This Sabbath, Pastor Catron took time to speak about the upcoming holiday of Christmas. What did it mean to us before we became Children of God, what did it mean to us after believing in Christ, and this year what it means to us now.
We were asked these questions. For many, Christmas is a time of warmth, joy, and merriment. It means we can see our families, and give gifts not only of physical things, but gifts of love, goodness, and compassion. During this time, we remember those in need all the more, and we are very generous. We establish our traditions of putting up the tree, lighting the yule log, singing carols, eating pumpkin pie, decorating with green plants and lights, hanging the mistletoe, and waiting for Santa Clause. In addition to these things, it is acknowledged that Christ’s birth, although His true birth is unknown, is December 25. This is what Christmas meant to some before they became Children of God.
After believing in Christ, He now became the central theme of why we celebrated the holiday. Yet, what does Christmas mean, why do we celebrate it, even though it is not Christ’s true birthday?
Lady Catron did a little research to answer these very questions, and the results were shocking. It was from her finding that we read from during service. Ark of Covenant Ministries does not celebrate Christmas because it was discovered that before our Savior Jesus was born, the traditions of what we now know as Christmas were practiced as rituals by those who knew not God our Father. Infact, the rituals were in reverence to other gods. These traditions have no bases in biblical teaching, and Christ became associated with these traditions because the Catholic Church moved His birthday to December 25. Those who already looked to December 25 as a day to honor a pagan god with the traditions we now know from Christmas, were those whom the Catholic Church wished to draw into the Catholic faith with compromise.
With this knowledge, we could no longer celebrate Christmas in good conscience to the Father and to Jesus. We realize also that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12). A mid the world that we live in today, we realize that even though unseen, evil spiritual forces are still at work among us and we must put on whole armour of God, that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil (Ephesians 6:11).
The holidays are no exception when it comes to spiritual warfare. Now that we realize the truth about Christmas, we should all the more be on guard against spiritual wickedness, tricks, and deception.
If you would like more information about our findings about the holiday, you can click the link bellow.
