The sabotage of Jesus' birth

And God spoke all these words:

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

“You shall have no other gods before me.

“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Exodus 20:1-6

No one knows what day Jesus Christ was born on. From the biblical description, most historians believe that his birth probably occurred in September, approximately six to seven months after Passover, or around Rosh Hashanah (the Hebrew New Year). One thing they agree on is that it is very unlikely that Jesus was born in December, since the bible records shepherds tending their sheep in the fields on that night. This is quite unlikely to have happened during a cold Judean winter. So why do we celebrate Christ’s birthday as Christmas, on December the 25th?

The answer lies in the pagan origins of Christmas. In ancient Babylon, the feast of the Son of Isis (Goddess of Nature) was celebrated on December 25. Raucous partying, gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift-giving were traditions of this feast.

In Rome, the Winter Solstice was celebrated many years before the birth of Christ. The Romans called their winter holiday Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the God of Agriculture. In January, they observed the Kalends of January, which represented the triumph of life over death. This whole season was called Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. The festival season was marked by much merrymaking. It is in ancient Rome that the tradition of the Mummers was born. The Mummers were groups of costumed singers and dancers who traveled from house to house entertaining their neighbors. From this, the Christmas tradition of caroling was born.

In northern Europe, many other traditions that we now consider part of Christian worship were begun long before the participants had ever heard of Christ. The pagans of northern Europe celebrated the their own winter solstice, known as Yule. Yule was symbolic of the pagan Sun God, Mithras, being born, and was observed on the shortest day of the year. As the Sun God grew and matured, the days became longer and warmer. It was customary to light a candle to encourage Mithras, and the sun, to reappear next year.

Huge Yule logs were burned in honor of the sun. The word Yule itself means “wheel,” the wheel being a pagan symbol for the sun.

Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under themistletoe began as a fertility ritual.

Hollyberries were thought to be a food of the gods.

The tree is the one symbol that unites almost all the northern European winter solstices. Live evergreen trees were often brought into homes during the harsh winters as a reminder to inhabitants that soon their crops would grow again. Evergreen boughs were sometimes carried as totems of good luck and were often present at weddings, representing fertility. The Druids used the tree as a religious symbol, holding their sacred ceremonies while surrounding and worshipping huge trees.

In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25. There is little doubt that he was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans (who remained a majority at that time) to convert to Christianity. The new religion went down a bit easier, knowing that their feasts would not be taken away from them.

Christmas (Christ-Mass) as we know it today, most historians agree, began in Germany, though Catholics and Lutherans still disagree about which church celebrated it first. The earliest record of an evergreen being decorated in a Christian celebration was in 1521 in the Alsace region of Germany. A prominent Lutheran minister of the day cried blasphemy: “Better that they should look to the true tree of life, Christ.”

"They did not destroy the peoples as the LORD had commanded them, but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs."

Psalms 106:34-35

I bring this verse from Psalms to make a point. Our ancestors thought it would be okay to MINGLE with the other cultures because they didn't see the harm in it or saw things that they wanted to include. God wanted no part of that. In fact, many times over, He warned His people and commanded them to not mix any other gods with Him. He wouldn't have it!

I know this may make some people mad but I can't sit back and let us celebrate the birth of Christ in the way it's been done for so long. God has been profoundly speaking me to about these things and as famous men in the past have upset the apple cart.... well... I may be doing that as well.

In no way am I saying that his birth is of no consequence and that we shouldn't be celebrating it. But what I am saying is that we need to get our heads, our hearts, our spirits, our lives back in the Hebraic swing of things - the way God intended us to. We can't accept what the world has fed us for so long. We can't just go with the flow and think it's okay. We need to know what we believe and know our history. We need to know why we do what we do. To think that adding little things that WE deem as innocent may not be what GOD deems as innocent. We have no right to say what is good and what is bad. Rather test it by scripture!

To be holy is to be separate. We must separate ourselves from the world! Many of our Christmas traditions come from the world's influence! I'm asking and begging my fellow believers to pray about this and test the Word of God on this! I'm not trying to judge or tell people what to do. This is a matter I leave totally up to you and our King.

I know what it's like to get caught up in family tradition and having such warm fuzzy feelings about time spent with family which there is nothing wrong with that! But lets reconsider what we think we know and believe and realize what we are doing. Let's do our history and truly know what we believe.

I believe we can still celebrate good family time. I believe we should celebrate Jesus' birth when it DID happen. I believe we can still have be just as generous, giving, and have a good spirit towards people. But I see the family of God allowing itself to be manipulated and mixed with a world that will drag it to death with things it shouldn't be associated with. Don't go based on feelings! Feelings are deceiving! The heart is deceitful among all things and we have no way of understanding it! Just because we get emotionally attached to something doesn't mean it's okay to continue or keep in our lives.

Let the Word of God be our guide. Let Him tell you what is Truth. Paul said in Colossians that we shouldn't let anyone JUDGE us when we DO celebrate, eat, and recognize things like the Sabbath and other holy days that God has set aside for us. He didn't say we didn't have to do them anymore, He was merely addressing the fact that we will have religious people think they know better than us and try to deem us as unholy. We should not let them do that to us.

And if you read all of what Christ says, He NEVER says to stop doing what God commanded us to do in the Torah and Old Testament. There are references that He says things like, "do this in remembrance of me." NOT "you no longer have to do this or remember this because of me". 

When addressing the "doing away with the Law" one must be careful for it's not the entire Law that Paul speaks of. The law that Jesus overturned was the"wages of sin is death" THAT is what he did away with! Granted there are many laws in the Old Testament that don't apply right now because there is no present temple and other technical things of that sort. But when one truly searches the scriptures, there are profound truths that we are overlooking and we should very much pay attention to.

Now that I've opened up this can of worms... I want to emphasize again. This is not an attack on faith. This is not an attack on you personally, any of you. This is an attack on the mediocrity, the laziness, the going with the flow, the misconception we have allowed ourselves to just keep strolling with. I challenge all of you to search. Search deep. Go farther than you can even fathom in your journey of faith!

Don't just agree with what pastors, preachers, or idiots like myself say. Do the homework! There are 3 sides to every story. Yours, mine, and the truth! The truth is never biased. Learn the truth and you will not be biased but wise.

I challenge you.

Decision vs. Deception

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" Jeremiah 17:9

I've been thinking... which is what I do a lot... and one thing that has been hitting me hard is the fact that we don't know anything when it comes to being able to find the right person for ourselves. We are complete idiots. I've had so many conversations with people about why they thought it was a good idea to be with someone and in the end, I come to the conclusion that it would be so much better if someone so much wiser than ourselves just made the decision for us.

I'm talking about a Divine Matchmaker.

"I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” Jeremiah 17:10

How often do we try to take matters into our own hands? I know I'm guilty of it. I've seen many people rush in and out of relationships, make excuses based on worldly points of view, selfish reasons, and in the end realize it was a total waste of time or wish they could take it back. Some may not necessarily want to take it back but wish they could have realized things earlier and not been so blind.

God has been speaking to me about something that I feel I need to share. I believe God opens up doors for us to come across potential marital partners and if we don't pay attention to His voice, we will not realize how much He wants to bless us with someone better than who we think we would like to be with.

Being a guy, I see beautiful women all the time. There are days when I wish I could be with this or that woman but even with my self preservation and limited wisdom in wanting to be with a Godly woman, I know I can try to reason with myself (my deceiving heart) and attempt to reason with God,  He knows better than I do.

Something I wanted to bring to everyones attention is that even though we need to guard our hearts, we also need to be careful in not letting it take control. We can get so caught up in the moment, the hype, the wanting to be loved feeling, the emotional and passionate rush that we forget to be rational in who we are choosing to get close to. Our heart is the place where we combine passion and reason. If we are not careful to keep Christ at the center, we will lean on our own understanding and make decisions that we think is best.

"He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD." Proverbs 18:22

"A wife of noble character, who can find? She is worth far more than rubies." Proverbs 31:10

“The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there." Genesis 24:7

I think of the references where God tells certain biblical figures to "find a wife" or "get a wife."

What does that mean? How is that done? What does that entail? Are there moments when a man must take matters into his own hands? Or does God make it obvious to the point where it's unavoidable that "she" is the one to be with?

I'm sure it's the same way for you ladies who can often be more passionate about the marriage ceremony than men. I know I look forward to marriage and always have. We all want to be loved. We all want to know that the person we choose to be with will help us as we go on in life. Not someone who will control us or bring us down but do the complete opposite. Even God realized that it was not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18).

I will not claim to be the expert on this subject, God is. But I do believe that something we need to do is first surrender ourselves to Him. We need to make sure that we are not deceiving ourselves on our own selfish desires and thinking we know better than Him before we invest in making any decision closer to being with someone else that will impact the rest of our lives.

We must know that Christ is the center of our reason and emotions. Men can tend to think more on reason and women can think more on emotion. But when Christ is the focus on both and when a man and woman come together with that principle in mind, they are truly a new amazing creation. That is what I look forward to. That's what I think those of us who love God, should keep in mind and look forward to as well.

The Reality

Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." "You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." John 18:36-37

            You have made the decision to be a part of a nation that is not of this world. You are here for a purpose. You chose to be a part of this because you were first chosen by Him. Something deep inside you was calling and you answered the call. You know that this path was highlighted and put before you for a reason. It is your solemn duty to figure out from this day forward what your purpose is. You are to seek out what your King asks of you and fulfill the tasks at hand. You are now at spiritual boot camp for discipleship. Realize right now, at this moment, you are NOTHING. Without Christ in your life, you do not deserve the right to live. You don’t deserve the right to exist. We are nothing but dust, water, and a soul occupying the elements. God is the one that allows you to breathe every breath, allows your body to function and let the universe stay intact.

“Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:4

            If you haven’t already, you better get it through your skull that the first step to realizing who you are is humility. You must first be broken before you become fixed. God does not use those who think their lives are already put together. He uses those who know their lives are broken. Obviously if you think you have every together, God knows that He is not in control of your life. If you think you are in control, think again. Every great warrior for God always demonstrated the importance of humility. Get used to being on your knees before Him in prayer. Practice allowing Him to be in total control of every circumstance in your life, for it will be life changing.

            You now belong to the Divine Kingdom. One that this world longs to see yet often takes the wrong route to get there. The King that reins it is the one that died for us so that we would be able to enter it. Therefore we should be willing to lay our lives down for Him in service and gratitude. When He calls us for active duty, which is every day, we should answer immediately. The Kingdom is the one that will last forever after this world come to an end. The New Jerusalem is the capital and the twelve tribes will surround it just as it was in the wilderness and in Israel.

“Before me every knee will bow; every tongue will confess I am the God of gods” Isaiah 45:23

            We must rid ourselves of the democratic, socialistic, communistic, and any other political system that claims to have the answers or claims to have the Godliest qualities. Only a Messianic monarchy is the perfect system for our ruler is perfect and just. Only He is able to rule us in a way that we will never be able to question. We have allowed the demonization of the kings of old to put a distaste of a king over our lives. As well as allowed our pride to get the best of us because we think our voice matters when questioning authority and getting what we want. Consider that over! You are now to listen to your superiors. You are to obey those that lead you spiritually. You are to honor those who are older and wiser than you. You are to submit yourselves to the LORD’s will in your life and bow in reverence to Him. The only form of government that is compatible with God is a monarchy. Yeshua is the King of Kings and we should treat Him as such. We need to get back to the concept of bowing down before Him and surrendering our dignity to get it back. One day we will be flat on our face before our very Maker and be accountable of all our actions. There will be a day when we will bow before Christ the King.

“A king rejoices in wise servants but is angry at those who disgrace him.” Proverbs 14:35

            Now that you have made the choice to be a part of this new citizenship, you should be aware of a few things. My hope is that you learn things about yourself to make you a sharper warrior for His glory. Pray that God will show and tell you what you need to hear and He will provide. I know that is my testimony as each day comes. Trust in Him and He will never fail. You are now a threat to the enemies of God. You are now a target for terrorism. The enemy will terrorize your mind, your soul, and your very being. The enemy will try to hit you where you are weak and try to keep a foothold in those areas of your life. Ephesians 6:12 says “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

            The mission at hand right now is to figure out who you are. Can you take the spiritual heat and fight against the darkness that has plagued God’s people and this world since the beginning of time? You are here to allow God to strip you of your past, erase the baggage of your life, strengthen you, show you the new identity that God has given you, and show you what potential you truly have in Him. Another point to make is that God gets all the credit and glory. I have been called to share what I am sharing with you because it was His idea but I am merely the vessel in which He chose to see it done through, just like those in Scripture.

            You should be aware of the war that has been going on behind everything we do day to day. We must be aware of it and study it. This is a matter of survival. The enemies of God, Satan and the powers of darkness, “…come to steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10:10). The enemy’s number one weapon against us is deception. Sun Tzu, the most well known Chinese expert on war, wrote in his book The Art of War, “All warfare is based on deception.” In the next chapter, I will use Sun Tzu’s wisdom to give a deeper spiritual perspective on warfare and how to apply it to our spiritual lives. There is a popular saying, “Know your enemy better than yourself.” Since we have a hard time figuring out who we are for most of our life, the wise thing to do is figure out who you are so that you may be able to withstand future attacks from the enemy. As you learn about your strengths, you will want to train yourself to use them wisely for God’s benefit. And as you learn about your weaknesses, be sure to guard yourself so that you may not be tempted or put in a vulnerable situation to being attacked without help.

“The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.” 1 Corinthians 12:12

             This book will help you discover your personality, but not just from the psychological sense but as we walk through the 12 tribes of Israel, you will find out your spiritual personality. There are aspects about us that go deep into the history of our ancestors and how much we are related to them. We have attributes that complement each other and God intended it to be that way. We are the body of Christ. We are meant to work together, not against each other. When you find out your place and purpose, you will realize how much more full your life will be because of His calling in your life. We are not limited to what we may try to comprehend and understand. We are to instead lean on His understanding.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5

Finding my place in this world vs. the next

It's been quite a while since I have sat down and truly written out what was on my heart and in my head. I used to write exhaustingly about things I was so entrenched in which was God and girls. Many of my friends on Myspace and Facebook could attest to how pathetic it was going back and forth and how much I was looking for answers and made myself so vulnerable to what I was putting forth. As I have been rediscovering my place not in my world but in God's, I have been in the pursuit of holiness instead of happiness. I used to think if I just had this or just had that, if I just had a wife, or a great carm or the job that I truly loved that I would be contently blessed. In reality I was just fooling myself.

Yes, I was young. Yes, I was naive. But even today I'm still just as foolish and unworthy of how God has brought me through my attempts to reason with Him and think I knew best. I've been on an ever searching quest to discover what God's will is for my life and all this time I have been missing the mark because I have been waiting for a "Go here and do these miraculous things" type of calling. When really He has been asking me to simply work on the little things and obey.

Jerry Bridges, in his book called "The Pursuit of Happiness" hits me right between the eyes. How blind I have been even years after seeing all the mistakes I have made. It isn't until we make a consistent effort to control our flesh and allow our spirit (led by the Holy One) to make the decisions, that we will not truly understand what it means to be holy. When we choose to follow Christ, we must die to our flesh and become a new creation. We must cancel the membership of this world and apply for the new one of His domain.

I have decided to start writing again.

Many of you know that I am working on a book. But I believe I must start writing my thoughts down again to keep myself focused. I used to write to get attention. This time I want to write to keep myself accountable. I want to write to allow God's voice to be heard. Not only to challenge others but myself. There are so many things I feel the Spirit telling me to share it's often bursting so much out of me and I want to post post post! I have a deep desire to share my passion for wisdom and counseling for others. I want people to think for themselves and make the right choices. I also want people to keep me accountable on those things as well.

God has been speaking to me about the subjects of being a bond servent, His Kingdom, his followers being not only a family but a nation, and learning how to fight the darkness we face everyday. These, along with other subjects, will be central themes in my book and writings on here. We often miss the mark when we think we should only focus on just our own spiritual progress and not others. We are supposed to be united! A limb like an arm or leg is not supposed to survive on it's own, we must all work together in order to survive and function.

We must all treat this world like we don't belong here but in the world that God has planned for us. But even though we don't belong and shouldn't get attached to it, we must not forget our responsibilities to be a blessing to this world. We are meant to be there to help others become citizens of God's Kingdom and let the old citizenship expire.

So what is my place in this world? A temporary one. One that will hopefully and God willing help others see that there is a better place and learn how to combat the one we live in now. What is my place in the next? Only God knows. All I know is I won't be complaining. Only looking forward to what He wants me to do.