Follow Us on Google
Christmas is celebrated to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, whom Christians believe is the Son of God. The name ‘Christmas’ comes from the Mass of Christ (or Jesus). A Mass service (which is sometimes called Communion or Eucharist) is where Christians remember that Jesus died for us and then came back to life. So basically the whole idea of celebrating Jesus is to remember that a Saviour was sent by God to save us from our sins and reconcile us back to him because of the love God has for us. John 3:16 is succinct that “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. Christmas therefore is a celebration of the right standing relationship with God.
Whenever, one thinks of Christmas, the first thing that ought to come to mind is whether someone is in right standing with God. If the person, after self introspection, realises that he or she is offending God in any way, the person is expected to utilise the appearance of salvation in Jesus to repent from his or her sins by accepting the Lordship of Jesus over his or her life in order to receive the Holy Spirit whom Lord Jesus delivered up to mankind which empowers the person to be able to overcome the temptations found in the world. Any person that is rooted in this salvation is expected, in addition to receiving forgiveness of sin, to also receive salvation from sickness and curses. You are expected to become possessed with the power to overcome the powers of darkness and evil powers. Jesus gave his disciples these powers when he decreed in Luke 10:19 “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you”. Unfortunately, whenever people remember Christmas today, what they remember is how to eat and drink, make merry and make love, go for erotic dancing, even strip dancing, sleep over at lovers houses, and using attending masses as excuse to sleep over at lover’s abode. Launching out several frightening masquerades with assorted charms and “otumokpos”, and other untold satisfaction of the orgies of the flesh for which God warned that those people who are engaged in such acts are not worthy of eternal life and the progression to perfidy is not getting any better.
Its important to note that the scriptures did not specify any date as the day of birth of Jesus Christ. Indeed, the earlier apostles believed that it’s heathenic to celebrate birthdays because that was the favorite pastimes of heathenic people and kings. This is why there was no celebration of Christmas in the first two centuries after the coming of Christ. December 25 was first identified as the date of Jesus’ birth by Sextus Julius Africanus in 221 AD and later became the universally accepted date. One widespread explanation of the origin of this date is that December 25 was the Christianizing of the dies solis invicti nati (“day of the birth of the unconquered sun”), a popular holiday in the Roman Empire that celebrated the winter solstice as a symbol of the resurgence of the sun, the casting away of winter and the heralding of the rebirth of spring and summer. Indeed, after December 25 had become widely accepted as the date of Jesus’ birth, Christian writers frequently made the connection between the rebirth of the sun and the birth of the Son. One of the difficulties with this view is that it suggests a nonchalant willingness on the part of the Christian church to appropriate a pagan festival when the early church was so intent on distinguishing itself categorically from pagan beliefs and practices.
When the Roman Emperor, Constantine, got converted to Christianity, he unified the church and the state. In order to make both sides accept the unification, he modified the church to suit the state, and modified the state to suit the church. This is where the world started becoming churchy, and the church started becoming worldly. The Bishops and the members of the church needed not to pray and fast again for members, or souls or resources for evangelism because the state provided for them. Members needed not to repent before being accepted into church because the state has made a law compelling everyone to become a member. In exchange for these largesse, the church implicitly accepted to obey the dictates of the Emperor and accepted to celebrate certain of their heathenic feasts using Christian names. Graven images and effigies not hitherto allowed in the church were introduced into churches calling them Christian names. This was how various images representing apostles and even Jesus and Virgin Mary flooded the church even when there was no known image of Christ made on earth when he was in the world. Christmas was not exempted by this attempt by the Emperor to compromise the church. In ancient Rome, December 25 was a celebration of the Unconquered Sun, marking the return of longer days. It followed Saturnalia, a festival where people feasted and exchanged gifts. The church in Rome began celebrating Christmas on December 25 in the 4th century during the reign of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, possibly to weaken pagan traditions. Although, this practice weakened pagan traditions, it also weakened Christianity because both religions had to move from their original conception to meet each other in the middle.
Since the declaration of Christianity as a state religion in Italy, the state has used the church to push its unpopular policies and laws and has used church to placate the people whenever they are being exploited. This is why the earlier revolutionaries regarded the church as the opiumn of the masses. During colonisation, missionaries were despatched to teach the people about being subservient to the constituted authority and being persuaded to leave revenge to God as their reward will be in heaven. The missionaries always failed to persuade the colonisers that exploiting the people is a sin before God. That’s the lopsided nature in which church is screwed in favour of the state in relation to the people.
In modern times, the recent proclamation of the orthodox churches to romance with same sex marriage is part of the plan by the state to once again use the church to push its anti God agenda to the people. The Anglican church officially recognised same sex marriage in their ministry, leading to the splitting of the denomination into different parts as some branches of the ministry, including Nigeria, rejected the recognition of same sex act. The Roman Catholic Pontiff, as the Christmas is approaching, shocked the world by enacting a decree that the Priests are now under a duty to bless same sex couples and homosexuals in their churches. A lot of people have argued that the Pontiff did not say that the church should wed same sex couples, but can bless them if they come to church. Honestly, I see no difference in this, because God said those who are not for us are against us.
The principle of a new life in Christ which Christmas signifies is that repentance and forsaking of your sins is the condition precedent for the acceptance of Jesus as personal Lord and Saviour and its after this that you are accepted into the family of Jesus. When John the Baptist preached to sinners whom he called generation of vipers, and they repented, they came to him and asked him what they should do and John said to them in Luke 3:8 “Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham”. He warned them in Matthew 3:10 that the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Jesus completed this assertion when he concluded in Mark 1:15 that “the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
What sinners need is to be preached to for repentance not to be invited to church to be blessed. Blessing any sinner is an endorsement of his sin and a motivation for him to continue in that trajectory. God warned that He will destroy both the men of God who did not point out the sin of sinners to them and allow them to die in their sins and the sinners themselves. This tacit endorsement of abomination in the churches had brought to fore the warning of Jesus Christ that when you shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, then you are approaching the end of the world, because according to him, many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. Therefore if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not, for there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; in so much that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect, and because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. (Please see Matthew 24:11-24)
As this Christmas is approaching, let’s go back to our roots. Church will not save us, men of God will not save us, our ancestors will not save us because even the Jews were warned that Abraham cannot save them. Only repentance from our sins and embracing the righteousness of Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, and forming an unbreakable relationship with God, through Christ, that can save us. Happy Christmas and a prosperous new year, and please enjoy this year’s Christmas in accordance with the word of God not word of man.
