This post is dedicated to God’s people – The wise who seek truth & understanding.
“A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel.” (Proverbs 1:5)
Patterns are repeating.
God’s people inherently keep falling into the same traps of deception. The prophets, Yeshua and the apostles all reiterated the warning: do not let anyone deceive you. Ooops, we did it again! We’ve let society dictate how we live instead of receiving instruction and counsel from God’s Word.
Time after time, the prophets warned the Israelites to keep God’s ways and forsake Gentile (pagan) traditions and doctrines.
Yeshua also warned of the same when he said, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.” (Matthew 15:3, Mark 7:9, 13)
The enemy’s tricks have remained the same but shape shift over time. Deception is often covered with great marketing schemes which blur, confuse and even bury the roots. Bling, glimmer, lights, sweets and so much fun, it’s harmless, God won’t mind….
There is nothing new under the sun.
It’s ironic that we get so wrapped up in keeping cultural traditions rooted in paganism yet we can’t even keep God’s commanded festivals. We tweak or try to justify them so it seems Christian. We need to find a way to makes it ok in our minds. Isn’t that what the Pharisees did? We’ve been warned not to take away or add to any of God’s commands.
Think about it….we celebrate Yeshua’s (Jesus) birthday, which is not Biblically commanded, yet we DON’T keep the festivals that are Biblically commanded?
Is Yeshua/Jesus really the reason for the season?
Do I believe it’s wrong to celebrate the birth of our savior? Of course not, but if “Yeshua/Jesus” is TRULY “the reason for the season”, then why celebrate it with pagan objects and pagan traditions? Why not just celebrate it without the trees, the elves, the wreaths, the gifts and yes Santa……….
The deception needs to be brought to light. I now understand why the prophets were not liked. Most of the time their message wasn’t fluffy or nicey nice. They were vessels used by God to warn the people because they strayed from His instructions repeatedly and continually. Many times the people would not listen, they were stiff necked, prideful and arrogant. As a result, we see the consequences. Sometimes they did heed the warning and turned back; in turn we see God’s relentless grace and mercy.
This subject has been laid on my heart by God to warn His people, to help them realize the deception that has been DEEPLY ingrained into our societies, churches and homes over thousands of years….. It is my duty as a fellow believer to sound the alarm, to speak Truth as the watchmen are told to do in Ezekiel 33. It will be a cross road for many.
Once you know the truth, how will you respond? Will you harken to His voice or will you harden your heart? Those are the only two options.
Here are the historical roots and origins of Christmas (Before being repackaged, commercialized & yes, Christianized):
GREENERY & THE CHRISTMAS TREE
It’s all about sun god worship. Long before Christianity adopted this holiday, many ancient people believed that the sun was a god and that winter came every year because the sun god had become sick and weak. They celebrated the solstice because it meant that at last the sun god would begin to get well. The plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Evergreen boughs reminded them of all the green plants that would grow again when the sun god was strong and summer would return. Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, ancient people hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness. Everything revolves around the Yule/Yuletide. Just google it and you will see all sorts of items pop up. Even the pagan wheel that the witches use.
The ancient Egyptians worshipped a god called Ra, who had the head of a hawk and wore the sun as a blazing disk in his crown. At the solstice, when Ra began to recover from the illness, the Egyptians filled their homes with green palm rushes which symbolized triumph of life over death.
The Romans knew that the solstice meant that farms and orchards would soon be green and fruitful. To mark the occasion, they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs.
In Northern Europe the mysterious Druids, the priests of the ancient Celts, also decorated their temples with evergreen boughs as a symbol of everlasting life. The fierce Vikings in Scandinavia thought that evergreens were the special plant of the sun god, Balder.
Wreath – symbolizes the wheel of the year; placed on doorways, walls, altars, other places.
Yule Tree (aka Christmas Tree) – symbolizes eternal life force & World Tree; decorated with lights, sun symbols, other symbols
Sprigs, Boughs, & Garlands – symbolizing the continuity of life
MISTLETOE
Norse mythology recounts how the god Balder was killed using a mistletoe arrow by his rival god Hoder while fighting for the female Nanna. Druid rituals use mistletoe to poison their human sacrificial victim.
SANTA CLAUS/ST. NICK/FATHER CHRISTMAS
Prior to Christianization, the Germanic peoples (including the English) celebrated a midwinter event called Yule. With the Christianization of Germanic Europe, numerous traditions were absorbed from Yuletide celebrations into modern Christmas. During this period, supernatural and ghostly occurrences were said to increase in frequency, such as the Wild Hunt, a ghostly procession through the sky. The leader of the wild hunt is frequently attested as the god Wodan (Norse Odin), bearing (among many names) the names Jólnir, meaning “Yule figure”, and Langbarðr, meaning “long-beard”, in Old Norse.
Wodan’s role during the Yuletide period has been theorized as having influenced concepts of St. Nicholas in a variety of facets, including his long white beard, his gray horse for nightly rides (compare Odin’s horse Sleipnir) or his reindeer in North American tradition. Folklorist Margaret Baker maintains that “the appearance of Santa Claus or Father Christmas, whose day is 25th of December, owes much to Odin, the old blue-hooded, cloaked, white-bearded Giftbringer of the north, who rode the midwinter sky on his eight-footed steed Sleipnir, visiting his people with gifts. Odin, transformed into Father Christmas/Santa Claus, prospered with St Nicholas. BTW – Odin is the father of Thor in your favorite Marvel movie.
CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS
Why do we hang hosiery anyway? It’s a very simple answer, they are tied to the story of Santa.
DECEMBER 25TH
What is so significant about this day? I can tell you this much, it wasn’t when our savior was born.
The first recorded date of the “Christmas holiday” was December 25th, 336 A.D., during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine (the founder of the Official Christian church also called the Roman Catholic Church). The church officials more than likely settled on December 25 as they wanted the date to coincide with the existing pagan festivals listed below. This way it became easier to convince Rome’s pagan subjects to accept Christianity as the empire’s official religion.
The Roman Festival of Saturnalia took place between December 17th – 23rd which honored the Roman god Saturn. The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice (human) at the Temple of Saturn, in the Roman Forum, followed by private gift-giving, continual partying and a carnival atmosphere. To this day, it is still celebrated.
Dies Natalis Solis Invicti means ‘birthday of the unconquered sun’ and was held on December 25th (when the Romans thought the Winter Solstice took place) and was the ‘birthday’ of the Pagan Sun god Mithra. (Still celebrated). In the pagan religion of Mithraism, the holy day was Sunday, hmmmm very interesting! On another note……in 321 A.D. Constantine decrees Sunday as state “day of rest”. Coincidence….I think not.
ELVES
I know everyone loves the elf on the shelf but they are really not who you think they are. They are not cute, cuddly, innocent helpers as portrayed in Rudolf. Google search Krampus and you will see the real elves of Santa! He is the Christmas DEVIL. Krampus gets its name from the old Germanic word Krampen which translates as claw. His origins come from Norse mythology in which he is the son of Hel, goddess of the underworld. WOW, add one more “l” to Hel and what do you get?
Krampus himself historically comes around the night of December 5, tagging along with St. Nicholas/Santa/Odin. He visits houses all night with his saintly pal. While St. Nick is on hand to put candy in the shoes of good kids and birch twigs in the shoes of the bad, Krampus’ particular specialty is punishing naughty children. The Krampus is a hideous looking creature with large horns, a sharp slithery tongue, and dagger-like claws. He rattles his chains to warn children of his approach. His birch sticks and fangs frighten the young into being good. But if the children do not heed his warnings, he finds them, beats them with the rod, stuffs them into his sack and hauls them down to the underworld, where they are tortured or eaten.
Krampus is still very popular as is and still parades around with Santa in Europe every year. YouTube it; viewer discretion is advised as it’s a little unnerving. Did you know Krampus even has his own Hollywood horror film. Still think elves are cute??
I hope after a few examples you are starting to see the patterns of Christmas. Its origins have NOTHING to do with the birth of our Messiah. Its all about paganism and sun god worship. Christmas was banned in Europe & United States for quite some time. I believe this goes to show you how far gone we are from the truth of the matter.
EVERYTHING has a root……
Sometimes you have to dig deep, even thousands of years, to find the true origin. As believers we should always be asking and seeking diligently. We need to be vigilant, not taking anything at face value.
Whatever it is, remember it’s either of God or the deceiver who transforms himself into an angel of light. There’s no in-between. If we don’t test EVERYTHING to God’s sound doctrine we will be deceived.
Hard to swallow? Yes!
Until 5 years ago I celebrated these holidays mindlessly just like everyone else. I did so because I was born into it, I had no idea I had fallen into a ditch. Whether we like it or not, the root of Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day and Halloween are pagan (Babylon) from the very root. The epicenter of pagan worship, which sprouted and branched off into many false gods/religions over thousands of years, stems from Babylon. From the prevalent sun god worship (nimrod, baal) to the goddess of fertility (asherah) you see these characters in most of the religions out there today. It’s no coincidence.
Who was the first person called by God to leave Babylon? Abraham. He became a Hebrew – he crossed over. He left the comfort, the familiarity, the culture and its traditions for God and His ways. I am sure it wasn’t easy by any means but he was faithful to God’s calling and obeyed. Little did he know where he was to go or that he would be chosen for a very special purpose. (Hebrews 11:8-10)
God called his people out of Egypt why? They were entrenched in paganism. They lost sight of their God and His ways. Why did God get so angry at the people for celebrating with the golden calf? Old habits are hard to break especially when you’ve lived among pagan traditions and false idol worship for 400 years. Generation after generation the Israelites grew up celebrating these traditions of men and false idols. In part, this is why they were in the dessert for 40 years and the first generation had to die. They were rebellious and didn’t want to change their ways, they didn’t want to give it up. They wanted to go back to Egypt and the comforts it offered. In many ways modern day Christianity is repeating the same pattern and has assimilated into many of these same type of traditions and comforts.
God pulled them out of Egypt not only to redeem them but to also show them how to love Him, worship Him, to keep His ways, and His festivals/appointed times. To show them how to be set apart, a holy nation, a royal priesthood. If we are indeed His people, are we not called to be the same?
Pulling fruit off a pagan tree and gluing something else on to make it seem different doesn’t change the tree. The root of the tree and its fruit will always be pagan. It is the golden calf all over again.
Bottom line ……….
We can’t Christianize these traditions of man (paganism) and think it will be acceptable to God. If we think we can and continue to do so, then we are part of pagan Christianity. We’ve hardened our hearts like the first generation in the desert.
It’s time to awaken, to lift the veil, to listen to the prophets who said many times to come out of Babylon lest you share in her sins! (Rev 18:5/Isaiah 48:20/Jeremiah 51:6) Many are called but few are chosen (Matt 22:14). Abraham was chosen because he had faith and obeyed.
Be one of the chosen!
The road is narrow. It is hard to go against the flow but this why Jesus/Yeshua says:
“Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:14
Which will you follow, the commandments of God or the traditions of man?
LIFTING THE VEIL 