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CHRISTMAS
The
Greatest Story Never Told
by
Harold E Cormany
Do
you
know why you observe certain Christian holidays, such as Christmas
(the Mass of Christ) and Easter (Ishtar the goddess of fertility)?
Have you ever researched your church doctrines to see if they
are Biblical? Have you wondered what Christmas trees, wreaths,
Santa Claus and the exchanging of gifts have to do with the birth
of Christ?
Do
you ever wonder why people get drunk, and in some cases, commit
adultery or fornication at office parties throughout the Christmas
season?
What
about Christmas? Where did it come from? Nowhere in the Bible
will you find a scripture that tells us that we should celebrate
Jesus' birth. As a matter of fact in
I Corinthians 11:26, it tells us,
when partaking of the bread and wine, "for as often as ye
eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death
till he comes."
So
why do we observe Christmas? Does it truly symbolize the birth
of Christ? Was he born on December 25th? Did the wise men appear
at the manger in Bethlehem on that night as so many nativity scenes
show in pictures and in front yards across America at Christmas
time?
Did
you know that the Romans celebrated the pagan holiday called "Brumalia"
on December 25th during a 12-day celebration that was called the
"Saturnalia" . . . which was in celebration of the birthday
of Sol-Invectus (The Unconquerable Sun)?
Today,
why not take time to read an article I wrote with the help of
brethren from a church I used to pastor. It is titled "Christmas,
the Greatest Story Never Told."
I think you will be amazed at the documented information about
the celebration of Christmas (the mass of Christ) and its origin,
and how it became a Christian holiday; celebrated by billions
of people today.
Little
Tommy Jones lay wide-awake, despite the fact that he had gone
to bed hours before. All he could think of was, "what will
Santa Claus bring me for Christmas this year?" Would a happy
overfed old man with snow-white hair and beard, dressed in a bright
red suit, deliver a mountain of wrapped boxes containing all the
gifts he’d asked for? He’d heard the weatherman on
TV say Santa had been spotted by radar and as usual, was being
pulled through the air by eight reindeer, in of all things, a
sleigh. (The sled thing confused Tommy a little. You see, Tommy
lived near San Francisco and it was 50 degrees at 8:00 P.M. And
wouldn’t parking a sled on a roof that was pitched at a
steep angle mean the sled would . . .)
Well,
never mind that, Daddy said Santa had all that stuff worked out,
and it was Christmas Eve, the night Tommy had thought about for
weeks. Earlier, Tommy had helped his parents decorate the "Christmas
tree." His sister hung the "Christmas wreaths"
in the windows, and the "Yule log" burned briskly in
the fireplace. Every time Tommy's mom walked under the "mistletoe",
his dad would hug her and kiss her. Daddy, usually so quiet and
reserved always got loud and boisterous -- goofy, on Christmas
Eve. Mommy said it was because he was filled with "Christmas
Cheer”.
Meanwhile, people were pouring into community churches to celebrate
Christmas, with Christmas trees beautifully decorated near the
altars.
Downtown,
the community's taverns were filled with men and women laughing,
hugging, kissing and yes, some even fighting. After all, this
was Christmas Eve, a night to really celebrate.
All this sounds familiar to Christian readers. The same things
happening this Christmas Eve in Tommy’s town happen every
Christmas Eve in every town across the country. We know from childhood
that this is the traditional way "to honor the birth of Jesus
Christ on December 25th."
But does Christmas really celebrate the birthday of Jesus? Was
he in fact actually born on December 25th? And if so, why do so
many celebrate their savior's birth by getting drunk? Should we
observe someone's birthday by giving gifts to one another? How
did Santa Claus get involved with the birth of Jesus? More than
that, how did Santa Claus horn his way in to become the first
thing people think of when celebrating the birth of Jesus? What
do Christmas trees, Yule logs and wreaths have to do with a birth
that took place in the Middle East? Why are credit cards, “toy
riots” and counting down "shopping days" major
elements of Christmas, with Christmas advertising beginning right
after Halloween?
A great and important event occurred nearly 2,000 years ago in
ancient Palestine. It was the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
We
all know the story as told in the gospels. Joseph and Mary had
gone to Bethlehem at the "decree of Caesar Augustus that
the entire world should be taxed (enrolled), and this taxing was
first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria, and all went to
be taxed, everyone into his own city. 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." (Luke
2: 1-5)
We know there was no room at the inn, they spent the night in
what we would call a barn, and there Mary gave birth to Jesus.
His bed was a manger filled with hay. The attendants were the
animals "lowing softly" as they settled themselves for
their evening sleep. Out of town, in the fields around Bethlehem,
shepherds were spending the night in open fields with their flocks.
(Obviously, it was at a time before the shepherds would bring
their flocks into the barns, before the cold rainy season of December
and January.)
"As the shepherds watched over their flocks by night they
suddenly saw angels appear in the sky, and 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 angels 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 savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this
shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling
clothes, lying in a manger." (Luke
2: 8-11) As those shepherds rejoiced that night, so should
we rejoice because Christ, the Messiah, the Savior was born. That
same Christ through whom we today have salvation.
When did this event take place? Actually, no one knows the actual
date. However, most "Christians" all over the world
celebrate it on December 25th, and they call it Christmas, or
the "Mass of Christ."
As we stated in the introduction, most Christian denominations
hold special services. It is a time of activity and good will,
with the season having extended through the years so that today
it frequently begins right after Halloween (at least for the merchants).
These merchants have made gift buying at Christmas so important,
for many of them it determines whether they have a profitable
year. Many people consider it the best season of all, and they
look forward to it with great anticipation.
But to Christians who actually study their Bible, questions arise
that cast doubts on virtually every aspect of this eagerly
awaited Christmas Season.
Is
this observance of Christ's birth as portrayed by the world, actually
taught in the Bible? How did "Santa Claus" become linked
with Jesus Christ? Even casual Christians know Santa isn’t
in the Bible anywhere. Why the decorations, Yule logs, mistletoe
and the Christmas tree? Since we don't really know the exact date
of Christ's birth, why was December 25th chosen? Is it just a
random date, picked out of a hat? Or does it have some kind of
prior significance? If so, who authorized it? God? If He did,
for what reasons?
It
is our intent in this article, to answer these questions and to
determine just what our attitudes, as Christians, should be.
If you think about it for a moment, you’ll realize you and
most of the people you know or work with have no idea why they
do the things they do, where our customs come from or how they
started. We live in a world filled with customs and traditions.
We grow up practicing them, never asking why. For centuries, Christian's
have supposed Christmas to be the most important of our Christian
holidays. Without question, we have blindly followed its observance,
and have supposed this holiday is one of the principal teachings
of the New Testament. We assume that Jesus was born on December
25th, and that God has set apart this day as the most important
Christian festival. We exchange gifts because the three wise men
presented gifts to the Christ child.
Do you know the Bible nowhere states there were three
wise men? Did you know those wise men did not appear at the manger
on Christ's birth night, but actually many months, perhaps as
long as two years later? They didn't appear at the manger,
but Christ's house. (Matthew 2:11)
Since we look to Christ as the author of our salvation, perhaps
we should take a deeper look into his birth. We often hear the
slogan "Let's put Christ back into Christmas!" Maybe
we should investigate just how Christ got into Christmas in the
first place.
Most Bible scholars agree that Christmas as celebrated today is
of pagan origin.
Earl W. Count, Professor of Anthropology at Hamilton
College, in his book, 4000 Years
of Christmas states:
"We
do not know its beginning . . . we do not really know when the
Christ child it venerates was born: or the time and place when
Christmas was first celebrated: or exactly how it was that, over
the centuries, a bishop saint of Asia Minor, and a pagan god of
the Germans merged to become Santa Claus."
"Although
the Christmas story centers on the Christ child of Bethlehem,
it begins so long before his coming that we find its hero arriving
on the scene after more than half of the time of the story has
gone by. Christmas began over 4000 years ago, as the festival
which renewed the world for another year. The 12 days of Christmas,
the bright fires and probably the Yule log; the giving of presents;
the carnivals with their floats; their merry makings and clowning
; the mummers who sing and play from house to house; the feasting;
the church processions with their lights and song --- all these
and more began three centuries before Christ was here. And they
celebrated the arrival of a new year." (ibid.,
page 18)
"For that day (the 25th of December) was sacred, not only
to the pagan Romans but to a religion from Persia, which, in those
days, was one of Christianity's strongest rivals."
The Persian religion was Mithraism, whose followers worshipped
the sun, and celebrated its return to strength on that day. The
church finally succeeded in taking the merriment, the greenery,
the lights and gifts from Saturn and giving them to the "babe
of Bethlehem." (ibid., page 27)
"It happened that the date (December 25th) did fall in the
midst of the Saturnalia. Far from being an invention to compete
against Roman and Persian paganism, the birthday of Christ ran
the danger of being swallowed up in pagan merrymaking. The (church)
fathers tried strenuously to keep Christmas strictly a churchly
celebration. It was part of their unremitting struggle to break
the grip of the pagan gods upon the people. And as they broke,
Romans became Christians . . . but the Saturnalia remained."
(ibid., page 28)
"When was Jesus born? No one knows. December 25th is no more
the historical date of his birth than is any other." (page
50)
"Christmas, as we have seen is of the Mediterranean . . .
for the Mediterranean world already had not merely centuries,
but millennia behind it, when Christ was born; and even the religion
which he founded had traveled several centuries before it discovered
its need of Christmas." (page 86)
"Renewal and rebirth: After 4000 years, the festival that
has grown about the birth of the Christ child remains an affirmation
that all things can be made anew." (ibid., page 91)
How
do we know Jesus was not born in the winter season?
Luke 2: 8 states, “and there were in the same country
shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by
night."
This never could have occurred in the months of December in Palestine.
The shepherds usually brought their flocks from the mountainsides
and fields and corralled them sometime before mid-October, to protect
them from the cold rainy season that followed. The Bible states in
the Song of Solomon 2: 11, Ezra 10: 9 and
13, that winter was a rainy season not allowing shepherds to
remain in open fields at night.
The Adam Clarke Commentary, Volume
5, page 347 states:
"It was an ancient custom among the Jews of those days
to send their sheep to the fields, and deserts about Passover
(early spring) and bring them home at commencement of the first
rain". The authority continues, "during the time they
were out, the shepherds watched them night and day, as . . . the
first rains began early in the month of Marchesvan which answers
to part of our October and November (begins mid-October) we find
that the sheep were kept out in the open country during the whole
summer, and as these shepherds had not yet brought home their
flocks, it is a presumptive argument that October had not yet
commenced, and that consequently, our Lord was not born on the
25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields by night.
On this very ground, the nativity in December should be given
up. The feeding of the flocks by night in the fields is a chronological
fact . . . see the quotations from Talmudists in Lightfoot."
Do
you know there is not one single word in the New Testament, or for
that matter, in the entire Bible telling us that we should observe
Christmas? The Christians of the first century, under the inspired
teachings of Paul and Peter and the other apostles never observed
it.
What
then is the origin of Christmas? Would you believe it came to us through
the Roman Catholic Church? And that church is where it gets its authority
as a religious holiday. Why not examine the Catholic
Encyclopedia, published by that church, under
the caption "Christmas". You will find
"Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church!
. . . The first evidence of the feast is from Egypt". "Pagan
customs centering around the January Calends gravitated to Christmas"
and further, we find this truth acknowledged in The
Encyclopedia Britannica. It says: "Christmas
. . . (i.e., the Mass of Christ). . . . Christmas was not among the
earliest festivals of the church."
The
Encyclopedia Americana says:
"Christmas,
. . . it was, according to many authorities, not celebrated in
the first centuries of the Christian church, as the Christian's
usage in general was to celebrate the death of remarkable persons
rather than their birth . . . "(The communion, which is instituted
by New Testament authority, is a memorial of the death of Christ.)
". . . A feast was established in memory of this event (Christ's
birth) in the fourth century. In the fifth century, the Western
church ordered it to be celebrated forever on the day of the old
Roman feast of the birth of Sol, as no certain knowledge of the
day of Christ's birth existed."
So
we ask ourselves, "How did the pagan custom get into the church?"
History tells us that Christmas was not observed by the early
church for the first two or three hundred years, a period
longer than the United States has existed as a nation. Its origin
begins in the western segment of the Roman Church in the fourth
century A.D. However, it was not until the fifth century
that the Roman Church ordered it to be celebrated as an official Christian
festival.
In
the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia,
we read:
"How much the date of the festival depended upon the
pagan Brumalia (December 25th) 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 merry-making was so popular that Christians were glad
of an excuse to continue its celebration with little change in
spirit and manner. Christian teachers of the West and Near East
protested against the unseemly frivolity, while Christians of
Mesopotamia accused their western brethren of idolatry and sun
worship for adopting as Christian the pagan festival."
This
celebration began as a 7- day festival but eventually became a 12-day
festival of licentiousness. If Christmas came from the Roman Catholics
and they got it from the pagans they were trying to convert, where
then did the pagans get it? What is the true origin of Christmas?
Would
you believe its roots go all the way back to shortly after the flood?
Nimrod,
the grandson of Ham and the great-grandson of Noah was the founder
of the Babylonian system that has gripped the earth ever since. It
was a system of organized competition, of man-ruled governments and
empires, based on a competitive and profit driven economic system.
Ancient
writings speak of this man Nimrod, who started a great, organized
world apostasy against God, which still controls the world today.
He was so wicked that he married his own mother, Semiramis. After
Nimrod was killed, his mother-wife propagated the doctrine of the
survival of Nimrod as a spirit being. She claimed a full-grown "evergreen
tree" sprang overnight from a "dead tree stump" which
symbolized the springing forth into new life, of the dead Nimrod.
On each anniversary of his birth, she claimed Nimrod would visit the
evergreen tree and leave gifts upon it. December 25th was the supposed
birthday of Nimrod. This is the origin of the Christmas tree.
-MOTHER AND CHILD THEME-
Through her scheming and designing, Semiramis became the Babylonian
"Queen of Heaven," and Nimrod, under many other names became
the "Divine Son of Heaven." Through the generations, in
this idolatrous worship, Nimrod also became the false messiah, the
son of Baal, the sun god. In this false Babylonian religious system,
the mother and child (Semiramis and the reborn Nimrod) became chief
objects of worship. This worship of mother and child spread throughout
the world. Only the names varied because of different languages. In
Asia, they were known as Cybele and Diorus. In Rome,
they were Fortuna and Jupiter. In Egypt, their names
were Isis and Osiris. Long before the birth of Jesus
Christ, the counterpart of the Madonna can be found throughout China,
Tibet and Japan.
Over
the past centuries, the evolution of the Christmas celebration
has become more and more evident. People in the 20th century give
little thought to the origin of popular festivities, but rather,
take them for granted. Let's seek out the historical origins of
several other time-honored customs of the Christmas season.
-YULE LOGS-
In the beginning of this article, we stated that the "Yule
log" was burning in the fireplace. The Yule log is in reality
the "sun log." Yule means wheel, in this case applied
as the pagan symbol of the sun. Today, professing Christians speak
of the "sacred yuletide season." There is nothing sacred
about it! The symbols come from rank heathenism. (Holly berries
were also considered sacred to the sun god.)
-THE CHRISTMAS TREE-
"The Christmas tree", now so common, was equally common
in pagan Rome and pagan Egypt. In Egypt, that tree was the palm
tree. In Rome, it was the fir. The palm tree denoted the pagan
messiah as Baal-Tamar, (Judges 20:33)
the fir referred to him as Baal-Berith. The mother of Adonis,
the sun god and great mediatorial divinity, was mystically said
to have been changed into a tree and when in that state to have
brought forth her divine son. "If the mother was a tree,
the son must have been recognized as "the man of the branch"
and this accounts for the putting of the Yule log into the fire
on Christmas Eve, and the appearance of the Christmas tree the
next morning." (The
Two Babylons - Hislop, page
97)
-THE MISTLETOE-
Let the reader look at the practice of kissing under the mistletoe.
That mistletoe bough in the Druidic superstition, which was derived
from Babylon, was a representation of the Messiah, "the man
of the branch." The mistletoe was regarded as a divine branch
that came from heaven, and grew upon a tree that sprang out of
the earth. Thus by engrafting the celestial branch into the earthly
tree, heaven and earth, which sin had severed, were joined together.
“Thus the mistletoe bough became the token of divine
reconciliation to man, the kiss being the well known token of
pardon and reconciliation.” ( Hislop,
page 99)
The
Encyclopedia Americana says, “The
holly, the mistletoe and the Yule log . . . are relics of pre-Christian
times."
--GIFTS-
"The custom of giving gifts at Christmas time can be
associated with the wise men of the East (and nowhere does it
refer to three wise men) giving gifts to Christ. But in reality,
at least so far as the English-speaking people are concerned,
it is derived from an old heathen custom." (The
New Standard Encyclopedia - Christmas)
"The wise men gave their gifts to Christ, but did not
exchange gifts with each other. The gifts presented to Christ
were to a king, because of his royalty, and not because of his
birthday. He was a king, and the people of the East never approached
the presence of a king without a present in their hands."
(Adam Clarke Commentary, Volume
5, Matthew 2: 11,
page 34)
This was not a new custom being introduced by the wise men. They
were merely following an ancient eastern custom of presenting
gifts to a king when coming into his presence. "Jesus was
king of the Jews." (Matthew 2: 2)
--THE CHRISTMAS WREATH--
In Frederick J. Haskin's book, found in many
public libraries, entitled Answers
to Questions we find:
"The
use of Christmas wreaths is believed by authorities to be traceable
to the pagan customs of decorating buildings and places of worship
at the feast which took place at the same time as Christmas. The
Christmas tree is from Egypt and its origin dates from a period
long anterior to the Christmas era."
--SANTA CLAUS--
"Santa Claus" is a corrupted version of the name "St.
Nicholas", a Roman Catholic bishop who lived in the 5th century.
In The Encyclopedia Britannica,
11th Edition, Volume 19, pages 684-689,
you will read:
"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
and Santa Claus."
"It was the work of three American men that gave St.
Nicholas the personality of our red-cheeked, white-bearded jolly
old Santa Claus." (Ickes, Chapter
3, Christmas,
page 57) (Ickes was referring to illustrator Thomas
Nast, Clement Moore, who wrote "A
Visit From Saint Nicholas" --better known as "Twas The
Night Before Christmas" --in 1822, and Francis Pharcellus
Church who wrote "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa
Claus" in 1897.)
--KRIS KRINGLE--
"From the German people were to come those most universal
of Christmas customs: the Christmas tree, and the portly beneficent
Kris Kringle, known as Santa Claus." (Christmas
Day: The Complete Book of American Holidays - Myers,
page 314)
"Gradually the Presbyterians, Quakers and Puritans accepted
such customs as the Christmas tree, the giving of small gifts
and the Christmas feast. But they spoke violently against the
corruption of the Christkindl (the Christ child) into Kris Kringle.
After Kris Kringle was fully assimilated, there was much concern
among all religious groups about the non-religious trend of the
holiday." (Myers, page 316)
"The observance of December 25 (as a Christian festival)
only dates from the fourth century and is due to assimilation
with the Mithraic festival of the birth of the sun." (World
Popular Encyclopedia, Volume
3)
"Gradually a number of prevailing practices of the (heathen)
nations into which Christ came were assimilated and were combined
with the religious ceremonies surrounding Christmas. The assimilation
of such practices generally represented efforts by Christians
to transform or absorb otherwise pagan practices." (The
Zonderian Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Volume 1,
page 805)
"The pagan symbolism was taken over and, in Christian
view, elevated. Jesus became the "sun of justice" and
"the sun of righteousness." (Myers,
page 310)
"Our annual Christian festival (Christmas) is nothing
but a continuation under a different name of this old solar festivity
(Saturnalia)." (The
New Golden Bough - Frazer and Foster,
page 653)
"Christmas was generally celebrated in the West only
after the triumph of Constantine when the time of Christ's birth
was reckoned with the Day of the Unconquered Sun on 25 December."
(From Christ to Constantine
- Smith, pages 150-151)
"The assimilation of Christ to the sun god, as sun of
righteousness, was widespread in the fourth century and was furthered
by Constantine's legislation on Sunday, which is not unrelated
to the fact that the sun god was the titular divinity of his family."
(A History of the Christian
Church: Revised - Walker,
Section 13, pages 154-55)
Put Christ back into Christmas? It's impossible – he should
never have been associated with it at any time! Christmas is an
ancient heathen tradition that the Catholic church ''borrowed''
300 years after Jesus ascended into heaven. He
was never in the festival; he did not then nor does he now condone
it.
--GOD'S WARNING--
Many centuries ago, God issued a strong warning to Israel about
inquiring after and serving heathen gods.
Notice in Deuteronomy 12: 30-32:
"Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following
them, (heathen nations) after that they be destroyed from before
thee: and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, how
did these nations serve their gods? Even so will I do likewise.
Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for every abomination
to the Lord, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods .
. . what things so ever I command you observe to do it: Thou shalt
not add thereto, nor diminish it."
In Matthew 28: 19-20 Jesus said the
apostles were to go to the people of all nations "teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."
Jesus further tells us in John 13: 15:
"For I have given you an example that you should do as I
have done to you."
In
Leviticus 23, we find the holy days
that God commanded to be kept forever. Christ and his apostles
observed these holy days, and so did the early church. Christ
kept the Passover with the apostles. (John
13) He preached at the Feast of Tabernacles. (John
7)
Even after the death of Christ, the epistles of Paul showed us
that the early church continued to observe these annual holy days.
Nowhere will you find any command by Jesus to observe his birth,
or Christmas. Actually, he commands us to observe his death, by
keeping the Passover as shown in (Matthew
26: 26-30), and (John
13: 1-17).
We have shown here, that Christmas (and a host of other holidays)
come directly from paganism. We have also shown that the annual
legitimate holy days of Leviticus 23
come directly from God.
Isn’t
it time we renounce the pagan holidays of the world and observe
the true holy days of God?
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