PAGAN HOLIDAYS



Section Ten of
Biblical Holy Days





Compiled by

Richard C. Nickels









Distributed by:

Giving & Sharing
PO Box 100
Neck City, MO  64849



Revised Edition, copyright 1995 by Sharing & Giving, Inc.

Introduction

Section Ten of Biblical Holy Days covers the subject of Holidays which are commonly observed, but NOT derived from the Bible.  Encyclopedias and newspapers regularly report the pagan origins of many of these popular holidays, yet the majority still continue to observe them.  The Bible, however, condemns following pagan traditions.  The Pagan Holidays, even if they have been dressed up by the Catholic Church to seem to be Christian, stand in contradiction to the Almighty's Holy Days commanded in the Bible.  The Messiah said that the majority would worship Him in vain, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Valentine's Day, New Year's Day, and other holidays of pagan origin are to be carefully avoided by all those who seek to follow the Bible.  Let us observe the Bible Holy Days, NOT the holidays of man.





Table of Contents



Should a Christian Observe This World's Holidays?	1
A survey of the merits and shortcomings of various political, religious and special holidays.

Christmas Is NOT Christian	11
A collection of information relative to Christmas customs.  Why December 25 is not Christ's birthdate.  Saturnalia, Santa Claus, Christmas Trees, etc.


Should a Christian Observe
This World's Holidays?

Have you ever stopped to consider the holidays observed by man?  In the United States, Canada and around the world many days other than God's Holy Days are observed -- more or less depending on location.  Three lists of holidays follow.  These are labeled for convenience as POLITICAL, SPECIAL AND RELIGIOUS.

	Political			Special		Religious
	King's Birthday		Birthdays		New Year's Day--	Lincoln's Birthday		Mother's Day	Epiphany--	Washington's Birthday	Father's Day	Candlemas--	May 1			Memorial Day	Valentine's Day--	Armed Forces Day					St. Patrick's Day--	Victoria Day						Lent
	Flag Day						Easter
	Canada Day						Halloween
	Independence Day					Hanukkah
	Labor Day						Immaculate Conception--	Columbus Day
	Thanksgiving Day -- Canada
	Veterans Day
	Thanksgiving Day

	Not all of the holidays are shown.  In fact, there is nearly one holiday for every day of the year -- not all are observed in every locality.  To the list of special days might be added "Ground Hog Day" and "April Fool's Day."  One should determine the basis for these days before becoming involved.  There may be disagreement over the classification I have chosen.  Some may say that Memorial Day and Hanukkah should be classified as political.  Our concern is not the classification but rather "should the day be observed?"  The original intent of many holidays has been lost, changed or perverted.

Political Holidays

	Note that there are more Political days than Religious days. Perhaps this shows our present inclinations to worship men rather than God.  Many of these days are forced on us by the political system.  Offices, banks and schools are closed.  The patriotic origins are all but forgotten.  Many have turned into just another day to go fishing or watch a favorite game on TV.  We should consider the fourth command also -- the overlooked part -- "six days shall you labor . . . ."  Many sins result from idleness.
	Does God frown upon observance of political days?  Certain national days were observed in Old Testament times.  See Esther 9:26-32 (Purim), Zechariah 8:19 (special national fast days) and John 10:22 (Feast of Dedication -- now known as Hanukkah).  These days had nothing to do with God's Holy Day plan.  They were important to God's people because of miraculous occurrences.  These days have significance to the Jews but are of little or no importance to called and converted Christians.  They are like our Independence Day and Thanksgiving.
	The days honoring individuals, especially those who founded the country, need to be carefully considered.  They border on violation of the first command if carried to the extreme.  For those who know the truth of the beginning of the blessings bestowed on the United States, British Commonwealth countries and western Europe, the real beginning of our heritage goes back to Abraham's obedience.   For proof of this, read The United States and Britain in Prophecy by Herbert W. Armstrong.
	The other political days need to be looked at in the light of the first and second  commandments.  When you observe them are you putting another god or idol in place of the true God?  Or are you putting a day that stands for godless atheism or humanism -- May 1 -- in place of God's plan?  According to Pastor Peter Peters writing in Patriot Review, "Baal Worship in America,"  "MAY DAY AND THE MAY POLE:  The most important holiday in Russia is May day.  The May pole and May day come from the worship of Astarte and sacred pole Ashera."  Do you violate the intent of the sixth command when observing the militarily oriented days?

Memorial Day, Mother's and
Father's Day

	What about the special days?  Honoring the memory of our loved ones on Memorial Day could turn into ancestor worship such as practiced in China.  Remember the first commandment -- "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," Exodus 20:3.  If done in the context of the fifth command "Honor thy father and thy mother . . . " (Exodus 20:12) then it is a different matter.
	As for Mother's and Father's Day, haven't they been grossly over commercialized?  Again in the context of the fifth command, such days could be justified. However, adoration such as that given to Mary should not be done.  In recent years no Sabbath-keeping church appears to have taken a stand on these days.  Recently Raymond C. Cole of the Church of God, the Eternal, stated that he had strong doubts about Mothers' Day.  However, because Herbert Armstrong continued to observe this day "because we should do something for our mothers," the Worldwide Church of God never took a stand on this issue.
	Perhaps Mr. Cole's concern is this quote from the American Book of Days by Douglas:
The custom of holding a festival in honor of motherhood is very old.  It dates back in the Western world to the times of the ancient Greeks who worshipped Cybele, the mother of gods, and honored her with rites in woods and caves.  The custom was introduced into Rome from Greece about 250 B.C., and on the Ides of March the festival of Hilaria in honor of Cybele was begun and continued for three days.  But these celebrations were entirely different from that in honor of the human mothers on the second Sunday in May.

Birthdays 

	Should you observe your own birthday or attend birthday parties?  Whose birthday would be the most important?  Christ's!  Yet the Bible nowhere gives the date of His birth.  Most Bible commentators recognize that the Bible hints at a fall (not winter) birth for Christ.  Yet many believe they honor Him in December.  If the Savior's birthday was important, don't you think God would have revealed the exact day of this most important birth?
	Note what Job 3:3 says:  "Let the day perish wherein I was born . . . ."  The other Biblical references to birthdays are not favorable.  See Genesis 40 where Pharaoh celebrates his birthday by hanging his Chief Baker.  In Matthew 14:6-10, we find Herod beheading John the Baptist on Herod's birthday.  Many believe that Job's children were apparantly celebrating a birthday when calamity befell them Job 1:4-19.
	A good brief history of birthday observance is "Happy Birthday? WHAT IS THE VERDICT," by Chuck W. Henry (you may write him for a free copy at 3624 S. 16, Ft. Smith, AR  72901).  He quotes "Horoscope" from the World Book Encyclopedia:

HOROSCOPE, . . . is a chart that shows the influences the stars supposedly have on a person because of their positions at the time of his birth . . . .  Astrologers also use positions of the stars a t the time they cast the horoscope to predict the person's future.  The word horoscope comes from the Greek horoskopos meaning the one who observes the hour . . . .

	Further, Let's hear what the World Book -- Childcraft International on "Holidays and Birthdays" has to say on this subject:

 . . . For thousands of years, people all over the world have thought of a birthday as a very special day.  Long ago, people believed that on a birthday a person could be helped by good spirits or hurt by evil spirits.  So when a person had a birthday, friends and relatives gathered to protect him or her.  And that's how birthday parties began.

The idea of putting candles on birthday cakes goes back to ancient Greece.  The Greeks worshipped many gods and goddesses.  Among them was one called Artemis . . . the goddess of the moon.  The Greeks celebrated her birthday once each month by bringing special cakes to her temple.  The cakes were round like a full moon.  And, Because the moon glows with light, the cakes were decorated with lighted candles.

	He also shows the pagan origins of spankings, noisemakers and other birthday customs.  Quoting Kenneth C. Herrman "Should Christians Celebrate Birthdays" from the December, 1959, Plain Truth magazine:

The Jews in Christ's day knew God's law forbids celebrating birthdays.  Josephus, the Jewish historian of the first century, declares: Nay, indeed, the law does not permit us to make festivals at the birth of our children . . . .' (Against Apion, book II, #26).

A still greater deterrent to annual birthday observance is the insertion of a 13th  month in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th,17th, and 19th years of a 19-year cycle.  Imagine the confusion of attempting to schedule birthday parties!

	Solomon  tells us "It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting:  for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart," Ecclesiastes 7:2.  God is telling us that it is better to visit those grieving from a recent death rather than with those celebrating or partying (birthdays?).

Religious Holidays

	Note God's commands in Jeremiah 10:2 "Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen . . . ."  Also Deuteronomy 18:9  " . . . you shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations," and also read Deuteronomy 12:30-31.  God is warned that His people Israel have a natural inclination to be like the heathen, and worship like they do, Ezekiel 20:32.  If any religious holidays are pagan in origin these three scriptures alone are enough to cause us great concern.
	To keep this paper within a reasonable length, not all of the proof available on each day will be covered.  The reader, should he want more conclusive evidence of what follows, is urged to secure copies of the writings quoted or research the subject completely.  We are commanded to " . . . prove all things . . . ," I Thessalonians 5:21.

New Year's Day, January 1

	When does God's year begin?  Exodus 12:2 says "This month shall be unto you beginning of months:  it shall be the first month of the year to you."  The name is Abib or Nisan and corresponds to March or April.  Note that the context is Passover time -- in the spring of our Roman calendar year.  See also Exodus 23:15, 34:18, Deuteronomy 16:1 and Esther 3:7.
	Genesis 1:14 says the sun and moon would be the signs of the calendar division.  One rotation of the earth = 1 day.  One rotation of the moon around the earth = 1 month.  One rotation of the earth around the sun = 1 year.  See our article in this series, "How Does God's Calendar Work?"  You can determine that the new moon begins each month by comparing Psalms 81:3 and I Chronicles 23:31 with Numbers 10:10, 28:11, 29:1 and Leviticus 23:24.
	Writing for the Radio Church of God, Kenneth C. Hermann in "God's Sacred Calendar 1962-3" says:

Rather than follow the God-given principles, the Roman calendar begins a new year in the dead of winter, its day in the middle of the night, and its months without reference to the moon. . . . God made His Calendar known to Israel when He brought them out of Egypt . . . .  Our notion has gone back to observing the very calendar which our ancestors used during their slavery in Egypt.

	But isn't our calendar of Christian origin?  Doesn't it have the approval of almost all Christian sects?  History answers:

Our (Roman) calendar is not Christian in origin.  It descends directly from the Egyptians, who originated the 12 month year, 365 day system . . . .  From Journal of Calendar Reform," September 1953, footnote p. 128.

Further study brings one to the realization that the entire Roman calendar is of pagan origin with the single exception of the seven-day-week feature . . . .

	What happens on New Year's Eve?  Drunken orgies, kissing other men's wives (contrary to the 7th command), and if a person is "religious" perhaps he goes to "watch night" services.  Watching for what?  The celebration begins after dark and reaches its intensity at midnight.  God's day begins at sunset -- not midnight.  See Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31.  Read also Leviticus 22:7 and 15:5 which show that sundown commences the new day.
	New Year's Day is not celebrated at the right time of day or at the right time of year to be in agreement with God's calendar.  Some historians even say that April Fool's day used to be New Year's day -- "All Fools Day" from Encyclopedia of Religion.  This would make it closer to the true first day of the year which is in March or April.  Yet there are more important reasons to avoid this celebration.  It is known that New Year's Day dates from pagan Babylonia 2,000 years before Christ.

The New Year's festivities that had originated in Babylon found their way to Greece and finally to Rome.  The Romans called it Saturnalia' . . .  a time of revellings, drinking bouts, orgies -- finally ending in HUMAN SACRIFICE!

The first day of the Saturnalia shifted during the lifetime of Rome . . . it began around the middle of December . . . and continued until January first.  In its midst was December twenty-fifth, the day, as the Romans calculated, when the sun was at its lowest ebb . . . .   (E.W. Count's 4000 Years of Christmas, page 28.)   . . . Caesar . . . instituted the New Year's festival on January first . . . .  He transferred to the first of January Saturnalia! (From "The Truth about New Year's!" by William H. Ellis -- Ambassador College reprint #830.

	He goes on to show that the New Year's babe is Dionysus or Bacchus -- the Greek god of wine -- and that the white-haired old man (father time) is in reality the Greek god Cronos.

The silent reaper' anciently reaped' little children in horrible episodes of mythical cannibalism!  This Greek rite of human sacrifice was adopted by ancient Rome, where human sacrifice was practiced at least until 300 A.D.

	There is nothing in God's word even remotely connected with this type holiday with beginnings so completely foreign to God's instructions.
	Julius Caesar gave us January 1 as New Year's Day.  The ancient Roman calendar was lunar, and began in March.  In 46 B.C., Julius Caesar asked the astronomer Sosigenes to review the calendar and suggest ways for improving it.  Acting on Sosigenes' suggestions, Caesar ordered the Romans to disregard the moon for calculating their calendars, and instituted twelve non-lunar months of 31 and 30 days, escept for February which had 29 days, and 30 days every fourth year.  He moved the beginning of the year to January 1.  The Romans renamed Quintilis to honor Julius Caesar, giving us July.  The next month, Sextilis, was renamed August to honor the emperor Augustus.  Caesar Augustus moved a day from February to August to make August as long as July.
	Says the World Book Encyclopedia,

In Ancient Rome, the first day of the year was given over to honoring Janus, the god of gates and doors and of beginnings and endings.  The month of January was named after this god.  Janus had two faces, and looked both ahead and backward.  On the first day of the year, the Roman people looked back to what had happened during the past year and thought of what the coming year might bring.  Romans gave one another presents on New Year's Day.  Many persons brought gifts to the Roman emperor and wished him good fortune.  At first the gifts were simply branches of bay and palm trees; but later more expensive presents were given.

	Catholics followed the Julian Calendar, although for hundreds of years they observed the beginning of the year on March 25 (which was then spring equinox), and not on January 1 as Julius Caesar had instituted.  However, January 1 became a Catholic holiday, in 487 A.D., when it was declared the Feast of Circumcision (January 1 is 8 days after December 24).  The World Book Encyclopedia, article "New Year's Day," says, "At first, parties were not allowed on this day, because the pagans had followed that custom.  This was gradually changed, and celebrations could be held again."
	Slight errors in the Julian Calendar pushed January 1 and the times of the equinoxes ahead a little bit over the centuries.  Pope Gregary XIII in 1582, upon advice of astronomers, droped 10 days from October of that year.  The day that would have been October 5, 1582, became October 15, restoring the next equinox to its proper date.  To correct the Julian Calendar's regular errors, the pope decreed that February would have an extra day (29 instead of 28 days) in centuries that could be divided by 400 (such as 1600 and 2000), but not in other century years, such as 1700, 1800 and 1900.  Catholics, who had followed the Julian Calendar, now followed the adjusted Julian Calendar, called the Gregorian Calendar.  Pope Gregory returned to observanc of January 1 as the beginning of the year.  Not until 1752 did Protestant England and America switch from a March 25 to a January 1 New Year.
	Among the pagan customs of New Year's Day continued today is the tradition of making noise with firecrackers and/or gunshots at the beginning of the new year.  From ancient Babylon, India, China, Russia and Siam, new year's noisemaking was believed to frighten away evil spirits.  "New Year's Resolutions" comes from the ancient Roman custom of cleaning out one's chimney on New Year's Day to bring good luck and a fresh start.

EPIPHANY (January 6) or Twelfth Night, Three Kings Day

	This day according to Compton's Encyclopedia commemorates the showing of Christ to the Magi.  The Biblical justification, if any, would be the story found in Matthew 2.  This observance must be based on a December 25 birth.  We have already said that the Bible nowhere indicates the exact date of Christ's birth, but the indications are that it was in the fall.
	The Encyclopedia of Religion ties this day to,

 . . . the Sunday following the octave of Christmas . . . .  It was originally either a feast of Christ's baptism in the Jordan or of his birth at Bethlehem . . . .  The date may have at first been observed as a feast of the baptism of Christ among the second century Basilidian gnostics.  In the fourth century it was certainly a feast of the nativity of Christ . . . .

	Part of the gnostic's belief is that this day is the day when the Phantoms entered Christ at His baptism. To literally believe this is to say that some spirit being (angel or demon?) possessed Christ and that He is not Christ but some other being.  It is probably a perversion of the "baptism of the Holy Spirit" which occurred for Christ after baptism as an example for us and which occurs for true believers after the laying on of hands immediately following baptism.

CANDLEMAS - February 2; Valentine's Day February 14;
Festival of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM)

	Forty days after December 24 is February 2, the Catholic holiday of Candlemas.  Because "The feast commemorates the purification of the BVM and the presentation of Christ in the Temple which took place, according to Luke 2:22-39, forty days after His birth, as the Jewish law required (Leviticus 12:1-4)" (Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church) this day must relate to the pagan celebrations of Valentine's Day and Christmas for there is no Biblical command to keep it.  One of the major means used by the Catholic Church for conversion of the pagan masses was to take pagan holidays and attach "Christian" meaning to them.

Baronius states that it was instituted by Pope Gelasius (492-496 A.D.) as a check to the heathen Festival of the Lupercalia (Encyclopedia of Religion & Ethics).  The transference of the Festival from 14th to 2nd February was due to the institution of the Festival of Christmas (q.v.) on December 25.

	This day honors the Nimrod of Genesis 10:8-9.  Eventually God caused Shem to kill this despot for his evil anti-God ways.  Other names for Nimrod was "Pan," "Baal," "Lupercus," and "Santus" or "Santa" meaning "Saint."  Hence "Saint Valentine's Day."  The heart, "bal" in Babylonian, became a symbol of Nimrod.  He was the original "valentine."  It is said women lusted after him.
	Why was February 14th chosen?  Let Dr. Herman L. Hoeh explain in "St. Valentine's day . . . "  (Reprint #240 Ambassador College)

The Romans called the festival the Lupercalia.'  The custom of exchanging valentines and all the other traditions in honor of Lupercus -- the deified hero-hunter of Rome -- was also linked anciently with the pagan practice of teenagers going steady.'  It usually led to fornication.  Today, the custom of going steady' is thought very modern.  It isn't.  It is merely are birth of an old custom handed down from the Roman festival of the Lupercalia, celebrated in the month of February . . . .'  That's the admission of the Encyclopedia Americana, article, St. Valentine's Day.' . . .  Nimrod . . . was said to have been born at the winter solstice . . . on January 6 . . . .  Later . . . on December 25 and is now called Christmas . . . .  It was the custom . . . for the mother of a male child to present herself for purification on the fortieth day after the day of birth . . . .'

	Forty days from the original day of January 6 is February 15.  The celebration started the evening before.  This is how Valentine's day came to be observed on the 14th of February.  On that day Nimrod's mother, Semiramis, was supposedly purified and made the first appearance as the "mother and child."  The Encyclopedia Britannica indicates that Nimrod was also called "Cupid" which means desire.  Later on, Semiramis married this "Cupid" -- her own son Nimrod.  Nimrod is the "desire of women" found in Daniel 11:37.
	Can you find these practices approved of in the Bible?  I Corinthians 6:18 answers part of the Valentine's and New Year's activities -- "Flee fornication . . . ."  The 7th Command as expanded by Christ in Matthew 5:27-28 should cause us to avoid many of the customs involved in this holiday.
ST. PATRICK'S DAY (March 17)

	This day is in honor of the patron saint of Ireland -- the man who introduced Catholic "Christianity" to that country.  Perhaps this day would be better included with political observances for it has no real religious significance and certainly no Biblical justification for any other than the Irish.  Those who observe it nowadays do so with an abundance of alcohol and wearing green.

EASTER (and related holidays)

	Compton's Encyclopedia defines the Easter related religious festivals as:

Mardi Gras (French: Fat Tuesday)  In many Catholic countries, Lent is proceeded by a carnival season . . . . Elaborate pageants often close this season on Shrove Tuesday -- (the day before the beginning of Lent).

Ash Wednesday -- First day of Lent . . . from the practice . . . of putting ashes on the foreheads of the faithful . . . to remind them that "man is but dust" and that he must do penance.

Lent -- Period of forty days, not including Sundays, ending with Easter, observed in memory of the 40 days' fast of Christ in the desert.

	Lent is nothing more than a continuation of a fast begun in Babylon over 4000 years ago.  Ezekiel 8:13-14 says "He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.  Then he brought me to the door of the Lord's house which was toward the north; and behold there sat women weeping for Tammuz."  Quoting Herman L. Hoeh in "Where Did God Command You to Observe Lent?" (Radio Church of God - 1957 #142).

They wept for Tammuz, the false Messiah of the Pagans!  That weeping preceded the pagan festival in honor of the supposed resurrection of Tammuz. Fasting was joined with weeping for a period of forty days before the festival in honor of Tammuz.  The period of weeping and semi-fasting fell during the springtime.  That is why the word Lent means spring!'  Lent is a continuation of the pagan spring-time custom of abstaining from certain foods just prior to celebrating a fake resurrection!  And God calls LENT an ABOMINATION!

Passion Sunday -- second Sunday before Easter.

Palm Sunday -- Sunday before Easter.  " . . . celebrates the triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem.  Holy Week begins on this day."  The problem with this day is that it really occurred on a Thursday.  Proof of this is found on pages 160-163 of A Harmony of the Gospels in Modern English (First Edition) by Fred Coulter.

Maundy Thursday -- Thursday before Easter.  " . . . is in memory of the Last Supper of Christ with his disciples."  The truth is that the Last Supper' was on a Tuesday evening.

Good Friday -- Friday before Easter.  " . . . commemorates the Crucifixion."  The crucifixion really occurred on a Wednesday as shown in other writings.

Easter -- "First Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox."

Ascension Day -- "Forty days after Easter" always the sixth Thursday after Easter.  This day celebrates "the withdrawal of Christ into Heaven, witnessed by the Apostles (Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51, Acts 1:9.)" -- Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, article "Ascension of Christ, The."  This was kept "from the later years of the 4th cent." but is nowhere commanded in the Bible.

Whitsunday  (Pentecost) -- "Fifty days after Easter."

Whitmonday -- "The day after Whitsunday."

Trinity Sunday -- "Sunday after Whitsunday."
Corpus Christi -- "Thursday after Trinity Sunday" is

A festival of the Roman Catholic Church in honor of the Eucharist . . . .  As early as Augustine's time . . . .  After the Council of Constance (1414-18) the popes took occasion by the amplification of indulgences to stimulate the zeal of the faithful still further . . . . "Corpus Christi" from Religious Encyclopedia.

	Some confusion exists over the beginning of this day but it was not observed by the early church.
	These days are all false -- not commanded by God -- some with their roots in pagan antiquity!
	The resurrection was not on Sunday nor the crucifixion on Friday.  Therefore, these celebrations connected with Easter are not of God.
	Mardi Gras is just plain debauchery!  Semi-nude women creating lust.  Too much alcohol and revelry.  All directed to pleasing the flesh just a few weeks before the most serious event in God's Holy Day season.  Then 40 days of semi-fasting to supposedly put one back into the mood for a false crucifixion and a false resurrection.  God instructs us to live righteously year-around!  The Encyclopedia of Religion & Ethics says

Joseph Addison, in the year 1684 or 1685, took part in another Shrove-tide custom at Lichfield Grammar School.  It was a custom practiced at Christmas and Shrove-tide, and links the Bacchanalian customs of Shrove-tide with the Saturnalian license of Christmas.

	Like the rest, this celebration of pagans has been given "Christian" meaning as a pacifier of the masses.
	"Easter" only appears once in the King James version in Acts 12:4 as a mistranslation.  It should read "Passover."  You can verify this yourself in your concordance.  The word "Easter" comes from "Astarte" -- a title for Beltis, queen of heaven, or "Istarte."  Astarte was the consort of Baal, the sun god.  Refer back to Valentine's Day to see who Baal was.  It is readily apparent that Astarte was none other than Baal's mother, Semiramis!
	By now the reader should be realizing that all of this world's religious holidays have a pagan origin.

HALLOWEEN, or Allhallows, Hallowmas or All Saint's Day

	Evidently the Druids celebrated this day in honor of Samhain, Lord of the Dead.  This Samhain is also known as Saman or SATAN.  This celebration began long before Christ's time!  Later on the Catholic Church picked this day to honor all of the various "saints" as there were not enough days for each one to have a separate day, hence the name "All Saint's Day."
	Originally this day was to teach the false doctrine of the immortality of the soul.  In early Germany there was a custom of praying to the dead on this date.  This custom became the belief that those dead who had not quite made it could be helped to a higher heaven by the prayers of the living.  In other words, once dead, you really were not dead but waiting to be perfected before you could reach the final heaven and see the "beatific vision."  Of course this is contrary to the Biblical teaching that the dead are really dead, awaiting one of the three resurrections.
	The "trick or treat" practice of today comes from an old custom of buying off the demons so that they would not curse your next years' crop.  For further proof of the pagan background of this day see "Halloween Through Twenty Centuries," "The Book of Halloween" or "Halloween Where Did It Come From" (Ambassador College reprint #160).

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION (December 8)

	God did not record Mary's birthday -- it is therefore impossible to know the exact date of her conception!  The idea that Mary was "immaculately conceived" is nothing but a figment of men's perverse reasoning.  See the Oxford Dictionary of Christian Church article "Immaculate Conception of the BVM" for proof.
HANUKKAH (Feast of Lights)
near winter solstice (December 21)

	The New Century Dictionary says:

The Feast of the Dedication, a Jewish festival commemorating the dedication of the new altar on the occasion of the purifying of the Temple at Jerusalem after its pollution by Antiochus Epiphanes . . . beginning of the 25th day of the month Kesleve, and lasting for eight days (mostly in December): called also Festival of Lights,' from the lights burned specially during this period.

	Note that this is the day mentioned in John 10:22.  Christ's presence on that day neither signifies approval nor disapproval.  However, the Encyclopedia of Religion says

According to some historians, the origin of the festival is to be found in pagan festivals of light in midwinter.  The prayers for Hanukkah refer only to the victory, but in  practice the kindling of the lights is the main feature of the festival . . . .  It is nowadays customary for Hanukkah presents to be given to children. This practice if found in none of the early sources and seems certain to have been introduced to offset the giving of Christmas presents at this season of year.

	The meaning of this feast as originally observed seems to have been replaced by the pagan practices associated with Christmas.  Note the similarities -- 8 days (the octave of Saturnalia), "festival of light" (rebirth of the sun), and gift giving.

CHRISTMAS -- December 25

	As alluded to earlier, this day does not really honor Christ's birth.  The real origins are the birth of Nimrod (Baal). Since Christ's time the Roman church "converted" a pagan holiday into a "Christian" holiday -- just like they did all of the other holidays.  It was a deliberate attempt to get away from God's Holy Days which were called "Jewish" days.  Note the clever transference.  The real New Year's day became April Fool's day.  The Passover (Christ's death on a Wednesday) became Good Friday.  Unleavened Bread became Holy Week and the resurrection -- not even commanded to be observed -- became Easter, a day originally observed in honor of Nimrod and Semiramis.
	Then Christ's birth, another day without Biblical justification, became Christmas -- a day originally observed in honor of the birth of Nimrod.  The original "mother and child" was not Mary and Christ but rather Semiramis and Nimrod many centuries before Christ's birth.  This day was not celebrated by the early church!  Not observed in the Christian community until the 4th century and made official by the Roman Church "in the 5th century to be celebrated on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol . . . " per The Encyclopedia Americana.
	Christmas relates back to the pagan Brumalia (December 25) after the Saturnalia (December 17-24 or the octave) and celebrates the shortest days of the year and the rebirth of the sun.  For a full explanation see "The Plain Truth about Christmas" from Ambassador College, which shows the pagan origins of Santa Claus, mistletoe, the Christmas tree (but note Jeremiah 10:2-6), holly wreath and yule log.  If you are concerned about the gift-giving at this time of year just stop and think who the wise men gave their gifts to.  It was not to each other.  It is customary to give gifts when coming into the presence of a ruler.

Conclusion

	Now to directly answer our title question, "Should a Christian Observe this World's Holidays?"
	Political holidays are not directly prohibited in the Bible. Depending on their nature there is evidence that some of these type of days were observed.
	Special holidays, depending on how they are observed, can be either bad or good.
	There are none of this world's religious holidays that a true Christian should observe.  He should rather observe God's Holy Days as outlined in Leviticus 23; Deuteronomy 16; Ezekiel 20:12, 20; Exodus 31:13; and 34:18-23.
	If you are keeping this world's holidays God is talking to you in Deuteronomy 12:30-31; Mark 7:7, 9, 13; Hosea 2:11, 13; Revelation 22:18-19 and Matthew 15:9.  "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" --
Revelation 18:4.  Now would be a good time to review the preceding articles on the Holy Days to appreciate the simplicity and logic of God's plan for mankind.

-- written by William B. Scherer, expanded by Richard C. Nickelsê


Christmas Is NOT Christian

It almost seems like a sacrilige for a professing Christian not to celebrate  Christmas.  After all, it is the celebration of the birth of the Messiah, isn't it?   There is much goodwill in the "spirit of the season," isn't there?  Let us examine the history and myths surrounding the world-wide phenomenon of Christmas.

	"If all our festival days had to be given up except one, it is quite probable that the voices of children would mingle with those of adults and sound forth in a mighty chorus in favor of retaining Christmas"  Herbert H. Wernecke, Christmas Customs Around the World, page 11.  Christmas is the main holiday, not only of the professing Christian world, but also of many other non-Christian peoples.  Strange as it may seem, Christmas is not in the Bible, was not observed by most professing Christians until four centuries after Jesus' death, and would have been forbidden in early New Testament times.  Christmas is at least 2,000 years older than the birth of the Jesus, our true Messiah!

Mesopotamia is the very ancient Mother of Civilization.  Christmas began there, over four thousand years ago, as the festival which renewed the world for another year.  The twelve days' of Christmas; the bright fires and probably the Yule log; the giving of presents; the carnivals with their floats, their merrymaking and clownings, the mummers who sing and play from house to house; the feastings; the church processions with their lights and song -- all these and more began there centuries before Messiah was born (Earl W. Count, 4,000 Years of Christmas, page 18).

December 25 Not Christ's Birth

	There are several reasons why December 25 could not be date of birth of Christ:
	(1)	Shepherds do not tend their flocks by night in Bethlehem, for it is too cold.  Shepherds take in their flocks before the end of October.  Adam Clarke says,
It was a custom among Jews to send out their sheep tot he deserts, about the Passover [early spring], and bring them home at the commencement of the first rain . . . [in] October or November . . . .  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 Savior was not born on the twenty-fifth of December, when no flocks were out in the fields . . . the flocks were in still in the fields by night.  On this very ground the nativity in December should be given up (Clarke's Commentary, vol 3, p. 370).

	(2)	Roman taxations usually took place at the end of the harvest, in September or October.
	(3)	Travel was so hard in the winter season that Jesus warned His people to pray that their flight at the end of the age would not be in winter, Matthew 24:20.  
	(4)	We know the birthdates of Caesars and Pharaohs (birthday celebrations in Egypt can be documented back to the 13th Century B.C.), but there is not one mention in the Bible nor in early church literature defining the date of Christ's birth.  God did not want us to know the date Christ was born, otherwise, He would have told us when it was!  Obviously, it was never God's intention for Christ's birthday to be celebrated!  We do, however, celebrate Christ's death, annually at the Christian Passover ceremony.
	(5)	In A.D. 274, Emperor Aurelian chose December 25 for the date of a pagan festival in Rome, as the birthday of the unconqured sun, natalis solis invicti, which at the winter solstice begins again to show an increase in light.
	(6)	Pope Liberius of Rome, in 354 A.D., ordered December 25th observed from that time forward as the birthday of Christ, which was a Catholic substitution for the pagan Roman Saturnalia festival on nearly the same date.  Liberius chose the date "because the people of Rome already observed it as the Feast of Saturn, celebrating the birthday of the Sun" according to The World Book Encyclopedia.
	Christmas was celebrated in Rome as early as 336.  Julius I, Bishop of Rome, was said to have kept in 350.  Tradition says Christ's birth was kept as early as 98 A.D., and was ordered to be observed as a solemn feast by Telesphorus, Bishop of Rome, in 137.  Another source says Julius Sextus Africanus (historian who lived in Alexandria, Egypt) was the first person to specify December 25 as the Savior's birthday, in 225 (or 221) A.D.  He selected the winter solstice through his assocation with pagan winter solstice practices.
	(7)	Christmas as December 25 coincides with pagan festivals such as the Roman Saturnalia.  The Persians observed the winter solstice by a feast revering the sun, kindling great fires to Mithra, their god of light, while Teutonic tribes of northern Europe honored Woden (Odin) by consuming quantities of food and drink during their yuletide season, the time of the rebirth of the sun.

Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church.  Irenaues and Tertullian omit it from their lists of feasts . . . the first evidence of the feast is from Egypt . . . .  Pagan customs centering around the January calends gravitated to Christmas (Catholic Encyclopedia, article "Christmas").

Certain it is that the winter solstice, which the ancients erroneously assigned to the twenty-fifth of December, was celebrated in antiquity as the birthday of the Sun . . . .  Our Christmas festival is nothing but a continuation under a Christian name of this old solar festival; for the ecclesiastical authorities saw fit, about the end of the third or the beginning of the fourth century, arbitrarily to transfer the nativity of Christ . . . to the twenty-fifth of December, for the purpose of diverting to their Lord the worship which the heathen had hitherto paid on that day to the sun (James G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, page 633).

January 6 Not Christ's Baptism

	In the eastern part of the Roman empire, a festival developed called Epiphany (from the Greek epiphaneia, meaning manifestation).  It began at least as early as 200 A.D., and became more prevalent in the latter part of the Fourth Century, A.D.  Epiphany celebrated both the birth and baptism of Jesus.  Though Epiphany as the birth and baptism of Jesus appears to have earlier support than December 25, gradually in the West and most parts of the empire, Christmas (December 25) became the preferred celebration for the physical birth of Jesus, while Epiphany became only a celebration of the baptism of Jesus, His spiritual birth.  In 381, Gregory of Nazianzus called Epiphany the festival of lights, in commemoration of the baptism of Christ, the true light.  The Britannica speculates that the introduction of Christmas as the birth of Jesus may well have been connected with the struggle of Trinitarians against the Arians, who denied Christ's divinity.  Today, only the Armenian Catholics continue to observe the nativity on January 6.
	Twelfth Night, another name for Epiphany, is traditionally the time for Christmas decorations to come down. 

Mass of Christ Is Idolatry

	Christmas gets its name from the Latin Christes Masse, or the Mass of Christ.  The French call Christmas Noel, the Scaninavians Yulen Jul, the Italians Natale, and the Germans Weihnacht.  By celebrating the "Mass" of Christ, one is openly supporting the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, and its pagan Mass.
	What is a Roman Catholic Mass?

The Sacrifice of the Mass is really the holy and living representation and at the same time the unbloody and efficacious oblation of the Lord's Passion [suffering] and that blood-stained sacrifice which was offered for us on the cross (The Catholic Encyclopedia, page 375).

	In the mass, Jesus is considered to be both the priest and the victim, represented by the Catholic priest who offers Him as a sacrifice over and over again, each time the mass is performed.  As the supposed mediator between God and man, the priest believes he has the power to change the bread and wine into Jesus' literal flesh and blood (the miracle of "transubstantiation"), consumed by the people.  For more information on the ungodly idolatry of the Catholic ceremonies, please read Babylon Mystery Religion, by Ralph Woodrow.

Feast of Sol

	Roman feast of the sun-god, at the time of the winter solstice.  Also called, Natalis invicti solis, or "birthday of the unconquered sun."  Says Frazer, "The largest pagan religious cult which fostered the celebration of December 25 as a holiday throughout the Roman and Greek worlds was the pagan sun worship -- Mithraism . . .   This winter festival was called the Nativity' -- the Nativity of the SUN'," Golden Bough, p. 471.
	The Catholic Encyclopedia says, "The well-known solar feast of Natalis Invicti," the Nativity of the Unconqured Sun, "celebrated on 25 December, has a strong claim on the responsibility for our December date," volume 3, page 727, article, "Christmas."  Some thought that Jesus was Sol, the sun-god.  "Tertullian had to assert that Sol was nto the Christians' God; Augustine denounced heretical identification of Christ with Sol.  Pope Leo I bitterly reproved solar survivals -- Christians, on the very doorstep of the Apostles' basilica, turning to adore the rising sun," Ibid.  

Mistletoe

	The "Golden Bough" of classical legend, mistletoe was gathered by Druids and Norsemen with great ceremony and hung in their homes.  Mistletoe was thought to be sacred with miraculous powers.  Its berries, produced in the winter, were thought to be a sex stimulant.  Kissing under the mistletoe began as part of the Celtic Midsumer Eve ceremony in which men would kiss each other as a display of their homosexuality, and was later expanded to include both sexes.  Some historians believe mistletoe kissing is even more ancient, from temple prostitution and sexual license that was most prolific during the Roman Saturnalia.

Green Boughs

	Romans ornamented their temples and homes with green boughs during winter solstice season.  Greens have been used in homes as symbols of the earth's fertility and eternal life since ancient pagan days.  Teutonic peoples believed that certain greens could frighten away evil spirits.

Holly

	Used by Saxons, along with ivy and bay, holly's green leaves and red berries were thought in medieval times to be protection against witchcraft and the evil eye, and a good-luck charm for men.  Wreaths of holly and/or other evergreen boughs (such as laurel) are round to symbolize the returning sun at the winter solstice, and depict the sun's returning victory over darkness and death.  Holly berries were considered sacred to the sun-god.

Yule Log

	Burning yule log was part of sun-worship. "Yule" may come from the Scandinavian word rol, which means "wheel," a pagan symbol of the sun. This may in turn be derived from the Chaldean Eol, which means "infant," or "little child." Syrian and Egyptian sun worshippers would retire to their shrines on December 25, and at midnight come out with a loud cry, "The Virgin has brought forth!  The light is waxing!" (see James Frazer, The Golden Bough, page 416).  The Norse winter solstice festival was called Jol (pronounced "Yol"), which may be the origin of our word "jolly."  The ashes of the yule log, kept through the year, were supposed to protect the house from fire and lightning, and to have the power of healing wounds and making fields and animals fertile. A piece of the old log was saved and used to light next year's yule log.  The yule log represents the dead Nimrod, deified as the sun-god, cut down by his enemies, but come to life again.  This identifies the "yuletide season" as the birthday of the counterfeit Babylonian Messiah, Nimrod.  Christmas candles trace back to the burning yule log and the reincarnation of Nimrod in Tammuz.  Yule log customs continue today in various part of America.  Among colonial planters in Virginia and Maryland, the Negro slaves searched for the largest water-soaked logs, since it was believed that Christmas festivities continue as long as the burning log is kept glowing.
	According to Venerable Bede, the Anglo-Saxon church historian, ancient Anglo-Saxons called the night of December 24 to 25 Modranecht, meaning "Mother's night," for it involved ceremonies relating to the "rebirth" of the sun.  At the time of the winter solstice, a feast dedicated to Thor, called Giul was held.  This is from a word meaning "ale," and may have been later corrupted to Yule.  The old Yule season lasted 20 days in all, 12 after and 8 before Modranecht.  Today, it is still considered bad luck to take down the holly, mistletoe and other Yuletide decorations until the "Twelfth Night" after Christmas.  

Christmas Fires and Candles

	Lighting of fires and candles was a pagan custom of Saturnalia.  As a pagan belief, fire was thought to encourage the waning sun-god as he reached the lowest place in the southern skies.  Romans fastened candles to their Saturnalia tree, indicating the sun's return to the earth.

Christmas Ham

	Ham is eaten at Christmas (and Easter) because Tammuz (the sun deity Adonis) was thought to have been killed by a boar.  Alexander Hislop, in The Two Babylons, shows that the boar slain at Christmas time represented ancient Nimrod.  After his death, his wife Semiramis gave birth to a child, Tammuz, which she claimed to be Nimrod reincarnated. Tradition says that Nimrod was so evil that his great-uncle Shem ordered his execution. The great hunter and empire builder Nimrod (Genesis 10:8-12) had been a mighty one, worshipped by his followers as the sun. Since the sun "dies" at the winter solstice, the boar's head was eaten on the eve (beginning) of December 25, signifying the death of the old sun, and the new sun Tammuz returns.
	In memory, pagans sacrificed and ate swine at the Saturnalia and other times.  The entire animal was cooked, often served with an apple or pomegranate in its mouth, a custom which still prevails in England and parts of Europe.  In St. Louis, Missouri, the ham is especially prized during the Christmas season.  For over 3,000 years, it has been common among pagans to kill and eat a pig at their winter festival of the return of the sun in late December.
	What God thinks of eating swine's flesh is clearly shown in Isaiah 65:1-7, 66:17.

Christmas Cookies

	Christmas cookies are traceable to the cakes made to the Queen of Heaven (Semiramis), Jeremiah 44:19.  Round cakes were made for the Saturnalia and Brumalia to symbolize the sun.

Brumalia

	A pagan Roman festival of December 25, the word brumalia means "winter solstice."  Legend has it that Romulus, the founder of Rome, instituted the winter solstice festival under the name of brumalia.

Saturn Worship

	Roman god, equivalent to the Greek Cronus or Kronos, a god of the harvest, and ruler of the world in its Golden Age.  During Saturnalia, the festival in honor of Saturn, the Golden Age suposedly returned to the earth.  Kronos, or Saturn, is usually shown as a bent old man with a scythe in one hand.  In the other hand, he holds a serpent which bites its own tail.  The mythology of Kronos is clearly shown in popular "New Year's" myths today of "Father Time."

Saturnalia

	The most popular ancient Roman festival was Saturnalia.  It was dedicated to the "god" Saturn, distinguished by holly and the interchange of presents between friends, and adapted by nominal Christians from the Pagans.  Saturnalia began on December 17, and lasted seven days, through December 23 or 24.  On the first day, public religious ceremonies honoring Saturn took place.  On the second day, many families offered sacrifices of a young pig.  A boar's head was served with an apple or orange in its mouth.  Plum pudding, mince pies, and decorated sweets and cookies for deserrt were served.  It was the gayest holiday festival of the Roman year, and marked by ease of moral restrictions and a Mardi gras-like madness.  Homes were decorated with greenery and lights.  Schools observed holidays and all public business stopped, including the courts.  Families held gatherings and banquets, and even Roman slaves were free to attend the festival. The name "Saturn" meant "abundance," and Saturnalia festivities had abundant feastings.
	The last days of Saturnalia were spent visiting and exchanging presents.  Some of the gifts were wax candles and little clay images or dolls,  called sigillaria (little images).  It is interesting that the word "doll" in our language may have been derived from the word "idol."  Some historians believe that these dolls represented original human sacrifices once offered to Saturn (see Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition, article "Saturnalia"), and that the Greeks and Romans gave the name of Cronus and Saturn to a cruel Phoenician baal, to whome children were sacrificed at Carthage.  This makes it grisly to think that the original "Christmas" was, as it is today, "just for kids."
	Saturnalia continued to be observed as late as the 4th or 5th centuries A.D.  Symphosius, Latin writer of that period, wrote 100 three-hexameter riddles for the Saturnalia.
	According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, article "Saturn," the influence of Saturnalia "is still felt throughout the western world . . . .  The influence of the Saturnalia upon the celebrations of Christmas and New Year has been direct."  In the Britannica article on "Christmas," we are told that "both Christmas and Epiphany, which falls 12 days later on January 6, are transformed pagan celebrations of the winter solstice, and so closely linked that their origins cannot be discussed separately."

Worship of Mithra

	Collier's Encyclopedia, article "Christmas," brings out another aspect of Christmas:

The choice of December 25 was probably influenced by the fact that on this day, the Romans celebrated the Mithraic feast of the Sun God (natalis solis invicti) and that the Saturnalia also came at this time.

	The worship of Mithra was especially popular with the Roman legions.   Mithra means "friend," or "dead ruler."  Originating in Persia, the Mithra cult found its way to Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Rome, and many parts of the Roman empire, during the time of the emperors.  Frazer in The Golden Bough reports that "Mithra was regularly identified by his worshipers with the sun, the unconquered sun, as they called him; hence, his nativity also fell on the 25th of December."  Mithra worshipers were called "soldiers of the faith," and invincible just like the sun, hence, its wide appeal to soldiers.  Thus, it is not surprising that Emperor Constantine, a sun worshiper and soldier himself, had a supposed vision with the sun and the sign of the cross, telling him "in hoc signo vinces (in this sign conquer)."  Constantine led the merger of pagan Mithraism with nominal Christianity to produce a most unholy mixture.
	Mithra worship became a competitor and close counterfeit of apostate Christianity for the number one religion of the decadent Roman Empire.  In fact, Mithraism actually did win out, for Mithraic practices, masqueraded as Christianity, became the dominant religion of the western world.

 . . . [Mithras was] the creator and orderer of the universe, hence a manifestation of the creative Logos or Word.  Seeing mankind afflicted by Ahriman, the cosmic power of darkness, he incarnated on earth.  His birth on 25 December was witnessed by shepherds.  After many deeds he held a last supper with his disciples and returned to heaven.  At the end of the world he will come again to judge resurrected mankind and after the last battle, victorious over evil, he will lead the chosen ones through a river of fire to a blessed immortality (Mystery Religions in the Ancient World, page 99).

	Mithra worship, the unconquered sun god, has been victorious.  It is no wonder that the Apostle Paul warned the Corinthians about false apostles, "for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light" II Corinthians 11:14.

Protestants and Xmas

	Christmas was outlawed in England from 1647 to 1660, under Oliver Cromwell.  Catholic King Charles II re-established Christmas in England in 1660.
	In 1620, the first December 25 was spent by the Pilgrims in the New World felling trees "in order to avoid any frivolity on the day sometimes called Christmas."  William Bradford, second governor of Plymouth Bay Colony, told his officers:  "We must take the sternest measures against this popish day."   On May 11, 1659, the Massachusetts colonial legislature passed a law fining anyone caught celebrating Christmas:  The law read, "Whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas and the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way . . . shall pay for each offense five shillings."  The purpose of the law was "for preventing disorders . . . (by) observing such festivals as were superstitiously kept in other countries to the great dishonor of God and the offense of others." Though repealed in 1681,  public schools remained open in Boston on December 25 until 1870.
	German and Irish Catholics were largely responsible for bringing the tree and other Christmas customs to America during the great migrations of the 1800's.  By 1836,  Christmas was a legal holiday in Alabama.  Georgia folowed in 1856.
	The first real "German" celebration of Christmas in America was kept by Hessian mercenaries of the British army at Trenton, New Jersey in December, 1776, when on Christmas eve, while the Germans were in a drunken stupor (a Christmas custom followed by many today, patterned after the Roman Saturnalia), General George Washington and other revolutionaries crossed the Delaware River and at dawn on Christmas day routed the bleary Hessians.  Washington's disregard of Christmas led to the victory of colonial forces over the British.

Birthdays

	It is neither a Jewish nor a Christian custom to observe birthdays with great fanfare and celebration:

The day [of Christmas] was not one of the early feasts of the Christian church.  In fact the observance of birthdays was condemned as a heathen custom repugnant to Christians.  The American Book of Days, by George W. Douglas, p. 658.

	The early Catholic "father," Origen (ca. 200), acknowledged that 

In the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday.  It is only sinners [like Pharaoh and Herod, Genesis 40:20, Matthew 14:6, Mark 6:21] who make great rejoicings over the day in which they were born into this world" (Catholic Encyclopedia, article "Natal Day").

	Origin said it was sinful to keep Christ's birthday like pagan festivals, "as though he [Christ] were a King Pharaoh."  Gregory of Nazianzus (d. 389) denounced the intermingling of pagan and Christian elements in Christmas, warning against excessive indulgence in feasting, dancing and dressing in grotesque costumes of animal skins.
 	Professing Christians have forgotten the Passover, as the annual memorial of the death of our Savior for our sins.  Instead, they have appropriated the pagan Christmas as the birth of the Babylonian false Messiah.

Exchanging Gifts at Saturnalia
and Christmas

	An important part of pagan Roman festival of Saturnalia (Romans also exchanged gifts at the new year), gift-giving was frowned upon by the early Church for hundreds of years.  Gift-giving in the United States was not a custom until the 19th century.  The wise men did not exhange gifts among themselves; they presented gifts to Jesus sometime after His birth, when He and Mary and Joseph were in a house, Matthew 2:11.  The only place in the Bible where we find the masses exchanging gifts is in celebration of the death of the Two Witnesses, at the end of the age,  Revelation 11:10.  However, their joy will be short-lived, for the merchants of the earth, who have fostered sales of merchandise through Christmas gift-giving promotions, shall, as part of Babylon, be destroyed, Revelation 18:10-24.

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 (Bibliotheca Sacra, volume 12, pages 153-155).

Public Holidays

	Rome's festivals of the official calendar were civic holidays, and keeping the feasts was required by patriotism.  Holidays which once were mainly religious gradually became secular, much as today.

Santa Claus

	Santa Claus supplants the Christ-child as the central person of Christmas.  "Santa Claus" may be a corruption of the name "St. Nicholas," a supposed Roman Catholic Bishop of Myra, in Asia Minor, who may have lived in the 4th Century.  More churches have been named after Nicholas than any of the apostles.  St. Nicholas is the patron saint of Russia and Greece.  In spite of Roman Catholic tradition, there is no real proof that an historical St. Nicholas (St. Nick) ever existed.  Philip Revzin in The Wall Street Journal (December 22, 1986), writes that "virtually nothing is known for sure about the original Nicholas of Myra."
	Dutch settlers brought the idea of a gift-bringing Christmas patron of children to New Amsterdam (New York City) during the 17th Century.  Dutch children shortened "Nicholas" to "Claus," and the Spanish influence in the Netherlands changed "Saint" to "Santa."  Christmas in Holland is still celebrated on December 6, the supposed day of St. Nicholas' death.  French children call Santa Pere Noel, while German children call him Kris Kringle, Scandinavians Yule Tomten, Italians Lady Befana, while Finnish children see their holiday patron as a goat!
	Dutch seamen are supposed to have carried the tradition of Nicholas' generosity to Europe, as a result of which Dutch children received presents on December 6.  St. Nicholas was traditionally represented as a beared saint riding a white horse and carrying a basket of gifts for good children, and birch rods for naughty ones.  The Dutch Americans transformed him into a chubby cheer-bringer.  Washington Irving in 1809 pictured Santa Claus as a jolly, chubby fellow riding through the air in a sleigh drawn by reindeer.  Dr. Clement C. Moore in his 1822, poem, "A Visit from St. Nicholas," published in 1823 in the Troy, New York Sentinel, enshrined the present form and spirit of Santa Claus.  Finally, in 1863, cartoonist Thomas Nast, in Harper's Illustrated Weekly, gave the white-bearded gentleman his red, fur-trimmed coat.  Myth transferred into modern commercialism, Santa Claus' popularity among Christ-rejecting multitudes is assured.
	Called by many different names, various customs and traditions evolved into the modern Santa Claus from Odin or Saturn, the sun-god.    Santa, like Odin, has a home far away in Heaven or the North Pole (God's throne is in the north, Psalm 48:1-2, Job 26:7), he comes on horseback or in a sleigh driven by reindeer, he is associated with fire, by entering the house by the chimney or leaving gifts by the hearth (since he is a sun-god).  Odin, the gift-giver, is re-incarnated in today's Santa Claus.

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 [December 6], subsequently transferred to Christmas day.  Hence the association of Christmas with Santa Claus  (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition, volume 19, pages 648-649).

	Throughout the year, parents punish their children for telling lies.  Then, at Christmas time, they tell the lie of Santa Clause to their own children.  It is no wonder they grow up questioning what their parents told them about God as well.  "Old Nick" is a term for the devil, the father of lies.  That is what Santa Claus really represents.

Christmas Tree 

	Since evergreen trees do not lose all their leaves and become brown (symbolic of death), they were revered and worshipped by pagans, as symbolic of immortality and fertility.  Perhaps the first decorating of an evergreen tree was done by pagans to honor the god Adonis, who after being slain was brought back to life by the serpent Aesculapius.  Around the stump of the dead tree (the slain god) coiled the snake Aesculapius, symbol of restoring life (but, in the Bible, the serpent signifies Satan the devil, Genesis 3, Revelation 12:9).  From the roots of the dead tree came a different tree -- an evergreen tree symbolic to pagans of a god who cannot die.  In Egypt, this god was worshipped in a palm tree as Baal-Tamar.  Egyptians brought the green date palms indoors, for they signified to them life triumphant over death.  The Romans worshipped the fir tree as the same newborn god Baal-Berith, 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."  Romans trimmed trees with trinkets and toys during Saturnalia.
	Again, all this pagan symbolism shows that the "sacred" tree simply represents Nimrod, who was executed, or cut down, by Shem (Noah's son) for his apostasy against the Almighty.  And, the new tree growing from the stump represents Tammuz, the supposed rebirth of Nimrod.
	Catholic St. Boniface in the 8th century completed the catholic conquest of Germany by dedicating the fir tree to the Holy Child to replace the sacred oak of Odin.  Martin Luther, strolling home on a clear, star-lit Christmas Eve, was "inspired" to cut a tall evergreen, place lighted candles on it to symbolize the stars and gave it to his children.  While lighted and decorated trees date centuries earlier, Luther made the decorated Christmas tree popular.  German settlers brought the tree custom to Pennsylvania in the 17th century, while German-born Prince Albert introduced it to England in 1841, a year after his marriage to Queen Victoria.  Possibly the first Christmas tree in a church in America was provided by Pastor Henry Schwan, in 1851 at Cleveland, Ohio.
	In numerous Bible passages, the "green" tree is associated with false worship and idolatry:  Deuteronomy 12:2, I Kings 14:22-23, II Kings 16:1-4, 17:9-10, II Chronicles 28:4, Isaiah 57:3-5, Jeremiah 2:20, 3:6,13, 17:1-2, and Ezekiel 6:13.  The aserah, or "groves," followed the practice of the pagan Canaanites, who cut branches of a live tree, and carved it into a phallic symbol and worshiped it.  Obelisks and church steeples of today are a continuation of this pagan fertility sex worship.  Such false worship was one of the primary reasons why the Eternal evicted the ten northern tribes of Israel from the Promised Land, and send them captive to Assyria, II Kings 17, especially verses 10-12.  Just as the Almighty in old times was angry when His people followed the ways of the heathen, so today, He is angry at those who mix paganism and the laws of God.  Judgment and captivity awaits our people, part of modern Israel, unless they repent of following heathen customs.
	Jeremiah 10:1-5 may refer to an ancient pagan practice similar to today's Christmas tree.

The Christmas tree is from Egypt, and its origin dates from a period long anterior to the Christian Era (Frederick J. Haskins, Answers to Questions).

	Professing Christians today do not worship the Christmas tree, but they have continued the same pagan customs of sun worshippers who did indeed worship the evergreen tree as symbolic of their immortal sun-god.  God says not to follow pagan practices,   Herbert Wernecke, in Christmas Customs Around the World, says that the Christmas tree is the "center of holiday observance" (page 20).  Take away the Christmas tree (and the associated greenery and lights), and the customs and traditions of Christmas would be greatly diminished.  Although professing Christians claim that the Christmas tree represents immortality and Christ, the "light of the world," our Savior is definitely not pleased.
	Sheryl Ann Karas, author of The Solstice Evergreen:  The History, Folklore and Origins of the Christmas Tree,  tells of her fascination with the "magic" of the Christmas tree, and shows why the tree is so universally admired and adored.  The warmth of friends, exchanging of gifts with friends, beautiful light of the decorated tree create an aura which is irresitible (in spite of the fact Karas is a Jew and was denied celebration of Christmas when she was a child).  In typical New Age fashion, Karas relishes in the pagan underpinnings for our modern Christmas tree customs:

The evergreen played an influential role in the spiritual life of early societies throughout the world . . . . veneration of the tree dates from at least 4000 years before Christ.  Its pervasive symbolism was central to primitive cosmologies, the beliefs about the universe which laid the foundation for every major religion, including Christianity . . . . Many people like to de-emphasize our pagan heritage . . . . Yet paganism is  . . . part of our spiritual past.  In the case of the Christmas Tree, this knowledge can enrich the celebration of the ritual for even the most fundamentalist Christians and revitalize the winter holidays for those who are not (pages 4-5).

	Why did the pagans so revere the tree, especially the evergreen tree?  After three years of detailed research, Karas was able to trace the Christmas tree back to the Garden of Eden.   Sinful, degenerate man rebelled against God, and the most common deities in pagan religions were the "trinity" of the Sun God, the Mother Earth, and the Sky Spirit.  The earth being the temple of the sun, pagan gods and goddesses were worshipped outdoors in naturally protected spots such as under trees.  These groves, or "high places" forbidden in the Bible acted as sanctuaries, much like modern churches and cathedrals.  They were held to be sacred places, and it was considered sacreligious to break a branch or cut down one of the trees in such a sacred grove.  Trees were held to be houses of spirits, and if a tree was cut, it was believed that the spirit would die.  Evergreens came to be most revered, from the Cedars of Lebanon to the Cypress and Pine of China.  Evergreens symbolized to pagans eternal life, the belief that life would continue forever.  Numerous myths and legends attest to a common pagan belief that man either came from a tree, or his spirit returns to a tree upon death.  Thus, the evergreen is a common pagan symbol of rebirth and eternal life.  The Tree of Life from the Garden of Eden was rejected by Adam and Eve, and their posterity ever since has yearned to return to that garden and eat of that tree, and live forever.  That is why the tree is the central part of the worship of nature religions.  That is why the Christmas tree lives on with universal appeal.

Dionysus

	The myth of Dionysus has many parallels with that of Jesus (and/or common ideas of Jesus).  He was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman Semele.  He was supposedly born on December 25.  He became god of wine and perfomed miracles such as turning water into wine.  He was ambushed and killed by Titans, who tore his body apart.  However, Dionysus was resurrected and/or rose to heaven on March 25.  When the pruned grape vine comes back to life in the spring, it was celebrated by the Greeks as the resurrection of Dionysus.  During the processional, a baby, representing the newly reborn god, was carried in a place of honor.  Then, the wild frenzied Bacchanalian rites began, with drinking large quantities of wine and wild orgies.  The Delphic oracle commanded the Corinthians to worship the pine tree along with Dionysus, and images of Dionysus were made of pine wood, along with Bacchinalian celebrations with pine torches, and pine cones (symbolic of fertility).  This counterfeit Messiah tradition became melded with nominal Christianity.

The Tree and the Cross

	Faced with such a prevalent tradition of universal adoration and worship of the tree, the Catholic Church transformed tree worship to worship of the cross, the "tree" upon which the Savior was slain.  Just as the tree was the passageway into paradise and eternal life for the ancients, apostate Christianity made the cross the object of worship, and the pathway to eternal life.  Over a period of 500 years, Catholic conversion of Europe was accompanied by woodcutters who put the axe to the sacred groves of the Teutons.  What rituals could not be suppressed, were re-interpreted and incorporated into the supposed Christian faith.  And yet, changed in form, but not in substance, the adoration and reverence toward trees continued.
	Sheryl Karas' fascinating story of The Solstice Evergreen shows how mankind indeed has not changed much in 6,000 years.  They still worship under every green tree!

Christmas Stockings

	A legend associated with Bishop Nicholas may be the origin of the custom of hanging Christmas stockings by the fireplace.  When Nicholas generously provided dowries for the three daughters of a nobleman who had lost his fortune, he threw each one a bag of gold into the house, which fell into a stocking that had been hung on the chimney to dry.  Clement C. Moore's "A Visit from St. Nicholas" gave this stocking story the greatest impetus.  In a variation of this custom, the Dutch children put their wooden shoes in the chimney corners on eve of December 6, awaiting presents before the next morning.

Wassail Bowl

	The word "wassail" comes from the Anglo-Saxon waes hael, which means "to your health," or "here's to you."  A mixture of ale and spices served in a large bowl, the custom of "wassailing" brings forth the real Christmas spirit, that of one of drunken debauchery.

Semiramis

	Wife of Nimrod, she married her son Tammuz, whom she claimed was the reincarnated Nimrod.  Semiramis, the first deified Queen of Babylon,  is also known as Diana, Aphrodite, Astarte, Rhea and Venus.

Tammuz

	The false Babylonian Messiah, Tammuz was the son of Semiramis, and married his own mother.  He was also known as Bacchus, Adonis, Osiris, Saturn, or Cronus.  The Bible condemns ancient Israel for worshipping Tammuz, which included sun worship and the asherah (possibly a phallic symbol), Ezekiel 8:14-18.  

Tertullian

	Catholic church "father" Tertullian wrote about 230 A.D., inveighing against professed believers in the Messiah, who were observing pagan Roman festivals, such as the Saturnalia, Brumalia, and Matronalia, with gift exchanging and great banqueting.  Pope Leo I (440-461) chastised Catholics who on Christmas celebrated the birth of the sun-deity.

How much the date of the festival depended upon the pagan Brumalia [December 25] following the Saturnalia [December 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 tht 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 Mespoptamia accused their Western brethren of idolatry and sun worship for adopting as Christian this pagan festival.  (New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, article "Christmas")

Certain Latins, as early as 354 [A. D.], may have transferred the birthday from January 6th to December 25, which as 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 disicples of Cerinthus . . . (Encyclopaedia Britannica).
An Oriental Christmas

	From Japan, to Taiwan, to Malaysia, Christmas is a very popular holiday in the Orient, even among those who do not profess to be Christian.  In Japan, less than 1 per cent of the populaton claims to be Christian.  Even among the few Japanese Christians, most believe that there is nothing wrong with celebrating festivals of different religions.  As a result, a Japanese person may celebrate a Shintoist, and then a Buddhist holiday, later to observe Christmas, a supposedly Christian holiday.  The foreign holiday of Christmas has become entrenched into Asian culture. Japanese feel that one should be open-minded, and not too rigid about religion.  If something is pleasurable, then do it, but don't let it affect other aspects of life. 
	At first glance, we may think this modern phenomenon is very strange and shows a lack of character.  However, 1,500-1,600 years ago, professing Christians did something even worse.  They took a pagan holiday, Saturnalia, and began observing it as a "Christian" festival.  A logical Japanese could ask these questions:  How can Western Christians celebrate a festival originally a pagan celebration of the winter solstice, that was not the birthday of Jesus, but the rebirth of the sun?  How can Westerners criticize the
Japanese as being unprincipled in celebrating a "Christian" holiday along with their Shinto and Bhuddhist holidays, when the Westerners have done essentially the same thing?   Once again, the Oriental mind can see clearly the hypocrisy and lying of Western civilization.
	Recently, the U.S. President and business leaders traveled to Japan to try to increase USA exports to the Pacific Rim.  Much ballyhoo was made over the attempt of the Americans to sell U.S. cars in Japan, to overcome Japanese trade barriers.  John Chancellor of NBC news noted that so far, no American car maker has bothered  to sell cars in Japan with the steering wheel on the right side of the vehicle, as is standard in Japan (and the United Kingdom).  Can you imagine how many Japanese cars would sell in the USA if they did not adapt to the American practice of putting the steering wheel on the left side?  Western hypocrisy is dumbfounding!  Observing Christmas as a "Christian" holiday is colossial hypocrisy, and Christmas keepers have no right to criticize the Japanese for observing holidays of religions other than their own.  Incidentally, exports of North American Christmas trees to Japan appears to be a booming business!




Bibliography

"Christmas . . . a man-made holiday,"  The Sacred Name Broadcaster, 12/1980.

"Christmas:  A Time of Festivity for Orientals," The Watchtower, December 15, 	1986.

"Christmas and the Faith of Our Fathers."  Medford, Oregon:  American 	Covenant Church. 

Karas, Sheryl Ann,  The Solstice Evergreen:  The History, Folklore and Origins 	of the Christmas Tree.  Boulder Creek, California:  Aslan Publishing, 1991.  

Kent, John L., "Christmastime Celebrations Antedate the Birth of Christ," in 	December 27, 1982 Spotlight.

Meyer, Jacob O., "The Case Against Christmas," The Sacred Name 	Broadcaster, 12/1982.

Pollack, Jack Harrison, "What is Christmas?" November 29, 1964 Parade.

Revzin, Philip, "If He Existed at All, Nicholas of Myra Was the First Santa," 	Wall Street Journal, December 22, 1986.

Tardo, Russell K. "The Shocking Truth about Christmas,"  Arabi, Louisiana:  	Faithful Word Publications.

"The Untold Story of Christmas."  Kingdom City, Missouri: Yahweh's New 	Covenant Assembly, 1990.

Wernecke, Herbert H., Christmas Customs Around the World.  Philadelphia:  	The Westminster Press, 1973.

Woodrow, Ralph, Babylon Mystery Religion.  Riverside, California:  Ralph 	Woodrow Evangelistic Association: 1966.
ê

The True Story About Christmas

No doubt most of you reading this article are, like myself,  one who grew  up in this chaotic and confused world thinking that the Christmas Season  -- with all its glitter and glamour, family reunions, the giving of gifts, the festive eating and drinking, and with all the splash of color and the enchanting music -- constituted the most wonderful occasion of the entire year.  For thinking this, while in ignorance of the real truth, we are not to be blamed.  To be sure, with the swiftly passing centuries that have come and gone since the days of Adam, certain predominant customs and traditions have evolved and become a firmly established part of man's way of life during his journey from the cradle to the grave.  However, because the inherent tendency of human nature is to just carelessly accept and take for granted those things inherited from the distant past -- without any serious questioning as to their real origin and true nature -- many today do not realize that in the pattern of modern society we fondly retain many concepts and practices which were introduced ages ago from the ranks of idolatrous paganism.  For this reason, we find that the vast majority everywhere continues to perpetuate and faithfully observe that which all recognized authority tells us has actually come from the darkest pages of ancient superstition and heathenism!

Into this deplorable category falls the extremely popular theme of the Christmas Story.  Living as we now do, in the last half of this modern Twentieth Century, looking back on almost 6,000 years of tumultuous history, we find ourselves more able than any of our predecessors to determine the true origin and nature of the many customs and traditions which have been inherited from other times.  Especially here in America do we have every advantage for learning the facts on the observance of such customs as Christmas.  Our land is filled with encyclopedias and countless historical records which clearly explain the course of events that culminated with the institution of Xmas as a religious holiday.  As is prophesied in Daniel 12:4, there was to be much traveling to and fro and great increase in knowledge and its dissemination in the closing days of this present age -- the time of the end in which we now live -- shortly before the Second Coming of Christ Our Lord.


This is Satan's World

I cannot emphasize too strongly that we must always bear in mind the undeniable fact that this present world is an evil world (Galatians 1:4 &  I John 5:19), a world ruled by the devil and filled with many deceiving teachers and their erroneous philosophies and beliefs (II Corinthians 4:4, Luke 4:5-6, II Corinthians 11:13-15, Revelation 12:9, 20:1-3)!  It is also a world filled with strife and competition, envy and confusion.  (I Corinthians 14:33 and James 4:1).  And, as Christ plainly stated in the fifteenth and seventeenth chapters of John, He and those who obediently follow Him do not take part in, or in any way observe the many false and inherently evil customs which flourish in this sorry world.  Regrettably, despite all our colleges and universities, our scientists and their million-dollar laboratories--despite all the many churches which fill the land--the tragic fact remains that we have been born and reared in a world which in not  one of the creator's devising and is not filled with his precious truth!  Indeed, when we begin to question and prove all things, as God commands that we do in I Thessalonians 5:21, we soon discover that regardless of every advance made in material science, and despite all our churches and schools of higher education, this world is still blindly groping in spiritual darkness!  And the truth lies almost buried beneath an avalanche of inherited religious superstition, error, half-truths, and outright lies!


We Must Prove All Things!!

Yes, we are commanded to prove all things, to reject and repudiate anything and everything in the guise of religion which is not true -- which is not fully authorized and supported by the Bible.  And, as Paul instructed Timothy, we are also commanded to "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman (one who will studiously labor to determine the truth) that needeth not to be ashamed (will have no cause for shame before the judgment seat of Christ), rightly dividing the word of truth" (II Timothy 2:15).  Though we now live in the explosive days close to Christ's return to this earth as Supreme World Ruler, though we have so many mechanical marvels to lighten our labors and increase our productive efforts -- we still flounder along under a crushing load of age-old superstition and error in the realm of religion!  In the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, Jesus warns us to beware of such things.  Listen now to verses 4 and 5: "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.  For many (not just a few) shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ (or in the fullest sense, I represent Christ; I am Christ's minister); and shall deceive many."  Notice, it is the many, the majority of professing Christians (those of all the many man-made sects and denominations) who are deceived by these many false teachers!  Now consider verse 24: "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."

The very elect, my friends, are those who keep the commandments, and have the faith and testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelation 12:17, 14:12, 22:14)!  Of such is the body of Christ, the true church, the "Church of God," composed.  Those who, because they are doers of the law and not hearers only, cannot be deceived.  As we find in Psalm 111 and verse 10: " . . . a good understanding have all they that do his commandments."  Let me ask this question:  How many persons have ever seriously questioned what they have been taught from childhood and have grown up believing and practicing?  Unless we do so, we cannot hope to escape being numbered among that vast majority who are being constantly deceived and led astray by the popular error of this world's maze of religion.  Unless and until we each take the time and put forth the effort to question and prove all things, we will inevitably be found among those who are now following the broad and popular way which leads to destruction; the way of the soft and smooth things, and the deceits  (Matthew 7:13-15 and Isaiah 30:9-10)!

In reality, when we study to find the faith once delivered to the saints, we soon come face to face with the startling fact that much of today's religion is not found in the Bible!  Instead, we find much of it is the continuation of age-old superstition -- idolatrous beliefs and practices in cloaked disguise which are completely contrary to God's revealed will.  The centuries since Adam's creation have witnessed the rise and fall of nations, of mighty empires and vast domains -- the life and death of kings and queens and their subjects.  Those same centuries also regrettably witnessed the development of many false and vain philosophies and ways of life -- which are directly opposed to the truth!  Although the men and women who conceived and propagated such error and deceit have long since returned to their dust, the customs and traditions they promulgated with such loving care have remained and have gradually engulfed the entire world, permeating almost every religious doctrine.  Thus, we who now live in this chaotic and confused world must be extremely  careful to search out the pure original.  It is imperative that we study, that we question the validity of all religious precepts and hold fast only what we find to be unshakably true!


What Do The Authorities Say?

On the question of Christmas and its observance, does your Bible, the supreme authority, anywhere contain the instructive commands necessary to establish it as a thing ordained by God?  Is it one of those original church festivals God gave to His Church, and which the Church of God has always kept?  Or is the whole Christmas Story just another fable and fairy tale out of the distant past -- one of those referred to by Paul in II Timothy 4:4: "And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."  Unless we examine the past and consider the facts on record -- how and why the festival of Christmas really originated -- we shall not understand the will of God on this matter.  Listen to this authoritative statement: "Many of the holy days (so-called) in the religious calendar of Christendom were borrowed, as is well-known, from the public festivals of ancient nations,"  (from the book, Rest Days, by Webster, page 306).  Is Christmas, then, one of those days which have been borrowed from the public festivals of ancient nations?  Festivals which were heathen and pagan to the core; permeated with mysterious rites and ceremonies that neither Christ nor the Apostles taught nor observed?  We shall see!

First, exactly what is the day itself supposed to commemorate and represent?  For countless generations people of almost every nation have been taught -- and have gullibly taken for granted -- the proven error and brazen lie that our Saviour was born on December 25.  The day, then, is supposed to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Let's turn now to the Bible  record and see if such is truly the case.  In the second chapter of Luke and beginning with verse four we find the following: "And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem . . . . To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.  And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.  And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.  And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  (This has great significance as to the time of Christ's birth and will be explained later on).  And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them:  and they were sore afraid.  And the angel said unto them, Fear not:  for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord . . . . And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

In this beautiful account of Christ's birth, so fraught with blessed meaning for all mankind, there is absolute silence as to the month, or day, of His entry into this troubled world.  Neither do we find here one single word of command telling us to commemorate the event in any manner, shape, or form!  I ask you, "Why?"  Over His birth and what it signified, every follower of Christ has always had every reason to rejoice with supreme exultation and joy unspeakable!  But, to read this inspired record and then add to it a completely fictitious tissue of lies, as has been done, is to incur God's great displeasure.  Shall we foolishly think to improve on God?  (Consider Revelation 22:18-19, Deuteronomy 5:32-33.)  It goes without saying that if God had wanted mankind to observe the anniversary of His dear Son's birth, He would have given us complete and detailed instructions as to just when and how He would have us commemorate it.  The inescapable truth is that nowhere in the entire Bible do we find one word of command or instruction that obedient followers of Christ should observe His birth from year to year.  Nowhere can we find where Peter, or Paul, or any of the Apostles and their zealous converts, thousands in number, ever indulged in anything even faintly resembling the "Christmas Story."


The Veil Is Lifted!

Returning now to the challenging voice of authority, consider with me at this point the very frank acknowledgments contained in the following excerpts.  First, from the Encyclopedia Americana: "Christmas, derived from the medieval `Christes Masse,' the mass of Christ . . . . It was, according to many authorities, not celebrated in the first centuries of the Christian Church as the Christian use in general was to celebrate the death of remarkable persons rather than their birth . . . . In the fifth century the Western Church (Catholic Church of Rome) ordered it to be celebrated forever on the day of the old Roman feast of Sol (the S-U-N God), as no certain knowledge of Christ's birth existed . . . . The holly, the mistletoe, the yule log . . . are relics of pre-Christian times . . . . The Christmas tree has been traced back to the Romans"  (vol. 6, 1938 edition, page 623).

Second, from Compton's Picture Encyclopedia: "The exact date of Jesus' birth is not known, and for 200 years or more . . . the Church had no christmas celebration . . . . Soon after 200 A.D. the new feast was being observed on various dates -- especially Jan. 6, Mar. 25, and Dec. 25.  By the middle of the fourth century, the Western Church (Catholic Church of Rome) was nearly everywhere celebrating it on December 25 . . . . Old as our Christmas festival is, many of the customs and ceremonies associated with it are far older.  They got their start thousands of years before the Christian era, for our pagan forefathers used to celebrate the winter solstice (approximately Dec. 22) as the birthday of the sun.  The yule log . . . its ashes, kept through the year, were supposed to protect the house from fire and lightning and to have the power of healing wounds and making fields and animals fertile . . . . Mistletoe came to be especially associated with Christmas because the northern people held it sacred and thought that it had marvelous powers . . .  Holly, too, was the subject of many superstitions; its use at Christmas was regarded as especially appropriate because its prickly leaves were thought of as representing the Saviour's thorny crown, and its bright red berries as representing drops of His blood"  (vol. 3, 1950 edition, pages 292-293).

Is the voice of secular authority raised in unison in its frank indictments concerning the true origin and nature of Christmas?  Indeed it is!  Please give your sober attention next to the renowned Encyclopaedia Britannica, in which we are told the following: "Christmas (i.e., the mass of Christ) . . . . was not among the earliest festivals of the Church, and before the 5th century there was no general consensus of opinion as to when it should come in the calendar, whether on Jan. 6, Mar. 25, or Dec. 25 . . . . As late as 245 Origen (an early Catholic writer) repudiated the idea of keeping the birthday of Christ . . . . In England the observance of Xmas was forbidden by Act of Parliament in 1644 . . . . Christmas customs are an evolution from times that long antedated (preceded) the Christian period -- a descent from seasonal, Pagan, religious and national practices, hedged about with legend and tradition . . . . In the beginning many of the earth's inhabitants were sun worshippers . . . . In the south of Europe, in Egypt and Persia, the sun gods were worshipped with elaborate ceremonies at the season of the winter solstice . . . . From the pagan accent on light it is not difficult to trace the rise of lights and open fires -- from the bonfires of sun worship and . . . . the yule log to the many customs centering around the candles . . . . Many current customs besides those of light and fire date back in some way to those pre-Christian origins, among them Christmas decorations.  The Romans ornamented their temples and homes with green boughs and flowers for the Saturnalia, their season of merrymaking and the giving of presents; the Druids gathered mistletoe with great ceremony and hung it in their homes; the Saxons used holly, ivy, and bay . . . New Year's Day is the great festival in France and Scotland and many of the Christmas customs are observed on that day, particularly the giving of presents" (extracted from vol. V, 1952 edition, pages 642-644).


Harlot Rome Is Responsible!

Not long after the death of Christ and while some of the Apostles were yet living, a new religious movement developed within the bounds of the Roman Empire.  It was specifically against the many lies and deceits of this amazingly false church that the Apostle Paul leveled his inspired and explosive blasts found in II Thessalonians 2:1-12.  Paul's statements in this chapter were made by him around 51 A.D., during the earliest years of "The Mystery of Iniquity" which caused him such great concern.  Within the comparatively short span of the following 46 years, by 97 A.D., this new religion had gained tremendous popularity and grown by leaps and bounds.  Thus it was that Christ Himself, the revelator, caused the beloved Apostle John to overwhelmingly substantiate Paul's judgment by saying the following: "Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication . . . and I saw (in vision) a woman (God's symbol for a church) . . . full of names of blasphemy . . . and upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration," Rev. 17:1-6.  Consider also the entire eighteenth chapter of Revelation, and Isaiah 47.

With appalling detriment to the truth of Christ, the great deceiver has successfully used The Roman Catholic Church, and those "protesting" sects and denominations which nevertheless follow her example, to lead men everywhere away from the Church of God!  Few seem to realize that in this world the Church of God has invariably been the comparatively small, widely scattered, persecuted "Little Flock" prophetically described by Christ and others.  (See Acts 8:1-4, Ezek. 34:5-12, Jer. 23:1-2, Matthew 26:31, James 1:1, Dan. 12:7, etc.).  After the spirit-filled Apostles and early pillars of the Church finally died, then, like a sweeping avalanche the great falling away from the truth set in with deadly earnest.  It was especially through the scheming designs and selfish efforts of those false prophets and blind leaders of the blind who laid the foundation and erected the super-structure of the early Catholic Church -- that the religious world was turned away from the truth of God!  These men deemed it best, in order to gain a following and to raise up the great, universally accepted ("Catholic" literally means "world-wide" or "universal") church they envisioned, to allow such pagan customs as the festival of Christmas to become a part of their religious doctrine!

In Alexander Hislop's internationally famous masterpiece, The Two Babylons, we find the following incontestable proof regarding Catholic apostasy.  Listen!  "The festivals of Rome are innumerable; but five of the most important may be singled out for elucidation -- viz. Christmas-day, Lady-day, Easter, the Nativity of St. John, and the Feast of the Assumption.  Each and all of these can be proved to be Babylonian.  And first, as to the festival in honour of the birth of Christ, or Christmas.  How comes it that that festival was connected with the 25th of December? . . . At the time that the angel (Luke 2) announced His birth to the shepherds of Bethlehem, they were feeding their flocks by night in the open fields . . . the cold of the night, from December to February (in Palestine), is very piercing . . . it was not the custom for the shepherds of Judea to watch their flocks in the open fields later than about the end of October . . . .  There is great unanimity [agreement] on this point . . . .  Indeed, it is admitted by the most learned and candid writers of all parties that the day of our Lord's birth cannot be determined . . . . How, then, did the Romish Church fix on December 25th as Christmas-day?  Why, thus:  Long before the fourth century, and long before the Christian era itself, a festival was celebrated among the heathen, at that precise time of the year, in honour of the birth of the son of the Babylonian queen of heaven . . . in order to conciliate the heathen, and to swell the number of the nominal adherents of Christianity (Roman style, that is), the same festival was adopted by the Roman Church, giving it only (instead) the name of Christ . . . .  Upright men strove to stem the tide, but in spite of their efforts, the apostasy went on, till the church, with the exception of a small remnant, was submerged under pagan superstition . . . the 25th of December, the day that was observed at Rome as the day when the victorious god reappeared on earth, was held at the Natalis invicti solis, The birth-day of the unconquered Sun.'  Now the Yule log is the dead stock of Nimrod, deified as the sun-god, but cut down by his enemies;  the Christmas-tree is Nimrod redivius -- the slain god come to life again . . . .  There can be no doubt, then, that the Pagan festival at the winter solstice -- in other words, Christmas -- was held in honour of the birth of the Babylonian Messiah (a devilish counterfeit of Christ!)"  (chapter 3, pages 91-102).


Of Proof, There is Plenty

Though some may finally regard this article as but a catalogue of quotations, I nevertheless cannot refrain from citing still more impressive and reliably authentic comments from various sources.  Keeping in mind all that we have covered thus far, especially the material just reviewed from Mr. Hislop's book, as to why and how the Catholic Church has adopted the idolatrous observance of December 25th, let's turn again to the Encyclopaedia Britannica.  Listen!  "The exact date of Christ's birth has never been satisfactorily settled, but when the fathers [meaning the early Catholic leaders] of the Church . . . decided upon a date to celebrate the event, they wisely chose the day of the winter solstice (Dec. 25th, the date honored by the pagans as the birthday of Nimrod, claimed to be the promised Messiah . . . son of Baal and the sun-god) which was firmly fixed in the minds of the people and which was their most important festival . . . .  As Christianity [the Catholic brand] spread among the people of pagan lands, many of the practices of the winter solstice were blended with those of Christianity [so-called] because of the liberal ruling of Gregory I [one of many infamous popes!] and the co-operation of the missionaries [Catholic evangelists] . . . " (op. cit., pages 642-644).

My friend, do you realize, do you comprehend, the staggering impact of all these authentic statements?  I grant you that it is shocking and hard to believe.  It has been so to me and to many others.  If, however, you are perhaps yet reluctant to concede defeat . . . if you are yet not sufficiently aroused to admit the sordid truth, consider with me now the tangible proof furnished us in the December 1, 1952, issue of Life Magazine.  In an article captioned, "The Customs of Christmas," the editors presented the following facts:  "For centuries before the birth of Christ the month of December had been the occasion for boisterous pagan revelries marking the winter solstice and the returning strength of the sun.  By making Xmas coincide with the ancient festivals, the church fathers [meaning, remember, early Catholic leaders] hoped to counteract the wild winter revelries . . . but the heathen festivities still went on and the church  [Roman Catholic], which first frowned on them, finally accepted them and allowed them to be assimilated into the celebration of Christmas to add to its popular appeal . . . ."  From the ends of the earth all recognized authority automatically indicts the Catholic Church for her colossal deceit and duplicity in fastening the Christmas story on gullible millions.  In the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, we find this:  "The pagan Brumalia and Saturnalia were too deeply entrenched in popular custom to be set aside by Christian influence . . . the pagan festival [that of observing Dec. 25th as the birthday of the sun-god] with its riot and merry-making was so popular that Christians [so-called] were glad of an excuse to continue its celebration with little change in spirit and in manner . . . ."


Mother Rome Betrays Herself

Lest anyone reading this article jump to the conclusion that I have deliberately presented a strongly biased and prejudiced view, without consulting Catholic records on the subject,  I now present a number of amazing acknowledgements made by Catholic authorities.  First, from the famed Catholic Encyclopedia:  "Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church . . . Irenaeus and Tertullian omit it from their lists of feasts; Origen asserts . . . that in the scriptures sinners alone, not saints, celebrate their birthday . . . .  The first evidence of the feast is from Egypt . . . Jerome, writing about 411 . . . reproves Palestine for keeping Christ's birthday . . . in view of a reaction to certain Jewish rites and feasts [probably the true festivals originated by God Himself which are enumerated in Lev. 23], Chrysostom tries to unite Antioch in celebrating Christ's birth on 25 December, part of the community having already kept it on that day for at least ten years . . . in the west, he says, the feast was thus kept [meaning at pagan Rome], its introduction into Antioch he had always sought, conservatives [no doubt those desiring only the truth of God!] always resisted.  This time he was successful; in a crowded church he defended the new custom . . . .  By the time of Jerome and Constantine, the December feast is established, though the latter . . . omits it from a list of first-class festivals . . . .  The well-known solar feast, however . . . celebrated on 25 December, has a strong claim on the responsibility for our December date . . . .  Augustine . . . denounces the heretical identification of Christ with Sol [the S-U-N god!] . . . .  The earliest rapprochement [joining together] of the birth of Christ and the sun is in Cypr., -- O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on the day on which the Sun was born . . . Christ should be born.' . . . Already Tertullian . . . had to assert that Sol [the Sun-God whose birthday was celebrated on December 25th!] was not the Christians' God . . ."  (see vol. III, 1908 edition, pages 724-726).

Friends, need I ask what all this means?  Need I ask what all this plainly shows has happened?  In the foregoing statements from the Catholic Encyclopedia is proof positive from their own mouth that it was against the will of some of the most prominent early Catholic leaders that the idolatrous festival of Christmas came to be a part of Catholic doctrine!  As the tide swung more and more in favor of adopting the Dec. 25th festival, Tertullian could not restrain himself from saying the following:  "By us [Roman Catholics] who are strangers to Sabbaths, and new moons, and festivals, once acceptable to God [Indeed!  And, I might add, these Sabbaths and festivals to which Tertullian here refers are in reality those which God has ordained to be eternally observed!  Read Leviticus 23, Exodus 12, Numbers 28 & 29], the Saturnalia, the feasts of January, the Brumalia [Dec. 25th], the Matronalia,  are now frequented; gifts are carried to and fro, new year's day presents are made with din, and sports and banquets are celebrated with uproar"  (from Tertullian's article De Idolatria, chapter 14).   Despite such culpable responsibility and incriminating evidence against themselves, and, indirectly, against all who follow the Catholic example, professed Christians everywhere [and even non-Christians] still do violence to the truth by clinging to such admittedly false customs!  By the frank admission of her own sons,  Mother Rome stands stripped and naked before the searching eyes of God's judgment as a lying pretender to His precious truth.  As we find expressed in Job 15:6, "Thine own mouth condemneth thee . . . yea, thine own lips testify against thee."  And, as Christ Himself has said, in Luke 19:22:  "Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant . . . ."


The Xmas Tree and Its Gifts

To the speechless surprise of many, God has graphically described -- with fierce condemnation -- the Christmas tree in Jeremiah's writings.  Consider with me now the startling contents of verses 1 thru 5 of chapter 10.  Listen!  "Here ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel [America and Britain]:  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 [the palm tree was often used], but speak not:  they must needs be borne, because they cannot go.  Be not afraid of them [accord them no superstitious awe, as many actually do]; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good."  For God to say in the latter part of verse 5 that the Xmas tree cannot do evil, is no contradiction to everything else in this passage.  He simply means that while of itself it is not an evil thing, not to be regarded as though alive, as though capable of either good or evil, nevertheless it is put to the evil use of idolatry!   It is reverenced, praised to the skies, accorded such attention as belongs only to God Himself!  And, it is part and parcel of the entire Christmas fraud!  One of the main fixtures used by an apostate "Churchianity" (I cannot call it Christianity!) to perpetuate the lie of Christmas.

As for Christmas gifts, How can we think to serve the cause of Christ when we sinfully appropriate God's tithe in our possession and also use our own funds for buying gifts to trade back and forth between friends and relatives at Xmas time every year?  The wise men did not exchange presents between themselves.  Neither did they observe the day of Christ's birth!  But, an unknown period of time, possibly weeks, after He had been born, they finally found Him.  And, because He was the Son of God and was born to be a king, they paid Him the full homage and respect due such an exalted personage by presenting a number of costly gifts -- directly to Him.  To see how the custom of giving presents to relatives and friends has also been carried over from paganism, pay attention now to the following:  "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 [already cited] plainly shows"  (from the Bibliotheca Sacra, vol. 12, pages 153-155).

Let me read to you now what God has to say about such man-made religious customs as Christmas.  First, from Isaiah 1:14-15, " . . . your appointed festivals my soul hateth:  they are a trouble to me; I am weary to bear them.  And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you:  yea, when you make many prayers [as is done at Xmas time], I will not hear . . . ."  Then in the 5th chapter of Amos and beginning with verse 21 we find this:  "I hate, I despise [so says Almighty God] your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies . . . . Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs [Xmas songs, believe it or not!] . . . But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness [Psalm 119:172] as a mighty stream."  Yes, God is greatly displeased over man's departure from His sacred precepts!  He is angered over humanity's allegiance to false customs and traditions like Christmas -- which are of man's devising and are given much more attention and paid more respect than the truly wonderful festivals instituted by Him.  Remember Mark 7:6-9.

Though confronted by strong protests, denunciations, and frank misgivings on the part of those who wished to uphold only the pure truth of God,  Bishop Liberius of the Roman Catholic Church, himself located in the city of Rome, in 354 A.D., ordered December 25th observed from that time forward as the birthday of Christ.  (See World Book Encyclopedia, volume 3, 1949 edition, page 1425; and Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, by James Hastings, article "Christmas.")  From that day to this the idolatrous festival of Xmas has engulfed the world, permeating almost every religious doctrine.  All things considered, however, despite its great popularity, the Plain Bible Truth remains that the story of Christmas is nothing more than a glamour package of religious deceit; a glorified, man-made tradition which has come to us from the darkest pages of ancient superstition and idolatry.  To be perfectly frank, it is nothing more than a farce, a myth, a lie of the first magnitude, devised by long dead church leaders to bring carnal minded millions into the fold of the Roman Church!  Regrettably, because of the resulting consequences, the Roman leaders have deliberately absorbed and perpetuated the idolatrous observance of Dec. 25th in order to attract and gain more and more blinded converts!  And, as Mother Rome has set the example and led the way, her protesting daughters (the Protestant denominations and lesser sects) have followed suit.

In the final analysis, then, Christmas has no basis in truth whatsoever and is purposely recreated, promoted, and put over on a gullible and deceived public each successive year for two main reasons:  first, to maintain the grip of an organized, apostate churchianity over millions of professing believers;  and, secondly, for the express purpose of selling literally billions of dollars worth of Xmas trappings and merchandise.  (1953 Xmas sales soared over the $31 billion mark here in the U.S.A.)  On this point consider the poignant significance of Revelation 18:10-24 and Isaiah 47:5-15.  Like turning water on and off at some drinking fountain, the fable of Christmas is brought from retirement and turned on and off each successive year.  Pious platitudes are voiced by ministers and laymen alike -- all extolling the deliberately manufactured, and very artificial, "spirit" of the Christmas fraud!  Because this tradition is cleverly built around the account of Christ's birth, and because the weight of centuries now rests on its observance -- and especially because people everywhere seem to think it makes no difference whether or not a religious precept is authorized by the Eternal God -- many are at first greatly surprised and some even become highly offended when told the Plain Bible Truth.

I realize that most professed believers are very sincere and well-meaning people.  Just as I myself was quite sincere when as a youth I attended a popular Protestant denomination and looked upon Christmas as a wonderful event.  However, I have learned that it makes all the difference in the world, to God, and to our own eternal salvation, whether or not a religious observance is one He has commanded us, or is one which bears only the stamp of man-made tradition and custom.  May God help you to graciously abandon the Christmas Story.

-- written by Gene C. Carterê