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THE
TRUTH
ABOUT
CHRISTMAS
(c) January 14, 1995
Revised October 06, 2007
Introduction
Christmas is of heathen origin, therefore it did not originate
under the leadership of the Holy Spirit of whom God said,
"Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you
into all truth: for He shall speak not of Himself, but
whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show
you things to come." (John 16:13). According to history
Christ's birthday was not celebrated until the 4th centaury
after Christ, and then by the Roman Catholic Church.
The
name "Christmas" is an abomination to the Lord. "Christmas" is a
combination of two words, "Christ" and "Mass." Christ is the
Divine title of our Lord. "Mass" is from the Roman Catholic
mass. We believe that church, the Roman Catholic Church, to be
a harlot church and the "mother of harlots." Nothing will stir a
man to anger more quickly than for someone to connect his
mother's name with a harlot. What about blending the title of
our blessed Lord with a harlot church (not his bride)--"Christmass."
I. The Origin of Christmas
According To Standard Encyclopedias
The
fallowing few brief excerpts from standard encyclopedias will
suffice to prove the origin of Christmas.
-
"The celebration was not
observed in the first centuries of the Christian Church, since
the Christian usage in general was to celebrate the death of
remarkable persons rather than their birth.. a feast was
established in memory of Jesus' Birth in the 4th century. In
the 5th century the Western church ordered the feast to be
celebrated on the day of the Mithraic rites of the birth of
the sun and at close of the Saturnalia. ...Most of the customs
now associated with Christmas customs but rather were
pre-Christian and non-Christian customs taken up by the
Christian church. Saturnalia, a Roman feast celebrated in
mid-December, provided the model for many of the merry-making
customs of Christmas. From this celebration, for example, were
derived the elaborated feasting, the giving of gifts, and the
burning of candles." (The Encyclopedia Americana, Vol. VI, p.
622, 1956 edition.)
-
"Christmas Day. There is,
however, a difficulty in accepting this (December 25th) as the
date of the Nativity, December being the height of the rainy
season in Judea, when neither flocks nor shepherds could have
been at night in the fields of Bethlehem. By the fifth
century, however, whether from influence or some tradition, or
from the desire to supplant heathen festivals of that period
of the year, such Saturnalia, the 25th day of December had
been generally agreed upon" (Encyclopedia Britannica. Vol. V.
p. 611, 9th edition).
-
"Christmas was not among the
earliest festivals of the Church. Ireneus and Tertulian omit
it from their lists of feasts... The first evidence of the
feast is from Egypt." (The Catholic Encyclopedia , Vol. III,
p. 724, edition 1908).
-
"The first mention of the
celebration of Christmas occurred in 336 A.D. in an early
Roman calendar, which indicates December 25 as the day of
observance. This celebration was probably influenced by pagan
(unchristian) festivals held at that time. The ancient Romans
held year-end celebrations to honor Saturn, their harvest god:
and Mithras, the god of light. Various people in Northern
Europe held festivals in mid-December to celebrate the end of
the harvest season. As part of all these celebrations, the
people prepared special foods, decorated their homes with
greenery, and joined in singing and gift giving. These customs
gradually became part of the Christmas celebration. The
popularity of Christmas grew until the Reformation, a
religious movement of the 1500's. The movement gave birth to
Protestantism. During the Reformation, many Christians began
to consider Christmas a pagan celebration because it included
nonreligious customs. During the 1600's, because of these
feelings, Christmas was outlawed in England and in parts of
the English colonies in America. However, people continued to
exchange Christmas gifts and soon started to follow the other
old customs again." World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. III, p. 408,
edition 1982.
-
We have shown you what
Encyclopedias say about Christmas and its origin, now let us
look into Scriptures. We believe, according to history that
Christmas is a heathen custom and God said to His people,
"Learn not the way of the heathen, ...for the customs of the
people are vain..." (Jeremiah 10:2-4). This means that
God's people were not to let vain customs of heathen people
become a part of them and their worship. Christmas
celebrations are definitely of vain heathen customs.
-
One writer who is now
convinced of the pagan activities of Christmas said, "I was
brought up on Christmas. It was the greatest holiday in the
Community when we were children, for Christians and
non-Christian alike. I never heard a word spoken against it
until I was over 40 years old! And we did not drop it on the
spur of the moment. We kind of backed out of it over a 3 year
period as we began to learn of its pagan origins and its
non-Christian religious significance."
-
This is the usual testimony
for those of us who were reared, nurtured, and trained in
"Christmas" celebration. While the masses are ignorant of the
facts, the people of God have responsibility to TRY THE
SPIRITS (1 John 4:1). Ignorance is not blest; neither
is it condoned or overlooked by God. God judges after the
facts and truth, not after our silly thoughts or
superstitions.
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You may say, "but does no
the special church services, the exchange of gifts, and the
merry making of December 25, occur because Jesus Christ was
born over 1994 years ago? Did not the New Testament Churches
celebrate Christmas?"
-
Very few mortals living
today dare to investigate the Christmas tradition. Most people
do not care to put their thinking cap on and to think sensible
about these questions. Millions of professed Christians have
their minds already made up and do not care to bother with
Scripture and facts. But let us think seriously about these
things, for truth is more precious than error.
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Someone says, "I know
Christmas is of pagan origin, but I still think it is not
wrong for a Church to have a special time for honoring
Christ's birth."
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The center of the Christian
religion is the deathday of Christ, not His birthday. The
heart of our worship is the death, burial, and resurrection of
the Savior. This is the gospel message which saves a believer.
The birthof Christ is good news, but it is a part of the
gospel of grace. The birthday of Jesus Christ, without His
death and resurrection, hold no comfort for the believer.
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The Devil does not care if
men think about the birth of Christ. He wants to keep their
minds away from the cross of Calvary. His precious blood, and
His glorious resurrection. Satan likes for people to enjoy
Christmas; he delights n all the festivities, programs, and
paganism associated with the holiday season. He is happy with
anything which eliminates the atoning death of the Son of God.
Those who fail to see the adversary of souls in the clutter of
confusion of Christmas have a limited spiritual vision.
II. Why True Missionary
Baptist Churches Should Not Celebrate Christmas
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There is not a single word
in the New Testament, or anywhere else in the Bible, telling
us to observe Christmas. The inspired Apostles of Christ and
the early churches knew nothng of Christmas. If God wanted His
people to celebrate the birth of Christ, why did He not
command us to do it in the Bible? Why did He deliberately hide
the exact day of His Son's birth? The simple answer is the God
did not want His people to celebrate Christmas.
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The Christmas tree,
mistletoe, yule log, Wassal bowl, Holly wreath, Santa Claus,
etc., are heathen origin, therefore they are not of the spirit
of God and should not become part of worship. (Read The
Encyclopedia Americana, Vol. VI, p. 623, edition 1942).
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The Scripture is silent.
Christmas is not stated, nor implied, in the Scriptures, yet
Paul says, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, & is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness, That the man of God may be
perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works" (II
Timothy 3:16-17).
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Why did not the great Jewish
historian, Josephus, record His birth date? Providence
prevented him. Why was not the date carved upon a stone, to be
discovered later by the archaeologists? Providence of God! If
man had found the date of the birth of Jesus to be the 25th of
December, after God had hidden it, then God would not be an
all wise God.
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God purposely recorded only
two birthday celebration in the scriptures and each of them is
connected with murder. One was recorded in the Scriptures
before Jesus was born. It was the feast of Pharaoh's birthday
celebration where the chief baker was hanged and then
beheaded. The other was Herod's birthday celebration where
John the Baptist was murdered. So it would be embarrassing to
try to justify the celebration of the birthday of Jesus, and
the giving of the gifts to one another, by Bible examples
(Read Genesis 40:20-22, Matthew 14-1-10).
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According to the Scriptures,
Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:6). The
shepherds went immediately to the infant Jesus and found Him
in a manger (Luke 2:8-16). When Jesus was born,
evidently the "star" appeared to the wise men of the East
announcing His birth (Matthew 2:2), but the star did
not lead the wise men to Jerusalem, according to the
Scriptures. If they were wise men, they knew that the Messiah
would be born in Bethlehem, and they knew how to get to
Jerusalem without the leadership of the star. There is nothing
in Scripture to indicate that the wise men went immediately,
or soon, to seek the infant Jesus.
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When Jesus was 41 days old,
Joseph and Mary carried Him into the temple in Jerusalem
(Luke 2:22-38; Leviticus 12:2-6). Then they immediately
returned to their home in Nazareth. So the wise men must have
vested the child in the house in Nazareth, (Matthew 2:11).
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The wise men came to
Jerusalem possibly more than a year and a half after Jesus was
born, inquiring for the young child not the infant babe. Herod
naturally thought that the child was in Bethlehem, (Matthew
2:16), but He was in Nazareth (Luke 2:29). No one
in Jerusalem knew where the child was, so the star reappeared
(Matthew 2:9), to the wise men as they were leaving
Herod's palace, to lead them where the child sufficient to
care for them on their trip into Egypt, which they made
immediately after the wise men presented their gifts and left
(Matthew 2:13).
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Matthew 2:16
indicates the age of Jesus when the wise men visited Him, for
Herod "slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in
all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under,
according to the time when he had diligently enquired of the
wise men" (verse 7).
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The wise men gave their
gifts to Jesus: not to one another, and even this did not
happen on the birthday of Jesus. So there is no connection
between Christmas and the birthday of Jesus in this respect.
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Those who make the most of
Christmas celebrations, pretending to honor the birthday of
Jesus, usually are those who make the least of His
resurrection Memorial--the Lord's Day (Sunday). The Lord's day
is desecrated by secular work, open business houses, worldly
amusements, and sports. The Lord did not want His birth
memorialized, yet some men will not observe the Lord's day,
but will close their places of business, or refrain from
working on Christmas day.
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We are not to remember Jesus
Christ after the flesh now, except as historically, not
memorially. "Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the
flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more" (II
Corinthians 5:16). "But God forbid that I should glory,
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ..." (Galatians
6:14). We are not to glory in His Flesh: "For I determined
not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him
crucified" (I Corinthians 2:2). (Not in His birth).
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Christmas traditions are not
in harmony with the Scriptures. (a) Old man (Santa
Claus" (a Roman Catholic monk) is the central character of
Christmas, and has no Scriptural connection with the child
Jesus. (b) The gifts of the wise men were gifts of
gratitude and worship, but best of their substance, given to
Jesus, not to one another. (c) The traditional winter
scene-evergreen trees and artificial snow does not harmonize
with the shepherds being in the fields with their flocks.
(d) All manner of fireworks and miniature implements of
war can have no connection with the birth of the "King of
Peace." (e) Most all Christmas cards are centered
around wishing one "A Merry Christmas." The word "merry"
occurs more than twenty-five times in the Scriptures, and
almost, if not every time it is used, it has reference to the
natural man. The natural man does not rejoice in the Savior,
Wishing one a "Sacred Christmas" would be more becoming than
wishing one a "merry Christmas." Is "merry making" a Christian
Attitude according to the Scripture?
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Christmas time is a time of
social enjoyment and merry making, rather than that of
spiritual gratitude and joy in the Savior. Can one really and
truthfully say that his actual motive for observing Christmas
celebrations is, that the Savior was born in Bethlehem nearly
over two-thousand years ago?
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Vain worship is promoted by
Christmas programs, which are doctrines of men. Jesus said to
the Pharisees: "This people draweth nigh unto me with their
mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is
far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for
doctrine the commandments of men" (Matthew 15:8-9).
This statement was true when the Lord uttered it in
(Isaiah29:13); true when Jesus repeated it during His
ministry, and it is true in a large measure today concerning
Christmas programs. Proof: People will sing in Christmas and
Easter programs who cannot be depended upon at any other time,
and many who do not attend Church regularly, will go to swell
the crowds at these programs. The largest crowds in the Church
for the year will be at those two programs. Be not deceived;
the class of people who go to make up this supplementary crowd
are not usually attracted by things of a spiritual nature.
These statements are not made up to reflect upon true
Christians, but merely to identify the true type of program it
is that will attract the carnally minded, and the Christmas
programs do attract such. Remember that "he that is joined
unto the Lord is one spirit" (I Corinthians 6:17), not
one flesh, or carnal mind.
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Paul said: "Beware lest any
man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the
tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not
after Christ" (Colossians 2:8).
Conclusion
My
beloved brethren, let me beg you not to disgrace your Christ by
participating in the heathenish Christmas
Do
not burden yourself with the things of the world. You are under
no obligation to observe Christmas--not, not to anyone. However,
you are under obligation to God to renounce such unscriptural,
heathenish customs. Take your stand for Him! Only headaches,
heartaches, nightmares, burdens--both physical, spiritual, and
financial--are in store for disobedient.
Think upon these five facts about "Christmas," (1)
"Christmas" did not originate with God, but with the heathen of
Babylon. (2) "Christmas" is not Christ's birthday, but
the so-called birthday of the son of the Babylonian (queen of
heaven." (3) Neither God the Father, the Son, or the
Scriptures teach us by command or example to celebrate the birth
of Christ. Thus, such a celebration can only be a "commandment
of men" (Matthew 15:9). (4) The Roman Catholic
Church brought this pagan celebration over from Babylon and
tacked the name Christ to it, in order to overawe the heathen
and gain converts. (5) It was not until the third and
fourth centuries after the birth of Christ, that any professing
Christians observed "Christmas," and then it was opposed by all
sound and true Missionary Baptist Churches at the time and until
now. Brethren, "Learn not the way of the heathen" (Jeremiah
10:2).
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Bethel Missionary
Baptist:
The name Bethel comes from the Hebrew beth,
meaning house, and el, meaning God.
Bethel means "The House of God."
A Church in the Philippines |
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