XMAS Celebration Once Illegal In America!

Willard Willis    

Celebration of Christmas – the most widely observed religious holiday of the modern world – was at one time illegal in early American History.
   
Colonial New England did not celebrate Christmas, according to researchers, because the stern Puritan colonists believed that such activities were wholly pagan and forbade them by law. Christmas came to the American colonies while it was the subject of strenuous controversy in England. English Puritans condemned it as “popish” and the secular celebration as a wanton Bacchanalian feast.
  
 Opposition of the English Puritans to festivals culminated in an act of Parliament in 1647 which abolished the observance of Christmas, Easter and Whitsuntide. This was echoed in the American colonies in 1599 when Puritans enacted a law in the general court of Massachusetts to punish those who kept Christmas.
   
The law read “whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas, or the like, either by forebearing of labor, feasting, or in any other way … shall be subject to a fine of five shilling.”
   
The law was repealed in 1681 but many of the Puritans were not reconciled to this action. Secular reveling at Christmas had often interfered with religious devotions and offended the Puritans’ moral sense. This intensified their sectarian hostility to the religious observance of Christmas – an attitude they maintained for the better part of two centuries in parts of New England.
   
The fun-loving Dutch colonists of New Amsterdam, however, celebrated Christmas as their chief holiday. They brought the old customs from their homeland, especially the Christmas stocking and observance of the feast day of St. Nicholas.
   
In the Southern colonies, the planters celebrated the yuletide with feasting, singing, and dancing. On many plantations slaves were given a holiday as long as the great yule log burned.
   
The latter half of the 18th century saw a swing of attention to the realm of economics and politics, and religious controversy became of less importance. The fact that English and Hessian troops celebrated Christmas during the Revolutionary War may have added a patriotic note to the denominational controversy.
   
General Washington crossed the Delaware on the night of December 25, 1776, to surprise and defeat the Hessian troops stationed at Trenton, N.J. In the opinion of one writer, Washington’s bold venture succeeded because the Hessians were enjoying their customary Christmas revels, and failed to maintain the usual watch and patrols.
Denominational opposition to the ecclesiastic observance of Christmas, however, continued into the second half of the nineteenth century. An account in the New York Daily Times for December 26, 1855, read: “The churches of the Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists were not open on December 25, except where some Mission schools had a celebration. THEY DO NOT ACCEPT THE DAY AS A HOLY ONE, but the Episcopalian, Catholic and German Churches were all open. Inside they were decked with evergreens.” (The Middletown Journal).
   
Why was Christmas outlawed in early America? Was it because of a lack of love for the Lord Jesus? A close study of that which follows will show that the action taken by our fathers was based on knowledge and love.
   
In this article I shall point out many of the reasons which our fathers used as a basis for outlawing Christmas.
   
The first reason we shall cite is the fact that our Lord was not born on December 25. A study of Luke 2:8 will show that our Lord was not born in the winter time. This verse reads as follows: “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over the flock by night.”
   
We learn from Adam Clark’s commentary (vol. 5, Page 386): “It was an ancient custom among the Jews of those days to send out their sheep to the fields and deserts about the Passover (early spring) and bring them home at commencement of the first rain.”
   
An article appearing in the Middletown Journal read in part: “True date of Christ’s birth a Mystery … the exact date of Jesus’ birth has even been disputed by scholars for centuries. In fact, about all they agree on is that it is not December the 25th … Most scholars estimate that the true date falls in late August or early September. It is not even certain why December 25 was chosen, though ere is one generally accepted reason. Saturnalia was the great Roman holiday and it came the third week of December. Christian leaders hoped that celebrating Christmas at this time would lessen the impact of the pagan festival.”
   
The Catholic encyclopedia, published by the Catholic Church says: “Christmas was not among the early festivals of the church … the first evidence of the feast is from Egypt. Pagan customs centering around the January calendars gravitated to Christmas … in the Scriptures, sinners alone, not saints, celebrated their birthday.”
   
The Schaff-Herzog encyclopedia says concerning Christmas: “How much the date depended upon the pagan Brumalia (December 25) following the Saturnalia (December 17-24), and celebrating the shortest day of the year and the new sun … cannot be accurately determined. The pagan Saturnalia and Brumalia were too deeply entrenched in popular custom to be set aside by Christian influence … the pagan festival with riot and merrymaking was so popular that Christians were glad of an excuse to continue its celebration with little change in spirit and in manner. Christian preachers of the West and Near East protested against the unseemly frivolity with which Christ’s birthday was celebrated, while the Christians of Mesopotamia accused their western brethren of idolatry and sun worship for adopting as Christian this pagan festival.”
   
History tells us that the first Christmas tree in Ohio was set up and decorated in 1847 by August Imgard, who had recently arrived in Wooster from Germany. The first Christmas tree in Cleveland, Ohio, nearly split a Lutheran Church. A few years later, two retail clerks were fired because they attended a party at which there was a decorated tree.
   
The name Christmas (Christmass) should tell us of its origin. The word comes from two words, Christ plus Mass. The meaning of the word mass is an abomination to the God of heaven and earth. The reason for my saying this is because the mass which is observed by the Catholic Church denies the all sufficiency of the atonement which our Lord made at Calvary. Their teaching is that the mass is not a mere representation of the sacrifice of Christ, but that is a continuation of the same offering. The Priest even commands the Lord to come down from glory and become a piece of bread. Beside all of this, the Roman priest teaches that this same mass adds to, and improves upon, the atonement which our blessed Lord made at Calvary.
   
The Holy Scriptures inform us that the Lord hates lying, yet more lies are told on His so called birthday than any other time of the year. “These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven are an abomination unto him; a proud look, a LYING TONGUE, and hands that shed innocent blood;”
   
This passage says the Lord hates lying, yet this is what He receives on His assumed birthday.
   
Let us note some of the Christmas lies:
   
It is a lie that December 25 is our Lord’s birthday.
   
Santa Claus is a lie.
   
The story that Santa comes down the chimney is a lie.
   
The tale that Santa fills stockings with good things and places toys under trees is a lie.
   
It is a lie that Santa sees, hears and knows the thoughts and actions of every boy and girl in the world.
   
It is a lie that Santa eats at the house of every boy and girl in the world.
   
“Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor; for we are members one of another,” (Ephesians 4:25).
   
Santa Claus, in the minds of children, has assumed equal status with God, even though the Holy Scriptures condemn such.
   
“And God spake all these saying, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.”
   
The Devil in Ezekiel 14: 12-14, declared he would be like God, and he, in the form of Santa, is fulfilling his declaration.
   
Santa is like God in that he sees and knows the thoughts and actions of all boys and girls throughout the entire year. He is like God in that he can visit the house of every boy and girl in the world in one night. He is like God in that boys and girls pray to him. They present their petitions to him by way of letters. Some think he will know what they want if they speak the same into the air or think real hard about their desires.
   
It becomes obvious to me that Santa is a false god.
   
Boys and girls love Santa more than they love God. This could be proven if one could stand Christ and Santa side by side and ask a group of children to hug the one they loved the most.
   
Most boys and girls not only love Santa more than Christ, but they also fear him more. This is proven by the fact that most boys and girls try to be good all year, not because they fear God, but because they fear that Santa will bring them switches if they are not good.
   
Some will admit that Christmas has come to us from the heathen, but they still contend that it has its merits, seeing that it has been a means of drawing the heathen to Christianity. The fact of the matter is that men and women have not been drawn to Christ, but to the bright light and feasting of Christmas.
   
There were many who followed the Lord Jesus during his earthly ministry because he gave them a free meal. “Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did EAT of the loaves, and were filled.” (John 6:26)
   
The drunkard, the atheist, the liar, the thief and scores of other Christ-rejectors are all drawn to embrace Christmas, not because of the Lord Jesus, but because of the feasting and gaiety.
   
The Holy Scriptures forbid us to use worldly means in trying to draw men to Christ. The only way men are truly drawn to Christ is by the Power of God, the Spirit. “No man can come to me, except the father which hath sent me draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:44).
   
It is thought by some that Christmas is justified because the multitudes in the world observe it; however, we learn from the Scriptures that we are not to follow a multitude to do evil: “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.” (Exodus 23:2).
   
There will be a few in the world this Christmas who will not have a Christmas tree, yet the Christmas tree is condemned in no uncertain terms in Jeremiah 10:1-5.
   
Most people believe that three wise men visited our Lord on that glorious night when He was born. However, the Bible teaches otherwise. First of all, the Bible does not say how many wise men there were, and secondly, the Bible does not say that a star guided these wise men to Bethlehem. The wise men knew that our Lord would be born in Bethlehem, seeing that they were wise men; that is, they were wise regarding the Old Testament prophecies having to do with the birth of our Lord.
   
Actually, it was some time after He was born before the wise men came to visit Him. This fact is clearly declared in the second chapter of Matthew. We learn from Matthew 2:11 that our Lord was living in a house and not lying in a manger when the wise men came to visit him. We learn from Matthew 2:14 that Mary was able to travel, thus the visit by the wise men could not have occurred on the night in which our Lord was born.
   
Our Lord was living in Nazareth and not Bethlehem when the wise men visited Him. Joseph and Mary had already returned from taking Him up to Jerusalem so as to fulfill that which was required in Leviticus 12:1-4; therefore, the wise men did not see Him until He returned to Jerusalem (Luke 2:39.) (Compare Leviticus 12:1-4).
   
We learned from the second chapter of Luke that it was the shepherds rather than the wise men who visited our blessed Lord on that glorious night when He was born (vs. 8, 15-16). The shepherds did not follow a star as they did not even see the one which the wise men saw. The angels informed the shepherds of his birth (Luke 2:10).
   
Let us sum up our message by quoting Matthew 15:8 and Luke 16:15. “And he said unto them, ye are they which justify yourselves before men: but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.” “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me.”