Christmas Traditions A peaceful hush falls over the town as the darkness settles upon the land. Behind the closed doors of every house, children filled with excitement are being put to bed. The mantles and sills are bedecked with fragrant green boughs, there scent mingling with that of the freshly cut tree glistening in the corner regally with its silver and gold decorations. Mothers are placing presents under the tree’s branches while Fathers are getting the yule logs ready for tomorrow’s fires. Grandmothers are finishing up final preparations for tomorrow’s big meal while Grandfathers are rehearsing in their heads the story they'll tell the children; the same story that’s been told for hundreds of years, surrounded by all of their traditional customs. "What do we celebrate today?" Grandfather will ask the wide eyed youngsters. "A birthday," one of the children will reply. "That’s right," Grandfather will respond, "but not just any birthday. Today we celebrate a very special birthday. Today we celebrate the birth of the light of the world, the light by which we are all saved." A pleasant scene, the same one being played out in many homes near and far. The year: 1000 B.C. But wait! It can't be! How can they be honoring the birth of Y’shua (Jesus’ Hebrew name) when He hasn't even been born? How can they celebrate Christmas when the first Christmas is still 1000 years away? How can it be an old tradition when the event hasn't even happened yet? These are just some of the questions you might be asking yourself right now. The answers might surprise you. How can the date of the holiday above be accurate if the Messiah – the light of the world - has yet to be born. The answer is simple, Christmas is a borrowed holiday. Nowhere in Scriptures is it commanded to keep Christmas or to celebrate the birth of Messiah, nor is there any mention of any of Messiah’s followers doing so. Then what are the origins of Christmas? Let’s take a look. To trace the beginnings of Christmas, we need to start with the great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod. Nimrod was the founder of Babylon and the first man to build a kingdom for himself. His greatness, in his own mind, led him to be dissatisfied with merely being the king of Babylon. He followed in the evil footsteps of satan and aspired to be a god. Nimrod began to encourage his subjects to worship him instead of YHWH. He was eventually killed by his uncle for his despicable practices. Sadly, by the time of his death his subjects believed him to truly be a man-god. As the people of Babylon mourned the loss of their human god, Nimrod’s wife (Semiramis/Ishtar) told the people that she had seen a full-grown evergreen tree spring up overnight from a stump. This was a sign to the people that Nimrod himself had sprung forward into a new life. She claimed that he now lived in the sun, and was the sun, shining his warmth, love and protection, on the earth. From now on he would be called Baal (Lord). The people now believed Nimrod to be their one true god and started to worship him by worshiping the sun. As the long days of summer past, and the days gradually grew shorter, it was believed that the sun, Nimrod/Baal, was dying. December 21st was the shortest day of the year; by December 25th a slight increase in the daylight could be noticed. In the ancient human’s mind, the sun was reborn on December 25th. It was on this day, the birthday of the sun, that many historians claim Semiramis gave birth to Nimrod’s son, Tammuz. The winter solstice (birthday of the sun) became a huge festival in the area. Feasts were held, and it was generally considered a day of immense celebration Semiramis/Ishtar taught her son, Tammuz, to take an offering (gift) for his father, Nimrod, into the forest on his birthday, December 25th, and tie it to a tree. When the people saw Tammuz and his mother doing this, they also began to place offerings on and around trees. As the celebration of the birthday of the sun grew, people began to cut down trees and bring them into their homes, believing the tree was an emblem of Nimrod. Cutting branches from the tree and placing them throughout their homes was another custom to help them feel closer to their god on his birthday. Placing gifts on and around the tree was a way to thank him for being reborn in the sun so that he might shine upon the earth, thus allowing them to live another year Since nothing could live without the sun, he was their life and salvation for another year. By the time of our Messiah Y’shua’s birth Christmas was already an old and established holy day for the gentiles, known as the Winter Solstice or Feast of Sol Invictus. But it had absolutely nothing to do with the birth of our Messiah. Nether Y’shua or His family ever celebrated it nor did any of the disciples. If Y’shua had wanted His disciples to celebrate His birthday on December 25th they would have done so but they didn't. Believers in Messiah didn't start celebrating Christmas until the 5th century while living in Rome. A man by the name of Constantine rose to power in 3rd century Rome. He was a devoted sun worshiper, as was most of Rome. Romans had many gods and Constantine did not wish to anger any of them; he was therefore open to believers worshiping Y’shua. Many people believe that Constantine himself became a believer, but most credible sources call his conversion questionable. Whether he was a believer or not does not change the fact that most of our Christmas traditions can be traced to him and his pagan traditions for the birth of the sun. As the number of converts to Christianity increased Constantine found himself to be ruler over a divided kingdom, with half of his subjects worshiping the son of YHWH and the other half worshiping the sun. This division created instability throughout the region. According to the 4th century historian Eusebius, Emperor Constantine realized that a stable religion, or church, would help to stabilize Rome. He realized his empire needed to be united in order to survive. Since Christians refused to worship any other gods but the one true God, YHWH, Constantine knew he could not convert them to Mithraism (the worship of the sun). Sun worshipers were willing to except other gods; therefore it would be easier to introduce them to the God of the Bible, YHWH, providing they did not have to give up their holy days. In order to make the feast of Sol Invictus more palatable to Christians, Constantine told them that it would no longer be the birthday of the sun but of the Son of YHWH. Obviously the Emperor was successful in his endeavors as Christmas is still celebrated today. Sadly, most Christians do not even realize that the Messiah was not even born on this day. Herein lies the problem; what, exactly did Constantine do wrong? He tried to paganize Y’shua in order to make Him acceptable to the pagans. They took that which was dirty and pasted a picture of something clean on it and pretended it was clean. They took a pig, dressed it up with a wig and lipstick and called it a lady. But you know what? It wasn’t a lady; it was just a strange looking, hairy pig wearing lipstick! Were the gentiles really converted to Christianity? Must we enter into sin in order to bring others to the saving grace of Messiah? Is it acceptable to practice Buddhism or Islam in order to witness to a Buddhist or a Muslim? Who would be converting whom? But, "What is wrong with celebrating the birthday of Y’shua?", you might ask. First, December 25th is not His birthday. Christmas is based on a lie! Everything we are teaching our children about it is a lie! Is that the legacy you want for your children? For yourself? When you participate in lies you are serving the father of lies, Satan. Second, in celebrating this pagan day we are participating in the unclean practice of pagan sun worshipers (Gentiles). Can we make something clean that is unclean? Will YHWH condone our mixing paganism (profane) with the holy worship of Him? Let’s see what the Scriptures say: "Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!" Job 14:4 "…they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean…" Ezekiel 22:26 "And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean." Ezekiel 44:23 It would seem from the Scriptures that if something begins as unclean it will stay that way. Can you wipe away dirt with a clean cloth and expect the cloth to remain clean? No! The dirt will contaminate that which was clean. YHWH tells us to remain separate and to not learn the unclean ways of the world. "Hear the word, which YHWH speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says YHWH: "Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the Gentiles are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are futile; For one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with an ax. They decorate it with silver and gold; They fasten it with nails and hammers so it will not topple. Jeremiah 10:1-4 He is clearly telling us not to learn the ways or traditions of the gentiles because they are futile! Do not learn them or practice them, let alone try to worship Him in the same way. Do not be dismayed at the signs of the heaven because the sun is not dying only to be reborn on December 25th! He even tells us not to cut down a tree and decorate it with silver and gold, (Christmas tree). These are the ways of the gentiles and we are to be separate from them! "For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Messiah and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of YHWH and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As YHWH has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore come out from them and be separate,’ says YHWH." 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 Separate yourself from the world; do not practice the things they practice. YHWH does not tell us to invent new ways to worship Him and He certainly doesn’t want us to borrow practices and traditions from other religions and thus pervert our worship to Him. "They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men. You have let go of the commands of YHWH and are holding to the traditions of men." Mark 7:7-8 We may love celebrating Christmas with all of its traditions and familiar customs and have many wonderful memories of Christmases in the past but it is still a man made holy-day with its roots in false god (satan) worship. We may think of nothing else but our Savior and how much we love Him and want to worship Him; but our body and our actions are still committing adultery against our true God. It doesn’t matter how happy we are while doing it, He said not to do it. It doesn’t matter that our preachers might tell us it’s okay. (Remember, he won't be there to defend us for mixing the profane with that which is holy when we face YHWH!). All that matters is what our Creator has told us to do. "You must not worship YHWH your God in their way." Deuteronomy 12:4 As believers we must always be on the alert or we too will become snared by "satan’s Claus."