John 10:22 references Yeshua’s being in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Dedication, also called the Festival of Lights or Hanukkah (Chanukah) in the Jewish scriptures. Hanukkah commemorates the retaking of Jerusalem and the rededication of the Second Temple to God by a small, but mighty band of committed Jews in 165 B.C., following a Seleucid invasion of Jerusalem. Jewish tradition says that when God’s temple was found desecrated and ransacked, a one-day supply of holy menorah oil miraculously lasted for eight days. During those eight days, the temple was cleansed, purified and rededicated, on Kislev 25, which generally coincides with December.  This year, Hanukkah is from sundown Dec. 7 to sundown Dec. 15.

Pray for your fellow intercessor.

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Last year, I observed the Feast of Dedication/Hanukkah (and not Christmas), for the first time. Last year was not the first year that I put away the commercialism and falsehoods associated with Christmas, however. My journey has been years in the making, initiated and led by God, free from the microscope of religious tradition or personal opinions. It has been a private, deeply personal, and sometimes emotionally painful but peace-filled experience. During these years, no one else knew, because I have not coerced this change on anyone else in my family. I also have not hidden my decision. I don’t pretend to celebrate Christmas to make anyone else comfortable, nor have I rebuked Christian Christmas revelers. I have learned to share and to teach only as the LORD directs, leaving each person to decide for himself or herself.

Why am I sharing this now? Our Enemy wants nothing more than to divide dedicated watchman and intercessors because of arguments like this. For those who want to know, attempts to silence or withhold your ability to learn and to decide for yourselves are rooted in the same anti-God, controlling spirit that Christians are battling on every front. How can they hear, unless they are taught — as Romans 10:14 declares — is a statement true for every aspect of our faith when we desire to be followers of Christ.

Despite historical reports of his miraculous conversion encounter with God, there is little fruit substantiating Constantinople, the inventor of Christmas, as a disciple of Yeshua or His teachings. Like Herod, the Roman King during Yeshua’s birth, there is much evidence that Constantinople was a shrewd, ruthless military leader determined to eradicate any group who challenged his absolute control and deity. He disdained Christians of every ethnos, but he hated Jews, whether or not they were followers of the Way, because they refused to worship him. Withheld from all-out genocide against Christians, Constantinople engaged in a “soft war” — or something like what we now know as cultural jihad. Using a combination of bribery to ingratiate himself to fake Christians, imprisoning and killing steadfast Christians, ostracizing religious Jews and outlawing the Hebrew roots of Christianity, Constantine did what His predecessors had not. He set believers against one another, outlawing Christian house fellowship, while emboldening so-called Christian violence against Jews that lasted for centuries.

The Saturnalia origins associated with Constantinople’s syncretistic Christmas holiday are wicked at their core, but as with many things, centuries of untaught history and of the Church’s blending into culture have left us ignorant. The internet is filled with reasons to justify, cleanse, or render Christmas as holy.

Pagans and satanists know the demonic roots, symbols, and powers associated with holidays like Christmas, Easter, and Valentine’s Day better than Christians. The holly branch is associated with Celtic gods, representing their peace and light, putting up the tree and hanging mistletoe are associated with fertility rituals to the same demons to whom babies are sacrificed, and that one of the favorite Christmas folly events involved ransacking and kidnapping Jews who were paraded naked in the streets and beaten as so-called Christian entertainment. For almost the entire Middle Ages, Jews had to hunker down in their homes on Dec. 25, hoping to be overlooked by the violent Christmas revelers outside. In more recent history, the Ku Klux Klan was founded on Christmas Eve in 1865. As was evidenced in Wisconsin recently, satanists no longer feel bound by the mores or the power of a Christian-led nation and are emboldened to reclaim their right to worship publicly. We will see more of this, before God and His people have the final word.

The question is what will His Body do? Each of us is free to choose whether to step away from Church traditions that feel right, by seeking God’s heart on the matter for ourselves. Some have said that the LORD revealed to them years ago that Christmas is fine. Remembering what Yeshua said about God’s original intent regarding divorce and what was allowed for a time because of the hardness of hearts, I implore us to seek Him for today regarding His continued grace on these issues as they arise. God is allowing these things to be revealed to us for a reason.

Regardless of what each person and family decide, let’s resist the devil by committing not to allow the discourse to become vitriolic and back-biting within Christ’s family. In the same way no one can be forced to agree with or follow my decision to honor the Light of the World by rededicating myself to God during the Festival of Lights/Hanukkah that Yeshua celebrated, no one can force those of us who have been led differently to be silent about it or to celebrate Christmas again.

It seems wise to choose to seek the LORD about this within community. Otherwise, let this be a to-each-his/her-own decision, as directed by God or addressed by those He has called to confront these divisive issues. Ultimately, God has the final say, and the soon-returning pagan prodigals need to know us by our love for one another and the purity of our worship.

Praise the LORD! Father, Yeshua lived among us as the true Light of the world, and He gave us victory over the Enemy. Thank You for choosing us to be His disciples, to be lights set on a hill and shining in the darkness. We reject all false light and any idolatry surrounding the celebration of our Savior’s birth, and we desire and release truth. Reveal to us Your heart on this matter, and give us grace to walk out that revelation with clean hands and pure hearts.

Are you celebrating Christmas this year? Share your own thoughts on the holiday respectfully in the comments.

Mavourene Robinson began in full-time ministry in 2014, campaigning for the Howard County Public Schools’ Board of Education in 2017–2018, and for the Maryland Senate in 2022. A lifelong learner about the intersections of faith with international relations and domestic policy, Mavourene is actively engaged in intercession for family, government, education, and religion. She releases prophetic insight at Judgment Begins in the House. Photo Credit: Eddie Palmore on Unsplash.