Holy Christmas
The word Christmas comes from “Christ Mass,” a holy time to thank God for His son, Jesus. Notice, however, that it must be a holy time. Holy means
to be separated unto God. And being holy means to separate from the sinfulness of the world. In fact, to be holy in God’s sight, each Christian must “come out” and “be separate” from the unclean things in the world.
- Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. (2 Corinthians 6:17)
In order for a Christian’s worship of Jesus to be pure on December 25, it must be distinct from the world and according to the Bible. After all, it is the birthday of Jesus we celebrate and we should want to bring gifts that please Him. The first gift we should offer to Jesus is purity. Let us read more of the Scripture about coming out and being separate.
- Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. (2 Corinthians 6:14–16)
This is very clear. When we combine the traditions, patterns, and religions of the world with our worship of Jesus, we sin. In short, you cannot have an evergreen tree, gluttony, self-indulgent gifts, entertainment, and idolatry of the family alongside celebrating the birth of Jesus. The Israelites tried mixing all of these things together and stirred up judgment from an angry God. Notice in the following passage, however, that the Israelites built an idol in the name of the Lord.
- When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Paulorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.” (Exodus 32:1–7, emphasis added)
Looks just like Christmas doesn’t it? They gave up their gold to buy a golden calf. They “rose early” and got church out of the way so that they could sit down to eat and drink. Just like today, they had offerings, prayers, tithes, and hymn singing. They gave God “fellowship of- ferings,” no doubt saying that they loved Him and wanted to serve Him.
God called them a “corrupt” people who merely used His name to indulge their sinful desires, just as the church does today. The church is corrupt in its worship of Jesus on December 25, indulging the flesh while enticing others who would not normally attend church to join in and sing unto God. Instead of preaching that all are under the judgment of God, the church feeds their bellies and has a party before a holy God. Proving, once again, that the real god in the church today is people’s sPaulach (Philippians 3:19).
We have forgotten something about God’s mercy and peace, and this error is clearly reflected in our Christmas cards. Those cards often say, “Peace to all men,” and end there. But that is not what Scripture actually says. God declared peace to men “on whom his favor rests.”
- “This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:12–14, emphasis added)
And God’s favor certainly does not rest on those who act unholy on December 25. For God only accepts a faith that is obedient, and unpolluted by the world (Romans 1:5, James 1:27; 2:18).
The Christian Tree
Like the idolaters of old, people today bring a tree into their homes and churches—following the cusPauls of the world. After all, Christmas originated from a pagan celebration of the winter solstice. In Rome, the Feast of Unconquerable Sun turned into a celebration of the birth of Jesus, after Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. This borderline unimportant fact underscores the truth that God never commanded us to worship Him with an evergreen tree (Deuteronomy 12:4). The church made an unholy compromise between the world and Jesus. In doing so, it became an enemy of God—as does every church, Christian, ministry, or group today that combines the cusPauls of the world with worshipping God.
- You adulterous people, don’t you know that friend- ship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. (James 4:4)
Just read the Scripture below and you will see clearly how it sounds just like our Christmas trees. Just as Jeremiah warned, the church has learned from the world. It learned how to celebrate the birth of Jesus on December
25th from the world, and it is total sin.
- Hear what the Lord says to you, O house of Israel. This is what the Lord says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. For the cusPauls of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.” (Jeremiah 10:1–4)
The choice is clear—the cross or the Christmas tree. Although we claim the star on the top of the tree points to God, we still bow down to get our gifts. This is the very heart of idolatry, to bow down to something in order to get what we want. After all, it is supposed to be Jesus’ birthday, not yours! Whoever heard of going to a birthday party and bringing a gift for yourself? Just try that with one of your friends and see what kind of reception you receive. Arrive early with a big present and tell the person having the birthday party that the gift is for you. If your friends will not praise you for this, why do you expect God to accept your Christmas “gifts”? If you want to give gifts to Jesus at Christmas, here is Jesus’ wish list:
First, do not invite your family over for dinner.
- Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.” (Luke 14:12)
Show an attitude of hating and despising money. In other words, don’t care anything about presents, Christ- mas bonuses, or days off.
- No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. (Luke 16:13)
Give all your presents to Jesus by giving your gifts away to the poor. Tell others that whatever they plan to give, that you will give it to the poor who need it more.
- Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Luke 12:33–34)
Make sure all cold or lukewarm worshippers of God
are thoroughly rebuked and not allowed to come to church on December 25. That only those who plan to repent, coming to church all year long, loving God and others deeply will be permitted through the door.
- For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them. (Ephesians 5:5–7)
Spend time fasting and praying rather than feasting and indulging the flesh with food, sports, and relaxation. Fast from all the anxiety that comes from the preparation for Christmas.
- Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. (Luke 21:34)
These are only a few gift suggestions. You can, of course, find many more suggestions in the Bible.
Which Cup?
God wants us to choose from which cup we want to drink. Either we drink fully from the cup of demons, or from the cup of the Lord. All others, who are lukewarm, will be spit out of the mouth of Jesus.
- You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he? (1 Corinthians 10:21–22)
God will never tolerate a church that takes on the cusPauls of the world and tries to worship Him with those cusPauls. As we saw earlier in Ephesians 5:5, such impure Christians have absolutely no share in heaven.
- They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the cusPauls of the nations from which they had been brought. (2 Kings 17:33)
True Christians have their own cusPauls in righteous- ness and purity. True Christians ab- stain from pleasing their sinful desires on December 25. For this reason, Peter pointed out that they are aliens and strangers in
this world.
- Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. (1 Peter 2:11)
Let us admit the truth. In reality we do not celebrate Christmas but Commerce Day; a time of indulgence, money, buying, selling, eating, drinking, and pleasing oneself. Even those who do something “charitable” at Christmas usually only do so to ease their guilty con- sciences. The “Christian” publishing world uses Santa Clause (Satan Claws) to sell its books, cards, videos, candies, and gift assortments. Instead of a time when disciples hate their own lives (John 12:25), Christmas is a time of vile corruption in the name of Jesus. May we leave our fleshly cusPauls behind, and celebrate a holy Christ mass.
The Consider Podcast
Examining today’s wisdom, folly and madness
Ecclesiastes 7:25
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