The Truth about Christmas and December 25

Many will not particularly like this partial article from the Trumpet, but it is the truth about the holiday we call Christmas. The Book of Revelation says six times that the entire world is deceived. Many of our “Christian traditions” are false and were not originally part of the faith. Once you learn the truth it is your responsibility to do something about it!

The Encyclopedia Americana writes: The date of Christ’s birth is uncertain. December 25 is widely assumed to be when He was born. But research reveals that this could not be the correct date!

When Jesus Christ was born, the Gospel of Luke records that “there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night” (Luke 2:8). December is in the midst of a cold, rainy season in Judea. The shepherds always brought their flocks in from the fields and mountains to be corralled by mid-October at the latest, for their protection. Song of Solomon 2:11 and Ezra 10:9 and 13 show that winter was a rainy season, thus confirming that the shepherds would not have been in open fields on December 25, during the dead of winter.

Edmond Stapfer writes in his book Palestine in the Time of Christ: “The sheep passed the whole summer in the fields. … In the month … which corresponds to the half of October and the half of November, the sheep were brought back into the fold and kept there through the winter.”

Adam Clarke’s Commentary addresses the question this way: “It was a custom among the Jews to send out their sheep to the deserts, about the Passover [early spring], and bring them home at the commencement of the first rain. During the time they were out, the shepherds watched them night and day. As … the first rain began early in the month of Marchesvan, which answers to part of our October and November, we find that the sheep were kept out in the open country during the whole of the summer. And 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; nor could He have been born later than September, as the flocks were still in the fields by night. On this very ground, the nativity in December should be given up. The feeding of the flocks by night in the fields is a chronological fact ….”

It was too cold for the sheep to be out in the fields in late December. Why then would Christ’s birth be celebrated on this day? Encyclopedia Britannica states, “The reason why Christmas came to be celebrated on December 25 remains uncertain, but most probably the reason is that early Christians wished the date to coincide with the pagan Roman festival marking the ‘birthday of the unconquered sun.”

The Catholic Church’s own encyclopedia, the Catholic Encyclopedia, makes many startling admissions about this subject. Here are just a few from the 1911 edition. “Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church.” That’s right—Christmas was not instituted by Jesus Christ, nor was it observed by any of the apostles personally instructed by Christ. “The first evidence of the feast is from Egypt” (not Jerusalem). About 200 A.D. Egyptian theologians began celebrating the birth of Christ on the 25th of Pachon, which corresponds to May 20 on our calendar. “Pagan customs centering round the January calends gravitated to Christmas.”

As you can see, secular and Catholic history show that, originally, Christmas was definitely not about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. The Catholic Church adopted the custom from pagans. But where did the pagans get it?

Lange’s Commentary states that “Ashtaroth … corresponds to Hera, the star queen. Ashtoreth means ‘the star.’ … Moon and stars, the luminaries of the night-sky, are blended in Ashtaroth. She represents the collective host of heaven.”

Semiramis was worshiped as the queen of heaven, or the great mother of god. She committed fornication with the leading men at that time, coaxing them into accepting this mystery religion that took the place of the true worship of God. She even claimed that one of her illegitimate sons, Tammuz, was brought into being by a magic beam of light from the great sun god. Claiming the baby to be a reborn Nimrod, the promised seed of Genesis 3:15, Semiramis originated the story that a full-grown evergreen tree sprang overnight from a dead tree stump, which symbolized the springing forth unto new life of the dead Nimrod. On each anniversary of his birth, Semiramis claimed, Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts upon it. The new evergreen tree symbolized that Nimrod had come to life again in Tammuz.

This is the real origin of Santa Claus and the Christmas tree. It is why Jeremiah knew of the Christmas tree six centuries before Jesus Christ was even born.

Note what God recorded by the hand of this prophet: “Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel” (Jeremiah 10:1). God wants us to pay close attention to this. He demands us to hear His perspective on this custom.

“Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go” (verses 2-5).

God does not mince any words here. He condemns these heathen customs, these “doctrines of vanities” (verse 8) and states that they show a lack of fear and reverence for Him as the “King of nations” (verse 7).

In the days of Jeremiah, people were making an idol out of the tree. The word workman in Jeremiah 10:3 does not describe a lumberjack. The Hebrew word means a craftsman, engraver or artificer—in other words, a sculptor of idols. The same word in Isaiah 40:19-20 and Hosea 8:4-6 describes the fabricator of graven images.

In at least 10 biblical references, the green tree is associated with idolatry and false worship (e.g. 1 Kings 14:23). Since all trees are green at least part of the year, the explicit mention of “green” refers to species that retain their foliage year-round: evergreens.

The word axe used in Jeremiah 10:3 refers specifically to a carving tool. God is clearly condemning the use and decoration of an evergreen tree, and expressing His disgust with man’s disobedience to the Second Commandment (Exodus 20:4-6). God says those who disregard His commands show they hate Him. God condemns pagan, heathen practices—including the Christmas tree.

More Christmas Customs

Long before the time of Christ, pagan Romans celebrated Brumalia, or the re-birth of the sun, after the winter solstice. They celebrated this festival with the same customs they kept on the birthday of their deity—the god of the sun. It was pure idolatry.

The symbols of the Brumalia celebrations stood for a wide variety of pagan superstitions involving the source of life, or fertility. They used a little tree, which was supposed to have grown up overnight out of an old dead log. Today, the sapling is called a Christmas tree; the log is named “Yule.” They used round orbs and eggs, on which they painted snakes and other designs. This was long before the time of tinsel and glass. The gilded nuts and orbs symbolized the sun, reminding the pagans of what they believed to be their source of life. They fashioned wreaths of holly because it was one of the rare plants that still contains little round fruits in midwinter, even in the snowy north.

They also used mistletoe because of a pagan superstition involving its qualities of aphrodisia—a reason why people still carry on the pagan superstition of kissing under the mistletoe.

“Now where did we get this mistletoe custom?” wrote Mr. Armstrong in his booklet on Christmas. “Among the ancient pagans the mistletoe was used at this festival of the winter solstice because it was considered sacred to the sun, because of its supposed miraculous healing power. The pagan custom of kissing under the mistletoe was an early step in the night of revelry and drunken debauchery—celebrating the death of the ‘old sun’ and the birth of the new at the winter solstice. Mistletoe, sacred in pagan festivals, is a parasite!

“Holly berries were also considered sacred to the sun god. The Yule log is in reality the ‘sun log.’ ‘Yule’ means ‘wheel,’ a pagan symbol of the sun. Yet today professing Christians speak of the ‘sacred yuletide season’!”

“Christmas customs are an evolution from times that long antedate the Christian period—a descent from seasonal, pagan, religious and national practices, hedged about with legend and tradition” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th edition). This and other authoritative reference works corroborate that many decorations such as the holly wreath, mistletoe and Yule log are relics of pre-Christian times!

During the time of the Roman Empire, for hundreds of years prior to “Christianity” coming into the mainstream of Western culture, pagan festivals were celebrated. Encyclopedia Britannica explains, “In the Roman world, the Saturnalia (December 17-23) was a time of merrymaking and exchange of gifts. December 25 was also regarded as the birth date of the Iranian mystery god Mithra, the Sun of Righteousness. On the Roman New Year (January 1), houses were decorated with greenery and lights, and gifts were given to children and the poor. To these observances were added the German and Celtic Yule rites when the Teutonic tribes penetrated into Gaul, Britain and central Europe. Food and good fellowship, the Yule log and Yule cakes, greenery and fir trees, and gifts and greetings all commemorated different aspects of this festive season.”

Is it coincidence that these customs are so closely associated with Christmas to this day?

As we look around during the Christmas season, we are witnessing modern versions of observances that were established centuries before the birth of Christ. Christianity absorbed those customs with no scriptural instruction to do so. It was not until over 300 years after Christ’s death that pagan Romans convinced the religious authorities to accept their festive Saturnalia and stamp Christ’s name on it.

Every one of the pagan customs that now pollutes mainstream Christianity began out of deliberate rebellion against the Creator God, the same Being who came to this Earth to educate us with the truth and save us out of our deception and our sin.

If you would like to read more: https://www.thetrumpet.com/literature/10163-the-truth-about-christmas/print


The following post for December 26, 2018 will discuss when Yeshua was born.