Does Christmas Really Honor Christ??

If you really loved someone, would you celebrate the person with reminders of a past rival for your affection? Are many Christians guilty of dishonoring Jesus in this way?

In the Good News

Imagine a woman giving a gift to her husband on his birthday. Only it isn't his birthday. It's the birthday of an old boyfriend. And the gift is something she used to give that other person. It would be natural for the husband to doubt the genuineness of her love!

If someone really loved you and was trying to do something you would appreciate, it seems like he or she wouldn't throw in your face such reminders of an old flame!

But Christmas is doing this very thing with Jesus—supposedly honoring Him when this birthday and celebratory elements were formerly used to honor false gods!

Why do you observe Christmas?

If you're like most people you'd say that you observe Christmas because it's a way of showing love to Jesus Christ. Maybe you attend midnight mass or a church service on Christmas morning. Your children might participate in a play pretending to be Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem. Perhaps a Nativity scene or a giant plastic Santa Claus adorns your front yard.

To many, Christmas is a time of friends and family, the smell of freshly baked cookies and the excitement of children around a decorated tree, tearing the wrappings from gifts.

But is there more to the story? Let's look at another side of Christmas from the website Witchology.com, which bills itself as "a research and education provider specialising in the areas of Witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism, Magic (Magick) and the Occult." It says this regarding Christmas:

"What is the Pagan secret that Christianity has tried to keep from you? The truth about Christmas is that it is not Christmas at all. It is the Winter Solstice, a Pagan holy day observed around the world and since time immemorial from the Native American tribes, to the Norsemen, to the ancient Romans, and today by modern Pagans, Witches and Wiccans."

The startling fact is that the information about the origins of Christmas on this witchcraft-promoting website is actually true! Christmas customs are rooted in paganism. Jesus Christ wasn't even born anywhere near December 25.

Yet most people respond to this information with something like: "I know there are some pagan and secular customs incorporated into Christmas, but these customs were Christianized. In this way we choose to show love toward Jesus."

But it's time to ask the really hard question that few want to face. Could observing Christmas actually be dishonoring Jesus?

A warning to the Christians in Corinth

Let's go back in time to the first Christians who lived in the ancient city of Corinth. Like most ancient seaports, Corinth was known for its multiculturalism, lucrative business opportunities, religious diversity and seamy pleasures. The city's name spawned a Greek verb meaning "to practice fornication." Corinth was an economic powerhouse of around half-a-million people, a mega-metropolis by the standards of the day.

The majority of people in Corinth were pagans. They worshipped the traditional Greek and Roman gods and goddesses or sacrificed in the temples of one of the various "mystery religions." One of the most magnificent Corinthian temples stood on a high hill looming above the city. It was the temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, employing 1,000 temple prostitutes.

As people from this pagan-Greek background converted to Christianity, some naturally continued to practice some of their old customs. It would have been easy for them to see these pagan rites as celebrations imbued with a new Christian spirit honoring Jesus.

The apostle Paul wrote to these early Christian in 1 Corinthians 10:20-21 [20] But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.
[21] Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.

See All...: "The things which the Gentiles [pagan nations] sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons."

Think about what Paul is saying. You want to be a follower of Jesus Christ. You believe in the Bible as the inspired Word of God. Are you willing to go where the Bible takes you?

Satan and his demons are not fairy-tale creatures. They are real.  Demons are angels who rebelled against God and, after their rebellion, now embody all that is evil. In another letter Paul wrote that Satan is "the god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
See All...). We can't escape Paul's logic. Paganism isn't harmless— it is the worship of demons and the false god of this age!

Christmas origins have nothing to do with Christ

Let's read a little more from Witchology.com about the origins of Christmas:

"One of the eight Sabbats [pagan festivals] of Witchcraft, this season, known as Yule, the great annual festival of Saturn, the Saturnalia, of Pagan Rome, Dies Natalis Solis Invicti [Day of the Birth of the Unconquered Sun] of the Mithras cult, the Winter Solstice is a sacred time in the Pagan calendar (emphasis added throughout).

"What is the Christmas secret? What are the facts Christians would rather you did not know? We set our clocks by it, we celebrated a Millennium because of it, but the shocking truth is it did not happen. The birth of a boy under remarkable circumstances to humble parents in a stable in Bethlehem did not happen on the 25th of December, 1 A.D."

Again, the website is correct. The truth is that the prophesied Messiah Jesus Christ was born of a virgin named Mary just as the Old Testament prophets foretold, but again it was nowhere near December 25—which even at that time was a major pagan celebration in several ancient cultures.

The problem with the modern Christmas celebration is that its origins have little to do with the real Jesus Christ. This isn't hidden knowledge. With just a little research online or in a decent encyclopedia, anyone can learn that the Yule log, mistletoe, the Christmas tree and even the date of Christmas are rooted in paganism and not the Bible.

Is your response to this information, "It doesn't matter since I don't use the Christmas tree to worship Scandinavian gods but to show love to Jesus Christ"?

Let's go back to what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10: "The things which the Gentiles [pagan nations] sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons."

We are forced by the Scripture to ask a hard question: How much are you willing to drink the cup of the Lord's table and the cup of the table of demons and conclude that it doesn't matter to Christ?

At the beginning of this article I talked about a woman repackaging a celebration of an old boyfriend's birthday and presenting this to her husband as his birthday party on the same date—even though it isn't his birthday. Pretending it's someone's birthday and giving him a party that recalls a wrong past relationship isn't exhibiting love or respect, is it?

Then why do you believe that you are showing Jesus love and respect when you do the same thing to Him by throwing a party originating in paganism and pretending it's His birthday?

We must worship in spirit and truth

The Gospel of Luke records a conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan woman. The Samaritans were an interesting people. They claimed to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but rejected many of the teachings of the Old Testament. They refused to worship at the temple in Jerusalem and mixed pagan customs with the worship of the true God.

When Christ's disciples later came to Samaria to preach the gospel, as recorded in Acts 8, they found a man named Simon. This Simon was a sorcerer who claimed to worship God by using the rites and customs of worshipping demons.

As Jesus confronted the Samaritan woman with the reality of who He is, He told her, "The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him" (John 4:23But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
See All...).

Again, Jesus Himself said that "the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth." Let that sink in.

Part of the truth here is that Scripture says we are not to try to honor God the way people formerly honored false gods (Deuteronomy 12:29-32 [29] 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;
[30] 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.
[31] 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.
[32] What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

See All...). That is unacceptable to Him.

Isn't it time for you to question the legitimacy of paganized Christianity? Isn't it time to stop wrapping Jesus up in the trappings of the ancient pagan Saturnalia, Mithras and the gods of ancient Scandinavia and instead to seek to worship Him and the Father in spirit and truth?

It's never easy to examine beliefs and practices that you've accepted all of your life. But we have to ask if God wants something different in your relationship with Him.

God is reaching out to you to worship Him in spirit and truth. Let's strip the pagan customs from our worship of the great God and His Son Jesus Christ and honor Them the way They direct in the Bible!

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Was Jesus Born on December 25?

You know Jesus wasn't born on December 25th, but you also may say, "Why does it matter? It doesn't really matter." Look up in any history book, any story giving the details about Christmas, Christ's birth, most people understand that He was not born on December 25th. What most people don't really understand is that you can note from the scripture why He was not born on December 25th, and there's an important reason why that does matter. The story is very simple.

You look into the book of Matthew, especially in the book of Luke, the accounts of the birth of Jesus Christ you are struck with two very common sense items. First of all that it tells you that the shepherds were still in the fields with their flocks on the night Jesus was born. Now anyone who's traveled to the Middle East, anyone who even watches today's news knows that sheep are not going to be in the field at this time of year. Just a few days ago Jordan and the state of Israel, that whole region there, had several inches of snow dumped upon it in a storm that is not too infrequent. Now that does happen in that part of the world. It is more of an arid desert area, but they do get snow, and it does get cold in the winter time. The idea that sheep would've been with their shepherds in the fields is not one that really matches up with the timing of December 25th and the account that we have.

There's another reason. It is that Joseph with Mary according to the decree from Caesar went from their home in Nazareth south to Bethlehem because of a commanded census. So again no government official would've commanded that that census take place. At that particular point in the mid-winter people were home. They were not traveling unless it was absolutely necessary at that time.

When you look at what scriptures do tell us and the accounts of the birth of Jesus and John the Baptist, both being about six months apart, John the Baptist being born according to what we can discern from scripture and understanding that period of time near the end of March, and because his mother Elizabeth was pregnant already when Mary went to her according to the account. We fast-forward six months from the end of March, you come to the end of September. When was Jesus born? The early fall, late September, early October as we on our calendar today. That autumn period is most likely a time according to the scripture, according to what we know about the timing of Mary's pregnancy and that of Elizabeth's pregnancy her cousin. And so, the scriptural account gives us very plain understanding that it was not December 25th.

And this does make an important point. The birth of Jesus Christ was and is vitally important to the story of God, the Bible, and salvation. And when we come to understand the story of Christ's birth and His life, death, and resurrection it's important that it all lines up properly, that not only do we understand it, but that we worship and we obey God in what is called spirit and in truth. Worshippers of God, the people of God are going to do so. We cannot even take a day that we might think is convenient or according to custom or tradition. December 25th in the middle of winter for all of the known reasons, it's connection with paganism, it being the time of a winter saturnalia, time of the winter solstice, and connected with all of the pagan worship of the ancient world, we cannot take that day, put it on the event that the Bible describes when there is no clear instruction to do so in the first place, and then claim to be worshipping God in spirit and in truth.

True worshippers are going to be doing it according to worshipping God according to spirit and truth in that tradition, and that's what's important. Get that right, and you're on the road to understanding who Jesus was and why He was born.