December 4, 2014 Member Letter

Dear Brethren,

Here in the Dallas area it is the time of year when the temperature can swing dramatically. One week it is in the 70s, and the next week it is in the 20s. As I am writing this letter, we experienced both of those extremes in just two days!

Driving through our neighborhood the day before Thanksgiving, I watched several of our neighbors putting up Christmas lights. And by the time the sun set after Thanksgiving, our neighborhood came alive with lights everywhere! Thanksgiving seemed more like a bump in the road on the way to Christmas rather than a special celebration. It is sad when a day set aside in our nation to give thanks for our blessings is overshadowed by a religious holiday that can’t be found in the Bible. Some argue that doing good to others during the Christmas season overshadows any pagan practices associated with it, but that hardly seems to be the right approach—one good deed making up for several bad ones. Doing good to those who have need is certainly a Christian principle, but it doesn’t justify the celebration of Christmas.

Each year about this time we are bombarded by TV and radio commercials encouraging us to spend money we probably don’t have on a holiday that isn’t found in Scripture. Christmas music is playing in shopping malls and retail stores. Commercial and cable TV networks give announcements wishing everyone a “merry Christmas.” With all this publicity, one can become desensitized and begin to think that it is “no big deal” or maybe even “okay.”

I have no memory of ever keeping Christmas. My mother began listening to Herbert Armstrong on The World Tomorrow radio program in 1952. My father became a member of the Church 10 years later in 1962. I do remember one time when he made an effort to provide my sister and me with Christmas. My mother refused to help, so he purchased candy and a few gifts and put out a few decorations. He tried to convince us that Santa Claus delivered our gifts while we were sleeping. Of course, my mother had already taught us that Santa Claus was a myth and based on pagan traditions. Needless to say, my father wasn’t happy; but he never again made an attempt to bring Christmas into our home. And 10 years later God opened his mind, and he came to fully understand what we knew 10 years earlier.

God warned ancient Israel about worshipping other gods. His clear instructions can be found in Deuteronomy 12:29-32: “When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.”

Later in Scripture, we read the result of Israel adopting pagan customs: “Also I raised My hand in an oath to those in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the Gentiles and disperse them throughout the countries, because they had not executed My judgments, but had despised My statutes, profaned My Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on their fathers’ idols” (Ezekiel 20:23-24).

Idolatry and violating God’s Sabbath were a lethal combination for ancient Israel and Judah, resulting in captivity. In the case of the 10 tribes of Israel, it was a captivity from which they would never return. In our modern day, the origin of Christmas is easy to discover. It isn’t about the birthday of Jesus Christ, but the birth of the “unconquered sun” (also known in ancient Rome as the Saturnalia celebration). What does that tell us about our society? We are all susceptible to the insidious nature of idolatry. Christmas is an obvious example of taking pagan customs and giving them Christian names, but in Ezekiel 14:4 we are warned about idols that are less obvious. “Therefore speak to them, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Everyone of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him who comes, according to the multitude of his idols, that I may seize the house of Israel by their heart, because they are all estranged from Me by their idols.”’”

Idolatry is defined as worshipping other gods (Exodus 20:3), but it can also be described as anything that comes between us and God—anything that takes our focus off worshipping God. It can be a person, a thing or an activity. It can be as obvious as Christmas or as subtle as lusting after something (Colossians 3:5).

It is time we, as the people of God, stepped away from the world in more ways than just avoiding Christmas. Paul said we should “flee from idolatry” (1 Corinthians 10:14). And John tells us that if we love the world, we don’t have the love of God (1 John 2:15-17). It is easy to establish idols or to become entangled in society. It will take the return of Jesus Christ to change the world, but you and I can change what we think and what we do now. We can remove any idols that may be in our hearts, hidden away and unseen; but first we must recognize them for what they are—distractions that turn us away from God. Our worship must be pure and undefiled—not adding to or taking away from God’s instructions. 

It actually made me sad this year to see the Christmas lights going up in our neighborhood even before Thanksgiving had been completed. I realized that we were in for four weeks of nonstop Christmas. Brethren, let’s do more than refrain from celebrating a holiday rooted in idolatry. Let’s search our own hearts for any hidden idols that might be there and remove them.

As this calendar year comes to a close, I am happy to report that it has been another good year for growth and expansion. We thank God for His mercy and His blessings. I also want to thank all of you for your help and support!

Sincerely, your brother in Christ,

Jim Franks