Did Santa come? What did he bring? Did he give Frosty The Snowman a ride home, or did he leave him here to melt?

It’s a great time of the year for many, my late Father in Law did not attend church but he loved Christmas, because it reflected the good will that should have existed all year.

A time like that is coming in the very near future, when this old world will celebrate total World Peace!

Truth About Christmas….

Few wonder why they believe what they do, why they follow the customs they do, or from where they came from.

We were born into a world filled with customs. We grew up accepting them without question.

Does Christmas really celebrate the birthday of Christ? Was Jesus born on December 25th?

Did the original Apostles, who knew Jesus personally and were taught by Him celebrate His birthday on December 25th? Did they celebrate it at all?

If Christmas is the main Christian holiday, why do so many non-Christians observe it?

Why do people exchange presents with family members, friends and relatives, at Christmas time? Was it because the wise men presented gifts to the Christ-child? The answer may surprise you.

Most people have "supposed" a lot of things about Christmas that are not true.

Where Did The Catholic And Protestant Churches Get It?

The word "Christmas" means "Mass of Christ," or, as it came to be shortened, "Christ-Mass." It came to non-Christians and Protestants from the Roman Catholic Church.

And where did they get it? Not from the New Testament, not from the Bible and not from the original Apostles who were personally instructed by Christ!

It gravitated in the FOURTH CENTURY into the Roman Church from Paganism!

Since the celebration of Christmas has come to the world from the Roman Catholic Church, and has no authority but that of the Catholic Church, let us examine the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 edition, published by that church.

Under the heading "Christmas," you will find:"Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church… the first evidence of the feast is from Egypt." "pagan customs centering around the January calends gravitated to Christmas."

And in the same encyclopedia, under the heading "Natal Day," we find that the early Catholic father, Origin, acknowledged this truth:

In the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday. Encyclopedia Britannica, 1946 edition, has this: "Christmas-i.e., the Mass of Christ…

Picked Up Later From Paganism

Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church…" It was not instituted by Christ or the apostles, or by Bible authority. It was picked up afterward from paganism.

Encyclopedia Americana, 1944 edition, says: "Christmas…It was, according to many authorities, not celebrated in the first centuries of the Christian church.

As the Christian usage in general was to celebrate the death of remarkable persons rather than their birth…" The "Communion," which is instituted by New Testament Bible authority, is a memorial of the death of Christ.

"A feast was established in memory of this event – Christ’s birth – IN THE FOURTH CENTURY!!!

In the Fifth Century the Western Church ordered it to be celebrated forever on the day of THE OLD ROMAN FEAST OF THE BIRTH OF SOL, as no certain knowledge of the day of Christ’s birth existed."

Now notice these recognized historical authorities show Christmas was not observed by Christians for the first two or three hundred years-a period longer than the entire history of the United States as a nation!

It got into the Western, or Roman, Church, by the fourth century A.D. It was not until the fifth century that the Roman Church ordered it to be celebrated as an official Christian festival!

Not Born On December 25th

Jesus was not even born in the winter season, "There were in the same country shepherds ABIDING in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

In Luke 2:8, this never could have occurred in Judea in the month of December. The shepherds always brought their flocks from the mountainsides and fields and corralled them not later than October 15, to protect them from the cold, rainy season that followed that date.

Notice that the Bible itself proves, in Song of Solomon 2:11 and Ezra 10:9, 13, that winter was a rainy season not permitting shepherds to abide in open fields at night.

"It was an ancient custom among Jews of those days to send out their sheep to the fields and deserts about the Passover-early spring, and bring them home at commencement of the FIRST RAIN," says the Adam Clarke Commentary. Vol. 5, page 370, New York ed.

Continuing, this authority states: "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-begins sometime in October, we find that the sheep were kept out in the open country during the whole Summer.

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 in the fields.

Not Born Later Than September

Neither could He have been born later than September, as the flocks were still in the fields by night. On this ground, the nativity in December should be given up. The feeding of the flocks by night in the fields is a chronological fact… See the quotations from the Talmudists in Lightfoot.

Any encyclopedia, or any other authority, will tell you that Christ was not born on December 25. The Catholic Encyclopedia frankly states this fact. The exact date of Jesus’ birth is entirely unknown, as all authorities acknowledge.

Scriptures at least strongly indicate it was in the early fall-probably September-approximately six months after Passover. If God had wished us to observe and celebrate Christ’s birthday, He would not have so completely hidden the exact date.

How This Pagan Custom Got Into the Western Church

Then how did this pagan custom creep into the Western Christian world? The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge explains it clearly, in its article on "Christmas": "

How much the date of the festival depended upon the pagan Brumalia -Dec.25-following the Saturnalia-Dec.17-24, and celebrating the shortest day of the year and the ‘new sun’…cannot be accurately determined.

The pagan Saturnalia and Brumalia were deeply entrenched in popular custom to be set aside by Christian influence… The pagan festival with its riot and merrymaking was so popular that Christians were glad of an excuse to continue its celebration with little change in spirit and manner.

Christian preachers of the West and the Near East protested against the unseemly frivolity with which Christ’s birthday was celebrated, while Christians of Mesopotamia accused their Western brothers of IDOLATRY AND SUN WORSHIP for adopting as Christian THIS PAGAN FESTIVAL."

The Roman Pagan World

Remember, the Roman world had been pagan. Prior to the fourth century, Christians were few in number, though increasing, and were persecuted by the government and by pagans.

But, with the advent of Constantine as emperor, who made his profession of Christianity in the fourth century, placing Christianity on an equal footing with paganism, people of the Roman world began to accept this now-popular Christianity by the hundreds of thousands.

Remember, these people had grown up in pagan customs, chief of which was this idolatrous festival of December 25th.

It was a festival of merrymaking, with its special spirit. They enjoyed it! They didn’t want to give it up.

Now this same article in the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge explains how the recognition by Constantine of Sunday, which had been the day of pagan sun worship, and how the influence of the pagan Manichaeism, which identified the Son Of God with the physical SUN.

This gave these pagans of the fourth century, now turning over wholesale to "Christianity," their excuse for calling their pagan-festival date of December 25th; birthday of the SUN-god, the birthday of the Son of God.

And that is how "Christmas" became fastened on our Western world. We may call it by another name, but it’s the same old pagan sun-worshipping festival still. The only change is in what we call it. You can CALL a rabbit a "lion," but it’s still a rabbit, just the same.

Again from Britannica: "Certain Latin’s, as early as 354, may have transferred the birthday from January 6th to December 25, which was then a mithral feast or birthday of the unconquered SUN…

The Syrians and Armenians, who clung to January 6th, accused the Romans of sun worship and idolatry, contending…that the feast of December 25, had been invented by disciples of Cerinthus…

But if we got Christmas from the Roman Catholics, and they got it from paganism, where did the pagans get it?

Where, when, and what was its real origin? It is a chief custom of the corrupt system denounced all through Bible prophecies and teachings under the name of Babylon. It started in the original Babylon of ancient Nimrod. It stems from beginning just this side of the Flood!

Who Was Nimrod

Nimrod, grandson of Ham, son of Noah, was the real founder of the Babylonish system that has gripped the world ever since – this system of organized competition-of man-ruled governments and empires, based upon the competitive and profit-making economic system.

Nimrod built the tower of Babel, the original Babylon, ancient Nineveh, and many other cities. He organized the world’s first kingdom. The name "Nimrod," in Hebrew is derived from "Marad," meaning "he rebelled."

From many ancient writings, much is learned of this man, who started the great organized worldly apostasy from God that has dominated this world until now. Nimrod was so evil, it is said he married his own mother, Samurais.

After Nimrod’s untimely death, his so-called mother-wife, Samurais, propagated the evil doctrine of the survival of Nimrod as a spirit being. She claimed 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, she claimed Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts upon it. December 25th was the birthday of Nimrod. This is the real origin of the Christmas tree.

You might like to read the rest of the story… Find This on Page 2 Of The Library.

BRIAN

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