The Christmas Season has once again, come upon the earth. This is the annual period of festivities centered around the winter solstice and the birth of the Sun… or Son as it is now taught. If the purpose of this ‘holy’ day is to celebrate the supposed day of Jesus’ birth why isn’t this day simply called Christ’s Birthday. Why is it instead called Christmas? Learn where this term comes from and why it matters.
Christ + Mass
Breaking down the word Christmas, we have Christ and mass combined together. Christ is a Greek word which means anointed. Jesus, the High Priest, was anointed with the knowledge and understanding of God’s Word. As an anointed High Priest, Jesus told his flock to follow him. You are to follow him in coming to understand God’s Words and Ways and thereby also become anointed, a Christ, a Christian.
Now, what about this word mass? If you search for ‘mass’ in the Bible, you will only find it in one place referring to the weight of iron. But that is not the context of the ‘mass’ in Christmas. The ‘mass’ in Christmas is not of Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek origin, the original languages of the Bible.
Mass is from a Latin word, missa or missio, meaning dismissal. At the end of the Eucharist Sacrifice Ceremony, Roman Catholics are ‘dismissed’ from the assembly. The official words ‘Ite, missa est’ meaning ‘Go, you have been dismissed’, eventually led to calling the entire ceremony the Mass.
Mass Confusion
The Roman Catholic Mass is not a simple matter. The Catholic hierarchy has written volumes of documents on the rules, regulations and traditions related to the Mass. Last year, the Vatican increased the number of times a priest could give Mass on certain days to four due to Covid restrictions. Just this month, Pope Francis issued a guideline to address ongoing internal debates about the Latin mass. President Biden recently made headlines due to some US Bishop’s objections to him receiving communion while supporting pro-choice laws.
They have been holding masses for centuries and still can’t agree on the who, what, when, where and even the why of mass. The detailed documentation and debates regarding Mass is a perfect example of straining gnats. They exhibit no insight into what Jesus actually meant when he said to “eat this bread” in remembrance of me. They are mass confusion.
“You blind guides, which strain at out a gnat, and swallow a camel.”
Matthew 23:24
In this case the gnat is all the rules and debates on how to hold a mass while the the camel is the belief that a Mass or Communion ceremony is required by God. None of this is called for in the scriptures or in-line with God.
“When you come together therefore into one place, this is not to ‘eat’ the Lord’s supper… What? Don’t you have houses to eat and drink in?… shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.”
1 Corinthians 11:20-22
The Mass of Christ
The Roman Catholic Church has designated December 25th as the ‘Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ’. Nativity means birth. Catholics are obligated to attend at least one Mass on Christmas, because in their doctrine, it is a holy day of obligation. Another upcoming holy day of obligation is on January 1st for Mary ‘Mother of God’, called by some, the ‘Mary Mass’. It should be no surprise that the Mass held for Christ’s birth became know as Christ’s Mass leading to Christmas. However, the first recorded use of the word Christmas was not until about 1000 years after the time of Christ.
The Mass is a Sacrifice
According to Roman Catholic doctrine, the Eucharist is the sacrifice of Jesus performed in the Mass. The Eucharist is a sacrifice and the Mass is a sacrifice.
“The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: ‘The Victim is one and the same… only the manner of offering is different’ ‘In this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner”
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1367, quoting from the Council of Trent 1562
“The Mass is at the same time, and inseparably, the sacrificial memorial in which the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated and the sacred banquet of communion with the Lord’s body and blood.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1382
For some the sacrificial memorial is literal, for others it is symbolic, but in either case, the point is to sacrifice Jesus again to God. They do this by eating bread and drinking wine, as a representation of Jesus. In the case of Catholics, the wine and bread have been magically transformed into the actual body and blood of Jesus, or so they think. Religion has taught people that they are joint participants in this sacrifice. For protestants, they receive “forgiveness for sins” by accepting Jesus as the sacrifice for their sins. For Catholics, an additional step of Baptism is required for their sins to be forgiven. The Mass and the Eucharist are essentially a sacrifice of Jesus over and over again. Is this what God wants?
“The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the Righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.”
Ezekiel 18:20
The Righteous Have No Sin
Jesus had no sin, he was righteous. He was the first to come to understand the Law and keep it. That is how he had no sin.
“…sin is the transgression of the Law.”
1 John 3:4
Jesus said “Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.”
Matthew 5:17
When Jesus said to ‘follow me’ it was to learn God’s Word and Ways so that you too could be righteous and have no sin. Your sins are taken away when you learn what sin is and you stop sinning. Only a small remnant will keep the Laws and Commandments of God and be without fault or sin.
“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on Mount Sion, and with him a hundred and forty and four thousand, having his Father’s (God’s) Name written in their forehead (their mind or understanding)… and in their mouth was found no guile (poison or false teachings): for they are without fault… here are they that keep the Commandments of God and the truth of Jesus.”
Revelation 14:1-12
Wrong Sacrifice
Now, there are sacrifices spoken of throughout God’s Word. But these physical sacrifices are a shadow of the spiritual sacrifice.
“For the Law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.”
Hebrews 10:1
God has no need of the physical sacrifices and has said so on many occasions.
“To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me? saith the LORD: I am full of burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When you come to appear before Me, who has required this at your hand, to tread My courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination to Me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot have with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts My Soul hates: they are a trouble to Me; I am fed up with them. And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide My Eyes from you: yes, when you make prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.”
Isaiah 1:11-15
Right Sacrifice
What are the sacrifices shadowed in the Law and fulfilled by Jesus? Jesus sacrificed his will for the Will of God. He allowed himself to be sacrificed as a fulfillment of the Law, the Passover Lamb.
“If I had not come and spoken with them, they would not have had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin… If I had not done among them the works which no other man ever did, they would not have had sin: but now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father. But this comes to pass, that the Word might be fulfilled that is written in their Law, They hated me without a cause.”
John 15:22-25
The Pharisees were teaching the physical understanding of God’s Word. Jesus came to explain and show that to be wrong. He came to correct the teaching and for that, they hated him. They hated him for contradicting their teachings in God’s Word. He was a threat to their authority.
Cain killed Abel because Abel’s offering was accepted and Cain’s was not. The Pharisees with their unacceptable offerings or sacrifices, sought to murder Jesus, one accepted by God. How was he accepted? He understood God and His Ways, kept the Commandments and taught God’s Word correctly.
“I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, Holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect Will of God.”
Romans 12:1-2
That is exactly what Jesus did. He did not back away from teaching the truth, even when it contradicted those in power. That is why he was murdered. The Apostles followed him to their deaths at the hands of the wicked for the same thing, teaching the truth in God’s Word. Throughout the centuries, many more have been killed by those in authority, for following the teachings of Jesus.
Sacrifice the Birthday Boy
One last consideration regarding this specific Mass, the Christ Mass. As a way to celebrate Jesus’s birth, they sacrifice him. What a way to remember someones birthday! But they don’t stop there. As we have already learned, on every ‘ holy day of obligation’, including every Sunday, they carry out the mass sacrifice. Some devout Catholics attend Mass everyday!
The ‘Christian’ religions are so focused on the death of Jesus, they have neglected to learn about his life! The month or day of his birth is irrelevant. What did he teach, what did his parables mean and how was he contradicting the Pharisees? He contradicted them in the same ways that he would contradict the religious leaders of today.
The mass and Eucharist have led to mass-psychosis. Turn away from all of it.
“… Come out of her, my people, that you are not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues.”
Revelation 18:4
Sins Remembered
God is letting this abomination continue until a set time at which point He will put an end to all of these impious ways and those who follow them.
“For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities… Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judges her.”
Revelation 18:5-8
The Righteous Inherit the Earth
“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him, don’t fret yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass.”
Psalm 37:7
“…It’s interpretation (of Psalm 37:7) concerns the Liar who has led astray many by his lying words so that they choose frivolous things and heed not the interpreter of knowledge… they shall perish by the sword and famine and plague.”
Commentary of Psalms from the Dead Sea Scrolls, paragraph 1
“Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not yourself in any wise to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth”
Psalm 37:8-9
“…Interpreted (Psalm 37:8-9), this concerns all those who return to the Law, to those who … turn away from their evil. For all those who are stubborn in turning away from their iniquity shall be cut off.”
Commentary of Psalms from the Dead Sea Scrolls, paragraph 2
“For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be… The wicked plot against the just and gnash upon him with his teeth. The Lord shall laugh at him: for He sees that his day has come. The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation. Their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken… The LORD knows the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be for ever.”
Psalm 37:10-18
“The mouth of the Righteous speaks wisdom, and his tongue talks of judgement. The Law of his God is in his heart…”
Psalm 37:30-31