History:

Christmas Facts

The Star of Bethlehem

An Astronomical Mystery?  "A strange star is claimed to have appeared at the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. This site is an investigation of the story found in the Biblical Gospel of Matthew, a story often called the 'Star of Bethlehem.' It brings the words of Roman and Jewish historians alongside the visions of ancient prophets. It mixes "modern" mathematicians with murderous turmoil in the Roman imperial court. It combines all these with astronomical facts which no one disputes. And it concludes that the star was a real event. Come solve this age-old mystery for yourself...

The story of Jesus birth was told by the apostles Luke and Matthew.  The prophets Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and even the great leader Moses were all used by God to foretell of the birth of Christ centuries before the actual event.  God forbid Adam and Eve to eat from tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  He told them they would die if they did.  They fell into to temptation by Satan and ate of its fruit anyway.  This single event literally condemned mankind as children of Satan rather than children of God.  You can read about this fall of man in the first parts of Genesis, and especially in verses 3:9-20.  From the very moment that God lost His children he set in motion plans to regain back His family.  Many years later in Genesis chapter 17, God formed a contract with a man name Abraham.  To bind this contract Abraham offered on an alter His only son Isaac as a sacrifice to God (Genesis 22:9-18).  By doing so, God, vowed with Himself that Abraham would be the father of many nations.  Out of Abraham’s obedience God was now obligated to offer His only son as a sacrifice to mankind.  This perfect sacrifice would be the final payment for all the sins ever committed against God.  The birth of Jesus Christ sets the stage for an unmatched drama with the our personal spiritual lives weighing in the balance.  God Himself came into our midst to regain His family; to regain you. - M. Main

Christmas in History

Christmas on December 25th

Christmas is an annual holiday on December 25th that marks the traditional birthdate of Jesus of Nazareth.   Some Eastern Orthodox Churches celebrate Christmas on January 7th, which corresponds to December 25 of the Julian calendar.  These dates are merely traditional and neither is thought to be the actual birthday of Jesus.  Sextus Julius Africanus, a Christian traveler and historian of the 3rd century, popularized the idea that Jesus was born on December 25th in his Chronographiai, a history of the world from Creation to AD 221.  December 25th is nine months after the traditional date of the Incarnation (March 25th).  Early Christians believed March 25th was also the date Jesus was crucified.  The idea that Jesus was conceived on the same date that he died on the cross is consistent with a Jewish belief that a prophet lived an integral number of years.

"Silent Night" a Wartime Christmas Truce

The year was 1914 and soldiers were having to spend Christmas Eve on the battlefields of France during World War I, the Great War, as it was called. After only four months of fighting, more than a million men had already perished in the bloody conflict. The bodies of dead soldiers were scattered between the trenches. Enemy troops were dug-in so close that they could easily exchange shouts.

On December 24, 1914, in the middle of a freezing battlefield in France, a miracle happened.

The British troops watched in amazement as candle-lit Christmas trees began to appear above the German trenches. The glowing trees soon appeared along the length of the German front.

Henry Williamson, a young soldier with the London Regiment, wrote in his diary: "From the German parapet, a rich baritone voice had begun to sing a song I remembered my German nurse singing to me... The grave and tender voice rose out of the frozen mist. It was all so strange... like being in another world... to which one had come through a nightmare."

Silent Night, Holy Night

"They finished their carol and we thought that we ought to retaliate," another British soldier wrote, "So we sang 'The First Noel' and when we finished, they all began clapping. And they struck up 'Oh Tannebaum' and on it went... until we started up 'O Come All Ye Faithful' [and] the Germans immediately joined in.... this was really a most extraordinary thing... two nations both singing the same carol in the middle of a war."

It is recorded that enemy soldiers greeted each other in the no man's land that had been a killing zone on December 23rd. The soldiers wished each other Merry Christmas and agreed not to fire their rifles on Christmas Day. The spontaneous cease-fire eventually embraced much of a 500-mile stretch of the Western Front. According to the reports of soldiers at the scene, hundreds of thousands of soldiers celebrated the birth of the Prince of Peace among the bodies of their dead.

Other soldiers told of how the enemies exchanged badges and buttons from their uniforms. Others shared photos of wives and children and some even exchanged addresses and promised to write after the war ended. The German troops rolled out barrels of dark beer and the British reciprocated with offerings of plum pudding. Some soldiers produced soccer balls and a spirited match broke out as fellow soldiers shouted encouragement.

At one location along the front the men who just the day before sought to kill one another now gathered together to bury their dead. Together, with heads uncovered, they held a service to memorialize their fallen comrades. A solitary voice began to sing "Silent Night," in French. He was joined by another voice -- this one singing in German -- the words of a Christmas song known and beloved by all.

Christmas Traditions

The Christmas Candy Cane Story

Many years ago a candy maker wanted to make a candy that would be a witness to his Christian faith, so he created the Christmas candy cane.  He incorporated several symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ.  He began with a stick of pure white heard candy.  White symbolizes the virgin birth and the sinless nature of Jesus.  The hard candy symbolizes the Solid Rock - the foundation of the Church and firmness of God's promises.  The candy maker made the candy in the form of the letter "J' to represent the name of Jesus.  It also represents the staff with which the Good Shepherd reaches down into the ditches of the world to lift out the fallen lambs that , like sheep, have gone astray.  Thinking that the candy was somewhat plain, the candy maker stained it with red stripes.  The candy maker used three small stripes to represent the scourging Jesus received by which we were healed.  The large red Stripe was for the blood shed by Christ on the cross.  Peppermint is similar to hyssop, the Middle Eastern mint mentioned in the Bible.  Since that time, the candy has become known as the candy cane, only a decoration.  But the the true meaning is still there for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear.

Mistletoe

The Druids believed mistletoe fell  from heaven and grew onto a tree that sprang from Earth.  Mistletoe thus represented the joining of heaven and earth, and God's reconciliation with mankind.  A kiss under the mistletoe symbolized acceptance and reconciliation.

Holly

One of the most popular Christmastime accoutrements, holly has sharp edges, symbolic of the crown of thorns worn by Jesus at his crucifixion. The red berries represent blood..

A Charlie Brown Christmas

The Christmas classic that almost wasn't.  "When CBS bigwigs saw a rough cut of A Charlie Brown Christmas in November 1965, they hated it" ... There was no laugh track, real children provided the voices and Peanuts creator Charles Schulz insisted that his first-ever TV spin-off end with a reading of the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke by a lisping little boy named Linus".  However, the first broadcast was watched by almost 50% of the nation's viewers."

Quotes on Christmas

W. J. Cameron

There has been only one Christmas - the rest are anniversaries.

Astronaut Frank Borman, Apollo 8, Dec. 25, 1968

"We close with a good night, good luck and a merry Christmas. God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth."

Christmas Facts

The Star of Bethlehem

A Supernatural Sign in the Heavens? 

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Please return soon for information about the traditions and history of Christmas.