17 Sep 2009 08:09 PM

The "TRUTH" about Christmas (Christ-Mass)

What does Mithra and Saturnalia have to do with Christmas?

  Before we see the big picture, we must look at Scripture and History alone; for are not these two things the foremost truths we should be relying on. This part of the information presented needs to be detailed so that you can see the truth. Many are given indirect remarks as to these celebrations. This leaves people without true knowledge and without solid foundations to base their beliefs off of. One statement made by many, including those close to me is the remark “Well it may have come from pagan sources, but He (Yahuah) knows our hearts and that’s what truly matters.” This is true that Yahuah by all means knows our hearts; YIRMEYAHU/JEREMIAH 17:9-10 9 “The heart is crooked r  above all, and desperately sick–who shall know it? 10 “I, Yahuah, search the heart, I try the kidneys, and give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”  however we don’t know our own hearts and who are we to know whether we’re doing right by Yahuah. We must first and always look at Scripture to guide us and show us the truth, then we need to implement it into our lives and conform ourselves to the Scriptural teaching from Yahuah, not man made tradition/doctrine.

     Let us first look at SHEMOTH/EXODUS 32. In this chapter the Yahudim/Jews made a statue of a moulded calf because they didn’t know when MOSHEH/MOSES would be back and they felt they still needed to worship. SHEMOTH/EXODUS 32:4-6 “ 4 And he took this from their hand, and he formed it with an engraving tool, and made a moulded calf. And they said, “This is your mighty one, O Yisra’el that brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim!” 5 And Aharon saw and built an altar before it. And Aharon called out and said, “Tomorrow is a festival to Yahuah.” o 6 And they rose early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” So though the Yahudim/Jews did this thinking it was a good in the eyes of Yahuah let us just double check with Scripture to see how HE truly saw this “Man’s Tradition” based upon things that contradict HIS Word/Scripture.  Remember, 12 Chapters before this Yahuah gave them and us the 10 Words/Commandments to live by. SHEMOTH/EXODUS 32:7-10 “ 7 And Yahuah said to Mosheh, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Mitsrayim have corrupted themselves. 8 “They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them.  They have made themselves a moulded calf, and have  bowed themselves to it and slaughtered to it, and said, ‘This is your mighty one, O Yisra’el, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim!’ ” 9 And Yahuah said to Mosheh, “I have seen this people, and see, it is a stiff-necked people! 10 “And now, let Me alone, that My wrath might burn against them and I consume them and I make of you a great nation.”  By this we can see that Yahuah truly hates these detestable “Man Made Traditions” that contradict HIS word no matter how we try to distort these pagan ideologies into righteousness. ROMANS 3:4 “ 4 Let it not be! But let Elohim be true, and every man a liar, as it has been written, “That you should be declared right in your words, and prevail in your judging (Discernment between right and wrong).” 

Let us now look into Mithraism's and Saturnalia's role in this situation.  

Mithraism is widely known to have come originally from India. There is evidence of its practice (Worshipping Mitra/Mithra) from 1400 B.C.E. in the Ancient Indian Scriptures known as the “Rig-Veda.” Mitra was part of the Hindu pantheon and Mithra was a Zoroastrian/Persian deity, the mighty one of the “Airy Light between Heaven and Earth.” He was also a military general in Chinese mythology. Speaking of Christmas we read, "...But the worship of the sun-g-d continued widely throughout the empire (Rome), and under Aurelian (A.D. 270-275) the cult was restored to its former high estate. In the year 274 Aurelian declared the g-d -- now called Deus Sol Invictus -- the official deity of the Roman Empire; he built a splendid temple of the sun in Rome...and set the sun's birthday celebration (Naturalis Solis Invicti) ON D-CEMBER 25, the date then accepted for the winter solstice (also in his solar character the birthday of Mithra). In the time of Constantine the cult of Deus Sol Invictus was still at its height, and the portrait of the sun-god was on the coins of Constantine....Likewise it must have been in this time and with the intent to transform the significance of an existing sacred date that the birthday of Jesus (Yahushua), which had been celebrated in the East on J-nuary 6...was placed in Rome on D-cember 25, THE DATE OF THE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION OF SOL INVICTUS (Mithra). This date appears in a list of dates probably compiled in A.D. 336 and published in the Roman city calendar, edited by Filocalus, for the year 354" (“ Myth & Mystery: An Introduction to the Pagan Religions of the B-blical World” By Jack Finegan, Pages 211-212) Let us continue on to another author writing about Mithra, “The adherents of the Mithraic cult, similar to those of other religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, also held festivals celebrating different aspects of their religion. It appears that the annual celebration held on D-cember 25, the winter solstice, was the most important celebration of the cult; it was believed that Mithra was born on this day, hence “the birthday of the unconquered sun” (Latin: natalis solis invicti). Later, the practices of the cult seem to have gained much in popularity. With the advent of Christianity, a number of pagan practices which could not be abandoned found their way into this new religion. The most significant of these was the identification of the birthday of Jesus (True name of Messiah is Yahushua), commonly known as Christmas (Old English Cristes maesse: Christ’s mass), with that of the undying Mithra. (“D-cember 25: The Birthday of the Iranian G-d, Mithra and Jesus of Nazareth” By Siamak Adhami, Ph.D. Pages 1-2)  Professor Siamak Adhami Continues, “In fact Ernest Renan went as far as stating that “if the growth of Christianity had been halted by some mortal illness, the world would have become Mithraic.” As Walter Burkert points out, Renan may have exaggerated the case as the worship of Mithra belonged to a rather elitist segment of the society. However according to Werner Jaeger, there is no doubt that Mithraism and Manichaeism, two religions with well-established Iranian connections, posed a serious threat to the spread of the new faith which became known as Christianity.” (“D-cember 25: The Birthday of the Iranian G-d, Mithra and Jesus of Nazareth” By Siamak Adhami, Ph.D. Page 2)

Other Resources For Mithraism and how this celebration of the “Winter Solstice” was simply given a different name: (“ PAITIMĀNA, Essays in Iranian, Indo-European, and Indian Studies in Honor of HANNS-PETER SCHMIDT,” By Siamak Adhami; “Ancient Mystery Cults,” By Walter Burkert; “Case Studies In Archaeology and World Religion," By Timothy Insoll, Page 175; The Ghebers of Hebron: an introduction to the Gheborim in the lands of the SETHIM, THE MOLOCH WORSHIP, THE JEWS AS BRAHMANS,” By Samuel Fales Dunlap, Page 414; “Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend‎,” By Maria Leach and Jerome Fried, Page 732) 

So we have seen that Mithra was the mighty one truly worshipped on this day, of course Historically and not by opinion, just as I have done with all of my research; however like with everything we should look into this more. Let us continue on. C.J. Koster writes the following, “The fact of the pagan origin of the festival of Christmas on the 25 th D-cember, namely, as birthday of the Sun-deity, is admitted by all scholars. The Messiah would not have been born in mid-winter, 25 th D-cember, as the shepherds were out in the fields, watching over their flock by night (Luke 2:8). In Israel no one would permit their flock out on a winter night. The date of our Messiah’s birth has been calculated to be in fall. In any case, we are not commanded to remember the day of His birth, rather, to remember the day of His death. According to Scripture, this is what the early believers did, (1 Corinthians 11:26). The Catholic Encyclopedia says, “Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Ch-rch. Irenaeus and Tertullian omit it from their lists of feasts.” What is the origin of this Christmas on 25 D-cember? Sir James Frazer says, “The largest pagan religious cult which fostered the celebration of D-cember 25 as a holiday… was the pagan sun-worship, Mithraism… This winter festival was called… ‘the nativity of the SUN.’ Mithraism was the fastest growing cult just prior to the year 321 and was the major rival of Christianity. Franz Cumont, perhaps the greatest scholar of Mithraism, wrote, quoting Minucius Felix ( One of the earliest of the Latin apologists for Christianity, date of actual writings were done, Approx. 150-270 A.D. ), “The Mithraists also observed Sun-day and kept sacred the 25 th of D-cember as the birthday of the Sun.” Many scholars have pointed out how the Sun-worshipping Mithraists, the Sun-worshipping Manicheans and the Christians were all syncretized and reconciled when Constantine led the take over by Christianity, even if it meant the latter’s surrender of most vital Scriptural truths, especially its Hebrew roots. However, other Sun-worshipping groups were included too, because of the general importance and popularity of Sol Invictus,  the Invincible Sun-deity. Mario Righetti, a renowned Catholic liturgist, writes, “the Ch-rch of Rome, to facilitate the acceptance of the faith by the pagan masses, found it convenient to institute the 25 th D-cember as the feast of temporal birth of Christ, to divert them from the pagan feast, celebrated on the same day in hour of the ‘Invincible Sun’, Mithras.” Sir James Frazer wrote, “If the Mithraic mysteries were indeed a Satanic copy of a divine original, we are driven to conclude that Christianity took a leaf out of the devil’s book when it fixed the birth of the Saviour on the 25 th D-cember; for there can be no doubt that the day in question was celebrated as the birthday of the Sun by the heathen before the Ch-rch… transferred the Nativity…” The mixing  of pagan Sun-worship and Christianity exemplified by the testimony of a Syrian scholiast on Bar Salibi, who said, “It was a custom of the heathen to celebrate on the same 25 th D-cember.  In S.E. Titcomb, Aryan Sun-Myths, the Origin of Religions, we find it cited, quoted from primary sources, that the following Sun-deities were all born on 25 D-cember, according to their legends: Chrishna (Vishnu), Mithra (Mithras),  Osiris, Horus, Hercules, Dionysis (Bacchus), Tammuz, Indra, Buddha. Therein we also read of the Scandinavian g-ddess Frigga is whose honour a “Mother-night” festival was held at the winter solstice (+25 D-cember), as well as a similar great feast of Yule (Winter Solstice and Yule today are known to be interchangeable), where a boar was offered at the winter solstice in honour of Frey.  “Thus we find the three great days of Christianity (as it is practiced by most today), namely Sun-day, E-ster, and Christmas, all three having had its origin in the Sun-worship of the pagan nations. “How did these nations server their mighty ones? I also will do likewise” (Deut.12:30). This is exactly what the true Mighty One, Yahuweh, forbade His people to do. The keeping of days, especially days of festivity, is perhaps the most popular amongst all religions. “And take heed, lest you lift yours eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon and the stars, at the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship then and serve them, which Yahuweh your Elohim has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage” (Deut. 4:19).  The New English B-ble and the Good News B-ble render this more interpretively, “…your Elohim has given these to all other peoples for them to worship.”

Now let me please intercede for one moment and place before you a few more verses. REVELATION 17: 2 "2 with whom the sovereigns of the earth committed whoring, and the inhabitants of the earth were MADE DRUNK WITH THE WINE of her whoring.” REVELATION 17:4 "4 And the woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, holding in her hand a GOLDEN CUP (Babel/Babylon) FILLED WITH ABOMINATIONS and the filthiness of her whoring," YIRMEYAHU/JEREMIAH 51:7 "7 Babel was a GOLDEN CUP IN THE HAND OF YAHUAH, making drunk all the earth. k  The nations drank her wine, that is why the nations went mad!"

Now why would Yahuah do such a thing? Here’s our answer! YIRMEYAHU/JEREMIAH 25:14-18 "14 ‘For they too shall be enslaved by many nations  and  great  sovereigns.  And  I SHALL REPAY THEM ACCORDING TO THEIR DEEDS AND ACCORDING TO THE WORK OF THEIR HANDS (Making other mighty ones and worshipping them).’ ” 15 For thus said Yahuah Elohim of Yisra’el to me, “Take this wine cup of wrath from My hand, and make all the nations, to whom I send you, drink it. 16 “And they shall drink, and shake, and go mad because of the sword that I am sending among them.” 17 I then took the cup from the hand of Yahuah, and made all the nations drink, to whom Yahuah had sent me, 18 namely Yerushalayim and the cities of Yehudah, and its SOVEREIGNS, ITS HEADS, to make them a ruin, an object of astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day;” So namely the Sovereigns/Kings, the heads of kingdoms were made drunk with false worship BECAUSE OF THEIR TURNING FROM THE LAW, THE TORAH. Reading through the Old Covenant/Testament it is amazing how many times many turned their backs from Yahuah; Yahuah is by all means righteous in ALL of His judgments. Those that seek Yahuah shall find Him. DEBARIM/DEUTERONOMY 4:29-30 “ 29 “But from there you shall seek Yahuah your Elohim, and shall find, WHEN YOU SEARCH FOR HIM WITH ALL YOUR HEART b  AND WITH ALL YOUR BEING. 30 “In your distress, when all these words shall come upon you in the LATTER DAYS, c then YOU SHALL RETURN TO YAHUAH YOUR ELOHIM AND SHALL OBEY HIS VOICE. 

We ourselves have also been told what happens to those that corrupt Him and turn from Him.

ROMANS 1:22-25 “22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the esteem of the incorruptible Elohim into the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds and of four-footed beasts and of reptiles. 24 Therefore Elohim gave them up to uncleanness in the lust of their hearts, to disrespect their bodies among themselves, 25 who changed the truth of Elohim into the falsehood, and worshipped and SERVED WHAT WAS CREATED RATHER THAN THE CREATOR , who is blessed forever. Amein.” (Pronounced Ah-Mein; Amen Ra was a mighty one worships for which the Catholic Ch-rch transformed this word into)

I couldn’t let us continue until it was seen why so much false pagan worship has infiltrated, we can see this is because we know not our hearts, yet Yahuah does and seeing that we have lusted after uncleanness to things we think are good like these h-lydays, we have caused His righteous judgment upon us. I do not want anyone getting a wrong and bad idea about why Yahuah would do such a thing. Much of this is not explained in detail and this is exactly why many of us are so ignorant to the full spectrum of certain issues dealing with the most important aspect of life; our relationship with Yahuah. So many are taught the false lies that Yahuah is merciful and we can live our lives by faith alone because Yahushua died for our sins. This is wrong and Scripture completely agrees; however this is not widely taught. For now I’ll leave a simple verse, but there will be much more about that later.

YA’AQOB/JAMES 2:17-18 "17 So also belief, if it does not have works, is in itself dead. 18 But someone might say, “You have belief, and I have works.” Show me your belief without your works, and I shall show you my belief by my works.

Continuing on with Mr. Koster, “The prophet’s warning of Eze. 8:9-16, the “wicked abominations” of  Sun-worship which had been fused and mixed with True Worship, is equally applicable for our day. What greater proof do we need of the most alarming fact that Elohim has indeed given us up to worship the host of heaven (heavenly bodies), especially the Sun! These Sun-worshipping festivity days had been used to win over to the Ch-rch, the pagan masses of the Roman Empire in which the Sun was the leading power in the Roman pantheon. The weekly Sun-day, the spring E-ster Sun-day, the birth of the Sun-deity on 25 D-cember-all three these festival days originated from, and were instituted by pagans in honour of the Sun-deity.” ( “Come Out of Her My People,” By C.J. Koster Pages 27-29; The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, Page 227; The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 3, Page724; “The Golden Bough,” By Sir James Frazer, Page 471; “Textes et Monuments,” By Franz Cumont, 1, Page 339; “From Sabbath to S-nday,” S. Bacchiocchi, Page 260; “The Worship of Nature,” By Sir James Frazer, Page 526; “Das Weinachtsfest,” H. Usener, Page 349 Sequence; “Aryan Sun-Myths, the Origin of Religions,” By S.E. Titcomb, Pages 37, 60, 62, 65, 68, 71, 74, 84, 128; “Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism,” By Franz Cumont, Pages 89, 175 ) 

Saturnalia, what is to be noted about this in the Christmas perspective? Well, we have already seen that the date of the 25 th of the 12 th month was originally known as the feast of “Natalis Invicti Solis,” also known as the “Birthday of the Unconquered Sun.” This celebration was also known as Saturnalia and by conversion of the Julian Calendar that was used then, brings the date of this conclusion of Saturnalia to the 25 th . ( "Why the World Needs Christmas,” The Plain Truth, Vol. XXXVIII, Charles F. Vinson (1973), Page 19 ) It is seen now, by the changing to the Gregorian Calendar that Saturnalia is from the 17 th -23 rd . This is true by our standard; however many refuse to mention that the calendar used at the time this festival originated had the feast ending on the date of the 25 th .  This celebration was to honor the mighty one, Saturn and was an annual feast long before Yahushua. Let us read the statement by Mr. Christian Roy about Saturnalia,

“The Saturnalia were reformed in 217 B.C.E. in the midst of the religious crisis caused by early defeats in the Second Punic War against Carthage,  Rome’s African rival. We know from Livy’s Roman History (XXII, 1:19) that, in D-cember of that year, a sacrifice was performed in the temple of Saturn (the founding of which in 497 B.C.E. the festival commemorated). Among Greek religious customs adopted for the occasion, the senators gave a lectistern-that is, a banquet in honor of a deity who attends it in effigy, as an image set up on a ceremonial bed. A public banquet was also given , and for a day and a night the entire population was on the streets shouting  “lo Saturnalia!” The decision was taken to do the same annually, so that the Saturnalia became an official year-end celebration.

According to Macrobius (Saturnalia 1, Ch. 10), it was initially set fourteen days before the calends of J-nuary, “but, after Gaius Caesar had added two days to December, the day on which the festival was held became the sixteenth before the Kalends of J-nuary, with the result that, since the exact day was not commonly known-some observing the addition which Caesar had made to the calendar and others following the old usage-the festival came to be regarded as lasting for more days than one” (par. 2, p. 70) from D-cember 15 (the Consualia marking the onset of winter) to

D-cember 17. It comes “when men have gathered in the fruits of the earth” (par. 20, p. 72) and feel free to squander then in a wild winter h-liday, as all caustion and reserve are dropped to evoke the boundless abundance of the Golden Age, so as to invoke the future bounty (Latin ops, as in “opulence”) of Mother Earth: Saturn’s wife Ops (or the Greek Rhea). The climax of Saturnalia was her D-cember 19 feast of Opalia; “it was on this day alone that the shout of ‘lo Saturnalia’ would be raised, in the temple of Saturn, at a riotous feast” (par. 18, p. 72) 

“On the first day, as had been done in 217 B.C.E., no one was to put on a formal toga, not even the magistrates at the official banquet. Instead, while the statue of Saturn, whose feet were normally bound, was freed for a day, everyone wore a casual tunic instead of a toga, along with the pileus libertatis, an ancient Italian felt hat that had become the symbol of freed slaves. It was the masters who for once served the unusually impudent slaves at the banquet. Women were excluded, although slaves could have their way with their masters concubines. After the meal and excessive drinking, all the men would play dice to ether-a game normally forbidden (to slaves especially), in which they used coins and nuts as stakes. Improvisational games of educated circles, while less sophisticated ones exchanged riddles. No work at all was to be done on this civic h-lyday, when courts and government, as well as schools, were closed. It was thus under the name of feriae servorum that the Saturnalia were still observed as “the slaves’ h-lidays” at the fall of Christianized Roman Empire in the mid-fifth century, when they were also known as Brumalia.”

Continuing on to the assimilation of Christmas from Saturnalia Mr. Roy Continues, “Since the first century B.C.E. “however, the addition of the feast of the Sigillaria (Greek word of Saturnalia) has extended the time of general excitement and religious rejoicing to seven days” (Macrobius 1969 ch. 10, par. 24, p. 73), during “which we amuse infants in arms with little masks of clay” (ch. 11, par. 1, p. 74), also giving a special allowance, the sigillaricum, to dependents like slaves and clients, so they could buy small gifts such as wax candles and pottery figurines called sigilla as inexpensive symbolic substitutes for the (often facetious) presents to be exchanged on that day. Thus, until what is now Christmas Eve, men and women would take part in candlelight parades, wearing garlands around their necks and leaves in their hair. Roman homes, especially doors, were also decorated with foliage and lights between Saturnalia and the calends of J-nuary, much as today during the h-lyday season; holly was already favored for this in Antiquity. But the early Ch-rch tended to disapprove of the custom. “You are the light of the world and the ever verdant tree. If you have renounced the temples, do not make a temple of your door,” wrote Tertullian (155-222) in Roman Carthage, in one of the first Christian books in Latin (Tertullianus 1987, 15:11, p. 55). As a way to compete with, and eventually absorb, the Saturnalia, the Roman Ch-rch instituted Christmas on D-cember 25 as the feast of the birth of Jesus Christ, previously celebrated as part of Epiphany on J-nuary 6, along with other events of His life. But this only shifted vestiges of the Saturnalia to the latter date, when the King of the Bean would be randomly selected in medieval Europe, just as the Bishop of Fools was on Innocents’ Day, D-cember 28, to rule over a partying crowd for a limited time, like the Carnival king of many former provinces of the Roman Empire in Italy, France, and Spain. This king for a day is also mentioned by some Roman authors as a feature of the Saturnalia banquet: someone who would order people around, to do ludicrous things at his whim. This was done in good fun in ancient Rome as in medieval Europe.” (“Traditional festivals: a multicultural encyclopedia, Volume 1” By Christian Roy, Pages 425-42)

Now that we have seen this day as a whole let us look at the center piece of Christmas; the Christmas tree. I would again not like to opinionate. Not only at one time was this my favorite celebration, but decorating the Christmas tree was my favorite aspect of this celebration; however I didn’t know the truth about what I was truly celebrating. This Scriptural verse that I’m about to add is an exact resemblance of what our Christmas tree is. Many, and I mean many (trust me I’ve done my research) of those in prominent religious positions have stated this to be simply a METAPHOR for not committing idolatry. That within itself causes many to twist Scripture into their own destruction. Saul/Paul warned about this, 2 KEPHA/PETER 3:16 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them concerning these matters, in which some are hard to understand, g  which those who are untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also the other Scriptures. Sadly, like this one, YIRMEYAHU/JEREMIAH  10:2-5 2 Thus said Yahuah, “Do not learn the way of the gentiles, i  and do not be awed by the signs of the heavens, for the gentiles are awed by them. j 3 “For the prescribed customs of these peoples are worthless, for one cuts a tree from the forest, work for the hands of  a craftsman with a cutting tool. 4 “They adorn it with silver and gold, they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it does not topple. 5 “They are like a rounded post, and they do not speak. They have to be carried, because they do not walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they do no evil, nor is it in them to do any good.”

Now the very first thing that has been thrown into the context of this argument is stated as such basic facts that can certainly be found in almost any encyclopedia. One such theologian, Maria Hubert von Staufer states the following about the history of this tree, “Why do we have a decorated Christmas Tree? In the 7th century a monk from Crediton, Devonshire, went to Germany to teach the Word of G-d. He did many good works there, and spent much time in Thuringia, an area which was to become the cradle of the Christmas Decoration Industry. Legend has it that he used the triangular shape of the Fir Tree to describe the H-ly Trinity of God the Father, Son and H-ly Spirit. The converted people began to revere the Fir tree as G-d's Tree, as they had previously revered the Oak. By the 12th century it was being hung, upside-down, from ceilings at Christmastime in Central Europe, as a symbol of Christianity. The first decorated tree was at Riga in Latvia, in 1510. In the early 16th century, Martin Luther is said to have decorated a small Christmas Tree with candles, to show his children how the stars twinkled through the dark night. (“The Chronological History of the Christmas Tree, St. Boniface Story” By Maria Hubert von Staufer, Copyright 2007) As I myself was at first guilty of; this truly does seem like nothing more than a concrete fact that would put ones mind (including mine) at ease and even for some, would make the Scriptural verse seem more like a metaphor. In digging deeper we will certainly see that this isn’t in fact the whole history of the tree, though many are taught exactly this and in doing so we further anger Yahuah by false worship. Alexander Hislop begins for us with some well researched information, “"The Christmas tree, now so common among us, was equally common in Pagan Rome and Pagan Egypt. In Egypt that tree was the palm tree; in Rome it was the fir; the palm tree denoting the Pagan Messiah, as Baal-Tamar, the fir referring to him as Baal-Berith. The mother of Adonis, the Sun-G-d and great mediatorial divinity, was mystically said to have been changed into a tree, and when in that state to have brought forth her divine son. If the mother was a tree, the son must have been recognized as the 'Man the branch.' And this entirely accounts for the putting of the Yule Log into the fire on Christmas Eve, and the appearance of the Christmas tree the next morning.” ( “The Two Babylons” By Alexander Hislop, Page 97 ) Another researcher, Mr. Coffin continues, “"Most people have heard that the Christmas tree originates in the tannenbaum and is some sort of vestige of Teutonic vegetation worship. This is partially true. However, the custom of using pine and other evergreens ceremonially was well established at the ROMAN SATURNALIA, even earlier in Egypt.” (“The Book of Christmas Folklore” By Tristram Potter Coffin, Page 209 ) 

Continuing on Mr. Collins writes, “This idea of decorating homes on holidays is both worldwide and age-old...So the Saturnalian laurel, the Teutonic holly, the Celtic mistletoe, and the Mexican poinsettia have all attached themselves to this polyglot ceremony...Many of the plants used at Christmas are symbols of fertility. Certainly any evergreen (fir, yew, laurel) with its ability to return verdure in the barrens months is appropriate, but by far the most interesting are the holly, the ivy, and the mistletoe. Holly, with its pricking leaves, white flowers, and red berries symbolizes the male reproductive urge. In fact, in the English carols...the holly is the male and the ivy is the female. This use of the plants was most likely borrowed by the Christians along with other customs of the Roman Saturnalia.” (“Christmas Folklore” By Ace Collins, Pages 22-23 )

I’d like to say that I’m finished, yet there is some more very concise information presented by Brother Lew White who not only gives us the most information about the tree, but has even presented us with some more Scriptural verses, “Asherah is known in Scripture as the "Queen of Heaven", and is called "Artemis" by the Ephesians in the book of Acts (chapter 19).  The word "Asherah" is found at least 40 times in the TaNaKh*, and refers to a wooden object used in worship of a consort of BAAL, known by the name of ASHERAH. The image of Asherah was a tree (a date palm) used by the Pagan Canaanites and Phoenicians.  One of these Pagan Phoenicians was "Jezebel" (Izebel), who married Ahab, king of Israel (Samaritan king).  When northern Israel was dispersed into the nations by the Assyrians in 722 BCE, they carried this "tree" custom with them.   The lost tribes of dispersed Israel have preserved one of their most cherished Pagan customs among them:  the Christmas tree.    "Izebel" is also referred to at Rev. 2, and her "teachings".  The Greeks gave the "Phoenicians" their name, Phoenicia, which means "date palm".  They called themselves Sidonians or Tyreans, after their city-states of Tyre and Sidon.  Their "date palms" were called ASHERIM, and Izebel taught this practice to northern Israel through her marriage to Ahab. Asherah was the "Queen of Heaven" (see Jer. chaps. 7 & 44).  Now, read specifically how the Creator feels about it: Deut 7:26:"Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or YOU, like IT, will be set apart for destruction.  Utterly abhor and detest it, for it is set apart for destruction."  (Look at the verses around Rev. 2:20, again we see Izebel's influences)”

Sadly, and I do mean sadly, the information presents itself as factual, not only with historical information yet also with Scriptural. In knowing the truth, it is upon us to turn from such traditions and to teach our children to do the same. Some might say these teachings are cultish. They’re only seen that way because they’re not widely taught and yet while calling them cultish they have far more concrete Scriptural and Historical accounts to back up such statements, while the latter relies on one’s ignorance for such a tradition to continue.

For more information and photos of such things see my website at: http://www.wix.com/reignofyah/reign-of-yah

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