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(Please note – the following are the personal thoughts of the writer and do not necessarily represent those of the church and congregation worshipping at Zoar Chapel, nor those of Strict Baptist groups of believers elsewhere).

 

I was brought to faith in my mid-teens – through the Sovereign grace and mercy of Almighty God.  The church I attended at that time (being very rural and very small in number) only had a service on the Lord’s Day morning but nothing else.  I began to attend a different place of worship for an evening service, quite some miles away and a Prayer Meeting elsewhere during the week.  It was here that I first heard any teaching on the celebration or otherwise of 25th December.  The Elder at this church had studied the matter in depth and directed me to Alexander Hislop’s book ‘The Two Babylons’ – still in print, which traces the Pagan and Roman roots of so many ‘Christian’ festivals.

 

As I attended a place of worship where the Bible was upheld as the Word of God, I had difficulty in reconciling this to the ‘Christmas’ events that were looming that December.  As the time drew closer, I discovered that, not only was there to be a special service on the Lord’s Day evening, but that a ‘Christmas Tree’ would be installed and, wait for it, a visit from ‘Father Christmas’ who would no doubt be handing out presents for the children!

 

Needless to say, I did not attend the service!  In the years that followed, I sometimes was ‘drawn in’ to ‘low-key’ services that were happening on the Lord’s Day before 25th December, but I was increasingly uncomfortable about them.  I discovered that the only denomination which spoke against such things in the UK was the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland but that there was also a well-known Baptist church in Glasgow and another in Suffolk, where one would be safe from such events (there were, of course, others that I did not know about at the time)

 

It seems to be an emotive topic among many Christians, when a contrary view is expressed.  I have even lost friends because of my stand and one professing believer refused to speak to me for some time, after discovering that I did not celebrate ‘Christmas’.  I must add that most of my best Christian friends disagree with me as well as ministers I otherwise look up to as examples of faithfulness. 

 

‘Christmas’ began to be celebrated around 336AD during the reign of the Emperor Constantine (by the Roman Catholic church) but it was not celebrated as a major festival until the ninth century.

 

What are the objections to the celebration of Christmas?

 

1. There is no command in Scripture that believers should observe the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We are commanded to remember His death in the Breaking of Bread – reserved for committed church members.

2. The date of His birth could not possibly have been 25th December, as shepherds were not ‘abiding in the fields’ then – the date is more likely to have been around October.

3. There was no celebration of Christmas in the early church – it did not appear until 400AD.

4. Many Christmas customs, like feasting, gift-giving, evergreen decorations, festive lights (candles/torches) and general merrymaking, have roots in Roman pagan festivals particularly Saturnalia (mid-December) and the birthday of the Unconquered Sun on 25th December, which celebrated the winter solstice and the return of light, themes later adapted by Christianity for Jesus’ birth.  Romans exchanged gifts, decorated homes with greenery, had feasts, played games and inverted social roles during these joyful, chaotic celebrations.

 

In some churches, the celebration of Christmas begins with the ‘Midnight Mass’ (observed in both Roman Catholic and Anglican churches) – often the best-attended service of the year.  The 39 Articles of the Church of England state that ‘the Mass is a blasphemous fable and a dangerous deceit’ - referring to the Roman Catholic doctrine that the Mass is a sacrificial offering.

 

As a minister’s wife said to me some time ago ‘why should I want anything to do with ‘Christ’s Mass’?

 

John Knox says:

‘these festivals at the present time obtain no place among us; for we dare not religiously celebrate any other feast-day than what the divine oracles have prescribed. Everything else, as we have said, we teach, approve, and most willingly embrace” (The Works of John Knox, Vol. 6, pp. 547-548).

 

(Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland website)

Christmas tempts us to view the Lord Jesus apart from His atoning death. When our attention is drawn to “the babe in the manger” – along with the nearly inseparable presence of wreaths, soothing music, decorated trees, colourful lights, and merry feasting and exchange of gifts, the sole purpose of Christ’s incarnation is forgotten. The offense of the cross has disappeared.  

 

The Christian is to observe ‘The Lord’s Day’ – the first day of the week – the Christian Sabbath – and to ‘call the Sabbath a delight’.

 

Kevin M Price

 

The Faith of God's Elect

Peter L. Meney

The Bible tells us so. Yet, not the bare existence of faith. In that sense, faith, in and of itself, is meaningless. I doubt there is a person on the face of this earth who does not claim to have faith in something or other, even if it is simply their own opinion.

 

Similarly, the term ‘people of faith’ has become an all-purpose description to gather together every flavour of religion and all manner of weird and wonderful notions. Christians, Jews, Muslims and flat-earthers are part of the ‘faith community’ but they are not all going to heaven.

 

The Bible says the just shall live by faith and the faith by which the just live is called by Paul the faith of God’s elect. There is natural faith and there is the faith of Christ. There is faith borne of human wisdom and faith from above that is spiritual and created by God the Holy Spirit. Thus when the Lord Jesus Christ says, "Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace", it is the faith of Christ graciously gifted, the faith of God’s elect that is in view, exercised in humble worship and reliance upon the Saviour.

 

James Wells, a London preacher of the nineteenth century, once said, "For myself, I believe that the substituting of mere mental and moral conversion—this mere natural faith for the faith of God’s elect—I believe that there are more souls deceived by this doctrine than by any other found in all Protestant Christendom".

 

Wells is speaking of the great error of manmade religion. Hell will be populated by damned souls who earnestly followed their creed or confession, obeyed their preacher’s teachings and with his (or her) connivance imagined themselves fit for heaven. In their heads they believed, by their conduct they observed all the norms of custom and practice their church required, and yet they are not saved. What confusion will follow those words of Christ in that day, "Depart from me, I never knew you." Source: http://go-newfocus.co.uk/editorial/app/category/editorial/article/the-faith-of-god-s-elect.pdf © New Focus 2021

 

The faith of God’s elect is belief in the being of God, and trust in His promises as revealed to the church in the person and redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ. JEHOVAH, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, has revealed Himself as "forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin" and giving eternal life to the church in Christ Jesus. Faith is giving credit to this Divine testimony, and relying upon God’s faithfulness for the fulfilment of it.

 

Not the glory and wonder of the promise; but the glory, wonder, and faithfulness of the Promiser is the proper object of faith. To believe, and rest in the almighty Promiser and His assurances in Christ, the Godman, is faith. "Acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness" is faith.

 

The possession of the faith of God’s elect and the exercise of it in this world is the gift of God. "Unto you," says Paul, "it is given to believe" (Philippians 1:29). And every truly awakened and regenerated believer finds reason, to cry out, as the apostle did to Christ, "Lord, increase our faith" (Luke 17:5).

 

{James Wells (1803-1872). A number of James Wells’ sermons and tracts can be found at www.surreytabernaclepulpit.com}

 

This is a reproduced with permission, from New Focus magazine https://go-newfocus.co.uk/