Christmas, The Messiah and the Mission Field
In the Scriptures G-d’s people are told to reject the detestable practices of those people around them, making a separation between that which is Holy and what is profane. Throughout the books of the Kings and the Chronicles we see Israel’s kings being deposed and the people suffering because they, the king and the people, did as the nations surrounding them did, following their detestable practices. Make no mistake, we who call ourselves Christian are under the same mandate to be Holy, because our G-d is Holy. If anyone disagrees with this premise, then let him remove himself from among G-d’s people.
How is it, then, that the Church considers Herself immune, not beholden to the same guidelines, though clearly established, mandating a walk of sanctification to The L-rd? How can we, for the sake of a warm-feeling, chose to ignore the abhorrent foundations that Christmas is built upon? How can we defile our precious Messiah by adulterating any celebration of His birth (as if He wanted His birth celebrated) by incorporating it into pagan holiday celebrations. The celebrations G-d wanted His people to observe are clearly defined in the Scriptures (Varikra/Leviticus 23), the exact day, and in some cases the time, were given as to when to hold theses holidays. Why must the Church follow the sin of Jeroboam by conjuring up our own holiday and declaring it to be “holy.”
Yeshua’s entire life was focused on His ministry and eventual death and resurrection. Nowhere in the Scriptures do we see The Messiah celebrating His birthday. If we were to celebrate the birth of Yeshua we would not be left to wonder just what day it occurred on. Scholars rarely agree on anything, but, one thing that is unanimous is that Yeshua was not born in the month of December, so why, in the first place, do we chose to celebrate this holiday then.
Placing the “baby Jesus” in the midst of so much pagan trappings and calling it “holy” is about as effective as going to a McDonalds and calling yourself a hamburger. No matter how hard you try you cannot “cleanse” the holiday we call Christmas enough to justify inserting our precious Messiah into the middle of its defiling pagan practices. If you are unclear of the origins of Christmas see our “Christmas Critique.”
Some may say that Christmas is a mission field, wrong, the world is a mission field, Christmas is a hodgepodge of pagan practice staining the garments of the Church and soiling Her witness to the nations. If we hope to present G-d before the hurting world around us as being Holy and Just, as He is, we must throw off all that besets us. If we are to hold out to a dying world life and healing through faith in a Righteous and Awesome G-d we must not taint that message because our walk is inconsistent with it. We may be in the world, but, we are not to be part of the world. G-d has commanded His people to come out from among the nations and be separate, to be Holy for He is Holy.
For over two hundred years the religion of the west which claims the Christ has sought to sanitize the pagan holy days of Saturnalia and the occult practices that it embraces. This Holy day was now even celebrated until the early 18th century and was not truly popular until after world war two. It is a sad fact that a rose is a rose no matter what the name. It is written that Satin that great deceiver could present himself as an angel of light and as a deciever of good. Many wolves have entered into the faith and have caused deception to blossom, this deception has brought the faith into contention with the world. A faith which should have no part have no connection with a pagan holy day has embraced and now defends it. They have placed Satin above the word of God above the Messiah. how best to win the battle for the soul is with in the faith and the faithful do not realize they are decieved. For they are lead by blind sheppard and so see not and hear not. Odd it is full filled what is written.