December 2013

Was the Messiah’s birth on December 25th?

Authoritative educational books of the world, such as encyclopedias, give us the truth. In our own Holy Scriptures, long before the virgin birth, the Creator speaks of this festival being celebrated, as Yeremyah 10:1-5 indicates.

Yeremyah 10:1-5—

1 Hear the word which Yahweh speaks concerning you, O house of Israyl.

2 This is what Yahweh says: Do not learn the way; religious practices, of the heathen; Gentile nations; and do not be deceived by the signs of heaven; though the heathen are deceived by them; using them to set their feasts.

3 For the religious customs of the peoples are vain; worthless! For onecuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.

4 They decorate it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, so that it will not move; topple over.

5 They are upright, like a palm tree, but they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot go by themselves. Do not give them reverence! They cannot do evil, nor is it in them to do Righteousness!

The Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume II (1943-1973), under Christmas, says:

‘‘In the Roman world, the Saturnalia was a time of merrymaking and exchanging of gifts. December 25th was also regarded as the birthdate of the Iranian Mystery god, Mithra, the Sun of Righteousness.
On the Roman New Year houses were decorated with greenery and lights and gifts were given to children.
To these observances were added the German and Celtic Yule rites…Food and good fellowship, the Yule log and Yule cakes, greenery and fir trees, gifts and greetings all commemorated different aspects of this festive season. Fires and lights, symbols of warmth and lasting life have always been associated with the winter festival, both pagan and Christian.’’

In A Book of Christmas, by William Sansom, McGraw-Hill, 1968, pages 28-39, we find the following information:

To get green food for his beasts and later for himself when the first corn was planted, primitive man needed rain and sun. So, with their primitive eyes on the great and mysterious sky…the first religious instincts prayed to the sun! The moment of the Sun’s Annual rebirth in late December was one of the vital religious times of the year. This time of year was also the least laborious. There was time to make merry. Early Northern people, who had no exact astronomical findings began their winter festivals earlier…in November… when the signs of the sun’s recession… (dying) and the scarcity of animal food made the slaughter of the increase of the herd necessary. Later, the ceremonies moved forward to mid-December and the anticipation of the Saturnalia…that wonderful, heartwarming, emotional festival introduced by the Romans by their occupation of the then-known world.

In Roman Times…a Pre-Christian Message of ‘peace and god’s will’ to all men accompanied the Saturnalia! The Saturnalia was within the solstice and Saturnalia-Kalendae period…starting December 17 and going through January 1st. The Roman Saturnalia is recorded in writing and was the function of a highly civilized people. The first period of feasting was generally for seven days. The god celebrated was Saturn… farmer of a former gold age and eater of his own children.

The giving of presents…particularly candles and dolls called Sigillaria also derives from the insistent origin of human sacrifice at this time of year!

Directly following the Saturnalia was the Kalendae…more mathematically concerned with the date of the new Roman year…and the celebration of the god Janus, god of doors (as a two-way engine) who looks back on the past and forward to the future.

One may think of the Saturnalia as ‘Roman in Rome’…but the truth is: The Roman Empire was a World-Ruling Empire at that time. The customs of Rome were spread to all the known world! Britons and Celts, Indians and Egyptians were all called part of the Roman Empire at one time. These nations brought their own Sun Worshipping Cults to join into the Saturnalia Celebrations! It was an Empire-Wide Celebration. All the people in this Empire, save only a few…gathered in their homes to drink wine…to dance and sing…to light their candles and exchange presents…giving their children the little clay dolls that represented their former sacrifices!
The Strenae…honoring the goddess Strenia…were given for ‘good luck!’
The Feast of Fools and the Lord of Misrule derived directly from the Saturnalia.

Many other customs have become engrafted into the ancient celebration occurring at this time of year. Mummers and Wild Men roam the British Isles and Europe. The Mari Lwyd ritual in Wales is reviving. The evergreen tree is an ancient custom incorporated. The Vikings gave their Yule…the druids donated their magic mistletoe…the Father Christmas in Briton and the Santa Claus of German origin were all donated and incorporated into the holidays knownworldwide as Christmas and New Year!

It was not until the middle of the fourth century c.e. that the ‘Birth’ of the Messiah was officially celebrated at the time of year when the lighting of fires…the praising of the new sun…relaxation and feasting was set on the very same date as that of the birth of the sun god…Mithra!

MITHRAISM: The worship of Mithra shared many similarities with the newer Christian ceremonies. There was baptism, a sacramental meal, and observance of Sunday, and the god himself was born on December 25th.

The ancient pagan celebrations of modern Christmas and New Year

In Revelation 1:1, the Apostle Yahchanan is given the revelation of what will shortly come to pass at the end of this age. Yahchanan is shown the history of The House of Yahweh and the end of the Babylonian mystery religions that this whole deceived world worships in this very day and time.

Revelation 17:1—

And there came one of the seven Malakim who had the seven bowls, and talked with me, saying to me: Come, I will show you the sen­tence of the great whore that sits upon many waters.

The word waters in this verse is referring to peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues, as we find in:

Revelation 17:2-6—

2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication; practiced idolatry: Godworship (the worship of elohim), and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

3 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the midst of Godworshipers (worshipers of Elohim); and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.

5 And upon her head was a name written: Mystery Babylon the great, the mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the earth.

6 And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Yahshua. And when I saw her, I wondered with great astonishment.

Revelation 17:15—

And he said to me: The waters which you saw, where the whore sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations,and languages.

In Revelation 17:5, we are shown a religion of mystery, the great whore, or great God worshiper, as this religion should be called, which brings abominations to all peoples, multi-tudes, nations and languages.

Collier’s Encyclopedia, 1980, Volume 16, pages 349-350, tells us of these ancient mystery religions.

The mystery religions furnish an ancient example of a missionary movement. Originally they were magical ceremonies designed to induce bountiful crops. They dramatized the annual decay of vegetation in the autumn as the death of a divine youth over whom a goddess mourned. Later they celebrated with ecstatic joy the return of verdure in the spring as the coming to life again of the departed youth. Participating in these rites was believed to cleanse the devotee of his sins and unite him mystically with the god. They were crude and orgiastic but they had a dynamic quality which led to their expansion.

In spite of the protests of such men as Euripides and Plato the mystery religions continued to make converts because they supplied something which neither the religion of the Olympic gods nor the philosophers of Greece could offer. This was especially true of the Eleusinian mysteries which may have had their origin in Egypt.

Though the details of these rites are unknown, because they were secret, it is evident that the drama which the initiates saw enacted was a source of great comfort to them thereafter, attracting at Athens alone thousands of candidates who thronged to be initiated.

The Syrian mystery religion in which the goddess Astarte wept over Adonis was carried by Phoenician sailors and traders to various ports in the Mediterranean at an early date. Later, when this sea was controlled by the Ptolemies, Egyptian sailors and traders carried the mystery religion of Isis to Cyprus, Sicily, Italy, Gaul, and Spain. This religion, transformed considerably from its Egyptian prototype, had great popularity in Rome, and held its own for 500 years. It was at one time a formidable rival of Christianity.

Mithraism, which was also a rival of Christianity in the early centuries, seems to have had many affinities with the mystery religions, especially in its graded series of seven stages of initiation. Mithra or Mithras was the name of an ancient deity among the Aryans. Originally he was the god of the social order, but in Persian religion he had warlike characteristics, being a manifestation of the power of the sun, fighting against darkness on behalf of Ahura Mazda. His emblem was sol invictus, the invincible sun, and his help was sought especially by those engaged in warfare.

The Romans became acquainted with Mithraism in 66 B.C. Pompey had been given dictatorial powers to suppress the pirates who swarmed the Mediterranean. He captured their strongholds in Cilicia at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, took 20,000 prisoners and settled them at various points in Asia Minor and Greece. These captured Cilician pirates introduced Mithraism to the Romans. It did not make much headway, however, till toward the end of the second century A.D., when soldiers recruited in Pontus, Cappadocia, and Lesser Armenia spread the faith through the Roman legions. It was also propagated by merchants and slaves from these regions, but its strength lay chiefly in the army. Emperor Diocletian favored it, and so did Constantine at first, even using the emblem of the invincible sun on his banners. He later replaced this by the Christian emblem. Mithraism had already received a severe setback through the loss of the important outpost of the army in Dacia on the Danube, where the faith was especially strong. While for a time Mithraism seemed a formidable rival of Christianity, it had an outstanding weakness. It was a masculine religion with little or no place for women. Consequently it could never become strongly entrenched in family life. Its vogue came to an end toward the close of the fourth century, though it lingered on in a few isolated places.

Has Mithraism, or sun worship, really come to an end in these Modern Times?

In the earliest millennium, the great mother goddess was a symbol of procreation and fertility and was worshiped in every corner of the world. This mother goddess was pictured as the sun and earth and her consort as the moon and the natural elements.

The Babylonians, in their popular religion, worshiped a goddess mother and a son, represented in pictures and images as a mother with her son in her arms. From Babylon this worship of the mother and her child spread to the ends of the earth.

The original Babylonian mother goddess was Semiramis. The adored little child in her arms was Ninus (Tammuz), signified as the son. This same little child was also signified as the husband of Semiramis.

The Madonna and child worship certainly did not start in the Christian era.

We are told of the first government system by the people and of the people, and against Yahweh in:

Genesis 10:8-9—

8 Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth.

9 He was a tyrant who deceived, who turned against Yahweh; therefore it is said: Like Nimrod the tyrant who deceived, who turned against Yahweh.

It has been said that the custom of Christmas “started with Semiramis and the birth of her illegitimate son, Tammuz.

Legend has it that Tammuz was so evil he married his own mother, Semiramis. After Tammuz’s untimely death, his mother/wife brought forward the doctrine of the resurrection of Tammuz. She claimed a full grown evergreen tree sprang up overnight from a dead tree stump. She also claimed that Tammuz would visit the evergreen tree on each anniversary of his birth and leave gifts upon it.

Semiramis, through her scheming, became the Babylonian Queen of Heaven. She introduced a worship to usher in the rebirth of her son every year.

Yeremyah 7:18—

How the children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, while the women knead dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven, and how they pour out drink offerings to the hinder gods (elohim), so they may act defiantly against Me?

Yechetzqyah 8:14—

Then he brought me to the door of the gate of Yahweh’s House, which was toward the north; and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.

In this ancient act of sun worship, women would ceremonially weep until Tammuz was reincarnated as the evergreen tree. Tammuz’s birthday was December 25th.

The festival of Mithras, the sun God of ancient Persia, was celebrated on December 25th. Tree worship and celebrating a birthday on December 25th certainly did not start in the christian era.

The Last Two Million Years, by The Readers Digest Association, 1971, page 77, says:

Worship of the sun-god
For the next 500 years Persia came under the rule of the Parthians, a warlike people from the north-east. This was a period of almost ceaseless conflict with Rome, from which neither side emerged victor. Roman soldiers carried back to Europe the Persian worship of Mithras, the sun-god. If Mithraism had not been superseded in the Roman Empire by Christianity, Europe might have adopted the Persian religion.

Collier’s Encyclopedia, 1980, Volume 9, page 431, says:

Roman Religion and the Emergence of Christianity.

The religion of the Romans also displayed lack of imagination. As encouraged by Augustus and some of his successors, it was a cold, remote affair of ceremonies and rituals. Much had been borrowed from the Greeks, but, as so often occurred, the Romans took the shell and left the kernel; the charm of the old Greek religion was lost. As social and economic conditions became worse, the Roman masses turned more and more to the colorful, strongly emotional, and superstitious mystery religions imported from the East. The cults of the Great Mother, of Isis, and ofMithras were the most popular. They all emphasized spiritual salvation and a future life__in a word they offered comfort. The cult of Mithras, which appealed primarily to men, became very strong and was carried throughout the Empire by the constantly moving Roman legions. It was to be the chief rival of Christianity.

Was Mithraism the chief rival of Christianity or is Christianity just the name of Mithraism in this day and age? Constantine was still a sun worshiper when the religion that is called Christianity today was initiated.

Collier’s Encyclopedia, 1980, Volume 21, page 632, says:

SUNDAY. To understand the meaning and significance of Sunday as the first day of the week it is necessary to consider the five contributions which have been made to its place in the calendar and to its manner of observance:(1) the worship of the sun among ancient peoples, (2) the popularity of Mithraism among the Romans, (3) the Roman observance of the day of the Sun, (4) the early Christian dedication of the first day of the week as a memorial of the resurrection of Christ, and (5) the Scottish Presbyterian conception of Sunday as a day of rest and the adoption of this conception by Puritan Massachusetts, with the resulting Sunday laws, usually known as Blue Laws.

From prehistoric times to the close of the fifth century of the Christian Era the worship of the sun was dominant. Deified in Egypt as Ra, the Sun-god, he is pictured in the oldest passages of the Pyramid texts. The sun-disk (Aton) with the outspread wings of the falcon became the most generally used symbol of Egyptian religion. In Babylonia, cylinder seals picture the sun as a deity coming forth through open doors which attendants hold open for him, at the same time turning their faces away so as not to be blinded by his brightness. This idea of the sun having a habitation is reflected in the Biblical reference to his coming forth as a bridegroom from his chamber rejoicing as a strong man to run his course. When the Israelites entered Palestine they found the worship of the sun under the name of Baal-hammon, the latter part of this title meaning sun images.

At an early unknown date the mystery cult of Mithra or Mithras arose in Persia. In Zoroastrianism he is named Yazata, a power of light serving as aide to Ahura-Mazda. In the valley of the Euphrates he attained the eminence of an Assyrian god. Mithraism reached Rome in the second century B.C.E. It became popular in the Roman army, in the commercial class, and among the slaves and eventually was adopted by the Roman emperors because it supported the divine right of kings. From very ancient times, the Romans had marked each eighth day as a holiday. It is not surprising, since they were influenced not only by the favored cult of Mithras but also by the Egyptian cult in North Africa that they gradually came to observe a holiday dedicated to the sun. Dies solis was substituted for dies Saturni.The earliest known Sunday law appeared in the edict of Constantine (A.D. 321) enacting that ‘magistrates, city people, and artisans’ were to rest on the venerable day of the Sun. This law probably bore no relation to Christianity.

The early Christians had first adopted the Jewish seven day week with its numbered weekdays, but by the close of the third century the planetary week, and in the fourth and fifth centuries the pagan calendar names had become general in western Christendom.

This says: ‘‘The earliest known Sunday law appeared in the Edict of Constantine in 321 C.E. enacting that magistrates, city people and artisans were to rest on the veneral day of the sun.’’ This is not the only enactment that resembles present day Christianity.

The Last Two Million Years, by The Readers Digest Association, 1971, pages 217-218, says:

By a stroke of tactical genius the Church, while intolerant of pagan beliefs, was able to harness the powerful emotions generated by pagan worship. Often, churches were sited where temples had stood before, and many heathen festivals were added to the Christian calendar. Easter, for instance, a time of sacrifice and rebirth in the Christian year, takes its name from the Norse goddess Eostre, in whose honour rites were held every spring. She in turn was simply a Northern version of the Phoenician earth-mother Astarte, goddess of fertility. Easter eggs continue an age-old tradition in which the egg is a symbol of birth; and cakes which were eaten to mark the festivals of Astarte and Eostre were the direct ancestors of our hot-cross buns.

By harnessing the emotions generated by pagan religions, one can truthfully say that the pagan religions are a part of Christianity.

Constantine, was also the leader of the First Council of Nicaea in the year 325 C.E. Sunday worship was established for Christianity at that time. The Christian church did not want to have anything to do with the ‘‘wicked rabble of the Jews,’’ including Yahweh’s Seventh Day Sabbath. Easter, or the worship of the Goddess, Eostre, was established at that Council because Passover was part of the ‘‘Jewish’’ religion. The doctrine of the trinity was established and Yahweh’s Feasts were changed to the pagan celebrations the deceived Christian world celebrates today.

Daniyl 7:24-25—

24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that will arise; and another will rise after them; and he will be different from the first ones, and he will subdue three kings.

25 And he will speak great words against Yahweh, and will wear out; mentally attack to cause to fall away, the Saints of Yahweh, and think to change times; Yahweh’s Feast Days and Laws; and they will be given into his hand until a time, and times, and the dividing of time.

History has proven this Prophecy correct. The last, diverse kingdom that subdued three kingdoms is the religious power of papal Rome. This religious power changed the Feast days of Yahweh to the pagan festivals that were already popular.

The most popular pagan festival was the birthday of the invincible sun on December 25th. The Mithraic and Roman religions were already celebrating the rebirth of the sun. It was not a hard task to place the mask of Christianity over this pagan birthdate and call it the birthday of Jesus.

Strange Stories Amazing Facts, by The Readers Digest Association, pages 283-284, says:

Christmas and Easter, although the greatest festivals in the Christian calendar, are celebrated with customs that originated in superstition and heathen rites hundreds of years before Christ was born.

Even the dates owe more to pagan practices than to the birth and resurrection of Jesus. It was not until the fourth century that December 25 was fixed arbitrarily as the anniversary of the Nativity__because the pagan festivals from which so many Christmas customs spring were held around that time.

Although Christianity has swept the world in a relatively short time, as the histories of great religions go, the early missionaries faced an uphill task. The pagans were reluctant to give up their false gods and ancient practices.

So the missionaries, unable to convert them easily to an entirely new code of worship, did the next best thing. They took the pagan festivals as they were and gradually grafted the observances of the new faith onto these festivals and the rites and customs surrounding them.

December 25 was not called Christmas until the ninth century. Until then it had been the Midwinter Feast, a combination of the Norse Yule Festival and theRoman Saturnalia, both of which took place in late December.

How was this deceit perpetrated on mankind? The Last Two Million Years, by The Readers Digest Association, 1971, pages 217-218, tells us how:

Since bishops were educated men at a time when education was a rarity, they became civil servants, chancellors and secretaries to rulers. …in Rome itself, the popes had an efficient organization, the curia, patterned on that of the Roman Empire. Papal legates abroad reported back to the pope on shifts of policy and political power, and held a powerful diplomatic weapon in their right to refer disputes to Rome. The pope claimed the sole power to grant absolution for sin. Through the bishops and the parish priests, his authority reached into almost every corner of Europe.

The only educated people were the roman catholic clergy. The great majority of the population were ignorant, uneducated, and superstitious. When the priests said this was the way of worship, this was the way of worship no matter that it originated in paganism, or that it had nothing to do with the bible.

It is one thing to be illiterate, unlearned, and deceived about the pagan holidays worshiped today; but it is an entirely different thing to know what the bible says, and then refuse to obey what the bible says.

Yechetzqyah 16:2-3—

2 Son of man, make Yerusalem realize her abominations,

3 And say; This is what Father Yahweh says to Yerusalem: Your birth and your nativity are of the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite.

Birth and Nativity?

The birth and nativity are as old as the history of the Holy Scriptures.

As we have previously proven, the people throughout the known pagan world, including Babylon, Egypt, and Syria, all worshiped the sun and the moon through their Gods and Goddesses. Mother and child worship was prevalent. The rebirth of this child each year was manifested in the form of an evergreen tree. In Yechetzqyah 16:2-3, Yechetzqyah spoke of this abominable worship. He also says in:

Yechetzqyah 16:15-17, 20-21—

15 But you trusted in your own beauty, and played the harlot because of your renown; fame, and poured out your fornications upon every one who passed by; worshiping the Gods (elohim) of every nation; his it became.

16 You took some of your garments, decked your high places with many different colors, and played the harlotupon your high places. Such things should not have come to pass, nor should they ever have been!

17 You also took your beautiful jewelry, My gold and My silver which I gave you, and made male Gods (elohim) for yourself, and committed whoredom; God (el) worship, with them;

20 Moreover, you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to Me, and you havesacrificed them as meat for your Gods (elohim)! Is your harlotry not enough,

21 That you must slay My children, offering them up and causing them to pass through the fire to your Gods (elohim)?

Playing the harlot and committing whoredom in these Scriptures is giving worship to Gods rather than to Yahweh.

Yechetzqyah 16:25-26—

25 You have built your high places at the head of every road, and made your beauty to be abhorred. You have offered yourself to every one that passed by, and multiplied your whoredoms.

26 You have also committed fornication; God (el) worship, with the sons of Egypt, your neighbors who are great of flesh; and you have increased your whoredoms, acting defiantly against Me.

In Yechetzqyah 16:27-29, Yahweh goes on to show that the children of Israyl also committed God worship with the Philistines, the Assyrians, and the Chaldeans. The children of Israyl celebrated the religious festivals of the Middle Eastern versions of Christmas and New Year. They brought gifts to the Gods. The high places were where sacred poles had been set up for the renewed God and sun. Their children were sacrificed to the high God Molech at the time of the new year.

Child Sacrifice

Mythology of All Religions, Volume 5, page 52, says:

At this festival a great fire was lighted and having lost his old age in fire he obtains in exchange his youth. There was in consequence a feast on the second of this month throughout Syria called, Dies Natalis Solis Invicti…Natal (birth) day of The Unconquerable Sun.

This legend of the death and burial of the sun god of Tyre is undoubtedly based upon the legend of the tomb ofBel-Marduk at Babylon. As Marduk (Bel-Baal-Lord) rose from his tomb at the New Year’s Festival…so also the Tyrians believed their sun god to come forth from his tomb, symbol of his annual sleep of death in the lower world.

At Aphaca in the Lebanons, east of Gebal, was the tomb of BAAL, who, as shall be seen, is probably Adonis of Gebal, also a sun god. The burning of the image of Melqart, the Tyrian Hercules, that by passing through the fire he may receive his youth again to revive the life of a dying world, seems to have been peculiar to Tyre and the land to which this cult spread.

It may be presumed from the human (infant-child) sacrifices to Malik (Molech) in Canaan and to Melqart (Bel-Baal-Lord) as Cronus at Carthage that the Phoenicians offered the first born in the fire which celebrated the Sol Invictus(the same Invincible Sun Constantine worshipped) and insured themselves against the wrath of the relentless god. The Malik of Tyre was identified with Hercules…

Living infants and children were burned in the fire to the God Molech during this time. This was the time of the winter solstice when those heathen were dismayed at the signs of heaven.

Unger’s Bible Dictionary, page 416 says:

Mo´lech (mo´lek; Heb. Melek, king), a detestable Semitic deity honored by the sacrifice of children, in which they were caused to pass through or into the fire.
Mo´loch (mo´lok), another form in English (Amos 5:26; Acts 7:43) of Molech (q. v.).

The Concise Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology, by Sabine G. Ostwalt, page 261, under Saturnus we find:

A Sacrifice was made to Saturnus… After the Sacrifice there was a public banquet…People exchanged presents, most frequently clay puppets (dolls) in memory of the fact Hercules abolished human sacrifice when he introduced the cult of Saturnus.

The Encyclopedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, under Saturnalia, says:

‘‘These dolls were especially given to children and the makers of them held a regular fair at this time.’’

It was believed that these dolls represented the original sacrifices to the infernal God. This infernal God was the original Molech that the Greeks renamed Cronus and the Romans renamed Saturnus. Under the earliest Romans, the Saturnalia was unified with the Brumalia—the winter solstice.

This same Babylonian worship of Molech, which came down through the Greeks and Romans, through Constantine and through the great whore of Revelation 17:1, is observed with the same practices and the same customs, at the same time of year, by the whole deceived Christian world today.

Holidays Around The World, by Joseph Gaer, 1953, page 133, says:

The Old Winter Solstice
Christmas is a very old holiday
It clearly started as a celebration of the passing of the winter solstice, and the start of the sun’s return journey from the north to the south.

All the early nations of the earth joyfully celebrated the arrival of this season in the sun’s journey. The ancient Romans observed this time with a festival dedicated to Saturn, the god of agriculture, and it was called Saturnalia. This festival was observed with great merriment and abandon. Gifts were exchanged. And great liberties were allowed between freemen and slaves__just as the Hindus allow the breaking of the barriers between castes on certain holidays.

When Emperor Constantine decreed Christianity as the new faith of the Roman Empire, early in the fourth century, the Christians gave the holiday an entirely new name and an entirely new meaning.

They called the holiday the Mass of Christ, or Christ Mass, which was shortened to Christmas. And they declared that Christmas was the birthday of Jesus of Nazareth. Though the exact day and year when Jesus was born are not known, tradition has set the date as December 25, 4 b.c., according to our present-day reckoning.
All of the practices of Christmas have come from paganism. They are merely the modern day practices of the same worship that Yahweh says is an abomination to Him.

New Year?

The Book of Holidays, by J. Walker McSpadden, 1958, pages 183-184, says:

The first presents given at this time of year, at the Roman Saturnalia which began on December 17, were green branches for good luck. Way back in the reign of King Tatius of the Sabines, the King received this woodland token from a ‘‘lucky tree’’ in the grove of Strenae. The branches (and later fruits, cakes, and other things as well) were therefore called strenae. Since the Saturnalia was celebrated up through the Calends (or first) of January, the branches were also one of the earliest ways of wishing Happy New Year. Green, in those days of nature worship, was for luck and for warding off evil. And even now, for the Christian festival, to ‘‘bring home Christmas’’ is to bring into the house the beauty and the blessing of the woods and outdoor world. What would Christmas be for any of us without the green–the holly and the mistletoe, the evergreen boughs and, above all, the tree?

The Saturnalia was celebrated up through the Calends, or first of January, as it is still being celebrated today by the whole deceived Christian world.

Hogmany (Chag-Meni) Feast of God Luck!

Isayah 65:11—

But you are those who forsake Yahweh, who forget My holy mountain, who prepare a table for that troop and who furnish a drink offering for that number.

The word troop is translated from the Hebrew word gad. Unger’s Bible Dictionary, on page 415, shows us:

Gad, a Canaanite deity improperly rendered ‘‘troop’’ (Isa. 65:11), was the god of good fortune, supposed to be the deified planet Jupiter. This star is called by the Arabs ‘‘the greater luck’’ as the star of good fortune.

This word number comes from the Hebrew word mene. The Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament, by Brown, Driver, and Briggs, page 584, shows us that this word means God of fate.

Unger’s Bible Dictionary, page 416, also shows us:

Me´ni (me´ni; Heb. meni, destiny or fate). Name of the god of destiny or fortune worshipped by the ancient Hebrews in time of apostasy (Isa. 65:11): ‘‘But you who forsook the Lord, who forget my holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny’’ R. S. V. Fortune is ‘‘Gad’’ (q. v.) and Destiny is ‘‘Meni.’’ M. F. U.

What were these condemned people doing when Isayah prophesied against them? They were celebrating Christmas and New Year. The Two Babylons, by Alexander Hislop, 1959, pages 94-96, shows us:

‘‘Christmas Day among the ancient Saxons…was observed to celebrate the BIRTH of any lord of the host of Heaven…The Saxons regarded the sun as a female god and the moon a male god. The birth of this ‘Lord Moon’ was on December 25th. The name of this ‘Lord Moon’ in the East…Babylonians, Chaldeans and among the Canaanites…was Meni–The Numberer.’’

According to Hislop, Gad refers to the sun God, and Meni the moon God. The people offered sacrifices to these Gods in Isayah 65:11.

Holidays Around The World, by Joseph Gaer, 1953, page 137, says:

A Happy New Year!
Exactly one week after Christmas comes New Year’s Day. In the minds of many people these two holidays seem to go together as if they had something in common. Actually, of course, there is no relationship between them. Christmas is a deeply religious holiday, whereas New Year’s Day does nothing more than mark the beginning of the civil year.
The date we celebrate as New Year’s, like the date of Christmas, is an inheritance from the Romans.

Hogmanay means feast of the numberer. It is the feast of the God Meni. Even in this age the deceived world bows down on New Year’s Day, to Gad and Meni the Gods of luck and fortune, just as they did when Isayah prophesied against them in his day. Spreading a feast of luxuriant ‘lucky’ foods and toasting drink offerings to ‘good luck’ still takes place in Christendom today on the evening before New Year’s Day.

Collier’s Encyclopedia, Volume 6, 1980, page 404, tells us:

Gifts and Cards. The practice of exchanging presents at Christmas stems from the ancient Roman custom called Strenae. During the Saturnalia Roman citizens used to give ‘‘good luck’’ gifts (strenae) of fruits, pastry, or gold to their friends on New Year’s Day.

These ‘good luck’ gifts are in honor of the Gods of fortune and destiny The Book of Holidays, by J. Walker McSpadden, pages 7-8, says:

NEW YEAR’S DAY
Both on the Eve and on the Day we indulge in the old, old custom of ‘‘Wassail.’’ This universal toast comes from the old Gaelic words, was hael, meaning ‘‘good health,’’ and signifies the special food and drink with which we wish each other well at this time. In Scotland and northern England wassail cakes and wassail bowls are still called by that name.
An entire book, instead of a chapter, could be written on the omens and rituals of New Year’s Day throughout the ancient and modern world.

There is no question that the first day of the pagan new year is spent in acquiring ‘good luck’ from the Gods of luck—fortune and destiny.

There is also no question that the ancient festivities of Saturnalia—Brumalia—Chag Meni are nothing more than the Christmas—New Year of today. Christmas and New Year are still the ancient pagan worship of the ancient pagan Gods Yahweh tells us is an abomination to Him.

Janus: The God of January

Holidays Around the World, by Joseph Gaer, pages 138-139, says:

Two-faced Janus
Janus was represented among the Roman gods as having two faces. He was called Janus Bifors, meaning ‘‘Janus with the two faces.’’ One face always looked back to the old year, and the other always looked forward to the new. In his right hand Janus held a key, with which he closed the old year and opened the new; in his left hand he held a scepter, symbol of his power.
A great temple with immense gates was built to Janus. And when Rome was at war, the gates of the temple of Janus stood open. But when peace was declared, the gates were closed with great rejoicing.
There was also great rejoicing before the gates of the temple of Janus on New Year’s Day when the people gathered to do homage to the god of all beginnings. Gifts were exchanged among friends. Resolutions to be friendly and good to each other were made. And the entire day was given to festivities.

When the Romans under Constantine accepted Christianity as their new faith, they retained the Festival of Janus as their New Year’s Day.

The Two Babylons, by Alexander Hislop, 1959, pages 209-210, tells us about the key of Janus:

When the Pope came, as he did, into intimate connection with the Pagan Priesthood; when they came under his control, what more natural than to seek not only to reconcile paganism and Christianity, but to make it appear that thepagan, ‘Peter-Roma’, with his ‘keys’ meant ‘Peter of Rome’ and that ‘Peter of Rome’ was the very Apostle to whom Jesus gave ‘‘the keys of the kingdom?’’ Hence, from the mere jingle of words, persons and things essentially different were confounded; and paganism and Christianity jumbled together, that the towering ambition of a wicked priest might be gratified; and so…to the blinded Christians of the apostasy, the Pope was the representative of Peter the Apostle…while to the initiated pagans..he was only the representative of Peter…the interpreter of their well known Mysteries. Thus was the Pope the express counterpart of ‘‘Janus, the double-faced.’’

Janus, the God that the month of January is named for was the father of the Gods, and at the same time the mediatorial divinity. He is identified with Bacchus or Adonis (the Sun God) and was invoked in the religion of mystery as Satur, Saturn, Mystery. The Two Babylons, page 269, says:

As MYSTERY signifies the HIDDEN SYSTEM so SATURN signifies the HIDDEN GOD.

This hidden God is the same God this whole deceived world worships today in the celebrations called Christmas and New Year.

Collier’s Encyclopedia, 1980, Volume 20, page 449, shows us who Saturn is:

SATURN