Christmas: Pagan Roots, Tradition, and the Call Back to the Ancient Paths

Introduction

Christmas is, for many, the most cherished time of the year. Streets glow with lights, homes are filled with music, families gather around decorated trees, and the name of “Jesus” is often on people’s lips in songs and sermons. It feels warm, familiar, and deeply “Christian.” Because of this, questioning Christmas can feel almost unthinkable. Yet those who belong to יהושוע are called not merely to follow what feels meaningful, but to test everything by the Word of יהוה. If He is the One who defines worship, then even the most beloved traditions must be weighed in the light of Scripture, not sentiment.

When we begin to examine Christmas honestly, its date, its symbols, and its development through history—we quickly discover that it is not a feast commanded by יהוה, nor was it celebrated by the apostles or the early believers. Rather, it arose centuries later, as the Roman Church deliberately aligned the supposed birth of the Messiah with existing pagan festivals surrounding the winter solstice, especially Saturnalia and the cult of the “unconquered sun.” Over time, Protestant traditions largely kept these same customs, with only minor adjustments, and what began as a strategic fusion with paganism became “normal” Christianity. Meanwhile, Scripture repeatedly warns us not to learn the way of the nations, nor to adopt their forms of worship and offer them to יהוה.

This is not a merely academic or historical issue. Behind the blending of truth with error stands a real adversary: “…that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who leads all the world astray.” (Revelation 12:9) From the garden of Eden onward, his strategy has been the same—questioning what יהוה has said, adding to or twisting His commands, and offering a more appealing alternative that still “feels” spiritual. Christmas, with its powerful emotional pull, its mixture of biblical language and pagan symbols, and its near-universal acceptance, fits this pattern uncomfortably well. It raises a sobering question: have we inherited a festival that יהוה calls worthless and even abominable, while convincing ourselves it is a way to honour Him?

We also read in Daniel of a ruling entity that would seek to alter sacred order itself:

“And he … intends to change times and law.” — Daniel 7:25

This is not insignificant. The deliberate shifting of divinely appointed times and the introduction of humanly-devised holy days is presented in Scripture as a mark of rebellion against the Most High. When we place Christmas, a feast absent from Torah and unknown to the early believers, into this context, its establishment on December 25 begins to look less like honour and more like fulfilment of this very warning.

This article will trace the historical roots of Christmas, examine its symbols in the light of Scripture, and explore how Genesis 3 could provide a pattern for understanding the deception surrounding it. It will also consider how יהוה is awakening a remnant in these last days—calling His people out of Babylonian traditions and back to the pure, unadulterated Word. The aim is not to attack individuals, but to expose a system, and to invite every disciple of יהושוע to ask: “Am I worshipping in spirit and in truth—or in the traditions of men?”

Where Is Christmas in Scripture?

If we ask the question in precise, technical terms, where does Scripture institute or command the observance of Christmas?, the answer is unambiguous: it does not. Christmas does not appear anywhere in the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, or the Apostolic Scriptures as an appointed time, a commanded feast, or a divinely sanctioned observance. There is no instruction given by יהוה, no directive from the Messiah, and no exhortation from the apostles to commemorate His birth as an annual holy day. Simply put, Christmas has no scriptural foundation.

When יהוה establishes set-apart times for His people, He does so with clarity and precision. In passages such as Leviticus 23, He names each feast, assigns its specific timing, and defines how it is to be observed. The Sabbath and the set-apart times are not left to ambiguity or private interpretation; they are commanded, dated, and legislated. In direct contrast, the birth of the Messiah, though recorded as a historical reality in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, carries no such liturgical instruction. The narratives describe the circumstances of His arrival, the annunciation, Bethlehem, the shepherds in the fields, but they do not assign a date, institute a memorial, or establish a recurring celebration. What is given in Luke 2 is historical narrative, not prescriptive worship.

This distinction is critical. When the Messiah wished His followers to remember a specific event, He explicitly commanded it, as seen in the words, “Do this in remembrance of Me” concerning the breaking of bread and the cup during the Passover. No comparable command exists concerning His birth. Neither the apostles nor the early assemblies are shown celebrating a nativity feast, nor is there any hint of such an observance in the detailed record of early-believer practice found in Acts and the epistles. Their rhythm of worship revolved around the Sabbath, the Feasts of יהוה, prayer, teaching, and the remembrance of His death and resurrection — not a birthday festival.

The silence of Scripture on this matter is not accidental. It reveals that Christmas is not an omission of detail but an absence of divine intent. In theological terms, it has no prescriptive warrant, no regulatory authority, and no liturgical basis within the canon. Its existence rests entirely upon post-apostolic tradition, developing centuries after the time of the Messiah and His disciples.

This becomes especially significant in light of the repeated Scriptural warnings against altering or supplementing יהוה’s instructions. “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take away from it …” He declares in the Torah (Deuteronomy 4:2). When a festival with no Scriptural command is elevated to religious significance and associated with worship, we are no longer walking in revealed instruction but in inherited tradition. This is precisely what the Messiah rebuked when He spoke of those who set aside the commands of Aluhym in order to hold fast to the traditions of men. What makes this even more sobering is that while many Christians zealously treat Christmas as a sacred holy day, they simultaneously neglect the actual feasts and appointed times recorded in Scripture, the very times יהוה Himself calls “My appointed times” (Leviticus 23:1). These are not Jewish cultural traditions, but divine appointments, established by יהוה and observed by the Messiah and His followers, even after His resurrection. Yet instead of guarding what He commanded, multitudes forsake these Scriptural feasts and replace them with man-made observances such as Christmas, thereby exchanging the appointed times of יהוה for the traditions of men.

It is often at this point that some will appeal to the words of Sha’ul (Paul), claiming that believers are not to concern themselves with the observance of days, or that no one should judge them in regard to appointed times. Yet the irony is clear: people are deeply concerned with observing times, only now they observe times that are not commanded in Scripture. Christmas is treated with reverence, ritual, expectation, and emotional significance, while the feasts יהוה Himself declared and sanctified are largely ignored or dismissed. The issue, therefore, is not whether times are observed, but which times are honoured: the appointed times of יהוה, or the substituted calendar of human tradition.

Therefore, when the question is asked, “Where is Christmas in Scripture?” the answer is not simply that the word is absent — it is that the concept itself does not exist within the divinely revealed framework of worship. What exists instead is a later ecclesiastical construction, shaped by historical, cultural, and political forces, rather than by command, example, or instruction from יהוה.

Could the Messiah Have Been Born in Winter?

There is not a single word in Scripture that specifies the precise day of the Messiah’s birth. However, when the Biblical data is examined carefully, it becomes highly improbable that His birth occurred around the 25th of December — the depth of the Judean winter.

Although the climate of Israel is milder than that of Northern Europe, winter nights from December through February are still cold, damp, and piercing. It was not customary for shepherds in Judea to keep their flocks in the open fields during this period. Flocks were typically brought in from the pastures before the heavier rains and colder temperatures set in.

This is supported by the Jewish scholar Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides), whose detailed knowledge of Jewish law and rural practice is widely recognised. In Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Shemitah v’Yovel 1:10, he describes the seasonal movement of flocks and indicates that open-field grazing ceased in the autumn months, generally between Tishri and Marcheshvan (September–October), when animals were brought under shelter for the winter.

Luke’s account, however, states plainly:

“And there were shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night…” — Luke 2:8

The announcement of the Messiah’s birth was made to shepherds who were actively tending their flocks outdoors — a detail that strongly indicates a milder season, not the biting and wet conditions of midwinter. It is therefore implausible that this scene could correspond with a late-December setting.

Additional Scriptural insight into the abnormality of enduring harsh night exposure is found in Jacob’s own testimony concerning his years under Laban. When describing the severity of his treatment, Jacob clearly presents such exposure as exceptional hardship, not routine practice:

“Thus I was: in the day the heat consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.” — Genesis 31:40

Jacob’s lament is not framed as a normal occupational experience, but as evidence of unjust and oppressive conditions. If bitter night cold and frost were already regarded as signs of severe mistreatment in patriarchal times, it becomes even more unlikely that ordinary shepherds would have been calmly remaining in open fields through the heart of winter as a matter of regular practice. His testimony demonstrates that such exposure was an exception forced upon him, not the standard rhythm of pastoral life.

Furthermore, the census under Caesar Augustus required families to travel to their ancestral cities — including women, children, and those with long journeys. The middle of winter would have been a deeply impractical time for such movement. The Messiah Himself later acknowledged the unsuitability of winter travel, saying:

“And pray that your flight does not take place in winter…” — Matthew 24:20

If winter was considered an unfit time even for urgent escape, it seems far less fitting for mass civilian movement and long-distance travel associated with a census.

A More Likely Scenario: Birth on an Appointed Time

Rather than occurring on a random Roman date later imposed by ecclesiastical authority, it is far more consistent with the Scriptural pattern that the Messiah’s birth occurred on one of יהוה’s appointed times. Genesis establishes that the heavenly lights were created not merely for illumination, but as markers of divine chronology:

“And Aluhym said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for appointed times, and for days and years.’” — Genesis 1:14

The term “appointed times” is the very word used for יהוה’s sacred feasts in Leviticus 23. These are not arbitrary festivals, but prophetic milestones embedded into creation itself. It is therefore profoundly fitting that the birth of the Messiah would coincide with such a divinely appointed moment.

The nativity narratives emphasise a heavenly sign, a star announcing the birth of a King (Matthew 2:1–10). This strongly aligns with Genesis 1:14 and suggests that His birth followed יהוה’s prophetic calendar, not a pagan one.

A highly plausible candidate is Yom Teruah (The Day of the Blowing of Trumpets), associated with the proclamation and coronation of kings and the heralding of royal authority. The fall feast cycle also provides a coherent historical explanation for the severe overcrowding in Bethlehem, as vast numbers of people journeyed toward Jerusalem for the pilgrimage feasts. Males were commanded to appear before יהוה for Sukkot (Exodus 23:14-17, 34:23, Deuteronomy 16:16) , which follows Yom Teruah, further increasing population movement and congestion in surrounding towns.

Thus, rather than a midwinter festival rooted in Roman paganism, the Scriptural evidence points toward a season aligned with יהוה’s appointed times — most plausibly within the fall feast period — where prophetic symbolism, pastoral realities, and historical context converge with striking consistency.

There is a well-researched work entitled The Star That Astonished the World by Ernest L. Martin, in which the author undertakes extensive historical, astronomical, and Scriptural investigation to determine the timing of the extraordinary celestial event described in the nativity accounts. Martin concludes that the appearance of the star occurred around September 11, 3 BCE, and therefore places the birth of the Messiah within this same period. If his findings are accurate, this would strongly correlate with the biblical calendar and align closely with Yom Teruah (the Feast of Trumpets) — a divinely appointed time associated with the proclamation of kings. This further strengthens the argument that the Messiah’s birth did not occur on December 25th at all, but rather during the fall feasts of יהוה, in harmony with His prophetic timetable. For more detailed analysis, his work should be consulted directly.

So, Where Did December 25 Come From?

The celebration of the Messiah’s birth on December 25 does not come from the Torah, the apostles, or the earliest assemblies of believers. There is no Scriptural reference to this date, nor any indication that the first followers of יהושוע marked His birth with an annual festival at all. Instead, the selection of December 25 emerged several centuries later within an increasingly imperialised form of Christianity.

Babylonian Roots: Yule, Nimrod, and the Winter Solstice

Long before the word “Christmas” existed, long before Rome ever declared December 25 as the birth of Christ, the nations were already celebrating a winter solstice festival, a feast of the returning sun, the dying and rising god, and the renewal of nature. This was not a local custom, but a global pattern stretching from Babylon to Egypt, from Rome to the Germanic north.

While interpretations vary, and some historical connections are debated, the broad thematic parallels are undeniable and Scripture itself names some of these figures directly.

Babylon, Tammuz, and the Solstice Festivals

Tammuz (Dumuzi) was the dying-and-rising son-god of Mesopotamia — a fertility deity whose death and rebirth were celebrated annually. The prophet Ezekiel records that women were sitting at the very entrance of the Temple in Jerusalem, “weeping for Tammuz” (Ezekiel 8:14), participating in a ritual of mourning for the dying-and-rising son-god of Mesopotamian religion.  In many traditions (Babylonian, Phoenician, later Greco-Roman), the winter solstice marked the rebirth of this god, when the sun began to “return” after its lowest point.

Though highly debated in modern scholarship, Alexander Hislop’s The Two Babylons presents a framework — with varying degrees of historical support — that attempts to trace the roots of many later religious customs back to ancient Babylon. According to Hislop’s argument, several key ideas emerge:

• Nimrod, the rebel of Genesis 10, was later deified as Baal, Saturn, or the sun-god.

• His widow Semiramis became the exalted “queen of heaven,” a title explicitly condemned in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17–19).

• Their son Tammuz, mourned in Ezekiel 8:14, was regarded as the miraculously born child of the goddess, a counterfeit “messiah” whose death and rebirth were celebrated around the solstice.

While scholars dispute the precision of Hislop’s reconstructions, the broader reality he highlights, the widespread ancient veneration of a divine mother and child, tied to solstice rituals and condemned repeatedly in Scripture, is beyond dispute. Even if the exact genealogy of these myths is debated, the Scriptural reality is this: Israel fell into the worship of Baal, Asherah, and Tammuz — all of which were directly connected to seasonal solstice festivals.

And the pattern has not disappeared, it merely wears new clothing. The same annual cycle, a winter celebration, a divine child, a revered mother, the return of light after darkness, continues today in a different cultural form. What ancient Israel embraced openly, many now embrace unwittingly, adopting forms rooted in the worship of the nations while sincerely believing they are honouring יהוה. The manifestation has changed, but the underlying structure remains astonishingly similar.

Scripture itself tells us to expect this repetition. Qoheth wrote:

“What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.” — Ecclesiastes 1:9

Patterns of apostasy, syncretism, and the subtle blending of truth with the customs of the nations are not new events, they are recurring cycles. Israel’s past is not merely history; it is a warning.

YHWH, speaking through Isaiah, reminds us:

“Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is yet to come…” — Isaiah 46:10

The ancient patterns He exposed at the beginning — the allure of foreign worship, the temptation to “learn the ways of the nations,” (Jeremiah 10:2) and the merging of their festivals with devotion to Him, reveal the shape of the very issues confronting believers today.

The continuity is striking: what Israel once bowed to in Babylon, many now celebrate without question. The names have changed, the symbols have softened, and the practices are wrapped in religious language, yet the form, the timing, and the imagery remain tethered to the same ancient foundations.

Egypt, Isis, and the Mother–Child Motif

The same theme appears vividly in Egypt. Isis, revered as the great “mother of the god,” was believed to give birth to her divine son Horus at or near the winter solstice. Statues, iconography, and temple processions throughout Egypt portrayed Isis seated with Horus on her lap, a symbol of divine maternity and solar renewal.

This mother-and-child imagery emphasised a miraculous or divine birth, celebrated the return of light after the darkness of the solstice, and symbolised the triumph of the sun over the forces of chaos. It was a visual theology of renewed hope and cosmic restoration Crucially, this motif was not limited to Egypt. Phoenicia, Canaan, Greece, and Rome all developed parallel figures: Astarte and her child, Venus and Cupid, Fortuna and Juno. Across the Mediterranean world, the exalted mother and miraculous child formed a central religious symbol linked explicitly to the solstice.

Thus, when the institutional Church later introduced imagery of Mary and the infant Messiah, the visual form was already deeply embedded in the pagan imagination. Whether intentional or not, Christian art adopted a pre-existing framework that had originated in the worship systems Scripture condemns as idolatry.

The Anglo-Saxon “Yule” and the Babylonian Connection

Long before Christianity ever set foot in northern Europe, the Anglo-Saxons and other Germanic peoples observed a major mid-winter festival known as Yule. Early medieval sources (including Bede in De Temporum Ratione) describe Yule as a celebration linked to the winter solstice, centred on feasting, sacrifice, fire rituals, and the welcoming of the sun’s return after its lowest point in the year.

Among the Anglo-Saxons, December 25 was known as “Geól” or “Yule Day,” a term referring not simply to a single date but to an entire festive season. Some antiquarian writers — Hislop among them — proposed that yule derives from a Chaldean term (yul or eol) meaning “infant” or “child,” drawing a symbolic connection between the Germanic “Yule child” and the Babylonian solstice-born son-god (Tammuz). While this linguistic link is not universally accepted in academic circles, the symbolic parallels are striking:

• a midwinter festival marking the rebirth of light,

• the celebration of a divine or supernatural child,

• rituals of fire and evergreens symbolising life triumphing over death,

• and the belief that the turning of the sun carried spiritual significance.

Whether or not the terms share a linguistic root, the conceptual similarity is unmistakable. Yule was a solstice festival celebrating the rebirth or return of the sun, an echo of the same winter narratives seen in Babylon, Egypt, Rome, and other ancient cultures.

Germanic traditions connected to Yule often involved:

• evergreen decorations, symbolising undying life;

• the Yule log, burned to honour the returning sun;

• night-long vigils, waiting for the “new sun” to rise;

• feasting and gift-giving, marking the end of the darkest days;

• and the invocation of various deities associated with winter, fertility, or fate.

These customs, already deeply embedded in northern European life when Christianity arrived, were not dismantled but gradually absorbed and reinterpreted. Over centuries, Yule and Christmas blended until the pagan midwinter festival and the Christian Nativity became indistinguishable in popular practice. Even today, the term Yule remains in English expressions like “Yuletide,” preserving the memory of a festival whose roots lie not in Scripture but in ancient solstice worship.

The Saturnalia and the “Lord of Misrule”

In Rome, Saturnalia (17–23 December) was one of the most popular and chaotic festivals of the year. Classical writers describe it as a time of unrestrained celebration marked by feasting, gift-giving, gambling, drunkenness, and a temporary suspension of social order. Masters served their slaves, formal dress was discarded, and public behaviour loosened under a sanctioned spirit of revelry.

One of its most striking features was the appointment of a mock king, the Saturnalicius princeps, who presided over the festivities. This figure — later echoed in medieval and early modern Europe as the “Lord of Misrule” — symbolised a ritualised inversion of authority, a parody of rule associated with the myth of Saturn and the cyclical death and rebirth of the year.

This idea did not originate in Rome. Berosus, the Babylonian priest and historian, describes a similar solstice festival during the month of Tebeth, where a slave was dressed in royal garments and allowed to rule the household for a short period before being stripped of his privileges — a dramatic portrayal of the dying-and-rising god mythos. The Romans absorbed and adapted this ancient Near Eastern pattern into their own winter celebrations.

The 4th-Century Establishment of December 25

By the mid-to-late 4th century, the Roman Church had already begun formally observing December 25 as the birth of Christ. The earliest unambiguous evidence appears in the Roman calendar known as the Chronography of 354, which records December 25 as natalis Christi in Betleem Iudaeae: “the birth of Christ in Bethlehem of Judea.”

This decision did not arise from apostolic teaching or newly discovered Scriptural insight. It aligned precisely with long-established pagan winter celebrations already central to Roman life.

At this time, Rome was immersed in the festivities of:

• Saturnalia (December 17–23), marked by feasting, revelry, gift-giving, and moral laxity.

• Natalis Invicti Solis (December 25), celebrating the rebirth of the unconquered sun following the winter solstice.

Rather than abolish these festivals, church authorities eventually began assigning Christian meaning to dates already saturated with pagan celebration. While no surviving decree explicitly states that December 25 was chosen because of Saturnalia or Solar worship, the convergence is nevertheless striking. Rome was already celebrating the rebirth of the sun at the winter solstice, feasting, gifting, and engaging in public revelry, and it is at this exact moment in history that the Church formally declared the birth of the Messiah to fall on that same day.

If it cannot be proven beyond dispute that this was deliberate syncretism, the coincidence is nonetheless deeply unsettling. The alignment is so precise that it is difficult to ignore: pagan Rome honoured a solar deity on December 25, and suddenly the Church announces that the Son of Righteousness was born on this very date, and that His birth would now be celebrated with comparable festivity and symbolism.

December 25, therefore, did not emerge from Scriptural revelation, apostolic instruction, or prophetic timing. It emerged within a cultural landscape already shaped by heathen custom. Whether by calculated intention or by absorbed tradition, the result remains the same: a festival unknown to Scripture is elevated and defended as sacred, while mirroring the very celebrations it supposedly replaced.

The 6th-Century Institutionalisation of the Date

In the 6th century (around AD 525), the monk Dionysius Exiguus undertook a reform of the way years were calculated. Rejecting the Roman system that counted years from the reign of the Emperor Diocletian, he proposed a new method based on the era of the Messiah. This became known as the Anno Domini (A.D.) system, meaning “in the year of our Lord.”

As Dionysius organised this new framework, his calendar naturally included December 25 as the traditional date of the Nativity, a date already observed in the Church by that time. In doing so, his reforms further embedded December 25 within the liturgical and chronological life of Western Christianity, helping to solidify its place in Christian practice for centuries to come.

The Ongoing Entrenchment of the Tradition

In the centuries that followed, the December 25 celebration did not merely persist, it deepened. Medieval Christianity wove the Nativity festival into the very fabric of its worship life. Vigils were established, special liturgies were composed, hymns and chants were arranged for the season, and an ever-growing array of customs clustered around the date. Church councils never debated whether December 25 had any Scriptural warrant. They inherited the date as an accepted tradition and addressed only the practical and liturgical details surrounding its observance. Local councils such as Tours (AD 567), Mainz (813), and Saragossa (380) regulated how the season should be kept, not whether it should be kept. The Church as a whole thus treated Christmas as though it had always belonged at the centre of Christian devotion.

By the height of the Middle Ages, Christmas stood as one of the two defining pillars of the Christian year, rising to a place of honour alongside Easter. The rhythm of the church calendar revolved around these two poles. Even during the Reformation, when many long-established traditions were scrutinised or dismantled, Christmas proved remarkably resilient. Only a minority, such as the Puritans in 17th-century England and colonial America, attempted to abolish it due to its pagan origins and the unruly behaviours associated with the season. But these efforts were short-lived, and most Protestant groups soon returned to the celebration they had inherited.

Across generations, what began as a calculated accommodation to Roman culture was strengthened through repetition, sentiment, and ecclesiastical authority. The borrowed festival hardened into a fixture of Christian life. Its origins faded from memory; its meaning was simply assumed. Few believers paused to ask why it was observed or how it had entered the Church in the first place. Tradition, elevated by centuries of devotion, now carried a weight that Scripture had never given it.

Protestant Continuity with Catholic Christmas

When the Protestant Reformation erupted in the 16th century, one might assume that such an obviously extra-biblical feast as Christmas — a feast with known links to Catholic tradition and, prior to that, to pagan solstice customs — would have been discarded. Yet this was not the case. Although the Reformers rejected many practices of Rome, Christmas survived the upheaval almost entirely intact.

Martin Luther, for example, not only retained the celebration of December 25 but helped expand its customs. He is often credited with popularising the decorated evergreen tree in German-speaking lands. The practice of bringing an evergreen into the home was most likely adapted from older winter rites in Germanic and Norse cultures, where evergreens symbolised life enduring through the darkness. Luther’s version placed candles on the tree and reinterpreted the symbolism as pointing to Messiah, but the underlying form — the tree itself, long predated Christianity. Rather than abolish it, he gave it a Christian meaning, a pattern that mirrors the earlier Catholic strategy of reinterpretation rather than removal.

John Calvin likewise did not abolish Christmas in Geneva. Although he personally expressed reservations about holy days not appointed in Scripture, the city council retained December 25, and Calvin did not wage the same war against it that he did against other traditions he considered corrupt. In much of the Reformed world, Christmas continued with only minor alterations, often framed as a wholesome commemoration of Messiah’s birth despite its lack of Scriptural foundation.

Only a few groups broke from this pattern. The most notable were the Puritans in 17th-century England and New England. They regarded Christmas as a “popish” invention, a Roman Catholic holy day with no command from Scripture and with roots in pagan custom. Their objections were not speculative: they openly cited the absence of biblical warrant, the drunken excesses associated with the festival, and the documented connection to Saturnalia.

As early as 1644, the English Parliament, dominated by Puritan influence, outlawed the celebration of Christmas altogether. Shops were ordered to remain open on December 25, and gatherings for feasting or merriment were punished. In Massachusetts, similar laws forbade Christmas observance; for a time, a fine was even imposed on those who celebrated the day.

Yet even in those regions, the ban did not last. Once the Puritan political influence weakened, Christmas returned — first quietly, then widely. By the 18th and 19th centuries, as waves of European immigrants brought their own Christmas customs to America, the holiday grew rapidly in popularity. The image of Christmas as a family-centred, sentimental, and culturally unifying celebration was further cemented through literature, commercial development, and later Victorian romanticism. By the late 1800s, Christmas was firmly established in American culture, not because Scripture had suddenly supported it, but because cultural momentum had overwhelmed earlier objections.

Across Europe as well, Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, and later evangelical traditions largely retained Christmas without reconsidering its origins. Even churches that championed sola Scriptura continued to observe a feast never instituted by Scripture, inherited directly from the Roman Church’s 4th-century accommodation to pagan customs.

Through this entire historical trajectory, from Roman Catholicism, to the Magisterial Reformers, to modern Protestant denominations, one consistent pattern emerges: tradition prevailed over Scripture. The date remained, the customs persisted, and the theological justification shifted, but the underlying reality did not change. What the Bible never commanded, and what earlier believers had rejected as pagan syncretism, became established as sacred simply through long and unquestioned repetition.

Historical Witnesses Against Christmas

Although Christmas eventually became nearly universal within Western Christianity, many of the most biblically serious Christians throughout history — theologians, Reformers, church councils, and entire denominations — openly rejected it. Their testimony demonstrates that objections to Christmas are not modern inventions but arise from long-standing convictions about the purity of worship and fidelity to Scripture.

Early Warnings: Tertullian and the Drift Toward Pagan Rites

Long before December 25 was formalised, early Christian voices warned against adopting pagan customs and festivals. Writing in the early 3rd century, Tertullian lamented how believers were already participating in Roman winter rites:

“By us, who are strangers to Sabbaths, and new moons, and festivals once acceptable to God — the Saturnalia, the feasts of January, the Brumalia, and the Matronalia, are now frequented.Oh, how much more faithful are the heathen who take special care to adopt no solemnity from the Christians.” 

Reference: Tertullian, De Idolatria, ch. 14 (in Apologetic and Practical Treatises, trans. William Reeves, p. 195).

Even in the 4th century, as Christmas began appearing in church calendars, Cyril of Jerusalem acknowledged that the true date of Messiah’s birth was unknown:

“God alone knows the day of Christ’s birth.”

Reference: Patrologia Graeca 33:339.

This confirms that December 25 was not received from the apostles but later assigned.

Reformers: Voices of Protest Against Human Tradition

When the Protestant Reformers elevated Scripture above ecclesiastical tradition, several spoke clearly against Christmas. The most detailed opposition comes from Charles Spurgeon.

Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892)

In his sermon on December 24, 1871, Spurgeon denounced the festival as entirely lacking Scriptural warrant:

“We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas. First, because we do not believe in any mass at all, but abhor it whether it be sung in Latin or in English. Secondly, because we find no Scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Saviour; and consequently, its observance is a superstition, because not of divine authority. Superstition has fixed most positively the day of our Saviour’s birth, although there is no possibility of discovering when it occurred. …We venture to assert that if there be any day in the year of which we may be pretty sure that it was not the day on which our Saviour was born, it is the 25th of December.”

Reference: C. H. Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 17 (Sermon 1026), “The Birth of Christ,” Dec. 24, 1871.

He added a striking line:

“The Catholics and high Church Episcopalians may have their Christmas one day in three hundred and sixty-five, but we have a Christ-gift the entire year.”

Reference: Ibid.

Spurgeon also condemned the fusion of worldly symbols with Christian worship:

“How absurd to think we could honor Christ in the spirit of the world, with a Jack Frost clown, a deceptive worldly Santa Claus, and a mixed program of sacred truth with fun, deception, and fiction.”

Reference: Ibid.

In The Treasury of David, he reaffirmed the same conviction:

“Those who follow the custom of observing Christmas follow not the Bible but pagan ceremonies.When it can be proved that the observance of Christmas, Whitsuntide, and other Popish festivals was ever instituted by a divine statute, we also will attend to them — but not till then.”

Reference: C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Psalm 81:4.

Martin Bucer (1491–1551)

Bucer, a major influence on Calvin, strongly opposed all feast days not commanded in Scripture. William Ames records his position:

Bucer lamented that human “holy days” — including Christmas — were introduced without biblical warrant and were used to replace pagan festivals “as one nail drives out another,” and that they had become so corrupted by superstition that Christians should tremble at their very names.

Reference: Bucer’s position recorded in William Ames, A Fresh Suit Against Human Ceremonies (1633), pp. 359–60.

Presbyterian and Reformed Denunciations

The Church of Scotland — General Assembly (1638)

In its official Acts, the Assembly demanded complete abolition of Christmas:

“The feasts of Christmas, the Apostles, Martyrs, and Virgin Mary are to be utterly abolished,because they are neither commanded nor warranted by Scripture. Utter abolition is craved, not reformation of abuses.”

Reference: The Acts of the General Assemblies of the Church of Scotland, Dec. 10, Session 17 (1638), pp. 37–38.

The Westminster Assembly (1643–1653)

The Assembly’s Directory for Public Worship states:

“There is no day commanded in Scripture to be kept holy under the gospel but the Lord’s Day.Festival days, having no warrant in the Word of God, are not to be continued.”

Reference: Directory for the Public Worship of God (1645), “Of the Sanctification of the Lord’s Day.”

Puritan Opposition: England and New England

Thomas Manton (1620–1677)

Manton taught that Christmas and similar feast days had no Scriptural authority and therefore should not be observed.

“The feasts of the nativity, and such days, are not appointed in the Word.”

Reference: Works of Thomas Manton, Vol. 22.

Increase Mather (1639–1723)

In 1687, Increase Mather wrote:

“The feast of Christ’s nativity is not of divine institution. It was not kept by the Apostles, nor by the early Christians. The Christians who first observed it borrowed it from the pagans.”

Reference: Increase Mather, A Testimony Against Several Prophane and Superstitious Customs (1687).

Cotton Mather (1663–1728)

Cotton Mather likewise condemned the adoption of pagan elements:

He observed that the early Christians refused to mix pagan rites with the worship of Christ.

Reference: Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana, Book II. (Paraphrased summary of his position.)

Puritan governments acted upon these convictions:

— England banned Christmas in 1644.

— Massachusetts outlawed it from 1659 to 1681.

Other Movements Rejecting Christmas

Early Baptists (Benjamin Keach, 1640–1704)

Keach opposed human holy days in the strongest terms:

“Humanly-invented holy-days are no institutions of Christ, but of Antichrist.”

Reference: Benjamin Keach, The Ax Laid to the Root (1684).

Quakers (Society of Friends)

The Quakers uniformly rejected the observance of man-made feast days:

They taught that believers must not observe “days and times” invented by the Papists, nor join in their vain customs.

Reference: The Friends’ Testimony Concerning Days and Times (1675).(Faithful summary of their published statements.)

Anabaptists

The Schleitheim Confession condemns Catholic feast days as “abominations” from which believers must separate:

“There shall be no fellowship with the works of darkness, nor with the abominations of the papists.”

Reference: Schleitheim Confession (1527), Article IV.

A Consistent Testimony Across the Centuries

From the early church to the Reformation and beyond, the testimony is astonishingly consistent:

• Christmas was never commanded by יהוה.

• It was not kept by the apostles or early believers.

• Its date and customs come from pagan solstice rites.

• It was introduced through compromise, not revelation.

• And its continued observance represents tradition overriding Scripture.

These voices, drawn from some of the most respected pastors and theologians in history, confirm what Scripture itself declares: worship must be defined by יהוה alone, not by inherited customs from the nations.

Christmas Today: The Epicentre of Christian Tradition

In the modern era, Christmas has become the emotional and cultural epicentre of Christian tradition. For many believers, it is the most anticipated and cherished day of the year, not because Scripture commands its observance, but because generations of church practice have shaped how the season is remembered and celebrated. It remains the one day when many who rarely attend services throughout the year will intentionally gather in church. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day often draw the largest congregations, surpassing Easter and far exceeding attendance at any of the biblical feasts established by יהוה Himself.

Churches dedicate considerable time, energy, and resources to this season. Nativity plays, candlelight services, choral presentations, Advent readings, and carefully structured liturgies all concentrate on December 25, reinforcing its central place within Christian worship. Families organise their yearly rhythms around this day, and for vast numbers of believers, Christmas becomes the primary moment in which their faith is outwardly expressed.

Within Christian households, Christmas often becomes the primary religious touchpoint of the entire year. Children grow up with nativity stories, seasonal hymns, and church celebrations as some of their earliest impressions of the faith. Adults often associate the season with warmth, belonging, and spiritual sentimentality. In this way, Christmas becomes the central moment through which many first form, and later sustain, their sense of Christian identity.

For many Christians, Christmas carries deep emotional and spiritual weight precisely because they believe, or have long been taught, that this was the day the Messiah was born. This conviction infuses the date with a strong sense of sacredness, nostalgia, and reverence. However, the sincerity of these feelings does not alter the historical reality: the Messiah was not born on December 25, and Scripture never instructs His people to observe this day in remembrance of His birth. The devotion attached to December 25 arises not from the Word of יהוה, but from centuries of tradition shaping the heart’s expectations.

In effect, December 25 functions as a kind of “holy day” elevated far beyond anything commanded in Scripture. Millions who have never kept a single appointed feast of יהוה nevertheless guard Christmas with profound devotion. Even those who acknowledge its historical origins frequently defend its observance because it “feels Christian,” demonstrating just how thoroughly tradition can overshadow biblical instruction.

This deep entrenchment makes it difficult for many to imagine a life of faith without Christmas. And yet, the Scriptures present a markedly different rhythm, one centred not on inherited customs, but on the appointed times of יהוה, given as perpetual observances for His people.

So What Is the Problem With Christians Celebrating Christmas?

The historical progression reveals a sobering and unavoidable reality: a date never revealed in Scripture, but long cherished in pagan solstice festivals, was gradually elevated until it became the central axis of the Christian liturgical year and eventually the backbone of Western chronological reckoning itself.

What began as a pragmatic attempt to “Christianise” a beloved pagan season hardened into a structural assumption so deeply embedded that few ever pause to question it. A compromise intended to ease cultural transition slowly transformed into an unchallenged pillar of Christian identity, shaping worship, celebration, and even the very way time is measured across the world.

Many sincere believers will say, “Yes, Christmas has become the biggest Christian celebration, but people come to church, families hear the gospel, and the day brings our attention to Christ. Surely that can only be a good thing?” To many, its emotional weight and its ability to draw even the irregular churchgoer feels like justification enough. If it leads people toward Jesus, what harm could there be?

But this is precisely where the issue becomes most serious, not less.

The question is not whether December 25 feels meaningful, or whether people have woven sincere devotion into it over time. The real question is whether יהוה has ever asked for this day, whether He has ever sanctioned these customs, and whether we are permitted to offer Him worship in forms that originate from the nations He explicitly condemned.

Scripture speaks with unmistakable clarity:

“Guard yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their mighty ones? And let me do so too.’ You shall not do so to יהוה your Aluhym…” — Deuteronomy 12:30–31

This is not merely a prohibition against idolatry; it is a prohibition against imitating the religious practices of the nations, the very pattern that produced the December 25 celebration.

Jeremiah echoes the same warning:

“Thus says יהוה: Do not learn the way of the nations…” — Jeremiah 10:2

In the same chapter, Jeremiah condemns the decorative tree cults of the surrounding peoples (Jeremiah 10:3–4), contrasting their man-made customs with the majesty of the true Aluhym. Later, he expands this theme with a prophetic statement that speaks directly to the issue of inherited traditions:

“O יהוה, my strength and my stronghold and my refuge, in the day of distress the gentiles shall come to You from the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers have inherited only falsehood, futility, and there is no value in them.” Would a man make mighty ones for himself, which are not mighty ones? “Therefore see, I am causing them to know, this time I cause them to know My hand and My might. And they shall know that My Name is יהוה!”” — Jeremiah 16:19–21 

Jeremiah foresaw a time when the nations would admit that the traditions they inherited, however beloved, ancient, or emotionally meaningful — were in fact lies, empty and profitless before Aluhym. This confession is not about paganism out there; it concerns the inherited religious practices that became woven into the worship of those who claimed to follow Him.

This theme reaches its final and most urgent expression in Revelation, where יהוה calls His people to separate from systems of corrupted worship:

“Come out of her, My people, so that you do not share in her sins and so that you do not receive of her plagues.” — Revelation 18:4

Whatever one concludes about the precise identity of “Babylon” in Revelation, the principle is unmistakable: יהוה’s people must disentangle themselves from the religious mixtures, adaptations, and inherited customs of the nations. 

The ancient patterns never disappeared. They simply took on new names, new language, and new outward forms, yet the underlying structures remain the same. What Israel fell into at the Temple gate, what the prophets denounced in Babylonian and Canaanite worship, and what Revelation warns against at the end of the age all share the same DNA: the blending of the worship of יהוה with the traditions of the nations. Rather than uprooting the pagan forms that surrounded the solstice festivals, the institutional church absorbed them, repurposed them, and rebranded them, until the repurposing itself became sanctified by familiarity and defended as sacred tradition. What יהוה called abominable was gradually declared “holy,” not by revelation, but by repetition.

The Christmas Tree

The Yule Log and the Christmas Tree: A Death and Resurrection Drama

Many modern Christmas customs trace directly back to ancient solstice rituals that dramatised the cycle of death and rebirth. The Yule log, once a central feature of northern European midwinter festivals, symbolised the dead or dying god, often interpreted in later tradition as Nimrod or as the fading sun entering its lowest point of the year. Burned through the longest night, it marked the symbolic death of the old cycle.

By contrast, the evergreen tree, honoured on the following morning or during the days that followed, represented the resurrected, ever-living god, the triumphant “green branch” that returns after the darkness. This imagery mirrors the pagan motif of the immortal child or divine shoot, a counterfeit of the true prophetic title of the Messiah: “The Branch” (Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5).

Across the ancient world, the forms differed, Romans adorned firs, Egyptians displayed palm branches, Babylonians revered the evergreen as a symbol of Tammuz, and Germanic tribes worshipped the sacred oak or spruce, yet the underlying meaning remained the same: the renewal of divine vitality at the winter solstice.

Trees in Pagan Worship and Scripture’s Repeated Warnings

The Christmas tree is not simply a neutral decoration; it stands within a long tradition of tree-based religious symbolism explicitly condemned in Scripture. From Genesis to the prophets, trees were frequently associated with idolatrous worship.

Trees, Sacred Groves, and Asherah: The Scriptural Pattern of Condemnation

The warnings against tree-based rituals in Scripture are extensive. From the Torah through the Prophets, trees, groves, wooden pillars, and evergreen symbols appear repeatedly as the setting of idolatry, syncretism, and religious compromise, the very patterns later reflected in winter solstice traditions and modern evergreen customs.

Asherah Poles and Sacred Trees

Israel repeatedly fell into the worship of Asherah, the Canaanite fertility goddess. Her cult was expressed through:

• carved wooden poles,

• sacred trees planted beside altars,

• and evergreen symbols representing perpetual life.

Scripture speaks directly and forcefully against these practices:

“You shall not plant for yourself any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of יהוה your Aluhym.” — Deuteronomy 16:21

(It is also striking to observe a modern parallel. While the “altars” found in contemporary churches are not the same altars commanded in the Torah, they are nevertheless treated as sacred focal points,  symbolic replacements for what once stood in the Temple. Yet in countless churches around the world, a decorated evergreen tree is placed directly beside or even in front of these altars during the Christmas season. The very image that Scripture repeatedly associates with foreign worship, a tree set near an altar, is now positioned at the heart of Christian sanctuaries, often without a moment’s reflection. What Israel was forbidden to place “beside the altar of יהוה” (Deuteronomy 16:21), many churches now honour as the centrepiece of their most cherished celebration. 

This does not mean Christians intend idolatry. But it illustrates how far tradition can drift from Scripture, to the point where the very form that once marked spiritual compromise in Israel is reintroduced, normalised, and celebrated within Christian worship.) 

The Asherah symbolised fertility, motherhood, vegetation, and the cycles of nature. Just as pagans venerated evergreens as symbols of undying life, especially at the winter solstice, the Canaanites revered the Asherah-tree as a representation of divine vitality.

Israel, tragically, did not remain separate:

“For they also built for themselves high places, pillars, and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree.” — 1 Kings 14:23

“And the children of Yisra’ĕl secretly did against יהוה their Aluhym matters that were not right, and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from watchtower unto the walled city, and set up for themselves pillars and Ashĕrim on every high hill and under every green tree, and burned incense there on all the high places, like the gentiles whom יהוה had removed from their presence. And they did evil matters to provoke יהוה, and served the idols, of which יהוה had said to them, “Do not do this.”” — 2 Kings 17:9–12

The repeated phrase “under every green tree” becomes a prophetic shorthand for Israel embracing the ritualised tree-devotion of the nations. These practices were so spiritually corrosive that righteous kings were remembered specifically for destroying them:

“And he brought out the Ashĕrah from the House of יהוה, to the wadi Qiḏron outside Yerushalayim, and burned it at the wadi Qiḏron and ground it to ashes, and threw its ashes on the graves of the sons of the people.” — 2 Kings 23:6

Wherever the nations introduced sacred trees into their worship, Israel adopted them, and יהוה condemned it consistently and without exception.

Isaiah’s Condemnation of Sacred Trees

Isaiah exposes the hidden appeal these tree-rituals held for Israel:

“Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree…” — Isaiah 57:5 

This was not mere poetic language. Isaiah is deliberately invoking the imagery of evergreen fertility cults, where sacred trees were seen as the dwelling places or symbols of pagan deities associated with vitality, sexuality, and cosmic renewal.

Later the prophet describes the removal of Asherah symbols as an act of true repentance:

“Therefore by this the crookedness of Ya‛aqoḇ is covered. And this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: when he makes all the stones of the altar like chalkstones that are beaten to dust – Ashĕrim and sun-pillars rise no more.” — Isaiah 27:9

Israel could not be cleansed while the sacred trees and wooden symbols remained. Their destruction marked a return to covenant faithfulness.

Hosea and the Seduction of Tree-Worship

Hosea speaks even more explicitly:

“They slaughter on the mountaintops, and burn incense on the hills, under oak and poplars and terebinth, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters commit whoring, and your brides commit adultery.” — Hosea 4:13

Israel chose these locations precisely because they were pleasant, comforting, inviting, and symbolically significant, just as modern families choose the evergreen tree for its beauty, familiarity, and emotional warmth.

Hosea’s point is piercingly relevant: Israel adopted worship forms that יהוה never commanded simply because they were culturally attractive and emotionally compelling. The problem was not the tree itself, but the meaning borrowed from the nations. The comfort, symbolism, and seasonal associations were powerful enough to draw Israel away from pure worship.

Archaeological and Historical Confirmations

Archaeology across Israel and the broader Near East overwhelmingly confirms the Scriptural testimony. Excavations have uncovered Asherah figurines, carved wooden cult poles, stylised tree-shaped cult objects, altars set beside sacred trees, and entire grove sites used for fertility rituals. Scholarly consensus recognises that tree-symbolism formed a central pillar of ancient pagan worship, expressing themes of fertility, divine presence, life–death–rebirth cycles, and the renewal of life tied to seasonal rhythms. These were not marginal practices but core religious expressions throughout Canaan, Phoenicia, Mesopotamia, and surrounding regions.

The evergreen tree, in particular, was esteemed as the symbol of undying life, a tree that “lives” through the winter, which made it the natural emblem of solstice celebrations from Babylon to Canaan to the Germanic north. In other words, the modern decorated evergreen stands in direct continuity with a long line of tree-symbols used in religions that Scripture explicitly commands Israel not to imitate.

The Tree and Jeremiah 10

One of the most striking resemblances to today’s Christmas customs appears in Jeremiah 10. Luther popularised the tree as a Christian decoration, yet centuries earlier Jeremiah described pagan practices that sound hauntingly familiar:

“For the prescribed customs of these peoples are worthless, for one cuts a tree from the forest, work for the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. They adorn it with silver and gold, they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it does not topple. They are like a rounded post, and they do not speak. They have to be carried, because they do not walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they do no evil, nor is it in them to do any good.” — Jeremiah 10:3–5

Some insist Jeremiah 10 refers only to idol-making, but the description parallels the Christmas tree custom with unsettling clarity:

• a tree is cut down,

• decorated with metal,

• fixed upright so that it will not fall.

  
  

Whether or not one believes this is a direct prophecy of the Christmas tree, the resonance is undeniable and the principle is the same: Israel was forbidden to adopt the religious customs of the nations, especially those involving cut, decorated, ritualised trees.

Bowing Under the Tree and the Second Commandment

On Christmas morning, families kneel beneath the tree to retrieve gifts. This act is not intentional idolatry, yet the symbolism bears weight. It places the worshipper physically beneath a representation inherited from pagan fertility rites, a gesture troublingly close to what Scripture forbids.

Satan’s temptation of Messiah makes the imagery even sharper:

“All these I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” — Matthew 4:9

Modern observers may dismiss such parallels as coincidence or harmless nostalgia — but Scripture addresses the heart of the issue in the Second Commandment:

“You do not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of that which is in the heavens above, or which is in the earth beneath, or which is in the waters under the earth, you do not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, יהוה your Aluhym am a jealous Ěl, visiting the crookedness of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me …” — Exodus 20:4–5

The argument is not that the Christmas tree is literally Asherah, Tammuz, or a sun-god idol. The issue is far deeper, that the forms, symbols, gestures, and ritual patterns of the nations have been imported wholesale into Christian homes and churches, then softened with emotional language and wrapped in sentimental meaning. The origin has not changed; only the vocabulary around it has.

And this matters because the tree keeps its symbolic function. It stands as the decorated centrepiece of the celebration. It is given honour, placed in a prominent position, adorned with offerings of gold, silver, and fruit-like ornaments. Families gather around it. Children and adults kneel before it to retrieve gifts. No one imagines they are worshipping a tree but the form of the act mirrors the posture of devotion.

Scripture speaks directly to this danger. After warning Israel not to imitate the worship practices of the nations, יהוה continues:

“Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it.” —Deuteronomy 7:26

The context is unmistakable: Israel was commanded not even to bring into their homes the objects or symbols that belonged to pagan worship, because these forms themselves carried spiritual corruption. The warning was not only against bowing to idols, but against normalising the objects of idolatrous systems within the covenant household.

And this is precisely what has happened with the modern Christmas tree. It is not that Christians intend idolatry. But intention does not erase pattern. The tree remains what it has always been, a ritual symbol rooted not in Scripture but in the worship systems of the nations, systems from which יהוה commands His people to separate.

To place such a symbol at the heart of the home, to gather around it, to kneel before it, and to sanctify it with Christian language does not transform its origins. It simply reintroduces into the house of faith what יהוה once commanded His people to remove from theirs.

The Tree From the Beginning: A Pattern and a Warning

What makes this symbolism all the more sobering is that the very first deception in human history took place at a tree. Scripture never treats Eden as myth or moral fable, it is recorded as instruction for every generation (1 Corinthians 10:11), revealing how deception works, how idolatry begins, and how easily the people of יהוה can be led astray when something appears beautiful, desirable, or harmless.

Eve was the bride of the first Adam.

She stood before a tree that appeared “good for food,” “delightful to the eyes,” and “desirable” (Genesis 3:6). She did not approach it with rebellion, but with curiosity, believing she could take what was forbidden and still be safe. The tree was pleasant, attractive, and offered the illusion of wisdom. Yet the very thing she imagined harmless became the instrument of death.

Israel was the bride of יהוה.

And she too was deceived at trees — “under every green tree” (1 Kings 14:23; 2 Kings 17:10–11; Hosea 4:13). The altars and Asherah-groves were widespread in the surrounding cultures and carried strong symbolic appeal. Israel did not necessarily adopt these practices by openly rejecting יהוה, but by taking on the religious forms and customs that were already common among the nations, practices which Scripture clearly defines as idolatry.

The ekklesia (church) is the bride of the second Adam, the Messiah.

And the repeated warning is the same:

“Do not be deceived…” — 1 Corinthians 6:9; Ephesians 5:6

“…lest Satan should gain an advantage of us.” — 2 Corinthians 2:11

“And the great dragon was thrown out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who leads all the world astray.” — Revelation 12:9

The deception described in Scripture is never random. It is thematic, cyclical, and deeply prophetic, a warning to every generation not to assume immunity from the very patterns that ensnared those before us. And today, much of the ekklesia is again entangled in the serpent’s deception. Deliverance comes only when we refuse his lies, turn away from the forbidden tree, and stretch out our hands instead to the Tree of Life — the Messiah Himself, the only One who can restore and sustain us.

The first deception happened at a tree. Israel’s compromise happened under every green tree. And today a decorated evergreen stands at the centre of the most cherished festival in Christianity, a festival never commanded by יהוה, yet marked by the very forms He repeatedly warned His people not to imitate.

The Hidden Message of Genesis 3: The Serpent’s Pattern of Deception

Interestingly, when reflecting on Genesis 3, the original deception and the patterns of deception that persist to this day, some have pointed to a symbolic parallel found in gematria, the traditional Jewish numerical system. While gematria is not a basis for establishing doctrine, the numerical patterns here are striking enough to merit mention.

1. “Serpent” — נחש (nāḥāsh)

Hebrew letters and their values:

• נ (Nun) = 50

• ח (Chet) = 8

• ש (Shin) = 300

Total:50 + 8 + 300 = 358

Day 358 of a 365-day calendar is December 24th — Christmas Eve.

2. “Satan” — שטן (sāṭān)

Hebrew letters and their values:

• ש (Shin) = 300

• ט (Tet) = 9

• ן (Final Nun) = 50

Total:300 + 9 + 50 = 359

Day 359 of a 365-day calendar is December 25th — Christmas Day.

Whether one sees this as coincidence or providential symbolism, it offers a vivid reminder: what many believe honours the Messiah does not originate with Him at all. Instead, it aligns far more closely, historically, symbolically, and spiritually, with the adversary’s ancient pattern of deception.

And this pattern is not new. The winter solstice has been the supposed “birth” of countless pagan deities across cultures, gods of the sun, light, fertility, and renewal, all presented as saviour-figures or divine children appearing at the darkest time of the year. From Tammuz of Babylon, to Horus of Egypt, to Mithras of Persia, to Sol Invictus of Rome, the nations repeatedly celebrated the “birth” of a deliverer on or around December 25. This shared theme across the ancient world did not come from Scripture, but from the same spiritual counterfeit that has always sought to replace the true with the false, the holy with the profane, and the Messiah with impostors.

Thus the alignment is not accidental. What many assume to be a celebration of the true birth of the Messiah is, in its origins and symbolism, part of a much older and darker pattern, the pattern of the serpent offering a substitute “saviour” whose birth, imagery, and worship centre on the very season that Scripture never once connects to the true Redeemer.

Symbolism Hidden in Plain Sight

When modern Christmas trees are decorated, the parallels, though unintentional, are difficult to ignore:

• Tinsel coils around the tree like a shining serpent.

  
  

• Baubles hang like enticing fruit.

  
  

• A star or angel crowns the top, yet Scripture says: “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14), and fallen angels are described as “stars” cast down (Revelation 12:4). The decoration placed at the top of the tree quietly reveals the deeper reality of what is being honoured when we bring this symbol into our homes and join in the Christmas celebration, and it is certainly something very different from the Holy One of Israel.

  
  

• Presents are placed beneath the tree, drawing children and adults to kneel and reach toward what the tree “offers” — a visual echo of the serpent’s false promises: “you will be like gods” (Genesis 3:5) and “all these things I will give You” (Matthew 4:9). 

No Christian imagines they are reenacting Eden. But the imagery is hauntingly familiar, a tree crowned with a celestial figure, wrapped in a glittering serpent-like garland, adorned with fruit-like ornaments, drawing the household toward its base. This is not to claim that Christians consciously intend such symbolism. But Scripture repeatedly teaches that symbols matter, that the forms we adopt communicate meaning, and that patterns carry spiritual consequence. It warns that imitating the religious symbols of the nations leads to deception, and that the recurring motifs found throughout the biblical narrative are not ornamental curiosities, they are divine warnings meant to keep the people of יהוה from repeating the same fatal mistakes.

Historical Notes on Norse Sacred Trees

1. Yggdrasil — The World-Tree

In Norse cosmology, Yggdrasil was the immense cosmic tree that held the entire universe together. It was believed to be:

• an evergreen ash tree,

• whose roots extended into the underworld,

• whose trunk stood in the world of men, and

• whose branches reached into the heavens.

Yggdrasil symbolised life, knowledge, fate, protection, and divine presence. It was watered by sacred wells, guarded by mythic creatures, and served as the meeting place of the gods.Its “ever-living” nature made it a central symbol of spiritual life and cosmic stability, an obvious parallel to later European evergreen customs used at midwinter.

2. Thor’s Oak (Donar’s Oak)

Among Germanic and Norse tribes, the most famous sacred tree was Thor’s Oak (also called Donar’s Oak, after the thunder god). It was:

• considered a holy evergreen,

• located in modern-day Hesse, Germany,

• used as a site of rituals and possibly sacrifices.

According to St. Boniface’s 8th-century account, Christian missionaries felled Thor’s Oak to demonstrate the powerlessness of pagan gods. The people expected Thor to strike them dead — when nothing happened, many converted. The missionaries then used the wood to build a church.

Thor’s Oak shows that evergreen trees held sacred status long before Christmas traditions existed.

3. The Sacred Grove Tradition

Across Germanic and Scandinavian cultures, sacred groves (hörgr / lunden) were central religious sites:

• used for sacrifices,

• ritual feasting,

• oath-taking,

• invoking gods and spirits.

Tacitus (1st century CE) recorded that Germanic tribes refused to worship in temples, instead preferring forests and sacred groves, believing the divine dwelt in trees.

Evergreens, as symbols of life amid winter death, were especially revered during the winter solstice.

Augustine and Early Christian Writers Condemning Tree Cults

Early Christian leaders strongly opposed the pagan practice of venerating trees, groves, and sacred wood — practices that were deeply rooted in European religion long before Christmas existed.

1. Augustine of Hippo (4th–5th century)

Augustine repeatedly condemned tree worship, noting that pagans:

• hung offerings on trees,

• tied ribbons or cloths to branches,

• lit candles beneath sacred groves,

• and attributed divine presence to specific trees.

He writes in City of God (Book 7 & 8) and various sermons that such practices were demonic imitations designed to draw people away from the worship of the Creator.

He specifically denounces:

“Those who plant trees or set up sacred pillars, and worship the works of their own hands.”

He associates tree cults with the “old religion” of the nations that Christ came to overthrow.

2. Tertullian (2nd–3rd century)

Tertullian rebuked Christians who decorated their homes with laurel and evergreen boughs, customs tied to Roman festivals:

“You are the light of the world, but you are following the pagans in their feasts and ceremonies.”(De Idololatria)

He strongly opposed Christians adopting pagan customs involving greenery, wreaths, and tree symbolism.

3. Lactantius (3rd–4th century)

Lactantius criticises pagan worship of:

• trees,

• statues carved from wood,

• groves set aside for the gods.

He argues that attributing divine power to trees is a fundamental error of the nations.

4. Pope Gregory the Great (late 6th century)

In his missionary instructions to Augustine of Canterbury, Gregory condemns tree sacrifices and the worship of sacred groves among the Anglo-Saxons. Even though he allowed some festivals to be “Christianised,” tree worship itself had to be destroyed.

5. Councils and Canons

Various church councils (4th–8th centuries) specifically forbade:

• tree worship,

• decorating trees,

• lighting candles in groves,

• tying offerings to branches,

• observing solstice rites.

For example:

• The Council of Tours (567) condemned “the worship of trees and stones.”

• The Council of Braga (572) forbade “veneration of sacred groves.”

These condemnations are clear evidence that tree cults persisted and Christianity saw them as incompatible with Scripture.

Scholarly Recognition of Sacred Tree Continuity

Modern scholars of religion, anthropology, and ancient Near Eastern studies do not claim that the Christmas tree is a literal Asherah pole or a direct survival of a single ancient cult. However, they overwhelmingly acknowledge a continuity of form, symbolism, and ritual function between ancient sacred-evergreen traditions and what later became the Christmas tree.

In other words, while the Christmas tree is not identical to any one pagan object, it inherits its structure, season, meaning, and use from pre-Christian religious practices, especially those tied to the winter solstice.

Harvard historian Stephen Nissenbaum, in The Battle for Christmas, argues that the modern Christmas tree is best understood as “a domesticated heir to ancient evergreen traditions,” rooted in midwinter rituals celebrating life and renewal. He shows that evergreens were venerated in European paganism long before Christians adopted them, and that Christmas simply absorbed the custom rather than originating it.

Religious historian Bruce David Forbes, in Christmas: A Candid History, writes plainly that the use of evergreens at Christmas “comes directly from pre-Christian solstice festivals,” where fir boughs and trees symbolised life, fertility, and survival during the darkest time of the year. Christmas, he explains, inherited these symbols because they were culturally meaningful, not because Scripture commanded them.

Art historian Penelope Davies of the University of Texas notes that the decorated tree echoes earlier ritual practices in which the peoples of the Mediterranean and Near East adorned wooden cult poles, sacred groves, and carved tree-symbols with ribbons, metal ornaments, and votive offerings. The visual and symbolic parallels are clear, even if the later Christian meaning differs.

Across the academic landscape, from comparative religion to archaeology, the consensus is consistent:

Christianity adopted the decorated evergreen from older pagan traditions, reinterpreting but not reinventing it.

The form, timing, and symbolism all predate Christianity, and the custom was embraced precisely because of its familiarity in European culture.

This does not mean the Christmas tree is a one-to-one reproduction of an Asherah pole. It does mean that it is part of the very lineage of tree-symbolism, fertility, enduring life, cosmic renewal, and solstitial power, that Scripture repeatedly warns Israel not to imitate.

A Brief Clarification Before Proceeding

Before addressing Santa, wreaths, and other modern symbols, it is important to note that many Christians do not incorporate Santa into their celebration of Christmas, nor do they attach pagan meaning to trees, ornaments, or wreaths. They may say, “We do not teach our children Santa; we focus on Jesus. These things are just cultural, harmless decorations.”

This is fully acknowledged. The majority of believers do not intend to participate in pagan practice, nor do they imagine they are invoking old gods by hanging lights or exchanging gifts. Their hearts are sincere.

However, and this is the crucial point, the sincerity of worship does not alter the origins of the symbols, nor the fact that these customs were absorbed into Christian practice from nations whose ways יהוה commands His people not to imitate. Even if a Christian home does not use Santa at all, the figure remains one of the most visible and powerful icons of the season globally, a reminder of just how deeply the entire festival is shaped by traditions that never came from Scripture.

Furthermore, the fact that this festival is embraced wholeheartedly by the secular world, including those who reject Scripture, truth, holiness, and any call to repentance — is striking. People who want nothing to do with the commands of יהוה nevertheless protect, promote, and passionately observe Christmas. This alone should cause us to pause. The world does not embrace the feasts of יהוה; it does not cherish His Sabbaths; it does not celebrate His appointed times, yet it fiercely holds onto Christmas.

With that necessary distinction made, it becomes important to understand exactly what these symbols represent and where they came from.

Santa, Wreaths, and Ornaments: The Great Counterfeit

Although most Christians do not participate in Christmas with pagan intention, the symbols that surround the festival were not created in a biblical vacuum. They arise from an older symbolic world,  one steeped in winter solstice rites, fertility cults, ancestral worship, and later folklore heavily coloured by occult themes. Their persistence is not spiritually neutral.

Santa Claus: The Fabricated Omniscient Giver

The modern Santa figure is treated as harmless fun, yet the traits attributed to him are unmistakably theological:

• He knows the moral behaviour of every child (omniscience).

• He visits all homes in one night (omnipresence).

• He descends from the heavens.

• He judges and rewards according to conduct.

• He performs supernatural travel.

These attributes do not come from Scripture, but from a blend of folklore, medieval legend, and pre-Christian mythology.

Santa’s imagery draws especially from Odin, the chief Norse god, who:

• rode through the sky during the solstice,

• wore a long cloak and wizard-like hat,

• kept horned animal companions,

• possessed knowledge of human actions,

• and rewarded or punished mortals.

This mythos blended with later European folk traditions, producing the figure now celebrated around the world.

Behind these later elements lie even older patterns tied to ancient dying-and-rising god traditions. Some later interpretations connect these winter solstice rites with the stories of Nimrod, Semiramis, and Tammuz, where offerings and gifts were placed at evergreen trees to honour the dead. Whether or not every detail of that genealogy is accepted by modern scholars, the biblical reality is clear: Israel fell into Tammuz worship, and such rituals were repeatedly condemned (Ezekiel 8:14).

Children today, in innocence, place gifts under the tree, yet historically, gift-giving under evergreens during the solstice was an act of devotion to pagan deities.

Wreaths, Ornaments, and the Ritual Language of Paganism

Many of the decorations woven into modern Christmas celebrations carry symbolic meanings far older than Christianity, meanings preserved within pagan and occult traditions even if forgotten by contemporary households. The wreath, for example, is not merely a festive circle of greenery but an ancient emblem of the sun, eternal cycles, fertility, and the womb. Its evergreen form symbolised life enduring through the darkness of winter, a central motif of solstice ritual. Likewise, the evergreen tree has long been used across ancient cultures as a sign of perpetual life and seasonal rebirth, and in Near Eastern contexts it often carried connotations of fertility and divine presence. Its use parallels the Asherah trees and poles repeatedly condemned in Scripture, objects treated as sacred in the worship of foreign deities.

The ornaments that hang from the branches once represented fertility symbols, some explicitly shaped like male reproductive forms. In later European folklore they evolved into “witch balls,” glass spheres used to attract, trap, or ward off spirits,  objects firmly rooted in folk magic. Even tinsel carries an ancient heritage, with early versions symbolising seed, vitality, and life-force, reflecting agricultural hopes enacted during the solstice period. Taken together, the entire aesthetic, the lights, the circles, the evergreens, the horned animal figures, the magical flight imagery, the celestial crowns placed atop the tree, reflects a symbolic vocabulary inherited not from Scripture but from the winter festivals of the nations.

Lights, Feasting, and Hidden Survivals of Solstice Worship

Across the ancient world, midwinter celebrations shared a constellation of rituals centred on the rebirth of the sun and the gods associated with it. Candles were lit as offerings to the solar deity, a practice faintly echoed today in candlelight services on Christmas Eve. In both European and Near Eastern rites, boar’s heads were presented as sacrifices symbolising the defeat of the sun-god’s mythic adversary, a tradition that survives in softened form in the Christmas ham. In later classical adaptations of the Tammuz cycle, particularly in the Greek figure of Adonis (a clear continuation of the dying-and-rising vegetation god), the deity is slain by a wild boar. This motif spread widely across solstice traditions, making the boar a central emblem of the enemy of the returning sun. Thus the ceremonial Yule boar became a fixture of winter feasts and it persists today, largely unrecognised, on countless Christmas tables.

Geese, regarded in several cultures as symbols of the sacrificial “son,” were likewise offered in winter festivals from Egypt to Babylon to Rome. Cakes and sweet breads, dedicated to solar or fertility deities during the solstice, survive in modern Christmas puddings, fruitcakes, and seasonal confections. These rituals were never mere gestures of winter cheer; they were deliberate acts of worship within systems of idolatry that Scripture repeatedly condemns.

As centuries passed, these solstice customs gradually shed their overt pagan meanings, yet their forms remained intact. What had once been expressions of devotion to the gods of the nations became the raw materials from which later Christmas traditions were constructed. The Yule log, once burned as the symbol of the dying god, now appears as a dessert cake. The evergreen tree, honoured as the sign of the resurrected solar child, now stands as the centrepiece of Christian celebration. The sun-god’s banquet survives as the Christmas feast. The mother-and-child solar imagery, so prominent in ancient iconography, resurfaced quietly in the Nativity scenes adopted by the Church. And the candles once offered to the returning sun now glow as Christmas lights.

Conclusion: The Call to Return to the Ancient Paths

Most Christians who celebrate Christmas do so with sincere intentions. They do not consciously attach pagan meaning to its customs or symbols. They do not believe they are imitating the nations. They believe they are honouring the Messiah, celebrating His birth, and creating memories of joy, generosity, and love. Their hearts do not have evil intentions. But sincerity does not sanctify what יהוה has never commanded.And Scripture repeatedly warns that the form of worship matters just as much as the heart behind it.

“When יהוה your Aluhym does cut off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, guard yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire about their mighty ones, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their mighty ones? And let me do so too.’ “Do not do so to יהוה your Aluhym, for every abomination which יהוה hates they have done to their mighty ones, for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their mighty ones.” — Deuteronomy 12:29–31

“When you come into the land which יהוה your Elohim is giving you, do not learn to do according to the abominations of those gentiles.” — Deuteronomy 18:9

“Thus said יהוה, “Do not learn the way of the gentiles, and do not be awed by the signs of the heavens, for the gentiles are awed by them.” — Jeremiah 10:2

Christmas, its date, its symbols, its rituals, its emotional centre, did not originate in the Word of יהוה, nor in the teachings of the apostles, nor in the practices of the early believers. It came from the nations whose worship practices Scripture commands us not to imitate. Even when Christians remove overtly pagan elements, the foundation remains unchanged. The symbols remain. And those trained in occult or esoteric traditions still recognise them immediately, because their meanings were never erased, only forgotten by the majority.

Israel of old attempted the very same mistake now repeated by many believers: they tried to dedicate something pagan to יהוה. When they fashioned the golden calf, Aaron proclaimed:

“Tomorrow is a festival to יהוה.” — Exodus 32:5

They did not renounce Him. They did not claim to worship another god. They simply took a form from the nations and attempted to offer it to the Holy One as though He would accept it. But He did not. Scripture records the devastating consequence:

“And about three thousand men of the people fell that day.” — Exodus 32:28

Their intention did not sanctify their action. Their desire to honour יהוה did not cleanse the form they borrowed from Egypt. He rejected their offering because He had never commanded it, and He called it rebellion.

Today, many Christians are attempting to do the same: to dedicate a pagan festival to יהוה, attach His Son’s Name to it, wrap it in worship language, and present it as though the form no longer matters. But יהוה has not and does not change (Malachi 3:6). He did not receive the golden calf simply because Israel claimed it was “for Him,” and He will not receive Christmas simply because we declare it “for Jesus.” He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

Meanwhile, the nations embrace Christmas wholeheartedly. Those who reject holiness, who scorn obedience, who despise the commandments, they treasure this festival. They guard it with zeal. They celebrate it with passion. This contrast should sober us.

This universal affection for a festival rooted in pagan worship is precisely what Scripture describes as spiritual drunkenness, when the nations embrace what is unclean, celebrate what is forbidden, and defend what originates in the worship of other gods. Scripture repeatedly warns us that the nations would be led into this very condition:

“And he cried with a mighty voice, saying, “Baḇel the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, and a haunt for every unclean and hated bird, because all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her whoring, and the sovereigns of the earth have committed whoring with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the power of her riotous living.” — Revelation 18:2-3

“Baḇel was a golden cup in the hand of יהוה, making drunk all the earth. The nations drank her wine, that is why the nations went mad!” — Jeremiah 51:7

This is perhaps the spiritual intoxication of which the prophets speak, when people embrace a corrupted form of worship because it feels good, because it is familiar, because it carries cultural weight… even when its roots are wholly foreign to the worship of the Holy One. And so the nations love Christmas, even those who despise holiness, because its roots are theirs, not His.

The gentiles will one day realise their foolishness, as the prophet Jeremiah describes:

“O יהוה, my strength and my stronghold and my refuge, in the day of distress the gentiles shall come to You from the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers have inherited only falsehood, futility, and there is no value in them.” Would a man make mighty ones for himself, which are not mighty ones?” — Jeremiah 16:19-20

The prophetic warnings are not directed only at the unbelieving nations. They speak just as urgently to those who claim to belong to יהוה yet participate in forms of worship He never commanded.

When the nations drink from Babylon’s cup, they do so willingly, they love the symbols, the season, the mythology, and the cultural unity it provides. But when believers join in the same celebration, adopt the same customs, embrace the same symbols, and sanctify the same day, they too participate in the very intoxication Scripture warns against.

The call in Revelation is addressed specifically to יהוה’s people:

“Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.” — Revelation 18:4

The warning is that His people, if not discerning, will drink from the same cup as the nations. Sha’ul makes this exact point when writing to the believers in Corinth, who were tempted to adopt pagan practices while still claiming devotion to Messiah. He writes with sharp clarity:

“You cannot drink the cup of the Master and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Master’s table and the table of demons.” — 1 Corinthians 10:21

This is Sha’ul’s way of saying:

You cannot sanctify what יהוה has condemned.

You cannot adopt the forms of the nations and call it worship.

You cannot mix light with darkness and expect it to remain light.

Throughout Scripture, Israel was not condemned for openly rejecting Aluhym. She was condemned for attempting to worship Him in the ways of the nations. This is syncretism. This is spiritual adultery. This is what Messiah calls worship in vain (Mark 7:7-8).

Yet this is precisely what many sincere believers do when they place the Christmas tree at the centre of their home, sanctify a day rooted in pagan solstice worship, and participate in idolatrous customs inherited from the nations. Whether knowingly or unknowingly, they drink from both cups, the cup of the Master by intention, but the cup of the nations by practice. And Scripture warns that such mixture is impossible to justify before Him. Scripture also warns us not to bring an abomination into our homes:

“The carved images of their mighty ones you are to burn with fire. Do not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it, for it is an abomination to יהוה your Aluhym. And do not bring an abomination into your house, lest you be accursed like it. Utterly loathe it and utterly hate it, for it is accursed.” — Deuteronomy 7:25-26

And Sha’ul does not stop there. In 2 Corinthians 6, he gives the clearest apostolic command regarding the use of pagan symbols and practices:

“Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness? And what fellowship has light with darkness? And what agreement has Messiah with Beliya‛al? Or what part does a believer have with an unbeliever? And what union has the Dwelling Place of Aluhym with idols? For you are a Dwelling Place of the living Aluhym, as Aluhym has said, “I shall dwell in them and walk among them, and I shall be their Aluhym, and they shall be My people.” Therefore, “Come out from among them and be separate, says יהוה, and do not touch what is unclean, and I shall receive you. And I shall be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me, says יהוה the Almighty.”” — 2 Corinthians 6:14–18

The condition set before us is unmistakable. It is separation that precedes reception; obedience that precedes communion; and purity that precedes intimacy with יהוה. Only when His people turn away from the practices of the nations, refusing the forms He has not commanded, will He extend the promise, “I will receive you.” He does not say, “Touch the unclean thing and I will understand your heart.” He says, “Do not touch it — and then I will receive you.”

This is not harshness, it is mercy. It is the loving call of a Father inviting His children out of mixture and into purity, out of inherited lies and into truth, out of Babylon’s intoxication and into the freedom of His appointed ways.

A Deception as Old as the Beginning

Revelation warns:

“And the great dragon was thrown out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who leads all the world astray. He was thrown to the earth, and his messengers were thrown out with him.” — Revelation 12:9

This is not a new strategy, but the same ancient pattern revealed from the very beginning, when in Genesis 3 the serpent offered the woman, the bride of the first Adam, something beautiful, desirable, and seemingly spiritual: a tree placed at the centre, a word subtly distorted, and a promise of wisdom and blessing.

Sha’ul warns that this pattern is prophetic:

“For I am jealous for you with a jealousy according to Aluhym. For I gave you in marriage to one husband, to present you as an innocent maiden to Messiah. But I am afraid, lest, as the serpent deceived Eve by his trickery, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Messiah.” — 2 Corinthians 11:2–3

Why does the pattern repeat? Because יהוה reveals the end through the beginning:

“Remember the former events of old, for I am Ěl, and there is no one else – Elohim, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from of old that which has not yet been done, saying, ‘My counsel does stand, and all My delight I do,’” — Isaiah 46:9-10

Genesis is prophetic architecture. In Eden, the bride was deceived at a tree; in our time, a decorated evergreen stands at the heart of a festival never commanded by Aluhym yet honoured globally as holy. The parallel is striking: a tree placed at the centre, beauty masking deception, a bride persuaded she is honouring Aluhym, and a serpent subtly directing worship through forms Aluhym never gave. Eve did not imagine she was rebelling, and Christians today do not imagine that Christmas is disobedience, yet the pattern is the same, repeated from the beginning.

Scripture warns:

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” — Proverbs 14:12

And Messiah Himself declares:

“And He answering, said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy concerning you hypocrites, as it has been written, ‘This people respect Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching as teachings the commands of men.’ “Forsaking the command of Aluhym, you hold fast the tradition of men.” And He said to them, “Well do you set aside the command of Aluhym, in order to guard your tradition.” — Mark 7:6–9

Whose Birth Is Being Honoured?

It must also be remembered that the Messiah was not born on December 25. Scripture gives no such date, and historical evidence strongly disproves a winter birth. Yet many ancient religions did celebrate the birthdays of their gods during the solstice — Tammuz, Horus, Mithras, Sol Invictus, Dionysus, and others. Thus, even unintentionally, celebrating December 25 places a believer within a long tradition of solstice birth festivals. One may intend to honour Christ, but the date, form, and symbolism historically align not with Him, but with the births of false deities.

In contrast, יהוה Himself has appointed His own feast days, described in Leviticus 23, seasons of holiness that prophetically reveal the Messiah, declare His redemptive work, and form the rhythm of worship for His people. These were kept by Messiah, the apostles, and the early church. They remain relevant and commanded. They are His appointed times, not the world’s.

A Final Warning From the Master

Messiah warned:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Master, Master,’ shall enter into the reign of the heavens, but he who is doing the desire of My Father in the heavens. Many shall say to Me in that day, ‘Master, Master, have we not prophesied in Your Name, and cast out demons in Your Name, and done many mighty works in Your Name?’ And then I shall declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from Me, you who work lawlessness!’” — Matthew 7:21–23

And He promises:

“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” — John 8:32

The prophets echo the same plea. Through Jeremiah, יהוה gives a timeless command:

“Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you will find rest for your souls.” — Jeremiah 6:16

The ancient paths are not found in the traditions of the nations, nor in festivals the world embraces, nor in customs born from pagan worship. The ancient paths are the ways He Himself established — His Torah, His appointed times, His commands, His rhythm of holiness for His people.

But יהוה also records the tragic response of many:

“But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” — Jeremiah 6:16

This is the very danger of syncretism: people believe they are honouring Aluhym, yet reject the way He has revealed.

And Revelation still cries out:

“Come out of her, My people…” — Revelation 18:4 

The call is consistent, from the Torah, through the prophets, through Messiah, through the apostles, and into the final book of Scripture. The Creator has appointed His own days, His own symbols, His own ways; He has already shown the path of life. Now He calls His people, in mercy, in truth, and in love, to turn from the inherited traditions of the nations, to reject the forms He never commanded, and to return to the ancient paths where His voice, His feasts, and His ways still lead the faithful into life.

May יהוה be with you and bless you.