A Response to Another Ministry's Teaching on Christmas Trees

Pastor Shane Vaughn RESPONDS to another ministries teaching on Christmas Trees Shane Vaughn ——— First Harvest Ministries International 1 hello everybody Pastor Shane Vine with first Harvest Ministries the Bible tells us to be ready to give an answer to anyone that asks about our faith and and our religious belief and our conscious the purpose of this video is to address a minister a very famous Minister on the subject of uh Christmas trees now for those of you that don't know here at first harvest we do not celebrate Christmas uh it goes against our religious conscience and I'm not going to get in today about why we don't I have many other videos on that subject the purpose of the video tonight is to take some things that this 2 brother so the brother I'm speaking about I'm not going to say his name because I honor the man have nothing personal against him great man doing a great work for god um so I've chose just to pull the audio off of a recent video that he released on Christmas Eve he was preaching to his church a very large church and decided to preach on Christmas trees in the affirmative of why the church should put up Christmas trees as I was listening to his sermon um of course he comes at it from a different angle than most people do and so I found that very interesting and I wanted to hear what he had to 3 say and as I was listening I'm like you know what I need I've got to address this because many of you that follow our teaching ings you may follow this brother as well and I don't want you confused by a sermon that sounds wonderful but as I believe I'll prove to you tonight lacking in truth so before I proceed I'm fixing to place some clips of the video for you before I do it know this because this video will probably get back to the brother please know this this is not personal that's why I chose not to put the video up um it is not intended to disparage shame or anything of that nature it's 4 simply to compare notes and see if indeed we're hearing the truth so what I'm going to do I'm going to bring the video in now and we're going to play and I think what I may do I want to be very honest in this um evaluation of this sermon I hate when people quote me out of context it's not fair to do that to someone and so I want to be very careful tonight not to take this pastor out of context so I'm going to have to play at least a five minute chunk of the beginning of his sermon for you to get the context because we want to be fair in this eval valuation now I won't do the whole sermon it 5 was about 40 minutes long I believe and so there's no way I can do the whole sermon but I give my word that I'm going to try my best to make sure that his context is heard so all right without further Ado we're going to bring the video in and then of course I'm going to respond uh with the word of God and we'll just find out where the truth is tonight all right so we're going to listen together okay there's nothing that symbolizes Christmas for us especially in the western world like a tree there's when you think about everything that we use to celebrate Christmas and to embrace Christmas we 6 have a lot of different things that we do whether it's dinner or you see Santa Clauses it's a shop being it's its lights it's everything but if I could ask you name the number one thing that symbolizes Christmas you would have to say it's a Christmas tree I would agree with this pastor on that point that of all the trappings of Christmas the Christmas tree is the most beloved of them all so he is correct about that um there's a caveat there if Christmas is biblical and what have you the Christmas tree would be uh the actual symbol of Christmas millions of them are sold every season and I don't 7 think it's a coincidence that we uh I know that over the years I've been around groups where individuals who did not believe in having a Christmas tree all right so now that would that would be us for those that don't know who we are we would be one of those groups that do not believe that a Christmas tree belongs in a believer's house uh and they take it out of I think it's Jeremiah chapter 10 but I'll tell you what let's do before he does his butt let's go read that in Jeremiah 10 real quick um if you would like to uh go there with us we will'll read it together that way um you can know the 8 scripture he is actually uh referring back to I believe it is Jeremiah [Music] 10 here we go all right so we're going to and I also want to well I don't know if he referred to this scripture or not but why was I not prepared for that kill that just kill that Jeremiah 10 2-5 thus says Yahweh do not learn the way of the Heathen for the customs of the people are vain they go and cut a tree out of the forest the work of the hands of the workmen with the axe they deck it with silver and with gold they fasten it with nails and hammers that it move not they are upright as the palm tree but they speak 9 not they must needs be born because they cannot go on their own be not afraid afid of them for they cannot do evil neither also is it in them to do good all right so that is the verses he's referring to Jeremiah spoke about a group of people long before Christmas long before Christ and what they would do they would go out and cut a tree down and bring it in their home and fasten it but that's not all they did it said they would deck that tree with silver and gold ornamentation is what they would do with that tree now when we bring this Minister back he's going to try to spin this another way 10 so I'll let you listen and we'll respond not realizing that that passage of scripture is talking about the fact that the enemy was trying to counterfeit what God God had already intended to celebrate and to represent who he is okay so his first claim is that the reason these pagans were now he acknowledges that this was a tree that was brought into the house he's not denying that but he's saying that the reason they did it was because they were imitating the true worship of God and now he's going to make the case that God wanted to be worshiped using a tree and that the pagans were just 11 imitating what God originally wanted let's find out if that's true in Jeremiah 10: 3-5 say this that they would take a tree cut it down with an axe and that they would set it upright and they would deck it hit with silver and gold the enemy has always tried to counterfeit what God intends for us to celebrate okay so he's now making the aimation that God Yahweh intends for you and I to bring a tree in our home and celebrate Yahweh with a tree and that's why the pagans were doing it as an imitation but yet Jeremiah says the total opposite he calls this the customs of the people not the customs 12 of God but the customs of the people and that those Customs are vain this Minister would have you to believe that Yahweh designed this tree to be brought into the home because as the minister said at the beginning the Christmas tree in their home is the symbol of God and he says now that these people are imitating the original now he's going to go into why he believes that the tree in the home was the way that God wanted to be worshiped originally and when we have a Christmas tree in our home we are not falling down in worshiping a tree well you are kneeling before it and laying gifts at its 13 feet it is a representation that it represent something much greater and so when you go back and you begin to study the tree all right so he's fixing to go back but before he does let me tell you what he just said he believes that the tree in the home was God's idea and that whenever they put it in their home that it is representing something much greater now you and I both know if we're going to be honest very few people walk by a Christmas tree seeing something greater that it represents most people is looking at the decorations and what's under it so let's just be real with that very few 14 people are you know oh Christmas tree oh Christmas tree how lovely are thy branches but we don't worship it though it is a theme that runs from Genesis to Revelation I agree and when you read the story of Creation The Very central theme of Genesis is the tree of life when you go back and you look at the Bible the very first page of the Bible deals deal with the tree the very first chapter the very first page of Psalms deals with the tree for he shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water okay so here he's saying that trees do represent something other than a literal tree so keep that in 15 mind because I'm going to come back to that in a minute he's telling you that in the Bible sometimes men were represented by the image of a tree and that's true very true he brings us to the Garden of Eden and starts talking about how important trees are to God the very first page of Matthew the New Testament deals with the tree the very last page of the last book in the Bible Revelations chapter 22 deals with a tree so God starts with a tree and he ends it with a tree that's good for preaching that definitely makes good preaching points if they were only true what he's saying about the trees 16 and the garden and the trees in the Book of Revelation that is true however there's a point that I'm going to bring out here in a minute that will show you that it's uh to be respectful it is um it's not a good argument and I'll show you why in just a moment but it is true the Bible starts with truth trees and the Bible ends with trees so in his mind that means God likes trees and we should like trees in our home because it is tied to something much greater that represents keep that in mind even he is admitting that the trees are tied to something much greater they represent something besides 17 the physical tree life they represent life when you go back to Genesis the Bible talks about it he said the Lord made man it's very interesting the first three days on the third day he creates trees and then the second three days segment on the sixth day God creates man when you go back to the scriptures man has always been likened to a tree okay so by his own admission a tree does not always mean a tree it represents something from his own mouth he shall be like a tree planted by rivers of living water a tree planted by rivers of Living Water is representing a man that's founded on the word 18 of God keep all of these admissions in mind when I get to my main point when God healed the Blind Men and he touched him twice he said what do you see the first time he said I see men as trees walking all true so God has always used an analogy remember that word analogy I'm going to need it in just a minute between trees and people trees and people are trees and entities trees and things that the tree represents in genis the Tree of Life when it was sitting in the midst of the paradise of God in Eden and it was on top of a mountain all right so according to this Minister the tree was not just 19 in Eden but it was on top of a mountain and he's going to give you a scripture to prove that you say how do we know that because if you go back and you read I think it's in Ezekiel the Lord is speaking to the devil has Lucifer and he says Thou was in the garden in Eden on the mountain of the Lord or on the Mount of God so God builds this beautiful garden and in the midst of it there is a mountain and on top of the mountain is the Tree of Life the all right let's pause there so there's a Garden of Eden in the middle of this Garden or wherever there's a big mountain on top of the mountain 20 mountain is a tree and that's why we bring trees into our home now keep all this in mind and and we'll talk about that mountain we'll talk about Ezekiel and everything in just a moment tree of life was the central theme of the garden and so according to him there's a literal Mountain a literal Tree Way up you look up you'll see it Eden or the Garden of Eden literally means a pleasure Palace or a place of pleasure it was a place of Fellowship where God and man came together when you and I fellowship with God there is nothing greater there's nothing that at least for me personally that get I 21 agree with that gives me more pleasure than fellowshiping with the Lord okay so I think we'll pause right there I tried to play the whole thing uh so you could or the beginning so you could get the context of where the brother's going now many of you watching right now if you were to hear this sermon it is it sounds logical it sounds sensible it sounds rational okay I just want to show you why it's wrong okay it's very very simple we need to First establish that here's reference points of Genesis and Revelation about trees those are not good reference points why because I'm fixing to prove to 22 you from the word of God that those were not literal trees neither in the Garden of Eden nor in the Book of Revelation let's talk about those trees and let's find out if a natural tree growing from the ground on this big mountain in the Garden of Eden can give you eternal life let's find out if a tree can give you knowledge of Good and Evil the answer is obvious no the Bible is written in Oriental language if you will it is written in a way the Bible says that it's written exclusively to the house House of Israel for those that have an ear to hear what the spirit is saying to the church not 23 what the text is saying but what is the spirit saying to you deep calling unto deep through the text all right now a perfect example of this is with these two trees in the garden are they real literal physical trees because his entire argument the reason he brings a real physical literal tree into his home is because of the physical literal tree that was in the Garden of Eden but the simple fact is this my dear brother and sister the very simple fact is this and you can find this story in Genesis [Music] 28-17 when it talks about these trees the simple fact is the Tree of Life In the Garden of 24 Eden and in the Book of Revelation was not a natural physical tree okay as a matter of fact if you read in Revelations 217 I'm sorry 2 and 7 it says to him that overcometh will I give him to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God what does Eden mean Paradise okay so here we come to the back of the Bible and we find that same tree that we find in the beginning just like this Minister said however it's the same exact tree at the end that's in the beginning keep that in mind this tree is giving eternal life in Genesis and in Revelation now what I need every one of 25 you to answer with a just just a common sense mind can a tree do you think when we get to heaven we're all going to be standing under a tree eating fruit so that we can keep on living eternally and there there will be billions of us correct in other words how long do we have at that tree it's one tree these are things that are so very important the tree in the Book of Revelation is the exact same tree that Adam lost access to in the garden Garden but because of a son of Adam now all of Adam's sons have been given the right to return back to the tree of life that they never were able to access 26 in the Garden of edting Eden this tree is is imparting more than mortal life this tree is imp planting uh Way Beyond mortal life and no phys it's giving eternal life no physical tree can Minister Heavenly life to anyone to think that it can is pure poppycock these are not trees it's just like the minister said these are symbolizing are representing something Beyond a tree let's talk about the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil do you believe you can eat a tree and all of a sudden have knowledge and be like God and have the knowledge of Good and Evil because you ate from a tree perish the 27 thought beloved just not the case at all no physical tree can give you eternal life all right uh 2 Corinthians 4:18 says these words for the things which we see are temporary but the things which are are not seen is eternal so if this tree is giving eternal life according to 2 Corinthians 4:18 if you can see it with the natural eye it cannot give you anything Eternal it's plain second Corinthians 4:18 one more time for the things which you see they give temporary life they're temporal but the things you cannot see give eternal life so if you could have physically seen this tree it's incapable 28 AP able of giving you Heavenly Heavenly eternal life no natural tree can impart spiritual life because no natural tree is spiritual in its properties or in its Essence according to the revelation of the word of God yua is Not only our life today but the life that was in Christ is eternal and that life let's read about that life shall we it's in 1 John 1 1-4 let's find out who the minister already said trees represent men or entities let's find out what that tree was representing okay 1 John 1 1-4 that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our own eyes which 29 we have looked Upon Our Hands have handled the word of life now he says this word of life not the man Jesus but the word of life that came from his mouth was from the beginning all right for the life was manifested in the man Christ Jesus y Yeshua we have seen that man with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled him the word of life for the life was manifested we have seen it and show unto you that eternal life which was with the father and now has been manifested to us that eternal life that was from the beginning was in the father not in a tree okay it was in the 30 father so Adam had two choices in the garden the father or the foe faith in the word of God or doubt in the word of God that was his two choices then and that's still Adam's two choices today the Tree of Life in the beginning was nothing else than the life of God in Christ made available to man it was a prophetic picture that Moses Drew of the coming Christ that would have within him the fruit of the spirit and we would get eternal life from his words Believing on his words you know when fruit enters your stomach it begins to be digested the nutrients begin to be absorbed into the bloodstream 31 then the blood carries those nutrients to every cell of the body internal and external and it's the in the same way the life in the fruit is ministered to the body and the whole body becomes filled with those lifegiving properties of the fruit and in this we see God's plan for man from the beginning that he would eat of the fruit of the tree of life or the word of of life which is the life of God in Christ so the same life that was available to them in the garden the same fruit was made available to us again when yua came as the tree he said that he was that tree of life he was that he said he 32 said to get eternal life you have to eat of me this is my body eat it and there in is eternal life now let's talk about the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil that second tree which was not a tree at all this tree represents the carnal mind of man two choices that every man has to this day two choices the mind of Christ or the carnal that's your two trees that is your two trees one will produce Life One one will produce death that second tree of carnality brings death because it is the source of death what is a tree the source the trunk of the fruit it's the source these two trees are symbolic 33 of the sources of death and life the first tree is the source of Divine Life on one hand the second tree is the source of divine death let's read about that uh in Romans chapter 8 5 and 6 and then verse 13 I'll read it for you for to be carnally minded is death I just told you the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil is the tree of death it is the symbol for the carnal rebellious mind that questions the word of God and that's exactly what that tree caused Eve and Adam to do to become carnal minded is death but to be spiritual minded is life and peace because the carnal mind is enmity against God 34 because it cannot be subject to the law of God neither indeed can it ever be the carnal mind will never submit to the word of God it'll never believe it for what it says it will never take it by faith will always question it and that leads to certain death for if we live after the caral mind we shall die Galatians 6 and 8 he that sth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap death or corruption but he that Seth to the spirit will have life two trees there's your two trees one more time the scripture is plain brothers and sisters the power of death cannot be dispensed into man except through the 35 agency of a carnal mind and a carnal mind is always the devil's workshop it's always where the devil can come and get people to doubt his very word from the beginning of time these two trees represent two sources one the spiritual life two the carnal life and that is what they have always represented and that's what they represent in the Book of Revelation we know Adam chose that second tree did he not but the second Adam chose that first tree did he not the Bible said he learned obedience through the things he suffered he said I say nothing unless my father says it see no what you need to 36 know is Adam took the fruit him and Eve of that tree of knowledge and what he was taking he was was taking something into his mind he was literally ingesting the influence of the serpent which is please I pray you don't believe in talking snakes even the serpent is the symbol for the voice that speaks to the carnal mind it's very very very easy if you're not careful to fall into the Trap of not knowing when the word of God is figurative and when it's literal and you really need to pray every time you read your Bible because if not you will defend having a Christmas tree on the fact that the 37 Tree of Life In The Garden was a tree when truly it it it it was not a tree at all okay so it's very important now that you understand in the Book of Revelation it talks about the tree I've read it to you you would have a right to that tree again eternal life is in the Sun that sun is the tree of life because of the eternal life that comes from his words the fruit of his mouth if you'll believe that then you will live all right so uh there's another part of his sermon I'll play for you now you have two trees in that Garden that stand out that but you didn't that's what I'm saying the entire 38 premise of his analogy is faulty because these were not trees these were choices there were many many trees that bore fruit but the Lord focuses on two he's calls it the tree of life and then you have the tree of death scripture calls it the tree of know knowled of Good and Evil but in reality it was the tree of death because the moment that Adam and Eve ate of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil they died spiritually no not when they ate the tree when they ate the fruit of the mouth of the serpent Satan that old serpent the devil now by the time that serpent gets to the Book of Revelation 39 he's a dragon he's grown up why because he's been feeding on their dust for 6,000 years man is that dust that he feeds on and he's grown into a dragon so the point we're making here is no there was not two trees there just wasn't and therefore your entire argument that the reason you have a tree in your home is because God wanted it in there he made the tree for us to bring in our home to remind us of the Tree of Life In the Garden of Eden when when there never was a tree and they began to die physically so when God had that tree that tree represented in fact it represented eternal life on 40 that we completely agree we agree the that tree in this word picture that Moses created here to explain man fall was a representation of eternal life not a tree because whoever ate of that tree would never die impossible and we know this because we don't know this the Bible says that when Adam and Eve sinned that God put cherubims or Angels at the garding of that garden and that the sword turned everywhere to keep them from eating of the Tree of Life here's why because now we had to wait 4 thousand years for yua to come and bring that tree to man again the only reason they were not allowed 41 back in is because that was part of the Plan of Redemption had they been able to you know come back into fellowship with god without the sun see the Garden of Eden is a picture of fellowship with God which we all should be living in that Garden of Eden daily fellowshipping with the Lord all right but remember for 4,000 years man was estranged from God and that personal relationship it was the tree of life that would bring us back and reconcile us to the father and bring us back into the garden one day the whole world that will happen for during the millennial Reign because because God did not 42 want man to live forever in the state of sin I agree with that and so he took them out of that and man has continued to die until Hallelujah he gets a taste of the Tree of Life totally agree which is Jesus Christ amen when you go back I I did some study and uh okay now he's going to go into something that blew my mind because he's a smart man and he he knows better and we're going to talk about that I'm gonna but listen to where the Christmas tree came from I thought where did the Christmas tree originate from and uh you look at Wikipedia and different things but a lot britanica which we're 43 fixing to look at lot of them bring out the fact that really the very first time that we really read about the tree being decorated and celebrated was done by Martin Luther who had the revelation of the justification of faith and he was also the biggest anti-semite Jew hater uh in history U so Martin Luther you know has a mixed record but according to him it was Martin Luther that introduced the Christmas tree to the world totally false and I'll prove it in just a few minutes and that Martin Luther was the first one who really took a tree and decorated it it when now you begin to watch the 44 theme of the tree Jesus is the tree of life amen not that right there that that is a symbol that we celebrate but the Tree of Life Hallelujah is Jesus Christ the tree of life was never a tree it was a euphemism it was a word picture trying to show you the source a tree is a source that's all there was no tree of life in the garden there was no tree of knowledge of Good and Evil in the garden these were word pictures to plant within our mind the imagery necessary for us to know that man will always have two choices in their Garden when you begin to to you begin to read this I think it's in um 45 Isaiah chapter 6 before we go any further let me touch on the mountain he talked about earlier according to him this tree of life is on a mountain in the Garden of Eden Brothers and Sisters in the Book of Ezekiel that is not a literal Mountain if you understand your scriptures you know that mountains are symbolic of government if you'll go read in Isaiah Jeremiah uh even Daniel's vision of the stone rolling down the mountain these are the governments of of men or God and this tree of life uh Satan was definitely in the government of God over planet Earth the mountain that he was on in Eden was 46 he was in governmental Authority that's why he still God of this world he's still on that mountain that government Mountain it's really shocking to me that this Minister believes that is a literal Mountain that was in the garden and the tree was up there on top of the mountain Isaiah calls Jesus A Mighty Oak amen or not that he was an oak tree not at all symbol ISM strong oak tree I believe it's another place in Isaiah where or Jesus himself called himself he said I am the vine that's a tree and you are the branches but he's not talking about a literal tree I mean so that this is my point I've 47 been making now he's telling us that these trees what they represent yua eternal life they're not real trees that he is the tree of life and so as we go down through this the enemy hates the tree of life right yua not a tree in every major religion in the world there is a place within their ideology that they have a sacred tree now we're getting somewh where you're right every religion in the world witchcraft paganism uh druidism there is that sacred tree you're exactly right that they incorporate why because the enemy always counterfeits what God has in store when okay so these all these 48 other religions are imitating the Christmas tree even though these other religions existed thousands of years before Christ but according to this Minister they're all imitating the original Christmas tree when Jesus came on the scene he became the tree of life that had been banned for a long time from man ever being able to partake of him no wonder the enemy tried to kill him okay and that is to be fair that is that is pretty much the end he goes on you know he goes into preaching about yua which by the way is wonderful I totally agree with that part of it so let's do this um let all right the 49 only way I know to do this is let's go find out if we can where this Christmas tree came from and let's find out if it's true that Martin Luther started that that's not true but let's act like it is according to his teaching the reason that Jeremiah mentioned this tree is because that the pagans were imitating us the you know the original tree people it's just not true okay because Jeremiah calls those people he said that those those were the customs of the people he didn't say that they were doing what God Said to do he said that that was their Customs it was never God's custom for you to 50 bring a tree into your home to represent the tree in the Garden of Eden instead let me read to you from the book of Curiosities of popular Customs page 122 it says and this is not a religious book at all this is just a reference book for different customs in the world concerning the Christmas tree it says it's an old babylonish Fable now England Martin Luther was in Germany okay we find pictures of Queen Victoria standing by a Christmas tree all right in the 1800s Martin Luther was in the 1500s in Germany and indeed there was uh before Martin Luther actually a a Revival of this custom of the 51 Christmas tree but where did they get it from they got it from the Romans which ruled that part of the world the Romans got it from their custom of saturnalia I'm not going to teach on that today you can do your own research but the Romans got it from Egypt the Egyptians got it from the Babylonians because according to Curiosities of popular Customs page 242 it says there's an old babylonish tale told of an evergreen tree which sprang out of a dead tree stump the old stump symbolized Nimrod the new evergreen tree growing out of it symbolized that Nimrod had come to life again in his son tamuz 52 among the Druid religion the oak tree was sacred the Egyptians it was the palm tree but in Rome it was the fur tree that they decorated during satr nelia all right now let's go read Frederick H Haskins book where where he answers the question this way the Christmas tree is from Egypt and before that Babylon its Origins date from a period long before the Christian era now there is not one command in the word of God anywhere to bring a tree into our home to represent the tree in the garden it's nowhere in the Bible but we are told not to learn the customs of the heathens and the pagans not to do 53 what they do religiously in worship to their God God we know according to Jeremiah what they do they bring trees into their home but now I would like for you to see uh something that way you're not taking it just from my mouth I'll show you where the trees came from if you're willing to learn the lady I'm about to show you her name is Lori cabitt Lori cabitt is the official witch of Salem Massachusetts she is a preeminent scholar on all things Pagan she has a message for all of us was always brought into the house and often times a tree that's where it came from from which is we brought the 54 tree into the home her religion is paganism and she tells you we started that way back we brought the Evergreen into the home The Witches started that okay she knows her religion they're they The Witches have called and they want their tree back okay they want their Easter Bunny back all witchcraft all Witchcraft and as you look more and more into this subject it becomes more and more obvious the woman I just played I have a video of her an hour talking about Christmas traditions and how they were all hijacked from witchcraft the first 300 years of the Church of Jesus Christ yua no one 55 celebrated Christmas no one no one that crept into the church because the church could not convert the pagans to come into their holidays so actually the Roman Church went moved uh their original celebration of the birth of Christ to December the 25th to make it line up with Pagan celebration the birth of the sun god well when I hear things like this from smart people great preachers I just wonder how we could be so deceived there was no trees in the Garden of Eden that ever gave eternal life or ever brought death ever it's all euphemism it's all he that hath an ear let him hear what the 56 spirit is saying not with the text the spirit if if you could just read the text without the Holy Spirit revealing it then it wouldn't say that it would just say he that has eyes read the text but it does it it said he that ha an ear hear what the spirit is saying to the church not the world just the house of Israel well I just wanted to give that sermon a fair evaluation uh one more time the brother that preached it I love uh know his family wonderful man nothing personal thank you for listening