The origin of many of our Christmas customs is amazing, SHOCKING!
Millions of Christians accept the customs without ever questioning their origin.
Millions observe them without REALIZING the God they hope to worship through these customs CONDEMNS THEM!
HAVE you ever wondered how Santa Claus fits into the story of CHRIST? Have you ever pondered where the tinsel-covered, brightly lit Christmas tree with its ornate decorations figures in the worship of God?
Why do we follow the custom of exchanging gifts at Christmas time? From where come the holly wreaths, the mistletoe and the greeting cards? Why is December 25th called the birthday of Christ?
In the Bible?
Did you know that thousands of years before Christ — before there was ever a CHRISTIAN — people, just as we do today — went out into the forests and cut down evergreen fir trees? They trimmed the branches, brought the trees into their homes, nailed them down and decorated them with gold and silver ornaments. They exchanged gifts, sent greeting cards, played games, sang songs and feasted in a gala festive season.
Did you know this was all done on the same day of the year — our December 25th?
But Jesus Christ wasn't the central figure of that festival. It was a PAGAN GOD — the SUN-GOD! It was HIS BIRTHDAY.
Everyone seems to feel that somehow the pageant of Christmas sums up the concept of God and the coming of Christ — the Savior of the world.
But, shocking as it may seem, you cannot find any of these things in your Bible!
Prove it for yourself! Look in your Bible. Search for a mention of Santa Claus! Search for Jesus or His apostles ever decorating a Christmas tree or Jesus ever saying we should do so in honor of Him. Examine the Bible carefully for any place Jesus said to celebrate His birthday — to exchange gifts among OURSELVES. Search for the proof December 25th WAS Jesus' birthday. Search for holly wreaths, mistletoe and Christmas cards.
They are not there!
Why then do we find ourselves following such customs? Why are these things a part of Christianity? Where did they come from? The truth will amaze you! Do you have the courage to face it?
The Amazing Story
How these things became a part of Christianity is a story as old as history. It is a story you need to know.
In the dawn of civilization on this earth, men began to multiply into tribes and nations (Gen. 10:5). These people were PAGANS without the knowledge of the true God.
Their leaders and rulers had the growing problem — as they grew into nations — of keeping their people in subjection and loyal to the state. The standard pagan methods of penalty and punishment were not enough to hold down lawlessness and rebellion. A greater and more powerful tool was needed to control the masses. The tool of RELIGION!
Nimrod became the first such ruler to use this tool. He taught his people that their happiness, their welfare, and their eternal destiny was not in the hands of man but in the hands of the SUN-GOD and that HE was the incarnation of that god. He introduced a "new thing" to his people — superstition and FEAR! No longer was there just a fear of a human ruler with only human powers — but now superstition and FEAR of an ALL-POWERFUL GOD who could see and detect all crime and rebellion and one who could exact retribution without detection.
What a powerful tool this became! Ridership through RELIGION!
Beyond the fear and superstition another concept. emerged — the WONDERFUL, the appealing and the sensuous — the PAGAN FESTIVALS in honor of that god! Festivals fraught with the fable of mystery and delight; festivals which gave the people all the pleasures and delights that appealed to the human appetite.
As the SUN — their god — dipped lower and lower in the sky and winter approached, it appeared each year to these pagans (as taught by their god-leader) that their god was forsaking them. As the winter solstice of the sun approached, the sun slowed in its retreat, then stopped, and began to return.
After a few days, it was evident the SUN was returning. The people became wild with rejoicing. By the time the date equivalent to our December 25th came, it was positive and a great celebration or festival began. It was called the BRUMALIA, birthday, or rebirth of the SUN — their god.
As this religious holiday evolved among the pagans, the fir tree emerged as a symbol of that god.
When Nimrod was killed, Semiramis, his wife, perpetuated his religion and gave added impetus to it. She claimed a fully grown-tall fir tree sprang up overnight from an old dead stump symbolizing the reincarnation of her dead husband Nimrod.
It was at this time the people were taught the custom of worshipping the Christmas tree. They decorated it with round ornaments symbolizing the fertility their SUN-GOD gave them — pictured as a round EGG — the symbol of reproductive fertility.
The people were taught that on each December 25th, Nimrod would visit their decorated tree and leave gifts upon it for them. This is the true origin of "Santa Claus" — St. Nicholas or NIMROD! Indeed the term "Santa" was a common name for NIMROD in Asia Minor (see Lempriere's Classical Dictionary).
What a delight this holiday became in the ancient pagan world. It was looked forward to anxiously and with great anticipation — just as Christmas is today. The whole scheme was that not only would people serve a god and a ruler they feared, but also they would be loyal to one who provided such blessings and physical pleasures. To be disloyal or unfaithful to their god and leader who not only held the supreme authority over their lives, but who also gave them the benefits of such delightful festivals—was unthinkable. It became the most effective tool to rule the people.
The whole documented story from history is available to you. Write for Mr. Armstrong's shocking and eye-opening free booklet "THE PLAIN TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS." YOU Win be amazed!
Proof from Historians
From the pages of history comes graphic proof of how states and rulers took advantage of this tool of fable, superstition and fear to keep their people in subjection.
Note this striking quotation from STRABO, a geographer and writer of the first century B.C.
"The poets were by no means the first to avail themselves of mynis.
STATES and LAWGIVERS had taken advantage of them LONG BEFORE, having observed the constitutional biasness of mankind. Man is eager after knowledge, and the love of legend is but the prelude thereto. This is why children begin to listen to fables and are acquainted with them before any other kind of knowledge. . . ."
Notice how these ancient rulers knew the use of fantastic fable in capturing the minds of the young. Children today learn of Santa Claus and the delights of Christmas before they learn to read and write.
Strabo continues: "But the MARVELOUS, which is capable of exciting FEAR as well as pleasure, influences not childhood only, but age as well. As we relate to children pleasing tales to incite them to any course of action, and frightful ones to deter them. . . . So numbers of our citizens are incited to deeds of virtue by the beauties of FABLE."
Just as today, the ancient peoples were enticed into loyalty to a concept, through invented FABLE and delightful fantasy.
Notice the rest of this striking quotation: "The great mass of . . . COMMON PEOPLE, cannot be induced by mere force of reason to devote themselves to piety, virtue and honesty; SUPERSTITION must therefore be employed, and EVEN THIS is insufficient without the aid of the MARVELOUS and the TERRIBLE. For what are the Thunderbolts (of Jupiter), the Aegin (of Minerva), the Trident (of Neptune), the Torches, the Dragons, the Barbed Thyrses, the Arm of the Gods, and ALL the paraphernalia of antique theology but FABLES employed by the FOUNDERS OF STATES."
Even ancient historians and geographers like Strabo, KNEW that these customs were purely FANTASTIC MYTH to capture the minds of the people.
Another amazing quotation from history graphically illustrates how the ancient rulers of state INVENTED religious FABLE to keep the masses in line.
The writer is Polybius, a Greek historian also of the first century B.C. who recognized these same forces at work in the Roman Empire.
"But among all the useful institutions that demonstrate the superior excellence of the Roman government, the most considerable perhaps is the opinion which the people are taught to hold concerning the gods . . . I mean, SUPERSTITION, which is impressed with all its TERRORS; and influences both the PRIVATE actions of the citizens, and also the public administration of the state, in a degree that can scarcely be exceeded. This may appear astonishing to many. To me it is evident that this contrivance was at first adopted for the sake of the multitude (the common people). For if it were possible that a state could be composed of wise men only, THERE WOULD BE NO NEED PERHAPS OF ANY SUCH INVENTION. But as the peoples universally are fickle and inconstant, filled with irregular desires, precipitate in their passions and prone to violence; there is no way to restrain them, BUT BY THE DREAD OF THINGS UNSEEN, and by the PAGEANTRY of TERRIFYING FICTION. The ancients therefore acted not absurdly, nor without good reason, when they INVENTED the notion concerning the GODS. . . . (Book VI. 55, 56. The quote is from Hampton's translation, Vol. II, pp. 405, 406)
Thus the true source of Christmas and other religious myth is revealed. It was NEVER true. It was never a part of the TRUE worship of the true God. It was invented as a tool in the hands of ambitious leaders to ensnare their people and to capture their minds by fear and superstition!