December's featured article
History of Christmas
Having surveyed the subject of festivals in scripture we will briefly consider the origin and story of Christmas observance, I will not go into great detail on this subject as any encyclopaedia will give most of the required information.
The early church, as we have seen, simply did not observe Christmas. Until the 5th century there was no consensus of opinion as to when it should be observed. Jan 6th and March 25th were rival dates. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica December 25th was originally a Mithraic festival, the natalis invicti solis, or birthday of the unconquered sun. It seems clear that the time of the winter solstice was generally a time of pagan festivity.
Before proceeding we must ask some controversial and radical questions. After the departure of the original apostles, did the church steadily grow into maturity, or did it steadily decline into darkness? Was the establishment of Christianity under Constantine as Rome's official religion a triumph or a tragedy? Was the "Christianising" of heathen places of worship and customs a wise and generous compromise, or was it departure from the truth?
I would submit that Scripture and history unite to testify that the organised church went progressively into darkness rather than into light. In general the church steadily lost the spiritual dimension of the New Covenant. Then, instead of simply retreating into the truths of the Old Covenant, its leaders like Jeroboam of old produced idols and festivals out of their own hearts to satisfy the people; or perhaps to be more accurate, they turned to paganism for their inspiration! Consequently the period when the church held undisputed sway over all Europe has become known to historians with unbelievable irony as the dark ages.
The date of Christmas is clearly heathen, but what about its customs? Where do they come from? In fact they come from many different sources all of which are pagan and were gradually added over the centuries. The decorating of homes and giving of presents comes from the Roman Saturnalia. Mistletoe comes from the druids. The Saxons used holly and ivy. The emphasis on lights and fires probably comes from the original sun worship at the darkest time of the year. The Christmas tree appears to be of German origin.
More significant perhaps than these customs, whose origin has largely been forgotten, is the central religious theme of Christmas: the worship of the mother and child. The ancient Babylonians worshipped a goddess mother and her son and this worship appears to have spread throughout the ancient cultures. At Christmas this ancient idolatry appears annually disguised as Mary and Jesus.
In mediaeval times the "merrymaking" aspect became particularly strong. This included eating, drinking, carol singing, dancing and pantomimes. Ceremonies were directed by a man whose official title was the "Lord of Misrule".
Christmas was forbidden in England by act of parliament by the Puritans under Cromwell, but revived with the restoration under King Charles II. In Scotland it has only become a public holiday in the last 30 years.
A minority of Christians, notably among the Brethren, have rejected Christmas in recent times.
Christmas Today
We must bring this study up-to-date by considering modern Christmas. Each year as world poverty increases, some new spending record is made. Presents that might have seemed expensive twenty years ago are nothing today. Children feel deprived if their presents aren't as good as those of their friends. Bigger and better presents compensate for less and less happy families. Each year the police have a special campaign to prevent drunken driving. Women especially wear themselves out with endless hours of buying presents, sending cards, preparing food and decorating the house. The pagan origins of the festival are forgotten and materialism has taken over.
Should we attempt to "put Christ back into Christmas", as an old slogan used to exhort us. Can we encourage people to remember its "true meaning"?! I believe we face fundamentally the same problem as the early church and indeed as the modern missionary. Can we take something essentially heathen and make it Christian? I personally do not believe we can. It is not the way of the Bible or of God.
No doubt here are many people who seek to keep Christmas "in the right spirit". They genuinely seek to remember the birth of Jesus without undue emphasis on Mary. They seek to turn the occasion to an evangelistic opportunity. They minimise the worldly aspects of it all. They visit the elderly and lonely and welcome them into their homes. Such actions one can only praise, but must they be done in the name of Christmas? If I were in India and felt moved to pray, I would not go to a Hindu temple to do it. If I wanted to hold a Christian meeting I would not normally do it in a mosque.
Other Festivals
So far I have concentrated on the keeping of Christmas; but it must be obvious that exactly the same principles apply to other church festivals. The name Easter goes back to the goddess Astarte of Nineveh. Hot cross buns and Easter eggs go back to ancient heathen ceremonies. Once again Arthur Ware and Frank Paine have shown conclusively that Jesus died on Friday 1st of May in 33 AD and rose at midnight between Sunday 3rd and Monday 4th.
Alexander Hislop in his book "The Two Babylons" gives a wealth of tedious detail illustrating that every festival in the church's calendar goes back to ancient heathen worship.
Summary
We may then summarise our findings. The festivals of the Old Covenant were solemnly ordained and commanded by God. They served a temporary purpose in pointing forward to spiritual realities as yet not revealed. The festivals of the New Covenant belong to the invisible realm of the spirit. To those born of water and the spirit into the kingdom of God they are substantial and real and vastly superior to anything manmade. They are above the Old Covenant festivals as heaven is above the earth. The festivals of the organised church were never ordained by God. They are heathen in origin and mainly materialistic in practice (at least in the case of Christmas). They are foreign to the fundamental concepts of the New Covenant.
Let me close with the words of Paul from 2 Corinthians 6: 14-18: 'Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteous and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; ... 'Therefore come out from their midst and be separate,' says the Lord. 'And do not touch what is unclean; and I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to Me,' says the Lord Almighty.'
Beyond Today -- Is God a Trinity?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pln8YWni7X0
Although this is a core mainstream Christian belief, discover why it's a false concept that hinders your relationship with God.
Do you have a ministry or a business
Do you have a called of God ministry where your whole purpose is to "feed the sheep", and God supplies your needs, or do you have books, tapes, videos, etc. that you SELL for a "donation", or just outright SELL, and your buyers supply your needs?
There is nothing wrong with being in business and selling things. However, if you are a church or any kind of "ministry", you may want to check your motive for how you are conducting the work of the Lord.
Remember the money changers in the temple where JESUS turned over the tables and threw them out. They were selling things in the "CHURCH".
(God made it quite clear to us that we were not to charge for anything, that HE is our source.)
