Getting the Pigs off The Altar – Part III

1. Getting the Pigs off The Altar – Part III Pastor Bob Strachan

2. Winter Festivals

3. Winter Festivals

4. Even though there are many festivals traditions of each have found their way into the modern Christmas. • We shall look at the roots of some of these Christmas traditions Amalgamation

5. Mark 7:8-9 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. [9] And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. • Col. 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Warning of God

6. Deut. 12:29-32 When the Lord thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land; [30] Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. [31] Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for every abomination to the Lord, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods. [32] What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

7. Would you agree that if something is Pagan in origin that we cannot use it to worship Christ? • If a ritual is derived from Baal worship, should we keep the ritual but change the focus? All in agreement?

8. Deut. 12:3 And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place. No place for Baal

9. Yule is a Nordic festival that lasted 12 days • Beginning with ‘Mother’s Night’ on the 20th Dec and ending on the 31st with lots of alcohol and revelry • On each of the 12 days a sacrifice was made to Odin or whatever god they were celebrating. • This was sometimes animal • Sometimes vegetable • Sometimes human YULE

10. The Yule Log was a large tree • It was fed into the fire each day • The sacrifices were then thrown onto the log • It was lit from the remains of the previous years log • The ashes were used to fertilise the crops for the following year Yule Log

11. The god of intoxicating drink • The god of death • The god of wisdom, magic and occult knowledge, runes, poetry and war • His name means “the inspired one” Odin

12. This Roman festival was held on Dec 17th but was extended to Dec 23rd • Roman courts were closed, and Roman law dictated that no one could be punished for damaging property or injuring people during the celebration. • The festival began when Roman authorities chose “an enemy of the Roman people” to represent the “Lord of Misrule.” • He was to be obeyed in all things Saturnalia

13. Each Roman community selected a victim whom they forced to indulge in food and other physical pleasures throughout the week. • At the festival’s conclusion, December 25th, Roman authorities believed they were destroying the forces of darkness by brutally murdering this innocent man or woman. Saturnalia

14. It was a time of lawlessness • Slaves could speak out against their masters without fear of punishment • Morals and manners were put aside for this period Saturnalia

15. In addition to human sacrifice, there are these customs: • Widespread intoxication • Going from house to house while singing naked • Rape and other sexual license • Consuming human-shaped biscuits Saturnalia

16. Some of the most depraved customs of the Saturnalia carnival were intentionally revived by the Catholic Church in 1466 when Pope Paul II, for the amusement of his Roman citizens, forced Jews to race naked through the streets of the city.  • An eyewitness account reports, “Before they were to run, the Jews were richly fed, so as to make the race more difficult for them and at the same time more amusing for spectators.  • They ran… amid Rome’s taunting shrieks and peals of laughter, while the Holy Father stood upon a richly ornamented balcony and laughed heartily.

17. As part of the Saturnalia carnival throughout the 18th and 19th centuries CE, rabbis of the ghetto in Rome were forced to wear clownish outfits and march through the city streets to the jeers of the crowd, pelted by a variety of missiles. • When the Jewish community of Rome sent a petition in1836 to Pope Gregory XVI begging him to stop the annual Saturnalia abuse of the Jewish community, he responded, • “It is not opportune to make any innovation.”

18. On December 25, 1881, Christian leaders whipped the Polish masses into Antisemitic frenzies that led to riots across the country.  • In Warsaw 12 Jews were brutally murdered, huge numbers maimed, and many Jewish women were raped.  • Two million rubles worth of property was destroyed.

19. During Saturnalia balls of Mistletoe were hung overhead whilst the revellers partook in mass fornication. • A woman standing under this was not allowed to refuse an advance • In Celtic culture it is still considered a symbol of fertility Mistletoe

20. Both are Pagan symbols of fertility used during Saturnalia • Holly and Mistletoe are hung in homes that those who kiss under them will invoke the powers of fertility and cause the spirits of the god and goddess to enter them • Note that Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe are not evil because they are used for pagan purposes. • God created them • …but using them or displaying them in this way make them idolatrous. Holly and Ivy

21. Holly was the sacred plant of Saturn and was used at the Roman Saturnalia festival to honour him. • Romans gave one another holly wreaths and carried them about decorating images of Saturn with it. • Where are the two places you see wreaths? Holly and Ivy

22. Santa Claus

23. Old man with a beard • Carried a spear or crosier • He travelled the world on a horse with 8 legs Odin

24. The Norse believed that the goddess Hertha appeared in the fireplace and brought good luck to the home • Druids left milk and pastries to appease Hertha • Odin’s 8 legged horse became the 8 flying reindeer • Odin’s thirst for alcohol turned into leaving brandy for Santa Santa Claus

26. St Nicholas?

28. In the 70s the Vatican confirmed that St. Nicholas never existed but came from paganism

29. Every version of Claus has a strange or dark helper that travels with him. • Called Krampus Santa Claus

31. These Krampus would follow along and if the children were not good they would beat the children

32. “According to legend, Krampus accompanies St. Nicholas during the Christmas season, warning and punishing bad children, in contrast to St. Nicholas, who gives gifts to good children.” - Wikipedia Krampus – Santa’s Elves

33. Krampus – Santa’s Elves

34. By the 1500’s in Holland, he became Sinterklaas; a kind and wise old man with a white beard, white dress, red cloak, a crosier and riding the skies and roofs of the houses on his white horse, accompanied by his black jacks (Krampuses) leaving gifts for people under his sacred tree, the fir tree. Odin to Santa

35. He would visit you on his birthday and give you gifts if you have been good • If you were bad, his black jacks would beat you Odin to Santa

36. By the 1700s Sinterclaus had been brought to North America • The English dialect changed it to Santa Claus • A Cartoonist named Thomas Nast created the image of today’s Santa • Coke, in the ‘30s used the image for advertising adding reindeer and elves Santa Coke

38. Has no beginning or End • Has his own eternal spirit (the spirit of Christmas) • Is all knowing • Writes names in a book • Hair is white as snow • Travels during the night • Wants to give you everything your flesh desires Santa vs Jesus

39. Enters your house through fire • John 10:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. • Has a mystical tree Santa vs Jesus

40. In the 1600s upon the stages of theatres the devils entrance was announced by the laugh of “HoHoHo” before coming on stage HoHoHo

41. We find that the devil has alter names that he goes by • Lucifer is his main name and it is often shorten to Lucas or Lucias in occultism • Many occult writers have expressed that the true names of people can be hidden in plain view by making them into anagrams Santa Claus

42. S A N T A C L A U S Santa Claus

43. Old (saint) Nick

44. Proverbs 6:12-19 A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth. [13]  He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers; [14]  Frowardnessis in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord. [15]  Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy. [16]  These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: [17]  A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, [18]  An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, [19]  A false witness thatspeaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

45. Winketh with his eyes

46. Speaketh with his feet

47. Teacheth with his fingers

48. 2 Timothy 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Natural Fear of Santa

49. The word usually refers to a cave • Often one dedicated to a deity • Other Grottos: • Witches Grotto • The church of Satan used Grottos • Santa’s Grotto… Grotto

50. Does it matter what it means to us? • Or what it matters to God? Not what it means to me!