HAVE YOU EVER ASKED WHY?

...Christmas is celebrated on December 25?

Most Catholics and Protestants celebrate Christmas on December 25 every year, believing that it is the day when our Lord Jesus Christ was born.  But Catholic author Francis X. Weiser reveals that Christmas (also known as the feast of Nativity) is of pagan origin.  December 25 was originally a pagan feast for the birthday of the sun god of the ancient Romans:

"... the choice of December 25 was influenced by the fact that the Romans, from the time of Emperor Aurelian (275), had celebrated the feast of the sun god (Sol Invictus: the Unconquered Sun) on that day.  December 25 was called the 'Birthday of the Sun', and great pagan religious celebrations of the Mithras cult were held all through the empire... It has sometimes been said that the Nativity is only a 'Christianized pagan festival'." (Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. 1963 p. 61)

This violates the teaching of the apostle that Christians should no longer have any part in the beliefs and practices that the pagan observe.

"Here then is my word to you, and I urge it on you in the Lord's name: give up living as pagans do with their futile notions.  Their minds are closed, they are alienated from the life that is in God, because ignorance prevails among them and their hearts have grown hard as stone." (Eph. 4:17-18, Revised English Bible)

...the Pope apologized for the Catholic Church's past mistakes?

On March 12, 2000, John Paul II, the present Pope of the Roman Catholic Church made a historic feat when he asked forgiveness for his church's sins through the centuries.  Speaking after the ceremony to the crowd in St. Peter's Basilica, he acknowledged the past misdeeds committed in the name of Catholicism:

"In calling for a Church-wide 'purification of memory', John Paul acknowledged the mistakes and cruelty imbedded in Church history, including the Inquisition, the enforced conversions of the native people in Africa and Latin America, and support of the Crusades, whose victims included Jews, Muslims and members of the Eastern Orthodox church". (Today, March 15, 2000)

One of these errors of the Roman Catholic Church is the creation of the Inquisition in the 13th century, through which anyone who refused to accept the Catholic Church's doctrines were tortured to death.  The pope's apology echoes what other Catholic authors such as John A. O'Brien had straightforwardly written several years ago:

"The Church cannot escape the responsibility for the use of torture nor for the burning of victims at the stake... we frankly acknowledge the responsibility for the popes in the use of torture and the burning of thousands of heretics at the stake.  Their sanctioning of such cruel and brutal measures is unquestionably one of the blackest stains on the record of the Holy Office and will remain to the end of time a cause of obloquy and shame upon the papacy." (The Truth About the Inquisition. pp. 47, 49)

Such brutal measures perpetrated by the Catholic Church leaders of the past, and openly admitted by its present Pope, brings to mind what our Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles forewarned concerning the cruel nature of false prophets who would emerge after their time and lead people astray:

"Beware of false prophets who, come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves." (Mt. 7:15, New King James Version)

"Then they will deliver you up to tribulations and kill you, ..." (Mt. 24:9, Ibid.)

"For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock." (Acts 20:29, Ibid.)

...Evangelical Churches commit the error of rejecting the value of Church membership in man's salvation?

"The Teaching of the Evangelical Churches on Salvation

"These Churches, by and large, do not basically declare that membership in the Church (a particular denomination) is essential for salvation, rather that it is through trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior." (Albert J. Sanders, D.D. Evangelical and Roman Catholic Beliefs Compared. p. 20)

But Christ taught that one should enter the fold or flock, which is the Church of Christ, in order to be saved.  To trust in Jesus is truly necessary for salvation, but this is proven by following His words, that is, by seeking membership in the true Church not because the Church saves but because it is that which Christ will save.

"I am the door; anyone who comes into the fold through me will be safe." (Jn. 10:9, REB)

"Take heed therefore to yourselves and to all the flock... the church of Christ which he has purchased with his blood." (Acts 20:28, Lamsa Translation)

"... and Christ is himself the Savior of the church, his body." (Eph. 5:23, Today's English Version)

Does your religion really teach the truth?

Its not too late for you to find out what our Lord God really wants you to do. Make sure that your faith will not be worthless. Learn the true words of God in the Bible as upheld by the Church of Christ.

You received this pamphlet from:

We invite you to attend our worship services.

Published by the Iglesia ni Cristo

Editorial office: Iglesia ni Cristo Central Office

No. 1 Central Ave., New Era

Quezon City 1107 Philippines