Hi Everyone,

Merry Christmas!  I hope all is well with you and your families.  This is a holiday season that is very mixed for me.  I love the Lord, but I hate Christmas –secular Christmas.  I have an aquaintance that is a practicing Hindu but has no problem celebrating Christmas.  For her it is not about the Lord and his birth, it is all about the trappings: stockings over the fireplace, cookies set out for Santa, a well decorated Christmas tree, and Christmas wreaths, bows and gifts.  She loves the music, the lights, the eggnog, and the Christmas cheer.

Why was it so easy for for her as a Hindu to celebrate Christmas? I believe that she didn’t see Jesus as a focal point to the celebration. Jesus was simply not in the picture. Santa and tree and gifts were clearly there. The Christmas songs and decorations were there. But Jesus was not in sight. The lights, the greenery, the parties, the smells of rich food and the gifts are all the aspects of Christmas that most people find memorable. But they have nothing to do with Jesus as King, as Lord, as Savior of the World.  All these things are what the world does to celebrate a worldly, and commercial Christmas.  People wear red dresses, sweaters and Santa hats.  They sing “Jingle Bells,” and “I am dreaming of a white Christmas.”

But this is simply a tradition of man, not a celebration of God.

The reason I am writing today concerns what just happened this past Sunday.  The worship and prayer before the service was awesome.  It was powerful, and the presence of God was with us.  I sensed that it would be the beginning of something new.  But when the message came forth, everything changed. The message was about the Christmas tree. I couldn’t believe my ears!  Could it be that a Spirit filled pastor was preaching on the very symbol of everything I hate about secular Christmas.  He started with the pagan roots of Egypt in celebration of the winter solstice, and moved into the decoration of halls, and homes with greenery as beginning with the Romans.  He then progressed to the tree, as having come from Germany. 

I did not hear what I was hoping he would address.  He did not mention that the Christmas we see celebrated in our nation is a mixture of pagan traditions celebrating the winter solstice with an attempt to blend in the story of Christ’s birth.  But just as oil and water don’t mix, the two are quite separated.  The secular theme floats up to the top and the story of Christ is lost at the bottom. The pastor continued his sermon speaking of the decoration of the tree as having come from Martin Luther:

 “As he looked at the stars at night shining through the fir trees, he was suddenly inspired to put candles on a pine tree that he would bring into his home.”      

The pastor made only a single comment about the fact that the Puritans did not celebrate Christmas.  But he immediately dismissed it as an anomaly.  He continued making his case for the Christmas tree and then announced that this was the beginning of a 4 part series on the tree.

I couldn’t believe that he was speaking on such a topic, and that it would be carried over for three more sessions trying to justify the tree and the trappings of a secular Christmas, as he had just done.  What happened to the teaching of Paul and the Apostles not to love the world or anything in it!  No where in the Bible does it state that we are to set aside the commands of God and justify a pagan symbol, dressing it up and calling it a good thing.  It is an idol, a pagan idol that is given a prominent place in the home and in the church!    

I have been in prayer about this since Sunday.  It weighs heavily on my heart that so many people have been swept off their feet by such trappings as the tree, the lights and the decorations.  I believe that what I am sharing is important for the church to know and understand.  We need to know the heart of God.  Do you think he is pleased with all this materialism, and the focus upon everything that is not of God?  Why does the Church condone this, calling it Christ’s birthday?  I am sharing what I believe to be true and something that  matters to God. I understand that this message may be challenging to those who love and celebrate traditions, but I feel compelled to share it nonetheless.  

The title to this post is “The Divine Curfew,” which is a vision that the Lord gave me, that I am reserving for the end of this post.  

The Winter Solstice

The reason we celebrate Christmas in December is because of the winter solstice.  It is not because Jesus was born in December.  On the contrary, the word of God tells us that the shepherds were watching their flocks by night, (Luke 2:8).  This means that the sheep were lambing.  Often ewes, like people, need assistance in birthing.  So the shepherds were staying awake with their ewes.  Some sheep will reject their newborn lambs so the shepherd needs to get involved to help the mother accept her little one.  Because of this statement in Luke, Jesus was most likely born in the spring time when the ewes were lambing.  

Christmas was created as a celebration in December primarily to facilitate the conversion of  pagans to Christ.  People the world over had been celebrating the winter solstice and did not want to give up the festivities.  The church, wanting to convert them to Christianity and to help them see Christ as the one true God, found that unbelievers were not easily separated from the traditions they loved.  Even today, churches use holiday celebrations like Halloween to entice people to come to church.  They open their doors to the public with “Trunk or Treating.” It is an outdoor celebration on Halloween. The cars in the church parking lot have their tail gates open and fully decorated. Every trunk is teeming with candy. The children trick or treat going from car to car collecting candy. Other churches celebrate with a harvest festival. There are games, treats, hayrides, bonfires with hotdogs, marshmallows, and hot cocoa.   But after such great celebration on the very day of Halloween, a most wicked day of the year, we are now going to ask them to give up celebrating Halloween? We just used it to entice them to come to Church? This is mixture at its worst! This is sending the wrong message to children and their parents!

If they have always celebrated Halloween with parties, candy, costumes and trick or treating, how can the church declare that it is wrong? The church went to get lengths to provide a “safe environment” to celebrate it. So how can the church make its point that it is a most evil holiday with human sacrifices and witchcraft and demon worship, which it is, when we just celebrated it calling it a “Harvest Festival?”

The church is not supposed to take their cues from the world.  We are to be salt and a light for the world.  But if we become like the world, we no longer have the truth to offer.  We have compromised the Word of God and there is no power in compromise.

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.  James 4:4

For centuries people who have not known the one true God, worship the creation rather than the creator.  The winter solstice is the shortest day, and the longest night of the year.  It is the start of a new year for these people who worship the sun, the starry host, various gods and idols. They celebrate the winter solstice with lights representing the sun, for starting from this day until the spring equinox, the days increase in their length of sunlight.  

The early church fathers DID NOT celebrate the birth of Jesus, and did all they could to discourage the worship of nature, idols, and people, whether living or dead.  (the following is a quote from Encyclopedia Britannica : 

“In particular, during the first two centuries of Christianity there was strong opposition to recognizing birthdays of martyrs or, for that matter, of Jesus. Numerous Church Fathers offered sarcastic comments about the pagan custom of celebrating birthdays when, in fact, saints and martyrs should be honoured on the days of their martyrdom—their true “birthdays,” from the church’s perspective.”

The pastor who spoke this past Sunday said that the Puritans did not celebrate the birth of Christ. He did not give any reasons why, and did not support the idea.  It was nothing more than a statement. But unlike the former generations of Christians, the Puritans had a Bible translated into their own language.  They knew what the Word of God said, and they refused to do anything that was against the Word of God. These people knew God’s heart and were filled with the Spirit of God.  They wanted no mixture in the Church.  They were all about “purifying the church.”  That is why they were called Puritans. 

“But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him.  God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”  John 4:23-24

Emperor Constantine  

Now let us regress to the year 312 AD when Constantine was the Emperor of Rome.  Just before a battle at the Milvian Bridge, he received a vision that he believed came from God.  Some say the vision was of a cross and others say it was a Chi Rho, the first two letters of the word “Christ.”  But along with the vision came a voice that said, “Conquer with this.”  Constantine was converted to Christianity, and as emperor of his vast empire, he became a protector of Christians, and stopped the persecution that they had suffered since the death and resurrection of Christ.

At the time of Constantine’s conversion, there were differing ideas as to the full deity of Christ. Constantine called for a gathering of the church leaders at Nicaea to settle the matter as to what was the true faith.  This council of Nicaea declared Arianism a heresy and Jesus was declared to be fully God and fully man, he was begotten, not made.  He had the same substance as the Father and had no beginning or end.  This determination they called the Trinity.

At this council, they established a full statement of faith which became the Nicene Creed.  The Epistles, and the four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were studied and determined to be inspired by the Holy Spirit.  However there were also writings such as the Gnostic gospels, books of wisdom, poetry and history.  These they determined to be apocrypha, meaning doubtful.      

They kept these two groups of writings as a collection which became the New Testament.  

This was the Church’s first formal “mixture”:  books inspired by the Holy Spirit were mixed with books not inspired by the Holy Spirit.  I believe that it was a terrible mistake of the Church, but it was not corrected until the Protestant Reformation, when the apocrypha was finally taken out of the New Testament. 

Now every believer could read the Word of God for himself and know that what he read truly was the inspired word of God.  The opportunity for confusion and error could be avoided.  Now what was presented in the New Testament was entirely inspired by God.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.  2 Timothy 3:16-17

Under Constantine, orthodoxy was established and heresy was punished.

The following is a quote from World History Encyclopedia :

“Under Constantine, heresy was defined in relation to these earlier Christian views. The property of heretics was confiscated, and their execution was by burning at the stake. The Church Fathers had determined that only the gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John contained the correct teaching, against the Gnostic gospels.”

With the Edict of Thessalonica in AD 380 under the direction of Theodosius I, only Nicene Christianity was lawful.  It became the state church.  Every other Christian creed (Arianism) was deemed to be heresy and punished.  Yet at this time, the pagans still vastly outnumbered the Christians.  People were told to conform or be burned at the stake.  Therefore rather than the Church being filled with born again Spirit filled believers, the church was filled with pagans who brought in their own ideas, traditions, and the celebration of the winter solstice.

The Origins of the Christmas Tree

In the 6th century, Pope Gregory sent a monk, St. Boniface, to Germany to evangelize the pagans.  These people worshiped Thor, the god of thunder, and the oak tree that represented him as an idol.  They celebrated the winter solstice and offered human sacrifices to Thor.   St. Boniface, who proved to be a bold evangelist, confronted a group of pagans in the woods where they were planning to sacrifice a child to their god, in front of a very large oak tree, that they called “Thunder.”  St. Boniface took an axe to the oak and felled it.  A small pine tree remained standing in the quake of the felled tree.  Boniface pointed to the tree and declared:  “Here is your Christmas tree!”  

Unfortunately, Boniface did not see the error of substitution.  He simply traded an idol they had worshipped, the oak tree, for another one: the pine tree.  They continued to celebrate the winter solstice.  Was there real conversion? Boniface had just introduced “mixture” into the church once again. 

Pope Gregory, seeing how the pine tree was accepted as the “Christmas tree” in Germany, he gave it a go in Rome and told people to decorate the churches and their homes with boughs and greenery.  He gave his blessing to the traditions of man rather than hold the line against paganism, witchcraft, and idolatry.  What he did was sinful, and against God’s word:

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?  What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?  Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?  What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.  Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”  2 Corinthians 6:14-17

Unfortunately the mixture continues today.  The Churches take their cues from the world and follow the traditions of man that are contrary to the word of God.  It is truly a shame when we compromise our most precious faith in order to conform to the pattern of this world.  Paul, Peter, James, Jude and John were all fighting to hold the line on paganism, idolatry, false teachings and compromise with the world.

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”  Romans 12:2

Yule

In Scandinavia, they also celebrated the winter solstice calling it Yule.  Today many of the traditions that once honored the pagan god Thor, are still practiced today.  They build very large statues of goats made from hay to display in the centers of their towns.  They celebrate Christmas by cutting down a large tree, stripping its branches and placing it in the family hearth to burn for twelve days.  This is the Yule Log, and it burned for twelve days which corrects for the discrepancy between the lunar calendar of 353 days, and the solar calendar of 365 days. This correction occurs between Dec. 25 and January 6 which they call the 12 days of Christmas.  They decorate their homes with holly and candles which were all associated with the worship of gods like Thor, the Norse god, and the worship of the sun. 

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica the holiday called Yule, became a  Christmas celebration, but they continued to calle it Yule. The following is a quote:

Yule is one of the oldest winter solstice festivals, with origins among the ancient Norse thousands of years ago... Like most winter solstice festivals, themes of light, fire, and feasting are common threads. Some historians think that sacrifices were an important part of the observance, either to the gods and other supernatural beings (such as elves) or to the dead or both...Some contend that the original festival was a sort of Norse Day of the Dead, with the god Odin as a major player; among Odin’s many names was Jolnir, and among his many duties was acting as a god of the dead….

Another remaining tradition is that of the Yule goat. In towns and cities throughout Sweden during the Christmas season, large goats are constructed out of straw. It is thought that the tradition originated in ancient times, perhaps as a tribute to the god Thor, who was said to ride in a chariot pulled by goats. In Sweden the goat came to be associated with the Christmas celebration, and the Yule goat is now considered by many to be a companion or counterpart to Santa Claus.

Santa Claus

Santa Claus rides a sleigh pulled by reindeer, and Thor rides a chariot pulled by goats. 

In the poem, “T’was the Night Before Christmas,”  the author describes Santa, or St. Nick, as an elf who brings presents to children during the night.  He magically enters and exits the house through the chimney, and brings the very gifts that the children hoped to receive.. 

Santa is the children’s idol, for they are encouraged by their parents to mail their requests to Santa who resides at the north pole.  They count the days till his arrival with an Advent calendar filled with pieces of chocolate.  Does Jesus ever enter their minds?  No!  They are consumed with the thought of Santa bringing a favorite toy, a bicycle or a doll.

The song “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” gives Santa the attributes of God:

“He knows when you are sleeping; he knows when you’re awake.  He knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!”   He rewards the good with presents in their stockings and he rewards the bad with a lump of coal. The parents suggest cookies and hot cocoa placed in plain sight where Santa will surely see them.

Santa is made to seem real to small children, because their parents delight in their children’s delight.  In Sunday school, children are introduced to Biblical stories and told about Jesus, that he is God and that he loves them.  

But just like Santa, their parents tell them that even though they don’t see him, he is very real.  After a few years pass, these children somehow find out that Santa isn’t real.  He’s only imaginary.  This discovery causes questions in the child’s mind.  If Santa was a lie, what about Jesus, is he real?  The day will come when the child puts his faith in God to the test with a question or request.  It may be that the child wants a puppy, or that the child wants his parents to stop arguing or divorcing. Now what happens when a 10 or 12 year old child prays to the Lord, for something he considers very important?  What happens if he does not get the answer that he hoped to receive?  Now where is the child’s faith?  Is Jesus nothing more than a lie, just like Santa Claus?

“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.  Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!   Matthew 18:6-7

Opposing The Word of God.  

Jesus condemned the Pharisees for their creation of laws and traditions that negated the Law given by God through Moses. 

Jesus answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.  They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’

“You have disregarded the commandment of God to keep the tradition of men.” He went on to say, “You neatly set aside the command of God to maintain your own tradition.  For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’  But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever you would have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God), he is no longer permitted to do anything for his father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters.”  Mark 7:6-13

The Lord is our creator and we are loved.  He has made a way for us to be reconciled to the Father.  Shouldn’t we want to please him, to obey him?  Jesus said, If you love me you will keep my commands. It is a very simple concept, but we have to put down our flesh and live according to the Spirit of God that dwells within each of us as believers.  The first of the Ten Commandments states:

 “You shall have no other gods before  me.”  Exodus 20:3

What are gods and idols?  They are the things and even people in our lives that we value so much that we give them priority over God and his commands.  Jesus could not have made himself more clear about this topic:  

Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.  A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.

Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.  Matthew 10:34-36

The second commandment  addresses the making of idols, but again, it is anything that is valued more than God.  

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.  Exodus 20:4-6

The Christmas tree is an idol.  It is the central focus in most people’s homes at Christmas time.  We move furniture to accommodate it.  We buy decorations and lights to adorn it.  We bring gifts and place them at the foot of the tree, as if we are bowing down and presenting gifts to a king.  And we place a special light or star at its head which is its crowning glory.

The adoration of the Christmas tree is clearly shown in the German song “O Christmas Tree”  The lyrics are written so as to sing directly to the tree, acknowledging its  fine attributes, and asking it to teach us! It sounds very much like a worship song.  

“  O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,  How steadfast are your branches. Your boughs are green in summer’s clime and through the snows of wintertime.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, What happiness befalls me when oft at joyous Christmas time, your form inspires my song and rhyme.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, Your boughs can teach a lesson that constant faith and hope sublime,

lend strength and comfort through all time.

The tree teaches us? We are singing directly to the tree in this song.  What happened to honoring God and the name that is above all names:  JESUS!

If we love God, we will love what he loves and hate what he hates.  God hates idolatry!

So how do I respond?  What should I do when the pastor speaks of the tree and justifies its place in our homes and in our churches?  I prayed and the Lord brought back to my remembrance a vision:

The Divine Curfew

This vision was given many years ago.  I had just come home from an early morning prayer meeting.  I was sitting on the bedroom floor, praying before the kids woke up.  Then I received this vision:

I saw a man leaning up against a short capped stone wall with his hands on the cap and his feet extended out in front of him.  His head turned towards me and looked directly at me.  He said, “Amelia, ask me sometime about the divine curfew.”

I knew he was an angel, speaking to me in this vision.  I thought about a curfew.  It is an emergency measure that the government will take to require everyone to stay home.  Years ago  there was an incident at Kent State University, during the VietNam War.  At  the University of Illinois where I attended a curfew was called and the whole campus was locked down at 6:00 p.m.  Everyone had to be in their dorms and off the streets.  The military reserves were called in to police the campus grounds.  

But in this vision, there was no emergency. The angel, representing the Lord, asked me to ask him about a divine curfew.  I believed  that God was asking me to stay home from Church that morning.  My mind was filled with  thoughts such as:  “Everyone will think I am sick.  Everyone will call me to ask if everything is alright.  I’ve never missed church unless I was out of town, or sick, which was very rare for me.  What if people view me as less faithful than they once thought?  Would I be thought to be so cavalier or derelict in my commitment to God, that I just chose not to go to church?”  

I looked at my motives, and I knew that God was testing me– was I willing to jeopardize my “perfect attendance” to be alone with him?  God wants our hearts, not our perfect attendance.  He wants us to see with our own eyes where our loyalties truly lie.  Are we committed to our church, our ministry, to pleasing others, or are we about pleasing God alone?  I wish I could say that I was faithful that day and stayed at home.  But I caved-in to my fears of man “What will people say?”

The Lord told me sometime later, “As long as you fear man, I cannot use you, for you are already being used.”  

This same test the Lord is giving me today.  Tomorrow is Sunday, and I don’t want to disappoint people, but I have written so many posts about putting God first, for I believe that is what the Lord desires, and expects of us.  So I am staying home so as not to put myself in front of the pastor to hear him speak of the Christmas tree as it points to Christ. I cannot agree with the message, for it is simply a justification of pagan traditions.  

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”  Romans 12:2

So, now that I have prayed and sought the Lord in this matter, I am choosing to stay home and not listen to these next three sermons.  We have to guard our hearts, and the gates to our soul: our eyes and our ears.  

We will all have to give an account of our choices and decisions.  Let us worship God in Spirit and in truth!  God bless you as you walk with him.  Let’s keep our eyes on God and not the things of this world!  

Please share this message with others.  I pray that you will enjoy fellowship with the Lord and with those you love!  God bless you and may he keep you in the palm of his hand!