Tis the Season to be Jolly - The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

Anyway, it's a joy to be here with you. I'm going to get right into the sermon, and I'll try to get through this quickly if I can. And I want to share with you something that I think is really important for this time of the year. What music do you hear when you go into stores these days? What sights do you see when you go into the stores these year, this time?

Do you happen to hear the song, Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly? Fa la la la la la la la. Tis the season to be jolly. You know what my sermon title today is? Tis the season to be jolly.

Dash. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I hope some of you young people will listen carefully as I talk about it, because I have some wonderful things to say to you. Things that I learned because, you see, when I was five years old, my brother Dave looked in the attic. There was a little door in our bedroom. He was seven. He opened this little door.

It didn't really go all the way up to the attic. It was the prelude to going up to the attic. He opened the door around Christmas time before, and guess what he spotted in there? All the gifts that we had requested from Santa Claus that we gave our lists to my mother.

And every one of those, he came back as a nine-year-old disillusioned, and he said, Gare, there is no Santa Claus. All our gifts are right here, and it's not even Christmas yet. So we both learned at an early age not to leave in Santa. That didn't keep me for 18 years from being home when my parents were still keeping it, not superzealously, but keeping it.

And it was a fun time. So today I want to talk about what Christmas means and examine this holiday that's called the season to be jolly, and to see what some of the history behind it and what we as individuals need to take away from it. Okay? So you'll hear a lot about Christmas. You'll see on TV. I know recently it was on Christmas vacation, and I like Chevy Chase, and it's kind of a mockery of it, but I liked watching that. And it was an interesting movie and fun and laughter. But they all said how miserable it is around this time of the year.

How miserable it was. And you know, Christmas time for me growing up was a fun time. It was the only time in the year we got to play with our electric train that my parents brought out this, my dad brought out this platform on which he had put the tracks around, and he placed the tree right in the middle of it when he had it ready to trim and all that. And we had this train, and we got to play with this Lionel train for about two weeks. And after we threw away the Christmas tree, the train was put back in the attic, and so was that platform.

So it was a fun time. I'm not here to say, as I remember it, that it was a bad time for me. But in retrospect, as I look back, we sent cards to a lot of people. My mother did. And every time we lived in an old farmhouse, every time she'd get one from somebody, she'd use a thumbtack.

We didn't mind putting them in the walls because it was an old farmhouse anyway. So we put the cards up there. And it's interesting. We make sure we'd say, Oh yeah, I sent her one. Oh yeah. If we got one from somebody we didn't send one to, hurry up and send them one. But if at the end of the card sending season was over, if we didn't get a card from somebody we sent one to, mark them off the list.

So this is how we treated cards. Gifts. What about gifts? You know, everybody likes to get gifts. You like to get gifts? I like to get a gift. You like to get gifts? Everybody does. Give somebody something? You see joy come in over their faces. But what kind of gifts? And there's a lot of disappointment. I wish I could have this gift. I wanted this and I only got that. One of my aunts every year gave us slipper socks.

You know what slipper socks are? They're like a sock with a leather bottom on it that you could walk. We use them about a year. And they're like a sock. You just slip it on, but on the bottom you've got a like a bottom of a shoe. Not quite, but it's pliable. And you can walk around the house and that. Every year that was what she gave us. Every year. That's what you could count on receiving. Others of my aunts never gave us anything.

Others of my uncles gave us some things. And other people gave us nice things. But it was always, oh, I didn't want that. Or if you got under the Christmas tree, you opened your wrapping. Everybody likes a gift. Somebody gives you a gift that's wrapped. Oh, I can't wait to get into it. Sometimes you rip it apart and tear off the bow.

But then if it isn't what you were expecting, you're disappointed. There's a disappointment there. And again, it tends to be about us. Partying and getting together is also a good thing about it.

Having family get togethers, having relatives drop by that you haven't seen for a while. Maybe they came in from out of town. Like that the campuses have come from out of town. Not for Christmas. They didn't tell me that, but they didn't bring me a gift either. So I guess they're a gift enough. It's nice to have them here, by the way. And I love them both.

They were some of our best friends in Cincinnati. Until they moved away. But anyway, that's okay. They said we had enough of you. We're moving to Texas. But it's really a joy to see them. It's a joy to see Sue Whitlark. I look forward to seeing her husband, too, when he's able to come. And the rest of their family. And by the way, I love the young people that have come here. I really am glad to see you. You really helped generate a lot of enthusiasm.

We had maturity. We had stability. But we didn't have the liveliness that children can generate. And I know some of you with young children, your kids will yell during church or talk. Isn't that a shame? No, it's not. You know why? Because all week long, what do you try to get them to say? Say, dad, say mama, say dad, say mama, say book, say this. Say please, say thank you. And then they come to church and they start to say it. Shh! Don't talk. How confusing is that for a little child?

You want them to speak? Shh! Don't speak. So, we appreciate all of you. We appreciate the liveliness that you bring and the talent that you bring with you. The Christmas tree was something that we put up. We didn't indulge in a lot. In fact, over my 18 years at home, it finally dwindled to a small little artificial tree that they put on a table and plugged in so that the lights could work.

No decor, no icicles, no this and that, the other thing. But overall, and of course, sometime, even though I knew there was no Christmas, I know Santa Claus at Christmas, I would still look at the tracks in the snow on the farm, look for them on the farm that we lived in the next morning. Of course, we didn't have a real working fireplace, so I don't know how he could have come down the chimney. So that wouldn't have worked.

Do you know how the story about him coming down the chimney occurred? There was a Saint Nick who loved to do good things for children and people. He was apparently a decent, maybe he was an archbishop, or at least he was a high-ranking person in a church, and he was rich. And he would go around giving people things, and he would, most of the time back then, I guess, for air, they opened their windows.

And so he would throw things in the windows. Well, when he came this one time to this one house to throw something in the window, the windows were all closed. So he thought he would throw them down the chimney, the other opening place. And when he was going to throw them down the chimney, they fell out of his bag, I don't know, his gold coins or whatever it was, and ended up in a stocking that was dried on the fireplace, by the fireplace. And that's how people get the hanging stockings and hope the good things are in it.

There used to be an old Santa Claus, but he wasn't the Santa Claus that we see. He was a man who came about and he did good, but he carried a stick with him. For the good kids, they got a gift. For the bad kids, they got swatted with that stick. That's where the thing is, if you're good all year long, you're going to get a gift if you're not good. So much of this has its founding in paganism. So family, what's good about it, the body of the speech here, family gatherings are good.

Giving gifts are good. It's always nice to give gifts. In fact, we always tell our kids, don't worry about Christmas time because we'll get you gifts all throughout the year because we love you. Not because Christmas tells me to get you a gift. Isn't it interesting? I read the story about the wise men. The three wise men, there weren't three. It could have been ten. It could have been six.

It just says wise men, so at least more than one. It didn't say three. Because they bought gold, frankincense, and myrrh, what if two of us have gold? We give gold. Somebody else has frankincense, gives a frankincense. Two others have myrrh, and give myrrh. Just because there's gold, frankincense, and myrrh, they say three wise men. It doesn't mean that each one brought...

it's because the person who brought gold was really giving a gift, good gift. Myrrh and frankincense are not that great of a gift. So when you talk about what this is all about, you find that Christmas has a lot of paganism in it. And giving gifts is something they did years and years ago to celebrate pagan festivals. And in fact, I have a book called Four Thousand Years of Christmas. How many of you have ever heard of it or seen it? I bought it from our library in Pasadena. They put it out on sale. I bought it.

Four Thousand Years of Christmas by Earl Count, C-O-U-N-T-E-A-R-L, Count. You have to go on your phone when you have a chance to say Four Thousand Years of Christmas and they'll pop up.

And there are lots of used ones there that you can order for like $5 or $6. It is filled with information. And you know what? The man who wrote this is not an antagonist. He believes in Christmas. But he still says it stems from four thousand years ago.

They were celebrating what events we do at Christmas all over the world to various gods and goddesses. Mother and child, where did that come from? Well, we know Mother gave birth, Mary gave birth to a child. But where did the worship of Mother Madonna, Mother and Child, where did that come from? That came from Egypt, that came from Mesopotamia. He even says here, where did it start from? Mesopotamia. Four thousand years ago. Japan, they have a similar type of worship. All over the world, they aren't even Christian. Let me share one thing with you. I was going to save it to the end, but I can just read it right now. I've got a couple things. I'm not going to read it, but you can check out it if you want it later on. But this is what I had in 1998. I found this in the Toronto Star. And the title of it is 25 Fun and Festive Facts About Christmas. They print that, but then they say, well, we just keep it because it's a secular holiday anyway. Since about what is the 20th century, it's just been a secular holiday. It's no problem. And that could be an approach some people take. Well, I don't mind doing it. I'm not worshipping another God. Is it what was used to worship another God? That's what you need to ask. I'll share some things with you in a moment. But giving gifts, partying, singing. When I was in high school, our chorale went around caroling. They did that back in the old days as part of their celebration and worship of a pagan God. Think about Christmastime. What did I like about it? No school for almost two weeks. No school! I didn't have to go back. Wow! It's a school vacation. If I'm a worker, hey, I get that time off. If I'm in college, I get that time off, too.

Bright lights at that time. A lot of decor in Pasadena. They used to have prizes for the street in this one neighborhood. In this one neighborhood, the prizes for the most decorative street in this whole community. It was great, except for one house. One house was a church member.

And that church member would not decorate. Mike Hale and his wife Janet, they would not decorate. People would come down and say, I know, I know you might not feel like that. Could you let us put up some decorations so we could win? I don't think they stayed with the church, so I'm not sure what they do these days. We would drive through some of the neighborhoods. In fact, Garner Ted Armstrong tells the story about his sons. I think his oldest son, Mark, they would go around shopping or whatever, go through it. He would say, look at that tree over there. His son, that's an abomination. That's an abomination to God. That's an affront to God. You know, his son would say, that's a very pretty abomination.

So there's a lot of trapping, singing, come to party. Drinking was a big part of it too. Bright colors, bright lights. Why are so many lights at this time of the year? Well, it was the time when the sun was at its lowest ebb, and since December 25th was also the birth date of the sun gods. In many areas.

So December 25th has been touted as a day. So the good of it, family gatherings, gifts, parties, merriment, singing, brightness, days off, that all seems good. And Christ is mentioned, because it's called Christ mass. See? We put Christ into it. But is it all that it's cracked up to be? What about the bad? The bad is it is a pagan tradition. The bad, it's a pagan tradition. Four thousand years of Christmas, I'll just read this to you real quickly, a couple pages. Although Christmas story centers in the Christ child of Bethlehem, it begins so long before his coming that we find its hero arriving in the world. Christmas is one of the mankind's great experiences. He believes in it. For more than four thousand years, spreading over all the earth, it has drawn the loyalists and longings of Christ. And the Lord is the one who has made the world a better place. And the Lord is the one who has made the world a better place. And the Lord is the one who has made the world a better place. For all the earth, it has drawn the loyalists and longings of millions of people, growing always richer, as mankind has matured.

He goes on to say, on page 20, Mesopotamia is the very ancient mother of civilization. Christmas began there over four thousand years ago, as the festival which renewed the world for another year, twelve days of Christmas, the bright fires, probably the yule log, the giving of presents, carnivals with their floats, their merry makings, and clownings, the mummers, it's a parade on Christmas day, a mummers parade, who sing and play from house to house, the feastings, the church processions with their lights and songs, all these and more, they're centuries before Christ was born, and they celebrated the arrival of a new year. It all ended with New Year's Day, so it was a long festival, like eight or ten days, well, twelve days, they called it about twelve days of Christmas. Let me read you another quote here, very, very definitive quotes.

Page 29. It goes on to talk about, Whatever the behavior of some Romans, others were simply merry. They basqueraded through the streets, ate big dinners, visited their friends, wished them good luck at this time of tender fortune, and gave each other good luck gifts. So all that was attendant to their worship of their gods. The halls of the Romans were decked with boughs of laurel, and green trees with lighted candles, with lamps, for the hovering spirits of darkness were afraid of light. You wonder why they have things like holly and mistletoe, and that seems to endure longer?

Because Satan and the demons do not like anything that's flourishing or still alive. They like things that are dying. So if you have an evergreen tree, that's what you have. And they have greenery around because they don't like hollies, or hollias around, and so on. So the halls of Romans were decked with all those boughs, to prevent and to keep Satan the devil away. It talks about the Saturnalia. It says, There were many immigrants and ranks of Christians by this time, but the church fathers discovered to their alarm that they were facing an invasion of pagan customs. The habit of Saturnalia was too strong to be left behind. At first the church forbade it, but in vain.

Finally they decided to use it. Christians didn't conquer it. It conquered Christians. On page 34, we find that earliest Christians were not interested in Jesus' birthday. Jews did not keep birthdays, but by the fourth century they had become very much interested. That's when it was introduced. Constantine approved it, and then it was finally approved by a pope. How this came about is a story of a soil growing. Christmas is a seed which sprouted and that's what.

So he's saying it sprouted all over the world this Christmas. And all over the world it was kept. And all over the world it was pagan. What's wrong with it? It's pagan. It's pagan. Two Babylons. It was a book that we've used many years, some doubt, some veracity of some things it says. But some of these I've checked out. And here's what he says on page 91. How comes it that this festival was connected with December 25th? Not a word in scriptures about the precise day of his birth. The Bible tells you when he began his ministry it was about 30.

He doesn't say he was exactly 30. And why has the Bible so cleverly hidden his date? I'll talk about it in a moment. So he talks about, here comes this festival. Now listen, no doubt the climate of Palestine is not so severe as the climate of this country, that was where he was writing it from, but even there, though the heat of the day be considerable, the cold at night from December to January to February is very piercing.

And it was not the custom for the shepherds of Judea to watch their flocks in the open fields later than about the end of October. And some say not even October. So I'll come back to that in a little bit. But he talks about it being all over the world, two Babylons. So what's the bad about it? Pagan trappings, pretty abominations.

Deuteronomy 18 verses 9 and 14. What is God's warning to his people and by extension to us? As spiritual Israel, should we indulge in this? I tried to dabble my feet in it until I was about 18 and before I went to Ambassador College. I tacitly approved it as we went on at that age. But when I went to Ambassador College and studied more and read the booklet, and by the way, we have a good booklet on that too that you can get as a lot of facts in it.

But Deuteronomy 18 verse 9, we read this, When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. And in verse 14 he puts it this way, For these nations which you will dispossess, listen to soothsalers and diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not appointed such for you.

Now, I'll come to Deuteronomy 12 at the end. But Deuteronomy 12 tells us not to, we read Moses' inspired writing from God, tells us not to indulge in anything these other nations do. So what's bad about it? The get way. The get way. What is Jesus Christ's way? Acts 20 verse 35. It's more blessed to give than to receive.

What am I going to get for Christmas? We teach our children when they're, if you keep Christmas, you teach them to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what you want to get. What you want to get. And it's a get way. And I've seen many people disappointed because they did not get what they had hinted for in a gift. The get way of life. Acts 20, 35. It's more blessed to give than to receive. And of course, the Christmas tree, one of the trappings, Jeremiah 10 verses 2 to 5.

And I'm not saying this is Christmas, but this is what some of the pagans did. And God says in Jeremiah 10 verse 2, Do not learn the way of the Gentiles. Do not learn. Don't be dismayed. Verse 3, For the customs of the people are futile, or vain. For one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of somebody's hands of the workman and the axe. They decorate it with silver and gold.

They fasten it with nails and hammers, so that it does not topple. And they are upright like a palm tree. They cannot speak, don't worry about it, don't be afraid of that tree. But what does that tree symbolize? Heathenism, paganism.

And I already read Deuteronomy and Acts 20. Let's look at, and also, a third thing they do, they go to excess. That's the time when they drink booze to excess. I know my dad was never a drinker. I mean, he had liquor that would spoil his closet. He had some liquor that I bought him when I lived in Canada, 20 or 30 years before that. Canadian club or whatever, ground royal. I'd bring it down as a gift for him. I don't drink whiskey either, because I had a bad experience with it when I was little. And also, coming across the country, I had a couple of them that I don't have drinking at all. But anyway, we have lots of that. But come Christmas time, my dad would bring out the hard liquor, and that's when he and people come to the house, they'd have a shot of liquor and have a highball. He'd make a mix of it. That was the time they would drink together. Now, my dad never got drunk that I ever saw. Ever. He certainly was not a drinker. And I learned from that. I'm not a drinker either. I'll have a glass of wine once in a while, and I might, once in a rare, rare time, have a hard drink. But most of the time, no.

But again, that's what they did. And what does the Bible say? Philippians 4 verse 5. Philippians 4 verse 5. Let your moderation be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. That's King James version. New King James says, let your gentleness or your kindness. But again, if you're moderate, you're going to be gentle. You're going to be in the middle of the road.

Also, it's the wrong day. You're keeping the wrong day. You're not even celebrating Christ's birthday. What day are you keeping? Well, there were no shepherds in the field past October. And December 25th was the birth of the sun god. That's why they put it on December 25th. The whole festival of the Saturnalia in Bremalia lasted the whole time. It lasted before that and after that. But December 25th was the birth of the unconquered sun, S-U-N, of God. That's what it was for. Let me read you Luke 2 verses 10 to 20, because this is germane to the story. And the reason I'm reading it to you is because I want you to understand, as we'll come to the... This is the bad. As we come to the ugly, the ugly is that they totally missed the point about Jesus Christ's birth.

Rejoicing becomes all inward. What did I get? How many friends can I see? When can I see all my new friends? Well, we get together. Luke 2 verses 10 to 20. Then the angel said to them, Don't be afraid, they were out in the field. Don't be afraid. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. Verse 11, For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Jesus Christ was born. That's a great day, a great occasion. We should rejoice at that. But he wasn't born December 25th. And this will be a sign to you, you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. So that's what they would look for when they went into the city. Has there been any babies born in a barn recently? Did anybody know of any? And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth good will toward men. And verse 15, probably among men of good will, but verse 15. So it was when the angels had gone away from them into heaven that the shepherds, remember they're abiding in the field at this time, supposed to be December 25th when they said, Nobody's out there beyond October, and yet they're out in the field of December 25th, piercing cold. Have you been in anywhere near a desert in the Mediterranean area? That is like desert. And when you go outside at night, it is piercingly cold.

It's not just mildly cold. It's cold! There's no humidity to help mollify the coldness that's there, the chill. So they said, Let us go to Bethlehem and see the thing that has come to pass, and that the Lord has made known to us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. Why was he in a manger? No room in the inn. And when they had seen him, they made widely known the saying which told them that concerning this child, and all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen as it was told them. They found Jesus Christ. They praised Him. They honored Him. Let me read to you what Clark's commentary says about this. Our Lord was not born on December 20. This is Clark's commentary. Biblical commentary is not at some angle against Christmas. For our Lord was not born, our Lord was not born on the 25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields, nor could He have been born later than September. The feeding of the flocks by night in the fields is a chronological fact. That's exactly what they did. They brought them in before the onset of October to put them in the barns or keep them where they were in the chorale closed spot, not out in the open fields, because the shepherds had to be out there with them. They didn't want wolves and other predators to prey on the sheep. So they had to stay out there by they took turns. The shepherds were out there with their flocks. They took turns watching over them. So they wouldn't have been out in the field. And again, that's what Adam Clark says. Jameson Fawcett and Brown, another JFB commentary on Luke's account, puts it this way. From about Passover time in April until autumn time, flocks pastured constantly in the open fields. The shepherds lodging there all the time. From this, it appears plain that the period of the year assigned to our Lord's birth is too late. So they're keeping a wrong day. Not that God says keep it. We'll talk about that at the end. That's the ugly.

Wise men from the East. Let's read that one. And that's over in Matthew 2, verses 1-12. And the whole situation gets mixed up. They have Jesus in a manger all the time. He only stayed in a manger for a short while, but everybody left after the census. Then he would moved into a house. When the wise men came, they found him in a house.

Now after Jesus, this is Matthew 2, verses 1-12. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king. Notice, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who's been born, king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East and have come to worship him. And when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled in all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes together and inquired of them, Where Christ was to be born? Where are we going to find this man? So they looked in and they said, In Bethlehem of Judea, Micah 5 and verse 2. Micah 5 and verse 2. In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written, But you, Bethlehem, and says Bethlehem Ephrata, In the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah. For out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Out of you there will be born a ruler. That would be proclaiming Jesus Christ born there. So when Herod heard this, when he had secretly called the wise men and determined from them what time the star appeared, he sent them to Jerusalem, to Bethlehem. And he said, Oh, go and search carefully for the young child. And when you have found him, bring back word that I may come and worship, actually come and kill him. And he was afraid. And when they heard the king, they departed, and behold, the star which they had seen in the east went before them, a miracle, probably an angel. Angels appear as stars in revelation. And when the star, they seen it in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly, with great joy. I want to emphasize that.

Now, Christmas celebration doesn't involve praising Jesus Christ.

It involves us, if you keep it. I don't. If you're human and you keep Christmas, it involves you. It involves your kids. It involves what you do. It involves what you give. It involves how you decorate. It involves how many cards you get. It involves—where's that about Jesus Christ? And isn't it interesting that these wise men will come? And so does—and they rejoiced exceedingly when they saw the star, with great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him. And when they had opened their treasures, they gave each other gifts.

If you're reading your Bible, that is not what it says. And when they opened their treasures, they presented gifts to him. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Oh, three of them! No! That's what the sum total of what they brought.

Why did they give it to him? Because they said he was born to be king. They were honoring the king. The king who was born, the ruler that was coming up, the king who was born, the ruler that was come out of Bethlehem. And I've been to that very sight of that. I've been to what they call the Church of the Nativity. I don't know if that's the Church of the Nativity or not, but I've read that at Bethlehem. We've met there many times. I traveled down to Bethlehem for three weeks in a row. Every week I'd go down and get some Arabic baklaua, because it is—and I bought some, by the way, from out there. We made some, especially for you all. There's some out there in a can in a container for you to have afterwards. We would go down there every week, because I've had students come over to my house ten at a time, actually for five weeks. Five weeks, because there were 50 students and adults who accompanied them. We would have them over to our house for an American dinner, out dogs, baked beans, not the typical stuff they get at the kibbutz, or ground beef, or whatever, hamburger. We tried to feed them American food for a change. Then we always had baklaua that we got down there and fresh bread. Bread that was made on the rocks that was so hot, it almost melted the plastic bags that they put it in. We brought it back, and they enjoyed that. The students enjoyed that every time. I'll tell you one story about this Arabic man. He knew I came down every week. It was the same little store, little bakery. The last time I came, I said, you know, I think you gave me pistachio nuts this time. He had a big smile on his... pistachio nuts are more expensive. Big smile on his face. He knew that was the last time that I would be there. Because I told him, I won't be coming back anymore. He gave me pistachio. So the students enjoyed it. We took it back. But again, it was there in Bethlehem. I loved going down there because it reminded me of where my Savior was born. I don't know if He was born in that church of the Nativity way down below, but nonetheless, it was in Bethlehem. Then divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod. They departed their own country. Verse 12. So again, Jesus Christ, there was praise, there was honor. And do we see that same honor being directed toward Jesus Christ today? It's the wrong day anyway of December 25th to do it.

Shaphir Sog, Encyclopedia of Religion, said, this is not the correct day. It was a pagan festival. Again, they're not against Christian traditions. But here's a tradition that's been made to accommodate pagans. Let's bring pagans into the church. You know what? If Kirby wanted to have more people come, you always do switch services to Sunday. Put a big ad sign out there and say, we're going to talk about love, we're going to talk about grace, we're going to talk about love, we're going to talk about grace. But if you give a message about God's way of life, it's not always hot, lovey-dovey. It's sometimes straight and direct. In 1 Kings 12, so two Babylon's mentioned it as well as a pagan festival. I already mentioned that. Jesus Christ was not born anywhere near that time. It would have been in the fall of the year September. Some have calculated the date it could be. But let's go to the final part here about the ugly. What's ugly about Christmas? What do I see as ugly? There are several points that I'd like to share with you. First of all, they lose sight of what a great event that was. What a great event that was! Jesus Christ came into the world to be our Savior, to make possible. It's like somebody giving a prisoner in prison the key to the cell. Here, you can get out. I remember the one movie Peppermint. I don't know if you've seen that. It's kind of a, you know, shoot-em-up moving. But this woman, what's her name? Jennifer Garner. She takes revenge on those that the government would not do, that false fake judges wouldn't do, bad lawyers wouldn't do. She takes justice on them. At the very end of the movie, they finally catch her, and she's done good. She's wiped out all these drug people and all these drug deals and all this. When she's lying in the hospital recuperating from being beaten up and shot a few places, the police chief comes and he says, the police sergeant comes and he said, you know, you did a really good job for us. You saved a lot of our men's lives, and you saved a lot of people from all these rotten individuals. I just hope you'll be all right. And he shakes her hand. And once he put in her hand, the key to her handcuffs, because while she's recuperating, she has these handcuffs keeping her in the bed. So he puts the key in her hand. So yeah, the movie ends. She opens her hand and you see this key. And the next thing you see is the empty handcuffs, and she's gone.

Jesus Christ came into the world to give us the key to save us from death. Jesus Christ came into the world to receive rulership and to depose Satan the devil.

He had to go up against Satan the devil. Remember that Satan tried to tempt him? He wouldn't give in. Satan the devil was the God of this world. Jesus Christ has already deposed him, because Jesus Christ is coming back to rule this world. But he's going to make it a godly world, not a satanic world. Jesus Christ came to reveal the Father. He said, you don't know Him. You don't know who He is. I've come to reveal Him to tell you who He was, what He was about. Jesus Christ came to preach the gospel, the same message we try to preach to the world. Jesus Christ came to magnify the law, to bring the spiritual intent to the law. Jesus Christ came to be our example, our ideal. If you want to know how you walk and live as a human, God in the flesh, look at Jesus Christ. If you want to know what to do, read the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Read what His servants did, Paul and Peter, basically in the book of Acts. Those are the two main ones. How did they live? What did they do?

You have an example to follow. Jesus Christ came to build His church. Aren't we glad we're here? He says, I came to build my church, Matthew 16. I can give you scriptures from all these, but that's not my point. And finally, He came to be our Savior and our High Priest. For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. And also, Hebrews 4, He is our High Priest in heaven. He knows what we go through. And Hebrews 4, verses 14 to 16. And Hebrews 7, verse 25, it tells us, He ever lives to make intercession for you. Ever lives. It distorts the plan of God. It disguises the plan of God. It loses sight of it by keeping these holidays. Why would you want to keep our Holy Days? But what do the Holy Days do? They show you the plan of salvation. They show you there's sacrifice and a Savior. It shows you that we need to be humble as the days of unleavened bread and truthful. It shows you the means to being humble and truthful, the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. It shows you that Christ is going to return and that the saints are going to be resurrected. That's trumpets. It shows you that the world gets in tune with God. That's the day of atonement. You know why I can fast on the day of atonement and not be unhappy? It's not that I don't hurt. I do hurt. You know why? Because I'm doing it for a world that's not at one with God. Hopefully, by the Feast of Trumpets event, I'll already be at one with God. David told me it's not for me to be at one with God. It's for the world. After I'm at one with God. I mean, you're a spirit being. You're made in the family of God. You think you're not? I haven't got to get in line with God. If you're not in line with God before you're made a spirit being, you're not going to be there. Neither am I.

So lose sight of God's plan. And then finally, the thousand years when God's rule takes place, and how beautiful it's going to be, and how wonderful. And then, what about the rest of the dead? I wonder, what about all them? Last great day. So they lose sight of that by aiming us at Christmas, by aiming us at Halloween, by aiming us at Valentine's Day. I have a sermon I give. I don't know if I'll give it down here or not. It's entitled, My Hero. My Hero. I show all these heroes that the world looks at. And Valentine is about your loving, lovable, or lover-hero. Who's your hero? My hero is Jesus Christ. He's the answer. He's the desire of all the nations, even though they don't know who He is.

So they lose sight of God's plan. And then finally, they lose sight of a grand event. The one day that Jesus Christ said, do something for Him. You know when it was? Passover.

He didn't tell them, remember my birthday. What did He tell us? Remember my death. Remember 1 Corinthians? I can read it to you. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 23 and 24.

He said that about the wine too. If I want to remember Jesus Christ, do I remember His birthday? I'm happy He was born. I don't know when it was. I'm thrilled. I give thanks to God that Jesus Christ came to this earth, and for all the reasons He came to this earth. But the one day He told me to keep, do they keep it? Does the world keep it? Do they recognize it? No. This do in remembrance of me. So that's an awesome Scripture to keep in mind. And of course, He said that as well. Jesus Christ said, in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Christmas is a celebration that many gods, too many gods, and Jesus said, don't do that. Jesus Christ came into the world to be a light. He doesn't need you to light the trees, which they did because they were trying to help the sun to come back, the sun. Jesus Christ is that light, and His light can beam and shine in each one of us. He wants us to be a light to this world, a light to this world by doing the right things. He wants us to be like He is, and it's His dwelling in us through the Holy Spirit that makes our light shine. That's what makes our light shine, brethren. So I'll give you the final conclusion. Of course, why did Christ come here? He came here, Hebrews 2, verses 9 and 10, that He might bring salvation to everyone. Hebrews 2, verses 9 and 10, we see Jesus made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. What's His purpose? Bringing many children into the family of God. Totally overlooked while we're trading presents and decorating trees and running trains around it. And watching a fat man, who, by the way, was drawn by one of our American Dutch people, who is a six-year-old, came over. He remembered the Dutch one over there, who was austere, he was sort of a minister who was tall and had a birch stick. Well, guess what? He decided to make this into an elf, one that he thought was an imagination. So he had this rote-ted man, dressed him in red, drew pictures of him, and he developed as time went on. So the typical one you see pretending to be Santa Claus was a figment of the imagination of a Dutch-American immigrant. I've got the story on that, but I'm not going to read it to you. The final kicker on what you should do about Xmas is found in Deuteronomy 12, verses 31 and 32.

So what do you do about Christmas? Why shouldn't you keep it? Why shouldn't you observe it? What if somebody asks you, well, it's a secular. Another one of the articles that I have talks about it being secular. Well, this is just a secular thing. Here it is. During the two centuries of Christianity, in particular, opposition to the birthday—oh, here it is up here—we observe it now, because it's at this particular time of the year—how do you say it? Oh, yeah. Since the 20th century, Christmas has also been a secular family holiday. But what have they chosen for a secular family holiday? Pagan traditions in honor of pagan gods. I'll read this to you. Here's what he says in your Bible Deuteronomy, if I find that here, 12, verses 31 and 32. Verses 30, 31 and 32.

She said, when you enter the land of Canaan, don't look and see how did they worship their gods? Let's do the same. He said, do not inquire after their gods, saying, how did these nations serve their gods? We will also do likewise. Verse 31, you shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. Shall not, for every abomination to the Lord which he hates they have done to their gods, they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Listen to what he says, verse 32. Deuteronomy 12, 31 and 32 should pop up right away. Someone says, why aren't you keeping Christmas? Verse 32, whatever I command you, be careful to observe it. You shall not add to it nor take away from it. Do not make commandments of men. Mark 7, verses 7 and 8. Jesus said, in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. So, may we all remember that God is our God and we understand the truth that he gives, and we love him for the holy days that he gives to us instead of empty holidays that the world has. I hope I've helped you. I hope I haven't been done. And you know what? I'm not condemning people who don't understand. They don't understand. Some of them are totally sincere. They're not out there saying, this is the wrong thing to do. I'm going to do it anyway. But some people know better. I close with this. When I was a trainee in St. Louis, I was taking this one girl. I was single. I was taking this one girl, she was 20 years old, to a dance that we had as a church dance. It was right around the expo season. So I came to their house, to their door, and there was a bank on the door, and they opened, and the lady opened the door. She said, well, my daughter's coming. I understand. Oh, you've told my daughter she can't keep Christmas. You don't let her. Now I said to her, ma'am, have you ever read any of the encyclopedias? Have you ever looked in the encyclopedias or commentaries as to where Christmas comes from? I know it's pagan, but if it's done in love, love covers everything.

Brethren, love does cover everything. It covers over some things that are sinful. May God help us all to honor and worship God and to remember, this season, it makes me want to cringe a little bit, this season of the year, we should not forget the birth of Jesus Christ, whatever it was. It was a very special time. Don't let it cause you to resent Christ coming into the world. Resent what date they have put in and what trappings they have attached to it. But remember, Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, and His birth into this world was an awesome, wonderful blessing.