As we live through the chaos of the last month of the year with most everyone preparing for the celebration of Christmas, it seems like a good time to review a Brief History of Christmas. You may be thinking that Christmas is a fundamental part of Christianity and you do this to praise God and his Son. It is, after all, one of the two most important holidays of the “Christian” calendar. There are, however, many facets of Christmas which are not part of mainstream Christian understanding. What we are about to cover may be something you have never considered, it may even seem offensive to some. But, before you turn the page, consider that Solomon in Proverbs said:
Proverbs 18:13 “He that answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame unto him.”
Solomon is simply pointing out what we all know is true. If you haven’t heard and considered both sides of the story you cannot make an informed decision. In fact, quite often, the harder an opposing opinion is to hear, the more important it is to hear it. Along with that, the Book of Deuteronomy, points out that it takes two or three witnesses to establish a matter.
Deuteronomy 19:15 “One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sins: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.”
So, to complete the Christmas story we are going to look at several examples from both Scripture and History that will allow you to decide what is the truth and what is the lie.
“And now, for the rest of the story”
Lets start with three of the prophets to give you an idea of what God thinks of feast days.
Isaiah 1:14 “Your new moons and your appointed feasts (festivals) My soul hates: they are a trouble unto Me; I am weary to bear them.”
Amos 5:21 “I hate, I despise your feast days (festivals); I cannot bear the smell of your solemn assemblies (festival or holiday).”
Malachi 2:3 “Behold, I will rebuke your children, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts (festivals); and one shall take you away with it.”
Now those are some strong words, clearly God is not a fan of feast days. Note the use of the word “your” in the three verses above. This means that the feast days that God hates are the feast days of men. So, the question becomes, “Is Christmas a feast day from God or from men?”
First Witness…
Microsoft Encarta 2007 – Christmas
Although the Gospels describe Jesus’ birth in detail, they never mention the date, so historians do not know on what date he was born. The Roman Catholic Church chose December 25 as the day for the Feast of the Nativity in order to give Christian meaning to existing pagan rituals. For example, the Church replaced festivities honoring the birth of Mithra, the god of light, with festivities to commemorate the birth of Jesus, whom the Bible calls the light of the world. The Catholic Church hoped to draw pagans into its religion by allowing them to continue their revelry while simultaneously honoring the birthday of Jesus.
The Eastern Orthodox Church took a slightly different course. But by the end of the 4th century the Eastern Church in Constantinople had also begun to acknowledge December 25 as Jesus’ birthday, …
Do you think that the God who despises the feast days of men would approve giving “Christian meaning” to “Pagan Rituals” in order to continue celebrating them?
As we go through these references pay particular attention to the timing of this introduction of pagan rituals into Christianity, being in and around the fourth century (300AD-400AD). This is a major pivot point in the history of Christianity which we will come back to later.
Second Witness
The Two Babylons by Rev. Alexander Hislop, 1916 pp. 93-95
… as to the festival in honor of the birth of Christ, or Christmas.
Indeed, it is admitted by the most learned and candid writers of all parties that the day of our Lord’s birth cannot be determined, and that within the Christian Church no such festival as Christmas was ever heard of till the third century, and that not till the fourth century was far advanced did it gain much observance.
How, then, did the Roman Church fix on December the 25th as Christmas-day? … Long before the fourth century, and long before the Christian era itself, a festival was celebrated among the heathen, at that precise time of the year, in honor of the birth of the son of the Babylonian queen of heaven; …
In Egypt, the son of Isis, the Egyptian title for the queen of heaven, was born at this very time, “about the time of the winter solstice.”
These two stories both predate the Christmas story by thousands of years and would have been active during the times of the prophets mentioned above. Could this be one of the feast days that God hates?
The Two Babylons by Rev. Alexander Hislop, 1916 – continued… pp. 97-99
… in order to conciliate the heathen, and to swell the number of the nominal adherents of Christianity, the same festival was adopted by the Roman Church… This tendency on the part of Christians to meet Paganism half-way was very early developed; …
… where the sun was the favorite object of worship, as in Babylon itself and elsewhere, at this festival he (the sun) was worshiped not merely as the orb of day, but as God incarnate. It was an essential principle of the Babylonian system, that the Sun or Baal was the one and only God. When, therefore, Tammuz was worshiped as God incarnate (in the flesh), that implied also that he was an incarnation of the Sun.
Therefore, the 25th of December, the day that was observed at Rome as the day when the victorious god reappeared on earth, was held at the Natalis Invicti Solis, “The birthday of the unconquered Sun.” (aka. Sol Invictus)
Some commenters say that Christianity stole its symbology from the Babylonians. A more accurate statement would be that the Babylonian symbology in Christianity is not Christian and should never have been added in the first place.
Deuteronomy 12:30-32 “Take heed to yourself that you are not snared by following them, …and that you inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. … Whatsoever I command you, observe to do it: you shall not add to it, nor diminish from it.” (cf. Rev 22:18-19)
Third Witness…
‘The Plain Truth About Christmas’ by Herbert W. Armstrong, 1952
…with the advent of Constantine, in the fourth century, placing Christianity on an equal footing with paganism, people of the Roman world began to accept this now-popular Christianity by the hundreds of thousands. … these people had grown up in pagan customs, chief of which was the idolatrous festival of December 25th. It Originated in Egypt in the days of King Osiris and Queen Isis and their son Horus, about 3,000 B.C.
Through her scheming and designing, Isis became the “Queen of Heaven,” and Osiris, under various names, became the reborn “divine son of heaven.” Through the generations, in this idolatrous worship, Osiris also became, … Baal the Sun-god. In this false system, reintroduced at Babylon, after the flood, by Nimrod, (and Semiramis) the “Mother and child” (Isis and Osiris/Horus) became chief objects of worship.
How about that, three witnesses that confirm Christmas to be a feast day of men and therefore despised by the very God whom they seek to praise in doing it. This story, to varying degrees, is in most encyclopedias, but just to be certain, our next witness is going to be straight from one of the most popular sites on the internet… Wikipedia.
Before we jump into the Wikipedia article, lets look briefly at the pivot point in the fourth century that ties all of these witnesses together.
In 325 AD Constantine the Great, in his role as Pontifex Maximus (a title now used by the Pope) called the first ecumenical council at Nicaea and established the universal church, otherwise known as Roman Catholicism. This council established the framework (Nicene Creed aka Apostles Creed) upon which “Christianity” would stand for the next 1700 years. It didn’t place Christianity “on an equal footing with paganism,” as the article above states, it turned Christianity into paganism. For more on this read: “A 1700 Year Old Lie“
Fourth Witness
Wikipedia – Christmas
There are different hypotheses regarding the date of Jesus’ birth and in the early fourth century, the church fixed the date as December 25. This corresponds to the traditional date of the winter solstice on the Roman calendar. …
Since 274 AD, the Roman festival Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (birthday of Sol Invictus, the ‘Invincible Sun’) had been held on December 25. …
December 25 was also nine months after March 25, a date chosen as Jesus’s conception (the Annunciation) and the date of the spring equinox on the Roman calendar.
Let’s not forget that March 25, the spring equinox, ties directly to fertility worship and the queen of heaven. Semiramis in Babylon and Isis in Egypt, which we saw earlier as the mothers of the incarnate Sun. For more on this read: “Who is the “queen of heaven” referred to in Jeremiah?“
Wikipedia – Christmas – continued…
Historically, it was prohibited by Puritans during their ascendancy in the Commonwealth of England (1647–1660), and in Colonial New England …
… the Puritans strongly condemned the celebration of Christmas, considering it a Catholic invention and the “trappings of popery” or the “rags of the Beast”.
In contrast (to the Puritans), the established Anglican Church “pressed for a more elaborate observance of feasts, penitential seasons, and saints’ days. … The Catholic Church also responded, promoting the festival in a more religiously oriented form.
So, when the Puritans attempted to get people to stop doing the things God hates, these Churches, representing the bulk of Christianity on Earth, both Protestant and Catholic, doubled down on their paganism. Which is why Jesus said:
Matt 7:14 “…strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it.”
Wikipedia – Christmas – continued…
Because gift-giving and many other aspects of the Christmas festival involve heightened economic activity, the holiday has become a significant event and a key sales period for retailers and businesses. Over the past few centuries, Christmas has had a steadily growing economic effect in many regions of the world.
Not only does God hate these feast days of men, they are crafted by men to generate a massive flow of cash to the merchants of the earth.
Rev 18:3 “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her (Whore of Babylon) fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.”
Statista.com
In 2023, holiday retail sales in the United States were forecast to reach about 957.3 billion U.S. dollars. This figure was given as a conservative value; retail sales over the holiday season was projected to be between 957.3 billion U.S. dollars to 966.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. Holiday retail sales have risen substantially since the turn of the century, with holiday retail sales amounting to approximately 416 billion U.S. dollars back in 2002.
Matt 21:12-13 “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves.”
John 2:16 “And (Jesus) said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.”
In the light of God’s Word, it’s hard to imagine why anyone would attempt to justify this, let alone teach others to participate in these “Christianized” pagan festivals, feasts and truly un-Holy Days. The history is clear, the scripture is clear, all that is left is to let the truth set you free.
Josh 24:14-15 “Now therefore reverence the LORD, and serve Him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve the LORD. …choose you this day whom you will serve; … but as for me and my house, (and all of us here in the Firmament), we will serve the LORD.”