Basic HTML Version
in both the Catholic and Protestant
churches- feeble attempts to get
back to the faith once delivered to the
saints- attempts to
not
allow, as the
early New Testament church did
not,
the name of Christ to be associated
with such a dubious background.
It
would be impossible to put the
true Christ back into Christmas be–
cause the true Christ never was in
Christmas.
Christ's name has been used in
vain to decorate that day, and so the
third of the great Ten Command–
ments is broken. Jesus Christ is the
living Word- the personal, human
and now divine expression of the liv–
ing Ten Commandments. The keep–
ing of this holiday breaks not only the
third commandment but every other
one. lt's obvious that the command–
ment against lying is broken here.
Often the commandment not to com–
mit adultery is broken especially on
that day. lt's obvious to see that cov–
eting is the universal principie of this
season. lt is all too sadly plain to
recognize that murder is committed
and a great deal of stealing goes on
and chi ldren have a very difficult
time h.onoring their parents.
The Jesus Christ of Nazareth who
gave His life to pay for my all-too–
many sins- the Jesus Christ of Na–
zareth who
~y
the Spirit of God is,
according to the dictates of His
Word, the Bible, supposed to be liv–
ing His life-style over in my life–
that
living Jesus soon to cometo this
world as its King of kings and Lord
of lords will not give authority for
His name to be associated with any
aspect of this pagan holiday.
9
ITSPAGAN
ln most any public library you can
get proof of this in a book entitled
Four Thousand Years oj Christmas
by Earl Wendell Count. The very
name of this book proves that the
Christmas holiday isn't Christian.
It
was celebrated two thousand years
before
the birth of Christ in honor of
pagan gods. Therefore, it was and is
idolatry. God very patently says,
"Take heed ... that you do not in-
18
quire about their gods, saying, ' How
do these nations serve their gods?' –
that l also may do likewise. You shall
not do soto the Eterna! your God; for
every abominable thing which the
Eterna! hates they have done for
their gods" (Deuteronomy 12:30-
31 ).
10
1GIVE TO CHRIST
The excuse of giving gifts that comes
from the story of the birth of Christ
regarding the wise men giving Christ
gifts is mísapplied in our giving
one
another
gifts. The reason the wise
men gave gifts to Christ was because
he was a
King.
He is much more a
King now than He .was then, and He
will be even much more a King in the
soon-coming future than He is now.
To give to every Tom, Dick and
Harry and
NOT
to give to Christ,
particularly at a season which claims
Christ as its center, seems to me the
worst hypocrisy of al!. Having read
and believed Malachi 3, I have dedi–
cated that first ten percent and an–
other generous amount of my budget
to be given to God, to His Work on
this earth today, to proclaiming the
good news of the coming Kingdom of
God to rule over this world, to His
representatives who preach and teacb
that
truth which is the only source of
freedom. 1 find many biblical com–
mands-inescapable- which
require
me to give to my Christ and other
statements which
allow
me to give
freely of freewill offerings at any
time or on special occasions. This
kind of giving l can do with a com–
pletely free conscience.
1 may be faced with a few unpleas–
ant comments from people and have
to suffer ridicule or scoffing or accu–
sations because I don't keep the arch
holiday which is designated by the
name of Christ (taken in vain), but I
will not haveto stand before my Cre–
ator whose name is Jesus Christ and
explain to Him why 1 kept Christ–
mas. 1 don't think it will be too diffi–
cult facing the judgment- to be .able
to say to my Creator that, instead of
giving at a time of the pagan winter
solstice, gifts 1 couldn't afford, which
were not appreciated-that l have
instead given as commanded (and 1
hope generously as freewill offerings)
my gifts
directly
to the Work of the
living Jesus Christ.
These are just ten reasons why I
don't keep Christmas-but 1 think
they are adequa te to explain my con–
duct. The freedom 1 enjoy, the good
conscience 1 am able to have, the
sincere friends who give to me of
their time and effort and considera–
tion as well as a small, physical gift
from time to time-thesecurity 1 feel
at not having a mountain of debts to
pay, the ability to look my son and
daughter or anyone else in the eye
and tell the truth-all these are
priceless and indispensable factors
that influence every day of my life.
When l gave up Christmas, l
didn't give up anything but debt, ma–
terialism, hypocrisy, lying, intellec–
tual dishonesty and paganism. The
freedom of the truth is rich and it
gets richer every year. I wouldn't
trade it for anything. Why don't you
join me in my freedom?
o
FromGod
w-dht.
As a mobon picture, they were ac–
claimed by lhe world. As lhe law of
God. lhey have been loved by
some, haled by olhers-but lrans–
gressed by all . To most people
lhey remain a puzzling enigma.
They are. of course, lhe Ten Com–
mandmenls. But just how are they
applicable lo loday's world? Our
free booklel
The Ten Command–
ments
explains lhese living laws
and shows how God, in His !ove,
gave lhem lo mankind for the
good of us al! . To receive your
copy, rusl wnle lo
The Plain Truth
al the address nearesl you. (See
enside fronl cover for worldwide
addresses.) Your free copy is
waiting for you.
The
PLAIN TRUTH December 1979