BIBLICAL SEPARATION
AND CHRISTMAS
Many of my friends, both Christian and non-Christian, have expressed a feeling of horror and disbelief upon learning that our family no longer participates in the traditional celebration of December 25th or “Christmas”. The thought of a family not having a “tree” seems almost too much to bear for those who cannot understand why a growing number of bible-believing Christians in our generation, are not taking part in celebrating what is thought to be the birthday of Christ.
For those who genuinely care to know the “why” of our decision, I have written these following thoughts along these lines. I realize that in doing so, I risk the unwanted ridicule of my friends. I will undoubtedly be branded as a “nut” or “fanatic”. I will be lumped into a class of religious zealots such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Herbert Armstrong’s World-wide Church of God, or Orthodox Jew, who also do not take part in this celebration.
Some will say that I am displaying false piety and shake their heads at what they believe to be our family’s “misguided ways”. However, after counting the cost, I have decided to obey my conscience based upon what I firmly and sincerely believe the Word of God teaches and not on what my parents have taught me, what the “church” has told me, or what society or commercial advertising tries to pressure me to do and to conform to.
My study of this subject has revealed that many of the saints before my generation held to these same beliefs. Our Pilgrim forefathers and their Puritan ancestors would not tolerate the celebration of Christmas. The Puritans are remembered for their strong stand in the area of ecclesiastical separation.
Both groups, however, agreed that Christmas was to be scorned as a human invention, a Roman corruption, and a survival from heathen days. Following the Puritans and Pilgrims, other groups such as the Baptists, Scotch Presbyterians, and the Calvinists, added themselves, during the next 250 years of American history, to the doctrine of separation from Roman Christmas.
Why then, do we not celebrate Christmas?
A ROMAN DOCTRINE
The chief reason we don’t celebrate Christmas is that it is not a commanded bible practice. It is, instead, a Roman Catholic doctrine. Pope Julius I (337-352 A.D.) picked December 25th as one of the five dates argued about at that time as his choice for “Christmas”. Pope Liberius, his successor in 354 A.D., officially decreed December as Christ’s birth date, in order to blend in previously practiced pagan celebrations with his papal decreed celebration. The Roman church, officially settled the date. The pagans were happy and so were the Catholics.
Even to this day, however, the date is still in dispute by the Eastern churches. Since Christmas’ origin is Roman Catholic – and I am not a Roman Catholic – I see no reason to celebrate it.
THE DATE
The argument has been put forth that although we are not sure that December 25th is the actual date of Christ’s birth, it is “as good a day as any” to celebrate His birth. To this argument, I submit the following information:
1. All historical evidence concludes that December 25th is NOT Christ’s birth date. It is not even near the date, and biblically, no date is recorded and no festival or season commanded.
2. However, December 25th is recognized throughout the world as an ancient pagan holiday which coincides with the “winter solstice”. It is in reality the celebration of the resurrection of the Sun god, which is known by many names in various parts of the world. The Bible refers to this pagan god of fertility as Tammuz or Baal. This information on pagan mythology is available in any public library or on the internet.
3. If we were to choose a day to celebrate the birth of Christ, there could hardly be a worse day of the calendar on which to do it. The winter solstice period (into which Christmas falls) is also celebrated by the American Council of Witches and the Church of Satan.
4. The Word of God has not told us to remember, celebrate, or memorialize the birth of Christ in any way. Granted, the doctrines of the Incarnation and the virgin birth are most wonderful doctrines. However, no bible or Apostolic church practice of setting up festivals exists in the New Testament. I conclude there must have been an important reason for its purposeful omission from Scripture by the Holy Spirit.
The only command in the bible to set up a memorial is to remember Christ’s DEATH on the cross by receiving the bread and cup at the Lord’s Table. Since the bible has commanded a memorial for Christ’s death ONLY, and has purposely excluded any kind of memorial command to celebrate His birth, we conclude the Lord’s Table is the only scriptural memorial command. That’s why we don’t celebrate Christmas; but we try to receive the bread and cup at the Lord’s Table service at every opportunity.
THE TREE
There are those who will continue to ask, “What is wrong with having a Christmas tree?” or “Didn’t Martin Luther decorate a Christmas tree?”
1. Trees and groves, particularly of the evergreen variety in the Scriptures were closely associated with pagan, phallic, and outdoor religious observances.
2. Martin Luther may have had a Christmas tree, but there is no historical evidence to support this. Martin Luther, even after leaving Catholicism, continued many of the practices of the Roman church and was unable to successfully carry out a TOTAL reform during the reformation.
3. The first decorating of an evergreen tree in ancient pagan religion was done in honor of the god, Adonis, who, after being slain, was brought back to life by the serpent, Aesculapius. The representation of this slain god was a dead stump of a tree – the evergreen tree growing forth from the dead stump. To pagans, this meant that the evergreen tree represented a god that would never die.
(The country in which the pagan worship took place determined the type of tree that was used. In Egypt, it was a palm tree and in Rome, a fir tree was worshiped.)
4. See Jeremiah 10:3-5 - “For the customs of the people are delusion; because it is wood cut from the forest, the work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.
They decorate it with silver and with gold; They fasten it with nails and with hammers so that it will not totter.
Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, and they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot walk!
Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, nor can they do any good.”
Because God Himself says decorated trees are a vain custom of the heathen Gentiles, I will not have a tree in my home.
5. Christ is not represented by a tree anywhere in Scripture. The bible never uses the evergreen as a symbol of “everlasting life”.
GIFTS
But you ask, “What is wrong with giving gifts at this time of the year?”
1. Gift giving is basically good. God gave us His Son and we are to share the gospel of eternal life with others – the greatest gift. We are to help our brothers in need.
2. Gift exchanging is wrong. If we give a gift just because we feel obligated to give, we have the wrong motive in giving, which makes it wrong in the eyes of God.
3. Going into debt for the purpose of meeting gift exchange obligations is certainly not Christ-honoring.
4. The wise men in Scripture gave their gifts to CHRIST, the King – not to each other. They recognized Him as a King and brought Him royal gifts, a customary Mid-East practice for royalty. They gave nothing to Mary or Joseph and they didn’t give the gifts at “Christmas”. Instead, they were given two years later, after Jesus had been moved to Nazareth.
Matthew 2:11 - “And they came into the HOUSE and saw the Child with Mary His mother;...”
5. The gift that Christ wants from us is to surrender our lives, souls, spirits, and all possessions to Him by claiming Him as our personal, individual Savior and become His “bondslaves”. Most of the people who celebrate Christmas have hearts far from the Savior and are more concerned with material covetousness than spiritual righteousness.
6. Matthew 15:8 - “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me.”
THE WORD: “CHRISTMAS”
Have you ever noticed the word “Xmas” used in place of “Christmas”? Have you ever wondered why? Some people think perhaps Atheists or Jews may have invented this term. While many non-religious people may use “Xmas”, many Christians have used it as well, but why would Christians use that term?
The reason goes back to the doctrine of Christmas as a Roman Catholic doctrine. The word “Christmas” was originally: Christ’s-Mass-Day, which was abbreviated to “Christmas Day”.
On Christmas Eve, Catholics celebrate a midnight Mass. A Mass is the official Catholic worship service, which started on a daily basis in 394 A.D. The purpose of a mass is to obtain forgiveness of sins or reconciliation through a bloodless sacrifice on an altar.
Christ, however, is a real Person, the Savior of the world. He died on the cross, paying the COMPLETE sin debt for all the sins of a lost mankind. “Forgiveness” and reconciliation to bible-believing, born-again Christians means that each person must personally claim by simple belief, that Christ HAS ALREADY PAID thier sin debt at the cross 2000 years ago, thus giving us complete and full remission of their sins forever with no additional sacrifices needed. The Roman church, however, denied this view at the Council of Trent in 1545-63 A.D. in Session VI, Canon 12, and they haven't revoked this Canon yet.
To a bible-believing Christian, “Christ” means a COMPLETE and ABSOLUTE pardon and forgiveness of sins, APART from any institutionalized church. Therefore, all born-again Christians KNOW they are going to heaven. Rome contends that it is not possible to know if one is going to heaven, and therefore, continues to use a sacrificial system in which there is no guarantee of salvation.
Yes, Jesus said on the cross: “..It is finished.” To a Catholic, the Mass means continuing daily sacrifices, “hoping” for forgiveness, striving for reconciliation and never being sure of what will happen at death. In other words, “It is NOT finished”. To a bible believer, who knows the difference, the word “Christmas” REALLY means: “It is finished (CHRIST), It is NOT finished”(MASS), a contradiction of terms and semantics.
Obviously, any denial of Christ’s finished work at Calvary, being blended with an unfinished, continuing, sacrificial system, is not Scriptural but, rather, a tradition of men.
To go farther, the word “Christmas” uses Christ’s name in vain in two senses. First, because His sacrifice at Calvary really IS finished; and secondly, because His name is used in combination with heathen customs (Jeremiah 10). To use Christ’s Name in context with an “incomplete”, sacrificial system and incomplete forgiveness system is therefore, classic blasphemy, according to the Bible.
To strict bible believers, this IS the case. That is why some Christians use Xmas to describe that particular observance.
THE PAGAN CUSTOMS
Much could be said about such things as the pagan uses of holly, mistletoe, caroling, wassailing, the Yule log, candles, Santa Claus, wreaths, poinsettias, and the like. Again, most libraries have details on their incorporations into pagan festivals. For me, as a Christian, devoted to the Bible, God’s Word, I can see no identification with these things and no point in trying to ascribe Christian meanings to these objects.
SUMMARY OF MY REASONS FOR
MY SEPARATION OF CHRISTMAS
1...a Catholic holy day of obligation. As a Protestant, evangelical, fundamentalist, I am under no compulsion to follow, imitate, or include Catholic doctrine into my belief system. Since Catholics are free to observe their holy days in this country, I am also free NOT to observe Catholic practices as a Protestant.
2...proscribed and decreed by the Popes. Since the Bible is the infallible guide of my faith, I am not obligated to follow any papal pronouncements. In fact, since the Bible IS my infallible guide, I don’t have to follow anybody’s pronouncements or practices that disagree with Holy Scripture.
3...an ecumenical doctrine, particularly in this century. Since I am not ecumenical, Christmas has no meaning to me.
4...not Biblical. By this, I mean that the total celebration and the festivities of Christmas is found no where in Scripture. It is a man-made tradition. Since it is so, I choose to leave it that way.
5...a hybrid blend of a few historical facts (the birth of Christ in Bethlehem, etc.) with preceding, cumulative and prevailing paganism which has been allowed to continually keep expanding in pagan accumulations. It is therefore an unclean, religious synchronisation that pollutes the Name of God: “...and My holy Name you will profane no longer with your gifts and with your idols.” (Ezekiel 20:39c)
6...using Christ’s Name in vain.
7...an adding to Scripture the traditions of men, and as such, it is under condemnation and cursed by the Bible. As a Bible believer, I want no part of the curse of adding to Scripture. The Bible has spelled out such traditions as Christmas very clearly, both as to the curse and command to refrain from such practices.
Revelation 22:18 & 19 -“I testify to everyone who hears the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the bok of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.”
Deuteronomy 4:2 - “You shall not add to the Word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.”
Deuteronomy 12:32 - “Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it.”
Proverbs 30:5 & 6 - “Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words lest He reprove you, and you be proved a liar.”
Joshua 1:7 - “Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you nay have success wherever you go.”
BUT DON’T PROTESTANT BELIEVERS CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS?
Sad to say, yes they do. In this century particularly, they have been departing from their original separation from Catholic doctrines and Christmas. Of course the Bible warned that this would happen in the last days.
“For the time will come where they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3 & 4)
Since many Protestants no longer read the Bible, they are not aware of what is taking place. Further more, and like the Roman church, the Protestant church is adding their own “traditions” to their rites, making the same mistake in departure from God’s Word, in favor of the precepts of men.
Charles Kuralt, on the CBS “Morning Show” of December 19, 1980, summarized the “history” of Christmas, and its effects on American Protestantism:
QUOTE:
“And Christmas Day itself? Nobody really thinks Jesus was born on the 25th of December. And most American Protestants, as recently as a 150 years ago, resolutely refused to celebrate what they considered to be...a pagan feast. The Calvinists, the Scotch Presbyterians, the Baptists, the Quakers, ALL rejected Christmas. You know what happened? The Lutherans and the Episcopalians enjoyed Christmas so much, and it looked like so much fun, that gradually...fairly recently, the rest of the churches ‘caved in’. And that’s where Christmas came from. Right into this century, many Christian clergymen resisted it...stiffly resisted it, but the people embraced it, and the people still do.”
END QUOTE
As you can see, majority Protestantism “caved in”, and those Protestants that DO celebrate Christmas have departed from their previous scriptural stand. Many new bible-believing, second and third generation Christians in this century today, are not even historically aware or concerned about what their pre-ecumenical Protestant, separatist stand of their forefathers ever was.
Now some people may call all this Protestant departure “progress”, or “religious evolution”, or even a growing “ecumenical awareness”. But from a Bible based position, I call it regression and “backsliding”. That’s why, although I could be classed as a “Protestant”, I do not celebrate Christmas, nor do I agree with current Protestant participation in “Christmas”.
To those who call themselves Christians, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11:3 & 4, “But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.”
Christmas perfectly fits Paul’s description: it IS a different ‘Jesus’, a different ‘spirit’ (the Christmas spirit), and a different ‘gospel’.
IN CONCLUSION
We realize that most professing Christians do not hold to these convictions. I could have written more, but as I have said, those who are genuinely interested in knowing more, can easily find the same information that I have found. Chester Tulga, a Christian writer, has said that the only reason that people today so not live holy lives is that they do not want to. This seems to be the case when the subject of Christmas is at hand. People simply do not want to know what is wrong with it because they have already decided that they will not give it up.
Luke 16:15 tells us. “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.”
Who can deny that Christmas is highly esteemed among men, the world over? Yet, as the Bible states, SEPARATION is the key to the blessing of God upon an individual or group.
2 Corinthians 6:16 & 17 - “Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘And do not touch what is unclean; and I will welcome you.’”
Since offending God is serious business to me, I choose to separate myself from “Christmas”. If, inadvertently, my stand offends man also, then my choice will have to be that which pleases God; for although, as a Christian, I love all mankind and desire the redemption of all people, my love for God, His Word, and the desire to please Him, is greater.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. “That Glorious Mishmash Called Christmas”; Milwaukee Journal, INSIGHT article by Nancy Mack, December 23, 1979
2. Christmas Radio Message; C. Donald Cole, Moody bible Institute, December, 1980.
3. Encyclopedia Americana and Britannica, under “Christianity”.
4. “Two Babylons”; Hislop, Loiseux Bros. Pub.
5. The Truth About Christmas; Charles Halff, CJF Foundation, San Antonio, TX.
6. The Truth About Christmas; R.F. Becker, Chapel Library, Venice, FL.
7. Dept. Army Chaplains Handbook #165-13.
8. Roman Catholicism, Loraine Boettcher, Presbyterian Pub. House.
9. Christmas; Charles Kuralt, CBS-TV Morning Show, December 19,1980
10. Holy Bible; New American Standard Version.
11. Biblical Separation and Christmas; Dave Johnson, Asst. Ed. Projector
THE “THOU SHALT NOTS” OF “CHRISTMAS”
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
“Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?
Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?
Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘And do not touch what is unclean; and I will welcome you.
‘And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me,’ says the Lord Almighty.”
Specific Sins: Uncleanness, disobedience, loss of fellowship
Christmas is a fabricated Catholic tradition. It is an ecumenical celebration, and therefore condemned also in the Book of Revelation, Chapter 18.
Colossians 3:9
“Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices.”
December 25th is a lie and not Christ’s birthday. Many other things associated with Christmas are also lies (Santa Claus, singing angels, three wise men at the manger, etc.).
Specific Sins: Lying to children, and believing a lie.
Galatians 4:10 & 11
“You observe days and months and seasons and years.
I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.”
We are not to observe HOLY DAYS, TIMES, religious “seasons”, months or years.
Specific Sins: Sin of legalism, disobedience, becoming yoked again under the Law.
Jeremiah 10:2 & 3
“Thus says the Lord, ‘Do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens although the nations are terrified by them;
For the customs of the peoples are delusion; because it is wood cut from the forest, the work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.
They decorate it with silver and with gold; They fasten it with nails and with hammers so that it will not totter.’”
The use of trees in religious connotation is a VAIN custom of the heathen, a practice forbidden by God’s own Word. While the practice could be a type of “idol” for a Christian, it is the PRACTICE of a vain custom that is referred to here.
Specific Sins: Disobedience to His command, vanity, wasting God’s money, prodigality, adding to scripture, temptation to idolatry, not abstaining from all appearance of evil.
Ezekiel 20:39d
“...and my holy Name you will profane no longer with your gifts and your idols.”
Polluting Christ’s Holy Name when used along with the word “mas” (mass).
Specific Sins: Blasphemy, insulting Christ’s FINISHED work.
Matthew 23:3 & 9
“Therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things, and do not do them.
“And do not call anyone on earth your father, for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.”
Christmas is an official Papal-decreed Holy Day by Pope Liberius in 354 A.D.; The date for Christmas was picked by Pope Julius (337-352 A.D.). Thus it is a tradition of men, a Catholic celebration and a papally-mandated season. The bible teaches that the Pope is NOT the “spiritual father” of any born-again Christian. The Papacy itself is a fraud.
Specific Sins: Sin of disobedience in observing traditions of men and submitting to “spiritual fathers” other than God the FATHER Himself.
Colossians 2:20, 22 & 23
“If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees...
...in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?
These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-made abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”
Protestants who observe Christmas “anyway”, engage in “will-worship”; willfully doing things that God has clearly NOT commanded; things that are clearly an invention of the natural man, natural religion, and not Spirit-led Christianity.
Specific Sins: Sin of “will-worship”, “the way of Cain”, carnal religion.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
(Shown previously under “THOU SHALT NOTS”...)
Since we know Christmas was invented by apostates, not Apostles, and it is celebrated by nearly all apostate Christendom, as well as ignorant 20th Century Christianity, we ought to know that joining the apostates in this ecumenical celebration violates SEPARATION.
Specific Sins: Disobedience by intentional and willful ecumenical yoking.
Proverbs 30: 5 & 6; Revelation 22:18 & 19
(Shown earlier under “Summary of reasons for my separation from Christmas”)
Christmas, we know, is “an adding to Scripture”, and therefore under God’s curse, judgment, and discipline for those who partake in it in spite of Scriptural warnings.
Specific Sins: Sin of beginning apostasy, departure, and adding to Scripture.
2 Corinthians 11:3 & 4
“But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your mind should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.”
After careful and exhaustive analysis by any obedient, bible-believing, born-again Christian, one will see that Christmas is:
a. “different gospel” (stressing Catholic good works)
b. “another Jesus” (The Catholic Jesus can’t save. That’s why they still have the continuing ‘sacrifice of the mass’. Ask any Catholic if Jesus “saves” anybody by His blood at Calvary,... ALONE.)
c. “different spirit” (the “spirit” of Christmas is a doctrine of demons, since it was invented by Popes who have departed from the faith and forbid marriage and the eating of meats.)
1 Timothy 4:1-3 - “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,
by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,
men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods, which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth.”
d. What if the Jehovah’s Witnesses had invented Christmas? Would you still celebrate it anyway? Or...what if the Mormons had invented Christmas? Would you celebrate it then?
Neither does the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Jesus save. In fact, every cult that uses Jesus’ Name has a Jesus that CAN’T save, and that includes the Moslem religion of Islam. Jesus can’t save anybody in their Koran either. Since all these cults have “false Christs” in their beliefs, for what reason should and true Christian accept the Catholic Jesus that CAN’T SAVE either. For what reason would and true Christian celebrate the Catholic Holy Day dedicated to a “false Christ” that CAN’T save???
Christmas is not what a born-again believer “decides to make it.” That is “will-worship”, a sin of disobedience. Christmas is the Holy Day celebration from false religions of a man called Jesus, who simply CAN’T save because he is not the same Jesus as that of a true Christian. Theirs is a “different” Jesus; “another” Jesus. Thus, celebrating Christmas is celebrating a religious holiday with apostates who worship a Christ that can’t save.
Galatians 1:9
“As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received let him be accursed.”
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