The TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS

The following paper is a compilation from several different articles posted on America on Line and the Internet. The papers have different focuses, including the origin and history of Christmas, the background of the man who became known as Santa Clause,and the original meaning of the evergreen tree. In addition to informing the reader of the roots of the customs celebrated today, I will attempt to look at these customs from a Christian perspective.

It is not uncommon for Christains to pray to the Lord asking that He bring them into a closer relationship with him. The first step to obtaining this closer relationship is to overcome the flesh in another area of our lives. Many times we resort to natural ability to reason instead of being open to the voice of the Holy Spirit. We rationalize, "surely this is not bad" without researching the bible and trying to find out what God thinks about it.

The true Church will be very unpopular, especially in the eyes of false churches. The teachings of God's true Churches will be looked upon as foolishness by people who are not saved.

Notice (1 Corinthians 2:14 NASB) But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

What is popular with God is unpopular with the majority of men and vice-versa!

As Christians, we have the mind of Christ, but we are swayed by the world. We do things out of habit or simply because "that's the way we have always done it", not stopping to consider what the Lord thinks about them.

(Romans 8:5 NASB) For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,

7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so;

8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Before we enter into this study, pray with me that the Holy Spirit would open the eyes and ears of our spiritual understanding, that we might receive what the Lord has to tell us.

The world and Christmas. Here is one thing which, if it were the only thing, would prove to me that Christmas celebrating is not of God. It is this; the world which hates Christ and His blood atonement for sin, look at Christmas as a time to revel and feast and celebrate.

If in reality December 25th was a date set by God to remember the birth of Jesus, the world would not have anything to do with it. There would be absolutely no response by the rank and file of mankind. "For the natural man receiveth not he things of the Spirit of God" (1 Cor. 2:14). Then how can an obedient child of God, or a church or a gathering of Christians, the drugged and reeling world in their abominable idolatry and sin of Christ-mass festivities?

And who is it that celebrates "Christmas?" The whole "civilized world." Millions who make no profession of faith in the blood of the Lamb, who "despise and reject Him," and millions more who while claiming to be His followers yet in works deny Him, join in merrymaking under the pretense of honoring the birth of the Lord Jesus. Putting it on it's lowest ground, we would ask, is it fitting that His friends should unite with His enemies in a worldly round of fleshly gratification? Does any true born again soul really think that He whom the world cast out is either pleased or glorified by such participation in the world's joys?

Thousands of evangelical believers who would be horrified and deeply depressed to find a professor smoking or drinking or dancing, calmly and deliberately indulge in idolatries of the heathen at Christmas time.. And those who know and love the truth are counted to be narrow minded and sacrilegious if a protest is raised. So, such honest souls are forced to stand aside and witness annually this glittering cloud of pagan. And as we watch parents, who loudly proclaim the necessity of truthfulness in children, who advocate the need of so many social reformations and who bemoan the juvenile delinquency which prevails, deliberately teach their unsuspecting little ones, the monstrous Santa Claus lie.

Some will argue for the "keeping of Christmas" on the ground of "giving the kiddies a good time." But why do this under the cloak of honoring the Savior's birth? Why is it necessary to drag in His holy Name in connection with what takes place at that season of carnal jollification? Is this taking the little one with you out of Egypt, a type of the world, or is it not plainly a mingling with the present day Egyptians in their "pleasures of sin for a season?" (Heb. 11:25) Scripture says, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Prov. 22:6) Scripture does command God's people to bring up their children "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Eph. 6:4), but where does it stipulate that it is our duty to give the little one a "good time?" Do we ever give the children "a good time" when we engage in anything upon which we cannot fittingly ask the LORD'S blessing?

(John 4:23 NASB) "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.

24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

The Holy Spirit by the mouth of Paul once said, "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain." (Gal. 4:10-11).

"Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye

receive not of her plagues." (Rev. 18:4)

HISTORY:

"Out of Zoroastrianism emerged a profusion of cults, alike in their basic dogmas but according them different emphases. The oldest was Mithrasim, deriving its name from Mirthras the Sun God. He was believed to have lived an earthly existence involving great suffering and sacrifice. He performed miracles giving bread and wine to man and ending a drought and also a disastrous flood. Finally, he created much of the ritual of Zoroastrianism, proclaiming Sunday as the most sacred day of the week and the tewnty-fifth of December as the most sacred day of the year. The twenty-fith of December also possed its solar significance: as the apporximate date of the winter solstice it marked the return of the sun from its long journey south of the equator. It was in a sense the "birthday" of the sun, since it connoted the revival of its life-giving powers for the beneifit of humanity.

Exactly when Mirthraism became an independent cult is unknown, but it was certainly not later than fourth century B.C. Its spread thereafter was rapid. In the last century B.C. it was introduced into Rome." ("Western Civilizations", Tenth edition, Copyright 1984, page67)

Sound Familar? Now, jumping some three or four hundred years to the 4th century(380 A.D.), Constantine, declared the ever growing religion of Christianty the offical religion. The Catholic church, already Christianizing many of its pagan traditions from its Roman heritge, now received official status and proceeded to do so with the birth of Christ. Having difficulty converting the many pagans, who instead worshiped the "sun god" Mithra, announced that they had "discovered" the birth of Christ to be December 25th. Imagine the coincidence.

The Roman pagans, could still celebrate the birth of the "Unconquerable Sun" but now called the "Sun of God". The Catholic church had "Christianzed" the holiday, changing only name plates. The Persian god had taken a disguise under the formal robes of the Pope, and had been carried far into the modern world and into the homes of so many unaware Protestants. So to celebrate this new holiday of the birth of Christ (which no one knows when he was born, but we are almost positive about the date of his death), the Catholics created a special mass of Christ, later shortened to Christmas.

The name Christmas. This very name is an abomination to our Holy God. The reason for this is that the word Christmas is an unholy and pagan combination of the two words "Christ" and "Mass." Christ died once for our sins (Heb. 9:26). By that ONE offering He has perfected forever every believer (Heb. 10:14).

But behold the terrible mystery on iniquity! For in the Roman Catholic mass, Satan himself has introduced unto the ends of the earth, the crowning blasphemy of Anti-Christ. It is the teaching that the 'mass' is not a mere representation of the sacrifice of Christ, but that it is a continuation of the same offering, as the priest commands our Lord Jesus to come down from glory and become a piece of bread. And besides all this, the Roman priest teaches that this same 'mass' adds to and improves upon the atonement of our Savior which He made on Calvary. Thus in the blasphemy of the 'mass' can we not hear Satan say "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds: I will be like the most High" (Isa. 14:14)?

As Israel moved into the promised land, they were commanded by God to not worship Him in the way of the pagans, because he is a holy God and to do so would be an, "ABOMINATION".

Now in Babylon where the sun was worshipped, it was not worshipped as merely a light giving divinity, but as the Incarnate God. And one essential in this Chaldean worship was, that Baal was that same God. So when Tammuz was worshipped as God incarnate the implication was that he was an incarnation of the sun, or Baal.

Slowly and cautiously at first (Acts 20:29), they began to bring Rome's pagan worship among the believers. Constantine's false conversion and his edict making Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire, rapidly developed the imported paganism in the worship of the fast decaying Church of Rome.

Now Rome's way of converting the other pagans to her style of worship has always been to absorb them gradually, along with their idolatrous observances. So about the 4th century the Roman church brought the worship of Sereramis the Babylonian Queen of heaven and her son Tammuz into her ritual, disguised as the worship of Mary and her son Jesus. Then followed the December 25th commemoration of the birth of Christ, and the evil institution of the "mass" for Christ, and behold! - the iniquity of Christmas was launched forth! Thus the pagans in the now apostate church could worship the queen of heaven and observe the birth of her son Tammuz while the untaught unsuspecting believers thought they were honoring Christ in the same ritual.

The Grolier Encyclopedia:

The church did not observe a festival for the celebration of the event until the 4th century. The date was chosen to counter the pagan festivities connected with the winter solstice; since 274, under the emperor Aurelian, Rome had celebrated the feast of the "Invincible Sun" on December 25. In the Eastern Church, January 6, a day also associated with the winter solstice, was initially preferred. In course of time, however, the West added the Eastern date as the feast of the EPIPHANY, and the East added the Western date of Christmas. Thus, the West subsequently divided the Christmas celebration between December 25 (the birth of Christ and homage of the shepherds) and January 6 (the homage of the MAGI).

In the Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, 1903, Vol. 2, page 987 - we read..."Christmas - Christmas properly begins with the evening of December 24... and continues until Epiphany, January 6, the whole period called Christmastide. In the Roman, Greek, Episcopal and Lutheran Churches Christmas is observed as a religious festival with special services. It's celebration was formerly forbidden by the Puritans."

In the Encyclopedia Brittanica, 9th Edition, Vol. 5, page 611 - we read..."Christmas Day - There is however difficulty in accepting this (December 25th), as the date of the Nativity, December being the height of the rainy season when neither flocks nor shepherds could have been at night in the fields of Bethlehem. By the fifth century, however, whether from influence of some tradition or from the desire to supplant heathen festivals of the period of the year such as Saturnalia, the 25th of December has been gradually agreed upon."

The Encyclopedia Americana, 1942 Edition, Vol. 6, page 623 reads thus..."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. A feast was established in memory of the birth of the Savior in the fourth century. In the fifth century the western church (Roman Catholic) ordered it to be celebrated forever on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol."

In the new Americanized Encyclopedia Brittanica, 1900, Vol. IX, page 5236, we read...

"Saturn - an ancient Italian god... Saturnalis, this is the great 'Festival of Saturn,' celebrated on the 19th, but after Caesar's reform of the calendar, the 17th of December. Augustus decreed that the 17th and the 18th should be sacred to Saturn and the 19th and 20th to Opalia the festival of Ops. Caligula added a fifth day, 'The Day of Youth,' December 25th lasting seven days. The time was one of general joy and mirth. The wooden fetters were taken from the feet of Saturn and each man offered a pig. During the festivals schools were closed..."

The new International Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition, Vol. 3, page 27, tells us..."Epiphany - A festival held on the 6th of January be the Roman Catholic, Eastern and Anglican churches in commemoration of the manifestations of Christ. Three different events are included in this celebration. As early as the third century at least, it was observed as the

commemoration of the baptism of Christ ... Later in the east it was taken to commemorate the manifestation of divine power in Christ's first miracle at Cana in Galilee .....In the forth century the birth of Christ was also connected with it by some writers. Many special observances have been connected with the day which under the name 'Twelfth Day, Twelfth Night' was a time of special merry making in England and closed the Christmas festivities."

In the "History of the Christian Church" by Fisher on page 65, it is recorded..."About the end of this period (3rd century) two festivals came in. One was Epiphany originating in the East - the other was Christmas, a festival of Roman origin taking the place of the heathen festival in honor of the sun or of the deity bearing that name, which was celebrated at the winter solstice or on the 25th of December, the time erroneously assigned for the solstice in the Julian Calendar."

In McAbes History of the Popes, Vol. 1, page 18, we find the following information given by Bishop Eusebius in his "Ecclesiastical History" ... "Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church." --THE CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA.

"The first mention of the celebration of Christmas occured in A.D. 336 in an early Roman calendar."--THE WORLD BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA.

"Inexplicable though it seems, the date of Christ's birth is not known. The Gospels indicate neither the day nor the month." --NEW CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA

U.S. CATHOLIC states: "It is impossible to separate Christmas from it's pagan origins." It adds: "The Romans' favorite festival was Saturnalia, which began on December 17 and ended with the 'birthday of the unconquered sun' (Natalis solis invicti) on December 25. Somewhere in the second quarter of the fourth century, savvy officials of the church of Rome decided December 25 would make a dandy day to celebrate the birthday of the 'sun of righteousness'. Christmas was born."

U.S. CATHOLIC reports: "Because Christians in the U.S. associated Christmas with pagan customs, they didn't celebrate Christmas in a big way until the mid-19th century."

THE WORLD BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA states: "This celebration [Christmas] 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 sun god]."

Compton's: Because there was no knowledge about the date of Jesus' birth, a day had to be selected. The Eastern Orthodox and the Eastern Rite churches within the Roman Catholic church chose January 6. The day was named Epiphany, meaning "appearance," the day of Christ's manifestation. The Western church, based at Rome, chose December 25. It is known from a notice in an ancient Roman almanac that Christmas was celebrated on December 25 in Rome as early as AD 336.

In the latter half of the 4th century, the Eastern and Western churches adopted each other's festival, thus establishing the modern Christian 12-day celebration from Christmas to Epiphany. In some places the 12th day is called the festival of the three kings because it is believed that the three wise men, or magi, visited the baby Jesus on that day, bringing him gifts.

When the date of Christmas was set to fall in December, it was done at least in part to compete with ancient pagan festivals that occurred about the same time. The Romans, for example, celebrated the Saturnalia on December 17. It was a winter feast of merrymaking and gift exchanging. And two weeks later, on the Roman New Year January 1, houses were decorated with greenery and lights, and gifts were given to children and the poor. As the Germanic tribes of Europe accepted Christianity and began to celebrate Christmas, they also gave gifts.

In some countries, such as Italy and Spain, children traditionally do not receive gifts on December 25 but on January 5, the eve of Epiphany. In several northern European nations gifts are given on December 6, which is the feast of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of children

CHRISTMAS TREE:

The Christmas tree. The production and sale of evergreen trees in the U.S.A. has developed, thanks to Rome, into a vast enterprise. During the weeks of Christmas festivities one is met everywhere with these dead evergreen trees arrayed in their glitter and tinsel, reminding us of the lifeless pagan gods of old. But behold! as the fervor of the festivity dies down, out goes the stripped and bedraggled remains of the Christmas tree into the junk pile or garbage barrel or to be kicked around the street! Yet thousands of untaught people will gladly go hungry and willingly deprive their families of necessary things in order to buy and decorate this same Christmas tree.

The first decorating of an evergreen tree was done by pagans in honor of their god Adonis, who after being slain was brought to life by the serpent Aesculapius. The representation of this slain god was a dead stump of a tree. Around this stump coiled the snake Aesculapius symbol of life restoring. And lo - from the roots of the dead tree comes forth another and different tree - and evergreen tree symbolic to pagans of a god who cannot die! In Egypt this god was worshipped in a palm tree as Baal Tamar. The fir tree was worshipped in Rome as the same new born god as Baal Berith, who was restored to life by the same serpent, and a feast was held in honor of him on December 25th called the "Birthday of the unconquered Sun."

Now in Babylon's "Mystery" system of idol worship the sun was called "Baal," the one and only god. So when Tammuz the son of the queen of heaven was worshipped as God he was also reverenced by the name Baal. Thus we can see how, in the annual custom of erecting and decorating evergreen trees, the Roman Catholic church has brought down through the ages to us, the paganism of Baal or the worship of the sun, mingled with the worship of Aesculapius the serpent. Whether erected in public or private, a tinseled and spangled evergreen tree is just a glaring symbol of the worship of this false god. So in keeping with the policy of Rome for centuries, while she keeps millions vainly supposing they do honor to Jesus Christ with the Christmas tree, they are actually even if unwittingly commemorating a pagan festival in honor of Baal, which thing our God hates (1 Kings 18; Judges 8:33)

Comptons Encyclopedia - Trees and decorations. - Ancient, pre-Christian winter festivals used greenery, lights, and fires to symbolize life and warmth in the midst of cold and darkness. These usages, like gift giving, have also persisted. The most splendid symbol of a modern Christmas is the brilliantly decorated evergreen tree with strings of multicolored lights.

The use of evergreens and wreaths as symbols of life was an ancient custom of the Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews, among other peoples. Tree worship was a common feature of religion among the Teutonic and Scandinavian peoples of northern Europe before their conversion to Christianity. They decorated houses and barns with evergreens at the new year to scare away demons, and they often set up trees for the birds in winter. The month during which this festival took place was named Jol, from which the word yule is derived. Yule has come to mean Christmas in some countries.

As Jeremiah 10 paints the picture; the heathen "workmen" goes and chops down the tree. Instead of the tree standing alive and supported by its roots, it now is propped up by artificial means, as the workmen uses "nails and hammers" to cause it to be "upright."

This symbolizes precisely the methods used by false churches to create imitations of live trees. ( ie: of true Christians.) They create hypocrites by giving them artificial supports in place of genuine root! They use such "nails" as church joining, social gatherings, religious rituals, false doctrines, social positions, and even contests and bribes, to keep people standing "upright"! In other words, instead of people attending church and serving God purely because they love Him and want to, they entice people to come to church, to obey the rules, and to therefore be "upright" or righteous appearing "trees". People are often more motivated in their "religious service" by the praise from the pastor and the people, or the good feeling produced in the conscience by the performance of a good deed or a service to someone, than by a genuine love for God. The best way to tell if we really love God is to check ourselves and to see if we love the Word of God enough to put it before anything or anyone else in our lives. The Bible shows that God sends His word to test us. Of course we do need to realize that receiving the true Word of God requires more than just reading the Bible or listening to a preacher speaking about the Bible. We only receive the Word of God when God actually inspires and sends the words we are receiving.

SANTA CLAUS:

Although the present American tradition requires parents to teach their young children that there really is a man named Santa Claus, the stubborn fact remains that no elf, human, angel, or god has, does, or will exist, fitting the description of an overweight elf with a long white beard that drives a sleigh with reindeer that fly. That makes any image a false image, a fantasy, an imaginary description. Santa Claus is simply a pretend character.

Santa is most often referred to as a jolly old elf. An elf is defined as 1 a: a small, often mischievous fairy; 2 a: a small creature; esp. a mischievous child; b: a mischievous or malicious person. A fairy is defined as a tiny imaginary being with human form and superhuman powers (Websters New Collegiate Dictionary, 1973).

Where did the Santa Claus legend come from?

The Coptic Enclopedia says, "Nicholas, bishop of Myra who was one of the martyrs without bloodshed because he was saved from execution by Diocletion."

My other reference is the Coptic Synaxarium. This is the list of saints' lives celebrated by the Coptic Church. Here is the actual text taken from "The Coptic Synaxarium Volume II" by St. George Coptic Orthodox Church of Chicago: "He [Nicholas] was from the city of Mora, his father's name was Epiphanius and the name of his mother was Tona. They were rich, as well as God-fearing people. They had no children to bring joy to their hearts and to inherit their wealth after their death. They remained without a son until they grew old and they were enveloped with despair. God had pity on them and gave them this saint. God made him holy and blessed since his childhood. When he reached school age, he demonstrated, through intelligence and knowledge, that he learned far more from the Holy Spirit than he did from his teachers. He learned all the doctrine and the teachings of the church since his young age and was appointed deacon. He became a monk in a monastery wherein his cousin was abbot. Because he lived an ascetic and a rigtheous life, they made him a priest when he was nineteen years old. God gave him the gift to work signs and wonders and to heal the sick.

There was a very rich man in the city of Myra who lost all his wealth. He had three daughters who had passed the age of marriage, and could not marry them because of his poverty. Satan caused the man to think that he should make his daughters live in sin so that they might get their food by fornication. God revealed to St. Nicholas the thoughts which were in this man's head. St. Nicholos took 100 dinars of his father's money and tied it up in a sack, and during the night he threw the money into the window of that man's house. When the man found the gold, he was astonished and rejoiced exceedingly and was able to give his eldest daughter away in marriage. During another night the saint threw another 100 dinars into the man's house and the man was able to give his second daughter away in marriage. The man wanted to know who this charitable person was. The third time the saint threw the gold into the house, the man was watching and immediately when he felt the drop of the sack, he went out of this house running to see who was throwing the gold to him. He found the kind bishop St. Nicholas and the man bowed down at his feet and paid him great homage and thanked him because he saved his daughters from poverty and from a life of sin. The saint refused to accept any thanks and asked them to thank the Lord who put this thought in his heart. St. Nicholas drove out the devil and his angels from people, he healed many sick people, and he blessed little bread to satisfy many people.

Before being selected bishop, he saw a vision with a great throne and vestments placed on it and a man said to him, "Put on these vestments and sit on this throne." Another night he saw our Lady, St. Mary giving him vestments of the priesthood and our Lord Jesus Christ gave him the Gospel.

When the bishop of Myra departed, the angel of the Lord appeared to the Archbishop and told him the one who was chosen for this rank was Nicholas and described his virtues to him. When he woke up, he told the bishops what he had seen, and they all believed that vision. They knew that it was from the Lord Jesus Christ. They took St. Nicholas and made him bishop over the city of Mora.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica, volume 19, pages 648-649, 11th edition, states: 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.... Bishop Nicholas became the patron saint of children and is said to have given his money secretly to the poor. Bishops wore red robes.

Legends of St. Nicholas turned him into a magical figure, embodying traits of the Norse god din and of witchlike elfin deities who rewarded good children and punished naughty ones. This image became blended with the pagan figure, Father Christmas, who was closely tied to midwinter celebrations. To Dutch immigrants his nickname was Sinterklaas. The German immigrants had the Christkindl (an angelic child messenger of the new-born Jesus, who often carried the gift of a tree) and Pelznickol (a scary Nicholas dressed in furs carrying switches as well as toys). These two blended into Kriss Kringle and on to Santa Claus. American writers and painters of the 19th century continued to mold peoples ideas with The Night Before Christmas (1822), A Christmas Carol (1843), and the picture of a rotund, pipe smoking elf dressed in a furry suit and jaunty cap decorated with holly sprigs working at his North Pole workshop or preparing to descend a chimney with a bag of toys taken from his reindeer-drawn sleigh (1863).

Nothing is known of the early life of Nicholas, but it is known that he was born at the turn of the fourth century, during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian, in Asia Minor and was a bishop of Myra, in that area wheich is now Turkey. Of a quiet and a studious nature, he attended the Synod of Nicaea in AD 325. On that occasion he was so withdrawn that he is not even mentioned in the account of the proceedings recorded by St. Athanasios the Great; however, his behind the scenes activity did add to the luster of this memorable convocation. His importance was recognized by the Emperor, who had a magnificent cathedral erected in his memory in Constantinople.

Prior to his elevation as archbishop, Nicholas had suffered imprisonment, harsh treatment and torture at the hands of the enemies of the Church. It was not until the reign of the Christian Emperor Constantine that he was able to lead the normal and peaceful life of a prelate

So great was St. Nicholas' popularity that he became the symbol of protection of children, which led to many of the legends about the men which have ultimately done more harm than good. After his death of natural causes at a venerable age, the legends and myths multiplied, but they only demonstrate how dearly loved he was for his great work. He became not only the patron saint of children, but also of merchants, sailors, and scholars, and was a protective symbol for travelers against highwaymen.

The most widely and accepted story of how St. Nicholas came to be associated with the gift-giving St. Nick is that which tells of how he secretly gave dowries to the three daughters of an impoverished parishoner, thus saving them from the disgrace that was the lot of spinsters of those days. Eventually, that carried over to the Christmas season and was associated with the Duch Santa Claus. In fact he was generous to all people, but his fondness for children makes him especially revered.

A grandmother once stood up and addressed 125 adults in a church class: My granddaughter came to me not long ago with a question: Gramma, Mommy and Daddy said there was a Santa Claus, and there really wasn't; and they said there was an Easter Bunny, and there really wasn't; and they said there was a tooth fairy, and there really wasn't. Now they are saying there is a Jesus Christ and a God; Gramma, is there really a Jesus Christ and a God? The room was silent. You could feel the cold chills running up and down the backs and arms of those present. The point is so clear! Our children are listening to us! What are we teaching them? Are we crying Wolf only to lose our credibility with them?

(Ephesians 5:8-11 NASB) for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light {9} (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), {10} trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. {11} And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;

OUR RESPONSE?

To repent from our ways, to abhor evil, to expose it, and not celebrate it. For to be Holy is to be "set apart"-Set apart from the world, from false doctrine, from idoltry, and every form of evil. We are not even to imitate what is evil (1 John 11). When we realize that to be holy as our God calls us to be is to be set apart and not to befriend the world, how can we take part in their practices. The world loves the Christ of Christmas, but the world hates the Christ of the Word which they nailed to a cross. The word, "Christmas", knowing the signigficance of its true meaning is Blashphemous!

This celebration is not Biblical and we are never called to celebrate His birth, but instead His death (Not Easter, but every day we are gathered). All of these practices are of pagan origin, not from the word, and we, like dumb sheep have followed along, and why? Because we accepted the traditions of men.

(Colossians 2:8 NASB) See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.

He cautions against the errors of heathen philosophy; also against Jewish traditions, and rites which had been fulfilled in Christ

Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. My friends this is his best disguise ever. He has successfully blended together Christianty/Catholocism/Paganism/and the World! You are ensared in their celebrations, their worship and their evil practices. The answer is not to "put Christ back into Christmas", but to take Christians out of idolatry. Harsh as it may be, we are called to correct, to admonish each other, for that is true love, love that loves the truth (1 Corinthians 13:6)

"This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me" (Matt. 15:8)

"...Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God" (Luke 16:15

2 Corinthians 5:10 NASB For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Oh to be more concerned about what He thinks, and less concerned about what perishing mortals think.

"Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil." Ah, it is an easy thing to float with the tide of popular opinion; but it takes much grace, diligently sought from God, to swim against it. Yet that is what the heir of heaven is called on to do: to "Be not conformed to this world" (Rom. 12:2), to deny self, take up the cross, and follow a rejected Christ. How sorely does both writer and reader need to heed that word of the savior, "Behold, I come quickly; hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." (Rev. 3:11) Oh that each of us may be able to truthfully say, "I have refrained my feet from EVERY evil way, that I might keep THY WORD." (Psa. 119:101)

Amen

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