1. It is not MENTIONED in the WORD of GOD at all!
God hates MIXTURE! He does not want us adopting pagan ideas and borrowing methods of worship from other cultures and Nations!
God has established His OWN FEASTS and HOLY DAYS!
Exodus 32:1-6 (KJV) 1And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 2And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 3And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 4And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 5And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. 6And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
Exodus 32:17-20 17And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. 18And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear. 19And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. 20And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.
2. The Word Points us to His Death and Resurrection, not to His birth
1 Corinthians 11:26 (KJV) 26For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
1 Corinthians 15:14 (KJVS) And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
Sirs, We Would See Jesus
61-1224 · Jefferonsville Indiana
135 That’s the Message to get to people; not a cradle, not a manger. Christmas is not mentioned in the entire Book of the Bibles. Never one time did Jesus refer them to His birth, but to His death.
Sirs, We Would See Jesus
61-1224 · Jefferonsville Indiana
215 Not one time did He point any person to any creed, any denomination, or to His birth, or even to Christmas. Not one time did He ever do it. I could linger on that a while, but I—I won’t. Yet, if it isn’t important, if Jesus…You can nowhere find it in the Bible, where He ever pointed anyone to anywhere else, to know Him, but the cross. That’s right. And that is self-crucifixion to yourself. “Except a man be born again.” Then, if the manger, Santa Claus…
216 Jesus never did write a creed. He never did ordain a denomination. And then why is it we make so much of it, and even lay every responsibility on it? I want to ask you that; Christmas, now. Why is it then that our churches lay so much on it, that, “You must belong to this church. You’ve got to say this creed. You’ve got to do this, that, or the other”? Why is it we lay so much on it, if it’s not important? It shows we’ve got a different kind of a disciples than we used to have. They want to bring you to their church, to their denomination, or to their creed, and not to the Christ.
Sirs, We Would See Jesus
61-1224 · Jefferonsville Indiana
291 Now I’m going to close by saying this, just these few words. My Christmas Message, is, let me point you tonight to the cross. Amen. And you, the corn of wheat, fall into Christ there and die. There you will find His Life in His Word, being the same yesterday, today, and forever. Let that be my Christmas Message to you. I ain’t pointing you to a manger, to a cradle, to a church, to a denomination. But, “sirs, we would see Jesus,” then I’ll point you to Him. He points you to His death, burial and resurrection. And you let your own corn of wheat fall in there, and let His Word become real in you, and you’ll see that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. “Sirs, we would see Jesus.” He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Sirs, We Would See Jesus
61-1224 · Jefferonsville Indiana
304 God bless you. Not exactly a “merry” Christmas, but God’s blessings of Christmas be upon you. May the Christ of Calvary hide you in Himself, blanket you, so wrap you and enshroud you in His Word, till His Word will be made flesh in you, is my prayer. God bless you. The pastor now, Brother Neville.
3. Jesus Christ was not born in December
Divine Healing
54-1219 · Jeffersonville, Indiana
10 Now, the Christmas is not a Protestant holiday. It’s a Catholic day. The 25th of December was months and months before our…after…or before our Lord was born. Our Lord was born in April. But He wasn’t born in December. If you’ve been in Judaea, in December, it’s colder than this, so—so you know He wasn’t born in December. And it’s spelled, it’s C-h-r-i-s-t-m-a-s, a mass for Christ. It’s the Christ-mass.
The Patmos Vision
60-1204 · Jeffersonville, Indiana
115 In a few weeks, or even right now, there’s reindeers and Santa Clauses and—and jingle bells and all kinds of things hanging up, which is pagan ceremony. It’s an article of the Catholic church. People paying great prices and swapping presents and things like that, pagan! Christmas is a day of worship.
116 And by the way, Christ wasn’t born on the twenty-fifth day of December either. He couldn’t have been. If you’d ever been in Judaea, the hills are full of snow, worse than it is here. Born in April when all nature comes forth.
117 Now, but it’s their tradition. And why—why do we do those things? Because we follow the traditions of men instead of the commandments of God. Them…Something like that wouldn’t matter, but they just make a commercial day out of it. It’s a disgrace, a shame for them to do such things as that. A pagan ceremony! When did Santa Claus have anything to do with Jesus? When did the Easter rabbit or a chicken or…colored up with some kind of ink or something, or some kind of little white rabbit have anything to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Don’t you see how the commercial world…?
118 That’s the reason they sell these ol’ rock-and-roll books, and dirty pictures, and vulgar, and things like that, is because the nature of the people crave for such nonsense. It’s because there’s something wrong in the heart, they’ve never entered into that Rest with God and ceased from these things. When they come into that and receive the Holy Ghost, then they’re finished with the world and the things of the world.
The World Is Again Falling Apart
63-1127 · Shreveport, Louisiana
29 And Christmas is such a great commercial day, until it’s taken Thanksgiving pretty near out of the picture, because…in the—in the world of business, anyhow; because that the—the commercial world is so much greater influenced by Christmas, because there is so many people shop. And they just…Thanksgiving is just a little passing-by. And we find out, as we see Christmas nearing again, I thought it would be a good thing to speak on this subject, as we’re nearing it. Seeing that, really, Christmas is not…
30 We celebrate this 25th day of December for the birthday of Christ, but, course, anyone knows that it wasn’t Christ’s birthday. That was the Roman sun-god’s birthday, that when the church was converted into, or, brought into Catholicism, was formed at the council at Nicaea. Instead of it being the “sun god’s,” they made it the “Son of God’s” birthday. That was when, the sun, it’s from the 20th until the…I mean the 21st till the 25th, it’s kind of in its… Forget what the name you call it, rightly. It’s when it’s hardly a second-or-two’s time when it’s passing through that stage. And it was the sun-god’s birthday, and they just taken the “Son of God” and made that His birthday, to blend it in with their pagan tradition. And it’s no means, at all, being Christ’s birthday.
31 He could not been born at that time, because Judaea is about the same on the—on the…high up the equator, as this is, and we—we find out that, in Judaea, in the wintertime, 25th of December, she is blizzardly and cold. Shepherds cannot be on the hill, and many reasons that it couldn’t be.
32 And then He was nature born, like all other nature, He—He came forth in the Spring. Usually when the lambs are born, in the Spring; and He was the Lamb. Now, I believe, He was born, myself, March, April, or somewhere along in there, in the early Spring.
33 But we find that they made a day of merchandise out of it. People crowding on the streets, and rubbing shoulders, and fussing over things, and wondering about giving somebody a present, how much they will pay for it.
34 The other day, I was surprised. In a place I was standing, and two ladies was talking about giving their father the birthday…or the Christmas present for this year. And one of them said, “I got him a quart of whiskey.” And the other one said, “I got him a pack, or a carton of cigarettes,” or something another like that. And they were saying, one give so much more for the whiskey than they did the cigarettes.
35 And I thought, “If that isn’t a way to give a—a…swap or give a present in commemoration of Jesus Christ, the Son of God!” What a death-finding thing it is!
We Have Seen His Star and Have Come To Worship Him
63-1216 · Tucson, Arizona
27 Now notice, Christmas now has changed. Now, the real day of Christmas, we…that would be disputed, because we do not know it. The way we take Christmas, if you ever studied it, we are taking the—the Roman Catholic church’s conception of when Christmas was. Actually, Christ could not have been born on the twenty-fifth day of December, and be according with the Scriptures, because there’s thirty foot of snow in Judaea in that time, see, so they…it could not been shepherds out on the hills, and so forth, and it’d be contrary then to all nature. He came like nature.
Who Do You Say This Is?
64-1227 · Phoenix, Arizona
40 It couldn’t have been Christ’s birthday. It just absolutely could not have been. He’d have had to been born in March or April, ‘cause He was the Lamb. And He was a male sheep and borned in under the ram, Aries. It had to be, you see. And sheep are not born in December anyhow. Sheep are born in the Spring. And then another thing, the hills of Judea now, there’s twenty feet of snow on it. How could the shepherds have been out there?
4. Modern Christmas is nothing buy commercialism
The True and False Vines
56-0311A · Shreveport, Louisiana
31 Easter’s soon coming and this lovely city with others across the nation… There will be tens of thousands times thousands of dollars spent for Easter flowers to go on the altar. Why, brother, that’s pagan. God never had an altar for Easter flowers; that’s what Cain put on it. And coming Easter… But they don’t even… The world has got even Easter, Christmas, and every thing else, till it’s a great day of commercial, nothing about God in it. What in the world’s Easter got to do with a rabbit, or a chicken, or a yellow duck, or something? We are just as pagan as the heathens are and worse than they are in Africa. And yet, you put up with it. God help us to shun those things. As the sunlight of God begin to bathe down and expose those things, let’s walk in the Light.
Why Little Bethlehem
63-1214 · Phoenix, Arizona
72 There’s something lacking somewhere. What we try to do is twist it up and make it some great something up there, put flower and tinsel on it, and we pollute it just like the nations has done Christmas. That’s right! If we could get the tinsel off of the things, and the—the humility back in the human heart! If we could bring the humility back to Christmas of what it ought to be! Not a commercial day, not lights and Santa Claus’es! But back to worshipping the God of creation Who come in a stable and was borned a Baby, God made flesh and dwelt among us! If we could come back to that, get away from the tinsel and the big things. God don’t even deal with it at all.
5. Christmas is a myth—a Roman Catholic tradition or dogma
Divine Healing
54-1219M · Jeffersonville, Indiana
10 Now, the Christmas is not a Protestant holiday. It’s a Catholic day. The 25th of December was months and months before our…after…or before our Lord was born. Our Lord was born in April. But He wasn’t born in December. If you’ve been in Judaea, in December, it’s colder than this, so—so you know He wasn’t born in December. And it’s spelled, it’s C-h-r-i-s-t-m-a-s, a mass for Christ. It’s the Christ-mass.
11 We only have one Protestant holiday in America, and Mr. Roosevelt changed that for us. Uh-huh. That’s Thanksgiving. The rest of them are all Catholic days, every one of them. See? Mr. Roosevelt changed that for us. So we just have it on every Thursday, or some week, or something like that. It isn’t on a regular set day anymore.
Questions and Answers on The Holy Ghost
59-1219 · Jeffersonville, Indiana
154 …What about a Christmas play in a Holy Ghost church?
155 Well, if it’s about Christ, it might be all right. But if it’s about Santa Claus, I don’t believe in him. I—I done growed—I done growed away from that. I don’t believe in Santa Claus at all. See? And some of these little Christmas things they have, I think is ridiculous. And…But I think they’ve took all Christ out of Christmas and put Santa Claus in it.
156 And Santa Claus is a fiction story. (I’m not hurting any of your feelings, I hope, about the children.) But I’ll tell you. Here not long ago, about twenty-five, thirty years ago, when a minister here in this city, the pastor of—of a certain big church here in the city, that I knowed real well, a bosom friend of mine, he walked to me. And Charlie Bohannon (Brother Mike, you remember Charlie Bohannon, a good friend of mine)…Set there in his office and said, “I’ll never tell my kids or have my grandchildren told that lie no more.” He said, “My own little boy walked up to me after he got about twelve years old, and talking about Santa Claus…” And he, said, “Why…Honey, I’ve got something to tell you,” Said, “Mommy…” You know, and go ahead telling him what he did. Then after he come back, said, “Then, Daddy, is this Jesus the same thing?”
157 Tell the truth. Santa Claus is a Catholic getup about a fellow, a Kriss Kringle or Saint Nicholas, an old German Catholic saint of many years ago who went around doing good to children. And they’ve carried it down as a tradition. But Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He’s real, and He lives. Now, here’s a question, the last one, which is a very…
158 Now look. You might disagree with me at that. But if you do disagree with me, remember, let it be friendly, will you? I love you, and I don’t want to—don’t want to hurt you. I’m just, I’m wanting to be honest. If I can’t…if I tell my boy a lie, then I’m a liar. See? I want to tell him the truth.
Christianity Versus Idolatry
61-1217 · Jeffersonville, Indiana
21 Studying on mythology and all these myths, Christmas itself is a myth. It’s not no…Nothing real about Christmas. Christmas wasn’t even mentioned in the Bible, they never worshipped the birth day of Christ. Wasn’t no such a thing. That’s a Roman Catholic dogma and not a Christian teaching, no Scripture for it nowhere in the Bible and for the first hundred years after the Bible, see, nothing of it. It’s just a myth. Santa Claus, commercial, everything, the whole thing is wound up into a big conglomeration.
Sirs, We Would See Jesus
61-1224 · Jeffersonville, Indiana
12 But here is what it is. They have taken the sacredness from Christmas, to make it not a Christmas but, a worship day, but a celebration. See? We do not…You hear people say, “We’re going to celebrate Christmas.” That’s wrong. We should never celebrate Christmas. Christmas is a day of worship, not a celebration.
13 We celebrate Lincoln’s birthday. We celebrate Washington’s birthday. If you was down in the deep South, we would celebrate Lee’s birthday, or—or Jackson. Their birthday is a celebration.
14 But the birthday of Christ, I believe, should be a day of consecration, worship, instead of tonight. Of people at church, on their knees, praying, thanking God for the real Christmas Gift.
15 High-heeled shoes, and painted faces, and frock-tailed coats, and goblets of whiskey will be tipped, one to another. And tens of thousands times thousands of dollars worth of whiskey, and cigars, and cigarettes will be distributed tonight. When, thousands of poor, little, hungry children lay without a bite to eat or a place to lay their head.
16 Worship, what we need. Celebration is what we got. Oh, that’s all right. That, it isn’t all right, but we can’t stop it. It’s here to stay. We, we’re going to have Christmas right on just the same.
17 And the word Christmas, Christmas come from the word of “mass for Christ,” Christ’s mass, C-h-r-i-s-t-m-a-s. See? Christ’s mass, it’s a Catholic tradition.
18 And my little, one of my daughters, I can’t call her little no more, Becky, was had to write a story the other day, on mythology, on mystic. And I said, “Just write about Santa Claus.” That’s—that’s it. Santa Claus has took the place of Christ. And Santa Claus, there never was such a person. See? It’s absolutely a Catholic tradition, not anything to do with Protestants or anything about it, see, or Christmas, or the birth of Christ, not at all. But Santa is here to stay.
19 But some day Jesus will come to stay. That’s the One we’re looking for.
The Falling Apart of the World
62-1216 · Jeffersonville, Indiana
117 Now, Christmas. I—I wish that really the people would, could understand in this world, what really Christmas is. Now, the first word Christmas is a—a kind of a Catholic expression. It means “Christ’s…” C-h-r-i-s-t-m-a-s, see, “Christ’s mass,” see. It was ordained or was begin with the Roman church. And Christ was no more born on the twenty-fifth day of December than I was. Uh-huh. It’s just a complete conglomeration of dogma. That’s all there is to it. “The whole world,” as the prophet said, “has become a putrified sore.” That’s right. Just it’s just no clean thing nowhere. Every holiday is backed up by an…Why, Santa Claus took Christmas’ place, the birth in the manger. The rabbit and chicken and new hats took the resurrection. And where does God appear in all this at? See? The reason of this is because that, man, in commercial.
118 Why, they started buying Christmas present months ago, and what is it but a heathen trait! There’s nothing about it godly. Oh, they try to say, “Give gifts, to the wise men.” That’s just an—an oasis for a devil’s excuse. You want to give something, it’s your life to Christ. Don’t give to one another, give it to Him. That’s what He died for. That’s His purpose of coming. See?
119 But it’s got to be a place where it—it’s—it’s a curse to little children. Some little neighbor down the street can have plenty, and the other little fellow don’t have nothing, and they look. And it’s—it’s just the whole thing is altogether wrong. That’s all. And merchants raise their merchandise at these places. They…Why, my wife went in to get something for some little fellows, and about three weeks ago, said, “Oh, we done sold out. All the stock. We made a double order of stock this year, done sold it all out.” Three or four weeks before the time to start shopping. Oh, what a big commercial setup it is!
120 And, after all, do you know how Christmas ever begin, this what we call Christmas, “Christ mass”? Here’s the story of it, just a little jot I got wrote down here on a page. I’ve just completed in the last year, before I had the Seven Church Ages, taught them here, I took the Nicaea Council, and the Pre-Nicaea Council and the Post-Nicaea Council, and Nicene Fathers, and Hislop’s Two Babylons and Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, and all, because I’ve heard ministers quote it. But I wanted to read it myself, to see, so that I—I would know when I read it or said to my people, because God’s going to make me answer at the Day of the Judgment what I say to the people. So, I’ve just got to not say what someone else said that they read, I want to read it myself, see, and know.
The Falling Apart of the World
62-1216 · Jeffersonville, Indiana
156 …See? That’s the way with the churches today. Finds at this Christmas time with all the tinsel of Christmas, the Santa Claus lights, the pagan traits and things dropped into both Catholic and Protestant churches, and just as corrupt as it can be. And God sends them a Saviour. What? Back to the Word. The Holy Spirit, God’s Messiah, His Anointed, to anoint His church and send it back to the Word. Do you think they want It? No, sir. They won’t have It. They’ll turning her down just like they always do.
The Reproach for the Cause of the Word
62-1223 · Jeffersonville, Indiana
303 On this Christmas eve, Lord, we’re grateful for the gift of God, for God giving to us. Though this be some, as we believe in our hearts, some pagan superstition of a day that they have tried to mold it and make it be like a—a mass, Christ mass, but we are not coming in that way of Santa Claus and Christmas trees and—and decorations. But we are coming in the Name of the Lord Jesus, to worship the God of Heaven, that was made incarnate, flesh like us, and dwelt among us, to redeem us; and suffered the reproach of the Name, suffered the reproach of the cross, to let a worldly institution put Emmanuel to death, in order He could bring us to Eternal Life.
6. Christmas originated from Babylonian paganism and the Roman “sun-god” festival
Revelation 17:1-6 (KJV) 1And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 2With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 3So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
Ephesians 5:27 (KJV) 27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Revelation 19:7-8 (KJV) 7Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Isaiah 13:19-22 (KJV) 19And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 20It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. 21But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. 22And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.
Exodus 23:29-30 (KJV) 29I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. 30By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.
Genesis 10:8-9 (KJV) 8And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. 9He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
Genesis 10:10 10And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
Romans 1:21-26 (KJV) 21Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 24Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
Genesis 11:9 9Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
Jude 1:3-4 (KJV) 3Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 4For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:3-4 (KJV) 3But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
1 Corinthians 11:26 (KJV) 26For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
Matthew 2:9-11 (KJV) 9When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. 10When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 11And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
The Cruelty of Sin, and the Penalty That It Cost to Rid Sin From Our Lives
53-0403 · Jeffersonville, Indiana
82 And every man or woman that goes to church…Today I was thinking of the cathedrals a ringing out, and the bells a tolling, and so forth like that; and people going to the church, and making ready, and the women buying their Easter hats, and so forth. What has this come to? My! How I can’t understand where a rabbit has anything to do with the resurrection, see, (no, sir) how a Christmas tree has anything to do with the birth of Christ. It’s pagan, friends. We’ve got off the path somewhere. That’s right. But now a real born-again man or woman realizes, because there is life within you, tells you that that’s wrong. Is that right? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.]
The True and False Vines
60-1207 · Shreveport, Louisiana
31 Easter’s soon coming and this lovely city with others across the nation… There will be tens of thousands times thousands of dollars spent for Easter flowers to go on the altar. Why, brother, that’s pagan. God never had an altar for Easter flowers; that’s what Cain put on it. And coming Easter… But they don’t even… The world has got even Easter, Christmas, and every thing else, till it’s a great day of commercial, nothing about God in it. What in the world’s Easter got to do with a rabbit, or a chicken, or a yellow duck, or something? We are just as pagan as the heathens are and worse than they are in Africa. And yet, you put up with it. God help us to shun those things. As the sunlight of God begin to bathe down and expose those things, let’s walk in the Light.
The Pergamean Church Age
60-1207 · Jeffersonville, Indiana
246 Now, Constantine’s feast, just like Balaam. Now watch. Like Balaam’s pagan feast, Constantine had a pagan feast. All right. Pergamos was invited. And notice now this….
248 Pergamos was invited. All right, they was invited to a feast after the Nicene Council. They was invited to the feast of Winter Solstice; which means, “the sun, worship of the sun,” which was a pagan god; which fell on December the 21st, the shortest day in the year. And the years…The same time doesn’t change till December the 25th. All heathens celebrated it, the sun-god’s birthday. The sun-god’s birthday was the shortest day in the year, December the 21st. And then anyone that ever read the history of the churches know that heathens worshipped on that day. It was a celebration.
249 Well, the Romans had the…they had the big games, the Roman circus. How many has seen this here, whatever it was, here not long ago, they had out? Ben Hur! See? Now, the Roman circus; that’s what the Romans had on that sun day, in commemoration of the birthday of the sun-god. See?
250 And now…and they made a big feast up there and invited the Nicolaitanes to come up. Oh! Isn’t it perfect? “The teaching of Balaam you have in you.” See, telling Pergamos what they had, the big races. There they thought that…These Nicolaitanes thought, “Well, now, that’s fine. This big feast is celebrated annually? Yes.” So then with the invitation to the—the—the so-called archbishop, or whatever he was then, and everything, they taken to make it a continual thing: to bring in fornications, bring in adultery, forming up the Catholic church; which is every Protestant denomination a member of it, organization. God has no organization, and hates the very name of it. The Bible said so.
251 And when they did that, what happened? They—they said now…They had to have a spiritual application, so they changed the (Lord Jesus) S-o-n of God’s birthday from April (Which all good scholars know, and anybody with spiritual revelations, that He was born in nature time like when lambs and everything else is born: in April.) way back up to the 25th day of December. And still worship Christmas, now it’s Santa Claus. And what…Oh, mercy. See? Still more pagan festivals added to it. That’s just all. There you are, invited, Balaam. “You have the doctrine of Balaam among you.” There it is. (O God, just reveal it, Father.) See? The birthday from April until…
252 Now, the historian says that “All evidence that Jesus was born in the month of April when all other life comes forth.” But they’ve changed it back to the 25th day of December, five days after (see?) after the pagan god, so they could put their ceremonies together: paganism and Christianity. And Catholicism is nothing in the world but a bunch of pagan superstitions and Christianity’s off-casts put together. That’s right. That is true. And the Protestants that knuck’ to it is just exactly the daughter of the mother prostitute. That’s exactly.
253 Now, God help us to be real protestors against anything that’s not godly. See? Oh!
Christianity Versus Idolatry
61-1217 · Jeffersonville Indiana
171 You know where you got Christmas? Christ was born in April, but what did they do? The solar system is slowing up now as it gets away, each day getting a little long, or a little shorter, and a little shorter, and from the twentieth until the twenty-fifth is when the sun-god had its birthday. Just is about five days there, that’s when they had the Roman circus in that time, the celebration of the sun-god’s birthday at that time. And now you see what you got now? “They said make it the ‘sun-god,’ let’s take it ‘Son of God.’“And the whole thing is pagan to begin with! And the people on the streets with their high-heeled shoes, and they’re twisting up and down the streets, and running into stores.
172 And here the other day my wife was telling me, “Someone said, ‘I don’t know what to get Daddy.’ Said, ‘Brother is going to get him a quart of whiskey, and the other one said he was going to get him some champagne.’ And one said, ‘Well, I’m going to get him a—a poker set.’” Celebration of Christmas, pagan, devil-worship! All right.
173 But Augustine sanctioned it. If you want to refer to this in Schmucker’s, the writing of Schmucker, S-c-h-m-u-c-k-e-r-s, Schmucker’s The Glorious Reformation, here’s what it stated, that “From the time that Saint Augustine of Hippo passed this verdict to the Catholic church, it throwed the doors wide open for them to kill anything they wanted to then, that denied that pagan church. And from the time of Saint Augustine, about three hundred years after Christ, until 1850, the great massacre of Ireland, there was eighty-six million Protestants killed by the Catholic church. That’s on the Roman martyrology, ‘Eighty-six million.’” Now fuss with the historian, he’s the one that said that. I’m just repeating his word. “Everyone that disagreed with the Catholic dogma!”
174 Not catholic, the word catholic, they don’t they don’t deserve that name. They are Roman pagans.
175 Not those precious people. There’s tens of thousands of them people out there, just as sincere as them…any other idolater is. They think that they’re worshipping God, when (back to the Word) they’re in an idol with idols all over the place. See!
Sirs, We Would See Jesus
61-1224 · Jeffersonville, Indiana
6 But, this being the 25th of December, why, making it the birthday. This is the sun-god’s birthday. See? The Roman Baalim, the sun-god. See? And the sun is just exactly halfway around now. And from the 20th unto the 25th was when the Roman circus was, in celebration of the sun-god’s birthday. And so they said, “Well, now, to please the both Christian and pagan, we’ll make, instead of sun-god, the Son of God and the sun-god, together. So we’ll put it all together and make it the same birthday, and make it on the 25th.” So it seemed to please the pagan and the nominal church then, in the first church of Rome. Was just…It was just all right with them, so they didn’t care. So they made it both sun-god and Son-of-God’s birthday.
7 Now, the longest day in the year is along about the 21st or the 22nd, the longest night, I mean, in the year, is along about the 21st or 22nd, when, in the solar system, the sun is just bouncing over, coming back. Now they’ll start getting just a few seconds or minutes longer. And then sometime up in June or July, we have the longest day in the year. So, but, Christmas is here to stay, so we—we can’t help it.
8 Tubeless tires are here to stay. I hate them, but they’re—they’re here to stay. Uh-huh. That’s right.
9 Undressed women, they’re here to stay. Shorts, they’re going to stay. That’s all. They’re going to get shorter all the time, so ain’t nothing I can do about it. I just say it’s wrong. Stay with It, and that’s right.
10 Sin, it’s here to stay. It’s here to stay. We’re going to have it, on and on. So, just, it’s here to stay until Jesus comes. And all these things are here to stay. Now, I do not believe…
11 Let me make this clear. I do not believe that Jesus would care what day you worshipped His birthday on, if it’s the 25th, 26th, or whether it’s April, May, June, July, whenever it might be, just so you worship, you worship Him on any day.
The Falling Apart of the World
62-1216 · Jeffersonville, Indiana
123 This was done by the Roman Catholic church before it become the Catholic church in Rome. About a.d. 606, somewhere along in there, or 306, rather. Now, we find out that the Roman pagans worshipped Jupiter, which is the sun-god; and they worshipped Ashtoreth, which was the moon-god, or otherwise the mother of…the—the mother of heaven. Well, to bring this down, they said that Ashtoreth, or god, mother of heaven was no more, and reflected herself in Mary. So it still remained idolatry, connecting Christianity to idolatry.
124 Then also, and they suffered, or worshipped and respected the birthday of their sun-god, which was Jupiter. It’s when the sun from December the first until December the twenty-fifth, it doesn’t change, it’s passing its capricorn. And, by the way, I got a piece out of the paper I want to read to you sometime, just shock you. You talk about what happened down here on the river that day, I want to show you the finding in Jerusalem to confirm that, just a few weeks ago, out of a newspaper. Something they found in Jerusalem just a few weeks ago, will positive confirm that Angel appearing down here at that very same time and sending the ministry forth. Yeah. See? Now, never knew it till just a few weeks ago, and here it is in the newspaper.
125 Now notice when it crossed that, it’s—it’s in that, see. Now, after December the twenty-first, the days will start getting just a little shorter each, or a little longer each day, until it comes down around in July. Then it starts shortening up again till it gets right…And that’s just the relaxing time. And the Roman pagans said that was the sun-god’s birthday. From December the first, or December the twenty-first till December the twenty-fifth, they had the—the Roman circus, the chariot races and so forth was on that, during that time. Well, then, when the Christians or the Roman Christians, adding their dogma to get both sides, both the pagan and the Christian, they said, “If it’s the sun-god’s birthday, let’s just make it altogether the Son of God’s birthday.” There’s your twenty-fifth day of December for your mass, Christ mass. Oh, what a terrible thing! See?
126 Now, to connect. Why, you say, “Wouldn’t any other day do?” Yes, but connect Christ with pagan? The very thing He come to abolish, they connect Him back with it again. See? That’s the thing that’s wrong. And Santa Claus, some old man in Germany, named Kriss Kringle, would go around giving kids presents on Christ mass day, he was a Catholic and they made him a saint, now its Saint Nicholas. See? I better just…They’ll…That, you know that anyhow. See, we got them in the Church Ages.
127 But this morning, what I want to say is this, that, this coming Christmas day finds the world in no better condition than it was nineteen or twenty hundred years ago when Christ come. It’s not any different. Just about the same condition as it was then, so is it now. They…If I would draw a conclusion from what…or a text from what I’m going to say, would be: The Falling Apart of The World.
We Have Seen His Star and Have Come to Worship Him
63-1216 · Tucson, Arizona
30 But then when Christianity was brought into Romanism and mixed at Nicaea, then they had the sun-god, Jupiter, the sun-god of Rome, his birthday was on the…between the…about the twenty-fifth day of December. Because, the Roman circus started on the twenty-first and lasted till the twenty-fifth, which was in celebration of the sun-god’s birthday. So blending Romanism paganism to—to Christianity, they said, “Let’s make it the Son-of-God’s birthday, and then we can all agree upon it.” See, it’s always been on systems of compromising to the Truth, every time, has always been.
31 So today we find out that in there they’ve injected everything, all of our holidays are polluted. Our Easter, it’s no more the resurrection of Christ, it’s a some kind of an Easter rabbit, or a new hat, or—or something, or a little pink duck; has nothing to do with the resurrection of Christ, no more than Santa Claus has anything to do with the birth of Jesus Christ. But it’s the world! And the commercial world has got everything in such a tangle and mess until, no wonder, God is justified to burn the thing up. And He’s going to do it, He promised He would do it. And it has to get in this mess in order…There’s no hopes for it, it’s gone.
32 And now, but in the hour of this darkness, as I say, that we live in, still Christians should be holding forth that Light, that there is a Truth to Christmas, that it is the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The zigzag, forked lightning into a dark, cloudy, angry skies, shows there can be light in darkness. It proves that there can be light in the time of darkness.
We Have Seen His Star and Have Come to Worship Him
63-1216 · Tucson, Arizona
182 Oh, brother, sister, how nice it would be if each one of you, if each one of us, us, me, if each one of us could lay aside all this here Christmas tinsel, see, quit all this swapping gifts, one with another, all of this nonsense of the world; and just take off our pride and lay it down, and stomp the thing under foot, say, “Lord Jesus, guide me to that perfect Light.” Watch something Supernatural happen. The Holy Spirit will come in a phenomenal way. See?
We Have Seen His Star and Have Come to Worship Him
63-1216 · Tucson, Arizona
197 …Is there one that hasn’t raised their hands, would say, “Remember me, Brother Branham, in prayer now”? God bless you. Another? Bless you. Another, someone? God bless you. God bless you, young man. Another? God bless you, young fellow. Will another?
198 Say, “I want to follow, I want to follow the Morning Star, Christ. I want to follow and find my Jesus this day. I want to get away from all this here Christmas tinsel and things, because some day it’s going to be burnt with unquenchable fire.” And all those who are intolerating with it, will be burned with it. The world, the sinner, will punished be, they will perish with the world. The worldly-loving people will perish with the world. And if you have, though, still the love of the world in you, and you want to sell yourself completely tonight to Jesus Christ and His Word, raise your hand. Again now, anybody that hasn’t raised. God bless you. Bless you. I just say that. God bless you, lady.
199 You don’t know, one minute somebody might raise up their hand. Say, “What difference does that make, Brother Branham?” Difference between death and Life.
God’s Gifts Always Find Their Places
63-1222 · Jeffersonville, Indiana
19 And right now, from the—from the twenty-first to the twenty-fifth, the sun almost stands in its same track as it’s passing. What is it you call that? Been a…I thought I knew it, but I can’t think of it. When the sun’s—is…it—it gains so much time and loses so much time, until the twenty-first, between twenty-first and twenty-fifth of December. Oh, I forget what they call it. What? [Someone in congregation says “Eclipse?”—Ed.] No, the eclipse is when it passes, the sun and moon passes together. It’s something in there, oh, I—I—I can almost say it but can’t right now. However, it’s that standstill of the sun which is called by the Romans (that’s when the circus went on), it was called the sun-god’s birthday. They celebrated it from the twenty-first to the twenty-fifth of December.
20 So then, being that this was converted, Rome into…Christianity was accepted, in their way in Rome, then they said, “We’ll make the same celebration, and make Son of God’s birthday.” See? The sun-god, Jupiter’s birthday, then Son of God’s birthday, twenty-fifth of December, and that…
21 But what difference does it make? See, today when we are…Even if it’s a…if they was doing it in July or August, or whenever it might be, it’s still the sacredness of remembering that “God gave us the hope that we have in us.”
22 And now, you say, “Well, the rest of them’s all Santa Claus and going on like they do; why, we just might as well do it.” No, sir! No, this is not a pagan celebration to us, this is a sacred hour. If there had been no Christmas, there would been no resurrection. If there been no Christmas: there’d been no love, there’d been no peace, there’d been no hereafter for the believer; if there’d been no Christmas.
God’s Gifts Always Find Their Places
63-1222 · Jeffersonville, Indiana
43 Now, watch the gift that these wise men bought…or brought to Him. Today we find that we’re swapping gifts. Everybody has to get a gift, and try to figure out what the next fellow’s going to give him, so he can give him something comparing that much. And if it isn’t, well, on the New Year’s, he feels he has to make it up. And each one studying and worrying and walking the floor, the millionaires, how they’re going to get by. They give so much to this one and that, when it—it’s altogether wrong. It—it’s—it’s—it’s altogether…Christmas…
44 Here: there’s only one gift that you can give, and that is yourself. Give yourself to God because God’s already give to you His Gift. Now, there’s only thing you owe back to God, that’s yourself to Him.
The Harvest Time
64-1212 · Phoenix, Arizona
282 Notice, Eve met hers. And so did the second Eve met hers at Nicaea, Rome, gave to it a denomination, creed, accepted dogmas instead of the Word; taken down pagan idols like Jupiter and so forth, and put up Paul and Barnabas. And—and took down the sun-god and the moon-god, Ashtoreth, the moon-god, with round kosher on it, and made her being the mother of the sun-god which is Jupiter. And changed the birth day of Jesus from April, where all nature, where He was born under the ram, ‘cause He was a ram, and changed that up to the sun-god’s birthday in the solar there, where it makes one day…There is just only about a minute difference in the day when it passes on the twenty-fifth day of December, the sun-god’s birthday, not the Son of God. And every one of us play Santa Claus, and decorate trees, a heathenism, and things like that, and then call ourselves Christians? What’s the matter with the Christian church?
Why It Had to be Shepherd
64-1221 · Tucson, Arizona
14 And give us the Spirit, the true Spirit of Christmas. When today…that when pagan ceremonies, Christmas trees worshipped, fiction stories of a—a man named Santa Claus, and of our Easter rabbits, and the different fashions that the commercial world has capitalized on, may it be laid aside, God. Let us enter into Christ the Word, for we asked it in His Name and for His glory. Amen.
Revelation 18:1-8 (KJV) 1And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 2And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 3For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 4And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 5For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 6Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. 7How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 8Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
7. We are commanded to learn not the way of the heathen
In Massachusetts, the following law was passed in 1659 and was enforced on the people for 22 years before it was finally repealed.
“Whosoever shall be found observing Christmas, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way, every such person shall pay as a fine five shillings to the county.”
1 Corinthians 10:14 (KJV) 14Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
1 John 5:21 (KJV) 21Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
1 Kings 14:23 (KJV) 23For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.
Jeremiah 10:1-4 (KJV) 1Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: 2Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 3For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. 4They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
“Hear you the word which the Lord speaks unto you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord. Learn not the way of the heathen and be not dismayed at the signs of the heaven; for the nations are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain. For one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe. They deck it [the tree] with silver and with gold. They fasten it [the tree] with nails and with hammers that it move not. They [such trees] are upright as the palm tree, but speak not. The tree [KJV: stock] is a doctrine of vanities. Silver is spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder. Blue and purple is their clothing. They [the trees] are all the work of cunning men.”
God’s Wrapped Gift
60-1225 · Jeffersonville, Indiana
6 And then I want to take this time to express, to each and every one of you, how grateful I am to you, for your Christmas cards and gifts, and things that was received at our house. I certainly thank you, with all my heart. It certainly did us good, this morning. When…I got a little boy, small enough yet to kind of want a Christmas tree, and we had it in the room. And this morning, go under there, I found several gifts from my church here, and my friends from around different places, that had come in, laying under the tree. And I don’t have words to express to you what I…how I appreciate every one of them. And may the God of Heaven bless you richly, is my prayer. And now…
Birth Pains
65-0124 · Phoenix, Arizona
202 And I challenge anybody here, that’s knowed all these years, to say at any time that the Lord ever let me say “THUS SAITH THE LORD” but what it happened. How many knows it’s the Truth? Raise your hand. [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] Right. Could anybody speak contrary? [Brother Branham pauses. Congregation is silent.] It’s true.
203 Don’t pay any attention to the messenger. Look at the Message it is. [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] That’s what is. See? It isn’t that. Don’t notice the little [Blank spot on tape.] baldheaded, you know, person, ‘cause it’s just a—it’s just a human being, all, and we’re just all the same. But watch what’s happening. That’s what declares it. I was taken…
204 Now, I know people say all kinds of things, and we know that a lot of it’s not right. I can’t answer for what other, any man says. I got to answer what I say. I can only say whether it’s Truth, or not. And I—I—I’m the one has to be responsible for it, not what somebody else says. I can’t judge no one. I wasn’t sent to judge, but to preach the Message. Notice.
8. God is not in a manger
Paradox
61-1210 · Jeffersonville, Indiana
227 It’ll be a real paradox, one of these days, when Jesus comes; and the dead in Christ shall rise. This mortal takes on immortality, and the rapture of the Church comes.
228 In this Christmas times, when people are shopping, and dancing, and drinking, and celebrating something that they know nothing about, like they was celebrating Washington or Lincoln’s birthday, and not worshipping the…They’ve still got God in a manger.
229 When, God is not in a manger. He has raised from the dead, and alive forevermore, living among us, proving Himself, as the same God that the Nicene fathers carried, and down through the ages has come since the Day of Pentecost. The same God that met Paul on the road to Damascus; he was a missionary to the Gentile, and a messenger from God, to the Gentiles. The Gentile’s Message started by a visitation of the Pillar of Fire, and it ends the same way.
9. Santa Clause takes away the Glory from Jesus Christ
Where Is He, King of the Jews?
58-1221M · Jeffersonville, Indiana
157 It’s Christmas. All the tinsel, up-and-down the street, of Santa Claus, a German fiction, a Catholic dogma, there’s not one ounce of it true. And it takes the place of Jesus Christ, in the hearts of too many Americans. Christmas don’t mean Santa Claus. Christmas means Christ. Not some man with a pipe in his mouth, and coming down a chimney! Teaching your children such as that, what do you expect them to grow up to be? Tell them the Truth, not on some fictitious story. Tell them, “There’s a God of Heaven Who sent His Son, and that’s what Christmas means. And He is near coming again.”
158 And as the pressure begins to come to the earth, the devil has put out his things, by eyes, what you can see, the tinsel, and so forth. God has put out His, which is Spirit, that you can’t see, but you believe.
159 Jerusalem had not the answer. Jeffersonville doesn’t have the answers; Louisville doesn’t, America doesn’t, nor the world doesn’t.
160 God has the answers, and He’s promised that He would manifest them. And I declare to you that that same Jesus, Who was born nineteen hundred years, lives today, from the resurrection, and is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
God’s Wrapped Gift
60-1225 · Jeffersonville, Indiana
87 They’d rather have Santa Claus, any time. The world has took over. Santa Claus has took over. Well, you know, little children don’t even know no more what Christmas means.
88 They don’t know what Easter means, it’s a—it’s a Easter bunny, some kind of a rabbit, or a little yellow-colored chicken, or something. What’s God, the resurrection, got to do with a chicken, the dirtiest bird there is? What’s any more filthier than a chicken? And they—they put it in there, and take the place of Christ.
89 What’s any more of a myth than Santa Claus? Never was such a thing. Telling children lies, you’ll be responsible for it at the Day of the Judgment.
90 No wonder people don’t know what to do. They’re…They—they just don’t want the real thing. They’ll take anything artificial, but they don’t want the real thing. They don’t want the gifts of God. Oh, my! Certainly. They don’t want Jesus, that’s one thing.
God’s Wrapped Gift
60-1225 · Jeffersonville, Indiana
217 Closing, might say this. Today, Christmas means a carton of Camels, a carton of Viceroy, a bottle of Four Roses or Seagram, wrapped up in a pretty Santa Claus paper. But they still refuse God’s Christmas Gift. They still refuse His Christmas Gift. They don’t want It.
Christianity Versus Idolatry
61-1217 · Jeffersonville, Indiana
11 I know that we people here do not teach our children of such a myth as Santa Claus. We do not believe in telling anybody a lie, so you’re not going to lie to your children. Such stuff as that, that’s mythology to its heights, of such a thing as taking the place of Christ at Christmas.
12 And Christmas has lost…Christmas is no more a worship; it’s a celebration, drinking, gambling, carousing, just pagan to the limit. And it’s not…And I wanted to…Maybe after Christmas I’ll speak again on Christmas, you see, so that it won’t deprive the little…But you can’t tell that to little children like that. They see little fellows on Christmas night getting Christmas presents and things like that, they don’t understand it. See? They just…they’re too little. And we’ve got to remember them, that they are…that they have things in common. We’ve got to bring ourself down to remember them little fellows, that they themselves…
Sirs, We Would See Jesus
61-1224 · Jeffersonville, Indiana
105 Them disciples, before they did anything, they took these Greeks right into the Presence of Jesus. And if He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever, He will have to act the same today if you’re brought in His Presence.
106 Disciples today is so much difference, for today. They try to take you to a cradle, or a manger, or to a Santa Claus, or to a bunny rabbit for Easter, or something another, instead of Christ. They never bring you in the Presence of Christ. Christmas isn’t Christ. No. Today, they bring you, some other place, to some statue, some church, some organization, some doctrinal laws, but never get you in the Presence of Christ.
107 A real, true disciple would bring you right straight in the Presence of Christ. And from there, Christ would show you what you had to do.
Sirs, We Would See Jesus
61-1224 · Jeffersonville, Indiana
113 We take the word Christmas. It’s very seldom you ever hear Christ’s Name mentioned. You don’t hear It mentioned. The lights and tinsel is all on Santa Claus, not on Christ, till people hardly knows what Christmas is really for. They’ve just paganized it and paganized it, till it’s all become pagan. It’s a great commercial day of celebrations. Now, if they want to make a commercial day like Mother’s Day, or Father’s day, or son’s day, or daughter’s day, that’s all right. But keep that commercial off of Christmas. I seen a sign not long ago, said, “Put Christ back in Christmas.”
114 Now, they bring you to a church, you learn a creed. They bring you to a Christmas, what do you do? You see a Santa Claus. They bring you to a church, you see an organization.
115 But Christ brought them to the cross. And when you get a real disciple that will point you to Christ, Christ will bring you to the cross, where you are crucified with Him. And His Eternal Life and your life meet together, and your life dies, and you take on His Eternal Life, and then you’re a son of God. Amen.
116 What a difference, from the disciple of old and the disciple of today!
117 If you mention to a disciple, “I would love to know the Lord Jesus.”
118 “Well, now look, we belong to the certain-certain church, come down and join that, join us.” See? Or, “We was…We belong to this certain-certain society, and come join that.” And that’s what you hear.
119 But Christ Himself pointed people to His death, and said, “Except a corn of wheat falls into the ground, it abides alone.”
120 Oh, how different it is! Yes, sir. How different! But your life and His Life find each other, not at the church, not in a building, not in a creed, not in good works, but in the cross where you are crucified with Him. That’s where you find Christ. You don’t find Him by doing better, turning a new page. Starting a new life, you don’t find Christ. You find Christ only in death; not in a manger, not in a confession. To believe in certain creeds and fables, you don’t find Christ there.
121 A true servant takes you to Him, and He is the Word. You say, “Then, Brother Branham, if Christ is on earth today, a real servant would take him to Him, Christ.” Well, Christ is here, in the form of the Word. And the Word brings Life, because He is the Word. Christ is the Word. Yes, sir. He is the Word, Himself. The true servant always takes you to the Word.
Why Little Bethlehem
63-1214 · Phoenix, Arizona
72 There’s something lacking somewhere. What we try to do is twist it up and make it some great something up there, put flower and tinsel on it, and we pollute it just like the nations has done Christmas. That’s right! If we could get the tinsel off of the things, and the—the humility back in the human heart! If we could bring the humility back to Christmas of what it ought to be! Not a commercial day, not lights and Santa Claus’es! But back to worshipping the God of creation Who come in a stable and was borned a Baby, God made flesh and dwelt among us! If we could come back to that, get away from the tinsel and the big things. God don’t even deal with it at all.
Why Little Bethlehem
63-1214 · Phoenix, Arizona
130 Today we can do the same thing. You can either take your creeds, take your so-and-so, and go wherever you want to with it; but you can say, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” Come back to that Word of God. Take your tinsel and Christmas and do what with it you want to. But give me Jesus Christ in my heart, no matter how humble It is, and how people laugh at It, or what of It. Watch—watch its nature, see if it does just like He did. If it didn’t, and it don’t compare with this Word, leave it alone, it’s not Christ; ‘cause Christ is the Word.
Why Little Bethlehem
63-1214 · Phoenix, Arizona
150 I don’t care about how much tinsel they got, “You got to do this or were going to close up your church you’re with.” I don’t care what they close up, and has nothing to do with the Word. Yes, sir. Where you going? Just exactly what the Word said you was doing, going right back, all dressed in worldly tinsel, with all kind of worldly promises, but it’s away from the Word a million miles. There it is today, Christmas again, to keep us from the promise of the Word. But It shall be fulfilled. God’s able of these stones to rise children to Abraham. Ah, trying to keep the real, true Bethlehem dwellers away from Eternal Life, that’s their purpose.
Why It Had to be Shepherd
64-1221 · Tucson, Arizona
193 And we set as sour as the bumps on a pickle, and let such things go on. And afraid to raise and testify your conviction, and condemn all this nonsense, make Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. It’s Christmas time, get out these Santa Clauses and stuff, away with that nonsense of commercializing. Wherever you heard about Santa Claus in the Bible? It’s a Roman mythology, there’s nothing to it at all, there is no such a thing. Don’t teach your children such nonsense as that. When one day you’ll have to tell him that it was all a blind story, then you’ve lied to your child. And it’ll hurt your testimony about Jesus Christ, he’ll say, “Maybe It’s the same thing.” Put Jesus Christ the Great Shepherd-prophet back into the Christmas where It belongs.
Who Do You Say This Is?
64-1227 · Phoenix, Arizona
39 Now that…I have chosen this…is still…because that we’re in the shadows of the…or in the time of the yule season of Christmas, and—and New Year’s; the ending of an old year, and the bringing in of a new one. A few days from now, many people will be turning new pages and—and doing new things and making new vows; and it’s beginning of a New Year. And it never seems to me too much like Christmas. I don’t know why, I always like to call it “Santa Claus Day.” See? Because there’s not much really…
40 It couldn’t have been Christ’s birthday. It just absolutely could not have been. He’d have had to been born in March or April, ‘cause He was the Lamb. And He was a male sheep and borned in under the ram, Aries. It had to be, you see. And sheep are not born in December anyhow. Sheep are born in the Spring. And then another thing, the hills of Judea now, there’s twenty feet of snow on it. How could the shepherds have been out there?
41 So it really comes from Roman mythology, which was the sun-god’s birthday. The solar sun as it passes, the days lengthen and lengthen, and the nights grow shorter. And between the 20th and the 25th of December is the sun-god’s birthday, under the Roman—Roman mythology. And then their gods…And then they celebrated the sun-god’s birthday. And Constantine, and—and drawing up the constitution of the church and state and so forth, he said, “We will change it” (not knowing what the day was) “and put it over on the sun-god’s birthday, and make it: Son of God’s birthday.” See? Which…But we don’t know what day it was.
42 But now, theirs, taken so much of Christ out, till it’s everything…some again brought back the mythology of some creature that lived, supposingly, by the name of Saint Nicholas or—or Kriss Kringle, some German mythology. And it’s all just a myth, and Christ is not in it at all.
43 And the people has turned into buying whiskey, and—and gambling, and fashions. And a—a man that…a merchant that can sell his goods through Christmas time can live the rest of the year, almost. See? It’s such a great holiday, commercial. And poor little kids on the street; their parents are not able to—to visit them with a—a present, like from Santa Claus, and they walk down the street, and their little dirty hands and their little red eyes. I—I just hate to see it come along. It ought to be a solemn day of worship to God, instead of a heartache and a headache and the things that’s done. There’s nothing to Christ about that. But we’re right in the midst of all this now.
An Exposition of The Seven Church Ages
The Patmos Vision, Chapter 2
Then the most of them go to church on Sunday. That is good but even there they have no idea of how to approach God and how to worship Him. Jesus said that true worship was in Spirit and in truth, John 4:24. But what kind of worship can you get in a church that knows so little of God it puts up a Santa Claus at Christmas and bunnies at Easter? Where did they get that? They got it from the pagans and made it a part of the church doctrine. But when one turns to the Lord and is filled with the Holy Ghost he ceases from all such things. He has a rest in his soul. He really begins to live, and love God and worship Him.
Acts 17:29-31 (AMP) 29Since then we are God’s offspring, we ought not to suppose that Deity (the Godhead) is like gold or silver or stone, [of the nature of] a representation by human art and imagination, or anything constructed or invented. 30Such [former] ages of ignorance God, it is true, ignored and allowed to pass unnoticed; but now He charges all people everywhere to repent (to change their minds for the better and heartily to amend their ways, with abhorrence of their past sins), 31Because He has fixed a day when He will judge the world righteously (justly) by a Man Whom He has destined and appointed for that task, and He has made this credible and given conviction and assurance and evidence to everyone by raising Him from the dead.