True
Stories About
Christmas
Christmas
is the most commercialized
holiday of the year. People overspend to buy gifts for their friends
and relatives. They try to celebrate what they believe is the birth of
their Savior, who was sacrificed for their sins.
In our own Holy Scriptures, long before the birth of the Messiah, the Creator speaks of the festival of Christmas being celebrated, as Yeremyah 10:1-5 indicates.
The
Encyclopedia
Britannica, Volume II, under Christmas,
says:
In the
Roman world, the Saturnalia
was a
time of merrymaking
and exchanging of gifts. December 25th
was also regarded as the birthdate of the Iranian
Mystery god, Mithra,
the Sun of Righteousness.
In A
Book of Christmas,
by William Sansom, McGraw-Hill, pages 28-39, we find the following
information:
...Early
Northern people,
who had no exact astronomical
findings began their Winter
festivals earlier...in
November... when the signs of the sun's recession... (dying) and the
scarcity of animal food made the slaughter of the increase of the herd
necessary. Later, the ceremonies moved forward to mid-December and the
anticipation of the Saturnalia... that wonderful, heartwarming,
emotional
festival introduced by
the Romans
by their occupation of the then-known world.
In Roman
Times...a Pre-Christian
Message
of 'peace and
god's will'
to all men accompanied the
Saturnalia. The Saturnalia was within the solstice and
Saturnalia-Kalendae period... starting December 17 and
going
through January 1st. The first period of feasting was generally for
seven days. The god
celebrated was Saturn...
farmer
of a former gold age and eater of his own children.
The giving of
presents...
particularly
candles and dolls
called Sigillaria
also derives
from the insistent origin
of human sacrifice at this time of
year.
Directly
following the
Saturnalia was the Kalendae...
more mathematically concerned with the date of the new Roman
year...and
the celebration
of the god Janus,
god of doors (as a two-way engine) who looks back on the past and
forward to the future.
One may
think of the
Saturnalia as 'Roman
in Rome'...but
the truth is: The
Roman Empire was
a world-ruling
empire at
that time. The customs
of Rome
were spread to all the known world.
It was an empire-wide
celebration.
All the people
in this Empire, save only a few... gathered in their homes to drink
wine... to dance and sing... to light their candles and
exchange presents...giving
their children the little clay
dolls that represented their former sacrifices.
Many other
customs have
become engrafted into the ancient
celebration
occurring at this time of year. Mummers and Wild
Men roam the British Isles and Europe. The evergreen tree is
an ancient custom
incorporated. The Vikings gave their
Yule... the druids donated their magic
mistletoe...
the Father
Christmas in
Briton and the Santa
Claus of German origin
were
all donated and incorporated into the holidays known worldwide
as Christmas and New Year.
It was not until
the middle of the fourth century
c.e. that the
birth of the Messiah was officially celebrated
at the time of year when the lighting of fires... the praising
of the new sun...
relaxation and feasting was set on
the very same date as that of the birth of the sun god... Mithra.
MITHRAISM: The worship of Mithra shared many similarities with the newer Christian ceremonies. There was baptism, a sacramental meal, and observance of Sunday, and the god himself was born on December 25th.
In Revelation 1:1, the Apostle Yahchanan is given the Revelation of what will shortly come to pass at the end of this age. Yahchanan is shown the end of the babylonian mystery religions that this whole deceived world worships in this very day and time.
Revelation
17:1-5—
1 And there came one of
the
seven Malakim who had the seven
bowls, and talked with me, saying to me: Come, I will show you the
sentence of the great
whore that
sits upon many
waters.
2
With whom the kings
of the earth have committed
fornication; practiced idolatry: godworship
(the
worship of elohim), and
the inhabitants
of the
earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
3 So he carried me away
in
the Spirit into the midst
of
godworshipers (worshipers of elohim); and I saw a woman
sitting on a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy,
having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman was
arrayed
in purple and scarlet color, and
decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, having a golden cup
in her hand full
of abominations and filthiness of her
fornication.
5 And upon her head was
a name
written: Mystery
Babylon the great, the mother of the harlots, and of the abominations
of the earth.
In Revelation 17:5, we are shown a religion of mystery, the great whore, or great god worshiper, as this religion should be called, which brings abominations to all peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.
Collier's
Encyclopedia, Volume 16, pages 349-350, tells us of these
ancient mystery religions.
The
mystery religions
furnish an ancient example of a
missionary movement. Originally they were magical ceremonies designed
to induce bountiful crops. They dramatized the annual
decay
of vegetation in the autumn as the death of a divine youth over whom a
goddess mourned. Later they celebrated with ecstatic joy the return of
verdure in the spring as the coming to life again of the departed youth.
...the mystery
religions
continued to make converts... Though the details of these
rites are unknown, because they were secret, it is evident that the
drama which the initiates saw enacted was a source of great comfort to
them...
Mithraism...seems
to have had many
affinities with the mystery religions, especially in its graded series
of seven stages of initiation. Mithra or Mithras was the name of an
ancient deity among the Aryans. His emblem was sol invictus, the
invincible sun, and his help was sought especially by those engaged in
warfare.
In Egypt, Osiris, the sun god, the son/husband of Isis was born on December 25th. In the Syrian mystery religion, Astarte/Semiramis wept over Adonis/Nimrod. The birthday of Adonis, the sun god of Syria, was December 25th. The festival of Mithras, the sun god of ancient Persia, was celebrated on December 25th. Tree worship and celebrating a birthday on December 25th certainly did not start in the Christian era.
Mithraism was a well known religion in Yahshua's day. The Romans became acquainted with this religion about 200 b.c.e., by the year 200 c.e., it was popular in the Roman armies.
Diocletian, who brought the most severe persecution against The House of Yahweh, worshiped Mithras. His successor, Constantine, who was the historical savior of the Christian religion, also worshiped Mithras.
Collier's
Encyclopedia,
Volume 9, page 431, says:
As social
and economic
conditions became worse, the Roman
masses turned more and more to the colorful, strongly
emotional, and superstitious mystery religions imported from
the East. The cults of the great mother, of Isis, and of Mithras
were the most popular. They all emphasized spiritual
salvation and a future life—in a word they
offered comfort.
Constantine was a worshiper of Mithra. He used religious toleration for the Christians as a political ploy to strengthen his own power as the emperor of Rome.
He was still a sun worshiper when the religion that is called Christianity today was initiated.
The
Last Two Million Years,
by The Readers Digest Association, pages 217-218, says:
By a
stroke of tactical
genius the Church, while intolerant of
pagan beliefs, was able to harness the powerful emotions
generated by pagan worship. Often, churches were sited
where
temples had stood before, and many heathen festivals were
added to the Christian calendar. Easter, for
instance...
By harnessing the emotions generated by pagan religions, one can truthfully say that the pagan religions are a part of Christianity.
Constantine, was also the leader of the First Council of Nicaea in the year 321 C.E. Sunday worship was established for Christianity at that time.
The last, diverse kingdom that subdued three kingdoms is the religious power of papal Rome. This religious power changed the Feast Days of Yahweh to the pagan festivals that were already popular.
The most popular pagan festival was the birthday of the invincible sun on December 25th. The Mithraic and Roman religions were already celebrating the rebirth of the sun. It was not a hard task to place the mask of Christianity over this pagan birthdate and call it the birthday of Jesus.
Strange
Stories
Amazing Facts, by The
Readers Digest Association, pages 283-284, says:
Christmas
and Easter, although the greatest
festivals in the Christian calendar, are
celebrated with
customs that originated in superstition and heathen rites hundreds of
years before Christ was born.
Even the dates owe more to
pagan practices than to the birth
and resurrection of Jesus. It
was not until the fourth century
that December 25 was fixed arbitrarily as the anniversary of the
Nativity—because the pagan
festivals from which so
many Christmas customs spring were held around that time.
Although Christianity has
swept the world in a relatively
short time, as the histories of great religions go, the early
missionaries faced an uphill task. The
pagans were reluctant
to give up their false gods and ancient practices
So the missionaries, unable
to convert them easily to an
entirely new code of worship, did the next best thing. They
took the pagan festivals as they were and gradually grafted the
observances of the new faith onto these festivals and the rites and
customs surrounding them.
December 25 was
not called Christmas until the
ninth century. Until then it had been the Midwinter Feast, a
combination of the Norse
Yule Festival and the Roman
Saturnalia, both of which took place in late December.
How
was
this deceit perpetrated on mankind?
The Last Two Million Years, by The Readers Digest
Association, pages 217-218, tells us how:
...Meanwhile
at the centre,
in Rome itself, the
popes had an efficient organization, the curia,
patterned on that of the Roman Empire. Papal legates abroad
reported back to the pope on shifts of policy and political power, and
held a powerful diplomatic weapon in their right to refer disputes to
Rome. The
pope claimed the sole power to grant absolution for
sin. Through the bishops and the parish priests, his authority reached
into almost every corner of Europe.
The only educated people were the Roman Catholic clergy. The great majority of the population were ignorant, uneducated, and superstitious. When the priests said this was the way of worship, this was the way of worship no matter that it originated in paganism, or that it had nothing to do with the bible.
Child
Sacrifice
Mythology
of All Religions,
Volume 5, page 52, says:
It may be presumed from the
human (infant-child) sacrifices
to Malik (Molech) in Canaan and to Melqart (Bel-Baal-Lord) as Cronus
at Carthage that the Phoenicians offered the first born in
the fire which celebrated the Sol Invictus (the same
Invincible Sun Constantine worshipped) and insured themselves
against the wrath of the relentless god. The Malik of Tyre was
identified with Hercules...
Living infants and children were burned in the fire to the god Molech during this time.
Unger's
Bible Dictionary,
page 416 says:
Mo'lech
(mo'lek; Heb. Melek,
king), a
detestable Semitic deity honored by the sacrifice of children,
in which they were caused to pass through or into the fire...
Mo'loch (mo'lok), another form in English (Amos 5:26; Acts 7:43) of Molech (q. v.).
The
Concise Encyclopedia of Greek
and Roman Mythology, page 261, under Saturnus,
we find:
A sacrifice was made to Saturnus
in his
temple with uncovered head according to the Greek observance because
Saturnus had come from Greece. After the Sacrifice there was a public
banquet...
People exchanged presents, most frequently clay
puppets (dolls)
in memory of the fact Hercules (Molech)
abolished human (infant-child) sacrifice when he introduced the cult of
Saturnus.
This same Babylonian worship of Molech, which came down through the Greeks and Romans, through Constantine and through the great whore of Revelation 17:1, is worshiped by the same practices and the same customs, at the same time of year, by the whole deceived Christian world today.
Holidays
Around
The World, by Joseph
Gaer, page 133, says:
Christmas is a very old
holiday. It
clearly started
as a celebration of the passing of the winter solstice, and the start
of the sun's return journey from the north to the south.
The ancient
Romans observed
this time with a festival
dedicated to Saturn, the god of agriculture, and it was called
Saturnalia.
This festival was observed with great merriment
and abandon. Gifts
were exchanged.
When Emperor
Constantine
decreed Christianity as the new
faith of the Roman Empire, early in the fourth century, the Christians
gave the holiday an entirely new name and an entirely new
meaning.
They called
the holiday the
Mass of Christ, or Christ Mass,
which was shortened to Christmas. And they
declared that Christmas was the birthday of Jesus of Nazareth. Though
the exact day and year when Jesus was born are not known,
tradition has set the
date as December 25, 4 b.c., according to our
present-day reckoning.
All of the practices of Christmas have come from paganism. They are merely the modern day practices of the same worship that Yahweh says is an abomination to Him.
Irregardless of the fact that these pagan festivals are covered with the mask of Christian respectability—the adoration of the child; the tree worship with the burning of the yule log; ham on Christmas and New Year; exchanging of gifts; and all of the magic of this season—they are still the ancient worship of Nimrod, the mighty one of the earth who opposed Yahweh.
New
Year?
The Saturnalia was celebrated up through the Calends, or first of January, as it is still being celebrated today by the whole deceived world.
The
Two Babylons, by
Alexander Hislop, 1959, pages 94-96, shows us:
Christmas Day among the
ancient Saxons... was observed to
celebrate the birth of any lord of the host of Heaven... The Saxons
regarded the sun
as a female god
and the moon
a male god.
The birth of this 'Lord Moon' was on December
25th. The name of this `Lord Moon' in the
East...
Babylonians, Chaldeans and among the Canaanites... was Meni__The
Numberer.
According to Hislop, Gad refers to the sun god, and Meni the moon god. The people offered sacrifices to these gods in Isayah 65:11.
Holidays Around
The World, by Joseph Gaer,
1953, page 137, says:
The date
we celebrate as New Year's, like
the date of Christmas, is an inheritance from the Romans.
Christmas and New Year go together like hand and glove today, just as they have from ancient ages.
Collier's
Encyclopedia, Volume 6, page
404, tells us:
Gifts and
Cards.
The practice of exchanging
presents at Christmas stems from the ancient Roman custom called
Strenae. During the Saturnalia Roman citizens used to
give "good
luck'' gifts (strenae) of fruits, pastry, or gold to their friends on New
Year's Day.
Holidays
Around the World,
by Joseph Gaer, pages 138-139, says:
Janus was
represented among
the Roman gods as having two
faces. One face always looked back to the old year, and the other
always looked forward to the new...
There was
also great
rejoicing
before the
gates of the temple of Janus
on New Year's Day when
the people gathered to do
homage to the god of all
beginnings. Gifts were exchanged among friends. Resolutions
to be friendly and good to each other were made. And the entire day was
given to festivities.
When the
Romans under
Constantine accepted Christianity as
their new faith, they
retained the Festival of Janus as their
New Year's Day.
Janus, the god that the month of January is named for was the father of the gods, and at the same time the mediatorial divinity. He is identified with Bacchus or Adonis (the sun god) and was invoked in the religion of mystery as Satur, Saturn, mystery.
Saturn is identified with
Kronos, the father of the gods.Gods
and Mortals in Classical Mythology, Michael Grant and John
Hazel, pages 124-125, tells us more about Kronos, the father of the
gods:
...This
aspect of Cronos
links him with Saturn,
the Roman god with whom he was identified. Some Greeks associated
Cronos' name, wrongly, with the word chronos (time),
and consequently depicted him as an old man with a scythe__Father
Time.
Saturnus
and Kronos are one and the same
god. The Concise Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology, Sabine
G. Ostwalt, page 261, says this about Saturnus:
...an
ancient agricultural
deity who came to Rome from
Etruria. But he was very early identified with the
Greek-Cronus
and his consort was thought to be Ops
(Greek-Rhea)... Saturnus introduced the cultivation of the vine and
taught them to use a sickle for reaping corn; hence... his
statue held a sickle.
The modern version of Father Time is that of an old man with a sickle (representing the old year) who dies at the year's end and is immediately reborn as an infant in the New Year.
Strange
Stories, Amazing Facts,
by The Readers Digest Association, 1980, pages 283-284, tells us of
some of the customs that were transferred to Christmas and New Year:
Wearing
paper hats and
using firecrackers are throwbacks to
the wilder excesses of ancient Rome. Yule logs and candles belong to
the Norse tradition: They were symbols of fire and light, bringing
welcome relief in the cold and darkness of the northern midwinter.
In
the centuries that
followed the Norman Conquest, as
Christianity gained a firmer hold, carols and the Nativity play
were added. And Father
Christmas
evolved as a mixture
of the
red-robed Lord
of Misrule
and St.
Nicholas (Santa Claus), the
patron saint of children.
It is a
proven fact that the festivities of
Christmas and New Year are the same worship to the same gods which
Yahweh tells us is an abomination to Him. Yahweh also says to us in:
Yeremyah 10:2-5—
2 This is what Yahweh
says: Do
not learn
the way;
religious practices, of
the heathen; Gentile
nations; and
do not be deceived by the signs of heaven;
though the heathen are deceived by them; using them to set
their feasts.
3 For the religious
customs
of the peoples are
vain; worthless! For
one cuts a tree out of the forest, the
work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.
4 They decorate it
with silver and with gold;
they fasten it with nails and with hammers, so that it will not move; topple
over.
5 They are upright,
like a palm tree, but
they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot go by
themselves. Do
not give them Reverence! They cannot do evil,
nor is it in
them to do Righteousness!
Yahweh has told us emphatically, "Do not learn the way of the heathen!'' The way of the heathen is written in the chapters of man's customs and traditions that have come down from Nimrod/Semiramis/Ninus/mother/son/husband adoration or worship.
Yahweh's Way is written in the Holy Scriptures. His way is there to read and then to obey.
Deuteronomy
4:1-2—
1 Hear now, O Israyl, the
Statutes and the Judgments
which I teach you to observe and do, that you may live, and
go in and possess the land which Yahweh, the Heavenly Father of your
fathers, is giving you.
2 You shall not
add to the Word which I command you,
nor shall you take anything from it, so that you may keep the Laws of
Yahweh your Father which I command you.
We realize that these customs of Christmas and New Year are presented to this world as beautiful things. These holidays are well bounded in the very fabric of life in the world. These are times when families come together, gifts are exchanged, and the tree is set up with all the old decorations. These festivals play on the emotions and senses of mankind. These are exactly the kinds of feelings Satan uses to get this world to give her the worship she desires.
The Apostles and early Believers kept the commanded Holy Days of Yahweh: the weekly Sabbath, Yahshua's Memorial, the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Day of Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day.
The Apostles and early Believers never taught the pagan custom of Christmas. This deception was brought into the congregations after the death of the Apostles.
The world does not hear Yahweh's Words. The reason this world does not hear the Word of Yahweh is because Satan has deceived this whole world, as we are told in Revelation 12:9. The people have disobeyed Yahweh not only by learning heathen ways, but also by practicing these heathen ways yearly.
Yeremyah
10:3—
For the religious customs
of the
peoples are vain; worthless!...
Notice what Yahweh says in Yeremyah 10:3. The customs that all the world practices are vain customs. These customs will not bring Salvation.
The vain Christmas custom that Yahweh commands us not to learn is practiced every year. They cut their evergreen trees, and they deck their trees just as they did in the time of Yeremyah. This world thinks nothing of practicing this vain custom, although it is a custom of worship to pagan gods. The practice of this vain custom also breaks the First Commandment: ``I am Yahweh, you shall have no hinder Gods.''
This custom practiced during this month of the year is not a new doctrine ordained by any of the followers of Yahweh. This custom named Christmas is an old, pagan practice from the worship of Baal.
These pagan practices brought on the death of the first established House of Yahweh. Satan managed to slowly bring pagan practices and false doctrines into The House of Yahweh after all of the Apostles died. The Apostles fought against these practices and doctrines until their deaths.
The House of Yahweh was the Pillar and Ground of the Truth of Yahweh when it was under the direct leadership of the Apostles. When pagan practices and false doctrines entered in, those polluted assemblies were no longer the Pillar and Ground of Yahweh's Truth.
As
the Apostles would not
yield to pagan customs or false
doctrines, we also should not yield to churches today that teach these
doctrines. Yahshua gave us this warning in:
Yahchanan Mark 7:7—
But in vain do they
worship
Me, teaching
as doctrine
the commandments of men.
These
customs and practices are the worship
of gods that Yahweh warned against in:
Deuteronomy
12:30-31—
30 Be careful not to be
ensnared into following them by asking
about their gods (elohim), saying: How did
these
nations serve their gods (elohim)? I also will do the same.
31 You must not worship
Yahweh your Father in their way, for
every abomination to Yahweh, which He hates, they have done to their
gods (elohim). They
even burn their sons and daughters in the
fire as sacrifices to their gods (elohim).
Pagan practices will not lead to Eternal Life. Those who follow vain customs are called whoremongers and worshipers of gods by Yahweh.
The
only way to Everlasting
Life is Yahweh's Way. There is no
other way. Praise Yahweh.
