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I once held employment which allowed me ten holidays with pay. I didn’t ask for them, it was simply company policy. I really can’t even remember what all was among them. I do know that there were seven of them which were the normal ones given by most companies plus two or three more than normal. The other three were Jewish holidays since it was a Jewish owned and operated firm. But I accepted them with appreciation. Really there were but five, as I recall, which I observed for the purpose they were intended. Thanksgiving Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

Many people gasp when they hear that I refuse to observe Christmas Day, Easter, Halloween, Valentine’s Day and Good Friday. And I profess Christianity. I try and observe only the days laid out and specified by Jesus Christ and His apostles. There are fifty-two of them. Every first day of the week...The Lord’s Day. Explanation of His day is a lesson in itself and we will wait for another time to describe the reason, the necessity and the scriptures proving it, in another article. This one is to be dedicated to explanation of the heading of this article.

My biggest objection is towards Christmas. Reason: Because it is the most widely celebrated and strays farther from God’s word than any I know of.

(1) It is not the true birthday of Jesus. The true date of His birth is not known. There is nothing mentioned about the date or time of year in the Holy Scriptures. Had Jesus wanted His birthday observed, He would have told us. Scholars have studied the ancient manuscripts and, although unable to find the exact date, they have shown that it would have been in the Spring. They have arrived at that conclusion by the records that are extant concerning the rotation of the various priests duty schedule, and by determining what time of the year priest Zacharias who was of the order of Abijah would have had duty. Since it is known that his son John was born during that time and that Jesus was born six months later. Luke, chapter one.

(2) The celebration was in effect for many years before Christ was born, but it was a celebration of the pagans in observance of the Winter Solstice, or the "New Sun". I urge those who have an interest in obedience to Jesus Christ, to read the short article at this neo-pagan website, explaining their historical holiday. The actual origin of Christmas (Christ's Mass) was in the year 273 A.D. when the Church of Rome, was attempting to gain adherents of the pagans but found them so deeply embedded in their celebration of the new sun, Saturn, that many did not want to give that up. The church then, designated it as the birth day of Jesus and left most of the festivities intact, but called it the "Mass of Christ"
http://www.circlesanctuary.org/pholidays/SolsticeArticle.html

(3) The festivities themselves have nothing to do with the true God or Jesus Christ. Most people do not know what any of the decorations or celebrations mean, although they all represented something in the pagan rituals, not conducive to serving God. The study of these items is a very extensive one. But in order to save one’s soul, it is time well spent.

(4) The name “Christmas” was never used in scripture, nor was it used by first century Christians. It is a combined word of Mass and Christ, first used by the Roman Catholic Church and referred to the death of Christ. Mass, is a word they coined to represent death and so the term Christmas, came as meaning the death or “bloodless” sacrifice of Christ, and has no relationship to His birth although it began to be used for such.

(5) The evergreen tree which somehow is twisted to represent the newborn Christ in some unknown way, was used long before Jesus was born by the Roman, as well as German and other pagans as a symbol of the essence of life and was regarded as a phallic symbol in fertility worship. Christians today use it with glee, having no idea what it represents.

(6) The red berries from the holly plant represented the menstrual drops from the queen of heaven, Diana. You can read of Diana in the scriptures in the 19th chapter of Acts. The white berries of mistletoe were regarded as drops of semen from the sun god, Saturn. Both holly and mistletoe were hung in doorways of temples and homes to invoke powers of fertility in those who stood beneath and kissed, causing the spirits of the god and goddess to enter them.

(7) These celebrations spread far outside just Rome and Germany and were celebrated throughout Greece and most of the known world. So one is made to wonder, but not very much, how these celebrations merged into the churches of professing Christians. It is quite simple. In the avid evangelistic efforts of early Christians and as the church itself began to apostatize, numerous pagans were being converted to Christianity. But a terrific stumbling block was that most of them did not want to give up their pagan roots and celebrations. So the church of Rome changed the name of the celebration to that of the Mass of Christ and allowed the pagans to continue in their revelry with them. Many Christians joined in.

With the acquiescence of the Roman Church hierarchy, the celebration of Christmas after it’s first acceptance in the early 4th century, it became wide spread throughout most of the church and by the time of the reformation movement, was accepted as a matter of fact and acceptable. Even those great reformation, leaders, Luther included, never denounced it. Only much later when the Puritans in England and newly arrivals in America, did the subject surface. The Puritans outlawed any observance of the celebration, as witchcraft. Many churches in England banned the celebration from their church activities, and still do. Most churches in America have incorporated it into their “religious activities” with careless abandon. Even the true non-denominational churches of Christ, although they began reluctantly and slowly, have now begun overwhelmingly accepting it as a religious holiday, and although they still contend they “Speak where the bible speaks and are silent where the bible is silent”, they have not one verse of scripture authorizing this pagan celebration. And in fact, there are several verses of scripture which condemn it.

“Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: 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 F49 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.” (Jeremiah 10:1-4)

“Thus saith the Lord GOD; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them. Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols. So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the LORD” (Ezekiel 6:11-14)

Perhaps most biblical scholars will concede that the Israelites were not intent upon abandoning the Lord God, but simply that they found pleasure in the pagan worship and celebrations and therefore took part in them. And even after all of God’s warnings and, under certain kings, who would destroy the idols and places of their worship, the children of Israel would continue to participate in the activities of those idolatrous people.

Now can we ask Christians today to justify any participation of pagan worship and celebrations? Or to participate in some Roman Church’s edict that the day of the worship for the Roman sun god, would now be a day of Mass for Christ? Why not? Do they not understand that everything about the celebration is either of pagan origin, or of Roman Catholic alteration of paganism, unauthorized? Or, do they just not care, they only want to participate in the activities anyway. It is fun. Do they not realize that the day of Christ’s birth as December 25 is a lie? Do they not know that the imaginary Santa Claus, rather than being deity, is a lie? Any thing pertaining to this celebration, even including the good things, gift giving, for instance, is an abomination? A gift from Santa? To someone who is not in need? Giving gifts to the poor and needy is a worthy cause, but certainly not in the name of the Mass of Christ (a bloodless sacrifice) or of an imaginary old man who comes down chimneys. And is omniscient, knowing when all are good or bad, and when they are sleeping. Many try and excuse this by saying that it is only for the children. There is no justification for lying to one’s children even when you are perfectly aware that it is a lie. The church of Rome teaches that it is justifiable to tell a lie, so long as you hold a mental reservation that it is an untruth. How else is there to tell a lie?

So what is a true Christian supposed to do, look like some kind of fool and ignore the Christmas holiday which is celebrated by more non-Christians today than by true Christians? Absolutely. It is one of the ways that Christians can prove they are a “peculiar people”. (Titus 2:14) (2 Peter 2:9)

It is a fact, that the 25th day of December is a national holiday and virtually every business closes for the day. We don’t have to worry that since we are off from work, that we must protest that, or so far as that goes, we are free to enjoy the day with our family since almost everyone is free. But don’t participate in the festivities under the name of Christmas. Don’t give or participate in “Christmas” parties. Don’t go out singing carols, just enjoy your day off and then go back to work when the job opens back up. I’m not trying to be a "Scrooge" kill-joy. I’m trying to entice you to obey God, not pagan festivities.

Don’t just take what I’ve told you, but for you and your family’s sake, get serious and study this subject. There is no possible way you can justify this observance without compromising your loyalty to Jesus Christ. Do this, type “Origin of Christmas” into the Google search window above and you will bring up hundreds of articles on the subject. Read a few and see if they do not confirm what I have written. You will find some which will attempt to justify celebrating the holiday anyway, but notice that they will almost always say, “I believe...”, “I see nothing wrong in this...” but they will not offer pertinent scriptures to offset the error of it. Don’t be misled by references to such scriptures as “let no man judge you in holy days..” and such. That is not a reference to pagan celebrations, but rather holy days as specified under the Law given through Moses.