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SHOULD CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS? Harry Bethel (More than 20,000 people have read this article.) There is a season of the year during which there are more suicides than any other equivalent period in the year; a time when there is more drunkenness and revelry, and the sin of covetousness is more obvious than any other time. What I am referring to is the Christmas season. Many well-meaning Christians display slogans such as "Let's Put Christ Back Into Christmas" or "Jesus Is The Reason For The Season." But the truth is that Christ never was in Christmas and it is not Jesus, but Satan who is the reason for the season. Should anyone question my devotion to, or love for, Jesus because of my attack on the widely accepted tradition of celebrating Christmas, let it be known that I love Jesus Christ with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind, and all my strength. And the question that should be asked regarding the subject at hand should not only be what is wrong with celebrating Christmas, but also what is right with it? Jesus never said to remember His birth until He comes---quite the contrary, our Lord said to remember His death until He comes (1 Cor. 11:24-26). God's people in the Old Testament never did celebrate birthdays. This was a pagan practice, that the Jews did not do. In all of Scripture there are only two birthday celebrations mentioned; and both were by ungodly men. And it is interesting that on these two occasions, the Holy Spirit inspired the recording in Holy Writ of murders by these heathen men. One was when Pharaoh celebrated his birthday; he hanged the chief baker (Gen. 40:20-22). The other was when King Herod celebrated his birthday that he had John the Baptizer's head chopped off (Mt. 14:6-10). Because celebrating birthdays is a pagan, heathen practice, it is not honoring, but rather dishonoring to our Lord. Celebrating Jesus' birthday is a subtle trick of Satan to get God's people to focus on Jesus' humanity rather than His deity. Jesus is God incarnate; that is, He left heaven and came to earth (miraculously born of a virgin), but He did this to die for your sins and mine, that we might be given eternal life and saved from our sins which includes coming out of the Babylonian world system and not participating in her pagan, heathen practices! (Please see 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 and Revelation 18:4). Jesus is not 2000 years old, He is eternal, without beginning or end; He was not created, He is the Creator! Beloved brother, if you have been dishonoring our Lord and our God by participating in the pagan, heathen practice of celebrating His birthday (so-called Christmas), then I implore you to repent, stop doing it, and ask God to forgive you. In Jeremiah 10:2-4 the Word of God says, "Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen....For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not." This was written several hundred years before our Lord Jesus condescended and was born of a virgin. And the demonic idea of Christmas (Christ-Mass) originated in the pagan cult of Roman Catholicism, hundreds of years after the birth of Christ. The apostles and early Christians did not celebrate Christ's birth. But Satan, who perverts God's Word and tricks God's people into violating God's commands, has been very successful in getting true Christians to participate in the abominable, pagan practice of decorating "Christmas" trees, and doubtless, Satan and his minions, the enemy of our souls, has spent many a Christmas season laughing and mocking God for what His people are doing in the name of Christ! This is only one way in which Christians have "given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme" God (2 Sam. 12:14). This says nothing of lying to children about Santa Claus, and instilling in them a spirit of covetousness. This says nothing of the pagan art of drama and all the plays to entertain people concerning the birth of Jesus. And there are many other things that could be said about the abominable practice of celebrating Jesus' birthday, but it is not necessary for those who have ears to hear. If you have led astray other Christians concerning celebrating Christmas, will you repent and ask God to forgive you? And do you have the backbone to confess your sin to your congregation, and require of them, as the overseer of their souls, to abandon this satanically inspired practice that is of the spirit of Antichrist in these last days? If you are a parent, do you have the humility to ask God and your children to forgive you for leading them into pagan, diabolical practices? Dear brother, do not let the peer pressure from carnal friends and relatives who do not have the discernment nor the courage to admit the error of their ways keep you from taking a stand for truth. Remember our Lord's death until He comes, but do not dishonor Him by celebrating Christmas.
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