At Christmastime, Jesus Christ is typically viewed as this sweet, cuddly little baby in swaddling clothes.

But think about this: The Song of Solomon in the Old Testament describes Him as a man who's "white and ruddy" with hair that's "bushy, and black as a raven."

Sure does blow apart all the color portraits in our Bibles, etc., that depict Him blond and blue-eyed.

Christ was conceived six months after John the Baptist was conceived, placing His birthdate somewhere between Sept. 22 and Oct. 3.

Because early Catholics wanted a holiday to compete with the Roman pagan festival marking the "birthday of the unconquered sun," or the winter solstice when the days begin to lengthen, they devised Christmas, a term that comes from joining Christ's name with the Catholic word "mass."

"On the 25^th of December, pagans worshipped the birth of the son of the Sun god—the S-O-N of the S-U-N god—and that's where the Yule log, the Christmas tree, and all that pagan stuff comes from; it's all involved in bringing forth that S-U-N god," explains my pastor, Richard Jordan (Shorewood Bible Church, Rolling Meadows, Ill.), in a Bible study about the true origins of Christmas. "You know all that stuff is just nonsense, but if Satan were going to counterfeit something, well, you know you don't counterfeit something that's not true. You don't take a phony three dollar bill and try to counterfeit it. You try to counterfeit something that's real."

As Jordan points out, the real miracle in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is not about shepherds hiding in fields or angels talking ahead of time about a little baby born in a manger.

"The birth of Christ was completely normal and natural; just like any child you've had or your mother had," says Jordan. "The miracle was the conception! We say that He is the 'virgin-born Son of God,' but what we really mean by that is He's the virgin-conceived Son of God."

The heresy of this conception in paganism is called "the Immaculate Conception," which, in reality, speaks of the pagan idea of the conception of the Queen of Heaven, called by the name Mary today, or "the Virgin Mary."

References in the Bible to this pagan Queen of Heaven date as far back as Judges 2, where she's identified as Ashtaroth.

"Ashtaroth, plural for Ashtoreth (I Kings 11:5), were figures of Ashtoreth the Phoenician goddess (the Astarte of the Greeks), which were worshipped as idols during times of spiritual declension in Israel," reads the margin notes of the "Scofield Study Bible" on the King James Bible. "Jeremiah refers (Jer. 44:18-19) to Ashtoreth as the 'queen of heaven.' "

The real miracle of Christmas is that while John the Baptist was miraculously conceived by his mother and father (Elisabeth and Zechariah had been physically incapable of having children, but God 'rejuvenated' their bodies), the Lord Jesus Christ was conceived of a virgin without a human father involved.

What's fascinating is that His conception does match a date of late December!

"When you're with your family, participating in the Christmas traditions you enjoy, remember to celebrate the real miracle and not get caught up in what's not real," says Jordan in his study. "If you've wondered, 'Does God intervene in my life and will God intervene; will He work in my life?'—remember that God did! God already has intervened in the one way that's beyond anything you could ask or hope for. He literally stepped out of eternity into time; out of heaven into earth, and took upon Himself your life and your flesh.

"He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh and became one of us. He did intervene into human history and went to a cross and died to pay for everything that's wrong with you. He was raised again and lives today as a living Savior. By His Spirit, He lives in us and through us. His Word works through us for His glory."