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THE PLAIN TRUTH<\/strong> by<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Where did the world get \nChristmas?…from the Bible, or paganism. Here are astonishing facts \nwhich may shock you. Test yourself. How much do you know of the origin \nof the Christmas tree – of “Santa Claus” – of the mistletoe – of the \nholly wreath – of the custom of exchanging gifts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I was a \nlittle boy, I was taught to hang up my stockings on Christmas eve. When I\n awakened the next morning, they were filled with small toys and sacks \nor little boxes of candy and nuts. And beside the mantle, from which my \nstockings hung, a Christmas tree had suddenly appeared, decorated with \nshiny tinsel. And on it hung presents. Other presents for us children \nwere piled on the floor underneath. I was told Santa Claus had come down\n the chimney during the night and left all these things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But did I question what my parents had told me? Of course not. I accepted it – took it all for granted. Didn’t you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n Stop and think a moment. Very few have ever reflected on WHY they \nbelieve what they do – WHY they follow the customs they do, or from \nWHERE those customs came. We were born into a world filled with customs.\n We grew up accepting them without question. Why? Sheep instinct? Well, \nnot exactly. But by nature we do tend to follow the crowd, whether right\n or wrong. Sheep follow others to the slaughter. Humans ought to check \nup where they are going. How – WHEN did Christmas originate? Does \nChristmas REALLY celebrate the birthday of Christ? Was Jesus born on \nDecember 25th? Did the original apostles, who knew Jesus personally and \nwere taught by Him, celebrate His birthday on December 25th? Did they \ncelebrate it AT ALL?<\/p>\n\n\n\n If Christmas is the chief of the Christian \nholidays, WHY do so many non-Christians observe it? Do you know? Why do \npeople exchange presents with family members, friends, relatives, at \nChristmas time? Was it because the wise men presented gifts to the \nChrist-child? The answer may surprise you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most people have “supposed” a lot of things about Christmas that are not true. But let’s quit “supposing” and get the facts!<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n WHAT ENCYCLOPEDIAS SAY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \n The word “Christmas” means “Mass of Christ,” or, as it came to be \nshortened, “Christ-Mass.” It came to non-Christians and Protestants from\n the Roman Catholic Church. And where did they get it? NOT from the New \nTestament – NOT from the Bible – NOT from the original apostles who were\n personally instructed by Christ – but it gravitated in the fourth \ncentury into the Roman Church from paganism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the \ncelebration of Christmas has come to the world from the Roman Catholic \nChurch, and has no authority but that of the Roman Catholic Church, let \nus examine the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 edition, published by that \nchurch. Under the heading “Christmas,” you will find:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Christmas\n was NOT among the earliest festivals on the Church…the first evidence\n of the feast is FROM EGYPT.” “PAGAN CUSTOMS centering around the \nJanuary calends gravitated to Christmas.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n And in the same \nencyclopedia, under the heading “Natal Day,” we find that the early \nCatholic father, Origen, acknowledged this truth: “…In the Scriptures,\n no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his \nbirthday. It is ONLY SINNERS (like Pharaoh and Herod) who make great \nrejoicings over the day in which they were born into THIS world”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n Encyclopedia Britannica, 1946 edition, has this: “Christmas (i.e., the \nMass of Christ)…Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the \nchurch…” It was not instituted by Christ or the apostles, or by Bible \nauthority. It was picked up afterward from paganism. The Encyclopedia \nAmericana, 1944 edition, says: “Christmas…It was, according to many \nauthorities, not celebrated in the first centuries of the Christian \nchurch, as the Christian usage in general was to celebrate the death of \nremarkable persons rather than their birth…” (The “Communion,” which \nis instituted by New Testament Bible authority, is a memorial of the \ndeath of Christ.) “…A feast was established in memory of this event \n[Christ’s birth] in the FOURTH CENTURY. In the fifth century the Western\n Church ordered it to be celebrated forever ON THE DAY OF THE OLD ROMAN \nFEAST OF THE BIRTH OF SOL, as no certain knowledge of the day of \nChrist’s birth existed.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now notice! These recognized historical\n authorities show Christmas was not observed by Christians for the first\n two or three hundred years – a period longer than the entire history of\n the United States as a nation! It got into the Western, or Roman, \nChurch, by the fourth century A.D. It was not until the fifth century \nthat the Roman Church ordered it to be celebrated as an official \nChristian festival!<\/p>\n\n\n\n JESUS NOT BORN DECEMBER 25th<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \n Jesus was not even born in the winter season! When the Christ-child was\n born “there were in the same country shepherds ABIDING in the field, \nkeeping watch over their flock by night” (Luke 2:8). This never could \nhave occurred in Judaea in the month of December. The shepherds always \nbrought their flocks from the mountainsides and fields and corralled \nthem not later than October 15, to protect them from the cold, rainy \nseason that followed that date. Notice that the Bible itself proves, in \nSong of Solomon 2:11 and Ezra 10:9, 13, that winter was a rainy season \nnot permitting shepherds to abide in open fields at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It \nwas an ancient custom among Jews of those days to send out their sheep \nto the fields and deserts about the Passover (early spring), and bring \nthem home at commencement of the FIRST RAIN,” says the Adam Clarke \nCommentary (Vol. 5, page 370, New York ed.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Continuing, this \nauthority states: “During the time they were out, the shepherds watched \nthem night and day. As…the first rain began early in the month of \nMarchesvan, which answers to part of our October and November (begins \nsometime in OCTOBER), we find that the sheep were kept out in the open \ncountry during the whole SUMMER. And, as these shepherds had not YET \nbrought home their flocks, it is a presumptive argument that October had\n not yet commenced, and that, consequently, our Lord was not born on the\n 25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields; nor could He \nhave been born later than September, as the flocks were still in the \nfields BY NIGHT. On this very ground, the nativity in December should be\n given up. The feeding of the flocks by night in the fields is a \nCHRONOLOGICAL FACT…See the quotations from the Talmudists in \nLightfoot.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Any encyclopedia, or any other authority, will tell \nyou that Christ was not born on December 25. The Catholic Encyclopedia \nfrankly states this fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The exact date of Jesus’ birth is \nentirely unknown, as all authorities acknowledge – though if I had space\n in this booklet I could show you scriptures which at least strongly \nindicate it was in the early fall – probably September – approximately \nsix months after Passover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If God had wished us to observe and celebrate Christ’s birthday, He would not have so completely hidden the exact date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n HOW THIS PAGAN CUSTOM GOT INTO THE CHURCH<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Then how did this pagan custom creep into the Western Christian world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religous Knowledge explains it \nclearly, in its article on “Christmas”: “How much the date of the \nfestival depended upon the pagan Brumalia (Dec. 25) following the \nSaturnalia (Dec. 17-24), and celebrating the shortest day of the year \nand the ‘new sun’…cannot be accurately determined. The pagan \nSaturnalia and Brumalia WERE TOO DEEPLY ENTRENCHED IN POPULAR CUSTOM TO \nBE SET ASIDE BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE…The pagan festival with its riot \nand merrymaking was so popular that Christians were glad of an excuse to\n continue its celebration with little change in spirit and manner. \nChristian preachers of the West and the Near East protested against the \nunseemly frivolity with which Christ’s birthday was celebrated, while \nChristians of Mesopotamia ACCUSED THEIR WESTERN BRETHREN OF IDOLATRY AND\n SUN WORSHIP FOR ADOPTING AS CHRISTIAN THIS PAGAN FESTIVAL.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nRemember, the Roman world had been pagan. Prior to the fourth century, \nChristians were few in number, though increasing, and were persecuted by\n the government and by pagans. But, with the advent of Constantine as \nemperor, who made his profession of Christianity in the fourth century, \nplacing Christianity on an equal footing with paganism, people of the \nRoman world began to accept this now-popular Christianity by the \nhundreds of thousands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But remember, these people had grown up \nin pagan customs, chief of which was this idolatrous festival of \nDecember 25th. It was a festival of merrymaking, with its special \nspirit. They enjoyed it! They didn’t want to give it up. Now this same \narticle in the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge \nexplains how the recognition by Constantine of Sunday, which had been \nthe day of pagan sun worship, and how the influence of the pagan \nManichaeism, which identified the SON OF GOD with the physical SUN, gave\n these pagans of the fourth century, now turning over wholesale to \n“Christianity,” their excuse for calling their pagan-festival date of \nDecember 25th (birthday of the SUN-god), the birthday of the SON OF GOD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n And THAT is how “Christmas” became fastened on our Western world. We \nmay call it by another name, but it’s the same old pagan sun-worshipping\n festival still. The only change is in what we call it. You can CALL a \nrabbit a “lion,” but it’s still a rabbit, just the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Again \nfrom the Encyclopaedia Britannica: “Certain Latins, as early as 354, may\n have transferred the birthday from January 6th to December 25, WHICH \nWAS THEN A MITHRAIC FEAST…OR BIRTHDAY OF THE UNCONQUERED SUN…The \nSyrians and Armenians, who clung to January 6th, accused the Romans of \nsun worship and idolatry, contending…that the feast of December 25, \nhad been invented by disciples of Cerinthus…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n THE REAL ORIGIN OF CHRISTMAS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \n But if we got Christmas from the Roman Catholics, and they got it from \npaganism, where did the pagans get it? Where, when, and what was its \nreal origin?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is a chief custom of the corrupt system \ndenounced all through Bible prophecies and teachings under the name of \nBabylon. And it started and originated in the original Babylon of \nancient Nimrod! Yes, it stems from roots whose beginning was shortly \nthis side of the Flood!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nimrod, grandson of Ham, son of Noah, \nwas the real founder of the Babylonish system that has gripped the world\n ever since – this system of organized competition – of man-ruled \ngovernments and empires, based upon the competitive and profit-making \neconomic system. Nimrod built the tower of Babel, the original Babylon, \nancient Nineveh, and many other cities. He organized the world’s first \nkingdom. The name “Nimrod,” in Hebrew is derived from “Marad,” meaning \n“he rebelled.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n From many ancient writings, considerable is \nlearned of this man, who started the great organized worldly apostasy \nfrom God that has dominated this world until now. Nimrod was so evil, it\n is said he married his own mother, whose name was Semiramis. After \nNimrod’s untimely death, his so-called mother-wife, Semiramis, \npropagated the evil doctrine of the survival of Nimrod as a spirit \nbeing. She claimed a full-grown evergreen tree sprang overnight from a \ndead tree stump, which symbolized the springing forth unto new life of \nthe dead Nimrod. On each anniversary of his birth, she claimed Nimrod \nwould visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts upon it. December 25th \nwas the birthday of Nimrod. This is the real origin of the Christmas \ntree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through her scheming and designing, Semiramis became the \nBabylonian “Queen of Heaven,” and Nimrod, under various names, became \nthe “divine son of heaven.” Through the generations, in this idolatrous \nworship, Nimrod also became the false Messiah, son of Baal the Sun-god. \nIn this false Babylonish system, the “Mother and Child” (Semiramis and \nNimrod reborn) became chief objects of worship. This worship of “Mother \nand Child” spread over the world. The names varied in different \ncountries and languages. In Egypt it was Isis and Osiris. In Asia, \nCybele and Deoius. In pagan Rome, Fortuna and Jupiterpuer. Even in \nGreece, China, Japan, Tibet is to be found the counterpart of the \nMadonna, LONG BEFORE THE BIRTH OF CHRIST!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus, during the \nfourth and fifth centuries, when the pagans of the Roman world were \n“accepting” the new popular “Christianity” by the hundreds of thousands,\n carrying their old pagan customs and beliefs along with them, merely \ncloaking them with Christian-sounding names, the Madonna and “Mother and\n Child” idea also became popularized, especially at Christmas time. \nEvery Christmas season you’ll hear sung and chanted dozens of times the \nhymn “Silent Night, Holy Night,” with its familiar “Mother and Child” \ntheme. We, who have been born in such a babylonish world, reared and \nsteeped in these things all our lives, have been taught to revere these \nthings as holy and sacred. We never questioned to see where they came \nfrom – whether they came from the Bible, or from pagan idolatry!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n We are shocked to learn the truth – some, unfortunately, take offense \nat the plain truth! But God commands His faithful ministers, “Cry aloud,\n spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their \ntransgression!” Shocking as these facts are, they are the plain facts of\n history and the Bible. The real origin of Christmas goes back to \nancient Babylon. It is bound up in the organized apostasy which has \ngripped a deceived world these many centuries. In Egypt, it was always \nbelieved that the son of Isis (Egyptian name for “Queen of Heaven”) was \nborn December 25th. Paganism celebrated this famous birthday over most \nof the known world for centuries before the birth of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nDecember 25th is NOT the birthday of Jesus, the true Christ! The \napostles and early true Church never celebrated Christ’s birthday at ANY\n time. There is no command or instruction to celebrate it in the Bible –\n rather, the celebrating of birthdays is a pagan, not a Christian \ncustom, believe it or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus the ancient idolatrous “Chaldean\n Mysteries,” founded by this wife of Nimrod, have been handed down \nthrough the pagan religions under new Christian-sounding names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n ORIGIN OF HOLLY WREATH, MISTLETOE, YULE LOG<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \n Now where did we get this mistletoe custom? Among the ancient pagans \nthe mistletoe was used at this festival of the winter solstice because \nit was considered sacred to the sun, because of its supposed miraculous \nhealing power. The pagan custom of kissing under the mistletoe was an \nearly step in the night of revelry and drunken debauchery – celebrating \nthe death of the “old sun” and the birth of the new at the winter \nsolstice. Mistletoe, sacred in pagan festivals, is a parasite!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nHolly berries were also considered sacred to the sun-god. The yule log \nis in reality the “sun log.” “Yule” means “Wheel,” a pagan symbol of the\n sun. Yet today professing Christians speak of the “sacred yule-tide \nseason”!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even the lighting of fires and candles as a Christian \nceremony is merely a continuation of the pagan custom, encouraging the \nwaning sun-god as he reached the lowest place in the southern skies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Encyclopedia Americana says: “The holly, the mistletoe, the Yule log…are relics of pre-Christian times.” Of paganism!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n The book Answers to Questions, compiled by Frederick J. Haskins, found \nin public libraries, says: The use of Christmas wreaths is believed by \nauthorities to be TRACEABLE TO THE PAGAN CUSTOMS of decorating building \nand places of worship at the feast which took place at the same time as \nChristmas. The CHRISTMAS TREE IS FROM EGYPT, and its origin dates from a\n period long anterior to the Christian Era.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n YES, AND EVEN SANTA CLAUSE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \n But surely dear old Santa Claus is not a creature of pagan birth? But \nhe is, and his real character is not so benevolent and holy as many \nsuppose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The name “Santa Claus” is a corruption of the name “St.\n Nicholas,” a Roman Catholic bishop who lived in the 5th century. Look \nin the Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 19, pages 648-649, 11th edition, \nwhere you’ll read: “St. Nicholas, bishop of Myra, a saint honored by the\n Greeks and Latins on the 6th of December… A legend of his \nsurreptitious bestowal of dowries on the three daughters of an \nimpoverished citizen…is said to have originated the old custom of \ngiving presents in secret on the Eve of St. Nicholas [Dec. 6], \nsubsequently transferred to Christmas day. Hence the association of \nChristmas with Santa Claus…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through the years, parents punish\n their children for telling falsehoods. Then, at Christmas time, they \nthemselves tell their little children this “Santa Claus” lie! Is it any \nwonder many of them, when they grow up and learn the truth, begin to \nbelieve God is a myth, too?<\/p>\n\n\n\n One little fellow, sadly \ndisillusioned about “Santa Claus,” said to a playmate, “Yes, and I’m \ngoing to look into this ‘Jesus Christ’ business, too!” Is it Christian \nto teach children myths and falsehoods? God says, “Thou shalt not bear \nfalse witness.” It may seem right, and be justified by human reason, but\n God says, “There is a way that SEEMETH right to a man, but the end \nthereof are the ways of death.” “Old Nick” also is a term for the devil!\n Is there a connection? Satan appears as an “angel of light,” to deceive\n (II Cor 11:14; Rev 12:9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n And so when we examine the facts, we \nare astonished to learn that the practices of observing Christmas is \nnot, after all, a true Christian practice, but a pagan custom – one of \nthe ways of Babylon our people have fallen into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT THE CHRISTMAS TREE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \n But if the Bible is silent about telling us to observe Christmas, or \nrecording any such observance by the apostles or early true Church, it \nDOES have something to say about the Christmas tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This will \ncome as a real surprise to many. But here it is: Jeremiah 10:2-6: “Thus \nsaith the Lord, LEARN NOT THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN…FOR THE CUSTOMS OF \nTHE PEOPLE ARE VAIN: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work \nof the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and \nwith gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move \nnot.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a perfect description of the Christmas tree, \ntermed by the Eternal as “the way of the heathen – the customs of the \npeople.” We are commanded not to learn that way or follow it. It is also\n viewed in this passage as idolatry. The fifth verse shows that these \ntrees cannot speak – cannot walk – must be carried. “Be not afraid of \nthem; for THEY (the trees) cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to\n do good.” They are not gods to be feared. Some people MISread this to \nmake it say there is no harm in having a Christmas tree, but that is not\n what it says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n ISN’T EXCHANGING GIFTS SCRIPTURAL?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \n But when it comes to the most important part of all in this Christmas \nobservance – the Christmas shopping season – the buying and exchanging \nof gifts – many will exclaim triumphantly, “Well, at least the Bible \ntells us to do that. Didn’t the wise men give gifts when Christ was \nborn?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Again, we are due for some surprises, when we learn the \nplain truth. First, let’s look at the historic origin of trading gifts \nback and forth, then see exactly what the Bible DOES say about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n From the Bibliotheca Sacra, volume 12, pages 153-155, we quote: “The \ninterchange of presents between friends is alike characteristic of \nChristmas and the Saturnalia, and MUST HAVE BEEN ADOPTED BY THE \nCHRISTIANS FROM THE PAGANS, as the admonition of Tertullian plainly \nshows.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fact is, this custom fastened upon people of \nexchanging gifts with friends and relatives at the Christmas season HAS \nNOT A SINGLE TRACE OF CHRISTIANITY ABOUT IT, strange though that may \nseem. This does not celebrate Christ’s birthday nor honor it or Him! \nSuppose someone you love has a birthday. You want to honor that person \non his or her birthday. Would you lavishly buy gifts for EVERYONE ELSE, \ntrading gifts back and forth with all your OTHER friends and loved ones,\n but ignore completely any gift for the one whose birthday you are \nhonoring? Rather absurd, when viewed in that light, isn’t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nYet this is exactly what people the world over are doing. They honor a \nday that is not Christ’s birthday by spending every dime they can scrape\n together in buying presents to trade back and forth among friends and \nrelatives. But I can say by years of experience, as I believe most \npastors and ministers can say, that when the month of December rolls \naround, nearly all professing Christians forget to give gifts to Christ \nand His cause almost altogether. December often is the most difficult \nmonth to keep Christ’s work from dying. People are too busy trading \ngifts back and forth among themselves to think of Him and His Work, it \nseems. Then, in January and even into February it seems they have to \ncatch up from what they spent for Christmas, so they seldom get back to \nnormal in supporting Christ and His Work before March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now \nconsider what the Bible says about the wise men giving gifts when Christ\n was born. It is in Matthew 2:1-11. “Now when Jesus was born in \nBethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came \nwise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born \nKING OF THE JEWS? …And when they were come into the house, they saw \nthe young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him: \nAND WHEN THEY HAD OPENED THEIR TREASURES, they presented unto HIM gifts;\n gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n WHY GIFTS PRESENTED TO CHRIST<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \n Notice, they inquired for the child Jesus, who was born KING of the \nJews. Now why did they present gifts to Him? Because it was His \nbirthday? Not at all, because they came several days or weeks after the \ndate of His birth. Was it to set an example for us, today, to trade \ngifts back and forth among ourselves? No, notice carefully. They did not\n exchange gifts among themselves, but “they presented unto HIM gifts.” \nThey gave their gifts to Christ, not to their friends, relatives, or one\n another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why? Let me quote from the Adam Clarke Commentary, \nvolume 5, page 46: “Verse 11. (They presented unto him gifts.) The \npeople of the east never approach the presence of kings and great \npersonages, without a present in their hands. The custom is often \nnoticed in the Old Testament, and still prevails in the east, and in \nsome of the newly discovered South Sea Islands.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n There it is. \nThey were not instituting a new Christian custom of exchanging gifts \nwith friends to honor Christ’s birthday. They were following an old and \nancient eastern custom of presenting gifts to a king when they came into\n his presence. They were approaching Him, born King of the Jews, in \nperson. Therefore custom required they present gifts – even as the Queen\n of Sheba brought gifts to Solomon – even as many people today take a \ngift along when they visit the White House for an appointment with the \nPresident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No, the custom of trading gifts back and forth does \nnot stem from this scriptural incident at all, but rather, as quoted \nfrom history above, it is the continuance of an ancient pagan custom. \nInstead of honoring Christ, it invariably retards His Work, often sets \nit back, at the Christmas season every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n DOES IT REALLY HONOR CHRIST?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now come two arguments often used to justify Christmas observance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n 1) Many will reason this way: “But, even though the exact date of \nJesus’ birth is unknown, should we not select SOME date to celebrate as \nHis birthday?” The answer is positively no. Did you not notice the \nstatement quoted from the Catholic Encyclopedia: “Sinners alone, not \nsaints, celebrate their birthdays.” The custom of birthdays is not a \nChristian, but a pagan custom, observed by sinners!<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2) But, many\n still reason, “Even so – even though Christmas was a pagan custom, \nhonoring the false sun-god, we don’t observe it to honor the false god, \nwe observe it to honor Christ.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n But how does God answer in His Word? “Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them [the pagans in their customs]<\/p>\n\n\n\n … that thou enquire not after their gods,\n saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do \nlikewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord they God: for every \nabomination to the Eternal, which he hateth, have they done unto their \ngods” (Deut 12:30-31).<\/p>\n\n\n\n God says plainly in His Instruction Book \nto us, that He will not accept that kind of worship, even though \nintended in His honor. To Him, He says, it is offering what is \nABOMINABLE to Him, and therefore it honors, not Him, but false pagan \ngods. God says we must not worship Him according to the “dictates of our\n own conscience” – a term we often hear. But Jesus says plainly, “God is\n a spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in \ntruth” (John 4:24). And what is truth? God’s Word – the Holy Bible – \nsaid Jesus, is truth (John 17:17); and the Bible says God will not \naccept worship when people take a pagan custom or manner of worship and \ntry to honor Christ with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Again, Jesus said: “In VAIN they do\n worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt \n15:9). Christmas observance is a TRADITION OF MEN, and the commandments \nof God, as quoted, forbid it. Jesus said, further, “full well ye reject \nthe commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nThat is precisely what the millions are doing today. They ignore the \ncommandment of God. He commands, regarding taking the customs of the \npagans and using them to honor or worship God: “Thou shalt not do so \nunto the Lord thy God.” Still, most people today take that command of \nGod lightly, or as having no validity whatsoever, and follow the \ntradition of men in observing Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Make no mistake. God \nwill ALLOW you to defy and disobey Him. He will ALLOW you to follow the \ncrowd and the traditions of men. He will ALLOW you to sin. But He also \nsays there is a day of reckoning coming. As you sow, so shall you reap. \nJesus was the LIVING Word of God in Person, and the Bible is the WRITTEN\n Word of God. And we shall be judged, for eternity, by these words. They\n should not be taken lightly or ignored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n WE’RE IN BABYLON, AND HAVEN’T KNOWN IT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \n Christmas has become a commercial season. It’s sponsored, kept alive, \nby the heaviest retail advertising campaigns of the year. You see a \nmasqueraded “Santa Claus” in many stores. Ads keep us deluded and \ndeceived about the “beautify Christmas spirit.” The newspaper, who sell \nthe ads, print flowery editorials exalting and eulogizing the pagan \nseason, and its “spirit.” A gullible people has become so inoculated, \nmany take offense when told the truth. But the “Christmas spirit” is \ncreated each year, not to honor Christ, but to sell merchandise. Like \nall Satan’s delusions, it appears as an “angel of light,” is made to \nappear good. Billions of dollars are spent in this merchandising spree \nevery year, while the cause of Christ must suffer. It’s part of the \neconomic system of Babylon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have professed to be Christian \nnations, but we’re in Babylon, as Bible prophecy foretold, and we don’t \nknow it. “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her \nsins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” – now soon to fall – is \nthe warning of Revelation 18:4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This year, instead of gift trading, why not put that money into God’s Work? <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n ABOUT HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n From time to time I have been asked my opinion of Herbert W. Armstrong and the old Worldwide Church of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let me begin by saying that I do not agree with everything Armstrong taught<\/strong><\/em>. However Armstrong taught many truths that were definitely on the cutting edge for his time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n The very name \u201cChurch of God\u201d though still using gentilized terminology\n was a Scriptural name, as the Body of Messiah is generally referred to \nin the Ketuvim Netzarim (the so-called \u201cNew Testament\u201d) as the \u201cAssembly\n of Elohim\u201d (for which reason WNAE takes the name \u201cWorldwide Nazarene \nAssembly of Elohim\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Armstrong taught seventh day, evening to \nevening Sabbath observance, while exposing the pagan origins and nature \nof Sunday Worship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Armstrong taught the Scriptural feasts (which\n also happen to be the Jewish Holidays) while exposing the pagan origins\n and nature of the Pagan holidays like Halloween, Christmas and Easter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Armstrong also criticized pagan customs in general, not just Pagan holidays and Sunday worship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And long before the so-called \u201cTwo House\u201d movement, Armstrong was teaching:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe peoples of the United States, the British Commonwealth nations,<\/em> Not long before his death in 1986, Armstrong finally came to the following far reaching conclusion:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Satan has deceived this world’s churches into the<\/em> \n Unfortunately Armstrong died before he was able to fully explore and \nimplement the far reaching implications of this astounding revelation. \nArmstrong had realized that it was not just the Sabbath we should be \nkeeping, not just the Holy Days, not just bits and pieces of the Torah, \nbut that the Torah had never been done away with at all. Had Armstrong \nlived to fully implement this revelation, the old WWCG would have \nstarted wearing Tzitzit (Numbers 15:37-41) putting a mezuzah on the door\n (Deut. 6:8-9; 11:18-20), wearing tefillin (Deut. 6:8; 11:18; Ex. 13:9; \n13:16; Mt. 23:5) etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this reason I say that in a world that was blind, Armstrong saw with blurred vision. <\/p>\n\n\n As I have said to you many times, I look on this work as a co-operative one with me, and all of you combining our resources together in order to get the job done of helping to teach this great truth to all in the world who will listen. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for your continued support, you are the ones who make it all possible<\/strong><\/em> by your contributions and your prayers for our work. I truly appreciate your help in every way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you can make a one time donation of $500 or $1,000 dollars to support this work.<\/strong><\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ABOUT CHRISTMAS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Herbert W. Armstrong<\/strong>
1892 – 1986<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
and the nations of northwestern Europe are, in fact,<\/em>
the peoples of the Ten Tribes of the House of Israel.<\/em>
The Jewish People are the House of Judah.\u201d<\/em>
-The United States and Britain in Prophecy, ninth ed. P. 144; Herbert W. Armstrong<\/p>\n\n\n\n
belief that God’s law was done away-that Jesus, rather than paying the<\/em>
price in human stead for transgressing the law, did away with it-<\/em>
“nailing it to his cross.” The expression used by Protestants<\/em>
“nailing the law to his cross” can mean only one thing. This is<\/em>
Satan’s teaching that by being nailed to the cross, Christ<\/em>
abolished the law, making it possible for humans to sin with impunity.<\/em>
What actually was nailed to the cross was Christ our sin bearer, who<\/em>
took on himself our sins, paying the death penalty in our stead, so<\/em>
that we are freed from the ultimate penalty of sinning, not made free<\/em>
to sin with impunity. The very basic teaching, belief AND DOCTRINE OF<\/em>
God’s true Church therefore is based on the righteousness of and<\/em>
obedience to the law of God.”<\/em>
-Mystery of the Ages; Herbert W. Armstrong p. 274<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/nazarenespace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Siren2-1.gif\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nOur rent was due yesterday! <\/mark>In these uncertain times, we need your support more than ever. The time is short, and there is much work to be done. This is no time to pull back from the great work in front of us!<\/mark><\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Now is time to step up to the plate!<\/p>\n\n\n\nDonations can be sent by Paypal to donations@wnae.org.<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Or click HERE<\/a> to donate<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\nAnd don’t forget to join the conversations at the NazareneSpace Social Network<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n