Kilskeery Independent Christian School being on holiday and there being no Assembly, I am sending out two studies which I conducted with the school 4 years ago.
They are entitled: ‘CHRISTMAS — why we should distance ourselves from the celebrations, parts one and two.
It is the Christian’s duty to keep themselves “unspotted (Greek – aspilos) from the world,” James 1:27. Peter uses the same word, “unspotted” when he wrote of how we must be “diligent” we must be in maintaining our purity while awaiting the return of the Saviour. “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, (Greek – aspilos) and blameless, 2 Peter 3:13-14.
Here is the first study.
I. ‘CHRISTMAS’ WAS UNHEARD OF AMONGST CHRISTIANS FOR SOME 300 YEARS AFTER CHRIST’S ASCENSION.
‘Christmas’ is but a ‘christianising’ of a pagan mid-winter feast by the ‘church’ that had already largely departed from simple Bible religion. Like a farmer dresses up a few old sticks as a ‘scarecrow’, a make-believe man. That is what ‘Christmas’ is. A mere make-believe celebration of the birth of Christ. It was the 1300s before the very name ‘Christmas’ appeared. The ‘Saturnalia’, a Roman pagan feast, began on 19 December and lasted for the best part of a week. Morality and restraint were abandoned. We can easily see that is what takes place at this time of the year in the name of celebrating the birth of Christ.
II. THE CHIEF CENTRES OF THESE CELEBRATIONS ARE NOT WHERE CHRIST IS HONOURED.
Pubs, dance halls, parties etc., are places where the name of the Lord is blasphemed and the Law of God despised and rejected! That is how it is in such places 12 months of the year and it does not change at this time of the year!
III. LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES ARE REQUIRED TO TAKE SPECIAL ACTION TO RESTRAIN LAWLESSNESS DURING THESE CELEBRATIONS.
Drunk driving, disorder and fighting on the streets, shop-lifting and stealing are rampant. This cannot be of God! This is very different from the scene we read of in Luke chapter 2. There we have heavenly and earthly praise to God. “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. . . . And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them,” verses 13-14, 20.
Nothing contrasts more with the modern ‘Christmas’ scene than this!