Christmas Tree (fron sermon Origins of False Church - #88021003)
Tradition states that Shem killed Nimrod and cut his body into pieces and sent it over the world as a witness, or warning not to take up his apostasy.  Semiramis (his wife) was forced to go underground with her religion.  She could no longer teach openly so she began to teach her religion using symbols.  She taught that Nimrod was the sun-god and she was the moon-god.  She claimed that Nimrod was reborn and sprang from a yule-log as an evergreen tree.  Hence, the ancient custom of using a cut down evergreen tree decorated to symbolize Nimrod's rebirth was spread as an important symbol of this false religion.  This is an example of how the Babylonian mystery religion began to take control of the earth using symbols.

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Evergreen trees were employed as idols of Ashtoreth—such trees being referred to as asherah in the Hebrew Bible. God forbade them from being placed near His altar, as if to honor Him, as He did not want His worship system corrupted by them (Deuteronomy 16:21). Setting them up and decorating them as part of a religious observance is clearly condemned in Jeremiah 10:1-4—showing what God thinks of Christmas trees, which are in part derived from this ancient custom

12 Days of Christmas Some place Christ's birth at Dec 25, while others place it at Jan 6, thus the 12 days of Christmas.

VERSES
Jeremiah 10:1-4
Deut 16:21

God's Holiday Memories
4,000 Years of Christmas
Christmas Before Christ
Holidays or Holy Days

Days of Unleavened Bread

Began "the fourteenth day of the month at evening" (Ex 12:18).  Also shown by other verses such as Lev 23:6 to mean the end of the 14th and thus the beginning of the 15th. Also 12:18 "in the first month, on the 14th day of the month at evening...until the 21st day of the month at evening.

Ex 12:15-20 ;Ex 13 records the details of the Days of Unleavened Bread.  For the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Israelites were to dispose of any leavened bread or leavening agent (for them this meant yeast) and eat unleavened bread instead.   Not only was unleavened bread eaten for 7 days, as a reminder of coming out of Egypt in haste, but leavening represents those things that are contrary to the way of God.  Paul told the Corinthians to "keep the feast (of Unleavened Bread), not...with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor 5:6-8).  During these days, which Paul's instructions show that God's people are still to observe, all leavened bread and leavening agents that can be used to leaven bread - which now includes yeast, baking powder and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) - are to be removed from the home.  

Purging out the leaven is a reminder for us to purge our lives of the spirtual leavening, the sin that so easily spreads and "puffs up" (1 Cor 4:6, 18-19; 5:2, 6; 8:1; 13:4)

We read that there were approximately 600,000 men, besides children, a mixed multitude (those who were not Israelite), and a great number of livestock.  So we have possibly more than 3 million people besides animals that collectively organized and left from Rameses by night under a full moon (being the beginning of the 15th day).  It was certainly a night to be observed, and it began the Days of Unleavened Bread.

Ex 12:14 "so this day shall be to you  a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughtout your generations.  You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.  

Ex 23:14-15  "Three times you shall keep a feast to me in the year:  You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread..." (v14-"three times a year you shall keep a feast to Me in the year")

The apostle Paul compares sin to leaven (I Cor 5:8) Sin, like leaven, can spread to affect more and more people unless it is stopped in its tracks (vs 1-7).  The incident with Aaron, Moses and the golden calf (Ex 32) is a classic case of allowing some leaven in and before long, the leaven had spread and gotten worse.  

Ex 34:18

Deut 16:3-8

EASTER

(From booklet Holidays or Holy days)
The New Testament does not mention an Easter celebration. Early Christians had nothing to do with Easter. Instead, they kept the Passover, instituted by God centuries earlier at the time of the Exodus (Exodus 12:13-14; Leviticus 23:5). Jesus Christ personally kept this festival (Matthew 26:17-18)

Easter set by the Council of Nicaea in 325 is the first Sunday after the full moon that follows the spring equinox.

Jesus told His followers to continue this observance in remembrance of Him and His death (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). Soon, however, pressure to replace Passover with popular Easter customs came. 2 Jewish revolts against the Roman Empire, in 64-70 and 132-135, led to widespread persecution of Jews and suppression of Jewish religious practices. Jews were even driven from Jerusalem and forbidden to return on pain of death. As pressure mounted, some Christians began to abandon beliefs and practices perceived as being too Jewish. Over time many abandoned their weekly Sabbath day of rest and worship in favor of worship on Sunday and abandoned the Passover in favor of Easter to distance themselves from Jews.

Rather than commemorating Christ’s death as directed by the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 11:26), the new holiday was designed to celebrate His resurrection. This new theme nicely accommodated the pagan fertility symbols. It also helped distinguish the Christian community from the Jews, a major goal of church leaders of the time. Nowhere does the Bible instruct Christians to keep a celebration of Christ’s resurrection, nor is there a biblical record of early Christians doing so. But it is clear that both Jesus Christ and the apostle Paul expected Christ’s followers to commemorate His sacrificial death on our behalf (Matthew 26:26-28;1 Corinthians 5:7; 11:23-28). "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (verse 40).But how can we fit "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" between a Friday-afternoon crucifixion and a Sunday-morning resurrection? The traditional view of the crucifixion and resurrection allows for Jesus to have been entombed for only a day and a half. However, they fail to take into consideration that only two nights—Friday night and Saturday night—are accounted for in this explanation. After all, the Bible is clear that Jesus had already risen before the daylight portion of Sunday (John 20:1).

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Easter cakes (cakes to the “queen of heaven”) and sunrise services (in honor of Tammuz) are clearly condemned in the Bible (compare Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17-27; Ezekiel 8:13-17). According to the Ryrie Study Bible, the “queen of heaven” is a reference to “the Assyro-Babylonian goddess Ishtar”—i.e., Easter. And in regard to “Tammuz,” the same source identifies him as “a Babylonian deity, husband of Ishtar, who after his death supposedly became god of the underworld. Some have understood him as a vegetation-deity, dying in the heat of the summer and rising in the spring.” 

Sites to check out
http://www.religioustolerance.org/easter.htm
http://www.marvelicious.com/easter.html
http://wilstar.com/holidays/easter.htm

LINKS

Holidays or Holy Days:Does it Matter which days we keep?

Feast of Tabernacles

Ex 23:16 ..."and the Feast of Ingathering which is at the end of the year" (v14 - 3 times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year)

Passover

Also called the Feast of Weeks.

It was necessary to record God's word, as His instructions were to be repeated each year.  This was to be a reminder of God's powerful and miraculous intervention among His people.  And it was to foreshadow the supreme sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who would eventually come to offer His unblemished life as the sacrifice for the sins of all mankind.  

On the 10th day of what God declared to be the first month of the year (EX 12:2, the Hebrew month Abib, see 13:4, which occurred in the spring), the Israelites were to select an unblemished yearling of the sheep or goats.  They were to keep it up until the 14th of the month.  In the "twilight" portion of the evening that began the 14th day (literally "between the two evenings," which, though disputed, is commonly understood to mean between sundown and darkness), they were to kill the lamb or kid and prepare it according to the specific instructions God gave them.  The Passover consisted of the events that took place during the course of the night and into the following morning.  What exactly took place?

1.  The lamb was killed
2.  Its blood was put on the entrances of the houses.
3.  The lamb was roasted.
4.  The Israelites ate it with solemnity and in a state of preparedness, knowing that the events of the next day would entail much organization and travel.
5.  The children were to be specifically taught the meaning of these events.
6.  None were to go out of their houses until the morning.
7.  At midnight, the Lord would "pass over" the homes and, with the evidence of the blood on the entrances, He would spare the firstborn males of man and animals within from death (males implied from the command in 13:12-15)
8.  What remained of the sacrifice was to be burned.

Ex 23:16 "...and the Feast of Harvest, the first fruits of your labors"

Numbers 9:1-14  Keep the Passover.  Also covers the 2nd passover.  God told them, "on the 14th day of the second month, at twilight, they may keep it."  4 weeks and 2 days later.  

Deut 16:1-2

Pentecost

Pentecost marks the beginning of the New Testament (Acts 2)
Deut 16:9

Sabbath

In Ex 16, God provided the miracle of the manna not just to feed the people, but to teach them to Keep the Sabbath (vs 29) - to obey his law (vs 28) - before the covenant was given at Mt. Sinai

Ex 31:13 The Sabbath is a true identifying sign of God's people - a visible badge that shows who is willing to walk in God's way no matter what the obstacles are.  In today's society, it is a real test commandment.  Isaiah 58:13-14.

Ex 23:12 - Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your maidservant and the stranger may be refreshed.  

Ex 31 In this chapter, God stresses the importance of the Sabbaths (weekly and annual), as they are a sign between God and His people.  It serves as a visible badge and witness to others manifesting those who serve the true God.  Furthermore, vs 12 says, "It is a sign...that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you".  Thus it is a sign that regularly points us to the true God.  Indeed, the weekly Sabbath memorializes creation, as stated in this passage-and creation points to the Creator, the true God.  The Sabbath is a reminder that we do not worship"gods" of rocks and trees, sun moon or sky, or figments of human imagination, but the very Creator who made all these things-including the human mind.  And all of God's Sabbaths reveal His plan for the salvation of all mankind.  Notice that the Sabbath is given as a special covenant-a perpetual covenant-distinct from the Sinai covenant (vs 16).  Indeed, God's Sabbaths are important for us even today, as He said they would be "a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever" (vs 17).  Notice "...for in 6 days the Lord made the heavens and the earth..." (same verse).  Why would this only be for the Jews alone?  That wouldn't make any sense.  Rather, it is clear that, as Christ said, "the Sabbath was made for man" (Mark 2:27-28)-that is, for all mankind.  What ties it all together is that all people must become part of spiritual Israel (compare Rom 11:17; 24; Gal 3:28-29; 6:16) - and that is defined as those who obey God's law (Rom 2:25-29), which includes His Sabbath.

Ex 35 begins with instruction about the weekly Sabbath.  God said, "you shall kindle no fire throughtout your dwellings on the Sabbath day" (vs 3).  A long held Jewish interpretation is that it is wrong to start any fire on the Sabbath, such as a fire in a fireplace or just lighting a match.  On the basis of this verse, some even argue that it is not permissible on the Sabbath to light a stove, turn on an oven or use any electrical device with a heating element, such as a hairdryer.  Others go so far as to say that we can't start a car or even turn on a light switch on God's weekly Holy Day.  Yet the context here is important.  There certainly may be a need to limit personal fire usage-as major fire maintenance can certainly become a violation of the Sabbath if a great deal of obvious work is involved (EX: moving logs and choppping them up or a major gathering of sticks, such as that in Numbers 15:32).  However, this passage, occurring at the beginning of Moses' relaying of the instructions for building the tabernacle, is most likely referring to tabernacle constructin.  God, it appears, was telling them to not kindle industrial fires on the Sabbath-to melt silver or gold or forge other metals for the construction of the tabernacle.  No doubt some minor smelting was done in individual homes, which was also forbidden by this proscription.  Instead, all industry was to cease, even the special work of building the tabernacle, so people could give full attention to resting and worshipping God on the Sabbath as He commanded.  God has always wanted His weekly Sabbath day to be a blessing and a delight to us (Isaiah 58:13-14), not an intolerable burden as some would later make it out to be through their focus on overly restrictuve rules.  However, there are certainly general rules we should follow.  For instance, as a general rule we must not be conducting our regular business on the Sabbath or using the Sabbath as a time to plan our regular work.  Moreover, the Sabbath is not a time for sports and personal hobbies.  Instead, the Sabbath is a time to focus on our relationship with God.

Thanksgiving, Purim and Hanukkah

From booklet, Holidays or Holy Days

Important differences in the background and intent of these observances are obvious when we: compare them to Christmas, Easter and Halloween. Purim commemorates the defeat of the Jews’ enemies during the time of Queen Esther, and Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the Jerusalem temple after its defilement by the Syrian king (Antiochus Epiphanes). An important distinction between these holidays and those rooted in paganism is the realization that these celebrations can be kept in addition to God’s commanded feast days. Unlike Christmas and Easter, they do not alter, replace or distort the meaning of a festival of God or other biblical truths. These particular days are in harmony with the apostle Paul’s admonition for "giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 5:20).

SEE ALSO: