The Meaning of Merry Christ-Mas

Researching the Scriptures against world history and finding truth on every page of God's Word; how remarkably blessed we are to have a God who knows the end from the beginning, knows the number of hairs on our heads! He knows our times and we should as well seek to find what He would have us to know in this day at the End of Days. He knew we would need the entire writings to research where we are on His plan for mankind. This time in particular is one of cataclysmic importance. We are on the threshold of an event of which the earth has never experienced in the history of mankind. The Great Tribulation comes followed by the wrath of God; it will be accomplished and completed for it is written in His word.

Jesus taught:

"But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." ~ Matthew 12:36-37

"Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them [the pagans in their customs] . . . that thou enquire not after their gods, saying,

How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God:

for every abomination to the Eternal, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods"

~ Deuteronomy 12:30-31 ~

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Do we truly know what we are saying when we express "Merry Christmas"? Most of us have said it over and over in December every year from the time we could speak. It seems harmless enough but what does it truly mean? It refers to the LORD Jesus Christ so we had better know what is we are saying! It would not be considered far fetched that most people believe the word, "Christmas" means "the birth of Christ" yet most tragically most do not know the truth. It was not instituted by Christ or the apostles. It came about through the movement of Catholicism engaging itself with Roman paganism. Mass is a ritual for the dead.

The word 'Christmas' is in essence 'Christ-mas' which is: 'Death of Christ'

Merry: Merriam Webster defines:

1: full of gaiety or high spirits : MIRTHFUL eat, drink, and be merry

2: marked by festivity or gaietya merry holiday time

3: QUICK, BRISK a merry pace

4: archaic : giving pleasure : DELIGHTFUL

Christ: From the Greek (Chrs-tos) word meaning Messiah or the Anointed One in Hebrew who is written throughout both the Jewish Tanakh (Christian Old Testament) and the Br'it Hadasha (Christian New Testament)

Mass: "The Mass, known more fully as the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the central liturgical ritual in the Catholic Church where the bread and wine are consecrated and become the body and blood of Christ. As defined by the Church at the Council of Trent, in the Mass, "The same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross, is present and offered in an unbloody manner."[1] The Church describes the Holy Mass as "the source and summit of the Christian life".[1] It teaches that through consecration by an ordained priest the bread and wine become the sacrificial body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ as the sacrifice on Calvary made truly present once again on the altar." ~ Wikipedia - Mass in the Catholic Church

"Christmas (i.e., the Mass of Christ). . . . Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church. . . ." ~ Encyclopedia Britannica, 1946 edition
"Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church . . . the first evidence of the feast is from Egypt." "Pagan customs centering around the January calends gravitated to Christmas." ~ Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 edition under the category "Christmas,"
"Christmas" as "Cristes Maesse", meaning "Mass of Christ." The word "Mass" used only by the Roman Catholics means a "death sacrifice." - The World Book Encyclopedia
"Christmas. . . . It was, according to many authorities, not celebrated in the first centuries of the Christian church, as the Christian usage in general was to celebrate the death of remarkable persons rather than their birth. . . ." (The "Communion," which is instituted by New Testament Bible authority, is a memorial of the death of Christ.) ". . . A feast was established in memory of this event [Christ's birth] in the fourth century. In the fifth century the Western Church ordered it to be celebrated forever on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol, as no certain knowledge of the day of Christ's birth existed." ~ Encyclopedia Americana, 1944 edition

Other fourth-century Christian writers say that in the Eucharist there occurs a "change",[1] "transelementation",[2] "transformation",[3] "transposing",[4] "alteration"[5] of the bread into the body of Christ.

Transubstantiation (Latin: transubstantiation; Greek: μετουσίωσις metousiosis) is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, the change of substance or essence by which the bread and wine offered in the sacrifice of the sacrament of the Eucharist during the Mass, become, in reality, the body and blood of Jesus Christ. In this teaching, the notions of substance and transubstantiation are not linked with any particular theory of metaphysics.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that in the Eucharistic offering bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Christ.[6] The reaffirmation of this doctrine was expressed, using the word "transubstantiate", by the Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1215.[6][7]

The belief that the bread and wine that form the matter of the Eucharist become the body and blood of Christ appears to have been widespread from an early date, with early Christian writers referring to them as his body and the blood. They speak of them as the same flesh and blood which suffered and died on the cross.[8][9]

1) Gregory of Nyssa, Oratio catechetica magna, 37 (PG 45:93): μεταστοιχειώσας

2) John Chrysostom, Homily 1 on the betrayal of Judas, 6 (PG 49:380): μεταρρύθμησις

3) Cyril of Alexandria, On Luke, 22, 19 (PG 72:911): μετίτησις

4) John Damascene, On the orthodox faith, book 4, chapter 13 (PG 49:380): μεταποίησις

5) Fay, William (2001). "The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist: Basic Questions and Answers". United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved 13 December 2015. the Catholic Church professes that, in the celebration of the Eucharist, bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Ghost and the instrumentality of the priest. John Damascene, On the orthodox faith, book 4, chapter 13 (PG 49:380): μεταποίησις

6) The Canons of the Fourth Lateran Council, 1215, canon 1

7) Encyclopædia Britannica, "Lateran Council"

8) "CHURCH FATHERS: Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans". www.earlychristianwritings.com. Retrieved 2017-11-12

9) "CHURCH FATHERS: On the Mysteries (St. Ambrose)". www.newadvent.org