Pastor Michael Brigmond

The greatest of these was # 5, the altars he build in the house of the LORD. Some may say, at least, he was honoring God. In reality, he was trying to bring God down to the level of his idols. His "evils" were bad enough, but worse when he brought them into the house of the LORD. If there is anything God hates more than idolatry, it is idolatry in the church.

The church is the Body of Christ. To bring idolatry into His Body is to pollute it. The church is His inheritance. Nothing is more valuable to Him than His bride. Anything that one might do to stain or slander His Bride, is most likely to provoke the Lord’s wrath.

With Manasseh’s sin so obvious, why do some "Christians" today willingly pollute the Body of Christ? What part of "Be ye holy, as I am holy" do they not understand? Where is the verse that allows "Christians" to get away with the abominations that brought the Lord’s wrath in previous times? Many are doing just that with celebrations of paganism.

Manasseh tried to legitimize his sin by adapting his idol worship to the worship of the one true God. What he brought about was erosion and sin. He eroded the high standard of truth and polluted the pure worship of God.

As we enter the "holiday" season, many will go brain dead. It all starts with Halloween, or Halloween "alternatives". That special "Biblical Costume" party. Or, perhaps, just a special youth service to give our young people a place to go while the "sinners" kids are out begging for candy. Godly people will have nothing to do with that night, nor any of its activities. Not even as a church substitute.

Yet, most people today do not see any problem with mixing idolatry with Jesus. They take the Roman orgy of Saturnalia and "Christianize" it. Knowing Jesus was probably born in September, they "adapt" his birthday to coincide with Saturnalia and celebrate them together. They try to make their polluted worship acceptable by mixing it with Jesus. The blood of Christ is strong enough to wash away our paganistic past, but it will never "mix" with sin.

We know the celebration of the birth of Jesus is not Apostolic because the Apostles did not celebrate any birthdays. To do so was pagan. The first mention of the observance of Christ’s birth appears about A.D. 200. Over the years, several dates have been used, but not until A.D. 336 was December 25^th first named as the day to celebrate the birth of Christ. Today the event is big business. Some get rich off it. Other go in debt and suffer greatly because of it. In 1643, the observing of Christmas was outlawed in England because it was viewed as pagan.

The custom of singing Carols from house to house began in Great Britain where they drank a hot mixture of ale, roasted apples, nutmeg, eggs, sugar, cloves, and ginger. While intoxicated, they walked down the streets singing Christmas songs.

How far can we go before the Lord’s wrath is kindled against us? This information is offered as a stern warning: Stop celebrating paganism! I do not say this to hurt you, but to pull you out of the fire of hell. Observing or celebrating what you call the birth of Christ, if left unrepented, will cost you your salvation. You can count on it. No matter how harmless you think it is. You are deceived if you participate. I know it is hard to stop. It was for me. But, stop you must.