Christmas

Are the following verses describing a Christmas tree?
“Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, ... 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. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They [are] upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also [is it] in them to do good.” Jeremiah 10:2-5

“God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24

The Origin of Christmas
Osiris and Isis are the foundation for a pagan Christmas. They are from Egypt circa 3000 BC, before Jesus was on the earth in flesh. Osiris died an early death. Isis, his wife, told a story of Osiris’s spirit making a full grown evergreen tree spring-up overnight from an old stump. On December 25th, according to our calendar, Osiris would leave gifts around this tree. (The start of the history of the Christmas tree, which God spoke against.) Isis became known as the “Queen of Heaven”. She had a son called Horus. “Mother and child” became chief objects of worship in many different cultures of the world. Cybel & Deoius in Asia; Fortuna & Jupiter in Rome. Since the Romans already had a pagan “goddess & god-child”, they simply added “Mary & Jesus” to the list of their names.

Emperor Constantine added Jesus Christ to a list of the names of the sun-god. Jesus is now another name for Mithra the Roman sun-god. He needed to unite his kingdom which according to his view was composed of pagans and Christians. This trick worked uniting Christians with pagans! “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” II Corinthians 6:14

The Roman Catholics made December 25th popular through Pope Liberius. In 435, the first “Christ mass” on record was officiated by Pope Sixtus III. This date was picked because it was the birth date of the Roman’s -Mithra, the Phoenican’ - Baal their main god, the Sun. Christmas means a mass for CHRIST. Does CHRIST need a mass?

The Greek Orthodox Church chose January 6th as their birth date for Christmas. January 6th is the date that the Greeks celebrated the birth of their god Dionysus.

The Egyptian’s god Horus has the same birthday. The Babylonian god Tammuz has the same birthday.

The God of the Jews never had a birthday to celebrate: why? He has no origin or birth! The Bible and early church historians do not record a date for Jesus’ birthday, so two of the liturgical denominations (Roman & Greek) of the period chose their own dates. What is the date that Jesus was born? If He wanted us to know, He would have told us! If He wanted us to celebrate His birthday, He would have told us to! Those who celebrate Christmas on December 25, do so because they follow the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, Not Jesus’!

Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 Edition, published by the Roman Catholic Church
“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.” “...In the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his [Jesus] birthday. It is only sinners who make great rejoicings over the day in which they were born into this world”
Encyclopedia Britannica, 1946 edition“...Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church....”
Encyclopedia Americana, 1944 Edition“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 [eg Communion - death of Christ] rather than their birth...” “...A feast was established in memory of this event [the birth of Jesus] in the fourth century. In the fifth century the Western Church ordered it to be celebrated forever on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol (Sun), as no certain knowledge of the day of Christ's birth existed.”
Encyclopedia Americana
“In the fifth century, the Western Church ordered it [Christ's birth] to be observed forever on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol [the sun god], as no certain knowledge of the day of Christ's birth existed” (1944 edition, “Christmas”).
The New Covenant Church clearly understood that they were not to make their own holy days, so they didn’t! In the second century religious leaders started to make man-made holy days. Easter 135 AD was the first.
What time of the year was Jesus born?
Luke 2:1-7 “...a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. ... all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also ... Bethlehem;...To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. ... And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; ...”

The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible "broadly speaking, weather phenomena and climatic conditions as pictured in the Bible correspond with conditions as observed today" (R.B.Y. Scott, Vol. 3, Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1962, p. 625). -Snow is almost an annual occurrence in Bethlehem in December and January. With snow the roads would be unusable. -“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.” Luke 2:8
-Shepherds during this period were in the fields from April to September or October. They certainly would not be in the field in December at night!
-The Romans would not take a census during the winter months. A census in the winter would have made them very unpopular. They would normally take a census in September or October after the fall harvest.

Why did the wise men give gifts?
“And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrh." Matthew 2:11
The wise men gave Jesus gifts because He is God. They worshipped Him. They didn’t give Him gifts because of His birthday. Why give Christmas gifts today?

Christians have taken a stand against “Christmas”
The Christmas Almanac "America was later in recovering from the Puritan influence than England. Christmas was outlawed in New England until the middle of the nineteenth century. In 1856, Christmas Day was still an ordinary work day in Boston and failure to report to a job was grounds for dismissal. Classes were held in Boston public schools as late as 1870. It was probably the influence of immigrants from Germany and Ireland that finally convinced the Yankees that Christmas could be a harmless, pleasant, and even religious festivity. The first state to declare Christmas a legal holiday was Alabama in 1836. The last was Oklahoma in 1890. -The Puritans who controlled the English Parliament in 1644 declared that Christmas was not to be practiced calling it “The Profane Man’s Ranting Day”. All church buildings were closed on December 25th. In 1659 a New England law barred all Christmas observances. Most Christians in the North rejected Christmas as pagan till the end of the 19th century. The Puritans rejected Christmas because: (1) it perverted the Sabbath, (2) pagan traditions stain true Christianity, (3) it perverted ones image of Jesus.”
Charles H. Spurgeon on Christmass
“We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly, we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas: first, because we do not believe in the mass at all, but abhor it, ...; and, secondly, because we find no Scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Saviour; and, consequently, its observance is a superstition, because not of divine authority. Superstition has fixed most positively the day of our Saviour's birth, although there is no possibility of discovering when it occurred. ... It was not till the middle of the third century that any part of the church celebrated the nativity of our Lord, and it was not till very long after the Western church had set the example that the Eastern adopted it. Because the day is not known, therefore superstition has fixed it; while, since the death of our Saviour might be determined with much certainty, therefore superstition shifts the date of its observance every year. Where is the method in the madness of the superstitious? Probably the fact is that the holy days were arranged to fit in with the heathen festivals. We venture to assert, that if there be any day in the year, of which we may be pretty sure that it was not the day on which the Saviour was born, it is the twenty-fifth of December.”
From a sermon delivered on 24th December, 1871 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, London
Santa Claus
“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof [are] the ways of death.” Proverbs 14:12
Santa Claus is from “Sinterklass” (Saint Nicholas). He was a bishop in Myra in Asia Minor in the 300’s AD. He was very generous. This good man became a folk hero. Long after his death people made this good man into a god.
Is Santa, Satan in disguise?
“I (Lucifer, Satan) will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I (Satan) will be like the most High.” Isaiah 14:14

SANTA CLAUS JESUS CHRIST
1. Hour of his coming is a mystery 1. Luke 12:40; Mark 13:33;
2. Tells children to obey parents 2. Ephesians 6:1; Proverbs 6:20; Colossians 3:20
3.Knows all 3. Revelation 19:6
4. Ageless, eternal 4. Revelation 1:8,21:6; Hebrews 3:8
5. Makes a List, good or bad 5. Revelation 20:12; 14:7; 21:27; 2 Corinthians 5:10
6. Places Children on his knee 6. Matthew 19:14, Luke 18:16
7. Everywhere -sees good or bad 7. Psalm 139:7-10; Ephesians 4:6
How can a “Christian” become united with the “world” to celebrate a pagan holy day? Has the Christian connected to the spirit of Christmas? They are bound by the same Christmas spirit? If you say that the Spirit of God motivates you to celebrate Christmas, then what motivates the man who rejects God, to celebrate the same Christmas in the same manner?
What or who is the spirit (demon?) of Christmas?
“Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.” I Corinthians 10:21
“Be 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 has the Temple of God with idols? For ye that are of the Temple of the Living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them; and 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 you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” II Corinthians 6:14-18
- Our religion must be pure and undefiled before God! James 1:21-27 - - - Can we worship anyway we choose or has God prescribed a specific way? (John 4:19-24) Consider the case of Cain in Genesis 4.
JESUS CHRIST is truth (John 14:6)! Almost everything associated with Christmas is a lie. It is not a mass for CHRIST. Santa Claus does not exist. The date of December 25 as CHRIST's birth is a lie. The brotherly love at Christmas is fake. Depression is at its’ highest point. Selfishness is paramount. The average debt is increased.etc.etc.
Mom or Dad have you lied to your child about Santa Claus? About flying reindeer?. About Santa Claus seeing everything they do? About him giving them gifts, etc. etc.? It is sin to lie!!! So when you tell them the truth about Jesus, maybe subconsciously, they don’t know if Jesus is another lie or not.
“Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;” Colossians 3:9
The tree was and is decorated and worshipped by pagan groups, ancient and recent. The Holy Bible, in the Old Covenant, has under a “green tree” as the place of idolatry, which is sin!
Druids used holly and mistletoe in their celebrations. They worshipped a decorated oak tree. Balls, on the trees, symbolize the sun. Tammuz, the sun-god, was worshipped by his followers hanging red balls on a tree. What did these balls represent? His testicles!

The bottom line is that December 25th is a pagan holy day!
In the New Covenant, only pagans celebrate birthdays.

Does your church add tradition to God’s commands?
“'...In vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men...All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition” Mark 7:7-9
“. What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto,nor diminish from it.” Deuteronomy 12:30-32
“[Even him], whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” II Thessalonians 2:9-12
Bruce Allen Klein
MA, MDiv, ThM, ThD
Pastor-teacher, theologian, missionary, writer
Bibleteach@hotmail.com
Madison, Ohio (440) 428-6329