12-4-16

2. Matthew 1:20-23
20 But while he thought about these
things, behold, an angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dream, saying,
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid
to take to you Mary your wife, for that
which is conceived in her is of the Holy
Spirit. 21 And she will bring forth a Son,
and you shall call His name Jesus, for
He will save His people from their sins.”

3. Matthew 1:20-23
22 So all this was done that it
might be fulfilled which was
spoken by the Lord through the
prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the
virgin shall be with child, and
bear a Son, and they shall call
His name Immanuel,” which is
translated, “God with us.”

5. • A cozenage is a deception or
scam.
• There is a popular cozenage
(deception) when it comes to
Jesus’ Birth concerning the
date of Christmas.

6. “The most loudly touted theory about the
origins of the Christmas date(s) is that it
was borrowed from pagan celebrations. The
Romans had their mid-winter Saturnalia
festival in late December; barbarian peoples
of northern and western Europe kept
holidays at similar times. To top it off, in
274 C.E., the Roman emperor Aurelian
established a feast of the birth of Sol
Invictus (the Unconquered Sun), on Dec 25.

7. Christmas, the argument goes, is really a
spin-off from these pagan solar festivals.
According to this theory, early Christians
deliberately chose these dates to encourage
the spread of Christmas and Christianity
throughout the Roman world: If Christmas
looked like a pagan holiday, more pagans
would be open to both the holiday and the
God whose birth it celebrated.”
Andrew Brian McGowan

10. The “War on Christmas” is NOT
new. It is essentially a “War on
Christ” and has been going on since
Herod sent out his soldiers to kill
the Christ child. To deny it shows
both an ignorance of history and a
lack of spiritual perception.

11. The cozenage (deception) about the
date of Christmas being stolen from
a pagan festival is based on a
12th century errant commentary.
The lie has been repeated and
embellished ever since

12. • Fools logic- Sol Invictus is on
Dec. 25. Christmas is on Dec
25th. Therefore Christmas is Sol
Invictus.
• An elephant has ears. My
Brother has ears. Therefore my
brother is an elephant.

13. Rome adopted Sol Invictus in the
year 274 A.D. BUT a group called
the “Donatists” appears to have
celebrated the birth of Christ on
Dec. 25th as it was long before
based on a North African Christian
tradition.

14. • So why aren’t there more writings from
the early church on “December 25th
being the date of the birth of Christ?
• It certainly isn’t because December
25th wasn’t the date of the birth of
Christ.
• The reason is found in our errant ethno
centric interpretation.

16. The problem is people have wrongly
“westernized” the issue. In Africa as in the
West it is common to celebrate the BIRTH
of a child. That would account for the
Donatists picking up an earlier North
African tradition celebrating Christmas on
the 25th of December. However, in Asia it is
much more common to celebrate the
CONCEPTION of a child.

17. • There are two important factors we need to
know –
• 1. The early church focused on
“CONCEPTION” not birth.
• 2. The early church didn’t see the birth as
the starting point because Jesus was the
pre-existent Eternal Word of God. Birth
was not even the transition point, much less
the starting point. The conception was the
transition of God becoming man.

19. Matthew 1:20-23
20 But while he thought about these
things, behold, an angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dream, saying,
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid
to take to you Mary your wife, for that
which is conceived in her is of the Holy
Spirit. 21 And she will bring forth a Son,
and you shall call His name Jesus, for
He will save His people from their sins.”

20. Matthew 1:20-23
22 So all this was done that it
might be fulfilled which was
spoken by the Lord through the
prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the
virgin shall be with child, and
bear a Son, and they shall call
His name Immanuel,” which is
translated, “God with us.”

21. Luke 1:30-31
30 Then the angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you
have found favor with God. 31
And behold, you will conceive in
your womb and bring forth a
Son, and shall call His name
Jesus.

36. Colossians 2:8
“Don't let anyone capture you
with empty philosophies and
high-sounding nonsense that
come from human thinking and
from the spiritual powers of this
world, rather than from Christ.”