Did you know that Christmas was observed 2000 years before the birth of Jesus Christ?
That neither the apostles nor the inspired New Testament Church observed it?
Here are the astounding FACTS!
WAS CHRIST really born on December 25th? Did Paul and the other apostles — and the early New Testament Church — celebrate Christmas? WHY is Christmas not so much as MENTIONED anywhere in the New Testament?
What is the origin of the Christmas tree — of "Santa Claus" — of the mistletoe and the holly wreath?
We grew up practicing these customs, taking them for granted, but never questioning WHY! It is time we learned the FACTS!
4000 Years of Christmas
Christmas was celebrated by pagans 2000 years before Christ was born. Yet it was not celebrated in Jerusalem — where Christ founded the inspired New Testament Church — until 385 A.D., over three centuries after the true Church fled from Jerusalem!
Why?
Did you know that the pagan Romans long before the birth of Christ celebrated the Christmas season? That they called December 25 Natalis Invicti Solis — the Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun. For seven days — from December 17 to 23 inclusive — the Roman world took a holiday. On these days — called the Saturnalia in honor of Saturn — Banks were closed, also the Schools, the Senate and the Law Courts. The Saturnalia was a legal holiday. On December 24 — called "Christmas Eve" today — the pagan Romans celebrated the Brumalia. And on December 25 the Birthday of the Sun God.
Gifts were traded, greeting cards exchanged, feasting and games were indulged in by the whole pagan world during the Saturnalia. .
In the Hibbert Lectures for 1932 Dr. Robert Seymour Conway compares Christmas with the Saturnalia in them words: "You see at once in how man) ways the pagan Saturnalia resembles our Christmas — greetings out of door: and indoors, great hospitality, feasting and games of make-believe . . . dolls candles and all sorts of presents, and greetings in verse."
He continues: "Now what were the early Christians to do about it? The festival was linked with some of the pleasantest features of pagan life a; well as with a great deal of what was less desirable — drunkenness, for example; you were thought to be a quite unsociable person if you were sober all through the Saturnalia!" (Ancient Ital) And Modern Religion, Cambridge University Press, 1933, pages 125-126)
So common was gift-giving in the pagan world that the Roman poet Martial found it profitable to write an entire book containing over 120 little verses which could be put on gifts or sent as greeting cards with gifts for the Saturnalia holidays!
You Can KNOW the Facts
Every one of these FACTS you can find in the leading encyclopedias, in your own public libraries!
Though the Bible is silent about the exact birth date of Jesus Christ, or recording any observance of it by the apostles or the early true Church, it does have something to say about the season of the year when Jesus was born. It was not in the winter! You can have the answer in an astonishing article
"WHEN WAS CHRIST BORN?" Its free.
Just write for it.
What about the Christmas Tree?
Probably you have supposed that the Christmas tree dates back to the New Testament Church.
Did you know that the Christmas tree was also a modern revival of an old pagan custom? The Christmas tree was almost unknown until Martin Luther revived an old pagan Germanic custom. The Christmas tree "is a German creation, and even in Germany it attained its immense popularity only in the nineteenth century. The Christmas tree was introduced into France in 1840, when Princess Helene of Mecklenburg brought it to Paris," wrote Clement A. Miles in Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, pp. 263, 267. He adds:
"In England it is alluded to in 1789, but its use did not become at all general until about the eighteen-forties. In 1840 Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had a Christmas tree, and the fashion spread until it became completely naturalized."
But the Christmas tree is not really a new custom! In fact it is mentioned in the Bible — nearly 600 years before the birth of Christ! (Jer. 10:1-5)
You can read the astonishing origin and history of the Christmas tree — how it crept into the churches — how the custom of trading gifts with one another commenced, instead of giving gifts to Christ — all these FACTS and many others in our FREE 16 page booklet, "The PLAIN TRUTH about CHRISTMAS!"
No other booklet makes the truth about Christmas so simple, so plain, and so intriguingly interesting.
Yes, it's time the mystery which surrounds the introduction of Christmas into the professing Christian world were unveiled.
Notice the plain facts.
How Heathen Customs Crept into Christianity
No one knows the exact date on which Jesus was born. It has been hidden because God didn't intend His church to celebrate the birthday of Christ.
Only pagans, during the days of the early church, were celebrating December 25 — in honor of Sol, the sun god.
In most any public library you can get proof of this in a book entitled 4000 Years of Christmas, by Earl Wendel Count. The very name of this book proves that the Christmas holiday isn't Christian. It was celebrated 2000 years before the birth of Christ in honor of pagan gods! Therefore it was, and is, IDOLATRY!
Notice what God does say about the Christmas holiday season and other customs by which the heathen served their gods: "Take heed . . . that you do not enquire about their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? — that I also may do likewise.' You SHALL NOT DO SO TO THE ETERNAL YOUR GOD; FOR EVERY ABOMINABLE THING WHICH THE ETERNAL HATES THEY HAVE DONE FOR THEIR GODS" (Deut. 12:30-31).
The Christian-professing world today rejects this commandment of God so it can hold the traditions of men.
Jesus commands us not to worship Him by pagan holidays like Christmas.
Even though gift-giving during the Christmas season did come from paganism, you ask, "Isn't giving gifts at Christmas still scriptural? Didn't the wise men give gifts at the birth of Christ?"
Does Bible Teach Exchanging Gifts?
Just where did the Christmas SHOPPING spirit really originate?
Here's a surprise! "The custom of giving presents was a feature of the Romans during their winter festival the Saturnalia," says John Then, in his book, Christmas, page 91. Professing "Christians made presents to their children on Christmas morning, under the pretense that they were the gift of the Christ child . . . this age-old custom can be traced to the dawn of history" — to paganism!
Did trading gifts at Christmas come from Scripture? No! It came from pagan tradition and was falsely labeled "Christian" — a deception to fool little children. And millions using the name of Christ are practicing this lie today.
Millions of sincere, deceived people spend precious dollars to give gifts to friends on a day that doesn't honor Christ. How silly to claim to honor Christ, when giving gifts to one another on a day that isn't His birthday at all.
The wise men didn't give gifts to one another! Notice what they did: "Then, opening their treasures, they offered HIM gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh" (Mat. 2:1-11).
WHY were the wise men giving gifts to the Christ child? Was this his birthday? No!
Jesus had been born many days before! Then why did they give gifts to HIM? Because Jesus was born "KING of the Jews."
The wise men were not coming on Jesus' birthday as an example for us. Instead they came to worship Jesus and present Him gifts because he was KING.
Since Christmas isn't the birthday of Jesus and was not observed by the early true Christians, how did it get into the churches?