Q: What is this picture of a fat guy in a red suit and a white beard?

A: A modern interpretation of a legendary character that has stolen and corrupted the name of Saint Nicholas, a 4th century bishop.

Q: So this is not an accurate depiction of the real Saint Nicholas?

A: No way.

Q: Did the real Saint Nicholas ever live at the North Pole?

A: Negative. He was a native of Asia Minor, the area now known as Turkey.

Q: Did the real Saint Nicholas ever ride a sled pulled by reindeer?

A: Nope.

Q: Climb up and down chimneys?

A: Ridiculous...

Q: Dress up in a red and white suit?

A: Modern day fabrication.

Q: Command a troop of busy elves?

A: Lies. All lies.

Q: Then who is this imposter?

A: Just that. An imposter.

Q: Is Saint Nicholas the Messiah or the 'Christ' spoken of in 'Christmas'?

A: Absolutely not.

Q: Is it, at least, written in the Holy Bible that December 25th is the birthday of the Messiah?

A: Nowhere is this written in the Holy Bible.

Q: Well surely it is written in the Holy Bible that we are supposed to celebrate the birthday of the Messiah. ...right?...

A: Wrong. Once again, nowhere is this written in the Holy Bible.

Q: Uh... well... um...certainly the word 'Christmas' appears in the Holy Bible? Right? Somewhere?... ... ...anywhere...? ...a little help here...?

A: Sorry... Can't help ya...

Q: Oh come on now! You can't be serious! ...so... uh... *ahem*... Exactly what are we really doing when we celebrate 'Christmas'?

A: Good question! Just...


...Exactly WHAT are we really doing when we celebrate 'Christmas'?!?

In God We Trust?


How can that be?

What we are really doing when we celebrate Christmas is just continuing the celebration of Natalis Solis Invicti or 'The Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun, a birthdate originally attributed to an ancient Roman sun-god.

The name 'Christmas' originated from the Old English 'Cristes Maesse' which translates as the 'Mass of Christ'. The Greek transliteration of 'Christ' begins with an 'X' which eventually spawned the English slang version 'Xmas'. Many mistakenly believe that this originated from a pagan desire to remove or 'X-out' the 'Christ' from 'Christmas'. Although this is not the origin of this slang, these sentiments of X-ing out 'Christ' now certainly apply. But this is, in fact, more noble than trying to put the 'Christ' back into 'Christmas' since the real Spirit of the Messiah never was truly in the celebration of Christmas day.

During the first two centuries following the crucifixion of the Messiah, the celebration of the birthday of the Messiah was unheard of and even considered sinful by the early church fathers. From Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911 edition, under 'Christmas':

As late as 245 Origen, in his eighth homily on Leviticus, repudiates as sinful the very idea of keeping the birthday of Christ "as if he were a king Pharaoh."

(See Genesis 40:20)

And from the Catholic Encyclopedia, under 'Christmas':

Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church. Irenaeus and Tertullian omit it from their lists of feasts; Origen, glancing perhaps at the discreditable imperial Natalitia, asserts (in Lev. Hom. viii in Migne, P.G., XII, 495) that in the Scriptures sinners alone, not saints, celebrate their birthday; Arnobius (VII, 32 in P.L., V, 1264) can still ridicule the "birthdays" of the gods.

According to The Oxford Companion To The Year, � Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens, 1999, under '25 December':

In the first three Christian centuries Jesus' birth had been speculatively assigned to various dates... but not celebrated as a festival, except as a subordinate, in the Eastern churches, to His baptism, or birth in the spirit, on 6 January.

The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol_ III Chamier - Draendorf [Page 47], under 'Christmas' states:

There is no historical evidence that our Lord's birthday was celebrated during the apostolic or early postapostolic times. The uncertainty that existed at the beginning of the third century in the minds of Hippolytus and others-Hippolytus earlier favored Jan. 2, Clement of Alexandria (Strom., i. 21) " the 25th day of Pachon " ( =May 20), while others, according to Clement, fixed upon Apr. 18 or 19 and Mar. 28-proves that no Christmas festival had been established much before the middle of the century Jan. 6 was earlier fixed upon as the date of the baptism or spiritual birth of Christ, and the feast of Epiphany (q.v.) was celebrated by the Basilidian Gnostics in the second century (cf. Clement of Alexandria, ut sup.) and by catholic Christians by about the beginning of the fourth century.

The birthday celebration of the Messiah had some ostensible roots starting around 200 A.D. as a form of double commemoration that was regarded as huge curiosity by the early episcopate and was held on January 6th. It was known (and still is) as Epiphany and commemorated the baptism of the Messiah (and other manifestations) as well as the birth of the Messiah. This was first spoken of by Clement of Alexandria who wrote:

"There are those, too, who over-curiously assign to the Birth of Our Saviour not only its year but its day, which they say to be on 25 Pachon (20 May) in the twenty-eighth year of Augustus. But the followers of Basilides celebrate the day of His Baptism too, spending the previous night in readings. And they say that it was the 15th of the month Tybi [10 January] of the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar. And some say that it was observed the llth of the same month [6 January]."

Catholic Encyclopedia (under 'Epiphany')

However, according to this and other equally reputable historical references �as cited above� the birthday of the Messiah may have possibly been on January 2nd, January 10th, March 28th, April 18th, April 19th or May 20th. In fact, The Catholic Encyclopedia (under 'Christmas') goes on to say, "...there is no month in the year to which respectable authorities have not assigned Christ's birth."

Meanwhile, in many pagan cults, the celebration of the winter solstice had long been in effect. These primitive cults and religions were largely based on the need to worship the creation instead of the true Creator, Yahweh, and thus became highly anthromorphic. Naturally, the one thing held in greatest reverence by the heathen was the sun since it was, in their eyes, the bringer of light and warmth to the earth and thereby was the source of all life. This resulted in sun-worship and hence sun-gods, the birthdays of which were highly revered and celebrated at the exact point when the sun began to make its triumphant return from the southern hemisphere and the days began to get longer; namely, the winter solstice. The pagan sun-god which was most prominent in Rome in the first few centuries following the crucifixion of the Messiah was Mithra, a Persian deity, that was essentially unleashed several centuries earlier following the conquests of Alexander the Great. Subsequently, when the Roman Empire conquered Greece, the Romans, who were quite open to assimilating foreign beliefs and traditions, wholeheartedly gobbled up Mithraism and adopted it as their own. The Julian calendar mistakenly designated December 25th (instead of the 21st) as the winter solstice and in 274 A.D., Roman emperor Aurelian officially declared December 25th as 'Natalis Solis Invicti' or 'The Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun'. By this time, Mithraism had become one of the 'great religions of the Roman Empire' especially embraced by the Roman legions and was reaching the climax of its popularity. Mithraism had, in fact, become more general than and was providing the stiffest competition to Christianity. From the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol_ VII Liutprand - Moralities [Page 419]

This religion contested with Christianity for the religious hegemony of the Roman world more closely than any other of the pagan cults in the syncretism which marked the religious practise of the later Roman empire. Renan says of it, and without exaggeration: "We may say that if Christianity had been arrested in its growth by some mortal malady, the world would have been Mithraistic . . .

It was amidst this strong pagan environment that the Catholic church attempted to break out of infancy and take its first teetering steps towards becoming a full-fledged religion.

In 313 A.D. Constantine the Great, a Roman emperor, won a decisive battle that he attributed to a dream vision in which he saw a cross bearing the inscription "In this sign wilt thou conquer". As a result of this victory, he conferred with Licinius, another Roman emperor, and together they issued the famous joint 'edict of toleration' (Milan, 313 AD) which freed Christians from the persecutions they were suffering under previous regimes. Appearances would have it then that Constantine, who prior to this dedicated his coins to Sol Deus Invictus, the Roman sun-god, had converted to Christianity. But, in fact, he refrained from making this conversion official and even shortly before his death in 337 Constantine confirmed the privileges of the pagan priests of the 'ancient gods'. On his deathbed, however, he finally accepted baptism. This much-touted deathbed conversion became the focus of the legacy left behind by Constantine and hence earned him the title of 'the Great' for having apparently paved the way to allow Christianity to firmly establish itself in Rome. In reality, however, Constantine did not so much to allow Christianity into Rome as he did to allow 'Rome' into Christianity.

As stated above, Constantine was lukewarm at best to becoming a true disciple of the Messiah. He showed many pagan tendencies which belied a true conversion. The edict of toleration, in fact, sought to accept not just Christianity but all religions. The word 'deity' in the wording of the edict was specifically chosen so as to not affront the pagans or exclude a heathen interpretation. In this manner and many others Constantine continued to watch over the heathen. For example, although he forbad the practicing in magical rituals in private, such as haruspex (soothsaying, fortune telling), he allowed it in open. Those wishing to practice these rituals were to go to public altars or sacred places. There, astonishingly enough, declared this supposedly born-again Christian, these practices were okay. He, in fact, even ordained that some of these pagan practices take place:

"We do not forbid", said the emperor, "the observance of the old usages in the light of day." And in an ordinance of the same year, intended for the Roman city prefects, Constantine directed that if lightning struck an imperial palace, or a public building, the haruspices were to seek out according to ancient custom what the sign might signify, and their interpretation was to be written down and reported to the emperor.

Catholic Enycyclopedia, under 'Constantine'

This blatant support of the ancient mystery cults continued after Constantine defeated Licinius and became the head honcho of the Roman Empire:

Constantine was now sole ruler of the empire, and in a reign of peace he set about rebuilding the strength of old Rome. Constantine continued to tolerate paganism and even to encourage the imperial cult...

Columbia Encyclopedia 2001 edition, under 'Constantine'

It is at this point that some like to say that Christianity officially became the state religion of Rome but this did not actually happen until 391 A.D. (Penguin Atlas of World History, Volume I, page 103). Even when Constantine decided to move the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople, the ceremony inaugurating the new 'Christian' capital was anything but sacred:

In the dedication of Constantinople in 330 a ceremonial half pagan, half Christian was used. The chariot of the sun-god was set in the market-place, and over its head was placed the Cross of Christ, while the Kyrie Eleison was sung. Shortly before his death Constantine confirmed the privileges of the priests of the ancient gods.

Catholic Enycyclopedia, under 'Constantine'

No great indignation over these blatant compromises by Constantine was registered by the Christian episcopate in Rome at the time. Some bishops, in fact, even became quite enamored with the emperor and elevated him to the status of divine authority which, of course, greatly helped his political career.

On the other hand, the imperial power was increased by receiving a religious consecration. The Church tolerated the cult of the emperor under many forms. It was permitted to speak of the divinity of the emperor, of the sacred palace, the sacred chamber and of the altar of the emperor, without being considered on this account an idolater. From this point of view Constantine's religious change was relatively trifling; it consisted of little more than the renunciation of a formality. For what his predecessors had aimed to attain by the use of all their authority and at the cost of incessant bloodshed, was in truth only the recognition of their own divinity; Constantine gained this end, though he renounced the offering of sacrifices to himself. Some bishops, blinded by the splendour of the court, even went so far as to laud the emperor as an angel of God, as a sacred being, and to prophesy that he would, like the Son of God, reign in heaven. It has consequently  been asserted that Constantine favoured Christianity merely from political motives, and he has been regarded as an enlightened despot who made use of religion only to advance his policy.

Ibid.

All in all, the early church fathers and bishops, by association with Roman emperor and his authority, assimilated the same compromises that he was guilty of. Thus they incorporated a need to placate the great mass of pagan sun-worshippers who were still adhering to and were still receiving, to a certain extent, official sanction from the emperor. Moreover, newly liberated Christians at street level were likewise falling under the spell of sun-worship celebrations. Either out of a sense of politeness for their pagan neighbours or just plain envy, they began to indulge in the festivities. One is reminded of the popular saying: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. It was for this very reason that the Catholic church decided �either in 336 A.D. or 354 A.D. depending on the source� to adopt December 25th, the Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun as the official birthday of the Christian Messiah. But don't take my word for it. Crack open any one of numerous reputable historical references and see for yourself:

...On such grounds certain Latins as early as 354 may have transferred the human birthday from the 6th of January to the 25th of December, which was then a Mithraic feast and is... termed Natalis invicti solis, or birthday of the unconquered Sun.

Encyclopedia Britannica 1911 edition, under Christmas

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The well-known solar feast, however, of Natalis Invicti, celebrated on 25 December, has a strong claim on the responsibility for our December date...

Catholic Encyclopedia, under 'Christmas'

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It is held by some scholars that the birth of Christ as "Light of the World" was made analogous to the rebirth of the sun in order to make Christianity more meaningful to pagan converts...

Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 6, under 'Christmas' � 1979

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The pagan Saturnalia and Brumalia were too deeply entrenched in popular custom to be set aside by Christian influence. The recognition of Sunday (the day of Phaabus and Mithras as well as the Lord's Day) by the emperor Constantine as a legal holiday, along with the influence of Manicheism, which identified the Son of God with the physical sun, may have led Christians of the fourth century to feel the appropriateness of making the birthday of the Son of God coincide with that of the physical sun. The pagan festival with its riot and merrymaking was so popular that Christians were glad of an excuse to continue its celebration with little change in spirit or in manner...

The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol_ III Chamier - Draendorf [Page 48], under 'Christmas'

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The first mention of December 25 as the birth date of Jesus occurred in A.D. 336 in an early Roman calendar. The celebration of this day as Jesus' birth was probably influenced by pagan (unchristian) festivals held at that time. The ancient Romans held year-end celebrations to honor Saturn, their harvest god' and Mithras, the god of light.

World Book Encyclopedia, under 'Christmas' - � 1993 World Book Inc.

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The Roman Church, however, having previously despised the divine birthdays familiar in the pagan world, responded to the Arians of the East, who made the Son inferior to the Father, by adopting the solar feast of 25 December as Christ's Nativity...

The Oxford Companion To The Year, � Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens, 1999, under '25 December'

An unknown annotator of Barsalibi who was a Syrian bishop contemporary of the 12 century wrote (Assemani, Bibl. Orient., II, 163):

"The Lord was born in the month of January on the same day on which we celebrate the Epiphany; for of old the feasts of the Nativity and Epiphany were kept on one and the same day, because on the same day He was born and baptized. The reason why our fathers changed the solemnity celebrated on 6 January, and transferred it to 25 December follows: it was the custom of the heathens to celebrate the birthday of the sun on this very day, 25 December, and on it they lit lights on account of the feast. In these solemnities and festivities the Christians too participated. When, therefore, the teachers observed that the Christians were inclined to this festival, they took counsel and decided that the true birth-feast be kept on this day, and on 6 Jan., the feast of the Epiphanies. Simultaneously, therefore, with this appointment the custom prevailed of burning lights until the sixth day."

Catholic Encyclopedia, (under 'Epiphany')

If this Catholic assimilation of pagan customs began as a neighbourly gesture, it certainly did not stay that way for long. By the middle of the fifth century, many so-called 'Christians' were taking sun-worship very seriously:

Leo the Great in his day says that it was the custom of many Christians to stand on the steps of the church of St. Peter and pay homage to the sun by obeisance and prayers (cf. Euseb. Alexand. in Mai, "Nov. Patr. Bibl.", 11, 523; Augustine, "Enarratio in Ps. x"; Leo I, Serm. xxvi).

Catholic Encyclopedia under 'Constantine'

Compare this with Ezekiel's vision:

15 Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.

16 And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD'S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.

Ezekiel 8: 15, 16

Nowadays, as we bid each other "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!" we fail to recognize the blatant connection this has with ancient pagan festivities. The adoption of the birthday celebration of a popular pagan sun-god as the birthday of Yahushua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) happened so subliminally and has been in effect for such a long time that, in retrospect, we fail to see it for what it really was and still is...

...An utter blaspemy.    

Likewise, all the modern trappings of Christmas such as the Christmas tree, holly, ivy, mistletoe, gift giving and hearth fires are based on ancient pagan rituals which have absolutely no roots in anything commanded in Mosaic law or subsequently by Yahushua the Messiah.

The idea of merry-making at Christmas time definitely originated in the Roman festival of Saturnalia, which was in honor of the Roman god of harvests. This festival was initially celebrated on December 17th but was soon extended to the entire week following this date. Saturnalia, essentially, was just one big party of feasting, drinking, gift giving and general debauchery in the typical style of a Roman holiday. This hardly sounds any different from modern-day Christmas festivities.

Evergreens have always been held by pagan sun-worshippers as a symbol of immortality because of their ability to remain green all year long. Hence they became an integral part of sun-worship celebrations commemorating the winter solstice and were used as decorations to entice the sun to return from the south and to ward off evil spirits that might prevent this. Nowhere in the Holy Bible is this custom ordained or proclaimed as a holy endeavour. Holly, ivy and mistletoe are all evergreens which were originally used according to superstitious beliefs. Mistletoe was especially venerated by the ancient Druids. The fact that evergreens survive today as part of a commemoration dedicated to the Messiah is an outright abomination. We fail to regard this as such because we are strongly propagandized by popular tradition which preys upon mankind's desire to always be part of a tribe. To go against 'the norm' necessitates subjecting oneself to ridicule and derision and hence shames us into overlooking plain historical fact.

Once again, numerous reputable historical references clearly attest to the pagan origins of Christmas customs and rituals:

Various peoples in northern Europe held festivals in mid-December to celebrate the end of the harvest season. As part of all these celebrations, the people prepared special foods, decorated their homes with greenery, and joined in singing and gift-giving. These customs gradually became part of the Christmas celebration.

World Book Encyclopedia, under 'Christmas' - � 1993 World Book Inc.

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The English adapted many older folk festivals to their Christmas. In the Middle Ages, English Christmases were times of great hilarity and good cheer. It was in this period that the idea of the Lord of Misrule reached its greatest expression. A common person or a servant of a great lord was chosen to rule with absolute authority during the Christmas season, and often his "rule" resulted in uncontrolled frivolity. This tradition may have originated during the Saturnalia, when slaves became the equals of their masters.

Burning the Yule log was adapted to english custom from the ancient Scandanavian practice of kindling huge bonfires in honor of the winter solstice. The idea of using evergreens at Christmastime also came to England from pre-Christian Northern European beliefs. Celtic and Teutonic tribes honored these plants at their winter solstice festivals as symbolic of eternal life...

Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 6, under 'Christmas' � 1979

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At his festival, the Saturnalia, held at first on Dec. 17 but later extended for several days thereafter, gifts were exchanged, schools and courts were closed, war was outlawed, and slaves and masters ate at the same table.

Columbia Encyclopedia, under 'Saturn' Fifth Edition Copyright �1994, 1995 Columbia University Press.

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YULE, the season of Christmas (q.v.). This word is chiefly used alone as an archaism or in poetry or poetical language, but is more common in combination, as in " yule-tide," " yule-log," &c. The Old English word appears in various forms, e.g. gedla, iula, geol, gehhol, gehhel; cognate forms are Icel, j6l; Dan. juul; Swed. jul. It was the name of two months of the year, December and January, the one the " former yule " (se aerra gedla), the other the " after yule " (se aeftera gedla), as coming before and after the winter solstice (Cotton MS. Tib. B. i.; and Bede, De Temporum Ratione, 13, quoted in Skeat, Etym. Diet., 1898). According to A. Fick (Vergleichendes Worterbuch der Indogermanischen Sprachen, vol. iii. 245, 1874) in proper meaning is noise, clamour, the season being one of rejoicing at the turning of the year among Scandinavian peoples before Christian times.

ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA 1911 edition, under 'Yule'

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Cards and presents. Pagan customs centering round the January calends gravitated to Christmas. Tiele (Yule and Christmas, London, 1899) has collected many interesting examples. The stren� (eacute;trennes) of the Roman 1 January (bitterly condemned by Tertullian, de Idol., xiv and x, and by Maximus of Turin, Hom. ciii, de Kal. gentil., in P. L., LVII, 492, etc.) survive as Christmas presents, cards, boxes.

Greenery. Gervase of Tilbury (thirteen century) says that in England grain is exposed on Christmas night to gain fertility from the dew which falls in response to "Rorate C�li"; the tradition that trees and flowers blossomed on this night is first quoted from an Arab geographer of the tenth century, and extended to England. In a thirteenth-century French epic, candles are seen on the flowering tree... From this belief of the calends practice of greenery decorations (forbidden by Archbishop Martin of Braga, c. 575, P. L., LXXIII -- mistletoe was bequeathed by the Druids) developed the Christmas tree, first definitely mentioned in 1605 at Strasburg, and introduced into France and England in 1840 only, by Princess Helena of Mecklenburg and the Prince Consort respectively.

Catholic Encyclopedia, under 'Christmas'

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Mistletoes are widely used for Christmas decoration. The custom of kissing under a branch of mistletoe apparently originated among the Druids and other early Europeans, to whom mistletoe was sacred. From early times it has been associated with folklore and superstition; it was thought to cure many ills.

Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition Copyright �1994, 1995 Columbia University Press, under 'mistletoe'

But, by far, the most insulting in the eyes of the Messiah of all things associated with Christmas tradition must be the immense popularity of Santa Claus. It is astonishing to think that the average North American child today will more readily associate Christmas with the legend of a jolly fat, bearded man in a red suit carrying gifts than with the promise of eternal life granted by the sacred Son of the Creator of heaven and earth.

Saint Nicholas of Myra, to set the record straight, was a 4th century bishop of Asia Minor (now known as Turkey) of which the Catholic Encyclopedia states "there is scarcely anything historically certain about him". This is corroborated by the Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911 edition which says of Saint Nicholas: "All the accounts that have come down to us are of a purely legendary character, and it is impossible to find any single incident confirmed historically."

And despite that a true disciple of the Messiah should readily believe in miracles and supernatural powers, it does not take a historical genius to figure out that there is no such thing as Santa Claus or any resident of the North Pole that dresses up in a red suit and flies through the night on Christmas Eve in a sled pulled by magical reindeer delivering gifts down chimneys to people all over the world. The legend of Santa Claus, which everyone knows to be utterly false with its absurd suppositions, subliminally trains the masses to ridicule the belief in the supernatural and hence to disbelieve in the very real supernatural essence of the true namesake of Christmas, Jesus Christ or, as He should be rightfully called, Yahushua the Messiah.

It is important to also note that the day officially dedicated to Saint Nicholas is not December 25th but December 6th and is considered a holy day by the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church. When Dutch colonialists began settling America in New Amsterdam (destined to become New York) they brought with them the tradition of celebrating the day of Saint Nicholas whom they called Sint Nikolaas. They eventually corrupted this into Sinterklaas which the English mispronounced as Santa Claus. The day given to Santa Claus became Christmas Day instead of the original December 6th and the Dutch childrens' practice of leaving out wooden shoes to receive sweets and little toys was Anglicized into leaving out Christmas stockings (since English children did not possess wooden shoes). In German tradition, Saint Nicholas was accompanied by a black faced servant, Knecht Ruprecht, or according to Dutch legend Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) who spanked and/or carried off the bad children. This part of the legend was dropped by the English and simply restated as Santa leaving a lump of coal for those children whom he considered as unworthy of gifts. No mention is made of this black slave in the famous Clement Clarke Moore poem of 1823, A Visit From St. Nicholas, a.k.a. Twas The Night Before Christmas which helped tremendously to popularize the legend of Santa Claus in early nineteenth century America.

Note also that the red and white suit that Santa is now commonly portrayed to wear is due to the avarice of Coca-Cola who hired artist Haddon Sundbloom to portray Santa as such in advertisements beginning in 1931. Prior to this, Santa's suit had been portrayed in a variety of colors, including black and green. These new 'Coca-Cola Santa' advertisements were initially designed to circumvent a restriction that prohibited the advertising of Coca-Cola to children. This was rooted in the fact that Coca-Cola originally contained cocaine, the active ingredient of the Coca plant, which rendered this soft drink inappropriate for children to consume. Although all cocaine was removed from Coca-Cola by 1903, the reputation of being associated with dope lived on. Hence, a lawsuit was eventually levelled against Coca-Cola in 1911 by the US government concerning the caffeine that still remained in the recipe and, to defend itself against this, Coca-Cola maintained that children did not drink the beverage (although everyone knew that this was simply not true). Nevertheless, since this time Coca-Cola imposed a restriction prohibiting children under the age of 12 to appear in their ads. Santa Claus, subsequently, became the company's new subliminal pitch man to children and, naturally, what better way to reinforce this publicity than to have Santa dressed in the colors of Coca-Cola, namely, red and white. Santa's image was also cleaned up by dropping 'the stump of a pipe he held in his teeth' �according to Moore's poem� and likewise he was no longer an elf.

These are but a few examples, just in the past couple of centuries, of how the representation of Saint Nicholas was dramatically altered . Compare today's version of Santa Claus to icons of Saint Nicholas in the Middle Ages to register the full impact of how much the image of Saint Nicholas has been corrupted over time.

Icon of St Nicholas 13th-14th century Egg tempera on panel, gesso ground, 107 x 82 cm The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

Santa Claus, circa 1940 U.S.

The gift-giving associated with Saint Nicholas was unheard of before the 11th century where the legend �one of many� arose that Saint Nicholas gave three bags of gold to a man forced to prostitute his three daughters in order to make ends meet. It was about this time that the cult of Saint Nicholas began when, allegedly, an expedition was organized to seize his remains and transfer them to Bari, Italy. This, in turn, gave birth to all subsequent legends of this pious man of the late Roman Empire who would probably be astonished �were he alive today� to think that a gross corruption of his legacy had finally upstaged the Messiah Himself.

All totalled, the modern-day Santa Claus �a sheer fantasy� has become the patron 'saint' of a day dedicated to the birthday of an ancient pagan Roman sun-god called Sol Deus Invicti. This date we now call 'Christmas' and we commonly celebrate it, replete with many other pagan traditions, as the birthday of our Messiah, Yahushua, sacred Son of the Creator of heaven and earth.

To contemplate all this in its true light, as dedicated disciples of Yahushua, is utterly embarassing.

In the West, most specifically, in America, those who truly enjoy Christmas are those with money. Those without money, like house-pets, are fed scraps from the table just like any other time of the year. The only difference is that at Christmas time they may get a few more scraps than usual. On Christmas morning, the poor open extra cans of creamed corn acquired from the local holiday food drive while the rich unwrap brand new laptop computers. A few weeks later, even the extra scraps disappear and the less fortunate become invisible once again as the pressures of a dog-eat-dog capitalist system quickly reclaims the minds of the masses.

The bottom line is that Christmas affords an annual one-time opportunity for would-be Christians to make a pious pretense of caring for the poor and needy while completely abandoning even the appearance of alms-giving all the rest of the year. Moreover, after examining this 'holy' day a little more closely, anyone can see that the ones who truly benefit the most at Christmas time are not the poor and the needy but the rich and the well-heeled. Christmas is now the merchant's delight and the clerk's despair. Big manufacturers and corporate retailers are the true benefactors of yuletide charitableness raking in huge profits from a general public hyped up on the legend of Santa Claus and the distilled traditions of ancient Roman Saturnalia. The final result is that a large portion of the population engages in an ultimate consumerist free-for-all that makes the rich richer and poor poorer. It is ironic that anyone attempting to abstain from these festivities, i.e. put the 'Christ' back into 'Christmas', is immediately accused of playing the Scrooge and of failing to respect the 'Christmas spirit'. Charles Dickens' famous tale, A Christmas Carol, may have unwittingly been the best pro-capitalist propaganda ever written as many businesses depend heavily on revenue generated during the holiday season to call the entire fiscal year a success.

Essentially what happens every December 25th is that a pseudo-religious holy day disguised as an event dedicated to "peace and goodwill to all mankind" coerces many of us here in the West, through guilt, to participate in a debacle of consumption. Then, after surviving the hangover from drinking too much 'Christmas cheer' and after cleaning up the mess of wrapping paper, pine needles, and dirty dishpans, we begin agonizing over credit card payments and begin making dedicated plans to lose the weight gained by gorging on Christmas turkey. Then, in the new year back at the office, we ask each other what we did for Christmas as if all this debauchery was some kind of sacred obligation.

Meanwhile, Americans tell pollsters that although 63 per cent of them regard Christmas as a religious holiday, 72 per cent of them think that they spend too much on presents. In light of all this, one has to seriously question:

Are there any pilots in this airplane?

If one truly wanted to respect the Christmas spirit or more accurately, the will of Yahushua the Messiah, one would do so all year long and not just on one day arbitrarily designated as such 1700 years ago by Church fathers who were only trying to kowtow to a pagan solar cult. If we, in the West, truly wished 'peace and goodwill to all mankind', we would take into serious consideration the 3 billion people on planet earth who are currently living on less than 2 dollars a day. To put that into perspective, you just blew your entire day's budget on a cup of coffee. And keep in mind these unfortunate souls suffer this every day of the year, not just at Christmas time.

In short, if you truly wanted to celebrate the spirit of Christ, you would not celebrate Christmas. Show some real moxy �the type that is willing to suffer a social crucifixion of peer pressure applied to you by a pack of devout bacchanalians conforming to the norm� and treat December 25th just like any other day. Radical? Sure. But think of the benefits. According to the national American average, you will save $649 by not having to buy presents. According to the National Mental Health Association you will eliminate the 60 per cent chance you have of suffering from stress related depression brought on by Christmas. According to historical knowledge, or more precisely, a lack of historical knowledge, you will avoid gambling on the odds of only 1 in 365 that you are truly celebrating the actual date that the Messiah was born on. This is the reality. Stop living in a dream world.

The celebration of the birth of the Messiah on December 25th is a sham.

Dare to call its bluff.

Q: Will they call me Scrooge?

A: Of course they will.

Q: Will they think I'm crazy?

A: Of course they will.

Q: Will they respect me when I quote this scripture? ~

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat...

A: Probably not.

Q: I will be ostracized and cast out from social circles. How shall I endure this suffering?

A: This is not suffering. This is suffering:

And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross. And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down they watched him there; And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, Chapter 27, verses 28-50

Kick the habit.


I wish you peace and blessings... today, and every other day of the year.


~ Matt Bell, November 2002