The First Christmas

The First Christmas

The feast of Christmas supposedly celebrates the unique and incomparable divine gift to all mankind, the birth of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. The Lamb of God and the only Savior who takes away the sins of the world. The birth of Christ did not take place on the month of December. However, the month is not important as much as the reality and purpose of His birth. He was born to die so that through Him we might have life everlasting. The babe in the manger would demolish the barrier between sinful and depraved humanity and the perfect God.

Unfortunately, someone and something took over the place of Christ, abolishing the true meaning of Christ’s birth. Santa Claus for example supplanted Christ. Shopping sprees and the preparation for delectable foods for the occasion replaced the spiritual happiness brought by the Savior Himself. Exchanging of gifts have diverted our focus away from the greatest Gift. The so-called Christmas the world has known could never be the birth of Jesus Christ.

Eight things that made distinct the night Christ was born from any other nights. The night Christ was born was a night of life and death. And she gave birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger (Luke 2:7a). The babe in the manger was the Son of God made flesh and dwelt among men (John 1:2, 14).

Religion popularized the concept that "Christmas" is the story of the birth of Christ totally omitting the purpose on which He came to die for the sins of the world. Christmas carols and songs in general, provide wrong information about the birth of Christ this way emphasis is put on the materialistic festivity.

He is the God-Man with undiminished deity and the only perfect humanity united in one Person forever (Colossians 2:9). Christ is eternal God, but His incarnation began with His physical birth a process where all human life begins. At birth, Jesus Christ was wrapped in swaddling clothes, the garments used to shroud the dead. From the beginning of His earthly life He was identified with death. The shadow of the cross loomed over Him from the very moment He was born. At His birth, God proclaimed to the entire world that Christ's death is more significant than His life.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Thirty-three years later the Lord Jesus Christ bore all our sins of the entire human race (past, present, and future) when He died on the cross. No sin was forgotten or excluded. He died for every person.

And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Peter 2:24a). The unique birth of Christ is God's proclamation of the unique death of Christ on the cross. Christmas is Christ with His cross. Santa Claus has nothing to do with the birth of Christ. Satan has exalted Santa Claus above the Lord Jesus Christ.

The night Christ was born was a night of good news. And the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. "And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths, and lying in a manger (Luke 2:10-12).

The supernatural appearance of the angel rendered the shepherds speechless with fear and awe. But the good news declaring that salvation from God was brought down to man promptly transformed their fear to an awe-inspiring joy. “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11). The only genuine message of Christmas is the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.

The good news was all about the Savior, Christ Jesus the Lord because all humanity is under the penalty or wages of sin, which is separation from God (Romans 3:23). The proclamation of the birth of Christ is the announcement of the solution to sin. The advent of Christ as true humanity was for the purpose of saving mankind from the very penalty of sin. He became a Man (true humanity) to die for the sins of the world (entire human race).

The angels brought the good news for all people of all ages, and without exception. Salvation was provided for all since the substitutionary death of Christ is (unlimited atonement) for every member of the human race. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony borne at the proper time (1 Timothy 2:5-6).

And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). A wish for a Merry Christmas is absolutely nonsense without the Gospel of salvation and unless believed and received. A Christ less Christmas is nothing but a feast void of reality and relevance.

The night Christ was born was a night of heavenly worship. “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:13).

On the night Christ was born the elect angels set the precedent for Church Age believer’s worship of God. True worship is based on a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Most people have long ignored such precedent. The celebration of the birth of Christ should elicit a personal response and adoration of Him. The genuine spirit of Christmas is based on personal faith in the God-Man Jesus Christ. And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household" (Acts 16:31).

The night Christ was born was a night of potential peace (with God). "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14) But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarded of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6) Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (Romans 5:1).

Your mental attitude towards Jesus Christ is the only factor whether you have peace with God or none. God is well pleased only with those who believe in Jesus Christ. And they alone have the peace that you cannot find on anyone or anything in this world. Only such individual possesses inner peace and happiness that is not available in the world. Only the Bible doctrine can change the mental attitude of any person and provide him the ultimate peace and happiness.

The night Christ was born was a night of reverent seeking. So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, "Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us (Luke 2:15-16).

Those shepherds were not ordinary and the sheep were not ordinary. The shepherds were carefully chosen to watch over the flocks from which lambs without blemish were selected for Temple sacrifice. The sacrifices foreshadowed Jesus Christ as the true Lamb of God.

Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Peter 1:18-19).

The shepherds who tended the flocks night and day could not attend Temple worship, yet the angels revealed the good news to them, and not to their religious leaders. The fact that they went immediately to Bethlehem, exhibited their vibrant faith in God. They accepted the good news with faith and immediately exercised their free will to obey.

The faith that acts is the result of doctrinal perception and assimilation. The shepherds have understood the doctrinal viewpoint conveyed by the angels concerning the Savior. The babe in the manger is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! They received and believed what the religious leaders of Israel failed to understand and perceive.

The shepherds left the sacrificial lambs to witness the greatest event of their lives, the birth of the Lamb of God, the Savior of all mankind. Leaving the sheep was very dangerous thing to do, but Christ was more important to them than anything else. They went to seek the Lord:

Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near (Isaiah 55:6). Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2b). And he who come to Me I will in no way cast out (John 6:37b).

In contrast, the pious religious leaders of Israel, who attended the Temple worship three times a day, responded in disbelief, a rejection of the Gospel, the good news of salvation (Matthew 2:4-6). Their religious beliefs and dogmas were more important than the truth of Bible doctrine. Human intelligence, knowledge, power, education and status in life cannot help a person understand the Word of God. The religious leaders responded with disbelief, while the shepherds responded with non-meritorious faith.

The night Christ was born was a night of witnessing. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things, which were told them by the shepherds (Luke 2:17-18). People were amazed and speechless when they heard that the Messiah had come. The shepherds made the salvation message very clear. "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on Him (John 3:36).

No experience in the Christian life can bring the greatest joy than the experience of presenting the Gospel to others. Even angels in heaven rejoice whenever a sinner believes and receives the free gift of salvation.

The night Christ was born was a night of quiet reflection. "But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19) Mary, the mother of Jesus set the biblical precedent for remembering the birth of Christ, which is by quiet reflection of truth. Christmas celebration by expensive festivity and sumptuous cuisine has nothing to do with the birth of Christ. People are excited in counting the number of days before the pagan feast they called Christmas but hardly think of the Savior.

The night Christ was born was a night of rejoicing and thanksgiving. "Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them" (Luke 2:20). Real worship of God is a mental attitude not an outburst of emotion. Real worship demands three important requirements:

Salvation, on the part of the worshipper
Scriptures in the souls of the believers
Spirit-filled life of the believers

The God-Man Jesus Christ, "Out of the darkness of sin and despair. God’s salvation, the fairest of fair, was born in a manger. The little baby in the manger had two natures; a divine nature and a human nature. The divine nature was perfect in every way and is the eternal God. The human nature was genuine and real, and yet without sin.

These two natures are inseparably united, yet without the loss of their separate identity. The human nature of Christ will always be the human nature, and the divine nature will always be the divine nature. Christ is both God and Man in one Person forever. He is no less than God because of His humanity, and He is no less human because of His deity. He is the only unique Person, the God-Man forever.

The Son of God had to become a man to be the Savior, to be able to die. He must become true humanity to be the High Priest, as well as the Mediator. He must have a human body to fulfill the Davidic Covenant to occupy the throne of David forever. As true humanity, The Lord Jesus Christ was a perfect man, without old sin nature and without Adam's original sin in His body. Christ is the only Unique Person of the universe who walked in the face of the earth.

The birth of Christ brought 3 radical changes in the woman, in the Son of God and in the lives of sinners. "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14). It was man who sinned and it must be a Man who must die. Only the genuine humanity of Christ has the legitimate representation (of the entire human race) before God.

The only possible way that Jesus Christ, the eternal God, could come into the world as a man without sin was by the Virgin Birth. Thus, 1 Timothy 3:15 say that the woman shall be saved by means of childbearing, that is, the bearing of one particular Child through the virgin birth. The miracle was the virgin birth, not the virginity of the woman. The miracle was the power of God in bringing into the world the Son of God through the womb of a virgin, incapable of bearing a child without a man.

To come in the flesh, in the likeness of sinful man, yet without sin, was the will of God the Father. As eternal God, Jesus Christ could not pay the penalty of sin because God is eternal, immutable and not subject to death. He needed a human body with human nature, but He had to be not only true humanity but also perfect humanity. Therefore, the virgin birth was the only way for God to become true humanity.

If a sinner is to have fellowship with God and be qualified to live in His presence forever, there must be a radical change in his life. In God’s sight, no human being is righteous except the perfect humanity of Christ. Therefore, an imperfect man can come to God only through the merit of the perfect Christ.

As it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, All have turned aside, together they have become useless; As it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:10-12, 23).

To be in right relationship with God, man must not only have his sins forgiven, but also he must also be as good as God. We do not have that kind of righteousness and we cannot have such kind of righteousness by ourselves. We need the spiritual change that only the spiritual birth can bring. This is not by human good works or effort to be right before God.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13).

Salvation is the complete work of God; man has no part in it. There is nothing we can add or contribute to the finished work of Christ. Only the work of Christ is acceptable before God because He is perfect and without sinful nature. Man can only accept or reject the free gift of salvation. God in his grace has provided everything necessary for man to have eternal life, the forgiveness of sins, and to have fellowship with Him. But this grace is of no use until we receive it by faith.

But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him (Jesus Christ) who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness (Romans 4:5)

Christmas is the story of Christ's death not of His birth. We cannot accept the claim of the Catholic leaders that the Lord Jesus Christ was born on December 25 AD 1 for several reasons: December is winter time in the Palestine region and the whole land would be wet. On that occasion, according to the Scripture, the shepherds were out in the fields watching their flocks by night (Luke 2:8). The shepherds will never bring out their flocks into the field during the rainy season because the sheep will get sick and die. The baby was wrapped only in swaddling clothes and yet He did not freeze to death (Luke 2:7) because it was not on the month of December.

The census took effect 30 days after it's signing. It was bishop Liberium of Rome (The Fox) who officially proclaimed it in A.D. 354 that all Catholics celebrate Christmas day on December 25. December 25 was adopted by the Catholic from the Roman feast of the Unconquered Sun, which falls on the midnight of December 24, which they substituted as the birth of Christ.

Tradition claimed that Jesus Christ was born on midnight but there is no way to prove that. The Bible did not say He was born at midnight. The claim of the tradition that Jesus Christ was visited by three kings whose names were Gaspar, Melchor & Baltazar about ten days after He was born is purely fictional. The Bible did not say that they were three kings, but magi who brought three kinds of gifts.

They were not three but they presented only three pieces of gifts. They were not kings but sorcerers or magicians. The Bible did not mention their names. They came two years after when Jesus was no longer wrapped in swaddling clothes but was already walking.

Dionysius Exiguus, the man who invented the modern calendar widely used by the Catholics around the world assigned December 25, A.D. 1 as the birthday of Christ. Dionysius invented the year of the birth of Jesus Christ as commanded by the Pope without scientific basis and without mathematical formulation. He created the Gregorian calendar in the sixth century based on spurious records and which were not historically accurate. Dionysius counted the first year as 1 A.D. with the year preceding Christ's birth. Scientists and astronomers were obliged to subtract one year, so that 4 B.C. becomes 3 B.C. In short, they manipulated the day and date of Christ's birth in order to correspond to the pagan festivity.

J R Cherreguine Bible Doctrine Ministries

Christmas Deception

The Lord Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, but not on December 25, 1 A.D. The nominal Christians are celebrating the feast of the unconquered sun god Saturnalia not the birthday of the Lord Jesus Christ. The feast of Saturnalia had been celebrated by the Romans long before Dionysius invented the so-called birth of Christ. Christmas is all about Yule, which means 12 days of gluttony and cavorting Scandinavian nudists, the term came from Norse (ancient people of Norway). Christmas tree, which came from the tree worshiping Scandinavians, who passed their pinetheism to the pagans. It was the Roman Catholic Church authorities who modified it into Christmas tree fetishism.

The ancient Egyptians, Chinese and Germans had their tree gods, which they decorated in some occasion especially at midnight. Tree worship or fetishism is the belief in the supernormal power of some inanimate object. Fetishism in some form is common to most cultures, and often has magical significance. Fetishes are believed either to be possessed by spirits or believed to have a magical influence gained from spirits of the world.

Santa Claus, which came from the Netherlands and was introduced by the Dutch, the name of which evolved from Nicholas to Santa Claus, the name varies from one language to another. Washington Irving gave Santa Claus the superman power to fly in 1809. Cartoonist Thomas Nast made him with puffed cheeks and marsupial paunch look in 1813, becoming more popular than the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan Claus is a cute substitute for the Savior of mankind. Christmas celebration means expending money. The Spanish word for spending money is "pagar", from the same root word we get the term "pagan" and "pascua" which is translated Christmas. Therefore, Christmas means spending money.

The fire and lights which originated from the ancient Germans and Normans who burned their evergreen trees to ward off evil spirits The ancient Chinese used firecrackers to scare big evil spirits. Christmas lanterns especially the five-pointed star that symbolized Satan, the god of this world, who brings the Christmas evil spirits around and invites the money hungry fund-raisers, and gift-seekers. Christmas means burdensome solicitation or donation envelops, and the giving away of crisp paper money.

Christmas lights signify that you are a believer of Christmas (not necessarily Christian) and that your moneybag is ready. Today, "Merry Christmas" means give me money. For many, it is unchristian not to share (give) money to those who knock at your door during the season. Christmas has become a season of compulsory giving and shameless asking.

Christmas season is time for parties everywhere, a time for endless merry making and celebration without recognition of Jesus Christ. People take advantage of the holidays and use it for family reunion, family thanksgiving or even political rallies. This will result only to waste of money and a lot of headaches.

Christmas means solicitation of contributions and donations. Religious, charitable and civic groups are all around seeking money, knocking at every door urging people to give under the atmosphere of false generosity. Kriss Kringle, which means Santa Claus with his stupid exchange gift, which the witches of Scotland practiced exchanging gifts using evil curses against their enemies.

Christmas means more depressed, lonely people feeling hopeless, causing a rise in cases of suicide. The so-called "Christmas spirit" creates atmosphere of loneliness rather than happiness. Materialism triggers grief from want or greed for more. More robbery and hold-up cases because materialism is the spirit on the air and majority is in financial crisis or jobless. Christmas means higher prices of prime commodities. The business is blooming for the greedy businessmen while majority of the people are suffering from poverty.

Christmas time means religious hypocrites giving gifts of sardines and few kilos of rice to the poor but keeping the imported items for themselves. Traditional politicians giving gifts from public funds with their own name printed on plastic bags ideal and good time for campaigning and a very effective political gimmickry. Christmas is all about hypocrisy, heresy, gimmick, lies, commercialism and human dead good works or the satanic viewpoint. Christmas is not for Christians! "Christmas" supposedly celebrates the unique and incomparable divine gift to all mankind, the birth of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. The Lamb of God and the only Savior who takes away the sins of the world The virgin birth is related to the doctrine of Incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ is confirmed by:
The Father and the Holy Spirit (Matt. 3:16-17, John 5:32)
Doctor Luke (Luke 1:31-32, 35, 2:7)
Apostle John (John 1:11, 14, 1 John 1:1-3, 4:2)
Apostle Paul (2 Cor. 5:16)
The writer of Hebrews (Heb. 1:1-4)
The Lord Jesus Christ Himself (John 8:23, 17:8, Heb. 10:5-).

The divine act whereby the eternal Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, without ceasing to be what he is, God the Son, took into union with Himself what he before that act did not possess, a human nature, "and so He was and continues to be God and man in two distinct natures and one person, forever. Scriptural support for this doctrine is complete, (John 1:14; Rom. 1:3; 8:3; Gal. 4:4; Phil. 2:7-8; I Tim. 3:16; I John 4:2; II John 7 also Eph. 2:15; Col. 1:21-22; I Pet. 3:18; 4:1).

"Christmas" celebration was purely Catholic in origin and has been opposed by a minority of genuine Christian leaders. Usually one or more of three factors have been involved in this opposition:

The rejection of ecclesiastical authority in its attempt to establish official feast days, of which Christmas is one;
The objection to the drinking, partying, and immorality associated in every age with Christmas festivities;
The long-standing and continuing associations of Christmas with pagan religious ideas and practices

The Christmas is the story of death rather than the story of birth because the Lord Jesus Christ became a man to die in behalf of the entire human race.

J R Cherreguine Bible Doctrine Ministries

New Year Celebration and Paganism

New Year celebration connotes heathenism and paganism. Its origin is difficult to determine since most ancient pagan religions have their own version of the New Year revelry based on their own calendar. Ancient religions based their New Year celebration on the movement of the sun, moon, stars and earth. In short, the basis was on astrology not astronomy.

Astrology is the supposed science of the effect of celestial bodies on human affairs, and related to astrolatry, which is worship of the heavenly bodies known as the ancient astrolatrea. An astrologer is a person who claims to know and interpret the supposed influence of the stars and planets on persons or events. Can a person foretell the events in people's lives based on the happenings in heavens? This is what we call astrology.

The New Year Celebration is based on Taoism, feng shui and combination of primitive pagan practices. Practices like preparing fruits on the table to invite abundance of food for the coming year. The noise making and fireworks is to drive away evil spirits (like the spirit of famine, poverty, bad luck, fear), which are the primary teaching of cults. Believers are not supposed to share in the table of demons or the cup of demons or sacrifice to demons (1 Cor. 10:19-22). Sharers in demons refer to the activities, practices of believers that are outside the Biblical doctrines. The believer is said to be sharers in demons whenever he consult his zodiac prediction for guidance or consults the astrological page of a newspaper for his daily horoscope.

The cup of demons and table of demons refer to practices, traditions and rituals of the world adapted by the believers. Paying homage to the dead on November 1st, hanging Christmas lanterns or putting up a Christmas tree is partaking in the cup of demons. Celebrating new moon, New Year, is actually celebrating the feast of some astrological deities [gods]. It is not Scriptural and it is demonic in nature. It is not legalism but simply the exercise of free will to reject demonic doctrines.

Firecrackers are to scare away evil spirits of poverty, sickness, misery, and poor health. It originated from ancient pagan practices of driving out the evil spirits from animals. The midnight meal is an adaptation of midnight offerings of foods and drinks to pagan gods. The New Year celebration is a mixture of ancient superstitions and cultic traditions disguised as Christian celebration. The modern New Year revelry is the celebration of a pagan feast that has successfully distracted the Church Age believers.

"What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons, you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and table of demons" (1 Corinthians 10:19-21).

J R Cherreguine Bible Doctrine Ministries

New Year Celebration and Feng Shui

New Year celebration is burdensome, costly and a waste of time, but can become the source of pride for others. Some believers spiritualize such celebration by canonizing it as Christian practice. The New Year celebration is always related to feng shui. Feng shui is a more than 3000 years old Chinese Philosophy and an art of placement and balance of ying and yang. Ying and yang means "wind and water" which claims to create spiritually and healthy balance for an appealing home. Feng shui is a balance of yin and yang that is finding harmony between energy flows. Practitioners believe that certain places are luckier, certain shapes are more conducive to a balanced life, some symmetry are preferred over angles. Feng shui's popularity is alarmingly high. Developers, builders, home owners are all consulting feng shui masters.

Even Christians are not spared by the influence. It deceives the elite, intelligent, the rich and poor alike. Let us consider several things about feng shui; It originated from the cultic practices of astrology, fortune telling, charms of the ancient Eastern religions, and a mixture of science and superstition. Feng shui, disguised as science has successfully infiltrated the souls of the "knowledge thirsty" believers who have no positive volition toward the Scripture. Feng shui cannot guarantee peace, prosperity, happiness or protection since it is based on human viewpoint.

God alone has the Master Plan for the life of every person based on their personal decisions as foreknown by God in the eternity past and included in the divine decree. To trust feng shui for your future health and wealth is to accept satanic lies and human viewpoint. There are numerous feng shui objects and charms that looks harmless and decorative but are actually religious objects of worship. To display Feng shui icons and objects is to open your home to demonic influence. Feng Shui like any other icons has power supplied by Satan, whose demons attends and ministers to their devotees. Feng shui is a false hope and a false object of confidence for your wealth and health. Nothing in this world can guarantee your good health and future except God. The New Year and feng shui provides false hope and dependency.

But not even the perfect Garden of Eden was able to guarantee good and healthy future. Your good future begins at the very moment you believe and accept the free gift of salvation and it continues in your spiritual growth and maturity. No objects (like feng shui fishes and plants) can create a happy and lasting marital relationship. Good health and wealth comes from the justice of God through His grace pipeline.

Feng shui designed porcelain jars and items (like frogs, horses) are all related to ancient Chinese folk religion that dominates the ancient Chinese culture. Feng shui is a demonic cult dressed as science and philosophy. To many people, it is innocent and harmless looking. Some feng shui rituals and traditions are widely welcome without suspicion that they are demonic like the blood of animals or man offered during the digging of a building foundation (1 Corinthians 10:20).

Feng shui is a booming business and a growing religious cult that has infiltrated the doors of many homes undetected and unsuspected by many, including some believers.

New Year celebration concerns itself about prosperity for the coming year, blindly wishing the best out of everything even from wrong and bad decisions. In the Old Testament Israel, there were daily (Lev. 23), weekly, monthly, and yearly festivals, and great stress was laid on the regular observance of them in every particular situations (Num. 28:1-8; Ex. 29:38-42; Lev. 6:8-23; Ex. 30:7-9; 27:20). Those festivals were religious and related to Mosaic laws, and had an important bearing on the maintenance among the Jewish people relating to a feeling concerning national unity.

The times fixed for their observance were arranged so as to interfere as little as possible with the industry of the people. The Passover was kept just before the harvest commenced, Pentecost at the conclusion of the corn harvest and before the vintage, the feast of Tabernacles after all the fruits of the ground had been gathered in. Such festivals are no longer applicable to the Church Age.

There is no need to duplicate or imitate such feasts because we are already in a different dispensation. The celebration of the New Year is not related to our Christian life and practice. It has nothing to do with our faith and Bible doctrine. Therefore Christians must never waste their money, time and energy for these non-essential celebrations. Celebrating such feasts make our lives more complicated, burdensome, and makes us slaves to traditions invented by the cults. There is nothing spiritual about New Year celebration.

As Christians, we may prepare food and eat as you wish but do it as normally as do you on ordinary days. Do not prepare sumptuous food because it's New Year. The polka dots clothing and various preparation like lighting and firecrackers must be disregarded. There is nothing spiritual about the changes of year and avoid the sin of spiritualizing the carnal things like praying at exactly 12:00 Midnight.. Any day of the year is a day of recognizing the blessings and sovereignty of God, not just on New Year eve. There is no such thing as lucky year or lucky day.

Every day is a day of opportunities and privileges in the grace of God, and a day of gratitude toward God and His perfect plan, will and purpose for your life (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Success comes from God not from your lucky star, moon or planet. You make your own history; you create your own story. Interplanetary movement does not affect your future, destiny or legacy. These are all pure myths and superstitions. Your free will volition creates your destiny or future. New Year revelry is fun but it can contribute nothing to your good welfare and future..

Kenosis, comes from the Greek verb “kenoo” which means "to deprive oneself of a rightful function, to debase oneself". It explains how the supreme God condescended to become a man and suffer the humiliation of the cross (Philippians 2:6-8).

The state of His humiliation: having taken the form of a servant, having become in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:7)
The state of His preincarnate eternal state, as being in the form of God, equal with God (Philippians 2:6)

The truth expressed here concerning His pre-incarnate state is that He had to be equal with God in order to have the form of God. He could not be God the Son without being God. He who showed us the morphe (the form of God or the essence of God), had to be equal with God. Prior to His incarnation He was in the form of God. He was by essence, God, and after His incarnation, in spite of His voluntary humiliation, He was still in the form of essence of God. But in spite of His essence as a Deity, He took upon Himself the true essence of a servant the form of a man. How could the sovereign, infinite, perfect and immutable God become a servant yet remains God?

The answer is not speculation but history, the historical life of Christ in the hypostatic union on earth. God has resolved the issues. The answer to this question reveals the dynamics of Christ's integrity. To become a servant, Christ had to veil His preincarnate glory and power (John 17:5). All throughout His life on earth (during His Hypostatic union) Christ refused to use or exercise the attributes of His Deity apart from the mission given to Him by the Father (Revelation 13:8). Satan tempted His humanity to use His divine Deity for His own benefits.

As a perfect Deity, Christ remained in this perfect omniscience, but at the same time as a true humanity, He was born ignorant (He was not born with Bible doctrine implanted in His soul) but He learned Bible doctrine, little by little, precept by precept (Isaiah 28:10) from the early age. By the age of twelve, the Lord Jesus Christ has already reached spiritual maturity and continued to advance to ultra super grace life and beyond.

As God, Christ remained omnipotent, existing equally in heaven and on earth (John 13:13), while as a Man; Jesus Christ endured primitive technology and all the discomfort of His day. As Deity His omnipotence held together the universe, maintaining and sustaining it, including all the needs of all His children around the world (Colossians 1:17).

During His Incarnation, Jesus Christ did not exercise His divine attributes to benefit or glorify Himself. Instead, the Father’s design of the divine attribute dynasphere assigned to God, the Holy Spirit with the mission of sustaining and glorifying Christ (John 8:56, 16:14).

Divine dynasphere explains kenosis because humility does not stand all alone in the divine system but rather the foundation of all other virtues by what Christ voluntarily chose to do, not just what He voluntarily chose to restrict (Philippians 2:5-8). Kenosis is the most dramatic demonstration of objective divine love of the Members of the Godhead for each other.

Since the divine dynasphere met the absolute standards of God the Son in His perfect humanity during the Hypostatic Union, we can place our confidence in the divine dynasphere as our Christian way of life. From His omniscience in eternity past, Christ knew every detail of the divine dynasphere, because its tremendous divine dynamics is identical to His own. Every Church age believer has this privilege available at the moment of salvation. Residence and function of the divine dynasphere is not automatic. Every believer must exercise his volition to re-enter the divine dynasphere.

The humanity of Christ attainment of spiritual self-esteem characterized by virtue personal love toward God, and His attainment of spiritual autonomy characterized by virtue impersonal love toward all men (Luke 2:52) was well manifested. The humanity of Christ did not use His deity to advance spiritually, but completely relied on the spiritual resources available inside the divine dynasphere.

The humanity of Christ signified His positive volition to the plan of God the Father submitting to the baptism of John. His immersion symbolized His obedience to the plan of the Father for His first coming. Christ’s declaration of His submission to God’s will elicited the strongest possible attestation of our Lord’s spiritual maturity (Matthew 3:17, John 1:14). As true humanity, Christ had utilized the divine dynasphere to advance in every phase of spiritual adulthood and reach the ultra-super grace maturity.

At the outset of His public ministry, He was immediately taken into the desert, to face His evidence testing (Matthew 4:1-15). The humanity of Christ was tested severely all throughout His ministerial days. The account recorded in Matthew chapter 4 is only summary of the daily testing He faced. The cross was the final phase of His evidence testing. The humanity of Christ won tactically, every testing which the devil took advantage in an attempt to destroy Him.

The 30 years of Jesus in Nazareth. The information for which is confined only to the birth stories and one brief incident when Jesus was about twelve years old (Luke 2:41-52). The four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) are composed of 89 chapters with a total of 3,744 verses. However, only eleven (11) verses are related to His 30 years in Nazareth, compared to 8 chapters or over 1800 verses related to His last 10 days before His death. The last 10 days was far more important because of it is related to His spiritual death.

His home life in Nazareth for 30 years has little relevance to our spiritual life because of their negative volition and open rejection of the Messiah and the Word of God. The people of Nazareth called Him nothing but the “carpenter” or the “son of the carpenter: is an obvious indication of their hardness of the heart or obvious rejection of the free gift of salvation (Matthew 13:55, Mark 6:3).

The mystery of the hidden years also reveals the reality that any believer has the same potential for maximum for spiritual maturity in any given situation or circumstances. The real issue about the hidden years is not what He did, what He did not do, or where He has been, but WHO AND WHAT HE IS inside the divine dynasphere while all the demons and the cosmos diabolicus attempted to ambush Him. That is, how He maintained His perfect impeccability in the midst of sinful men. The real issue is not about the virginity of Mary but the birth of the Son of God into perfect humanity without the old sin nature and Adam's original sin (kenosis). This is the HIStory of Christmas, the death on the cross.

J R Cherreguine Bible Doctrine Ministries

Origin of Christmas

The word "Christmas" itself reveals the marriage of paganism to Christianity. The word "Christmas" is a combination of the words "Christ" and "Mass. The word "Mass" means death and was coined originally by the Roman Catholic Church, and belongs exclusively to the church of Rome. The ritual of the Mass involves the death of Christ, and the distribution of the "Host", a word taken from the Latin word "hostiall" meaning victim! In short, Christmas is strictly a Roman Catholic word.

A simple study of the tactics of the Catholic Church reveals that in every case, the church absorbed the customs, traditions and general paganism of every tribe, culture and nation in their efforts to increase the number of people under their control. In short, the Catholic Church told all of these pagan cultures, "Bring your gods, goddesses, rituals and rites, and we will assign Christian sounding titles and names to them.

When Martin Luther started the reformation on October 31st, 1517, and other reformers followed his lead, all of them took with them the paganism that was so firmly imbedded in Rome. These reformers left Christmas intact. In England, as the authorized Bible became available to the common people by the decree of King James the II in 1611, people began to discover the pagan roots of Christmas, which are clearly revealed in Scripture.

The Puritans in England, and later in Massachusetts Colony, outlawed this holiday as witchcraft. Near the end of the nineteenth century, when other Bible versions began to appear, there was a revival of the celebration of Christmas. We are now seeing ever-increasing celebrating of Christmas or Yule, its true name, as we draw closer to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ! In both witchcraft circles and contemporary Christian churches, the same things are going on.

As the Bible clearly states in Jeremiah 10:2-4, "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 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."

J R Cherreguine Bible Doctrine Ministries

What Is Wrong With Christmas?

To say that Jesus was born on December 25th is a lie!
Trees, wreaths, holly, mistletoe and the like are strictly forbidden as pagan and heathen! To say that these are Christian or that they can be made Christian is a lie!
The Lord never spoke of commemorating his birth but rather commanded us to remember the sacrifice of His suffering and death, which purchased our salvation.
We cannot worship and honor God by involving ourselves with customs and traditions, which God Himself forbade as idolatry.

Can we convince God to somehow "Christianize" these customs and the whole pretense and lie of Christmas, so we can enjoy ourselves? Can we obey through disobedience?

For today's Christian, the origin of Christmas is, and should be, the birth of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Bible. Nothing more - nothing less. However, most of what we witness on December 25th each year has absolutely nothing to do with that blessed day, which probably occurred in late summer or early fall about 2,000 years ago.

In fact, most of the customs and traditions of Christmas actually pre-date the birth of Jesus, and many of them are downright deceptive in their meaning and origin.

The Christmas holiday we celebrate today is indicative of Christianity's willingness to absorb the world's customs and traditions, and forget its simple roots in the historical reality of Jesus Christ. Christmas should be nothing more than a simple, yet wonderful reminder of Christ's humble beginning as a human child in this world. His birth merely set the stage for the power, glory, and salvation that would be revealed in His life, death, and resurrection!

J. R. Cherreguine Bible Doctrine Ministries

How Did Christmas Come to Be Celebrated on December 25?

Where did the customs and traditions originate? The truth is that all of the customs of Christmas pre-date the birth of Jesus Christ, and a study of this would reveal that Christmas in our day is a collection of traditions and practices taken from many cultures and nations.

The date of December 25th comes from Rome and was a celebration of the Italic god, Saturn, and the rebirth of the sun god. This was done long before the birth of Jesus. It was noted by the pre-Christian Romans and other pagans, that daylight began to increase after December 22nd, when they assumed that the sun god died.

These ancients believed that the sun god rose from the dead three days later as the new-born and venerable sun. Thus, they figured that to be the reason for increasing daylight. This was a cause for much wild excitement and celebration. Gift giving and merriment filled the temples of ancient Rome, as sacred priests of Saturn, called dendrophori, carried wreaths of evergreen boughs in procession.

Roman pagans first introduced the holiday of Saturnalia, a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25. During this period, Roman courts were closed, and Roman law dictated that no one could be punished for damaging property or injuring people during the weeklong celebration.

The festival began when Roman authorities chose “an enemy of the Roman people” to represent the “Lord of Misrule.” Each Roman community selected a victim whom they forced to indulge in food and other physical pleasures throughout the week. At the festival’s conclusion, December 25^th, Roman authorities believed they were destroying the forces of darkness by brutally murdering this innocent man or woman.

The ancient Greek writer poet and historian Lucian (in his dialogue entitled Saturnalia) describes the festival’s observance in his time. In addition to human sacrifice, he mentions these customs: widespread intoxication; going from house to house while singing naked; rape and other sexual license; and consuming human-shaped biscuits (still produced in some English and most German bakeries during the Christmas season).

In the 4^th century CE, Christianity imported the Saturnalia festival hoping to take the pagan masses in with it. Christian leaders succeeded in converting to Christianity large numbers of pagans by promising them that they could continue to celebrate the Saturnalia as Christians. “Merry Christmas” is actually saying “happy feast of Saturnalia”.

The problem was that there was nothing intrinsically Christian about Saturnalia. To remedy this, these Christian leaders named Saturnalia’s concluding day, December 25^th, to be Jesus’ birthday. The earliest Christmas holidays were celebrated by drinking, sexual indulgence, singing naked in the streets (a precursor of modern caroling), etc.

The early Christians who first observed the Nativity on December 25 did not do so thinking that Christ was born in that Month, but because the Heathens’ Saturnalia was at that time kept in Rome, and they were willing to have those Pagan Holidays metamorphosed into Christian ones. Because of its known pagan origin, Christmas was banned by the Puritans and its observance was illegal in Massachusetts between 1659 and 1681. However, Christmas was and still is celebrated by most Christians.

Some of the most depraved customs of the Saturnalia carnival were intentionally revived by the Catholic Church in 1466 when Pope Paul II, for the amusement of his Roman citizens, forced Jews to race naked through the streets of the city. An eyewitness account reports, “Before they were to run, the Jews were richly fed, so as to make the race more difficult for them and at the same time more amusing for spectators. They ran… amid Rome’s taunting shrieks and peals of laughter, while the Holy Father stood upon a richly ornamented balcony and laughed heartily.

As part of the Saturnalia carnival throughout the 18^th and 19^th centuries CE, rabbis of the ghetto in Rome were forced to wear clownish outfits and march through the city streets to the jeers of the crowd, pelted by a variety of missiles. When the Jewish community of Rome sent a petition in1836 to Pope Gregory XVI begging him to stop the annual Saturnalia abuse of the Jewish community, he responded, “It is not opportune to make any innovation.” On December 25, 1881, Christian leaders whipped the Polish masses into Antisemitic frenzies that led to riots across the country. In Warsaw 12 Jews were brutally murdered, huge numbers maimed, and many Jewish women were raped. Two million rubles worth of property was destroyed.

The popularized Christmas celebration is one hundred percent religious myths and traditions.

Christmas Trees Just as early Christians recruited Roman pagans by associating Christmas with the Saturnalia, so too worshippers of the Asheira cult and its offshoots were recruited by the Church sanctioning “Christmas Trees”. Pagans had long worshipped trees in the forest, or brought them into their homes and decorated them, and this observance was adopted and painted with a Christian veneer by the Church.

In Germany, the evergreen tree was used in worship and celebration of the Yule god, also in observance of the resurrected sun god. The evergreen tree was a symbol of the essence of life and was regarded as a phallic symbol in fertility worship. Witches and other pagans regarded the red holly as a symbol of the menstrual blood of the queen of heaven, also known as Diana.

The holly wood was used by witches to make wands. The white berries of mistletoe were believed by pagans to represent droplets of the semen of the sun god. 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.

These customs transcended the borders of Rome and Germany to the far reaches of the known world. The question now arises: How did all of these customs find their way into contemporary Christianity, ranging from Catholicism to Protestantism to fundamentalist churches?

Mistletoe. Norse mythology recounts how the god Balder was killed using a mistletoe arrow by his rival god Hoder while fighting for the female Nanna. Druid rituals use mistletoe to poison their human sacrificial victim. The Christian custom of “kissing under the mistletoe” is a later synthesis of the sexual license of Saturnalia with the Druidic sacrificial cult.

Christmas Presents In pre-Christian Rome, the emperors compelled their most despised citizens to bring offerings and gifts during the Saturnalia (in December) and Kalends (in January). Later, this ritual expanded to include gift-giving among the general populace. The Catholic Church gave this custom a Christian flavor by re-rooting it in the supposed gift-giving of Saint Nicholas. The feast of Kalends was later renamed as the feast of the Three Kings.

Santa Claus Nicholas was born in Parara, Turkey in 270 CE and later became Bishop of Myra. He died in 345 CE on December 6th. He was only named a saint in the 19th century. Nicholas was among the most senior bishops who convened the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE and created the New Testament. The text they produced portrayed Jews as “the children of the devil” who sentenced Jesus to death.

In 1087, a group of sailors who idolized Nicholas moved his bones from Turkey to a sanctuary in Bari, Italy. There Nicholas supplanted a female boon-giving deity called The Grandmother, or Pasqua Epiphania, who used to fill the children's stockings with her gifts. The Grandmother was ousted from her shrine at Bari, which became the center of the Nicholas cult. Members of this group gave each other gifts during a pageant they conducted annually on the anniversary of Nicholas’ death, December 6.

The Nicholas cult spread north until it was adopted by German and Celtic pagans. These groups worshipped a pantheon led by Woden –their chief god and the father of Thor, Balder, and Tiw. Woden had a long, white beard and rode a horse through the heavens one evening each Autumn. When Nicholas merged with Woden, he shed his Mediterranean appearance, grew a beard, mounted a flying horse, rescheduled his flight for December, and donned heavy winter clothing.

In a bid for pagan adherents in Northern Europe, the Catholic Church adopted the Nicholas cult and taught that he did (and they should) distribute gifts on December 25^th instead of December 6^th.

In 1809, the novelist Washington Irving (most famous his The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle) wrote a satire of Dutch culture entitled Knickerbocker History. The satire refers several times to the white bearded, flying-horse riding Saint Nicholas using his Dutch name, Santa Claus.

Dr. Clement Moore, a professor at Union Seminary, read Knickerbocker History, and in 1822 he published a poem based on the character Santa Claus: “Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in the hope that Saint Nicholas soon would be there…” Moore innovated by portraying a Santa with eight reindeer who descended through chimneys

The Bavarian illustrator Thomas Nast almost completed the modern picture of Santa Claus. From 1862 through 1886, based on Moore’s poem, Nast drew more than 2,200 cartoon images of Santa for Harper’s Weekly. Before Nast, Saint Nicholas had been pictured as everything from a stern looking bishop to a gnome-like figure in a frock. Nast also gave Santa a home at the North Pole, his workshop filled with elves, and his list of the good and bad children of the world. All Santa was missing was his red outfit.

In 1931, the Coca Cola Corporation contracted the Swedish commercial artist Haddon Sundblom to create a coke-drinking Santa. Sundblom modeled his Santa on his friend Lou Prentice, chosen for his cheerful, chubby face. The corporation insisted that Santa’s fur-trimmed suit be bright, Coca Cola red. And Santa was born a blend of Christian crusader, pagan god, and commercial idol who is robbing the human race with the truth of the Scriptures.

J R Cherreguine Bible Doctrine Ministries

The Real Christmas Story

Christmas supposedly celebrates the unique and incomparable divine gift to all mankind, the birth of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. The Lamb of God and the only Savior who takes away the sins of the world. The birth of Christ did not take place on the month of December. However, the month is not important as much as the reality and purpose of His birth. He was born to die so that through Him we might have life everlasting. The babe in the manger would demolish the barrier between sinful and depraved humanity and the perfect God.

Unfortunately, someone and something took over the place of Christ, abolishing the true meaning of Christ's birth. Santa Claus for example supplanted Christ. Shopping sprees and the preparation for delectable foods for the occassion replaced the spiritual happiness brought by the Savior Himself. Exchanging of gifts have diverted our focus away from the greatest Gift. The so-called Christmas the world has known could never be the birth of Jesus Christ.

Eight things that made distincts the night Christ was born from any other nights. The night Christ was born was a night of life and death. And she gave birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger (Luke 2:7a). The babe in the manger was the Son of God made flesh and dwelt among men (John 1:2, 14). Religion popularized the concept that "Christmas" is the story of the birth of Christ totally omitting the purpose on which He came to die for the sins of the world. Christmas carols and songs in general, provide wrong information about the birth of Christ this way emphasis is put on the materialistic festivity.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). Thirty-three years later the Lord Jesus Christ bore all our sins of the entire human race (past, present, and future) when He died on the cross. No sin was forgotten or excluded. He died for every person. And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Peter 2:24a). The unique birth of Christ is God's proclamation of the unique death of Christ on the cross. Christmas is Christ with His cross. Santa Claus has nothing to do with the birth of Christ. Satan has exalted Santa Claus above the Lord Jesus Christ.

The supernatural appearance of the angel rendered the shepherds speechless with fear and awe. But the good news declaring that salvation from God was brought down to man promptly transformed their fear to an awe-inspiring joy. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men (Titus 2:11). The only genuine message of Christmas is the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.

And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world* (1 John 2:2). A wish for a "Merry Christmas" is absolutely nonsense without the Gospel of salvation and unless believed and received. A Christless Christmas is nothing but a feast void of reality and relevance.

The night Christ was born was a night of heavenly worship. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 2:13).

On the night Christ was born the elect angels set the precedent for Church Age believer's worship of God. True worship is based on a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Most people have long ignored such precedent. The celebration of the birth of Christ should elicit a personal response and adoration of Him. The genuine spirit of Christmas is based on personal faith in the God-Man Jesus Christ. And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household" (Acts 16:31).

The night Christ was born was a night of potential peace (with God). "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men! (Luke 2:14). But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6) Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (Romans 5:1).

The faith that acts is the result of doctrinal perception and assimilation. The shepherds have understood the doctrinal viewpoint conveyed by the angels concerning the Savior. The babe in the menger is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! They received and believed what the religious leaders of Israel failed to understand and perceive.

Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near (Isaiah 55:6). Behold, now is the accepted time;, behold now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2b). And he who come to Me I will in no way cast out (John 6:37b).

The night Christ was born was a night of quiet reflection. "But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19). Mary, the mother of Jesus set the biblical precedent for remembering the birth of Christ, which is by quiet reflection of truth. Christmas celebration by expensive festivity and sumptuous cuisine has nothing to do with the birth of Christ. People are excited in counting the number of days before the pagan feast they called Christmas but hardly think of the Savior.

Salvation, on the part of the worshipper
Scriptures in the souls of the believers
Spirit-filled life of the believers

Genuine worship comes from the soul that it residing and functioning inside the divine dynasphere. The basis of all worship is the truth of Bible doctrine. Note that from His birth-day came His death-day, and through His death day comes our eternal life-day. The God-Man Jesus Christ. "Out of the darkness of sin and despair. God's salvation, the fairest of fair, was born in a manger. The little baby in the manger had two natures; a divine nature and a human nature. The divine nature was perfect in every way and is the eternal God. The human nature was genuine and real, and yet without sin.

Christ came by means of radical changes (changes that only God has the power to do) in the virgin who bore a Child without human father, God prepared the second radical change in the Son of God who became a Man. But (Christ) emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:7-8). If a sinner is to have fellowship with God and be qualified to live in His presence forever, there must be a radical change in his life. In God's sight, no human being is righteous except the perfect humanity of Christ. Therefore, an imperfect man can come to God only through the merit of the perfect Christ.

But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him (Jesus Christ) who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness (Romans 4:5)

Christmas is the story of Christ's death not of His birth. We cannot accept the claim of the Catholic leaders that the Lord Jesus Christ was born on December 25, A.D. 1 for several reasons: December is winter time in the Palestine region and the whole land would be wet. On that occasion, according to the Scripture, the shepherds were out in the fields watching their flocks by night (Luke 2:8). The shepherds will never bring out their flocks into the field during the rainy season because the sheep will get sick and die. The baby was wrapped only in swaddling clothes and yet He did not freeze to death (Luke 2:7) because it was not on the month of December.

The registration of all citizen of the SPQR (Senatus Populusque Romanus: The Senate and people of Rome) took place during summer (Luke 2:1). Luke mentioned Quirinnus the governor of Syria whom the Roman Emperor Ceasar Augustus visited in Syria sometime in March where he signed the decree for the worldwide census. The census took effect 30 days after it's signing. It was bishop Liberium of Rome (The Fox) who officially proclaimed it in A.D. 354 that all Catholics celebrate Christmas day on December 25. December 25 was adopted by the Catholic from the Roman feast of the Unconquered Sun, which falls on the midnight of December 24, which they substituted as the birth of Christ.

The Lord Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, but not on December 25, 1 A.D. The nominal Christians are celebrating the feast of the unconquered sun god Saturnalia not the birthday of the Lord Jesus Christ. The feast of Saturnalia had been celebrated by the Romans long before Dionysius invented the so-called birth of Christ. Christmas is all about Yule, which means 12 days of gluttony and cavorting Scandinavian nudists, the word came from Norse (ancient people of Norway). Christmas tree, which came from the tree worshiping Scandinavians, who passed their pinetheism to the pagans. It was the Roman Catholic church authorities who modified it into a Christmas tree fetishism.

Fire and lights, which came from ancient Germans and Normans who burned their evergreen trees to ward off evil spirits. The ancient Chinese used firecrackers to scare big evil spirits. Christmas lanterns especially the five-pointed star that symbolized Satan, the god of this world, who brings the Christmas evil spirits around and invites the money hungry fund-raisers, and gift-seekers. Christmas means burdensome solicitation or donation envelops, and the giving away of crisp paper money.

Christmas lights signify that you are a believer of Christmas (not necessarily Christian) and that your moneybag is ready. Today, "Merry Christmas" means give me money. For many, it is unChristian not to share (give) money to those who knock at your door during the season. Christmas has become a season of compulsary giving and shameless asking.

Christmas season is time for parties everywhere, a time for endless merry making and celebration without recognition of Jesus Christ. People take advantage of the holidays and uses it for family reunion, family thanksgiving or even political rallies. This will result only to waste of money and a lot of headaches.

Christmas means solicitation of contributions and donations. Religious, charitable and civic groups are all around seeking money, knocking at every door urging people to give under the atmosphere of false generousity. Kriss Kringle, which means Santa Claus with his stupid exchange gift, which the witches of Scotland practiced exchanging gifts using evil curses against their enemies.

Christmas means more depressed, lonely people feeling hopeless, causing a rise in cases of suicide. The so-called "Christmas spirit" creates atmosphere of loneliness rather than happiness. Materialism trigger grief from want or greed for more. More robbery and hold-up cases because materialism is the spirit on the air and majority is in financial crisis or jobless. Christmas means higher prices of prime commodities. The business is blooming for the greedy businessnen while majority of the people are suffering from poverty.

Christmas time means religious hypocrites giving gifts of sardines and few kilos of rice to the poor but keeping the imported items for themselves. Traditional politicians giving gifts from public funds with their own name printed on plastic bags ideal and good time for campaigning and a very effecctive political gimmickry. Christmas is all about hypocrisy, heresy, gimmick, lies, commercialism and human dead good works or the satanic viewpoint. Christmas is not for Christians! "Christmas" supposedly celebrates the unique and incomparable divine gift to all mankind, the birth of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. The Lamb of God and the only Savior who takes away the sins of the world. The virgin birth is related to the doctrine of Incarnstion of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ is confirmed by:

The Father and the Holy Spirit (Matt. 3:16-17, John 5:32)

Luke (Luke 1:31-32, 35, 2:7)

Apostle John (John 1:11, 14, 1 John 1:1-3, 4:2)

Apostle Paul (2 Cor. 5:16)

The writer of Hebrews (Heb. 1:1-4)

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself (John 8:23, 17:8, Heb. 10:5-).

"Christmass" celebration was purely Catholic in origin and has been opposed by a minority of genuine Christian leaders. Usually one or more of three factors have been involved in this opposition:

The rejection of ecclesiastical authority in its attempt to establish official feast days, of which Christmas is one;

The objection to the drinking, partying, and immorality associated in every age with Christmas festivities;

The long-standing and continuing associations of Christmas with pagan religious ideas and practices.

The Christmas is the story of death rather than the story of birth because the Lord Jesus Christ became a man to die in behalf of the entire human race.

The New Year Celebration is based on Taoism, feng shui and combination of primitive pagan practices. Practices like preparing fruits on the table to invite abundance of food for the coming year. The noise making and fireworks is to drive away evil spirits (like the spirit of famine, poverty, bad luck, fear), which are the primary teaching of cults. Believers are not supposed to share in the table of demons or the cup of demons or sacrifice to demons (1 Cor. 10:19-22). Sharers in demons refer to the activities, practices of believers that are outside the Biblical doctrines.The believer is said to be sharers in demons whenever he consult his zodiac prediction for guidance or consults the astrological page of a newspaper for his daily horoscope.

No objects (like feng shui fishes and plants) can create a happy and lasting marital relationship. Good health and wealth comes from the justice of God through His grace pipeline. Feng shui designed porcelain jars and items (like frogs, horses) are all related to ancient Chinese folk religion that dominates the ancient Chinese culture. Feng shui is a demonic cult dressed as science and philosophy.

To many people, it is innocent and harmless looking. Some feng shui rituals and traditions are widely welcome without suspicion that they are demonic like the blood of animals or man offered during the digging of a building foundation (1 Corinthians 10:20). Feng shui is a booming business and a growing religious cult that has infiltrated the doors of many homes undetected and unsuspected by many, including some believers.

There is no need to duplicate or imitate such feasts because we are already in a different dispensation. The celebration of the New Year is not related to our Christian life and practice. It has nothing to do with our faith and Bible doctrine. Therefore Christians, must never waste their money, time and energy for these non-essential celebration. Celebrating such feasts make our lives more complicated, burdensome, and makes usslaves to traditions invented by the cults. There is nothing spiritual about New Year celebration.

As Christians, we may prepare food and eat as you wish but do it as normally as do you on ordinary days. Do not prepare sumptious food because it's New Year. The polka dots clothing and various preparation like lighting and firecrackers must be disregarded. There is nothing spiritual about the changes of year and avoid the sin of spiritualizing the carnal things like praying at exactly 12:00 Midnight.. Any day of the year is a day of recognizing the blessings and sovereignty of God, not just on New Year eve. There is no such thing as lucky year or lucky day.

Kenosis, comes from the Greek verb "kenoo" which means "to deprive oneself of a rightful function, to debase oneself". It explains how the supreme God condescended to become a man and suffer the humiliation of the cross (Philippians 2:6-8).

The state of His humiliation: having taken the form of a servant, having become in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:7)
The state of His preincarnate eternal state, as being in the form of God, equal with God (Philippians 2:6).

The truth expressed here concerning His pre-incarnate state is that He had to be equal with God in order to have the form of God. He could not be God the Son without being God. He who showed us the morphe (the form of God or the essence of God), had to be equal with God. Prior to His incarnation He was in the form of God. He was by essence, God, and after His incarnation, in spite of His voluntary humiliation, He was still in the form of essence of God. But in spite of His essence as a Deity, He took upon Himself the true essence of a servant in the form of a man. How could the sovereign, infinite, perfect and immutable God become a servant yet remains God?

During His Incarnation, Jesus Christ did not exercise His divine attributes to benefit or glorify Himself. Instead, the Father's design of the divine attribute dynasphere assigned to God, the Holy Spirit with the mission of sustaining and glorifying Christ (John 8:56, 16:14).

The perfect humanity of Christ advanced through all stages of spiritual growth, reaching spiritual maturity at the early age of twelve years old (Luke 2:40), and continued to advance up to the hignest level of spiritual for His perfect humanity. His attainment of spiritual self-esteem characterized by virtue personal love toward God and its attainment of spiritual autonomy characterized by virtue impersonal love toward all men (Luke 2:52). The humanity of Christ did not use His deity to advance spiritually, but completely relied on the spiritual resources available inside the divine dynasphere.

The humanity of Christ signified His positive volition to the plan of God the Father submitting to the baptism of John. His immersion symbolized His obedience to the plan of the Father for His first coming. Plans of grace that no one but the infinite and perfect impeccability of Jesus Christ could execute. Christ's declaration of His submission to God's will elicited the strongest possible attestation of our Lord*s spiritual maturity (Matthew 3:17, John 1:14). As true humanity, Christ had utilized the divine dynasphere to advance in every phase of spiritual adulthood and reach the ultra-supergrace maturity.

The 30 years of Jesus in Nazareth. The information for which is confined only to the birth stories and one brief incident when Jesus was about twelve years old (Luke 2:41-52). The four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) are composed of 89 chapters with a total of 3,744 verses. However, only eleven (11) verses are related to His 30 years in Nazareth. Compared to 8 chapters or over 1800 verses related to His last 10 days before His death. The last 10 days was far more important because of it is related to His spiritual death.

His home life in Nazareth for 30 years has little relevance to our spiritual life because of their negative volition and open rejection of the Messiah and the Word of God. The people of Nazareth called Him nothing but the "carpenter" or the "son of the carpenter" is an obvious indication of their hardness of the heart or obvious rejection of the free gift of salvation (Matthew 13:55, Mark 6:3).

J R Cherreguine Bible Doctrine Ministries

12/02/06