Such a situation could hardly develop today, since the F.C.C. currently has rather strict rules in force relative to freedom of speech. This incident is true and it actually happened in a small town near my home.

If you are a steady listener to The Sacred Name Broadcast you will remember that last week I read over the air the passage from Jeremiah chapter 10, wherein Almighty Yahweh, our Heavenly Father, in no uncertain terms condemns the use of an ornamented tree which has been cut out of the forest and fastened down in or near our homes. You should examine these customs carefully for yourself and learn where they originated. Usually at every major holiday season you will notice an article, perhaps published in the Sunday paper, explaining just where the seasonal customs of the various holidays originated and what they represent. However, this is about all the good it does, as the readers of the articles fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 29:10 and Romans 11:8, which reads, "Yahweh gave them spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day."

Did you know that the ancient pagans also had yule logs, Chr-stmas cookies, Chr-stmas trees, boar’s head festivals, geese for Chr-stmas dinner, the wassailing bowl, Chr-stmas candles, and mistletoe, etc., and that they were observing these customs many hundreds (even thousands) of years before our Savior and Messiah was born? If I asked you to produce the commandments from the Bible to substantiate your own observance of these customs, could you do it? I could not, because in all the New Testament accounts of the Savior’s birth there is not one recorded instance of a Chr-stmas tree, of Santa Claus giving gifts, of holding office parties, or even eating a Chr-stmas dinner of ham or turkey.

Let us read this account from 1 Kings 12:32-33. "And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah, and he went up to the altar; so he did in Beth-el, sacrificing to the calves that he had made: and he placed in Beth-el the priests of the high places that he had made. And he went up to the altar which he had made in Beth-el on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart: and he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and went up to the altar, to burn incense."

Did you know that when the people of the United States began to observe the third Thursday of the month of November as Thanksgiving Day, they have often observed Jeroboam’s thanksgiving, since it usually fell during the time from the fifteenth to the twenty-first day of the eighth month. Almighty Yahweh has set aside His time for thanksgiving, the Feast of Tabernacles! This is holy time! Men cannot change it! Even though they might ordain a set time themselves, it is unacceptable to Yahweh, the heavenly Father. In our time, our president and the ministers of the ch-rches with regularity exhort the people to give thanks to the heavenly Father at the national Thanksgiving Day, but most of the people rarely do! Perhaps we should return to the thanksgiving of the Pilgrims Fathers who observed it in early October, which would approximate the time of the scripturally appointed Feast of Tabernacles.

I might continue on and point out the pagan influence which has today become so prevalent throughout Chr-stianity because the people have turned aside from the pure worship of Almighty Yahweh, as laid down for us in the inspired Scriptures. It appears that too often the spirit of compromise prevails and the missionary zeal of the people attempts to meet paganism halfway. Even such early ch-rch fathers as Chrysostom and Tertulion cried out against these pagan practices which were creeping into the early apostolic assembly of their time.

Today the average person in our land is complacent and unconcerned, choosing rather to go along with the crowd than to stand alone for truth as, for instance, Daniel did. Most people even become indignant when these truths are presented to them. They demand to know, "Who are you, that you can impeach our integrity in our worship?" Yet, these are the unvarnished facts, and you can prove them to yourself, if you are interested in serving the heavenly Father out of a pure heart and conscience. Why not begin your search for this truth today? May we help you to find the narrow pathway to life eternal?