Is It a Sin to Worship Christ on a Pagan Holiday, as a Christian?

Thank you so much for tuning in and Welcome everyone – Hope you’re well! I’m your host, Ben Lively, and you’re listening to “Shaken Awake” – Episode number 44!

I just want to thank you for tuning in, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing right this very moment.

And, as always, I promise you another great show – But, more than anything, my HOPE for you today, and always, is that you have an actual encounter with the Lord - He’s is always right there beside you. If you find ANY value in these episodes, the greatest thank you of all is to pass the word to at least one person you know to help spread the show to other’s that you feel could benefit.

So, without further delay, let’s get ready to invite God in with us, right here, right now and allow Him to speak directly to your heart and minds.

So, today’s topic is, as selected as the most requested topic you, the listeners is: “Is It a Sin to Worship Christ on a Pagan Holiday, as a Christian?”

In this episode, I will show you what and where in the Bible it gives authority to use a day to worship the Lord, whether it be on Easter or whether it be on Christmas day, regardless of its worldly, pagan roots or tradition.

If you’re listening the week this episode comes out, we just celebrated Christmas, or many of us Christians did. So, there’s no doubt in my mind as why this was the most requested topic for today’s episode topic. In fact, I believe I’ve received part conviction and part wisdom bestowed on me by The Holy Spirit within the past couple of weeks on this very topic. I just wrote, in fact, a post on social media yesterday to convey a short thought on this current holiday we just had, Christmas, that I’ll share quick to set the tone and then we’ll see what Jesus says. Sound good?

I remember when it was, if you were a Christian:

- “Jesus is the reason for the season”

- “Keep ‘Christ’ in CHRISTmas”

- “The nativity scene is the true representation of Christian Christmas.”

NOW?

If you’re a Christian, it’s, “Don’t you dare worship another pagan holiday!!!!!”

Do you see what the enemy has done to sow even more discord and confusion and deflection and ignorance and Pharisee-like mentality and misdirection to get the true Christian’s distracted from the real reason we’ve been put on Earth to serve God? Don’t let him think he’s won. God already has.

- Merry Christmas – Ben Lively

You see, it is no secret that much of the church has become and is becoming more and more secularized and politically correct than ever before – at least in my lifetime, and I would rightfully assume and believe in your lifetime as well! From Women pastors, Gay / Lesbian / Transgender Pastors, to LGBTQ-advocating pastors, to prosperity preaching, and a whole host of other against God and the Bible type churches, or rather, buildings that call themselves “The Church.” And, they have their Sunday followers that back them up.

But something else that is unique and is coming to light – this year more than any year prior and I know you’ll agree if you have any insight into the Christian and professing Christian body today – both in-person and online/social. There is a pharisaic-like, legalistic-type, backwards theology that says we are not to celebrate pagan holidays. Ok, on the surface, that sounds like a no-brainer. In fact, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that a true Christian or even a professing Christian at that, should not celebrate a holiday that glorifies and worships a pagan tradition. Right? Of course, that’s right!

But here are where many are becoming a hypocrite by doing what the pharisees did, that Jesus despised, and they’re inadvertently trading one perceived sin, and creating another.

You see, when I grew up, and you also, I’d imagine, holidays such as Easter and Christmas were celebrated by Christians worldwide as holiday’s that represented significant happenings with the Body of Christ and the True Church, as well as within the buildings that call themselves churches. We’d celebrate Easter Sunday as the day Jesus was resurrected and death was defeated once and for all, opening the way for life after death through the resurrection of death. We’d celebrate Christmas in remembrance of the birth of Christ, the day God was born in human form to save the world and become a sacrifice for our sins and abolish the Law of Moses so that we could be saved through grace by God’s salvation alone – He became the final sacrifice and atonement for our sins – from that day forward through the End of Days.

Now, somewhere along the line, let’s call them – satan, brought into our conscience that Easter was a pagan holiday that celebrated the god, Ishtar, with the eggs representing fertility and other evil symbolisms and hence, was birthed the Easter Bunny and the egg hunts. If we celebrate Easter or associate the resurrection with Easter, then we are following a pagan tradition and dwelling in sin.

Then, as we continue to Christmas, it seems the holiday originated from the original worship of the god Baal that’s named repeatedly in the Bible, mixed with the fact that Jesus was not born on December 25th and the giving of presents represents more of the pagan holiday, known today as Christmas, that if we celebrate or associate the birth of Christ with, then we are again, following a pagan tradition and dwelling in sin.

There is much more to the backstory and paganism of both holidays, but I will refrain from going in depth because for one, I don’t care because I worship neither, and two, I don’t want to know about the history of pagan tradition or it’s roots. I live and dwell in God’s Word, the Bible, and I don’t plan on veering away for even a minute of the time I have left in this world.

However, I will share what God’s Word has to say about quite the opposite, in which I believe The Holy Spirit fed me wisdom and conviction on this very topic. For what struck me odd at first was that looking back over the years, not once did I or even any of the non-Christians I knew every know about the pagan traditions of these two days in particular, nor did they celebrate them as such. They may not have celebrated them as a Christian holiday (both the resurrection and the birth of Christ Jesus), but they did not use them in a pagan way and certainly, neither did Christians. I was also reminded that we in everything we do, we are to do it for the Lord – so then, how can turning two days per year in order to celebrate the two single biggest events in the world’s history ever get twisted into a sinful act of pagan ritualistic celebrations? In short, it’s not. In fact, isn’t that what we are SUPPOSED TO DO?

Let’s look at just a couple of quick verses to get on the same page with this.

Colossians 3:23

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,

Colossians 3:17

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

1 Corinthians 10:31

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Colossians 3:1-25

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ...

Ephesians 6:7

Rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man,

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Here is where the Bible itself, gives the right, the authority, and the directive to continue serving the Lord, whether it falls on a pagan holiday, or not. Some of you don’t believe me – and that’s why I’m glad the Bible is our ultimate fact checker and instruction manual for Holy living.

Romans Chapter 14 ESV

Do Not Pass Judgment on One Another

14 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master[a] that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; 11 for it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.”

12 So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Do Not Cause Another to Stumble

13 Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. 15 For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. 16 So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. 21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.[c] 22 The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. 23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

So you see, it’s the reason behind what you do that either condemns or affirms your faith in the Lord and whether it is pleasing or an abomination to the Lord. For the Lord looks at the heart.

Samuel 16:7 - But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

Proverbs 16:2

All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight,

But the Lord weighs the motives.

Jeremiah 17:10

“I, the Lord, search the heart,

I test the mind,

Even to give to each man according to his ways,

According to the results of his deeds.

1 Kings 8:39

then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know, for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men,

Jeremiah 12:3

But You know me, O Lord;

You see me;

And You examine my heart’s attitude toward You.

Drag them off like sheep for the slaughter

And set them apart for a day of carnage!

1 Chronicles 28:9

“As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.

My final statement is this: Before you judge the world and body of Christ and become so conscience of your faith that you begin to sound and act like a Pharisee, search the Word of God to see what He says – not as the world says. He looks at the heart…your motives that come from it. What HE sees is the only thing that matters – don’t let the enemy lure you over to his side, with false pretenses that become judgement over your fellow Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

So, my final questions to you is this: Other than Easter and Christmas that we just discussed, is there any other stronghold the enemy may have on you through guilt, shame, oppression, or other that otherwise, is well with the Lord after all? If so, get into the Word on this and in prayer. When you place God first above all, you’re obeying His first commandment – you cannot be wrong or sinning while doing so. Have peace knowing that.

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So, before we end today’s show, I just want to thank you all again for tuning in and I HOPE you were touched by today’s message and scripture. I’d like to ask you a favor only IF you received any value out of today’s show – would you tell at least one person you know – call them, text them, email them, talk to them – tell them to give this show a listen.

Check out the show at shaken-awake.com, email me at ben@shaken-awake.com or call or text me directly for any reason at (407)-493-3208 (repeat). If you have ideas for the show – LET ME KNOW! If you know of someone that has an incredible testimony of coming to the Lord, and you think they would be a great guest of this show, please connect with me – I’d love to hear more.

Next week!!!! Tune in Next Sunday – or WHENEVER YOU’RE ABLE, as we dive into another important topic of today, which is “What is the Right Way to Live, According to God – Especially In These Last Days?”

Next week’s episode is another powerful and DO-NOT-MISS episode – thanks for joining!

Until next week, take great care of yourself and each other, and God Bless You all.