The world calls the 25th day of December “Christmas.” So today I would like us to look at “THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS!”
And God spake all these words, saying, “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before Me” (Ex. 20:1-3).
At this time of the year, people all over the world gather from far and near to their various ancestral homes to celebrate “Christmas.”
Christmas (or the Feast of Nativity) is an annual festival to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world.
Season’s greetings, season’s music, and Santa Claus are all associated with this holiday. All these appear to bring warm feelings to those who celebrate it.
We live in a world filled with customs, but few ever seek to understand the origin of those customs. We generally accept them without question. Most people basically do what everyone else is doing because it is easy and natural!
To understand the truth about Christmas, we need to look at the following:
1. Is the word “Christmas” really found in the Bible? No! It is not found anywhere in the Bible.
Now, if Christmas is not Scriptural, what then is the origin of this festival? “The earliest reference to Christmas being marked on December 25th comes from the second century after Jesus’ birth (The Buffalo News, Nov. 22, 1984).
In the year 325 AD, the Roman Emperor Constantine tried to do away with paganism so that he can make Christianity the major religion in the world.
Prior to that time, the biggest festival in the land was that called Saturnalia, a harvest festival that marked the time the sun stands still in the sky. This festival was to honour Saturn, the god of the sun.
This celebration starts on December 17 of the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities through to December 23rd. During this time the Romans worshipped the deity called Saturn. At this time, the Sun is in a very specific position in the Sky.
Who is Saturn? Saturn is the Roman god of harvest and reaping the hay. Saturn was worshipped by the Romans in a winter celebration called Saturnalia.
The word Saturday was named after his name Saturn. Sunday is named after the Sun.
So Constantine thought that “Since everyone is already celebrating Saturn at this time, let’s then make 25th December the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.”
Constantine wanted to make Christianity the most powerful religion on earth, so he welcomed and incorporated this heathen festival into the Roman Catholic Church. He slammed the Roman Catholic holiday on the pagan holiday so that it will be easier for people to convert to Catholicism.
But the Scripture says that light and darkness cannot go together (2 Cor. 6:14-16). Therefore, the worship of the sun (devil) and the worship of the Son (Jesus Christ) can never be done together under the new name “Christmas.”
Here is the point: “Christmas” developed as a means of replacing the worship of the sun with the worship of the Son.
So, Christmas is all about worshipping a false god! Don’t follow the multitude (Ex. 23:2) to worship Saturn, the god of the sun at Christmas! You should worship only the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Don’t do something just because everyone else is doing it. You must not let anyone persuade you to do things that are contrary to the Word of God – you must do what is right and fair.
2. Why is Christmas celebrated on the 25th day of December? People celebrate Christmas on December the 25th because it was a pagan sun-worshipping holiday that the Roman Catholic Church incorporated in order to convert the pagans to Catholicism.
This is exactly why Born Again believers should not celebrate this Christianized pagan holiday. “Christmas” is a Roman custom catholicized by the Roman Catholics. You can now understand why God forbids Christmas: it is a heathen festival. It is idolatry! (Deut. 12:29-32). Therefore, Christmas is simply a Catholic, pagan, superstitious holiday. It is not Christian (1 Cor. 10:20-21).
To celebrate Saturnalia is to have fellowship with devils. To celebrate the birth of Christ together with Saturnalia under a different name (“Christmas”) is totally unscriptural because Saturnalia is a pagan festival filled with all kinds of drinking, immorality and satanic festivities.
Here is the raw truth: You cannot bring paganism into Christianity and claim to be honouring the Son of God by celebrating a festival that He detests.
Those pagan holidays were worships unto devils and not unto God. You cannot worship the devil and claim you are worshipping Jesus Christ. In effect, Christmas is a PAGAN CELEBRATION declared to be the birthday of the Messiah by MAN.
The Bible declares, “Beware (watch out) lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments (the elemental spirits) of this world, and not after Christ” (Col. 2:8).
3. Does Christmas really honour Christ? Here are two arguments often used to justify the observance of Christmas.
a) Many 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 capital no! Did you not notice the statement quoted from the Catholic Encyclopaedia: "Sinners alone, not saints, celebrate their birthdays."
The celebration of birthdays is not a Christian, but a pagan custom, observed by sinners! It was only sinners [like Pharaoh and Herod] who made great rejoicings over the day in which they were born into this world (1911 Catholic Encyclopaedia, article Natal Day).
b) But, many still reason saying, "Even so - even though Christmas is a pagan custom, honouring the false sun-god, we don't observe it to honour the false god, we observe it to honour Christ."
Just listen to yourself: Does that not sound stupid to you? How can you worship Aedoro in order to honour Jesus? (Deut. 12:30-31).
God says plainly in His Instruction Book to us that He will not accept that kind of worship, even though you intended it in His honour. To Him, He says, it is offering what is abominable to Him, and therefore it honours, not Him, but the false pagan gods. God says we must not worship Him according to the "dictates of our own conscience, but we must worship Him in spirit and in truth" (Jn. 4:24).
And if you are really celebrating the birthday of Christ, you are making a mockery of it. How? This is because:
a) You drink more alcohol on His birthday than any other day in the year.
b) Many ignorant Christians become spiritually weak after the Christmas festivals?
c) Your zeal for the things of God dwindles after the Christmas festivals?
d) We have the greatest manifestations of the works of the flesh during and after the Christmas festivals?
e) We have the greatest number of accidents at this time of the year?
f) We have the greatest number of fornications and adulteries at this time of the year. The Bible says, “Because they ate and they rose up to play” (Ex. 32:6-7).
g) We have the greatest number of abortions after the Christmas celebrations?
h) We have the highest number of highway robberies at this time of the year?
i) We have the greatest cash flow during Christmas season. Thereafter, there is financial crisis everywhere especially in January?
j) We have the highest number of ritual murders especially of infants at this time of the year? Why? Because of the sacrifice to Satan at this time of the year – the satanic high days!
4. Is there any other meaning of Christmas? Yes, there is! It is a combination of the words “Christ” and “Mass.” The word "Christmas" comes from the term "Mass of Christ” (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1946 ed.). In a shortened form, the term simply became "Christ-mass."
Therefore, Christmas can be defined as the Mass of a religious service to mark the birth of Christ.
Here is the truth: the worship service to commemorate the birth of Christ is not bad. What is bad is the Mass.
Why is Mass bad? Mass is bad because it contradicts God’s Word and is therefore, an abomination to God.
Why is Mass an abomination to God? It is bad because it is a heathen practice that began during the reign of Emperor Constantine of Rome in 325 AD. It is celebrated according to the Roman custom, and not according to the custom of Christ – the living Word of God. Come to think of it, you cannot go to celebrate the birth of Christ in a shrine.
What is Mass? Mass is the ritual of chants, readings, and other ceremonies used in the celebration of the Eucharist in the Roman Catholic Church.
The word Mass comes from the Latin missa (“sent”). It was taken from the formula for dismissing the congregation: Ite, missa est (“Go, the Eucharist has been sent forth”).
This is true: anything outside the Word of God is not the will of God and it is coming from the pit of hell. At the opening of the Vatican II, Pope John XXIII reaffirmed his belief in the doctrines of the Council of Trent (Ad Limina Talks, p. 68). The Council of Trent maintains that Mass is “A true propitiatory sacrifice.”
In Hebrews 10:11, the Bible declares, “And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.”
The Mass practiced in Roman Catholicism is almost identical to the custom of a “bloodless sacrifice” practiced in the Roman Empire during the time of the first formation of the Catholic Church.
Look at one of the appointed prayers of the Roman Litany, addressed to the wafer, in the celebration of the Mass” “Bread-corn of the elect, have mercy on us” (The two Babylons, by Rev. Alexander Hislop, Loizeaux Brothers, 1916, p. 163).
Mass in Igbo means “Ichu aja” [sacrifice]. The Mass is considered an actual sacrifice of Jesus Christ each time it is celebrated. It is believed that each time Mass is celebrated, Jesus Christ is sacrificed afresh: He is worn the crown of thorns afresh; He is nailed to the Cross afresh; and He dies afresh. If this is true, then when Mass is celebrated twice in a day, then they would have sacrificed Jesus twice in a day. They sacrifice their “Jesus” over and over again each time the Mass is celebrated. But God’s Word declares that Jesus was sacrificed ONCE and for all times (Heb. 9:24-26, 28; 10:10-14).
5. What about the Christmas tree? Millions of people bring an evergreen tree into their homes and decorate it with beautiful glass balls, tinsel, and lights. These same millions would never think of the Christmas tree as an idol which God abhors. The tradition of bringing a tree into the home and decorating it came from a fable regarding Saint Boniface. According to tradition, Saint Boniface cut down the "great oak of Jupiter," a tree worshiped by pagan Teutons in Germany.
And some may ask, “Will God mind if I put a Christmas tree in my house?” Yes, God won’t like it because it is idolatry. Why is it idolatry? Now, hear the instruction from the very lips of Jesus Christ.
Look at what God said about an abomination like the Christmas tree: “Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing” (Deut. 7:26).
God directly refers to it as “the way of the heathen” (Jer. 10:2-4). Just as directly, He commands His people not to learn the way of the heathen, calling these customs “vain.”
Pagans had long worshipped trees in the forest, or brought them into their homes and decorated them, and this observance was adopted and painted with a Christian veneer by the Church.
History reveals that the worship of trees and nature was a common practice among pagans and continues to this very day. Many people in the New Age movement believe that trees actually have feelings. Some even believe that trees have the ability to reason.
The tenth chapter of the book of Jeremiah illustrates this point. God said, “Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 3 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. 4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not” (Jer. 10:2-4).
Here, God commands His people not to "learn the way of the heathen." He then goes into great detail describing a tradition in which the heathen cut a tree out of the forest and decorate it. God goes on to characterize this tree as a graven image.
6. The question is, “Who made up this lie and forced it on the church?” The modern Christmas tree originated from Germany. The Germans got it from the Romans, and the Romans got it from the Babylonians and the Egyptians. So when you join in this idolatrous worship (custom), you’re simply saying that God is a liar.
Conclusion: In effect, “Christmas” is a pagan celebration declared to be the birthday of Christ by man. Therefore, as a Christian, God forbids you from celebrating it because it is IDOLATRY. Remember that idolatry has disastrous consequences.
As a Christian, you ought to celebrate the birthday of Christ every day for saving your soul. Therefore, I pray that you will repent today, quickly remove that Christmas tree in your house, and stop being part of this pagan holiday, pretending that you are celebrating the birthday of Christ. God’s grace!
Watch out for the next edition of Good News from the Pulpit!
- Your friend: I. I. MADUBUNYI (Senior Pastor) 20. 12. 2020 @ HQ’s
Questions:
- Should a believer say to people, “Merry or happy Christmas?”
- Should a believer receive gifts from people at Christmas?
- Should a believer sow new dresses at Christmas?
- Should a believer cook special food at Christmas?
Wow my dear uncle thanks for sharing this information
ReplyDelete