Creation/Lunar Sabbath Keepers

THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS PAGAN OR CHRISTIAN?

The day designated on our calendars, as the day of birth of Christ is December 25th.  Was this really the day on which He was born or was this a day adopted from some pagan festival long before Christ’s birth?  Are today’s customs at this season of Christian origin, or is Christmas another example of mixture of paganism and Christianity?  These are some of the questions that need to be answered in order to discover the truth about Christmas.

                                                  

What is so special about December 25th?  When was Yahshua born?  Neither the Bible nor any known writings claim to record His birthdate.  All available information supports an earlier time of the year for His birth.  Then why do we observe December 25th?

 

               

Among all peoples of the world, the most common times for celebration are the Winter Solstice and Vernal Equinox.  Considering that the austerity and bleakness of winter would have a great impact upon the lives of primitive peoples living in temperate climates, these festival, including even sun worship, should come as no surprise.  Stonehenge and hundreds of other megalithic structures throughout the world were constructed to receive a shaft of sunlight in their central chamber at solstice dawn.    In the Northern Hemisphere, the Winter Solstice occurs around December 21st, when the sun is at its greatest distance below the equator.  The Encyclopedia Britannica reports that “The traditional customs connected with Christmas have developed from several sources as a result of the coincidence of the celebration of the birth of Christ with the pagan agricultural and solar observations at midwinter.   In the Roman world the Saturnalia (December17) was a time of merry-making and exchange of gifts. December 25th was also regarded as the birth date of the Iranian mystery god Mithra, the sun of righteousness.”  Collier’s Encyclopedia agrees.   “The choice of December 25th was probably influenced by the fact that on this day the Romans celebrated the Mithraic feast of the Sun-god (natalis solis invicti), and that the Saturnalia also came at this time.”   Both encyclopedias plainly reveal that the source of the celebration of December 25th is the birthday of Mithra, the pagan sun god.

               

To show you how deceptive the devil can be, let us take a look at Mithraism.   Mithraism, one of the major religions of the Roman Empire, the cult of Mithras (also called Mithra) was the ancient god of light and wisdom.  In the Avesta, the sacred Zoroastrian writings of the ancient Persians, Mithra appears as the chief yazata, or good spirit, and ruler of the world.   After the conquest of Assyria in the 7th century BC and of Babylonia in the 6th century BC, Mithra became the god of the sun, which was worshiped in his name.  The Greeks of Asia Minor, by Identifying Mithra with Helios, the Greek god of the sun, helped to spread the cult.  It was brought to Rome about 68 BC by Sicilian pirates whom the Roman general Pompey the Great had captured, and during the early empire it spread rapidly throughout Italy and the Roman provinces.  It became a rival to Christianity in the Roman world.  This religion was partly responsible for blending paganism with Christianity.  Mithraism brought into the “Christian” Church the use of holy water, the adoption of Sunday and of December 25th (Mithra’s birthday) as holy days and the belief in the immortality of the soul.    Emerging from Zoroastrian beliefs in the struggle between good and evil, Mithraism took on a militaristic black and white morality that accounted for it’s popularity among Roman soldiers.  Mithraism was like an ancient fraternity in that it excluded women from its ceremonies.  It was a mystery cult, which had seven degrees of initiation and a sacred meal of bread and water.

               

The Romans did not invent the festival.  December 25th was celebrated worldwide for thousands of years before Yahshua was born under various names, all commemorating variations consisting of a father, mother and child.  Sun worshippers since the time of Babel recognized this time of year in honor of their gods.  It began in ancient Babylon where Semiramis, the mother and wife of Nimrod, tried to retain her power after his death by marrying another son Tammuz and declaring him to be the reincarnated Nimrod.  Through migration this story spread throughout the world.   Father is also called Baal, Osiris, Orion, Molech, Saturn, Odin, Cupid, Seb, etc.  The mother is also, Ishtar, Astarte, Venus, Diana, Aurora, Aphrodite, Isis, etc.  The child is also known as, moon god, Lord of Misrule, (wantonness and drunkenness), Bacchus, Thor, Lord of the Firtree, and Horus.  One example is most enlightening.  This shows Aurora as the goddess of the dawn giving birth to the “light bringer”  who is to enlighten the world (Memmon).  Isn’t it interesting that Lucifer is referred to as the “son of the morning” (Isaiah 14:12)?   The Bible tells us that “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” – “which decieveth the whole world.” (2 Corinthians 11:14; Revelations 12:9).

               

In Scandinavia, a period of festivities known as Yule contributed another impetus to celebration from December 21st, the start of the Winter Solstice, through January.  In recognition of the return of the sun, fathers and sons would bring home large logs, Yule, which they would set on fire.   The people would feast until the log burned out, and that could take as many as twelve days.   The Norse believed that each spark from the fire represented a new pig or calf that would be born during the coming year.

The Celtic culture of the British Isles revered all green plants, but particularly mistletoe and holly.  These were important symbols of fertility and were used for decorating their homes and alters during their winter festivals.   Germanic fertility festivals also took place at this time.  In Germany people honored the pagan god Oden, during the mid-winter holiday.  Germans were terrified of him for it was well known that his nocturnal flights through the sky would help him decide which of his people would prosper or perish.  Because of his presence, many people chose to stay inside.

                 

As you can see the festivals celebrated around the world on or around December 25th before the birth of Yahshua had nothing to do with Christianity or Judaism.  Rational people can only conclude that these festivities are nothing more than idolatrous rituals to which later the name “Christian” had been added.  This unholy mixture did not fool the early church or the Puritans and Pilgrims. Neither should we be fooled.  “Learn not the way of the heathen….. for the customs of the people are vain.”  (Jeremiah 10:2-3).  “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” (2 Corinthians 6:17).

                                    

             WHAT DOES THE WORD “CHRISTMAS” MEAN

The word “Christmas” is itself, and unholy mixture of Christ and Mass.  The Catholic Encyclopedia explains the origin of the word.  “The word for Christmas in late Old English is Cristes Maesse, the Mass of Christ, first found in 1038, and Cristes-messe, in 1131.  In Dutch it is Kerst-misse, in Latin Dies Natalis, whence comes the French Noel, and Italian Ilnatale: In German Welilhnachtsfest, from the proceeding sacred vigil.”   “Christ” means “anointed” from the Geek word “Cris-tos”.    To Christians it refers to Yahshua as the Christ, but to the Catholic it may refer to the Pope as the Vica of Christ.   Popery has declared, the pope…”holds upon the earth the place of God Almighty… is Christ in office, jurisdiction and power and ….. in clinging to thee (pope) we cling to Christ…. (Vatican council of 1870).  The word “mass” in the word Christmas comes from the Latin root “mittere” which means to send, and is derived from the word, “missa”, meaning to dismiss.   As applied in the Roman Catholic Church, it is a sacrament in which Yahshua is physically sacrificed each time, as the wafer and wine actually are transformed into the body and blood of Yahshua.    This is called “transubstantiation.”  This “unbloody sacrifice” is supposed to pay for the sins of both the living and the dead.   It is an abomination to God to re-offer Yahshua again and again as a sacrifice.  “Who needeth not daily, as those High Priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the people’s: for this He did ONCE, when He offered up Himself.” (Hebrews 7:27).   “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” (Hebrews 9:22)

Hebrews 9:25 It isn’t even necessary once a year anymore.  Yahshua died once and for all.

The ritual uses only round wafers/cakes emblazoned with the letters “IHS” which the Catholic Church claims is Latin for “Yahshua the Savior of men”.  However, centuries before Yahshua such round wafer/cakes representing the sun have been offered to the queen of heaven and in Egypt.  The round wafers had the same initials “IHS” which stood for the pagan gods, Isis, Horus, and Seb.  In all fairness to Catholic believers, most do not know or understand the source of these practices.  This is also true about most other Christian believers.  They are not aware of the pagan source of their practices regarding Christmas and Easter.  These practices are so engrained in their very being, that they cannot see the paganism that is in the midst of their worship.

 

                                                                            THE BIRTH OF YAHSHUA

The Bible does not tell us when Yahshua was born.  However, we know that the angels announced the birth of Christ to the Bethlehem shepherds in the open fields who were tending their flocks by night.  “…there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.” (Luke 2:8).   This fact alone certainly implies that the birth of Yahshua could not have been on the 25th of December.  Clark’s commentary, Vol. 5, page 370 says, “As these shepherds had not yet brought home their flocks, it is a presumptive argument that October had not yet commenced, and that consequently, our Lord was not born on the 25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields.”  In Hislop’s The Two Babylon’s,  “The cold of night Palestine between December and February is very piercing, and it was not customary for the shepherds of Judea to watch their flocks in the open fields later than about the end of October.”   In addition, Yahshua Himself said, in speaking of the coming destruction of Jerusalem, “But pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath Day.”  (Matthew 24:20).  Obviously, Yahshua understood that the wintertime in Palestine was harsh enough to make traveling difficult and uncomfortable.   If the winter was such a bad time in which to flee, it seems unlikely that the shepherds would be sleeping out in the fields while tending their sheep during that season.  Also, the likelihood of Caesar Augustus having a decree for the people in Palestine to travel great distances in the winter to register seems very unlikely.  “And all went to be taxed (registered), everyone into his own city.  And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David) to be taxed (registered) with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.”  (Luke 2:3-5).  It is more likely that the decree went out some time after the harvest but before winter.

                Even though the Bible does not tell us the actual date of Yahshua’ birth, there are indications it was probably in the fall of the year.  We know that Yahshua was crucified in the spring, at the time of the Passover.  In fact, Yahshua’ death was the exact and complete fulfillment of the Passover to the very day.  Most theologians figure his ministry as lasting three and half years; this would place the beginning of His ministry in the fall.  According to Luke 3:23, He was 30 years old, which was recognized age for a man to become an official minister under the Old Testament. (See Numbers 4:3).  If he turned thirty in the fall, then His birth date was in the fall, thirty years before.  If this were the case, it would have been the season for the fall religious festivals, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Feast of Tabernacles.  It would also explain why Mary went with Joseph.  This would also explain why even at Bethlehem “there was no room at the inn”. (Luke 2:7).   According to Josephus, Jerusalem was normally a city of 120,000 inhabitants, but during the feasts, sometimes as many as 2,000,000 Jews would gather.  Such vast crowds not only filled Jerusalem, but the surrounding towns also, including Bethlehem, which was only five miles to the south.  If the journey of Mary and Joseph were indeed to attend the feast, as well as to register for taxation, this would place the birth of Yahshua in the fall of the year.

 

               WHAT IS THE PROBABLE DATE OF THE  

                            BIRTH OF YAHSHUA?

               

God does not do things in vain, or without purpose.  The Old Testament Holy Days were not just some sort of Divine make-work project to keep the Israelites busy while they were out wondering in the desert. All of the Old Testament Holy Days were, and continue to be, living symbols of the stages of God’s plan of Salvation for all humanity.  The truth of God’s word regarding the events surrounding the birth of Christ in the fall of the year has been lost in the traditions and artistry of pagan and modern celebrations.  If we are to truly understand when Yahshua was born, we must study God’s word concerning these living symbols and recognize that they are fulfilled in the life and ministry of Yahshua with inherent accuracy.

               

There is Biblical, chronological, historical and astronomical evidence as to when the promised Messiah to Israel was born. Luke 2:1 says, “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.”  The word “taxed” is from the Greek word apographo, meaning to enroll or register.  The Roman Empire was considered to be “all the world” because of the immensity of it.  Caesar Augustus was preparing to celebrate his 25th anniversary as Roman Emperor in 2 B.C.  Prior to the celebration he wanted an accounting of his subjects and an official declaration of their allegiance. Registrations such as this were typically conducted in the fall of the year after harvest, but before the cold winter set in.  In Luke 2:2, there are two important words that will help us to place the year of Yahshua’ birth.  “(And this taxing (registration) was FIRST made when Cyrenius was GOVERNOR of Syria.)”  The word “first” is a clue to understanding the time frame.  There was more than one registration during the time of Cyrenius. This verse is talking about the first time, but there was also another time later in 6/7 A.D.   Historically, Cyrenius had not become Governor of Syria until 6 A.D. about nine years after this record in the Gospel of Luke. The Greek word in the verse for “governor” is hegemon, which means commander.  In 3 B.C., Cyrenius, not yet a governor, had been sent to Syria to command the registration process the FIRST time.  The word “first” is the key to understanding the historical evidence.

               

The actual day and time of day is more speculative and is based on astronomical evidence and logical supposition.  The timing of God is absolutely perfect.  All major stages of God’s plan of Salvation are based on the Old Testament Holy Days.  Something as major as the coming of the Messiah, announced by the angels to the shepherds and inspired by God that the magi follow “his star” from the east, certainly would be marked as one of the stages of God’s plan of Salvation. From our study so far, we know that Yahshua was born in the fall of the year around the four Holy Days, The Feast of Trumpets, The Day of Atonement, The Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day.  But which one?  Logical supposition will eliminate all but The Feast of Trumpets.  To better understand we need to look at The Feast of Trumpets a little closer.

                                                                      

                                                            The Feast of Trumpets

               

According to the calendar given Moses following the exodus from Egypt, the Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashanah, was to be celebrated on the first day of the month Tishri.  The month of Tishri, which falls during the months of September and October on the Gregorian calendar, (the calendar we use today), is probably the busiest time of the year for Jewish holidays. The “first” month of the Jewish calendar is the month of Nissan, in the spring, when Passover occurs.  However, the Jewish New Year is in Tishri, the seventh month, and that is when the year number is increased.  This concept of different starting points for a year is not as strange as it may seem at first glance.  The American “New Year” starts in January, but the new “school Year” starts in September, and many businesses have “fiscal years” that start at various times of the year.  Similarly, the Jewish calendar has different starting points for different purposes.  The Jewish calendar in use today is lunisolar, the years being solar and the months being lunar, but it also allows for a week of seven days.  Because the year exceeds twelve lunar months by about eleven days, a thirteenth month of thirty days is intercalated in the third, sixth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth, seventeenth, and nineteenth years of a nineteen year cycle.  According to our modern calendar the month of Tishri can begin almost anywhere in the month of September or October because it begins on a new moon.  The new moon will vary from year to year on our calendar.

               

Jewish tradition holds that Rosh Hashanah celebrates the anniversary on the creation of the world, a day when “God takes stock of all of His creation,” Which of course includes all of humanity.  Translated from the Hebrew, Rosh Hashanah means, “head of the year” Rosh means “head” while Hashanah means “year.  The Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) is a Jewish festival in which most work ceases, just as on the weekly Sabbath.  It’s celebrated in both joy and solemnity.  During the daily prayer service a ram’s horn, or in Hebrew, shofar, is sounded.   “And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation.  You shall do no laborious work; and you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord.”  (Leviticus 23:23-25).  Many Christians see the Feast of Trumpets not only as an anniversary of the creation of the world, but as one of the living symbols of the prophetic application of the Second Coming of Yahshua Christ.   Just as Christ, the Lamb of God, was sacrificed at exactly the right time at Passover in the spring, it is very likely that His return will be at the exact time of the Feast of Trumpets.  “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord, and Hiss Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.” (Revelations 11:15).    “Behold I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and shall be changed.”  (1 Corinthians 15:51-53).   “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

               

Could it be that the Feast of Trumpets is a living symbol of the prophetic Second Coming of the Messiah as well as the symbol of His first coming in Bethlehem as a humble servant?  I believe on Tishri1, the Feast of Trumpets, while trumpets were blowing in Jerusalem to honor God and welcome the New Year, in the small nearby town of Bethlehem the promised Christ who would reconcile men to God was being born.  With God nothing is left to happenstance.  All things of major importance happen at His appointed times. 

 

               

Knowing the year of Yahshua’ birth from both biblical and historical information to be 3 B.C., we can now determine the actual day of the year by astronomical evidence.  Based upon the lunar Calendar, Tishri 1 would be September 11 in 3 B.C.   If Yahshua was in fact born on the Feast of Trumpets, logical supposition would indicate this to be the correct date.  It is not as important to know when Yahshua was born as it is important to know that He in fact was born, and is the Savior of the world.

                                                                                 

                                                                                       THE EARLY CHRISTIANS  AND CHRISTMAS

               

To avoid persecution during the Roman pagan festival of Saturnalia, early Christians decked their homes with holly.  As Christian numbers increased, the pagan celebrations took on a Christian flavor.  The early Church actually did not celebrate the birth of Christ in December until Telesphorus, who was the second Bishop of Rome from 125 to 136 A.D., declared that church services should be held during this time to celebrate “The Nativity of our Lord and Savior.”  However, since no one was quite sure in which month Christ was born, Nativity was often held in September at the same time as the Feast of Trumpets.  If fact, for more than 300 years, many people observed the birth of Yahshua on this Jewish festival.

               

In the year 274 A.D., the winter solstice fell on December 25th.  Roman Emperor, Aurelian proclaimed the date as “Natalis Solis Invicti,” the festival of the birth of the invincible sun.  In 320 A. D., Pope Julius I specified the 25th of December as the official date of the birth of Yahshua Christ.  In 325 A.D., Constantine the Great, the first “Christian” Roman Emperor, introduced Christmas as an immovable feast on December 25th. He also was instrumental in introducing Sunday, a pagan day of sun worship, as a replacement for the Seventh Day Sabbath that God had set aside since the beginning of time.  He also introduced the movable feast of Easter. In 354 A. D., Bishop Liberius of Rome officially ordered his members to celebrate the birth of Yahshua on December 25th.  Even though Constantine officially declared December 25th as the birth date of Yahshua, most Christians still recognized the date as a pagan festival.

              

It was not until the latter part of the fourth century that the Roman Catholic Church begins observing December 25th as Yahshua’ birthday.   By the fifth century, the Roman Catholic Church ordered the birth of Messiah to be forever observed on December 25th.  At the time of this decree, they knew full well that the pagan religious cults throughout the Roman and Greek worlds celebrated the pagan sun god, Mithra, (also known in the Roman Empire as Saturnalia), on this self same day.   It would surprise most Christians to learn that the history of the Church is fill with historic battles over the doctrinal issue of Christmas.  Many of the reformation movements in the Church made drastic attempts to get away from these pagan holidays.

               

John Calvin, in 1550, instigated and edict concerning Church holidays.  A ban was passed against observing various church festivals, which included Christmas.  In a tract on the necessity of reforming the church, Calvin exclaimed: “I know how difficult it is to persuade the world that God disapproves of all modes of worship not expressly sanctioned by His word.” John Knox, in the Scottish reformation, repeatedly confronted the Catholic Church, contending that true worship must be instituted by God, not derived from traditions of men.

               

The holidays of Christmas and Easter were banned from the Church of Scotland.  David Calderwood (1611-1651), representing the Scottish ministries, asserted in reference to Christmas and Easter: “the Judaical days (feast days) had once that honor, as to be appointed by God Himself; but the anniversary days appointed by men have not like honor.  This opinion of Christ’s Nativity on the 25th day of December was bred at Rome.”  “Nay, let us utter the truth, December-Christmas is a just imitation of the December-Saturnalia of the ethnic (heathen) Romans, and so used as if Bacchus (another name for the sun god), and not Messiah, were the god of Christians.”

               

History records that when the Puritans came to power in England in June 1647, Parliament passed legislation abolishing Christmas and other holidays.  They wrote the following: “For as much as the feast of the nativity of Christ, Easter and other festivals, commonly called holy days, have been here-to-fore superstitiously used and observed; be it ordained that the said feasts, and all other festivals, commonly called holy days, be no longer observed as festivals.”   The American Puritan movement took an even stronger stand against these pagan holidays.  There were many other Christians who held to similar convictions.  The famous preacher, Charles Spurgeon, stated in a sermon given on Christmas Eve, December 24th, 1871, the following: “We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas: first, because we do not believe in the mass at all, but abhor it, whether it be said or sun in Latin or English; and secondly, because we find no scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Savior; and, consequently, it’s observance is a superstition, because not of divine authority.”  It was not until the turn of the 19th century that various Christmas customs began appearing in abundance in most American Churches.  In the middle of the 19th century, the potato famine in Ireland brought an influx of Irish Catholic immigrants to the United States.  With them came all the Christmas customs and traditions.  Christmas has clearly brought an infusion of paganism into the Church that was initially prohibited among all of God’s people.

                                           

 

                                                                                                               CONCLUSION

The above information may come as something of a shock to some people, but not to others, I am sure.  As you can see, December 25th has absolutely no biblical foundation as a day of Christian worship.  In fact the evidence from the Bible tends to eliminate December totally as a possible month for the birth of Christ.  Just as Sunday keeping is commanded only by Catholic tradition, so Christmas (Christ’s Mass) is founded solely on the authority of Catholicism, which picked the day so as to coincide with the pagan Sun worshiping observance of the Winter Solstice.  Protestants who observe Christmas, and have Christmas eve midnight services, are keeping a holy day of obligation decreed by the Papacy just as they are doing with Sunday keeping.  Why is it that Christmas is one of the most celebrated days of the “Bible only” Protestant Churches?  Every year you will hear people, even Pastors, bemoaning the pagination of Christmas; how Santa Claus and greed have taken over this most solemn and holy day.  Little do they apparently know, the 25th of December was never holy to God, but has long been a pagan festival season celebrating the birth of the Sun.  Protestants are, in practice, tacitly acknowledging the authority of the Roman Catholic Church and paganism, which in principle they reject.

               

Has a form of worship been brought into God’s Church that He does not recognize?  Only you can be the judge of that.  How your family sees Christmas is your decision.  The facts about Christmas have been presented to you.  Mark 7:7-8 says, “But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”  It makes many angry when their toes are stepped on about the traditions of men being brought into God’s Church.  The only church that celebrates Christmas is the church of mans tradition.  You decide.  Who you believe and what you observe during your lifetime is your decision and your responsibility.  Each person on the face of the earth is free to decide what he or she believes.  The responsibility of God’s ministers is to teach the truth so that others will hear.  It is your time of Salvation, and it will be your final judgment some day.  It is for you to decide whether you will follow Yahshua and receive His promise of eternal life, or die with the rebellious.  God is calling His people away from the pagan customs and traditions, taught and perpetuated by the apostate church.  “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, come out of her (Babylon, the apostate church), my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues.”  (Revelation 18:4.

                                                  

THE ATTRIBUTES

                                                       

                            Santa … The Imposter                                      Yahshua ………. The Real Thing

 

                                                        Should a Christian lie to his children?

Revelations 2:8   …and all liars shall have their part in the lake, which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”