After our Live Talk on Instagram last week, I have decided to put it down in a blog post as well. Not everyone wants to or have the time to watch a 80 minute + video or some don’t have Instagram. So here’s the same detail that we have shared & a little bit more!
This talk is not intended to upset anyone or make you feel guilty. When watching the talk or reading the blog - we don't want you to feel condemned. We pray that Father will bring conviction in your heart and that He will reveal His truth to you.
Condemnation (fear, guilt, accusation) comes from the enemy. Conviction comes from the Lord.
Link to Instagram Talk: https://www.instagram.com/p/CW_gd5yl5Wf/
If this is the first time you heard that there are Christians who don't celebrate Christmas or if you have heard it before, but you're not sure why - I want to encourage you to read through this post. Don't just close it down or ignore it because it seems strange or unfamiliar.
John 8:32 “And you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.”
Before I share the notes from our talk… I really want to challenge you to go and Google “Origin of Christmas” and just see how much information is FREELY available:
I want to encourage you to not only read this and believe me. But I want to challenge and encourage you to really go and do your own research on the topic. Go sit at Abba’s feet and ask Him to reveal the truth about all of this to you.
I would like to share my personal testimony with you guys before we dive into the facts. I grew up in the NG church for most of my life. And I don't regret growing up in the church - so please don't see it as if I'm bad mouthing the church. The NG church have taught me very valuable lessons and formed the basis of my Christian knowledge. Later on we moved from the NG church to the AGS church and at this stage we don't belong to any church. I am mentioning the NG and AGS churches as that is the background that I came from. The fact of the matter is - the church did not teach me the full truth found in the Bible - and that's why we made the decision to leave the church.
I do believe that we should spend time with fellow believers and learn from one another. But churches / "eclessia" in the Bible was never big churches like we know it in today's world. Eclessia – the way God intended it to be – was small groups of people who had fellowship together. We need to have a personal relationship with the people we are in fellowship with. And in large churches, the truth is that we don't have fellowship with the leader of the church and thus it's not biblical sound any longer.
I'm not telling you to quit the church or that one church is better than the other. All I am saying is that the journey Father took us on, led us to getting out of the worldly church systems and back into His Word. And I trust that He will take you on the journey He has in mind for you personally as well – we only have to be willing and teachable.
As a child, I can remember how our Christmases were. It was filled with WAY too much food and gifts. And although I don't recall that food was ever wasted - the food was still way too much. We used to eat Christmas food pretty much until after the new year! And Father revealed to me how this is still a form of gluttony. And how gluttony is all over the scene in so many houses at Christmas time. My childhood memories also include me and my sister waiting in excitement on Christmas eve for Santa to bring our gifts. My mom was the first one to start questioning the biblical truth surrounding Christmas and later on the rest of our family followed. You can listen to my testimony on the live chat in more detail – for this blog post, I want to focus more on the facts.
Mark 7:13 “Making the Word of God of none effect through your tradition…”
Some translations says that the traditions of men “nullify” the Word of God.
I'm not going to type out the rest of the scriptures for you in this post - because I want you to go and read up for yourselves and read the scriptures in context - not only the bits that I'm sharing.
Fact: Christmas is NEVER mentioned in the Bible. Several other festivals / feasts and important dates are mentioned though. But Christmas won’t be found.
God is a God of immense detail. When we look at the detail of the instructions to Israel on how the tabernacle should be built, the detail of the biblical feasts, the detail Yeshua used when He told the parables to His disciples. God is not someone who leave out any detail. Thus, if things are left “unmentioned” in the Bible – it’s probably because it’s not biblical and NOT because God forgot to tell the writers of the Bible to mention it.
So where did Christmas originate?
Since 2500 bC the world celebrated the “feast of the son of Isis” on the 25th of December. This feast was a festival that included gluttonous eating, excessive drinking and giving gifts.
Gluttony is idolatry! It’s an abomination in God’s eyes and He despises it!
Go study: Deut 21:20 | 1 John 2:15-17 | Prov 25:28 | Eph 5:5 | Prov 23:21 | Prov 28:7 | 1 Chron 6:19-20
God gave food to us and intended that we should enjoy it. But the Bible also tells us that we should have everything in moderation. Just like we need self-control in other areas of our lives – the same way we need self-control when it comes to food.
Food is made to be enjoyed and we can see that in the biblical feasts! All of the feast which Yeshua instructed His people to keep (which does not include any man-made feasts) – include food. When Yeshua taught the people how these feasts should be kept, He even went into the detail of what people should be eating and how those foods should be prepared. I really want you to understand that I’m not saying that food is the problem. But the inability to stop / to say "no" is a problem. And way too often Christmases are known for overindulgence and gluttonous eating.
Go study: Rom 6:12-14 | Mark 7:21-23 | Phil 3:18-19
We as Christians claim to celebrate Yeshua’s birthday on 25 December. But truth is that Yeshua is not even born on 25 December. There are however SEVERAL occultic figures whose birthdays are on 25 December.
On a completely random note – if it was Yeshua’s birthday, why would we get gifts? If it’s your brother/sister’s birthday, you don’t get a gift. But we think it’s normal & okay to get and give gifts on Yeshua’s so called birthday.
In 70 aC on 17 December, the start of Saturnalia was marked. The feast of Saturnalia was held in honour of the Roman god Saturn. It was a weeklong festival where they ate, drank and were festive. Saturn, according to Roman mythology is the god of agriculture, righteousness and power. He was scared that his offspring would take over his reign and thus he ATE all his children at birth!!! Please do your own research to validate it if you don’t believe me.
Back in the day (before Yeshua’s birth), round about 150 aC – the Romans started to celebrate the birth of the unconquerable / invincible sun, Mithras on 25 December. It was a roman custom to decorate green branches as part of the celebration. And to use fruit as decorations to symbolise and celebrate “life.” According to mythology, Mithras, was born from a rock and was killed by a bull. They also believe that the bull’s blood (who killed Mithras) became the source of all life on earth.
Round about 313 aC the Roman emperor converted to Christianity. The emperor provided land, money and churches to the priests.
In 350 aC, Pop Julius the first realised that too many Romans still were in pagan worship and that it would be impossible to force them to stop celebrating the birth of the invincible sun’s birthday on 25 December. He therefore decided and declared that from thereon forward the Roman Catholics should celebrate Jesus’s birth on 25 December.
If Yeshua wanted us to celebrate His birthday – we would have read about it in the Bible for starters. Just like we read about the detail of all the other important dates and feasts that He does require of us to honour. And secondly – it would have been celebrated immediately after the birth of Yeshua – and not only 350 years after His birth – when Pope Julius decided to label the pagan festival with a Christian label.
The fact that we can’t get past is that 25 December was selected and celebrated as the celebration of the sun god / Saturnalia.
Saturnalia is also known as the Winter Solstice. Remember when we have summer here in South Africa, it’s winter in the Northern Hemisphere (including Rome). The Winter Solstice marks the darkest time of the year, and according to mythology it marks the time when the sun is “born again.”
The colours that mark the winter solstice is red, green, silver, gold and white.
The herbs/plants that are used to celebrate the winter solstice is holly, evergreen, nutmeg, mistle toe, frankincense, myrrh, rosemary & sage.
The gemstones that are part of the winter solstice is emerald, bloodstone, diamond & rubies.
We would be very naïve to say that its all coincidentally that the colours, plants and gemstones of Saturnalia and Christmas are by “accident” the same.
God is VERY serious in His Word about tradition and how much He despises it! He also clearly instructs us to not have anything to do with the pagans and to NOT follow their customs.
Go study: Mark 7:13 | Col 2:8 | Deut 12:30-31 | Jer 10:1-25
Now that we know where Christmas originated, let’s look at some Christmas symbols and where they come from:
Christmas Tree:
As winter started, plants started to die. The pagans took evergreen branches and brought it into their homes with the purpose to sustain the “life” of the plants until Spring. Pagans believe that wood spirits live in the trees. And thus the evergreen branches that was brought into the houses was done to give a “safe place” for the wood spirits for the winter. Over the years, this evolved into the Christmas tree. You are welcome to do your own research to validate this.
Food & treats were hung on the branches to feed the wood spirits. Pagans also hung bells on the trees, and it’s believed that the bells will ring when there is a thankful spirit present. And we as Christians think that songs like Jingle Bells, etc are cute and nice to listen to.
The 5-point star on the top of the Christmas tree represents the five elements: fire, earth, metal, water & wood.
“Under ever green tree” is mentioned in so many places in the Bible when God referred to the customs of the pagans.
Go study: Deut 12:2 | 1 Kings 14:23 | 2 Kings 16:4 | 2 Kings 17:10-11 | 2 Cor 28:4 | Isa 57:5 | Jer 2:20 | Jer 3:6 | Jer 10:1-25 | Jer 3:13 | Ex 6:13
Sacrifices & offerings were placed under the trees and they bowed down before the tree to bring honour to the spirits. The same thing is true with gifts today. Whether we do it knowingly / unknowingly – when we put down gifts under the Christmas Tree, we continuously bow down to the pagan gods when we bow down in front of Christmas trees.
Why would we as Christians chose to worship and bring honour to Yeshua in the same manner that pagans worship their gods? God directly instructs us to NOT have anything to do with pagan customs and traditions.
Santa Claus / Father Christmas:
Thousand of years before Christians started to celebrate Christmas, there are records that Nimrod’s birthday was celebrated on 25 December and according to mythology gifts were given and placed under trees on 25 December.
Semiramis (also known as Astarte, Isis, Ishtar, Easter) was married to Nimrod – her son! Nimrod was part of Noah’s offspring (Noah – Ham – Nimrod). Nimrod was the one who build the tower of Babel we read about in scripture. After Nimrod’s death (he was killed by a pig according to some information and by a wild boar according to other information – but how he was killed was irrelevant) – Semiramis believed that Nimrod reincarnated as a evergreen tree and said that Nimrod visited the tree every year on 25 December and left gifts under the tree to celebrate his re-birth.
When Nimrod was killed by the wild animal – Semiramus was pregnant with Nimrod’s child and Tammuz was born on 25 December. Semiramus believed that Tammuz was Nimrod (reincarnated).
Go study: Ez 8:13-18
Satan means “holy” in Spanish and Latin. But the Bible clearly said that only God is Holy. Satan said he will be just like God.
Go Study: Isa 14:12-14
Matt 23:9 says that we should not call anyone father except for God who is our Father. But we think it’s fine to call Santa, Father Christmas?
Rev 1:14 refers to Yeshua and mentioned His hair that was white like wool, as white as snow. Who also has white hair and a white beard? Santa?
Isa 63:2 the red garments are mentioned. Who also wears a red outfit for Christmas? Santa?
Mark 6:3 Yeshua was a carpenter’s son and Yeshua was also skilled in the craft. What is Santa’s occupation? Carpenter?
Ez 8:14 says “door of the gate of the Lord which was toward the north” Where does Santa stay? North Pole?
Deut 33:26 “who rides through heavens” referring to God. Who also rides on his sled through the heavens on Christmas eve? Santa?
Zech 2:6 “Ho, ho [hear and flee]” For every Godly thing, Satan has a counterfeit. Who also says Ho, ho, ho? Santa?
Rev 12:9 Satan and his fallen angels = Santa and his elves.
Ps 102:24 God does not have age and is immortal. Who else is like that too? Santa?
Prov 1:23 Santa also brings spirit along – spirit of Christmas. And we as Christians think it’s acceptable.
Ps 34:11 Reverential fear of the Lord. Santa song “You better be good, you better be nice, Santa knows whether you were naughty or nice.” Parents unknowingly teach their kids the fear of Santa.
Matt 25:31 God is on His throne. But Santa sits on a throne as well?
Mark 10:13-14 “Let the kids come to me” Santa also sit on his throne and call the kids to come to him.
Why do you think that kids are so scared of Santa? At conception, our spirit man is fully developed. Even though our flesh and soul still need to mature, our spirit person are fully developed. Kids KNOW in their spirit that Santa is wrong and “off” – THAT is why they cry! And we as parents push our kids to go sit on Santa’s lap for a cute little picture to post on social media.
John 10:42 “And many people there became believers in Him” We teach our kids a lie (about Christmas), but then we expect them to believe us when we teach them about Jesus?
Titus 2:13 “Awaiting & looking for the glorious appearing of God.” Children sit on Christmas eve outside and wait for Santa to come around and bring their gifts.
Mistle Toe:
The mistle toe comes from the Celtic religion. Celtic druid observed the mistle toe as the holiest of all plants. They still, to this day use the mistle toe in their rituals to bring offerings and sacrifices unto their pagan gods. And Christians think that its fine to bring it into our homes?
Other Scripture that you can go study: Acts 17:30 | Jer 3:20-22 | 2 Cor 6:15-17 | Matt 1 & 2 | Luke 3
In conclusion:
It doesn't matter if you do / have done all of the above or none of the above. As born again believer in Jesus Christ - we cannot partake in ANYTHING related to Christmas. Regardless what your pastor or spiritual leader tells you or how we try to justify it ourselves.
At the end of the day - we'll stand in front of God's judgment seat one day. And we'll have to give account for the way we chose to live our lives and the choices we have made. After today - no one who read this will be able to stand before the Father and say that they did not know that Christmas is wrong.
I want to finish of this post with the same words I have finished off the Live Talk:
I want to challenge and encourage you. Really go and sit with this at the feet of the Father. If the information upset you or made you fearful - take that to Father as well, because that was not the aim of this talk. But the time is running out, the end is coming and the Truth needs to come out. Press in with the Father - the Truth will set you free! God will give you revelation in the way that you need it to be convicted. He will meet you where you are at!
Teachings that you can watch:
The Christmas Lie – Tiaan Gildenhuys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L-kgIUOew0&t=21s
Die Kersfees Leuen – Tiaan Gildenhuys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smiC0Qw5lHU
Die Waarheid oor Kersfees – Deon Allers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NexFpMzR-I
Kersfees: Oorsprong, Geskiedenis, en Tradisies – World’s Last Time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR_WOyEs2Rs
Die Bybel oor Kersfees – ‘n Kersboodskap met ‘n verskil – Pastoor Chris Stemmet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D169PNwXs1M
Kersfees - Waaroor gaan dit? - Pastoor Frik Weideman Menorah Tabernakel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iigZY26zqzM
Quiting Christmas Q & A - Land of Honey Blog: https://landofhoneyblog.blogspot.com/2016/12/quitting-christmas-qa.html
Truth or Tradition: Should Christians celebrate Christmas - Jim Staley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8sKNOxyd8w
Ancient Origins of Christmas and Holy Traditions in 8 minutes - Conspiracy Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmgKoq0LVJc
History of Religion (Part 1): Pagans, Nimrod & Babylon - Truth Unedited: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdsJs0UIm7s
Truth or Tradition - Passion for Truth Ministries: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwg11nFNT68
If this information left you feeling uncertain or upset - my door is wide open to discuss it and help you along this journey in any way I possibly can! I trust that Father will work in each person's hear who read this post or watched this talk and that He will reveal to you whatever it is that you need revelation about!
Comments