John Blundell of the Heritage Foundation questions:
Is the E.U. America's Friend or Foe?
It's great to see some are beginning to ask uncomfortable questions that few folks consider or want to know the answers to, preferring to believe that the Frankenstein Monster we've helped to create in Europe would never turn against us. Even Mr. Blundell believes the U.S. "unconditional backing" of the European experiment of political integration was thought to be in our own best interests; that an increasingly independent Europe could be relied upon for excellent trade opportunities and shared security responsibilities. Who would dare to suggest sinister motives were behind key players in this European project? Even treason.
Herbert W. Armstrong warned the American and British peoples for over 50 years that the German Nazis merely went underground and were adroitly winning the peace. His prophetic words have since been further confirmed by the revelation of a declassified U.S. intelligence document that exposes top Nazi German officials and German industrial leaders made a pact to secure positions and finances throughout the world for secret Nazis to bankroll, advance and forge Germany's Fourth Reich to spring upon an unsuspecting world. Blitzkrieg is the German way. Will we never learn?
Is Germany in danger of backsliding? Isn't it the responsibility of our government to consider every possibility to protect America's future? Many Euro-skeptics are already aware that the "European Union" is modeled after the grand design of the Nazis, and that even as Hitler went from failed putsch to abusing democracy to obtain his goals, isn't it possible that following the failure of WWII German wolves would dress themselves in sheep's clothing and follow the democratic pattern to power?
The German-Jesuit threat to world peace demands serious consideration. With Germany due to take the E.U. bull by the horns in January, with great expectations by the Bavarian pope, will Germany be Europe's miracle worker or simply bewitch the masses to bear the cross to ward off the evil of Islam and then backstab America?
David Ben-Ariel is a Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. With a focus on the Middle East and Jerusalem, his analytical articles help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out the Beyond Babylon blog.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Is The Plain Truth Too Strong?
Recently somebody who went by the name of "Refiner's Fire" (ironically) condemned my writing style as a stumbling block:
Did you plant the seed of "truth" in this person, or did you turn this person away with your words? Yes, I know people need to hear the "truth", but how can they, if they are getting nailed across the head with a 2x4 by your writing style?
Have you never read where Paul, like Yeshua, must have offended some? "Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?" (Galatians 4:16).
There are plenty of others who write in a more gentle style. That is their prerogative. I don't speak against their approach, since the Bible basically teaches "different strokes for different folks." After all, tough love is tough love.
Have you never read where Yeshua spoke of how some will make up any excuse under the sun regardless of the effort to reach them, whether we dance for them or mourn?
Luke 7:31-35
31"To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other:
" 'We played the flute for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not cry.' 33For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' 34The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ' 35But wisdom is proved right by all her children."
If somebody is of God, or being called by God, they can get good and angry like Herbert W. Armstrong did with his wife with her seventh day Sabbath "fanaticism" -- mad enough to check it out, which he did, and then he saw she was right! And he was humble enough to admit it and submit to it and turn from pagan Sunday to the holy Sabbath.
My responsibility is to share the plain truth of the Bible as God has given me to understand it. How folks respond to the plain truth is not my responsibility. It is between God and them. That being said, I believe the time of "soft spoken" ministers is about up, and that we need more refining fire ministers (not dying embers) or refining fire servants of God (not dying embers) willing to turn over a few tables and kick a few chairs and drive out some men and animals from the Temple courtyards with a whip in hand, turning heads and raising eyebrows, as necessary.
The Two Witnesses of Revelation 11 certainly won't speak in pretty platitudes and the whole world will hate their guts and wish them dead! Those who simply want to hear smooth things will continue to hear smooth things from their false prophets and lying ministers.
Isaiah 30:9-11
9 These are rebellious people, deceitful children [1 John 2:4],
children unwilling to listen to the LORD's instruction.
10 They say to the seers,
"See no more visions!"
and to the prophets,
"Give us no more visions of what is right!
Tell us pleasant things,
prophesy illusions.
11 Leave this way,
get off this path,
and stop confronting us
with the Holy One of Israel!"[by replacing him with a Gentilized Jesus, a counterfeit gospel and a different spirit]
2 Timothy 4:3-4
3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths [like Christmas and Easter].
Since our countries are incurring the wrath of God, and soon will suffer divine punishment for our pagan holidays like Christmas pretending to be Christian -- part of our national idolatry and immorality we must confess and forsake to avert a nuclear holocaust -- it's time to love and obey God and:
Isaiah 58
1 "Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression [the Church and Synagogue], And the house of Jacob [the family of Israelite nations - all Twelve Tribes of Israel] their sins. 2 Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God.
Folks who continue in their pagan ways and hollow days will be left without excuse. God won't go for the lame excuse, "Well, we didn't appreciate how folks like David Ben-Ariel came across." God will simply say, "Why weren't you like the noble Bereans and look and see if these things were so and act accordingly?"
Acts 17:11
11Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
Enough excuses!
Revelation 3:19
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
David Ben-Ariel is a Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. With a focus on the Middle East and Jerusalem, his analytical articles help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out the Beyond Babylon blog.
Did you plant the seed of "truth" in this person, or did you turn this person away with your words? Yes, I know people need to hear the "truth", but how can they, if they are getting nailed across the head with a 2x4 by your writing style?
Have you never read where Paul, like Yeshua, must have offended some? "Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?" (Galatians 4:16).
There are plenty of others who write in a more gentle style. That is their prerogative. I don't speak against their approach, since the Bible basically teaches "different strokes for different folks." After all, tough love is tough love.
Have you never read where Yeshua spoke of how some will make up any excuse under the sun regardless of the effort to reach them, whether we dance for them or mourn?
Luke 7:31-35
31"To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other:
" 'We played the flute for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not cry.' 33For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' 34The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ' 35But wisdom is proved right by all her children."
If somebody is of God, or being called by God, they can get good and angry like Herbert W. Armstrong did with his wife with her seventh day Sabbath "fanaticism" -- mad enough to check it out, which he did, and then he saw she was right! And he was humble enough to admit it and submit to it and turn from pagan Sunday to the holy Sabbath.
My responsibility is to share the plain truth of the Bible as God has given me to understand it. How folks respond to the plain truth is not my responsibility. It is between God and them. That being said, I believe the time of "soft spoken" ministers is about up, and that we need more refining fire ministers (not dying embers) or refining fire servants of God (not dying embers) willing to turn over a few tables and kick a few chairs and drive out some men and animals from the Temple courtyards with a whip in hand, turning heads and raising eyebrows, as necessary.
The Two Witnesses of Revelation 11 certainly won't speak in pretty platitudes and the whole world will hate their guts and wish them dead! Those who simply want to hear smooth things will continue to hear smooth things from their false prophets and lying ministers.
Isaiah 30:9-11
9 These are rebellious people, deceitful children [1 John 2:4],
children unwilling to listen to the LORD's instruction.
10 They say to the seers,
"See no more visions!"
and to the prophets,
"Give us no more visions of what is right!
Tell us pleasant things,
prophesy illusions.
11 Leave this way,
get off this path,
and stop confronting us
with the Holy One of Israel!"[by replacing him with a Gentilized Jesus, a counterfeit gospel and a different spirit]
2 Timothy 4:3-4
3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths [like Christmas and Easter].
Since our countries are incurring the wrath of God, and soon will suffer divine punishment for our pagan holidays like Christmas pretending to be Christian -- part of our national idolatry and immorality we must confess and forsake to avert a nuclear holocaust -- it's time to love and obey God and:
Isaiah 58
1 "Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression [the Church and Synagogue], And the house of Jacob [the family of Israelite nations - all Twelve Tribes of Israel] their sins. 2 Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God.
Folks who continue in their pagan ways and hollow days will be left without excuse. God won't go for the lame excuse, "Well, we didn't appreciate how folks like David Ben-Ariel came across." God will simply say, "Why weren't you like the noble Bereans and look and see if these things were so and act accordingly?"
Acts 17:11
11Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
Enough excuses!
Revelation 3:19
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
David Ben-Ariel is a Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. With a focus on the Middle East and Jerusalem, his analytical articles help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out the Beyond Babylon blog.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Push Hamburger Serves Food for Thought
Corrupt government, conspiracy, new world order, etc. all discussed at http://www.pushhamburger.com. Murray Einwohner, the site's owner, also graciously hosts articles I've written at The Lion Has Roared.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
The Pagan Trinity Concept is Condemned by Christians!
The pagan trinity concept was NEVER taught by the Sabbath-keeping Church of God. It stems from the Babylonian Mystery religion and continues today under the guise of traditional Christianity. The Sabbath-keeping Church of God knows that there are presently two unique divine beings in the One God Kingdom-Family and that we can be born again into such a divine royal family at the return of Yeshua and the first resurrection. The Holy Spirit is the power or essence of God, but it is nowhere addressed as God and Paul never greets it in his salutations.
Born Again: The Kingdom of God!
How Adam & Eve Reflect the Kingdom of God!
Man Questions Whether We'll Be Angelic Or Divine
Kingdom of God-Beings to Rule Earth from Jerusalem!
Born Again: The Kingdom of God!
How Adam & Eve Reflect the Kingdom of God!
Man Questions Whether We'll Be Angelic Or Divine
Kingdom of God-Beings to Rule Earth from Jerusalem!
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Israeli retreat from Bethlehem, DBA detained for praying
International Christian Embassy
starts drive to ensure rights to territories
by Liat Collins
The International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem is beginning an international campaign to ensure Christian rights after IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) withdrawal from the territories.
On Sunday, some 1,200 Christians carrying banners proclaiming "Bethlehem will be Jewish Forever," attended a solidarity and prayer rally at Rachel's Tomb.
International Christian Embassy spokesman Jan van der Hoeven stressed the need to keep Bethlehem open to all faiths and spoke against the rise of Islamic extremism. He noted the growing number of Christian residents in Bethlehem who are asking the embassy's help in moving out of the city for fear of Moslem action against them once the IDF leaves.
The deadline for IDF evacuation has been brought forward to December 22.
Nearly all the participants at the rally were visiting for the International Christian Embassy's Feast of Tabernacles activities. Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, of Efrat, also addressed the crowd.
About 30 residents of Jerusalem's Gilo section attended the rally, noting the proximity between their neighborhood and Rachel's Tomb.
Yesterday, David Ben-Ariel, a Christian member of the Temple Mount Faithful, said he was harassed and detained by both Moslem Wakf guards and the police after he went up to the Mount to pray.
"It's not news that Jews can't pray there, even though everybody claims there is freedom for all faiths," he said. "But people don't realize that Christians can't pray there either," he said.
Ben-Ariel was wearing a shirt with the Temple Mount Faithful slogan on it at the time of his arrest.
(The Jerusalem Post, Tuesday, October 17, 1995)
A House of Prayer for All Peoples?
starts drive to ensure rights to territories
by Liat Collins
The International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem is beginning an international campaign to ensure Christian rights after IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) withdrawal from the territories.
On Sunday, some 1,200 Christians carrying banners proclaiming "Bethlehem will be Jewish Forever," attended a solidarity and prayer rally at Rachel's Tomb.
International Christian Embassy spokesman Jan van der Hoeven stressed the need to keep Bethlehem open to all faiths and spoke against the rise of Islamic extremism. He noted the growing number of Christian residents in Bethlehem who are asking the embassy's help in moving out of the city for fear of Moslem action against them once the IDF leaves.
The deadline for IDF evacuation has been brought forward to December 22.
Nearly all the participants at the rally were visiting for the International Christian Embassy's Feast of Tabernacles activities. Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, of Efrat, also addressed the crowd.
About 30 residents of Jerusalem's Gilo section attended the rally, noting the proximity between their neighborhood and Rachel's Tomb.
Yesterday, David Ben-Ariel, a Christian member of the Temple Mount Faithful, said he was harassed and detained by both Moslem Wakf guards and the police after he went up to the Mount to pray.
"It's not news that Jews can't pray there, even though everybody claims there is freedom for all faiths," he said. "But people don't realize that Christians can't pray there either," he said.
Ben-Ariel was wearing a shirt with the Temple Mount Faithful slogan on it at the time of his arrest.
(The Jerusalem Post, Tuesday, October 17, 1995)
A House of Prayer for All Peoples?
Christmas and Lady-day by Alexander Hislop
The Two Babylons
by Alexander Hislop
Chapter III
Festivals
Section I: Christmas and Lady-day
How, then, did the Romish Church fix on December the 25th as Christmas-day? Why, thus: Long before the fourth century, and long before the Christian era itself, a festival was celebrated among the heathen, at that precise time of the year, in honour of the birth of the son of the Babylonian queen of heaven; and it may fairly be presumed that, in order to conciliate the heathen, and to swell the number of the nominal adherents of Christianity, the same festival was adopted by the Roman Church, giving it only the name of Christ. This tendency on the part of Christians to meet Paganism half-way was very early developed; and we find Tertullian, even in his day, about the year 230, bitterly lamenting the inconsistency of the disciples of Christ in this respect, and contrasting it with the strict fidelity of the Pagans to their own superstition. "By us," says he, "who are strangers to Sabbaths, and new moons, and festivals, once acceptable to God, the Saturnalia, the feasts of January, the Brumalia, and Matronalia, are now frequented; gifts are carried to and fro, new year's day presents are made with din, and sports and banquets are celebrated with uproar; oh, how much more faithful are the heathen to their religion, who take special care to adopt no solemnity from the Christians." Upright men strive to stem the tide, but in spite of all their efforts, the apostacy went on, till the Church, with the exception of a small remnant, was submerged under Pagan superstition.
That Christmas was originally a Pagan festival, is beyond all doubt. The time of the year, and the ceremonies with which it is still celebrated, prove its origin. In Egypt, the son of Isis, the Egyptian title for the queen of heaven, was born at this very time, "about the time of the winter solstice." The very name by which Christmas is popularly known among ourselves--Yule-day --proves at once its Pagan and Babylonian origin. "Yule" is the Chaldee name for an "infant" or "little child"; * and as the 25th of December was called by our Pagan Anglo-Saxon ancestors, "Yule-day," or the "Child's day," and the night that preceded it, "Mother-night," long before they came in contact with Christianity, that sufficiently proves its real character.
**********
Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
Do You Prefer TRADITION Over Truth?
Christmas is About Giving - SAYS WHO?
Why I No Longer Celebrate Christmas
by Alexander Hislop
Chapter III
Festivals
Section I: Christmas and Lady-day
How, then, did the Romish Church fix on December the 25th as Christmas-day? Why, thus: Long before the fourth century, and long before the Christian era itself, a festival was celebrated among the heathen, at that precise time of the year, in honour of the birth of the son of the Babylonian queen of heaven; and it may fairly be presumed that, in order to conciliate the heathen, and to swell the number of the nominal adherents of Christianity, the same festival was adopted by the Roman Church, giving it only the name of Christ. This tendency on the part of Christians to meet Paganism half-way was very early developed; and we find Tertullian, even in his day, about the year 230, bitterly lamenting the inconsistency of the disciples of Christ in this respect, and contrasting it with the strict fidelity of the Pagans to their own superstition. "By us," says he, "who are strangers to Sabbaths, and new moons, and festivals, once acceptable to God, the Saturnalia, the feasts of January, the Brumalia, and Matronalia, are now frequented; gifts are carried to and fro, new year's day presents are made with din, and sports and banquets are celebrated with uproar; oh, how much more faithful are the heathen to their religion, who take special care to adopt no solemnity from the Christians." Upright men strive to stem the tide, but in spite of all their efforts, the apostacy went on, till the Church, with the exception of a small remnant, was submerged under Pagan superstition.
That Christmas was originally a Pagan festival, is beyond all doubt. The time of the year, and the ceremonies with which it is still celebrated, prove its origin. In Egypt, the son of Isis, the Egyptian title for the queen of heaven, was born at this very time, "about the time of the winter solstice." The very name by which Christmas is popularly known among ourselves--Yule-day --proves at once its Pagan and Babylonian origin. "Yule" is the Chaldee name for an "infant" or "little child"; * and as the 25th of December was called by our Pagan Anglo-Saxon ancestors, "Yule-day," or the "Child's day," and the night that preceded it, "Mother-night," long before they came in contact with Christianity, that sufficiently proves its real character.
**********
Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
Do You Prefer TRADITION Over Truth?
Christmas is About Giving - SAYS WHO?
Why I No Longer Celebrate Christmas
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Christians cause confusion over Christmas!
After reading The ACLU Zealots' Christmas Mission by Bonnie Alba, I wrote her:
Christians who read and believe the Bible wage war against "Christmas" to
let the truth set folks free who choose to be.
The confusion in this country, first and foremost, is the fault of
Protestants keeping a Roman Catholic hollow day, the "mass of Christ,"
having failed to completely come out of BABYLON.
The confusion is the Roman Catholic Cult dressing up a pagan holiday (they stole) in Christian drag. Throw in atheists and it's all a mess that the God of the Bible and the real Jesus don't want their holy Family name associated with.
C. H. Spurgeon on Christmas
Spurgeon from a sermon preached by C. H. Spurgeon on Dec. 24, 1871:
We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas. First, because we do not believe in the mass at all, but abhor it, whether it be sung in Latin or in English. Secondly, because we find no Scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Savior; and consequently, its observance is a superstition, because not of divine authority. 'Superstition' has fixed most positively the day of our Savior's birth, although there is no possibility of discovering when it occurred. ... It was not till the middle of the third century that any part of the Church celebrated the nativity of our Lord; and it was not till very long after the Western Church had set the example, that the Eastern adopted it. ... Probably the fact is that the "holy" days were arranged to fit in with the heathen festivals. We venture to assert, that if there be any day in the year, of which we may be pretty sure that it was not the day on which the Savior was born, it is the 25th of December. ... Regarding not the day, let us, nevertheless, give God thanks for the gift of His dear Son.
**********************************
AMEN!!!
The Pilgrims also had enough biblical sense to reject the "mass of Christ" as pagan and Roman Catholic.
What doesn't traditional Christianity understand about such a simple command not to try and modify pagan holidays to worship the true God since He says He hates it and rejects them as abominations? Why do some professing Christians permit themselves to be ensnared, carried away with heathen customs and pagan practices?
Deuteronomy 12:30-31
30 take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ 31 You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way [not the pagan gods, but modified to try and worship God - but in vain] - for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods...
Jeremiah 10:2-3
2 Thus says the LORD:
Do not learn the way of the Gentiles
IF Jesus is Lord, then why do so many professing Christians refuse to love and obey Him? (Titus 1:16, 1 John 2:4).
1 Samuel 15:22-23
“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices [lip service/sacrifices],
As in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD [for your own traditions],
He also has rejected you...
Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
Do You Prefer TRADITION Over Truth?
Christmas is About Giving - SAYS WHO?
Why I No Longer Celebrate Christmas
*******************************
Bonnie Alba responded:
Thank you for your comments and information. It might surprise you to know that I agree with your presentation. I am a long-time reader and admirer of C.H. Spurgeon. There are many Christians, regardless of sect, are turning away from the commercialization of Christmas. They are using Christmas to refocus their energies and faith into what God has called them to do---a personal relationship with Christ---all through the year and not just the "lip service" many are prone to. The Mass is only a Catholic rite. Protestants, the remnant who already have a distinct ongoing relationship with Jesus, take Christmas as a "reminder" of who He is and what He has done for us. The symbols (definitely not idols) are reminders also of our faith in Jesus (the Lord who saves).
Thank you for taking the time to write.
Bonnie
******
Good morning Bonnie and thank you for promptly responding.
I'm glad you're against the commercialization of the Name of Christ but those who have an ongoing relationship with Jesus Christ don't need any whitewashed pagan holiday to "remind" us of who He is and what He has done for us. We're to come out of BABYLON all the way, not look back with any sympathy upon Sodom, so help us God.
Christians must learn to hate hollow days that misrepresent God and Christ and love the biblical festivals that reveal His plan of salvation for all mankind. We should be offended at the Roman Catholic Cult for misappropriating the Name of Christ for their abominations, just like Simon Magus did. We should war against "the mass of Christ" for the fraud it is and let the light of truth expose their Babylonian Mystery religion's darkness.
Happy Hanukkah! (I don't officially keep it, but commemorate it as a Christian by reading at least parts of the Books of the Maccabees)
David Ben-Ariel
Friday, December 15, 2006
How does God celebrate Christmas?
How does God celebrate Christmas?
What are God's Christmas Memories?
Every year at Christmas time articles appear in various newspapers across the country about the origins of Christmas. They aren't meant to shock or discourage anyone from its celebration. To the contrary, the public finds the pagan origins quaintly interesting. The articles usually close with a local clergyman advocating less commercialism and stressing the need to put Christ back into Christmas.
Millions of people know that holidays like Christmas and Easter have pagan origins, but it doesn't really matter to them because they don't "celebrate it that way." As long as they are mainly celebrating the birth and resurrection of Jesus with only a little bit of Santa Claus or the Easter bunny "for the kids" then God understands.
These holidays are filled with years of sights, smells and sounds of good feelings going back to one's childhood. The good times at Grandma's house, the taste of eggnog and the lilt of carols all engender deep emotional feelings.
Been There, Felt That
While the Bible doesn't show the apostles celebrating any of these days, the holidays are authenticated and validated for most by the experience and our intuition. In other words, there's so much joy, love of family and praise to the Lord that God obviously approves these traditions to honor Him. Like the song says, "It can't be wrong when it feels so right...." Who cares about Nimrod, Ishtar, sun worshipers or Saturnalia when you've got Bing Crosby, Mom, apple pie and warm fuzzies. The reasoning is that God must feel good about Christmas and Easter because we feel good about them. We have fond memories, so God must have fond memories. Or does He?
The pagan origin of these days bears little significance to most people because there is no memory of paganism. Who or what is a Nimrod, and who cares? Pagan is a meaningless word, and nothing seems pagan today. Whatever can be remotely called pagan is usually referred to as a quaint native custom, and people like to take pictures of it while they're on a tour.
Our memories of December 25th may invoke thoughts of Grandma, the smell of evergreen and sounds of sleigh bells all over a backdrop of a 19th-century Charles Dickens or Currier & Ives setting. What about the thousands of years prior to the 19th century? What are God's memories?
God does have a memory, and it goes far beyond our own, for He "inhabits eternity" (Isa. 57:15). We need to expand our universe into His. For example, if I were to tell my 9-year-old daughter that we're going to choose December 7th to honor the Japanese, she might think that is wonderful. Should she announce this to her grandfather who fought in the Pacific during WWII, she would probably come back to me and ask what a day of infamy meant. Her universe would expand a little bit into Grandpa's, and in deference to Grandpa's feelings we would choose a different day to honor the Japanese. The same might be said for a little Japanese girl from Hiroshima wanting to honor Americans on August 6th.
To young children, WWII is like ancient history. Early events of this century are beyond the scope of their universe and memory. Event of that era are only read about or known in old black-and-white silent newsreels in which the people "walked kinda fast."
The Real Face of Civil War
Many of us a few years ago were very moved by the public-television special by Ken Burns on the American Civil War. It wasn't anything like the textbook memorization of our school days about who won the Battle of Bull Run. Instead, we saw faces of real people who looked like us and had feelings like we do. Through the narration of actual letters from the front, we wanted to know if the soldier ever made it back to his "beloved Sarah."
We barely touched the Civil War soldiers' experience from afar. God saw them all in living color. He heard the cannon's roar at Pickett's charge and the clash of steel on steel. He also knows the weight and texture of a Roman soldier's cloak. He knows what the apostle Paul's favorite food was, and He knows the ambient temperature inside a prison on the Isle of Patmos. History ("His story") is all very real to God, and to Him, to whom a thousand years is like a day (II Pet. 3:8), these events all happened only yesterday.
What if most of God's memory about December 25th or certain other holidays included the sounds of chanting before idols, human orgies and later the sight of Christians being persecuted? The wicked men who first selected these days to honor their gods or themselves and the Roman Christians who later accepted the same days for worshiping God were all real people. Their world was just as real to them as ours is to us. They had names, and so did those who died because they rejected the pagan world. Men may forget massacres and martyrdoms after a few generations, but God remembers. He still hears their voices under the altar crying out for justice (Rev. 6:9,10).
So in the panorama of human history what might be God's memory of "the holidays?" Again, since pagan festivals like the Saturnalia mean nothing to most people today, and historical names like Nimrod or Tammuz have no significance, I would like to tell a story. It's about something that never happened, and it employs a time-culture switch with the ancient world only to drive home a point.
Once Upon A Time
The year is 1937 in Nazi Germany, and the churches are in trouble. The Lutheran Church is losing young members of the Luther League who want to join the more flamboyant Hitler Youth. The Adventists are failing in business because they are seen to outwardly resemble the Jews in their Sabbath observance. Not all the churches are faltering, however, since some church leaders are advocating a few changes.
Some of the ministers reason that, to win the young people back to Christ, the church needs to make a few minor modifications. For example, Hitler's birthday falls on April 20, and there are celebrations throughout Germany on that day. Since nobody knows when Jesus was born, they select April 20 as the day to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Also, by adding a few short nooks to the cross, it can now look strikingly like a swastika, only they will call it the cross of Christ.
The number of members coming back to church increases greatly with each change they make. Their families now march around the cross of Christ with their right arms fully extended to glorify the Lord. Sure, they look a lot like any other Nazi family down the street, but the church was now growing again. Celebrating the resurrection of the Lord will also happen to fall on the anniversary of the rise of the Third Reich. Needless to say, the churches which adapted to the new Germany thrive, while those that refuse to compromise are severely persecuted and scattered.
After the war, all of the customs and trappings of those days continue. Hundreds of years later people still celebrate the birth of Jesus on April 20. They set up the cross of Christ in their living room while the families extend their right hands to salute it.
It is a wonderful time. The children make little cookie people, the one's with the six-pointed star of Bethlehem on their chests, and bake them in their ovens. There is some mythology about the man with a funny mustache who knows if you've been naughty or nice, but mainly it is a religious holiday. Sometimes a lot of families get together and build a big bonfire. An honored family member carries the cross of Christ with all of its banners attached to the pole. Everyone marches around the bonfire to the tune of "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken" while their right arms are fully extended to salute the cross and praise the Lord Jesus.
One day a man comes to church and tries to tell them about the origin of their holidays. They don't seem shocked at all. To them terms like Nazi, holocaust and Hitler are meaningless. It doesn't matter what happened centuries before anyway, because they are worshiping the Lord. Their memories of past April 20s are filled with love and joy. Songs of gladness are sung as they bake the little cookie people in the ovens. Life is good, and God must be pleased.
Then the man posed a question to them: What are God's holiday memories?
Closer To Home
Would any Christian today doubt the need to tell the characters in the preceding story about the origins of their Christmas? How would God feel about choosing of all days the birth of Adolph Hitler to represent the birth of His son? How would God feel about the day symbolizing the resurrection of the Third Reich to represent Jesus' resurrection?
How about the cross that he bled on symbolized in a swastika or people giving it the Nazi salute? What about the little cookie people with the six-pointed star of Bethlehem on their chests that were baked in the ovens? Wouldn't people want to know how that custom got started?
Surprisingly, those in this story would probably give the same responses as to why it is okay to celebrate their April 20 Christmas as those do today who want to keep their December 25 Christmas: "We've always had Christmas on that date, and, besides, it doesn't really matter what day you choose." "It's good for the children." "We try to keep the commercialism down and emphasize the birth of Jesus." "God understands our hearts, and we get so much out of these days." "We just put a little cross of Christ in our home, nothing fancy or elaborate." "Mom would really be disappointed if we didn't appreciate all the work she put into this day."
Something Wrong with You
Try as you might to convince them otherwise, these hypothetical people would inhabit their own little universe. Every reason people give today to rationalize the celebration of December 25 would be thrown right back at you.
To those in the story, April 20 is absolutely wonderful. Christmas to them is almost magical in its beauty
"and no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light" (II Cor. 11:14).
To them the spirit of Christmas equates with the spirit of giving. To be against their Christmas is to be against giving, so there must be something wrong with you. You must not even care about the needy.
So powerful would be the allure of the April 20 Christmas that even millions of atheists would put up the lights to join the party or put "Heather" in the play. Try as you might, you could not convince them that all the Nazi origins of the day should keep them from celebrating now.
The only way people will see through all the tinsel of this economic piece of Babylon that literally drives the Western economies is to have their hearts turned toward God. Those who are Christ's will seek to look at things from His perspective and not their own. It doesn't matter that it looks good, smells good, tastes good, sounds good or that most of the world is celebrating it. It doesn't matter what Christmas means to me or my kids or my mom or my boss, for what it means to God is the most important opinion of all. His thoughts, memories and feelings don't revolve around mine.
In a Christian's life Jesus is real and has a daily impact on the decisions that are made. To most in this world Jesus is pictured either away in a manger, dead on a cross or dwelling "two stars to the right and straight on ‘til morning" in a heavenly never-never land. To most He is a God of convenience but not someone you actually serve or seek advice from. "He must like this holiday because I do, and my minister gives his approval. Surely all of these churches couldn't be wrong."
This holiday's broad appeal to this world should be a warning flag to a Christian. Jesus said,
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matt. 7:13-14).
After warning about false prophets, Jesus also went on to say in verse 21:
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
Church Blending with Paganism
To the apostles, the will of God did not include Christmas or anything like it. This all came much later when the apostate church grew by blending in with the pagan Roman world. By placing the Lord's name on pagan practices, they deceived people into thinking they could keep their old ways and call it the Lord's will. Satan succeeded in deceiving virtually the whole world at that time into taking the broad way of doing things that are contrary to God's will (Rev. 12:9).
The will of God has to be the central point in how we worship Him. Jesus spoke about members of the religious community in His day who were in their own little universe and said they were worshiping Him, but all in vain, because of their manmade traditions (Mark 7:7-8). In John 4:23-24 Jesus said that
"the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (verses 23, 24).
Both those in the above story and those in the mainstream of Christianity today don't understand that Christmas is a lie or that Christ was never in it. The mind of Christ won't mix righteousness with unrighteousness or light with darkness (II Cor. 6:14-16).
"Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you" (verse 17).
God's people are to come out of Babylon. You can't take the customs of a day dedicated to a demon, sprinkle some holy water on it and now say it's dedicated to Jesus, or then centuries later say its origin doesn't really matter.
Less Abominable with Time?
Would that terrible act be an abomination only to the actual perpetrators, but in each succeeding generation become less and less terrible until God finally likes it? If 100 years from now the great-grand children of a Satanist learn that the portrait of Jesus above the mantle was really a portrait of Charles Manson, should they just shrug it off because they don't think of it that way, or it's good for the children, or Mom loved the painting?
God has a memory. Those who are His want to honor and worship Him in truth. According to His Word, how we choose to do so is important to Him. God tells us not to learn the ways of the heathen (Jer.10:2) or inquire about how pagan nations serve their gods.
"You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way" (Deut. 12:31).
The broad, easy path that this world loves is paved with good intentions but it leads to destruction. The decisions we make in life as Christians aren't to be based on how we feel or Mom feels but how God feels. That's what you do to truly honor the one you love above all others.
Written by: Lee Lisman
*******************************
Do You Prefer TRADITION Over Truth?
Why I No Longer Celebrate Christmas
Christmas is About Giving - SAYS WHO?
Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
What are God's Christmas Memories?
Every year at Christmas time articles appear in various newspapers across the country about the origins of Christmas. They aren't meant to shock or discourage anyone from its celebration. To the contrary, the public finds the pagan origins quaintly interesting. The articles usually close with a local clergyman advocating less commercialism and stressing the need to put Christ back into Christmas.
Millions of people know that holidays like Christmas and Easter have pagan origins, but it doesn't really matter to them because they don't "celebrate it that way." As long as they are mainly celebrating the birth and resurrection of Jesus with only a little bit of Santa Claus or the Easter bunny "for the kids" then God understands.
These holidays are filled with years of sights, smells and sounds of good feelings going back to one's childhood. The good times at Grandma's house, the taste of eggnog and the lilt of carols all engender deep emotional feelings.
Been There, Felt That
While the Bible doesn't show the apostles celebrating any of these days, the holidays are authenticated and validated for most by the experience and our intuition. In other words, there's so much joy, love of family and praise to the Lord that God obviously approves these traditions to honor Him. Like the song says, "It can't be wrong when it feels so right...." Who cares about Nimrod, Ishtar, sun worshipers or Saturnalia when you've got Bing Crosby, Mom, apple pie and warm fuzzies. The reasoning is that God must feel good about Christmas and Easter because we feel good about them. We have fond memories, so God must have fond memories. Or does He?
The pagan origin of these days bears little significance to most people because there is no memory of paganism. Who or what is a Nimrod, and who cares? Pagan is a meaningless word, and nothing seems pagan today. Whatever can be remotely called pagan is usually referred to as a quaint native custom, and people like to take pictures of it while they're on a tour.
Our memories of December 25th may invoke thoughts of Grandma, the smell of evergreen and sounds of sleigh bells all over a backdrop of a 19th-century Charles Dickens or Currier & Ives setting. What about the thousands of years prior to the 19th century? What are God's memories?
God does have a memory, and it goes far beyond our own, for He "inhabits eternity" (Isa. 57:15). We need to expand our universe into His. For example, if I were to tell my 9-year-old daughter that we're going to choose December 7th to honor the Japanese, she might think that is wonderful. Should she announce this to her grandfather who fought in the Pacific during WWII, she would probably come back to me and ask what a day of infamy meant. Her universe would expand a little bit into Grandpa's, and in deference to Grandpa's feelings we would choose a different day to honor the Japanese. The same might be said for a little Japanese girl from Hiroshima wanting to honor Americans on August 6th.
To young children, WWII is like ancient history. Early events of this century are beyond the scope of their universe and memory. Event of that era are only read about or known in old black-and-white silent newsreels in which the people "walked kinda fast."
The Real Face of Civil War
Many of us a few years ago were very moved by the public-television special by Ken Burns on the American Civil War. It wasn't anything like the textbook memorization of our school days about who won the Battle of Bull Run. Instead, we saw faces of real people who looked like us and had feelings like we do. Through the narration of actual letters from the front, we wanted to know if the soldier ever made it back to his "beloved Sarah."
We barely touched the Civil War soldiers' experience from afar. God saw them all in living color. He heard the cannon's roar at Pickett's charge and the clash of steel on steel. He also knows the weight and texture of a Roman soldier's cloak. He knows what the apostle Paul's favorite food was, and He knows the ambient temperature inside a prison on the Isle of Patmos. History ("His story") is all very real to God, and to Him, to whom a thousand years is like a day (II Pet. 3:8), these events all happened only yesterday.
What if most of God's memory about December 25th or certain other holidays included the sounds of chanting before idols, human orgies and later the sight of Christians being persecuted? The wicked men who first selected these days to honor their gods or themselves and the Roman Christians who later accepted the same days for worshiping God were all real people. Their world was just as real to them as ours is to us. They had names, and so did those who died because they rejected the pagan world. Men may forget massacres and martyrdoms after a few generations, but God remembers. He still hears their voices under the altar crying out for justice (Rev. 6:9,10).
So in the panorama of human history what might be God's memory of "the holidays?" Again, since pagan festivals like the Saturnalia mean nothing to most people today, and historical names like Nimrod or Tammuz have no significance, I would like to tell a story. It's about something that never happened, and it employs a time-culture switch with the ancient world only to drive home a point.
Once Upon A Time
The year is 1937 in Nazi Germany, and the churches are in trouble. The Lutheran Church is losing young members of the Luther League who want to join the more flamboyant Hitler Youth. The Adventists are failing in business because they are seen to outwardly resemble the Jews in their Sabbath observance. Not all the churches are faltering, however, since some church leaders are advocating a few changes.
Some of the ministers reason that, to win the young people back to Christ, the church needs to make a few minor modifications. For example, Hitler's birthday falls on April 20, and there are celebrations throughout Germany on that day. Since nobody knows when Jesus was born, they select April 20 as the day to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Also, by adding a few short nooks to the cross, it can now look strikingly like a swastika, only they will call it the cross of Christ.
The number of members coming back to church increases greatly with each change they make. Their families now march around the cross of Christ with their right arms fully extended to glorify the Lord. Sure, they look a lot like any other Nazi family down the street, but the church was now growing again. Celebrating the resurrection of the Lord will also happen to fall on the anniversary of the rise of the Third Reich. Needless to say, the churches which adapted to the new Germany thrive, while those that refuse to compromise are severely persecuted and scattered.
After the war, all of the customs and trappings of those days continue. Hundreds of years later people still celebrate the birth of Jesus on April 20. They set up the cross of Christ in their living room while the families extend their right hands to salute it.
It is a wonderful time. The children make little cookie people, the one's with the six-pointed star of Bethlehem on their chests, and bake them in their ovens. There is some mythology about the man with a funny mustache who knows if you've been naughty or nice, but mainly it is a religious holiday. Sometimes a lot of families get together and build a big bonfire. An honored family member carries the cross of Christ with all of its banners attached to the pole. Everyone marches around the bonfire to the tune of "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken" while their right arms are fully extended to salute the cross and praise the Lord Jesus.
One day a man comes to church and tries to tell them about the origin of their holidays. They don't seem shocked at all. To them terms like Nazi, holocaust and Hitler are meaningless. It doesn't matter what happened centuries before anyway, because they are worshiping the Lord. Their memories of past April 20s are filled with love and joy. Songs of gladness are sung as they bake the little cookie people in the ovens. Life is good, and God must be pleased.
Then the man posed a question to them: What are God's holiday memories?
Closer To Home
Would any Christian today doubt the need to tell the characters in the preceding story about the origins of their Christmas? How would God feel about choosing of all days the birth of Adolph Hitler to represent the birth of His son? How would God feel about the day symbolizing the resurrection of the Third Reich to represent Jesus' resurrection?
How about the cross that he bled on symbolized in a swastika or people giving it the Nazi salute? What about the little cookie people with the six-pointed star of Bethlehem on their chests that were baked in the ovens? Wouldn't people want to know how that custom got started?
Surprisingly, those in this story would probably give the same responses as to why it is okay to celebrate their April 20 Christmas as those do today who want to keep their December 25 Christmas: "We've always had Christmas on that date, and, besides, it doesn't really matter what day you choose." "It's good for the children." "We try to keep the commercialism down and emphasize the birth of Jesus." "God understands our hearts, and we get so much out of these days." "We just put a little cross of Christ in our home, nothing fancy or elaborate." "Mom would really be disappointed if we didn't appreciate all the work she put into this day."
Something Wrong with You
Try as you might to convince them otherwise, these hypothetical people would inhabit their own little universe. Every reason people give today to rationalize the celebration of December 25 would be thrown right back at you.
To those in the story, April 20 is absolutely wonderful. Christmas to them is almost magical in its beauty
"and no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light" (II Cor. 11:14).
To them the spirit of Christmas equates with the spirit of giving. To be against their Christmas is to be against giving, so there must be something wrong with you. You must not even care about the needy.
So powerful would be the allure of the April 20 Christmas that even millions of atheists would put up the lights to join the party or put "Heather" in the play. Try as you might, you could not convince them that all the Nazi origins of the day should keep them from celebrating now.
The only way people will see through all the tinsel of this economic piece of Babylon that literally drives the Western economies is to have their hearts turned toward God. Those who are Christ's will seek to look at things from His perspective and not their own. It doesn't matter that it looks good, smells good, tastes good, sounds good or that most of the world is celebrating it. It doesn't matter what Christmas means to me or my kids or my mom or my boss, for what it means to God is the most important opinion of all. His thoughts, memories and feelings don't revolve around mine.
In a Christian's life Jesus is real and has a daily impact on the decisions that are made. To most in this world Jesus is pictured either away in a manger, dead on a cross or dwelling "two stars to the right and straight on ‘til morning" in a heavenly never-never land. To most He is a God of convenience but not someone you actually serve or seek advice from. "He must like this holiday because I do, and my minister gives his approval. Surely all of these churches couldn't be wrong."
This holiday's broad appeal to this world should be a warning flag to a Christian. Jesus said,
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matt. 7:13-14).
After warning about false prophets, Jesus also went on to say in verse 21:
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
Church Blending with Paganism
To the apostles, the will of God did not include Christmas or anything like it. This all came much later when the apostate church grew by blending in with the pagan Roman world. By placing the Lord's name on pagan practices, they deceived people into thinking they could keep their old ways and call it the Lord's will. Satan succeeded in deceiving virtually the whole world at that time into taking the broad way of doing things that are contrary to God's will (Rev. 12:9).
The will of God has to be the central point in how we worship Him. Jesus spoke about members of the religious community in His day who were in their own little universe and said they were worshiping Him, but all in vain, because of their manmade traditions (Mark 7:7-8). In John 4:23-24 Jesus said that
"the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (verses 23, 24).
Both those in the above story and those in the mainstream of Christianity today don't understand that Christmas is a lie or that Christ was never in it. The mind of Christ won't mix righteousness with unrighteousness or light with darkness (II Cor. 6:14-16).
"Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you" (verse 17).
God's people are to come out of Babylon. You can't take the customs of a day dedicated to a demon, sprinkle some holy water on it and now say it's dedicated to Jesus, or then centuries later say its origin doesn't really matter.
Less Abominable with Time?
Would that terrible act be an abomination only to the actual perpetrators, but in each succeeding generation become less and less terrible until God finally likes it? If 100 years from now the great-grand children of a Satanist learn that the portrait of Jesus above the mantle was really a portrait of Charles Manson, should they just shrug it off because they don't think of it that way, or it's good for the children, or Mom loved the painting?
God has a memory. Those who are His want to honor and worship Him in truth. According to His Word, how we choose to do so is important to Him. God tells us not to learn the ways of the heathen (Jer.10:2) or inquire about how pagan nations serve their gods.
"You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way" (Deut. 12:31).
The broad, easy path that this world loves is paved with good intentions but it leads to destruction. The decisions we make in life as Christians aren't to be based on how we feel or Mom feels but how God feels. That's what you do to truly honor the one you love above all others.
Written by: Lee Lisman
*******************************
Do You Prefer TRADITION Over Truth?
Why I No Longer Celebrate Christmas
Christmas is About Giving - SAYS WHO?
Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
Thursday, December 14, 2006
CHANUKA - BETWEEN SEATTLE AND JERUSALEM!
BS"D
YESHIVAT HARA'AYON HAYEHUDI [Yeshiva of the Jewish Idea]
Jerusalem, Israel
HaRav Yehuda Kroizer SHLIT"A, Rosh Yeshiva
PARSHAT VAYESHEV/CHANUKA
25 Kislev 5767/15-16 December 2006
CHANUKA - BETWEEN SEATTLE AND JERUSALEM!
The ancient Greeks, in their quest to Hellenize the world, found very
little resistance as they conquered nation after nation, bringing their
"enlightment" to one and all. It was only by the Jewish nation, who sat in
Zion at the time, that they met resistance. The Greeks decided to break the
backbone of the Jews by decreeing three decrees against the Jewish people.
In this way, the Greeks figured that within the next generation the Jewish
people as they knew them would be no more.
With tremendous insight, the Greeks' three decrees were to forbid the
observance of Shabbat, to forbid the calculation of the new months, and to
forbid circumcision. What was it that the ancient Greeks saw by these three
mitzvot, that they reasoned that by banning them, this would end the Jewish
religion?
The common denominator that runs though these mitzvot are, of course,
the “chosenness” of the Jewish people. Havdala - separation - this is the
foundation upon which all rests. For without this concept, the Jewish people
would be just like all the other nations of the world. Without the
chosenness of the Jewish people - in which Hashem chose us to be a light
unto the nations - there would be no need for our existence and mission in
this world. We would be just like the other nations, and then, certainly
there would be no need at all for Creation. Still, Hashem, at the revelation
of Sinai, chose us from all the nations for His G-dly mission in this world.
The Greeks understood this well: Wipe out the chosenness of the Jewish
people, make them like all the other nations - and you destroy them and the
world with it. Unfortunately, many a Jew at the time fell victim to the
Greeks' plan and openly accepted the new and dark Greek culture.
A quick look at the three decrees will readily show the chosenness of
the Jewish people running throughout them. Shabbat, of course, is a sign
between G-d and the Jewish people, so unique to the Jews that if a non- Jew
keeps Shabbat, he is put to death. The same holds true for circumcision, a
sign between the Jewish people and G-d, as Hashem tells Abraham to
circumcize himself and his house for a sign between the Jewish people and
G-d for all generations. Calculating the month ensures that the Jewish
calendar with all of its holidays will be celebrated at their proper times,
once again showing the uniqueness of the Jewish nation.
For this, the Jews revolted in a bloody war that lasted three years, at
the cost of many thousands dead. But the end result was that the Jews who
stayed faithful continued the chosenness of the Jewish people and their holy
mission.
This past week we saw the unfolding drama of the Seattle airport’s right
to publicly place x-mas trees there, and under the theat of a lawsuit by a
Chabad Rabbi to place a large Menorah there, too, the trees were first
removed and later replaced. America, in spite of the many minorities who
live there with freedom for all, is still known as overwhelmingly an x-tian
nation. They had no problem offending rights of minorities - in this case
Jews - and there will be no Menorah in the airport, for unlike the Moslems,
the Jews do not want to make waves.
And over here in the Holy Land, on my way home from work the other day,
I was appalled to see in the showcase of the Jerusalem City Hall next to a
Menorah, a display of the birth of baby Yeshky in Bethlehem, so as not to
insult the x-tian community, which barely exists here in Israel. Not that I
have a problem with giving other cultures their due, but in City Hall of the
Holy City of Jerusalem, which is supposed to represent the return of the
Jewish people after a 2000-year exile and Jewish sovereignty, it is a shame.
Here, in the Land of Israel, the descendants of the mighty Maccabees who
fought and gave their lives to keep alive the chosenness and separation from
the nations, are trying to walk the fence on both sides. Jerusalem’s City
Hall, representing the Jewish people, is not the place for it! Where is our
pride, and why are we embarrassed to tell the world that we are the Chosen
People. This is what Chanuka should be all about: Now is the time to move
forward, with the flag of the Maccabees telling a world of sick culture that
we reject it - and in its stead, we will bring Light to the world!
With love of Israel,
Levi Chazen
**************************************
Today we all know that Rabbi Kahane was right! Help spread the Jewish Idea -
Join the Jewish Idea's E-mail list and spread the word!
jidea@netvision.net.il
***************************************
Levi,
The Sabbath was given to ALL mankind at Creation. They forgot it and God restored it through all Twelve Tribes of Israel, now specifically through the Jews since the Israelites became "lost" and Gentilized. When King Messiah Yeshua returns and reigns, He will command ALL nations to keep the biblical Sabbath and biblical festivals, the "Jewish Holidays."
As for Jews in America, in their self-imposed exile, always praying "NEXT year in Jerusalem," let them move to Israel where they belong.
As for the pagan "mass of Christ," I am a Christian and, like the early Church of God for over 300 years, have absolutely nothing to do with pagan holidays dressed in Christian drag. We're not fooled by the Roman wolves in sheep's clothing.
Chag Hanukkah Sameach,
David Ben-Ariel
CAPAI Christians Against Proselytizing Among Israel
Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
Israel and Judah Must Get House in Order Before King Messiah Arrives
Jews Should Follow Judaism to Israel!
A Jewish Homeland
YESHIVAT HARA'AYON HAYEHUDI [Yeshiva of the Jewish Idea]
Jerusalem, Israel
HaRav Yehuda Kroizer SHLIT"A, Rosh Yeshiva
PARSHAT VAYESHEV/CHANUKA
25 Kislev 5767/15-16 December 2006
CHANUKA - BETWEEN SEATTLE AND JERUSALEM!
The ancient Greeks, in their quest to Hellenize the world, found very
little resistance as they conquered nation after nation, bringing their
"enlightment" to one and all. It was only by the Jewish nation, who sat in
Zion at the time, that they met resistance. The Greeks decided to break the
backbone of the Jews by decreeing three decrees against the Jewish people.
In this way, the Greeks figured that within the next generation the Jewish
people as they knew them would be no more.
With tremendous insight, the Greeks' three decrees were to forbid the
observance of Shabbat, to forbid the calculation of the new months, and to
forbid circumcision. What was it that the ancient Greeks saw by these three
mitzvot, that they reasoned that by banning them, this would end the Jewish
religion?
The common denominator that runs though these mitzvot are, of course,
the “chosenness” of the Jewish people. Havdala - separation - this is the
foundation upon which all rests. For without this concept, the Jewish people
would be just like all the other nations of the world. Without the
chosenness of the Jewish people - in which Hashem chose us to be a light
unto the nations - there would be no need for our existence and mission in
this world. We would be just like the other nations, and then, certainly
there would be no need at all for Creation. Still, Hashem, at the revelation
of Sinai, chose us from all the nations for His G-dly mission in this world.
The Greeks understood this well: Wipe out the chosenness of the Jewish
people, make them like all the other nations - and you destroy them and the
world with it. Unfortunately, many a Jew at the time fell victim to the
Greeks' plan and openly accepted the new and dark Greek culture.
A quick look at the three decrees will readily show the chosenness of
the Jewish people running throughout them. Shabbat, of course, is a sign
between G-d and the Jewish people, so unique to the Jews that if a non- Jew
keeps Shabbat, he is put to death. The same holds true for circumcision, a
sign between the Jewish people and G-d, as Hashem tells Abraham to
circumcize himself and his house for a sign between the Jewish people and
G-d for all generations. Calculating the month ensures that the Jewish
calendar with all of its holidays will be celebrated at their proper times,
once again showing the uniqueness of the Jewish nation.
For this, the Jews revolted in a bloody war that lasted three years, at
the cost of many thousands dead. But the end result was that the Jews who
stayed faithful continued the chosenness of the Jewish people and their holy
mission.
This past week we saw the unfolding drama of the Seattle airport’s right
to publicly place x-mas trees there, and under the theat of a lawsuit by a
Chabad Rabbi to place a large Menorah there, too, the trees were first
removed and later replaced. America, in spite of the many minorities who
live there with freedom for all, is still known as overwhelmingly an x-tian
nation. They had no problem offending rights of minorities - in this case
Jews - and there will be no Menorah in the airport, for unlike the Moslems,
the Jews do not want to make waves.
And over here in the Holy Land, on my way home from work the other day,
I was appalled to see in the showcase of the Jerusalem City Hall next to a
Menorah, a display of the birth of baby Yeshky in Bethlehem, so as not to
insult the x-tian community, which barely exists here in Israel. Not that I
have a problem with giving other cultures their due, but in City Hall of the
Holy City of Jerusalem, which is supposed to represent the return of the
Jewish people after a 2000-year exile and Jewish sovereignty, it is a shame.
Here, in the Land of Israel, the descendants of the mighty Maccabees who
fought and gave their lives to keep alive the chosenness and separation from
the nations, are trying to walk the fence on both sides. Jerusalem’s City
Hall, representing the Jewish people, is not the place for it! Where is our
pride, and why are we embarrassed to tell the world that we are the Chosen
People. This is what Chanuka should be all about: Now is the time to move
forward, with the flag of the Maccabees telling a world of sick culture that
we reject it - and in its stead, we will bring Light to the world!
With love of Israel,
Levi Chazen
**************************************
Today we all know that Rabbi Kahane was right! Help spread the Jewish Idea -
Join the Jewish Idea's E-mail list and spread the word!
jidea@netvision.net.il
***************************************
Levi,
The Sabbath was given to ALL mankind at Creation. They forgot it and God restored it through all Twelve Tribes of Israel, now specifically through the Jews since the Israelites became "lost" and Gentilized. When King Messiah Yeshua returns and reigns, He will command ALL nations to keep the biblical Sabbath and biblical festivals, the "Jewish Holidays."
As for Jews in America, in their self-imposed exile, always praying "NEXT year in Jerusalem," let them move to Israel where they belong.
As for the pagan "mass of Christ," I am a Christian and, like the early Church of God for over 300 years, have absolutely nothing to do with pagan holidays dressed in Christian drag. We're not fooled by the Roman wolves in sheep's clothing.
Chag Hanukkah Sameach,
David Ben-Ariel
CAPAI Christians Against Proselytizing Among Israel
Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
Israel and Judah Must Get House in Order Before King Messiah Arrives
Jews Should Follow Judaism to Israel!
A Jewish Homeland
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Woe to Ariel! (Jerusalem to suffer EU occupation)
Woe to Ariel! (Jerusalem to suffer EU occupation)
by David Ben-Ariel
Isaiah 29:1
Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt!
Carl Sandburg, an American writer warned: "If America forgets where she came from...if she listens to the deniers and mockers, then will begin the rot and dissolution." The same principle applies to our Jewish brethren in Israel.
The most merciful God of Jacob-Israel resurrected the nation of Israel from the graveyard of history and offered us a new opportunity to fulfill our unique calling to become a model nation, a kingdom of priests, a light to all nations, based upon the Law and the Prophets. Yet secular Jews, Hellenist Jews, UNJews, have divorced themselves from the Bible and have sought to make Israel just like all the other nations. And the corrupt Chief Rabbinate and blind religious leaders have woefully neglected (and forfeited by default) Judaism's most holy site: the Temple Mount.
Despite the faithlessness of many of Israel's leaders, the Great God of the Universe liberated areas of Judea and Samaria and restored Judaism's holiest site (supposedly) - the Temple Mount - into Jewish hands. Did Israel immediately invite the God of history to return with our exiles (now making aliyah) by building the Third Temple? Did they honor the God of our fathers by creating an Embassy for the Eternal upon the Temple Mount?
No! Instead Israelis despised their most sacred inheritance, the crown jewel of Jerusalem, and permitted militant Muslims to continue their abominable occupation. The foreign foxes terrorize faithful Jews and Christian Zionists who attempt to worship upon the Temple Mount and illegally refuse to let them pray or read the Bible. Israel has failed to uphold religious rights for non-Muslims (that are trampled daily) and has failed to guarantee "freedom of access." The biblical solution is to build the House of Prayer for All Peoples spoken of by the Prophets.
Queen Victoria said: "I think it very unwise to give up what we hold," referring to territories of the British-Israelite empire. Judah has been "very unwise" to surrender holy land to the enemies of God and Israel in the name of a lying peace. The accursed and treacherous Oslo accords, like a murderous cancer, continue to eat away at the very foundations of the Jewish state and the Jews have only themselves to blame.
Does someone have to be a prophet to recognize prophetic trends and to be grieved about them? Or to perceive that divine judgment is surely coming upon our beloved nations? Can't we just be like righteous King Josiah who HEARD AND BELIEVED the inspired words of the PROPHETS? (2 Chron. 34:15-33). He took God's "ancient" warning seriously and then did everything he could to avert national disaster! God respected him for it.
Yet the American, British and Jewish peoples today despise those who dare come forth, teaching and preaching the Word of God, encouraging repentance to spare our people from the unprecedented "Time of Jacob's Trouble," "the Great Tribulation" (Jer. 30:7, Matt. 24:21). At least, when they're temporarily crushed under the heels of a German-led Europe, when the Jewish Quarter is made Judenrein and the Temple Mount seized and occupied by Vatican forces that are intent on ripping the heart out of Israel for their pagan purposes (Dan. 11:45, Zech. 14:2), they will remember that they had been warned by a loving God, and hopefully will then have a change of heart and attitude that will hasten the process of redemption and welcome home the Messiah whom Two Witnesses will announce to the cities of Judah and proclaim to the world (Zech. 12:10).
by David Ben-Ariel
Isaiah 29:1
Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt!
Carl Sandburg, an American writer warned: "If America forgets where she came from...if she listens to the deniers and mockers, then will begin the rot and dissolution." The same principle applies to our Jewish brethren in Israel.
The most merciful God of Jacob-Israel resurrected the nation of Israel from the graveyard of history and offered us a new opportunity to fulfill our unique calling to become a model nation, a kingdom of priests, a light to all nations, based upon the Law and the Prophets. Yet secular Jews, Hellenist Jews, UNJews, have divorced themselves from the Bible and have sought to make Israel just like all the other nations. And the corrupt Chief Rabbinate and blind religious leaders have woefully neglected (and forfeited by default) Judaism's most holy site: the Temple Mount.
Despite the faithlessness of many of Israel's leaders, the Great God of the Universe liberated areas of Judea and Samaria and restored Judaism's holiest site (supposedly) - the Temple Mount - into Jewish hands. Did Israel immediately invite the God of history to return with our exiles (now making aliyah) by building the Third Temple? Did they honor the God of our fathers by creating an Embassy for the Eternal upon the Temple Mount?
No! Instead Israelis despised their most sacred inheritance, the crown jewel of Jerusalem, and permitted militant Muslims to continue their abominable occupation. The foreign foxes terrorize faithful Jews and Christian Zionists who attempt to worship upon the Temple Mount and illegally refuse to let them pray or read the Bible. Israel has failed to uphold religious rights for non-Muslims (that are trampled daily) and has failed to guarantee "freedom of access." The biblical solution is to build the House of Prayer for All Peoples spoken of by the Prophets.
Queen Victoria said: "I think it very unwise to give up what we hold," referring to territories of the British-Israelite empire. Judah has been "very unwise" to surrender holy land to the enemies of God and Israel in the name of a lying peace. The accursed and treacherous Oslo accords, like a murderous cancer, continue to eat away at the very foundations of the Jewish state and the Jews have only themselves to blame.
Does someone have to be a prophet to recognize prophetic trends and to be grieved about them? Or to perceive that divine judgment is surely coming upon our beloved nations? Can't we just be like righteous King Josiah who HEARD AND BELIEVED the inspired words of the PROPHETS? (2 Chron. 34:15-33). He took God's "ancient" warning seriously and then did everything he could to avert national disaster! God respected him for it.
Yet the American, British and Jewish peoples today despise those who dare come forth, teaching and preaching the Word of God, encouraging repentance to spare our people from the unprecedented "Time of Jacob's Trouble," "the Great Tribulation" (Jer. 30:7, Matt. 24:21). At least, when they're temporarily crushed under the heels of a German-led Europe, when the Jewish Quarter is made Judenrein and the Temple Mount seized and occupied by Vatican forces that are intent on ripping the heart out of Israel for their pagan purposes (Dan. 11:45, Zech. 14:2), they will remember that they had been warned by a loving God, and hopefully will then have a change of heart and attitude that will hasten the process of redemption and welcome home the Messiah whom Two Witnesses will announce to the cities of Judah and proclaim to the world (Zech. 12:10).
Friday, December 08, 2006
Church of God woefully neglects the Jews, ignores teaching of Herbert W. Armstrong
Stephen Flurry and The Philadelphia Church of God pretend to follow Herbert W. Armstrong as he followed Jesus Christ. Yet the great commission Herbert W. Armstrong saw must yet be fulfilled among the Jews is WOEFULLY NEGLECTED by Gerald and Stephen Flurry and other Church of God "leaders."
The Great Mideast Commission: Reaching the Cities of Judah
The PCG is going in circles, doing their own thing rather than the Work of God.
The Work of God Must Go Forward!
Time grows short and the PCG leaves the world without having received a strong warning message about what the German-dominated Europe is about to do, undoubtedly in rapid response to Iran.
PCG: Carrying on "Business as Usual"
The Great Mideast Commission: Reaching the Cities of Judah
The PCG is going in circles, doing their own thing rather than the Work of God.
The Work of God Must Go Forward!
Time grows short and the PCG leaves the world without having received a strong warning message about what the German-dominated Europe is about to do, undoubtedly in rapid response to Iran.
PCG: Carrying on "Business as Usual"
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
The Queen's Christmas Message -- Will this be her last?
The British Royal Family must be reminded of their Hebrew roots and Israelite origins and encouraged to become like King David, "a man after God's own heart."
May Queen Elizabeth II use her Christmas message to educate the world of her Davidic ancestry and biblical responsibilities and announce she will no longer participate in heathen customs and pagan holidays that masquerade as Christian but will begin to love and obey God and keep the biblical festivals that God has blessed Israel with to share with all the world.
Plea to Diehard Catholics & Protestants to Repent
May Queen Elizabeth II use her Christmas message to educate the world of her Davidic ancestry and biblical responsibilities and announce she will no longer participate in heathen customs and pagan holidays that masquerade as Christian but will begin to love and obey God and keep the biblical festivals that God has blessed Israel with to share with all the world.
Plea to Diehard Catholics & Protestants to Repent
Monday, November 27, 2006
National Destruction, Defeat and Deportation?
Many of the biblical prophecies concerning the "Lost Ten Tribes" have been fulfilled, especially the birthright blessing of Joseph, the Anglo-Saxon's unparalleled power and prosperity, and the continuation of King David's dynasty, Israel in the isles...but now, unless our proud and stubborn people confess and forsake their physical and spiritual idolatry and immorality, the bitter prophecies of national destruction, defeat and deportation are upon us.
Israel and Judah Must Get House in Order Before King Messiah Arrives
Death to the American, British & Jewish Peoples?
British-Israelites and Jews in Grave Danger
The Bible is very clear that the Great Tribulation, the Time of Jacob's Trouble is near.
Israel and Judah Must Get House in Order Before King Messiah Arrives
Death to the American, British & Jewish Peoples?
British-Israelites and Jews in Grave Danger
The Bible is very clear that the Great Tribulation, the Time of Jacob's Trouble is near.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
"Lakota" speaks with a forked tongue
Exchange with "Lakota" on the History Channel Forum --
White Christian racists imposed their religion on us during the 1800s and early twentieth century.
I'm sure they would appear "racist" to some who would hypocritically make mention of their skin color, realists to others not so prejudiced. Regardless of real or imagined racism, such folks must have been taking a chapter from the brown pagan "Native Americans" (Asian immigrants) who routinely butchered each other, pillaged villages and raped women, kidnapped children and raised them according to their own tribal beliefs.
This practice seems to afflict every race and religion to the honest and objective observer. It is not exclusive to some British or Euro-Israelites. Atrocities occurred on both sides. I grieve at the thought of that, and felt a spirit of heaviness, a great sadness, upon me near Wounded Knee several years ago and I prayed for healing and reconciliation as much as possible, good and honest before God who knows all, who had King David (my forefather) right some wrongs Saul had done against their "Natives."
Ideally, all would come to see that various idolatrous traditions and beliefs are man made at best, demonic at worst (remember your "Ghost Dance" was a dangerous religious lie that resulted in many deaths - Wovoka a false prophet the people fell for), both among pagans and professing Christians, and grow and mature beyond them, rejecting tradition for truth.
Jeremiah 16:19
O LORD, my strength and my fortress, My refuge in the day of affliction, The Gentiles shall come to You From the ends of the earth and say, "Surely our fathers have inherited lies, Worthlessness and unprofitable things."
Our message...told us how we should live our lives, taught us our ways. This is our belief.
If you truly believe your message (not that you speak for all the various tribes with their warring ideas and different ways), I trust you're living on a reservation to preserve it rather than in the "white man's world" and culture, yes?
If it's not necessary to live on a reservation to practice your particular tribal religion, then why have a reservation? Kind of like me reminding the Jews that they're supposed to follow Judaism to Israel.
Do not despise the word of the Creator as given to us.
You don't actually believe that Creator only spoke to a handful of people in the Middle East do you?
Yes, because that's what the Bible teaches, so why don't you practice what you preach and not despise the Word of the Lord, our Great Creator God, given to Israel to share with the world? God has a plan of salvation for all mankind but has chosen the Jews and Israelites as His Firstborn of many nations. The Bible is an ethnocentric book with great meaning and purpose once understood and rebukes those who would minimize the importance of Israel in that plan or seek to substitute or replace them with any
replacement theology.
Amos 3:2
You [Israel] only have I known of all the families of the earth...
Psalms 147:19-20
"He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD."
"To whom much is given, much is required" which is why the British-Israelites and Jews are held to a higher standard and are bringing divine judgment on our professing Christian nations and the Jewish homeland for our idolatry and immorality borrowed from the Gentile nations.
Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
If you've read any of my posts, you would see that I sincerely offer both scathing condemnation of practices (both the Bible and history expose as pagan) among professing Christians, as well as constructive criticism, tough love, for the British-Israelite and Jewish peoples, believing the biblical blessings or curses, life or death options given us.
Isaiah 58
1 “Cry aloud, spare not;
Lift up your voice like a trumpet;
Tell My people their transgression,
And the house of Jacob their sins.
There are things we can learn from each other, the brown "Native Americans" and the white "Native Americans" (I was born here), but whether it's politically correct or not this country was given by our Great Creator God to the descendants of Joseph, primarily, as prophesied and fulfilled before our eyes.
Joseph needs to remember our Hebrew roots and biblical responsibilities and set an example for the world to follow even if others will continue to find fault and engage in destructive criticism.
You mention the conflict in the Middle East, of which I am very much aware. However, my people are here, my ancestors from England, Ireland, Scotland and Germany settled in and around Ohio for the most part. Some people have come before us and other folks have come later. Regardless, we're all here now.
John Mervin: Risingsun, Ohio Pioneer
German-American Israelites?
David Ben-Ariel is a Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. With a focus on the Middle East and Jerusalem, his analytical articles help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out the Beyond Babylon blog.
White Christian racists imposed their religion on us during the 1800s and early twentieth century.
I'm sure they would appear "racist" to some who would hypocritically make mention of their skin color, realists to others not so prejudiced. Regardless of real or imagined racism, such folks must have been taking a chapter from the brown pagan "Native Americans" (Asian immigrants) who routinely butchered each other, pillaged villages and raped women, kidnapped children and raised them according to their own tribal beliefs.
This practice seems to afflict every race and religion to the honest and objective observer. It is not exclusive to some British or Euro-Israelites. Atrocities occurred on both sides. I grieve at the thought of that, and felt a spirit of heaviness, a great sadness, upon me near Wounded Knee several years ago and I prayed for healing and reconciliation as much as possible, good and honest before God who knows all, who had King David (my forefather) right some wrongs Saul had done against their "Natives."
Ideally, all would come to see that various idolatrous traditions and beliefs are man made at best, demonic at worst (remember your "Ghost Dance" was a dangerous religious lie that resulted in many deaths - Wovoka a false prophet the people fell for), both among pagans and professing Christians, and grow and mature beyond them, rejecting tradition for truth.
Jeremiah 16:19
O LORD, my strength and my fortress, My refuge in the day of affliction, The Gentiles shall come to You From the ends of the earth and say, "Surely our fathers have inherited lies, Worthlessness and unprofitable things."
Our message...told us how we should live our lives, taught us our ways. This is our belief.
If you truly believe your message (not that you speak for all the various tribes with their warring ideas and different ways), I trust you're living on a reservation to preserve it rather than in the "white man's world" and culture, yes?
If it's not necessary to live on a reservation to practice your particular tribal religion, then why have a reservation? Kind of like me reminding the Jews that they're supposed to follow Judaism to Israel.
Do not despise the word of the Creator as given to us.
You don't actually believe that Creator only spoke to a handful of people in the Middle East do you?
Yes, because that's what the Bible teaches, so why don't you practice what you preach and not despise the Word of the Lord, our Great Creator God, given to Israel to share with the world? God has a plan of salvation for all mankind but has chosen the Jews and Israelites as His Firstborn of many nations. The Bible is an ethnocentric book with great meaning and purpose once understood and rebukes those who would minimize the importance of Israel in that plan or seek to substitute or replace them with any
replacement theology.
Amos 3:2
You [Israel] only have I known of all the families of the earth...
Psalms 147:19-20
"He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD."
"To whom much is given, much is required" which is why the British-Israelites and Jews are held to a higher standard and are bringing divine judgment on our professing Christian nations and the Jewish homeland for our idolatry and immorality borrowed from the Gentile nations.
Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
If you've read any of my posts, you would see that I sincerely offer both scathing condemnation of practices (both the Bible and history expose as pagan) among professing Christians, as well as constructive criticism, tough love, for the British-Israelite and Jewish peoples, believing the biblical blessings or curses, life or death options given us.
Isaiah 58
1 “Cry aloud, spare not;
Lift up your voice like a trumpet;
Tell My people their transgression,
And the house of Jacob their sins.
There are things we can learn from each other, the brown "Native Americans" and the white "Native Americans" (I was born here), but whether it's politically correct or not this country was given by our Great Creator God to the descendants of Joseph, primarily, as prophesied and fulfilled before our eyes.
Joseph needs to remember our Hebrew roots and biblical responsibilities and set an example for the world to follow even if others will continue to find fault and engage in destructive criticism.
You mention the conflict in the Middle East, of which I am very much aware. However, my people are here, my ancestors from England, Ireland, Scotland and Germany settled in and around Ohio for the most part. Some people have come before us and other folks have come later. Regardless, we're all here now.
John Mervin: Risingsun, Ohio Pioneer
German-American Israelites?
David Ben-Ariel is a Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. With a focus on the Middle East and Jerusalem, his analytical articles help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out the Beyond Babylon blog.
Monday, November 20, 2006
The Plain Truth About Herbert W. Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God
I was a baptized member of the Worldwide Church of God when Herbert W. Armstrong was alive. Since his death (January 16, 1986) there has been a monstrous betrayal of the brethren by Protestant wolves who were among us, resulting in those faithful to the truth of the Bible (over traditional error) fleeing that present corrupt organization of deceived and deceiving men (or "disfellowshipped" or "marked") to new congregations and organizations that reflect and teach our biblical views.
There has been, as with every group or organization that undergoes serious changes in structure or administration, strong disagreements on how best to continue with what we are convicted is the plain truth of the Bible, but all of us basically agree on our foundational doctrines.
For those sincerely interested in the plain truth about Herbert W. Armstrong and the former Worldwide Church of God and some differences between the various branches of the Sabbath-keeping Church of God and their leaders:
The Plain Truth about Herbert W. Armstrong & the Worldwide Church of God
The Work of God Must Go Forward!
Raymond McNair Rejects God's government
David Pack & the Restored Church of God
PCG: Carrying on "Business as Usual"
Philadelphia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Part 1)
Philadephia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Conclusion)
Israel Work History (Worldwide Church of God)
The Church of God Must Warn the World!
Herbert W Armstrong and Worldwide Church of God Mentioned in Israeli Newspaper
The Great Mideast Commission: Reaching the Cities of Judah
There has been, as with every group or organization that undergoes serious changes in structure or administration, strong disagreements on how best to continue with what we are convicted is the plain truth of the Bible, but all of us basically agree on our foundational doctrines.
For those sincerely interested in the plain truth about Herbert W. Armstrong and the former Worldwide Church of God and some differences between the various branches of the Sabbath-keeping Church of God and their leaders:
The Plain Truth about Herbert W. Armstrong & the Worldwide Church of God
The Work of God Must Go Forward!
Raymond McNair Rejects God's government
David Pack & the Restored Church of God
PCG: Carrying on "Business as Usual"
Philadelphia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Part 1)
Philadephia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Conclusion)
Israel Work History (Worldwide Church of God)
The Church of God Must Warn the World!
Herbert W Armstrong and Worldwide Church of God Mentioned in Israeli Newspaper
The Great Mideast Commission: Reaching the Cities of Judah
C. H. Spurgeon on Christmas
C. H. Spurgeon on Christmas
Spurgeon from a sermon preached by C. H. Spurgeon on Dec. 24, 1871:
We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas. First, because we do not believe in the mass at all, but abhor it, whether it be sung in Latin or in English. Secondly, because we find no Scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Savior; and consequently, its observance is a superstition, because not of divine authority. 'Superstition' has fixed most positively the day of our Savior's birth, although there is no possibility of discovering when it occurred. ... It was not till the middle of the third century that any part of the Church celebrated the nativity of our Lord; and it was not till very long after the Western Church had set the example, that the Eastern adopted it. ... Probably the fact is that the "holy" days were arranged to fit in with the heathen festivals. We venture to assert, that if there be any day in the year, of which we may be pretty sure that it was not the day on which the Savior was born, it is the 25th of December. ... Regarding not the day, let us, nevertheless, give God thanks for the gift of His dear Son.
**********************************
AMEN!!!
Why I No Longer Celebrate Christmas
Christmas is About Giving - SAYS WHO?
Do You Prefer TRADITION Over Truth?
Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
Plea to Diehard Catholics & Protestants to Repent
Spurgeon from a sermon preached by C. H. Spurgeon on Dec. 24, 1871:
We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas. First, because we do not believe in the mass at all, but abhor it, whether it be sung in Latin or in English. Secondly, because we find no Scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Savior; and consequently, its observance is a superstition, because not of divine authority. 'Superstition' has fixed most positively the day of our Savior's birth, although there is no possibility of discovering when it occurred. ... It was not till the middle of the third century that any part of the Church celebrated the nativity of our Lord; and it was not till very long after the Western Church had set the example, that the Eastern adopted it. ... Probably the fact is that the "holy" days were arranged to fit in with the heathen festivals. We venture to assert, that if there be any day in the year, of which we may be pretty sure that it was not the day on which the Savior was born, it is the 25th of December. ... Regarding not the day, let us, nevertheless, give God thanks for the gift of His dear Son.
**********************************
AMEN!!!
Why I No Longer Celebrate Christmas
Christmas is About Giving - SAYS WHO?
Do You Prefer TRADITION Over Truth?
Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
Plea to Diehard Catholics & Protestants to Repent
Saturday, November 18, 2006
True Christians prefer TRUTH over tradition
If anybody is honestly interested in knowing whether or not this or that doctrine is actually biblical or merely traditional, all they have to do is objectively search the Scriptures like the noble Bereans did in Acts 17:11, after hearing Paul out, to see whether what he taught was true.
Examples:
The Church of God teaches, like Jesus, "the meek shall inherit the Earth." Traditional Churchianity denies it and says folks "go to Heaven." They have many such misunderstandings, idolatrous traditions and pagan myths like about being born again and Heaven and Hell.
The Church of God keeps the same seventh day Sabbath as Yeshua and the early Church of God, both converted Jews, Israelites and Gentiles. The professing Christian world, under influence of Constantine -- not Christ -- keep pagan SUNday.
The Bible only states the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, the Lord's Day, and that God is consistent and doesn't change but warned that some would "think to change the times and the laws" (Daniel 7:25).
The Sabbath-keeping Church of God keeps the same biblical festivals, the holy days of the LORD, that Yeshua and the early Church of God kept (both converted Jews, Israelites and Gentiles), with a new and improved understanding, in spirit and in truth, not just according to the letter of the law.
Traditional Churchianity is hostile to God's holy days and have replaced them with their pagan Roman hollow days, even though biblical prophecy shows such baptized paganism will soon be history as Yeshua, the King of Israel, teaches Torah from Jerusalem and commands all nations to observe the "Jewish holidays."
It is because of such glaring differences between TRADITIONAL Christianity (following its Roman leaders and Gentilized Jesus), and the Sabbath-keeping Church of God following the Jewish Jesus, exposed by the plain truth teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong, that Mr. Armstrong was so hated by many of the angry religious leaders who couldn't refute what he said and weren't prepared to change for the better. They chose tradition over truth, just like many religious leaders did in the days of the Prophets and in the days of Yeshua. Nothing new under the sun.
David Ben-Ariel is a Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. With a focus on the Middle East and Jerusalem, his analytical articles help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out the Beyond Babylon blog.
Examples:
The Church of God teaches, like Jesus, "the meek shall inherit the Earth." Traditional Churchianity denies it and says folks "go to Heaven." They have many such misunderstandings, idolatrous traditions and pagan myths like about being born again and Heaven and Hell.
The Church of God keeps the same seventh day Sabbath as Yeshua and the early Church of God, both converted Jews, Israelites and Gentiles. The professing Christian world, under influence of Constantine -- not Christ -- keep pagan SUNday.
The Bible only states the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, the Lord's Day, and that God is consistent and doesn't change but warned that some would "think to change the times and the laws" (Daniel 7:25).
The Sabbath-keeping Church of God keeps the same biblical festivals, the holy days of the LORD, that Yeshua and the early Church of God kept (both converted Jews, Israelites and Gentiles), with a new and improved understanding, in spirit and in truth, not just according to the letter of the law.
Traditional Churchianity is hostile to God's holy days and have replaced them with their pagan Roman hollow days, even though biblical prophecy shows such baptized paganism will soon be history as Yeshua, the King of Israel, teaches Torah from Jerusalem and commands all nations to observe the "Jewish holidays."
It is because of such glaring differences between TRADITIONAL Christianity (following its Roman leaders and Gentilized Jesus), and the Sabbath-keeping Church of God following the Jewish Jesus, exposed by the plain truth teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong, that Mr. Armstrong was so hated by many of the angry religious leaders who couldn't refute what he said and weren't prepared to change for the better. They chose tradition over truth, just like many religious leaders did in the days of the Prophets and in the days of Yeshua. Nothing new under the sun.
David Ben-Ariel is a Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. With a focus on the Middle East and Jerusalem, his analytical articles help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out the Beyond Babylon blog.
Friday, November 17, 2006
The Plain Truth About Christmas
THE PLAIN TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS
by Herbert W. Armstrong
1952, 1972, 1974 edition
Where did the world get Christmas? ... from the Bible, or paganism?
Here are the astonishing facts which may shock you! Test yourself.
How much do you know of the origin of the Christmas tree -- of "Santa Claus" -- of the mistletoe -- of the holly wreath -- of the custom of exchanging gifts?
WHEN I was a very little boy, I was taught to hang up my stockings on Christmas eve. When I awakened the next morning, they were filled with small toys and sacks or little boxes of candy and nuts.
And beside the mantle, from which my stockings hung, a Christmas tree had suddenly appeared, decorated with shiny tinsel. And on it hung presents. Other presents for us children were piled on the floor underneath.
I was told Santa Claus had come down the chimney during the night and left all these things.
But did I question what my parents had told me? Of course not. I accepted it -- took it all for granted. Didn't you?
Stop and think a moment! Very few have ever reflected on why they believe what they do -- why they follow the customs they do, or from where those customs came. We were born into a world filled with customs. We grew up accepting them without question.
Why? Sheep instinct? Well, not exactly.
But by nature we do tend to follow the crowd, whether right or wrong. Sheep follow others to the slaughter. Humans ought to check up where they are going.
How -- when did Christmas originate?
Does Christmas really celebrate the birthday of Christ? Was Jesus born on December 25th?
Did the original apostles, who knew Jesus personally and were taught by Him, celebrate His birthday on December 25th? Did they celebrate it at all?
If Christmas is the chief of the Christian holidays, why do so many non-Christians observe it? Do you know?
Why do people exchange presents with family members, friends, relatives, at Christmas time? Was it because the wise men presented gifts to the Christ-child? The answer may surprise you.
Most people have "supposed" a lot of things about Christmas that are not true. But let's quit "supposing" and get the facts!
What Encyclopedias Say
The word "Christmas" means "Mass of Christ," or, as it came to be shortened, "Christ-Mass." It came to non-Christians and Protestants from the Roman Catholic Church. And where did they get it? NOT from the New Testament -- NOT from the Bible -- NOT from the original apostles who were personally instructed by Christ -- but it gravitated in the fourth century into the Roman Church from paganism.
Since the celebration of Christmas has come to the world from the Roman Catholic Church, and has no authority but that of the Roman Catholic Church, let us examine the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 edition, published by that church. Under the heading "Christmas," you will find:
"Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church ... the first evidence of the feast is from Egypt." "Pagan customs centering around the January calends gravitated to Christmas."
And in the same encyclopedia, under the heading "Natal Day," we find that the early Catholic father, Origen, acknowledged this truth: "... In the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday. It is only sinners [like Pharaoh and Herod] who make great rejoicings over the day in which they were born into this world" (emphasis ours).
Encyclopedia Britannica, 1946 edition, has this: "Christmas (i.e., the Mass of Christ) .... Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church ...." It was not instituted by Christ or the apostles, or by Bible authority.
It was picked up afterward from paganism. The Encyclopedia Americana, 1944 edition, says: "Christmas .... It was, according to many authorities, not celebrated in the first centuries of the Christian church, as the Christian usage in general was to celebrate the death of remarkable persons rather than their birth ...." (The "Communion," which is instituted by New Testament Bible authority, is a memorial of the death of Christ.) "... A feast was established in memory of this event [Christ's birth] in the fourth century. In the fifth century the Western Church ordered it to be celebrated forever on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol, as no certain knowledge of the day of Christ's birth existed."
Now notice! These recognized historical authorities show Christmas was not observed by Christians for the first two or three hundred years -- a period longer than the entire history of the United States as a nation! It got into the Western, or Roman, Church, by the fourth century A.D. It was not until the fifth century that the Roman Church ordered it to be celebrated as an official Christian festival!
Jesus Not Born December 25th
Jesus was not even born in the winter season! When the Christ-child was born "there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night" (Luke 2:8). This never could have occurred in Judaea in the month of December. The shepherds always brought their flocks from the mountainsides and fields and corralled them not later than October 15, to protect them from the cold, rainy season that followed that date. Notice that the Bible itself proves, in Song of Solomon 2:11 and Ezra 10:9, 13, that winter was a rainy season not permitting shepherds to abide in open fields at night.
"It was an ancient custom among Jews of those days to send out their sheep to the fields and deserts about the Passover (early spring), and bring them home at commencement of the first rain," says the Adam Clarke Commentary (Vol. 5, page 370, New York ed.)
Continuing, this authority states: "During the time they were out, the shepherds watched them night and day. As ... the first rain began early in the month of Marchesvan, which answers to part of our October and November [begins sometime in October], we find that the sheep were kept out in the open country during the whole summer. And, as these shepherds had not yet brought home their flocks, it is a presumptive argument that October had not yet commenced, and that, consequently, our Lord was not born on the 25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields; nor could He have been born later than September, as the flocks were still in the fields by night. On this very ground, the nativity in December should be given up. The feeding of the flocks by night in the fields is a chronological fact ... See the quotations from the Talmudists in Lightfoot."
Any encyclopedia, or any other authority, will tell you that Christ was not born on December 25. The Catholic Encyclopedia frankly states this fact.
The exact date of Jesus' birth is entirely unknown, as all authorities acknowledge -- though if I had space in this booklet I could show you scriptures which at least strongly indicate it was in the early fall -- probably September approximately six months after Passover.
If God had wished us to observe and celebrate Christ's birthday, He would not have so completely hidden the exact date.
How This Pagan Custom Got into the Church
Then how did this pagan custom creep into the Western Christian world?
The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge explains it clearly, in its article on "Christmas": "How much the date of the festival depended upon the pagan Brumalia (Dec. 25) following the Saturnalia (Dec. 17-24), and celebrating the shortest day of the year and the 'new sun' ... cannot be accurately determined. The pagan Saturnalia and Brumalia were too deeply entrenched in popular custom to be set aside by Christian influence .... The pagan festival with its riot and merrymaking was so popular that Christians were glad of an excuse to continue its celebration with little change in spirit and in manner. Christian preachers of the West and the Near East protested against the unseemly frivolity with which Christ's birthday was celebrated, while Christians of Mesopotamia accused their Western brethren of idolatry and sun worship for adopting as Christian this pagan festival."
Remember, the Roman world had been pagan. Prior to the fourth century, Christians were few in number, though increasing, and were persecuted by the government and by pagans. But, with the advent of Constantine as emperor, who made his profession of Christianity in the fourth century, placing Christianity on an equal footing with paganism, people of the Roman world began to accept this now-popular Christianity by the hundreds of thousands.
But remember, these people had grown up in pagan customs, chief of which was this idolatrous festival of December 25th. It was a festival of merrymaking, with its special spirit. They enjoyed it! They didn't want to give it up! Now this same article in the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge explains how the recognition by Constantine of Sunday, which had been the day of pagan sun worship, and how the influence of the pagan Manichaeism, which identified the SON of God with the physical SUN, gave these pagans of the fourth century, now turning over wholesale to "Christianity," their excuse for calling their pagan-festival date of December 25th (birthday of the SUN-god), the birthday of the SON of God.
And that is how "Christmas" became fastened on our Western world! We may call it by another name, but it's the same old pagan sun-worshipping festival still! The only change is in what we call it! You can call a rabbit a "lion," but it's still a rabbit, just the same.
Again from the Encyclopaedia Britannica: "Certain Latins, as early as 354, may have transferred the birthday from January 6th to December 25, which was then a Mithraic feast ... or birthday of the unconquered SUN ... The Syrians and Armenians, who clung to January 6th, accused the Romans of sun worship and idolatry, contending ... that the feast of December 25th, had been invented by disciples of Cerinthus ...."
The Real Origin of Christmas
But if we got Christmas from the Roman Catholics, and they got it from paganism, where did the pagans get it? Where, when, and what was its real origin?
It is a chief custom of the corrupt system denounced all through Bible prophecies and teachings under the name of Babylon. And it started and originated in the original Babylon of ancient Nimrod! Yes, it stems from roots whose beginning was shortly this side of the Flood!
Nimrod, grandson of Ham, son of Noah, was the real founder of the Babylonish system that has gripped the world ever since -- the system of organized competition -- of man -- ruled governments and empires, based upon the competitive and profit-making economic system. Nimrod built the tower of Babel, the original Babylon, ancient Nineveh, and many other cities. He organized this world's first kingdom. The name Nimrod, in Hebrew, is derived from "Marad," meaning "he rebelled."
From many ancient writings, considerable is learned of this man, who started the great organized worldly apostasy from God that has dominated this world until now. Nimrod was so evil, it is said he married his own mother, whose name was Semiramis. After Nimrod's untimely death, his so-called mother-wife, Semiramis, propagated the evil doctrine of the survival of Nimrod as a spirit being. She claimed a full-grown evergreen tree sprang overnight from a dead tree stump, which symbolized the springing forth unto new life of the dead Nimrod. On each anniversary of his birth, she claimed, Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts upon it. December 25th was the birthday of Nimrod. This is the real origin of the Christmas tree.
Through her scheming and designing, Semiramis became the Babylonian "Queen of Heaven," and Nimrod, under various names, became the "divine son of heaven."
Through the generations, in this idolatrous worship, Nimrod also became the false Messiah, son of Baal the Sun-god. In this false Babylonish system, the "Mother and Child" (Semiramis and Nimrod reborn) became chief objects of worship. This worship of "Mother and Child" spread over the world.
The names varied in different countries and languages. In Egypt it was Isis and Osiris.
In Asia, Cybele and Deoius. In pagan Rome, Fortuna and Jupiterpuer. Even in Greece, China, Japan, Tibet is to be found the counterpart of the Madonna, long before the birth of Christ!
Thus, during the fourth and fifth centuries, when the pagans of the Roman world were "accepting" the new popular "Christianity" by the hundreds of thousands, carrying their old pagan customs and beliefs along with them, merely cloaking them with Christian-sounding names, the Madonna and "Mother and Child" idea also became popularized, especially at Christmas time.
Every Christmas season you'll hear sung and chanted dozens of times the hymn "Silent Night, Holy Night," with its familiar "Mother and Child" theme. We, who have been born in such a babylonish world, reared and steeped in these things all our lives, have been taught to revere these things as holy and sacred. We never questioned to see where they came from -- whether they came from the Bible, or from pagan idolatry!
We are shocked to learn the truth -- some, unfortunately, take offense at the plain truth! But God commands His faithful ministers, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression!" Shocking as these facts are, they are the plain facts of history and the Bible!
The real origin of Christmas goes back to ancient Babylon. It is bound up in the organized apostasy which has gripped a deceived world these many centuries! In Egypt, it was always believed that the son of Isis (Egyptian name for "Queen of Heaven") was born December 25th. Paganism celebrated this famous birthday over most of the known world for centuries before the birth of Christ.
December 25th is not the birthday of Jesus the true Christ! The apostles and early true Church never celebrated Christ's birthday at any time. There is no command or instruction to celebrate it in the Bible -- rather, the celebrating of birthdays is a pagan, not a Christian custom, believe it or not!
Thus the ancient idolatrous "Chaldean Mysteries," founded by this wife of Nimrod, have been handed down through the pagan religions under new Christian-sounding names.
Origin of Holly Wreath, Mistletoe, Yule Log
Now where did we get this mistletoe custom? Among the ancient pagans the mistletoe was used at this festival of the winter solstice because it was considered sacred to the sun, because of its supposed miraculous healing power. The pagan custom of kissing under the mistletoe was an early step in the night of revelry and drunken debauchery -- celebrating the death of the "old sun" and the birth of the new at the winter solstice. Mistletoe, sacred in pagan festivals, is a parasite!
Holly berries were also considered sacred to the sun-god. The yule log is in reality the "sun log." "Yule" means "wheel," a pagan symbol of the sun. Yet today professing Christians speak of the "sacred yule-tide season"!
Even the lighting of fires and candles as a Christian ceremony is merely a continuation of the pagan custom, encouraging the waning sun-god as he reached the lowest place in the southern skies!
The Encyclopedia Americana says: "The holly, the mistletoe, the Yule log ... are relics of pre-Christian times." Of paganism!
The book Answers to Questions, compiled by Frederick J. Haskins, found in public libraries, says: "The use of Christmas wreaths is believed by authorities to be traceable to the pagan customs of decorating buildings and places of worship at the feast which took place at the same time as Christmas. The Christmas tree is from Egypt, and its origin dates from a period long anterior to the Christian Era."
Yes, and Even Santa Claus!
But surely dear old Santa Claus is not a creature of pagan birth? But he is, and his real character is not so benevolent and holy as many suppose!
The name "Santa Claus" is a corruption of the name "St. Nicholas," a Roman Catholic bishop who lived in the 5th century. Look in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, volume 19, pages 648-649, 11th edition, where you'll read: "St. Nicholas, bishop of Myra, a saint honored by the Greeks and Latins on the 6th of December .... A legend of his surreptitious bestowal of dowries on the three daughters of an impoverished citizen ... is said to have originated the old custom of giving presents in secret on the Eve of St. Nicholas [Dec. 6], subsequently transferred to Christmas day. Hence the association of Christmas with Santa Claus ...."
Through the year, parents punish their children for telling falsehoods. Then, at Christmas time, they themselves tell their little children this "Santa Claus" lie! Is it any wonder many of them, when they grow up and learn the truth, begin to believe God is a myth, too?
One little fellow, sadly disillusioned about "Santa Claus," said to a playmate, "Yes, and I'm going to look into this 'Jesus Christ' business, too!" Is it Christian to teach children myths and falsehoods? God says, "Thou shalt not bear false witness!" It may seem right, and be justified by human reason, but God says, "There is a way that seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death!" "Old Nick" also is a term for the devil! Is there a connection? Satan appears as an "angel of light," to deceive! (II Cor. 11:14; Rev. 12:9.)
And so when we examine the facts, we are astonished to learn that the practice of observing Christmas is not, after all, a true Christian practice, but a pagan custom -- one of the ways of Babylon our people have fallen into!
What the Bible Says About the Christmas Tree
But if the Bible is silent about telling us to observe Christmas, or recording any such observance by the apostles or early true Church, it does have something to say about the Christmas tree!
This will come as a real surprise to many. But here it is:
Jeremiah 10:2-6: "Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen .... For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not."
There is a perfect description of the Christmas tree, termed by the Eternal as "the way of the heathen -- the customs of the people." We are commanded not to learn that way or follow it! It is also viewed in this passage as idolatry. The fifth verse shows that these trees cannot speak -- cannot walk -- must be carried. "Be not afraid of them; for they [the trees] cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good." They are not gods to be feared. Some people misread this to make it say there is no harm in having a Christmas tree, but that is not what it says.
Isn't Exchanging Gifts Scriptural?
But when it comes to the most important part of all in this Christmas observance -- the Christmas shopping season -- the buying and exchanging of gifts -- many will exclaim triumphantly, "Well, at least the Bible tells us to do that! Didn't the wise men give gifts when Christ was born?"
Again, we are due for some surprises, when we learn the plain truth. First, let's look at the historic origin of trading gifts back and forth, then see exactly what the Bible does say about it.
From the Bibliotheca Sacra, volume 12, pages 153-155, we quote: "The interchange of presents between friends is alike characteristic of Christmas and the Saturnalia, and must have been adopted by Christians from the Pagans, as the admonition of Tertullian plainly shows."
The fact is, this custom fastened upon people of exchanging gifts with friends and relatives at the Christmas season has not a single trace of Christianity about it, strange though that may seem! This does not celebrate Christ's birthday nor honor it or Him! Suppose someone you love has a birthday. You want to honor that person on his or her birthday. Would you lavishly buy gifts for everyone else, trading gifts back and forth with all your other friends and loved ones, but ignore completely any gift for the one whose birthday you are honoring? Rather absurd, when viewed in that light, isn't it?
Yet this is exactly what people the world over are doing! They honor a day that is not Christ's birthday by spending every dime they can scrape together in buying presents to trade back and forth among friends and relatives. But I can say by years of experience, as I believe most pastors and ministers can say, that when the month of December rolls around, nearly all professing Christians forget to give gifts to Christ and His cause almost altogether! December often is the most difficult month to keep Christ's work from dying! People are too busy trading gifts back and forth among themselves to think of Him and His Work, it seems. Then, in January and even into February it seems they have to catch up from what they spent for Christmas, so they seldom get back to normal in supporting Christ and His Work before March!
Now consider what the Bible says about the wise men giving gifts when Christ was born. It is in Matthew 2:1-11. "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? ... 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 treasures, they presented unto HIM gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh."
Why Gifts Presented to Christ
Notice, they inquired for the child Jesus, who was born KING of the Jews! Now why did they present gifts to Him? Because it was His birthday? Not at all, because they came several days or weeks after the date of His birth! Was it to set an example for us, today, to trade gifts back and forth among ourselves? No, notice carefully! They did not exchange gifts among themselves, but "they presented unto HIM gifts." They gave their gifts to Christ, not to their friends, relatives, or one another!
Why? Let me quote from the Adam Clarke Commentary, volume 5, page 46: "Verse 11. (They presented unto him gifts.) The people of the east never approach the presence of kings and great personages, without a present in their hands. The custom is often noticed in the Old Testament, and still prevails in the east, and in some of the newly discovered South Sea Islands."
There it is! They were not instituting a new Christian custom of exchanging gifts with friends to honor Christ's birthday. They were following an old and ancient eastern custom of presenting gifts to a king when they came into his presence. They were approaching Him, born KING of the Jews, in person. Therefore custom required they present gifts even as the Queen of Sheba brought gifts to Solomon -- even as many people today take a gift along when they visit the White House for an appointment with the President.
No, the custom of trading gifts back and forth does not stem from this scriptural incident at all, but rather, as quoted from history above, it is the continuance of an ancient pagan custom. Instead of honoring Christ, it invariably retards His Work, often sets it back, at the Christmas season every year.
Does It Really Honor Christ?
Now come two arguments often used to justify Christmas observance.
1) Many will reason this way: "But, even though the exact date of Jesus' birth is unknown, should we not select some date to celebrate as His birthday?" The answer is positively no! Did you not notice the statement quoted from the Catholic Encyclopedia: "Sinners alone, not saints, celebrate their birthdays." The celebration of birthdays is not a Christian, but a pagan custom, observed by sinners!
2) But, many still reason, "Even so -- even though Christmas was a pagan custom, honoring the false sun-god, we don't observe it to honor the false god, we observe it to honor Christ."
But how does GOD answer in His Word? "Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them [the pagans in their customs] ... that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for every abomination to the Eternal, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods" (Deut. 12:30-31).
God says plainly in His Instruction Book to us, that He will not accept that kind of worship, even though intended in His honor. To Him, He says, it is offering what is abominable to Him, and therefore it honors, not Him, but false pagan gods. GOD says we must not worship Him according to the "dictates of our own conscience" -- a term we often hear. But Jesus said plainly, "God is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). And what is truth? God's Word -- the Holy Bible -- said Jesus, is truth (John 17:17); and the Bible says God will not accept worship when people take a pagan custom or manner of worship and try to honor Christ with it.
Again, Jesus said: "In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matt. 15:9). Christmas observance is a tradition of men, and the commandments of God, as quoted, forbid it. Jesus said, further, "full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition."
That is precisely what the millions are doing today. They ignore the commandment of God. He commands, regarding taking the customs of the pagans and using them to honor or worship God: "Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God." Still, most people today take that command of God lightly, or as having no validity whatsoever, and follow the tradition of men in observing Christmas.
Make no mistake! God will allow you to defy and disobey Him. He will allow you to follow the crowd and the traditions of men. He will allow you to sin. But He also says there is a day of reckoning coming. As you sow, so shall you reap! Jesus was the living Word of God in Person, and the Bible is the written Word of God. And we shall be judged, for eternity, by these words! They should not be taken lightly or ignored.
We're in Babylon, and Haven't Known It
Christmas has become a commercial season. It's sponsored, kept alive, by the heaviest retail advertising campaigns of the year. You see a masqueraded "Santa Claus" in many stores. Ads keep us deluded and deceived about the "beautiful Christmas spirit." The newspapers, who sell the ads, print flowery editorials exalting and eulogizing the pagan season, and its "spirit." A gullible people has become so inoculated, many take offense when told the truth. But the "Christmas spirit" is created each year, not to honor Christ, but to sell merchandise! Like all Satan's delusions, it appears as an "angel of light," is made to appear good. Billions of dollars are spent in this merchandising spree every year, while the cause of Christ must suffer! It's part of the economic system of Babylon!
We have professed to be Christian nations, but we're in Babylon, as Bible prophecy foretold, and we don't know it! "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" -- now soon to fall -- is the warning of Revelation 18:4.
This year, instead of gift trading, why not put that money into God's Work?
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Christmas is About Giving - SAYS WHO?
Why I No Longer Celebrate Christmas
by Herbert W. Armstrong
1952, 1972, 1974 edition
Where did the world get Christmas? ... from the Bible, or paganism?
Here are the astonishing facts which may shock you! Test yourself.
How much do you know of the origin of the Christmas tree -- of "Santa Claus" -- of the mistletoe -- of the holly wreath -- of the custom of exchanging gifts?
WHEN I was a very little boy, I was taught to hang up my stockings on Christmas eve. When I awakened the next morning, they were filled with small toys and sacks or little boxes of candy and nuts.
And beside the mantle, from which my stockings hung, a Christmas tree had suddenly appeared, decorated with shiny tinsel. And on it hung presents. Other presents for us children were piled on the floor underneath.
I was told Santa Claus had come down the chimney during the night and left all these things.
But did I question what my parents had told me? Of course not. I accepted it -- took it all for granted. Didn't you?
Stop and think a moment! Very few have ever reflected on why they believe what they do -- why they follow the customs they do, or from where those customs came. We were born into a world filled with customs. We grew up accepting them without question.
Why? Sheep instinct? Well, not exactly.
But by nature we do tend to follow the crowd, whether right or wrong. Sheep follow others to the slaughter. Humans ought to check up where they are going.
How -- when did Christmas originate?
Does Christmas really celebrate the birthday of Christ? Was Jesus born on December 25th?
Did the original apostles, who knew Jesus personally and were taught by Him, celebrate His birthday on December 25th? Did they celebrate it at all?
If Christmas is the chief of the Christian holidays, why do so many non-Christians observe it? Do you know?
Why do people exchange presents with family members, friends, relatives, at Christmas time? Was it because the wise men presented gifts to the Christ-child? The answer may surprise you.
Most people have "supposed" a lot of things about Christmas that are not true. But let's quit "supposing" and get the facts!
What Encyclopedias Say
The word "Christmas" means "Mass of Christ," or, as it came to be shortened, "Christ-Mass." It came to non-Christians and Protestants from the Roman Catholic Church. And where did they get it? NOT from the New Testament -- NOT from the Bible -- NOT from the original apostles who were personally instructed by Christ -- but it gravitated in the fourth century into the Roman Church from paganism.
Since the celebration of Christmas has come to the world from the Roman Catholic Church, and has no authority but that of the Roman Catholic Church, let us examine the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 edition, published by that church. Under the heading "Christmas," you will find:
"Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church ... the first evidence of the feast is from Egypt." "Pagan customs centering around the January calends gravitated to Christmas."
And in the same encyclopedia, under the heading "Natal Day," we find that the early Catholic father, Origen, acknowledged this truth: "... In the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday. It is only sinners [like Pharaoh and Herod] who make great rejoicings over the day in which they were born into this world" (emphasis ours).
Encyclopedia Britannica, 1946 edition, has this: "Christmas (i.e., the Mass of Christ) .... Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church ...." It was not instituted by Christ or the apostles, or by Bible authority.
It was picked up afterward from paganism. The Encyclopedia Americana, 1944 edition, says: "Christmas .... It was, according to many authorities, not celebrated in the first centuries of the Christian church, as the Christian usage in general was to celebrate the death of remarkable persons rather than their birth ...." (The "Communion," which is instituted by New Testament Bible authority, is a memorial of the death of Christ.) "... A feast was established in memory of this event [Christ's birth] in the fourth century. In the fifth century the Western Church ordered it to be celebrated forever on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol, as no certain knowledge of the day of Christ's birth existed."
Now notice! These recognized historical authorities show Christmas was not observed by Christians for the first two or three hundred years -- a period longer than the entire history of the United States as a nation! It got into the Western, or Roman, Church, by the fourth century A.D. It was not until the fifth century that the Roman Church ordered it to be celebrated as an official Christian festival!
Jesus Not Born December 25th
Jesus was not even born in the winter season! When the Christ-child was born "there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night" (Luke 2:8). This never could have occurred in Judaea in the month of December. The shepherds always brought their flocks from the mountainsides and fields and corralled them not later than October 15, to protect them from the cold, rainy season that followed that date. Notice that the Bible itself proves, in Song of Solomon 2:11 and Ezra 10:9, 13, that winter was a rainy season not permitting shepherds to abide in open fields at night.
"It was an ancient custom among Jews of those days to send out their sheep to the fields and deserts about the Passover (early spring), and bring them home at commencement of the first rain," says the Adam Clarke Commentary (Vol. 5, page 370, New York ed.)
Continuing, this authority states: "During the time they were out, the shepherds watched them night and day. As ... the first rain began early in the month of Marchesvan, which answers to part of our October and November [begins sometime in October], we find that the sheep were kept out in the open country during the whole summer. And, as these shepherds had not yet brought home their flocks, it is a presumptive argument that October had not yet commenced, and that, consequently, our Lord was not born on the 25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields; nor could He have been born later than September, as the flocks were still in the fields by night. On this very ground, the nativity in December should be given up. The feeding of the flocks by night in the fields is a chronological fact ... See the quotations from the Talmudists in Lightfoot."
Any encyclopedia, or any other authority, will tell you that Christ was not born on December 25. The Catholic Encyclopedia frankly states this fact.
The exact date of Jesus' birth is entirely unknown, as all authorities acknowledge -- though if I had space in this booklet I could show you scriptures which at least strongly indicate it was in the early fall -- probably September approximately six months after Passover.
If God had wished us to observe and celebrate Christ's birthday, He would not have so completely hidden the exact date.
How This Pagan Custom Got into the Church
Then how did this pagan custom creep into the Western Christian world?
The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge explains it clearly, in its article on "Christmas": "How much the date of the festival depended upon the pagan Brumalia (Dec. 25) following the Saturnalia (Dec. 17-24), and celebrating the shortest day of the year and the 'new sun' ... cannot be accurately determined. The pagan Saturnalia and Brumalia were too deeply entrenched in popular custom to be set aside by Christian influence .... The pagan festival with its riot and merrymaking was so popular that Christians were glad of an excuse to continue its celebration with little change in spirit and in manner. Christian preachers of the West and the Near East protested against the unseemly frivolity with which Christ's birthday was celebrated, while Christians of Mesopotamia accused their Western brethren of idolatry and sun worship for adopting as Christian this pagan festival."
Remember, the Roman world had been pagan. Prior to the fourth century, Christians were few in number, though increasing, and were persecuted by the government and by pagans. But, with the advent of Constantine as emperor, who made his profession of Christianity in the fourth century, placing Christianity on an equal footing with paganism, people of the Roman world began to accept this now-popular Christianity by the hundreds of thousands.
But remember, these people had grown up in pagan customs, chief of which was this idolatrous festival of December 25th. It was a festival of merrymaking, with its special spirit. They enjoyed it! They didn't want to give it up! Now this same article in the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge explains how the recognition by Constantine of Sunday, which had been the day of pagan sun worship, and how the influence of the pagan Manichaeism, which identified the SON of God with the physical SUN, gave these pagans of the fourth century, now turning over wholesale to "Christianity," their excuse for calling their pagan-festival date of December 25th (birthday of the SUN-god), the birthday of the SON of God.
And that is how "Christmas" became fastened on our Western world! We may call it by another name, but it's the same old pagan sun-worshipping festival still! The only change is in what we call it! You can call a rabbit a "lion," but it's still a rabbit, just the same.
Again from the Encyclopaedia Britannica: "Certain Latins, as early as 354, may have transferred the birthday from January 6th to December 25, which was then a Mithraic feast ... or birthday of the unconquered SUN ... The Syrians and Armenians, who clung to January 6th, accused the Romans of sun worship and idolatry, contending ... that the feast of December 25th, had been invented by disciples of Cerinthus ...."
The Real Origin of Christmas
But if we got Christmas from the Roman Catholics, and they got it from paganism, where did the pagans get it? Where, when, and what was its real origin?
It is a chief custom of the corrupt system denounced all through Bible prophecies and teachings under the name of Babylon. And it started and originated in the original Babylon of ancient Nimrod! Yes, it stems from roots whose beginning was shortly this side of the Flood!
Nimrod, grandson of Ham, son of Noah, was the real founder of the Babylonish system that has gripped the world ever since -- the system of organized competition -- of man -- ruled governments and empires, based upon the competitive and profit-making economic system. Nimrod built the tower of Babel, the original Babylon, ancient Nineveh, and many other cities. He organized this world's first kingdom. The name Nimrod, in Hebrew, is derived from "Marad," meaning "he rebelled."
From many ancient writings, considerable is learned of this man, who started the great organized worldly apostasy from God that has dominated this world until now. Nimrod was so evil, it is said he married his own mother, whose name was Semiramis. After Nimrod's untimely death, his so-called mother-wife, Semiramis, propagated the evil doctrine of the survival of Nimrod as a spirit being. She claimed a full-grown evergreen tree sprang overnight from a dead tree stump, which symbolized the springing forth unto new life of the dead Nimrod. On each anniversary of his birth, she claimed, Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts upon it. December 25th was the birthday of Nimrod. This is the real origin of the Christmas tree.
Through her scheming and designing, Semiramis became the Babylonian "Queen of Heaven," and Nimrod, under various names, became the "divine son of heaven."
Through the generations, in this idolatrous worship, Nimrod also became the false Messiah, son of Baal the Sun-god. In this false Babylonish system, the "Mother and Child" (Semiramis and Nimrod reborn) became chief objects of worship. This worship of "Mother and Child" spread over the world.
The names varied in different countries and languages. In Egypt it was Isis and Osiris.
In Asia, Cybele and Deoius. In pagan Rome, Fortuna and Jupiterpuer. Even in Greece, China, Japan, Tibet is to be found the counterpart of the Madonna, long before the birth of Christ!
Thus, during the fourth and fifth centuries, when the pagans of the Roman world were "accepting" the new popular "Christianity" by the hundreds of thousands, carrying their old pagan customs and beliefs along with them, merely cloaking them with Christian-sounding names, the Madonna and "Mother and Child" idea also became popularized, especially at Christmas time.
Every Christmas season you'll hear sung and chanted dozens of times the hymn "Silent Night, Holy Night," with its familiar "Mother and Child" theme. We, who have been born in such a babylonish world, reared and steeped in these things all our lives, have been taught to revere these things as holy and sacred. We never questioned to see where they came from -- whether they came from the Bible, or from pagan idolatry!
We are shocked to learn the truth -- some, unfortunately, take offense at the plain truth! But God commands His faithful ministers, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression!" Shocking as these facts are, they are the plain facts of history and the Bible!
The real origin of Christmas goes back to ancient Babylon. It is bound up in the organized apostasy which has gripped a deceived world these many centuries! In Egypt, it was always believed that the son of Isis (Egyptian name for "Queen of Heaven") was born December 25th. Paganism celebrated this famous birthday over most of the known world for centuries before the birth of Christ.
December 25th is not the birthday of Jesus the true Christ! The apostles and early true Church never celebrated Christ's birthday at any time. There is no command or instruction to celebrate it in the Bible -- rather, the celebrating of birthdays is a pagan, not a Christian custom, believe it or not!
Thus the ancient idolatrous "Chaldean Mysteries," founded by this wife of Nimrod, have been handed down through the pagan religions under new Christian-sounding names.
Origin of Holly Wreath, Mistletoe, Yule Log
Now where did we get this mistletoe custom? Among the ancient pagans the mistletoe was used at this festival of the winter solstice because it was considered sacred to the sun, because of its supposed miraculous healing power. The pagan custom of kissing under the mistletoe was an early step in the night of revelry and drunken debauchery -- celebrating the death of the "old sun" and the birth of the new at the winter solstice. Mistletoe, sacred in pagan festivals, is a parasite!
Holly berries were also considered sacred to the sun-god. The yule log is in reality the "sun log." "Yule" means "wheel," a pagan symbol of the sun. Yet today professing Christians speak of the "sacred yule-tide season"!
Even the lighting of fires and candles as a Christian ceremony is merely a continuation of the pagan custom, encouraging the waning sun-god as he reached the lowest place in the southern skies!
The Encyclopedia Americana says: "The holly, the mistletoe, the Yule log ... are relics of pre-Christian times." Of paganism!
The book Answers to Questions, compiled by Frederick J. Haskins, found in public libraries, says: "The use of Christmas wreaths is believed by authorities to be traceable to the pagan customs of decorating buildings and places of worship at the feast which took place at the same time as Christmas. The Christmas tree is from Egypt, and its origin dates from a period long anterior to the Christian Era."
Yes, and Even Santa Claus!
But surely dear old Santa Claus is not a creature of pagan birth? But he is, and his real character is not so benevolent and holy as many suppose!
The name "Santa Claus" is a corruption of the name "St. Nicholas," a Roman Catholic bishop who lived in the 5th century. Look in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, volume 19, pages 648-649, 11th edition, where you'll read: "St. Nicholas, bishop of Myra, a saint honored by the Greeks and Latins on the 6th of December .... A legend of his surreptitious bestowal of dowries on the three daughters of an impoverished citizen ... is said to have originated the old custom of giving presents in secret on the Eve of St. Nicholas [Dec. 6], subsequently transferred to Christmas day. Hence the association of Christmas with Santa Claus ...."
Through the year, parents punish their children for telling falsehoods. Then, at Christmas time, they themselves tell their little children this "Santa Claus" lie! Is it any wonder many of them, when they grow up and learn the truth, begin to believe God is a myth, too?
One little fellow, sadly disillusioned about "Santa Claus," said to a playmate, "Yes, and I'm going to look into this 'Jesus Christ' business, too!" Is it Christian to teach children myths and falsehoods? God says, "Thou shalt not bear false witness!" It may seem right, and be justified by human reason, but God says, "There is a way that seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death!" "Old Nick" also is a term for the devil! Is there a connection? Satan appears as an "angel of light," to deceive! (II Cor. 11:14; Rev. 12:9.)
And so when we examine the facts, we are astonished to learn that the practice of observing Christmas is not, after all, a true Christian practice, but a pagan custom -- one of the ways of Babylon our people have fallen into!
What the Bible Says About the Christmas Tree
But if the Bible is silent about telling us to observe Christmas, or recording any such observance by the apostles or early true Church, it does have something to say about the Christmas tree!
This will come as a real surprise to many. But here it is:
Jeremiah 10:2-6: "Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen .... For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not."
There is a perfect description of the Christmas tree, termed by the Eternal as "the way of the heathen -- the customs of the people." We are commanded not to learn that way or follow it! It is also viewed in this passage as idolatry. The fifth verse shows that these trees cannot speak -- cannot walk -- must be carried. "Be not afraid of them; for they [the trees] cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good." They are not gods to be feared. Some people misread this to make it say there is no harm in having a Christmas tree, but that is not what it says.
Isn't Exchanging Gifts Scriptural?
But when it comes to the most important part of all in this Christmas observance -- the Christmas shopping season -- the buying and exchanging of gifts -- many will exclaim triumphantly, "Well, at least the Bible tells us to do that! Didn't the wise men give gifts when Christ was born?"
Again, we are due for some surprises, when we learn the plain truth. First, let's look at the historic origin of trading gifts back and forth, then see exactly what the Bible does say about it.
From the Bibliotheca Sacra, volume 12, pages 153-155, we quote: "The interchange of presents between friends is alike characteristic of Christmas and the Saturnalia, and must have been adopted by Christians from the Pagans, as the admonition of Tertullian plainly shows."
The fact is, this custom fastened upon people of exchanging gifts with friends and relatives at the Christmas season has not a single trace of Christianity about it, strange though that may seem! This does not celebrate Christ's birthday nor honor it or Him! Suppose someone you love has a birthday. You want to honor that person on his or her birthday. Would you lavishly buy gifts for everyone else, trading gifts back and forth with all your other friends and loved ones, but ignore completely any gift for the one whose birthday you are honoring? Rather absurd, when viewed in that light, isn't it?
Yet this is exactly what people the world over are doing! They honor a day that is not Christ's birthday by spending every dime they can scrape together in buying presents to trade back and forth among friends and relatives. But I can say by years of experience, as I believe most pastors and ministers can say, that when the month of December rolls around, nearly all professing Christians forget to give gifts to Christ and His cause almost altogether! December often is the most difficult month to keep Christ's work from dying! People are too busy trading gifts back and forth among themselves to think of Him and His Work, it seems. Then, in January and even into February it seems they have to catch up from what they spent for Christmas, so they seldom get back to normal in supporting Christ and His Work before March!
Now consider what the Bible says about the wise men giving gifts when Christ was born. It is in Matthew 2:1-11. "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? ... 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 treasures, they presented unto HIM gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh."
Why Gifts Presented to Christ
Notice, they inquired for the child Jesus, who was born KING of the Jews! Now why did they present gifts to Him? Because it was His birthday? Not at all, because they came several days or weeks after the date of His birth! Was it to set an example for us, today, to trade gifts back and forth among ourselves? No, notice carefully! They did not exchange gifts among themselves, but "they presented unto HIM gifts." They gave their gifts to Christ, not to their friends, relatives, or one another!
Why? Let me quote from the Adam Clarke Commentary, volume 5, page 46: "Verse 11. (They presented unto him gifts.) The people of the east never approach the presence of kings and great personages, without a present in their hands. The custom is often noticed in the Old Testament, and still prevails in the east, and in some of the newly discovered South Sea Islands."
There it is! They were not instituting a new Christian custom of exchanging gifts with friends to honor Christ's birthday. They were following an old and ancient eastern custom of presenting gifts to a king when they came into his presence. They were approaching Him, born KING of the Jews, in person. Therefore custom required they present gifts even as the Queen of Sheba brought gifts to Solomon -- even as many people today take a gift along when they visit the White House for an appointment with the President.
No, the custom of trading gifts back and forth does not stem from this scriptural incident at all, but rather, as quoted from history above, it is the continuance of an ancient pagan custom. Instead of honoring Christ, it invariably retards His Work, often sets it back, at the Christmas season every year.
Does It Really Honor Christ?
Now come two arguments often used to justify Christmas observance.
1) Many will reason this way: "But, even though the exact date of Jesus' birth is unknown, should we not select some date to celebrate as His birthday?" The answer is positively no! Did you not notice the statement quoted from the Catholic Encyclopedia: "Sinners alone, not saints, celebrate their birthdays." The celebration of birthdays is not a Christian, but a pagan custom, observed by sinners!
2) But, many still reason, "Even so -- even though Christmas was a pagan custom, honoring the false sun-god, we don't observe it to honor the false god, we observe it to honor Christ."
But how does GOD answer in His Word? "Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them [the pagans in their customs] ... that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for every abomination to the Eternal, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods" (Deut. 12:30-31).
God says plainly in His Instruction Book to us, that He will not accept that kind of worship, even though intended in His honor. To Him, He says, it is offering what is abominable to Him, and therefore it honors, not Him, but false pagan gods. GOD says we must not worship Him according to the "dictates of our own conscience" -- a term we often hear. But Jesus said plainly, "God is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). And what is truth? God's Word -- the Holy Bible -- said Jesus, is truth (John 17:17); and the Bible says God will not accept worship when people take a pagan custom or manner of worship and try to honor Christ with it.
Again, Jesus said: "In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matt. 15:9). Christmas observance is a tradition of men, and the commandments of God, as quoted, forbid it. Jesus said, further, "full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition."
That is precisely what the millions are doing today. They ignore the commandment of God. He commands, regarding taking the customs of the pagans and using them to honor or worship God: "Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God." Still, most people today take that command of God lightly, or as having no validity whatsoever, and follow the tradition of men in observing Christmas.
Make no mistake! God will allow you to defy and disobey Him. He will allow you to follow the crowd and the traditions of men. He will allow you to sin. But He also says there is a day of reckoning coming. As you sow, so shall you reap! Jesus was the living Word of God in Person, and the Bible is the written Word of God. And we shall be judged, for eternity, by these words! They should not be taken lightly or ignored.
We're in Babylon, and Haven't Known It
Christmas has become a commercial season. It's sponsored, kept alive, by the heaviest retail advertising campaigns of the year. You see a masqueraded "Santa Claus" in many stores. Ads keep us deluded and deceived about the "beautiful Christmas spirit." The newspapers, who sell the ads, print flowery editorials exalting and eulogizing the pagan season, and its "spirit." A gullible people has become so inoculated, many take offense when told the truth. But the "Christmas spirit" is created each year, not to honor Christ, but to sell merchandise! Like all Satan's delusions, it appears as an "angel of light," is made to appear good. Billions of dollars are spent in this merchandising spree every year, while the cause of Christ must suffer! It's part of the economic system of Babylon!
We have professed to be Christian nations, but we're in Babylon, as Bible prophecy foretold, and we don't know it! "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" -- now soon to fall -- is the warning of Revelation 18:4.
This year, instead of gift trading, why not put that money into God's Work?
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Christmas is About Giving - SAYS WHO?
Why I No Longer Celebrate Christmas
Christmas is a pagan holiday in Christian drag!
Merry mass of Christ? No thank you. God rejects it and those who are becoming like Father, like Son, do too. Instead of fooling ourselves, being dishonest, stuck in the muck of traditional garbage that stinks to High Heaven, we expose it for what it is: Christmas is a pagan holiday dressed in Christian drag. This is how God blesses us - He offers us the opportunity to be set free from such religious lies. Will you FORSAKE BABYLON or suffer the plagues? Do you love God's truth more than tradition? How we respond is very revealing to God and will help determine the future of our nations.
Isaiah 58
1 “Cry aloud, spare not;
Lift up your voice like a trumpet;
Tell My people their transgression,
And the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek Me daily,
And delight to know My ways,
As a nation that did righteousness,
And did not forsake the ordinance of their God.
They ask of Me the ordinances of justice;
They take delight in approaching God.
The Plain Truth About Christmas by Herbert W. Armstrong
Why I No Longer Celebrate Christmas
Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
Isaiah 58
1 “Cry aloud, spare not;
Lift up your voice like a trumpet;
Tell My people their transgression,
And the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek Me daily,
And delight to know My ways,
As a nation that did righteousness,
And did not forsake the ordinance of their God.
They ask of Me the ordinances of justice;
They take delight in approaching God.
The Plain Truth About Christmas by Herbert W. Armstrong
Why I No Longer Celebrate Christmas
Will God Curse Our Countries for Christmas?
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