I am writing this out of a deep and growing conviction of a great concern for the body of Christ. Over the years, I have come to see that even in the most conservative, Bible cherishing church in America, that there are things practiced, celebrated and observed in them that absolutely have zero grounding in the Word of God. I would like to deal with the most relevant issue at this time of year. That being the observance and practice of what is called Christmas. This holiday to Christians and non Christians alike is arguably the most popular and most observed and enjoyed holiday on the planet. As those of you reading this know, it is popularly practiced in the Christmas Trees, the holly wreaths, garland and lights and ultimately in the Christian world the birth of Jesus. This holiday has the appearance of being something very good, especially in the Christian sense. The practice of Santa Claus, elves and reindeer will be addressed another time. Have you ever asked yourself why we celebrate this holiday and where do the practices and traditions come from? And most importantly is it the will of God that we celebrate it? I am going to be speaking mainly out of a baptist conviction as I lean more towards a baptist interpretation of Scripture more than any other here. However, I am not governed by the baptists, I am governed by the very Word of God. In the baptist denomination, we have a very strict adherence to the ordinances of Christ (i.e the Lords supper and baptism). We do not do any more or any less than what Scripture says. For example, when the Lord commanded at Passover and the Last supper that we observe this in remembrance of Him (Luke 22:7-13). He specifically mentioned two items in the pass over dinner that we are to use: bread and wine. The bread representing His body and the wine His blood. If you have ever taken the Lords supper at a baptist church bread and baptist wine (welchs) are the only items present. This is evidence that we are very strict in our adherence to what the Lord commanded us and how He commanded us to observe it. The second example being the baptism of the believer who is consciously exercising faith in God through the Lord Jesus. Baptists are extremely zealous about this for this is where we get our name. We go so far as to deeply understand the Greek word for baptism, immersion, and we like wise practice this by the Book. The reason why baptists do not baptize infants is because the Word of God never says that we should do it. Therefore since the Word of the Lord is silent on the baptism of babies we do not baptize them. Once again, its strictly by the Book. These two examples along with others are in conformity with the command of Jesus in the great commission: 16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20. Speaking for the denomination that I adhere to we have done a wonderful job of keeping the baptism and the Lords supper as we are commanded. Now lets look through the prism of the Great Commission at the practices of Christmas. Jesus said in Matthew 28:20 (listed above) that the apostles whom he authorized and sent out to the nations were to teach us to observe everything that Jesus commanded- nothing more and nothing less. Jesus is and has always been the eternal second person of the God head and is God of God and Light of Light and therefore all scripture is His. Authored through the Spirit of God. This being so, we must ask ourselves a question when it comes to what we observe: Are the practices that whatever denomination, whatever personal conviction or faith do they originate in and are confirmed by the Word of God? If we find that there are practices, traditions, festivals, etc in the church that we cannot back with the Word of God then why are we involved in them? Jesus clearly states that we are to observe only everything that He has commanded us and ordained in His word. No more and no less. Ask yourselves, is there found anywhere in the entire sixty-six books of inspired Scripture a command, an encouragement or even the slightest hint that Jesus desired His birth day celebrated? The answer is no.There is absolutely no evidence of this in Scripture. That is why we are not given the exact date of Jesus birth. Secondly, ask yourselves again, do our practices of Christmas even appear (Christmas trees, wreaths, lights, gingerbread men, the nativity sets) in Scripture anywhere? They are non existent. There is not a single verse to back any of it up. There is however, a clear understanding of the origin of these practices in the pagan religions of the world. I want to provide you with two Christian links that I believe summarize very well and have been double and triple checked by my wife and I: mystery-babylon.org/christmas.html christianmediaresearch/cmc-48.html I want to make some thing very clear- I do not believe or categorize ANY genuine believer in Jesus as a pagan or guilty of practicing paganism. However, I do believe the Lord wants you to understand the roots of the images, practices, and rituals of this holiday. It has its roots in demonic pagan rituals which can be traced all the way back to the tower of Babel, Assyrian paganism, Babylonian paganism and roots in the grecco-roman and European paganism. If you are very offended by what I have said thus far, I humbly ask you to spend fifteen minutes of your life researching this on these sites and then ask yourself- has God ever even slightly suggested that we are to redeem demonic worship practices and symbols to use in the worship and the remembrance of YHWH in a festival that He Himself never commanded that we observe?And if you are a baptist, than why are we so by the Book on other issues but totally drop our convictions when it comes to Christmas, Easter and Halloween. I will leave that between you and the Lord but I do want to leave you with a command of God that is dealing with the very Babylonian practice of what is called the Nimrod-tree as addressed by the Lord to the people of Israel through the prophet Jeremiah 10:1-4 “Learn not the way of the nations nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.They decorate it with silver and gold they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move And I leave you with what Jesus said- we are to observe all that He commanded- no more and no less. This is radically changing my life and my familys life. We are not going to be hypocrites about this. We are going to practice what we preach. If you would like to know more about the Jewish feasts and festivals that we will be celebrating as God given celebrations, please contact us.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Dec 2013 02:03:37 +0000
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