THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS

In the countries where 25 December is a public holiday, there is no reason bible-believing Christians should not use the opportunity to assemble to worship our God and Saviour Jesus Christ. However, there are good reasons why we should not call our gatherings “Christmas” and why we should also not celebrate this day as the world does. Without judging those who may celebrate Christmas according to their scruples in a way that they think honours our Lord, we prayerfully present these evidences, for the edification of believers sharing our common faith, once and for all delivered unto the saints.

The Date Sovereignly Withheld

The Bible gives no reference of the Church celebrating Christmas. There is actually complete silence on the actual date of our Lord’s earthly birth. From the Gospels to Acts, to the Epistles and Revelations, there is no reference of Jesus’ disciples and followers ever celebrating His birthday. What is revealed if anything is that this date could not have occurred in December. Caesar Augustus’ decree recorded in Lk 2:1-3, requiring the Roman world including women and children to go to be taxed at their own cities, would not have been performed in winter due to cold winter winds in that part of the world, as alluded to by Jesus in Matt 24:20, “Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter.” It is believed the shepherds who saw the heavenly host while watching their flocks by night in Lk 2:8, would not have been outside at winter, but would have moved into shelter by October at latest. Some calculating the order of priestly duties that fell on Zacharias, have estimated the birth of John the Baptist to be in March, which would yield September as a possible month of our Lord’s birth based on Lk1:36.

God is not a God of confusion (1Cor14:33). If it is His will that we celebrate Jesus’ birthday, He would surely reveal the date to us, but instead, this date is Sovereignly withheld.

In addition to Mary and Joseph, the shepherds who heard the angels sing praises to God on that day that Jesus entered into our world (Lk2:11-14, Heb1:6), and any others who may have been present, would have known the date of Jesus’ birth. Consider those also close to our Lord: - John, the Beloved, who took Mary as his own mother (Jn19:26-27); Peter, impetuous favourite and mentor to Mark; and Matthew Levi, former tax collector who understood the value of goods of all description. Add Luke, beloved physician, Paul’s travelling companion and meticulous historian who set out events chronologically in the gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. None of these tell us the date! Was this not simple to do? The omission, whether these knew the date or not, clearly points to Divine withholding of its publication.

Throughout history, many who for various reasons have sought out Jesus’ real birth date, have done so in vain. If we think about it, doesn’t it require more effort to hide than to publish the date? We have for example the date of our Lord’s vicarious death on Calvary for our sins. And since Jesus Himself is the Living Word (Jn1:1), what does this silence in the Bible signify?

The Position of the Early Church and Puritans
The Early Church and the Puritans rejected celebrations of Jesus’ birth because of their deep reverence for Christ, the Son of God. According to Crippen[3], the Church Fathers “did not want this sacred occasion put on par with pagan carnivals” and Origen in the early 3rd Century, was recorded to have said that it was “sinful to keep Christ’s birthday as though He were a King Pharaoh”. According to Rev Hislop[2], Tertullian bitterly lamented the inconsistency of the disciples of Christ participating in these festivities. He quotes Tertullian’s De Idolatria, “By us, who are strangers to (Jewish) Sabbaths, and new moons, and festivals, once acceptable to God, the Saturnalia, the feast of January, the Brumalia, and 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 heathen to their religion, who take special care to adopt no solemnity from the Christians.”

The following are some of the verses that should impart a reverence in our hearts for the Deity and Person of our Lord Jesus and help us to reject the vain and false celebrations of Christmas.

“But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” (Mic 5:2)

“For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, … without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the son of God; abideth … continually.” (Heb 7:1&3)

“Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. (1Pet 1:20-21)

“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last.” (Rev 22:13)

Our joy shall be in our Lord and on the salvation that He has wrought in our hearts, and not on external things or on a day. Jesus is God’s Eternal Son, Alpha and Omega, First and the Last, the Great “I AM”, Forever Existing, the same Yesterday, Today and Forever, by and for Whom all things are made and without Whom was nothing made that was made. When the Pharisees challenged Him that He was not yet 50 years old, He Who is First before any was born replied, “before Abraham was, I AM” (Jn8:58). Simon Peter was particularly blessed to be the first to recognise Jesus’ Deity: “He fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Lk5:8) and “he answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt16:16). And upon this rock (truth of His Deity), Jesus declared He will build His church (Matt16:17-18).

Through the centuries, the early believers and those later persecuted during the Dark Ages and the Puritans, all disapproved of Christmas. John Knox was recorded to have written to some Puritans in 16th Century England, jailed for refusing to observe the “holy days” of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC), which they considered as “tools of the devil”. According to Crippen[3], in Glasgow (after the reformation in Scotland), the Puritan Kirk Session on 26 December 1583 “put 5 persons to public penance for keeping the superstitious day called Yule” and in 1593, a law was passed that “keepers of this feast should be debarred from the privileges of the Church and punished by the magistrates.” Krythe[1] mentions that the pilgrim settlers in America (from the 1620 Mayflower voyage from Holland and England), passed a law in 1659 that “Whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas and the like, … shall pay for each offense 5 shillings as a fine to the country.

Crippen[3] records that the Presbyterians in the Scottish highlands eventually compromised on Christmas under the influence of the large Roman Catholic population there. Elsewhere, it appears that the Anglicans and Lutherans coming directly out of the RCC, did not fully reform itself out of all its practices. Gradually, the vanguard was lowered so that today, the main-line denominations mostly enjoin in Christmas. Only a number of fundamental and independent churches today continue to abstain from this inappropriate practice based on the scriptures’ call us to come out (withdraw) from among them and be separate (2Cor 6:17, Rev 18:4). How about you dear reader? Should you not stand like the early Church and Puritans stood?

Christmas’ Pagan Heritage
We already have indications from the position of the Early Church and the Puritans that the origins of Christmas are pagan. Pagan idolatry began with the peoples of the earth uniting to build a tower at Babel [Babylon] (Gen12:9) and it shall end with the peoples of every religion uniting to form a great One World Religion or Church called “Mystery, Babylon the Great, The Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth” (Rev 17:5).

If we search in most public libraries, we will find in ancient times December 25 closely related to high pagan feast days known as Saturnalia (feast to Saturn) and dies Natalis Solis Invicti, (birth/return of the Unconquered Sun). What is less obvious is that these feasts are both related to the worship of the Babylonian Messiah Ninus alias Nimrod. In the Babylonian Mysteries, by triangular reasoning, the Virgin Cybele who is Nimrod’s wife, is Ninus’ mother and wife at the same time so that Ninus and Nimrod are one. Today in the RCC, Mary is similarly and blasphemously worshipped as the “Mother of God”. During “Christmas”, Cybele, known also as Diana or Artemis of Ephesus in Acts19:35, is also worshipped (Matronalia).

In Acts7:42-43, Stephen as he was about to be martyred, revealed that God had turned away and given up the Jews to worship the host of heaven and the stars as the Babylonians did, and then recompensed them with captivity in Babylon. Comparing vse 43 with his direct quotation of Amos5:26, Remphan equals Chuin of Amos, the Assyrian equivalent for Saturn. We note that the importance of Saturn as the god of pagan worship is so great that the 7th day of the week in our Gregorian calendar is named Saturday (Satur = Saturn).

Idolatry is the worship of that which is not God; that which is created and is the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever (Rom1:23-25). In the Ten Commandments, God commanded, “Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy 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.” (Deut5:9). The scriptures also teach that idolatry is spiritual adultery, rebellion, stubbornness and abomination against God. Hos4:12 declares that “My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.”

25 December by contrast in ancient times was the feast of Saturn. Saturnalia is not dead and a search on the Internet will reveal more than 4,600 websites, a sizeable number of which deals in astrology, the New Age movement, witchcraft and other abominations. Today’s Christmas continues to be replete with ancient pagan icons such as Yuletide (“Yule” being a Chaldee word for “infant” or “little child” depicting Ninus), Christmas trees (in Egypt, the tree was the palm-tree denoting the pagan messiah, Baal-Tamar, and in Rome, the fir, referring to him as Baal-Berith) Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas) and other idolatrous icons and practices.

Christ Mass: Chief Idolatrous Feast of Babylon-Rome
The practice of Christ Mass (Christmas) was adapted and introduced to the world by Pope Julius I in the 4th Century [9]. The evidence shows that the RCC also introduced the idolatrous worship of Mary on Christmas, based on the worship of the Virgin Cybele. According to the Babylonian Mysteries, 25 March was the annunciation of the Virgin Cybele, nine months before the birth of Ninus on 25 December. The RCC adopted this day, 25 March, to be celebrated as the day of “the annunciation of the angel Gabriel to Mary” in Lk1:26-38, although the scriptures again are silent as to this date.

The RCC calendar is also filled with saints’ days and feast days. 8 September for example is celebrated as Mary’s birthday. According to Francis Weiser[4], an RCC priest and author, each RCC “saints day is really a reflection and minor realisation of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ” and the Mass (comprising the Holy Communion) is the “supreme act of Sunday worship”. These feast days and saints days are part of a complex and ornate, inter-woven system of Roman-Babylonian idolatry (Rev 17), coupled with an idolatrous distortion of our Lord’s Supper wherein the wafer is turned into god and worshipped, and where all communicants at Mass must kneel before the priest. But this is the very distortion and idolatry that resulted in the 16th Century Protestant Reformation! The RCC errors culminate at its highest point at Christ Mass – the chief of High Masses celebrated on that chief pagan Saturnalia day of 25 December.

The second most important RCC Mass is the Easter Mass, based on the worship of the Chaldean goddess Eastre and related to Moon worship. Although Easter may be said to correspond with our Lord’s Passover and Resurrection, it in reality does not, as seen in the motives for Pope Gregory XII’s calendar reforms of 1582. The two great pagan feasts of the Babylonian Mysteries, related to Sun/Saturn and moon worship respectively are re-enacted in the guise of the birth of Jesus (Christ Mass) and His resurrection (Easter). A list of Bible verses prohibiting worship of planetary bodies is given in Appendix 1.

Our Lord is no longer a babe in the manger nor is He still on the cross, “for by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified and is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven, our High Priest interceding on our behalf.” (Heb 10:12-14, 21). We give in Appendix 4, a reproduction of 50 Christmas stamps, depicting how the world see Christmas – with Madonna and child. This Madonna is the very pagan queen of heaven, blasphemously called “Mother of God.” She is Diana/Artemis in the guise of “Mary” and not the real Mary of the bible, meek, lowly, a handmaid of the Lord, keeping and pondering spiritual truths in her heart. The real Mary would never allow herself to be worshipped, but is a believer in and worshipper of the Lord Jesus, numbered with the early church (Act 1:14).

Christian believers will not be able to change the world’s perceptions of Christmas by celebrating with them even on a sanitised basis without Santa Claus and Christmas trees. The scriptural way for effective witness is not to participate but to withdraw (2Cor6:17-18).

End-Times Ecumenicalism
We already saw that in the last days, the world’s religions shall unite to form a great One World Religion which Rev17:5 calls “Mystery, Babylon the Great, The Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth.” Rev17:1&15 further tell that the great whore or Mother of Harlots will sit upon many waters, which represents peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. Rev17:2-4 describes her blasphemous character, her hold on political rulers, her wealth and extravagance and her extensive idolatry. She is also shown as sitting on a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns, who is none other than the anti-Christ beast whose number is 666 of Rev13:18.

The harlotry lies in the One World Church compromising and comprising of all religions, regardless of doctrine, dogma, beliefs and practice but having a commonality in rejecting the Supreme Deity and Person of our Only Saviour, Jesus Christ who is the only Mediator between God and man. The result is a form of godliness without the power thereof (2Tim3:5). The One World Church shall be an idolatrous System that will worship Satan and his anti-Christ (Rev13:4-5). It is called Babylon the Great for it embraces the entire Babylonian Mysteries, and worships Nimrod, its deified god-man, who is also the anti-Christ. From Gen10:8-11, we know that Nimrod is the founder of Babel and Asshur [Assyria] and from Mic5:6, that Assyria is called the land of Nimrod presumably because Nimrod is worshipped there. Nimrod whose name means, “we shall rebel”, also fits the description of the head that was wounded to death and then healed in Rev13:3, for in the Mysteries, he died a violent death but came back to life. Thus the beast of Rev17 is described as the beast that was, and is not, and yet is, for Nimrod was, and shall again be. The spirit of anti-Christ and the rebellious spirit of Nimrod are one.

The late Rev Hislop, a scholar well versed in ancient biblical languages, researching deeply into these Mysteries, discovered that Nimrod’s name, as head of the system named “Mystery”, was Saturn. Taking the Bible literally and his cue from the words, “Mystery, Babylon the Great,” Rev Hislop demonstrated that in Chaldee (the language of Babylon), Mystery signifies “Hidden system” and Saturn, spelt STÜR, means “Hidden god ”. To the initiated, the god was revealed; to all else he was a mystery. STÜR then is actually that anti-Christ or beast who had a number of a man equal to 666, indicated by the Apostle John in Rev 13:18. Chaldean letters are also numbers and STÜR comprises Semkath/60, Taw/400, Waw/6 and Resh/200, which totals 666 (see Appendix 3). Chaldee, of which the Hebrew language is derivative, (Abraham having come from Ur of the Chaldees), was not strange to the Apostle John, nor was the Babylonian mystery religion, which was widespread throughout the Roman Empire.

Not only 666 but it shall be the number of a man. Saturn, the hidden god of the Mysteries, was publicly known to all Rome, both uninitiated and initiated alike, as Janus or Eanus, the grand Mediator, the opener and the shutter, who had the key of the invisible world. Derived from the ancient Chaldee, E-anush simply means “the Man”! Thus the Babylonian anti-Christ beast of Rev13:18 will first make its appearance as a “man”. “The Man,” was applied to the Babylonian Messiah Ninus as identifying him with the promised seed of the Woman and intended to designate him as the “god-man.” (Does not the anti-Christ try to imitate Christ?) Now the Pope is Janus’ legitimate representative; founding his claim to universal homage on the possession of Janus’ keys of heaven, that empowers him, in defiance of every principle of Christianity, to open and shut the gates of glory, according to his mere sovereign will and pleasure. Do we know that January, the starting month of the Roman-Gregorian calendar is Janus’ month? Satan is called the “god of this world” (2Cor4:4) not for nothing.

With all the prophecies pertaining to the Second Coming of Christ practically fulfilled, including the restoration of the nation of Israel in 1948, we believe that this One World Church will be the result of the present day Ecumenical Movement, first formulated by the World Council of Churches also in 1948. The apostle Paul also tells us in 2Thess2:3, that the Second Coming of our Lord shall not take place until there first be a falling away of the churches which will also pave the way for the revelation of the son of perdition or anti-Christ. With the Ecumenical agenda reaching her final stages, this may soon happen on the world.

The Ecumenical Spirit of Christmas
Since every nation has its gods (2Kings17:29) and all pagan religions of the world originate from one root, they will meet again in the Babylon Mysteries. As such, it does not surprise that Christmas, which originated in Babylon, has become the world’s pre-eminent festival, popular in almost every country, even in decidedly un-Christian ones and respected by the Inter-faith movement and by Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and others. There is also a growing program for people of all religions to share in the celebrations of Christmas.

Christmas by invoking sentimental but false feelings as the “birthday of Jesus” readily lends itself as the springboard for the culmination of the ecumenical movement that will result in the one World Church or Mother of Harlots of Rev17:5. These false feelings should not surprise because the spirit of 666 is the spirit of the beast on which the ecumenical Woman of Rev 17:5 sits. The universalists who say that everyone, regardless of religion, faith or life conduct, will eventually be saved, welcome this “spirit of Saturnalia-Christmas”, for they say on that day, the angels pronounced “On earth, peace, good will toward all people” (Lk2:10, 14) and thus all will be saved under the umbrella of the One World Church. In this, they miss the point of the evangel where Jesus said “but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you or hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgement, than for that city.” (Matt10:13-15). Did not Jeremiah say of the false prophets, “They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.” (Jer6:14, 8:11, 28:9).

Christmas 2000 has been chosen by “Evangelicals and Catholics Together” (ECT) as the date for “re-union” between Protestants and the “Mother Church”. On that day, the Ecumenical Movement will have a field day, calling religious devotees to unity as the best “2000-year birthday present” that the world can give to “Jesus”. It will be a grand affair as the world enters into the 3rd Millennium AD on 1 January 2001. Sentimental cords will be pulled and those celebrating Christmas will be moved by its appeal. But Jesus said we are to beware of false Christs (Matt 24:24). The formation of the one World Church will only bring the Judgement of plagues described in the Book of Revelations closer upon the world.

Christmas’ Worldliness
As far as the world is concerned, Christmas is not a season for sober preaching and reverential remembrance but for unrestrained passions and partying in character no different to Belshazzar’s Godless revelry recorded in Dan 5:1-4. Both professing believers and non-believers alike join to celebrate this “happy yearly event” with partying, glitter and glitz, even in countries like Japan where nominal Christians make up less than 0.1% of the population. This is accompanied by the highest levels of alcohol consumption, wantonness, abandon and waste in the year, reminiscent of Rome’s ancient feasts in honour of Diana. In the two shopping months surrounding Christmas, many departmental stores reap the equivalent of their sales profits for the remainder ten months of the year. This is also the season with the highest road fatalities and crime rates. Did not Peter forewarn us? “For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you.” (1Pet4:3-4).

Our Lord’s name is Jesus for “He shall save His people from their sins” (Matt 1:21). He came to bring blessings to the world but not through Christmas, for He has nothing to do with Belial (2 Cor 6:15). Biblical separation requires that we come out of the world and its worldly manners, lusts and pride as well as its unclean religious roots (2 Cor 6:17,18, 1Jn2:15-17). Do not Jesus’ words in Jn 15:18-19 touch a responsive chord? “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” In stark contrast, the world loves Christmas. May we pray that the Lord will help us to understand the issues and examine our hearts.

CONCLUSION
We have reviewed the key reasons why bible-believing Christians ought to have no part in the RCC instituted celebrations with Babylonian origins called Christmas. In summary: -

• God did not ordain Christmas. As proof, Jesus’ real birth date was Sovereignly withheld.
• Reverence for the Person and Deity of Jesus Christ requires that we focus not on a day, which is but a shadow of things to come, nor on an event, but on the Substance, Christ Himself (Col 2:16-17).
• Christmas’ Pagan Heritage: From ancient times, 25 December was the Babylonian high feast Saturnalia and the Roman Natalis Solis Invicti, both related to the worship of Nimrod who is also known as Saturn or Janus (E-anush).
• Saturnalia is the feast to Satur, the 666 beast on which the Ecumenical one World Church of Rev 17:5 sitteth. Thus the spirit of Christmas shall be also the spirit of ecumenicalism.
• The Early Church and the Puritans’ opposition to believers celebrating Christmas.
• Christ Mass is the Chief Idolatrous Feast of the RCC.
• Christmas is associated with expansive display of worldliness that has nothing to do with believers, but is opposite to everything that Jesus taught about the world and not loving it.

May we conclude with thoughts and lessons from Jesus’ heart? When a woman in Lk11:27-28 lifted up her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou has sucked,” Jesus’ reply was “Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.” (Compare also our Lord’s statements in Matt12:47-50, Lk10:38-42, Matt7:21). Our Lord’s foremost concern is the spiritual reality of our relation with God. To Nicodemus, Jesus said “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” (Jn 3: 3, 6 & 13).

Truly, our Lord Jesus will not focus on His earthly birth. He taught that only one thing is needful (Lk 10:42). May the Holy Spirit help us to respond by focusing only on Him and live with eternity in view, in Christ’s timeless bosom! Let us live unto Christ, not Christmas.


BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Maymie R Krythe, “All about Christmas” (Harper & Row, 1954)
2. Alexander Hislop, “The Two Babylons or The Papal Worship proved to be the Worship of Nimrod and His wife” (Loizeaux Brothers, 1916, reprint of 1959)
3. T G Crippen, “Christmas and Christmas Lore” (Gale Research Company, 1971)
4. Francis X Weiser, “Handbook of Christian Feasts” (Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1952)
5. Marguerite Ickis, “The Book of Religious Holidays and Celebrations” (Dodd, Mead & Co, 1966)
6. H W Parke, “Festivals of the Athenians” (Thames and Hudson, 1977)
7. Ruth W Gregory, “Anniversary and Holidays” (American Library Association, 1975)
8. “The Oxford History of Christianity” edited by John Mc Manners (Oxford University Press, 1993)

Articles from the Internet
9. “Winter Festivals From the Past and Present” (http://www.maui.net/~mcculc/xmas.htm)
10. Peter Meyer, “The Julian and the Gregorian Calendars.” (http://www.magnet.ch.serendipity/cal_stud/cal_art.htm)
11. “The Aramaic-Chaldean Language, Alphabet & Numeration.” (http://chaldean.net/people/language.html)


TRADITIONAL OBJECTIONS TO OUR POSITION

Despite the truths presented, there may be sincere brethren who disagree with our position. We will look at some of the traditional grounds for their position and give our response.

It matters not if the origins are pagan

The traditional position is that it matters not Christmas has pagan origins, so long as we celebrate Christmas in a “proper way” honouring to the Lord and not repeat the pagan practices. The biblical answer to this is 1Thess5:22, “Abstain (flee from, keep far from) from all appearance of evil.” Not only evil that we are to keep far from but its very appearance also.

Not the time but the event
The traditional position is that although 25 December is not the actual birthday of our Lord, it is not the time that matters but the event of our Lord’s First Advent. If we keep “pure” and abstain from celebrating Christmas, we minimise the first Coming of Christ and go to the extreme of ignoring and doing away with it completely. A supporting illustration is that if your child’s birthday falls on a week day, you may celebrate it on the weekend with kin and friends.

It is easy to prove the improper analogy of the illustration because whereas the child’s birthdate is known, our Lord’s birthdate is not. Secondly, everyone that celebrates a birthday clearly celebrates the time as well as the event. Worse still, this date is the feast of the 666. Thirdly, those who do not celebrate Christmas do not ignore Christ’s First Advent, for every time we proclaim the gospel, we proclaim the First Advent. Fourthly, the emphasis should be neither the time nor the event but the Person of Jesus for the substance is Christ (Col2:17). All scripture is God-breathed and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness – we do not minimise any portion of God’s Word. Rather, those who emphasise the celebration of 25 December, mis-focus their affections on a special day or event rather than on our Eternal Lord. Christ redeemed us so that our faith and hope might be in God. We ought not to continue in a vain manner of living inherited by tradition from our forefathers (1Pet1:18-21). Finally, Jesus also taught that we should keep pure (Matt5:8).

Rom 14:5-12 gives a blank cheque for the celebration of Christmas
The traditional position is that Rom14:5-12 gives a blank cheque for regarding one day above another or everyday the same, so we should not judge others in the matter of Christmas. We do not judge in that wrong critical sense with an attitude of superiority. God however, never gives a blank cheque for doing evil; only for doing good.

The church at Rome originated early for in Acts2:10, Jews and proselytes from Rome were among the first 3,000 converts at Pentecost. The church was established with a good reputation (Rom1:8) before Paul had preached there (Rom1:15), and was made up of Jewish, proselyte and gentile converts. Rome being also the capital of the Empire, many nationalities resided there, and Paul had acquaintances and kinsmen there. His salutations in Rom16 to 26 persons; included Aquila and Priscilla, some other Jews and a good number of Greeks and his epistle implicitly assumed knowledge of the OT. The saints had legitimate scruples. The proselytes had difficulties stemming from their vows on conversion to Judaism. Jews had to abstain from unclean foods, which are everyday foods to their gentile brethren, such as shrimps, crabs, cuttlefish, fish without scales, pork and shellfish. They observed Jewish dates such as Pentecost and Passover and originally worshipped on the Sabbath (7th day) which was later changed to the Lord’s Day (1st day of the week). Some dealt with these by becoming vegetarians. On the other hand, the Greek converts, freed from their pagan observances most likely considered all days as alike. Paul, a Pharisee of Pharisees, raised in Tarsus a centre of Greek Hellenic life, and a freeborn Roman citizen, could empathise with each of them. He also knew that these saints were sincere and wrote Rom14 to ensure that their different practices and scruples would not hinder unity and like-mindedness in the church (Rom15:5-7).

As for celebrating pagan-originated feast days, Paul wrote to the Galatians, “Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, … how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage. Ye observe days, and months, and times and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.” (Gal4:8-11). Paul’s tone was clearly different and we have to take into account that Galatia was a region of extreme paganism. At Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia where Paul and Barnabas had fled to and preached, the people called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercury and tried to offer sacrifices to them. The unbelieving Jews of Antioch and Iconium had sufficient influence to persuade the people at Lystra to stone Paul (Act14:6-19). To compound problems from their past, the Galatian believers were troubled by agitators who would force them to observe OT ceremonies and accept a doctrine of justification on the basis of personal merit and some were already quickly shaken in their faith (Gal1:6).

Christmas and Easter are Western cultures
The traditional position is that Christmas is part of Western culture that should be respected. Actually Christianity originated in the East in Israel while Christmas and Easter are Roman-Babylonian. Culture is the collective programming of our minds brought about by every facet in our background and lives, including religious influences. Within culture, there are pitfalls, and wherever the apostles went, “cultural” changes occurred. Thus Silas and Paul were beaten and jailed at Philippi, the people of Ephesus rioted and caught hold of Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s companions. When Abraham left Ur of Chaldee, he did not retain the feast days of the Babylonians. When Joshua led God’s people into Canaan, he did not retain the culture of the Canaanites. We respect the multi-culturalism of others, yet for ourselves, order our lives according to spiritual truths, not culture based on paganism or falsehood (Ex 23:7).

Being practical and choosing out the good points of Christmas for evangelising
The traditional view is that we can choose out the good points of Christmas for evangelising.

Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, indivisible. A thousand words of a good sermon can be destroyed by one careless breadth or act not in accordance with the truth. In the spiritual realm, the ends do not justify the means. Good and truth are universal so that hymns of praise related to Christ’s First Advent that are edifying can be sung at any time of the year. It need not be at “Christmas”! Believers however should not celebrate as and with the world, draining resources, strength and energy in shopping, preparation of feasts, decorations and the like. Christmas activities do not honour our Lord. Can an evil tree (Christmas) bear good fruits just because we dress it up and prune away some of its pagan leaves? (Matt 7:18).


APPENDIX 1 VERSES PROHIBITING WORSHIP OF PLANETARY BODIES

De.4:19: And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

De.17:3: And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;

2K.23:5: And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.

Jb.31:26-27: If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; And my heart had been secretly enticed …

Je.8:2: And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.

Ga.4:10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
APPENDIX 2 THE GREGORIAN CALENDAR REFORM
(Largely summarised from Peter Meyer, “The Julian and the Gregorian Calendars”)

We have shown that the choice of 25 December in our Gregorian calendar and 6 January in the Julian calendar as recognised by the Eastern Orthodox Church, are dictated by the ancient pagan festivals. In the Julian calendar, (named after Julius Caesar), these festivals also coincided with the start of the Roman parliament year on 1 January, and thus the start was proclaimed on that day. The Julian calendar however exceeded the solar year by 11.2 minutes so that after every 128 years, the calendar is out of sync with the equinoxes and solstices by one day. This was troubling to the Christian Church (RCC) because it affected the determination of the date of Easter, which by the 16th century, was slipping into Summer.

Pope Paul III recruited several astronomers to come up with a solution, principally the Jesuit Christopher Clavius, who built upon earlier proposals by the astronomer-physician Luigo Lilio. When Pope Gregory XIII was elected, he decided in favour of Clavius, and on 24/2/1582, issued a papal bull, Inter Gravissimas, that established the Gregorian Calendar, which is currently in use in all Western and Westernised countries.

The Gregorian reform omitted 10 days from the calendar (decreeing that the day following 4/10/1582 would thenceforth be known as 15/10/1582) and modified the rules for leap years. It also established new rules for determining Easter (the old relied on the Jewish calendar).

It may be noted that there was no necessity for 10 days or even 12 days to have been omitted from the calendar, which after the leap year rule changes, would have been synchronised with the vernal equinoxes. Why then were 10 days omitted? The average length of the vernal equinox year has been 365.242 whereas the average Julian year was 365.25 years, with a difference per year of 0.008 days. Between Year 1 to 1582, the calendar drifted by 1581 x 0.008 = 12.6 days. However Pope Gregory took reference from the First Council of Nicea (Iznik, Turkey) held in 325 which set the method for determining Easter. From 325 to 1582, the calendar diverged by 1257 x 0.008 = 10.1 days, so 10 days were removed to restore the date to Easter to the same time at which it had occurred at the time of the Council of Nicea.

For Gregory, keeping harmony with the 2nd most important RCC holyday was more important than getting AD1 right, for the year of our Lord’s birth is misstated by 4 - 6 years. If we compare the Gregorian calendar with the calendar specified to the people of Israel in Exodus 12:2, God declared that the first day of the first month of the year starts in the Spring (the month in which on the 10th day the Pascal lamb was to be set aside to be killed on the 14th day). It is this Pascal date that anticipates exactly the death of our Lord as our Passover Lamb that marks the beginning month of God’s ordained year. The Gregorian Calendar ignores this and starts the year in the month honoring Janus who is also Saturn alias Nimrod.


APPENDIX 3 ARAMAIC-CHALDEAN (PROOF FOR HISLOP’S NUMERATION)
(Extracted and summarised from http://chaldean.net/people/language.html)

The Aramaic-Chaldean Language
The Aramaic-Chaldean language is used by both Assyrians and Babylonians. The written form of Aramaic is the classical Chaldean and is the same for all users of Aramaic. The spoken form has several dialects that have acquired words of non-Aramaic usage. The two most prominent vernacular forms are these: 1) The dialect of Telkaif and the adjacent villages around Ninevah, and 2) the dialect of the northern Mesopotamian mountains on the borders of Iran and Turkey; this dialect is commonly referred to as Assyrian.

Forms of the Alphabet
There are three forms of the Chaldean alphabet: The oldest form, consisting entirely of capitals, is Strangheli. All Chaldean manuscripts dating back to before the sixth century AD were written in this form. The second form started early in the 8th century. It has two branches: a) Eastern Syriac - also called "Nestorian" or "Oriental" (Today's Chaldean and Assyrian are of this group.) and b) Western Syriac, or "Occidental". The last form is called "Jacobite".

Today's Chaldean Language
The Chaldean Language is an offshoot of Aramaic, which is a member of the Semitic Family of languages. Chaldean, like its sister Semitic languages, is written from right to left. There are two forms of the Chaldean language: 1) the Classical, which is still in use in the liturgy of the Chaldean Church; 2) The spoken (vernacular), also called "sooreth". There are twenty-two letters in the Chaldean language, each producing a distinct sound. From right to left they read: Alap Beth Gamal Daleth He Waw Zain Heth Teth Yoth Kap Lameth Mim Noon Semkath Ey Pe Sadhe Qpe Resh Sheen Taw.

Numeration
There are no distinct numerals in the Chaldean language. The letters of the alphabet are used as numbers (like Latin and Greek). The first nine letters of the alphabet are used for the numerals 1 through 9. The second set of nine letters are used for the decades from 1 through 9. The final four letters are used to denote hundreds, from 1 through 4. If numbers beyond 400 are used, then one hundred through nine hundred are written by using the tenth through the 18th letter and placing a dash over each letter. Thousands, one through nine, use the first nine letters of the alphabet, with a "-" symbol underneath the letter.

Alphabet Letter Numeral Alphabet Letter Numeral
Alap A 1 Lameth L 30
Beth B 2 Mim M 40
Gamal G 3 Noon N 50
Daleth D 4 Semkath S (Se) 60
He He 5 Ey E 70
Waw W 6 Pe P 80
Zain Z 7 Sadhe Sad 90
Heth H 8 Qpe Q 100
Teth Te 9 Resh R 200
Yoth Y 10 Sheen Sh 300
Kap K 20 Taw T 400

The pronunciation for Saturn in English is “sætarn” with the “e” accent, (Oxford). In Chaldee, it is SATÜR without the “n”, and spelt STÜR, with the accented or Double U. Thus: -

S Semkath 60
T Taw 400
Ü Waw 6
R Resh 200
Total Numeral Value: 666