The Deception Involved in Christmas
It is a revealing thing that many exceedingly love Christmas who, by their own admission, are not faithful Christians. They put up Christmas trees, Christmas ornaments, they hang wreaths, hang mistletoe, etc. You sure do not need a significant amount of spiritual discernment to see that someone who goes all out for Christmas, I mean a hyped-up, ardent Christmas supporter (someone who wears a Santa hat, elf clothes, puts up a giant light display, etc) is not behaving like an authentic, devout Christian. The very involvement of Santa, elf clothes, reindeer, expensive and glittery light displays, decorated trees, and a multitude of other things which really don’t have anything to do with Jesus Christ, and have no foundation in the Bible at all, should make any thinking and honest person consider that perhaps there is something seriously wrong with the holiday that is called Christmas.
Are these innovations that have distracted from the real meaning of Christmas, and just perhaps ought to be cut back on and de-emphasized in its celebration? Or is there something more sinister and harmful going on with Christmas? I assert that at its core this is a holiday which actually has nothing to do with Jesus. And I assert that the incorporation of the celebration of His birth into the holiday is actually a great dishonor to Him and a means of marketing Him to the masses that greatly misrepresents His Gospel and greatly deceives people about the true state of their souls.
It is actually no great secret that what is called Christmas is an adaptation of the Roman Pagan holiday Saturnalia, which was a time of debauchery, gluttony, exchanging gifts, and overall seeking to alleviate the sense of gloominess that many people feel around the time of the Winter Solstice when the days are the shortest. Saturnalia was modified and adapted to be a celebration of Christ’s birth by the Roman Catholic Church in order to accommodate Pagans and transition them into professing Christians- while still allowing them to essentially hold on to their cherished ways which stemmed from their Pagan backgrounds. Christmas sure isn’t derived from any command in the Bible to make a holiday out of Christ’s birth nor would December 25th even be a reasonable estimation of the date when Christ was born (to be such a reasonable estimation it would have to be a time of the year when shepherds would have been out in the field at night– so not even considering that, and other Biblical evidence, 1 in 365 is still very poor odds).
Over four in 10 Americans go into debt for the holidays, with an average debt accumulated of over $1,200. People marvel at how Christmas has become so materialistic and commercialized. Yet Christmas was always that way. At least it was always very susceptible to being highly materialistic and commercialized- because there were Pagan seeds in it from the beginning. Its origins in the carnal, blatantly Pagan celebration of Saturnalia explain why it could not be otherwise. Many in early America recognized Christmas’ Pagan origins and did not see it as a proper celebration of Christ’s birth. I was shocked to find out six years ago that Christmas was not even an official holiday in any state until Alabama made it one in 1836. Christmas never even became a federal holiday in the USA until 1870.
This is all a big deal in principle. Even if we were to put aside the Pagan origins and Pagan significance of most of the various aspects of Christmas (which in themselves are a big deal), there is something of even greater and darker significance behind Christmas which ought to be brought to attention.
The whole concept of society in general celebrating a supposedly Christian holiday, derived from a Pagan holiday, fits in well with the Roman Catholic infant baptism mentality. The error of infant baptism in combination with the errant belief that the church ought to have secular power over a nation (where all born there thus automatically become members of that church- through their infant baptism of course) is a recipe for causing the masses to think they are Christians in God’s favor when that is simply not so. To imply that a general group of people in society are in truth Christians with an interest in His covenant of grace is theft and deception on a literal mass scale! And what better way to do this than by baptizing them as infants and giving them a set of precepts and traditions to follow which don’t actually represent authentic Christianity? The Pagan holidays masquerading as Christian ones, especially the major ones of Christmas and Easter, which ostensibly represent Christ’s birth and His resurrection respectively, accomplish this shockingly well. And even if the church afterwards loses its secular power, and the church with the secular power isn’t the national church which virtually everyone is a member of, then these Pagan holidays can (as they have been) still be incorporated in many other churches labeled as Christians. They then can still serve the purpose very effectively of making most believe they are Christians through their celebration of them, even if the infant baptism is taken away and the other corrupted rituals from that church are modified.
What Christmas practically accomplishes in a disturbingly effective way then is the confounding of darkness and light. The Bible states in 1 John chapter 1 (and this eternal principle was laid down in Genesis chapter one) that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. Man is in darkness. All humans inevitably choose to sin and stray from God. Nothing will deliver a person from darkness and from God’s just and holy condemnation besides a complete 180 degree turn from sin and a death to self in order to live by Jesus Christ in identification with His death to sin and life unto God. His death for our sins will not save us unless we obtain a new life in Him whereby we are saved from sin’s guilt and power.
Acts 5:31-32: “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.”
To have a celebration of Christ’s coming, involving the mass of society where darkness reigns, is essentially a palliative to man’s critical spiritual condition which numbs his impetus (or driving force) to genuinely repent and flee to Christ to actually obtain a new birth and mercy from God in Him. Christ’s true joy is ONLY on the other side of the cross.
Romans 14:17: “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
There is also much counterfeit activity attributed to Christ’s Holy Spirit, especially in the Pentecostal (or Azusa Street), Charismatic, Word of Faith, and the New Apostolic Reformation movements. This counterfeit activity accomplishes similar harm as the deception related to Christmas. The Bible does indeed warn about spirits which are counterfeits of God’s Spirit. 2 Corinthians 11:4 says : “For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.”
With that said, the Christmas spirit is not the Spirit of Christ. The joy of Christmas comes with the Christmas season and it goes with the exit of the Christmas season. It is no different with alcohol (which by the way, many don’t see as the slightest bit incompatible with celebrating Christmas). But the actual joy of Christ is not so. Jesus said in John 15:10-11: “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”
In truth, Christ’s joy is offered to the natural man, but it is not for the natural man until he actually turns to God through Jesus Christ and forsakes his attachment to sin and self (thus ceasing to be a natural man, but rather a new creature in Christ). It is not appropriate to bring the natural man into celebration involving Christianity. Consider if Philip had wished the eunuch from Ethiopia in Acts chapter 8 “Merry Christmas” before preaching Christ to him. Imagine the Prodigal Son being told “Merry Christmas” while in the barn with the pigs in the far country, alienated from his godly father’s home. Imagine Peter telling the crowd at Jerusalem “Merry Christmas” before telling them what he told them in Acts 2:38-40: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.” Saying Merry Christmas would have killed the power of the Gospel message and practically told the people that they were okay simply because Christ has come. It would be telling them they did not really need to flee from the wrath to come and find a true refuge for their soul Christ. That is all obviously just as true today. And that has to do with why I believe that December 24th and 25th are generally the two worst days of the year for evangelism (the Christian should still be instant out of season like 2 Timothy chapter 4 says, so I am not saying that evangelism should not be done on these days, but understand the heightened challenge in this).
Why be so hard on Christmas? For the same reason that Samuel (in his righteous authority as a judge appointed by God) chopped the wicked Amalekite king in pieces. The holiday itself tells the world a lie by implicitly stating that the bitterness of death is past. It practically offers God’s grace to men without wholehearted repentance and turning to Christ in utter death to sin and self. And that is surely as severe a lie as can be told. 1 Samuel 15:32-33: “Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.”
Humanism surely permeates all Paganism. The presence of humanism in that which professes to be Christianity is evidence of the infiltration of Paganism. The indisputable Paganism in Saturnalia, along with Saturnalia’s adaptation to bring about what we know as Christmas, and the indisputable elements from Saturnalia remaining in Christmas (which you can do your own research about; the Christmas traditions are for the most part well known to be derived from Saturnalia traditions and other similar holiday traditions throughout the ages related to Pagan celebrations and further Pagan superstitions coming to be associated with Christmas). Putting Christ in a Pagan context is the source of a great amount of corruption in Christendom (the realm of professing Christianity) now, as well as it was in the early centuries AD. The good tidings of Christ are not to be celebrated by Pagans according to Pagan ways stemming from a Pagan mentality. The wise men who came a great distance to see Jesus and give Him gifts did the opposite of what Christendom has done. They had left their Pagan mindset and entered into a Biblical mindset (it’s possible their ancestors did and they remained faithful to the conversion of their to the true God; perhaps their ancestors turned to the true God in relation to the faithful witness of Him in the Persian Empire about 450 to 550 years beforehand in relation to Daniel and Queen Esther). The wise men did not celebrate the newborn King in connection with a Pagan holiday nor with mankind in general. They followed the knowledge they had of the King, at great expense to themselves, until they had actually found Him and worshiped acceptably in His presence. And that is the proper response to Christ’s coming: Follow the instructions of His Word by faith, without regard to how you must suffer in order to do so, in hope that one day you will see Him and worship acceptably before Him (in His immediate presence). That will only be so of those who truly believed Him on earth and cooperated with His mission to save them from their sins and redeem them to God. We are to honor His first coming by cooperating with His goal in His incarnation of preparing a set apart people to claim for Himself when He comes again.
Titus 2:11-14: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity (i.e. lawlessness), and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
If you’re celebrating Christmas you’re either disobeying what you know from God’s Word or you’re not paying close enough attention in learning from God’s Word or you’re very poorly informed due to lack of information or lack of experience- or possibly a few or all of the above. The Bible itself says that the world lies in wickedness in 1 John chapter 5; and accommodating wicked influence for the sake of personal gain or for convenience’s sake, is the very source of the compromise which has led to such confusion and corruption in Christendom (i.e. the realm of professing Christianity). Our faithfulness to God, and ultimately our Judgment Day, depends upon how we respond to the light of truth, whether we hold it unrighteously or walk therein faithfully in a living, obedient faith in the God of the Bible. The true God has no fellowship with darkness and He has commanded utter separation from Pagan ways and practices from those who would be regarded by Him as among His faithful people. He is zealous for a pure testimony for His name on earth. That only happens by people laying down their lives, and in doing so laying aside what they perceive to be their self interest, in order to wholeheartedly, unreservedly walk in His truth.
Deuteronomy 12:28-32: “Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the Lord thy God. When the Lord thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land; Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and 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 Lord, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods. What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.”
And so you might have to leave your church and seek out a better one where there is a true heart to receive light from God’s Word. You might have people leave your church due to the stand you have taken as a leader. And you might have to calmly, respectfully tell your family why you won’t celebrate Christmas anymore and can’t come to the family Christmas gathering.
There are good songs about Christ’s birth which can be sung anytime. Many of them were actually written with the intention of being sung at any time of the year and not with the intention of them being regarded as Christmas songs. Likewise, it is always right to help the poor and needy. Don’t confine that to a season nor think one season is more appropriate for that than others are (though many don’t even consider the Christmas season to be that anyways). And if you want to give a gift to a friend or a family member, that can be done anytime. Better anyways that it be a surprise, better to not go into debt in order to give it at a certain time, and better to do it so that it is sure not to interfere with our definite duties towards God of supporting those who are truly dependent on you and sure not to interfere from helping for the poorest of the poor whose lives truly hang in the balance (as is the case with untold millions all the time; and at this very hour the horn of Africa is experiencing one of the worst droughts of history, with people and animals in horrible affliction and the most desperate need through no fault of their own).
We know that there are those who oppose Christmas because they admittedly and openly hate Christianity, and they actually see Christmas as a Christian holiday. I would yet guess that 90 some percent of these have their own form of Christmas which isn’t practically that different from how most celebrate Christmas anyways. Either way, such celebration is usually something closer to a Saturnalia celebration than an actual celebration of Christ’s birth. And that is not to mention how many who blatantly hate Christianity openly celebrate Christmas anyways! That is telling. Often people raised in more Biblical homes, homes that might truly be called Christian homes, when they grow up and depart from the right Christian values which they were raised with, they often (again, I’d say about 90 some percent of the time) actually get a lot more into Christmas in their departure from Christ than they were in their upbringing.
The proper boundaries of Christianity would be so much clearer if society just started calling this holiday Saturnalia again. I mean that. Christ would be better honored by being left out of it and not being “an agenda item” of Christmas. To one who in truth worships and serves the real Jesus of the Bible from the heart, He is preeminent in all things. To treat Him otherwise is to show contempt and rob Him of the glory and honor that He is due. And He never said to celebrate His birthday, yet He did say a lot. Celebrating Christmas doesn’t prove one iota that one is concerned about what He did say, let alone submitted to having their life molded by everything the Bible says, like a true follower of His who is actually a partaker of His salvation indeed is submitted to.
So the Christians should be the ones bringing Christmas down without government force or coercion from the ADL or from the Left in general. These groups will find other things to whine about, those who are faithful to Christ will still be targeted by them, and those who still want to celebrate Christmas can celebrate Saturnalia with the Pagans who don’t want Christ even mentioned with the holiday. That is quite fine. One who loves and worships the real Jesus Christ shouldn’t want Him associated with the holiday nor with Santa Claus nor with any of its fiction and Pagan traditions. There is a vast amount of confusion regarding true Christianity that this solution being implemented would eliminate- and the Pagans can have Santa!
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