Yes, you read it right! Please here me out; I’m just trying to bring some important things to the light, especially to those who call themselves Christians/believers/followers of Messiah because, whether or not you realize it, you represent Messiah. We either represent Him well and truthfully OR we do not.
Long story, short…
Christmas Violates:
Prohibition of Sun-worship/Paganism (ways of the “nations”, “Babel/Babylon”, “Egypt”)
Prohibition of Idolatry
Prohibition of mixing idol worship with YHWH’s worship
***I highly recommend watching the VIDEOS I linked at the bottom of this post. They help to connectthedots of these (probably ridiculous-sounding) claims above. They provide explanations and details that help one to understand the “what, when, where, why” questions toward this holiday. Also, if you’d like to take the time to read into it, there are BOOKS linked down below as well.***
Christmas Facts (some):
Celebrates the birthday of every Pagan sun-god around the world (a.k.a. Baal, Nimrod, counterfeit Son of God): Dec. 25th, Winter Solstice
Originates with the Tower of Babel (King Nimrod, see Genesis 11).
Based off a Babylonian Legend that includes sexual immorality (Nimrod, main character).
Was illegal in the United States until the mid 1800s.
In December 1871, Charles Spurgeon claimed in his sermon (No. 1026) that Christmas is “not of divine authority,” and included it in with the “heathen festivals,” (Spurgeon’s Sermons vol. 17).
Christianized by Constantine (Sun-god/Sunday worshipper) in order to help believers in Messiah to have an easy transition to his meshing of Pagan, sun-centered beliefs with Truth (313 AD).
General traditions hold perverse meanings (research Saturnalia or Christ’s Mass).
Christmas festivals in Germany are still held today that include people dressing up as demons (Santa’s/Satan’s helpers) to intimidate children who were “naughty”. This is commonly known as Krampusnacht (Krampus Night).
Now, I know most reading this do not celebrate Christmas because they want to worship a Pagan god, support sexual immorality, or intentionally put up an idol in their home.
I just feel it’s extremely important to share this information so we are aware, and then from here, choose what we’d like to do or not to do. My hopes are that we all do our part and test everything we are doing, thinking, and believing… Seek YHWH on this and I’m sure He will show His heart to you on this matter, because He graciously did that for me.
Let’s let The WORD talk.
What Does Scripture Have to Say?
Idolatry and Sun-worship Customs
This is what YHWH says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. 3For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.
YHWH is letting us know that there are customs around us that we are not to do. It goes against Him and it mentions that these actions are not worth doing.
“These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully observe in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess [a]as long as you live on the [b]earth. 2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. 3 You shall tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and burn their [c]Asherim with fire, and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods and obliterate their name from that place.
Deuteronomy 12:1-3
YHWH is showing us how He wants idols to be dealt with. The above passage describes an instance in the past where He commanded His people to (completely) destroy everything that was not of Him and His worship.
Idolatry is serious to YHWH. Though we may not view things like Christmas trees as idols, YHWH states what is.
30 beware that you are not ensnared [p]to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’ 31 You shall not behave thus toward YHWH your Elohim, for every abominable act which YHWH hates they have done for their gods…
Deuteronomy 12:30-31a; See Deuteronomy 18:9 also
This is the Most High’s command to not imitate (or be trapped into imitating) the culture around us. The customs back then aren’t very different to the ones surrounding us today. I honestly think it all comes from the same deceiving source and is actually the same as today, though less details are out in the light for us to see with our own eyes (for instance, idolaters sacrificing their own children is mentioned).
Another thing to note: one doesn’t have to be a believer of YHWH to celebrate Christmas. Atheists, lukewarm believers, and Satanists especially keep this holiday priority.
Words of Paul:
Warnings From Israel’s History
10 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”[a]8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test Christ,[b] as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us(!!!!!!!!!!!), on whom the culmination of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation[c] has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted[d] beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,[e] he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Idol Feasts and the Lord’s Supper
14 Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.
18 Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19 Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
1 Corinthians 10:14-21
Enough has been said.
The words of an ‘elder’ (possibly one of the Twelve Disciples):
21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.
1 John 5:21
Short and sweet! Let us examine ourselves, our homes, & our traditions. Based on what YHWH says are idols, do we hold any similarities to these written examples we have on how we bring reverence to Him?
Mixing Idol Worship with YHWH’s Worship
Consider the Story of the Golden Calf… which doesn’t end well.
32 When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.”
2 Aaron said to them, “Take off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me.”
3 All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 He received what they handed him, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molded calf. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh.”
6 They rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
7 Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, get down; for your people, who you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves! 8 They have turned away quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”
9 Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.”
11 Moses begged Yahweh his God, and said, “Yahweh, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, that you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians talk, saying, ‘He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth?’ Turn from your fierce wrath, and turn away from this evil against your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring[a] as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’”
14 So Yahweh turned away from the evil which he said he would do to his people.
15 Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand; tablets that were written on both their sides. They were written on one side and on the other. 16 The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is the noise of war in the camp.”
18 He said, “It isn’t the voice of those who shout for victory. It is not the voice of those who cry for being overcome; but the noise of those who sing that I hear.” 19 As soon as he came near to the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. Then Moses’ anger grew hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mountain. 20 He took the calf which they had made, and burned it with fire, ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink it.
21 Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you have brought a great sin on them?”
22 Aaron said, “Don’t let the anger of my lord grow hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. 23 For they said to me, ‘Make us gods, which shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’ 24 I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them take it off.’ So they gave it to me; and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”
25 When Moses saw that the people were out of control, (for Aaron had let them lose control, causing derision among their enemies), 26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on Yahweh’s side, come to me!”
All the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. 27 He said to them, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘Every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’” 28 The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. About three thousand men fell of the people that day. 29 Moses said, “Consecrate yourselves today to Yahweh, for every man was against his son and against his brother, that he may give you a blessing today.”
30 On the next day, Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. Now I will go up to Yahweh. Perhaps I shall make atonement for your sin.”
31 Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, “Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold. 32 Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written.”
33 Yahweh said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.” 35 Yahweh struck the people, because of what they did with the calf, which Aaron made.
Exodus 32, The Golden Calf
The worship of the Golden Calf is another example where YHWH does not accept the customs of worship from other nations, even if they are genuinely done FOR Him (ex. “Tomorrow is a feast to YHWH!”).
Our hearts may be sincere with traditions we keep, but if those traditions conflict with The Most High, His ways, and His Word than it is not acceptable to Him. He doesn’t look at one’s heart until he/she is obedient.
Consider this passage about mixing idol worship with YHWH’s worship:
8 But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.
9 “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury,[a] burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? 11 Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord.
12 “‘Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. 13 While you were doing all these things, declares the Lord, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer. 14 Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your ancestors. 15 I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your fellow Israelites, the people of Ephraim.’
Jeremiah 7:8-15
And this one… They feared YHWH, BUT worshipped others.
33 They feared the Lord, but they also worshiped their own gods according to the custom of the nations where they had been deported from.
34 They are still practicing the former customs to this day. None of them fear the Lord or observe their statutes and ordinances, the law and commandments the Lord commanded the descendants of Jacob. He had renamed him Israel. 35 The Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them, “Do not fear other gods; do not bow down to them; do not serve them; do not sacrifice to them. 36 Instead fear the Lord, who brought you from the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm. You are to bow down to Him, and you are to sacrifice to Him. 37 You are to be careful always to observe the statutes, the ordinances, the law, and the commandments He wrote for you; do not fear other gods. 38 Do not forget the covenant that I have made with you. Do not fear other gods, 39 but fear the Lord your God, and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.”
40 However, they would not listen but continued practicing their former customs. 41 These nations feared the Lord but also served their idols. Their children and grandchildren continue doing as their fathers did until today.
2 Kings 17:33-41, Origin of the Samaritans
If there’s ONE thing to take from this and/or His Word…
It’s about HIM….Not about us, our wants, our comforts, or our sentimental things we hold onto so tight. It’s not about how we would like to live or express our beliefs. It is all about how the Creator of All desires to be worshipped, for HE is the One being worshipped.
Please fear Him and obey what He commands because He knows what’s best. After all, He was in the beginning. He is the beginning. The Most High knows all and warns for a reason. I believe He wants to keep those who love Him pure and protected from all evil (things He does not agree with/hates) for when He returns.
15 But if it doesn’t please you to worship Yahweh, choose for yourselves today the one you will worship: the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my family, we will worship Yahweh.”
English