Christmas
This is a study on Christmas, I am
hoping after our study tonight you will have a better understanding of the
subject.
Before I begin, it is necessary
that I state this one disclaimer…
If the bible says it, I believe it
and that settles it for me…I hope that this is the position of every person here
on this line this evening
In the interest of time I will take
questions at the end of the study, so I ask that as much as possible you write
your questions down, so we can discuss them later.
I will now pause a moment so that those who do not have
paper and pen can obtain them now.
Now that we are all ready, I
intend to address the following questions in our study tonight. These questions
are:-
1. What
is Christmas
2. What
does it mean to celebrate Christmas/ Christmas tradition – giving of gift etc.
3. Does
the bible have anything to say about the Christmas tradition
4. Who
was Tammuz?
5. Does
Roman Paganism have anything to do with Christmas
6. If
Christ was not born on December 25, then what is the real date of Jesus’ birth
Let us pray!
What is Christmas- etymology
First off, know and understand
that the Roman Catholic church has been very instrumental in shaping the dogmas
for the worldwide Christian church. Any history student can confirm that there
was a time when the predominant church in all the civilized world was the Roman
Catholic Church. As a matter of fact the clergy of the this church will tell
you that the Catholic church is the mother church, and that those other
churches that call themselves “Protestant” broke away from the Roman Catholic
church in order to receive the title “Protestant”.
While some of the traditions and
practices of the Roman Catholic Church have been abandoned by protestant churches,
the use of some of their terminology have transitioned into present day
protestant denominations. One such term is Christmas
The term Christmas has its route
deep in the Roman Catholic Church. As a matter of fact the first Christmas was not celebrated until the year 350 AD,
i.e. after Pope Julius I officially designated December 25 as the day to celebrate Christ's birth.
However there is more evidence
that the term Christmas has catholic origin. Just by a closer examination of
the word itself, we can determine that it is actually the fusion of two words;
the two words being Christ and Mas.
I know I don’t need to clarify who
Christ is, but not all on the line tonight might be familiar with what a mas
is. So let me try to clear this up.
Notice first of all that this is not spelled mass.
"Mass" is one of the
names by which the sacrament of theEucharist/"Lord's
Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", is commonly called in
the Roman Catholic Church. Usually celebrated on Sunday.
******A sacrament is
a sacred Christian rite recognized
as of particular importance and significance. There are various views on the
existence and meaning of such rites.*****
Although “Mass” is also a catholic
word, it is not to be confused with the “Mas” that is associated with
Christmas.
According to the online dictionary
a “mas” is…..
Online dictionary:
1. Carnival
2. (Music, other) music played for a carnival,
or a band playing this
It is therefore safe to conclude that
a “Mas” is a feast, or a celebration. It seems therefore that the idea that is
to be associated with Christmas, is a celebration/feast/carnival in Christ’s
honor.
On the surface having a
celebration in Christ’s honor looks harmless and the creators seem to have been
well intentioned, but a closer look at the service, will reveal the principle that
it is being violated.
In order to make this point more
clearly, let’s look Rev 13:3 and Rev17:8.
Rev
13:3
And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly
wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not;
and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they
that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book
of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was,
and is not, and yet is.
How it was done is not clear,
however the Christmas celebration of December 25th has penetrated
every precinct/sovereign country in the world. Some may say that it is as a
result of the prior dominance of the Roman Catholic church, but I think there
is more here that what first meets the eye.
Going back to our texts in
Revelation,
Q. Who is described as
wondering after the bears?
A. Rev 13:3 says all the
world, 17:8 says all whose names are not written in the book of life.
The fact that Christmas, a holiday
implemented by the Roman Catholic Church, is observed by the entire world,
seems to be a fulfilment of this scripture. Understand the bible is written for
Christians, so we need not make mention of the other religions that do not hold
to Christ.
Because we know that there is no
other name given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts4:12)
It seems then that the texts in
Revelation are speaking to a great deception. Context clue tells us that all
who wonder after the beast their names are NOT written in the book of
life.
What is a deception?
The Plot of the devil is to
deceive the whole world into serving him, by whatever means necessary; even if
it means using the name of Christ as noted by Christ himself in
Matt 24:5 For
many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
A deception is to believe
something true which is false; in other words holding to a lie. It seems to me
that God’s people have been tricked into holding something true about the birth
of Christ, when it unequivocally false.
I consider the texts in Revelation
a warning, so it is my intent not to be associated with wondering/following
after the beast.
It is hoped that everyone on the
line understands who the beast of Revelation 13:3 and 17:8 is. If it is
unclear, we will have to look at that in a different study.
Sun worship
We know from scripture that sun
worship is idolatry, and it is a sin to worship idols. However is sun worship
still present today?
Believe it or not Sun worship is
still a part of the modern day world. A lot of effort has been made to cloaked sun
worship.
Let me explain this further. You
will notice that apart from the mention of the name of Christ in Christmas, the
symbols that are associated with the holiday do not point to Christ.
This begs the question, then how
did Christ get involved with the holiday in the first place?
History-
Cutting down trees and decorating
them is an age old tradition, which does not have its roots in Christianity.
Jeremiah 10:1-4
10:1 Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh
unto you, O house of Israel:
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 ax.
10:4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they
fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
Notice that God advises us not to
do it, or to learn the way of the heathen.
What was the heathen way
Now understand that the heathen
usually had a yearly service where they would acknowledge their god for the
blessings received throughout the year. It was customary that they would deck
their idol with gold and silver and pretty cloths, whatever it was that they
received throughout the year.
As in the case of war, they would
hang whatever spoils they received from the battle field including the heads of
their victims. 1 sam 31:9
31:8 And it came to pass on the morrow, when the
Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons
fallen in mount Gilboa.
31:9
And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into
the land of the Philistines round about, to publish [it in] the house of their
idols, and among the people.
As you can imagine the heads of
the victims were also carried as proof of death of the person.
Where does the custom of the tree or
tree idol come from? The evergreen tree represents an ancient god called
Tammuz. Before I get into who Tammuz was, I want to turn your attention to the
fact that it was an abomination to celebrate him.
Ezekiel
8:13 He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again,
[and] thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.
8:14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate
of the LORD'S house which [was] toward the north; and, behold, there sat women
weeping for Tammuz.
Weeping for Tammuz was simply
mourning on the day of his death.
I’m going to highlight some
aspects of a story that can be found in the book the illuminati 666.
Who was Tammuz?
In ancient religion Nimrod a man,
a mighty hunter was worshipped as a God.
(Gen 10:8-9)
10:8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a
mighty one in the earth.
10:9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD:
wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
Nimrod accomplished many things
including establishing many cities, however he had no children with his wife
Semiramis. On his death, it was said that he transformed into the Sun, and as
such the sun was worshipped in the name of Nimrod. There were many temples dedicated to this
type of Nimrod/Sun worship.
As occasion would have it, Semiramis was said to be promiscuous and was
impregnated by a priest which officiated in one of Nimrod’s temple. Since she was to be named
the moon god, and since it was a crime punishable by death to be pregnant out
of marriage she said that she was impregnated by Nimrod. This gave rise to the
term “immaculate conception”.
So the woman being impregnated by a
god, would most naturally have a god child. The child (Tammuz) by name was born
25 December in the year 3005 BC.
If you take note most other
religions around the world have the mother and child image as part of the
religion. In some eastern religions this is represented as the sun, half-moon
and star. Sadly this pagan doctrine has transitioned into Christianity as Mary and
her god-child.
Nimrod is generally recognized as
the Sun. Semaramis as the moon, and Tammuz the star. However he is also
symbolized as the evergreen tree, usually associated with Christmas celebration.
After Nimrod's
death (c. 2167 BC), Semiramis promoted the belief that he was a god. She
claimed that she saw a full-grown evergreen tree spring out of the roots of a
dead tree stump, symbolizing the springing forth of new life for Nimrod. On the
anniversary of his birth, she said, Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and
leave gifts under it.
To further cloak the idolatrous
practices associated the December 25, it was merged with another noble day,
Saint Nicholas day December 6. Even though some countries may still celebrate
both, predominantly Saint Nicholas is associated with December 25.
We have many recorded events in
history that show the giving and receiving of gifts dates back at least to the
4th century. St. Nicholas, a Christian Bishop, was known for his generosity in
giving to those less fortunate than he, as well as giving to children of all
backgrounds simply because he felt they needed to savor their childhood, and
have joyous times to remember (contrary to the beliefs of that time, which
would suggest that boys even as young as 8 be sent to work to help earn income
for their families and girls as young as 5 to help their mothers with the
housework and meal preparation). The most common gift given were homemade foods
and sweets, oranges (this was a huge treat due to the fact they were very
rare), handcrafted gifts such as socks, sweaters, dresses, nightgowns,
blankets, tables, chairs, and other handmade useful items. This tradition began
with St. Nicholas in Turkey. It moved throughout the world very quickly, and
before the 10th century it is supposed that nearly every country was
participating in this exchange.
Originally Saint Nicholas gave the
toys/treats to the needy/children, and there is nothing wrong with giving
gifts. However seems only to be attempts at cloaking the true meaning behind
the activities and symbols associated with Christmas.
Rome’s Role?
By now you should notice that the
Christmas holiday has nothing to do with Christ, except in name.
Now the Hebrews had a prophecy of
the birth of a God-child. i.e. Jesus. It was decided that since the Hebrew prophecy
closely resembled the pagan doctrine surrounding Tammuz, they decided to merge
the two. It was thought by the merging of the two doctrines, the church would
greatly benefit by gaining members, since the teachings were so close.
As a result the doctrine was kept,
but the names of the players were changed so that it Christendom would not
object to the pagan practices.
·
Semiramis-Mary,
·
Nimrod=god
the father,
·
God-child Tammuz=Jesus/Christ.
Hence the birth day of the god-child
would be the birth day of Jesus. The world now accepts and understands December
25, to be the birthday of Jesus, and ignores all the other traditions that go
along with the celebration of Christmas, that is the tree and the other customs
that go along with it.
Date of Jesus birth
Some will argue that since it is
not known exactly when Jesus is born, what is wrong with this date?
However there is enough evidence
in scripture to have a ball park idea of when Jesus was born.
From scripture you’ll remember
that Caesar Augustus had declared a census or tax be
made of the empire. Each citizen had to report to his hometown to register in
order to be taxed. Luke 2:1-5.
Ordering
the people of the empire to travel great distances in the dead of winter would
have surely incited a revolt, at least among the Jews in the Holy Land. No
right-minded Roman emperor would have requested such a thing. He more likely
would have called a census in early fall after the crops were harvested and the
people had money and time to travel before bad winter weather set in.
Theologians have suggested that
Jesus was born in the spring, based on the biblical narrative that shepherds
were watching over their flocks in the fields on the night of Jesus' birth —
something they would have done in the spring, not the winter.
However the most convincing
evidence for the date of the birth of Christ may be what was recorded
approximately 15 months prior to Jesus’ conception, about the birth of his
cousin John the Baptist.
We know that Elizabeth was “in her
sixth month” of pregnancy when the angel Gabriel came to Mary. So presuming
that within a week or two of Zachariah’s
return from Jerusalem, John was conceived, we could find out the approximate
time of Jesus’ birth by counting 15 months forward. But how do we date the
birth of John the Baptist?
The Course of Abijah
Zachariah was serving in the temple after the course of Abijah, which is the 8th course.
Zachariah was serving in the temple after the course of Abijah, which is the 8th course.
The priesthood was divided into 24
courses or families, 16 were Zadokite and 8 were of Ithamar. Each group was
responsible for one week of service in the Temple at a time, so in a given year
they would serve a total of two weeks as well as the times of the festivals.
The rest of the year they ministered throughout the land in the areas in which
they lived.
We know from the historian Josephus
that the first division, the division of Jehoiarib, was on duty when Jerusalem
was besieged during the first week of April, AD 70 (Nisan 1-8, AM 3830). If April was the first course it would put the
8th course (Abijah) as the 5th month. Again presuming
that, John was conceived, (May-June) this would yield a date for the birth of
Jesus in the fall.
Assuming John was conceived around
July 1-7, within a week or two of Zachariah’s return from Jerusalem, this gives
a date of the birth of John around December - 4 BC to January-3 BC and a date
for the birth of Christ around September/October, 3 BC, during the feast of
Tabernacles.
Is it wrong to celebrate
Christmas?
Since this holiday bears so much
similarity the pagan festival celebrated so many years ago, I take the position
to not be affiliated with it, since I am Christian and not heathen.
Neither do I participate in the
gift giving at this time of year. However if I happen to have something to give
someone, and it happens to be this time of year, I will freely give it without
fear of being branded a participant in the Christmas celebration.
Again there is nothing wrong with
giving gifts to those who are less fortunate, no matter what time of year it
is.
