Dear Family and Friends,
I decided to write you all a Christmas letter this year to let you know about some changes that are taking place in my life. I have been studying the Bible, and studying Church history, and I have made some startling discoveries that will affect my life forever. I have been studying the roots of many of our Christian Traditions, and I have been shocked to find out that many of the things we do (our traditions and practices) have absolutely no connection to Jesus or the Bible. In fact, many of our traditions are deeply rooted in Paganism. I will try to be brief in my explanation, but I apologize if it gets a little long, there is a lot of history to cover in this note.
Who's birthday is December 25th? This "birthday celebration" was around for thousands of years before Jesus was ever born. It was a celebration of Nimrod, Tammuz, Dionysus, Bacchus, Saturn, Mithra, Sol Invictus, and various other Pagan gods. All of these Pagan gods were said to have been born (or reborn) at the Winter Solstice. Today this winter solstice festival is still celebrated by Wiccans and Neopagans as the festival of "Yule".
Yule (where we get the Yule log, Yule ham, and Yule tide greetings) was a Germanic Pagan celebration of the god Odin (father of Thor). They eat roasted pork in honor of Odin, the god of the hunt. This is where most people say our modern "Christmas Ham" comes from.
Saturnalia, was celebrated approximately 200 years before Jesus was born. This December 25th celebration was in honor of the Pagan god Saturn. This festival was celebrated earlier as "Brumalia" in honor of the Pagan god Bacchus, and also celebrated as "Lenaia" or "Dionysia" in honor of the Greek god Dionysus. The Persians celebrated it as the birth of their sun god, Mithra. And the Romans under Constantine celebrated it as the birthday of their sun god, Sol Invictus. All of these celebrations took place on December 25th. All of these celebrations were in honor of the "birth" of pagan gods.
The bible tells us that Jesus was born in a warm month, when the Shepherds had their flocks out at night. This would put his birth sometime between March and October (not the end of December). Also, the Bible never tells us to celebrate the birthday of Jesus, and for nearly 300 years no one celebrated His birthday.
So, why did we start celebrating the birthday of Jesus on December 25th? The Pagan Emperor, Constantine, decided that it would be beneficial for his Kingdom if he merged Christianity with the Pagan religion of Sol Invictus. All of the former cathedrals and places of worship of Sol Invictus were renamed with "Christian" names, and became official churches. All of the Pagan celebrations were renamed with "christian"names, but many of their practices and traditions remained unchanged. This political move of Constantine was very beneficial for expanding his Empire, but it was devastating to the Church.
For nearly 300 years (longer than the US has been a country) Christians still celebrated Sabbath, Passover, and the other Biblical Festivals that God gave us. Until Constantine declared them illegal. He outlawed Sabbath worship, he declared that Easter would be celebrated instead of Passover, and he established December 25th as the celebration of the birth of Jesus.
The fact is, if Constantine hadn't outlawed these Biblical Holidays, we would probably still be celebrating them today.
So, what does all of this mean? Well, it means that this will be my last Christmas letter, because I will no longer be celebrating Christmas. We have decided to celebrate Hanukkah instead. This is a Biblical festival that honors God. Jesus celebrated Hanukkah, "Then came Hanukkah (feast of Dedication) in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking around inside the Temple area, in Solomon's Colonnade." (John 10:22-23)
What does Hanukkah celebrate? It is a celebration of God's deliverance for his people from Pagan destruction. Approximately 200 years before Jesus was born, a Greek ruler named Antiochus gained power over Israel. Antiochus tried to force the Jewish people to assimilate into the Pagan religion that he was head of. During the festival of Dionysia (on December 25th), Antiochus sacrificed a pig in the Temple of God, and declared himself to be god. This is the desolation of the Temple that Daniel prophesied about in Daniel chapters 8 and 11. Antiochus outlawed the Sabbath and all Jewish Festivals, he destroyed any copy of the Scriptures that he could find. He slaughtered any Jew who would not obey his orders. (sounds a lot like what Constantine did)
In response to this, a group of Jewish people started a revolt against Antiochus. They fought for three years, and finally gained control of the Temple once again. They immediately began work to cleanse the Temple and remove all of the defilement that had been done in it. The Greeks had used it for their sexual orgies in worship of their fertility gods, as well as offering various sacrifices to Pagan gods. They had also setup an altar to Zeus in the Temple.
In addition to cleaning the Temple, they restored the Menorah to the Temple and lit it. The Menorah is the oil lamp that was placed inside the Temple according to Gods instructions. They only had enough oil to light the lamp for one day, and it would take eight days to make more oil, but miraculously God kept the Menorah burning for all eight days.
So, Hanukkah is a celebration of deliverance and miracles. Christmas is a celebration of the birthday of Pagan gods. It is also interesting to note that December 25th was the day that the Temple was defiled by the unholy sacrifice of a pig on the altar. It was part of the Pagan celebration in honor of their gods birthday. They roasted a ham and tried to force the Jews to eat it. I believe that this is the true origin of the "Christmas ham".
Many people claim that Christmas has been "redeemed" by Jesus, and now it is a "Christian celebration". If it has been redeemed, then why do all of our traditions find their roots in the Pagan festivals? Nearly everything that is associated with Christmas finds its roots in Paganism. The tree, wreaths, holly, greenery, ham, decorations on the tree, caroling, Santa Clause, and many other things all come from Pagan traditions. Even stories of a virgin birth of a god on December 25th finds its roots in Pagan tradition.
Many of the leaders during the Protestant reformation wanted to end Christmas, but tradition kept it going in spite of convincing arguments from teachers and preachers who tried to explain the perversion and idolatry that was associated with this holiday.
When it all comes down to it, December 25th celebrations have been opposed to God and His people for thousands of years. Why would we want to participate in these things? As I said earlier, many people claim that it has been "redeemed" but the Biblical holidays do not need to be redeemed because it was God who created them.
So, instead of asking me why I don't celebrate "Christmas", perhaps you ask yourself why you don't celebrate the Biblical Holidays that God created for us. The Biblical Festivals and Holidays are Passover and Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Feast of Weeks, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, Hanukkah, and Purim.
