Historicity
of the pagan culture is real enough as is the fresh emergence of Christianity
as a response to the public impact of the ascended spiritual master and the
body of his teachings. Add in the
dramatic aspects of his exit from his chosen stage and we have many motivated
spiritually touched witnesses who drive the early emergence of his
following. This ultimately produces an
unique problem. What do you do to commemorate the high points of your new
savior and what do you do about all the statuary holidays already in force?
The
obvious thing to do is to simply coopt the days in question when everyone is
celebrating anyway. Thus we discover the
universal appeal of the Christmas tradition throughout the Roman Empire, gift
giving included. And since the Passion
of Christ took place during the high Passover holy days of the Jewish calendar,
we get the rest of it nicely adapted. In
other words there is nothing unusual here at all.
At best we
have a sordid attempt to trivialize the story of Christ with the obvious
comparable and natural accumulations that are attached to a cultural hero. All that is garbage instantly shed upon
grasping the spiritual content of his ministry and physical and now scientific
evidence of his hard resurrection. It
astounds me how the last stunning report on the shroud of Turin has been
ignored for two years now. It turns out
to be direct evidence of a body scanning process we cannot yet emulate in any
fashion.
This
author accepted the spiritual aspect of Jesus and passed over into a new
lifeway of the intellect.
This article began as
something quite different than what it has become. The original title of
the post was to be “Defending Christmas”. As I pondered the content that
needed to be addressed, I felt pressed by the Holy Spirit to change the name to
“Defending Christ the King.” And it is my heart’s desire to do so, as He
has been so faithful to defend me.
In my previous
existence as one who reveled in a state of rebellion, I was engaged in a
war. I knew it was a war. I had declared it as such. I thought
it was a war against ignorance and mythology and pitifully blind faith.
As a new creation, I can look back now and recognize it for what it truly
was. A war against truth. The Truth. The only thing that is true
in a world of deception. I was in a battle against the very existence of
Jesus Christ. I bought, believed, promoted and proclaimed the antichrist
gospel. I was unwittingly peddling lies and had become an evangelist in
favor of a fallen world.
Accepting Jesus was an
unexpected and amazing turn of events! Almost instantly, I recognized my
unique position as one who’d gone from declaring a lie to defending THE
truth. I began to unravel the errors of my previous arguments against His
existence, and I wondered what spirit had overcome me, a reasonably intelligent
woman, to convince me that such provably incorrect information was true.
[ this makes the observer an excellent informant – arclein ]
In the past year, and
particularly in the past several months, I’ve become increasingly alarmed as I
see so many of the arguments from my former self surfacing inside Christian
circles, AGAINST Christians, FROM Christians. My heart broke over and
over as I watched the same spirit from which I’d been delivered, now
influencing fellow believers; lies being peddled in the guise of Biblical
truth. The obvious elitism and sense of superiority displayed by those
who were now attacking Christianity from within were startlingly similar to
that which I’d experienced years ago.
Never has this spirit
been more prevalent than it is this year during the Christmas season. The
shameless promotion of the pagan roots lie has found its way into the fold and
is corrupting hearts and minds at an alarming rate.
The
Pagan Roots Lie
One
of the most prevalent memes used by atheists against Christians is the concept
that Jesus is a mythical character based upon previous pagan “dying and rising”
messiah archetypes. Most of these claims have been debunked
ad nauseum, but they continue to rear their ugly heads. If you aren’t familiar
with said debunking,CLICK HERE – or
you can listen to my interview with Cris Putnam wherein he
tackles the subject skillfully.
The thrust of the
argument is that Jesus is a copycat savior based on either a singular pagan
deity or an amalgam of pagan deities, depending upon with whom you speak.
“Debunkers” like to claim that the concept of the Trinity is based upon pagan
myth, that all Christian traditions are based upon pagan myth, and that
essentially all of Christendom is one big fat pile of baloney.
It would behoove the
dogmatic atheist to use all ammo in his arsenal to attempt to show that Jesus
didn’t exist. You can’t really blame him for trying. For him, it is a
matter of self preservation, for if Jesus is real, then he’s in big
trouble. But what do you do when people who claim to believe in Jesus use
the exact same methodology against orthodox Christians?
That’s right.
Self proclaimed believers are using Christianity against Christians by claiming
that Christianity as we know it is a false construct comprised largely of pagan
influences.
The purpose of this
post is not to tackle all issues related to the pagan roots lie. There
are far too many claims floating around, and there are apologists and
researchers far more skilled than I who are tackling these issues in a
scholarly manner on a regular basis. I will include resources at the bottom of
this post. For now, I want to stick to a couple of specific areas.
I believe very strongly that the spirit of deception that grips non-believers
and causes them to throw reason out the window in favor of the pagan roots lie,
is the same spirit that has managed to plant a seed of confusion in a small but
stubborn segment of professed believers.
First,
let’s just cover one basic issue. It really does not matter what any
pagan reveler of antiquity practiced or preached or wrote or worshiped.
If we believe what the Bible teaches, we know that before a single pagan walked
the Earth, God Almighty brought all things into existence. There is
literally nothing that a pagan touched that wasn’t touched by God first.
Thus, for a Christian to argue that any pagan philosophy predated what we know
to be true about the nature of God is illogical. God came first.
Upon this we can all agree. However, in this very same logic train, we
can begin to understand why those who would promote the pagan roots lie would
begin their attack with the Trinity. [1] Redefining God’s triune nature is necessary
in order to make any of their arguments stick. And this is what we’re
going to continue to see - further redefining, retooling, rejecting and
retracting portions of scripture in an effort to fit their pet theories into a
manageable box.
O
Holy Night
When I was a lost and
confused girl, not knowing what I believed, there was one time of year when I
was open to hearing about the Gospel. That time was Christmas. I’d
show up for church and would hear about His miraculous coming. I’d hear
amazing hymns that filled me with reverence for this Jesus – born in Bethlehem
to be the savior of the whole world. My rebellion was deeply entrenched,
but the seeds planted during those special moments when I was told “Fall on
your Knees!”, have clearly come to fruition. I have accepted His call and
He is the Lord of my life.
Imagine my confusion
and sadness when, years later, as a Christian, I saw a group of believers who
scorned and mocked that uniquely powerful time. I’d ask myself, “What is
this all about?”
Let’s clear a few
things up. I do not proclaim that Jesus was born on December 25th.
I do not deny that SOME seasonal traditions common to our culture may have
vague similarities to pagan pactices. I do not engage in tree
worship. I do not honor a nebulous sun god. I do not recognize
Nimrod as my eternal king. I do not burn a yule log. I do not
believe in Santa Claus. I am afraid of elves.
The claims of those
who believe Christmas to be a dirty dirty pagan festival full of perverted
revelry include, but are not limited to:
1.
Christmas trees are downright evil. They alternatively represent Nimrod
worship, goddess Ashtoreth worship, or just a good old fashioned phallic
symbol. They claim that Jeremiah 10 explicitly lays out why Christmas
trees are evil. These claims are easily refuted HERE and HERE.
2. Jesus was not
born on December 25, but a WHOLE bunch of other gods were.
3. Catholics
usurped the pagan traditions in an effort to make Christianity more palatable
to heathens, thus anyone who celebrates Christmas is a heathen by proxy. Or a
Catholic.
4. The Jesus
worshiped by orthodox Christians is not the same Jesus as worshiped by the true
believers who embrace a Herbrew Roots Movement. (It is also common for
HRM folks to deny that they are HRM, knowing that it is rather bad PR to
publicly associate with HRM)
It is important to
note that much of what these anti-Christmas crusaders would have you believe
about the pagan roots of Christmas extends into their philosophy about the
pagan roots of Christianity as a whole. For those who do not worship by
adhering to OT law, they will say that you are not doing it right, that you’re
essentially an accidental pagan/Catholic, and that you may even end up shining
their shoes in Heaven… if you make it there at all.
But where does all of
this come from? Surely if all that they say is true, it should give anyone who
fears the Lord pause, right?
Much
of what is spread around in atheist circles (and now in many “christian”
circles) about the pagan roots lie originates from a book called The Two Babylons by
Alexander Hislop. His research has been expounded upon by various
“researchers”, perhaps most prominently a woman who refers to herself as D.M. Murdock or Acharya S.
It is unclear what her actual name is, but it is abundantly clear that she is
an anti-Christian propagandist and a shameless New Ager, and many of the
current claims about the pagan roots of Christianity find their way back to her
research. And no doubt she relies heavily on the claims of Hislop.
Hislop’s Two Babylons was written in
1853 and was published in 1919. He was a Prebyterian theologian and his
works have been embraced by conspiracy theorists
on the fringes of Christianity ever since. According to one reviewer:
It
has been recognized by scholars as discredited and has been called a tribute to
historical inaccuracy and know-nothing religious bigotry with shoddy
scholarship, blatant dishonesty and a nonsensical thesis. Although scholarship
has shown the picture presented by Hislop to be absurd and based on an
exceedingly poor understanding of historical Babylon and its religion, his
book remains popular among some fundamentalist protestant Christians.
Over
time, some who once embraced the Hislop theory that modern Christianity is a
pseudo-pagan creation by early Catholicism, have recanted their support.
A great example of this is Ralph Woodrow. He once supported the findings
of Hislop, going so far as to write his own book titled Babylon Mystery Religion.
Woodrow has since pulled this book out of print due to what he later recognized
as falsehood and misinformation as taught by Hislop. In an explanation
for why he has since recanted his stance on his previous pagan roots beliefs,
Woodrow says the following:
What may seem to have a connection, upon further investigation,
has no connection at all!….
By this method, atheists have long sought to discredit the Bible
and Christianity altogether—not just the Roman Catholic Church.
By this method, one could condemn Protestant and evangelical
denominations like the Assemblies of God, Baptist, Church of Christ, Lutheran,
Methodist, Nazarene, etc. Basic things like prayer, and kneeling in prayer,
would have to be rejected, because pagans knelt and prayed to their gods. Water
baptism would have to be rejected, for pagans had numerous rites involving
water, etc.
By this method, the BIBLE itself would need to be rejected as
pagan. All of the following practices or beliefs mentioned in the Bible, were
also known among pagans—raising hands in worship, taking off shoes on holy
ground, a holy mountain, a holy place in a temple, offering sacrifices without
blemish, a sacred ark, city of refuge, bringing forth water from a rock, laws
written on stone, fire appearing on a person’s head, horses of fire, the
offering of first fruits, tithes, etc.
By this method, the LORD himself would be pagan. The woman
called Mystery Babylon had a cup in her hand; the Lord has a cup in his hand
(Psa. 75:8). Pagan kings sat on thrones and wore crowns; the Lord sits on a
throne and wears a crown (Rev. 1:4; 14:14). Pagans worshipped the sun; the Lord
is the “Sun of righteousness” (Mal. 4:2). Pagan gods were likened to stars; the
Lord is called “the bright and morning star” (Rev. 22:16). Pagan gods had
temples dedicated to them; the Lord has a temple (Rev. 7:15). Pagan gods were
pictured with wings; the Lord is pictured with wings (Psa. 91:4).
Here is a list of the some of the unsubstantiated claims that
are made about the religion of ancient Babylon:
• The Babylonians went to a confessional and confessed sins to
priests who wore black clergy garments.
• Their king, Nimrod, was born on December 25. Round decorations
on Christmas trees and round communion wafers honored him as the Sun-god.
• Sun-worshippers went to their temples weekly, on Sunday, to
worship the Sun-god.
• Nimrod’s wife was Semiramis, who claimed to be the Virgin
Queen of Heaven, and was the mother of Tammuz.
• Tammuz was killed by a wild boar when he was age 40; so 40
days of Lent were set aside to honor his death.
• The Babylonians wept for him on “Good Friday.” They worshipped
a cross-the initial letter of his name.
It
is amazing how unsubstantiated teachings like these circulate—and are believed.
One can go to any library, check any history book about ancient Babylon, none
of these things will be found. They are not historically accurate, but are
based on an arbitrary piecing together of bits and pieces of mythology.
The “connections”
drawn about the paganization of Christianity and Christmas are numerous and in
most cases, they are false. There
are so many resources available that refute claims about Osiris, Horus, Mithras,
and other sun gods having been born/celebrated on December 25th. Scholars
both Christian and secular predominately conclude that there are no original
sources that point to this date as the universal birth date of pretty much
every pagan god of antiquity, which is what most pagan rooters would have you
believe.
However,
it is not uncommon to see proponents of the pagan roots lie telling you to
simply “Google it” for more information. Why? Because the pervasiveness of the
pagan roots lie as promoted by Hislop has become so popular, that the search
results pretty much bury the actual scholarly research on the matter. So
yes, if you Google, “Pagan Christmas” or “Nimrod Christmas” or “Jesus was
Osiris”… you’ll find lots of material that will try to sway you. But that
is not how research works. An abundance of claims does not make a fact,
particularly when the majority of those claims can be traced back to a single
erroneous source. [2] [3]
[4]
One of the most
prominent researchers who is actively promoting the pagan roots concept is Rob
Skiba. Normally, I’d shy away from naming names and stick to refuting the
message, but in this case I need to directly quote Mr. Skiba, therefore in
order to properly attribute the quote, I have to name the source.
In
recent weeks, Mr. Skiba has been releasing a series of anti-Christmas
commentary via his Facebook wall. In one of his most recent posts, he
titles his piece “Celebrating Christ the King?” (I’m not certain that you
can access this write up unless you are friends with Rob Skiba, but here is the link, just in case. It is too long for me to
repost entirely here.) The piece begins with a tale of how the Skibas recently
attended a baptism at a mainstream protestant church, wherein the Christmas
decor and hymns etc made his “spirit grieve exceedingly.”
He
goes on to associate December 25 with Nimrod (a notion introduced by
Hislop). He states, “It is NO SECRET that December 25th is the birthday
of the sun-gods, which trace back to Nimrod.” Right off the bat, this
claim can be refuted, which essentially throws the rest of his write up into
the realm of misinformation. [5][6]
King
of kings, and Lord of lords…
Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only
Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; ~ 1 Timothy 6:15 King James
Version (KJV)
which he will make known in his own time, the blessed and only
Sovereign, the King of those who reign as kings and Lord of
those who rule as lords, ~ 1 Timothy 6:15 Lexham English Bible (LEB)
The question mark in
the title of Rob Skiba’s post seems to revolve around the following contention:
December
25th is the birthday of the sun-gods, which trace back to Nimrod, who was the
first KING in our Bible. Interestingly enough, as he would later be known by
many (possibly even 70) different names as a result of the confusion of tongues
at the Tower of Babel, one of them being Osiris, he also became known as the
“king of kings and lord of lords” (in the Egyptian Book of the Dead). Suddenly
all of the songs and praise concerning the “king of kings” born on Christmas
day took on significantly dark meaning. Now, I KNOW no one there was worshiping
Nimrod. Their hearts were toward Yeshua (Jesus) the Christ. I get that.
Since we know that
there is little to no reliable evidence linking these “sun gods” to December
25th, it is difficult to put much credence into the rest of Skiba’s piece,
since it all hinges on that thoroughly debunked claim. Skiba’s purpose
here is to float the idea that if you celebrate the birth of Christ the King on
December 25th, that you are actually worshiping and paying tribute to a
different “christ” and a pagan “king”. The entire concept of accidental
paganism is outrageous.
Various
scripture refers to other earthly kings as “king of kings” (Ezra
7:12; Ezekiel
26:7; Daniel
2:37), and the title was not uncommon. What
is obvious is that when the Bible refers to Jesus as King of kings, Lord of
lords, it is taking that familiar title and attributing it once and for all to
THE King above all kings and THE Lord above all who would identify as
lords. I find Mr. Skiba’s pointing to the Hymn to Osiris from the
Egyptian Book of the Dead to be pure sensationalism, because knowing that this
title is used to indicate someone who has the power to exercise absolute
dominion over all that lies within his realm [7], his inclusion of the pagan parallel here
serves no purpose, unless he is loosely trying to tie Jesus to the Pagan Roots
Lie, which I cannot imagine would be fruitful for any follower of Jesus to do.
I
reached out to Dr.
Mike Heiser regarding the question of this title
being bestowed upon other kings of antiquity. In his response, he stated:
The titling in Greek = “king of kings”.
It
was a *widely* used title; the title is part of the conception of utmost
authority and pre-eminence. If Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world, and the
greatest kingdom (Daniel = the kingdom not made with human hands), this is
about as normal and expected a way to telegraph the message that there is.
Dr.
Heiser cites Remarks on the
History of a Title by Author J. Gwyn Griffiths from the book Classical Philology, as a point
of reference for his commentary.
*Update* Dr,
Heiser briefly weighed in on the issue on his blog The Naked Bible. See post
here: What is it with the Hebrew Roots Movement?
But that doesn’t stop
Skiba from stating:
Now bear in mind that the Beast is referred to
as a “christ” as well (albeit an “anti” christ – meaning an antithesis of the Christ). The Beast is a false messiah – a false
anointed one – a false king – who is opposed to the true Messiah, the true
Anointed One, the true King.
So, here’s the problem: Our true “Messiah/Christ” was NOT born
on December 25th. So, exactly which “Christ the king” are we celebrating then
on that day? The answer is simple: the ANTICHRIST!
This claim is simply
preposterous. I could belabor the point of how the pagan connections lie
has been debunked over and over and over and over again (see linked sources to
see how ridiculous these claims are) but for those content with parroting
historically inaccurate information, these words will fall on deaf ears, and
the evidence will be ignored.
As a means of
punctuating the point, Dr. Heiser sums up the ridiculousness of the pagan roots
lie by pointing out, “Baal was called “rider on the clouds” before Yahweh
was”. So if we follow the logic train of the pagan roots proponents, the
only conclusion would be that Yahweh is just a fabrication of Baal. Of
course, we know this isn’t the case, but in keeping with the reasoning of Skiba
et al, what other conclusion is there? Do you see how dangerous this is?
Let
no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday,
or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: ~ Colossians 2:16
For those of you who
choose to celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25th, do not allow yourself
to be bullied by those who would tell you that you may accidentally be
worshiping a false deity or the anti-christ on this day. Do not let a man
judge your heart, your intent, or your faithfulness to He who IS the King of
kings and Lord of lords!
Do not be misled by
those who would say that it is a sin to be reverent about the miraculous birth
of Jesus. For if He was not born, He could not die. And if He did
not die, He could not Rise! And if He did not first come, He could not come
again! All of this is part of the amazing true story of our Savior and
King. Jesus is Lord. JESUS. Not Osiris, or Mithras, or Horus, or
Nimrod. JESUS CHRIST IS THE KING OF KINGS, LORD OF LORDS. If you
worship Him and revere Him and fear Him and love Him who was and is and is to
come, let no man tell you that you’re mistakenly worshiping someone else
because of a date on a calendar. To deter any man or woman from
exercising their freedom in Christ to worship Him on any day and all days IS
the spirit of antichrist, and I rebuke that spirit in Jesus’ name.
Further
Reading/Sources:
Remarks on the History of a Title by Author
J. Gwyn Griffiths from the book Classical
Philology, Vol. 48, No. 3 (Jul., 1953), pp. 145-154
Defending
Christ the King – Refuting the Pagan Roots Lie
Why is this website posting this garbage?
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