Is Christmas Christian?     

Many years ago, I was in charge of training guides to give tours for a tourism business.  As I was observing one guide in particular, I found out that she was giving out false information.  When I asked where she had received her information, she gave me the name of another guide, who had been working for us for a number of years.  When I asked him, he said that he got his information from a previous guide who no longer worked for us.

It became very obvious to me, that false information can be given out and such information can and will eventually become the truth to unsuspecting individuals.  The newest guides just took it for granted that what they had been told was the whole truth, without any question of it. 

So it is with spiritual matters.  We have so often gone ahead and have accepted the information that we have received without question.  Lies have been told, and told so many years ago, that most do not any longer question the things that they adhere to as the truth.  Those lies have now become the truth to many people and so much so, they staunchly defend those lies as if they are the truth.

Now once I had told the guides of their error, they were then responsible for changing the things that they had been saying or believed.  If we tell a person that they are in error on a subject spiritually and if that person can see the error of their way, that person then becomes responsible to repent and to change the things that they were in error on if in fact Yahweh is calling them to understand.

John 9:41 "Yahshua said unto them, If you were blind, you should have no sin:  but now you say, We see; therefore your sin remains."

When we are spiritually blind on a subject we are not held accountable, but once we have had our eyes opened to the truth on a subject, from that time on you and I are accountable for what we know to be that truth.  If you reject that truth after it has been revealed to you, then you are still living in sin, you are still under the curse of the law, which is death.

Yahweh Elohim does give us a time of repentance.  In other word He doesn’t pass judgment upon us immediately after He reveals a truth for which we should repent of disobeying. But that time period of repentance does have an expiration date upon it.

Many things that were revealed to me that I now believe, took years of study and proving before I accepted it.  I thank Yahweh that He was so longsuffering to allow me the time needed to convince me of my error. And so those of us, who have had the blinders removed concerning such subjects as Christmas, must also produce the fruit of the spirit and be longsuffering toward those who don’t yet know any better.  For there may still be subjects of Truth that the spirit has yet revealed to us, for which we would also then desire for others to suffer long with you and I as well.

The things that are said in this message may be old hat to many of you, but to some this may be the first time that you have ever really been introduced to such teachings.  Yet all of us are accountable for what we will do with the things brought forth in this message.

John 4:24 "Yahweh is a spirit:  and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."

Yahshua tells us that if we are going to worship Yahweh, we must worship Him in spirit and truth.  He didn't say that it was optional; He said that it was a must!  In other words, you are not going to worship Him in any other way except through the spirit and in truth.  Unfortunately, many sincere people are trying to worship Elohim through the flesh, and then through lies.

They are still in the flesh spiritually, still trapped within the works of the flesh, that old carnal nature, although professing that they are believers when in actuality that are unconverted believers. Their day will come, we must be patient.

During the month of December and on into the beginning of man’s new year, we find ourselves in the period of the year that the flesh erupts and lies are being told, and all in the name of a person known as Jesus.  This is a time of the year when Yahwehshua is greatly mocked, and brethren Yahweh will not be mocked!  Galatians 6:7

If we are to worship Yahweh in spirit and the truth, why are “Christians”, involved in fleshly pagan traditions based upon lies.  Sounds quite the opposite of spirit and truth, we have flesh and lies.  If Yahweh is not to be mocked, why do people mock Him in false worship, especially as man’s old year comes to an end and his new year begins?

Romans 8:6-9 "....to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  Because the carnal mind is enmity against Yahweh:  for it is not subject to the Torah of Yahweh, neither indeed can be.  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please Yahweh.  But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of Yahweh dwell in you.  Now if any man have not the spirit of Messiah, he is none of His."

If we are carnally minded, we are still living for the flesh, and we are spiritually dead, for the wages of sin is death.  If we are in the flesh, we are against Yahweh and His ways, and we are not subject to His Torah laws, nor can we be.  To be fleshly minded, we cannot be pleasing to Yahweh. 

If the fleshly minded people are not subject to Yahweh's Torah, then who is?  Only the spiritually minded people are subject to the Torah of Yah!  The spiritually minded people are the only ones who can please Yahweh, because they are the only ones who are subject to the Torah of Yahweh.  Even we are to be loyal subjects to the King, obeying His every Word.

If a person is not subject to the Torah of Yah then they are law breakers.  They are not subject to the King, but rather they are rebels to the Kingdom rule.  They are living in sin.  If we don't have the spirit of Messiah living within us, then we do not belong to Messiah, for we are still in the flesh.  Remember that only those who approach Yahweh in the spirit and in the truth can worship Him.  If Messiah is in you, then you have received His spirit, and if you have received His spirit, then you are subject to the Torah law. We are His subjects. And He is the living Torah.

According to Psalms 119:142, the Word tells us that Yahweh's law (Torah) is the truth.  We cannot obey the truth (law) without the spirit, and we cannot worship Yahweh without the spirit and the truth.

Now why did I bring all this up?  I bring this up, because many people who call themselves Christians, are still living after the flesh, they are not subject to Yah's Torah law, which shows that they do not have the spirit of Yahweh living within them. Yet!

These people openly confess that they are not subject to Yahweh's law, therefore proving that Messiah is not living within them, otherwise such would contradict what we have just read in Romans 8.  Since they are not in the spirit, and since they are not subject to the law, which is the truth, then they are making a mockery of the true worship of Yahweh, because He told us that we cannot approach Him except through the spirit and the truth!

Matthew 15:8,9 "This people draws nigh unto me with their mouth, and honors me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.  But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."

There are many people, who are very loving, charitable people.  They may go to their Church three times a week, give to the poor, visit the sick and the imprisoned.  They may have great words of praise for their God and for their Jesus, and a tremendous testimony, yet their heart is still not right with the true Elohim. The Master Yahshua continues to tell us that these people are worshipping Him in vain, but how?  He says that they are teaching for doctrine the commandments of men!

If we turn away from Yahweh's commandments and replace them with man's commandments, our worship of Yahweh is in vain.  It counts as nothing in His sight, no matter how much we would honor Him with the things we say and do.  Again, the only way to approach Yahweh in worship is in spirit and truth.

Well there are many commandments or traditions of men that have been incorporated into the religious world today.  The religion of Christianity teaches them as doctrine and the gospel truth, but as we'll see, they are far from the truth.

2nd Timothy 4:2-4 "Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;........................

There are a great many people who profess and say that the person they call Jesus Christ is their Lord, yet they are not enduring sound doctrine.  I have had some of these people tell me that doctrine is not important.  By so doing they are confessing with their own mouth that they qualify as one of those who will not endure the sound doctrine of the scriptures. 

Doctrine is the foundational teachings upon which we are to base our beliefs through Messiah.  The Apostle Saul exhorts believers, especially ministers, on how to bring forth the Word of Yahweh.  He says to preach it, to be ready to do so at any time, to reprove, to rebuke and with much patience teach SOUND DOCTRINE.

Reprove means to show your disapproval over the lack of obedience and respect to Yahweh and His commandments.  Rebuke means to actually scold an individual because of disobedience.

Sound doctrine is vital for the spiritual Israel the Assembly of Yahweh and the lack of it has allowed Satan to gain much ground in the world and strongly in the religion of Christianity.  Many cannot endure sound doctrine, it's like a hot potato in their hands, they cannot handle it because Yah's ways are the ways of set apartness and those who will not abide in His ways will turn their ears from the truth.

verse 4......."And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables."

Since they reject sound doctrine, they will not listen to the truth.  They will reject the commandments of Yahweh and replace them with their own.  They will not hear the truth, but instead will turn to fables or lies.

Brethren, originally I felt strongly that I was called to preach against the unkodesh days of man.  Most all of man’s holidays are far from being anything kodesh.  They are only cloaked in scriptural sounding terms, names or stories.  And that is what the word holiday means.  It is just the combination of the two words, “holy” and “day.”  But if we would only think about it for a moment, these holy days of mankind and the world are not based upon scripture.  And if we would once again think about it for a moment that anything kodesh must find is basis from the scriptures. 

If there is no basis for a day coined as a kodesh (holy day or holiday) in the scriptures, then we would have to conclude then that it is not of Yahweh, but comes from the mind of mankind as they are influenced by the satan, other fallen angels and demonic entities.  

In much then the same way, we must then conclude as well then that if we find scriptural evidence for a kodesh day in the scriptures, then we must believe then that it is of Yahweh.  That is why the true Assemblies and congregations of Yahweh observe the 7th day Sabbath.  That is why they observe Passover and the days of unleavened bread.  That is why they observe Pentecost.  That is why they observe Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles and the last great day.  Why?  Because they are supported by the scriptures and are commanded of Yahweh to be observed.

Nowhere can we find scriptural support for observing Sunday, Halloween, Christmas, Lent, Valentine’s day, New Year’s day, Good Friday or Easter.  Such days then are traditions of men, incorporated into their religious beliefs by a deceiving spirit.

Leviticus 10:1,2 "And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before Yahweh, which He commanded them not.  And there went out fire from Yahweh, and devoured them, and they died before Yahweh."

When we approach Yahweh in our worship, it must be in the ways that He commanded it to be so.  Nadab and Abihu approached Yahweh in a way that He had not commanded them to do.  They offered up a strange fire before Him, and for this they died.

In our time, if we worship Yahweh in ways that He did not command us to do, that kind of worship is in vain and they are thus spiritually dead in His sight.  They may become dead eternally if they do not repent of such after the Elohim has shown them the truth of the matter and has given them time to change.

There are millions of people who are offering up a strange fire before Yahweh.  They are worshipping Yahweh in ways that He does not command them to do so.  As far as I'm concerned, millions are offering up a strange fire every Sunday, by worshipping Yahweh on a day that He did not set apart. There is no mention of Sunday or the 1st day of the week as a kodesh day, except wherein an annual Sabbath day fell on the 1st day of the week, such as the day of Pentecost.

When mankind rejects the true weekly Sabbath day, which is a commandment of Yahweh, and then turns around and observes a day not commanded by Yahweh, they are offering up strange fire before the Elohim.

They have turned their ears from the truth and have turned to fables.

Another instance wherein man has offered up strange fire is on the false kodesh day the world calls Christmas.  There is probably more hoopla around Christmas than any other time of the year, whether we speak of the Christian Church or the world.  Therefore this is the greatest time of offering strange fire before the Yahweh than any other time of the year.  There is no commandment mentioned in the pages of the scripture about the congregation observing the birth of Messiah or any and all of the other celebrations that are attached to it.  Therefore it is a commandment of men not of Yahweh.  When Christianity tries to worship Yahweh through Christmas, they are offering up strange fire before the Elohim, and such worship is in vain. 

I was once invited to a big feast and party on Christmas eve at work.  This invitation was made out of spite and malice, for my fellow workers knew that I did not observe Christmas.  One of them approached me for not participating, and I openly told them that I was not going to be a part of their idolatrous feast!  So while they were having their feast, I had to go off alone to myself.  Later on while in the midst of making a teaching on the pagan day of Christmas, the Ruach moved me to search out Jeremiah's writings. 

Jeremiah 15:17 "I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of your hand:  for you have filled me with indignation."

When I saw verse 17, I felt the heat of the Kodesh spirit fill my entire being!  Just like Jeremiah, I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced with what they were involved in.  I had to sit alone because of the hand of Yahweh moving me to live obedient and not compromise with such idolatry.  I was filled with the same indignation that Jeremiah was over what my fellow employees were doing. Jeremiah was hot angry, outraged and sorely displeased with what the people were involved in.

This verse was so interesting to me, that I decided to look it up in other translations other than the King James version.  There were other translations that stated words like "I took no part in their MERRY FEASTS!"  I had stated that Christmas is an idolatrous feast day, only masked with scriptural terms and stories in order to seduce people into accepting it as scriptural.  What do you hear this time of the year, but people saying "merry Christmas," or have a merry feast is what they are really saying! 

These merry feasts are translated in the King James version as a mockery in verse 17 of Jeremiah 15, and we just like Jeremiah are not to sit in the midst of an assembly of people who are making a mock of the true worship of Yahweh through Christmas or any other way.  There are times that we may have to sit alone, outside of the assembly of mockers.

If we are to worship Yahweh in spirit and in truth, why is it that so many people spend so much time around December the 25th telling lies?  Why would we tell our children that Messiah was born on December the 25th, when it is very easily proven that He was not?  This is a lie, it is a fable, and people have turned their ears from the truth. But the deity being worshiped as Jesus may very well have been born on December the 25^th. The entity known as Jesus, is just the latest name of sun deities down thru the ages that were said to have been born on or around December the 25^th!

If we are to worship Yahweh in spirit and truth, why would we tell our children that a little fat man in a red suit called Santa Claus comes down out of the sky on the eve of Christmas and leaves gifts and presents under a tree?  This is a lie, and my scriptures tell me that all liars will have their part in the lake of fire.  (Rev. 21:8)

We have all heard the old song describing Santa Claus as having powers that only our Elohim could

have.  And parents tell the children lies every year by saying that Santa knows when they are

sleeping, he knows when they are awake, he knows if they have been bad or good, so be good

for goodness sake!  Brethren that is pure idolatry by giving a fictitious character attributes that

only belong to Yahweh.

The way I look at it is if we tell our children all of these lies, how in the world would they ever believe the Truth about Yahshua from someone who lies to them.  If we are to worship Yahweh through the spirit and truth, why would we tell our children or others that there were three wise men who came to offer up gifts unto baby Yahshua, when there is no mention of three wise men at all?  Why would we tell others that the wise men came to see baby Yahshua in a manger, when it is easily proven that Messiah was almost two years old and living in a house at the time the wise men showed up?

Why is it that people cut down a tree out of the forest and decorate it, and bow down before it and place gifts under it, and yet Yahweh says not to do such a thing?  Why is it that people have learned the way of the heathen, when Yahweh says don't you go and learn the ways the heathen have worshipped their false elohim’s?  These along with many other statements prove that mankind as a whole are not approaching Yahweh in spirit and truth, but through the flesh, through idolatry, and through lies.

The word Christmas actually means "the mass of Christ."  The term comes from the Roman Catholic Church. The Word Christmas is the combination of the two words, "Christ," and "mass."

Now the Christ mass is a celebration of the death of Yahshua, not a celebration of His birth, therefore Christmas really means the death of Messiah rather than His birth.  This is all a part of the satan's plan to deceive the world, and keep mankind and Christianity far from the truth.

The ancient Roman empire was sold out to paganism.  As the Romans conquered other lands they would bring back to Rome any newly found pagan elohim’s and traditions. Most all of paganism centers around the worship of the sun deity as the great giver of life.

Eventually, the Roman empire would begin to be disposed by Christianity, the satan made an incredible move that has forever set the stage even up to our present time.  The satan joined the pagan Church of that day!  The satan and his wicked entourage of demonic cohorts, realized that the most effective way of deceiving the world, would be through religion and especially thru Christianity.

He amalgamated paganism with the newly forming religion of Christianity.  He took pagan customs and candy coated them with scriptural names and stories.  Then he set out to extinguish anyone who would not go along with it.  Very few survived this great purging and inquisitions.  We are now so far down the great ladder of history, that most of our society accept what has been handed down to us without question.  The lies of the past have become the truth of the present age.

The satan took the great pagan statues of Jupiter, and Isis, Juno, Hera, and Athena, Diana, Tammuz and others, and changed their names to Mary, Jesus and Peter, etc.

In ancient times, just after the flood of Noah, the great kingdom of Babylon came into being.  A man by the name of Nimrod mentioned in the scriptures was ruler over this great idolatrous kingdom.  There are many heathen stories about this time period, some of which even contradict each other. 

One story was that Nimrod had a wife who was a satanic witch by the name of Semiramis.  According to this pagan story passed down through the ages, when Nimrod died, Semiramis told their followers that Nimrod's spirit had taken possession of the Sun, and that he had supernaturally impregnated her. 

She gave birth to a boy whom she called Tammuz.  He was the Son of the Sun, and as legend has it, he was born on or around Dec. the 25th.  Suddenly statues were erected all over the kingdom of Semiramis and baby Tammuz.  They became the mother and child, elohim that were worshipped and even down into our time under different names.

Since that time almost every kingdom and nation of the earth has had a mother and child to be worshipped.  In Egypt Semiramis and Tammuz were called Isis and Osiris.  In Asia they went by Cyblele and Deoius.  In Rome they were called Fortuna and Jupiter.  They were Venus and Cupid.  Semiramis was called Diana by the Greeks, and Tammuz was called Bacchus. 

So when pagan Rome was merged with Christianity, they already had their mother and child idols, so the satan just changed their names to the Maddona and child.  The satan took Mary and Jesus and used their names in place of Semiramis and Tammuz.  Semiramis or in and through the other names that she became known as, eventually was worshipped as the queen of heaven mentioned in the Bible.

Jeremiah 7:18  "The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other elohims, that they may provoke me to anger."

Now the queen of heaven is mentioned in other places also, but it is sad to say that many Catholics today, and I've heard them admit to it directly to me, call Mary the queen of heaven.  Little do they know, that they are involved in the worship of a mother goddess, which is idolatry. 

You can look it up on your own, but in Ezekiel 8, you'll find the worship of Tammuz through Sun worship. This has much to do with the true meanings behind Lent and the Easter sun rise services.  These are great abominations to our Elohim.

To go on then with the devils plan, the satan took the Sabbath day and changed it to the day of the sun, Sunday in honor of the sun deity.  He took the birthday of the sun deity, and changed it to the birthday of the Son of Yahweh.  He took these and other pagan customs and wrapped them up in such a beautiful package that the Roman pagans couldn't resist, and with all opposition seemingly stamped out, a great whorish religious entity was born.

That whorish system eventually became what most believe today to be the Roman Catholic Church.  If such is true, then she is a Roman Church, she is a pagan Church, she is offering up strange fire upon the altar of Yahweh, and He calls her a whore!  We know what a whore is physically, but to be a whore spiritually, is always interpreted as a religious institution that is not remaining true to Yahweh, but is in bed with the world.  She is prostituting herself with anyone through which she might profit herself.  She is seductive, deceptive, as she lures her prey into her bed.  She gets them spiritually drunk to the point that they know not that they are involved in false doctrines.

Rev. 17:1-6 "And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come here; I will show unto you the judgment of the great whore that sits upon many waters:  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness:  and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.  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:  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATION OF THE EARTH.  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Yahshua: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration." 

So here we have a great whorish system that John was made able to see.  Verse 2 tells us that this spiritual whore has committed fornication with the kings of the earth.  This religious system has a relationship with the political and economic systems and nations of the earth.

Verse 2 also tells us that this religious whore has made the inhabitants of the earth drunk with the wine of her fornication.  When a person is drunk, they don't know their right from their left.  They cannot make right judgments or decisions.  Eventually they can become blind drunk, to where they are void of all abilities to do anything of a righteous nature.  So it can be spiritually.  This great whore has made the inhabitants of the earth drunk with the wine of her fornication. 

The people are drunk off of her false doctrines, and most are blind drunk.  Unless Yahweh reveals unto them their intoxication, they are so drunk off of these false doctrines from the great whore, that they cannot make right decisions concerning spiritual matters.  They are so intoxicated with the whore's spiritual wine, that they cannot any longer see the error of their way.

In verse 3, we find that this woman or this whore is sitting upon a beast.  This religious system is riding upon this beast, showing us that she is in control of the political, economic and at times even the military systems of the world. 

This whore may very well be the Roman Catholic Church, along with the Masonic religions and the New Age movements for all three of these groups are wrapped up in Babylonian practices as their foundations.  The Roman Catholic Church even calls herself "THE MOTHER CHURCH!"

Verse 5 shows us that this whore is Mystery, Babylon the Great.  She is a religious institution who has merged Christianity with Babylonianish pagan customs.  This is just what the Roman Church has done, yet this merger took place so many years ago, that it is not questioned down in our time.

Notice also there in verse 5, that this whore is the Mother of Harlots.  This great whorish religion has offspring who are harlots just as is the Mother Church.  They are involved in Babylonian customs just as they have seen their mother doing.

According to the Fox book of Martyrs, along with other factual information, there were over 50 million people who were killed by this great Whore.  During that time, there were groups of individuals who began to protest the abominations of the great whore church and her leader.  These groups eventually became known as Protestant. 

So all of a sudden we had the Methodist, the Assembly of God, the Baptist, the Wesleyan, the Christian, the Pentecostal, the Nazarene, and other groups by different names who were eventually born out of protest to the Roman Catholic Church.

Yet if we were to take a look at the history of these groups, we find that they continued in much the same false doctrines as did the Mother Church, especially concerning false set apart days such as Halloween, Christmas, the celebration of the false new year, Valentine’s day, lent, Good Friday, Easter and Sunday keeping.  All of which are pagan, and find their roots in the mystery religion of ancient Babylon.  Therefore they are harlots, just like their whorish mother.  They continue to offer up a strange fire upon the altar of Yahweh, a fire of worship that He does not accept. 

Galatians 5:9 "A little leaven leavens the whole lump."

I have actually had people tell me that they know that the customs surrounding Christmas have pagan roots, yet they say that they are not keeping Christmas for any other reason than for the worship of their Jesus.  Well it is very easily proved that Yahshua was not born anywhere near Dec. the 25th, yet in our Galatians verse we find that a little leaven leavens the whole lump.

Aside from the obvious understanding of what leaven is physically, spiritually leavening is symbolic of false doctrine and hypocrisy.  We could rewrite the Galatian verse by saying that "a little false doctrine makes our entire worship of false."  A little bit of paganism mixed with Christianity makes the whole thing pagan.  A little bit of Babylon mixed with Christianity makes the whole thing become Babylon.  We just simply cannot mix the two systems together, and if we do, then we are in Babylon spiritually, we are a member of the harlot Church, not the one true and living Assembly of Yahweh. Christianity is a pagan religion.

1st Corinthians 10:20-21 "But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to Yahweh:  and I would not that you should have fellowship with devils.  You cannot drink the cup of Yahweh, and the cup of devils:  you cannot be a partaker of the Yahweh’s table and of the table of devils."

This essentially means the same thing as "A little leaven leavens the whole lump," of Gal. 5:9.  You cannot take part in Yah’s ways and at the same time be a partaker of paganism. If we do we then become of the sect of Christianity, a pagan religion.

I suppose that one of the main symbols of Christmas is the evergreen tree.  You may be surprised to find out how many times in the scriptures that a green tree is associated with idol worship.  It doesn’t matter whether this is speaking of a pine or cedar tree or not, but the same custom has still been brought down into the customs of our present day.

Deuteronomy 12:2 "You shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which you shall possess served their elohims, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree."

1st Kings 14:23 "For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree."

2nd Kings 16:4 And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree."

2nd Kings 17:10 "And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree."

2nd Chronicles 28:4 "He sacrificed also and  burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree."

Isaiah 57:5 "Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the cliffs of the rocks?"

Jeremiah 2:20  "For of old time I have broken your yoke, and burst your bands; and you said, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree you wander, playing the harlot."

Jeremiah 3:6 "Yahweh said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done:  She is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the harlot."

Jeremiah 3:13 "Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Yahweh your Elohim, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice, says Yahweh."

Jeremiah 17:2 "While their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills."

Ezekiel 6:13  "Then shall you know that I am Yahweh, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savor to all their idols."

Now in the midst of these verses, you will find that they are a warning for Israel to repent of their idol worship or spiritual harlotry.  It is easily seen that the green tree was an intricate part of idol worship, just as it still is in our day. You will also notice in some of the verses on the green tree, that when Israel was involved in idol worship associated with green trees, that Yahweh calls them harlots.  Didn't we read in Revelation 17 about a whore church and her harlot daughters?  Ancient Israel was spiritually in Babylon, just as this Nation and the Christianity still is today by observing heathen customs.

Jeremiah 10:2-4 "Thus says Yahweh, 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 cuts 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."

Yahweh tells His people, don't you go out here and learn the ways of the heathen!  But just like ancient Israel, most of Yahweh's people today have not obeyed this command.  They have learned the ways of the heathen, and are now in the midst of idolatry, and are so drunk off of the false doctrines of the great whore that they don't even know what they are doing.  No matter what we say to these people they will not be able to see this until Yahweh sobers them up and removes the blinders from their spiritual eyes.

Just prior to Dec. the 25th, we have the shortest day of the year.  To paganism it was one of their most important festivals.  It was the festival dedicated to the death & then the re-birth of the Sun.  This is where we get the mass of Christ and that is from rank Paganism.  As the days began to lengthen the pagans saw a rebirth of their Sun deity.  Christmas is in honor of the birth of the Sun elohim, not the birth of the Son of Yahweh!

I have said it so often that the satan has a counterfeit for practically everything that Yahweh has instituted.  He thus has his false days of worship that man calls holidays that are not based upon the scriptures.  I would suppose that with the exception of Thanksgiving, in actuality man’s religious holidays stand in the face of Yah’s ways.  That are just hidden in scriptural sounding stories to deceive the people into accepting them.

Yahweh says don't you be dismayed as like the heathen with this observance of the Sun and the other heavenly bodies, for the heathen were worshipping the Sun.  Verses 3-4 of Jeremiah 10 goes on to say that it is a vain thing to try and worship Yahweh through the heathen custom of cutting down a tree and decorating it. 

Why is it vain?  It is vain because it is not a proper form of worship as Yahweh has stated worship is to be.  Remember Matthew 15:9 Messiah stated that men would in vain worship Yahweh through the commandments or doctrines of man.

Trees have always been a part of paganism and their worship of nature, especially the evergreen tree.  Since the evergreen tree remains green year round, to the pagan it is a symbol of eternal life.  They would decorate it with little balls representing the Sun who was to them the giver of life.  We still see the same pagan customs taking place in our day, and Yahweh says "learn not the way of the heathen!"

The wreaths, holly and the lights people decorate their houses with this time of the year, the Yule log, and mistletoe all of which are of pagan origins as well and were used in ancient times in the worship of the sun and of nature itself.  They would place candles on the trees and in their homes as an attempt at pacifying the sun to come back to them.  It was much different in ancient times.  They didn’t have the comfort of modern conveniences as we now have.  We have better heating systems and electricity and better built homes. To the ancients, winter was miserable and they longed for their sun el to come back and the days would grow longer and the warmth of the sun would ease their hardships and they could grow their crops again. 

Then there is the question, did Yahshua bring peace on earth? We hear this being said this time of the year, written on greeting cards and so forth.  In Luke 2 there was the angelic declaration of the birth of our Master Yahshua.  And most definitely the Angel declares "Glory to Yahweh in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." 

But in the Master's own words later on after growing up, He tells us that He did not come to bring peace.  Luke 12:51-53 "Suppose you that I am come to give peace on earth?  I tell you, No; but rather division:  For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two and two against three.  The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law."

Yahshua asked, do you think that I'm come to bring peace on earth?  He says no, but rather I'm come to bring divisions in families.  The Truth will divide families and friends.  It will divide because of subjects like Christmas. 

Once you understand the idolatry and error of this pagan day, you should not keep it any longer, and this creates division between you and others who have not had this truth revealed to them yet.  This has in the past, and yet will in the future cause persecution to come upon Yahweh's obedient and faithful people. Yahshua did not come to bring peace on earth.  So did the Angels speak falsely?  Doesn't the scriptures tell us that Yahshua is the prince of peace? 

Isaiah 10:6,7 "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:  and the government shall be upon His shoulder:  and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty El, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and justice from henceforth even for ever.  The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will perform this."

Yahshua was born to rule, but not the first time that He came as a baby in a manger.  About the only picture we receive in our minds of Yahshua this season of the year, is a little helpless baby sucking on His thumb.  Brethren, Yahshua is a member of the Yahweh family, He is Elohim, and He is coming back to this earth as King to rule the nations!

He did not come to bring peace the first time He came.  The Angels were speaking of a time yet in our future, yet it all began when He was born.  For if He wasn't born, He couldn't have grown up to die for our sins, and He couldn't come back one day as the savior of the world.  Messiah will bring peace to earth, no doubt about it, but at this time peace is just an inner experience for those who have the Kodesh Ruach living within them, assuring them of peace to come.

So where are we?  What are we going to do about these heathen customs?

Revelation 18:4  "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues." (This is proof that there many of Yah's people are still in the system of Babylon)

If you are one of Yahweh's people, He commands you to come out of Babylon!  You come out of that whorish system that mixes pagan customs with the ways of Yahweh which creates Christianity.  You come out of her so that you are not a partaker of her sins, for if you don't then you will have to be a partaker of the plagues that are going to be poured out upon the Whore and her harlot daughters!

Christmas has its roots from ancient heathen customs, and Yahweh has plainly told his people not to learn the ways of the heathen, not to observe their customs, and not to merge His ways with heathen ways, for He will not accept that kind of a worship. 

I don’t care what the big time ministries are saying in their big churches or on the television.  They are in error!  That is why I have warned time and time again not to listen to their false teachings.  The satan will give them just enough truth to suck you in.

It has been since about 1986 when I last participated in Christmas.  It was made known to me a number of years prior to that year, but I lived a life of compromise until the weight of evidence was so great that I repented and thank Yahweh that He was patient with me.  My oldest son was only about a year old when we stopped the tradition. My wife says it was a few years later than that, but such is what I remember.

It was quite funny when my children were young, they didn’t know who Santa Claus was.  They only heard the laugh that he made, so they called him HO HO!  They’d say, look daddy, there is HO HO!  Even the name Santa is just the jumbled up letters in the title “satan”.

Yahweh spoke to me one time in the late 1980’s about as close to being out loud as He has ever done unto me.  He told me that I would be judged as a liar without ever having told lie, but by withholding what I knew was the truth.  Since that time I have tried so desperately to tell people what I know to be the truth and not to withhold it.  My desire is that they would come out of Babylon and not have to endure the plagues coming upon that system.  But I tried and tried to warn with little success and since then I have become much more reserved in my attempts once I learned that they just cannot see this truth yet and that I just needed to remain patient and a day will come when they will be ready.  Yahweh will send them my way or to another who knows the truth and then they will be ready to hear.

Proverbs 9:8 “Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate you:  rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.”

I have reproved scorners and made myself some enemies in the past.  It happens.  But if what I have said in this teaching has made you angry with me, then you are a scorner. 

But if you are as the wise man in this verse, and yet you are engaging in the pagan holidays of mankind, or have backslidden back into those ways, then you will love me for giving this strong rebuke to you today.

Messiah said it in Mark chapter 7 that when we do such things, we are making void the commandments of Yahweh, by instead keeping the customs or traditions of mankind.  If this speaks to you or anyone who would come across this message, it is past time to repent and turn back to the ways and standards established by Yahweh our Elohim for His people.

This is a tremendous subject and one in which I would like to write more upon.  But that will just have to wait for another message for another day or year. 

No matter how wonderful Christmas may seem to be, no matter how much the satan candy coats this time of the year with scriptural stories and terminology, Christmas is not one of Yahweh’s Kodesh days, never was, never will be.  Yahshua is just not the reason for the season, although Jesus is.  No matter how much good cheer is spread around in the later part of December, no matter how much charity, and giving is evident, this does not make Christmas kodesh.  No matter how much ridicule we receive from the world and the worldly Churches over not keeping a commandment of man, no matter how many times we hear the songs, the stories, to see the nativity scenes, just remember that the satan is a deceiver, and he is deeply involved in the affairs of the harlot Churches, and the kingdoms of this world.

According to Revelation Chapter 12, the satan has deceived the whole world.  That is everyone, excluding nobody, unless Yahweh has removed the blinders from a person’s eyes that they might see the Truth.

I want to end off this teaching with a very point blank statement made by Yahweh.  Exodus 20:3 "You shall have no other elohims before me."  Says Yahweh.”  Christmas, the Christ Mass is an idolatrous feast.  By engaging in it and other such days of heathen origins you are worshipping false demonic deities.  By laying aside the commandments of Yahweh and replacing them with the commandments and traditions of men, you are also then placing others elohims before the one, true and living Yahweh Elohim.

Brethren it's one thing to come out of Babylon, it is another to remain free from her.  You must

separate yourselves from the unbelievers.  Not to abandon them, for in one place Messiah

said in response to those who were judging Him for spending time with unbelievers:  “……….They

that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous,

but sinners to repentance. Mark 2:16,17  In other words how are the sick (sinners and unbelievers)

going to know the truth if we don’t tell them.  But we are not to spend more time fellowshipping

with them than we do with the faithful followers of Yahweh, for you might find yourself falling back into

their ways.  We are on probation.  Let’s not once again get entangled with the sinful practices of

our past.  Let’s not go back and learn the ways of the heathen.  Let’s keep Yah’s commandments and

stay away from the traditions of men.

Is Christmas Christian?  I will leave you with that question to ponder.

The Old Paths Restoration Ministry

PO Box 247

Marengo, IN 47140

www.theoldpaths.net