Christmas

Is It The Messiah's Birthday?

Do you know the origin of Christmas? What about the Christmas tree? Santa Claus?   Mistletoe? Holly-wreath?  The yule log? The custom of exchanging gifts? Does Christmas really celebrate the birthday of the Messiah? Was He born on December 25th? Did the early church of the New Testament celebrate Christmas?

Stop and think! Very few know why we do the things we do, or where our customs came from! We were born into a world filled with customs. We grew up practicing them, taking them for granted, but never questioning why!

Christianity has supposed Christmas to be the chief of the "Christian" holidays. Without asking questions, people have blindly assumed its observance must be one of the principle teachings of the New Testament. The world has supposed that the Messiah was born December 25th. It has been supposed that we exchange gifts because the wise men presented gifts to the newborn-child, leaving an example for all to follow.

The word "Christmas" means "Mass of Christ" or, as it later became shortened, "Christ-Mass." It came to us as a Roman Catholic mass. Where did they get it? From the heathen celebration of December 25th, as the birthday of Sol the sun god! It is, actually, an ancient rite of baalism, which the Scriptures condemn as the most abominable of all idolatrous worship!

Christmas is not so much as mentioned anywhere in the New Testament. Paul, the apostles, and the early true church, never observed it!

The idea that Yahshua was born December 25th, is one of the fables the Apostle Paul prophesied (II Tim. 4:4) would deceive the world in these latter days.

The truth is, Christmas is not the Messiah's birthday at all! And this festival, important as it seems to so many, is of pagan- Babylonian-origin! But does that make any difference? Isn't it all right to go ahead and observe it anyway? Isn't the "Christmas spirit" a good and splendid thing, regardless of how it got started?  Isn't it okay if you are worshipping the Savior in your heart?

Was Yahshua even born in the winter season? When He 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 Palestine 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 Scriptures prove in Song of Solomon 2:11, and Ezra 10:9, and 13, that winter was a rainy season not permitting shepherds to abide in open fields at night.

Adam Clarke Commentary, Vol. 5., page 386. “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.”

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 mid 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."

Jesus and His Times, by Reader's Digest, page 24.  "During the winter (generally from November till Passover), when pasturage became slim and the rain and cold weather threatened, the sheep could no longer be kept outdoors and so were placed under cover. Because Luke mentions that the shepherds were 'out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night,' it is very likely that the traditional date for Christmas is inaccurate."

The Bible As History, by Werner Keller, page 354,  "At Christmas time Bethlehem is in the grip of frost, and in the Promised Land no cattle would have been in the fields in that temperature. This fact is borne out by a remark in the Talmud to the effect that in that neighbour-hood the flocks were put out to grass in March and brought in again at the beginning of November. They remained out in the open for almost eight months. Around Christmas time nowadays both animals and shepherds are under cover in Palestine."

If Yahweh had wished us to observe and celebrate His Son's birthday, would He have so completely hidden the exact date?  Of course not.  And He would have included instructions for us to do so.

There is not one word in the New Testament, or anywhere in the Scriptures, telling us to observe Christmas. The church of the first century, under the inspired teachings of Peter and Paul and the other apostles, never observed it. There is no scriptural authority for its observance.

Then where did we get "Christmas"?

http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=2933 The Catholic Encyclopedia, article  "Christmas."  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."

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, James Orr, M.A., D.D., General editor vol. 1, page 24. "December 25th, celebrated as Christmas only since the fourth century AD, was chosen by early Christian leaders for both practical and symbolic reasons. In the pagan Roman Empire it had been the date of the beginning of the year's most popular feast, the Saturnalia, a time of wild holiday abandon. It was also astrologically significant, occurring as the winter sun began to move back toward its zenith in the summer heavens. It was the day, in other words, when all could see that the cycle of the seasons would continue and that life would begin again after the symbolic and literal death of winter."

The Bible As History, Werner Keller, page 353,  "December 25th is referred to in documents as Christmas Day in 354 for the first time. Under the Roman Emperor Justinian, it was recognized as an official holiday. An old Roman festival played a major part in the choice of this particular day. December 25th in Ancient Rome was the "Dies Natalis Invicti," the "birthday of the unconquered," the day of the winter solstice and at the same time, in Rome, the last day of the Saturnalia, which had long since degenerated into a week of unbridled carnival and therefore a time when the Christians could feel most safe from persecution."

Schaff-Herzog Religious Encyclopedia, Philip Schaff and Johann Jakob Herzog, page 93, “It is admitted by the most learned and candid writers of all parties that, within the Christian Church, no such festival as Christmas was ever heard of till the third century, and that not till the fourth century was far advanced did it gain much observance.”

"Upright men strove to stem the tide, but in spite of all their efforts the Apostasy went on till the Church, with the exception of a small remnant, was submerged under pagan superstition…that Christmas was originally a pagan festival is beyond all doubt."

These authorities show Christmas was not observed by "Christians" for the first two or three hundred years. 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!

Then how did this heathen custom creep into a so-called Christianity?

The Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia 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."

The Winter Solstice, John Matthews, page 14 - "Fire and light. These are the two poles around which the festival of Midwinter revolves. From the time of the first Neolithic farmers, through to the Celtic tribes, and later the Romans who invaded the land of Britain in AD 43 and remained until AD 436, the common practice was the celebration of the Midwinter sun (a god whose necessary power was sovereign). Thus ceremonies were almost always based around the need to preserve light and to ensure the return of the sun."

From page 23 of the same source, we find - "Saturnalia itself developed from the older rituals of Midwinter into a riotous assemblage of fun, laughter, and gift giving. It is, indeed, from this festival that we receive the idea of giving gifts at Christmas and not from the gifts of the Magi as commonly supposed."

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, revised by Ivor H. Evans, page 964, article “Saturnalia” - "The ancient Roman festival of Saturn, celebrated on the nineteenth of December and eventually prolonged for seven days, was a time of freedom from restraint, merry-making and often riot and debauchery. During its continuance public business was suspended, the law courts and schools were closed and no criminals were punished."

Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend, Maria Leach, editor, page 974, - “The usual was suspended during the Saturnalia: no punishments were handed down by the courts; schools were closed; war-making ceased; the toga was replaced by an undergarment; masquerading and change of dress between the sexes occurred; gambling, especially dicing, was fully countenanced; social distinctions not only were not observed, but often reversed, as in the instance of masters serving their servants; speech and action (as in many fertility ceremonies) were to some extent unbridled. The whole series of observances obviously place the Saturnalia among the fertility rites; everything tended towards increasing the fruitfulness of nature and of the people of ensuring the rotation of the seasons by observing the turn of the sun northward again. The gift of imitation fruit has apparently to do with increase; the candles indicate the making of new fires customary at the solstices; the dolls, as has been noted as early as Varro, are the remains of the custom of human sacrifice."

Remember, the Roman world had been pagan. Prior to the fourth century, believers 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!

And that is how "Christmas" got into so-called Christianity! 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 a rabbit, just the same.

Encyclopedia Britannica, article Christmas - "Certain Latins, as early as 354, may have transferred the birthday from January 6th to December 25th, 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."

What is meant by a Mithraic feast? What's that got to do with Christmas?

The Winter Solstice, John Matthews, page 53, - "Mithras was a solar deity who had been sent to earth by the God of Light to slay a huge bull whose blood was the source of all fertility on earth. Worshipers underwent extremely rigorous rites of baptism and self-sacrifice that ended when they reached a semi-divine status. The central event of the cult was the slaying of the bull, which was seen as a cosmic parable of creation and redemption.”

"Mithras's birth was attended by shepherds, and at the end of his time on Earth, when Mithras returned to his father, he took a last supper with his followers, later remembered by believers in a communion of bread and wine. At the end he was believed not to have died but ascended to heaven, whence it was believed he would return at the end of time to raise the dead from their tombs for a final judgment."

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?

The idea came from Babylon – from Nimrod, great-grandson of Noah.  He built the tower of Babel, and many cities, into a great kingdom.  But he was a rebel – an evil person.  So much so that he married his own mother, Semiramis.

After Nimrod died, Semiramis spread the idea that Nimrod still lived as a spirit being.  She claimed that a full-grown evergreen tree grew overnight out of a dead tree stump.  That tree symbolized his new life.  Nimrod, who would leave gifts on it, would visit the evergreen every December 25th.

Semiramis became known as the Babylonian “Queen of Heaven”.  She and the “reborn” Nimrod began to be worshiped as “Mother and Child.”  The same worship went on into other countries, with various names.

In the 4th and 5th centuries, the pagans of the Roman world were “accepting” Christianity.  But they were adding all their old customs and beliefs.  The “Mother and Child” idea really became a popular part of worship.  Even Christianity.  Just consider the words of the hymn “Silent Night, Holy Night.”  People look at these things as sacred, but they have no idea where the customs came from.

Yahweh commands His faithful ministers, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions!" (Isaiah 58:1) Shocking as these facts are, they are the plain facts of history and the Scriptures.

The real origin of Christmas goes back to the ancient Babylon. It is bound up in the organized apostasy with which Satan 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 Yahshua.

December 25th is not the birthday of Yahshua the true Messiah! There is no proof that the apostles and early true believers ever celebrated His birthday.  There is no command or instruction to celebrate it in the Scriptures.  Nowhere do the Scriptures tell us to worship "Mother and Child." The apostles and early true believers never did it!

Mary was highly blessed by Yahweh, and this has been acknowledged by all generations from that time, but this does not mean she is to be deified, worshiped, made a divine being, when she was merely human. The wide-spread worship of Mary, as "the Mother of God," the doctrine of the immaculate conception, which refers to her a counterfeit mediatrix between man and Yahweh, is a continuation of this ancient Babylonian idolatry, begun by the clever deceptions of Semiramis, wife of Nimrod! It is inextricably bound up with the "Christmas" idea!

Now let’s look at some of the trappings of Christmas and their origins.

 

MISTLETOE

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!

Christian Customs and Traditions: Their History and Significance, by Clement A. Miles, page 731, regarding mistletoe - "It was regarded as mysterious and sacred from earliest times from the Mediterranean to the Baltic, a bestower of life and fertility, a protection against poisons, and potent for numerous medical and magical uses, an allheal, an aphrodisiac."

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, revised by Ivor Evans, page 718, “kissing under the mistletoe was an English Christmas custom in the early 17th century. The mistletoe was to be hung overhead. If a female stood under it, the male was to pick a berry and give her a kiss. When the berries ran out, the kissing was to stop.”

An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols, J. C. Cooper, page 106, “Mistletoe The life-essence; divine substance; the all-healing; immortality.  As neither tree nor shrub it symbolizes that which is neither one nor the other, which, by extension, is the realm of freedom from limitation, so that anyone under the mistletoe is free from restrictions, but also free from protection, and re-enters the world of chaos.”

 

HOLLY

Holly berries were also considered sacred to the sun-god.

Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend, Maria Leach, editor, page 501, -- "Holly is an evergreen tree or shrub with thorny leaves, white flowers, and red berries. The use of holly in religious ceremonies is of considerable antiquity; probably its use as a Christmas decoration was adopted by early Roman Christians from the Roman Saturnalia."

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, revised by Ivor Evans, page 538, “Holly.  The custom of decorating churches and houses with holly at CHRISTMAS-time is of great antiquity and may derive from its earlier use by the Romans in the festival of the SATURNALIA, which occurred at the same season, or from the old Teutonic custom.”

An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols, J. C. Cooper, page 83, “Holly  Good will; joy; an attribute of sun gods.  In Rome the holly was sacred to Saturn and used in the Saturnalia as a symbol of health and happiness.”

YULE

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 yuletide season!"

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, revised by Ivor Evans, page 1173, “Yule, Yuletide.  The name of a heathen festival at the winter SOLSTICE.” 

“Yule log, or Yule Clog.  A great log of wood formerly laid across the hearth with great ceremony on Christmas eve and lit with a brand from the previous year’s log.  There followed drinking and merriment.”

The Winter Solstice, John Matthews, page 98, - "The word yule has been variously interpreted as deriving from the Saxon word heal wheel, referring in this context both to the circling of the year and the circular motion of the sun.”

"The Yule Log is above all a reminder of the importance of fire in the depth of the cold and darkness of Midwinter."

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!

An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols, J. C. Cooper, page 197, “Yule It is also the festival of the Dying God, whose birthday is December 25, and who, as Tammuz, Attis and Dionysos, is symbolized by the aniconic log, ritually burned at the end of the old year, signifying the death of Winter and the rebirth of the power of the sun; the fire drives out death and, with its creative force, rekindles the solar power; it also burns out the old life of each person and creates the new, giving a fresh start at the new year; the ashes are scattered on the soil from which new life and the Spring will emerge.  The Yule Log is of oak, the Cosmic Tree of the Druids.”

“December 25, the winter solstice, with the rebirth of the sun, has always been a significant celebration in solar worship.”

 

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, revised by Ivor Evans, page 224, “CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS.  The Roman festival of Saturn was held in December and the temples were decorated with greenery; the DRUIDS are associated with MISTLETOE, and the Saxons used HOLLY and IVY.  These customs have been transferred to the Christian festival.  The holly or holy-tree is called Christ’s thorn in Germany and Scandinavia, from its use in church decorations and its putting forth its berries about Christmas time.”

 

“The decorated Christmas tree was in use among the Romans and was introduced into England from Germany soon after Queen Victoria’s marriage with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1840.  SANTA CLAUS and his reindeer came to England at the same time.”

 

CHRISTMAS STAR

Sacred Origins of Profound Things, Charles Panati, page 137, Star of Bethlehem:  New Testament, Matthew 2:1-12 - “In Christianity, this is the primary star symbol, which guided the Magi, the first Gentiles to worship Jesus, to his birthplace: “The magi came from the East to Jerusalem, saying, ‘where is he that is born king of the Jews?  For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him’” (Matt. 2:2).”

“This early symbol, the first connected with Jesus’ birth, is of major importance to Christian theologians.  Some half-century before Saint Paul would bring Christ’s teachings to the Gentiles, a star prophetically had drawn three Gentiles to the new ‘king.’  As the Douay-Confraternity Bible makes clear in a footnote to the biblical text:  ‘The first-fruits of the gentiles seek the new-born king of the Jews, and pay Him honor as Christ and god.’  Thus the ‘star in the east’ is the glow of Christianity on the horizon.”

It is not coincidental that the word ‘magi’ mirrors our word ‘magic.’  In Old Persian, magi (singular magus) were members of a priestly caste, magicians with occult powers.  The Star of Bethlehem is correctly an occult symbol.”

 

CHRISTMAS TREE

An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols, J. C. Cooper, page 35-36, “Christmas Tree The evergreen tree is the Winter Solstice; the New Year and a fresh beginning.  It is the tree of rebirth and immortality, the Tree of Paradise of lights and gifts, shining by night.  Each light is a soul and the lights also represent the sun, moon and stars shining in the branches of the Cosmic Tree.  The pine tree, sacred to Attis, Atargatis, Cybele, was hung with gold and silver ornaments, bells, etc., with the sacred bird in the branches and sacrificial gifts underneath; the tree was afterwards burnt.  The Yuletide tree (q.v.) was the fir, sacred to Woden/Odin.”

 

SANTA CLAUS

But could Santa Claus be a creature of paganism as well? Yes. 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. Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 19, pages 648-9, 11th edition, "St. Nicholas, bishop of Myra, . . . a saint honored by the Greeks and Latins on the sixth 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 Yahweh is a myth, too?

Is it "Christian" to teach children myths and falsehoods? Yahweh says, "You shall not bear false witness!" It may seem right, and be justified by human reason, but Yahweh says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death!’ (Proverbs 14:12,16:25)

"Old Nick" also is a term for the devil! Is there a connection? Satan appears as an "angel of light:" to deceive!

The Scriptures are silent about telling us to observe Christmas, or recording any such observance by the apostles or early true Church, but it does have something to say about the Christmas tree!

Jeremiah 10: 2-6 says: 2-"Thus says Yahweh, 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 cuts 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."

There is a perfect description of the Christmas tree, termed by Yahweh as "the way of the heathen-the custom 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. 5-"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.

 

GIFTS

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 Scriptures tell us to do that! Didn't the wise men give gifts when Messiah was born?"

First, let's look at the historic origin of trading gifts back and forth, then see exactly what the Scriptures do say about it.

The Bibliotheca Sacra, Vol. 12. Pages 153- 155, - "The interchange of presents between friends is alike 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! This does not celebrate Messiah's birthday or 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 Messiah's birthday by spending every dime they can scrape together in buying presents to trade back and forth among friends and relatives.

Now consider what the Scriptures say about giving gifts when Messiah was born. It is in Matthew 2:1-2,11. 1-"Now when Yahshua was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 2-saying Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.  11- And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshiped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh."

Notice, they inquired for the child, 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 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 unto him gifts." They gave their gifts to the child, not to their friends, relatives, or one another!

Why? Adam Clarke Commentary Vol. 5, page 46: "Verse 11. "(They presented unto 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."

They were not instituting a new custom of exchanging gifts with friends to honor Messiah's birthday. They were following an old and ancient eastern custom of presenting gifts to a king when they come 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.

Christmas has become a commercial season. It's sponsored, kept alive, by the heaviest retail advertising campaign 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, which 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 Messiah, but to sell merchandise! Like all Satan's delusions, it appears as an "angel of light" to make it appear good. Billions of dollars are spent in this merchandising spree every year. It's part of the economic system of Babylon!

We are Yahweh's people Israel! Yes, we're in Babylon, as Scriptural prophecy foretold, and we don't even know it! "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.

Yahshua, the Messiah, could not have been born in December, as we have seen. There is no mention in Scriptures of anyone observing His birthday. Yahweh lists for us, in Leviticus 23, the days He wants us to observe. Christmas, and all the other holidays the world observes, are not listed there. Should we observe them?

In Deuteronomy 4:2, Yahweh says, 2-"You shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish ought from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your Elohim, which I have commanded you."

Do you think that observing Christmas should not be a problem? Is it because you say you're worshipping your Savior, not the pagan gods and rituals? Then maybe you'd better consider more of Yahweh's words.

Deuteronomy 12:29-32 - 29 "When Yahweh your Elohim shall cut off the nations from before you, where you go to possess them, and you succeed them, and dwell in their land; 30 Take heed to yourself that you be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before you; and that you inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? Even so will I do likewise. 31 You shall not do so unto Yahweh your Elohim: for every abomination to Yahweh, which he hates, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters have they burnt in the fire to their gods.32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: you shall not add thereto, nor diminish from it."

------------------------------------------

Not To Be Sold
This booklet is a Free educational service in the public interest.
Permission is granted to reprint without alterations and to distribute without charge.
Copyright ©1999
Congregation of YHWH, Irving, TX.
224 North Story Road  Suite #138
Irving, Texas 75061
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 170309
Dallas, Texas 75217-0309
Telephone: 1-800-867-0150
http://www.thecongregationofyhwh.org/ updated 05-24-18

reprinted by permission - speak truth