I was scrolling through my Instagram feed a few days ago and found a post about Christmas. Specifically, it was a post about a recent survey of American views concerning Christmas. The most recent survey results said that 57% of respondents affirmed that America needs more of Jesus in Christmas and less commercialism.
I, of course, agree with that wholeheartedly. That same survey said that as recently as 2019, among those surveyed, 63% of respondents said we need more of Jesus in Christmas and less commercialism. That shows a 6% drop in 3 years. What is going on here?
It would be easy and correct to say that America is becoming more secular. That is true. It would be just as correct to say that the forces of wickedness have taken aim at American Christianity with unrelenting zeal, with a goal of eradicating Christianity in dialogue and symbol from the public square of discussion and debate.
What we are witnessing is nothing more than the cancel culture cancelling Christmas. None of this is surprising to most of us. What perhaps is surprising to some of you is that joining forces with the secularists who openly attack Christianity and our celebration of Christmas are some who claim Christ as King and Lord.
You heard me correctly. There are Christians who openly oppose Christmas. They do so based on Christmas being a purely pagan celebration. I have heard Christians weave very elaborate tales of the evil of Constantine, the Roman Catholic Church, and the mystery Babylonian cults prevalent in Ancient Rome all working together to create this demonic (their words not mine) celebration of the birth of Jesus.
Today I want to offer a corrective to this faulty thinking. I would encourage those who are in the opposition camp to do your research. When you do I think you’ll arrive at a much different perspective.
Case in point is the research that Dr. Ken Johnson has done in his book titled Ancient Origins of Modern Holidays. Here is what Johnson wrote in his chapter on Christmas.
“Ancient church fathers calculated the date of the birth of Christ to be either in December (Hanukkah), March (Passover), or September (Tabernacles). Here are a few quotes from various church fathers.
For the first advent of our Lord in the flesh, when He was born in Bethlehem, eight days before the kalends of January [December 25th], the 4th day of the week [Wednesday], while Augustus was in his forty-second year…Hippolytus, Commentary on Daniel 4.23.3 (AD 210)
We ought to celebrate the birthday of our Lord on what day soever the 254th of December shall happen. Theophilus of Caesarea (AD 115-181)
Many scholars today believe Jesus was born on the Feast of Tabernacled (Tishrei 15, our September-October). The feast of Hanukkah, usually in December, has long been referred to as the second Tabernacles. John, in his Gospel, used the term “tabernacles” for Jesus’ birth. Most believe this is a prophecy teaching that Jesus would be born on the festival of Tabernacles…
The confusion about the date of Jesus’ birth comes from two factors. First, the Pharisees of the first century had two main calendars. These two Jewish calendars are the civil calendar that starts in the fall (Tishrei), and the religious calendar that starts in the Spring (Nisan). If Jesus was born on the 15th of the first month, that would place His birth on either Passover (Nisan 15) or the feast of Tabernacles (Tishrei 15). This explains why some church fathers thought Jesus was born in March/April and others thought September/October…
Many people think that the prophet Jeremiah condemned the use of Christmas trees…Christmas trees started in seventh century Germany…Jeremiah is referring to the practice of going into the forest and cutting down a tree, carving it up into an idol then plating it with gold or silver.”[1]
Johnson goes on to speak about Saint Nicholas, Kris Kringle, Santa Claus, Krampus, Elves, Tammuz, Yule, Christmas Trees, Asherah Trees and more. We certainly do not want to advance any type of paganism. Proving that Christmas is pagan is difficult and even misguided given the historical record that Johnson presents.
Another example is the research done by Derek Gilbert in an article titled The Truth About Christmas. Here is what Derek wrote.
“We need to debunk a bit of fake news before we get any deeper into the holiday season. The selection of December 25 as the date to celebrate the birth of Christ had nothing to do with Saturnalia or the winter solstice. Besides, Saturnalia wasn’t always celebrated in December, and it wasn’t even originally named for Saturn. It was adapted from an older version known to the Greeks, celebrated for their version of Saturn, Kronos.
The Kronia is first recorded in Ionia, the central part of western Anatolia (modern Turkey) in the eighth century BC, a little before the time of the prophet Isaiah. From there, the celebration spread to Athens and the island of Rhodes, ultimately making its way westward to Rome, shifting over time from midsummer to the winter solstice. Both festivals were a time of merriment and abandoning social norms, with gambling, gift-giving, suspension of normal business, and the reversal of roles by slaves and their masters.
The festival of Saturnalia, held between December 17 and 23, was undoubtedly the most popular of the year for Romans. It was marked by a reversal of societal norms, which apparently hearkened back to better days:
The first inhabitants of Italy were the Aborigines, whose king, Saturnus, is said to have been a man of such extraordinary justice, that no one was a slave in his reign, or had any private property, but all things were common to all, and undivided, as one estate for the use of every one; in memory of which way of life, it has been ordered that at the Saturnalia slaves should everywhere sit down with their masters at the entertainments, the rank of all being made equal. Italy was accordingly called, from the name of that king, Saturnia; and the hill on which he dwelt Saturnius, on which now stands the Capitol, as if Saturnus had been dislodged from his seat by Jupiter.
It’s widely believed by skeptics, and some well-meaning but misinformed Christians, that the date for celebrating Christmas was chosen by the early church to “Christianize” Saturnalia. The story goes that the festival was so popular that even Christians in the Roman Empire wouldn’t give it up, so church leaders declared December 25 the birthday of Jesus, established a feast, and stole Saturnalia from the pagans.
That happens not to be the case.
The earliest record of the observance of Christmas is from Clement of Alexandria around AD 200. But the first suggestion that Christmas might be linked to pagan worship didn’t come until the twelfth century, about nine hundred years later. In other words, as far as historians can tell, no Christians between the third through twelfth centuries thought they were accidentally worshiping a pagan god at Christmas. While some noted the proximity of December 25 to the winter solstice, which falls on December 21 or 22, early Christian writers did not believe the church chose the date. Rather, they saw it as a sign that God was the true sun, superior to the false gods of the pagans.
The Donatist sect in North Africa celebrated Jesus’ birth on December 25 in the early fourth century, before Constantine became emperor of Rome (so we can’t blame him for setting the date). And while it’s true that the emperor Aurelian made veneration of Sol Invictus the law throughout the Roman Empire in AD 274, a collection of ancient writings called Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae puts the feast day during the reign of Licinius (AD 308–324) on November 18. There is little evidence that a feast for Sol Invictus was held on December 25 before the middle of the fourth century AD, and Christians were celebrating the birth of Christ on that date about half a century earlier.
So, given that nobody in the first century recorded the actual date of Jesus’ birth, how did the early church arrive at December 25? It’s a little complex, but it illustrates the motives of the Church Fathers, which did not include sneaking pagan worship into the faith.
Second-century Latin Christians in Rome and North Africa made an effort to calculate the exact date of Jesus’ death. For reasons that escape us, they settled on March 25, AD 29. (The reasons escape us because March 25 was not a Friday that year, nor was it Passover Eve, nor did Passover Eve fall on a Friday in AD 29, or even in the month of March.) The March 25 date was also noted by early church theologians Tertullian and Augustine.
There was a widespread belief among Jews of the day in the “integral age” of great prophets, which means it was thought that the prophets of Israel died on the same day they were conceived. It’s not biblical, but that’s not the point. What matters is the early church believed it, and that’s how it was decided that Jesus was born in late December: Adding nine months to March 25 brings you to—you guessed it—December 25.
It’s that simple. Underline this: Saturn and Saturnalia had nothing to do with Christmas.
The effort to claim the credit, however, is the work of the dark god and his minions. The recent pushback against celebrating Christmas has been so intense that some Christians are careful to avoid mentioning the holiday, except with trusted friends, lest they be accused of accidentally worshiping Saturn, Baal, Sol Invictus, or Nimrod—by other Christians. The Christmas season used to be the one time of year when Christ was openly proclaimed in our society. Sadly, zealous but misinformed believers have unwittingly helped the Fallen reclaim the holiday.
It’s almost certain that Jesus was not born on December 25. It’s also true that the Christmas holiday has attracted a lot of baggage—pagan traditions, hyper-commercialization, and awful renditions of Christmas carols by pop divas. (Mariah Carey recently tried to trademark the title “Queen of Christmas.” Seriously. Thankfully, the U.S. Patent Office said no.)
None of that matters. The important point is this: The early church did not establish December 25 as a feast day to celebrate the birth of Jesus to copy or co-opt a pagan holiday.
That said, Saturn successfully rebranded the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath, as Sāturni diēs, Saturn’s Day, in the second century AD when Rome replaced its eight-day cycle with a seven-day week. And there is biblical evidence that some Jews adopted the worship of Saturn during the Babylonian captivity:
“You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves, and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts. (Amos 5:26–27)
Sikkuth appears to be a reference to a minor Babylonian god named Sakkud, or Sakkut. However, the pronunciation was close enough to the Hebrew word sukkat (“hut”) that the Jewish scholars who translated the Septuagint rendered the first line, “And you took along the tent of Molech.” The consonants of Molech and melek (“king”) are identical, but it’s interesting that the translators were comfortable bringing the “king-god” into the scripture, and that’s exactly how Stephen quoted Amos during his speech to the Sanhedrin.
It’s especially interesting since “Kiyyun” refers to the Babylonian name for Saturn, Kajjamānu, “the Steady One.” Kajjamānu was an unimportant god in the Mesopotamian pantheon, but it’s indicative of the hubris of the king-god: Under his influence, most of the Western world now calls God’s divinely ordained day of rest “Saturn’s Day.”
And because that isn’t enough, even Christians have been convinced that Saturn, not Jesus, is the reason we celebrate Christmas.”[2]
More of Jesus and less of Santa and commercialism? Yes, but it has to start in our own homes and ecclesias first. To those who remain unconvinced, stop aiding the enemy with your anti-Christmas attitudes. If you don’t want to celebrate it, then don’t. But those of us who see the rare opportunity when the culture at large is thinking about Jesus, His birth, and Christianity, we will speak Jesus and the hope found in Him to a lost and dying world.
Blessed and Merry Christmas to you all.
Pastor Mike
[1] Ken Johnson, Ancient Origins of Modern Holidays, Self-Published, 2019, pp. 92-93, 110.
[2] Derek Gilbert, The Truth About Christmas and Saturnalia. December 8, 2022. Found here – https://allpropastors.org/the-truth-about-christmas-and-saturnalia/ From the book The Second Coming of Saturn, by Derek Gilbert.
*This post originally appeared on my Substack page. You may subscribe at mikespaulding.substack.com
