The Plain Truth About Christmas – Symbols And Images Series

THE PLAIN TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS – SYMBOLS AND IMAGES

Consider the various symbols used in Christmas celebrations. They all have their roots in paganism.

First, let us look at the ‘dear Santa Claus’. What Does Santa Claus Have to Do With Jesus and His Birth?

In many lands, Santa Claus is viewed as the one who brings children gifts. Children often write to Santa, asking for presents, which, according to tradition, elves help him to make at his North Pole headquarters.

But who is Santa? According to Langer’s Encyclopedia of World History, (article “Santa”), “Santa” was a common name for Nimrod throughout Asia Minor. After Nimrod's untimely death, his so-called wife, Semiramis, propagated the evil doctrine of the survival of Nimrod as a spirit being. She claimed a full-grown evergreen tree, what we today call the Christmas tree, sprang overnight from a dead tree stump, which symbolized the springing forth into new life of the dead Nimrod. On each anniversary of his birth, she claimed Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts upon it. Remember this is what Santa Clause does every December 25th. December 25th was acclaimed the birthday of Nimrod.

Some people say Santa Clause represents St. Nicholas, a kindly old saint who generously gave gifts to the needy. The facts of history however, prove otherwise. Actually there is no valid evidence that any “St. Nicholas” ever existed (in spite of Roman Catholic tradition). But the customs and traditions from which Santa Claus evolved, trace him back to Odin-the god of wisdom and war in the Norse mythology, or Saturn – the sun-god himself!

Talking of St. Nicholas, Revelation 2:6 and 15, we read about a “doctrine of the Nicolaitanes,” which Christ twice tells His Church “[He] hates.”

Santa has always been “a very old gray-bearded gentleman. He “is always someone mysterious and shadowy. His home is far away in Heaven or at the North Pole or in some remote country from which he comes on horseback, or in a sleigh drawn by reindeer. He may come secretly by night, or openly in the winter daylight, accompanied by a train of masked demons and strange animal forms. Often he is associated with fire, entering the house by the chimney, or leaving gifts by the hearth” (remember, he’s a sun-god), and “like the ancient gods from whom he is descended, he can read the heart and knows the hidden thoughts and actions of those he visits.”

Concerning the “divinity” attached to Santa Claus, can it be that we are back again with Odin, the Norse Allfather god, the "gift-giver", especially during the midwinter festival of Yule, where he led the Wild Hunt across the sky on his eight-legged horse, leaving gifts for the good and punishing the bad?

Undeniably, Santa Claus is some sort of a “god”, for he has attributes of deity. He can visit every house on earth in one night (omnipresence); he knows everything about every child’s behaviour (omniscience); he rewards the good and punishes the bad, just like God!

How dare we bring our children to this false god and encourage them to supplicate him for gifts and blessings? God will hold us accountable! We must forsake this idolatrous Santa-worship immediately.

2nd, let us look at the Christmas tree. Does the bible tell us anything about the Christmas tree? What are its origins?

Yes it does: Jeremiah 10:3-6 says: "The customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols[b] are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”

This is a perfect description of the Christmas tree, termed by the Eternal as "the way of the heathen - the customs of the people. It is idolatry. The fifth verse shows that these trees cannot speak - cannot walk - must be carried. "Be not afraid of them; for THEY (the trees) cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good." They are not gods to be feared.

The first decorating of an evergreen tree was done by pagans in honor of their god Adonis – the Greek god of beauty and desire, who after being slain by a wild boar, was brought to life by the serpent god Aesculapius – the Greek god of health and healing. The representation of this slain god was a dead stump of a tree. Around this stump coiled the snake Aesculapius, symbol of life restoring. And lo -- from the roots of the dead tree comes forth another and different tree -- an evergreen tree symbolic to pagans of a god who cannot die! A feast was held in honor of him on December 25th called the "Birthday of the unconquered Sun."