THE

Truth About
Christmas
The Truth About
CHRISTMAS
 This booklet is not to be sold.
It is a free educational service in
the public interest, published by
the Philadelphia Church of God.

© 2013, 2016 Philadelphia Church of God

All Rights Reserved
cover: istock.com /jostaphot

Printed in the United States of America

Scriptures in this publication are quoted from the
King James Version, unless otherwise noted.
T
he traditions surrounding Christmas stir warm feelings
in the hearts of many—young and old alike—all over
the Earth. Families come together. Children await the
morning they will receive their presents. Loved ones give gifts,
gather for Christmas dinners, and recall previous Christmases
spent together. There is no other time quite like it.
However, this most popular holiday in the world is facing
something of a battle these days. This time that is supposed
to represent joy, peace and family harmony is the source of
increasing controversy.
On one side, the Christmas season has come to be asso-
ciated with some very unmerry things. The tradition of gift-
giving has been transformed into a spree of materialism.
Businesses see an opportunity to fill their stores and boost
their profits, and consumers scramble to take advantage of bar-
gains and deals. The sport of Christmas shopping that began
for years on the Friday after Thanksgiving is now intruding
on that holiday—and becoming increasingly manic. Scenes
of mobbing, frenzied shoppers fighting over discounted mer-
chandise have become commonplace.
The focus on consumerism creates other problems, such
as families going into debt or failing to pay their bills in
order to fund these spending sprees. Depression—which is
often related to financial problems—and even suicide tend
to increase during this season. On top of that, secularists are
clamoring for an end to public religious displays.
On the other side of this controversy are the apparently
dwindling number of people who are trying to preserve what
2 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS

they consider to be the sacredness of Christmas. The dimin-

ishing role of the religious figure after whom this holiday is
named causes no small amount of consternation. Every year
it seems, amid the noise of commercialism, materialism and
excess, some few endeavor to remind everyone that this hol-
iday is actually supposed to be about the Son of God. He is,
they say, “the reason for the season.”
Where do you stand on Christmas?
The truth of the matter is that both sides are taking
some important truths for granted, and making some big
assumptions.
Do you know the truth about Christmas? Perhaps you are
like many others who have come to recognize many of the
problems associated with this season. Maybe you choose to
brush those concerns aside to keep this tradition, without
thinking much more about it. Or maybe you are one of those
who are becoming increasingly disenchanted each Christmas.
This subject is more important than you have probably
considered.
Have you ever wondered, What does God think about
Christmas? He is very interested in this holiday.

REASON FOR THE SEASON Traditional Christians want

to put “Christ” back in “Christmas.” But was He ever there?
istock.com /mastapiece
THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS 3

A CH R IST I A N HOL I DAY ?

Christmas means “mass of Christ,” which came to be short-
ened to “Christ-mass.” Nearly every person who claims to
be Christian—whether Catholics, Protestant or otherwise—
and even many non-Christians keep this annual holiday. But
where did they get this custom? It’s not in the New Testament.
We find no record of the original apostles celebrating this day.
It is nowhere recorded in the Bible. In fact, it wasn’t until long
after Christ and the apostles died that this holiday became an
accepted Christian celebration.
That’s not to say this holiday started at that time. Actually,
this celebration, and most of its traditions—supposedly meant
to recognize the birth of Jesus Christ—began long before Jesus
was born!
The origins of Christmas lie in ancient pagan practices. Not
until the fourth century a.d.—300 years after Jesus Christ lived
and died—did the Roman Catholic Church give this long-
standing pagan custom its Christian-sounding name.
In his booklet The Plain Truth About Christmas, Herbert
W. Armstrong explained how the Catholic Church came to
adopt this custom: “Remember, the Roman world had been
pagan. Prior to the fourth century, Christians were few in
number, though increasing, and were persecuted by the gov-
ernment and by pagans. But, with the advent of Constantine
as emperor, who made his profession of Christianity in the
fourth century, placing Christianity on an equal footing with
paganism, people of the Roman world began to accept this
now-popular Christianity by the hundreds of thousands.
“But remember, these people had grown up in pagan cus-
toms, chief of which was this idolatrous festival of December 25.
It was a festival of merrymaking, with its special spirit. They
enjoyed it! They didn’t want to give it up! … [T]he recognition
by Constantine of Sunday, which had been the day of pagan
sun worship, and … 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 25 (birthday of the sun god), the birthday of
the Son of God.
4 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS

“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-worshiping 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.”
The truth is, the early Christians did not observe birth-
days—not even Christ’s birth. The Catholic theologian
Origen (a.d. 185-232) acknowledged that “in the Scriptures,
sinners alone, not saints, celebrate their birthday” (Catholic
Encyclopedia).
The Encyclopedia Americana, 1944 edition, verifies these
origins: “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 per-
sons rather than their birth. … A feast was established in
memory of this event [Christ’s birth] in the fourth century.
In the fifth century the Western Church ordered it to be cel-
ebrated forever on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth
of Sol, as no certain knowledge of the day of Christ’s birth
existed” (emphasis added throughout).
Yes—“Christmas” celebrations preceded Christ’s birth by
centuries! The “reason for the season” was paganism and the
winter solstice. Somewhere around three centuries after Jesus’s
death, church leaders decided to preserve the celebration but
affix Christ’s name to it. “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 in manner,” says the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of
Religious Knowledge.
As you might imagine, this co-opting of paganism didn’t
sit well with many pious believers at the time. Nowhere does
Scripture advocate celebrating Christ’s birthday—or any
birthday, for that matter. Unsurprisingly, then, as Christianity
Today’s Christian History explained, many believed “it would
be wrong to honor Christ in the same way Pharaoh and
Herod were honored. Birthdays were for pagan gods” (Aug. 8,
2008). Schaff-Herzog further says, “Christian preachers of
the West and the Near East protested against the unseemly
frivolity with which Christ’s birthday was celebrated, while
Christians of Mesopotamia accused their Western brethren of
THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS 5

idolatry and sun worship for adopting as Christian this pagan

festival.” If only they could see how “Christ’s birthday” is cel-
ebrated today.
Christian History said, “The pagan origins of the Christmas
date, as well as pagan origins for many Christmas cus-
toms (gift-giving and merrymaking from Roman Saturnalia;
greenery, lights and charity from the Roman New Year; Yule
logs and various foods from Teutonic feasts), have always
fueled arguments against the holiday. ‘It’s just paganism
wrapped with a Christian bow,’ naysayers argue.”
People who keep Christmas dismiss these facts as irrele-
vant. But before you do, ask yourself whether God does.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DECEMBER 25

As the Encyclopedia Americana noted, the date of Christ’s birth
is uncertain. December 25 is widely assumed to be when He was
born. But research reveals that this could not be the correct date!
When Jesus Christ was born, the Gospel of Luke records
that “there were in the same country shepherds abiding in
the field, keeping watch over their flock by night” (Luke 2:8).
December is in the midst of a cold, rainy season in Judea. The
shepherds always brought their flocks in from the fields and
mountains to be corralled by mid-October at the latest, for
their protection. Song of Solomon 2:11 and Ezra 10:9 and 13
show that winter was a rainy season, thus confirming that the
shepherds would not have been in open fields on December 25,
during the dead of winter.
Notice what Edmond Stapfer writes in his book Palestine
in the Time of Christ: “The sheep passed the whole summer in
the fields. … In the month … which corresponds to the half
of October and the half of November, the sheep were brought
back into the fold and kept there through the winter.”
Adam Clarke’s Commentary addresses the question this way:
“It was a custom among the Jews to send out their sheep to
the deserts, about the Passover [early spring], and bring them
home at the commencement of the first rain. 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, we find that the
6 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS

sheep were kept out in the open country during the whole of
the 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 ….”
It was too cold for the sheep to be out in the fields in late
December. Why then would Christ’s birth be celebrated on
this day? Encyclopedia Britannica states, “The reason why
Christmas came to be celebrated on December 25 remains
uncertain, but most probably the reason is that early
Christians wished the date to coincide with the pagan Roman
festival marking the ‘birthday of the unconquered sun.’”
The Catholic Church’s own encyclopedia, the Catholic
Encyclopedia, makes many startling admissions about this
subject. Here are just a few from the 1911 edition. “Christmas
was not among the earliest festivals of the church.” That’s
right—Christmas was not instituted by Jesus Christ, nor
was it observed by any of the apostles personally instructed
by Christ. “The first evidence of the feast is from Egypt” (not
Jerusalem). About a.d. 200, Egyptian theologians began cele-
brating the birth of Christ on the 25th of Pachon, which cor-
responds to May 20 on our calendar. “Pagan customs centering
round the January calends gravitated to Christmas.”
As you can see, secular and Catholic history show that,
originally, Christmas was definitely not about celebrating
the birth of Jesus Christ. The Catholic Church adopted the
custom from pagans. But where did the pagans get it?
In order to find the true origins of Christmas and the tra-
ditions surrounding it, we must look back even further to
another historical source, the one true source of living knowl-
edge: the Holy Bible.

ORGA N I Z E D R E BE L L ION AGA I NST G OD

During the time of the Flood recorded in the book of Genesis,
God intervened to bring Satan’s deceptive workings to a
THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS 7

screeching halt. Man had become so perverted and evil that

God was prepared to start all over (Genesis 6:5-7). Yet soon after
the Flood, Satan got busy and set up another pagan system.
The four centuries following the Flood were perhaps the
most crucial in human history. They were the scene of a tre-
mendous struggle for the control of mankind.
Covered in just the briefest detail in the Bible, 100 years
after the Flood, the Mesopotamian valley had become over-
populated as Noah’s descendants fulfilled God’s command
to multiply and to replenish the Earth (Genesis 9:1). Jewish
historian Josephus recorded in Antiquities of the Jews: “God
also commanded them to send colonies abroad, for the thor-
ough peopling of the Earth—that they might not raise sedi-
tions among themselves, but might cultivate a great part of the
Earth, and enjoy its fruits after a plentiful manner: But they
were so ill instructed that they did not obey God ….”
Note that somebody had been teaching these people wrong
principles and customs, which they carried into all corners of
the Earth.
In Genesis 10:8-9, a man named Nimrod is described as “a
mighty one.” The Hebrew indicates he had become a tyrant,
or despot. He was known everywhere for his “might.” The
name Nimrod in Hebrew is derived from marad, meaning “he
rebelled.” Although later he assumed many different names,
the one that matters to God is the one that describes him best:
“he rebelled.”
Nimrod, grandson of Noah’s son Ham, laid the foundation
of a system of organized competition. He ruled based on the
competitive and profit-making economic system. He built the
tower of Babel, the original Babylon, ancient Nineveh, and
many other cities, and organized this world’s first kingdom—
all in defiance of God.
Nimrod copied, propagated and expanded on the society
and customs that had been in existence before the Flood, a
system God calls the “way of Cain” (Jude 11)—a way that had
led to total destruction.
Ancient writings reveal much about this man who started
the great organized apostasy from God. In fact, Nimrod
founded the Babylonian system that has gripped the world
ever since. He institutionalized his defiance of God in a way
 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS 9

that still dominates our world.

Nimrod was so evil, it is said he married his own mother,
whose name was Semiramis. Semiramis, through her schem-
ings, had become known as the Babylonian “queen of heaven.”
That made Nimrod the “divine son of heaven.” Together they
became a perverted mother-son tandem.
“With the civil power he wielded, Nimrod set himself up as
the priest of the things worshiped by the people, to obtain a
stronger hold on them and gradually put himself in place of
the true God” (Dr. C. Paul Meredith, Satan’s Great Deception).
As the self-appointed high priest of the sun god Merodach—
also known as Molech or Baal—Nimrod oversaw some atro-
cious acts, including the “purification” of infants by sacrificing
them in fire. This repulsed God greatly (e.g. Leviticus 18:21;
Jeremiah 32:35; Ezekiel 20:31) and led to the death of Nimrod.
Nimrod’s own violence had to be paid for with his life
(Genesis 9:6).
The Bible is silent on how Nimrod died, but ancient tra-
dition says he came to a violent end. Tradition suggests that
Nimrod may have been executed by Shem, son of Noah, who
deeply opposed Nimrod’s rebellion against God. Shem was
the son who walked most closely in the ways of God that his
father taught him.
The tradition continues that Nimrod’s body was cut in
pieces, burned, and then sent to various families of the Earth
as a warning from God. Nimrod was cut down, like a tree is
felled by the axe.
While Nimrod was alive, he had put himself in the place
of God by his dictatorial rule. When he died, his admirers
continued to worship him as a divine hero! They called him
“Baal,” a name found later throughout the Old Testament.
“Baal” means master or lord. It was only natural that Nimrod
should claim that name. He put himself in the very place of
the true Lord or Master of the entire universe. But Baal was
istock.com /wrangel

THE ORIGINAL MADONNA The original Madonna-and-

child symbol of Christmas came from Semiramis and her son
Horus, illustrated by this relief from the Ptolemic period in
Dendera, Egypt.
10 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS

not Nimrod’s only other name—he had many names. In

Babylonia he was known as Tammuz. In Syria and Greece,
Adonis—which also meant lord. In Egypt, he was the god
Osiris and was identified in “mystery” symbolism as the bull!

THE SU N GOD R ETUR NS

Wondering what this ancient history has to do with modern
Christmas? Notice this: After Nimrod’s death, Semiramis
became ruler of her son’s kingdom. Used by Satan, she spread
an evil doctrine: that Nimrod survived—as a spirit being.
She promoted a mystery religion in which she claimed that
Nimrod now was the sun god.
Like her son, Semiramis also became known by various
names. The Encyclopedia Britannica identifies her as “connected
with the doves of Ishtar or Astarte. … The irresistible charms
of Semiramis, her sexual excesses, and other features of the
legend, all bear out the view that she is primarily a form of
Astarte, and so fittingly conceived as the great queen of Assyria.”
Lange’s Commentary states that “Ashtaroth … corresponds
to Hera, the star queen. Ashtoreth means ‘the star.’ … Moon
and stars, the luminaries of the night-sky, are blended in
Ashtaroth. She represents the collective host of heaven.”
Semiramis was worshiped as the queen of heaven, or the
great mother of god. She committed fornication with the
leading men at that time, coaxing them into accepting this
mystery religion that took the place of the true worship of God.
She even claimed that one of her illegitimate sons, Tammuz,
was brought into being by a magic beam of light from the great
sun god. Claiming the baby to be a reborn Nimrod, the prom-
ised seed of Genesis 3:15, Semiramis originated the story that
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, Semiramis
claimed, Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts
upon it. The new evergreen tree symbolized that Nimrod had
come to life again in Tammuz.
This is the real origin of Santa Claus and the Christmas tree.
It is why Jeremiah knew of the Christmas tree six centuries
before Jesus Christ was even born.
 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS 11

Note what God recorded by the hand of

this prophet: “Hear ye the word which the
Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel”
(Jeremiah 10:1). God wants us to pay close
attention to this. He demands us to hear
His perspective on this custom.
“Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the
way of the heathen, and be not dismayed
at the signs of heaven; for the heathen
are dismayed at them. 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.
They are upright as the palm tree,
but speak not: they must needs be
borne, because they cannot go”
(verses 2-5).
God does not mince
any words here. He
condemns these hea-
t h e n c u st o m s , t he s e
“doctrines of vanities”
(verse 8) and states
that they show a
lack of fear and
reverence for Him
as the “King of
nations” (verse 7).

PRE-CHRISTIAN
Six hundred years
before Christ,
istock.com /liliboas

God condemned the

practice of cutting
down evergreen trees
and placing them
in the home.
12 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS

Jeremiah also talked of this tree in relation to the “signs of

heaven,” which refers to these self-exalted deities of the sun
god, Baal, and the queen of heaven, Astarte.
In the days of Jeremiah, people were making an idol out
of the tree. The word workman in Jeremiah 10:3 does not
describe a lumberjack. The Hebrew word means a craftsman,
engraver or artificer—in other words, a sculptor of idols. The
same word in Isaiah 40:19-20 and Hosea 8:4-6 describes the
fabricator of graven images.
In at least 10 biblical references, the green tree is associ-
ated with idolatry and false worship (e.g. 1 Kings 14:23). Since
all trees are green at least part of the year, the explicit men-
tion of “green” refers to species that retain their foliage year-
round: evergreens.
The word axe used in Jeremiah 10:3 refers specifically to
a carving tool. God is clearly condemning the use and dec-
oration of an evergreen tree, and expressing His disgust
with man’s disobedience to the Second Commandment
(Exodus 20:4-6). God says those who disregard His commands
show they hate Him. God condemns pagan, heathen prac-
tices—including the Christmas tree.

MOR E CH R I ST M A S C USTOM S
Long before the time of Christ, pagan Romans celebrated
Brumalia, or the re-birth of the sun, after the winter solstice. They
celebrated this festival with the same customs they kept on the
birthday of their deity—the god of the sun. It was pure idolatry.
The symbols of the Brumalia celebrations stood for a wide
variety of pagan superstitions involving the source of life, or
fertility. They used a little tree, which was supposed to have
grown up overnight out of an old dead log. Today, the sap-
ling is called a Christmas tree; the log is named “Yule.” They
used round orbs and eggs, on which they painted snakes and
other designs. This was long before the time of tinsel and glass.
The gilded nuts and orbs symbolized the sun, reminding the
pagans of what they believed to be their source of life. They
fashioned wreaths of holly because it was one of the rare
plants that still contains little round fruits in midwinter, even
in the snowy north.
THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS 13

They also used mistletoe because of a pagan superstition

involving its qualities of aphrodisia—a reason why people still
carry on the pagan superstition of kissing under the mistletoe.
“Now where did we get this mistletoe custom?” wrote
Mr. Armstrong in his booklet on Christmas. “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 yuletide season’!”
“Christmas customs are an evolution from times that long
antedate the Christian period—a descent from seasonal,
pagan, religious and national practices, hedged about with
legend and tradition” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th edition).
This and other authoritative reference works corroborate that
many decorations such as the holly wreath, mistletoe and Yule
log are relics of pre-Christian times!
During the time of the Roman Empire, for hundreds of
years prior to “Christianity” coming into the mainstream of
Western culture, pagan festivals were celebrated. Encyclopedia
Britannica explains, “In the Roman world, the Saturnalia
(December 17-23) was a time of merrymaking and exchange
of gifts. December 25 was also regarded as the birth date of
the Iranian mystery god Mithra, the Sun of Righteousness.
On the Roman New Year (January 1), houses were decorated
with greenery and lights, and gifts were given to children
and the poor. To these observances were added the German
and Celtic Yule rites when the Teutonic tribes penetrated into
Gaul, Britain and central Europe. Food and good fellowship,
the Yule log and Yule cakes, greenery and fir trees, and gifts
and greetings all commemorated different aspects of this fes-
tive season.”
Is it coincidence that these customs are so closely associ-
ated with Christmas to this day?
 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS 15

As we look around during the Christmas season, we are

witnessing modern versions of observances that were estab-
lished centuries before the birth of Christ. Christianity
absorbed those customs with no scriptural instruction to do
so. It was not until over 300 years after Christ’s death that
pagan Romans convinced the religious authorities to accept
their festive Saturnalia and stamp Christ’s name on it.
Every one of the pagan customs that now pollutes main-
stream Christianity began out of deliberate rebellion against
the Creator God, the same Being who came to this Earth to
educate us with the truth and save us out of our deception and
our sin.

DIDN’T THE W ISE MEN GI VE GIFTS?

But what about what many consider to be the most impor-
tant Christmas tradition, that of buying and exchanging gifts?
At least that is in the Bible—right? After all, didn’t the wise
men give gifts at Jesus’s birth?
The facts show that, even here, Christmas-keepers are in
for some surprises.
Bibliotheca Sacra, Volume 12, notes, “The interchange of
presents between friends is alike characteristic of Christmas
and the Saturnalia, and must have been adopted by 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!” Mr. Armstrong wrote. “This does not celebrate Christ’s
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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 everybody 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

SYMBOLIC Holly wreaths and Yule logs—more traditional

than you might think—were associated with winter solstice
celebrations more than 2,000 years before Christ was born.
16 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS

honoring? Rather absurd when viewed in that light, isn’t it?”

(op. cit.).
When the wise men presented gifts to Christ in
Matthew 2:1-11, they were following an ancient Eastern custom
of presenting gifts to a king when they came into his presence.
They were not giving gifts to each other, as many do today, but
to Him (verse 11). Nor were they given on the day when He
was born, since it took these wise men several days or even
weeks to reach Him.
Adam Clarke’s Commentary states the following about
verse 11: “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 pre-
vails in the East ….”

E V E N S A N TA C L AUS
Everyone who is old enough for their parents to stop fooling
them knows that Santa Claus is a myth. But did you know that
even he originated in paganism?
“St. Nicholas, bishop of Myra, a saint honored by the Greeks
and Latins on the 6th of December …. A legend of his surrepti-
tious bestowal of dowries on the three daughters of an impov-
erished citizen … is said to have originated the old custom
of giving presents in secret on the Eve of St. Nicholas, subse-
quently transferred to Christmas day. Hence the association of
Christmas with Santa Claus …” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th
edition).
Parents work all year to teach their children not to lie, yet
when Christmas comes along, they themselves tell the “Santa
Claus” lie. A small child is taught to believe in a man who
goes around giving gifts to everyone on Christmas Eve, but
no one ever sees him. That child is taught that Santa Claus
knows everything about him, and that he better behave or he
won’t receive a gift. Then when the child grows older, he is
told there really isn’t a Santa.
Consider it! What ultimate good comes from teaching our
children this false idea and setting them up for disillusion-
ment? This bizarre tradition could actually do much to damage
the foundation of their faith in the very real, living God!
THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS 17

BU T E V E RY BODY E L SE IS D OI NG I T
Christmas is a pagan festival. That is absolute fact. If you just
scratch the surface of any of the traditions associated with
Christmas, you immediately start finding some rather gro-
tesque, decidedly unChristian facts. Some people take offense
when they are pointed out, but God commands His faithful
Church to proclaim such things (Isaiah 58:1).
Yet even many who know these pagan origins are quick
to respond: I don’t worship any pagan sun god! I use these
traditions to honor the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas is
Christian if you make it Christian, many argue. Everyone
else is doing it anyway, why should we not join in on the
merrymaking?
How does God answer such reasoning? Aside from the fact
that God does not command Christmas, aside from the fact
that Christ wasn’t born on December 25 and that its customs
are steeped in paganism, does it matter if we keep Christmas
for the “right” reasons?
Few, it seems, ever stop to consider what God thinks
about these humanly devised traditions.
Doesn’t God have the right to tell us how and how not He
wants to be worshiped?
Throughout the Bible, God plainly reveals that He will not
accept vain worship, even if it is intended to be in His honor!
Can you observe pagan customs to honor Jesus Christ?
Here is God’s frank answer: “[T]ake heed that you be not
ensnared to follow them [the pagans and their customs], and
that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did
these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do likewise.’
You shall not do so to the Lord your God; for every abomi-
nable thing which the Lord hates they have done for their gods
…” (Deuteronomy 12:30-31; Revised Standard Version). Notice
that God not only commands against serving other gods, but
also against attempting to honor the true God by following the
same customs of worship as the people in the world.
“Howbeit in vain do they worship me,” Jesus said,
“teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For
laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradi-
tion of men …” (Mark 7:7-8).
18 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS

God does not want people to make up their own ways to

worship Him!
Jesus said in John 4:24 that true worshipers of God obey
Him in spirit and in truth—which means according to the
truth of God’s Word (John 17:17).
Christ was not born on, or anywhere near, December 25!
The Bible nowhere commands keeping Christ’s birthday. The
New Testament Church never kept it. There is no record of
Jesus Christ or His apostles cutting down a tree to deck it
with ornaments. Christmas is an unbiblical tradition man-
ufactured by human reasoning. It’s rooted in paganism and
is expressly forbidden by the commandments of God. Yet
still, as Mr. Armstrong explained in The Plain Truth About
Christmas, “[M]ost people today take that command of God
lightly, or as having no validity whatsoever, and follow the
tradition of men in observing Christmas.”
Many know Christmas is pagan but still refuse to give it
up. Some will answer that it means so much to the children
and that it brings families together. Does it really? Have lies,
deceit and paganism ever accomplished such things? Others
will say, But I don’t worship the Christmas tree. It is not an idol to
me. God never says that idols are only carved images toward
which ignorant religious savages pray. “Know ye not, that to
whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are
to whom ye obey …” (Romans 6:16).
If you see how God condemns Christmas, yet you continue
keeping it, the object of your devotion is Christmas—not God.
For many people, Christmas is such an idol.
Ask yourself, “What is the source of my religion?” Religion
is the obedience, service and adoration rendered to the object
of one’s worship—a system of faith and devotion to a superior
authority—the profession, practice and observance of whatso-
ever belief and practice is required by that superior authority.
One reason Christmas is so popular today is because
God’s law forbids observing the custom—and man’s
mind, as it says in Romans 8:7, is hostile to God’s law! As
Mr. Armstrong used to say, if God’s law actually commanded
us to observe Christmas, a lot fewer people would do it!
Another reason for the popularity of Christmas is simply
that everyone else seems to be doing it. It’s human nature
THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS 19

to follow along with the crowd—to blindly accept popular

customs, without ever stopping to question why.
Popular opinion should not prevent individuals who know
the truth from turning away from a festival season steeped in
paganism. Jesus said that, in order to be His disciples, there
would be times when we would need to forsake the desires of
our family and friends to follow Him (Luke 14:26-27).
Another reason for the universal acceptance of this
pagan custom in the Western world: Satan has used false
ministers and deceitful workers to blind this world to the
plain and simple truth of what the Bible actually says (see
2 Corinthians 4:4; 11:13 and Revelation 12:9).

A P O S I T I V E A LT E R N AT I V E
God doesn’t condemn things without just cause. For thousands
of years, this celebration was associated with many horrific
acts, including child sacrifice. God was alive and witnessed
those things. He does not want His name attached to that.
Today, the spirit of Christmas is one of get. No one asks,
“What did you give for Christmas this year?”—but rather,
“What did you get?” God’s way, in contrast to Satan’s way, is
one of giving to others. That way of life actually brings more
joy and blessings (Acts 20:35).
Most importantly, the observation of pagan holidays like
Christmas obscures something more wonderful: God’s holy
days.
The exact date of Christ’s birth is unknown and had it
been important, Christ would have commanded it be cel-
ebrated—but He did not! We have no record in the Bible of
either Himself, His apostles or His Church ever celebrating
His birthday. But God does command us to memorialize the
date of Jesus Christ’s death (1 Corinthians 11:24-27)—not
His birth. That alone shows that God’s focus on Jesus Christ
is a lot different than the focus of modern Christianity!
Did you ever wonder why we observe one day above
others, and on an annual basis? Christmas-keepers didn’t
invent the idea, nor did the ancient pagans from which
several modern holidays came. God is the one who created
special days to set apart: holy days.
20 THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS

God’s holy days (which can be found in Leviticus 23) are

pure, free from paganism, idolatry, human sacrifice, mate-
rialism, falsehood and compromise. And far more than
that, they contain spectacular truth that Christmas and
other pagan holidays do not—and never have—contained!
God’s holy days map out His divine plan for mankind. They
show how God will redeem the vast majority of mankind,
living and dead, Christian and pagan, how He will bring
them to repentance of their sins, grant them forgiveness
through Jesus Christ, and lead them to true, pure religion,
an exciting and eternal future. Now that is something worth
celebrating!

Learn more about God’s

days! Request your free
copy of Pagan Holidays—or
God’s Holy Days—Which?
by Herbert W. Armstrong.
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