
the resurrection of Christ; and demonstrates the great influence which
heathenism still exerts upon Roman and Greek Catholic, and even upon
Protestant, Christendom."
More excerpts from the book
" History Of The Church" Vol. 3 Chapter 7 Page 12; "Notwithstanding
this deep significance and wide popularity, the festival of the birth of the
Lord is of comparatively late institution."
The giving of
presents
Excerpts from the book "
History Of The Church" Vol. 3 Chapter 7 Page 13; "The Christmas
festival was the Christian transformation or regeneration of a series of
kindred heathen festivals the
Saturnalia, Sigillaria, Juvenalia, and Brumalia which were kept in Rome in the month of December, in
commemoration of the golden age of universal freedom and equality, and in honor
of the unconquered sun, and which were great holidays, especially for slaves
and children. This connection
accounts for many customs of the Christmas season, like the giving of
presents to children and to the poor, the lighting of wax tapers, also the
erection of Christmas trees, and gives them a Christian import; while it
also betrays the origin of the many excesses in which the unbelieving world
indulges at this season, Had
the Christmas festival arisen in the period of the persecution, its derivation
from these pagan festivals would be refuted by the then reigning abhorrence of
everything heathen; but in the Nicene age this rigidness of opposition
between the church and the world was in a great measure softened by the general
conversion of the heathen."
It is easy to see . . . .
1.
The
early church fathers did not hold this day or attempt to celebrate the birth of
Christ. History tells us . . . "from
the fourth century spread from Rome"
2.
The
origin of this holiday is heathen, pagan.
3.
No
command can be found in the Bible to celebrate the birthday of Jesus, and if
such a command were to be found, certainly we would be told which day His birth
was! The date was lost because the Apostles did not celebrate the birth of our
Lord, nor did they teach others to do so, hence the date was of no importance
and lost in history.
4.
From
December 21 to the 27th, we have many Pagan feast days that had been
celebrated for over 1500 years before the birth of Christ. Constantine married the Christian religion
with heathenism, along with the Pagan practices of his day. This happened about 300 years after
the birth of Christ!
The
Christmas tree
One of the Pagan practices was to cut down
a tree, then brace it with nails so that it would be able to stand, and then
decorating it with silver and gold.
Does this sound familiar? This
describes the Christmas tree. This
information can be found in your Bible, and many historic books.
Jeremiah
10:3-4 For the customs of the people are
vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the
workman, with the axe. They deck it
with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it
move not.
Could it be?
In the book of
revelations we are told the following,
Revelation 17:5 and upon her forehead a name was written, a mystery,
"Babylon the great, the MOTHER
OF HARLOTS and of the
abominations of the earth. "Many believe this Scripture is referring to
the Roman Catholic Church!
An
Interesting thing!
When Martin Luther, then
a Catholic Monk, nailed his thesis on the door of his Church, he did so because
of many differences he had with the teachings of Roman Catholicism. For
example, indulgences, a practice of the Roman Catholic Church that he was very
much in disagreement with. But then,
Martin accepted most of the forms of worship used in the Catholic Church, just
the way it was without questioning it.
John Wesley did just about the same thing, when he started separate
meetings apart or aside from the Church of England. Remember, the Church of England came out of the Roman Catholic
organization as well, with this one very important difference, the Pope as head
of the Church, was replaced by the King of England!. And on and on it went,
right down the line with the rest of the Protestant Churches, each disavowing
certain things they saw as odious, or unscriptural, but unfortunately they did
not question anything else, they embraced all of the rest of the practices of
the denomination they split from, without realizing that almost all of the form
of worship was straight from Roman Catholicism!
Christmas
is an example of this, when examined, it doesn't look too good, but, most
people don't examine! The name itself, Christmas as said before comes from the Roman Catholics, it is really
two words put together "Christ's Mass" Mass is the bloodless sacrifice of Christ over and over
again. Each week Roman Catholics "go to Mass." If
you learn what the word Mass means the name "Christmas" becomes very
odious.
Where do we go from here?
Before
I became a Christian, I had always celebrated Christmas, and after becoming a
Christian, Christmas took on an even more important place in my life. One day I bought a book, it had a lot of
questions and answers in it about things I knew nothing about. One of these questions was, What
significance does the "Christmas tree" play, and where did it come
from? I had never questioned the part the Christmas tree played at Christmas
time, but now that I knew about the birth of Christ, I was curious about the
part it did play in this very important celebration. I read on in the book, and it lead me to Jeremiah 10:3-4 For
the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest,
the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails
and with hammers, that it move not. At
first I thought, all of Christendom can't be wrong! The reason for having a
Christmas tree is out there, all I have to do is find out what it is. Jeremiah
10:3-4 seemed clear enough to me. I asked many different pastors the reason for
the Christmas tree, it suddenly dawned on me that we are blindly following the
traditions of men, and that in the face of God!
So, I dropped the use of the
tree, but continued to give and receive Christmas presents, but this too began
to prick my conscience, as I could not find any justification for it except in
heathen practices. I began to search
for the truth, and listed most of what I have learned in the beginning of this
tract.
You
might say, "It isn't important one way or the other," my reply is
this, we must maintain a pure conscience before both men and God, if those that
went before us were willing to give up their life, how could I not give up this
small thing for the Lord, and the sake of my conscience!
Remember 1 Corinthians 10:31!
Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever
you do, do all to the glory of God.
A
Test
On one side of a piece
of paper write down the evidence against the use of a tree to celebrate the
birth of Christ. Then on the other side
of the paper list all of the evidence for it's use. After doing this please tell me why is this practice so
prevalent? And that among
Christians! Is it monkey see, monkey
do? Could it be the natural desire of the unregenerate man for Pagan
ritual? Or is it that we aren't
interested enough to find out about all of these holidays and other rituals we
follow and practice so blindly?
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