THE PLAIN TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS
Where did the world get Christmas?
... from the Bible, or paganism?
Here are the astonishing
facts which may shock you! Test yourself. How much do you know of the
origin of the Christmas tree -- of "Santa
Claus" -- of the mistletoe -- of the holly wreath -- of
the custom of exchanging gifts? WHEN I was a very little boy, I was
taught to hang up my stockings on Christmas eve. When I awakened the
next morning, they were filled with small toys and sacks or little boxes
of candy and nuts.
And beside the mantle, from which my stockings hung, a Christmas
tree had suddenly appeared, decorated with shiny tinsel. And on it hung
presents. Other presents for us children were piled on the floor
underneath.
I was told Santa Claus had come down the chimney during the night
and left all these things.
But did I question
what my parents had told me? Of course not. I accepted it -- took it all
for granted. Didn't you?
Stop and think
a moment! Very few have ever reflected on why they believe what they do
-- why they follow the customs they do, or from where those customs
came. We were born into a world filled with customs. We grew up
accepting them without question.
Why? Sheep
instinct? Well, not exactly.
But by
nature we do tend to follow the crowd, whether right or wrong. Sheep
follow others to the slaughter. Humans ought to check up where they are
going.
How -- when did
Christmas originate?
Does Christmas
really celebrate the birthday of Christ? Was Jesus born on December
25th?
Did the original
apostles, who knew Jesus personally and were taught by Him, celebrate
His birthday on December 25th? Did they celebrate it at all?
If Christmas is
the chief of the Christian holidays, why do so many non-Christians
observe it? Do you know?
Why do people
exchange presents with family members, friends, relatives, at Christmas
time? Was it because the wise men presented gifts to the Christ-child?
The answer may surprise you.
Most people have
"supposed" a lot of things
about Christmas that are not true. But let's quit "supposing" and get
the facts!
What Encyclopedias Say
The word "Christmas" means "Mass of Christ," or, as it came to be
shortened, "Christ-Mass." It
came to non-Christians and Protestants from the Roman Catholic Church.
And where did they get it? NOT from the New Testament
-- NOT from the Bible -- NOT from the
original apostles who were personally instructed by Christ -- but it
gravitated in the fourth century into the Roman Church from paganism.
Since the
celebration of Christmas has come to the world from the Roman Catholic
Church, and has no authority but that of the Roman Catholic Church, let
us examine the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 edition, published by that
church. Under the heading "Christmas," you will find:
"Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the
Church ... the first evidence of the feast is from Egypt." "Pagan
customs centering around the January calends gravitated to
Christmas."
And in the same
encyclopedia, under the heading "Natal
Day," we find that the early Catholic father, Origen,
acknowledged this truth: "... In the
Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great
banquet on his birthday. It is only sinners [like Pharaoh and Herod] who
make great rejoicings over the day in which they were born into this
world" (emphasis
ours).
Encyclopedia
Britannica, 1946 edition, has this: "Christmas (i.e., the Mass of
Christ) .... Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of
the church ...." It was not instituted by Christ or the
apostles, or by Bible authority. It was picked up afterward from
paganism. The Encyclopedia Americana, 1944 edition, says: "Christmas .... It was, according to many authorities, not
celebrated in the first centuries of the Christian church, as the
Christian usage in general was to celebrate the death of remarkable
persons rather than their birth ...." (The "Communion," which is
instituted by New Testament Bible authority, is a memorial of the death
of Christ.) "... A feast was
established in memory of this event [Christ's
birth] in the fourth century. In the fifth century the Western
Church ordered it to be celebrated forever on the day of the old Roman
feast of the birth of Sol, as no certain knowledge of the day of
Christ's birth existed."
Now notice!
These recognized historical authorities show Christmas was not observed
by Christians for the first two or three hundred years -- a period
longer than the entire history of the United States as a nation! It got
into the Western, or Roman, Church, by the fourth century A.D. It was
not until the fifth century that the Roman Church ordered it to be
celebrated as an official Christian festival!
Jesus Not Born
December 25th
Jesus was not even born in
the winter season! When the Christ-child was born "there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the
field, keeping watch over their flock by night" (Luke
2:8). This never could have occurred in Judaea in the
month of December. The shepherds always brought their flocks from the
mountainsides and fields and corralled them not later than October 15,
to protect them from the cold, rainy season that followed that date.
Notice that the Bible itself proves, in Song
of Solomon 2:11 and Ezra
10:9, 13, that winter was a rainy season not permitting
shepherds to abide in open fields at night.
"It was an ancient custom among Jews of those days to send
out their sheep to the fields and deserts about the Passover (early spring), and bring them home at commencement
of the first rain," says the Adam Clarke Commentary
(Vol. 5, page 370, New York
ed.)
Continuing, this
authority states: "During the time they were
out, the shepherds watched them night and day. As ... the first rain
began early in the month of Marchesvan, which answers to part of our
October and November [begins sometime in
October], we find that the sheep were kept out in the open
country during the whole summer. And, as these shepherds had not yet
brought home their flocks, it is a presumptive argument that October had
not yet commenced, and that, consequently, our Lord was not born on the
25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields; nor could He
have been born later than September, as the flocks were still in the
fields by night. On this very ground, the nativity in December should be
given up. The feeding of the flocks by night in the fields is a
chronological fact ... See the quotations from the Talmudists in
Lightfoot."
Any
encyclopedia, or any other authority, will tell you that Christ was not
born on December 25. The Catholic Encyclopedia frankly states this fact.
The exact date
of Jesus' birth is entirely unknown, as all authorities acknowledge --
though if I had space in this booklet I could show you scriptures which
at least strongly indicate it was in the early fall -- probably
September approximately six months after Passover.
If God had
wished us to observe and celebrate Christ's birthday, He would not have
so completely hidden the exact date.
How This Pagan Custom Got into the
Church
Then how did this pagan custom creep into
the Western Christian world?
The New
Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge explains it clearly,
in its article on "Christmas": "How much the
date of the festival depended upon the pagan Brumalia (Dec. 25) following the Saturnalia (Dec. 17-24),
and celebrating the shortest day of the year and the 'new sun' ...
cannot be accurately determined. The pagan Saturnalia and Brumalia were
too deeply entrenched in popular custom to be set aside by Christian
influence .... The pagan festival with its riot and merrymaking was so
popular that Christians were glad of an excuse to continue its
celebration with little change in spirit and in manner. Christian
preachers of the West and the Near East protested against the unseemly
frivolity with which Christ's birthday was celebrated, while Christians
of Mesopotamia accused their Western brethren of idolatry and sun
worship for adopting as Christian this pagan festival."
Remember, the
Roman world had been pagan. Prior to the fourth century, Christians were
few in number, though increasing, and were persecuted by the government
and by pagans. But, with the advent of Constantine as emperor, who made
his profession of Christianity in the fourth century, placing
Christianity on an equal footing with paganism, people of the Roman
world began to accept this now-popular Christianity by the hundreds of
thousands.
But remember,
these people had grown up in pagan customs, chief of which was this
idolatrous festival of December 25th. It was a festival of merrymaking,
with its special spirit. They enjoyed it! They didn't want to give it
up! Now this same article in the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of
Religious Knowledge explains how the recognition by Constantine of
Sunday, which had been the day of pagan sun worship, and how the
influence of the pagan Manichaeism, which identified the
SON of God with the physical SUN, gave
these pagans of the fourth century, now turning over wholesale to
"Christianity," their excuse
for calling their pagan-festival date of December 25th (birthday of the SUN-god), the birthday of
the SON of God.
And that is how
"Christmas" became fastened
on our Western world! We may call it by another name, but it's the same
old pagan sun-worshipping festival still! The only change is in what we
call it! You can call a rabbit a "lion," but it's still a rabbit, just the
same.
Again from the
Encyclopaedia Britannica: "Certain Latins,
as early as 354, may have transferred the birthday from January 6th to
December 25, which was then a Mithraic feast ... or birthday of the
unconquered SUN ... The Syrians and Armenians, who clung to January 6th,
accused the Romans of sun worship and idolatry, contending ... that the
feast of December 25th, had been invented by disciples of Cerinthus
...."
The Real
Origin of Christmas
But if we got
Christmas from the Roman Catholics, and they got it from paganism, where
did the pagans get it? Where, when, and what was its real origin?
It is a chief
custom of the corrupt system denounced all through Bible prophecies and
teachings under the name of Babylon. And it started and originated in
the original Babylon of ancient Nimrod! Yes, it stems from roots whose
beginning was shortly this side of the Flood!
Nimrod, grandson
of Ham, son of Noah, was the real founder of the Babylonish system that
has gripped the world ever since -- the system of organized competition
-- of man -- ruled governments and empires, based upon the competitive
and profit-making economic system. Nimrod built the tower of Babel, the
original Babylon, ancient Nineveh, and many other cities. He organized
this world's first kingdom. The name Nimrod, in Hebrew, is derived
from "Marad," meaning
"he rebelled."
From many
ancient writings, considerable is learned of this man, who started the
great organized worldly apostasy from God that has dominated this world
until now. Nimrod was so evil, it is said he married his own mother,
whose name was Semiramis. After Nimrod's untimely death, his so-called
mother-wife, Semiramis, propagated the evil doctrine of the survival of
Nimrod as a spirit being. She claimed a full-grown evergreen tree sprang
overnight from a dead tree stump, which symbolized the springing forth
to new life of the dead Nimrod. On each anniversary of his birth, she
claimed, Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts upon it.
December 25th was the birthday of Nimrod. This is the real origin of the
Christmas tree.
Through her
scheming and designing, Semiramis became the Babylonian "Queen of Heaven," and Nimrod, under
various names, became the
"divine son of
heaven."
Through the generations, in this idolatrous worship,
Nimrod also became the false Messiah, son of Baal the Sun-god. In this
false Babylonish system, the "Mother and
Child" (Semiramis and Nimrod
reborn) became chief objects of worship. This worship of
"Mother and Child" spread
over the world.
The names varied in different countries
and languages. In Egypt it was Isis and Osiris.
In Asia, Cybele and Deoius. In pagan Rome, Fortuna and
Jupiterpuer. Even in Greece, China, Japan and Tibet is to be found the
counterpart of the Madonna, long before the birth of Christ!
Thus, during the
fourth and fifth centuries, when the pagans of the Roman world were
"accepting" the new popular "Christianity" by the hundreds of thousands,
carrying their old pagan customs and beliefs along with them, merely
cloaking them with Christian-sounding names, the Madonna and "Mother and
Child" idea also became popularized, especially at Christmas time.
Every Christmas season you'll hear sung and
chanted dozens of times the hymn "Silent
Night, Holy Night," with its familiar "Mother and Child" theme. We, who have
been born in such a babylonish world, reared and steeped in these things
all our lives, have been taught to revere these things as holy and
sacred. We never questioned to see where they came from -- whether they
came from the Bible, or from pagan idolatry!
We are shocked
to learn the truth -- some, unfortunately, take offense at the plain
truth! But God commands His faithful ministers, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet,
and show my people their transgression!" Shocking as
these facts are, they are the plain facts of history and the Bible!
The real origin
of Christmas goes back to ancient Babylon. It is bound up in the
organized apostasy which has gripped a deceived world these many
centuries! In Egypt, it was always believed that the son of Isis
(Egyptian name for "Queen of Heaven") was born
December 25th. Paganism celebrated this famous birthday over most of the
known world for centuries before the birth of Christ.
December 25th is
not the birthday of Jesus the true Christ! The apostles and early true
Church never celebrated Christ's birthday at any time. There is no
command or instruction to celebrate it in the Bible -- rather, the
celebrating of birthdays is a pagan, not a Christian custom, believe it
or not!
Thus the ancient
idolatrous "Chaldean
Mysteries," founded by this wife of Nimrod, have been
handed down through the pagan religions under new Christian-sounding
names.
Origin of Holly Wreath, Mistletoe, Yule
Log Now where did we
get this mistletoe custom? Among the ancient pagans the mistletoe was
used at this festival of the winter solstice because it was considered
sacred to the sun, because of its supposed miraculous healing power. 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. Mistletoe, sacred in pagan festivals, is
a parasite!
Holly berries
were also considered sacred to the sun-god. The yule log is in reality
the "sun log." "Yule" means
"wheel," a pagan symbol of
the sun. Yet today professing Christians speak of the "sacred yule-tide season"!
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
reached the lowest place in the southern skies!
The Encyclopedia
Americana says: "The holly, the mistletoe,
the Yule log ... are relics of pre-Christian times." Of
paganism!
The book
"Answers to Questions",
compiled by Frederick J. Haskins, found in public libraries, says:
"The use of Christmas wreaths is believed by
authorities to be traceable to the pagan customs of decorating buildings
and places of worship at the feast which took place at the same time as
Christmas. The Christmas tree is from Egypt, and its origin dates from a
period long anterior to the Christian Era."
Yes, and Even Santa
Claus!
But surely dear old Santa
Claus is not a creature of pagan birth? But he is, and his real
character is not so benevolent and holy as many suppose!
The name
"Santa Claus" is a
corruption of the name "St.
Nicholas," a Roman Catholic bishop who lived in the 5th
century. Look in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, volume 19, pages 648-649,
11th edition, where you'll read: "St.
Nicholas, bishop of Myra, a saint honored by the Greeks and Latins on
the 6th of December .... A legend of his surreptitious bestowal of
dowries on the three daughters of an impoverished citizen ... is said to
have originated the old custom of giving presents in secret on the Eve
of St. Nicholas [Dec. 6], subsequently
transferred to Christmas day. Hence the association of Christmas with
Santa Claus ...."
Through the
year, parents punish their children for telling falsehoods. Then, at
Christmas time, they themselves tell their little children this
"Santa Claus" lie! Is it any
wonder many of them, when they grow up and learn the truth, begin to
believe God is a myth, too?
One little
fellow, sadly disillusioned about "Santa
Claus," said to a playmate,
"Yes, and I'm going to look into this 'Jesus Christ' business,
too!" Is it Christian to teach children myths and
falsehoods? God says, "you shalt not bear
false witness!" It may seem right, and be justified by
human reason, but God says, "There is a way
that seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of
death!" "Old
Nick" also is a term for the devil! Is there a
connection? Satan appears as an "angel of
light," to deceive! (II Cor.
11:14; Rev. 12:9.)
And so when we
examine the facts, we are astonished to learn that the practice of
observing Christmas is not, after all, a true Christian practice, but a
pagan custom -- one of the ways of Babylon our people have fallen into!
What the Bible Says About the Christmas Tree
But if the Bible
is silent about telling us to observe Christmas, or recording any such
observance by the apostles or early true Church, it does have something
to say about the Christmas tree!
This will come
as a real surprise to many. But here it is:
Jeremiah 10:2-6: "Thus says the Lord, Learn not the way
of the heathen .... 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."
There is a
perfect description of the Christmas tree, termed by the Eternal as
"the way of the heathen -- the customs of
the people." We are commanded not to learn that way or
follow it! It is also viewed in this passage as idolatry. The fifth
verse shows that these trees cannot speak -- cannot walk -- must be
carried. "Be not afraid of them; for they
[the trees] cannot do evil, neither also
is it in them to do good." They are not gods to be
feared. Some people misread this to make it say there is no harm in
having a Christmas tree, but that is not what it says.
Isn't Exchanging Gifts
Scriptural?
But when it comes to
the most important part of all in this Christmas observance -- the
Christmas shopping season -- the buying and exchanging of gifts -- many
will exclaim triumphantly, "Well, at least
the Bible tells us to do that! Didn't the wise men give gifts when
Christ was born?"
Again, we are
due for some surprises, when we learn the plain truth. First, let's look
at the historic origin of trading gifts back and forth, then see exactly
what the Bible does say about it.
From the
Bibliotheca Sacra, volume 12, pages 153-155, we quote: "The interchange of presents between friends is
characteristic of Christmas and the Saturnalia, and must have been
adopted by Christians from the Pagans, as the admonition of Tertullian
plainly shows."
The fact is,
this custom fastened upon people of exchanging gifts with friends and
relatives at the Christmas season has not a single trace of Christianity
about it, strange though that may seem! This does not celebrate Christ's
birthday nor honor it or Him! Suppose someone you love has a birthday.
You want to honor that person on his or her birthday. Would you lavishly
buy gifts for everyone else, trading gifts back and forth with all your
other friends and loved ones, but ignore completely any gift for the
one whose birthday you are honoring? Rather absurd, when viewed in that
light, isn't it?
Yet this is
exactly what people the world over are doing! They honor a day that is
not Christ's birthday by spending every dime they can scrape together in
buying presents to trade back and forth among friends and relatives. But
I can say by years of experience, as I believe most pastors and
ministers can say, that when the month of December rolls around,
nearly all professing Christians forget to give gifts to Christ and His
cause almost altogether! December often is the most difficult month to
keep Christ's work from dying! People are too busy trading gifts back
and forth among themselves to think of Him and His Work, it seems. Then,
in January and even into February it seems they have to catch up from
what they spent for Christmas, so they seldom get back to normal in
supporting Christ and His Work before March!
Now consider
what the Bible says about the wise men giving gifts when Christ was
born. It is in Matthew 2:1-11.
"Now when
Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king,
behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is
he that is born King of the Jews? ... And when they were come into the
house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and
worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented
to HIM gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh."
Why Gifts Presented to Christ
Notice, they
inquired for the child Jesus, who was born KING of the
Jews! Now why did they present gifts to Him? Because it was His
birthday? Not at all, because they came several days or weeks after the
date of His birth! Was it to set an example for us, today, to trade
gifts back and forth among ourselves? No, notice carefully! They did not
exchange gifts among themselves, but "they
presented to HIM gifts." They gave their gifts to
Christ, not to their friends, relatives, or one another!
Why? Let me
quote from the Adam Clarke Commentary, volume 5, page 46:
"Verse 11. (They
presented to him gifts.) The people of the east never approach
the presence of kings and great personages, without a present in their
hands. The custom is often noticed in the Old Testament, and still
prevails in the east, and in some of the newly discovered South Sea
Islands."
There it is!
They were not instituting a new Christian custom of exchanging gifts
with friends to honor Christ's birthday. They were following an old and
ancient eastern custom of presenting gifts to a king when they came into
his presence. They were approaching Him, born KING of
the Jews, in person. Therefore custom required they present gifts
even as the Queen of Sheba brought gifts to Solomon -- even as many
people today take a gift along when they visit the White House for an
appointment with the President.
No, the custom
of trading gifts back and forth does not stem from this scriptural
incident at all, but rather, as quoted from history above, it is the
continuance of an ancient pagan custom. Instead of honoring Christ, it
invariably retards His Work, often sets it back, at the Christmas season
every year.
Does It Really Honor Christ?
Now come two arguments often used
to justify Christmas observance.
1) Many will reason this way:
"But, even though the exact date of Jesus'
birth is unknown, should we not select some date to celebrate as His
birthday?" The answer is positively no! Did you not
notice the statement quoted from the Catholic Encyclopedia:
"Sinners alone, not saints, celebrate their
birthdays." The celebration of birthdays is not a
Christian, but a pagan custom, observed by sinners!
2) But, many still reason, "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."
But how does
GOD answer in His Word? "Take heed to yourself that you be not snared by following
them [the pagans in their customs] ... that
you enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve
their gods? even so will I do likewise. you shalt not do so to the
Lord your God: for every abomination to the Eternal, which he hates,
have they done to their gods" (Deut. 12:30-31).
God says plainly
in His Instruction Book to us, that He will not accept that kind of
worship, even though intended in His honor. To Him, He says, it is
offering what is abominable to Him, and therefore it honors, not Him,
but false pagan gods. GOD says we must not worship Him
according to the "dictates of our own
conscience" -- a term we often hear. But Jesus said
plainly, "God is a spirit: and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John
4:24). And what is truth? God's Word -- the Holy Bible
-- said Jesus, is truth (John
17:17); and the Bible says God will not accept worship
when people take a pagan custom or manner of worship and try to honor
Christ with it.
Again, Jesus
said: "In vain they do worship me, teaching
for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matt. 15:9).
Christmas observance is a tradition of men, and the commandments of God,
as quoted, forbid it. Jesus said, further, "full well youreject the commandment of God, that youmay
keep your own tradition."
That is
precisely what the millions are doing today. They ignore the commandment
of God. He commands, regarding taking the customs of the pagans and
using them to honor or worship God: "you
shalt not do so to the Lord your God." Still, most
people today take that command of God lightly, or as having no validity
whatsoever, and follow the tradition of men in observing Christmas.
Make no mistake!
God will allow you to defy and disobey Him. He will allow you to follow
the crowd and the traditions of men. He will allow you to sin. But He
also says there is a day of reckoning coming. As you sow, so shall you
reap! Jesus was the living Word of God in Person, and the Bible is the
written Word of God. And we shall be judged, for eternity, by these
words! They should not be taken lightly or ignored.
We're in Babylon, and Haven't Known
It Christmas has
become a commercial season. It's sponsored, kept alive, by the heaviest
retail advertising campaigns of the year. You see a masqueraded
"Santa Claus" in many
stores. Ads keep us deluded and deceived about the "beautiful Christmas spirit." The
newspapers, who sell the ads, print flowery editorials exalting and
eulogizing the pagan season, and its "spirit." A gullible people has become
so inoculated, many take offense when told the truth. But the
"Christmas spirit" is
created each year, not to honor Christ, but to sell merchandise! Like
all Satan's delusions, it appears as an "angel of light," is made to appear good.
Billions of dollars are spent in this merchandising spree every
year, while the cause of Christ must suffer! It's part of the economic
system of Babylon!
We have
professed to be Christian nations, but we're in Babylon, as Bible
prophecy foretold, and we don't know it! "Come out of her, my people, that yoube not partakers of
her sins, and that youreceive not of her plagues" -- now
soon to fall -- is the warning of Revelation
18:4.
This year, instead of gift trading,
why not put that money into God's Work?
Author unknown!
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