From: herbertwarmstrong@cog-web-svc.com   
      
   The Real Origin of Christmas   
      
   But if we got Christmas from the Roman Catholics, and they got it from   
   paganism, where did the pagans get it? Where, when, and what was its   
   real origin?   
      
   It is a chief custom of the corrupt system denounced all through Bible   
   prophecies and teachings under the name of Babylon. And it started and   
   originated in the original Babylon of ancient Nimrod! Yes, it stems from   
   roots whose beginning was shortly this side of the Flood!   
      
   Nimrod, grandson of Ham, son of Noah, was the real founder of the   
   Babylonish system that has gripped the world ever since--the system of   
   organized competition--of man-ruled governments and empires, based upon   
   the competitive and profit-making economic system. Nimrod built the   
   tower of Babel, the original Babylon, ancient Nineveh, and many other   
   cities. He organized this world's first kingdom. The name Nimrod, in   
   Hebrew, is derived from "Marad," meaning "he rebelled."   
      
    From many ancient writings, considerable is learned of this man, who   
   started the great organized worldly apostasy from God that has dominated   
   this world until now. Nimrod was so evil, it is said he married his own   
   mother, whose name was Semiramis. After Nimrod's untimely death, his   
   so-called mother-wife, Semiramis, propagated the evil doctrine of the   
   survival of Nimrod as a spirit being. She claimed a full-grown evergreen   
   tree sprang overnight from a dead tree stump, which symbolized the   
   springing forth unto new life of the dead Nimrod. On each anniversary of   
   his birth, she claimed, Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and leave   
   gifts upon it. December 25th was the birthday of Nimrod. This is the   
   real origin of the Christmas tree.   
      
   Through her scheming and designing, Semiramis became the Babylonian   
   "Queen of Heaven," and Nimrod, under various names, became the "divine   
   son of heaven." Through the generations, in this idolatrous worship,   
   Nimrod also became the false Messiah, son of Baal the Sun-god. In this   
   false Babylonish system, the "Mother and Child" (Semiramis and Nimrod   
   reborn) became chief objects of worship. This worship of "Mother and   
   Child" spread over the world. The names varied in different countries   
   and languages. In Egypt it was Isis and Osiris. In Asia, Cybele and   
   Deoius. In pagan Rome, Fortuna and Jupiterpuer. Even in Greece, China,   
   Japan, Tibet is to be found the counterpart of the Madonna, long before   
   the birth of Christ!   
      
   Thus, during the fourth and fifth centuries, when the pagans of the   
   Roman world were "accepting" the new popular "Christianity" by the   
   hundreds of thousands, carrying their old pagan customs and beliefs   
   along with them, merely cloaking them with Christian-sounding names, the   
   Madonna and "Mother and Child" idea also became popularized, especially   
   at Christmas time. Every Christmas season you'll hear sung and chanted   
   dozens of times the hymn "Silent Night, Holy Night," with its familiar   
   "Mother and Child" theme. We, who have been born in such a babylonish   
   world, reared and steeped in these things all our lives, have been   
   taught to revere these things as holy and sacred. We never questioned to   
   see where they came from--whether they came from the Bible, or from   
   pagan idolatry!   
      
   We are shocked to learn the truth--some, unfortunately, take offense at   
   the plain truth! But God commands His faithful ministers , "Cry aloud,   
   spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their   
   transgression!" Shocking as these facts are, they are the plain facts of   
   history and the Bible!   
      
   The real origin of Christmas goes back to ancient Babylon. It is bound   
   up in the organized apostasy which has gripped a deceived world these   
   many centuries! In Egypt, it was always believed that the son of Isis   
   (Egyptian name for "Queen of Heaven") was born December 25th. Paganism   
   celebrated this famous birthday over most of the known world for   
   centuries before the birth of Christ.   
      
   December 25th is not the birthday of Jesus the true Christ! The apostles   
   and early true Church never celebrated Christ's birthday at any time.   
   There is no command or instruction to celebrate it in the Bible--rather,   
   the celebrating of birthdays is a pagan, not a Christian custom, believe   
   it or not!   
      
   Thus the ancient idolatrous "Chaldean Mysteries," founded by this wife   
   of Nimrod, have been handed down through the pagan religions under new   
   Christian-sounding names.   
      
      
   Title: The Plain Truth About Christmas   
   Author: Herbert W Armstrong   
   Date: 1952, 1972, 1974   
   Type: Booklet   
   Type Media: PDF   
      
   https://cog-hwa.org/pub/bb/xmas.pdf   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)