Omega Message – October 1981
Cecil J. duCille
Christmas: Of God or of Men?
It is the perfect will of God that his children grow up in Grace and in the nature and knowledge of the Son of God into His perfect image
Everything therefore, which is of the world and of man’s imagination serves to detract from that growth. The modern Christian is crowded with all manner of Satanic and man made hindrances, which like “little foxes they destroy the vine” (Song of Sol 2:15;) and make his life unfruitful to God, though fruitful in thrills and fun and carnality.
One of these distractions is christmas. I sometimes wonder if Jesus Christ should return on Christmas Eve night or Christmas day, how many Christians would be caught off guard.
The Origin of Christmas:
The word Christmas comes from two Latin words “Christe Masse” – (Feast day of the Christ) or Sacrament of Christ. The word “Mass” is a Roman Catholic celebration of the Eucharist or the Communion ordinance.
It was originally instituted by Pope Liberius of Rome in the year 354 A.D. and gradually gained popularity among the churches and the heathen. The reason for the latter is as obvious as the former was ridiculous.
The celebration which was named the mass of Christ was not a mass at all in the true Roman Catholic sense. By order of the Pope himself it took the form of the heathen age old celebrations which can be traced back to Babylon. The Winter Solstice occurs around December 22, at which time all the Pagan societies paid particular homage to their god Saturn. This time of worship was called the Saturnalia. The God Saturn was also called Bacchus, the god of wine, therefore it was a time of much drinking and merrymaking. In our modern society it is still a custom to say “Merry Christmas” to each other.
By this time in history A.D. 354 the church had already put aside the personal conversion by faith in Jesus Christ and in its place was instituted the joining of the church thus accepting the Pope as the head, not Jesus Christ. In return the church instituted all the feast days of the heathen and consecrated the Pagan rites into a Mass.
One of the chief facts about the observance of Christmas is that since it was designated in the year 354 by Rome that the Apostles and the early church did not observe any such day and that there is no reference in the Bible concerning Christmas.
Contrary to Christian Teaching:
We agree that there is nothing for Christmas in the Bible, but the question is often asked, “Is there anything against it?”
Galatians 4:9-11:
Gal 4:9 “But now, after ye have know God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
4:10 “YE OBSERVE DAYS AND MONTHS, and times, and years.
4:11 “I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.”
This scripture speaks for itself, to be in bondage to Christmas or to be keeping any day would be to “turn back to the beggarly elements.”
Is It Wrong for a Born Again Christian?
The question arises in the Christian mind, “Do I displease the Lord if I keep Christmas as the tradition of my family has handed down to me over the years?
To adequately and sincerely answer this question, one must look deeply into the subject, and understand the meaning of the Pagan rites which we have inherited as tradition.
Let us first take the Christmas tree which is by far the most popular tradition which we keep. This was so much a part of the heathen worship that the prophet Jeremiah brought a word of the Lord against it.
Jeremiah 10:
10:2 “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.
10:3 “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.
10:4 “They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.”
One of the chief points brought out by this scripture is that the heathen had this practice long before Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea and that God warned us against learning the ways of the heathen.
Let us therefore look into what these practices of the heathen were pertaining to in our present day observation of Christmas.
The 25th day of December has been long celebrated in Babylon as the birthday of the son of the Queen of Heaven or the Madonna. In order therefore to attract the heathen to Christianity the church used this date for the birth of Jesus Christ. Many things therefore, had to be changed to accommodate this idea, and the church proceeded to institute these changes, with the exception of the scripture. To complete this cover-up the Bible had to be hidden from popular reading, and in fact not many persons could read in those days.
Let us examine what the Bible has to say about the birth of Jesus.
In Matthew chapter 2 we read of three wise men from the east following a star which seemed to be guiding them to the birthplace of Jesus by a mysterious ray of light which was shining directly down upon the manger where Jesus was born.
Matthew 2:11 “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”
The rest of the story is recorded in Luke. How did Mary get to Bethlehem of Judea and in a manger. God uses the natural man and his ways to bring to pass his purposes.
Luke 2:
2:1 “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2:2 “(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
2:3 “And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
2:4 “And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
2:5 “To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
2:6 “And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
2:7 “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
2:8 “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
2:9 “And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
2:10 “And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
2:11 “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
2:12 “And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
2:13 “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
2:14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
2:15 “And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
2:16 “And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.”
In this scripture we find some keys pertaining to the time of the birth of Jesus. First, wise men were traveling from the east; then Mary and Joseph were traveling to pay their taxes, and of course, taxation was normally done in the summer or spring, but never in winter; then there was the empty manger where Mary had her baby – again if it were Winter the manger would not be empty since the rainy season begins in October and it would be the custom of the shepherds to bring their flocks in before then. The next point concerns the shepherds, they could not be in the field in the Winter as I understand it is pretty cold in the hills of Bethlehem.
From these and other keys in scripture it is apparent that Jesus was not born on the 25th of December and that it is not the will of God that his people should celebrate the birthday of his Son with the recreation of scenes of the manger and singing of carols. The Birth of Jesus Christ in the heart and life of the believer is the total fulfillment of the birth in the manger and when he comes into ones heart, the celebration begins and never ends. To the believer therefore, Christmas is a farce.
The Saturnalia is the ancient feast of Baal who was Nimrod who was the first antichrist. This antichrist was known under several names: The name Baal is Chaldic which means Lord. He built the tower of Babel, created the first army, built the first walled city, and contrary to the will of God built five cities, the foremost of which were Babylon and Nineveh. Let us not be confused by the dozens of names by which he was called in Egypt, Babylon, Greece and Rome and even in Syria and Israel. In the ‘Hebrew’ language the name Bel means Lord so in our Bible we find him sometimes as Baal and Bel. In Latin the word Bellum means War, and in English bellicouse means warlike, rebellion, rebel etc. all have something to do with war.
The proof that the thing we call Christmas is not a feast unto Christ but one to the antichrist, is in the fact that in its celebration it is an exact copy of the Saturnalia. Let us therefore compare them.
- The time of the celebration of Christmas is the same time the heathen celebrated Saturnalia for a thousand years.
- The green tree is cut and carried into the house and decorated just as it was done depicting the cutting down of their god Nimrod in his youth. (Contrary to Jeremiah 10:1)
- Liquor is an important part of Christmas even as it was in the mass of Bacchus which is just another name for Nimrod. (We cannot honor Christ with liquor)
- Feasting not fasting, revelry and not prayer is the order of the day.
- Gifts being exchanged among friends and acquaintances is an ancient practice not in keeping with Christian giving. Rev. 11:10 is proof that the practice of SENDING GIFTS ONE TO ANOTHER during time of merriment is of the world.
It would be a waste of time and space to devote more time to listing all the acts of Christmas when we all know too well, but let me quote a scripture here which refers to Christ and the disrespect he gets at times like Christmas when people sing carols and put him in a manger without recognizing him as Lord and Saviour:
Psalms 69:12 “They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards.”
Amos 5:21 “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.”
Amos 5:23 “Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.”
The Apostle Paul wrote of the great apostasy which would come upon the church in our time:
2 Thessalonians 2:7 “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work.…”
The iniquity which was coming forth in the church already in Paul’s time was evident from scripture. Hymenius and Filetus had begun to preach that the resurrection was already past and cases of incest were in the church just sixty years after Christ.
Two hundred and twenty years after Christ another voice cried out because of churches desire to conciliate the heathen and to win them over to nominal Christianity, by taking in all the practices of idolatry and even the heathen Madonna was installed as the mother of Jesus complete with the halo worn by the gods of Babylon, Egypt, and Rome.
Tertullian who said these words was one of the early Theologians of the church about the year 220:
Tertullian – “By us, who are strangers to Sabbaths and New Moons, and festivals, once acceptable to God, the Saturnalia, the feasts of January, the Brumalia, the Matronalia are now frequented; gifts are carried to and fro, new year’s day presents are made with din, and sports and banquets are celebrated with uproar; Oh how much more faithful are the heather to their religion, who take special care to adopt no solemnity from the Christians”.
We are in the time of the apostasy spoken of by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2 and the eyes of the people are blinded, therefore it is easy to see Santa Claus as a saint and not as a humanistic – satanic invention.
In conclusion let me say that holiness is the aim of the diligent believer, therefore anything which we do that detracts from that upward drive towards God’s holiness, to us it is sin. For ages devils have been receiving worship from the heathen at a certain time of the year to commemorate the rebirth of the sun, but here comes the church who continues the worship under a different name. Do you think that the name would make the difference to the evil spirits?
“A rose by any other name would be just as sweet”
Shakespeare
Sonlight Devotional 