Christian Celebration of Christmas

The Office of the Presiding Bishop of Zion Assembly, with international headquarters in Cleveland, TN, has issued the following official press release for immediate publication. This statement addresses the significance of Christmas and Zion Assembly's stance on its celebration. 

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Press Release
December 24, 2024
Cleveland, TN
Office of the Presiding Bishop
 
Questions have been raised recently regarding our celebration of Christmas, including the day of the year we celebrate it. Our response is that December 25th is the very time we should celebrate Christmas. For God's people hundreds of years ago designated this day to especially proclaim and celebrate the birth of Jesus, and at the same time to offset the old pagan traditions in the Dark Ages that were associated with this day.
 
Christmas should be therefore a day filled with worship, praise, holiday festivities, and preaching of the Gospel. It is a time to emphasize the goodness of the Lord and to spread Love, Peace, Joy, and Goodwill throughout the world.
 
Again, December 25" was designated early in Christian history to contradict the pagans' celebrations that honored their false gods and antichrist practices. But these pagan celebrations died out soon after the Roman Empire fell more than 1500 years ago, and therefore pose no threat to our Christian celebration.
 
Christians celebrate December 25th every year---and in fact the days leading up to Christmas day and the days following to honor the birth of Christ and the miracle of Incarnation, when the Son of God mysteriously became flesh to provide a holy, blood sacrifice for the sins of a world morally fallen from grace and holiness.
 
Christmas should be therefore a great time of rejoicing and praise and Christian celebration---a time when families gather to exchange gifts, calling to mind God's love and the gift of His Son to the world. During the Christmas week literally millions of sermons are preached to glorify the Lord and to tell the Bible story according to the Gospels, especially Matthew and Luke. Churches spend weeks preparing plays, dramas, and skits to magnify and explain the meaning of Christmas and the holiday season.
 
Jesus is the Reason for the Season! Millions of Christian parents gather their children together with their friends and neighbors to read the Christmas story in Luke 2. And thousands of Christian churches send out young people in the snow and sometimes bitter cold weather to sing Christmas carols to shut-ins and their neighbors, which tell the story of God giving His Son for our salvation.
 
The display of a Christmas tree beautifully lit up and decorated, mistletoe, eggnog, get-togethers, Santas [the tradition of "old saint-nick"], etc. is merely part of the tradition to enhance the focal point of the whole celebration, that is, the birth of God's only begotten Son. These traditions are spiritually and doctrinally harmless.
 
God's church should use Christmastime wisely to promote the Gospel--10 magnify the Lord with preaching, singing, and rejoicing to edify believers and proclaim Christ to sinners. Let us then sing praises so loud and inspirationally that it will drown out all the complaints of the Scrooges, gainsayers, and heretics and rather gain the attention of sinners and a lost world-a world that needs to hear the Gospel story, especially the Christmas story!
 
"Shout His praises!" Lift-up His name. Glorify the Lord Jesus Christ! This is our purpose and vision for Christmas in Zion Assembly. Accordingly, we want to encourage and to counsel our people not to get caught up in a negative mindset and ignorant view of Christmas. Leave that to Jehovah Witnesses, the cults, and the unlearned.