In the Image of Christ
Colossians 3:8-11

“Christ-mass”

     “Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: Thus  saith 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.”     Jeremiah 10:1-4

        It may come as a surprise to many that the origin of Christmas actually predates the birth of Jesus Christ by hundreds of years.  Perhaps it comes as an even greater surprise that the origin of Christmas is rooted in heathen religions and beliefs, and not the Word of God.  This is easily verified with just a little research, research that amazingly few are willing to do. Personally I have examined many encyclopedias, newspaper articles, the internet, and pagan as well as Christian sources.  All the resources that I have studied trace the origin of Christmas back to heathen religions and beliefs well before the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.

        Did you realize that no one knows on what day the Lord Jesus was born.  You can search the Bible from cover to cover and you will not find from its pages what day the Lord Jesus was born.  In fact the Bible tells us that the shepherds were keeping watch over their flock by night at the time the Lord Jesus was born indicating mild weather, certainly not the dead of winter (Luke 2:6-8).  It was the Roman Catholic Church in the 4th century A.D. who chose December 25 as the day to celebrate the birth of Christ.  It chose December 25 because it was the time that the heathen were celebrating Natalis Solis Invicti, the birthday of the Unconquerable Sun.  Instead of condemning the idolatrous festivities and practices of the heathen, the Church of Rome absorbed them and “Christianized” them.  Instead of celebrating the birth of the god’s of the heathen’s they now would celebrate the birth of Jesus.  Instead of SUN worship they now would have SON worship.  The Roman Catholic Church called December 25 “Christmas” which means, “the Mass of Christ”. Almost all of the heathens customs and forms of celebrating were retained by the Church and given different meanings (see The Two Babylons, by Hislop).  Thus the Roman Church allowed the heathen to continue their idolatrous ways under the guise of celebrating Christ’s birthday with the Church of Rome’s blessings.

        Our opening text clearly exhorts, “Learn not the way of the heathen”. What is the way of the heathen here? They take a tree from the forest, they deck it with gold and silver, and they fasten so it doesn’t move. Sounds very much like the Christmas tree wouldn’t you agree? It amazes me that people calling themselves  Christians take part in this without any indication from the Scriptures that it was preformed at Christ birth or afterwards. The Gospels, Acts, the Epistles and Revelation give neither example nor teaching on which to found such a celebration. Does no one wonder where, then, such celebrations came from? Why, unbelievers do the same thing with no regard to Christ at all! How can Christians supposedly be worshiping Christ through this, while at the same time unbelievers are celebrating with no reverence to HIM at all? You must ask yourself in the light of our Scripture, who’s right and who’s wrong? After all what does a pine tree have to do with Christ birth?  Nowhere in the Scriptures do we read of God’s people embracing the way of the heathen with God’s blessing. Whenever God’s people adopt the ways of the heathen it eventually brings God’s judgment upon them. In the book of Colossians we read the following warning.

     “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”  Colossians 2:8

        Friends, one of Satan’s greatest tools of deceptions is his ability to transform himself into an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:13-15).  It is by this means that he seeks to deceive the Christian.  Christmas is apparently one of his greatest deceptions ever, since it is so widely accepted and defended, and people seem to be held captive by it in spite of its lack of Biblical support.  This is a strange phenomenon! Surely if Christmas was of God it would easily stand the test of Scripture, but it does not.  With just a little research an unbiased person who is a seeker of truth would clearly see that Christmas is a lie based upon “the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”  This is abundantly clear when one learns that Christmas and almost all of its trimmings predate the birth of Christ by hundreds of years.  We would do well to heed the warning of Colossians 2:8 and BEWARE least we become SPOILED by the vain deceit of Christmas.

        John 4:24 says “God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.”  How can we even pretended to honor and worship God in participating in Christmas when it is based in vain deceit rather than truth?  John 4:24 says that God MUST be worshiped in spirit and TRUTH. There is no room for compromise here, no matter how well meaning or sincere one may be in their participation in Christmas.  Where is the Biblical doctrine of Christmas celebrating? There is none! Christmas fails the test of Scripture.

        Many professing Christians have already been spoiled by the vain deceit of Christmas. This is evidenced by the fact that they refuse to allow God’s Word to judge their participation in the idolatrous practices of Christmas.  On this subject, apparently, the Bible does not matter. It appears that their minds are made up and they don’t want to be confused by the facts. To them Christmas is like a sacred cow, not to be touched or criticized by anyone, even the Lord!  How sad and grieved the Lord must be over this. Not once in the Scriptures do we find the Lord reflecting on HIS birth. Instead we find HIM consistently pointing to the future to the salvation that He would secure for human beings by dying on the cross as the perfect Substitute. No, we don’t find a commandment to remember HIS birth but we do find the commandment to remember HIS death (1Cor.11:24-26).  How much better we would be if we would heed the will of God that we find in the book of Romans.

     “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and  perfect, will of God.”    Romans 12:1-2

         It is God’s will and command that we do not conform to this world.  Christmas is “after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ”, and therefore we should obey the Scriptures and not conform to the world’s customs.  You see, when one participates in Christmas he is doing just the opposite of what God commands in this verse.  Instead of conforming to this world God wants us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.  This happens as we study the scriptures and learn from them how to live our lives in a way that pleases God.  God wants us to be able to prove what His GOOD and ACCEPTABLE and PERFECT will is.  We should do this so that we can apply God’s will to our lives and live in a way that is more pleasing to Him, because we love Him who first loved us.

        Dear friend my purpose in writing these words is not to cause trouble with you.  I know first hand how controversial this subject is with those that have a strong traditional and emotional attachment to the practices of Christmas, especially those who regard Christmas as an untouchable matter, like a sacred cow.  I write knowing that there are those that want to honor God in all their ways and are not aware of the deceptions of Christmas.  I pray that God will use these words to enlighten them to the dangers of Christmas and move them to a closer walk with God.  Christianity is about following Christ (Luke 9:23), and to do that the Lord said one must “deny self, and take up his cross...” not his Christmas tree! 

Also read the articles "Truth" and “Convictions or Conveniences?”for more on Christmas.

Visit our web site for more articles and information at  http://www.nlbchapel.org

New Life Bible Chapel
Time of meetings
Sunday Meeting 10:30 A.M.
Wednesday Prayer Meeting 7:00 P.M.
Steve (616) 604-0462
E-mail steve_@nlbchapel.org

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