W.F Kumuyi, General Overseer of Deeper Life Bible Church, recently spoke against
the celebration of Christmas by Christians. He said Christmas celebration came
from an idolatrous background and is not celebrated in his church. I actually do know that Christmas originated
from past Pagan religions, but I think maybe he shouldn't have said this...ignorance
is bliss. People ignorant with most of the relations of some old Pagan religion doctrines and Christianity have been in bliss, but this might make them start questioning some other things. He might just have opened a can of worms with his statement. Read his words below, before i speak further
on this-
“We don’t celebrate
Christmas. It actually came from idolatrous background. That is why you don’t
hear us sing what they call Christmas carol, Never. We always say it is the
December retreat. We are only gathering together because it is the holiday period
and love the lord more, and rededicate ourselves more...When you find anybody
coming in, or any leader trying to introduce the idolatry of mystery Babylon that they call Christmas and you want to bring all the Christmas carol, saying
that it is the day that Jesus was born, and you don’t find that in the Acts of
Apostles or in the early church, then you don’t find that in the church either.
If you don’t know that before, now you know.”
Those were his words from the podium during the church’s
Annual National Convention, on December 21.Thinking of the fact that this man
went to the same school as my mom (Mayflower Secondary School, Ikene)in the 50s,
which Pastor Okonkwo of TREM also
attended, it makes me wonder if he maybe he has a hidden agenda. These men went
to Tai Solarin’s school, who was an atheist and thought his students to be self
reliant, free of dependence on a God or religion of any sort. It’s funny that 2
pastors of big churches in Nigeria came out of that School.
Anyway, before I digress from the topic at hand, I should say that I still
feel he shouldn't have said what he said about Christmas. The thing is that it is not only the celebration of Christmas that early Christians borrowed from
the Pagans. The fact is that in those days, you were either a Jew or a Pagan.
Most Pagans didn't want to convert to Christianity, so the Roman power at the
time adopted and adapted Pagan traditions and holidays into the Christian
religion, to make the Pagans more comfortable crossing over.
Easter celebration too is from an idolatrous background. Ishtar,
which Easter was coined from, was a Babylonian and Assyrian idol goddess.
Ishtar was in fact primarily identified as Venus, the most beautiful of
Celestial objects, and from the terrestrials side, the primary motive of the
worship of Ishtar was the impulse to deify sensuality.
December 25, which is marked as Jesus birthday is also of
Pagan origin. Horus, the mythical
Egyptian god that was worshiped in Egypt and its environs around 3000 BC, was
said to have been born around the time of the Winter Solstice- December 25.
This is the day when sun gods of many pre-christian cultures were said to have
been born, as it is the shortest day of the year , and thus signifies LIGHT
OVERCOMING DARKNESS.
As i said earlier, these are very delicate issues that can
affect the belief of any Christian, so maybe they should have been left
alone...he shouldn't have given the reason why they don’t celebrate Christmas
in his church. Cos, if he can agree to the fact that Jesus wasn't born on
December 25th, then there are a lot other theories that have been laid forward in the past challenging authenticity of some christian doctrines that can be dug up again.
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