Christmas -- January 6th
Originally Jesus birth was celebrated by the church on January 6th of the Julian calendar. However, one Pope switched it to December 25th about 400 years later to take the place of a pagan holiday. Still today we have 12% of the Christians still celebrating Jesus birth on January 6th, which is interesting because I estimate that 12% of Christians will be raptured.
An appointed time
God is the same today, yesterday and forever. Big events had dress rehearsals on appointed days. Jesus crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection are all examples. I also think that the ascension took place on Shavuot as a fourth appointed time. Of course the spirit was poured out on Pentecost which I think is the feast of new wine. Therefore one would think the rapture would also take place on an appointed time.
The watchmen look at the feasts in the Old Covenant but that does not make sense to me. Jesus has two brides, the Gentile bride and the Jewish bride. It doesn't make sense that the Gentile bride would be raptured on a date for the Jewish bride. This is one reason why I don't think Pentecost is Shavuot, but rather the feast of new wine.
The Lord's table is a dress rehearsal for our wedding feast and also for the rapture. To me this confirms that God is the same yesterday, today and forever.
No one knows the day
In the gospels Jesus said "no one knows the day". That tells me that two thousand years ago the day was not in the Bible, it was not in major prophetic books like the book of Enoch. However, it is interesting that the one day that no one knows is Jesus birth. We celebrate His birth on Christmas while also admitting we do not know the day.
The rapture is likened to another birth, the birth of the man child. I suspect that Jesus was born on the Feast of tabernacles and circumcised on the 8th day of that feast. If that is true then we already have a festival where we celebrate Jesus tabernacling with us, so then Christmas could refer to the birth of the manchild.
The day of the Lord is coming "as a thief in the night"
Christmas is a holiday which celebrates a magical Satanic figure called "Santa" coming as a thief in the night. Jesus is not a thief, and Santa is a strange thief who leaves presents. The grinch is a story about a person who wanted to steal Christmas and learned that Christmas was the spirit of faith, hope and love. This is what will be stolen when the Lord raptures the saints, the spirit of faith, hope and love. The Lord describes this afterwards as their will be a famine for the word of God.
Establishing a festival for gift giving
Psalm 68:18 You have ascended on high, You have led captivity captive; You have received gifts among men, Even from the rebellious, That the Lord God might dwell there.
This verse is quoted by Paul in Ephesians.
Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.”
The picture is this, Jesus was incarnated as the babe of Bethlehem, He went to war with Satan, the flesh, sin, and even death. He conquered and then when He ascended to the Heavens He led all those who had been taken captive by Satan, He led "captivity" captive. In those ancient days when the conquering general returns from war with a long string of captives and all the loot they present this to the ruler of the country as a gift. Jesus presented all those He was leading as a gift to God the Father who then, through the Holy Spirit distributed these gifts to the Body of Christ on earth. We see 3,000 saved and 5,000 saved and we see the church age begin. The cycle repeats. The Body of Christ is built up by all the joints and bands of supply, the gifts to the Body, and the Body of Christ which is the church goes to war with Satan, the flesh, sin, and even death. Then, when they conquer they ascend to heaven in the rapture. But not everyone is taken, most are left behind. However, according to this cycle you will have a long train of captivity being led captive and they will be presented as a gift to God and He will distribute these gifts through the Holy Spirit to men. We then hear that during the tribulation there will be great revivals, greater than anything in human history. These will be the greater works that Jesus said we would do. Then after three and a half years these ones also are either martyred or raptured. There is a beautiful symmetry, 2,000 years from Abraham to Jesus, 2,000 years, a three and a half year ministry of Jesus, from Jesus to this first rapture is 2,000 years and then that is followed by another 3 1/2 year ministry.
He will come in like manner as you saw Him go
Acts 1:11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
This is what we are told in Acts, we are witnessing a cycle that will repeat. Now we celebrate births with gift giving, but there is only one day of the year where the entire Christian community celebrates by gift giving.
In the evening we celebrate the birth of Jesus, then in the morning we celebrate gifts that have appeared in the night.
Now there are two different groups of people and two different celebrations of this same event. There is really nothing else like that. You have people in the world, unbelievers, who will go out to a Christmas party, drink, behave in their flesh at night, and then in the morning also celebrate with gifts. You do not see this with any other holy day in any other religion that the believers have their celebration and the unbelievers have a mirror image of that celebration like the photographic negative. However, the bible talks about this referring to the "antichrist" which means a counterfeit Christ. The word literally means "instead of Christ". That is precisely what the world is doing in their celebration of Christmas. Santa is instead of Christ.
We are also told that the rapture of the saints is when the restrainer steps aside and at the same time that takes place the antichrist is revealed.
A Holiday that has both the birth of the manchild and the revelation of the Antichrist
2Thessalonians 2:6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed
Now suppose you are in the apostasy. You believe in Jesus but you have been carried away with the materialism and you are left behind at the rapture. You will wake up in the morning and instead of the hope of glory you will have some packages under your Babylonian tree. How are you going to feel? Cheated? Let's make it even worse, suppose this happens on January 6th and you realize that the Catholic church changed the holiday to a pagan holiday and deceived you all this time with December 25th. It would cause the onus of the apostasy to fall even harder on the Catholic church.
Colossians 2:8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit
You were taken captive by the devil to do his will. People who are left behind will wake up to realize this.
2Timothy 2:24 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, 25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, 26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.
So what is revealed on this day is who was taken captive. But once again, just as in the ascension of the Lord, the gifts are poured out, and Jesus will lead captivity captive during the tribulation.