.
Part Two
Ye observe days ... Gal. 4:10

First of all, when we celebrate Jesus' birthday, we are in essence saying that Jesus is still dead and hasn't risen from the dead, therefore, none of us are truly fully saved nor can we be. (As you would've seen in the "Helpful Information" column) Christmas - the Christ-mass originated with the Roman Catholics.  The mass is a prayer for the dead, for a dead Christ!  Inside their churches and hospitals they display a dead Jesus on the cross.  And the crosses they wear around their necks display the same.  Whose birthday, then, do we celebrate at Christmas?  Certainly not the Jesus Christ of the Bible, our Saviour, and the Son of the living God. For He presently is seated physically in His spiritual body, on the throne in Heaven by the right hand of the Father. And He dwells spiritually on earth in every heart, which is truly born again.  Jesus is as much alive in heaven today as He was before He left heaven and put on human flesh.  And He is as much alive on earth today in Christians' hearts as He was when He walked on the earth with His disciples.  Praise God!

Read carefully Luke 2:1-20; Luke 2:21- 24; Luke 2:39; Lev. 12:2-4, 39; Matt. 2:1-16, and you will clearly see that everything in this Christmas program completely contradicts the true biblical account of Jesus' birth, with the exception of a few minor details.  Mary and Joseph were present, of course, at Jesus' birth. But we don't ever see them at His birth or at any other time, on their knees and worshiping Him.  The shepherds were the only other people to see Jesus, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger in Bethlehem.  But we don't see any of them singing Him a song there. The angels appeared to the shepherds in the field outside of Bethlehem, not at the manger in the city of Bethlehem. Nor do we see them singing to Jesus or to the shepherds.  The "wise men" saw Jesus in the city of Nazareth, when He was a young child and living in a house; not in the city of Bethlehem, at the manger of Jesus, when He was a new-born babe.  Neither do we find the star standing still over the stable in Bethlehem where the baby Jesus lay in His manger.  The star did appear to the wise men, at the moment that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Yet the star didn't appear to them in Bethlehem but in a country in the east where they lived.  The star didn't appear to them again until after they were leaving Jerusalem, two years later.  The reading of part of the birth of Christ from Luke 2:8-14 was the only thing about the program that was actually true to the biblical account. The reading of this Scripture passage, however, rejects totally, the account portrayed in the program.  In addition, we never see Joseph reading the Scriptures at Jesus' physical birth or at any other time.

What about our giving a sacrificial offering to Jesus at Christmas?   We don't see any of the religious leaders going to their synagogues or to the temple, on the night when Jesus was born, and receiving an offering to give to the new-born babe.  None of the Jews knew that the long-awaited promised Messiah of the Old Covenant had finally come, except for Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds.

Mary and Joseph never celebrated the birth of Christ.  Nor did His disciples, while He was physically with them.  None of the Christians, from the day of Pentecost, when the Church was born, ever celebrated His birthday.  We don't find Jesus, one time, command us to remember His birth, as He commanded us to remember His death, every time we came together.

The first year that I stopped celebrating Christmas, a neighbour asked me if I had joined The Jehovah's Witness.  I assured her that I hadn't and asked her why she would ask me such a question.

"Well, I see that you didn't decorate your house and put up a Christmas tree this year, "  she answered.

I explained to her a few of the things I have said here.

"I have heard all of that before," she replied.  "But I don't think there is any thing wrong with God's children doing something special for Jesus, especially on His birthday.  "After all, it's only one time a year that we have the opportunity to do something really special for Jesus, when he does such special things for each and every one of us, everyday of the year, year in and year out."

She, like most Christians today, didn't realize that Jesus doesn't accept anything from us, if He has not commanded us to do so or it contradicts His word in any way.  Remember, the Pharisees?  They lived very moral lives.  They did many good deeds in the name of God.  But rejecting the word of God, they rejected Jesus, also.  Likewise, the Bible clearly shows  that the same applies to us today, 2000 years later. (Matt. 7:21-22)

Think about this for a moment. Where did Christians ever get the idea that in order to adequately celebrate the birth of Christ, we must re-enact the scenes and events, though biblically inaccurate, surrounding His birth, as if He were being born again physically every year, year after year?  We don't do that with any other person's birthday.  The following explains exactly where this idea came from.  Just today, I heard a Baptist preacher on television say, "Let Jesus be born in you this Christmas."  Although I had heard other pastors make this same plea over the years,  I was still so very shocked, when I heard it.  This idea comes from Catholicism.  As Catholics  eat the wafer and drink of the cup in communion, they believe that they are actually eating the physical body and drinking the blood of Jesus.  And by doing so, He is somehow born in them every time they partake of the communion.    They also believe that if you "get in the Christmas spirit" as you fully celebrate Jesus' birthday, He will be born in you each year at Christmas.  Apparently, so do Protestant Christians.  How utterly foolish you would look to those who came to a birthday party that you were giving for your child, if you tried to re-enact the scenes and events of the day that he was born.  As the guests arrived, they would be treated to a replica of your hospital room that you occupied for a few days after your child was born.  A substitute for you is lying on the bed and wearing the exact kind of gown that you wore back then.  Next to your bed, a substitute for your baby is lying in a bassinet, an exact replica, which is located beside your bed. In walks a substitute for your husband, wearing the same kind of clothes, as he brings with him the same kind of flowers, as he wore back then.  Then you bring out a large box filled with cards and many of the presents you received, including your child's baby clothes, when your child was born.  Do you think the guests would be the least bit interested or impressed?  What about your child?  You haven't paid him the least bit of attention.  Rather you have spent your celebration of your child's birthday, reliving the birth of your child with a substitute baby and a substitute everything else.  It might be a good way for you to keep your child a new-born baby.  But some men in white coats might soon come and put a straight-jacket on you and lock you away somewhere, away from society.

It's been thirty years or more, but I will never forget how my dear pastor tried to explain why we must celebrate Christmas in honour of Christ. During one of the church services during the Christmas season, that year, he came right out and said that December 25th was not Jesus' birthday because no one really knew the exact date, month or even year, when He was born.  Therefore, we were not really celebrating His birthday at Christmas but we were actually honouring Him, when we celebrated this holiday.

"We honour Jesus at Christmas by obeying the word of God, to the fullest, this one time of the year, that will carry over and put us into the habit of obeying  His word fully, throughout the coming year,"  he said.

How?  I wondered.  I had already begun to see that something was not quite right in our celebration of Christmas.  For one thing, the tradition seemed to focus more on Santa, shopping, toys, presents, Christmas decorations, family get-togethers, and all the cooking and baking that went along with the family get-togethers, than it did on Jesus.   Rushing around, stressed out, trying to get everything done for the Big Day, left me with little personal time with Jesus.  And I wasn't alone.  Church friends nor family members  were the slightest bit interested in talking about Jesus.  Wasn't Christmas suppose to be about Him?  I just wanted to stop the madness of this tradition and give most of my  time over to Jesus.  Just where was Christ in Christmas?  I couldn't seem to find Him anywhere.

"Christmas is for the little children," my pastor explained.  What joy it was, when my children were little, to see their little eyes would suddenly open wide and light up with the love and joy of Jesus Christ, as soon as they  came into the living room on Christmas morning and saw their toys that Santa had left them under the Christmas tree."

How in this world does that honour Jesus and cause us to obey His word to the fullest?

"Remember,  Jesus said, 'Suffer the little children to come unto me, " he continued.  "We are also commanded to love our children."

He went on to say that we allow the little children to come to Jesus by reading them the Christmas story from the Bible.  And by taking them to church.  In addition, we love them and show them the love of Jesus, when we are willing to take the time and spend the money to buy their favourite toys at Christmas.

"You know, it's biblical to give gifts at Christmas," the poor pastor quickly added, sensing evidently that, what he had just said, didn't sound exactly right.

"God gave the ultimate gift to us ...  His only begotten Son, the very best thing He had to give.  And remember how the wise men brought very expensive gifts to Jesus, when he was born."

As strange as these reasons the pastor had given for celebrating Christmas, had suddenly sounded to me, what he said next capped the stack.

"Don't be too eager to tell your children that there is no Santa Claus.  As soon as they learn the truth, Christmas is not as much fun for them or their parents anymore."

I had to literally clamp my hand over my mouth to keep from blurting out, What does Santa Claus and lying to our children have to do with honouring Jesus and obeying His word? Ironically, this pastor preached heavily against sin of all kinds, including lying I had heard him say many times that there was no difference between lying, stealing and even killing a person.  They all were sin.  So how did he get around the fact that telling children a lie about Santa Claus is not a sin?  I don't know.  But probably the same way I did, when my daughter found out the truth.

She was so devastated. She cried as though her heart would break.  Not  over learning that there was no Santa Claus, but because I had lied to her. I told her that I hadn't really lied because I knew that I would tell her the truth later on, when she was old enough. My puny explanation, however didn't change her mind, one iota. It didn't sound right to me either but this is how I had always heard Christians explain this kind of lying.

It's not that I hadn't heard any of this before.  I had heard everything that this pastor was preaching, but not all together, all at one time, in the same sermon.  But in the way he was preaching it, I could see more of the whole picture of Christmas and what it really is.

"The last reason that we should celebrate Christmas is family,"  he continued.  "Christmas is a time when families can come together to enjoy a Christmas meal together, to enjoy warm, heart-felt fellowship together, and just to simply love one another."

Sounds good, I thought, but it was never that way at mine or my parents home at Christmas.  As hard as we all strived at both places to made this fantasy a  true reality, every year, we were never able to reach that goal.  There wasn't enough time.  We were all too tired and stressed out.  All of our children at that time were little.  We mothers, especially, had to spend our time running after our children, breaking up fights, doctoring their hurts, trying to get them to eat, and trying to find a quite corner where they could take a nap, which was mostly impossible to find.   And this gave me more reason to wonder if Christmas was indeed all that it was cracked up to be.

Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with shopping (getting in on the sales, you bet),  buying gifts for our family and friends (if and when we choose and can afford to do so), enjoying our children (and yes, buying them toys) and having family get-togethers, with all the cooking and baking they require.  These are all things we do at many other times during the year, at our choosing, when it's not Christmas.  Its left up to each of us then, when we spend money and how much we spend, when we shop, when we buy  gifts, when we buy our children toys and what we feed our families at family get-togethers, when and if we choose to have family get-togethers.   At Christmas, however, we lose these freedoms.   In the name of tradition, today's Christian society, as well as the world's corporate merchandisers,  force us to do all of these things during the Christmas season, in addition to all of the other "Christmas" things we must do, whether we want to or can afford to or not.

In order to understand why this is the case, we must understand the Sunday Blue Law, which was the law of the land in many of the states in America, especially, those states east of the Mississippi, beginning in 1781.  This law had to do with states having the full authority to regulate commerce, work and amusements on the Sabbath Day.

Commerce (buying and selling) was limited to emergencies.   Drug stores, after they came into existence, were the only business allowed to sell anything at all on Sundays.  Their selling though was limited to only medicine that a doctor had just prescribed, when it was a matter of life and death situation.  In turn, only the deathly ill or their family members were allowed to buy anything on the Sabbath.  And their buying was limited to necessary medicine.  Just a limited amount of  people ~ doctors, nurses, pharmacists, under very limited conditions, and law enforcers ~ could do any work for money on the Sunday Sabbath, since their work was deem necessary work. This law was forced on everyone,  Christians and Non Christians alike. Those who broke it suffered severe punishment.

The Blue Law has long since been removed from the books in the majority of states that used it.  But it still remains on the books in a few states, such as my state, South Carolina.  Many of the statues of the Sunday Blue Law have gradually been removed over the last twenty or thirty years, it still regulates commerce, the buying and selling, on the Sabbath day in many areas of our state.

Now, no one is punished for not participating in the celebration of Christmas.  There is no such written law that requires us to do so.  But those of us who do not choose to participate are judged by the world, as well as the Church.  We are labelled "unbelievers" and  " the disobedient"  by the church.  And by the world and the church, "unsociables" and "undesirables",  "strange people indeed, who definitely has something wrong with them."

Another way the Christmas Holiday relates to the Sunday Blue Law is that they both have to do with the Christian Sabbath.  This fact is hidden from most Christians in the word "Holidays".  The Christmas Holidays first appeared as "Christmas Holy Days".

Then the two words, Holy Days, were made into one word, Holidays, by dropping the "y" and adding the letter "i".  Holy days in the Old Covenant were Sabbaths:

Weekly Sabbath   - every 7th day of the week
Yearly Sabbaths  -  7 high sabbaths every year
Seventh-Year Sabbath  - 1 additional high sabbath every 7th year
Fifty-Year Sabbath, the year of Jubilee -  1 additional high sabbath every 50th year

But none of these sabbaths were part of the New Covenant.

The United States and the Church, Catholic Christians, as well as Protestant Christians, celebrate several different yearly holidays/holy days, high sabbaths.  And Christmas is the holiest of all of the national and Christian high sabbaths that is kept every year.

CONCLUSION

Christmas is a very popular holiday. However, as is often the case, what is popular is not always right, and what is right is not always popular. "Christmas" is short for "Christ mass", or "mass for Christ". The name of the holiday is much newer than the holiday itself. The customs associated with Christmas, in one form or another, have been celebrated for thousands of years before Christ was even born!. "Christmas" is just a new name for an old pagan holiday. Now Christmas is supposedly a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ ...  but is it really? What does Santa Clause, reindeer, and the North Pole have to do with Jesus Christ?

   Santa has been given the attributes of God, and is presented as a god-like figure
   1) Eternal: Santa is as old as man, he has always been, and he will always be. Santa is
   eternal. Jesus is eternal (Revelation 1:8).
   2) Flying and gifts: Santa goes into the air and gives gifts. Jesus ascends on high and
   gives gifts (Ephesians 4:7-8).
   3) Coming soon: Santa shall descend from the sky. Jesus "shall descend" from the sky (1
   Thessalonians 4:16).
   4) Rewarding works: Santa gives his gifts according to whether you are good or bad.
   Jesus gives his gifts according to whether you are good or bad (Revelation 20:12-13).
   5) All Seeing: Santa sees you when you are sleeping, and knows when you're awake.
   Jesus sees you when you are sleeping, and knows when you're awake (Proverbs 5:21).
   6) Clothing: Santa wears red clothes. Jesus wore red clothes (Revelation 19:13).
   7) Hair: Santa has hair white as snow. Jesus had hair white as snow (Rev. 1:14, Dan. 7:9).
   8) Entering: Santa can come in though the doors are shut. Jesus can come in though
   the doors are shut (John 20:19).
   9) Home: Santa's city is in the North Pole. God's city is in the sides of the North (Psalm
   48:1-2, Leviticus 1:11).
   10) Omniscient (all knowing): Santa knows if you have been bad or good. Jesus knows
   if you have been bad or good (Proverbs 15:3).
   11) Omnipresence (everywhere at one time): Santa can be in one billion homes in a 24
   hour period; that is eleven hundred & fifty-seven homes per second, virtually
   omnipresent. Jesus is omnipresent (Mat. 18:20).
   12) Omnipotent (all powerful): Santa is powerful enough to carry presents for a billion
   children. That is Omnipotence. Jesus is Omnipotent (Matthew 28:18).
   13) Ho! Ho! Ho!: Santa says, "Ho, ho, ho". Jesus says "Ho, ho" (Zech. 2:6). Also, the word
   ho appears in only 3 verses in the entire bible (Ruth 4:1, Isaiah 55:1, Zech. 2:6). Ho! Ho!
   Ho! 3 Ho’s! Santa is trying to impersonate Christ (Mat. 24:5)!

Children have been told from an early age that there is someone who "knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows when you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake."  One day that child's "god" (for indeed only the Lord God knows these things) is discovered to be non-existent.  When a child is 6, 7 or 8 he finds out he has been lied to by his parents and society. Their faith crumbles and a sacred trust is broken.  Their parents represent the authority and security to which their very lives depend, and they find out now that there is not a jolly, fat Santa Clause with attributes as God.

Christmas time is when we feel pressured to buy merchandise for others.  Merchants make the most money at this time.  The Bible says merchants are thieves and they love to oppress people (Hosea 12:7, Rev. 18:3,11,15,23). There is a multitude of merchandise around Christmas time, and the Bible says this is a sin, "By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned"  (Ezekiel 28:16). Jesus condemns buying and selling when it pertains to God (Mat. 21:12).  God condemns buying and selling when it pertains to Holy Days (Neh. 10:31; 13:15-17).  Yet we buy and sell for Christmas?

Christmas time has the highest suicide rate of the year. More people go into debt during Christmas than any other time of the year. The Bible condemns borrowing money (Deuteronomy 15:6; 28:12, Proverbs 22:7,26), it condemns credit and charging interest (usury) on money (Leviticus 25:36-37, Ezekiel 18:13, 22:12-13). Should people celebrate Christmas by borrowing and going into debt, by using credit cards and money, when the Bible teaches "the love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Timothy 6:10)?

Christmas is mixing the Holy God with unholy pagan practices.  We are not suppose to mix the holy with the unholy (2 Corinthians 6:14). We are to be separate from them (2 Corinthians 6:17).  Christians are not to love the ways of the world (Luke 16:15, 1 John 2:15, James 4:4, Romans 12:2, Revelation 18:4).  Christmas cards are mixing holy things with pagan things.

And who is it that celebrates Christmas? The whole "civilized world". Millions who make no profession of faith in the blood of the Lamb, who "despise and reject Him," and millions more who, while claiming to be His followers, yet in works deny Him, join in merrymaking under the pretence of honouring the birth of the Lord Jesus. It is written, "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil" (Ex. 23:2). We are commanded to be separate from the world (Rom. 12:2, Eph. 2:2, 1 John 2:15-17, James 4:4, John 15:19).

Christmas is man-made, and therefore an unacceptable means of worship. Worship, by definition, is an act recognizing the one who is worshipped as Lord. If he is Lord, whose Will should prevail? If I dictate the means of worshipping, whose Will prevails?  Do you see the point? Worshipping God in my own way is a contradiction. To worship God, I must do so according to His will. What is God's Will? God's Will is his Law written in our hearts (Psalm 40:8). Jesus said his true family are those who "shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven" (Mat. 12:50). Christmas is a tradition, and we don't worship God by following man-made traditions (Mat. 15:3,6, Mark 7:7-9,13, Col. 2:8). We are to show our love for Jesus by doing what Jesus himself said to do in John 14:15, "If ye love me, keep my commandments"!