Jesus is coming again he’s coming in power and glory to R coming with all the heavenly host glor that will be see the sign fulfill one by one study his word Be watchful and pray coming soon like a deep in the night Jesus is coming again he’s coming in power and glory to
Rain coming with all the Heavenly Host what a glorious that will be good afternoon and welcome to another in a series of Bible class studies here at the Spanish Town 7th Day Adventist Church in Spanish Town St cathine Jamaica in the West Indies thank you for joining us those are in the Tabernacle
And those certainly who are online looking forward to sharing with you once again a very interesting subject they call it It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year with me is Dr Gary budo Fletcher Dr Gary and I are Elders here at the Spanish Town Church of course Doc
Is also a pastor right and for those of you who don’t know uh Pastor Fletcher he is is a seasoned and beloved Pastor here in central Jamaica conference now Dr Gary and I are looking at a subject that is so pivotal in the sense that it is a celebration that
Is what would I say experience the world over it is said that it is the most influential holiday in the world in the world in the world and it touches almost on every culture of course we have grappled with its origin because while everything is so good about it certainly in the way
How we practice it as a church we do realize that there is another side to to it and people get confused when they see the holy side and the secular side and they say which is which many will tell you that Jesus is the reason for the
Season and also they will grapple with the view that let us put Jesus back into Christmas but did it really start it out for Jesus where did Jesus and when did Jesus Come into the picture so it’s the season but it has it always been the Christmas
Season what is the origin of Christmas and how is it practiced back then how is it practiced know what is the position of the church on this subject and the Adventist Church so notice the church and then the Adventist Church on Christmas of course pastor we sharing this with mainly our Adventist audience
Of course there are others who are not Adventists but we are always having new members and they come into the church and they need to have an appreciation of what is this um to one extreme some people see it as a holy day to another extreme uh there a particular
Denomination relates to it as if it doesn’t exist um and therefore it is important as new members come into church and even older members need to be reminded of where this practice and origin comes from indeed indeed doctor uh let us pray as we begin to unravel this subject Heavenly Father we
Thank you for your words we thank you for the teachings therein we thank you for the revelation of you and your ways now as we uh discuss this subject matter we pray for the leading of the Holy Spirit and we’ll pray that we’ll approach it with open heart open mind and
Objectively consider the facts and the figures and the conclusions that we should come to are aligned with those of the Holy Spirit we pray in Jesus name amen amen so the origin and practice of uh Christmas Christmas is celebrated on December 25 and that’s the date that we
All know um worldwide that and and it’s both a a religious sacred holiday yeah for some denominations yes yes so it’s religious it’s sacred but also it is heavily cultural and traditional in the way how it is practiced so there is this great secular side to it so there’s on the one hand
There is the church and on the other hand is regular secular society exactly and both are combined on many front yes yes right and and then the secular side now takes on the commercial aspect of it so it becomes highly commercialized exactly and and and it is said that it
Is a billion dollar industry year wide it is also said that it is this time of year that people give the most people feel the most kind so for over 2,000 years people around the world have been obser deserving it yes so it’s not new old tradition it’s a very old tradition
And no wondered so ingrained yes and and to the point where if you don’t know the history you would not begin to understand absolutely how far back it is coming from it’s not new so Christians celebrate Christmas day as the anniversary of the birth of Jesus so
This is how Christian view it yes the the the holiday the the birthday of Jesus happy birthday Jesus is what they’re saying yes on the 25th of of December um each year and of course this this custom or Tradition now includes a number of things people not never used to come to
Church come to church Christmas day that’s right yes then there is a carolling at Christmas the the the sharing meals and fellowship with family and friends the exchange of gifts and the decorating of spaces and trees um and all of that stuff and of course what Christmas would be without
The meals yes in fact Christmas cake it’s a high point it’s a high point and here in Jamaica we know very well that Christmas food is different oh yes of course you know there’s the element now of the Christmas tree and decorating of Christmas tree and there is waiting for
Santa Claus now that is not very common in the Jamaican um scenario but certainly uh in the western world where Santa Claus is a big practice a big part of the the the secular practice and might I say regular church people are also taking part of that so so so there
What we are seeing then Christmas has become a combined um tradition of both sacred elements yes and the secular elements yes okay and some people will go with this with the sacred as if this is a holy day to that extreme and then the secular they don’t business with Christ
Yes even though it has it is in the latter part of its tradition that Jesus has been associated with with the 25th of December that’s right um but you have those just um embrace the the secular aspect the commercial of the day and um that’s how they celebrate their Christmas and so even
Though they call it by that name but their celebration of it there’s there’s Associated uh with him at all and and so there is this contending you know view as as well as practice exactly so what it is in Jamaica now yes so it it has its beginning around in the 17th century
During the slavery um period when and when we say 17th century it’s 16 to 1699 right that’s the 17th century so that’s around the high point of slavery yes uh in Jamaica so it came to us with the plantation owners from England because Christmas was a a big thing in England
And in fact it is from England that it spread to much of the Commonwealth and the Western world because England was the motherland that’s was she she was the motherland and and it’s and and of note friend that it’s only recently that Christmas actually came to the US at one point it was
Illegal yes it was illegal in in in the US and gradually as the German elements and the influence of the Germans and the English uh influence starting around Philadelphia it begin to spread out until it be became accepted so in Jamaica you have um Christmas Eve Eve uh
And then where celebration started from the Christmas Eve and today we have what we call Grand Market and John Cano and all of these things that are associated with Christmas Eve and then after Christmas is um boxing day now boxing day also had its origin in England where
At that time after Christmas special gifts were given to the slaves and to the workmen um in the English um aspect of it you know in England it was slavery but that tradition came to the plantation of col and so they would have because I always want to know where
Boxing Day what boxing they has to do with Jesus that’s right I was wondering that’s a deep tradition here in Jamaica what boxing they has to do with J has nothing to do with him it’s just but it’s the day um on Christmas Day the slave sles were given that day yes free
So what happened now the owners would give each slave their annual gift of cloth you know meat and certain gifts and so right and therefore that’s the day now that they would unbox those gifts yes that they receive and um use it to assist them and their and their
Families and and note interestingly now that and we started out by saying that there are so many culture Al diverse way of how Christmas is celebrated and once the practice got into a culture it is culturized with that culture so ined yes so in in in in Jamaica in those early
Days John Cano then got involved as a practice of celebrating Christmas because that is the the slave culture coming in now to blend with isn’t that amazing so you see what happening because remember now the slaves have their own culture religion yeah religion and culture and culture
And their own traditions and their own traditions and so coming to the new world through slavery and coming and having now to embrace this new tradition yes of their slave masters they have now created a culture within another culture right they put their cultural flavor to it and
So it now becomes a blend so what because some people say what masquerade has to do with to do with Christmas but there it is so we see a poy of um various cultural elements from various parts of the world indeed coming coming to blend here in Jamaica all right so
Today though boxing day is um it it’s more like a holiday like a leftover holiday so where from a business perspective you know you have most of the normal businesses will close but that celebration that used to mark it is no longer there as it is now modernized and elements of the Christmas
Celebration continue over into boxing day because that is the day like many families will get together and therefore it is a public holiday in Jamaica so it’s a public holiday in North America it’s not right there you go it’s a public holiday in ja yes yeah yes El uh Elder what what does
Christmas mean um the next Slide the next slide we covered those ear okay so the term Christmas is the modified forms of the term Christ Mass it’s a combined word or compound word of both Christ and mass comes from the Middle English christe mass which in turn comes from
The old English christes M literally meaning Christ’s Mass the phrase does not mean the physical mass of Christ body like how you know in the Catholic Church you have a mass no it’s not and some people are saying oh it comes from the cathal because it has mass yes it
Has Origins there but not because of the mass it’s just the atmology of the word yes and um the in in our sense though um you know that the Catholic Church celebrates what they call yes so what they did back then was to assign that celebration to the birthday celebration
Of Christ and so that and so that’s why the the term Christ Mass it was incorporated okay right so it’s assigned to him and and you you know people worry about the term Xmas I remember once I did too and and people were saying mass x mean ram
No and they were thinking that xmass is because you they wanted to remove the name Christ from it and secularize it but no it actually have a legitimate connection still with Christ because the word Xmas usually pronounce the same as Christmas but some pronounce it rather incorrectly as esam many people people
Believe that writing xas instead of Christmas is an attempt to remove Christ from Christmas and may even consider it blastous however X in xas is fact in fact not the English X it is an abbreviation of the name Christ yes Christos the Greek Christos it is actually an agation Christ in Greek the
Letter X mhm is pronounced Kai mhhm you see and so the the the abbreviation Christ as X can be traced many centuries back as the document says here um stated as early as 1100 ad is K Mass representing Christ so Friends Christmas and exmas is the same
Thing and it’s not Blasphemous no so you see how important when new members come and get information like this it’s important cuz they get information from various places they may not be accurate and sharing it and thinking this is what the church teaches but in reality it’s
Actual error yes so it’s important to have an appreciation of um where the word itself comes from how far back is the celebration doc MH as far as in the first um 200 years after Christ 273 to be exact although the month and date of Jesus’s birth are unknown the church in the
Early 4th Century fixed the date as December 25 in ad 357 all right so as early as that time so so Pastor we’re going to pause a little here and um preface what we’re going to be looking at and what we want to say friends is that the practice of Christmas has no
Biblical precedence so there is no way we can even begin to talk about it from a Biblical origin because it has no biblical origin it was in terms of the specific date in terms of the specific date and even the celebration itself absolutely absolutely so so there’s
Nothing in the Bible that says thatas silent Christmas should be celebrated Christmas here meaning the birthday of Christ should be celebrated not nothing in the scriptures for that absolutely neither is there anything that would s in the scriptures that would suggest that he was born on December 25th absolutely so it is an
Assignment and we’re going to be looking at how that came to be how December 25 come to the picture came into the picture and notti notice how far back it it it started way back in a um 354 as you 273 yeah uh as you go back now the the
The idea of December 25 went as far back as 273 and then now it became fixed as the birth day of of Christ in in 354 354 yeah yeah and remember I was saying and then just a few years after that 457 that’s a significant date
That’s right I was I was thinking about that too how close to that yes because we know 457 pagan is it um papacy coming out of pagan Rome became very prominent so we see in the history of the early church how as the Roman power became more popular came to
Prominence that some of the Traditions that it embraced came right came right and popular exactly what happened exactly so history convincingly shows that December 25 was popularized absolutely as the date for Christmas not because Christ was born on that day but because it was already popular in Pagan
Religious celebration as the birthday of the son that’s s n but doctor you realize how much son worship has influenced just about every Pagan worship practice because you see Sun Worship in the Pagan World they worship many Gods yes they are polytheistic mhm and in being polytheistic they they tend to worship
Elements in nature yeah what they can see what they can see absolutely and what looks powerful to them and what in nature looks more or feel more powerful than the Sun than the sun yes the sun probably commands the greatest power in nature absolutely and and and there’s
Some truth in terms of how nature is made up everything revolves really around the Sun around the Sun M everything even our solar system roles rol around the sun no wonder they put the Sun so prominent and as their God and as their God are critical God yes
Because of the power that they see in it and worship in our sense is always directed to something or someone that is considered more powerful than you are right absolutely no so who then was born on December 25 yes let’s find out yes a pagan festivals honoring the son were also celebrated on
That day and December 25 was chosen to blend Christianity and paganism as a political strategy as well as to counteract the influence of paganism so it did not have a humble beginning then Pastor no no it did not just come into being yeah and it’s not a humble
Beginning MH if it was a where the church just wanted to say all right we are impressed to express our gratitude and therefore commemorate the birth of Jesus they saw it as more of a political strategy which would take away its humility and they also saw it as a
Way to influence and to counter Rock paganism which is kind of using God for you experience rather than um so that beginning was not humble at all some people look at it and say but that is good use something to counteract Pagan is well today how it is practiced it
Will seem that way but certainly in its origin that was not the and and and coming back to the context of the times remember now Rome Pagan Rome was Pagan that’s it the worship of different gods but as the Church of Rome itself became prominent and took charge of Christianity yes um
Wholesale and took on political power mhm then now how does a prominent political Christian Church counteract oldtime paganism by assimilation ah assimilation you can’t beat them you you join them that’s it so who then was born on December 25 well Nimrod and that that name will will will certainly most
People will remember who Nimrod is yes founder of Babylon he died and SAR semiramis told the people that her husband Spirit had taking possession of the Sun what a thing as ideology yeah when you’re blinded by ideology so she encouraged the people to pay homage to her husband
By worshiping the son thus began the evil practice of son worship so so there is where it began with all of that circumstances around Nimrod right and his death and how he was told and how the people were told that he now was now associated with the
Son as if he’s now a part of the son so when people saw the son back then Nimrod was assigned that power so they worship the son because of nimrod but there’s also the other element that y I spoke to just now when we said people worship the son because of the apparent
Power and Divinity and Divinity of the son but in this case the December 25 aspect came about from a human being was now given son power s u n power right and so she miraculously um well she would she didn’t miraculously got pregnant she would love that’s what she told the
People she told the people but when died she became pregnant with tamuz and tamuz is the one now who was born on 25th of DEC 25th of December so now we see The Connection Friends the son that God being worshiped a human being was now given son
Power and the wife of that human being upon his death rather the wife of that human being now had a child or somebody else and in order to maintain the power and control she told them that her husb her dead husband is now in the Sun and therefore a part of
The sun power when the son was born the s o n no the legitimate s o n he was born on December 25 and she now wanting to continue the ideology that her husband is part of the son the son thamos was now also a sign and
Therefore he’s now the son is so n of God exactly because the husband dead husband is God God yes so you see the parallel that they’re trying I was about to make that go ahead and make it and this is years before Jesus was born this was years before Jesus Nimrod
Is the found of Babylon exactly years before Jesus was born so you see what is happening here the great controvery as if some depending on which lens you look through yes some can say Christianity is borrowing from Babylon literally because tamos is seen as sorry yes Tam is seen as the
Incarnated exactly because that’s n of God that’s the very next thing that was coming up in our discussion so oh and then but Jesus came and he is the incarnated so n of God so did devil then was mimicking the plan from because he knew of it from Genesis 3:15 yes when he
Yes yes yes because during the curse yes him say was pronounced the seed of the woman is going to crush your head you will bruise his heel you will bruise his heel so this woman is going to have this son it’s going to have a child that’s going to
Crush your head so he knew that a messiah is to come he knew that a messiah is to come and so therefore set the stage long time and obviously somehow he knew how the Messiah was coming and if if the Messiah was coming as an incarnate then if he can
What counter feat it before feet that’s word comes before comes so s Miss now declared that her son thas was in actuality the return or Rebirth of her husband and through his teaching the doctrine of reincarnation was born so the son tomamos was now seen as a god through um
Incarnation and since tamos was born on December 25 this day was highly honored and recognized by Nimrod supporters mhm to this date now December 25 was observed in honor of the birth of tamuz long before Christianity exists thought of being existed and this was and and that it was not until many centuries
Later this Pagan custom now was now christianized as being the birth as being the birthday of Christ or Christmas Day amazing so friends so what you see then is that the birthday of of Christ was drawn on the parallel of the birthday of a socalled incarnate God Son
Of God yes son of God because Nimrod was was was was dived you see how similar even the terms Son of God yeah for tamos now tell me isn’t deliberate it can’t be so so even before the Advent of the true incarnate Son of God Satan had already
Devised a way and my goodness Pastor it still exists to this day to the point where the Church of Rome Incorporated all three semiramis tamuz and and semiramis tamos and Nimrod nimrod he seen with the son behind his head yes because he’s the God the father but he’s
Nimrod because it’s it’s it’s manmade into God manade into God and that’s why they call his son a reincarnate because the father having been made into a God was now returning as the son and even semiramis now had Divine attributes yes because and she assigned she and and she assigned it to
Herself because she was continuing with the ideology that the people has bought into absolutely and what an influence she she wielded so because now of the day fing of her husband it was not long before Nimrod followers begin to to to worship semir Ramis were just saying defying defying of her husband here
Means to God right right d right so they began to even to worship samiramis as I we we said earlier she became she took on Divine attributes and her son tamas Zer ashta was worshiped as well and more and more saramis was revered by the people and was viewed by many as a
Priestess and goddess yes later on she also became known as the Queen of Heaven the Queen of Heaven where where you can pray to her now yes yes wow you see you see the you see the parallel it is just so clear yes so clear so cunning thus began the awful practice of
Exalting human deities so it started quite early so these false belie false beliefs have led up to the many different forms of idolatry that are still practiced by different people today and I could say even further in certain parts of Christendom exactly it was through the introduction of these satanic evils and
The many sacrilegious practices of ancient Babylon that witchcraft priestcraft spiritualism and other forms of paganism were born and it’s amazing how something almost as simple as that can take on such a root and S of influence and the danger of ideology that because even some of the iological Warf fares that are affecting
Humanity today and you and I sitting from a different cultural position cannot even begin to understand how some of these other persons think but ideology is the most serious weapon that one can ever use in in Warfare Wonder no wonder why those Wars can never finish because it’s not just over land it’s
Ideological it’s ideological Warfare so who then was born on December 25 sister Ellen White says the doctrine of man’s Consciousness in death specially belief that spirits of the Dead returned to minister to the living has prepared the way for modern spiritualism and that’s where this December 25 that’s
What we’re speaking to um as we continue to look at its origin all right so friends do you know understand where December 25 came from it was the birth of tamos the assigned Son of God assigned Son of God in Pagan worship of the Sun in the
Earliest part of um the Christian Church um but not assigned to Christianity because Christ was not even born as yet now the middle of winter has long been a time of celebration around around the world and we’re not going to be looking at how this practice found its
Way into the different cultures and how they began to um exercise their cultural tradition through this um Vice of December 25th and again using the wrong um or could I put this now using nature wrongly mhm so shall become the object of of worship worship instead of the medium
Through which the heavens declare the glory not that the heavens is God they only Heavens report absolutely and speak yes to to to his glory so when you see the heavens you’re seeing the one behind it absolutely and do you know um this is another study all by itself pan theing
Which is the study which is the worship of God in things yeah has come down to even early Adventist Pioneers well when I say Adventist before they they even started um embracing the Sabbath there were there were um a few of our Pioneers in the time of William Miller that were
Pan that were pantheists they were embracing as if things nature itself is God and not separating nature from God so just to show you how deep this thing is and deep culturally yeah that it has come down to even the 1800s very close not long ago yes I’m
Saying B 1800 was just the other day yes A few hundred years ago so just to show you how it sounds foreign to us but when you look at how because of how nature imp impacted people then they all they they embraced it and worshiped it instead of differentiating between the
Creator and the creature or the created things so we want to talk now about the the the winter solstice and how so many cultures especially in the northern hemisphere are affected from a a a a what one a divine concept how they tiing Divinity with
This time of the year and how the Sun again the Su began to figure into the way how people view nature and the power of nature and assign Divinity um to Nature now just about December 21 December 22 is considered the shortest day in the year and culturally what
People used to do is to look forward to the sun coming back alive again as it makes a turn so we know that the days become shorter and shorter and shorter and shorter and then 2122 it makes a turn back in those days pause a little just for the average person who is
Watching when you say the Day become shorter cu the day is always 24 hours the the sunlight the sunlight in the day yes you will notice that as we come down into December we have the sun takes a longer time to come up yes and it goes down quicker so you have more
Night more Darkness than light we say the day is shorter that’s what we mean yeah the sunlight portion of the day the day sh it’s still 24 hours 24 hours yes but uh a a greater than a greater proportion of that 24 hours darkness is is Darkness Darkness right Darkness
Darkness which in a cold environment it’s troubling there is a thing in Psychology called sad people are affected by sad it’s an abbreviation seasonal affective disorder people come down with all kind of mental illness cuz the time is dark and wet and so people come down with all
Sorts of issue and we know that sunlight gives us vitamin D2 and that’s the reason why I said the sun figures so much in the way how the world operate absolutely so to see the sun coming back up is is is is life yes is joy is happiness so they look forward with
Great anticipation yes and and now in the northern hemisphere now the shortest day is December 21 or 22 and many Angel people believe that the son was a God and that winter came came every year because the son God had become sick and weak and weak so they celebrated the
Soul SCE because it meant that at last the son God would begin to get well so if you notice then that they are tying here again the the Divinity of the son to an observed aspect of nature where the son itself seemed to become affected negatively and
And then you know listen now leave that state of sickness and become well again and so they know celebrate with the son its rebirth it’s revitalization and why you think they felt that the son it was weak because they had assigned power to the Sun not
Only that what you just said a while ago about they themselves became sick yes all of the the the what you said a while ago about the mental issue issues and sickness they became impacted by it and so they think that the God same thing the same thing is happening to the Sun
So if they if they have become ill and what they’re observing about the sun is the sun being lesser than its original Self then it must the same thing happen to the Sun and so they celebrate now with Evergreen bows because that reminded them of all the green plants
That would grow again when the Sun God was strong in looking look for the sun to come up the greenery remember now you know we we can’t some of us I have never seen snow so I can’t appreciate a white Christmas in qutes yes with the snow you
Think of it everything around is white there’s no Greenery then when you now start to see Greenery or you remember what Greenery was like then you hold on to things because when mental illness you know you hold on to things that give you hope yeah so Greenery and stuff that
Symbolize life and health and prosperity you know hold on to these things as elements of Hope and of better things to come and I tell you something you see that statement that you made a while ago all those elements yes are utilized in the way how nature is woried
Because gods are assigned to all of these productivity fertility prosperity and all of that because that is how the human think and he also think in our way to assign a Godly figure to these positive elements in nature so the Jewish anuka now to Pagan wilter
Solstice is the same thing as the German U to the Roman called Diaz natalis Sol invict birth of the unconquered son because every time he go down come back up get weak he’s not conquered so he keeps coming back keep coming back yes so so so each of these um cultures now
Have their versions their version right and and no wonder because if you think this son every time this D dark you think the sun gets weak you don’t know if he going and die yeah so so you have to celebrate he comes back up you know
You celebrate when it and and as you pointed out the the the the the elements of greenery and and you know the life and and so so they use these elements now for their celebration and so that’s why we have the christas trees yes right are the Christmas tree and the bows and
The um the they they we I mention Ule where they burn a log to to to to signify the the the the rebirth of the son so the number of celebration days with trees decorations UL logs mle toe and feast seem to point to a season of Celebration to which Christians
Added the birth of Jesus as a counter cultural event and possibly even an escape from the pagan holiday early Believers and and remember now because of the similarity of the Christians own belief to nimat semiramis and tamuz it’s a great Temptation now to utilize that to counter because remember now there was fierce
Antagonism in the Roman world yeah I remember they use the political power to enforce right because before think of in the days of Paul Paul were being persec well Paul himself was a prosecutor of of the persecutor I should say of the Christians he in turn be became prosecute
Persecuted now here it is the church at room now became powerful yes you you who was being persecuted now have the power to persecute to persecute M and to Institute anything you want so so the political power now drives the sacred so having taken on the sacred as part of the political
Wielding you can now use that political power to enforce secred traditions and beliefs but as it was now they saw all of this Pagan worship coming down the age how do you deal with that you simply add to that your version so you have t we have Christ and
Remember now the similarity is so is so um identical so it’s easy oh so it becomes easy so easy to assign it so easy so easy all right so the Scandinavians celebrated U from December 21 the winter solstice through January in recognition of the return of the son Su fathers and
Son would bring home large logs which they would set on fire the people would Feast until the log burn out which could take as many as 12 days and the north believed that each Spark from the fire represented a new pig or Cal that will be born during the coming year here
Again the aian of no wonder the ham is associated with Christmas no wonder they H you were about to make a point when I was reading um oh oh yes I was thinking as well that even before December 25 was being pegged down there was a period of
Time for celebration up to January yes up to January until later down at least at one point um there were two celebrations we will see that about January 12 January 12 yes yes so in Rome now where Winters were not as harsh as those in the far nor sat
Carelia mhm is a holiday in honor of Saturn the god of Agriculture Back To Nature again celebrating and worshiping nature was celebrated beginning in the week leading up to the winter solce so what we’re seeing is that everything is revolving around the winter solstice when the sun became weak yes so
The sun is figured right there in the center so even though the Germans and the Romans and and and the Jewish and all of these different cultures are experiencing the same phenomenon of the shortened sunlight hours and associating it with the health of the sun they have their different ways of expressing it
But it is the same thing same same thing all right let’s jump ahead now to the early days of Christianity um Elder so in the early days of Christianity the birth of Jesus was set on the last day of saturnalia by the first Christian Romans in power to approach pagans even though some
Scholars assert Jesus was born 9 months later or a few years earlier but that’s not a point it was a clever political Ploy some say which in time transformed Saturn andalia from a frat party Marathon into a Meek celebration of the birth of Christ so I see exactly what they they did yes
Um I’m going to say something that um the gay community are seeking a time for themselves or recognition yes yes and they are in the habit of a time and a space MH and they are in the habit of capturing special days that were already assigned to something else are things so for
Instance they have captured the rainbow so whenever time you see the rainbow because of the strength of how they have taken it over you cannot help but them coming to your mind Association law association right and if you have anything to do with rainbow people might
Begin to think that you are one of them so they cleverly capture common things in nature in already existing in in in in our day-to-day practice so that you can associate it with them but they capture it from something else or from someone else look at the rainbow I mean now it’s
Like it’s lost to us because of the Fear Factor that we might be associated with it so the Christians back then decided that look we’re going to arrest saturnalia we’re going to arrest the solar Invictus we’re going to arrest all of that and we’re going to assign it to
Jesus so now the world now we look at December 25 not as satalia not as U not as all of those of the celebration but as Jesus’s birthday and because they are now the ones directing the power in worship then they baptize December 25 give it to Jesus as his birthday and the
Rest um becomes um practice for the World At Large because the Roman power is what dominates exactly so December 25th as the birthday of Jesus did not have a humble beginning not at all m m in the early years of Christianity Easter was the main holiday not Christmas Easter was the main holiday
But later on um officials decide to Institute the birth of Jesus as a holiday um and then Pope Julius the first yes chose December 25 you see who chose it yes and you know why because that is how they operate yes sir you mean why people think that is December
25th now what we remember we we just say a while ago that it’s not his birthday it was assigned by the Roman Church in the early Christian Church to counter Rock the Pagan practice because the pagans are the ones who celebrated December 25th as the birth of the son God tamos
Because son worship was the worship back then and then they assigned um Divinity to humans but tied them with the Sun so so while the son was worshiped then man now was associated with the son so these this man become worship and once the Roman Church took charge of
Christianity they wanted the political power to be wider so they Incorporated the church and because Pagan worship was a prominent form of worship the Christian Church needed more footing they need more land more territory and the P control and the Pagan worship was more um common that relig right Christianity just
Coming just coming on the scene Pagan worship going on for years in words they want the market share yes so the Christian Church wanted the market share so they just say all right let us assign this December 25 to Christ Christ didn’t have it before the Bible has nothing to say
About Jesus’s birthday nor does it have anything to say about celebrating his birthday so this is all assignment a decision taken let us make this Day celebrated by the pagans be the birthday of Jesus in other words we’re giving Jesus a birthday to match and counteract the pagans absolutely that is
Where it came from all right so yes yes Elder so by holding Christmas then at the same time as traditional winter sales festivals church leaders increased the chances that Christmas would be popularly embraced and is it not yes but gave up the ability to to dictate how it was
Celebrated um because now remember different people had different kinds of Celebration depend on where you were in the world so by the Middle Ages which you know we call it the Dark Ages when the Bible was taken away from the Common People Christianity had for the most part replac Pagan religion on Christmas
Believers attended church then celebrated rock usly in a drunken Carnival like atmosphere similar to today’s Mica grass and marass and note now that um now that the the celebration has been christianized but the elements of the celebration as far as paganism was concerned remained it remain remained so
So Christianity now has to share yeah and remember why remained because the nature itself remained the same woring remember the the the the sun became weak yes and still continue to be in that yearly pattern right so it now took on different meaning as Christianity embraced it and also
Too is that as Chris as the Christmas celebration affected different cult cultures yes the cultures now added meaning to their tradition and meaning we spoke about Jano earlier on Jano is a slave tradition but they know what an African tradition sorry an African tradition African tradition so now that
Christmas was introduced to the Africans they added their cultural practice to it and now it becomes a associated with Christmas yes absolutely Juno and all of these dancing It’s associated but it’s not coming over so every culture now had their own that not coming from Roman Church ex Church J
Right and and they don’t know about s and Gung rice and peas right they having winter they having winter so so we add that now as our Jamaican um part to to it and then the dance all and the rry and all of that so that secular side yes of the Christmas
Celebration is a carryover from the fact that that is how they celebrated December 25 from the Pagan standpoint so the Christians are in joining with them in celebrating on the day but believe you me they each have their own type of Celebration as we see now let’s move to the next slide yes
With the Jews the Jews had their celebration um their Jewish Festival commemorating the recovery of Jerusalem and subsequent rededication of the second temple at the beginning of the maban revolt against the sald empire in the 2 Century BCE So This Is How They celebrated it in the Jewish context yes
So you see that and this is before Jesus was born before Jesus was born so Jesus don’t come in the picture yet all time BCE before Christ you see and it say Hanukah is observed for eight day eight nights and days starting on the 25th day of KV according to the
Hebrew calendar which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar the festival is observed by lighting the candles you see the candles now yep yep um ofer uh candelar Bram with nine branches commonly called a minora or hanuka so
Now we know how the candle lighting of the candle so that is coming now from the Jewish influence influence so so so it’s a Melting Pot it’s a Melting Pot of Customs being just added to it depending on the culture and how they celebrated yes yes so originally instituted as a
Feast in the manner of sukat booths and we know about the Festival of Bo we about that it does not come with the corresponding obligations and is therefore a relatively Min holiday in strictly religious terms so it was a holiday but not a major one maybe like a
YY poor and and others yes nevertheless hanuka has attained major cultural significance in North America and elsewhere especially among secular due to often occurring around the same time as what Christmas because remember now they are not they don’t believe in Christ right Judaism still looking for the Messiah to come right so
They are not going to embrace christas they’re going to embrace the Hanukah because even though it’s on the 25th of December but it’s around the time around the time um so they cash they’re cashing in they don’t want to be seen as left out of the picture um and
No wonder is the secular Jews who does that to embrace to embrace it yes good the the ancient Egyptians now worship A God Called raah who had the head of a hawk and wore his son as a blazing disc in his crown in his crown
It keeps coming back to the Sun at the solstice when ra began to recover from his illness the Egyptians fill their homes with green p there you go again with rushes which symbolized for them the Triumph of Life over death because yes because the sun is now
Coming back um to life in Germany people honored the Pagan god Oden during the midwinter holiday Germans were terrified as o of Odin as they believe he made nocturnal flights through the sky to observe his people and then decide who would Prosper or perish because of his
Presence many people stayed to choose to stay ins in um inside what happen know winter dark days were terrifying for people so people were afraid of the period and they associate Gods absolutely with the period absolutely all right so the first Theory um about this origin is that people and religions
Of the Day celebrated some sort of holiday around that time right which is what we have so so that’s where it started and and then now the Christians sees the truth implicit in this Pagan tradition that reflects Christ the light of the world his triumph over the night
Of sin so so even Luke yes even Luke they’re pulling they’re pulling on that from Pagan from Pagan elements in his culture but he’s saying like how um Paul went up to Athens and said the the unknown God is this God enough soel you he showing you the elements you are
Worshiping there the true God is this so you have been looking at the light the son God but the light of the world is really Jesus not not son yes and that’s wisdom on the part of the Apostle right so because of it and this is Luke 1
78-79 for those in the congregation who is not seeing the slide Luke 178 to 79 and then now the second theory centers around the date accepted and notice accepted by the western church of March 25 as the Annunciation or Immaculate Conception of Jesus in Mary’s tomb because the Bible didn’t say so the
Church um accepted that date right and and why March 25 because December 25 is 9 months later and do celebrated as the birthday of Jesus regard of the possible reasons for the date the church calendar was set in the west during Constantine rain while the Eastern Church held onto the date of
January 6 for 6 for sometime and that’s what you had mentioned about um January yes so at one point Jesus’s birth was both in December by one part of the church and another part of the church January 6th yes so both dates at one point in the Christian church the early
Christian Church two parts of the church were keeping Christmas on different days yes 25th of December and January 6th yes isn’t that something mhm so let’s see how much time we have 407 I think our time is I’m wondering if it’s a good time to close TR make and
And and much of what we would have said earlier on would have been covered the you know the whole point of the the elements of the of the Christmas celebration by the different culture yes yes my brother MH yes ma go ahead yes and um actually we had that to
Present but we not get the time to do it to and and what and what that is is a is a speculative look based on inductive reasoning around events that were known so so so these events in the Bible were known and the time of year that they occurred were
Known so they were inductively you understanding when he could have been born when he could have been born um CU remember now Mary and Joseph were going to pay taxes right when she had to have so people don’t pay taxes in December when they can’t move around in snow so it is
Said somewhere between July September now I say in the in the fall that would be somewhere in September September October right sep not too far down um but somewhere around that time not July July summer um when Jesus would have been born um but remember too the first
Set of persons who saw him were were in the fields were in the fields but when they saw him it’s not that he must just born there again too that’s another consideration we don’t know if it’s a few weeks old or at least a month old we
Don’t know they were following star the St how long they were traveling and how long it took them we don’t know he was a young baby that’s why you don’t know the exact day and that’s why it’s all speculation speculation right so no one can claim any date or anything like that and
Uh it and maybe God in his wisdom knew why he didn’t do of course would worship day rather than the than the person and I keep thinking about this song in in the M mid Bleak winter you know how these the the these these hems are created and they
Speak in a way that is so counter to what could have happened the song said In The Bleak Midwinter Frosty wind made Moon Earth Stood hard as iron water like a stone and that is so untrue you understand so the song that was made to celebrate the the birth of Christ is
So un true you understand earth stood out as iron and water like a snow and that the song is suggesting that he was born in that kind of condition yeah which so you know that is conditions are are are dire there there yes and that’s why we we have to be
So Jesus be born yes yes you have to know what you’re singing yes yes yes yes all right so we’re going to end here but um just before we end I I want Pastor to quickly say something about the position of the church on the celebration of
Christmas we promis that we’re going to return and cover that aspect of it another time but we don’t exactly know when that would be but many person will be asking the question what is the position of the Adventist Church all right on the celebration of Christ all
Right as we say we don’t sorry we don’t have the time and um for me personally I’m actually preaching at a roab Bessa in St Mary next Sabbath their homecoming but um the Adventist every year um Angel Manuel Rodriguez is one of the yes all right an article from early what should
I say now our our our one of the key figures in Adventist theology in in terms of pulling information to explain what its position its its its statements of of beliefs and so on and he puts it this way quite appropriately he says every year I receive letters or phone he works with
The General Conference of 7day Adventist by the way calls asking whether it is correct for Adventists to celebrate Christmas the uncertainty is usually based on the absence of any biblical information just as we said earlier about the date of Christ’s birth and on the conviction that December 25 has been associated
With a pagan Festival which is true let me provide some historical information about the celebration of Christmas and say something about its significance he continues number one before I comment on the question let me clarify that Adventists are not nor should we be against Christmas you hear
That me repeat Adventists are not nor should we be against Christmas why would we be against a period of time when Christians remember the birth of a savior however since this festivity is not ordained by scripture we don’t consider it to be binding unbelievers we recognize it only one um
Holy day only one holy day we recognize and that’s the Sabbath we keep it holy in obedience to our creator and Redeemer it is well known that the term Christmas is derived from the old English word Christmasy which means Christ’s Mass the term originated during the Middle Ages from the practice of
Having a midnight mass on the eve of December 25 to celebrate the birth of Christ in other languages it is called native it from the Latin natalist or holy nights German um term for it we should acknowledge two facts first we do not know why God in his Providence
Chose not to preserve for us a record of the day of Jesus’s birth there is no need to speculate about this second the fact is that the Christian World celebrates the birth of Jesus on December 25th we cannot change change this and there is no reason to try to
Change it attempts to reject the feast are based on the absence of biblical evidence and its possible connection with a pagan Feast therefore we should leave this matter to the conscience of each individual you with me so what the church is saying listen we can’t be like the extreme my
Words now I’m interpreting this now where we see it as a holy day it’s one holy day we have and that’s the Sabbath and we can’t ignore it as being insignificant because it’s Pagan um the Christian world has adopted it yes though it as it pagan origin as
The as the birth of Jesus so what we do we should not emphasize the day we should emphasize the birth of Jesus not the day because Jesus could not be born on the 25th of December our motive in doing what around that time should determine by our
Conscience how we relate to this time of the year you with me uh when you read Adventist literature it it says we should utilize the opportunity to help those who are poor and needy reach out to them and to use the opportunity to witness to others because there are some individuals at
This time as we said earlier there are some people only go Church two time of the year Easter and Christmas or when somebody dies um so utilize the opportunity to reach out to these individuals so we know that Jesus was never born on the 25th of December but the this time of
The year people focus on that why not capitalize on it um and use the opportunity to point them not to the baby Jesus but to Jesus who is in the Heavenly Sanctuary mediating on our behalf that’s where we need to follow Jesus now Jesus is not a baby anymore Jesus a big man
Now grew up long time he’s in the Heavenly Sanctuary some people still see him as a baby but he’s coming when he comes back he’s um when he puts down those Priestly robes in the Heavenly Sanctuary he’s coming back not as a baby in a Manger but King of Kings and Lord
Of lords so so we’re to capitalize on the the emphasis emphasis yes are the heightened sense of our our awareness of Christ at that time by the world as an Evangelistic uh opportunity so we’re not joining with the world in celebrating December 25 as the birthday of Jesus Jesus but
We’re using it as an opportunity since they are you know stirred up and tuned to Christ to evangelize them and then they will eventually know the truth and I think that answers the question of brother Henry oh somebody’s asking question there okay uh so so brother
Henry the um the church is not agreeing with the world no that that um December 25th should be celebrated at the birthday of Christ all the church is saying use the opportunity to evangelize the world because you have their attention absolutely at that time absolutely so there’s no way that the
Christian would be putting up all of these elements that speaks to the secular accepted celebration of the birth of and speaking to the commercialism we have some people boy up to the Night Before Christmas they killings and have we put up new curtain Adventist Adventist shouldn’t
Like no sort of thing no I’m not saying as you come to the end of the year you know fix up your place and your family and friends coming around cuz I like this time of the year cuz family members that you have not been able to um
Extended family members you’re not able to see cuz there’s holiday they come around it’s a nice time for my family we have fun we have games um and we eat some nice food too right we have a wonderful time yeah um and we utilize the opportunity to enrich family to
Enrich relationships and to and to and to um build build things that were broken down it’s an opportunity to to reflect even in personally even personally to reflect on the year that has passed are passing and to think of deepening our relationship as we go forward into the New Year yes
And there’s an interesting point by Brother Henry but we don’t have the time to consider it but he he’s saying that something about we should therefore capitalize on on Sunday then because that part of the world that worship or accept Sunday uh he’s making a parallel with Sunday worship and that’s why we
Have that’s why in the West Indies we have Sunday night service because the idea was Sunday night to be Evangelistic meeting to capitalize on those who go go to church on Sunday but I think some of us in we have lost the meaning because in some
Parts of the world they have no Sunday night meeting yeah so we were supposed to know capitalize on Sunday worshipers when they go church in the morning we invite them to evangelism meeting in the evening but and there’s another side there’s another side that I want to
Quickly um point out that the evangelism here that we’re speaking to is not so much just other aspects of Christianity because these persons are already sold as far as Christ is concerned but the rest of the world the ones who you said only go to church only on Easter and
Christmas and Christmas those are the real opportunities that we’re speaking to and not people who are already Christians because I mean let’s face it is it is a Christian Church that is celebrating Christmas and it is the Christian church that has the opportunity to evangelize the world so
He not talking about Adventists now uh as brother Henry is making the correlation between um adventism and so so we come to a close here is a very your sister has a question oh yes my sister I can hardly hear you though oh yeah I see our Point technical
The technical point she’s making that that Sunday night worship is really after yeah is after suay so but but I guess in in in the sense of the day yes rather than the hours but that’s a that’s a good point that’s interesting so we want to say thanks to our
Technical and communication team Sheldon and Jordan Sterling um aliia Campbell uh Taj Walker uh Omar canai and uh am I missing anyone no I think I captured everyone there uh thank you ladies and gentlemen as usual and to Sister Olive Sterling through the community service department who
Refreshed us and to our in-house uh congregation for listening in and for those who participated and contributed to uh having clarifications made on some of what we were presenting and to our online uh viewers and students uh I’ve read all of your comments and I did comment on those
Issues raised by uh brother Henry so thank you all for joining I take note of you all uh Owen Senor Jones is back this week let us look forward to next week you’re not going to believe well of course you’re going to believe what we’re going to be discussing next week
We’re going to be discussing the baptismal vows and especially as to how they affect the way that we are looking at the holidays that you and I are discussing okay yeah how do your baptismal votes figure into the way how you uh celebrate Christmas if you so
Choose to take part in some of the activities and what should restrain you as far as your baptismal vows are concerned so some people will say well I have to put a little rum or a little wine in my Sor because Sor is not Sor without
Wine yes so which one of your baptismal VES now are you breaking when you do that so baptismal V next thank you very much for joining us U Pastor pray together we thank you Heavenly Father for this discussion for the enlightenment of your people so that conscientiously as they
Go forward in during this time of the year they will know from an informed position what is right and appropriate and what is pleasing in your sight thank you Lord for the ministry of Elder Oliver continue to be with him as he continues to share with your church to teach the
Brethren thus sayith the Lord be with us now Lord as we continue to worship you on your this the holy Sabbath day that you would bless each heart both those in the temple and those on the platform in Jesus name we pray amen amen Fai children you be one of the faithful
The he’s calling you now to come Jesus is coming again he coming in power and glory to coming with all the Heavenly Host what glorious that will be what a glorious side that will be what a glorious side that will be
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