Isn't it amazing that Christians will fight tooth and nail to defend practices rooted in the pagan religions? In this article we will present the pagan aspects of Christmas, identify where they came from, when they were implemented, and prove from the scriptures that Yeshua (Jesus) was born in the fall of the year in September-October. The purpose is to show that Christmas is a completely false holiday that Christians today should not be involved in. Did you know that the Pilgrims and Puritans outlawed the celebration of Christmas in the early years, because they knew then, what you are about to read? In Revelation 3:14-22, the portion applying to the Laodiceans is appropriate for discussion, and applicable to the end-times church . An end-times church that says they are rich and neither hot nor cold, while in reality the Lord says they are "wretched and miserable and poor (spiritually) and blind and naked." The Lord's rebuke is due to their lukewarmness. When was Yeshua (Jesus) born? Does it surprise you that we can assert conclusive evidence that Yeshua was born in the fall of the year? First, we need to show when John the Baptizer was conceived and when he was born. Then we can identify when Yeshua was conceived and when He was born. Zacharias (z'kharyah), John's father was a priest who served at the Temple in Jerusalem, and he was married to Elizabeth (elisheva), who was the daughter of a priestly line. Zacharias was assigned to Temple duties in the course of Abijah (abiyah) [Luke 1:5]. We know that there are 24 courses of priests and they have specific assignments for the weeks they serve at the Temple. 1 Chronicles 24:3, 10, 18 And David, with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their offices for their ministry...... .....the seventh for Hakkoz and the eighth for Abijah. .....the twenty-third for Delaiah, and the twenty-fourth for Maaziah. From the time of king David, there were 24 courses of priests assigned to the Temple, and the course of Abijah was the 8th course as a permanent assignment. Each course of priests served for 7 days (1 Chronicles 9:25), twice a year. Their week long service at the Temple began and ended on the Sabbath (2 Chronicles 23:8). 3 times a year all Israel was required to appear before the Lord at the Temple, and during those 3 weeks, all priests from all courses served at the Temple. The 3 times were the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), and the Feast of Tabernacles (Succoth) [Deuteronomy 16:16]. Therefore, all priests served 5 weeks a year; during the two weeks their course served at the Temple, and the 3 weeks where all priests were present. The year for priest's courses began on the first of Nisan (Abib) in the spring of the year. Therefore we can count to the exact time for the service of Zacharias at the Temple. We don't count the week for the Feast of Unleavened Bread and for the week of Pentecost, because all priests served at that time. Therefore, Zacharias' first week of service would have been the 10th week of the year from approximately Sivan 12-18. His second week of service would have been the 35th week of the year from approximately Kislev 10-16. Sivan is the 3rd month in the Jewish calendar and occurs in May/June; while Kislev is the 9th month of the year and occurs in November/December. Zacharias was serving in the Temple at the time appointed for his division of priests, and he was chosen by lot to enter the Temple Holy Place and burn incense (Luke 1:8-13). The angel of the Lord, Gabriel, appeared to Zacharias, standing next to the altar of incense, and told him that he and Elizabeth would have a son and they will name him John (Yochanan). He was unable to speak until John was born, because he didn't believe Gabriel. The scriptures record that after Zacharias' week of service at the Temple was over, he went home. Elizabeth became pregnant immediately afterwards (Luke 1:23-24). We can assume that Elizabeth conceived the week after Zacharias' service at the Temple, which would make it approximately Sivan 19-25. Luke 1:57 states that Elizabeth bore John at the appointed time, which we know is 9 months long. Therefore, if John was conceived in the 3rd week of the 3rd month Sivan, then he was born some time around the first of Nisan of the next year. Some people have tried to pinpoint John's birth to Passover on 14 Nisan, and while that is possible, I guess the best can say is that it was somewhere in the first couple of weeks of Nisan. After Elizabeth was pregnant for about 6 months, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary in Nazareth and announced that she would conceive a child supernaturally by God and will name Him Yeshua (Jesus) [Luke 1:26-39]. The scriptures record that immediately afterwards, Mary went hurriedly to visit and stay with Elizabeth and Zacharias. She stayed with Elizabeth for about 3 months and left before John was born. Also, when Mary conceived, Elizabeth was in her 6th month of pregnancy, which would have been somewhere around the middle of the month of Kislev. Some writers have placed the conception of Mary as occurring on Hanukkah which is Kislev 25. We know it was somewhere around there so perhaps it did occur exactly on Hanukkah (Feast of Lights). Hanukkah falls somewhere in December, although not very often through December 25 like it does in the year 2000, and can be early in December. In 2000, the first day of Hannukah began in the evening on 21 December; in 2001 on the evening of 9 December; and in 2002 will begin on the evening of 29 November. We know that John the Baptizer was born somewhere from Nisan 1-15, and he was 6 months older than Yeshua (Jesus). Therefore, Yeshua was born somewhere in the Tishri 1-20 timeframe. Tishri is the 7th month in the Jewish calendar and occurs in September/October, in the fall of the year. Some writers have tried to place Yeshua's birth exactly on Tishri 15, the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Succoth). After all, John 1:14 states, "And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us". The veiled reference to tabernacling among us points to Yeshua's birth at the Feast of Tabernacles. For these reasons I can agree with those who want to pinpoint John the Baptizer's birth date to approximately Passover, and Yeshua's birth to somewhere around the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles on 15 Tishri. Also, Luke 2:1-8 records that Joseph and Mary stayed in a succah because there was no room at the inn. The Feast of Tabernacles is called Succoth, which is the plural for succah, because Jewish people are required to build temporary flimsy shelters to stay in during the Feast. The circumstantial evidence is that there was no room anywhere, because during the Feast of Tabernacles, all Jews had to appear at the Temple and the population of Jerusalem swelled from about 120,000 to over 2,000,000. Since Bethlehem is only about 4 miles south of Jerusalem, there was no room anywhere near Jerusalem because of the crowds there for the Feast of Tabernacles. Likewise, Luke 2:8 states that there were shepherds in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night, when Yeshua was born. If the 8th course of Abijah, where Zacharias was visited by Gabriel, was the 2nd week for their course in the year, then Yeshua would have been born in mid-January to early February. Since that is winter and the rainy season there in Israel, the flocks are not out and the shepherds wouldn't be out in the fields at night. Just another piece of the puzzle that shows Yeshua was born in the fall of the year. Note: This article was written in 1999, and in early 2001 I did a much more indepth 5-part article using the Bible code and other scholarly work to pinpoint the exact birthdate of Yeshua to Tishri 1 and not Tishri 15. When this article was written, it was in the ballpark so to speak, but the more exact date of the birth of Yeshua is Tishri 1, 3759 (September 11, 3 BC). Please read that 5-part article after you've read the second part of this article. Flavius Jospehus wrote that jews from all over the empire came for the Fall Feast celebrations and they would have arrived to participate in all events from the Feast of Trumpets on Tishri 1, Yom Kippur on Tishri 10, and through the end of the Feast of Booths on Tishri 23. Why do you think God put all these details in the scriptures? Surely not just for entertainment purposes, or to use as filler material. That's why proving that Yeshua was born in the fall of the year IS important, because it is harmonious with the scriptures and explains the scriptures. Some of you will say, "so what". Well, that attitude arises out of a lack of desire for truth and an intention to maintain pagan customs regardless of the evidence. You have the right to believe whatever you want to, but don't tell me that has anything to do with Christmas being Christian in any way. Let's go on to see where Christmas customs were developed and when were they first practiced. Christmas part 2, the pagan aspects.