Rev. Olu George
In previous series on idolatrous practice in Christianity we talked about the deification of persons.
Another idolatrous practice going on amongst Christians to-day is the ‘deification’ of babies, born of Christian parents. How are these babies deified? They make their babies share the same glory with Jesus, when He was born into this world, as a baby. And what is this idolatrous practice? It is the presentation of gifts, either in kind or in cash, to new born babies; it is a wrong practice amongst Christians. It is a glorified form of Idolatry. This practice, probably must have erroneously taken its roots from the account of the birth of Jesus in Matthew 2:1-2, which reads, “ I.” In Matthew 2: 11 it is written “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell down, and worshipped him; and when they had opened their treasuries, they presented unto Him, gifts: gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”
These wise men, from the east, in search of baby Jesus were Chaldeans, heathen nations who by occupation were star-gazers. They were able to ‘know’ through star-gazing that a special King was born into the world, Jesus the king of the Jews. In the east, these magicians or astrologers were called wise men. According to the custom and tradition of these heathen nations, from the east, any time they visited any of their kings to worship, or to pay homage to them, they must not go empty-handed. They must go with “presents” in their treasuries.
The presents they brought, to worship Jesus, as the King of all kings, when he was born, were very special presents, in the sense that, the presents were symbolic – the gold, signifying a royal tribute to a Great King, the frankincense, signifying the burning of incense (that is, prayer to God), because Jesus even as a baby, was God incarnate, conceived by the Holy Ghost; and the Myrrh, signifying the fact that, He was soon to die for the sins of the world. The Myrrh was indicative of His burial, as it was the custom amongst the Jews, to use “Myrrh” or ointment for burial as spoken by Jesus in Matthew 26:12 “ For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.
If you search the scriptures, there is no other record of any baby born, that was presented with “gifts”. It was exclusively for Jesus, the new born King, and it was not even presented to Him by the Jews, but by heathen star gazers from the east, who practice magic and astrology.
There was no record of John the Baptist being presented with gifts, when he was born, even though he was the forerunner of Jesus, because he was not born a king. Babies born by Christian parents are no kings neither are they special, to deserve any presents, either in kind or in cash.
This kind of presentation of gifts to babies born into the Christian fold is equating them with the child Jesus, the King of all kings. It is deifying them as “kings”, by this singular act of presentation of “gifts”. And we know that God will not share His glory with anyone else.