Do you know the truth about Christmas?

Each year, I am astounded by the magnitude and beauty of Christmas celebrations and the immersion of American society into a tradition that is cemented into the psyche of this nation. But, Christmas truly presents an external benevolence that masks a deep dark secret.

Many Christian churches, of varying denominations, often seek to “put Christ back into Christmas” or “make Christmas meaningful.” Both efforts would be commendable if they were legitimate.

Certainly, putting a spotlight on Christ is laudable. And teaching the true meanings of traditions in order to maintain the purity, sanctity and holiness of such worship is core to the development of Christian children, as well as all followers of Christ.

Unfortunately, not only is there no Christ in Christmas, one may interview most any Christmas-loving Christian and find a severe lack of knowledge of what Christmas celebrations are and the abomination they represent to God.

That isn’t to say that Christians who celebrate Christmas do so with the intent of committing an act of abomination. Many of us who profess to love Jesus participate in a tradition that is an abomination to God because we believe it is something other than than what it truly is. We do not recognize Satan — a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

The tradition of Christmas is filled with lies and distortions of truth, but millions of Christians are ignorant of these things because we have never been taught to ask critical truth-seeking questions. Instead, we follow tradition blindly.

But if we knew the truth, would we discard the Christmas tradition? Would we immediately trash everything connected to this embedded cultural norm? Unfortunately, I DON’T think we would.

We have a similar damaging addiction to television and all its influences. Music, fashion and media all have similar impacts, coaxing us to embrace the world and its evolving ideas and ethics … and put our own desires first. Such things make us feel good and we are loathe to part with them.

If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

Matthew 18:8-9

Is it time to give up Christmas?

Sometimes it’s tough to give up things that we have become accustomed to being involved in, even when we discover that what we thought was OK to do actually is frowned upon by our Father in heaven. Consider how Jesus responded to the Pharisees who admonished Him for allowing His disciples to eat with unwashed hands.

The act of washing our hands is more than a tradition, it is also beneficial for health reasons. To this day, the washing of hands is ingrained in our society and we teach the act to our children. Nothing is wrong with that. Still traditions can become so sacrosanct that adherence to the tradition itself becomes so powerful that anyone who doesn’t adhere to tradition can become targets of criticism by the church. Consider how Jesus responded to Jewish leaders when they sought to hold Him accountable for allowing His disciples to eat without washing their hands.

Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?

Matthew 15:3

Jesus turned the tables on them before He addressed their concern. He suggested they were being hypocritical by even bringing up the issue as a point of contention. He offered a specific tradition the Jewish leaders had created that ignored the command God had given them. Jesus then quoted Isaiah:

“You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.’”

Matthew 15:7-9

The meek and mild Jesus was quite irritated with the notion that Jewish leaders would so closely identify with traditions of men that they failed to even recognize the Son of God was walking in their midst. Could the same be said of Christmas? Are we so caught up in tradition that we’ve failed to recognize the important things while we focus on the frivolous?

Addicted to Tradition

Could we be so caught up in the “reason for the season” and “Happy Birthday Jesus” and the “Spirit of giving” rhetoric that we have failed to recognize that none of this was created, commanded or participated in by Jesus or any of His disciples or apostles? Could we be so entranced by the “good” feelings and the “good will” rhetoric of Christmas that we have no need to understand the truth behind our traditions today?

And what would Jesus think of our celebrations of His birth?

We all can agree that no one knows exactly when Jesus was born. But we also can agree that the consensus among all theologians is that Jesus was not born on December 25.

And the sad fact is that while some may argue the date doesn’t really matter, the reality is that we know Jesus WAS born on a date that is bypassed in obscurity while a pagan tradition is adopted by Jesus’ followers, who then also adopt the pagan date that holds a reverence for another god.

Jealous YHWH

The followers of Jesus do not have to look far to realize just how such a symbolic act is perceived by God. Twice in the book of Exodus and five times in the book of Deuteronomy we are told that our God is a jealous God. And there are references in other books of the bible that attest to that fact as well.

Would YHWH be happy with those of us who believe in Jesus and His atoning sacrifice when we dishonor Jesus by arbitrarily adopting a birth date for Jesus that used by pagans to honor their gods long before Jesus was born?

Would YHWH be content watching His Son go through the hellish torture He suffered and the willing sacrifice of His own life to save ours, only to then sit and watch us put decorative trees in our homes, hang wreaths, exchange gifts and sing silly songs about flying reindeer and dancing snowmen? Would a jealous YHWH accept the excuse, “We didn’t know”?

Convincing kids of Christmas is a crime

Consider what Jesus might say about us teaching our children the lies of Christmas, including the myth of Satan Claus:

“And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neckand to be drowned in the depths of the sea.  Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!”

Matthew 18:5-7

It appears that YHWH and Jesus are both quite serious about the things we do. Even our traditions and the things we teach our children to do are important to God. We don’t need to invent traditions. We don’t need to create celebrations to honor God. He has specified what He desires through written testimony by prophets, disciples and apostles. Anything more than that steps into the realm of risk. And when we consider the consequences of sinning against God because we thought He might enjoy our creativity, well, that’s a major gamble. Sin is a crime against God. Such a criminal offense carries with it the penalty of death of the soul. The executioner: God.

Certainly, we can understand why such seriousness is warranted. There is a war going on. And, as in every war, there is a battle over propaganda. Satan is the “father of all lies,” as Jesus proclaimed to the Pharisees (John 8:44). The Christmas celebrations today and throughout history have all been based upon lies. Why waste time and energy seeking to modify it? Why hold onto it at all? The disciples, apostles and early church never celebrated Christmas in any way. There is no mention of it in the bible or any related texts. Even the Puritans who came to the New World seeking freedom from religious persecution outlawed celebrations of Christmas.

Mass of Christ

Christmas (originally invented by the Catholic Church as the Mass of Christ), is a tradition created by church forefathers in Catholicism as a counter to the pagan traditions of Solstice, Saturnalia and other seasonal celebrations that often included the worship of nature and “created things” that followers of Christ are specifically told not to worship. Note: Easter is yet another abomination to God, adopted by believers in Jesus and merged with the reverent act of Communion, which Jesus requested His disciples perform each time they participated in the Passover meal, which was Jesus’ “last supper.”

Thus, Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection have been defiled by traditions of men — traditions that seek to wash away the truthful understandings of those events from the minds of children. And the consequence has been that generations of followers of Jesus have inadvertently (or deliberately) adopted pagan rituals, excused them as “good” and well-meaning and continued to spread them to this day. And today, the children of many well-meaning Christians are loathe to let go of pagan traditions. Today, December 25 means something in the minds of every Christian child, while the actual date of Jesus’ birth is meaningless and passes by each year without so much as a simple acknowledgment.

Of course, we are not commanded to celebrate the birth of Jesus or commemorate it in any way. In fact, two centuries passed after Jesus’ birth before the subject of the date of His birth was even touched in recorded history. Is today’s festive red and green myth-filled celebrations of Christmas preferable to the acts of the early church, disciples and apostles who allowed the birth of Christ to disappear into obscurity?

Some might argue that at least we have adopted day that we honor Jesus’ birth.

But, is the adoption of one day better than none at all?  Jesus Himself could likely counter with the fact that we do not know Him and thus worship Him in vain. Jesus fully intends intends to reject some of us (on the Day of Judgment) who fervently believe we are doing the right thing. Could Christmas celebrations cause us to be among those who think we know Christ yet continue to dishonor Him?

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

Matthew 7:21-23

Killing Christmas

Wouldn’t it be wiser to completely trash the entire Christmas thing altogether?

After all, Christmas doesn’t originate from Jesus, whom we claim to be honoring. We compromise the integrity of any such celebration by merging it with pagan traditions, whether we recognize that fact or not. We focus the attention on ourselves and then pretend that doing good things and saying good things to one another one day out of the year is sufficient. And there is that tiny little fact to consider: WE MADE IT ALL UP!

The entire Christmas tradition is a joke — a seasonal slap in the face of Almighty God. Christmas isn’t just commercialized, it is a complete immersion into self-centeredness, stress, worry, materialism, blind tradition, pagan rituals and an abomination to God. And might I remind us all … a jealous God.

Furthermore, Christmas is celebrated by Christians who claim to be worshiping the King of the Universe even as many of us proclaim dutiful servitude and allegiance under the direction of a secular power that sends our sons and daughters to kill our neighbors, whom Jesus said we should love. How does one reconcile such devotion to “country” and devotion to Jesus when the two oppose one another consistently? One cannot serve two masters, Jesus said.

Truth of Christ = Freedom

Even as we look to our own government for salvation in the midst of an economic crisis, we forget the words of Jesus:

“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 8:31-32

Jesus went on to say how we are slaves to sin. His remedy for freedom wasn’t to trust in government, bomb whoever Bush says is a terrorist and hate Muslims because they don’t believe Jesus was the Son of God. Jesus specifically said that if we hold to His teachings, we are His disciples. And it is by being His disciples that we can know truth, and the truth will set us free from the bondage of sin.

But what if we do not hold to Jesus’ teachings?

What if we enjoy our country and our traditions so much that all that stuff Jesus said about loving our neighbor, not judging one another, settling disagreements, selflessness and sacrifice for one another is set aside and replaced with patriotism, pride and “God Bless USA”?

What if we exalt ourselves over others (America is the greatest nation on earth) and trust that our leaders are looking out for our best interests while simultaneously treating others according to the teachings of Jesus Christ? Can we be held accountable for believing our leaders are doing the right thing on our behalf?

What if we stopped holding men accountable to truth and we stopped telling our children the truth … and we even stopped asking FOR truth?

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”

John 4:23

We can see lies all around us. We can see the lack of accountability of our leaders in war, in financial dealings and in leadership. And these lies ought to be quite evident to us, especially since the moral foundations upon which the leadership powers of America stand resolute are in direct opposition to the moral foundation and truth espoused by Jesus Christ. Should we hold our leaders accountable to such truth or should we continue to support our leaders regardless of the paths they choose?

Somewhere along the line, many within the body of believers in America decided that exposing truth and adhering to truth creates carnage, unravels institutions and disrupts the organized direction and power that has been established. Thus truth has been abandoned and compromise combined with complacency has co-opted many Christians. This is the methodology quite evident when many Christians (not all) are faced with choosing Christ or Christmas.

Christmas Claus

We can quickly see the fallacy in Christmas. We see the continuing degradation of the presumed celebration of the birth of Christ. We see the distortions and even carefully orchestrated lies surrounding Satan Claus and all of the so-called “magic of the season.” It’s all beautiful. It’s all wonderful. It makes us feel good.

A jolly guy from the North Pole brings presents to all good boys and girls, setting them carefully under a decorated tree. Children write letters to this phantom creation. Commercial marketers advance the lie while most everyone, from educators and media to political and religious leaders, prop up the propaganda.

And so goes the traditional influence of sin. It looks good, feels good and often tastes good … for a while. But if we look carefully, we can see it requires that we look away from the teachings of Jesus. Sin requires that we set aside our questioning, probing, determined investigative gaze that constantly seeks truth … and instead focus on self gratification.

Spiritual warfare

Sin requires that we forget we are children of a King who is at war with Satan.

If we truly believed that we are in the midst of a terrible war, why would we not protect our children from the enemy that seeks to destroy them?

If we lived in a war-torn country, wouldn’t we be wary of signs of trouble? Wouldn’t we teach our children to recognize such signs? Wouldn’t we be careful to shield our children from the dead bodies and teach them who they could and could not trust? If we believed there is a very real spiritual war, why would we not feel the fear, recognize the carnage around us and teach our children explicitly how to do the same?

Instead, many of us act as though we cannot see how our children are being influenced by the evil that surrounds us. And so many of us act as foot-soldiers for the enemy in the spiritual war, inviting the demons of evil influences into our homes and empowering them to devour our innocent children.

Sin requires that we open and accept, for it cannot force its way into our hearts. But once inside, it closes the door slowly to Jesus, as we are so busy having a good time we can’t even hear the gentle knocking anymore.

Sin diverts us from the things that truly matter. And those things aren’t in this world. Even our own family can sometimes become impediments to serving Jesus. That fact is one of many that Christ addressed directly.

We often hear of the soft, tender and compassionate Jesus. And certainly those qualities are part and parcel of a King who would leave heaven and subject Himself to an undeserved death penalty on our behalf. But Jesus also said he came to bring truth into the world. That truth is a sword that divides families. Jesus said:

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn
‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law -
a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’”

Matthew 10:34-36

Just in case someone should try to soften the words of Jesus to more politically correct terms that are acceptable for today’s society, which is unaccustomed to the realities of the decisions we must make daily, consider Jesus’ followup statement:

“Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;”

Matthew 10:37-38

The truth is that Jesus Christ was born as a sacrifice by the Father to atone for our sins — sins that sentenced us to death. The truth is that Satan is on Death Row with us but has no repentance in his heart. Satan would like nothing more than to drag us all to the same punishment he will receive from God.

Gift of life

Jesus sacrificed His life so that our penalty would be upon Him. He paid the price for our sins so that we may live. His innocent blood shed for our guilty blood has opened a portal through which we all could be saved from a fate worse than death.

The life Jesus gave to us as a gift is one beyond the grave. It is a gift that we cannot earn and did not earn. The alternative to that gift is to accept the penalty reserved for Satan and his demons. That penalty is also reserved for us beyond the grave.

What lies beyond the grave is a world that Hollywood cannot envision. The consequences of defying God are so severe that God Himself has given us a way out of it … if only we believe in what Jesus did on our behalf and the magnitude of that act.

Magic of Christmas

The frivolity of Christmas is a distraction from the war and the carnage that is taking place in the spiritual realm.

Christmas fails to educate our children about the evil of this world and the ugliness of our sinful nature. Instead, Christmas nurtures our sinful nature and intoxicates us with an elixir so powerful that it influences us to lie to our own children.

Imagine the futility of a society filled with lies and built upon lies that then asks God to bless it!

In return for such requested blessings, we dress up each year in red and white suits, create fantasies about magical seasons and the spirit of giving and urge one another to get “just the right gift” for our loved ones. We congratulate each other on having a “Merry Christmas.”

We ask with curious minds and hearts, “What did you get for Christmas?”

We also seek to “make Christmas” this thing or that thing. Next year we want to “make Christmas” more meaningful, we say. And we feel sorry for those who “didn’t get to have Christmas” … whatever that means.

Casting Christmas aside

I am asking followers of Christ to jettison Christmas and all of its trappings. I am asking the Christian church to trash the tradition or defend its reasons for maintaining the facade and distortions of truth.

I’d like to hear the rationale. But I’m not interested in hearing church leaders report from the safety of a vacuum. I’d like to be able to hear strong defenses against the legitimate charges that question the wisdom of Christian churches engaging in pagan traditions and planting seeds from the enemy within the mission fields of the Christian church.

And I ask these things based upon the urgings that emanate deep within my heart … brought on by the Holy Spirit.

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

John 14:26

Posted on December 26th, 2008 by MikeGreen
Filed under: Truth & Christians, thebook

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