7 min Read:
We hear it every year, "Don't take Christ out of Christmas!" Sincere Christians in an uproar because of American society is pushing Jesus further and further out of Christmas. "Keep Christ in Christmas" blasted all over social media and littering the bumpers of many cars on the road. Every season, devout Christians take a stand to ensure that people remember that "Jesus is the reason for the season!" Why? Because Christmas is under attack! It's obvious, when many people no longer even give the cheerful greeting "Merry Christmas." Instead it is substituted with a broad "Happy Holidays" in order to avoid any offense. It's great to see Christians standing up for Christ and striving to keep him alive in American society. But are they really standing up for him, or is it all in vain?
I don't mean in the sense that the message will fall on deaf ears, or the efforts being in vain because such change moving towards "Happy Holidays" is inevitable. I mean, are the efforts of putting Christ back in Christmas, vanity? Are they worthless? Futile? I'm referring to the sense that causes one to ask if these efforts are meaningless and worthless to the glory of our Creator and his perfect son? Does it give Jesus and his Father glory when we endeavor to restore his presence in Christmas?
Ask yourself this: Does our heavenly Father appreciate the stand sincere Christians take to preserve Jesus' place in the celebration of Christmas? How does Jesus himself feel about it? Does he smile in his right hand seat of glory when he sees a Christian make a passionate proclamation to defend his presence in Christmas?
Unfortunately, No. It's quite the opposite.
You see, the adversary has us so distracted by our earnest desire to stand up for our Messiah, that we do not even take the time to realize that Christ never belonged in Christmas. Those that have been exposed to the truth that Christmas is not Jesus' actual birthday and that this precious holiday is rooted in idolatry and false worship are stuck battling their flesh and their fear of man instead of standing up for real truth and solid worship. The family and social time, music, decoration, festivities, food, and especially the gift giving and receiving, are all things our flesh longs for. Put another way, our flesh loves Christmas. It craves it. Do not get me wrong, these things in and of themselves are beautiful God-given gifts. However, when they are utilized in a way that our Father specifically says not to do them, they become sinful in nature. And our flesh craves the lusts of this world! This does not help us to return to worshiping in truth because we have such fond memories of this time of year. However, we should realize that most of our fond memories are linked to enjoyable fellowship with brothers and sisters as well as loving time spent with family.
The reality is, every effort to put Christ back into Christmas ignores the fact that he was never in Christmas to begin with and that he and our Father completely despise everything about Christmas. This is a tough thing to swallow, but we sincerely urge you to test this out yourself.
Every effort one takes to put Christ in Christmas forsakes his holy name. Holy means set apart. Our heavenly Father and His son are Holy Holy Holy—set apart from the world in every way. Our Creator and His obedient son want nothing to do with Christmas and command us to never worship them in the way that other gods are or were worshiped. However, they love and highly encourage celebration!
Our heavenly Father actually commanded us to celebrate and hold festivals together! He gave us seven appointed times of the year, many of them being huge feasts in which we all gather and passionately celebrate. An example that you may be familiar with is Passover, which is commanded to be celebrated forever. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is linked to Passover and is also commanded to be celebrated forever:
And this day (Passover) will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to Yahuah (the LORD); throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance. Exodus 12:14
There are even minor festivals that we can partake in—which we can see Jesus himself honoring in scripture! One that you are familiar with is "Hanukkah" or the "Festival of Lights" or what scripture calls the "Feast of Dedication." Jesus is actually witnessed in the temple honoring this festival and being our example that it is an important time to honor and celebrate!
And it was at Jerusalem the Feast of Dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. John 10:22-23
Our first reaction to these Biblical feasts? "They are Jewish!" That was my initial reaction too! However, scripture proved me wrong, and I realized I was in great error. Passover is not Jewish! It was given to all of the people of God. It's very institution was celebrated by all twelve tribes of Israel, not just the tribe of Judah. The tribe of Judah, who we refer to as "Jews," are only one small portion of Israel. Clearly stated, Passover is for Israel. New believers should not forget that they are grafted into Israel, which means that all who profess faith in Jesus Christ are to be called Israel. Passover is for Israel. Israel is commanded to honor, memorialize, and keep the appointed times detailed in scripture.
Besides, why wouldn't we want to celebrate the appointed times illustrated in scripture? All of them have everything to do with Jesus! They all point to our Messiah and the fulfillment of the promises surrounding his life, death, resurrection, his return, and the new heavens and new earth we all should be expecting.
The appointed times of the Bible give true honor and glory to our Messiah and we should strive to honor him the way we are commanded to.
Consider this:
The appointed times are clearly detailed in scripture. Jesus honored and kept them. We are called to walk in his ways. His ways included the celebration and honoring of the appointed times given by our Father.
Christmas is not to be found in a single verse of scripture. Not one. There is no mention of a command to celebrate it. Even more so, there is no command in scripture that gives us freedom to "redeem" any form of pagan worship for Jesus. Not one. Scripture actually tells us that we are not to worship Him in any way that other gods were worshiped. Specifically, we were given detailed instructions on how our Creator wanted us to worship him, which is seen in the appointed times.
Three of the appointed times have yet to be fulfilled by our Messiah. We are to happily wait in anticipation for his return and these unfulfilled appointed times are to take place in order to fulfill the promises given by our Creator.
We know that this is a very difficult subject that requires much prayer, consideration, and study of the Holy Scriptures. There is much we all need to learn from scripture regarding the appointed times of Yahuah.
We ask that you ponder these questions on your quest for truth:
Why do you celebrate Christmas? Is it really for Jesus?
Why do churches and most Christians not celebrate or commemorate the commanded feasts and appointed times in Scripture? Shouldn't they? They all point to Christ! These feasts were projected promises from our heavenly Father. Yahusha’s life and ministry on earth fulfilled some of these feasts in perfect accordance to those promises. In other words, these feasts established future truths that were carried out by Yahusha during his life on earth. Shouldn't they at least be honored and wouldn't one desire to celebrate such things? Are they not Biblically ordained times to honor our Messiah in the perfect way our Father instructed his people to?
Three of the appointed times are promises of Yahusha’s return that have yet to be fulfilled! We are supposed to be keeping and celebrating them as we wait for his return. Why are believers today not aware of this?
Most do not know enough about the Biblically Appointed times to even consider celebrating them. Why is that?
Have you ever sincerely tested Christmas to see if it was something that honored Jesus, or if it was actually a celebration of disobedience? How does Jesus feel about the celebration?
There are many important questions one should ask themselves. The most important should be answered right now: Do I care enough about Jesus to even take the time to find out? When I find the truth, will I have the courage to worship him in spirit and truth?
We are all very busy in our lives, but is Jesus important enough for us to dedicate some time to make sure we are honoring him according to Scripture?
If one makes a sincere effort to investigate Christmas, there is no doubt they will come to the same conclusion. The fact is, if we take Christ out of Christmas, there is nothing about Christmas that has anything to do with Christ. One will then see that all of the traditions of men that encompass Christmas, all have nothing to do with Christ. They are all taken from pagan sun-god worship practices. When we put Christ back into Christmas, it does not mean that it is Holy, Holy, Holy! The only reason he is there in the first place is because we put him in it.
The truth is that he has his own Holy Days that his own Father established for him. We should be obedient to scripture and keep these Holy Days at minimum. On top of that, we should always be auditing the way we worship Yahusha and our Father to make sure we honor him in spirit and truth according to scripture. If one takes the time to do a thorough audit of Christmas, scripture will inform them to burn it with fire.
We hope you give this some thoughtful time and consideration. There are many ministries, other than ours, that are helping hundreds of thousands test Christmas to the Bible. The result? Hundreds of thousands of people walking away from Christmas in order to worship Jesus in Spirit and Truth. Sincere believers that thoroughly enjoyed celebrating Christmas with their friends and family just as much as you and I; walking away from it once they realized that it was offensive to our Messiah and that they mistakenly thought it honored him.
I have no problem saying that I was completely wrong about Christmas. I was definitely wrong. Praise Yahuah and His incomprehensible mercy and grace that He forgave me once I asked for forgiveness and fully repented of my error—completely walking away from Christmas and returning to His amazing celebrations.
I hope you give Christmas much thought and consideration this winter season. Turn to the scriptures to test everything. May Yahuah bless you on your journey to worship in Spirit and in Truth.
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth,
for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. John 4:23
Sean is a former Atheist who was finally awoken to the reality of our Creator—which lead him to the one place he thought he would never step foot: “Bible College.” During his studies, our Heavenly Father flipped his Christian worldview upside down in order to reveal the Whole truth of His perfect Word. As a follower of Messiah Yahusha (Christ Jesus), Sean encourages believers to deepen their faith, seek the truth, test everything, and be willing to walk in the true image they were created: the image of the Most High and his flawless son.