(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, we are here in Colossians chapter 2. As I mentioned during the announcements, we're going to try to get done a little bit early with the sermons here today. The first sermon might not get done early, but the second one will. But it's essentially basically like one sermon where I'm going to kind of take a break in between the sermon. And the name of the sermon is, How to Celebrate a Pagan Christmas Part 1. And of course, the second sermon is, How to Celebrate a Pagan Christmas Part 2. And if you've ever done much research on Christmas, you're going to find that most of the traditions that we have actually were done with false religions and pagan societies going back a long time. Now, I do celebrate Christmas, so I'm not standing up here saying you cannot celebrate Christmas. But I'm also not going to deny reality, because if anyone spends any time on YouTube, if you just check this out, there's a multitude of documentaries, and it's just a fact that a lot of our traditions, they do come from pagan societies. So the question is, as Christians, how do we respond to that? Does that mean we should avoid every single Christmas tradition? Does that mean that we embrace any ones we want? Or does that mean we kind of use wisdom, which we accept, which we don't? So I'm going to give you kind of a bit of an overview, and then we're going to divide into three categories. Traditions that I don't think anybody should keep as a Christian, traditions that are kind of in the gray area where it's kind of up to you, and then kind of new traditions or good traditions that have been kind of added by Christians that do not have an association with pagan roots. Here's what the Bible says in Colossians 2, verse 13. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with them, having forgiven you all trespasses. Now the word trespass is a synonym for the word sin. And so a sin or a trespass, when you get saved, all of your sins, past, present, and future, big and small, are all forgiven. Verse 14, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. It would be very easy to look at verses 13 and 14 and to assume that a trespass and an ordinance are the same thing, but they're not. A trespass is a synonym to a sin, whereas an ordinance is basically something that was for a time period that pictured Jesus Christ. So for example, a city might have a citywide ordinance that for the month of December you cannot be out of your house past 7 p.m. because there was an escapee from prison or whatever. You know, a citywide ordinance, this is the rule, this is the law we have for this time period. But it's not really like thou shalt not commit kill, you know, where you're going to go to jail or whatever. And so the Bible says that God has blotted out the handwriting of ordinances which was against us. What are those ordinances? Verse 15, And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of in holy day or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. The Bible is telling you that the ordinances were a picture or a shadow of Jesus Christ. If you see a shadow of an individual, that is not the actual person, but it's a representation of that person, right? So you can look at somebody's shadow and you can get a general idea of who that person is, even though the shadow is not that literal actual person, okay? And ordinances are things that actually picture Jesus Christ. They came before Jesus and they pictured him. The Bible teaches that we follow two ordinances today that also picture Jesus Christ, but they are looking back, that being baptism and the Lord's Supper. And of course, baptism pictures the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a picture of Jesus. The Lord's Supper, what are we remembering? We are remembering the death of Jesus Christ. Of course, we're not Catholics. We do not believe literally that that's the body of Jesus inside of your mouth, but it is a picture of the death of Jesus Christ. And we drink the grape juice, the non-fermented juice, and it is a picture of the blood of Jesus Christ, okay? So those are the ordinances that look back on Jesus Christ. But before Jesus came, there was a lot of ordinances in the Old Testament that pictured that Jesus Christ would actually come. There are a lot of things that we do not follow in today's world and we don't have to follow. You can eat whatever animal you want, whether it be clean or whether it be an unclean animal. You can eat whatever animal you want, but those things actually picture Jesus Christ, okay? Verse number 16, it says, Let no man therefore judge you in meat, meaning you can eat whatever you want. I mean, is bacon the healthiest food? No, it's not, but it's not a sin to eat bacon. Is pork the healthiest food? No, it's not, but it's not a sin to eat pork. You can eat pork, bacon, pig, shellfish, whatever you want to eat. It's perfectly fine. It's not a sin. It's not under the restriction list, okay? It says, Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink. And then notice this, or in respect of an holy day. Now, when you see that word holy day, that is spelled very similarly to what word in 2024? Holiday. There's only one letter difference, right? The middle letter Y becomes an I. You say, why? Because a holiday is the same word as a holy day. And in the Old Testament, their holidays were holy days. They were centered around things that they actually believed in, and they actually represented something. And the Bible is saying, Let no man judge you in respect of an holy day. What does that mean? It means if you want to celebrate Christmas, you can. And if you do not want to celebrate Christmas, you don't have to. And it's perfectly fine either way. Our family, we do celebrate Christmas, but I'm not trying to convince you to celebrate Christmas here today. Because if you don't want to, or if you have a personal conviction against it, then that is perfectly fine. I celebrate Christmas as a husband with a family, but quite honestly, when I was a single guy, I didn't really celebrate Christmas. I didn't have a Christmas tree. I didn't put presents under. I didn't decorate around my house. It was pretty much like any other day, other than the fact I visited my parents during Christmas time, okay? But it's completely up to you. If you want to celebrate Christmas, you can. If you don't, you don't have to. Another obvious holiday we celebrate is Easter, right? I would say Christmas and Easter are the two biggest holidays, the birth of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus as Christians, and it is up to you if you want to celebrate that or not. I think it's a good tradition to have because they had holy days in the Old Testament, so I would say make some of our holidays about Jesus Christ. I think that's a very good thing to do. But if you don't want to, you don't have to. Now, here's the thing. It's up to you whether you want to celebrate Christmas or Easter, but do not celebrate the Muslim holidays, other than the fact you do a soul-winning marathon on that day because it's a national holiday, right? I mean, go ahead and celebrate Christmas or Easter or don't, and it's fine. Don't celebrate the Catholic holidays they have created, okay, other than going soul-winning on those days. But there's nothing wrong with deciding, I do not want to celebrate a holiday. It is completely fine. It is up to you. It says, or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days. And so there was the once a week Sabbath that they had in the Old Testament. There was also days of rest throughout the year. So if you say, well, pastor, I think it's good to just dedicate an entire day to God. Hey, that's a good thing. If you say Sunday, I'm just going to dedicate to God, and I'm just going to read the Bible and go to church and just completely dedicate it to God, you know, that's a great thing to do. Now, that's not exactly what the Sabbath was in the Old Testament, though, because the Sabbath meant no work. But if that's what you want to do, you know, hey, that's a good thing, right? But if you say, well, pastor, I'm not like that. I go to church on Sunday morning, and then I work during the afternoon. There's nothing wrong with doing that either, right? You go to church, then you come home and you work for a few hours. There's nothing wrong with it. I mean, there are plenty of days when I get home early enough where I just do a lot of the busy work, you know, right when I get home for a couple hours, and there's nothing sinful about it, right? Nothing wrong with that at all. Go in your Bible to Romans 14, Romans 14, Romans chapter 14. Now, of course, here in the Philippines, there are religions that are completely against celebrating holidays. Specifically, I think of INC and the Jehovah's Witnesses are two of the big religions that are completely against holidays. But there are plenty of Baptists that also take that stand as well, right? I know that because my wife's old church, you know, they were completely against celebrating holidays, and you know what? There are Baptists that take that stance, and you're welcome to take that stance if you want. But I would say that let no man judge you in respect of holy day. So if somebody wants to celebrate Christmas, that is perfectly fine to do that, right? There's nothing wrong with doing that at all. Romans chapter 14, verse 1, him that is weak in the faith receive thee, but not to doubtful disputations. For one, believeth that he may eat all things. Another, who is weak, eateth herbs. Now, in verses 1 and 2 of Romans 14, he's going to use this example, and he talks about someone who says, you know what? I'm a vegetarian or a vegan, and they say, you know what? I'm not going to eat everything. I'm going to have a specialized diet. And the Bible says we ought to receive people to our church unless they're bringing disputes or arguments. So, for example, anyone is welcome to come to our church, but if you came in here and tried to start arguing about the things we believe, saying, well, you know, pastor, I want to become a member of your church, but I want to have a debate on once saved, always saved at the front of the church. It's like, no, and just don't come back, right? It's like you're not going to come in here and tell us what we believe or what we teach because that's not the way that we operate. Imagine that you're in a school, and the teacher's up here teaching you how to do a problem, and someone says, well, let me come up, and I'm going to show you why two plus three equals seven. It'd be like, no, you're not welcome to do that, right? And in our church, I know what we believe and teach, and I preach the sermons, and it's like it's not a free-for-all where anyone can come in here and just say, we'll teach whatever we want. We receive people to our church, and they don't have to believe exactly like us. People don't even have to be saved to attend our church. If someone is a member of our church or they're coming to our church for months and they're not saved but they're not causing any problems, there's nothing wrong with that, and I would say that when a church grows, I mean, obviously, we're not a small church. You know, we're not a huge church, but we're not a small church, and I would say, yeah, new people come, and sometimes new people are coming that maybe aren't saved, and you know what? That's fine. If you bring a Catholic relative and they're not trying to bring us into idolatry or something like that, they're welcome to come even if they're not saved, and maybe over the course of a couple weeks, they hear the word of God, their heart softens, someone gives them the gospel, and they get saved, but not to doubtful disputations, meaning if someone's coming in here bringing arguments, then you have a problem. Now, in verse number two, it makes it very clear who's correct. The person who is spiritually weak is the one that says you cannot eat meat, okay? Now, obviously, you don't just get spiritually weak. You get physically weak if you don't eat meat either. Someone just told me yesterday about this woman. She died at the age of 39 last year, and I guess she was like this big, I don't know, social media Instagramer, I don't know whatever they call it, vlogger or whatever, you know? And she was like big into all this vegan diet, and she had gotten rid of all meat and all eggs, and then she died at the age of 39 for malnutrition, because fruits and vegetables are very healthy, but not if that's all you eat. And so the thing is, the reason why God's telling you who is correct in this situation is even though they can eat whatever they want, the reality is if you go with the no meat diet, it's not good for you. It's not healthy for you. It's actually not the smartest diet, but you know what? If that's what someone wants to do, then they're welcome to do whatever they want, right? Verse number three, let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not, and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth, for God hath received him. So basically, don't look down on someone who chooses not to eat certain things, and you know, don't look down on people that are choosing to eat meat or foods that you do not eat. If somebody has a different type of diet than you at this church, just let them keep whatever diet they have. Don't try to convince them, right? If somebody is convinced in the new year they're going on an all sugar diet to try to lose weight, I don't think it's the best diet. I don't think it's wise, but although I preach what the Bible says in the pulpit, outside the pulpit, they can do whatever they want, and I'm not going to go and try to convince them, hey, you know what? You shouldn't do this, right? They can do whatever they want, okay? Verse number four, who art thou that judges another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holding up for God is able to make him stand. Verse number five, another example. One man esteemeth one day above another. Another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. When it comes to the food, the Bible tells you who's right. The person who says we may eat all things is correct. You can eat fruit. You can eat vegetables. You can eat meat. You can eat eggs. You can eat bread. You can eat whatever you want, and it's not wrong, okay? The person who says, well, it's a sin to eat this food, I would ask, where does the Bible say, thus saith the Lord, do not eat chicken? Thus saith the Lord, do not eat this food. No, we are allowed to eat whatever we want, okay? But in verse number five, it does not tell you who's right, does it? It doesn't tell you the person who says, hey, you know what? I'm not going to esteem one day above another. It doesn't tell you who's correct or who's wrong, meaning if you want to basically take a day off every single week, that's perfectly fine. If someone says, I don't want to do that, that's perfectly fine, and both of you are correct. Neither one is more correct than the other because the Bible doesn't tell you who's correct. Now, here's the difference between food versus taking a day off or not taking a day off. With food, it's actually not good for you to take up that diet, so the Bible's telling you who's correct because basically do whatever you want, but it's not healthy to say, I'm not going to eat meat because I'm concerned. My morality for the chicken that's being tortured or whatever, when it's killed, I've got to just swear off eating chicken, right? Now, what's amazing to me is everyone who's this obsessed vegan cares nothing about human life at all. Find the hardcore pro-vegan that's hardcore against abortion. Maybe there's somebody out there like that, but you know, whatever I see, the people that are hardcore pro-vegan are also the ones that don't care about a baby being murdered in the womb, right? But the Bible tells you who's right in terms of diet just because, you know what, you're actually doing harm to your body if you take up a bad diet, but here's the thing. You're not doing harm to your body if you choose not to celebrate a holiday or choose not to esteem one day above another. It's just your personal preference, right? There are people at our churches that are not into celebrating holidays and I've never gone up to them and tried to convince them that they should start celebrating holidays. At our church, we have various programs when it comes to being associated with Easter. Our family, we do have a Christmas tree at our house, but I'm never going to go up to people and say, you should get a Christmas tree and here's why. Because that's just my opinion. I like having one, but there's nothing wrong with not having one. It's not like you're in sin or more righteous either way. It's just a personal preference. And what the Bible says in verse six is, he that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regard it. So basically, if you start your day by reading the Bible and asking God to bless your day, God doesn't really care whether you celebrate a holiday or not. What he cares about is, hey, you know what? You've dedicated your day to me. Whether you're celebrating a holiday, that's great. And he can bless your life because you're regarding that day onto the Lord. And it says, he that eateth, eateth to the Lord for he giveth God thanks and he that eateth not to the Lord he eateth not and giveth God thanks. Regardless of what you eat today for lunch, it's like if you ask God to bless that food, then God can bless that food. Even if you ate at McDonald's this morning, you ask God to bless that food and God can bless that food even though, you know what, it's not the healthiest food in the world. Right? And look, I truly do believe, I've preached this recently, that the most important thing is to be right with God. And I do believe that even if you don't have a perfect diet, what's more important to your long-term health is actually praying to God and having God's blessing upon your life. Right? You know, I'm sure there's a multitude of different dietary opinions in our church and that's perfectly fine because the Bible says you can eat however you want. Right? And God can bless you. Now go in your Bible to Matthew 15. Matthew 15. Matthew chapter 15. Matthew chapter 15. And you know, the Bible in Matthew 15 speaks about traditions and some traditions are good traditions and some traditions are bad traditions. And then there are other traditions that are just kind of cultural or with family and they're not really right or wrong. It's just kind of whatever you want to do and that's fine. You might decide that, hey, you know what, we have a tradition at Christmas to... I heard that in Japan they eat KFC on Christmas. I don't really understand the connection with KFC, but apparently in Japan it's like, it's Christmas tradition, you eat KFC. It's like, okay, well there's nothing right or wrong about that tradition. I mean, it's a bit unique to me because I don't eat fried chicken, or KFC for Christmas. But hey, if that's your tradition, there's nothing wrong with it. Or your family might say, hey, for Christmas we eat this food or we do this special thing. There's nothing wrong with it. Right? Here in Matthew 15, it talks about traditions and it says this in verse one. Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem saying, why did thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they washed not their hands when they eat bread. And what they're saying to criticize Jesus is, why are your followers not washing their hands before they eat? Now here's the thing about this. Is it a sin to not wash your hands before you eat? Where does the Bible say you have to do this or you're in sin? It doesn't say that. Now is it good advice? Of course. And I would say that if you're a parent in this room, you probably command your kids to wash their hands before they eat. So if you're a kid, it is a sin for you because you got to obey your parents. Right? But if you decide that, hey, I don't want to wash my hands before I eat, that's perfectly fine. As an adult, sometimes even though we always tell our kids to wash your hands, sometimes you're busy or lazy and the food is right there. You're at the office and they bring in cookies. It's not like you stop and say, well, let me wash my hands first. You grab that cookie and you eat it and you know that's true. Right? And so it's not a sin when you do that. Is it a good tradition to wash your hands before you eat? Sure. But is it the end of the world if you don't wash your hands before you eat sometime? No, it's not the end of the world. Now, if you touch everything and don't eat it, then there's a problem because you've made everything dirty. Okay? So what you touch, you eat. That's the way it works. It seems obvious, but you know what? Raising kids, you start to relearn things. Like our son Ezra has a habit of taking one bite and putting it back and taking one bite and putting it back. And it's like, you know, whatever you touch, you eat. Okay? But then it says here in verse three, but he answered and said unto them, why do you also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded saying, honor thy father and mother, and he that curseth father and mother, let him die the death. God commanded that, right? Honor your parents. And I don't believe that stops once you leave the home. I think you should always honor your father and your mother. They raised you. They put in effort. They love you. They care about you. Honor your parents, the Bible says. But what are the Pharisees teaching here in verse five? But ye say, this is what Jesus is saying to the Pharisees, whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, it is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me. What are they saying? What the Pharisees were teaching is that if you honor your parents, you're basically giving them a gift. That's not a requirement to honor your parents, but basically like, I'm giving you a gift by listening to your rules or by obeying you or by honoring you. But does the Bible ever say that? No, the Bible says, honor your parents, and so what often happens is sometimes traditions come in and they change the word of God. There's a big tradition here in the Philippines at Christmas time to get drunk, right? Explain to me what drinking alcohol has to do with honoring Jesus Christ. I don't see a connection, and it's a tradition that is trumping the commandment of the Bible not to drink alcohol, and so sometimes traditions can be bad traditions that overhaul the word of God. Verse 6, and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have you made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Now turn in your Bible to 1 John 3. Look, your family might have various Christmas traditions, and for the most part there's probably nothing wrong with them, but here's what I'm going to say, that if you decide to celebrate Christmas, our family, we celebrate Christmas, you ought to celebrate it in a good way. You ought to celebrate it in a way that honors Jesus Christ, not something that would offend Jesus Christ or be wrong or be sinful. Everybody ought to look at the traditions they have in their house and they might say, hey, you know what? This is a Christmas tradition we have. We've got to change it because it's not a good tradition. Now let me give you the origin of where Christmas comes from. Yesterday was winter solstice. Winter solstice, if you're not familiar, is in the northern hemisphere. It's the shortest day of the year, meaning there's less sunlight than any other time during the year. Here in the Philippines, I don't think we think of it too much because the amount of sunlight does not drastically change during the year. I looked yesterday on my phone, out of curiosity, and where I'm from, the amount of sunlight varies by almost four hours depending on the year. So basically in December, you have four less hours of sunlight than in June. I remember the days, basically driving to work and it's pitch black with snow on the ground, and then driving back from work and it's pitch black with snow on the ground. If you wonder why people that live in snow hate snow, it's because of the fact there's no sunlight during that time of year. It's cold. It's dangerous. It's miserable. You're not missing out here in the Philippines by not having snow. The last thing I want to see in the rest of my life, I mean, I'm happy to see snow on YouTube. It looks really cool. But in person, it's like, you know what? You're not missing out. But the amount of sun would vary by about four hours. This is why when you look at areas where they have little sunlight during this time of year and it's very cold, the suicide rate drastically increases in these areas and part of it is you don't have the sun. But even four hours is not so extreme as in parts of, I don't know, Scandinavia. I saw a video yesterday in Norway, they had a 30-second time lapse between December versus June at the same time frame. And then in the one during December, it's black, black, black, black, a little bit of light, black, black, black, black, basically 24 hours during the day it's like black. There's like two hours with the slightest bit of sunlight. And then the other time during the year in June, guess what? It's light, light, light, light, light, a little bit of time, a little bit of darkness and light the entire day. So in certain parts of the world, they have essentially 24 hours of sunlight at one time of the year. Six months later, they have 24 hours of darkness. Now, I don't know how you adjust to that personally. That's pretty crazy because when I sleep, I like to be no light, right? But what ended up taking place naturally is during that time period, it's very depressing, it's scary, money is going to be kind of very scarce. You're worried about your crops and all these things. What are we going to do during the winter time? And so naturally, a big holiday formed around winter solstice. And so around December 21st, because winter solstice will oscillate between December 20th to December 22nd, depending on what year it is. But it's right around that time period would be the shortest day during the year. And as a result, they would celebrate a holiday because basically they said, starting now, we're going to start to have more sunlight. And each and every day, the sun's going to be out a little bit longer. It became a natural holiday for the areas in Scandinavia, for example, Asatru or Norse mythology, as you would call it, and that parts of the world, Germany, Sweden, Norway, and they would celebrate various holidays and call them different things. Okay. Here's what it says. And you know, as a result of this, when those areas got taken over by the Catholic church, the Catholic church did not pick the exact same date for the holiday. They moved it like a couple of days. So instead of December 21st, it became December 25th. Now look, I'm not against celebrating Christmas, but this is a fact. And if you do any sort of research, it's like, okay, yes, this is exactly true, right? The origins of Christmas, because none of us really believe that Jesus was born on December 25th. There's a very, very, very, very, very slight chance, but none of us actually believe that is the day that he was born. And this holiday arose out of them worshiping and celebrating winter solstice and these pagan holidays with these other religions. Okay. It says here from this article, the origins of Christmas stem from both the pagan and Roman cultures. The Romans actually celebrated two holidays in the month of December. The first was Saturnalia, which was a two-week festival honoring their god of agriculture, Saturn. So over there, they worshiped the planet Saturn, believing that was some sort of god. On December 25th, they celebrated the birth of Mithra, their sun god. Both celebrations were raucous drunken parties. Also in December, the darkest day of the year falls, the pagan cultures lit bonfires and candles to keep the darkness at bay. The Romans also incorporated this tradition into their own celebrations. As Christianity spread across Europe, the Christian clergy were not able to curb the pagan customs and celebrations. Since no one knew Jesus's date of birth, they adapted the pagan ritual into a celebration of his birthday. This is just a fact. And if you do any sort of research, I think maybe in the past, people would not necessarily be aware of this, but with the rise of documentaries and information all over the place, it's like you'd be denying reality to say that this is not true. I mean, there was cultures that worshiped false gods that right around this time, they had their celebrations based on winter solstice and Christmas arrived December 25th out of these traditions. Okay? Now turn your Bible to 1 John 3. And look, I'm not against celebrating Christmas, and I'll talk about this and explain my position, but here's what I would say. The reason why it's important to just give you the truth is because there's a lot of people that have never heard this, and the first time they hear this, they're like, whoa. It's like, I'm never going to celebrate Christmas ever again. And I think what's better is to give you a balanced perspective and leave it in your hands to make the decisions on what you want to do. Because the Bible specifically said, judge no one in respect of a holy day. So it still comes down to your decision whether you are going to celebrate the holiday or how you're going to celebrate it. Okay? Now, if you're celebrating a false religions holiday, well, that's different. But in terms of the tradition of saying, hey, I want to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, that's a great thing to celebrate, and it is completely up to you. But these are the actual origins. Now, when it comes to the traditions that we have, I'm going to give you the bad traditions that nobody should celebrate, the ones that are questionable or they come from pagan origins, and then the ones that are new traditions that have arisen by celebrating Jesus Christ. The first bad tradition that there is, is celebrating Santa Claus. Nobody should celebrate Santa Claus. You're lying to your kids when you say that Santa Claus is real. And the only thing that's stopping kids from not believing in Santa Claus, because it doesn't make any sense, is they're like, well, I don't think my mom or my dad is going to lie to me. Right? But it's a lie. When are you ever justified to just lie to your kids about something? And here's the thing. If you lie to your kids, it's going to cause your kids to lose some of the credibility they have for what you have to say. So if you're going to lie to me about that, how do I know if these other things are true? But it's not even just the fact it's a lie. It's a lot worse with Satan Claus or Santa Claus, depending on how you want to spell that. Okay? Santa Claus is actually based on Odin, which if you've watched, I think he's in the Avengers, right? Odin, like the Norse mythology god. And here's some of the links between Odin and the modern day, how you celebrate Santa Claus. Odin had an eight-legged reindeer. Well, I mean, that's kind of similar, right? Reindeer, I guess, is like eight reindeer with Santa Claus, but Odin had an eight-legged reindeer. Odin flew through the air during the Yule holiday, which was a holiday celebrated in Germany. And people left food out for Odin, hoping for favor, and that Odin would give them presents. I see a lot of similarities between Odin and Santa Claus. Now, a lot of people say, well, Santa Claus originates from this person who lived in the third century, St. Nicholas, and maybe it's a bit of both of these things. But the story of St. Nicholas was that he was a Catholic priest that gave gifts to little kids. I don't really feel very comfortable about that either, okay? I don't think either one of those is necessarily a good thing. And so the thing is, even the origins of this are bad as well. You say, well, why is it a bad tradition? He sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake. Really, I thought only God Almighty knew whether or not you're sleeping. I thought only God knew whether or not what you're thinking, what you're... I thought only God was omniscient. But then Santa Claus is basically omnipresent, because I remember asking my parents as a kid, well, I mean, how is Santa Claus able to be everywhere at once? It's like he's just rapid fire, right? It's like he's omnipresent. And then he knows if you've been bad or good. It sounds like he's omniscient, doesn't he? And he's basically omnipotent. He can do whatever he wants. And here's the thing, who created Santa Claus? When was he born? He's basically eternal, and he never dies. I mean, Santa Claus is literally standing in the place of God Almighty. He's standing in the place of Jesus Christ in 2024. So the worst thing about Christmas to celebrate is Santa Claus. And it's so easy to get sucked into this, because Santa Claus has stolen Christmas from Jesus Christ. And you know that's true. For most people, Christmas is not about Jesus Christ. It is about Santa Claus. That's what it's about. Every movie, all these songs... This is why when I was growing up, I would always hate to hear Christmas music, because it was all about Santa Claus, just these goofy and silly songs. Now I love Christmas songs, but I love songs like What Child Is This, a real Christmas song. I love real Christmas music, but not this garbage Christmas music. It's sitting around this fake creature that is standing in the place of God. And what's amazing is Santa Claus kind of permeates every society, no matter what the religion is. It's kind of like, well, we can agree to disagree as Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists. Let's just all celebrate Santa Claus together, right? Well, here's what the Bible says in 1 John 3, verse 19. And hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things. God knows all things, not this mythological creature or mythical creature, Santa Claus, that somebody created a long time ago. Go to your Bible to 1 Timothy chapter 2. 1 Timothy chapter 2. Now look, if I just broke the news to your kid that Santa Claus is not real, you can thank me, because I'm the one who gets to be the bad guy, right? I'm the one that hurts your kid's feelings. You don't have to break the news to them or whatever. It's like they don't have to find out from some other kid at school and then coming home crying, is this true? It's just like, I'm the one who's the bad guy. I broke the news. Santa Claus is fake. He's a phony. But it's not just like it's an innocent little lie. It's a pretty serious lie, because he's standing in the place of Jesus Christ. Another thing that no Christian should celebrate, and look, you can do whatever you want. You can disagree with me and celebrate Santa Claus or whatever you want to do. But you know, another thing that no Christian should celebrate are elves. You say, well, why? Because elves come from Norse mythology. They come from a false religion. I get it. Maybe you watch The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings or whatever. Guess what? That's a movie based on Norse mythology. No, it's not a Christian movie. No, it's not something that Christians should be watching. It's full of sorcery and magic. Well, there's the good magic and the bad magic. Look, the voodoo priest and the albolario are both bad. They might be enemies, but they're both bad. What is the difference between them? It's like, well, Harry Potter's doing the good magic. No, no, no. Harry Potter would be put to death in a real society for being a sorcerer. No, it's not good. There's no good magic and bad magic. It's all bad. 1 Timothy 2 verse 5, for there's one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. Our one mediator to God the Father is Jesus Christ. And it's not married. Well, you know, there's one mediator, but there's a mediatrix. Look, you just came out of the Catholic Church, if that's what you're thinking in your head. That is a false doctrine. That is a Catholic doctrine. No, Mary is not the mediator to talk to God the Father, only Jesus Christ. You say, why? Because he's the only one who is all God and all man. And you can go to him to get to God the Father, okay? But elves basically serve the same purpose as Jesus Christ. Because isn't the basic story that you go to elves and then they will give that information to Santa Claus? They're the little helpers of Santa Claus, right? Or if you want to liken the elves to like being angels or whatever. I mean, it's just like they're these false mythological creatures, fake creatures. Now, there's something I've never participated in. I only heard about a few years ago called Elf on a Shelf, or Elf on a Shelf, which I guess is a big thing. And here's how Elf on a Shelf works. It says, the story goes that Santa's scout elves fly to the North Pole each night of December to report to Santa if children have been behaving or misbehaving. The elves then fly back and hide in a new spot for the children to find him the next morning. Typically, scout elves love to hide in sneaky spots around the house, and sometimes they like to stir up mischief the night before. So basically, you buy this little elf idol that you put somewhere in your house, and then the kids basically go to the elf and just say, can you tell Santa Claus I've been a good boy? Or whatever. And then apparently the parents will hide that elf in a different place in the house. That would creep me out as a kid. I'd be afraid if like I'm just kind of going in, I'm in the kitchen or whatever, I'm opening the fridge, and then there's like this little elf there would be like, whoa! That would probably creep me out today, right? And it's like, but apparently this is a big thing. And elves basically have these magical powers also. They don't really die from my understanding of anything related to Santa Claus. They weren't born like in a normal situation, at least the stories that I hear. And so elves are very associated with Santa Claus as well. So no Christian should be celebrating or talking about Santa Claus or elves at all. And it goes without saying, don't celebrate Mrs. Claus either, okay? Because she's directly associated with Santa Claus. Go to Proverbs 23. Proverbs 23. And look, you can do whatever you want. I'm just giving you some advice as your pastor saying, you know what? Celebrate Christmas all you want. Our family celebrates Christmas. Don't celebrate Santa Claus or elves because they're associated with sorcery and magic and it's false and they're wrong. It's a lie. Another thing, as I mentioned earlier, which is very associated with Christmas time is alcohol. A lot of people maybe they don't drink during the year, but it's like, well, at Christmas time and at New Year's, we like to drink wine. Well, no Christian should have anything to do with alcohol. Well, it's a Christmas tradition. I saw this thing pop up on Facebook the other day because there's this conservative satire news. There's the Babylonian bee and not the bee. And they had this article because it's a big Christmas tradition in the U.S. to watch the movie Die Hard because in Die Hard, it happens right around Christmas time. It's like, well, you know, pastor, I mean, it's just our Christmas tradition. We watch Die Hard. Well, murdering people is never okay no matter what time of year. That might be your tradition. Pick a new movie to watch. It's a bad movie. It's only centered around Christmas because if I remember correctly, I mean, it's been decades since I've watched it, but I think the events happen during Christmas. That's why it's like a Christmas movie. What does it have to do with Jesus Christ in the movie though? Right? So pick something else because it's not appropriate. It's wrong. Right? Proverbs 23, this is what the Bible says about alcohol. Verse 29. Verse 29. Verse 29, Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek, mix wine. The Bible's describing the people that have all these problems in life. The Bible says the person who has sorrow, the person who's sad, the person who's miserable, the person who has contentions, has fights with other people, the person who babbles talks a bunch of nonsense because drunk people tend to just talk and you don't understand what's coming out of their mouth. It's like, what? What are you trying to say? Who hath wounds without cause? You get in fights and there's no reason that you had to get in a fight. Who hath redness of eyes? People that are drunk, they wake up and what do their eyes look like? They look extremely red, don't they? They look like, man, it's like, are you okay? And they're just like so messed up from the alcohol they had the night before. The Bible says the person that's in this condition is the one that tarries long at the wine. What the Bible's describing in verse 31 when it says, Look not thou upon the wine when it is red. What it's describing is the process of how fermentation works because there's nothing wrong with drinking grape juice but there is a process where that grape juice which is pure and good becomes something bad. So look, if your tradition is drinking grape juice on Christmas, great. If your tradition is drinking fermented wine on Christmas, it's bad. It's okay to look upon the wine before it gets fermented but when it's fermented it's not a good thing, right? And it says, When it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. The Bible says moveth itself aright and the Bible's describing the process of how it will start to bubble, okay? At the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder. Why is it that it bites like a serpent? Well, the Bible's basically describing is that it's poisonous. It's not meant for your body. It's not good for you. It's not like anything that you find is okay to put inside your system and it's going to be okay for you, right? It's like, well, you know, it's a liquid. Okay, well, are you going to take dishwasher liquid and just down that? No, because it's poison. It's going to destroy you. The Bible says, Thine eyes shall behold strange women and thine hearts shall utter perverse things. So, you know, you want to go down the road of committing adultery? Why don't you get drunk? I mean, Christmas parties this time of year, a lot of people go to Christmas parties and they don't want to go but they want to fit in. What takes place? A lot of times they end up getting drunk and they do stupid things that they would never do when they were sober. Because as the Holy Spirit gives you boldness to do what is right, getting filled with the spirit of the devil gives you the boldness to do what is wrong. And I'm not saying you get possessed by devils but it certainly influences you in a bad way. It says, Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick. They have beaten me and I felt it not. I mean, I knew people in college because I went to a secular college, West Virginia University, and it's one of the biggest drinking schools in the United States. And, you know, I would see people at class and they'd have this massive black eye. It's like, dude, what happened to you? It's like, I don't remember. It's like they got into a fight when they were drunk. And I want you to realize, you know, it's pretty easy to die when you get into fight when you're drunk. Because number one, people like lose their sense of anything. They might pull out a knife or a weapon or whatever. But somebody punches you and you land on the back of your head or somebody punches you and you're drunk and you're on your back and you might choke on your own vomit. This takes place. I had a classmate in my Spanish class in college and he died from a fight in college when he was drunk over the weekend. And he got stabbed by this other guy and it was like a big murder trial. The question is, you know, was it self-defense? Whose knife was it? I mean, it was a trial over a couple years. But the origin of that fight was over alcohol. It's like somebody's drunk, one guy threw a snowball, and then all of a sudden it led to a murder. It's like, talk about doing stupid things you would never do when you're sober, right? Then it says this, when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. Now, I do want to take note because this is often misquoted. It does not say, you know, when I shall awake, I will seek it yet again. It's a question that's being asked. When shall I awake? So basically, you're drinking alcohol and it's like, I don't even know when I'm going to wake up, is what the Bible is saying there. When shall I awake? Question mark. And what happens when you wake up? I will seek it yet again. And isn't it amazing? People drink and drink and drink and it destroys their life and guess what? They seek it yet again. Doesn't make any sense if you don't drink alcohol, but that is reality. Turn your Bible to Jeremiah chapter 10. Now, those are the ones I have underneath the bad traditions. I guess watching Die Hard was not my notes, but there's another one. Don't watch Die Hard at Christmas time, right? Don't watch things that are filthy or wrong or whatever. You could think of other things, but I really want to focus on kind of the big traditions that are out there. And now we are under not the bad traditions, but the traditions that are either questionable or they come from pagan origins. And we're going to start with the Christmas tree. Now, I will preface what I'm going to say by saying that our family, we do have a Christmas tree, because it's going to sound like I'm completely against it as I explain this, but it does have its origins in pagan roots. Now, what's interesting is in Jeremiah 10, this is not about an actual Christmas tree that you're decorating. It's actually about an idol, and I'll show that to you. But in these pagan societies, they literally did cut down a tree and decorate it over there in Germany and parts of Europe and that part of the world. But here's what it says in Jeremiah chapter 10, verse 1. Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel. Thus 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. For the customs of the people are vain. For one cutteth the tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workmen with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold, they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. Now, when you first read that, it does sound like a Christmas tree, doesn't it? You cut down a tree, you decorate it with silver and gold, and that's why when people first show Jeremiah 10 to people, they're like, oh man, that's about a Christmas tree. It's not actually about a Christmas tree, okay? Verse 5, they are upright as the palm tree, but speak not. Now, why would the Bible tell you that they do not speak? Because isn't that given that a tree does not speak? Yes, that's given, but here's the thing. If you cut down a tree and you take that wood and turn it into an idol and you give it a mouth, what he's basically doing is mocking idolatry like, hey, you know the Feast of the Black Nazarene? Guess what? The Black Nazarene doesn't speak. That idol of Sheba doesn't speak. That idol of Mary that's going to be paraded around in parts of the Philippines, guess what? She doesn't speak because it's a piece of wood. They don't speak. They must needs be born because they cannot go. So basically, you must create that idol, okay? Now, here's the thing. I mean, Christmas trees, I mean, trees grow on their own, but when it comes actually making an idol, you've got to cut down that tree. You've got to carve it into an idol. You've got to give it a mouth and a nose and eyes. You've got to deck it with various different things. It's like you're the one that created that idol. That's why throughout the Bible, the Bible says, you know, they have a mouth, but they speak not. They have a nose, but they smell not. They have eyes, but they see not. They have ears, but they hear not. Because you can put those on an idol, it doesn't make it any more alive than before you did that. I mean, we have stuffed animals at our house, and guess what? Those stuffed animals can't hear. They can't see. They can't smell. They can't talk. Because it's not real. It's a stuffed animal. And it's the same thing with an idol, no matter how much life like you make it. See, the world does not work like Pinocchio, where basically you make a wooden thing and it comes alive and starts talking, okay? That's a movie, okay? And it says, be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. So look, don't be afraid of idols. I mean, if you break an idol, it's like you don't have to worry about, oh no. I mean, now I want to be cursed because I destroyed this piece of wood. Now look, you can do whatever you want. I'm not advising you to go to your relative's house during Christmas time and take all their idols and smash them. I would advise to just ignore it and try to preach the gospel to your Catholic relatives when you get a chance, but you can do whatever you want, right? But the idol itself is not going to harm you. Now, your relatives, they might, okay? Because if they're really into idolatry, they're going to get pretty mad, okay? But it's up to you what you want to do. Verse 6, for as much as there is none like unto thee, O Lord, thou art great and thy name is great and might. Who would not fear the O king of nations? For to thee doth it appertain for as much as among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee. But they are altogether bruised and foolish. The stock is a doctrine of vanities. Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workmen and of the hands of the founder. Blue and purple is their clothing. They are all the work of cunning men. So basically, blue and purple were kind of colors of royalty, especially purple, but also blue to a lesser degree if you read the Bible. And of course, nowadays, we can wear any color we want, but that was not always the case. And what it's saying is you make an idol and you put clothing on it, right? You give it a mouth. You give it a nose. You put clothing on it. You feed it. Even though it doesn't eat that donut, it just stays in front of that idol. It's like you do all of this for the idol, okay? This says in verse 10, but the Lord is the true God. He is the living God and an everlasting king. At his wrath, the earth shall tremble and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. So the Bible's making a comparison between the idol and the true God, the idol and the living God, okay? Now you say, well then why is Christmas tree under the questionable traditions? Because it does have its origins in pagan religions. And I think this is why people get confused by Jeremiah 10 because literally what they did over in those parts of the world like Germany and in Europe is they cut down a tree and they decked it with a lot of different things. And that's just a fact, but that's just not what Jeremiah 10 is talking about, even though on the surface Jeremiah 10 sounds like what it's talking about. So there is no scripture to condemn cutting down a tree and decking it, but it does come from false religion, okay? Here's what it says in the Yule celebration, because what you have to understand is in these parts of the world where they have no sunlight, they have a lot of snow, it's extremely cold, they have no active plant life to speak of because everything is dying during the winter, and so you would take a tree that could actually last during the winter and it was like a sign of life. And the idea was you have this tree, you deck it, and it will give you good fortune or good luck and your house will be blessed if you have this tree. The difference would be they had their trees outside the house, whereas nowadays at some point they became inside the house as you celebrate Christmas. But it says here in the Yule celebration, winter solstice represents slow return of good weather, evergreen, physical, and spiritual. Trees held special power, connecting earth and sky, adoring them with tokens, food as offerings to the spirits abide within, decorating was a way to ward off spirits that are bad. So basically when you had a tree outside your house and you decked it, it would get rid of the bad spirits and your tree would be filled with the good spirits or the good gods. That's what they believed, okay? This is the reason why green is such a common color during Christmas time, because over in winter solstice, in the dead of winter, seeing the color green was like a sign of life, okay? I love the color green, it's my second favorite color, and you know, just seeing green kind of puts you in a good mood because there's life, there's plants, it's a beautiful thing to see, especially when there's snow everywhere and it's pitch black, okay? Although ancient Romans decorated trees for their winter festivals, when they were later used to celebrate Christmas in Europe, they were often left plain. So basically when various types of Christians, whether it's Catholics, Protestants, or whatever, started to adapt this into Christianity, they didn't want to basically be associated with the pagan roots, they would just have a tree but not put anything on it. And over time that has definitely changed. Our tree, we have things on our tree, okay? Like probably most people that have a Christmas tree do. Martin Luther is credited as being the first to add candles to trees in the 1600s, and later Germans began piling on apples, paper, and a host of other decor to the branches. Now, I would not advise putting a candle in a Christmas tree. We have lights on our Christmas tree. I don't think it's the wisest thing putting a candle because if you want to burn down your house, I mean, of course they had it outside the house, so maybe if it catches on fire, it's in the snow, nothing's going to happen, I guess. But especially if you have it inside your house, probably use some wisdom. Don't put like candles inside your tree because especially if you have kids, those candles are going to fall and that house is going to go on fire, okay? And it says here though, from a Christian perspective, evergreens represent the divine endurance through difficult times. They were not originally in the home. They represent eternal life. They point to heaven. They're triangularly shaped, representing the Holy Trinity. And you can provide various symbolism to the Christmas tree, and I don't think that's a bad thing to remind kids of various different things, but the reality is it comes from pagan origins. Now, we have a Christmas tree. I'm not against it. And my basic perspective on most of the things I'm going to list under the questionable category coming from pagan roots, here's the thing. If I lived in Europe right around that time period, we would not have a tree because I would not want to be associated with that culture. But as a long time has gone by, I don't think the average person that sees that you have a Christmas tree is saying, hey, do you worship Odin? I've never been asked before if I worship Odin because I have a Christmas tree. Now, it'd be like, for example, you know, we have stuffed animals at our house and we don't have a stuffed animal of a cow, but I'm not against the stuffed animal of a cow. But if I lived in India, we would not have stuffed animals of cows. Now, do I have a Bible verse that would say, thus saith the Lord, do not have a stuffed animal of a cow? No, I don't, but I wouldn't want to be associated with worshipping a cow if I'm living in India. A lot of these things are not necessarily right or wrong. That's what God said in Romans 14 is, it's everybody's decision what they want to do. If they don't feel comfortable with it, because I do believe there's a lot of things where it's not really right or wrong, but you know, just inside yourself, it kind of crosses that point where in your conscience, you don't feel right to be associated with it. And if that's the way you feel about one or any or all of these traditions, don't do it. Right? If you say, well, you know, the Christmas tree, I do think it's too associated with pagan roots, so I don't want to do it. Don't celebrate with the Christmas tree. But you also could not point to a verse in the Bible that would say it's wrong, because that's not what Jeremiah 10 is talking about. Okay? If you think it is, that's fine. I'll agree to disagree about that. But here's what I'm saying. We need to be very careful to not let our opinions become doctrines. Because when I preach sermons, I try to leave it in the hands of the people. You're saved. You have the Holy Spirit of God. You see what the Bible says. You form your own judgments. Another example is this. Imagine I preach against worldliness. Don't be worldly. Draw an eye to God. Get rid of all the worldliness that you have. But I'm not super specific in the sermon. I say, don't watch worldly things. Don't listen to worldly things. All of us have to figure out where that line is for us. Right? And is it an easy thing to figure out where that line is? Well, no, it's not. You know, because we watch documentaries, and sometimes we watch documentaries, and then all of a sudden they say billions of years ago, click, new documentary. Because I don't want my kids to be taught evolution or whatever. Right? But you know, we all got to figure out where is that line, what's acceptable to us, what's not. And you know what? Don't make a big deal if somebody has a different line than you. I know people at this church that are more strict with certain areas than I am, and that's perfectly fine. And I know people at this church that are less strict than me, and that's perfectly fine. I'm not going to try to convince you. You don't try to convince me. Let's not try to convince each other. Everybody forms their own opinion. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. Let's close in word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today, and I ask you to apply this sermon to our lives, God. Help us to make biblical and wise decisions on whether or not we celebrate Christmas and how we celebrate it, God. Help us, though, to make sure that this time of year it's honoring to you and honoring to Jesus Christ, and we do remember the birth of Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.