ISS:Christmas or Commerce day

   Which do you celebrate - Christmas or Commerce Day? Depending on
what your life shows determines whether or not you can call yourself a
Christian or not! For what marks someone as a Christian is whether or
not their actions match the Word of God. In short, is your life pure in
relationship to Christmas celebrations? For while Christians are in the
world they are to conduct themselves as if they were not of this world.
The following scripture shows the loving call of God to every child of
His:

   "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch
no unclean thing, and I will receive you." (II Corinthians 6:17)

   Christians have their own customs that the world is not permitted to
copy or have. We are a privileged people -- a glorious people separate
in heart and action from the worthless customs of the world around us!
God very clearly declares in the Old and New Testament that Christians
are not to adopt or mix in some of the traditions of the world. Yet we
see today within the church a worship of idols and God at the same
time, that is, a combining of the world's joys, pleasures and customs
with our worship of Jesus. This is something Jesus will not tolerate!
This is the very thing the Israelites were condemned for by God and
unless we repent we will be condemned for also. We cannot eat at the
table of demons and then sit down to eat at the table of the Lord. Such
people deserve all the wrath of God that is to come. Listen clearly to
the warning Paul gives:

   "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you
cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons.
Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he?"
(I Corinthians 10:21- 22)

   What great sin we commit in God's sight when we worship both the
demons of this world and Him at the same time! If you are guilty of
this then you deserve to be cursed by God and we can't wait until God
does so!* If you will not repent then a curse be on you! (See 1
Corinthians 16:22~) Do not do what the Israelites did in the book 1
Kings: *{order the free tape "CHRISTIANITY WITH A CURSE"}

   "They worshiped the LORD, ~BUT THEY ALSO SERVED THEIR OWN GODS in
accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been
brought. To this day they persist in their former practices. They
neither worship the LORD nor adhere to the decrees and ordinances, the
laws and commands that the LORD gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he
named Israel. When the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites, he
commanded them: "Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them,
serve them or sacrifice to them. But the LORD, who brought you up out
of Egypt with mighty power and outstretched arm, is the one you must
worship. To him you shall bow down and to him offer sacrifices. You
must always be careful to keep the decrees and ordinances, the laws and
commands he wrote for you. Do not worship other gods. Do not forget the
covenant I have made with you, and do not worship other gods. Rather,
worship the LORD your God; it is he who will deliver you from the hand
of all your enemies." They would not listen, however, but persisted in
their former practices. Even while these people were worshiping~ ~the
LORD, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and
grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did." (II Kings 17:33-41)

   It is our hope that you will not loose your salvation because you
mingled with the customs of the nations around you. For not only are we
not to mix the world's ways in our worship of God, our purity is to
destroy the worlds folly. Christians are to worship in such a way that
it completely reveals the worlds sin for the dung it is. As it stands
now, the church and the world get along perfectly well during the
holiday season. Why, the church should be persecuted at this time of
the year for revealing the worldly for who they are, (John 7:7). It is
because of your compromise and lukewarm love for God that allows idols
to be glorified at this time in the church. Repent and completely
destroy the customs of the world around you. If you don't, when you
stand before the judgment seat of God, as a goat, you will hear God
quote to you:

   "They did not destroy the peoples as the LORD had commanded them,
but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. They
worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them." (Psalms 106:34-36)

   If we would take the time to read the rest of Psalms we would see
that we too sacrifice our children to demons. The demons of pleasure,
self-centeredness and self-gratification. In doing so you are no
different! Let us walk in the Light and the Truth and fully declare
that what the world celebrates on December 25 is not the birth of the
King of Kings. Rather, it is a celebration of materialism. It is
another time to buy, to get excited about things, and to prepare for a
new year of making money. It is a celebration of money, buying,
selling, eating, drinking and pleasure. Even the so-called "giving" is
done only to gain that self-satisfying feeling of saying you did
something good. Yet we hear not a whimper from the church about this
idolatry. In fact, the church enjoys the increase in business and
attendance. Why, some ministries even produce a "Christmas catalog". I
guess they have never read the Bible. Otherwise they would see that if
the church does have a day set aside as a Holy Day that God directs all
buying and selling to stop. If such churches and Christian individuals
persist in this impurity we can assure them that they have no
inheritance in the kingdom of Jesus. None!

   "For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person--
such a man is an idolater--has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ
and of God." (Ephesians 5:5)

   For as Ephesians says, no "impure" person has "any inheritance in
the kingdom of Christ and of God". Do you really believe you can remain
an impure Christian and go to heaven? If you do, then you have never
come into contact with a Holy God. Didn't Jesus warn you long ago not
to be weighed down by the pleasures and foolishness of this world?

   "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation,
drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you
unexpectedly like a trap." (Luke 21:34)

   How many "Christians" are being "~weighed down~" right to hell
because they refuse to repent and have a pure Christmas. How
disheartening it is to watch Christians fall short of grace and go to
hell over the pleasures of this world and the impure worship that is
allowed in the church. They refuse to understand the message of the
cross. They never mature and so never produce any real fruit for Jesus.
They will be cut off and thrown into hell. Listen well to the warnings
of Jesus as you examine your sinful life during this Holiday season.

   "The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as
they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and
pleasures, and they do not mature." (Luke 8:14) "If anyone does not
remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such
branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned." (John 15:6)

   Our choice is clear. Either we have a pure Christmas, no matter what
others think, or be sent to hell.

   *THE TREE*

   The family tradition of bowing down in front of a tree to receive
gifts from Santa Claus (Satan Claws?) is really idolatry. It is a
worship of demons that God rebuked way back in Jeremiah's day.

   "Hear what the LORD says to you, O house of Israel. This is what the
LORD says: "Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by
signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. For the
customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the
forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with
silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not
totter." (Jeremiah 10:1-4)

   Go ahead and get your bucket of whitewash out and try to argue
against Jeremiah 10. Feel free to voice your ugly opinions, but
Jeremiah is still talking about your Christmas tree! Go ahead churches
and put your trees up in the middle of the worship room. Please do, for
it shows us clearly who loves God and who loves money. After all,
Christians are to show they hate and despise money and
self-gratification. It shows God and us who we can call "brother".

   *UNTO JESUS*

   How many yell that they do it all in the name of Jesus - that they
are clean because they are not worshipping an idol, but worshipping
Jesus! All that shows is that they justify their idolatry and hatred
for God in the name of Jesus. The Israelites did the same thing when
they wanted to indulge self. They did it in the name of the Lord too!
Watch closely and learn something:

   "Aaron answered them, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives,
your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me." So all
the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took
what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a
calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods,
O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." When Aaron saw this, he
built an altar in front of the calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will
be a festival ~TO THE LORD~." So the next day the people rose early and
sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings.
Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in
revelry." (Exodus 32:2-6)

   Noticed that they gave money for this festival, (32:2) just as we do
at Christmas... that the people got up early in the morning to do their
Christian duty and then sat down to indulge themselves, (32:6). Sounds
like a nice little Christmas morning, doesn't it? That is because that
is what Christmas is all about. God's reaction toward them will be the
same towards you, unless you repent.

   "And the LORD struck the people with a plague because of what they
did with the calf Aaron had made." (Exodus 32:35)

   *HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS*

   The sin is not in the fact that some people choose to celebrate the
birth of Jesus on December 25. Romans tells us that we can choose any
day we wish and make it a special day unto the Lord:

   "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man
considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his
own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He
who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who
abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God." (Romans 14:5-6)

   As to which day you consider to be the birth of Jesus is a
"disputable matter". Some think Jesus was born in June while others
choose to celebrate that day on December 25, while still others
consider every day to be the same and don't celebrate any day as Jesus'
birthday. Again as Romans says,

   "Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on
disputable matters." (Romans 14:1)

   So while the matter of which day is Jesus' birthday may be
"disputable", how you celebrate whatever day you choose is not! We can,
in the Lord, choose any day we wish, but we cannot choose how we will
worship on that day. The sin that is not "disputable" is the way
someone celebrates the birth of Jesus. In short, Romans 14 says, the
issue is not if we celebrate a special day to the Lord, but rather the
issue is HOW we celebrate that day. First of all, only an individual
who is totally in love with God should be allowed to celebrate the
birth of Jesus. The world should not even be allowed to speak of the
birth of Jesus. Yet, the church applauds the world by our actions of
buying and celebrating as they do. How we dishonor the one whom the
birthday party is for. As God says to the wicked,

   "But to the wicked, God says: "What right have you to recite my laws
or take my covenant on your lips?" (Ps~alms 50:16)

   So forget joining hands with pagans on that day. Just listen to the
words of Isaiah and see Christmas in the Light of the Lord. Realize
that the way you celebrate whatever day you choose will be totally
different and opposed to what the world does.

   "Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD. You
have abandoned your people, the house of Jacob. They are full of
superstitions from the East; they practice divination like the
Philistines and CLASP HANDS WITH PAGANS. Their land is full of silver
and gold; there is no end to their treasures. Their land is full of
horses; there is no end to their chariots. Their land is full of idols;
they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have
made. So man will be brought low and mankind humbled-- do not forgive
them. Go into the rocks, hide in the ground from dread of the LORD and
the splendor of his majesty!" (Isaiah 2:5-10)

   How we too have all the chariots, gold and superstitions of the East
during Christmas as we should clasp hands with pagans. If we choose to
celebrate a day unto the birth of Jesus, then at least throw the
birthday party for Jesus. At least sing "Happy Birthday Jesus." After
all, that is where your attention is suppose to be. Right? Do what the
first wise men did and give your gifts and attention to Jesus.

   "After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star
they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the
place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and
they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and
presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And
having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to
their country by another route." (Matthew 2:9-12)

   Let us model ourselves after the first Christmas. If we follow the
wise men who gave a birthday party for God, then our December 25
Christmas will be acceptable unto God. This kind of Christmas will
require us to go out of our way to get to Jesus just as it did these
wise men. No telling what family members we will have to leave
behind... of what inconvenience and preparations the Spirit will lead
us to make as we follow the heavenly Light. It will of course be a day
filled with joy and worship, (2:10). You don't come to this party with
your token $10.00 necktie - you bring your "treasures, " (2:11). And we
are sure you noticed that the wise men did not give gifts to each other
in Jesus' name! How stupid that would have looked. Can't you just see
one of the wise men saying, "Here, you take this incense in the name of
Jesus." Why, the other wise men would wonder how he got sand on his
brain to say and do such a thing. "How do you give them to Jesus?, "
you ask. Easy, by obeying Jesus of course. That is, you use your
Christmas bonus or club money to feed the hungry. You use whatever
money you would have spent on others who have plenty and send Bibles to
China. To give to Jesus you would obey Luke 12:32-35.

   "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to
give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor.
Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in
heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no
moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be
also. "Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, ."
(Luke 12:32-35)~

   In addition, do what Jesus says by not asking your family members or
church members over for a Christmas dinner. Instead, "Then Jesus said
to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your
friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do,
they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a
banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you
will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at
the resurrection of the righteous." (Luke 14:12-14)

   There are many more things that you can get Jesus for His birthday.
For suggestions just give us a call. However, do these basic things
unto a Holy God as you lay aside the empty church traditions of
Christmas trees and candy canes. Learn to worship Jesus as Jesus says
we are to worship Him. Otherwise you would be better off not going to
church at all! After all, Jesus does say, "They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.' " (Matthew 15:9)

   In short, if your whole life is consumed with a love for God of
seeking to bow down before Jesus and not a tree, with separation from
the world, mixed with purity that only the Holy Spirit can bring, then
your gift will be accepted by Jesus.* But if you remain stiff-necked
know that only Satan will accept your gift as he does from the rest of
the world on December 25. *{order the free tapes entitled "CHRISTMAS"}

   *CLOTHED WITH CHRIST*

   True Christians have always been a people who love to obey the Word
of God. True Christians, because they love to obey the Word of God by
the power of the Holy Spirit are very different and a strange people.
In fact, the world will think it strange that you don't participate in
their folly.

   "For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose
to do-- living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and
detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with
them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you."
(I Peter 4:3-4)

   If Peter walked into your house on Christmas day could he say this
about you?

   "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the
world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and
Bithynia, " (I Peter 1:1)

   Peter could not say you're a "stranger" in the world if you look
like the world. Say no to the flesh that wants the debauchery of this
world and Peter will be able to pay you this compliment. Say no to the
impurity and idolatry that is in the church as Peter says to.

   "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to
abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul." (I Peter
2:11)

   If you love God and obey His Word you will be a stranger to the
customs of the world. But if you love the world you are a friend of the
world and an enemy of God.

   "You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the
world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the
world becomes an enemy of God." (James 4:4)

   So it is not strange then for true Christians to celebrate the birth
of Jesus totally different than the world or worldly do. For while the
lukewarm Christians and the world celebrate "Commerce Day" the church
is worshipping Jesus with purity and self-denial. The church would
celebrate in such a way that would not excite the sinful nature. All
anyone would be able to see in the church on that day is Jesus, for
everyone would be bringing gifts to him and worshipping as the wise men
did. Everyone would be dressed in Jesus as the Word says,

   "Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not
think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature." (Romans
13:14)

   Of course, to "clothe" oneself with Jesus is to begin doing and
"thinking" the way Jesus would. Christians are a people becoming just
like Jesus. Such as, not desiring the things of this world. For God
says, ~"But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with
that." (I Timothy 6:8)~ If they want anything at Christmas time, they
are in sin. In fact, if there is something you desire at Christmas time
it only goes to show that they do not love God and do not have God's
love in them. At least that is what the Lord says:

   "For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust
of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from
the Father but from the world." (1 John 2:16)

   To be "clothed" with Christ means that there will be no desire for
the things of Christmas; that we will not excite the lust of our
children by asking them what "they" want for Christmas. Rather we would
ask them, "What should we get Jesus for Christmas?". "What will make
Jesus happy?", should be the question on every true Christian parents
lips. We would not be a people who overeat nor would there be one word
of boasting about what we got for Christmas. To all who will not
celebrate as unto Christ Jesus with joy this Christmas at least you
have been warned with the words of James,

   "You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have
fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter." (James 5:5)

   Be warned that James is not just talking about a man who owns a
business, but the refusal to deny one's self and meet the needs of
Jesus. The Word is also talking about workers of Jesus who only take
the labor of God and feed themselves. And Christmas day is your "High
Place." It shows what you worship in truth all year long. Yourself as
god!

   *GOD PLEADING*

   Can we not hear God's voice anymore pleading with us to forsake all
this worthless, worldly, unspiritual, unscriptural Commerce Day
activity? There are so many more things we could be doing for Jesus!
Christmas is to be a day of awe, worship, purity and joy in the Lord.
Christians are to set the example that we have a greater joy than the
world. How little self-sacrifice and joy the so- called Christian
community has. For you do not see the world trying to copy our joy,
rather you see the church so empty of power that it grabs and holds
onto the worthless dung joy of the world. Let our purity and light come
from God and not elves, decorated trees, house lights, debauchery,
dissipation and legends of a Santa Claus. All this will lead to more
joy than those who are worldly will ever know. Listen again to God
plead and promise with you. God pleads with us to come out and be
separate. God promises us that we will have true joy and peace if we
do. For then God would REALLY be your God.

   "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do
righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can
light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and
Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What
agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the
temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and
walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."

   "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch
no unclean thing, and I will receive you." "I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." Since
we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from
everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out
of reverence for God." (II Corinthians 6:14-7:1)~

   Listen to the pleading and promising of God. If you do you will find
all this to be a supreme joy.

   *PURITY IN THE CHURCH*

   Now it must be asked, "Is the church separate from all this? Of
course not! The church shows the world how to have Jesus and greed at
the same time. Oh, Jesus is coming with holy anger very soon to your
church. Remember well, that the only time Jesus displayed physical
anger is when they were buying and selling in church. Soon Jesus will
come to overturn your church Christmas Trees and selling on December
25. After all, if it were a Holy Day in the Lord you would not have all
this buying and selling.

   "On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began
driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the
tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves,
and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple
courts. And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written: "`My house
will be called a house of prayer for all nations' ? But you have made
it `a den of robbers." (Mark 11:15-17)

   Do as Jesus did and "do not allow" anyone to bring merchandise into
the temple, or to make God's Holy Day a day of commerce. May God
baptize us with a holy weeping for what has been done to December 25!
God calls this worship of commerce the "City of Babylon". For it is
written,

   "For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her
adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the
merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries."
(Revelation 18:3)

   Of course God will bring this city to a terrible end. For a graphic
description of your fate if you refuse to be pure read Revelation
18:4-14. To all who hear God call, we say that this Christmas and every
day of your life do this ...

   "Then I heard another voice from heaven say: "Come out of her, my
people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not
receive any of her plagues; (Revelation 18:4)

   Will you come out and be separate from her? How sad it is the church
that is often the leader on how to have a Babylon Commerce Day. For you
this year will it be a Christmas morning of purity or a Commerce Day of
adultery and golden calf worship? Your actions will give us the answer.

   *CONCLUDING MATTERS*

   If you decide to celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25,
remember to not do it like the world does. Both in heart and action you
are not to be like the World. As God says, "You must not worship the
LORD your God in their way." (Deuteronomy 12:4) Your preachers who will
tell you to "just ignore this legalistic tract" God says to them...
"You have abandoned your people...". Yet how many of you will continue
to rebel against God's Word and watch Christmas parades. How you love
to parade your sin!

   "The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their
sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought
disaster upon themselves." (Isaiah 3:9)

   Repent or face the judgment seat prepared for the wrath of God. "But
because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are
storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his
righteous judgment will be revealed. God "will give to each person
according to what he has done." To those who by persistence in doing
good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But
for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow
evil, there will be wrath and anger." (Romans 2:5-8)

   from Sound Doctrine BBS
