Truth Seekers Ministries presents…
The Saturnalia, or what we call Christmas
Before I start this letter, you the reader need to know something. This letter is not about Christmas bashing. I’ll have a Christmas tree in my home this year as I have had every year in the past. I’ll give gifts and maybe even get one or two. What this letter is about, is the truth, and God surely would have you seek the truth about a matter, right? I imagine, that the majority of Christians have no idea where the Christmas traditions originated, nor when they were adopted by the church. This letter expounds on these aspects, including the origins of the Saturnalia and many other church traditions, as well as giving you the truth about what should be recognized and observed by Christians. If you will bear with me through this study, keeping an open mind, you should come out of it with a clearer understanding of God’s Word, and the origin of many of the traditions in the world today, that truly make void God’s Word. The resources I’ll be using in this letter, are the Scriptures, Jasher and Enoch from the Apocryphal works, and Alexander Hislop’s book, “The Two Babylon’s”, which you can get for free on my downloads page.
The “Saturnalia”, is an ancient Roman festival, that is held from December 17-23. This festival can be dated back to 497 BC when the temple was dedicated to Saturn in the Roman Forum. It was initially only a one day celebration on the 17th. The holiday festival eventually evolved away from the Roman traditions, to a more Greco-Roman festival after the Roman defeat at Carthage in 217 BC. New ideas that became incorporated into the celebration, even included human sacrifices to appease the gods. The human sacrifices eventually evolved into the giving of pottery or wax figurines called, “sigillaria” to each other, substituting these figurines for the sacrificial victims of the earlier celebrations. Siglillaria, is also a proper noun, that signifies the last day of the festival, on December 23rd, which was the day of gift giving. It was a festival dedicated to the worship of their deity, Saturn. The god Saturn, has dualistic and contradictory aspects attributed to him, denoting both a utopian, carefree, and joyous nature, along side uneasy elements of danger and destruction. This was a joyous festival to the renewing of life, slaves were treated as equals, even masters, and they were allowed to dine with their masters. The partiers would wear bright colors during this time, and they would even don caps, called “Pileus”, which were brimless, made of felt, and are very similar to the Santa clause hats we see today. This was a time of revelry, drinking, debauchery, orgies, and an overall good will towards others. It was also a time of candle burning and offering incense to gods. This is very much like the celebrations, lights and fragrances in use during the Christmas season today. Eventually the festival became a celebration covering the whole month of December, not only celebrating Saturn, but including the winter solstice on December 25th, the birth of the sun god. They also went out into the woods, and cut down evergreens and nailed braces to the bottom so the trees would stand up. They then decorated the trees with gold and silver. This symbolized the evergreens constant renewing nature and their hopes for a productive new year. It also symbolizes the death and resurrection of their god. Here are the scriptures that prove that this “Christmas tree” idea, was going on long before Jesus came to earth.
Judges 3:7;And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgat the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves.
Judges 6:25-26;And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, “Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it: And build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon his s rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down…”
Jeremiah, Chapter 10. “Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel. Thus sayeth the Lord. Learn not the ways of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven: for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workmen, with the ax. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne (carried) because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good”
Gideon was ordered to cut down the “Groves”, and to use the wood from them to sacrifice unto the Lord. Many preachers have equated these as wooden idols, however they were most certainly not idols as we think of them. They were trees that were used in the winter festival of worship to Baal. Normal idols have stands, or bases and are built to stand on their own. Gideon wouldn’t have to “cut down” groves of these type of idols, just pick them up and throw them into the fire. He would however have to cut down the trees that were used by the heathen to signify the death and the resurrection of Baal, They would cut the trees down, and by nailing on boards that would hold them upright, and decking them out with silver and gold, the death and resurrection of Baal is signified.
And, in Jeremiah’s day, this winter festival and its pagan god worship, was being kept by the heathen, and we are warned by Jeremiah to not do such things, nor are we to worry or fear them or those that practiced such. What you need to know though, is that this pagan feast and it’s traditions, is not the beginning, only a fairly recent celebration, derived from this winter solstice festival and all that it embodies. For the whole story, you need to go back to the beginning.
For Christians, the belief in miracles, or miraculous events, should be taken as literally as your next breath. For if Jesus did come out of that tomb, piercing that rock, defying all laws of physics and biology, molecular displacement being child’s play to Him, then miracles are to be taken for granted. Angelic beings are real living entities with bodies, emotions, goals, and lots of what we humans would call miraculous abilities. Satan, and his minions, both fallen angels, and demons, (who I believe, are the disembodied spirits of what were the evil giants that existed long ago), are in fact literal beings with powers far above any human. If you claim to be a Christian and you don’t believe in miracles and angels and evil beings or even maybe GOD Himself, then why do you bother. Christianity is full of events, both pre and post incarnation of Christ, that indicate that these beings and their abilities are to be taken for granted. You can’t pick and choose what you desire to believe, and throw out the rest, ignoring the truth of the existence of these beings.
Lucifer ruled on this earth before he fell, and long before God created Adam. Jeremiah sees a past tense earth, with no Adam, yet there were cities. The term “Cities” actually means “Meeting Places of Intelligent Beings”. This world became “Without form and void”, or literally “Waste and Desolate”, after this time. This occurs between Genesis 1:1, the original creation, and Genesis 1:2 where God started the re-creation process. When Adam was placed in the garden, Lucifer had long ago fallen and taken the third of heavens angels with him. Satan, having lost his earthly dominion, because God gave it then to Adam, sought right away to get Adam to distrust what God had said, and working through the serpent, caused Eve to tempt Adam and they sinned against the Lord. Adam then lost the Dominion he had been given over the world, to Satan, who is now the Prince of the Power of the Air, and true ruler of the men and nations of this world. They can only do what God allows, but all true Christians, will be in the center of, and in fact the object of the Spiritual Warfare that is going on right now in the air about us.
Just after the fall of Adam and Eve, when Satan heard the promise that God made, his obsession with thwarting that plan began. All mankind , from this point on, began being oppressed by Satan, and we have been looking forward to this promise’s fulfillment ever since. Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Here is the promise by God of the coming redeemer, He that would come to save mankind from the clutches of Satan, finally destroying him, and bring mankind back into God’s grace and mercy. After this promise, Satan started doing everything he could to thwart God’s plan. Lucifer knew of God’s plan of Salvation, and also knew of that Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. And, he will not stop causing death, destruction, disharmony, and distrust for God’s Word, until He, who has the right to rule and reign, returns and locks that great red dragon up.
Before the flood, Satan, knowing full well of the promised redeemer that would one day save mankind and destroy himself, sent some of his angels to earth to mate with the women of earth. This evil union created giants on the earth, evil beings bent on destruction. These beings consumed so much that it became impossible to feed them, and they even started eating the humans that were alive during that time. That is why God had to destroy the earth with a flood. Satan’s plan was designed to so pervert the lineage of that “seed of woman”, however God preserved for himself one “Righteous” man who had not forsook the true Lord. After the destruction of the world in the flood, including the killing off of these “giants”, Satan, probably working through the cursed line of Ham, caused more angels to again mate with women, desecrating the bloodline of men, creating smaller giants this time, albeit giants, and as evil as before. Israel, under David, finally killed off the last of those brutes, and still the bloodline of Christ remained pure.
Before the flood, God, through the lineage of Seth, had given names to the stars and constellations of the heavens. The meaning of the names, would preserve the message of the coming redeemer. After the flood, Satan would corrupt that perfect message in the stars, with astrology and the worship of the very images of the constellations. People began worshipping the “Creature” rather than the “Creator”. Enoch, who may have been responsible for naming the stars, although Adam may have named them, was also assigned the task of designing, if not himself creating, certain monuments on the earth. They are designed not only to preserve the knowledge of the universe, but to also prophetically point to a coming redeemer. God wanted to display to the world, that same message promised to us by God from the beginning, the “Coming Redeemer”. One monument I am talking about, is the Great Pyramid. It is certainly designed by, and possibly constructed by Enoch. Jesus physical birth date and his spiritual birth date, via the resurrection, are central in the focus of the designer. These dates, along with many other confirmed historical dates, are perfectly placed within and displayed within the timeline of history that is laid out along the passageways of the Great Pyramid. The ancient Egyptians even called it the “Pillar of Enoch” in their writings. His signature (per se) is all over it. Nowadays, just because of the Egyptologists claim that Cheops built it according to a “cartouche” or kings signature painted on one of the walls above the kings chamber, and because of some people setting dates for the Lords return that didn’t come to pass, people have turned off on this, and don’t want to even look at this amazing edifice and the truths contained within. Just because Satan decides to enter into a truth and either create a substitute, or by distorting a truth just a little, to change the whole meaning, this shouldn’t cause people to, “Throw out the baby with the Bath Water”. Cheops signature was put there by Col. Howard Vyse. His discovery, by the error in how he transcribed it, confirms it’s forgery. Stonehenge, is another monument built long ago, for the same purpose as the Great Pyramid, that is, pointing to the Christ of God that would come to save mankind. Satan took this over as well, with the druidic worship and sacrifices, and people are afraid to look into these kind of subjects for fear of exposing themselves to the evil that is surely being purveyed by these pagan practices.
Now to Babylon. The mystery religions of Babylon, and the worship of the mother goddess of Babylon began like this. Satan had just been delivered a huge blow when the flood of Noah occurred. His evil beings, working on earth were wiped out, and the angels that followed Satan and mated with the women of the world, were all locked up by God. He still had many other angels though, and since his giants were killed off, he is stuck with the spirits of these evil beings. These spirits are most likely where, what we call, demons come from. Satan started working again, this time he knew that the “Bloodline” of the Savior was had to be perpetuated through one of Noah’s sons. Since, Ham had been cursed, Satan found that chink in the armor, and a new way in. He not only sent more angels to mate with women, to create more giants, he also sees yet another way to get the people to distrust God and His Word. He started working through the cursed seed of Ham, through Cush and Nimrod who was Cush’s son. Nimrod was called “the Great Hunter”, because he had been given the animal skin clothes that God had made for Adam and Eve, which by the way allowed Noah to work with the animals. These also made the animals submit to Nimrod. These clothes were taken by Ham from his father Noah, and they were then passed along to his sons. At some point Nimrod had married a wife, named Semiramus. Satan tempts Nimrod, causing him to build the tower of Babel. This tower was built to exalt man, dethrone God, and to “Flip the bird” to God’s previous destruction by water. I guess they figured that if they built a tower tall enough, then the floods wouldn’t be able to destroy it. They totally underestimated God though.
One thing you need to know if you are to research these things, is that the classical historians call Nimrod by another name, Ninus. In the canonized scriptures, you find little mention of Nimrod, but the same man is called Asher, and both their histories and accomplishments prove that they are one and the same person. Just as Semiramus is called by many names throughout the world, so Nimrod was called by different names by different peoples.
Now Semiramus, Nimrod’s wife, had ambitions of power herself. After Nimrod’s death, and long enough for a pregnancy to not have been his, she became pregnant. Then she devised a lie, to cover up her indiscretion. She told the story that a “Sun Beam” had impregnated her, and her new child was the incarnation of Nimrod himself. Her son Tammuz became then, Nimrod incarnate, and this “Mother goddess/child-god” worship became prevalent and was to soon be taken across the world as Satan’s substitute for God’s Messiah. At a later time, another lie was conceived where Semiramus herself was conceived miraculously. (See my Easter/Passover letter for details on that) At another later date, this lie was conceived. Tammuz, who had grown to adulthood, was killed by a wild boar. Semiramus lamented and mourned for him for 40 days, and after that time her son was miraculously resurrected from the dead. This last lie of hers, and the ones previously told, eventually went world wide, and although nations would call her and her son by different names, they are none other than this same Semiramus and Tammuz. Semiramus’ pregnancy and her son’s resurrection was celebrated on Easter, at the feast of Ishtar, and her son’s birth was celebrated at the winter solstice on December 25th. They have even found monuments in Babylon dedicated to this “Madonna and Child” the “Queen of Heaven”. Next, I will give you a listing of some of the names that different cultures used for their gods but were inspired and taken directly from Semiramus and her husband/son.
In Egypt, she is known as Isis, and her son is Osiris or Horus.
In Assyria, she is known as Ishtar, and her son is Tammuz.
In Phoenicia, she is known as Ashtoreth or Astarte, and her son is Baal.
In Greece, she is known as Aphrodite, and her son is Eros.
In Rome, she is known as Venus or Fortuna, and her son is Jupiter or Cupid.
In India, she is Isi or Iswara or Devaki or Andronie, and her son is Krishna.
In Asia, she is Cebele and her son is Deoius.
In China, she is known as Shing-Moo or Kuanyin.
The Germans knew her as Hertha the fertility Goddess.
The Scandinavians know her as Zisa or Freyja.
The Etruscans know her as Nortia or Nurtia.
To the Druids, she is Virgo.
The Grecians call her Ceres, or Irene, and the son is Plutus.
The Sumerians call her Nana.
In Ephesus, she is Diana.
In addition to Semiramus, the Babylonians also call her Ishtar and Aphrodite.
In most of the cases above, this Goddess and her husband/son are both conceived miraculously, and her son is also miraculously resurrected. She is worshipped as the Holy Mother and Child, the Mother Goddess and Child, the Mother of God, and the Queen of Heaven. Even in Mexico they have found a religious pagan monument with a female nursing a child. All over the world the story is the same. After the destruction of the tower of Babel, as the nations dispersed, these people took with them, the memories of this Mother Goddess and Son worship. And although their languages were changed, the overall story is intact. For centuries before the Christ came into the world, this Mother Goddess and Son were worshipped around the world. The Feast of Ishtar, or Easter, and the winter solstice festival, the Saturnalia, was being practiced by most of the world when Jesus was born in flesh.
Next, I will go into other traditions of these pagans, that were brought into the church world, and incorporated into the church worship. This part of the letter may hurt the feelings somewhat of some Christians, and for that I do apologize. It is not my desire to come against the faith of Christians, or to be seen as some kind of stumbling block to them. What my desire is, is for people to know and search for truth, and to prove that God’s Word is truly God’s Word, and that it will stand the test of time and any advancement in knowledge and research, which reveals to us the truth. God certainly wants us to seek what is true and just, right?
Satan was already working his wiles in the children of Israel before the Church came into existence. Judges 2:11-13 – And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim; And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them and provoked the Lord to anger. And they forsook the Lord and servec Baal and Ashtaroth. This same Ashtaroth, is the same goddess as Ishtar, and Semiramus. The Israelites knew her as the “Queen of Heaven”. This Baal, is truly Nimrod, reincarnated in his son Tammuz.
In Jeremiah 44, God warns Israel about following other gods, and burning incense to them, telling them that he can cut them off as well. Then in verse 15 comes the reply from Israel. Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and …16: As for the word that thou has spoken, we will not hearken unto thee. 17 but we will certainly do whatsoever thing that goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the “Queen of Heaven”, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done…19 And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her “cakes” to worship her… Now this word “Cakes” that they baked, literally means, “Little Barley Cakes”. they were made small, round and flat, and they represented the sun, or their Sun God, Nimrod, Tammuz or Baal. They are in fact how we get the term, “Mass”, which comes from “Massa”, which are these same little round wafers that these women baked and ate as a worship service to their sun god. When Jesus instituted the Holy Communion at the Passover feast, He broke the bread. He didn’t pass out these cakes. The church adopted this ritual into their worship. When Jesus took the bread and broke it, and he took the wine, and He equated them to his own body and blood, He hadn’t been sacrificed yet. His blood was still flowing in His veins, and his body not yet broken. He was using them as symbols, that we should thereby recognize the sacrifice He was to make. Our focus should be on Him and him alone, not our shortcomings. The minute we start looking onto ourselves to see if we somehow measure up, then we are partaking in an unworthily manner. We are not to suppose that these elements are, or somehow become, his literal body and blood. We are not cannibals, which by the way comes from “Cani-Baal” meaning Priest of Baal. The heathen believed in this “Transubstantiation”, or the belief that they were consuming the literal body and blood of their god. This idea was not included in the earliest church, but this too was eventually adopted into it.
When the earliest missionaries were sent out into the world, they were astonished at the times that the “Mother and Son” worship was already being kept by these heathen, they thought it miraculous, and then to get the heathen to convert, they told the heathen, that the fulfillment of their heathen practices, were to be found in the mother Mary and in her son, Jesus. The church oftentimes takes heathen customs and practices and makes them palatable unto Christians. There is nothing in scripture that indicates that the worship of Mary should ever be considered alongside of Jesus worship. Jesus didn’t lift up Mary in any way. Mary and Jesus’ brothers sought Jesus one day to “lay hands on him” for they thought him insane. Jesus said, “Who is my mother, brothers….but those that do the will of the father..” In no instance do you find that the early church ever considered either the birth of Jesus, or the “Mother and Child” relationship, as important aspects of Jesus to be included in Church worship.
Before the 3rd century, “Christmas” was by and large unheard of, but Tertullian, in 230 AD lamented of the inconsistencies of the disciples for incorporating pagan traditions into their practices, while the pagans were keeping their festivals pure. He writes, “By us..who are strangers to Sabbaths, and new moons, and festivals once acceptable to God; The Saturnalia, the feasts of January…gifts are carried to and fro, new years day presents are made with din and sports and banquets are celebrated with uproar. O, how much more faithful are the heathen to their religion, who take special care to adopt no solemnity from the Christians. Upright men strove to stem the tide, but in spite of their efforts, the apostasy went on until the church, with the exception of a small remnant, was submerged under pagan superstitions”
Between the 3rd and 4th centuries, the church started allowing pagans to worship the “Mother Goddess”, and decided to incorporate this into the church practices, calling Mary, this “Queen of Heaven”, which brought more and more pagans into the church. In the 4th century, Constantine started allowing this practice. By the 4th century, Christmas was being observed, and in the 5th century Christmas was adopted into the Roman Church through Constantine. After Constantine proclaimed Christianity to be the state religion, came a great infiltration, of the conglomeration of world religions, into Christianity. In Pergamus, the Pontiff Maximus had the power of the Babylonian cults, transferred to the Roman head, and caused the “Sacrifice of the Virgins”, in the remembrance of the “Mother and Son”.
In 431 AD, and the Council at Ephesus, the city of the Pagan mother Diana, Mary worship became an official doctrine of the Catholic church. Then, progressively, all the titles of the pagan goddesses became tied into Mary worship. The term Madonna, that is used by the church as a title for Mary, originated in Babylon. The term Baal, means “Male”, and the term “Beltis” means female. In English she is “Baalti” meaning “My Lady”. In the Latin the word is, “Mea-Domina”, and the Italian has her then as “Madonna”. The Babylon “Queen of Heaven” is known also as the “Mediatrix”, and now the church has our prayers going through her to get to Jesus. Mary is not and was never to be considered a mediator. There is but one mediator between God and man, and that is Christ Jesus.
Mary’s Immaculate conception was devised by the church to make Mary appear more like the goddess’s of the pagans. Mary is only the mother of Jesus in his humanity. She was not miraculously conceived herself, she couldn’t be. Jesus had to be born of a natural woman to fulfill the law of the “Kinsman Redeemer”. You will sometimes see Mary with 12 stars around her head. This is straight from the worship of Isis. Statues of Isis in existence, along with new ones made, became idols of Mary. We are not to have such idols. Mary’s perpetual virginity was adopted into the church in 451 AD. This idea is in no way confirmed by scripture. In fact, scripture indicates that she had other sons and daughters with Joseph after Jesus birth. There would have been 7 or 8 total children of Mary, with Jesus himself the only one that was conceived miraculously.
Mary’s Assumption, meaning that she bodily ascended into heaven just like her son, was proclaimed by Pope Pius XII as true, and she was to be crowned, “Queen of Heaven”, and seated on her own throne at the right hand of Jesus. Scripture is silent in this regards. There is no indication anywhere that Mary ascended into heaven bodily. Just another pagan add on to the church doctrine. The Rosary, is another pagan tradition that is prevalent in the customs lf many ancient peoples. By 800 BC, Rosaries were in use in the worship of Astarte. Vishnu’s worship had rosaries of 105 beads. The same is true in India, Tibet, Japan, and even Mexico. In Rome, the women wore necklaces, or rosaries. The word “Necklace” means “Rememberancer”. Neither Jesus nor his disciples taught us to pray many prayers, or to count prayers in any manner. Jesus told us that “When ye pray..” that we are not to, “repeat prayers like the heathen do”. The Babylonian system of gods evolved into some 5000 gods, Romans incorporated this multi-god worship, and the Roman church evolved this into “Saint Worship”, which is prevalent today in the Catholic church, but is no where supported by scripture.
The Pagans worshipped the mother, as much as, or more so than they did the son. In Catholicism, there are nine times more “Hail Mary’s” said than the “Lords Prayer”. Jesus taught us how to pray, and our prayers are not to be directed to His mother. Jesus is the way, the truth and the light, and there is no indication that Mary should be exalted in any manner. There is a Catholic tradition that states that if you take “Mass” the 1st Friday of every month for 9 months, that upon your death, Mary will personally take you to her son, and because it is presumed that she is more gracious and merciful than Jesus, it is said that she would just show her son the breast that nursed him, and he would be persuaded to answer her prayers. These traditions are directly derived from pagan roots and are not supported by scripture. August 15th, the date of the “Assumption of Mary” was taken directly from the festivals of Isis or Diana, and directly comes from the worship of Semiramus.
Back to Christmas now. Ezekiel, sees women of Israel crying over Tammuz behind closed doors. This same ritual was taken from Semiramus, lamenting for 40 days over her son’s death, and after that time he was miraculously raised from the dead. Our holiday, “Lent” comes directly from this practice of mourning the death of Tammuz. It has no true place in Christianity. December 25th represents the birth of Tammuz. I have written about Easter or Ishtar, representing Semiramus’ son’s resurrection, along with her own miraculous conception being hatched from a giant egg that came down from heaven. Christmas trees, contrary to popular belief, did not come from Germany. They are straight from the traditions of Semiramus, in the death and resurrection of her son Tammuz. In Egypt they used Palm trees, and in Rome they used Fir trees.
Yule day, and the Yule log, are traditions also taken from this pagan worship. Yule, means, “Infant”, so Yule day means “Childs day”, which occurred on December 25th, and “Mother’s Eve or Night” was observed on the 24th of December. The Yule log, represents both Nimrod and his son Tammuz, who were cut down in death but were miraculously resurrected. The ancient peoples would take infants, and throw them into the fire, as a sacrifice to their sun god and his rebirth. This practice evolved into throwing the Yule log into the fire, which in the morning was transformed into the live Christmas tree. This was soon incorporated into Christendom thereafter. The Yule cakes and the Christmas Goose, also taken from Babylonian worship of their messiah. In Egypt, the favorite offering of Osiris, was the goose. It had to be eaten in the depth of winter. In Rome, it was said that if Osiris was offended, that he could only be appeased by the gift of a large goose. Christians used to light candles on Christmas eve, which evolved into the amazing light displays that we have today. This practice was originally kept by the pagans, where they lit wax candles on mothers eve.
In the 6th century, missionaries were sent out to bring more pagans into the church. They found that some people were already worshipping on the 24th of June. The heathen would build ceremonial fires unto Baal, the sun god. Since the 25th of December was already in use, and they saw that approximately 6 months were between these two dates. They also knew by scripture that John the Baptist was born 6 months before Jesus was. So they stamped John’s birthday onto this date and then the St’ John’s Fires, and his erroneously conceived birth date, began being implemented into church doctrine as well. Jeremiah Ch. 32:35, and Ezekiel 20:31, sees these heathen “passing through the fires of Molech”.
Time and time again, the current traditions of the church are derived from pagan roots. It was a common practice in the church, to relate church events to the pagan dates that were already being kept by the heathen, with no scriptural support for them to do such things.
ALRIGHT I get it…”Now what”, or you may even say, “So What?” Well, if you have stayed with me this far, then you probably get the fact that our current Christmas celebration, along with many other church traditions, come from pagan roots. So when was Jesus really born? What is the truth? Can we even know when it was? The fact, is that we can know almost precisely when Jesus was born. Why does it matter? As far as the Christmas traditions that we all have grown up with, I personally don’t see a problem with celebrating someone’s birthday, on a day that is not their birthday, and as long as we see it as that and don’t teach that it is the actual date of the birth of Christ, but only a more convenient time to celebrate it, you can do so. What should be done by Christians, is to celebrate Christmas just as a holiday, a winter festival knowing that the days are now getting longer and spring is on the way. Leave Jesus out of it, for He was truly never in it. Celebrate Jesus at all times of the year. There is no evidence that the church for the first couple of centuries ever even thought about the birth of our Lord, the Resurrection was what was important.
So, when you begin to teach with conviction that the Christmas story is true, or maybe you just imply that the Christmas traditions are true, then you risk causing your children great harm. Kids are getting smarter these days, and yes, your child may only be heartbroken, to find out that Santa clause or the Easter bunny are not real, and they may still believe what you say about Jesus. The problem lies when these kids grow up, and either go to college or do some research on their own, and they will find out the truth about Jesus, and about these traditions of the church and where they originally came from. Then, since you have been lying to them all their lives, why should they believe what you tell them about Jesus. They could very well turn off on the whole idea of Jesus, the need of a savior, or any other biblical truths that are so necessary and beneficial to the world today. Teach your children the difference between the truth and fiction, and they will not so soon depart from the faith that you wish to instill in them. You are responsible for giving your faith to your children. Don’t make it the responsibility of the local churches, who may or may not be teaching them truth.
Now getting down to business, first of all, the current 4BC assumption of Jesus birth year, was derived from an erroneous interpretation of what Josephus wrote, concerning an eclipse. Tertullian writes that Augustus Caesar began to rule 41 years before the birth of Jesus, and his death was 15 years after. Since he died on August 19th, 14AD, Jesus birth had to be in 2BC. Irenaeus says that Jesus was born 28 years after the death of Cleopatra. Since she died in 30 BC, that equals to 2BC as the year of our Lords birth. He also states that Jesus was born in the “Autumn, of the 41st year of the reign of Augustus. Since that reign began in 43BC, that means that Jesus birth had to be in the Autumn of 2BC.
Getting to the biblical proofs now. First, we know for sure that it would be too cold for the shepherds to be out in the fields, with their flocks, at nighttime in late December. Towards the end of October would be the latest that they would be out in the fields during the night. We know for a fact by scripture that John the Baptist was born about 6 months before Jesus. We also know, that Zacharias was serving in the temple when the announcement of John’s conception came to him by the angel. Since the “Courses of the priests” were kept on a strict schedule, and we can know that Zacharias had served in the temple during the 8th priestly course, in the course of Abia. We also can know that the Temple was destroyed on August 5th of 70 AD, and the 1st “Course” had just completed, you can then count back in time, and know for a fact that Zacharias service in the temple ended on the week of July 13 of 3BC. Now, if Zechariah had decided to sleep with his wife sometime before his service began, then Johns conception happened just before the week of his service. If he waited until after his service to sleep with his wife, then it happened just after. Since the angel told Zacharias that he would have a son, and that the shock of him being mute, he probably didn’t go right home and say to Elizabeth, “lets make a baby”. I feel that the pregnancy had probably happened before his service. This means that John the Baptist was born at the end of March to the beginning of April of 2BC. Six months later you come to the end of September to the beginning of October of 2 BC as the time of Jesus birth.
We know that the Romans were causing everyone to be taxed. And the Romans were smart enough to know that every year, Israel came to Jerusalem to keep three yearly feasts. They came for the Feast of Trumpets, the Feast of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. All three feasts occurred during the fall of the year, and knowing this, Rome would have used what the people were doing anyway, to claim their taxes from as many people as possible. They would have chosen the first of these feasts to begin their taxation, getting as many as possible by the end of the third feast.
Paul tells us that all of the old testament feasts were types and shadows pointing to the substance which is Christ. God always uses these feasts, the term meaning, “Set Times”, in His dealings with Israel. In type, the Feast of Trumpets represents Jesus birth. Israel always blew two silver shofar horns during this feast. Silver always means redemption in God’s Word. The first silver trumpet represents Jesus being born into the world to redeem mankind of their sins. The second one represents the day that He will come and redeem the true church, His body, out of this world and back unto himself. If you use the parenthetical type, of the secret of the church, that was the mystery to be revealed, all of the Feasts of the Lord were completed in order and on the date of the feast by our Lord.
Passover; Jesus is that Passover Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. He fulfilled this on the exact date of Passover.
Unleavened Bread: Jesus is our unleavened bread, and this was fulfilled exactly during this feast, as Jesus lay in the tomb.
Firstfruits: Jesus is the Firstfruits of the resurrection, being the first to raise from the dead. This was fulfilled on the exact date of the feast.
Pentecost: Jesus sent to us our comforter, the Holy Spirit. This occurred exactly on the date of the feast.
Trumpets: Of course, representing Jesus birth, however the second trumpet probably represents the rapture of the church which will again be fulfilled on the exact feast day,
Atonement: Partially fulfilled by Jesus as He atones for the sins of the world. This will most likely be completed when Israel finally gets it and “Sees He whom they have pierced”. This will be fulfilled during the Great Tribulation.
Tabernacles: This feast, partially fulfilled by Jesus, as he “Tabernacled among men”, will be totally fulfilled when Jesus forces the nations of the world to come to Jerusalem once a year and keep this feast during the millennial reign of our Lord.
The Sabbath, also considered a feast day, or “Set time”, was also fulfilled by Jesus as He walked in faith, leaning on God, and rested in the fact that as He laid down His own life, that God would raise him back up. Paul states that there remaineth as Sabbath unto us. This is not a particular day to Christians, but represents a “state of being”. A constant “Sabbathing state”, which is our daily walk of faith, leaning on God, keeping ourselves “In Christ”, and daily resting in the assurance of our salvation and our Lords ability to see us through.
God has been telling mankind of the coming Redeemer since the beginning. He wrote the same message in the stars, He put the message of the redeemer in Stonehenge and in the Great Pyramid. And, he played out his message in an oracle people, through their everyday life and in their religious feasts, and then God sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to accomplish a feat that no other being before or after Him could ever even come close to accomplishing. The Great Pyramid, places Jesus birth date at, September 29, 2BC, and I believe that to be the most accurate date anyone will ever find of our Lords birth.
God’s Word will stand the test of time, and will prevail over all. Despite all of Satan’s efforts, God has preserved the truth. What causes confusion and unbelief, is when we take our traditions that make void God’s Word, and hang on to them as truth. Keep seeking truth in everything, and you will find that everything in God’s Word will be confirmed. We may have to re-read what the scripture says in light of truth, but God’s Word will never fail us.
Keep the upward look, for our redemption surely draweth nigh.
09-14-2012
With Love in Christ,
Patrick Robinson, Minister
Truth Seekers Ministries