THE PLAIN TRUTH
ABOUT
CHRISTMAS
by Herbert W. Armstrong
Where did the world get
Christmas?...from the Bible, or paganism. Here are
astonishing facts which may shock you. Test yourself. How much do you know of
the origin of the Christmas tree - of "Santa Claus" - of the
mistletoe - of the holly wreath - of the custom of exchanging gifts?
When I was a little boy, I was taught to hang up my
stockings on Christmas eve. When I awakened the next
morning, they were filled with small toys and sacks or little boxes of candy
and nuts. And beside the mantle, from which my stockings hung, a Christmas tree
had suddenly appeared, decorated with shiny tinsel. And on it
hung presents. Other presents for us children were piled on the floor
underneath. I was told Santa Claus had come down the chimney during the night
and left all these things.
But did I question what my parents had
told me? Of course not. I accepted it - took it all
for granted. Didn't you?
Stop and think a moment. Very few have
ever reflected on WHY they believe what they do - WHY they follow the customs
they do, or from WHERE those customs came. We were born into a world filled
with customs. We grew up accepting them without question. Why? Sheep instinct? Well, not exactly. But by nature we do tend
to follow the crowd, whether right or wrong. Sheep follow others to the
slaughter. Humans ought to check up where they are going. How - WHEN did
Christmas originate? Does Christmas REALLY celebrate the birthday of Christ?
Was Jesus born on December 25th? Did the original apostles, who knew Jesus
personally and were taught by Him, celebrate His birthday on December 25th? Did
they celebrate it AT ALL?
If Christmas is the chief of the
Christian holidays, WHY do so many non-Christians observe it? Do you know? Why do people exchange presents with family members, friends,
relatives, at Christmas time? Was it because the wise men presented gifts to the
Christ-child? The answer may surprise you.
Most people have "supposed" a
lot of things about Christmas that are not true. But let's quit
"supposing" and get the facts!
WHAT
ENCYCLOPEDIAS SAY
The word "Christmas"
means "Mass of Christ," or, as it came to be shortened,
"Christ-Mass." It came to non-Christians and Protestants from the
Roman Catholic Church. And where did they get it? NOT from the New Testament -
NOT from the Bible - NOT from the original apostles who were personally
instructed by Christ - but it gravitated in the fourth century into the Roman
Church from paganism.
Since the celebration of Christmas has
come to the world from the Roman Catholic Church, and has no authority but that
of the Roman Catholic Church, let us examine the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911
edition, published by that church. Under the heading "Christmas," you
will find:
"Christmas was NOT among the
earliest festivals on the Church...the first evidence of the feast is FROM
EGYPT." "PAGAN CUSTOMS centering around the January calends
gravitated to Christmas."
And in the same encyclopedia, under the
heading "
Encyclopedia Britannica, 1946 edition,
has this: "Christmas (i.e., the Mass of Christ)...Christmas was not among
the earliest festivals of the church..." It was not instituted by Christ
or the apostles, or by Bible authority. It was picked up afterward from
paganism. The Encyclopedia Americana, 1944 edition, says: "Christmas...It
was, according to many authorities, not celebrated in the first centuries of
the Christian church, as the Christian usage in general was to celebrate the
death of remarkable persons rather than their birth..." (The
"Communion," which is instituted by New Testament Bible authority, is
a memorial of the death of Christ.) "...A feast was established in memory
of this event [Christ's birth] in the FOURTH CENTURY. In the fifth century the
Now notice! These recognized historical
authorities show Christmas was not observed by Christians for the first two or
three hundred years - a period longer than the entire history of the
JESUS
NOT BORN DECEMBER 25th
Jesus was not even born in the winter
season! When the Christ-child was born "there were in the same country
shepherds ABIDING in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night"
(Luke 2:8). This never could have occurred in
"It was an ancient custom among
Jews of those days to send out their sheep to the fields and deserts about the
Passover (early spring), and bring them home at commencement of the FIRST
RAIN," says the Adam Clarke Commentary (Vol. 5, page 370,
Continuing, this authority states:
"During the time they were out, the shepherds watched them night and day. As...the first rain began early in the month of Marchesvan,
which answers to part of our October and November (begins sometime in OCTOBER),
we find that the sheep were kept out in the open country during the whole
SUMMER. And, as these shepherds had not YET brought home their flocks, it is a
presumptive argument that October had not yet commenced, and that,
consequently, our Lord was not born on the 25th of December, when no flocks
were out in the fields; nor could He have been born later than September, as
the flocks were still in the fields BY NIGHT. On this very ground, the nativity
in December should be given up. The feeding of the flocks by night in the
fields is a CHRONOLOGICAL FACT...See the quotations from the Talmudists in
Lightfoot."
Any encyclopedia, or any other
authority, will tell you that Christ was not born on December 25. The Catholic
Encyclopedia frankly states this fact.
The exact date of Jesus' birth is
entirely unknown, as all authorities acknowledge - though if I had space in
this booklet I could show you scriptures which at least strongly indicate it
was in the early fall - probably September - approximately six months after
Passover.
If God had wished us to observe and
celebrate Christ's birthday, He would not have so completely hidden the exact
date.
HOW
THIS PAGAN CUSTOM GOT INTO THE CHURCH
Then how did this pagan custom creep
into the Western Christian world?
The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of
Religious Knowledge explains it clearly, in its article on
"Christmas": "How much the date of the festival depended upon
the pagan Brumalia (Dec. 25) following the Saturnalia (Dec. 17-24), and
celebrating the shortest day of the year and the 'new sun'...cannot be
accurately determined. The pagan Saturnalia and Brumalia WERE TOO DEEPLY
ENTRENCHED IN POPULAR CUSTOM TO BE SET ASIDE BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE...The pagan
festival with its riot and merrymaking was so popular that Christians were glad
of an excuse to continue its celebration with little change in spirit and
manner. Christian preachers of the West and the
Remember, the Roman world had been
pagan. Prior to the fourth century, Christians were few in number, though
increasing, and were persecuted by the government and by pagans. But, with the
advent of
But remember, these people had grown up
in pagan customs, chief of which was this idolatrous festival of December 25th.
It was a festival of merrymaking, with its special spirit. They enjoyed it!
They didn't want to give it up. Now this same article in the New Schaff-Herzog
Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge explains how the recognition by Constantine
of Sunday, which had been the day of pagan sun worship, and how the influence
of the pagan Manichaeism, which identified the SON OF GOD with the physical
SUN, gave these pagans of the fourth century, now turning over wholesale to
"Christianity," their excuse for calling their pagan-festival date of
December 25th (birthday of the SUN-god), the birthday of the SON OF GOD.
And THAT is how "Christmas"
became fastened on our Western world. We may call it by another name, but it's
the same old pagan sun-worshipping festival still. The only change is in what
we call it. You can CALL a rabbit a "lion," but it's still a rabbit,
just the same.
Again from the Encyclopedia Britannica:
"Certain Latin's, as early as 354, may have transferred the birthday from
January 6th to December 25, WHICH WAS THEN A MITHRAIC FEAST...OR BIRTHDAY OF
THE UNCONQUERED SUN...The Syrians and Armenians, who clung to January 6th,
accused the Romans of sun worship and idolatry, contending...that the feast of
December 25, had been invented by disciples of Cerinthus..."
THE
REAL ORIGIN OF CHRISTMAS
But if we got Christmas from the Roman
Catholics, and they got it from paganism, where did the pagans get it? Where,
when, and what was its real origin?
It is a chief custom of the corrupt
system denounced all through Bible prophecies and teachings under the name of
Nimrod, grandson of Ham, son of Noah,
was the real founder of the Babylonish system that has gripped the world ever
since - this system of organized competition - of man-ruled governments and
empires, based upon the competitive and profit-making economic system. Nimrod
built the
From many ancient writings,
considerable is learned of this man, who started the great organized worldly
apostasy from God that has dominated this world until now. Nimrod was so evil,
it is said he married his own mother, whose name was Semiramis. After Nimrod's
untimely death, his so-called mother-wife, Semiramis, propagated the evil
doctrine of the survival of Nimrod as a spirit being. She claimed a full-grown
evergreen tree sprang overnight from a dead tree stump, which symbolized the
springing forth unto new life of the dead Nimrod. On each anniversary of his
birth, she claimed Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts upon
it. December 25th was the birthday of Nimrod. This is the real origin of the
Christmas tree.
Through her scheming and designing,
Semiramis became the Babylonian "Queen of Heaven," and Nimrod, under
various names, became the "divine son of heaven." Through the
generations, in this idolatrous worship, Nimrod also became the false Messiah,
son of Baal the Sun-god. In this false Babylonish system, the "Mother and
Child" (Semiramis and Nimrod reborn) became chief objects of worship. This
worship of "Mother and Child" spread over the world. The names varied
in different countries and languages. In
Thus, during the fourth and fifth
centuries, when the pagans of the Roman world were "accepting" the
new popular "Christianity" by the hundreds of thousands, carrying their
old pagan customs and beliefs along with them, merely cloaking them with
Christian-sounding names, the Madonna and "Mother and Child" idea
also became popularized, especially at Christmas time. Every Christmas season
you'll hear sung and chanted dozens of times the hymn "Silent Night, Holy
Night," with its familiar "Mother and Child" theme. We, who have
been born in such a babylonish world, reared and steeped in these things all
our lives, have been taught to revere these things as holy and sacred. We never
questioned to see where they came from - whether they came from the Bible, or
from pagan idolatry!
We are shocked to learn the truth -
some, unfortunately, take offense at the plain truth! But God commands His
faithful ministers, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a
trumpet, and show my people their transgression!" Shocking as these facts
are, they are the plain facts of history and the Bible. The real origin of
Christmas goes back to ancient
December 25th is NOT the birthday of
Jesus, the true Christ! The apostles and early true Church never celebrated
Christ's birthday at ANY time. There is no command or instruction to celebrate
it in the Bible - rather, the celebrating of birthdays is a pagan, not a
Christian custom, believe it or not.
Thus the ancient idolatrous
"Chaldean Mysteries," founded by this wife of Nimrod, have been
handed down through the pagan religions under new Christian-sounding names.
ORIGIN
OF HOLLY WREATH, MISTLETOE, YULE LOG
Now where did we get this mistletoe
custom? Among the ancient pagans the mistletoe was used at this festival of the
winter solstice because it was considered sacred to the sun, because of its
supposed miraculous healing power. The pagan custom of kissing under the
mistletoe was an early step in the night of revelry and drunken debauchery -
celebrating the death of the "old sun" and the birth of the new at
the winter solstice. Mistletoe, sacred in pagan festivals, is a parasite!
Holly berries were also considered
sacred to the sun-god. The Yule log is in reality the "sun log."
"Yule" means "Wheel," a pagan symbol of the sun. Yet today
professing Christians speak of the "sacred Yule-tide season"!
Even the lighting of fires and candles
as a Christian ceremony is merely a continuation of the pagan custom,
encouraging the waning sun-god as he reached the lowest place in the southern
skies.
The Encyclopedia Americana says:
"The holly, the mistletoe, the Yule log...are relics of pre-Christian
times." Of paganism!
The book Answers to Questions, compiled
by Frederick J. Haskins, found in public libraries, says: The use of Christmas
wreaths is believed by authorities to be TRACEABLE TO THE PAGAN CUSTOMS of
decorating building and places of worship at the feast which took place at the
same time as Christmas. The CHRISTMAS TREE IS FROM EGYPT, and its origin dates
from a period long anterior to the Christian Era."
YES, AND EVEN SANTA CLAUSE
But surely dear old Santa Claus is not
a creature of pagan birth? But he is, and his real character is not so
benevolent and holy as many suppose.
The name "Santa Claus" is a
corruption of the name "St. Nicholas," a Roman Catholic bishop who
lived in the 5th century. Look in the Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 19, pages 648-649, 11th edition, where you'll read: "St.
Nicholas, bishop of
Through the years, parents punish their
children for telling falsehoods. Then, at Christmas time, they themselves tell
their little children this "Santa Claus" lie! Is it any wonder many
of them, when they grow up and learn the truth, begin to believe God is a myth,
too?
One little fellow,
sadly disillusioned about "Santa Claus," said to a playmate,
"Yes, and I'm going to look into this 'Jesus Christ' business, too!" Is it Christian to teach children
myths and falsehoods? God says, "Thou shalt not bear false witness."
It may seem right, and be justified by human reason, but God says, "There
is a way that SEEMETH right to a man, but the end thereof are
the ways of death." "Old Nick" also is a term for the devil! Is
there a connection? Satan appears as an "angel of light," to deceive
(II Cor
And so when we examine the facts, we
are astonished to learn that the practices of observing Christmas is not, after
all, a true Christian practice, but a pagan custom - one of the ways of
WHAT
THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT THE CHRISTMAS TREE
But if the Bible is silent about
telling us to observe Christmas, or recording any such observance by the
apostles or early true Church, it DOES have something to say about the
Christmas tree.
This will come as a real surprise to
many. But here it is: Jeremiah 10:2-6: "Thus saith the Lord, LEARN NOT THE
WAY OF THE HEATHEN...FOR THE CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE ARE VAIN: for one cutteth a
tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not."
There is a perfect description of the
Christmas tree, termed by the Eternal as "the way of the heathen - the
customs of the people." We are commanded not to learn that way or follow
it. It is also viewed in this passage as idolatry. The fifth verse shows that
these trees cannot speak - cannot walk - must be carried. "Be not afraid
of them; for THEY (the trees) cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good." They are not gods to be feared. Some people Misread this to make it say there is no harm in having a
Christmas tree, but that is not what it says.
ISN'T
EXCHANGING GIFTS SCRIPTURAL?
But when it comes to
the most important part of all in this Christmas observance - the Christmas shopping
season - the buying and exchanging of gifts - many will exclaim triumphantly,
"Well, at least the Bible tells us to do that. Didn't the wise men give gifts when
Christ was born?"
Again, we are due for some surprises,
when we learn the plain truth. First, let's look at the historic origin of
trading gifts back and forth, then see exactly what
the Bible DOES say about it.
From the Bibliotheca Sacra, volume 12,
pages 153-155, we quote: "The interchange of presents between friends is
alike characteristic of Christmas and the Saturnalia, and MUST HAVE BEEN
ADOPTED BY THE CHRISTIANS FROM THE PAGANS, as the admonition of Tertullian
plainly shows."
The fact is, this custom fastened upon
people of exchanging gifts with friends and relatives at the Christmas season
HAS NOT A SINGLE TRACE OF CHRISTIANITY ABOUT IT, strange though that may seem.
This does not celebrate Christ's birthday nor honor it or Him! Suppose someone
you love has a birthday. You want to honor that person on his or her birthday.
Would you lavishly buy gifts for EVERYONE ELSE, trading gifts back and forth
with all your OTHER friends and loved ones, but ignore completely any gift for
the one whose birthday you are honoring? Rather absurd, when viewed in that
light, isn't it?
Yet this is exactly what people the
world over are doing. They honor a day that is not Christ's birthday by
spending every dime they can scrape together in buying presents to trade back
and forth among friends and relatives. But I can say by years of experience, as
I believe most pastors and ministers can say, that
when the month of December rolls around, nearly all professing Christians
forget to give gifts to Christ and His cause almost altogether. December often
is the most difficult month to keep Christ's work from dying. People are too
busy trading gifts back and forth among themselves to think of Him and His
Work, it seems. Then, in January and even into February it seems they have to
catch up from what they spent for Christmas, so they seldom get back to normal
in supporting Christ and His Work before March.
Now consider what the Bible says about
the wise men giving gifts when Christ was born. It is in Matthew 2:1-11.
"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the
king, behold, there came wise men from the east to
WHY
GIFTS PRESENTED TO CHRIST
Notice, they inquired for the child
Jesus, who was born KING of the Jews. Now why did they present gifts to Him? Because it was His birthday? Not at all,
because they came several days or weeks after the date of His birth. Was
it to set an example for us, today, to trade gifts back and forth among
ourselves? No, notice carefully. They did not exchange gifts among themselves,
but "they presented unto HIM gifts." They gave their gifts to Christ,
not to their friends, relatives, or one another.
Why? Let me quote from the Adam Clarke
Commentary, volume 5, page 46: "Verse 11. (They presented unto him gifts.)
The people of the east never approach the presence of kings and great
personages, without a present in their hands. The custom is often noticed in
the Old Testament, and still prevails in the east, and in some of the newly
discovered
There it is. They were not instituting
a new Christian custom of exchanging gifts with friends to honor Christ's
birthday. They were following an old and ancient eastern custom of presenting
gifts to a king when they came into his presence. They were approaching Him,
born King of the Jews, in person. Therefore custom required they present gifts
- even as the Queen of Sheba brought gifts to Solomon - even as many people
today take a gift along when they visit the White House for an appointment with
the President.
No, the custom of trading gifts back
and forth does not stem from this scriptural incident at all, but rather, as
quoted from history above, it is the continuance of an ancient pagan custom.
Instead of honoring Christ, it invariably retards His Work, often sets it back,
at the Christmas season every year.
DOES
IT REALLY HONOR CHRIST?
Now come two arguments often used to
justify Christmas observance.
1) Many will reason this way:
"But, even though the exact date of Jesus' birth is unknown, should we not
select SOME date to celebrate as His birthday?" The answer is positively
no. Did you not notice the statement quoted from the Catholic Encyclopedia:
"Sinners alone, not saints, celebrate their birthdays." The custom of
birthdays is not a Christian, but a pagan custom, observed by sinners!
2) But, many still reason, "Even
so - even though Christmas was a pagan custom, honoring the false sun-god, we
don't observe it to honor the false god, we observe it to honor Christ."
But how does God answer in His Word?
"Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them [the
pagans in their customs]... that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How
did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do
likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord they God: for every abomination to
the Eternal, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods" (Deut
God says plainly in His Instruction
Book to us, that He will not accept that kind of worship, even though intended
in His honor. To Him, He says, it is offering what is ABOMINABLE to Him, and
therefore it honors, not Him, but false pagan gods. God says we must not
worship Him according to the "dictates of our own conscience" - a
term we often hear. But Jesus says plainly, "God is a spirit: and they
that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth" (John
Again, Jesus said: "In VAIN they
do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matt
15:9). Christmas observance is a TRADITION OF MEN, and the commandments of God,
as quoted, forbid it. Jesus said, further, "full well ye reject the
commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition."
That is precisely what the millions are
doing today. They ignore the commandment of God. He commands, regarding taking
the customs of the pagans and using them to honor or worship God: "Thou
shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God." Still, most people today take that
command of God lightly, or as having no validity whatsoever, and follow the
tradition of men in observing Christmas.
Make no mistake. God will ALLOW you to
defy and disobey Him. He will ALLOW you to follow the crowd and the traditions
of men. He will ALLOW you to sin. But He also says there is a day of reckoning
coming. As you sow, so shall you reap. Jesus was the
LIVING Word of God in Person, and the Bible is the WRITTEN Word of God. And we
shall be judged, for eternity, by these words. They should not be taken lightly
or ignored.
WE'RE
IN
Christmas has become a commercial
season. It's sponsored, kept alive, by the heaviest retail advertising
campaigns of the year. You see a masqueraded "Santa Claus" in many
stores. Ads keep us deluded and deceived about the "beautify Christmas
spirit." The newspaper, who sell the ads, print
flowery editorials exalting and eulogizing the pagan season, and its
"spirit." A gullible people has become so inoculated, many take
offense when told the truth. But the "Christmas spirit" is created
each year, not to honor Christ, but to sell merchandise. Like all Satan's
delusions, it appears as an "angel of light," is made to appear good.
Billions of dollars are spent in this merchandising spree every year, while the
cause of Christ must suffer. It's part of the economic system of
We have professed to be Christian
nations, but we're in
This year,
instead of gift trading, why not put that money into God's Work?