Once Upon a Time… Christmas
Once upon a time, in my younger years, I was surely the Christmas Queen.
I loved everything about the holiday. I decorated every year on Thanksgiving weekend, I couldn’t count all the parties we’d go to including family’s, friend’s, and work’s; we never missed one—even if two fell on the same night!
My family loved all things music, and we caroled together every year. Three generations going to serenade friends. Daddy called us the “Norman Tabernacle Choir’! His name being Norman, of course!
When our boys were little, it looked like Santa dumped his whole sleigh in the living room around our tree. Then in 1975, Ron and I—with our Church of Christ and Southern Baptist backgrounds, respectively—received the baptism in fire of Holy Spirit’s! Our lives changed forever!
It took very little to realize Halloween was evil and the same year, our family quit that Satanic holiday cold! It’s all about fear. God tells us not to be afraid 365 times in the Bible. He didn’t give us a spirit of fear! It’s from Satan born of his ministry to steal, kill, and destroy.
That we’d been lying to our children about Satan’s alter ego Santa became crystal clear. Between ‘do not bear false witness’ and the devil being the father of lies . . . How could we not see how wrong it was?For the next few years, we still gathered during December with all our friends and family, still had a decorated, cut-down tree in our living room, but quit just Santa. Our children knew the truth: that Santa Claus is nothing more than a big fat LIE, and God hates lies.
Then . . . studying the Word, meditating on it day and night—we had this new hunger for it—we started seeing things like how important it was not to mix the holy things of God with anything that was unholy. A farmer doesn’t mix his seed, priests weren’t to mix fabrics, and one bad apple does spoil the whole barrel.
I read where God told His people through the prophet Jeremiah, “Don’t do like the heathens! Don’t cut a tree down, put a stand on it, and decorate it with silver and gold.” (Jeremiah 10:2-4, paraphrased)
When I thought about it, I did go in after the children were asleep and sit, marveling at the glitter and glitz, thinking how beautiful the decorated tree was. I admit how akin to worship it was. And all the presents under it . . . the family would gather there around the tree and open them all.
The more I studied then dug deep into the pagan origins of the December holiday and its traditions—this was back in the mid-eighties when I had no access to a computer or Google—the more Holy Spirit convicted me that celebrating it did not honor the Father.
Did you know in the early days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, a fine of five shillings was imposed on anyone found celebrating Christmas? Or that as late as 1800, the Puritans and other devout Christian sects forbade members from celebrating Christmas because of its pagan origins, thereby an unholy, pagan holiday? When did it become so accepted? As late as 1946, the Encyclopedia Britannica listed it like this: Christmas (i.e., the Mass of Christ). . . . Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church. It was not instituted by Christ or the apostles, or by Bible authority. It was picked up afterward from paganism.
From a fascinating study of the Feasts God ordained for His people in Leviticus, I discovered each one parallels the Life of Christ. It became so apparent God’s Son came to the earth during the Feast of Booths (or Tabernacles) when His people celebrate “God With Us.”
That is a fall feast, a time of year when shepherds near Bethlehem would actually be out in the fields with their sheep. They are not in December. Where in Matthew, Mark, or Luke does it ever give any instruction for His people to celebrate His birth? Or any other book in the Bible? You won’t find it. It isn’t there. As a matter of fact, the Bible is quite clear that the day of one’s death is more important. “A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.” Ecclesiastes 7:1
Another Christmas went by. I didn’t want to give it up.
Why didn’t God show someone else? I knew not one Christian who thought those things. If it was true, why didn’t He show others? I loved everything about it.
Finally, determined to be obedient to God no matter the costs, in the mid’ 80s, Ron and I announced we were quitting xmas. This hurt Mama so much. After that first year we didn’t show up, she and I had so many conversations where she cried. I cried with her.
“Mama, I would rather be a fool doing what I think God has told me to do and be obedient to Him than not do the thing and miss an opportunity to show Him how much I love Him. He knows my heart and that it’s in the right place. If I’m wrong, He knows the reason. Haven’t you always told me actions speak louder than words?”
Every year, it was so hard. I had many, many discussions with Abba over it. Then he sent a lady who said He’d showed her the same thing! A sweet day! I wasn’t alone. I won’t lie, it still isn’t easy. Not that I want to participate, but just that I’m so swimming against the current.
It’s known as a “Christian” holiday. I’m a Christ follower, but Jesus is not the reason for this season. People say. “Oh, it doesn’t matter really when He was born” or “At least Jesus is lifted up, and people talk more about Him” or “That’s not what it means to me, I celebrate . . .”
I am fully persuaded in my own mind that I am being obedient to God regarding the twenty-fifth of December. Do I think you’re being disobedient if you participate? No not at all! It is between you and the Father alone. I share the Truth, hoping you might seek Him.
I intreat you to watch a great video and get a different perspective from Passion for Truth Ministries in Missouri: http://vimeo.com/22746818 or click Passion for Truth link
So, once upon a time, I sang those songs. I sing them still, just not in December. 😊 Speaking of songs, the Lord gives me new ones now and then. I have recorded a few of them at YouTube and invite you to click over! I’m not the great singer but listen to the “song”!
I pray you might understand this author a little more, why I lay low in December. I live to bring Him honor. That’s why I’m always “Praying my story gives Him glory!” My latest release, QUINCY & PRISCILLA At The Lowell House, is a fun tale with a few characters from my Cross Timbers Romance Family Saga readers will enjoy seeing again!
Please be watching for my first mystery DUPLICITY At The Lowell House launching January 11th! Yes, both stories take place at the same Dallas hotel in 1866! So, owners Morgan and Charity Lowell (who my readers met as an eight-year-old in GONE TO TEXAS, book one in the Cross Timbers Romance Family Saga) are characters in both!
GIVEAWAY: From Saturday, December 26th through Wednesday the 30th, I’ve arranged for SINS OF THE MOTHERS, book four in the Texas Romance Family Saga to be free for #BecauseFiction readers! I hope you’ll enjoy the story!CONTACT LINKS: Amazon / BookBub / Newsletter, The Caryler / Facebook
