The Scribe's Portion

Is Jesus ‘the Reason for the Season’?

· What Christians Need to Know About Christmas ·

December 23, 2017 10 Comments

It is that time of the year again; people rushing to get all their presents bought and wrapped, decorating the house with a splash of festive red, green, and gold. Kids write long lists for Santa while parents recite a well-rehearsed story “on this day, Jesus Christ our Savior was born.”

Church choirs practice Christmas hymns and carols. Salvation Army bells ring. Families cozy up by the fireplace to watch It’s a Wonderful Life. And pine trees are cut (or bought) decorated and set up everywhere you go. It’s supposed to be the “happiest season of the year.” The Christmas season is here, a VERY Christian holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ- He is the reason for the season after all. Or is He? What would you say if I told you that Christmas has NOTHING to do with Christ?

Did I catch you off guard or did the title give it away? Or maybe you already knew that Jesus wasn’t born on December 25 but you keep telling your kids it is anyway. Whatever your reaction may be I want to tell you the REAL story of Christmas, so grab your cup of coffee and sit back. This is a long story seeped in darkness, ancient mystery religions and paganism; one, nobody wants to acknowledge but a story that MUST be told. 

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Christmas was first recognized as an official holiday by Roman Emperor Justin in the 6th century AD. However, Christmas wasn’t always allowed due to its pagan origins.

Because the history of Christmas was so well known, the English parliament imposed a fine on whoever was caught observing its customs in 1647. The Puritans banned the holiday in America and would remain thus until German immigrants brought it back in the 19th century. Deeming Christmas as a satanical practice and sacrilege is not an exaggeration as we will examine later on in this article. But first, let us look closer at the meaning of sacrilege. According to dictionary.com, sacrilege means, “the violation or profanation of anything sacred or held sacred.”  Using the name of Christ on a holiday that belongs to paganism and pagan gods, is profanity; an abomination to YAH. If our ancestors viewed Christmas with this much contempt, there has to be a very good reason…and there is. 

SUN god, not SON of GOD

The Son you think you’re celebrating on Christmas is not the same son the holiday was established for. In ancient Roman culture, December 25 was known as “Dies Natalis Solis Invicti” or “Birth of the Unconquerable/Invincible Sun ( a special day observing the winter solstice).  Ancient civilizations had a thing for seasonal celebrations and sun worship as we will see.

Several pagan gods from the ancient Roman, Greek, Egyptian and Babylonian mythologies contribute to the origin of Christmas and they are all versions of the sun god which we will examine later. 

I want to re-emphasize and probably will throughout the entire post, that Christmas has NOTHING to do with Christ and everything to do with pagan gods and practices. Christmas was established merely to replace sun worship for the Son’s birth, all there is to it, is a name change. 

Read  Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?

Saturnalia

Saturnalia was a Roman holiday observing the winter solstice in honor of the return of the sun god, Saturn. Saturn was the god of sowing and agriculture mythically known to eat his children. During this festival which happened during December 17-23, the Romans partook in sacrifices, a public banquet, private gift-giving, orgies, and gambling which was only permitted on those days. The gift exchange tradition was called strenae in honor of the goddess of vegetation, Strenia.  Emperor Aurelian built a temple for “the unconquerable son” in honor of Saturn where the festivities took place. 

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Bacchanalia

The Greeks honored their god of wine, Dionysus “Bacchus” during Bacchanalia on December 21. Little is known about the festivities and everything that took place during this celebration because Dionysia (mystery religion worshipping Dionysus) was a very secretive practice.

But from the painting depictions, it is evident that the observers participated in drunken orgies. This tradition spread to the Roman culture. 

Mithras

Mithraism was a major Roman mystery religion derived from the Persian god of light, Mithras. The tradition of celebrating Christ’s birth came from Mithra, who was born out of a rock on December 25. Mithraism sprung up during the first century AD and died away in the 4th century. Mithras is the equivalent of Horus, the Egyptian sun god (more on that later). 

Brumalia

Another Roman winter solstice festival was Brumalia. “Bruma” in Latin meaning “brevum or brevis” or “brief” is in reference to the shortest day of the year, December 21. Brumalia was a month-long (November 24-December 23) festival paying homage to Saturn/Cronos, Ceres/Demeter, and Bacchus. Festivities included; feasting, drinking, and pig and goat sacrifices. Brumalia was observed until the 6th century when Emperor Justin banned it along with other forms of paganism. It was derived from the Germanics’ homage to the Norse god of death, Odin. The festivities involved magic, bonfires, putlocks, and feasting. These traditions later developed into Yule “rebirth of the sun” (a pagan Wiccan holiday). 

Winter Solstice

The winter solstice has always been an important time of the year in ancient traditions. Because the sun is present fewer hours during the day, and the sun was worshipped it is understandable that the adherents would indulge in festivities in honor of their deities on and around December 21-25. But why December 25 and who is this sun god they all seem to worship? According to mythology, several pagan gods were “born” on this day and for Christians, Christmas is celebrated in honor of Christ’s birth.  Most of these gods are depicted with halos or sun rays in honor of the sun god. Sun worship has always been at the heart of ancient religions, we even have church on SUNday. The fact that this time of the year is referred to as “the holiday season” has more pagan truth to it than people realize. There are a couple of points that need to be made. 

1. Christ was NOT born on December 25.

2. These pagan deities are based on ONE individual from Babylon.

3. This individual is the one and only, sun god ancient civilizations worshipped.

4. December 25 is attributed to the birth of this Babylonian individual.

Christmas celebrates this individual…not Jesus! Christmas is the celebration of the sun god Horus in Egyptian mythology, Odin in Norse, Mithras and Saturn in Rome, and Dionysus in Greece to name a few. Rome got their December festivals from the Greeks who got it from the Egyptians who got it from the Babylonians…which takes us to this mysterious individual whom all this pagan worship revolves and derives from. The Bible often refers to him as Baal, but his earthly name was…

Nimrod

Nimrod is the sun god and in fact and the one and ONLY from which all these deities came from. Let me say this again, Nimrod IS the same pagan god that has been worshipped for thousands of years in nearly ALL of the civilizations! But before he was turned into mythology, he was an actual man. He was the great-grandson of Noah through the line of Cush. 

Genesis 10:8-12

“And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LordAnd the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,  and Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.” (AKJV) 

Throughout Biblical texts and ancient documents, Nimrod was described as a giant (the Bible’s description of him as “mighty”).  He was big, strong, and had great skill, so naturally, people followed him. Nimrod founded several cities including Nineveh. He headed the construction at Babel and the rebellion against God. People looked up to him as the natural leader he was, probably even idolized him, exalted him to the level of a god, made up legends and myths about him. When God confused the languages of the people at Babel, they took these stories about Nimrod as they spread throughout the world. And this is how we ended up with all these gods that really are all Nimrod himself. 

The Epic of Gilgamesh and Hercules can find their origins in the character of Nimrod. Gilgamesh is Nimrod. The epic tells of the flood and the doings of Gilgamesh, a mighty man. Hercules was a demigod of great strength; Nimrod was a giant of incredible strength. 

 

                                      

According to ancient tradition, Nimrod’s birthday has always been observed on, you guessed it, December 25. Because this is only 4 days after the winter solstice when the sun shines a little longer than the previous days, people attributed that to the “rebirthing of the sun” (Nimrod).

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Christmas Customs Origins

The Christmas Tree

According to an old Babylonian myth, an evergreen tree sprung up from an old tree stump. The old stump signified Nimrod and the new tree symbolized his son, Tammuz who was considered the reincarnation of his father. The Druids considered the oak sacred, for the Egyptians it was the palm tree, and among the Romans, it was the fir which they decorated with red berries (a symbol of fertility) during Saturnalia. Also, the Kabbalah tree is the equivalent of the Christmas tree. 

The Christmas tree and the obelisk are phallic symbols. A Babylonian story recounts that after Nimrod died, his body was cut up into pieces and his wife Semiramis ( also known as Isis/Ishtar) took all the parts except his genitals, thus represented by the Christmas tree and the obelisk. 

             

                        

Ornaments

The Romans decorated their trees with candles in honor of Bacchus, who really was Nimrod, to symbolize the sun god. The Greeks put the candles in honor of their god Adonis (Tammuz in Babylon). The streamers and the way the lights are arranged around the tree have their origin in the serpent woven around the staff of Asclepius (Roman god of medicine). The Germans decorated the tree with fruit and candles to pay homage to their god Woden (Wednesday). The stars on the tree symbolize the star of Ishtar/Isis/Semiramis. 

Reindeer

The flying reindeer who pull Santa’s sleigh have their origins in Celtic and Norse mythology. They are associated with the horned Celtic god, Cerunnas god of fertility. In Norse mythology, Odin rides an 8 legged horse called Sleipnir as he travels around the world. Sounds very much like Santa Claus. 

 

Holly, Wreaths, and Mistletoe 

The boughs of holly represent Isis/Ishtar/Semiramis which symbolizes fertility. Mistletoe was used in Druid rituals. Wreaths were used in pagan rituals. Four candles were placed on the wreath to signify the 4 elements: earth, wind, water, and fire. The shape of the circle symbolized the cycle of life. 

Yuletide

The Teutonic Festival of Yule is a Norse equivalent of Christmas. “Yule” comes from the Norse word “wheel” symbolizing the cycle of the year and the holidays. During this festival, the yule log is burned in honor of the Norse god of fertility and the rebirthing of the sun god Lugh. Yule is based on the mythological war between the forces of nature. During this war, winter (symbolizing death) fought against the sun god (symbolizing life) and the winter solstice marked the turning point when the ice god’s power waned and the sun god triumphed over the winter. 

Santa Claus

 

The origin of Santa Claus can be traced to a Catholic Bishop called St. Nicholas from Myra who lived in the 4th century. There are many legends about him that it is uncertain which are true. Nicholas was a wealthy man. It is said that there was a poor man who had 3 daughters. The man didn’t have money for his daughters’ dowries so they couldn’t get married. One night, Nicholas dropped golden coins down the chimney for the girls’ dowries. This is the most famous story about St. Nick though, it cannot be verified. Tradition celebrated St. Nicholas on December 6.

16th century England’s version of Santa Claus was “Father Christmas”. An old white-bearded man dressed in a green or red coat lined with fur, Father Christmas was known as a very jovial and charismatic man. Since the St. Nicholas tradition was no longer observed, the celebration for Father Christmas was moved to December 25 to coincide with Christmas. 

Read  Digging into the History of Father's Day

Modern Christmas traditions borrowed many elements from Yuletide. During Yule, several activities took place one was the Wild Hunt in which a ghostly procession flew through the night sky. The leader of this procession was Woden. It is said that several concepts from this Norse tradition influenced the legend of St. Nicholas, including the long white beard and his flying horse (reindeer in American tradition). Much of modern Santa Claus was also influenced by Odin who lived in the north, rode an 8 legged flying horse, traveling the world bringing gifts to the people. 

According to Langer’s Encyclopedia of World History:

Santa was a common name for Nimrod in Asia Minor. This was the same fire god who came down the chimneys of the pagans and the same fire god to whom the people burned and ate children in honor for.  

Santa Claus is not that happy old man bearing gifts children write letters and bake cookies for. But a pagan deity born out of deception, evil, and the occult. Even the name itself says it all when you rearrange the letters in SANTA into SATAN. 

Elves

Elves are Germanic mythological supernatural fairies. They possessed magical powers and had the power to either help or trouble people. Beliefs concerning elves vary considerably within cultures and traditions. However, they were mainly associated with the cause of illness. Therefore, the Scandivanians used the 5 pointed star “elf cross” to ward off malevolent elves that caused harm.  Whatever the origins of elves, there is no doubt about their pagan roots. 

Read  Digging into the History of Father's Day

What Does The Bible Say?                 

Now that we have looked at the origins of Christmas, let’s see what the Bible has to say. 

The LORD has ALWAYS detested the pagan traditions of man. In fact, He punished and rebuked the children of Israel so many times for falling after the pagan practices of the Gentiles. In the Old Testament, we see a jealous God who did not tolerate idol worship and paganism. And Christmas is a paganistic tradition to the core. 

Mark 7:8-9

You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men. And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!” (ESV)

God has commanded us not to follow after traditions made up by man, especially holidays that are rooted in paganism. We cannot claim to worship God while observing a holiday created to worship other gods (Satan). I know this may come out as a strong statement, but let us not sugarcoat the truth. We are quick to criticize the Jews for their continual falling away from God by pursuing other gods, but we do the EXACT same thing when we set up the Christmas tree. The Jews made the golden calf and we set up altars in our homes to Baal. 

Deuteronomy 12:29-31

“When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’  You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. (ESV)

Tree worship and the decorating of it goes a long way, so far, that it was present in Biblical times and God condemned it. There is no mistaking what Jeremiah 10 says, the Bible cannot be clearer on this;

Jeremiah 10: 2-5

“Thus saith the LordLearn 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 axeThey 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. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.” (AKJV)

The LORD has commanded us to destroy every pagan idol, altar, and tradition from our lives. Of course, there are such idols as TV, sports, self, celebrities, money, etc, but participating in a holiday that is not commanded in the Bible and whose foundations are built on the god of this world, is a big way to commit idolatry. We can walk right in every other area of our lives but until we surrender these traditions so rooted in our culture, we cannot claim to walk in complete obedience and submission to God. 

Exodus 34:13

“…but ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves…” (AKJV) 

Deuteronomy 7:5

“But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.” (AKJV)

Deuteronomy 16:21

“Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee.” (AKJV)

Answers to Common Refutations

During my research on Christmas throughout the years, I have come across many refutations by Christians who no matter how much evidence you present, they continue to justify it. Here are just a few I have heard and my answers to them. 

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“But I’m not celebrating the history of Christmas, I’m celebrating the birth of Christ.” 

First of all, as I have mentioned multiple times in this post, Christ has NOTHING to do with Christmas. Looking at the background history of Christmas, one cannot deny that it is pagan all through and through. So if Christmas has nothing to do with God how dare we try to fit God into a holiday that wasn’t established for and by Him? 

Secondly, Christ was NOT born on December 25. I know many Christians and pastors can agree with that but I will tell you why December 25 is not even CLOSE to the right date of Jesus’ birth. 

According to Luke 2:8, shepherds were out in the fields with the sheep at the time of Jesus’ birth. This could not have happened in December at all because, in ancient Hebrew custom, shepherds only took the sheep out at night during Passover (early spring) to Autumn. This was done to protect the sheep from the cold, rainy weather that is common in the Israeli winter. The latest that they would have taken the sheep out at night was mid-October. Also, it is unlikely that Herod would have ordered a census in winter when the roads were frozen making it impossible for people to travel at this time. 

Careful study of Luke 1 reveals that Jesus was conceived 6 months after his cousin John. John was conceived around the 3rd month of the year. And John was born 6 months before Jesus, this brings us to September. Biblical scholars estimate September-October as Jesus’ most likely date of birth (during Sukkot or the “Feast of Tabernacles”).  

Why is it called “Christmas” then if it’s got nothing to do with Jesus? You may ask. The Roman Catholic Church “Christianized” the pagan holidays: Saturnalia, Brumalia etc, to convert the pagans. Since they were so attached to their festivities, changing the name to CHRISTmas and exchanging the gods’ names for Christ made it easier for them  to become “Christians.” Christmas was converted into a mass for Christ. 

Besides the fact that Jesus was not born anywhere near December 25, God never commanded us to celebrate his son’s birth but only his death and resurrection. If He had wanted us to observe his birth He would have had it written in the Bible. So even if you sincerely celebrate Christmas with Jesus in mind, it is an abomination to God. It is possible to be sincere but also sincerely wrong. God does not accept worship whose root is in idolatry.

Amos 5:21-22

“I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.” (AKJV)

This does not mean that we cannot be thankful and give praise for the birth of Jesus. We can do so every single day, every time we pray. Who said we should limit ourselves to just one day?

“The Jeremiah 10 verse is talking about tree worship, I’m not worshipping the Christmas tree.”

As stated earlier, Jeremiah 10 is VERY clear. It says not to learn the ways of the heathen (pagans). The mere act of setting up and decorating a tree, though you may not prostrate yourself before it, brings dishonor and anger to God. This is the same mentality as the”let’s see how far I can go before I actually sin”. Except that the Christmas tree is an idol. It’s the same thing as if I were to bring a Buddha or a pagan relic home for decoration but don’t worship it. 

Decorating with trees, wreaths, mistletoe, holly, and placing gifts under a tree are all ancient fertility practices that originated in Mithraism. That’s a fact we cannot deny.

Bottom line, you don’t need to bow your knee to the tree to worship it, bringing it home and decorating it is already idolatry. 

“But those verses were written for the Jews, they’re not for us or today.” 

Does God ever change that we should delegate His commands to the Jews and not us? God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. His Word is ageless, transcending time, change, and cultures. Matthew 24:35 says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (ESV).  His Words never grow old. Time comes and goes, people change, cultures adapt to modernity but God’s Word REMAINS. 

Isaiah 40:8-9

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” (ESV)

The Bible was written for Jews and Gentiles alike for the past for the present and future generations. 

The Truth Remains

Are you following truth or tradition? Christmas is just one small portion of our culture. How many other holidays or practices do we follow simply because it’s tradition? Shall we lose God’s favor for the sake of tradition? We do ourselves great disfavor in embracing celebrations just because our church leaders gave the “okay.” We believe everything we are spoon-fed at church without discerning God’s Word for ourselves. Or we’re so attached to our traditions that we don’t want to allow ourselves to believe the truth and let go. Maybe we cannot believe that Christmas is pagan. But remember that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14) metaphorically but also physically (Nimrod, sun god, light). 

The best way to honor God is through obedience, something we cannot do by observing a pagan holiday that is an abomination to God. The truth remains, the lies have been exposed. I have done my part by writing this honest post knowing I will probably receive a lot of backfire. That’s alright with me, I didn’t write history. But hey, don’t take my word for it. Do your own research, pray for wisdom, discernment, and guidance. And make your decision. Find out for yourself. I’m convinced that those who earnestly and humbly seek God’s truth will find it. 

Last updated on December 20, 2021

All pictures used in this post were taken from Google images. I do not own any of these images.

Evelyn Fonseca

Christian millennial, writer, editor, introvert, lover of languages, and full-time bibliophile. My mission is to tell the whole world about the love of Christ and that apart from Him there is no hope.

10 Comments

  1. Reply

    Ash

    October 7, 2022

    Eveyln,

    Thank you for you hard work and dedication to our Mighty Creator! I appreciate the work you put into this article, and I will definitely share to help open other eyes on The Truth! God has already blessed you so much especially with beautiful words to spread His Word. 🙏😇

    • Reply

      Evelyn Fonseca

      October 7, 2022

      Thank you so much for your words of encouragement! You have no idea how blessed I am by your comment. God bless!

  2. Reply

    Traci

    November 7, 2020

    Hello,
    Thank you for writing this informative article. I hope that many will be given ears to hear and eyes to see. My family and I have “come out of” the observances of man-made “holidays”. We have researched and learned that these are not at all pleasing to Our Heavenly Father. Many blessings to you.

    • Reply

      Evelyn Fonseca

      November 7, 2020

      Amen! Praise God for His revelations!

  3. Reply

    Holly

    October 26, 2020

    Evelyn,

    This post is so well done! You covered all the bases on this subject and I think this info is so helpful to so many. Thank you and blessings to you!

    • Reply

      Evelyn Fonseca

      October 26, 2020

      Thank you so much Holly! Please share with others so they may find the truth. Blessings!

  4. Reply

    Alex

    September 7, 2019

    Hello Evelyn!

    Thank you for this well-written article/post! I have done my own bit of research on this same topic over the years, and I agree with most everything you say. Christmas is not a day we should use to worship Jesus, no matter how one twists it. (Although I have no problem worshiping God on December 25, or October 18, or Sunday, or any day of the year; it is on the holiday, not the date, that we should refrain from worshiping). More Christians need to hear this message.

    I understand that it would probably be better to consider this a “blog post” rather than an “article,” but I would greatly appreciate if you would attach a works cited to this so that people I might want to refer to this article understand how you arrive at your conclusions. There are plenty of claims made in this article – that I agree with, I should say – that may appear to be ludicrous or at least unsubstantiated to the uninformed reader. Something that gives credence to some of your claims would be amazing.

    And I do recognize the reference to Jim Staley’s teaching “Truth Or Tradition” in this section’s title. 🙂 Keep up the good work and God bless!

    • Reply

      Evelyn Fonseca

      September 8, 2019

      Thank you for your comment Alex and great suggestion! I’d be happy to provide the references I used for the post. It will probably take me some time as I used numerous resources and this was written almost 2 years ago. You may subscribe to my newsletter to get informed on new updates. Thank you for your feedback.

  5. Reply

    Peter Success

    February 8, 2018

    Great! Great!! Would love to meet you in person.

    • Reply

      Evelyn Fonseca

      February 8, 2018

      Who knows, maybe someday we will! Thank you for your comment Peter.

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