Historians will often say some group or other banished Christmas “because it’s not in the Bible.” While it’s true that the word Christmas is not in the Bible, the reason these groups banned Christmas is much deeper than a simple word search. In fact, that answer makes lite of those who have risked and even lost their lives standing up for their beliefs. What made these religious groups risk all to ban Christmas?
In this article, since we know the word Christmas is not in scripture, we are going to look at whether or not Christmas is mentioned in less obvious ways. What we are going to find, may surprise you.
The Law
Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.” (First Commandment)
Exodus 20:4-5 “You shall not make unto you any graven image, … You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me;” (Second Commandment)
In a nutshell, no other gods, no graven images, idols, or icons and those who do this “hate” God. So, who were these other gods?
Throughout the Old Testament when Israel turned away from God it was almost exclusively to two specific false gods and the worship practices around them. They were:
Baal and Ashtaroth
Judges 2:11-13 “And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim: And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger. And they forsook the LORD and served Baal and Ashtaroth.”
Judges 10:6 “And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served Him not.”
Now that seems like a lot of gods, but in reality, the gods and worship practices of all these nations can be boiled down to the worship of Baal and Ashtaroth.
Lady of the Beasts, B. Johnson, pp. 304-305;
Usually, the Bull God (Baal) is the consort of Ishtar’s double, Asherah, a goddess whose inscription is on the altars of Palestine. Asherah, “She of the Womb“, sometimes appears as Anath or Ashtoreth (Astarte), variants of the Hebrew Fertility Goddess of Love and War and identical with the Goddess of a Thousand Names of the ancient Near East. Anath was transformed into the lover and sister of the Bull God, Baal.
The Goddess with a thousand names ties her along with her consort Baal to all the nations listed in Judges 10:6 above. Incidentally, the name Baal is a title meaning Lord and not a proper name, so it becomes the title of a thousand gods.
The Sun god Baal
Jones’ Dictionary of Old Testament Proper names
BAAL, “Lord” i.e. possessor, master, king, to rule over, to have dominion over, to posses.
The Sun, worshiped under the form of an image. In all countries in ancient times, … They regarded the Sun or solar fire, as the great independent Baal, lord, or ruler of nature, hence they worshiped it. … the Phoenicians worshiped him as “the only Lord of Heaven,” calling him Baal Samen, which is no other than Baal Shamayim, Lord of the heavens, i.e. the sun. …
Eusebius tells us that the Syrians gave this name to the sun. It was the same as the Zeus of the Greeks; the Bel-on, “Lord of light,” of the Babylonians; …
The Two Babylons by Rev. Alexander Hislop, 1916 – pp. 96-98
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.”
Baal is the title of the Sun god, Lord or King of Heaven, whose birthday is December 25th.
The Fertility Goddess Ashtaroth
Lady of the Beasts, B. Johnson, pp. 304-305;
It is possible that the biblical story of Esther may have evolved from the Tammuz-Ishtar cult, the name Esther thus deriving from the deity’s name. Esther is also the Hebrew form of Oestre, the Celtic goddess of fertility, whose spring festivals were later adopted by Christians and named Easter, the day of resurrection.
Jones’ Dictionary of Old Testament Proper names
ASHTORETH, “Queen” of heaven. The derivation is very obscure, … but it is the same as Esther.
The goddess of the Zidonians, and of all the Phoenicians. She is generally found in connection with Baal, or the sun, who is called the lord or king, so Ashtoreth was called Baltis or baalta (feminine form of Baal), “queen of heaven,” and to her the Hebrews offered cakes, poured libations and burnt incense.
The Greeks and Romans were acquainted with this goddess, and they often made her the same with Juno, and sometimes the same with Diana and Venus. … This idol was represented as a woman with the head of an ox; hence some suppose she was the same with Isis of Egypt.
Ashtoreth is the Queen of Heaven, also known as Esther whose spring festival and feast day is today called Easter.
Gen 3:1 “Now the serpent was more subtle (crafty or cunning) than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. …”
So cunning, in fact, that he has convinced Christians to celebrate the very same false feast days that God has been condemning all along, simply by changing the names. This is the true mystery of Christmas and Easter. Now lets apply this information to scripture.
Christmas and Easter in the Bible
In the Bible there are several terms which refer to Baal and Ashtoreth which all together appear over 130 times. The variants are: Baalim which is the plural of Baal, Ashtaroth a variant spelling of Ashtoreth, and Ashera a variant of Astarte which is almost always translated as groves but refers to the images and worship practices of Ashtoreth.
Judges 3:7 “And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgot the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves (ashera).”
– Strong’s Concordance – Groves OT:842 Asherah (or Astarte) a Phoenician goddess; also an image of the same.
What caused them to forget the LORD their God? Serving Baalim (the lords) and their ashera (images). The image or worship practices of the Baalim are those practices that are today known as Christmas and Easter.
Judges 6:25 “And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him (Gideon), … throw down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the grove (ashera) that is by it:”
God is telling Gideon to throw down the sun God, Baal, whose feast day is December 25th, today called Christmas, and to cut down the worship places of the Queen of heaven, Ashtaroth, whose feast day is the spring festival, today known as Easter.
1 Samuel 7:4 “Then the children of Israel put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only.”
It seems logical that in order to put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, you must put away their feast days. This is exactly what the first and second commandments are referring to.
1 Samuel 12:10 “And they cried unto the LORD, and said, We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD, and have served Baalim and Ashtaroth: but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve You.”
In case you were still wondering, the above verse indicates that it is a sin and forsaking the LORD God to serve the lords (baalim) and the queen of heaven (Ashtaroth) whose feast days are today called Christmas and Easter.
Jeremiah 7:8-10 “Behold, you trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom you know not; And come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? Is this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, says the LORD.”
Who would purport they were delivered to do those abominations?
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1994, para. 512
“All that Jesus did and taught, from the beginning until the day that he was taken up to heaven,” is to be seen in the light of the mysteries of Christmas and Easter.
They call their house by the name of God? They teach that they represent God on earth. Do you think it’s possible that they don’t know the origins of Christmas and Easter?
Den of Thieves
In the book of Matthew, Jesus quotes Jeremiah as follows:
Matthew 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.”
Jesus was casting out the money changers, but it was the religious leaders (Pharisees, Sadducees, etc…) who he was condemning for allowing this. If you follow the context of Jeremiah then these religious leaders, who have made God’s House a den of thieves, also burn incense to Baal and walk after other gods. This would mean that Jesus condemned Christmas and Easter before they were ever known by those names. It also aligns the Roman Catholic Church with the Pharisees, the enemies and murderers of Jesus.
Jeremiah 7:17-18 “Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger.
This is what the Jones’ reference above was pointing to when it said “and to her (queen of heaven) the Hebrews offered cakes, poured libations and burnt incense.” Today this is known as a hot cross bun. This is a spiced bun usually made with fruit, marked with a cross on the top, which has been traditionally eaten on Good Friday. That day when Christians celebrate the murder of Jesus, at the spring equinox.
Jeremiah 7:19 “Do they provoke Me to anger? says the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?”
The worship practices of Baal, the sun god and Ashtoreth the queen of heaven, the original deities of what is today known as Christmas and Easter, provoke God to anger. They cause confusion by turning the people toward ritual and away from God.
The Revelation
Revelation 2:20 “Notwithstanding I have a few things against you, because you suffer that woman Jezebel, which calls herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.”
Who was Jezebel?
Jones’ Dictionary of Old Testament Proper names
JEZEBEL, A daughter of Ethbaal (man of Baal), king of the Zidonians, and wife of Ahab, king of Israel. She was a most zealous worshiper of Baal and incited her husband to build a house and altar for Baal in Samaria, … Not only did she promote idolatry throughout her husbands kingdom, … (she) slew nearly all the prophets of the LORD. She was a most impious woman and in scripture she is regarded as the symbol for fornication and wickedness. (cf. 1 Kings 16-21)
Remember, back in Judges 10:6, that Baal and Ashtaroth were the gods of Zidon, whose feast days are the same as Christmas and Easter today. Throughout the reign of Ahab, Jezebel was leading Israel into false worship practices, and murdering the prophets of the LORD which makes her a shadow of the Whore of Babylon.
Revelation 18:3-4 “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. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that you are not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues.”
Revelation 18:24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.
The kings (beasts) of the earth have been in bed with the religions (whores) of the earth since the days of Genesis. They have caused the people to turn away from God with their lies. The merchants of the earth have waxed rich from their false feast days, like Christmas and Easter. They have the blood of the prophets and the innocent on them and God hates them.
Matt 23:29-31 Jesus said, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore you are witnesses unto yourselves, that you are the children of them which killed the prophets.
Jesus is accusing the scribes and Pharisees of being the children of the priests of Jezebel who murdered the prophets of God. Here again as we saw in Matthew 21, Jesus is implying that they were worshiping the Sun god and the queen of heaven whose holidays today are called Christmas and Easter. If you can tell a tree by it’s fruit, then it is the children of the Pharisees who established the Roman Catholic Church and have continued these ways into the modern age.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1994, para. 512
“All that Jesus did and taught, from the beginning until the day that he was taken up to heaven,” is to be seen in the light of the mysteries of Christmas and Easter.
The mysteries of Christmas and Easter are the opposite of everything Jesus did and taught. He knew that the Pharisees were carrying on the worship practices of Jezebel. What Jesus did and taught revealed them as such, which is why they killed him. Imagine if Christians today knew that every time the scriptures refer to Baal and Ashtoreth, they were referring to the religious practices that are today known as Christmas and Easter. What would they do? What will you do with this information?