This post will not be popular. (And that is kind of the point) Many things done today by people who call on the the name of the Lord are done because that is what they are taught.
“I do it this way because my parents did it that way.”
“I believe this and do this because that is what the Baptists/Lutherans/Catholics/Calvinists believe.”
Does anyone step back and say, what does the Bible say? Does anyone step back and say, what does the Spirit say?
These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
(1Jn 2:26-27)
If we are abiding in Christ, then we are in need of no teacher as we have the Holy Spirt of God Himself to teach us. This is the perfect teacher. A quick note, if you do NOT have the Spirit of God residing in you, you ARE in need of a teacher to guild you to salvation and this is one of my goals here.
Furthermore there is specific rebuke of the traditions of men. We are to follow after the Lord as already written and we do not add to or take away.
Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
(Mar 7:5-9)
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.
(Col 2:8)
Is Christmas just another tradition of men? Let us find out.
Here are all the scriptures that mention Christmas and/or the celebration of it:
Did you notice that? There are none. Not a single verse in the entire Bible mentions Christmas.
This means that the tradition of Christmas is completely extra-biblical. It is of men, but is it a violation of God’s law. An easy test is to see the fruit that comes from Christmas.
Does Christmas focus on Jesus? For most people the answer is “no.” They may mention Him and His birth and the wise men, but the main focus is on family (people not God), food (gluttony is commonplace), Santa/Spirit of Christmas (false spirits/lies/magic), alcohol (drunkeness), and presents (selfishness and worldliness). Even in the most “Christian” of homes the only item that is taken out is the alcohol. What are we told about fruit?
For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.
(Luk 6:43-44)
Lets look to the history of Christmas, what did it look like in the 1600’s? In the 1600’s the Puritans (a reformation sect) banned Christmas because, according to “Stephen W. Nissenbaum, “Christmas in Early New England, 1620-1820: Puritanism, Popular Culture, and the Printed Word”, Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 106:1:79 (January 1, 1996)”
“The holiday they suppressed was not what we probably mean when we think of a ‘traditional’ Christmas… [I]t involved behavior that most of us would find offensive and even shocking today — rowdy public displays of excessive eating and drinking, the mockery of established authority, aggressive begging (often combined with the threat of doing harm), even the boisterous invasion of wealthy homes.”
Also written into the Massachusetts law itself is:
“For preventing disorders arising in several places within this jurisdiction, by reason of some still observing such festivals as were superstitiously kept in other countries, to the great dishonor of God & offense of others, it is therefore ordered … that whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas or the like, either by for-bearing of labor, feasting, or any other way, upon any such account as aforesaid, every such person so offending shall pay for every such offense five shillings, as a fine to the county” (Charters and General Laws of the Colony 119; Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay 366).
Even the puritans looked to the fruit of this festival and saw nothing but rottenness, they obviously tried to legislate it away and that is where they errored. (Another topic for another day)
Furthermore, according to The Battle for Christmas, the puritans saw it as a Christian covering for a pagan celebration (Saturnalia).
“It was only in the fourth century that the Church officially decided to observe Christmas on December 25. And this date was chosen not for religious reasons but simply because it happened to mark the approximate arrival of the winter solstice, an event that was celebrated long before the advent of Christianity. The puritans were correct when they pointed out – and they pointed it out often – that Christmas was nothing but a pagan festival covered with a Christian veneer. The Reverend Increase Mather of Boston, for example, accurately observed in 1687 that the early Christians who first observed the Nativity on December 25 did not do so ‘thinking that Christ was born in that month, but because the Heathens Saturnalia was at that time kept in Rome, and they were willing to have those Pagan holidays metamorphosed into Christian ones.’”
This brings up a good point, when did this celebration begin and what was it’s fruits back then?
It would seem that the current earliest reference to Christmas is from non-other than Rome, the Catholic Church (The Chronography of 354 AD. Part 12: Commemorations of the Martyrs. MGH Chronica Minora I (1892), pp.71-2.):
| Ian. | natus Christus in Betleem Iudeae. |
So the first celebration documented is by the apostate Catholic Church. Definitely not a good start there.
The fruits of the Catholic Church are too many to count and this fruit is rotten. Some examples: pedophilia (CNN), murder(Waldensians), torture(Inquisition), oppression(No Bible in native language), ect.
Ok what about the date, is December 25th Jesus’ birthday. Don’t know. There are many reasons Christmas could be on December 25th: winter solstice(I kid you not), calculated upon another assumed data of conception being March 25th, to appropriate Sol Invictus the birth of the Sun in Rome, or its relation to pagan celebrations like: Jews: Festival of Lights, Rome: Saturnalia, Celtic: Balder (Sun God) who was killed by mistletoe arrow, Germans: Yule Festival and Wild Hunt.
So we don’t know the date of Jesus’ birth, there is confusion around why December 25th was chosen. Who is not the author of confusion?
For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
(1Co 14:33)
Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
(Jas 3:13-17)
So if God is not the author of confusion and where confusion is there is envy and strife, then this date is not from God.
To summarize so far, Christmas comes from the Catholic Church as they were the first to celebrate, it has terrible fruit and is likely dated to Christianize pagan festivals or in worship of the sun. This alone is enough to stop celebrating.
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
(2Co 6:14-18)
The Christmas tree, where does it come from and how does it point to Christ? The Catholics are at it again with Boniface:
“
Boniface steadied the nerves of his friends and as they approached the pagan gathering [in Germany] he said, “Here is the Thunder Oak; and here the cross of Christ shall break the hammer of the false god Thor.”[4] Boniface and his friends arrived at the time of the sacrifice, which was interrupted by their presence. In a show of great trust in God and born from a desire to enkindle the fire of Christ in the German pagans, Boniface grabbed an axe and chopped down the Thunder Oak of mighty Thor.
The Germans were astounded. The holy bishop preached the Gospel to the people and used a little fir tree that was behind the now felled oak tree as a tool of evangelization. Pointing to it he said,
“This little tree, a young child of the forest, shall be your holy tree tonight. It is the wood of peace… It is the sign of an endless life, for its leaves are ever green. See how it points upward to heaven. Let this be called the tree of the Christ-child; gather about it, not in the wild wood, but in your own homes; there it will shelter no deeds of blood, but loving gifts and rites of kindness.”[5]
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/st-boniface-and-the-christmas-tree
So the Catholics are at again creating and appropriating pagan rituals and making a “Christian” version.
Where does the exchanging of gifts come from? It comes from the Roman celebration of Saturnalia where gifts were given in middle to late December to celebrate Saturn a pagan God.
What about Santa? How does lying to our children about a home invader glorify Christ?
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
(Rev 21:8)
Santa is robed in very similar way to this:
And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
(Rev 1:13-14)
And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
(Rev 19:13)
Santa also has a false spirit and does magic. See where those who do such things go above. (Rev 21:8)
Oh but this is just fun stuff, it is just fun for the children. Is sin fun?
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
(1Co 13:6)
Should we train up our children in pagan ways because they are fun?
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
(Pro 22:6)
Everyone, if you call on Jesus, then stay away from traditions of men. Stay away from Christmas and all of its pagan roots. Reject the world and its ways, and follow after Christ in all truth and sincerity. Celebrate how Jesus is come every day and then thank Him for His perfect life and His death, burial, and resurrection. Thank Him for His blood that washes those who follow after Him white as snow.
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
(Rev 1:5-6)
And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
(Rev 7:14)
Do not listen to the world, instead listen to our Lord calling you to His Righteousness:
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
(Rev 22:17)