Faith – Faith Strengthened Moms

The introduction to this blog is going to be very different from my typical style. This introduction is more of a disclaimer. I woke up at 2:00 am with a very powerful God thought for this blog post…

The Easter Bunny and Santa Claus are false idols covering up the true meaning of Christian Holidays.”

I have to admit this unpopular opinion made me nervous. I do not like to do topics which can be taken as controversial. However, when God wakes me up with a warning I find it very important to be obedient and share.

The only way to support this God thought is to dive into the Word. So please hang in there and continue this journey with me to the end.

Through out all of Scripture we can find multiple examples of God’s warnings and God’s people turning their back on Him to worship false idols:

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” – Exodus 20:2-6
“Take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.” -Deuteronomy 12:30-31
“Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” -1 Corinthians 10:14
“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” -1 John 5:21
“Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them: you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons, because they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you.…” -Deuteronomy 7:3-4
The Story of the Golden Calf found in Exodus 32.

God warns us to not fall into the world’s traps of false idols. A false idol can be anything of this world that takes our focus away from God. For example sports, there is nothing wrong with wearing your favorite team’s jersey and going to a game to root them on. But if you base your life off of the team becoming hyper focused and obsessed this becomes a false idol. Sports, musicians, food, alcohol, etc. whatever we become hyper focused on pulling us away from God is a false idol.

Now let’s reel it back in looking at the two main Christian Holidays; Christmas and Easter. Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’s birth. Through the birth of Jesus we see the start to God’s plan to save us from the sins of this world. Easter is the conclusion of this plan. Where we have Good Friday, when Jesus was crucified . He was the ultimate sacrifice causing the veil to be torn ripping apart our separation from God. Three days later we have Easter (Resurrection Sunday) where Jesus defeated the grave and rose back up.

These major Christian events can be swallowed up if we allow it. The most common decorations for these holidays consist of Santa Clauses, elves, rein deer, nut crackers, bunnies, eggs, and carrots. One of my favorite analogies is one my husband created, imagine it is your father’s birthday. You love your dad and are so excited to celebrate him. However, when you show up to the party nothing is about him. All of the decorations are of somebody different, no one even sings happy birthday to him, his birthday is completely overshadowed by this other random person.

Now think about Christmas we are supposed to be celebrating the miracle of Jesus’s birth, but all around our house is Santa Claus decorations and elves we hide so our children behave because they want presents from Santa. The focus on Jesus’s birthday can be overshadowed by Santa Claus and presents. Santa Claus becomes a false idol for kids to worship and look up to so they can get toys.

Where does Santa Claus even originate from? One of the most popular origins of Santa Claus comes from St. Nicholas. In doing some research I found an article by Roger Patterson elaborating on who St. Nicholas is. Nicholas was a Bishop of Myra in the 14th Century. He used his inheritance to provide fortune to the poor. When he passed away the Catholics referred to him as a saint¹. The article also explains the danger of doing Santa with our kids. What happens when our kids find out Santa is not real and we lied to them? “Lying is a sin and can not be justified on biblical grounds¹.”

When doing research I also found a you tube video, The Dark History of Santa Claus/St. Nicholas. Why yes I know a you tube video may not be the most credible source however, it is important to be aware of what other cultures origins stories of St. Nicholas are. Odon is a pagan god for Northern Germany. They view St. Nicholas as Odon with a bishop robe on. St. Nicholas always had helpers (satanic figures) such as the commonly known, Krampus. Krampus’s job is to be the disciplinary figure for the “naughty children”². Now Krampus is a whole other can of worms we will not dive into, please feel free to do your own research if you would like to learn more about him.

One last origin of Santa Claus I will share with you is quite disturbing matching this article’s title, The Dark History of Santa Claus and why Christians shouldn’t celebrate Christmas. It was common practice for people to worship false pagan deities constantly in the Old Testament. Two of these deities were Chemosh and Molech. In Moab they had a winter solstice public ritual. This ritual was a ceremony where they would sacrifice their infants born during this year to Chemosh. These parents would make a list of desires for the new year and offer their children to Molech. They believed this act would make their wishes come true³. In Jeremiah below we can find proof of this in the word. However, the next part of the article I was unable to find proof in the Bible. The article discusses the priest of Chemosh would light fires in their hollow metal idols. This would cause the metal to become scorching hot. The priests would take the children from their parents placing the child on the scorching lap of the idol Chemosh³. This is where some people believe the tradition came from, of handing your kids to Santa to sit on his lap and tell him your wishes.

And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fires unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination to cause Judah to sin. ” -Jeremiah 32:35

Now let’s think about Easter time, we are supposed to be celebrating the miracle of Jesus’s death and resurrection. However, our house is covered in pastel colored eggs, bunnies, carrots, and hoppy Easter sayings. The focus becomes about the Easter Bunny hiding eggs for an egg hunt and bringing us goody baskets. Like Santa kids look up to the Easter Bunny and line up at the malls to meet him.

Understanding the background to where the Easter Bunny originated from is also important. It is a pretty big shocker yet again the Easter Bunny was first introduced by the… Germans. The first reports of the tradition date back to the 1700s where German immigrants brought their tradition to Pennsylvania⁴. The tradition of an egg laying hare named “Osterhase”. The legend was the rabbit would lay fun colored eggs for the children who were good. Therefore children would make nests for the bunny to lay its eggs⁴. In the article What Are the Easter Bunny’s origins? The History of the Famous Fluffy Bunny they mention one theory found in Time Magazine. The rabbit comes from a pagan tradition of the festival of Eostre which honors the goddess of fertility and spring. “The goddess’s animal symbol was a rabbit…⁴.” This paints the perfect picture of why we need to be cautious of the Easter bunny not becoming a false idol. The Easter Bunny stems from a false goddess.

We have to be careful during these holiday seasons we do not let the true reason get overshadowed by the secular folklore reasons. How do we do this? I’m not saying do not partake in these traditions or ever watch a Santa Claus movie again. By all means these traditions are fun and enjoyable. What I’m trying to say is do not lose focus on the true meaning especially protecting kids from doing so.

Around Christmas we hide a stuffed shepherd character. Our kids look forward to finding him every morning and we explain that the shepherd is on his way to find baby Jesus on Christmas morning. During Easter we hide eggs with a little Jesus figure in them for the kids to find to remind them Jesus rose up out of the grave. On Easter morning we hide resurrection eggs, which tell the story of Jesus’s death and resurrection. We also watch the Greatest Adventure movies. These movies do an amazing job explaining the story to the kids. (I have posted links for these ideas below).

References

Christians and Santa Claus: a Biblical View. Roger Patterson. 24 Dec 2009. https://answersingenesis.org/jesus/birth/wintertime-worship-santa-claus-or-jesus-christ/?srsltid=AfmBOoqU9UjUPOdlwDGY80rpMUn7xczj5Gnu-qybIHJt4IPvc9E7asok
The Dark History of Santa Claus/St. Nicholas. 2 Nov 2024. https://youtu.be/VSSeldtYzP4?si=kTy5M2Mjw_DZaI0F
The Dark History of Santa Claus and why Christians shouldn’t celebrate Christians. Richard Inegbedion. 24 Dec 2022.
What Are the Easter Bunny’s Origins? The History of the Famous Fluffy Bunny. Christina Montoya Fielder and Annie O’Sullivan. 25 Feb 2025. https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/holidays/easter-ideas/a31226078/easter-bunny-origins-history/

Resurrection Sunday and Christmas Activities

Ladies and gentlemen this ride could get bumpy, please strap on your floatation devices… Make sure to adjust the straps so they are nice and tight. Alright everybody ready? Let us dive in!

On our own we can try and tread water, doing our best to stay a float. Unfortunately, it gets tiring and our thoughts become captive turning us into a downward spiral. We may think to ourselves; what’s the point? I just want to give up? Why do I even bother? Once our thoughts are taken captive we start to sink.

On our own it is harder. However, I’m here to share some good news; WE DO NOT HAVE TO FIGHT WHAT EVER WE ARE GOING THROUGH ALONE! When we surrender to Jesus, turn our lives over to Him being born again we start a beautiful relationship with Him. Through this beautiful relationship we are given our life vest. Jesus is our life vest.

Lets look into the word of God and read about one man, named Peter, who focused on God and was able to walk on water.

There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children. After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!”

Matthew 14:21, 23-33
https://bible.com/bible/100/mat.14.21-33.NASB1995

Peter let fear take over his thoughts when he saw the wind, which pulled his focus away from Jesus causing him to start sinking. Jesus will keep us a float, through Him we have all the support we could have ever hoped for. When the waters get rough and we feel like we can no longer tread water, we need to stop relying on ourselves. We need to surrender our worries to God. WE CAN’T BUT HE CAN! Christ has absolute authority over all things.

Peter saw the storm and forgot who was in ultimate control. No one ever said following God would be easy. We will have times of suffering and face difficult problems, but we need to give our storms to God. Relying on him to know best in all things.

When we take control of our thoughts and focus on God we can think, how can what I am going through be an opportunity to draw me closer to God to help me through this? When we let Satan take our thoughts captive is when we think about all the negative thoughts I mentioned earlier. Let go and Let God, getting through life is so much easier when He is helping us stay a float.

Remember God is only a prayer away 💓

Tag: Faith

CAUTION: BEWARE OF FALSE IDOLS

Life Vests

Are you the Voice?