Sabbath 09/09/34/120

Dear Friends,

This year the New Moon of the Tenth month falls on 25 December which will be quite a contrast to that same day when mainstream “Christians” and non-Christians alike celebrate the Pagan Christmas festival. It is another date on the solar calendar when we endeavour to keep ourselves separate from these blasphemous festivities as we are warned by God through Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 10:1-16 Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says the LORD: “Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, 3 for the customs of the peoples are false. A tree from the forest is cut down, and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. 4 Men deck it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. 5 Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.” (RSV)

This week we are reissuing the following Sabbath Message which is just as relevant today as it was 7 years ago:
http://www.ccg.org/_domain/ccg.org/Sabbath/2004/S_12_25_04.htm

Sabbath 14/10/27/120

This Sabbath [25 December 2004] coincides with the Pagan festival of 25 December, called Christmas, and alleged to be the birth of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

God has specifically forbidden this festival through the prophet Jeremiah hundreds of years before Christ. The practice of going out and cutting down fir trees and decorating them with gold and silver was ancient even at the time of Jeremiah (Jer. 10:1-5). It is not an acceptable practice for a follower of Christ. No person can keep Christmas and be a Christian. It goes against the express direction of God through His servants the prophets. The origins of the festival are detailed in the paper The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235).

We are continually fascinated by the lies we hear parents tell their children over this period. Children are literally taught that it is OK to lie by their parents on a continual basis. Moreover, they get agitated when confronted over the removal or exposition of these lies.

Parents tell their children that a little fat man in a red suit has the omniscient power to know sin, and to reward conduct by an omnipresent distribution of presents coming from a destination in the North Pole, using flying reindeer and a sleigh. One can scarce credit the imbecility of it all. This more modern version of the hedonism and human sacrifice of the Saturnalia is no less offensive and blasphemous.

It is not all right to lie to children and teach them to lie to others. It is not all right to pretend that the family gets together on this time and that justifies disobedience to God. Any person claiming to be a Christian and keeping this festival is a liar and there is no light in them (Isa. 8:20).

If you want to get the family together, do it at the Passover and at Pentecost, and at Tabernacles as God commands us. Do not keep pagan festivals to heathen gods and demons and pretend you worship God.

Christ was not born, and could not have been born, on or near 25 December. This ancient pagan festival involved human sacrifice, after a period of unlawful and licentious behaviour. The early Christians faced martyrdom rather than defile themselves with this festival. Now the false teachers encourage it rather than expose it for what it is. The English-speaking people were once strong and forbade Christmas as a festival in the UK. It was reintroduced by the European Church influence on the English clergy and laity. How weak we are as a nation and how disobedient we are.

We see those false Christians who claim that the Law has been done away, and that they can do anything in light of that fact. They misuse Scripture to justify the lie. We have seen these false “Christians” claim that they are free of the Law. The same people will tell you that they will all die and go to heaven, and those alive at the return of Messiah will be “raptured” and go to heaven with him to rule while the earth is destroyed. Presidents of the USA and their advisors have embraced and believed this non-biblical nonsense, and it has influenced their thinking and policy-making. How dangerous is a man, such as under the Reagan administration, that says that Messiah will come after the last tree is destroyed. There is no desire to assist and protect the environment with this raving nonsense. This thinking will plunge us into a planetary conflagration in the name of Jesus Christ. The Bible is ignored and twisted by these people away from its exact words. The literal intent of the Scriptures is twisted and corrupted by these people. The entire structure of the Scriptures from Genesis to Malachi is ignored, to justify a bizarre and deceitful travesty that makes a mockery of God and His Laws and plan.

Justin Martyr, in the middle of the second century of the current era, identified those who claimed that they were Christians and who said that when they died they went to heaven, as false Christians. He said they were not Christians, and that was the position of the Church in Rome in the Second Century. No person was allowed to hold this view in Israel in the Temple period and in the gentile Church of God. It entered with false Christians who came into the Church for the purpose of corrupting it.

If anyone sends you a so-called Christmas card or greeting, send them the paper on the Origins of Christmas and Easter (No 235) and explain why you don’t keep it, and why it is an offence against God to do so. People think nothing of intruding this pagan travesty into our lives, and the lives of other peoples, with no thought of what they do.

Think about how you can influence others for the good over this period. Perhaps you can get people to review what it is they do. Perhaps we can get people to study what the origins of this blasphemous festival are.

When Christ gets here he will rule the planet for a thousand years with a living population and the elect to assist him (cf. Rev. Ch. 20). Does no one read the Bible? Are they all on mind-altering drugs? What is the problem?

No one can understand the Bible unless God opens their minds and gives them understanding. This fact is becoming more and more obvious as we proceed into the future and come closer and closer to the wars of the end, and the destruction of our planet. It is our fault that the planet is groaning, and it will be our fault that it will almost be destroyed. The Bible tells us what we will do, and it can all be prevented.

Take some time this week to explain to at least one person the falsehood of this system and its anti-biblical nature. Explain how God forbids it through the prophets. Learn how to expose the false system. Explain the true Calendar of God (cf. God’s Calendar (No. 156) .

Be ready to give an explanation of the hope that lies within you.

If you are forced to take time off work this week due to closures, then use the time wisely and meet together in the faith. If you are with unconverted mates, then draw free of the day and study. Keep your mind on the faith. Love God and keep His word. 

Wade Cox
Coordinator General