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12/18/05 a.m. The following was part of yesterday's sermonette in Arroyo Grande:

The early Catholic Church not only did not celebrate Christmas, Tertullian (one of its leading 2nd/3rd century writers) warned that to participate in the winter celebrations made one beholding to pagan gods.

Notice what Tertullian wrote about winter celebrations, such as Saturnalia:

The Minervalia are as much Minerva's, as the Saturnalia Saturn's; Saturn's, which must necessarily be celebrated even by little slaves at the time of the Saturnalia. New-year's gifts likewise must be caught at, and the Septimontium kept; and all the presents of Midwinter and the feast of Dear Kinsmanship must be exacted; the schools must be wreathed with flowers; the flamens' wives and the aediles sacrifice; the school is honoured on the appointed holy-days. The same thing takes place on an idol's birthday; every pomp of the devil is frequented. Who will think that these things are befitting to a Christian master, unless it be he who shall think them suitable likewise to one who is not a master? (Tertullian. On Idolatry, Chapter X. Translated by S. Thelwall. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).

Since the modern Christmas celebration is at the same time as the old Gentile Saturnalia holiday (and with many of the same elements, like wreaths and gift-giving), it is clear that Tertullian is condemning these practices by stating that those that keep it are of the pagan god Saturn. He also wrote against winter giving:

...gifts like those you have in the Saturnalia! (Origen. De Fuga in Persecutione, Chapter 13. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4. Edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).

The Catholic Encyclopedia teaches that:

Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church (Martindale C. Transcribed by Susanti A. Suastika.The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume III. Copyright © 1908 by Robert Appleton Company. Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight. Nihil Obstat, November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York).

The Church in Rome did not endorse Christmas until apparently the fourth century. It should be noted that scholarly sources believe that the celebration in Rome of Christmas began after Constantine became emperor (with various specific dates proposed).

Furthermore, even The Catholic Encyclopedia admits this about Christmas:

Christmas...Irenaeus and Tertullian omit it from their lists of feasts; Origen, glancing perhaps at the discreditable imperial Natalitia, asserts (in Lev. Hom. viii in Migne, P.G., XII, 495) that in the Scriptures sinners alone, not saints, celebrate their birthday; Arnobius (VII, 32 in P.L., V, 1264) can still ridicule the "birthdays" of the gods.

Alexandria. The first evidence of the feast is from Egypt. About A.D. 200, Clement of Alexandria (Strom., I, xxi in P.G., VIII, 888) says that certain Egyptian theologians "over curiously" assign, not the year alone, but the day of Christ's birth, placing it on 25 Pachon (20 May) in the twenty-eighth year of Augustus...

Cyprus, Mesopotamia, Armenia, Asia Minor. In Cyprus, at the end of the fourth century, Epiphanius asserts against the Alogi (Hær., li, 16, 24 in P. G., XLI, 919, 931) that Christ was born on 6 January...

Jerusalem...In 385, therefore, 25 December was not observed at Jerusalem.This checks the so-called correspondence between Cyril of Jerusalem (348-386) and Pope Julius I (337-352), quoted by John of Nikiu (c. 900) to convert Armenia to 25 December (see P.L., VIII, 964 sqq.). Cyril declares that his clergy cannot, on the single feast of Birth and Baptism, make a double procession to Bethlehem and Jordan. (This later practice is here an anachronism.) He asks Julius to assign the true date of the nativity "from census documents brought by Titus to Rome"; Julius assigns 25 December...

Rome. At Rome the earliest evidence is in the Philocalian Calendar (P. L., XIII, 675; it can be seen as a whole in J. Strzygowski, Kalenderbilder des Chron. von Jahre 354, Berlin, 1888), compiled in 354, which contains three important entries. In the civil calendar 25 December is marked "Natalis Invicti"...

By the time of Jerome and Augustine, the December feast is established, though the latter (Epp., II, liv, 12, in P.L., XXXIII, 200) omits it from a list of first-class festivals. From the fourth century every Western calendar assigns it to 25 December...

The Gospels. Concerning the date of Christ's birth the Gospels give no help; upon their data contradictory arguments are based. The census would have been impossible in winter: a whole population could not then be put in motion...

Natalis Invicti. The well-known solar feast, however, of Natalis Invicti, celebrated on 25 December, has a strong claim on the responsibility for our December date. For the history of the solar cult, its position in the Roman Empire, and syncretism with Mithraism, see Cumont's epoch-making "Textes et Monuments" etc., I, ii, 4, 6, p. 355...The earliest rapprochement of the births of Christ and the sun is in Cypr., "De pasch. Comp.", xix, "O quam præclare providentia ut illo die quo natus est Sol . . . nasceretur Christus." - "O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born . . . Christ should be born."...

Cards and presents. Pagan customs centering round the January calends gravitated to Christmas...

The yule log. The calend fires were a scandal even to Rome, and St. Boniface obtained from Pope Zachary their abolition (Martindale C. Christmas, 1908).

Hence it is clear that even early Roman writers such as Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Origen did not endorse Christmas, nor did Augustine even list it as an important holiday. It appears that towards the beginning of the third century, there were some in Alexandria (not Asia Minor, or even Rome) who began to feel that Jesus' birth should be celebrated, and that it would be on May 25th. But later, in the fourth century, Christmas began to be celebrated with January 6th or December 25 being the dates observed (and that is believed to be because the sun-worshiping Emperor Constantine, or one of his successors, wanted to have a Sun holiday at the time of Saturnalia and Brumalia to placate the Gentiles--it should be noted that while Catholic scholars admit the probable pagan origins of the date and celebrations associated with Christmas, they tend to not believe that it was derived from Saturnalia).

Christmas clearly was not an original holiday for those who professed Christianity. The reason I focused on the Catholic teachings is that Protestants and Orthodox tend to accept the same early history on this matter. Those interested in more history on Christmas, may wish to read my latest article What Does the Catholic Church Teach About Christmas and the Holy Days?

AW has a picture of HWA's old house, now dressed up with Christmas lights. Apparently those who now own it do not understand (or perhaps care enough) about the history of Christmas.

After reading UCG's latest COE and Home Office Updates yesterday, I decided to update my article on UCG & LCG. I also decided to add one additional category, and that is the identity of the King of the South, after I read an article in UCG's latest World News & Prophecy titled Could Ahmadinejad Be Daniel's "King of the South"?:

Because Iran is, to this point, intractable in its demand to develop nuclear power, and because it produces the second highest amount of oil in OPEC, neither it nor its new president can be ignored.

Back to Daniel's enigmatic prediction. He spoke of two geopolitical configurations, kings of the south and north. It's too soon to tell whether Ahmadinejad will become the first "king," but it is possible that the group backing that king of the south could well be some form of the Islamic ummah (community) (Maranville C.E. Could Ahmadinejad Be Daniel's "King of the South"? United News, December 2005).

LCG's R.C. Meredith has repeatedly and publicly stated that Iran will and cannot be the King of the South, though it may be that Iran will support that king. This is a relatively minor difference between the two groups, yet it does show a major difference: LCG will clearly teach what it believes, while UCG tends to be a bit more guarded.

The Differences Between the United Church of God and Living Church of God article provides documented evidence of the doctrinal, governmental, and public proclamation emphasis of the two largest COGs.

12/17/05 a.m. UCG's 12/15/05 home office report had this information from John LaBissoniere:

The cost of adding one new subscriber to the Good News file through newsstand distribution has now climbed to an average of $98, primarily, it seems, because many people are content to pick up their copy at the newsstand rather than subscribe. Even though these are certainly not wasted magazines, we cannot financially justify supporting this program, especially when we have other advertising methods that add subscribers for $1 to $6 each.

As a result, Good News newsstand distribution, as a regular, ongoing program, is being discontinued as of the January/February 2006 issue.

UCG's report also had this information from Peter Eddington:

On December 7 and 8 four more Beyond Today video programs were recorded in the new media center. This brings our total to eight programs. The next four will be videotaped on January 11 and 12, 2006, with Darris McNeely hosting.

Beginning on December 18, Beyond Today will air on 105 local-community cable TV channels across the United States plus on the World Wide Web.

Last night, ICG's Mark Armstrong reported:

As I’ve mentioned over the last couple of updates, we’d sent sample GTA programs to two large national television networks for approval...

For starters, we plan to be on the E! (Entertainment Network – reaching 86 million households) channel at 6:30 am on Sunday December 25, and will be airing our program on the subject of the origins of Christmas. We think this is a pretty exciting development, and praying that it will prove to have been a good decision.

ICG has historically had the second or third best tv response of the COGs. LCG is by far first, PCG is usually second, with ICG normally third. UCG is apparently fourth, though this may change.

Of the COGs, CEM gets the most radio responses, probably followed by UCG or LCG.

BM's Alan Ruth sent out a mass email that contained the following:

As an independent outreach not sponsored by any church or group, the site depends on the generosity of its visitors to keep it online. Although it will experience a 46% increase in actual visitors compared to last year, donations in 2005 have decreased to less than $5,000 U.S.

BibleStudy.org has always been run as lean as possible given the size and scope of its service. But how lean is lean? Since its inception in 1995 only one person has operated, maintained, enhanced and expanded the ENTIRE site every day of the year.

Therefore, as 2005 draws to a close please consider a donation to this ministry to keep it going. If the site has ministered to your needs, you can be sure it is ministering to many others around the world.

His site certainly does attract a lot of visitors. The cogwriter.com site is also a one-person operation, nor is it sponsored by any group or church organization. Unlike Alan Ruth, however, I do not wish any donations, nor accept any advertising. Actually, I would be willing to provide a donation to Alan Ruth if he was willing to sell me his biblestudy.org URL :)

On other matters, COGaic just re-layed out its vision.org website. It is my understanding that this group, which does not get very many web visitors relative to its size (it is probably the lowest on a per FOT attendee basis of any of the COGs), is planning on having more of a web presence. In a timely interview with COGaic's David Hulme, Steven Ozment stated:

If we are to secure our world from the kind of horror that National Socialism and the Holocaust represent, we might begin by finding better ways to manage memory and its resentments. Our continuing challenge is to find a way to remember without vengeance (remembering with vengeance was what brought Germany into this situation), and to forget without walking completely away—never again to humiliate and to burden gratuitously and seemingly without end, because history makes it clear how these things originate and how they develop. It will take great vigilance, as well as “remembering without vengeance,” to keep these things from happening, not only between Europeans, or Germans and Jews, but also between other ethnic groups who are in conflict around the world.

Anyway, after Iran's President denied, earlier this month, that the Holocaust occurred, I considered how often people do not remember the lessons from history.

That is one of the reasons that there are a lot of historical articles at the COGwriter site. My belief, as well as the belief of many, is that if people actually know what happened historically, they will make better choices now. Including which church to support and attend.

12/16/05 a.m. Would anyone like to know why Sunday? Well, here is what that the Roman Catholic 1649 Douay Catechism teaches:

The First Precept of the Church Expounded
Q. 538. What is the first?
A. "To hear mass on Sundays and holydays," if we have opportunity to do it, and there be no just cause to the contrary.

Q. 539. Why on all Sundays?
A. In thanksgiving for the benefits of the week past, as also to sanctify the Lord's day.

Q. 540. For what other reason?
A. In memory that the same Christ, who is offered upon the altar at the mass for our sins, was born, rose from the dead, and sent down the Holy Ghost on a Sunday.

Q. 541. Why on all holydays?
A. Either in memory of some special benefit, or else for a commemoration of some peculiar saint, so to move ourselves to imitate his example.

Q. 542. How prove you that the church hath power to ordain and command feasts?
A. First, by the example of the church in the apostle's time, which ordained the feast of Christmas in honour of the Nativity of Christ; Easter in honour of his resurrection; Whitsuntide, in honour of the coming of the Holy Ghost, in tongues of fire (Tuberville H. 1649 Douay Catechism. Datum Duaci, Martii 11, 1649. Approbatio: Gulielmus Hydeus, S. T. D., ac professor, Colligii Anglorum Duacensis Præses & Librorum Censor. Approbation: BENEDICT, Bp Bn. Boston, April 24th, 1833. NEW YORK: P. J. KENEDY, EXCELSIOR CATHOLIC PUBLISHING HOUSE, p. 48).

There are several problems with those answers.

1) Notice that hearing Sunday and other mass, not love, not faith, not living by the word of God is claimed to be the "First Precept of the Church".
2) The reason for Sunday given here is because that is when the Holy Spirit was given in Acts 2. Well, no early Catholic writer gave that reason (the first reason had to the eighth day--a gnostic concept, and the other was the allegation about the resurrection--even though that occurred before sunrise). The Catholic Encyclopedia article on Sunday in its1912 edition also does not provide that as the reason.
3) The Roman Catholic Church itself admits (which I plan to post in a couple of days) that no one kept Christmas until the beginning of the third century, hence it did not come from the apostles. Since it did not come from the apostles, then this Catholic Catechism is essentially admitting that the Church had no authority for Sunday.
4) Whitsuntide is a changed version of the biblical Pentecost, which comes from the Bible itself, not some teachings of the Roman Church.

Hence, there is no legitimate reason in that Catechism for Sunday. And Protestants should understand that they got Sunday from the Roman Catholics.

The Catholic Encyclopedianotes this about Sunday:

Sunday (Day of the Sun), as the name of the first day of the week, is derived from Egyptian astrology...

St. Justin is the first Christian writer to call the day Sunday (I Apol., lxvii) in the celebrated passage in which he describes the worship offered by the early Christians on that day to God...

...we find St. Cæsarius of Arles in the sixth century teaching that the holy Doctors of the Church had decreed that the whole glory of the Jewish Sabbath had been transferred to the Sunday, and that Christians must keep the Sunday holy in the same way as the Jews had been commanded to keep holy the Sabbath Day (Slater T. Transcribed by Scott Anthony Hibbs. Sunday. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIV. Copyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton Company. Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by Kevin Knight. Nihil Obstat, July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York).

It is true that the heretic Justin was the first to mention that his people met "on the Helios said day" (Helios was Greek for the sun as well as for the Sun god). Those who doubt that Justin would be considered a heretic by probably all Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, and Church of God groups should read the documented article Justin Martyr: Saint or Heretic and Apostate?

The above reference from The Catholic Encyclopedia does assert that Ignatius and the Didache provide early proof for Sunday, but of course they do not (contrary to the view of the anti-COG types). Information on that remains in the article Ignatius and the Sabbath.

Astoundingly, ex-CG's Jared O., after quoting my statement in The Journal on the Didache (and an editorial error, that I did not make, but though the editor did), "The context appears to refer to the Christian Passover (which these 19th-century scholars did not observe; hence their nonobservance of it may explain why they did not translate the expression literally)", actually wrote:

Of course, those scholars did observe the Christian Passover—they just didn’t follow the Quartodeciman tradition in calculating the date of their Paschal festival.

Even those who do not wish to believe that the Bible endorses the Sabbath, really should not believe that. I have seen no proof whatsoever that the 19th century scholars like Lightfoot, Roberts, Donaldson, or Lake said that they celebrated an annual Christian Passover. This is typical of the inaccurate assertions that the anti-COG crowd makes.

The truth is that there is not one command in the Bible to switch to Sunday services. The Sabbath is the only day that the New Testament ever refers to that Jesus is specifically Lord of. A related article would be is Revelation 1:10 Referring to the Lord's Day or the Day of the Lord?

12/15/05 a.m. The December 2005 issue of United News reports:

Beginning with the regional pastors meetings in early December, Richard Pinelli began turning the responsiblities as operation manager for Ministerial Services over to Jim Franks. The transition will be complete in mid-January.

Mr. Pinelli is looking forward to his new role as coordinator of ministerial development programs, and he won't miss the pressure of the operation manager job.

A related story states:

"Richard has worked at his job through all the various administrations. No one else can really say that," said Mr. Franks. "We should probably be awarding him a medal!"

By March 1996, the regional pastors and the Ministerial Services team were set up, and it has been "a good, solid" system and "highly successful," said Mr. Pinelli. This was especially important during those "forming and storming" times. During the first difficult seven years it was a time of sorting, as people with different doctrinal and administrative ideas eventually chose to go separate ways.

Mr. Pinelli said at first he was receiving about 150 e-mails a day, and up to 50 complaints after each Feast. He said he knew that the "norming" stage was arriving when four years ago the Feast was very peaceful. Now there are only about an average of 35 e-mails a day and only seven or eight complaints after the Feast. "Now we see ourselves between the 'norming' and 'performing' stage of the Church," Mr. Pinelli said.

"The situations that made their way to Mr. Pinelli's desk were inevitably the most difficult, demanding the most in terms of judgment. But his track record of consistency through four presidential administrations speaks volumes for his performance," said Mr. Kilough. "I share with many the highest appreciation for that service." ...

Mr. Pinelli also listed maintaining doctrinal purity as a key accomplishment of the Church over the last 10 years. "As a result of all of us working together—between Ministerial Services, the Council, the Doctrine Committee—we feel like we have really gotten a good handle on the doctrine of the Church, and the purity of doctrine we have seen come out of United is a result of everybody working together."

I would strongly challenge that statement about maintaining "doctrinal purity". What UCG did with the Last Great Day study paper is, in my opinion, is a disgrace. Additional proof of UCG's lack of doctrinal purity can be found in the article on the Differences between the United Church of God and Living Church of God.

My family doesn't celebrate Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day or any other religious holiday like most people do. People sometimes think that means we are not Christians, but we are. We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and was born on earth to the virgin Mary, to die for us so we can have a chance to live forever. We read the same Bible as everyone else.

The reason we don't keep Christmas is because the Bible doesn't tell us to. It tells the story of Jesus' birth, but not as a Holy Day. It doesn't even tell us what day He was born. Dec. 25 is a day called the winter solstice. Most of the traditions of Christmas come from people called pagans who lived before Christ was born and worshipped idols. Later, during the Roman Empire , Christians started keeping these traditions in Jesus' name and today everyone thinks that's OK.

But the Bible says we shouldn't take away or add to God's laws. And we are not supposed to reject God's Commandments so that we can keep man's traditions, even if they seem fun. So that's why my family doesn't celebrate Christmas.

We do celebrate Holy Days from the Bible.

Thus, one really does not need to be a biblical scholar to understand some of the basics that the world's so-called scholars still do not understand.

Information on the Holy Days from the Bible can be found in the following articles:

Is Revelation 1:10 talking about Sunday or the Day of the Lord? Most Protestant scholars say Sunday, but is that what the Bible teaches?
Is God Unreasonable? Some have suggested that if God requires Sabbath-keeping He is unreasonable. Is that true?
Is There "An Annual Worship Calendar" In the Bible? This paper provides a biblical and historical critique of several articles which state that this should be a local decision. Also you can click here for the calendar of Holy Days.
Should Christians Keep the Days of Unleavened Bread? Do they have any use or meaning now? This article supplies some biblical answers.
Melito's Homily on the Passover This is one of the earliest Christian writings about the Passover. This also includes what Apollinaris wrote on the Passover as well.
UCG and Its Unleavened Bread Study Paper What does the Bible say about eating unleavened bread for seven days? What has UCG officially said about it?
The Book of Life and the Feast of Trumpets? Are they related? Is so how? If not, where not?
The Day of Atonement--Its Christian Significance The Jews call it Yom Kippur, Christians "The Day of Atonement". Does it have any relevance for Christians today?
The Feast of Tabernacles: A Time for Christians? Is this pilgrimage holy day still valid? Does it teach anything relevant for today's Christians?
Last Great Day study paper Was Jesus speaking about the 7th or 8th day of the Feast in John 7:37? UCG says the 7th, but what does the Bible teach? This extensive paper reviews UCG's LGD study paper and includes comments as to where it erred.
Is January 1st a Date for Christians Celebrate? Historical and biblical answers to this question.
Valentine's Day: Its Real Origins Christianity Today suggests that Valentine's Day is good for Christians to observe. Is this true?
Is Halloween Holy Time for Christians? This article provides some historical and biblical insight on this question.
New Moons Some observe them, some do not; here are scriptures and comments.

On other matters, I have been experimenting with changing my email address out of AOL and have lost several emails. If you wrote me and I did not write you back, it is most likely because your email was lost--so please accept this pubic apology. For the time being my email address will remain cogwriter @ aol.com

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