I had never questioned the Christmas or Easter traditions. Why should I? I loved my LORD, so of course I will celebrate what celebrates HIM. Never bothered to ask HIM what HE thought of our attempts at worship.
At Christmas in 1980, I tied my Christmas tree to a huge nail I hammered in the wall to keep it from falling over. A few years later I'm reading in Jeremiah 10. The verse, “They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers so that it will not totter...” ‘nailed’ me between the eyes. I wasn’t for sure what to do with this new found knowledge or if I was even understanding what GOD was trying to tell me. I mentioned my dilemma to a friend. She loaned me her copy of the book "The Two Babylons" by Alexander Hislop after being surprised that I had not even heard of the book. Nope, I had just been reading GOD’s Word, not looking for anything in particular. When I returned the book to her I was thinking GOD had shown her what was in the book to be true, and she would be an ally to help fight against the entrenched pagan traditions that we call Christ Mass. I couldn’t have been more wrong. She defiantly defended the fact that she loved the Christmas' traditions too much to give them up.
Was I then the only one who couldn't have a tree because of the nail thing? I didn’t go looking for this stuff. But I couldn’t set aside the WORD of the LORD for me. I asked Him if I had to totally give up Christmas. I felt like He told me it was all right to just use that time to celebrate my children. Since I had always presented Santa as a game we played, it was easy to swap stockings for Super Surprise Sacks that I made out of neutral holiday fabric. I decorated with snowflakes and penguins. I kept the gift giving simple. Many miracles happened the following years as the desired gifts for each of my six children came to $50 each. (The amount to spend I was given by the LORD.)
Remember me saying I don’t go looking for ways to go against the established grain of traditions? There have been some interesting developments that have come my way over the ensuing years since reading Jeremiah 10.
Joshua 24:2 states that Abram and Sarai’s father, Terah, served other gods. [One of theses ‘gods’ was the fertility goddess of the dawn. The pagans worshiped her at dawn, thus the connection with Christians having sunrise services.] This verse could be an inkling on how family ‘traditions’ that blend the holy with the profane can be a stumbling block for the fulfillment of God’s promise for our lives.
Because of Terah’s priestly position to these gods, Sarai would have been a high priestess to a fertility goddess. It was the custom of the high priestess to have a surrogate mother for her children. Was this ‘doctrine’ still intrenched in Sarah when she offered her handmaid to Abraham? Even though Sarah was ‘converted’, did she still ‘practice' the old ‘tradition’ she was accustomed to in her father’s house?
How could Moses’ right hand man declare something he made with his hands as the ‘god’ that brought the Israelites out of Egypt? But even more shocking is Aaron’s audacity to declare the next day would be a “Feast to the LORD”. The Golden Calf is a good example of taking something outright paganish and using it to worship the LORD. Yet many Christians substitute a Christmas Tree or Easter Basket/Egg Hunt for the Golden Calf and declare the day as unto the LORD without consideration that God does not want to share HIS glory with another.
Could this be why God allowed Sarah to pass the natural flow of things so there was no denying that He, Jehovah God, actually fulfilled the promise of a child and NOT a no-god of fertility?
When emotions are intricately intwined with favorable childhood memories the lines can be blurred to man’s traditions with sacrifices that are acceptable to God.
Consider the offerings of the brothers, Cain and Abel. There didn’t seem anything inherently wrong on the surface of Cain’s sacrifice. After all Cain worked hard on his garden, by the sweat of his brow just like God told his dad it would be. Wasn’t Cain giving to God a part of himself? (Yes, there are some deeper theological meanings to this story that I will not address at this time..)
Quite possibly this is an example that God sometimes rejects the thoughts behind our good intentions by saying, “But, that’s not what it means to Me!”
When we defend the use of paganish artifacts and celebrations to witness for Christ, are we saying it is all right to use bad or immoral methods as long as you accomplish something good by using them? (“The end justifies the means.”)
Are we tolerating Jezebel by practicing her pagan teachings? “But I have a few things against you: That you tolerate the woman Jezebel. She is allowed to teach, and to lead astray, my servants to commit whoredom, and to eat food prepared for idol worship.” Revelation 2:19-25
Then I heard another voice calling from heaven, "Come away from her, my people. Do not take part in her sins, or you will be punished with her.” Revelation 18:4
Jesus is the One speaking in these passages. He is giving us a time to repent of our association with her so the bad stuff that will happen to ‘her’ will not fall on us.
“Blessings come to those who read and proclaim these words aloud; blessings come to those who listen closely and put the prophetic words recorded here into practice. The finale is approaching.” Revelation 1:3
When Peter sees Moses and Elijah with Jesus, he blurts out that they needed a building program to capture the moment. But GOD Himself had to intervene Peter’s good intentions. He basically told Peter that he didn’t know what he was talking about and to hush. “This is My Son, the One Who has been chosen, you must continually listen to Him.”(Luke 9:29-35)
Is this yet another example that God rejects our well meaning efforts to build or celebrate something that we try to put Jesus' name on it, “But it’s not what it means to Him”?
Gideon was told by God to "Take your father's bull and pull down your father's altar that has been consecrated to Baal. Then cut down the image of Asherah made of wood that is beside the altar. Then build correctly an altar to ME, your True God, on the top of this stronghold. Build a fire using the wood from the image; then take your father's bull and offer a burnt offering to Me." (Judges 6:25-32) What was the town's reaction for Gideon's obedience to God? They wanted to kill him. Folks take very seriously their traditions.
I want to be one that continually listens to Jesus. If He says to come out of Babylon, then I’m getting out of Babylon and leaving her traditions behind!
"My people, get away from her—fast. Make sure you do not get caught up in her sins. Put some distance between you so that you do not share in her plagues." Jesus
My people will be destroyed
because they have no knowledge.
because they have no knowledge.
You have refused to learn,
so I will refuse to let you be priests to me.
so I will refuse to let you be priests to me.
You have forgotten the teachings of your God,
so I will 'forget' to bless your children.
Hosea 4:6
(Just because we don't want to know about the pagan origins of our celebrations, God does not hold us innocent. According to this verse, our ignorance will affect the blessings of our children. )
(Just because we don't want to know about the pagan origins of our celebrations, God does not hold us innocent. According to this verse, our ignorance will affect the blessings of our children. )
The priests have really hurt my teachings. They don’t treat my holy things right-they don’t show they are important. They treat holy things the same as things that are not holy. They don’t teach the people about these things. They refuse to respect my special days. They treat me as not important. Ezekiel 22:26
Aaron saw how excited the people were, so he built an altar in front of the calf. Then he announced, “Tomorrow will be a special festival to the Lord!”
The people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry. Exodus 32:5-6
But the rest of you have forsaken the Lord and have forgotten his Temple, and you have prepared feasts to the god of Fortune, and have offered mixed wine to the god of Destiny. Isaiah 65:11
Do not fall into the trap of following their customs and worshiping their gods. Do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations worship their gods? I want to follow their example. Deuteronomy 12:30
You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. Deuteronomy 12:31
This will prevent the people of the land from teaching you to imitate their detestable customs in the worship of their gods, which would cause you to sin deeply against the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 20:18
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Romans 12:2 (NLT)
So for the sake of your tradition (the rules handed down by your forefathers), you have set aside the Word of God [depriving it of force and authority and making it of no effect]. Matthew 15:6
For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.” Mark 7:8,13
And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others.”
Don’t learn the strange practices and beliefs of other nations.
For their traditions and customs are useless; there is nothing to them. A tree is cut down in the forest; They trim it with tinsel and balls. Don’t be impressed by such stuff. Jeremiah 10:1-4
When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. Abel also brought a gift—the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept Cain and his gift. Genesis 4:3-5
