Christmas : Incorrect Practices for Christmas, what is the TRUTH!

You were born at the exact time God ordained, to be tested to see if you will follow Jesus in the truth, no matter what. If your heart follows the will of the Father *(the Word or Bible)* you will be with Jesus, if not, you will perish (Go to Hell).

Satan decieves you into believing you are following God’s Word, when you are not. (They are ignorant of Satan’s devices and that many ministers belong to Satan, openly preaching the lie and even believe it themselves, never even searched the scripture for the truth, 2 Cor 2:11, 1 Cor 11:13-15).

Satan can speak lies and half truths and make you believe it is God. He is the master of deception and most crafty, subtle, intelligent of God’s created beings. Satan work is to deceive the whole world (Rev 12:9).

The BLINDNESS of a PERSON’S HEART DECEIVES THEM.

Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

A person’s own agenda, which is contrary to God’s Word, blinds them. People want their own way, own pleasures, not God’s way. This deceives them, as there is a lack of repentance.

Satan’s programming agenda begins in our childhood and never ends until we die. He blinds people to the fact that he exists. He has the power to make people do what he wants, such as crucify Jesus Christ, make you believe in Christmas, Halloween, Valentine etc. He can make people think right is wrong and wrong is right and that the sky is black, when it is blue.

He can make you believe the Bible says things it does not, and make you believe it does not say what it really does. Satan twists God’s Word (Matthew 4:3-10). The deceiver can make people sure they are saved, when they are not.

Some teachers know this, but because of fear, money, etc, they promote the lie. If a person is hardened toward being corrected when he is wrong (which is pride), he will most likely perish. He is meat for Satan’s lies. Life is a test to see if you will believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

Satan puts hate, rebellion and stubbornness in your heart, while God puts love, forgiveness, and the fruits of the Spirit in your heart. God will give you the truth if you honestly seek Him.

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.

But now that you know God or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?

You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you. Galations 4:8-11

Ezekiel 44:23 and they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

And I have found most of those who know Christ as Lord and Saviour totally unaware of the truth about Christmas.

Very few have ever reflected on why they believe what they do, why they follow the customs they do, or from where those customs came. We were born into a world filled with customs and traditions. We grew up accepting them without question. Why? Sheep instinct? Well, not exactly.

But by nature we do tend to follow the crowd, whether right or wrong. Sheep follow others to the slaughter. Humans ought to check up where they are going before ending up at the slaughter house, hell.

What is the meaning of Christmas? Where did the customs and traditions of Christmas originate? The name “Christmas” or “X-mas”, where did it originate, and is it in the Bible? Is Christmas the birth of Christ? You, as a Christian, would want to worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth, discerning good from evil, truth from the lie.

The truth is that all of the customs of Christmas pre-date the birth of Jesus Christ, and a study of this, would reveal that, Christmas, in our day is a collection of traditions and practices taken from many cultures and nations and have nothing to do with the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you make a study of the Bible you will find that God has not instructed us to keep His birthday or said that we must celebrate on the 25th of December. Christmas is a holiday shared and celebrated by many religions.

It is a day that has an effect on the entire world and people spend more money on Christmas than at any other time of the year. To many people, it is a favorite time of the year involving gift giving, parties and feasting. Christmas is a holiday that unifies almost all of professing Christendom in celebrating the birth of Christ.

The spirit of Christmas causes people to decorate their homes and churches, cut down trees and bring them into their homes, decking them with silver and gold. In the light of that tree, families make merry and give gifts one to another. The date 25th of December, was the celebration of the “Italic god, Saturn”, and the rebirth of the Roman “sun god”.

This was in practice long before the birth of Jesus. It was noted by the early Romans and other pagans, that daylight began to increase after December 22nd, when they assumed that the sun god died. These ancients believed that the sun god rose from the dead three days later as the new-born and venerable sun. Thus, they figured that to be the reason for increasing daylight. This was a cause for much wild excitement and celebration.

Gift giving and merriment filled the temples of ancient Rome, as sacred priests of Saturn, called “dendrophori”, carried wreaths of evergreen boughs in procession. Jesus was not even born in the winter season (December is winter in Israel)! The Bible is clear that when Christ was born “there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night” (Luke 2:8).

This never could have occurred in Judaea in the month of December. The shepherds always brought their flocks from the mountainsides and fields and corralled them not later than October, to protect them from the cold, rainy season that followed. The Bible itself proves, in Song of Solomon 2:11 and Ezra 10:9, 13, that winter was a rainy season not permitting shepherds to abide in open fields at night. Any encyclopedia, or any other authority, will tell you that Christ was not born on the 25th December. The Catholic Encyclopedia frankly states this fact. The exact date of Jesus’ birth is unknown, as all authorities acknowledge, though it could be early fall, probably September, approximately six months after Passover.

If God had wished us to observe and celebrate Christ’s birthday, He would not have so completely hidden the exact date. In Germany, the evergreen tree was used in worship and celebration of the yule god, also in observance of the resurrected sun god. The evergreen tree was a symbol of the essence of life and was regarded as a phallic symbol in fertility worship. Jeremiah 10:2-6:“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.” The ancient Babylonians celebrated the reborn Nimrod as the newborn Tammuz by worshipping an evergreen tree (now the common Christmas tree).

The Babylonians also celebrated this rebirth during the winter solstice. Jeremiah condemns ancient Israel for copying this terrible paganism, and even specifically mentions the decorated evergreen tree in Jeremiah 3:13. The above verse gives a perfect description of the Christmas tree, written in the Bible as “the way of the heathen, the customs of the people.” We are commanded not to learn that way or follow it. It is also viewed in this BLOG as idolatry. One of the focal points in Christmas time, is placed on the Christmas tree. It is shaped like the pyramid of the old Egypt and topped with a star, (Satan), symbolic of pagan rituals and beliefs.

This “star” is the ancient symbol, long before Christ, the all seeing eye ” or the star of Sirius” (same symbol as is on the back of the American one dollar bill), the eye of Satan. Papal Rome, led the church by merging the imagery and symbology of old pagan worship astray from the truth and the warning of God’s word. Witches and other pagans regarded the red holly as a symbol of the menstrual blood of the queen of heaven, also known “Diana”. The holly wood was used by witches to make wands. This brings the name Hollywood to mind and the deception involved in the film industry. but that is another subject.

The white berries of mistletoe were believed by pagans to represent droplets of the semen of the sun god. Both holly and mistletoe were hung in doorways of temples and homes to invoke powers of fertility in those who stood beneath and kissed, causing the spirits of the gods and goddess to enter them. These customs transcended the borders of Rome and Germany to the far reaches of the world and spanning the ceturies into the modern day world in which we now live. The question now arises: How did all of these customs find their way into our churches? The word “Christmas” itself reveals that this was a paganism married to Christianity.

The word “Christmas” is a combination of the words “Christ” and “Mass”. The word “Mass” means death and was coined originally by the Roman Catholic Church, and belongs exclusively to the church of Rome. The ritual of the Mass involves the death of Christ, and the distribution of the “Host”, a word taken from the Latin word “hostiall” meaning victim! The word “Mass” in religious usage means a “death sacrifice.” The impact of this fact is horrifying and shocking; for when the millions of people are saying, “Merry Christmas”, they are literally saying “Merry (Happy) death of Christ!” Furthermore, when father Christmas or Santa, in his red suit laughs out saying, “Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas”, he is mocking and laughing at the suffering and bleeding Jesus Christ, our Saviour, who died for our sins.

He does this while parents place their little children into his lap to hear his false promises of gifts that he says he will give them. Consider what you are saying when you say “Merry Christmas”. What is so amusing about our Saviour’s painful death? What is so funny? Why is Santa laughing? Why are you going along with it? Your words do count and Satan knows it. Matthew 12:36-37, But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. In short, Christmas is strictly a Roman Catholic word meaning death and has nothing to do with the Birth of Christ.

A simple study of the tactics of the Romish Church reveals that in every case, the church absorbed the customs, traditions and general paganism of every tribe, culture and nation in their efforts to increase the number of people under their control. In short, pagan rituals and rites were assigned Christian sounding titles and names.

We may call it by another name, but it’s the same old pagan sun worshipping festival still. The only change is in what we call it. Christmas. You can CALL a rabbit a “lion,” but it’s still a rabbit, just the same. In England, as the Bible became available to the common people by the King James Bible in 1611, people began to discover the pagan roots of Christmas, which are clearly revealed in Scripture.

The believers in England, and later in the Colony, outlawed this holiday as witchcraft. Near the end of the nineteenth century, when other Bible versions began to appear, there was a revival of the celebration of Christmas. We are now seeing ever increasing celebrating of Christmas or Yule, its true name, as we draw closer to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ! In both witchcraft circles and contemporary Christian churches, the same things are going on on the 25 December every year. Jeremiah 10:2-4,“Thus said the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen; and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven. For the heathen are dismayed at them. 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.” Age-old traditions and religious beliefs are adopted by different cultures around the globe when Christmas is celebrating.

Most have noting to do with Christ but is all pagan and demon practices. In Portugal, the dead are invited for the “Consada” feast meal on Christmas morning, as they are offering food for the departed loved ones. Extra places are laid out for the dead and food is been served for them. In Finland, Families spend Christmas Eve in the Cemeteries to sing carols and to pay respect to their dead relatives. In Estonia, it is a belief that one’s ancestral spirits visit the homes on the 25 of December, and many consults fortune-tellers to forecast the future for them and then to have a sauna together as a family. In Austria, Young men dress up as the “Krampus” - a demon, wearing cowbells and then go roaming the streets, looking for naughty children.

Farmers also chalk the initials of the three wise men above their doorposts, to protect the heads of families, from illness in the year ahead. In Wales, men also dress up as the “Mari Liwyd” or “grey mare”, draped in sheets and carrying a horse’s skull on a pole.

The scary figures wandering from house to house, singing carols and collecting cake and ale. In Belgium, they believe in two Christmas figures. “St Nicholas” that visits on December 5 to see if the children was good, and then relays the message to “Pere Noel” who either brings them gifts or leaves twigs if they’ve been bad. In Italy, they frown upon the figure of Santa Claus but believe in an old witch named “La Befana” that visits on the 25 December to bring candy to the good and lumps of coal for the naughty. In the Czech Republic, young woman go out on Christmas eve and toss a shoe over their shoulder to see if they are going to be married in that year. In the Ukrain, most Christmas trees include a spider web for they believe that it is good luck to see a spider on that day. (Spiders represent demonic activity in the spiritual realm) In Norway, all brooms are hidden away on Christmas Eve so witches cannot steal them during the night.

The name “Santa Claus” is a corruption of the name “St. Nicholas,” a Roman Catholic bishop who lived in the 5th century. If you look in the Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 19, pages 648-649, 11th edition, where you’ll 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 [Dec. 6], subsequently transferred to Christmas day 25th December. Hence the association of Christmas with Santa Claus…” Old Nick” also is a term for the devil! Is there a connection? Satan appears as an “angel of light,” to deceive all the nations (II Cor 11:14; Rev 12:9).

The occultist always use the law of reversal or by changing one letter to say the same thing, lets look at a example in our day. Most people know Oprah Winfrey. The below article comes from Pat Holliday at www.patholliday.com Oprah’s Production company “Harpo” is “Oprah” spelled backward, thus showing a secret following for a teaching (the law of reversal) of another occultist Aleister Crowley. Mr. Crowley, called himself, “the most wicked man that ever lived.” Oprah freely confesses this teachings and that demonic possession as a tool to enhance her influencing performances before the camera. She said: “I tried to empty myself and let the spirit of Sethe inhabit me…Every morning, before my scenes, I lit candles and said the names of these slaves. I prayed every day to the ancestors.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW4LLwkgmqA) Santa = Satan, the same letters changed around to spell the same name, same principle as above. “Father Christmas”, “Santa Claus,” man with a red coat, saying “Ho, Ho, Ho”, The bible says in: Matthew 23:9: And don’t call anyone on earth your father, because you have only one Father, and He is in heaven. How or where did Santa’s red suit come from? In 1930, the Coca Cola Company ran the first ever color add in the New York Times, giving Santa a red suit to match the color on the company logo, even though Santa had never had a specifically red suit before that.

We are shocked to learn the truth. Some, unfortunately, take offense at the plain truth! But God commands His faithful, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression!”

The Bible will become less accepted, as hatred and the lie increases. The preaching of most preachers, those who preach only what the people want to hear, is unacceptable to God (Revelation 3:16).

Persecutions against God-fearing people and churches that teach truth will become intense. The world will try to eliminate Jesus and His Word, so people will not know what is happening until it is too late. This is happening as you are reading now (Matthew 24:37; Luke 17:28-29; 2 Peter 2:4-8; Revelation 3:14-22).

In this time of many enjoyable things and pleasures to do and see, both Christians and non Christians have no desire to deny themselves the pleasures of the lies of this world. Satan puts in their thoughts that you only live once, enjoy every moment, the spirit of Christmas and everything else while you can because there is no judgment coming.

Matthew: 24-11 “And many false prophets will rise up and deceive and lead many into error.”

We should expect false “Christian” leaders to arise, to give false assurances to Christians and lead them astray. The fact that we are seeing such a huge number of just such false leaders giving proof positive that we are living in the Last Days of Time.

Jesus warned us in Mattew: 24-24, “For false Christ and false prophets will arise, and they will show great signs and wonders so as to deceive and lead astray, if possible, even the elect.”

Remember, if you sell out to Jesus, read His Word and carefully discern and watch what is being taught to you, you WILL NOT be deceived. The Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth. This last warning even gives us the clue that such false ministers will be able to perform many of the same “lying signs and wonders” foretold of Antichrist. Such false ministers will employ great power, but it will be the paranormal power of the occult, and will be exercised for the express purpose of leading both believer and unbeliever astray.

Regardless of fond memories or whether “everyone does it,” a true Christian will reject Christmas, not only because of the commercialism, the pagan influence, and the impossibility of Jesus being born mid-winter, but more fundamentally because Christ refuses to have any part with idolatry (2 Corinthians 6:15-16).

We have to break down the altars of Satan and rebuild the Altar of the living Christ. “Sanctified” means to separate from (profane, immoral, accursed) things and be dedicated to God and pure. “Preserved” means watched, observed, kept, reserved. “Called” is the same Greek Word as invited here; (by God in the proclamation of the true Gospel) they will obtain eternal salvation in the Kingdom, through Christ Jesus, the true way.

Going outside the camp means to leave the traditional structures or establishments, the way of thinking that is common to you and your friends (or enemies), and even the people who may be hopelessly conservative. It is leaving them behind, and that is a painful thing to do. Those Hebrew Christians probably had it much tougher than anything you or I will have to endure. They broke from an ancient tradition that preceded them by over 1,300 years; they were also outnumbered by tens of thousands of Jews who stuck with the traditional way of worship.

The message from the Lord Jesus, the Word of life, the eternal Word, we should all gladly receive. The greatness of God should be represented to this dark world, as pure and perfect light. As this is the nature of God, His doctrines and precepts must be such. And as His perfect happiness cannot be separated from His perfect holiness, so our happiness will be in proportion to our being made holy. To walk in darkness, is to live and act against religion.

The Truth will set us free from the lie of Satan.

1. Has white hair like wool 1. Father God: - Revelation 1:14 - Daniel 7:9 2. Beard-curly and white

2. Father God: Isaiah 50:6 - Rev. 1:14 3. Comes from North Pole

3. Father God: Ez. 1:4; Ex.26:35 Psa.48:2

4. Omniscient-knows about all 4. Father God: Revelation 19:6 5. Ageless, eternal

5. Father God: Rev. 1:8,21:6; Hebrews 13:8 6. Makes List of Judgments

6. Father God: Rev.20:12; 14:7; 21:27; 2 Cor.5:10 7. Checks list twice

7. Father God: Dan. 8:14; Matt. 10:26, 1 Cor.5:10 8. Gifts given on basis of a list

8. Father God: Matt.25:21; Rev. 21:27; 22:14 9. Christmas rewards once yearly

9. Father God: Leviticus 23:26-32

10. Confess wrongs to Santa 10. Father God: I John 2:1, I Tim. 2:5

11. Promise to be better next year 11. Father God: John 14:15,21; 15:10; I Jn. 2:3 12. Asks children to obey parents

12. Father God: Eph. 6:1; Prov. 6:20; Col. 3:20 13. Hour of his coming a mystery

13. Father God: Luke 12:40; Mark 13:33; Matt.24:36

14. Rudolph’s shining nose to guide 14. Father God: Matt. 2:2,7,9-10; Numbers 24:17 15. Calls all children to his knee

15. Father God: Matt. 19:14, Luke 18:16

16. Be good for goodness sake 16. Father God: Matt. 19:17; Col 1:29; Phil. 2:13

17. Has a twinkle in his eye 17. Father God: Rev. 1:14, 2:18 18. Swift visit to whole world in 1 day.

18. Father God: 2 Peter 3:8; Rev. 18:8, Isa. 47:9 19. Omnipresent-Found in every mall

19. Father God: Psa. 139:7-10; Eph. 4:6 20. Says “Ho,ho”

20. Father God: Zecheriah 2:6

When we look deeper into Christmas and it’s relation to idolatry, it becomes obvious that the real father of Christmas is not God, but Satan himself. When all the superstitions and heathen practices surrounding Christmas are exposed, it no longer seems appealing to the true worshipper.

Think about it! Can we worship and honor God by involving ourselves with customs and traditions of paganism, which God Himself forbade as idolatry?

Can we convince God to somehow “Christianize” these customs and the whole pretence and lie of Christmas, so that we can enjoy ourselves? Can we obey through disobedience, when Christmas is not found in the Bible.

Exchanging of gifts can’t be wrong?

This is the most important part of all the Christmas observances, the buying and exchanging of gifts, many will say, “Well, at least the Bible tells us to do that. Didn’t the wise men give gifts when Christ was born?”

Again, we are due for some surprises, when we learn the plain truth.

First, let’s look at the historic origin of trading gifts back and forth, then see exactly what the Bible says about it.

From the Bibliotheca Sacra, volume 12, pages 153-155, we quote: “The interchange of presents between friends is alike characteristic of Christmas and the Saturnalia, and must have been adopted by the Christians from the pagans, as the admonition of Tertullian plainly shows.”

The fact is, this custom fastened upon people of exchanging gifts with friends and relatives at Christmas has not a single trace of CHRISTIANITY about it, strange though that may seem.

This does not celebrate Christ’s birthday nor does it honor Him in any way! Suppose someone you love has a birthday. You want to honor that person on his or her birthday. Would you buy gifts for everyone else, but ignore completely any gift for the one whose birthday you are honoring? Rather absurd, when viewed in this light, isn’t it? Yet this is exactly what people the world over are doing.

I believe most pastors can say, that when December comes, nearly all Christians forget to give gifts (tithing and offerings) to Christ and the ministry.

December often is the most difficult month for the church to keep afloat financially. People are too busy buying gifts and spending among themselves to think of Him, it seems. Now consider what the Bible says about the wise men giving gifts when Christ was born (Matthew 2:1-11). Be wise and give God His gifts of obediance by following Him (truth) and not the lie, “they presented unto HIM gifts.”

They gave their gifts to Christ, not to their friends, relatives, or one another. The least favorite thing about Christmas is that at Christmas you go everywhere and see scenes with little baby Jesus.

Everyone loves baby Jesus, which is fine. The problem is, spending a few weeks every December adoring baby Jesus (about which the Bible says little) is meaningless if you spend the rest of the year ignoring all the things He said and did when He grew up. But a lot of Christians only remember Jesus at Christmas, when they can see Him as an adorable little baby who doesn’t say anything that makes them uncomfortable.

Do yourself a favor, don’t be one of those kind of Christians. Most people dismiss the commercialism, the pagan influence, or the impossibility of a December 25 birth, and take comfort in slogans such as “Put Christ back in Christmas.” But, would true Christians feel comfortable celebrating Christmas if they understood that you cannot “Put Christ back in Christmas” because Christmas is founded upon Satan worship? Many will reason: “But, even though the exact date of Jesus’ birth is unknown, should we not select some date to celebrate as His birthday?”

The answer is positively no.

According to a statement quoted from the Catholic Encyclopedia: “Sinners alone, not saints, celebrate their birthdays.” The custom of birthdays is not a Christian, but a pagan custom, observed by sinners!

Some will still reason, “Even so - even though Christmas was a pagan custom, honoring the false sun god, we don’t observe it to honor the false god, we observe it to honor Christ’s birthday.”

The Bible says “Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them [the pagans in their customs]… that thou enquire 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 Eternal, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods” (Deut 12:30-31).

We tell our children the lie of Christmas and as they became older, we tell them that we lied about father Christmas. He is not real or that he had died.

When we tell them about Jesus, they do not believe us, because we have already shown that we are lairs. They can associate with father Christmas because they can see him on Tv, in the malls and with the presents under the tree, but they can’t see Jesus.

We are now living in the END TIMES. The Bible reveals that during this time, violence, sin, and filthy conversation will increase as birth pains of a woman. Sexually perverse people and their hostility will increase and they will become accepted (Genesis 19:9; Luke 17:29).