Christmas reflections

04.JAN.08

Editor: The people of the nation have celebrated what they claimed to be the Messiah’s birthday. Strange enough, the celebration did not stop at December 25th; it continues into January. Almost every encyclopaedia and history book that one may consult declare unequivocally that the origin of the modern observance of Christmas appears to be the traditional practices of the ancient Saturnalia. {{more}}This unrestrained festivity was widely observed in ancient Rome and lasted for 5 to 7days, beginning in the later half of December.

The Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature by John McClintock and James Strong in the article “ Christmas” states: “Our Christmas l-rds of misrule, together with dancing, masks, mummeries, stage- players, and such other Christmas disorders, now in use with Christians, were derived from these Roman Saturnalia and Bacchanalian festivals, which should cause pious [ believers] eternally to abominate them.”

Most people do not know that the Pilgrims also strongly opposed the observance of Christmas. In The History of Plymouth Colony by William Bradford is an interesting quote on page126; Note 13 reads as follows: “The Pilgrims did not observe either Christmas or Easter, since as they said, they could find no authorization in Scripture for such observance. They branded the celebration of these days as “Roman corruption,” and declared that no one who participated in the customary rites could be called true [Worshiper].”

Reflecting on the observance of X-mas one wonders, how can true believers practice the lightening of X- mas tree, and Santa Claus myth? It is clear in Jeremiah 10: 1-5 that X- mas tree is paganism. Nowhere in the Scriptures can we ever locate any mention whatsoever of a Santa Claus! The nick name given for Santa Claus is Saint Nick. Isn’t Nick an appellative (nick name) for Satan? “Saint Nicholas” has nothing whatsoever to do with the Messiah’s birth. It is clear that we are truly dealing with a “Satan Claus.” Why, then, do people today lend themselves to such an obvious untruth?

The Assemblies of Yahweh-Sheldon Govia