(From Outside the Camp Vol. 1, No. 4)
[To print in PDF booklet form with Did You Know appendix, click HERE]
There may be some of my brothers reading this -- brothers who stand firmly for the gospel truths of particular, sovereign grace and who hold to the truth that anything else is a false gospel -- who celebrate Christmas. My appeal is to you. I hope that this article will not diminish the fact that I continue to stand with you and am not ashamed to call you my brothers.
But, as a brother, I must lovingly admonish you on a serious matter. While holding to the doctrines of grace, you celebrate the Romish-pagan hybrids of Christmas and Easter.
Please read the article in this issue regarding the origins of your celebrations (Did You Know ...). Have you ever asked yourselves the question: "WHY am I celebrating Christmas on December 25?" Most of you are doing it because your parents did it. But why did your parents, and their parents, do it? Did they randomly decide to celebrate Christmas on this date? Of course not. If you will be honest with yourselves, you must conclude that you are celebrating Christmas on December 25 BECAUSE THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH MANDATED IT. You are following the mandate of the whore church that you despise.
You also hold to the name "Christmas" as the title of your celebration while at the same time asserting that the mass is an abomination. How can your church name its worship service after an idolatrous, popish mass? How can you tell the Roman Catholics that their mass is wicked when you hold to Christ-mass?
So, too, the name "Easter" is pagan (see Did You Know ...) and has been attached to church worship by the Romish whore. If you reply, "Yes, we use the name Easter, but we attach to it a different meaning than paganism," you have used the reasoning of the Roman Catholics. Consider the following scenario: Suppose there is a pagan holiday for Aphrodite, the goddess of lust, on June 3. Then suppose the Roman Catholic church decides to use that holiday for its celebration of some part of the life of Jesus while retaining the name "Aphrodite" as the title of its celebration. Would you then take the name for yourselves and celebrate "Aphrodite" on June 3? Think about it. And yes, I know that the days of the week are named after pagan gods. But I (and you as well, I hope) do not celebrate any of these days.
Some of you might even be involved in binding the consciences of those in your assemblies. This takes two main forms: (1) Some assemblies institute a stated worship time on Christmas, even when it does not fall on the Lord's Day, obligating their members to attend the Christmas service. (2) Some assemblies include some of the visible trappings of Christmas in the place of worship, so all who attend worship on the Lord's Days see that the assembly church endorses and practices Christmas-keeping.
I urge you as a brother in Christ to cease from these ungodly practices. Please -- I implore you -- do not celebrate Christmas. The Roman Catholic church laughs as it sees other churches having worship services on the days that it has mandated. Remember -- you are celebrating Christmas on December 25, and calling your celebration "Christmas," because the anti-Christian Roman Catholic church told the world that it must do so, and you have obeyed. You will not find the command in the Bible, but you will find the command at the Vatican.
It would rejoice my heart to see you, my brothers in Christ, abandon your unbiblical traditions of men and be an even brighter witness to truth than ever before.
Dear Lord, I pray that it will be so.