“Howbeit in vain they worship me” (Mark 7:7) Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition” (Mark 7:9).

Many of us have heard that the early tradition of Christmas originated far earlier than the birth of the messiah but as much as we have heard this, the roots and symbolism of this “holiday” have not always been explained. Even if we do know that Christmas has little to do with Evergreen trees and a man taking inventory of who was good and bad at the end of the year, we still don’t know the origin in its fullness and how our ignorance and misunderstanding has impacted the way we live our lives outside of this day.

In ancient Babylon, part of the Babylonian culture consisted of looking to the sky for signs of times and nature worshipping. The Winter Solstice and the celebration of Saturnalia was a widely celebrated festival by many cultures across the world honoring the return of the Sun. It’s interesting to note in our science classes, we were told that the Sun is stationary and that our earth rotates around the sun yet there were festivities each year honoring the sun leaving and returning. The modern scientific explanation is actually a young belief, as the old world believed the earth was stationary and the sun was not and they were in full worship of the sun, but I digress. The Winter Solstice was a week-long festival that included exchanging gifts such as candles and clay dolls representing the ritualistic symbolism of human sacrifices which was given to pay homage to the their sun god, Saturn. The Romans celebrated Mithras, the Persian god of Light, its important to consider in Latin the name Lucifer means a light bringer. In Hebrew the name is referenced as Heylel, which means light bearer, a shining one and the morning star, “ How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to ground, which didst weaken the nations! (Isaiah 14:12 KJV). Some may say that this is all paying homage to the same character and rather that is true or not I think its important to make mention of this and let the reader decide. The Romans have always celebrated the Winter Solstice December 25 and it was named the “Nativity of the Sun” on this day.

Ultimately the Church of Rome chose December 25 as the day of Christ’s birth because the birth of Jesus Christ has never been described by date so any date would be up for grabs. However, what we do know for sure was that the practices surrounding the season he would have been born in are inconsistent with a winter season in the middle east. As referenced in the book of Luke 2:8-14 shepherds were living outdoors and “keeping watch over their flock at night”, during December the climate is cold and rainy and would have been too cold for both humans and animals to abide outside. Some may ask why is this important and argue that the day of the Messiah’s birthday does not matter but the intention of the believer that matters, however if the original meaning was concealed, and an inauthentic explanation put in its place, why would you continue to worship in the name of Christ after customs that were in place before he was born.

It seems to be the intention to indoctrinate a tradition that uses the face of Jesus to beguile that is founded on lies and deceit. Long before Jesus was born, he was prophesied to come just as in our current time he is prophesied to return, however as some were hopeful and expectant, others used this prophecy as a ploy to mislead the masses just as this has been done today.

Nimrod was a great hunter, a Hamite and great-grandson of Noah and grandson of Ham, who married his mother and who’s legacy was in full defiance of God. He was killed by Esau (Jasher Chapter 27), the twin brother of Jacob the progenitor of the nation of Israel. Some have referenced that Shem, or a Shemite killed Nimrod, and Esau noted, as a Shemite is factual as well. The story of Nimrod is significant to our world because after Nimrod was killed, his mother/wife randomly became pregnant and deified herself and her son and said that she and he were the manifestation of the prophesied Virgin and her son the Messiah that all were aware was prophesied to come. The story of Nimrod and his illegitimate marriage to his mother Semiramis and the birth of her son Tammuz is where we see God referencing one of the many sins of Israel for weeping for a pagan god Tammuz, the deified son of Semiramis who she claimed was the reincarnated son of Nimrod and renamed herself Ishtar (Ezekiel 8:14). The worshipping of Tammuz, a nature god is centered around two festivals, one that takes place in the late year (December) and the other in the spring between March and April. Tammuz was referenced as being killed by a wild boar and as a result some of his blood that was shed spilled on the stump of an evergreen tree that Ishtar claimed grew into a full tree overnight and told her followers that her son returned to his father Nimrod/the Sun God. The Evergreen tree as a result became a sacred symbol of Babylonian culture thus stimulating a tradition of eating a pig to honor his death in between the months of March and April for Ishtar’s Egg/ Easter and decking an Evergreen Tree in December for the birth of Tammuz, “ For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; the fasten it with nails and hammers, that it move not” (Jeremiah 10:3-4). It is also something to consider that the Yule log/ Yultide celebration also can be used to describe this custom of decking a tree, and it formerly was decorated in remembrance of dead relatives and thus gifting the tree with presents.

Tammuz and his mother Semiramis are called by many names and by many cultures and she specifically is known as a moon goddess and the image we believed to be the image of Christ and his mother Mary is in fact Ishtar and Tammuz. Ishtar developed the belief of the Mesopotamians to keep herself in reign. The Ancient Babylon ideology was that Ishtar had come down from a moon egg and was transformed to the goddess of fertility and traditionally worshipped with Ishtar’s/ Easter eggs. She is known by many names, the Queen of Heaven, Madonna, Semiramis, Ishtar, Athena, Minerva, Venus, Diana, Isis, and the list goes on. Tammuz born on the Winter Solstice, December 25 is where this celebration derived from and this must be kept in the forefront of our mind.  His death was reported to be around the time between March and April, ironically during the same time that the death of the true Messiah is commemorated. In closing, a lot of details have been provided and many left out for the purpose to encourage research. One thing is for certain the origin of all of these things are not hidden, we simply have to seek them out to develop our understanding. My intention is not to tell you what to think but simply to inspire you to think. From study, this is only half of the story behind the paganism and polytheism associated with this day and many other “holly” days that really cannot be associated with anything holy. My only request is that we question our why and think for ourselves before vainly following after traditions of men and encouraging our young ones to ignorantly follow suit as our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob commands that we do not do as the other nations do to serve our God and tells us“do not inquire after their gods saying, how did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.” You shall not worship the lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods (Deuteronomy 12:30-31). We are perishing by the numbers for our ignorance of the things we do that are of the world and these traditions we are keeping are kindling the wrath of the Most High against us, making the word of God of none effect.

The Rise and Fall of King Nimrod by Dudley Cates

Book of Jasher

King James Bible