Thoughtful Thoughts 3.1.25 by John Dunning.

Christ  and the “Christ-Mass ?” Part 3; The blind leading the blind!

Introduction… the slippery slope…

David Pawson was in his weekly church prayer meeting once, when the church members asked Jesus; “Is there anything that makes you feel sick?”

The answer which they unanimously and instantly felt was that Jesus replied with one word, “Christmas”.

That led to David Pawson researching and teaching about Christmas in the way he did. 

Just before 600 AD, the Catholic Church adopted the European pagan sun god festival.

By doing what was right in their own eyes, the church created more superstition and perversion, as we shall see now…

—

The “Christ-mass” & the slippery slope…

Until Augustine arrived in 597AD there was no such thing as the “Christ-Mass”. As we covered in detail how Augustine created the “Christ-Mass” last time, we won’t go into all that again now. This time we look at the paganism which the Catholic church adopted and which we remember today… what it meant to adopt the December 25th festival…

—

The 12 days of Christmas.

Augustine “blessed” the pagan festivities of the sun god, with a new Mass - the Christ-Mass. That meant that the traditions of the 12 days of Christmas are still remembered as part of keeping Christmas, with the 12 days of Christmas keeping the Christmas tree and decorations up - but where did those 12 days come from?

The 12 days of Christmas are the leftovers of the relaxation of moral laws and unlimited sexual perversions, (for more, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_Misrule “The Lord of Misrule”), which continued until the reformation when the new Christian rulers stopped the sexual perversions by banning Christmas. So the 12 days of Christmas saw the laws of the land suspended, with an explosive mixture of pagan worship, meaning that there was no longer law and order to protect women from being abused. Whilst Henry 8th banned it as part of breaking with Rome, it wasn’t done until 1541. The Catholic Queen Mary brought it back in again but the Protestant Queen Elizabeth 1st banned it again. (Scotland only created a public holiday for Christmas Day as late as 1958!) 

So what was all the fuss about?

—

Mistletoe…

Take mistletoe for example… A superstition was created by pagans that it would be ‘bad luck’ for girls if they didn’t kiss when they were under mistletoe. Mistletoe was the excuse invented for misusing kissing.

—

Yule log..

We think of the Yule Log now as a cake! But the “Yule-Log” chocolate cake remembers the pagan bonfire for December 25th. That cake remembers the ‘Yule Log’ used for dancing around a bonfire, which got pagans excited, worshipping their sun god.

—

Santa Clause

As the church was not highly regarded, the marketing boys in the Vatican saw an opportunity to make the most out of the popularity of one particular bishop, (Nicklaus), so they created a legend out of that popular dead bishop. “Nicklaus” had become popular through paying for three sisters from a poor family to get married. Anyway, the church turned him into a saint, which is where the word ‘Santa’ comes from. The nickname of Clause’ comes from Nicklaus. 

Churchgoers would pay the Catholic Church from their hard earned cash to go to church to pray to the dead Bishop, which made the visit to his shrine a business opportunity for the church! As Niklause was popular, it was like tourism on steroids with millions of people paying to pray to a shrine created by the church.

–

Father Christmas…

In the 1930s, the marketing boys in Coca Cola saw another business opportunity and converted Santa Clause into Father Christmas - and the rest is history, as they say!

—

Epilogue… 

As a result of show biz coming to a church near you, the incarnation of Jesus by the virgin birth came to be treated either as if it were a fairy tale, or by others worshipping Mary. Either way, Satan won. 

They started praying to Mary instead after she became the central figure, with Jesus just being a cute little baby, instead of who He really is - the one who has been given the job of judging of the world by His Father. Now 25% of clergy admit that they do not believe in the Virgin Birth, as the survey shows at this link https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1416824/Quarter-of-clergy-do-not-believe-in-the-Virgin-Birth.html

The lack of belief amongst clergy was made fun of in BBC comedy, “Yes Prime Minister”. 

The very reason counterfeit beliefs exist, is because there is a genuine truth which Satan wants us to ignore… The church’s show biz has led to a loss of the truth of the real teaching in the gospel of Jesus Christ, as shown in the survey above. 

Listen, Jesus died to give those who want to get right with God, the opportunity to repent and find forgiveness. That is the real message of the incarnation. Your birthday does not remember you with baby photos, and nor should Jesus incarnation be remembered like that. He was already the Ancient One when He came to earth from heaven. 

Listen, St. Paul taught, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God”; Romans 10:17. It is our responsibility to read the New Testament, to get the truth about Jesus Christ. However, sing carols with gusto! They are hymns about such a big miracle, that even 25% of establishment clergy don’t believe! The gospel is the greatest story ever told!  Praise God and thank Him for it. We have a future because of what God did in Jesus Christ. 

If you want help in praying, try making a start with Psalm 51 and the Lord’s prayer on our devotional page. God always hears a cry for mercy, if it is from the heart.

This is John Dunning signing off from “Thoughtful Thoughts” for another week.

This link takes you to our DEVOTIONAL

https://blog.inspirationalmedia.org.nz/

This ministry is a registered charity in New Zealand. Please consider supporting us financially. Your support enables us to continue providing FREE discipleship resources, an internet radio station and also REACH OUT TO CHINA with a Chinese website touchina.org.nz. Thanks for partnering with us in the mission! Below is a secure donation link:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=52MB57P7B3DW2

Support us by joining a membership! Click the link below to learn more.

https://www.inspirational.org.nz/collections/homepage-products/products/international-membership