‘Tis the season—for deception. Most of the world is about to observe the annual winter holiday known as "Christmas." Millions of people believe they are celebrating the birth of the Christ-Child on December 25. They believe this because it is "common knowledge."

Many in God's church also observed and participated in this holiday before their conversions. As children, we believed in Santa Claus, hung stockings, put up mistletoe, and gleefully helped decorate the family Christmas tree. We never questioned why we did these things. Our parents and grandparents—and generations before them—had always kept Christmas. It was traditional. It was part of "Christian" worship. It was fun.

Almost no one checked to see if we should observe Christmas. Few studied history to find out its origins and sources. Hardly anyone cared where the various Christmas customs came from. Most never associated anything we did at Christmastime with paganism. Until God called us, we just unquestioningly and ignorantly fell for the deception as our parents had.

Some professing Christians, curious about such things and learning the truth, would nonetheless argue that they observe Christ's birth on this day despite knowing that December 25 is not His birthdate. Plenty of resources expose this myth. But, they ask, how is it wrong to honor the Christ-Child by setting aside a day to celebrate His incarnation? Yet, the Bible—God's very Word—makes no mention of celebrating the day of Jesus' birth, and moreover, warns us not to add anything to its content (Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32; Proverbs 30:6; Revelation 22:18). Many go so far as to argue that, despite Christmas' pagan origins and lack of biblical authority, observing the day is fine because "it's for the children."

These arguments are not surprising. Throughout history, humanity has sought to take for itself the right to decide what it would do. It goes back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when they, with an assist from the Serpent, chose for themselves what is right or wrong.

The Roman Catholic Church did not observe Christmas—the Mass of Christ—until the fourth century ad. Its leaders knew that God never commanded them to celebrate this day. They went further by allowing the newly pagan converts in Western Europe to incorporate some heathen traditions they had observed for centuries. In effect, the church "Christianized" pagan traditions to make the converts' transitions to Catholicism easier.

One of these pagan holidays was called Saturnalia, an ancient Roman festival in honor of the deity Saturn, held between December 17-23 as a countdown to the shortest day of the year. Romans celebrated it with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn and with a public banquet, followed by private gift-giving, continual partying, and a carnival atmosphere that overturned Roman social norms. For instance, gambling was permitted, and masters served their slaves.

To flesh out their celebrations, professing Christians of the time borrowed heavily from the Celtic or "barbarian" peoples to the north and west. The use of holly, mistletoe, Yule logs, and Wassail bowls came from the pagan religious practices of Celtic druids. All these practices and more were used in that people's worship of their gods, particularly their sun god.

Some practices go back much further, even back to ancient Babylon, long before Christ was born in Bethlehem. After the death of Nimrod, his wife Semiramis promulgated the doctrine of Nimrod's survival as a spirit being, declaring that a full-grown evergreen tree sprang up overnight from a dead tree stump, which symbolized the dead Nimrod springing into new life. On each anniversary of his birth, she claimed, he would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts on it. What day was Nimrod's birthday? You guessed it: December 25.

In Jeremiah 10:2-5, the Bible mentions another heathen custom of worshipping their gods that goes back to ancient times:

Do not learn the way of the Gentiles . . .. For the customs of the people are futile; for one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple. They are upright, like a palm tree, and they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot go by themselves.

Doing this sort of thing breaks the second commandment, found in Exodus 20:4-6, which condemns making graven images to worship God or any so-called god. People say, "But I don't bow down to my Christmas tree!" So, why perpetuate a heathen worship practice at all?

Among the most egregious transgressions of this season is the amount of lying in it. God's Ten Commandments include the ninth, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" (Exodus 20:16). God's warning here is not just against perjury, lying under oath in a court trial. This commandment covers all deception, from "little" white lies to self-deception, propaganda, false teachings, and more. God does not want us to speak any kind of falsehood.

All year long, parents punish their children for telling lies, but then at Christmas, they lie to them, telling them 1) that Santa Claus exists, 2) he is watching to see if they are naughty or nice, and 3) he will bring them gifts if they are good. If called on this, most parents just laugh and say, "It's harmless! My parents did it to me, and I'm no worse for it." But Proverbs 19:5 reads, "A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who speaks lies will not escape."

So, parents lie to their children, and when the children eventually discover that fact, they reason that lying is fine—if it is for the "right" reason. They then lie to their parents, their teachers, their employers, and later to their spouses and their children. When they believe it necessary, people can always find a "reasonable" rationale—excuse? justification?—to tell a lie.

Many talk of getting into the "spirit of Christmas," but they do not realize what spirit they are getting involved with. Lies and other untruths have their source in the father of lies, Satan the Devil. Jesus says so in John 8:44: "[Satan] does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it." All those who use his deceptive practices are his lying children.

Why have so many been deceived for so long? Why have they thought they are worshipping Christ in Christmas? The apostle Paul provides the answer in II Corinthians 11:14, "For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light." Satan makes following his lies attractive. He drapes them in wonder, enjoyment, camaraderie, tuneful melodies, and dazzling light shows so that unsuspecting people, like moths to a flame, draw closer to him and away from God, whose way may seem drab and boring by comparison.

Conversely, Jesus gives us the truth, which people routinely reject. He criticizes the Jews for just this reason in Matthew 15:7-9:

Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: "These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrine the commandments [traditions] of men."

Based on satanic lies, Christmas observance is a tradition of men, passed down from one generation to the next. Billions of people, many of whom profess to follow Christ, have rejected the truth and believed and spread the lie, "deceiving and being deceived" (see II Timothy 3:13).

Yet, Jesus tells the woman at the well that "the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him" (John 4:23). He will not accept worship based on lies and deception (see Deuteronomy 12:30-32). A person cannot honor Christ with practices that have their origins in Satan's lies, heathen worship practices, and ongoing sin. He condemns such things even if they are done in His name (see Matthew 7:22-23).

Christmas and its traditions are a lure for the unwary. They are deceptions, an enticing way to worship, not the great God of all creation, but a false god who appears as an angel of light. Those who worship God in spirit and truth will reject this season of deception.