(By Crystal D. Holmes)
Christmas is PAGAN! That’s right! Christmas is PAGAN! It most certainly DOES NOT commemorate the birth of Christ! And, I can prove it!
*Unless otherwise noted, my emphasis is in bold in all quotations.
1. Christmas Pre-Dates Christ!
Christmas actually pre-dates Christ by centuries - though it was not called Christmas during that time, the celebrations were essentially the same. You see, Christmas is just another winter solstice festival. The winter solstice is the shortest day - or the longest night - of the year.
Wikipedia, in the article “Winter Solstice”, notes, “Worldwide, interpretation of the event has varied from culture to culture, but most cultures have held a recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around that time.”
The sun ceases to decline in the sky at the winter solstice, and it resumes its ascent and days grow longer after the winter solstice. Many cultures feared that the sun would go down and days would only continue to grow shorter and shorter until the sun disappeared altogether. So they begged the sun to return to them, and when he did, they celebrated his rebirth. The concept of the rebirth of a sun god is present in nearly all cultures.
William Sutton, in his book “Antichrist 666″, writes, “In the Babylonian and Assyrian legend, Nimrod died in his prime leaving a queen named Semiramis. At his death, Nimrod according to legend, became immortal, and his spirit flew up to the sun and took possession of it. Hence, he became Beel-saman, ‘Lord of Heaven’. After Nimrod had died and became the Sun God, Semiramis his queen [the biblical ‘Queen of Heaven’] became pregnant, she claimed to be a virgin, and after Nimrod’s death, according to legend, begot a child by Nimrod’s spirit coming down on her from the sun. She proclaimed to her subjects that her husband’s spirit entered into her womb through a sunbeam and begot the legendary god-child Tammuz (Ezekiel 8:14), he was born December 25.”
Tammuz was the Babylonish name for the Persian god Mithra (or Mithras). He was always the life-giving sun in human form, and went by many names in different cultures, such as Bacchus, Hercules, Dionysus, Attis, Osiris, Horus, Krishna, Yi, Quetzalcoatl, Balder, etc. All of these legends say that their god the sun was born on December 25 when the days begin to get longer.
Interestingly, Christmas was NOT celebrated by “Christians” until the fourth century. The early Christians who LOVED the truth wouldn’t ALLOW pagan practices in the church. Alexander Hislop, in his work “The Two Babylons”, writes:
“Indeed, it is admitted by the most learned and candid writers of all parties that the day of our Lord’s birth cannot be determined, and that within the Christian Church NO SUCH FESTIVAL AS CHRISTMAS WAS EVER HEARD OF TILL THE THIRD CENTURY, and that not till the FOURTH CENTURY was far advanced did it gain much observance.”
The apostles - the FOUNDERS of the New Testament church - the men who KNEW Christ face-to-face and were sent by Him to spread the gospel and teach others around the world NEVER KEPT CHRISTMAS! Read the rest of this entry »