Christmas Idolatree: The Works of Man's Hands

"Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it."
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."

I encourage truth-seeking Christians to read the following two articles with the critical mind of Christ, to rightly divide truth from error.

https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/.../how-december-25.../
http://www.historytoday.com/.../did-romans-invent-christmas

There are 2 problems with these articles.
1. They admit (and provide evidence) that Christians were attempting to "take over" pagan holidays at several points in history, and,
2. That the celebration of Christmas was based on calculated dates that were (a) in error, and (b) arose out of tradition.

What do both of these facts say? Christmas arose out of the works of man's hands; these acts were a vain attempt to date the birth of Christ AND to inject Christ into a common secular/pagan holiday that is seen celebrated as far back as the 7th century BC according to Jeremiah 10 (see "Idolatry and the True Meaning of Worship"). We see Saturnalia really taking off in the 2nd century BC and an attempt by Roman emperors to "get it under control" all the way into the 3rd and 4th centuries AD by instituting the Mithraic Sol Invictus holiday (technically Natalis Invicti): The birth of the unconquerable sun (sound similar to the birth of the King of kings - the Son of God?). Coincidence? Not likely since both of these articles prove through testimonies of early historians that syncretism was occurring and man-made traditions took precedence over early Christian practices. If one looks at how Christmas really came about with thorough diligence and the discernment of the Spirit, these conclusions must be met because they are the truth.

I find it interesting that both of these articles are attempting to justify Christmas yet they fail in their fallacious thinking.

Here is another article that misses the point entirely by saying Christians would have been aware that the date of (roughly) December 25th was associated with Sol by pagans but it meant nothing to them so it was OK.

http://judithweingarten.blogspot.com/2011/12/whose-christmas-is-it-anyway.html

The problem with that should be evident. It is not just what is in your heart that counts. What you think and do must come from the Spirit of God if you want to live in His will. I see no indication anywhere that God endorsed or encouraged us to celebrate Christ's birth, let alone declare our own holiday to commemorate this event. All historical evidence points to Christians insisting on worshiping the way they wanted to. I don't think it is a coincidence that the time of the solstice was chosen to be the birth of Christ. Christ had been associated with the sun in early writings of the Church fathers and even metaphorically in Scriptures, so it may have been easy for Christians to justify a sort of crusade to establish their own holiday at this time of year as a means to become like them to win as many souls to Christ as possible (as some twist 1 Corinthians 9:19-21) and/or to "reclaim" the solstice which was created by God to begin with, a moot argument when you consider God never instituted or hinted at any desire for us to do so. It's not a stretch to see that Christians justified syncretism and this should definitely raise many a red flag in the hearts of His disciples.

Some examples showing the connection of Christmas to Yuletide are in the carols you hear absolutely everywhere in December. "Deck the Halls" came from a 16th century Welsh song called "Nos Galan" honoring the tradition called Calennig where children rose early in the morning to sing carols to neighbors for food and ale on New Year's Day. The lyrics, rewritten in 1862, describe the Welsh holiday very well yet it is distinctly meant to illustrate Christmas in both Great Britain and the United States.

Deck the halls with boughs of holly,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!'
Tis the season to be jolly,
Fill the meadcup (honey wine), drain the barrel,
Troul the ancient Christmas (or in some versions, Yuletide) carol (there is no "ancient" Christmas carol, but there is for Yule).
See the flowing bowl before us,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
Strike the harp and join the chorus.
Follow me in merry measure,
While I sing of beauty's treasure,
Fast away the old year passes,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
Hail the new, ye lads and lasses!
Laughing, quaffing all together,
Heedless of the wind and weather,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

If you research the Germanic holiday of Yule and compare it to Jeremiah 10 you will see striking similarities indicating where its traditions came from. It's not hard to draw connections all the way back to Assyria, Babylon and Egypt. Yule was the basis for our modern version of Christmas as we can hear in many Christmas songs, including the Christian ones, singing about "Yuletide" as well as all the symbols that go along with it, ie; lights (usually candles), wreaths of evergreen branches (evergreens are a symbol of life in the midst of the dead of winter), holly and mistletoe (the berries are Celtic and Germanic symbols of fertility).

Let's take a look at the lyrics for "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas":

Have yourself a merry little Christmas, let your heart be light
From now on our troubles will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas, make the Yuletide gay
From now on our troubles will be miles away

Here we are as in olden days, happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us, gather near to us once more
Through the years we all will be together if the fates allow
Hang a shining star above the highest bough
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now

This is clearly religious wording referring to to the ancient pagan traditions. There is no mistake about it. Hanging a star high is not a reference to the Bethlehem star. It is a reference to enlightenment and pride a la Luciferianism. Please don't justify this by saying Christ told us to hang our lamps high for all to see. This was a metaphor for our faith, which is founded on the truth of the Gospel. The Gospel message has little to do with the birth of Christ and much more to do with His death, which is an illustration of our path to salvation: Dying to self and the world while living for God and His truth.

Please don't take this to mean I think we can simply take the pagan elements out of Christmas and it is then OK. If you look at the modern history of Christmas you will see that it experienced a resurgence at the demands of people who wanted a secular holiday at this particular time of year. Christ was an addendum to a secular festival just as He was in the 3-5th centuries.

Christmas was further embraced and expanded in-between 1840 (when the Prince Albert married Victoria of England, bringing his German winter traditions with him) and the 1860's beyond. This happened because business men wanted to take advantage of a large emerging market arising out of mainstream demand. It is obvious that the holiday season has it's roots planted firmly in a fleshly, materialistic mindset. The winter solstice has always been a time of year focused on the flesh. It is telling that all the livestock in far northern cultures were slaughtered to provide an abundance on meat through the winter, which of course was necessary, however these pagans ritualized this practice as they did most things. It is also telling that September is the month that has the most births. Count back 9 months. Now, I'm sure it was just another typical thing for people to do at this time of year. They didn't have to work the fields. They were inside trying to stay warm. It's understandable that more mating would take place. However, knowing what I know about paganism, it revolves around the union of two opposites. In this case, at the time of year where the sun is deep within the "womb" of the dark so too did the pagans ritualize their religious concepts. Pagans are no strangers to sexual rites. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why children are the center of attention at Christmas.

I would posit that if you choose to celebrate the birth of Christ why not celebrate it aside from "Christmas" and remove your worship completely away from the traditions of men so as to not resemble the world? Ask yourself, "Why do I need a holiday at all for this?" Now, I understand that it is rather nice and convenient to have a time of year when people can take time off of work and share in the pleasures of life. This I am not condemning. I simply want to alert people to why they should not associate with the works of darkness, to participate in the "reason for the season" rhetoric, to profane your worship and mix the holy with the profane. By all means, enjoy your time off work. Spend time with loved ones! But please, reconsider celebrating "Christmas" or "Hanukkah" or "Yule" or "the Holidays". The enemy wants to deceive you by dooping you into mixing worship with the things of the world. It's not difficult to see why the Puritans wanted nothing to do with this holiday. Come out of Babylon.

This was just a brief overview of a few specific points about the origins of Christmas. There is much more to talked about in regards to the symbolism and practices that have been adopted over the centuries but it is important not to get caught up in trying to point out the symbolism as much as it is important to note that this holiday is not of God, period. It doesn't please Him.