A long time ago I stopped celebrating Christmas. It might seem like it is a Christian feast or holiday, but I studied the Bible and found out the truth.

It is even now celebrated in Iraq, as in the photos shown on this page. Iraq is a muslim country, so why are they also celebrating something people think of as Christian?

But Iraq is significant as the birthplace of Christmas. You might think I said that wrong. You might be thinking it should be Bethlehem. After all, Christ was born in Bethlehem, and it is said by many that Christmas Day, 25th of December, is the actual date that Christ was born, and thus the day is a celebration of His birthday. Many Christian churches are very keen to observe this day, and to get people into their church for a Christmas service, maybe a Carol service by candlelight, or for a normal service.

These churches will also have many decorations inside, perhaps a large Christmas tree, decorated with gold and silver tinsel. They have presents under the tree. And the same things are in the homes of many people, even those who are not Christian. It is a holiday celebrated by religious and non-religious people alike.

The churches often promote the day as the birth of Christ, whereas the secular world just regards it as a nice holiday, and for many people, a day or two off work.

So we have to ask these questions: Is Christmas a Christian holiday? Should we celebrate it? Is it the date of Christ’s birth? Or is it so far removed from what the Bible teaches, that Christians should have no part in observing that day?

Many Christians out there would say that Christmas is in the Bible, because the birth of Christ is in the Bible. We should look first at the word itself. This word Christmas has a meaning. It is a word that originates from the Catholic church. We know who Christ is, but what about the M A S at the end?

That M A S is a shortened form of the word MASS. This is a Catholic service, which dates back to early times.

According to a website at https://www.learnreligions.com/catholic-mass-542959, in its article on the Catholic Mass: “In the catacombs in Rome, the tombs of martyrs were used as altars for the celebration of the earliest forms of the Mass, making explicit the tie between the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, and its representation in the Mass.”

It goes on to say: “Very early on, the Church saw the Mass as a mystical reality in which the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross is renewed. Responding to Protestant sects who denied that the Eucharist is anything more than a memorial, the Council of Trent (1545–63) declared that ‘The same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross, is present and offered in an unbloody manner’ in the Mass.”

In other words, they see Mass as a memorial of Christ’s death and sacrifice, with the sacrifice taking place again each time, linking it with the command of Christ “Do this in remembrance of Me” at His last Passover. Instead of keeping the Passover, which the Bible commands us to do, as the memorial of Christ, as we read in Luke 22:19 and 1 Corinthians 11:24–25; the Catholic church believes in having Mass as often as they want.

Thus they have named the day of 25th of December as the Mass of Christ — a day to remember His death on the cross, and in effect to crucify Him again.

There is no link here with the birth of Christ, so why do they say it is the birthday of Christ? Or maybe the Catholic church does not know when Christ was born, and they just picked that date due to some other reason.

The Catholic church was founded as a Christian church by the Roman Emperor Constantine. He saw that there were many religions and beliefs throughout the Roman Empire, and as Christianity was gaining in popularity, he decided to merge that with the other religions.

Prior to the legalization of Christianity by the Emperor Constantine in the year 313, no universal date or even formal celebration of Christmas is found. For instance, early Christian writers Origen, Irenaeus, and Tertullian do not include Christmas or its date on their lists of feasts and celebrations.

However, we do see then, in those pagan religions in the Roman Empire, some people celebrating that time of the year, towards the end of December. It was considered to be that at the time of the Winter solstice, that as the Sun was going down earlier each evening, until the 21st of December, and after a few days, sunset was getting later, that the Sun was being re-born.

As many pagans were Sun worshippers, they celebrated this event every year with a festival. The re-birth of the Sun was important to them. It was easy for Emperor Constantine to attach a date for the birth of the Son of God to the date of the birth of the Sun in the sky, and thus chose 25th of December as the supposed birthday of Jesus Christ.

He allowed the people to keep their pagan traditions, but they had to now call it Christmas, to supposedly honour Christ.

But if you look into the Bible, at the account of the birth of Christ, we do not see any evidence that Christ was born in December. Matthew gives us a brief account of the birth of Jesus in the first chapter, but does not mention the time of year.

Luke gives us an account relating to the birth of John the Baptist, who was born to Zacharias and Elizabeth. She was related to Mary, and when Elizabeth was pregnant, God told Mary that He was going to make her pregnant.

Look at Luke 1:26–37 (NKJV):

“26 Now in the sixth month [that is, the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy] the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, ‘Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!’

29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.’

34 Then Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I do not know a man?’

35 And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.’ ”

If you look at the earlier verses as well, relating to the conception of John the Baptist, and how his father, Zacharias, was serving in the Temple, at a certain time of the year, you can calculate when John the Baptist was born. And from that, when Jesus was born, which was 6 months later.

If you work it out, you get a date around the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, which is in early October, or even late September. This is before December, and is in the Autumn, not in the Winter.

We have a clue there, but another clue is given in the next chapter, in Luke 2:8–12 (NKJV):

“8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.’ ”

So, on the day of Christ’s birth, it says that the shepherds were outside in the fields, watching their flocks, at night. So this would have been just after Jesus was born. The angel appeared to them and told them to go to Bethlehem, which is the City of David, and they would find the baby Jesus there.

The important point from this, is that if the shepherds were watching their flocks in the fields at night, it could not have been Winter, because, in Israel, Winter is the rainy season. It starts around November, and lasts for three months. Any decent shepherd would not keep their sheep out in the fields in cold rainy weather, but would keep them inside a barn or similar, to keep them warm and dry.

So the birth of Christ was definitely not on 25th of December, and not in Winter.

But, as we shall now see, there are specific reasons as to why the world celebrates that day, whether they call it Christ’s birthday or not.

Let us go back in time, to just after Noah’s Flood.

Turn back to Genesis 10:8–10 (NKJV) first of all:

“8 Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, ‘Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.’ 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.”

The Complete Jewish Bible translates verse 8 as

“Kush fathered Nimrod, who was the first powerful ruler on earth.”

According to Strong’s Concordance, the Hebrew word for “mighty one” or “powerful ruler” is gibbowr, and means someone who is powerful, a chief, a champion, or mighty.

In verse 9, we saw that Nimrod was a “mighty hunter before the Lord” — the Hebrew word for “before” is paniym, which can mean “before, against, more than, anger” amongst other things.

The reference to Nimrod is repeated in 1 Chronicles 1:10, reading from the International Standard Version:

“Cush fathered Nimrod. He became the first powerful ruler on the earth.”

The implication of these verses, is that Nimrod was a great and powerful ruler, who ruled over men, in place of God. He was against God. He was a man who hated God, and who led the people away from God.

After the Flood, there were just eight people on the Earth. Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives. They had seen God wipe out all other people, so they had good reason to fear God and stick to his laws. At least we know that Noah was righteous.

But one of his sons, Ham, started to rebel against God. One of his sons was Cush, and as we read, he was the father of Nimrod, who chose to rebel against God. His attitude was that the people should not be burdened by keeping God’s laws, so he went into all kinds of pagan worship.

Nimrod was being manipulated by Satan, but he willingly allowed himself to go that way. He was so evil and corrupt, that, legend has it, he married his own mother, Semiramis. I would assume that when he did that, his own father, Cush, must have been already dead. Some say that Nimrod was born to Cush when Cush was very old.

Semiramis was the first high priestess of Babylon. As we read in Genesis 10:10, Nimrod started various cities, which were part of the Babylonian Empire. It was only small back then, compared to how big it became later on. This was about 100 years after Noah’s Flood.

But Nimrod and his mother/wife Semiramis, started a false religion, a counterfeit religion that would imitate Christianity but with false teachings. They believed in worshipping the Sun, so much of their practices were based on that, such as celebrating the longest day of the year, known as the Summer solstice, and in Winter, after the shortest day of the year, the rebirth of the Sun as the days started to get longer again.

The people worshipped Nimrod as a god, and Semiramis as a goddess. But the righteous son of Noah, Shem, put an end to his rule.

On a website at mystery-babylon.org, taking information from a book called The Two Babylons, by Alexander Hislop, it says:

“According to tradition, Shem gathered 72 co-conspirators to help him, and some made their way up to the palace where Nimrod lived. After catching him in a double-cross, Shem killed Nimrod; and cut his body into little pieces! He alerted his co-conspirators — each one of them — to take a piece of Nimrod’s body and distribute it to all the cities under his rule. They did as they were told. But, all of this gore had a purpose, however: to show the world, proof-positively, that Nimrod wasn’t a god. It was Shem’s warning to all of Nimrod’s new followers: stop what they were doing and start obeying God, or else!”

Elsewhere it is stated that after Shem killed Nimrod, and cut up his body, there was one part that was thrown away and not sent out to the Babylonian cities, which was his phallus. This sounds like a strange thing to do, but, consider that the Babylonian Mystery Religion was also a sex cult.

Now after Nimrod’s death, Semiramis was very upset. But, she had become pregnant by him, and gave birth to a son, called Tammuz. This all happened around this time of the year. It is believed that Nimrod was born on 25th of December, and that after he died, his son was also born on the same day.

Obviously the Roman calendar did not exist at that time, so the date was the equivalent date on whatever calendar was in use at the time, such that it was thus 4 days after the Winter solstice.

Semiramis held great power over the people, especially so after her husband died. She continued to proclaim her dead husband as a god, as the Sun god. She claimed that the Sun’s rays had actually made her pregnant, and that when Tammuz was born, it was Nimrod reincarnated. She claimed that the birth of Tammuz was a “virgin birth”, denying that Nimrod had made her pregnant.

But as she was already the mother of Nimrod, by Cush, she could hardly be called a virgin.

So we have here a belief in reincarnation, which is a false teaching. We have the worship of the Sun, which is false. And the worship of a man, as well as a fake “virgin birth”.

And to make her point stronger, Semiramis claimed that there was a dead tree stump. And after Nimrod died, from that stump, on his birthday, a new evergreen tree grew instantly in one day, which, she claimed, was due to the spirit of Nimrod.

Then, every year on Nimrod’s birthday, the spirit of Nimrod would visit that evergreen tree and leave presents under the tree. The tradition soon spread, with Nimrod’s spirit leaving presents under other trees as well.

We see in these ancient beliefs, the origins of the Christmas tree, Santa Claus, and giving presents on Christmas Day.

What could possibly be Christian about anything to do with Nimrod, Semiramis, or Tammuz? Or putting presents under an evergreen tree?

And yet people today still do that. And if you think that the Christmas tree, and decorating it, is a modern invention, then look at what the Bible says on this.

Turn to Jeremiah 10:2–5 (NKJV):

“2 Thus says the Lord: ‘Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the Gentiles are dismayed at them. 3 For the customs of the peoples are futile; for one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. 4 They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple. 5 They are upright, like a palm tree, and they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor can they do any good.’ ”

Notice in verse 5 there, it mentions a palm tree. The custom of cutting down a tree and decorating it was practised using palm trees in ancient Egypt. In more northern places, including Babylon, which was in what is now Iraq, the evergreen tree was used.

But by the time of Jeremiah, we see the rebellious Jews starting to follow pagan customs, and actually have Christmas trees in their homes.

One of the things that a tree also symbolises, is the male phallus. Remember I said that that part of Nimrod had been discarded and destroyed by Shem, so that no one would worship such a thing. But the Babylonians continued to worship Nimrod more than ever, and through such things as trees.

The Bible says the trees were decorated with silver and gold, much like the baubles and tinsel today. But do these things have more meaning than just decoration?

Consider that there was another tree in the Bible that God did not want people to have anything to do with.

In the Garden of Eden, there were numerous fruit trees. But there were two trees in particular that God mentioned to Adam and Eve. Look at that in Genesis 2:8–9 (NKJV):

“8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

And then in verses 16 to 17 we see God’s command:

“16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’ ”

We see God setting a rule in place, a law. It was in Adam’s best interests to keep to that law and not eat the forbidden fruit.

But something happened, in the next chapter, to change everything, in Genesis 3:1–7 (NCV):

“1 Now the snake was the most clever of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day the snake said to the woman, ‘Did God really say that you must not eat fruit from any tree in the garden?’

2 The woman answered the snake, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But God told us, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not even touch it, or you will die.” ’

4 But the snake said to the woman, ‘You will not die. 5 God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree, you will learn about good and evil and you will be like God!’

6 The woman saw that the tree was beautiful, that its fruit was good to eat, and that it would make her wise. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of the fruit to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then, it was as if their eyes were opened. They realized they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made something to cover themselves.”

Eve was deceived into eating the forbidden fruit. She looked at the fruit in the tree and thought it was beautiful and would probably taste nice. Satan was the snake.

We see here a snake in a tree, with some beautiful shiny fruit. The tinsel on the Christmas tree is like a snake, and the baubles are like the forbidden fruit.

We see the worship of the tree relating to Nimrod had its roots in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. Because Nimrod was against God, he and his followers wanted to continue the disobedience to God started by Adam and Eve, remembering the forbidden fruit and the tree it came from.

Yet today people put up a tree in their homes and offices, in shops, and elsewhere, and they do so claiming that they are remembering the birth of Christ, or just because it is tradition, with no idea of the origins of the tree.

If they knew, then they might do things differently. Some people are in rebellion to God and will continue to be so, even when they find out the truth. But many people who profess to be Christian, don’t want to give up their man-made traditions, even when told.

Some will heed the warning, and take down the Christmas tree and other pagan paraphernalia in the decorations, and so on. As Christians, we must not try to worship God through that which God has not sanctioned.

Look at Matthew 15:9 (NKJV) where we see the words of Jesus Christ:

“And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”

This applies to the many people out there claiming to be worshipping Christ or remembering His birth, but doing so with pagan practices.

Jesus was quoting from the prophet Isaiah, in Isaiah 29:13, reading from the Easy-to-Read Version

“The Lord says, ‘These people come to honor me with words, but I am not really important to them. The worship they give me is nothing but human rules they have memorized.’ ”

So God is saying that worshipping Him using man-made traditions is not acceptable.

Another thing we often see with Christmas trees is what they put on top of the tree. It will usually be either a star or a female angel. The star can represent Semiramis, who is also called the Queen of Heaven. It was believed that when she died, she ascended into Heaven as a star. But the star can also represent Satan.

And what about the angel? Where in the Bible do we see an angel represented as a woman? Although angels are spirit beings, and thus have no gender as such, they appear in the form of men, or are referred to as if they were male, in the Bible.

The female angel is again a representation of Semiramis, and the Babylonian Mystery Religion of which she was the high priestess. These things are not pleasing to God.

And there are other decorations people put up. Some people put up wreaths, on their front doors, or in their homes. But what does a wreath signify? It usually is used at funerals. It is something you give to someone to comfort a person when someone has died.

Wreaths are associated with death. Yet people say they are celebrating the birth of Christ. But, just like the Catholic mass, and their name for Christmas, we see more to do with someone’s death than a birth.

Christ did not die in the dead of Winter. He did not die in December, nor on Christmas Day. Nor was he born on that day. But, as mentioned already, this time of the year is when Nimrod was killed, shortly before he was supposedly reincarnated at his son Tammuz.

So people are unknowingly commemorating the death of Nimrod with their Christmas wreaths.

But note as well that the wreath is circular, like the Sun. Nimrod was worshipped as the Sun god. When he died, Semiramis claimed that he ascended into the Sun. And then, as mentioned earlier, a ray of the Sun came down on her and made her pregnant.

Semiramis and her son, Tammuz, were then worshipped throughout Babylon and the ancient world, where they made images of the mother and child. These images persist today, although the Catholic church and other churches claim that the image is of the baby Jesus and His mother, Mary. There are pictures and statues, but really they are nothing to do with Jesus or His birth.

The Pope traditionally picks up a model of the baby and kisses it, yet this is in reality a representation of Tammuz.

Notice as well the hat that the Pope wears. The top part is shaped a bit like the mouth of a fish, because it is in worship of the fish-god Dagon.

The Catholic church itself is based on the ancient Babylonian Mystery Religion. We don’t have time to go into all the details about that, but we do see it mentioned in Revelation. There we see John’s visions, and how he saw a woman riding a beast, and the name written, in Revelation 17:1–6 (NKJV):

“1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, ‘Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.’

3 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. 5 And on her forehead a name was written:

MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

6 I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.”

Here we see a vision of a woman who is the mother of all the spiritual harlots — the woman represents a church, and the harlots are the daughter churches who have not followed God. The origin is Babylon and its mystery religion, which was started by Nimrod and Semiramis.

So the continuation today of that false religion continues in its pagan practices, such as worshipping baby Tammuz, erecting a tree in honour of Nimrod, commemorating Nimrod’s death with a wreath, and all the while making it sound Christian by calling it Christmas.

The Catholic church has the appearance of being Christian, but their foundation is the Babylonian Mystery Religion. They are the Roman Catholic church, because it was founded as a part of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine, in its current form. But before that, it was around in other forms, starting with Babylon and Nimrod.

We see the worship of Nimrod throughout the Catholic holidays and in their symbols. Some days that are for worshipping Nimrod include Valentine’s Day, St. Joseph’s Day which is also known as Father’s Day, All Saints Day, and, of course, Sunday observance.

His wife/mother, Semiramis, also continues to be worshipped through various holidays, such as Easter, Mother’s Day, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Immaculate Conception, and even New Year’s Day which is called Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.

There are many images today of Semiramis as the world continues to worship her.

But looking more at Christmas, we see that it was celebrated by many false religions and ancient cultures in the past, such as Saturnalia.

According to Wikipedia:

“Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival in honour of the god Saturn, held on 17 December of the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities through to 23 December. The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn, in the Roman Forum, and a public banquet, followed by private gift-giving, continual partying, and a carnival atmosphere that overturned Roman social norms: gambling was permitted, and masters provided table service for their slaves. A common custom was the election of a ‘King of the Saturnalia’, who would give orders to people and preside over the merrymaking. The gifts exchanged were usually gag gifts or small figurines made of wax or pottery known as sigillaria. The poet Catullus called it ‘the best of days’.”

Here we see the origins of gift-giving at Christmas. Although Saturnalia ended on the 23rd of December, it was eventually combined into what we now call Christmas. Some of the gifts given were small figurines, which also represented babies. The ancient pagans often sacrificed babies to their false gods, including to Molech and Baal, which continues today but is now called abortion.

Look at Deuteronomy 18:9–11 (NKJV):

“9 When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.”

The reference to making your son or daughter pass through the fire means child sacrifices. God told the Israelites not to participate in the evil pagan practices of the nations around them. He said their practices were “abominations”. This also included things like witchcraft and sorcery.

The celebration of Saturnalia was in honour of the pagan god Saturn. Although Saturn we know today as a planet, named after him, it was originally another name for Satan.

In the earliest traditions of keeping Saturnalia, they did actually make human sacrifices to Saturn, but this was later replaced by using dolls. The dolls were of adult men at first, but eventually dolls were made that looked like babies, and were given as the gifts to other people instead of making human sacrifices.

They also lit candles to replace the human sacrifices, no doubt as the sacrifices were made by putting people to death by fire.

These things continue today in the traditions of Christmas. Yet many professing Christians still cling to the celebration of something that has its roots in a festival that included human sacrifices. It is said that the satanists still carry out human sacrifices at Christmas.

But what does God think of all these things? Is He pleased with people following false religious practices? What happened in ancient Israel?

Let’s look first at Judges 2:11–15 where we see God punishing ancient Israel, reading from the New Living Translation:

“11 The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal. 12 They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshipping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the Lord. 13 They abandoned the Lord to serve Baal and the images of Ashtoreth. 14 This made the Lord burn with anger against Israel, so he handed them over to raiders who stole their possessions. He turned them over to their enemies all around, and they were no longer able to resist them. 15 Every time Israel went out to battle, the Lord fought against them, causing them to be defeated, just as he had warned. And the people were in great distress.”

Baal is a reference to Nimrod, and Ashtoreth is another name for Semiramis. They both had numerous names in different cultures and languages. Other names, for example, for Semiramis include Astarte, Ishtar, Easter, Diana, Liberty, the Queen of Heaven, and Mary. Many images that are supposedly of the Virgin Mary are really images of Semiramis. And her images are all over the world.

God is not pleased with His people disobeying Him. Years later, He allowed Assyria to take the House of Israel into captivity for their idolatry, leaving just the House of Judah in the Promised Land. That consisted of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi.

But by the time of Jeremiah, those people, then known as the Jews, were also turning away from God.

Look at Jeremiah 44:15–19 (NKJV):

“15 Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods, with all the women who stood by, a great multitude, and all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying: 16 ‘As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you! 17 But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and saw no trouble. 18 But since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.’

19 The women also said, ‘And when we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes for her, to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands’ permission?’ ”

So we see the Jews at that time making excuses for worshipping Semiramis, called here the Queen of Heaven. The women blamed their husbands. The men said that when they worshipped her, everything had gone well for them and when they did not worship her, things had gone badly.

But what was the reply which God inspired Jeremiah to say to them? Read on in verses 20–23 (ISV):

“20 Then Jeremiah spoke a message to all the people, to the young men, to the women, and to all the people who were answering him: 21 ‘As for the sacrifices that you, your ancestors, your kings, your officials, and the people of the land offered in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, the Lord remembered them, did he not? And they came to his attention, did they not? 22 The Lord could no longer bear it because of your evil deeds and the repulsive things that you did. So your land has become a ruin and an object of horror and ridicule without an inhabitant, as is the case today. 23 Because you offered sacrifices and sinned against the Lord, you didn’t obey the Lord and didn’t live according to his Law, his statutes, or his testimonies; therefore, this disaster has happened to you, as is the case today.’ ”

Jeremiah gave it plainly to the people. They had sinned against God, and God caused great disaster to happen to the people.

In the end time, those who follow Babylon, Nimrod, or Semiramis, will see it all come to nothing, as we read of God’s judgment in Revelation 18:1–8 (ISV):

“1 After these things, I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was made bright by his splendor. 2 He cried out in a powerful voice, ‘Fallen! Babylon the Great has fallen! She has become a home for demons. She is a prison for every unclean spirit, a prison for every unclean bird, and a prison for every unclean and hated beast. 3 For all the nations have drunk from the wine of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her. The world’s businesses have become rich from her luxurious excesses.’

4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, so that you don’t participate in her sins and also suffer from her diseases. 5 For her sins are piled as high as heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. 6 Do to her as she herself has done, and give her double for her deeds. Mix a double drink for her in the cup she mixed. 7 Just as she glorified herself and lived in luxury, inflict on her just as much torture and misery. In her heart she says, “I am a queen on a throne, not a widow. I will never see misery.” 8 For this reason, her diseases that result in death, misery, and famine will come in a single day. She will be burned up in a fire, because powerful is the Lord God who judges her.’ ”

When Jesus Christ returns to the Earth, at His Second Coming, we shall see Babylon fall into nothing. All that Nimrod and Semiramis built, which has lasted thousands of years, under the direction of Satan the Devil, will eventually be nothing.

The reference to being a queen in verse 7 can refer both to Semiramis, and to the Babylonian religious system that still exists today as the Catholic church and all its harlot daughters.

That great false Babylonian religion is the source of much of the Christmas celebrations.

It was stated earlier that people keep Christmas in Iraq. You might have wondered why that was significant. Iraq is today the land that anciently was Babylon.

So in the place where the worship of Nimrod, Semiramis, and Tammuz started, with pagan customs like a Christmas tree, giving presents, worshipping a mother and child, and so on, those pagan customs continue, in their false clothing of a church.

And in a few days time, there will be another pagan festival, to celebrate the new year. God begins the year in the Spring, in the month of Abib.

The calendar has changed over thousands of years, with the start of the new year varying from March, April, to January.

But there is nothing in the Bible that tells us to celebrate the new year. God just told Israel when the new year was. The first thing to observe in the year was the Passover, followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Look at Exodus 12:1–2 (NKJV):

“1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 ‘This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.’ ”

God then goes on to explain taking a lamb for the Passover sacrifice, selecting it on the tenth day. No mention is made of celebrating the first day of the year.

Today, this world celebrates the new year at midnight, at the end of the 31st of December, calling it New Year’s Eve, and does so with much drinking, drugs, partying, idol worship, and other things that are not for Christians to participate in.

We should look at what God prophesied through Hosea, which still applies to the world today, in Hosea 2:2, 5, 10–11, 13 (NKJV):

“2 ‘Bring charges against your mother, bring charges; for she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her put away her harlotries from her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; 5 for their mother has played the harlot; she who conceived them has behaved shamefully. For she said, “I will go after my lovers, Who give me my bread and my water, My wool and my linen, My oil and my drink.”

10 Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, And no one shall deliver her from My hand. 11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, Her feast days, Her New Moons, Her Sabbaths — All her appointed feasts. 13 I will punish her For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense. She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry, And went after her lovers; But Me she forgot,’ says the Lord.”

In the past, ancient Israel went worshipping Nimrod and Babylonian religious beliefs. They kept their own feasts, instead of God’s feasts. They kept things like Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and other pagan holidays.

And God said He would punish Israel for doing those things.

The same thing applies to us today. We are spiritual Israel, the Church of God. God has set a high standard for us to follow.

God expects from His people a better way of life instead of following the world. We can see that in James 1:27 (NLT):

“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”

We have to take care of those who need help, those in the Church who are widows, orphans, or who are suffering in other ways. We can pray for them, and, where possible, provide practical help.

And, as that verse ended, we must refuse to allow this world to corrupt us.

Celebrating pagan days, even if people call them Christian, is actually worshipping Satan.

We must remember to worship God in the way that He has determined and told us in the Bible, rather than following the ideas of men.

Nowhere in the Bible are we commanded to celebrate the birth of Christ. Nowhere in the Bible are we commanded to do anything like Christmas or New Year.

God commands us to come out of Babylon, to come out of the world, and to avoid being corrupted by the world.

The only way to do that, is to follow the Bible and what God commands.

To sum up, we see that Christmas is NOT a Christian holiday. The 25th of December is not the date of Christ’s birth.

And Christmas is so far removed from what the Bible teaches, that we should have no part in observing that day.