The Story of Christmas: The Untold History Behind the Holiday 2024

The video is about the untold story of Christmas, starting from the beginning of the world. It will cover the history of Christmas, the development of Christmas over time, and the relationship between scripture and Christmas. It emphasizes that there is only one God and that worshiping other gods is not allowed. The video also mentions instances of idolatry and pagan practices among the people of Yahweh. Well, it's that time of year again. It's Christmas time. How much do you know about the Christmas story? You may know a lot of the modern Christmas information. You may even know some of the recent historical information. But do you know the story of Christmas from history starting all the way back in the beginning of the world? Well, that's what we're teaching in this video on Christmas, the untold story. Music So this teaching is going to be all about Christmas, what it is, where it came from, the story going out from the very beginning of the world. This is probably going to be a story of Christmas that you might not have ever heard before or maybe put in a different way than what you're used to in the past. So definitely stay tuned for this teaching. And like always, if you would like the notes that we took for this, Drosh, you can go to our website, godhonesttruth.com, and click on the post for this episode. And there you'll be able to find the on-demand video. You'll be able to see the slides that we've got here if you're watching on a video platform. You'll also be able to see the notes that we made for this specific topic and episode. And you'll also be able to access the transcript if that so happens to be of use to you. It's all right there for you on godhonesttruth.com. Or even more conveniently, go down below in the description and you'll find a convenient link right there that will take you directly to that post for this episode. And that link in the description should be there whether you're watching on a video platform or on an audio podcasting platform. So just a quick outline of how this teaching is going to go. We're going to start out with the beginning of the world and work our way up into modern days. So after we get done with the beginning of the world, we're going to go on to when the first pagan gods come on the scene. Then we go into some issues about how the people of Yahweh strayed the nation of Israel back in the Tanakh. We look at the celebrations that were done during the time of the apostles. It may be interesting to find out what exactly they celebrated while they were alive. Then we're going to move into some history of the post-apostolic times and look at the early church. And all this is relating to the story of Christmas. Then we're going to look at the development of Christmas over time. And finally, and at the end, we're going to look at scripture and Christmas, compare them, and see about reconciling the two together. So in the beginning, there was only one God. Of course, there's only ever been one God. But in the beginning, there was only one God that was known of. Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. In the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth. Genesis chapter 4, verse 26. And to him also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. Then it was begun to call on the name of Yahweh. And finally, Genesis chapter 6, verse 8. But Noah fell in favor in the eyes of Yahweh. Now all the way up to this point, we don't see any other mention of other gods. We don't see their names or anything like that. It's not up until we get to Genesis chapter 31, verse 30. And there we see the first mention, at least as I could find, of multiple false gods. Here in Genesis chapter 31, verses 30 and 32. So now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father's house. But why did you steal my gods? The one with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our relatives, recognize what is yours among my belongings and take it for yourself. But Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them. So here, Jacob and Rachel and Leah and their whole family is leaving Laban's house. They're going back to where Jacob grew up, back to his homeland. When they left, Rachel had taken some of the, quote-unquote, gods from her father's house. Full disclosure, right here, more than likely this is relating to some statues that they probably had there in Laban's house. She just took them. And Laban has come back looking for the stuff that was missing from his home. And right about this time, and especially back in the Tanakh, there's a lot of people who speculate that the ancient Hebrews and people of those times were actually what's called monolatrists. And monolatry is a term that describes the belief in the existence of many gods but with the consistent worship of only one deity. That is from Wikipedia.org. It goes on to state that monolatry is distinguished from monotheism, which asserts the existence of only one god, and henotheism, a religious system in which the believer worships one god while accepting that others, for example, in different areas, may worship different gods with equal validity. So monolatry is stating that people recognize the existence of many gods but they only worship one single god. I would contend with that being applied to the people of Scripture. I've always understood it, and from what I read in Scripture, they only believed that there was one god. Now the people fell out from time to time, and we'll see some of that later on, but altogether they knew there was only one god that existed and that his name is Yahweh. From Britannica.com, monolatry refers to the worship of one god as supreme and sole object of the worship of a group while not denying the existence of deities belonging to other groups. So that's what the term monolatry means. But then, as these foreign false gods are created, and swords about them are made up, and various practices are implemented in worshiping these false gods by their adherents, there comes the command, obviously, by Yahweh in the Scriptures to not follow after these practices. Genesis chapter 18, verse 3. Do not do as they do in the land of Mithraim where you dwell, and do not do as they do in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you, and do not walk in their laws. So here Yahweh is telling them, don't do like they did back in Egypt, and don't do like the people of the land of where I'm taking you to give you as an inheritance. Don't do what they do with their gods. Don't even think about it, don't inquire about it, don't do it. And then again in Deuteronomy chapter 12, verse 29 through 30. When Yahweh your Elohim does cut you off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, guard yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them. After they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire about their mighty ones, saying, how did these nations serve their mighty ones and let me do so too? So again he's saying, don't follow after the practices of the pagans, or the heathens, or the Gentiles, all the same thing. Don't follow after the way they do, and don't do it towards me. Yahweh says he does not want those pagan, satanic practices used in worship and service of him. Again, in Deuteronomy chapter 12, verse 4. Don't worship the Lord your God in the way those nations worship their God. And again, Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse 9. When you come into the land which Yahweh your Elohim is giving you, do not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations. Again, referring to the pagan practices that they would implement in the worship of their false gods. So in the beginning there was only one God, and everyone knew there was only one God. And then eventually as human beings went further and further into depravity and evil, they invented other gods. And then we have to have the command, do not go after these other gods. Do not learn their ways, do not worship me in that way. So now we're at a bad point. There's these false gods all around, and there's still false gods today. But Yahweh does not want us worshiping these false gods, and he does not want us engaging in the practices of these false gods. Especially towards him. And this is all due, if you look throughout scripture, you see this imagery, where it describes Yahweh as being the husband, and we the people of Yahweh as being the bride, his wife. The symbolism there is that when we go after false gods in that way, we're actually committing spiritual adultery. And Yahweh is our husband, Yahweh is a jealous God. Exodus chapter 20 verses 3 through 6. You have no other mighty ones against my face. You do not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of that which is in the heavens above, or which is in the earth beneath, or which is in the waters under the earth. You do not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, Yahweh, your Elohim, am a jealous El, visiting the crookedness of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing loving commitment to thousands to those who love me and guard my commands. And what's one of those commands that we just looked at? One of those commands that he's referring to is to not follow in the ways of the pagans, in the way they worship their gods. And to not worship their gods, but also to not follow in those ways. So even though the people got these commandments, they understood them, they heard them, Moses come down and told it to them, they still fell into idolatry and pagan practices. One of the most famous, that most everyone can generally remember, is the golden calf at the foot of Sinai. Exodus chapter 32, verses 1 and 4 through 5. And when the people saw that Moshe was so long in coming down from the mountains, the people gathered together to Aaron and said to him, Arise, make us a god who will go before us. For this Moshe, the man who brought us up out of the land of Mitzrayim, we do not know what has become of him. And he took this from their hands, and he formed it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. And they said, this is your mighty one, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Mitzrayim. And Aaron saw and built a slaughter place before it, And Aaron called out and said, tomorrow is a festival to Yahweh. So here we've got the people engaging in these pagan practices, in these pagan ways, and attributing it as a way to serve and worship Yahweh. And of course we all remember what happened with them. It did not turn out good for them. They were used to these kind of practices back in Egypt. Yahweh told them, don't do that, but yet they still did it. Now, maybe in their hearts they're thinking, this is a good thing, this is how we worship the Almighty, but Yahweh had already told them, don't do it. So it wasn't really about what they thought of it in their hearts. It's about what Yahweh thinks of these practices such as this. Now just for your knowledge, some interesting stuff, this is not the only golden calf that was made in Scripture. We look at 1 Kings 12, verses 28 and 30. The King Jeroboam here. So the sovereign took counsel and made two calves of gold, and said to the people, it is too much for you to go up to Yerushalayim. Say your mighty one, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Mitzrayim. And this matter became a sin, for all the people went up before the one as far as Dan. Back in the wilderness, when they came out of Egypt, they just had Yahweh tell them, don't do these kinds of things. King Jeroboam, he should have read his Torah, and he should have known about this golden calf incident at Mount Sinai, because he thought to himself, hey, I really shouldn't do this. This is not good. But he did. He again engaged in this pagan practice that the pagans used to worship their gods. And it didn't turn out good for him. He lost his hand and lots of other bad stuff. In Scripture a couple of times, Yahweh is compared and given some of the attributes of like a bull or an ox. We see in Numbers chapter 23, verse 22, El, who brought them out of Mitzrayim, is for them like the horns of a wild ox. So, even though sometimes Yahweh is described in terms and attributes of a bull or an ox, it still doesn't mean that we are to use idols like a golden calf or a wooden calf or anything like that in our worship of Yahweh. The Gentiles, the pagans, they did stuff like that, but we are not to do stuff like that in service and worship of Yahweh. However, these pagans, these Gentiles, these other nations, they used more than just idols in their worship of their pagan gods. For instance, we look at 2 Kings chapter 17, verses 9-12. And the children of Israel secretly did against Yahweh their Elohim matters that were not right, and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from watchtower unto the wall of the city, and set up for themselves pillars and asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and burned incense there on all the high places, like the nations whom Yahweh had removed from their presence. And they did evil matters to provoke Yahweh, and served the idols of which Yahweh had said to them, Do not do this. So, we already saw in Scripture where they were using idols like golden calves, these pagan practices in their worship of Yahweh and how bad that was. Now here we can also see some other elements that they used in their worship of these pagan gods. They used pillars, they also used asherim, from which I can tell is like a pole or a post or a column, something like that. And they also used green trees and various types of shrubbery. Now these pillars and these asherim, one example that you can look at, if you are watching on video, here on the right there is a picture of Egypt and some of the ancient Egyptian ruins. But there in the front you can see what's called an obelisk, standing straight up there. And obelisks were very, they were involved a lot in ancient Egyptian pagan worship practices. They were also involved in other pagan worship practices as well. The center photo you see here is actually a picture of the Vatican. Way out, right in front of the Vatican, right there in their little courtyard in front of their steps, they have an Egyptian obelisk set up right there as well. Which makes you wonder, what is the Vatican doing with a pagan implement of worship there so close to the Vatican? Why do they have it on Vatican property? When Yahweh says, don't do these kinds of things. In fact, in addition to Yahweh commanding us to not do these things, He even goes further than that and tells us to go and destroy such things. Deuteronomy chapter 12, verses 2 through 3. Completely destroy all the places where the nations which you are dispossessing serve their mighty ones on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. And you shall break down their slaughter places and smash their pillars and burn their assuring with fire. And you shall cut down the carved images of their mighty ones and shall destroy their name out of that place. Yahweh says, do not follow after the ways of the Gentiles. Do not follow or use the pagan worship practices in your worship and service of me. Then He tells them to even go further than that and destroy these pagan places. Do they do that? Sometimes. In scripture, you can see, especially in the book of Judges, but all throughout the Tanakh, you can see the people doing good for a while and then they fall into paganism. And they do good for a while and then they fall into paganism. Back and forth, yo-yo in effect. But Yahweh told them right from the very beginning when they came out of Egypt, do not follow in these pagan ways. Destroy these pagan places. But they didn't listen and they went on and on and doing it time and time again. 2 Kings chapter 17 verse 7 through 10. Now this came to be because the children of Israel had sinned against Yahweh their Elohim, who had brought them up out of the land of Mithraim, from under the hand of Pharaoh, sovereign of Mithraim, and feared other mighty ones and walked in the laws of the nations, whom Yahweh had dispossessed from before the children of Israel, and of the sovereigns of Israel that they had made. And the children of Israel secretly did against Yahweh their Elohim matters that were not right. And they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from watchtower unto the walled city, and set up for themselves pillars and asherim on every high hill and under every green tree. And they did this time and time again. Jeremiah chapter 2 verses 19 through 20. Your own evil instructs you and your backslidings reprove you. Know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter that you have forsaken Yahweh your Elohim, and that my fear is not in you, declares the master Yahweh of hosts. For as old I have broken your yoke and torn off your chastisement. And you said, I am not serving you, when on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down a whore. So once again, we've got them being spoken against for the pagan practices that they were doing. One of the things that they were implementing, one of these pagan practices, was the use of greenery, green trees, wreaths, stuff like that. In fact, such a practice is actually referred to by its own label. It's called dendrology. And according to the freedictionary.com, quote, dendrology, the worship of trees, the veneration of trees, end quote. From Christian Educators Academy, quote, in many pagan religions, evergreen trees were seen as symbols of the eternal cycle of life, death, and rebirth. They were used in winter celebrations to represent the promise of spring and the return of life, end quote. So these pagans used something that we call nowadays dendrology. And that is the usage of greenery, like trees, wreaths, stuff like that, in the worship of their pagan gods. We look at the encyclopedia Americana. The worship of a tree, as in itself divine, does not appear to have prevailed in any age of the world, even where this view was not taken and the tree was not venerated as the dwelling place of divinity, trees were associated with the worship of the gods and a certain degree of sanctity attached to them. Tree worship or anything resembling that has no place in any branch of Christianity and among Christians the attachment to trees or any particular tree is entirely a matter of natural sentiment, end quote. So this is an important nuance to try and understand with the usage of trees and the way pagans use these trees, dendrology as a whole. And for those of you listening on audio, dendrology is spelled d-e-n-d-r-o-l-a-t-r-y. But here it's making a good point that the worship of the tree, or the usage of the tree, was not necessarily worshipping the tree as divine or worshipping the tree as a god, but it was still symbolizing that particular god and that particular practice. It was still an instrument used in the worship practice of these pagans. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, quote, In higher religions we find a Zeus or a Dionysus and Dendros, gods, occupants of trees, who have been identified with one or other of the leading members of a recognized pantheon. Syrian writers speak of a king of the forest and of a tall olive tree to the worship of which Satan seduced the people, end quote. And think about back in the Garden of Eden when Satan tempted Eve and then Eve brought Adam into it. What did Satan use? He utilized a particular tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and more specifically the fruit of it, but it was still growing on a tree. So here, we've got, that may be a loose connection, I just thought about that, but that just made me think of the serpent back in the Garden of Eden, that whole story there. So this is Kabili, who's this fertility deity, this earth mother goddess, and her young consort Attis, who in some versions of the myth is also her son. Kabili adores Attis, but his attentions soon wander elsewhere. Now he's just, he's just seen this young temptress, he's been pulled away from Kabili, his allegiance is now in question. Attis has betrayed the great goddess and she goes into a jealous fury. She's rejecting him and she's driving him mad. Attis disappears deep into the forest. Here he despairs and does the unthinkable. Tony, what's happened is that Attis has castrated himself and he's fled to death, and that's where we find him, underneath this pine tree. Kabili follows him, she finds him and she's stricken with grief, but she can resurrect him, because she's a goddess, and she resurrects him in the form of a pine tree. So, although he's been brought back to life again, he's been brought back as one of the trees of the forest. Yes. Going, I think. Yes! There he goes. The tree became a symbol of this power of resurrection and the focus of rituals performed in her honour. Well, what's happened, Tony, is that the tree representing Attis has been brought here and has been erected. Which, of course, symbolises his return to life. And, of course, it's a phallus and it's been driven into the ground. So, it's as if it's fertilising Kabili, the earth mother. It's a very hot, nourishing maypole garden. Well, there's a sense in which our maypole, the Christmas tree, a whole series of tree symbols, are essentially symbols of fertility. But the most direct evidence we see against the use of trees from Scripture is in Jeremiah chapter 10, verses 2 through 4. They beautify it with silver and gold. They strengthen it with nails and hammers so that it does not topple. So, here they're still engaging in dendrolitry, these nations, these Gentiles, these pagans, these heathens. They're still engaging in dendrolitry, the use of greenery or a tree or things like that in the practice of their worship of their false gods. And Yahweh is saying, do not do these things. These people, these nations, these pagans, these Gentiles, they were going out to the forest, they were cutting the tree down, bringing it back to their house, securing it so that it wouldn't fall over, and then decorating it with various ornaments like silver and gold or brightly coloured things. Even back in the book of Jeremiah, these things were going on. And Yahweh says, do not do these things. Here in Jeremiah, it's pretty cut and dry, do not do it. Like we said earlier, the people of the Tanav, the Yoyos, they were done good for a while, they were righteous, and then they fell into idolatry, these pagan practices. They did good, and then they fell back down to idolatry. But when we get to the time of the first century believers, the time of Yeshua, and the time of the apostles, things like that, let's look and see which practices that they were actually keeping, and maybe which ones they were not. We look in Luke chapter 2, verses 40-41. And the child grew and became strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the favour of Elohim was upon him. And his parents went to Yerushalayim every year at the festival of the Pesach. Now what is Pesach? Pesach is Passover. Here we see in Luke that Yeshua and his parents, Joseph and Mary, went every year and celebrated Passover. They kept Passover. Even in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, verses 6-8. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the entire lump? Therefore cleanse out the old leaven so that you are a new lump as you are unleavened. For also Messiah our Pesach was slaughtered for us. So then, let us celebrate the festival, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of evil and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. So here the Apostle Paul, even after the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Yeshua, even after all of that, he's still advising and admonishing those who are reading his letters, especially here the people in Corinth, he is advising them and telling them to let us celebrate this festival. Which festival is he commanding them to celebrate? Passover. They're still celebrating Passover even at this point in history. They also celebrated other holidays and whatnot as well. John chapter 7, verses 2 and 10. And the festival of the Yehudim was near. The festival of Sukkot. But when his brothers had gone up to the festival, then he also went up, not openly, but as it were in secret. So here Yeshua and his disciples are keeping and celebrating Sukkot. Then we look at Acts chapter 27, verses 7 through 9. And having sailed slowly many days and arriving with difficulty off Nidos, the wind not allowing us to proceed, we sailed close to Crete off Stamon. And passing it with difficulty, we came to a place called Air Havens, near the city of Lycia. And much time having passed and the sailing now being dangerous, because the fast was already over. Shaul advised them. So what is it referencing here with that term, the fast? Well, in Judaism, it's tradition to fast on Yom Kippurim. They were still keeping Yom Kippurim in addition to Sukkot, Pesach, and all that kind of stuff. Acts chapter 18, verses 20 through 21. And when they asked him to stay a longer time with them, he declined, but took leave of them, saying, I have to keep this coming festival in Jerusalem by all means, but I shall come back to you, Elohim desiring so. And he sailed from Ephesus. Here in Acts, the Apostle Paul is keeping a festival. What festival is that? It's generally agreed that the festival mentioned here is the Feast of Pesach. Again, he's keeping the Feast of Passover. I want to remind you one more time that this point in history was even after the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Yeshua. So did the Apostles and the people that lived during the times of the Apostles think that the feast days of Yahweh had been done away with? No. They were still going to the Temple while it was standing. They were still keeping the feast days of Yahweh. Now what's something that you don't find celebrated in all of Scripture, even the Brit Hadashah or aka New Testament? You don't find the celebration of the birth of Messiah. You don't find that anywhere in Scripture. We're not even told what day or even what month that he was born in. Scripture does not tell us. Now there are various clues that can give us an educated time frame, but it does not give us the time or the date of Yeshua's birth. Even more, we don't even see people celebrating his birth. So what about the early church after the times of the Apostles? What did they do? Well, we look at a quote from the New Shock Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Quote, There is no historical evidence that our Lord's birthday was celebrated during the apostolic or early post-apostolic times. The uncertainty that existed at the beginning of the third century in the minds of Hippolytus and others proves that no Christmas festival had been established much before the middle of the century, meaning the middle of the third century. From the Encyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, quote, The observance of Christ's birth is not of divine appointment, nor is it of New Testament origin. The day of Christ's birth cannot be ascertained from the New Testament or indeed from any other source. The fathers of the first three centuries do not speak of any special observance of the Nativity. End quote. So here we can see that the early church, right after the times of the Apostles, they didn't keep or celebrate the birth of Messiah. More than likely, and we can see from other historical records and writings, that this early, early church still celebrated the seventh-day Sabbath, they kept the feast day, they kept kosher and stuff like that. But for our study here, it's important to note that they did not celebrate any day of the year as Messiah's birth. However, humans being what they are, they were inquisitive and they eventually started speculating about when Messiah was actually born. We look at the new Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, quote, Hippolytus earlier favored January 2nd, Clement of Alexandria, the 25th day of Hashan, which is May 20th, while others, according to Clement, fixed upon April 18th or 19th and March 28th. End quote. From Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Clement of Alexandria dated the Nativity on November 18th. End quote. And from the Catholic Encyclopedia, quote, So even back at the very early times, people did not know when Yeshua was born. They did not know and they did not even celebrate his birth. As time went on, they started speculating and here we can see from these quotes that it was all over the calendar. In fact, one person says that there's no month in the year to which his birth has not been attributed during that time. So we don't know the date when he was born. The apostles and those during those days did not celebrate his birth. The early church did not celebrate his birth, but they speculated on the date. Eventually, they came to decide on some more concrete stuff. We look at the new Shavuot Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, quote, From the middle of the 4th century, the birth of Jesus was celebrated on December 25th, first in Rome and before the end of the century in the east also. End quote. From Encyclopedia.com, There is evidence of its observance on 25th of December at Rome by the early 4th century. And this date has remained the focus of the commemoration in the Western Catholic tradition ever since. There is no evidence to support this theory, which was seemingly first advanced by Saint Hippolytus, that this was the actual birthday of Christ. The choice was rather dictated by already well-established pagan celebrations on that day. In antiquity, it was the winter solstice, celebrated as the birthday of both Sol Invictus and Mithras. End quote. So here you can see one person here puts that the beginning of the 4th century, but definitely by the middle of the 4th or the end of the 4th century, it was widespread. Having started first in Rome. Not Jerusalem. Not Israel. Rome. And then it spread to everywhere else. But it took a long time. It wasn't an instant thing. And another thing you can see here, that they chose the date because of the winter solstice, which was also the birthday of Sol Invictus and Mithras. The 25th of December. Now you may be looking at your calendar, and if it's got certain times of the year there, you may look up where the winter solstice is for this year, and it says December 21st. I believe it is. Yeah, December 21st. It's not December 25th. You're right. The 21st is not the 25th. However, the calendar has underwent changes from time to time, changing back during that period as well. Julius Caesar, when he came on the scene, he changed the calendar. And for a long time in history here on Earth, the winter solstice was considered to be December 25th. Eventually, the calendar was changed again. We've got the Gregorian calendar, which moves things around. And now, the solstice is not on the 25th, but back then and for a long time, the solstice was on the 25th of December. Even, oh, I can't remember the name, maybe Aurelian, the Emperor Aurelian, actually dedicated a temple to Sol Invictus on December 25th because that was the birthday of Sol Invictus in their pagan religion. But when the Catholic Church came on the scene and they started taking control and dictating beliefs and doctrines, one of the things they came up with was the celebration of the birth date of Messiah and placement on the birth date of Sol Invictus or Mithras. From Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, quote, December 25th was the chief feast of Mithras and in fixing on that date for Christmas, the early church sought to overlay both the Mithraic festival and the Saturnalia. End quote. From encyclopedia.com, the ecclesiastical calendar retains numerous remnants of pre-Christian festivals, notably Christmas, which blends elements including both the feast of the Saturnalia and the birthday of Mithra. End quote. And finally, from Sir William Reginald Holiday in his book The Pagan Background of Early Christianity, quote, The 25th of December, the winter solstice, was celebrated as the birthday of the unconquered sun. A date which the church found it politic to adopt for the Christian celebration of Christmas. End quote. So this is not just one person's opinion or one denomination's opinion or what have you. This is from scholars, archaeologists, people who spend a lot of time, sometimes entire careers, studying these kinds of things and they're saying, yeah, when the church decided to have a celebration for the date of Messiah's birth, they put that date on the date of the birthday of the sun, of the pagan Mithras, of the pagan Solus Invictus. December 25th. And it's stuck ever since. Now not everyone celebrates Christmas on 25th, but the vast majority of those who do celebrate Christmas celebrate it on December 25th. However, things evolve over time. Yes, I know evolution is a bad word, but that's only when it comes to actual creatures. Various things evolve, and one of the things that do evolve is traditions. Traditions like Christmas, and it did evolve over time. From Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, quote, There is no evidence of the existence of a feast of nativity before the fourth century except possibly among the Bessalabians. End quote. So just for your notes and for your reference, before about the 11th century, it was not called Christmas. It was not called Christmas. It was referred to as the Feast of the Nativity. So if you're looking through these really old documents, you won't see Christmas. You'll see the phrase Feast of the Nativity. That's the same thing. It eventually got renamed. That's what it used to be called. From Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, quote, This evidence is probably sufficient when added to the remarkable silence as to the existence of a nativity feast up to the fourth century to show that it was not celebrated before that time. The earliest evidence which we possess for any such feast points, moreover, not to December 25th, but to January 6th, on which day the birth and the baptism of Jesus were simultaneously celebrated. End quote. And that's a whole other study. That's a whole other controversy. Some people celebrated the birth on the 6th. Some most celebrated on the 25th. I think the Eastern Orthodox celebrates on the 6th as well as the Epiphany, things like that. But, yeah, there are some groups that celebrate it at different times of the year, even up till today. But, for the most part, it was celebrated by those who celebrate it on December 25th. According to Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, quote, The suggestion made by this passage is that 387, the observance of nativity on December 25th was new and regarded as an innovation derived from Rome. End quote. If you are a student of church history, the two places that tend to spread a lot of non-Biblical stuff is Rome and Alexandria. There was a lot of Nazism down in Alexandria during the early years and Rome has come up and adopted a lot of the Roman religious stuff into Christianity. But, anyways, here you can see in this last quote that 387 seems like something new, that people aren't used to it, so it wasn't celebrated in a lot of places even at that point. But it was spreading out and by the end of the 4th century it was pretty much something that was known throughout a lot of the known world. Then we look at Encyclopedia.com. Quote, It was only in the late 4th century that churches began to designate a special place for a Mass of Christ in the liturgical calendar, a feast called Christus Massus in Old English. There is no evidence that early churches attributed much importance to the physical birth of Jesus of Nazareth, and the date of the actual event is not known. But when a Christian holiday was named for it, church officials deliberately chose December 25th in an attempt to supplant the pagan rituals that were already in place. End quote. And from the Catholic Encyclopedia, the word for Christmas in Late Old English is Christus Massus, the Mass of Christ, first found in 1038, and Christus Massus in 1131. End quote. And this Christus Massus evolved like nothing to do into what we know of today as Christ Mass or Christmas. And when the church, the Catholic church, when they were bringing these things in, they first started in Rome with the things that the Romans did in the worship to their gods. But as they spread throughout all of Europe and throughout the Middle East and throughout North Africa and places like that, they did like the Romans. When the Romans went to various places, they would go and adopt some of the local pagan customs and traditions and names sometimes. Well, when the Catholic church started moving out to the world, they did just like the Romans and they started adopting and bringing in some of these pagan practices that was already existent in the areas they were moving into. This kind of bringing stuff in like that actually has a label as well. It's called Interpretatio Romana. And from the Oxford Classical Dictionary, quote, Interpretatio Romana, literally Latin translation, a phrase used to describe the Roman habit of replacing the name of a foreign deity with that of a Roman deity considered somehow comparable. At times, this process involves extensive identification of the actual deities while in other cases the deities, though sharing a name, continue to be sharply distinguished. End quote. And from Encyclopedia.com, quote, Whatever the explanation, it is evident that the early Christian fathers and their struggle for political and psychological supremacy turned the Interpretatio Romana, the process of Romanizing foreign gods, on its ear by expropriating a number of pagan symbols and observances and providing them with new Christian meanings. For this reason, Christmas and especially the foods associated with it represent a fusion of diverse pagan strands varying widely in emphasis from one country to the next. End quote. So the Catholic Church did just like the Romans that they came out of. They adopted various pagan ways into their way of doing stuff. Now this Interpretatio Romana is actually, is also called by another name and that's called syncretism. From Wikipedia.com, quote, Syncretism is the practice of combining different beliefs in various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discreet traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thus asserting an underlying unity and allowing for an inclusive approach to other faiths. Religious syncretism is the blending of two or more religious belief systems into a new system or the incorporation into a religious tradition of beliefs from unrelated traditions. End quote. So when the Catholic Church was spreading out and they wanted to bring in new converts and they wanted to have more power and bring in more of that sweet moolah that they would be given through their tithes and their penances and various things. They adopted these various pagan ways of doing things, their ways of worshipping their gods. They slapped a Christian sticker on it and tried to say everything was good. Remember, what are we told in Scripture? Scripture says, Do not learn the ways of the pagans. Do not do as the Gentiles do. Do not worship me in the way that the nations do. So clearly we can see from history that the Catholic Church was clearly committing grievous sins by adopting and bringing in these pagan practices. And as they went all over the world they adopted these various practices and ways that the pagans did things, called it Christians, and this happened wherever they went. Even all the way up into Europe they adopted the various pagan ways of the people that, of the area where they moved into. From wikipedia.org, quote, Reverence for individual trees among the Germanic peoples is a common theme in medieval Christian denunciations of backsliding into paganism. In some cases, such as Donar's Oak, according to legend, filled by Christian missionary St. Boniface, these were associated with particular gods and the association of individual trees with saints can be seen as a continuation of the tradition into modern times. End quote. So these Germanic pagans were using trees, they were using andrology, right? And at one point, the Christians condemned it, but eventually they adopted these practices that the pagans were doing in the use of trees, and now even some of the trees are identified with the, quote unquote, saints of the Catholic Church. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, quote, It is generally believed that the first Christmas tree was of German origin, dating from Boniface, English missionary to Germany in the 8th century, who replaced the sacrifices to Odin's sacred oak by a fir tree adorned in tribute to the Christ child. Accounts persist that Luther introduced the tree lighted with candles. It is known that the German prince, Albert, soon after his marriage to Queen Victoria, introduced it into England and that German immigrants brought the custom to America. End quote. So here we've got andrology and the use of trees in pagan worship that was adopted into Christianity as a whole, but more specifically that branch called Catholicism. From Christian Educators Academy, quote, The origins of the wreath go back to ancient pagan traditions. In many cultures, the wreath was a symbol of power, victory, and the cycle of life. It was often made of evergreen branches, which represented eternal life, and was used during winter solstice celebrations. The use of evergreens in the wreath also has pagan origins. Some believe that the circular shape of the wreath also had symbolic meaning. It was said to represent the cyclical nature of the universe, the changing seasons, and the eternal nature of the soul. As with many pagan symbols, the Christian Church adopted the use of the wreath and gave it new meaning. End quote. Now again, instead of saying Christian Church, I think it would have been better off saying Catholic Church, but it is what it is. So far, we've found that when the Feast of Nativity, the celebration of the birth date of Messiah was first instituted, they selected the date out of paganism. They adopted trees out of paganism. They adopted wreaths out of paganism. But it doesn't stop there. There's so much more. If you look at wikipedia.org, quote, Folklorist Margaret Baker maintains that the appearance of Santa Claus, or Father Christmas, whose day is the 25th of December, owes much to Odin, the old, blue-headed, cloaked, white-bearded gift-bringer of the North, who rode the midwinter sky on his eight-footed steed, Sleipnir, visiting his people with gifts. Odin transformed into Father Christmas, then Santa Claus, prospered with Saint Nicholas and the Christ Child, became a leading player on the Christmas stage. End quote. From encyclopedia.com, the gift-bringer Santa Claus is an American invention. It combines features of the traditional children's saint, Nicholas of Myra, with some elements of the Germanic fire god, Thor, who fought the giants of ice and snow from his home in the polar regions. End quote. So now we've got Santa Claus coming from the pagan god, Odin. A lot of people will try to say that it's based on quote-unquote Saint Nicholas, who was a bishop of Myra, I think it was, way back in the 4th century. However, there's no way to establish that point. We have no writings from Nicholas of Myra. We have no records of the time of him actually even doing stuff. We have no letters or defensiveness of the faith like we do from other people. We know he existed, but we have zero idea of what he actually did during his life. The only thing we have about Nicholas of Myra, which turned into eventually Saint Nicholas, we have legends from him that was written hundreds of years after he died. So we actually don't know what he did and a lot of the stuff that's about him is actually probably false. But anyways, the legend of Nicholas persisted nonetheless and this legend went up into Germany where he was called Saint Nicholas, obviously, which went into the old Santa Claus thing being called Saint Nicholas as well. Also Santa Claus was developed into Santa Claus. But that's just a little bit about Nicholas of Myra, otherwise known as Saint Nicholas. Did Saint Nicholas give gifts to kids during his lifetime? We don't know. Probably not. Did he celebrate Christmas? No. Probably not because as we already saw, most people back then did not celebrate Christmas. Even origins writing that these celebrations were for the pagan gods. The stories we have is that Nicholas was actually a fire stick or was very fiery for the faith and contended with those people who were pagan and those people who they considered to be heretics. Getting off on a tangent. We'll leave it there. Anyways, we know very little. He probably didn't give money to kids. He probably didn't raise this number of children. Things like that. Those are just legends and stuff that was written about him hundreds of years after he died. Going on from Wikipedia.org quote, 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 Yule-tide celebrations into modern Christmas such as the wild hunt, frequently attested as being led by the god Odin. Odin's role during the Yule-tide period has been theorized as having influenced concepts of Saint Nicholas and Santa Claus in a wide variety of facets including his long white beard and his gray horse for nightly rides or his reindeer in North American tradition. Folklorist Margaret Baker maintains that the appearance of Santa Claus or Father Christmas whose day is the 25th of December owes much to Odin, the old blue-headed, cloaked, white-bearded gift bringer of the North who rode the midwinter sky on his eight-footed steed Sleipnir, visiting his people with gifts. Odin transformed into Father Christmas, then Santa Claus prospered with Saint Nicholas and the Cross Child, became a leading player on the Christmas stage." And yes, that was read twice, but it's important to know and understand where these things come from. Santa Claus, as we know it today, incorporates a lot, if not most, of his attributes from the pagan god Odin. Not some guy who lived back in the 4th century. No. Santa Claus, like these other things we have examined, comes from paganism. Now the first clip or the first image that we get of Santa Claus actually comes from the Civil War. From mymerrychristmas.com "...Lincoln commissioned artist Thomas Nass to draw a picture of Santa Claus visiting Union troops in the January 3rd, 1853 edition of the widely read Harper's Weekly. Their effect was so profound that Lincoln one time claimed Santa was the best recruiting sergeant the North ever had." So that was the first picture that we actually get of Santa Claus, and that's from a political cartoon, a piece of wartime propaganda. A little known fact, before Lincoln got in the White House, when he was still a senator, he actually voted against making Christmas a national holiday. Kind of interesting. But anyways, in order to kind of put this propaganda forth and help encourage wartime efforts for the North, Lincoln hired this political cartoonist called Thomas Nass. Who's Thomas Nass? From wikipedia.org, "...Thomas Nass was a German born American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist often considered to be the father of the American cartoon." So, Thomas Nass was of German descent. He probably grew up and was taught a lot of German traditions. And what are those German traditions that we just considered? The ancient pagan ways of the Nordic gods. Such as Odin. Think any of the attributes that he drew of Santa come from his understanding of such things? Yeah. More than likely, yeah. But once Thomas Nass drew this image of Santa, that kind of shape, that look for Santa became cemented. Later on, his costume was changed and stuff like that to the Coca-Cola colors of red and white. But Thomas Nass pretty much drew the first image of Santa Claus during the Civil War as wartime propaganda. And that image has remained with us until today. Now, did you know that even though nowadays the entire world or pretty much the vast majority of the world considers Christmas to be a Christian holiday, and those who aren't Christians sometimes are accused of waging a war on Christmas. People take Christmas and they write it X-mas. Some people consider that a war on Christmas. But did you know the original war on Christmas was first waged and conducted by Christians themselves? From the Catholic Encyclopedia, quote, In England, Christmas was forbidden by Act of Parliament in 1644. The day was to be a fast and a market day. Shops were compelled to be opened. Plum puddings and mince pies condemned as even. The conservatives resisted. At Canterbury, blood was shed, but after the restoration, dissenters continued to call Yuletide fooltide. End quote. So England actually outlawed it. But then over here in America, it was outlawed as well. But anyway, going back to Encyclopedia Britannica, quote, In Britain, December 25th was a festival long before the conversion to Christianity. For Betty relates that the ancient peoples of the Angley began the year on December 25th when we now celebrate the birthday of the Lord. In England, the observance of Christmas was forbidden by Act of Parliament in 1644. Charles II revived the feast, but the Scots adhered to the Puritan view. End quote. So these Puritans, we just saw that right there, they kind of held to the no Christmas kind of stance. And they held to it over here in America as well. From Encyclopedia.com, quote, While Christmas generally is considered the celebration of Jesus' birth, the early Puritans who settled the New England region refused to celebrate the occasion, disagreeing with the early church fathers who established the holiday around a pagan celebration for easy remembrance by the poor. The Puritans considered the observance secular in nature. Set during the winter solstice when days grow dark early, Christmas coincides with the Roman holiday of Saturnalia. The date, December 25th, marks the celebration of Dies Metallis Indicti Solis, or the birthday of the unconquered son by the Romans. Puritans believed that these pagan customs, which included no work, feasting, and gift-giving, were inappropriate for the celebration of the Lord's birth. End quote. And from Encyclopedia.com, When the Puritans arrived in Massachusetts in 1620, they treated December 25th as an ordinary day. However, as immigrants began to import Christmas customs to the New World, the Puritans outlawed the celebration of Christmas. End quote. And right here, you can see some of the public notices that were put out around Boston where Puritans had control, outlawing Christmas and saying whoever observes Christmas, you're going to be fine. It was actually punishable by law to celebrate Christmas. So we've seen some of this history. We've seen a lot of scripture and a lot of history, actually. But now, we've learned all these things. There's much more to learn. But we don't want to make this too long. But even after learning all this stuff, we've learned the history, we've learned some of the sources, we've learned a lot of scripture. Let's try and take what we've learned about Christmas and scripture and see about reconciling the two. Now, let's just recall real quick about those things that we have learned so far in this teaching. Number one, Yahweh is a jealous El. Like a husband who is jealous for his wife, Yahweh is a jealous God. We are to have no other gods besides Yahweh. I mean, in reality, there's only one God, and that's Yahweh. But we are to have no other gods. No fake gods, not money, not our career, no other gods but Yahweh. Number three, we are not to worship, celebrate, or serve Yahweh in the ways that the nations or the Gentiles or the pagans celebrate and worship their gods. The nations and the Gentiles and the pagans, whatever you want to call it, they worship their gods utilizing trees and shrubs, which is called dendroitry. And those in the Brit Hadashah, or A.K.A. New Testament, and those in the early church never celebrated the birth of Messiah. So that's a lot of what we've learned so far in this teaching. Let's look at some of the elements of Christmas and see if we can reconcile some of these elements. Number one, Santa Claus. He is a combination of influences including the pagan god Odin. So that conflicts with scriptural teaching saying, do not worship me in their way. Do not learn their ways. We can't reconcile Santa Claus. Flying reindeer more than likely comes from Odin's eight-legged horse Sleipnir. Again, a pagan source, so we can't reconcile it with scripture. Even if it doesn't come from that source, still, invoking magic. Magical reindeer who fly throughout the sky. Scripture teaches against magic, too. On two fronts for the reindeer, so we can't reconcile reindeer. Elves, they come from pagan traditions. Yule logs. Yuletide, the yule season was a Nordic pagan tradition. We can't reconcile that. Or anything about the Yuletide celebrations. Mistletoe, we didn't get into that tonight, but that is another pagan tradition. So it doesn't reconcile. The birth date of Jesus. We're not told in scripture the birth date. The early church didn't celebrate the birth date. It was only when the Catholic church started using that interpretatio romana or secretism to bring in pagan elements that we get the birth date and the celebration of the birth. We can't reconcile December 25th with scripture either. Not looking good. Christmas trees. We see the pagans using dendrolotry, using trees and shrubbery in their worship of their gods. That contradicts what we're told in scripture to not use those ways, not learn those ways. Christmas trees don't reconcile with scripture. What about wreaths? They were adopted from pagan sources as well because pagans used those. That doesn't reconcile with scripture. The hanging of stockings. There is a legend going around that the real life St. Nicholas back in the 4th century put coins in the socks of some young girls when he was alive to keep them from going into prostitution. The girls have these socks hanging up on the mantle to dry out overnight. Some people say that's where the tradition of hanging stockings come from. Look into it. When the Germanic people were worshipping these Nordic pagan gods, they had the habit of hanging up stockings as well. Remember, all these stories about Nicholas of Myra who got the title St. Nicholas, it doesn't come from contemporary sources when he lived. These are legends that were written hundreds of years after Nicholas died. Some points to ponder real quick as we start to get near the end of this teaching. When the Bible wants us to remember something on the calendar it gives us the date of the year or a way to calculate it. For instance, it gives us the date for Passover. It gives us the date for Yom Teruah. It gives us the date for Sattot, etc. It doesn't give us the date for Shavuot but it does give us a way to calculate the date. And it tells us to celebrate it. So there's all that evidence right there about what the Bible wants us to celebrate. Which holidays, which feast day, which mulladim. It tells us in scripture which ones to celebrate which ones not to celebrate and the ones that we do, it gives us the date or a way to calculate it. One of the things that it does not mention in scripture is the birthday of Messiah. Also, scripture tells us to test all things and only hold fast to what is good. That includes our traditions and our celebrations. It doesn't say to look into things if you want to and just do what feels good. No. Changing is hard sometimes. I understand that. You could be ostracized. You could be fired even. All kinds of things. Scripture tells us to test everything and only hold on to what is good. Yahweh wants our love and our obedience, not rationalizations for the things that we do. And there are lots of rationalizations when it comes to trying to defend these traditions. We look at walkingchristian.com and they've got a thing on there about Christmas and they say we are thus free to change that meaning. And they were referencing Christmas coming from paganism. From epicpew.com, this is from a Catholic source. There is nothing wrong with the church baptizing certain practices of other religions. Well that's the stance of the Catholic church but it's not the stance of Yahweh. It's not the stance of the Bible. We saw that for ourselves. From gotquestions.org A practice having a pagan origin does not necessarily make it unbiblical. When it comes to worship and holiday celebrations yes. If it's pagan source, it's unbiblical. And people, even regular ordinary everyday people come up with all kinds of rationalizations themselves. You may have heard some of these when you've been talking to people. They'll say something like it's about what's in your own heart. It's not about where it came from or things like that or what it used to be. It's about what's in your own heart. Well let me read something to you from scripture about that. From Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9. The heart is crooked above all and desperately sick. Who shall know it? Your heart is crooked. So it should not be about what's in your heart. It should not be about what it is that makes you feel good. That makes you feel comfortable. It should be about what Yahweh wants. You may have also heard this. Well, that's not what it means to me. Okay? Again, it doesn't matter what it means to you. It matters what it means to Yahweh. We should be wanting to do what He wants us to do. What makes Him happy. What He has told us to do. We don't set worship. He does. He tells us how to serve Him and how to obey Him. We don't just change things year to year based on the times and the culture and what makes us feel good. We do the things that Yahweh tells us to do. It's what matters to Him. It's what it means to Him. And besides, even by saying that very phrase, it's not what it means to me. It's a way of implicitly acknowledging that it actually is pagan and that it actually has pagan roots. So you're not even trying to deny that portion of it. Another quote from Proverbs chapter 16 verse 25. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. So even though it may seem right, it may feel good, and may be comfortable. Even though it may seem right to you, it's going to have a bad end at the end. Judge for yourself, test everything, and hold on to what is good. Here is a little sort of real life example that you can relate to yourself nowadays. Let's say there's a husband and wife and the husband is telling the wife that she's doing something, but she's doing something that he doesn't like. He doesn't appreciate that. It doesn't make him feel good. Well, she responds by, okay, well it doesn't bother me, so what does it matter? It doesn't bother me, so why should it bother you? This is like, I mean, how would that go over in a relationship? Doing something that your spouse doesn't like and you know they don't like it, but you keep doing it because you think, well, it doesn't bother me. That's what we're doing to Yahweh when we do these pagan rituals, these pagan customs, these pagan traditions. I'll remind you that in scripture there is that imagery of where Yahweh is our husband and we are the bride. We should not do things just because it doesn't bother us. We should do things because it's important to Yahweh, because it matters to him. It should be about what Yahweh wants, not what we want when it comes to our worship and our celebration, our service and our obedience to Yahweh. Zechariah chapter 14 verses 16 through 19. And it shall be that all who are left from all the nations which come up against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to bow themselves to the sovereign, Yahweh of hosts and to celebrate the festival of Sukkot. And it shall be that if any one of the clans of the earth does not come up to Jerusalem to bow himself to the sovereign, Yahweh of hosts, on them there is to be no rain. And if the clan of Mizraim does not come up and enter in, then there is no rain. On them is the plague with which Yahweh plagues the nations who do not come up to celebrate the festival of Sukkot. This is the punishment of Mizraim and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to celebrate the festival of Sukkot. So here Zechariah is talking about the end times. And in the end times we're going to be celebrating the feast days. Specifically here the festival of Sukkot. So why not just go ahead and get back to the ways of Yahweh now. This whole back and forth that's been done before and we saw it. And just to put this whole timeline in perspective the people way back when they celebrated the feast days. Yahweh commanded them, he instructed them, they celebrated the feast days. And then the people back slid into the pagan Gentile ways. And then the people returned to the ways of Yahweh. And then they back slid into the pagan ways and they went back to the ways of Yahweh. And then during the apostolic times when Yeshua was on earth with his disciples they still celebrated the feast days of Yahweh. And then during the early church as we saw from historical evidence the early church celebrated the feast days but they did not celebrate the birth of Yeshua. However, as Yeshua tells us in Ecclesiastes 1.9 What has been done is what shall be and what has been done is what shall be done. And there is no new matter under the sun. It's almost like a cyclical thing. People do good, they fall. They come back up the right way of doing things and they fall. Well, in the apostolic times in the early church they were doing good but then they fell but nothing new under the sun. They went into paganism but part of that cycle scripture had already foretold such things happening. Then during the church period they didn't celebrate the feast days. What a shock! They fell back into idolatry and paganism. We, and I want to say we, I'm referencing the entire modern church. All the denominations that profess Yeshua we, the modern church don't celebrate the feast days. Not as a whole. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Catholics, etc, etc. The vast majority of Christianity doesn't celebrate the feast days. But as we see from Zechariah what we just read that in the end times we will be celebrating the feast days again. So why not just get rid of all that pagan stuff? Get a head start of getting back towards Yahweh. That's why we need to test everything even things like Christmas. We saw from the evidence here that Christmas is not the way to celebrate and serve Yahweh. The sources are from paganism. We're not told to celebrate the birthdays. We should just go ahead and get rid of it. It's biblical and let's get back to serving and obeying Yahweh. So in summary, we went through a lot tonight. But in summary, in the beginning there was only one God that was known of. Eventually multiple gods, other gods were invented and created but it was a later development. Yahweh commanded the people not to follow in the ways of these pagans and the ways of these Gentiles. Not to worship him the way they worship their gods. The pagans and the heathens, the Gentiles, they utilized various things in their worship of their gods. Things like idols and pillars and trees and columns and various greenery when they worshiped their gods. In the Apopholic times we saw that only the feast and the ways of Yahweh were observed. None of these external things like Saturnalia, none of these external things like Lupercalia or Odin, nothing like that. Even the birthdate of Messiah was never celebrated during the Apostolic times. During the early church period we saw that the feast and the ways of Yahweh were observed. That the early church did not celebrate the birthdate of Messiah. Then we see that due to the concept of interpretatio glamana or what's called also syncretism, that pagan dates, methods, and understandings were brought into Christianity creating amongst lots of other things the feast of the Nativity. And Christmas as we know it today is a continuation of the feast of the Nativity combined with many other pagan elements from over the centuries and from all over the world. Just want to remind you of a couple more verses real quick. Matthew chapter 15 verses 8-9 This people draw near to me with their mouth and respect me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching of teachings the commands of men. John chapter 4 verse 24 Elohim is spirit and those who worship him need to worship in spirit and truth. So just some of my final thoughts I put together for this teaching and it's this. Pagan holidays, pagan traditions and pagan practices are dangerous to our spiritual relationship with Yahweh. What we celebrate, how we celebrate and for whom we celebrate is crucial. The Bible treats paganism with seriousness and urges believers to be mindful of their celebrations. Pagan holidays, traditions and practices can create distance from Yahweh and risk endorsing false teachings. For those who recognize Yahweh's goodness these pagan holidays, traditions and practices are not insignificant. As believers it's our responsibility to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable practices. When considering any celebration whether religious, cultural or personal it's crucial to reflect on whether it pleases Yahweh or not. Worshipping Yahweh is a fulfilling act and it's essential that we do it correctly. And that's just the God honest truth. So thank you for joining us for this teaching. 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