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The Mystery of Christmas by Norm Franz
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Scripture teaches that there are ultimately only two cities in the earth - the city of Jerusalem (Rev. 21) and the city of Babylon (Rev. 18:21). Jerusalem is the city of God that is fashioned after the very image of Jesus. Babylon, on the other hand, is the city of Satan that is fashioned after the image of Lucifer. This Babylon is
not a physical city, nation or any other geographic place, but a world system
that John describes as a demonic blend of financial, political and religious
mysteries (Rev. 17 and 18). The financial mystery is the world's debt based
paper money and investment system that is built upon the dishonest scales of
Fractional Reserve Banking. The political mystery is the one world government
that is being formed in the inner chambers of the United Nations. Both of these
are relatively easy to identify, but the religious mysteries (teachings and
ritual) are more difficult to extract. The religious mysteries of the end time city of Babylon can only be found within the religious doctrines of ancient Babylon. These mysteries were kept by the Chaldean priests and consist of twisted tales of ancient folklore, cloaked in superstition and black magic. These mysteries have evolved from generation to generation down to this very day. They not only continue to exist at the heart of today's world system, but they are emerging as the Bible's end time "Mystery Babylon" (Rev. 17:5,7). Nimrod and Semiramis Few, however, are
familiar with Semiramis, who, according to the mysteries, was both Nimrod's
wife and mother. The mysteries point to Semiramis as the one most instrumental
in producing and promulgating most of the ancient folklore and mystic rituals
surrounding the religion of Babylon. For example, after Nimrod's death, she
deified him so that all Babylon worshipped him as God. In fact, he was known
as the "God of Gods" - i.e., the god of nature/creation, the sun god,
god of the harvest, god of the netherworld/dead, etc. Semiramis also
deified Nimrod as "...a mighty hunter..." (Gen. 10:8-9) in
the zodiac sign of Sagittarius in the constellation of Orion.1
It is also important to note that Sagittarius is a centaur (half man and half
horse), which further enhanced Nimrod's godhood over nature. This perverse intermingling
of man and beast is where the new age religions derive their "god force"
from. These mysteries have evolved throughout the centuries and continue to
live on, in one form or another, in most religions of today - including many
man-made Christian doctrines. One mystery fashioned
by Semiramis, that has evolved into one of todays most popular of contemporary
idols, even capturing much of the church, is that of sun worship. As stated
earlier, Nimrod became the first sun god in a long line of sun gods, such as
Adonis, Baal, Tammuz, Surya, etc. Their rituals and their symbols go as follows:
The sun was a favorite
object in the Babylonian system of worship, and was referred to as God incarnate.2
However, the story of Nimrod and all the successive sun gods is that they were
attacked and killed in a very gruesome and violent manner. Some mysteries even
teach that Nimrod was hacked to death by his grandfather Ham, and Adonis was
torn apart by a wild boar.3 This story of death
is played out where Nimrod, the god of nature, was symbolized by a great tree.
But having been cut down and killed in his prime, he was now symbolized as a
branchless tree stump, called the Yule Log. Then the great serpent (Aesculapius)
- a symbol of nature and life restored in Babylon, but a symbol of Satan
in Christianity - came and wrapped itself around Nimrod (the stump). Miraculously,
a new tree appeared at the side of the stump which symbolized Nimrod's resurrection
and victory over death. This mystery is portrayed on an ancient Ephesian coin4
and serves as a perverted counterfeit of the death and resurrection of Messiah
Jesus. This actually appears to be the beginning of tree or creation worship in general and has became commonplace among most pagan religions today (Rom. 1:21-32). In Egypt they worshipped Nimrod as a palm tree,5 referring to him as the pagan Messiah Baal-Tamar. Among the most ancient Baals, he was known as Baal-Bereth, "Lord of the fir-tree." He evolved into Baal-Berith, "Lord of the Covenant," when apostate Israel worshipped him in place of Jehovah, who is the only true "Lord of the Covenant." This modification extended into pre-Christian Rome, were they also worshiped the fir tree, referring to him as Baal-Berith.6 The Christmas
Mystery All of this activity
around the Yule Log gave birth to the Babylonian festival called Yule Day,
which is Chaldean for Infant Day. They set the time for this festival
during the winter solstice, because that was when the sun hits its lowest point
(symbolizing death), and then begins to rise toward spring (symbolizing resurrection).
They established the evening of December 24th as "Mother's Night"
and December 25th as the "Birth-Day of the Unconquered Sun."7 In Asian Greek
mythology, Yule Day is seen as a modified version of Nimrod's experience. There,
it is a story about Smyrna, who is mystically portrayed as a tree that gives
birth to her divine son Adonis and subsequently called "Man the Branch."8
After he was killed and torn apart by a wild boar, he, like Nimrod, was also
symbolized by a lifeless tree stump. Then, on "Mother's Night" (Dec.
24th), Smyrna throws the stump on a briskly burning fire, and the next morning
(Dec. 25th) Adonis (the sun god) is resurrected out of the fire as a brand new
tree called the "Branch of God," also referred to as the "Tree
that brings divine gifts."9 This mystic folklore
is most likely behind the pagan ritual that apostate Israel practiced when a
father would sacrifice his child by making "...his son or his daughter
to pass through the fire for Molech" (2 Kgs. 23:10). Today, many believe
this pagan worship continues through the practice of abortion. Throughout history,
many would even decorate these trees with elaborate ornaments and set them up
as shrines, in their homes, to honor the pagan sun god of their particular culture.
In addition, they named the day of his birth SUNday, and gave each other gifts
in celebration. God had Jeremiah
instruct Israel not to observe these pagan tree rituals surrounding the Yule
Log and Yule Day when he prophesied:
Yule Day, the December 25th worship of the sun god's rebirth, is obviously the origin of the customs and ordinances surrounding the Christmas celebration. Christians who insist that Christmas is the Biblical celebration of Jesus' birthday, must face the fact that our pagan Anglo-Saxon ancestors were celebrating Yule Day on December 25th long before they came in contact with Christianity.10 In addition, Christmas
was never celebrated during the early church mainly because Jesus wasn't born
in December, but during the Feast of Tabernacles in the biblical month Tishri
(Sept/Oct). It wasn't observed in December until the fourth century A.D. when
Constantine brought all the pagan ritual into the church. During that time,
the Jews were the most hated people in the world, but Christianity was growing
quickly. People didn't want to give up their pagan festivals for God's appointed
festivals, because they were considered Jewish. So, Yule Day was simply modified
to appease the culture of the times, which was highly anti-Semitism. To sooth their
conscience, they developed an unbiblical strategy to incorporate Jesus into
the pagan festivals as a way of evangelizing the nations. In other words, the
worship of God's SON, Jesus Christ, was cloaked in pagan SUN worship, and those
Babylonian rituals continue to be practiced in the church down to this very
day. Their intent may have been good, but the rituals and shrines are rooted
in ancient pagan sun worship, and it brought many of the mysteries of religious
Babylon right into the church. Today, most of the world celebrates Christmas as a festival for drinking, rivalry and commercialism. It is also being used by world leaders as a universal gathering point for some political hot potatoes. For example, Yasser Arafat, a Muslim Arab and New World Order boy, now lights the Christmas tree in Bethlehem each year. This ritual has served as a rallying point for unifying forces involved in the unbiblical NWO Middle East peace treaty. If the unsaved world (cosmos) observes Christmas with such financial and political zeal, then one has to ask: How biblical can it really be? Come Out Of
Religious Babylon Jesus called us
to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, because religious Babylon is going down
to destruction (Rev. 18), and he doesn't want to us destroyed along with it
(Rev 19:20). The church must realize that God, in His mercy, is pleading with
His people to come out of Babylon and be separate and holy unto Him and His
ways (Rev 18:4; 2 Cor. 6:16). So how do we come
out of religious Babylon? One way is to stop celebrating heathen festivals.
In other words, discontinue the rituals of ancient pagan sun worship in the
form of the Christmas celebration (Jer. 10:2-5). I think that it's safe to say
that there will be no Christmas celebration during Jesus' reign on the earth,
or in the new heavens and the new earth, so why celebrate it today. So where do we
go, and what do we do? We "...come to Mount Zion and to the city of
the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem..." (Heb. 12:22). In the New
Jerusalem, we celebrate the feasts of the Lord ? Passover, Unleavened Bread,
First Fruits, Pentecost, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Tabernacles. These are
the Lord's Feasts, and each one speaks about God's plan of redemption in His
Son Jesus (Lev. 23; 1 Cor. 5:7-8; Acts 20:16). God has also given
us the winter celebration of Hanukkah, which Jesus appears to celebrated as
the Feast of Dedication ("dedication" is translated from the Hebrew
word "Hanukkah" - John 10:22). This winter celebration prepares us
to trust God for His supernatural provision during the last days. We are coming to
the end of the age, and God is calling His bride out from being of
the world and all of its pagan practices. I encourage you to abandon the idolatrous
rituals of religious Babylon and begin to celebrate/worship the Lord in the
Holy Spirit and Truth of Jesus Christ. It's your decision - make it a good one.
1
Layard's, Ninevah and its Remaines, Vol. 2, pg. 439-440 |
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A Christmas Story by Ivan, 2001, Dec 19
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