Posts
Post 143
Is our soul the enemy of God?
We find pleasure in the Flesh (body)
We find happiness in our Soul (mind, will, and emotions)
We find joy in our Spirit. (that which communes with God)
These are the three parts that make mankind. *1
How many people in the flesh, even in the Church, rely on feeling, as the heathen do?
“I feel God wants me to…”
“I feel this or that is the right thing to do.”
“I feel that person is…”
But what does the Soul have to do with the Spirit, or the things of God?
When in control, the Soul is the Democratic government of the human being.
Democracy is choosing what the body desires to be the standard at the moment. *2
Democracy is a short transitional period from a Republic to a Dictator. *3
A Republic is governance based on a higher law than that of the general body. *4
A Dictator is control of the body by force, regardless of the body’s desire. *5
When the flesh is in power, the human being is powerless to defy its desire no mater how destructive the known outcome will be.
Case in point; “Perverted Justice”. *6
The huge volume of men caught on this TV aired child molestation sting operation, know it is wrong, they know something is off, but they plunge ahead to their own destruction because they are being ruled by their dictator The Flesh.
It is self-serving, personal Democracy that leads a free man to this slavery of the flesh.
“What I WANT to be true”, instead of what IS true.
This is the source of the foolish concept; "YOUR truth and MY truth" as if TRUTH is a variable.
Democracy dethrones what is JUST, in favor of what seems FAIR.
Poorly directed Democracy is self-serving, or self-protective at the expense of what is right.
Democracy itself is not evil, but like democracy, the soul has no spine.
By its nature it must be directed, whether by good or evil.
Left without guidance, Democracy, like the Soul, always degenerates into self-serving corruption.
It is an emotion, a conclusion based on whim, a changeable determination based on that which has no stability. “I think”, “I feel”, “I want”.
Poorly guided Democracy is always searching, but never satisfied.
And after removing the limitations of the righteousness and stability of the Republic (Divine Providence), it is exposed as naked, in its search for happiness, until consumed by the greater power of the flesh that now dominates un-resisted.
I am grieved that so many American Christians, run their personal government (their lives) from the platform of an internal Democracy, (soul) when Jesus Christ came to offer us the salvation of our Souls which are enslaved by the dictator of the Flesh because our democracy has abandon the constraints and protections of God’s Republic by killing our Spirit.
The salvation offered, is only accomplished when the dead Spirit of our personal Republic is made alive by the quickening of our LORD through salvation. (Declaring Independence from the dictator of our flesh, and turning our allegiance to our LORD.)
That is, the LORD Jesus our God, is become our personal Republic, (sovereign) to guide our beings in Righteousness, based upon laws that are higher than our ignorant understanding (mind), our misguided determination (will), and our corrupt desires (emotion).
When our Spirit becomes alive to God, and dominates our Soul, (our processes of self governance) Our unstable Soul is then re-aligned with the will of God,
And we have mastery over our Flesh (our conduct).
Yet without the Democracy of our Soul remaining in the balance of power, we end up with another dictator of the Republic, even if it is God himself in stead of the flesh.
This will not due either!
God does not want our obedience by force, but by choice.
And so we have been given the perfect solution;
The option of a Republic (Higher Laws) guided Soul, which when guided by this Sovereign power, is still free to run our own lives as we see fit.
As long as we choose to follow those Laws of the Supreme Judge, with intention and rectitude, we are assured blessing, and peace, and success. *7
This is what our founders knew and meant when penning the Declaration of Independence. The declaration had both personal and public application.
This is what it means to live in a righteous Republican Democracy, both personally and nationally.
This is why we mean; The form of Government our founder gave us is COMPLETELY CHRISTIAN!
This is why, although Democratic in nature, our founders said our Nation would stand forever or fall from within!
and this is why the Godless form of democracy we now offer other nations of the word, is failing. We offer them a soul without a spirit, which is death warmed over.
* * *
Although supremely important to the wholesome function of our being, we are not to spend an inordinate amount of time publicly focusing on the work of the Spirit.
We are to LIVE in the Spirit by the IMPLEMENTATION of the regenerated Soul we use to CONTROL the body to do good ACTIONS (works).
The Spirit led Soul is what rules the Body in practical application, even when we don’t spend our day crying; “God is greater”.
This idea is made known to us as represented by the lack of public attention we are to give the Holy Spirit of God, while knowing that it is He who guides us into all truth. *8
Our Founding Fathers knew all this as they penned the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States:
The Declaration established a break from dependence on the Crown of England, and turned that dependence upon the Divine Creator. That document represents a new Spirit now alive unto another Lord.
This is why He is so prominently identified in that document.
Whereas the Constitution does not specifically make mention of that Divine Creator because it is the Spirit which was declared in the Declaration, that must guide the Soul, (mind, will, and emotions) which is what must rule the Body.
The Constitution represents the Soul of America, the motivating function of the nation quietly guided by the Spirit of Divine truth.
Having now Abandon our “appeal to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions” and forsaking our “firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence,” which we Declared in that original Document of Independence,
Our National Spirit has now died, and our Constitution (our Soul) is just so much paper to be abused by our national leaders as they see fit, because without the Spirit the Soul is dead, even if the Body (nation) lives on for a time.
This is what was meant by God when he declared to Adam and Eve, “The day you eat of it you shall die.” *9 But they continued to live for many years.
This is what I believe the Spirit of God meant when he told me he would destroy America last November 2. *10
As Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden of God, and more importantly they were cut off from direct fellowship with God, The result was their Spirit died on that day.
Divine Providence no longer has the seat of authority in our land.
As a result, the wicked conduct of our people in the Flesh is now uncontrollable, even though we can see the inevitable demise.
Our own leaders are sacking our own government with freakishly unexplainable means;
passing huge bills they don't read, spending unexplainable sums without purpose, abandoning our borders to evil men, and defying the pleas of the people to our own enslavement.
America, YOU have now been caught in Perverted Justice!
The ONLY successful recourse America has at this time, is to throw the Soul of our Democracy at the feet of the Republic of God’s Supreme Law, and beg for mercy in repentance.
Attempting to solve our economic problems now, is like pulling a sliver from our palm, while sitting in the Electric Chair waiting for midnight!
* * * * * * *
*1 Man’s Three Parts:
I Thessalonians 5:23 “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Psalm 16:11 “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: (found by the mind, will and emotion of the Soul) in thy presence is fullness of joy; (found in communion with God) at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. ” (found by the flesh of the physical body)
Psalm 19:7-8 “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes."
9-13 “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. (this is the guidance the fickle soul needs in order to remain in the right way.)
Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.”
We love to lean heavily on the last part of this passage, which by itself tends to suggest it is God’s job to keep us from doing wrong, but we choose to ignore the truth that the last part is contingent upon our exercise of the first part.
This is a perfect example of a Democratic Republic, which is what America was created!
That is; a Democracy of people choosing their way based upon the unalterable laws of God’s sovereignty.
Now with this understanding we can see the deep meaning in passages like Psalm 25:12-14 “What man is he that feareth the LORD? Him shall he teach in the way that he should choose… The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.”
When our Soul; (mind, will and emotion) is in agreement with the law of God, our personal democracy (our soul) has the stable foundation to keep it wholesome. In this state it is free to be creative, to be safe, to enjoy all manor of pursuits within the healthy parameters of those laws. The understanding, (thus fear of violating) God’s laws (Republic) give our Soul (Democracy) the stability that it does not have naturally.
This is patterned for us in the discipline of children.
They do wrong, and we spank them for the purpose of teaching them there are undesirable consequences for doing wrong.
This foundational knowledge they learn early, teaches them the reverent fear of the LORD. Obey the LORD or there will be fearful consequences!
*2 Democracy: 1. Government by the people; government in which the supreme power is retained by the people… - Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 5th edition 1948 (partial definition for clarification)
The ultimate power is at the whim of the body.
*3 Transition:
“Democracy... while it lasts is more bloody than either [aristocracy or monarchy]. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.” - John Adams quotes (American 2nd US President (1797-1801), 1735-1826)
“Democracy is the road to socialism.”
- Karl Marx quotes (German political Philosopher and revolutionary, 1818-1883)
*4 Republic: A state in which the sovereign power resides in a certain body of the people… - Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 5th edition 1948 (partial definition for clarification)
The sovereign power resides outside the manipulation of the body’s whim.
*5 Dictator: One who dictates; specifically one who exercises, or in whom is vested, supreme authority in a state…- Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 5th edition 1948 (partial definition for clarification)
*6 Perverted Justice - NBC on Dateline
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9878187/ns/dateline_nbc/
*7 Quotes in bold; from our Declaration of Independence of January 18, 1777
Matthew 22:36-38,40 "Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment... On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Deuteronomy 11:8-9, 13-15, 26-28 and many many others.
Rectitude: 1. Now Rare. Straightness. 2. Undeviating adherence to moral standards; Uprightness. 3. Correctness of judgment or procedure. - Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 5th edition 1948
*8 Holy Spirit: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.” John 16:13
*9 Spiritual Death: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Genesis 2:17
*10 Your Doing What? - http://when-did-reason-die.blogspot.com/2010/10/your-doing-what-october-16-2010-have.html
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
Christmas Star
Part I
Post 142
Required reading; Matthew chapters 1 and 2
In my previous post; “Christmas Prophecy” we addressed only a few of the prophecies found mostly in the Gospel according to Luke. As all complex stories, even Luke could not conveniently include everything, but only the elements necessary to get his point made.
We read additional details in the other gospels to get a more full understanding of the Nativity events, but with parts left out of each narration it is important to note; there is not a single conflict between the four gospels.
I find it curious that Luke chose to leave out everything related to the wise men and the star they followed. To Luke, those elements were not necessary to make the point he was making, which was to verify that Jesus truly was the Son of God in the flesh. *1
It is my belief that because Luke was not writing to a Jew, *2 there was simply far too much information the Gentile believers did not know that would have to be explained before that part of the story would have any meaningful impact. i.e. prophetic fulfillment. And so he just left it out.
What is found in Luke makes the intended point even without a deeper knowledge of all the prophecies, which the story of the wise men does not. This is evidenced by our confusion when in ignorance we try to include that event in the retelling of our traditional nativity story because it is interesting.
But as we examine the Gospel of Matthew, which was written for the Jewish mind, culture, and understanding, we find almost the opposite elements included from those in Luke.
It is startling to learn the familiar Nativity story we Gentiles know so well, is all but missing from Matthew:
After a long detailed rendition of the genealogy of Joseph (Jesus’ assumed father) running from 1:1 to 1:17, the Nativity story is found in 8 verses only. (1:18-25)
So what important things do we find in those 8 verses? *3
The entire eight-verse narrative covers only the virgin birth of Jesus.
No John The Baptist, no taxes, no manger, no shepherds, no declaring angels, no Simeon or Anna declaring this child to be the Messiah; nothing.
Verses 22-23 explain why the focus on the virgin birth;
“Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
This was the important element Matthew (and God) wanted to make clear to the Jews regarding the nativity.
Why not all the other stuff?
Because the Jews are a people of skepticism.
The other elements would only cause doubts while they tried to figure out how the events were manipulated;
John the Baptist was just a whacko, the taxes were just a normal event, as was the manger (because they did not call ahead for reservations in the crowed tax time). Who knows what the shepherds really saw? Perhaps they were paid to say such things. Simeon and Anna only said things they believed. That does not make them true.
This is why these things were only included in the narrative written to those people who are Theophilus; Friends of God. *4 Those people who are already in love with God. Luke was written as confirming knowledge of what we already believe.
They mean little to the skeptic.
But a virgin birth?
Pretty hard to pull that one off among your contemporaries without the prophecies foretelling of its happening AT THAT TIME.
It has been said, (though I have not found the documentation) that at that time, every young virgin Jewess had the deep desire to be THAT virgin.
All the people were anticipating the arrival of the Messiah AT THAT TIME.
The Jews were not ignorant of the prophecies. They knew them well.
In fact when the non-Jew king Herod wanted to know what the wise men were talking about, he called the chief priests (Pharisees) and scribes of the people to demand of them where the prophecies said Christ should be born. (Matthew 2:1-4)
They didn’t have to run to their books, they already knew;
“And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.” Matthew 2:5-6
(yet curious, it was these same guys who would later seek to kill him for being the Messiah. Luke 20:14, 19, 20, 22:54-71)
So what other related prophecies were the Jews familiar with that might confirm that Jesus was indeed the promised messiah? After all, the claim of a virgin birth could be fabricated too. The fact he was born in Bethlehem, fulfilling another prophecy, now adds support, but there must be other fulfilled prophecies to convince a skeptic.
For this answer to us Gentiles, we need a deeper understanding of Jewish history and culture which will be impossible to proved here in a blog.
But for the Jews, Matthew found it sufficient to include in chapter 2:1, almost in passing, simply the facts; that like the phrase “Titanic” brings to our mind a volume of information and history, those facts to the Jews had deep and significant meaning;
“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king,…” Matthew 2:1a
Jesus, was claimed to be virgin born, as prophesied,
Was born in the Bethlehem of Judaea, also as prophesied. Not the other Bethlehem. (It is further curious that the old prophet knew to distinguish one from the other, as if he knew there would be two Bethlehems in the days of the fulfillment).
And finally Jesus was born in the days of Herod. What prophecy do you suppose that refers to?
The Jews knew:
Genesis 49:10 “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”
It is tragic that I cannot deviate too far from my intended goal of the Christmas Star to show the origin of this prophecy, or that the remaining fraction of the Jewish people would be called Judah long after this prophecy was given. I will only discuss here that the Jews had a very great anticipation of this prophecy because Rome was in the very process of completing the conquering of Judah. Rome had set a non-Jew as king of Judaea, while temporarily allowing the Sanhedrin to continue the administration of their laws, which was understood by the Jews to be the scepter, much as England’s Monarch has a symbolic scepter representing her authority and power.
Scepter 7626; shebet; from an unused root probably meaning to branch off, a scion, i.e. literally a stick (for punishing, writing, fighting, ruling, walking, etc.)
Judaea had already been stripped of all other authority, and this final straw was about to fall. The Messiah MUST come or scripture would be proven flawed.
God cannot be God if the scriptures are flawed. Flawed scriptures would show that their faith was a fabrication. The Messiah MUST come before the Romans took away the Sanhedrin’s authority to judge, convict, and punish!
All this and more was understood in the one phrase; “in the days of Herod.”
And so Matthew needed to tell them nothing more than the facts. Jesus was born in the days of Herod. Meaning; just before the scepter was in fact taken away.
One more prophecy fulfilled, and this one is very significant!
If Jesus was not the Messiah, the scriptures had failed!
But if he was the Messiah, what would Rome do to the child if found out?!
"When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him." Matthew 2:3
Now we understand a bit more meaning behind this verse!
The secret hope the Messiah would rescue them from Rome was now public. Great Men from a land in the East had gone to the Roman ruler of Jerusalem and declared there was a child born a king of the Jews!
What would Rome do now?
All of Jerusalem was troubled, along with Herod!
Each was asking in their hearts and minds; What will happen next?
What other prophecy did the high priests and scribes know?
Daniel 9:25 combined with Leviticus 26:28 *6 Provides the exact day in history when the Messiah should present himself as king of the Jews. (Verse 26 foretells his rejection, his death, and God’s reason for it.)
But just as we try hard to interpret future prophecy today, they perhaps couldn’t then figure out all that the prophecy actually meant. Possibly afraid to identify the exact day for fear of being wrong, they only knew the prophecy sure seemed to indicate their messiah should be showing up very soon, via a virgin birth, in Bethlehem of Judea, before Rome took away the scepter.
And now we have a significant case showing that Jesus just might be that Messiah! *7
* * *
After the eight verses describing the fulfillment of the virgin birth prophecy, and the single verse of simple facts of other fulfilled prophecies, Matthew immediately turns to the narrative of the wise men.
Why?
Because like the virgin birth as it fulfilled prophecy, this bit of historical information is so fantastic it too deserves detail.
Jewish history documents their arrival, this was not a fabricated story by religious zealots.
All Jerusalem was abuzz at the arrival of these great Babylonian Magi. But what we as Gentiles don’t have, is the prophecy regarding this event.
Therefore until more knowledge is uncovered we can only surmise by deduction the details which brought the Magi. But we do have enough information to make a very considerable deduction, not to mention the unquestionable proof that Jesus was purposed to come and die as our Savior before the heavens were ever created!
Say what?
God purposed to send His Son to die as our sacrifice, on a very specific date, before he ever made a star, Before he ever formed the earth, Before he ever made Adam who would one day sin and therefore need a savior.
God has shown that he pre-planned all this before Creation.
THIS is what we learn from the Christmas Star.
and as the previous information, The key focus seems to be all about the EXACT TIMING.
At least for the Jew, it is vital to understand that the Messiah came AT THE EXACT TIME appointed.
We will cover all this in my post titled; Christmas Star part 2.
* * * * * * *
*1
“For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good to me also, having had perfect (199) understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.” Luke 1:1-4
perfect 199; akribos, exactly. (a complete or full)
*2
Theophilus: 2321; Greek; from 2316 and 5384; friend of God;
Don’t you find it incredible that Luke wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles to a man called the Friend of God?
Yet we do not know just who this Theophilus was?
Why?
Because while Luke was writing to a real man contemporary to him, named Theophilus, The Holy Spirit meant for him to write to all those who are Theophilus; Friends of God.
The Gospel of Luke is written to all Christians; gentile, Jew, converts of all races and nations. (Colossians 3:11) Thus what is found in Luke best applies to this large and general group.
*3
For those with a deeper understanding of the Bible Codes, I noticed the Nativity story should be contained in 7 verses not 8. So I went back and investigated, finding verse 23 is actually just an interpreted quote from the Isaiah 7:14 prophecy and not a part of the Nativity story, thus making narration of the virgin birth of Jesus confirmed by the bible code of 7.
For those unfamiliar with this DNA of God, it is not significant to your understanding but a type of forensic science of scripture.
*4
Cool how this guys name just "happens" to mean this, providing a deep meaning and application for us, right?
The more you seriously investigate the scriptures, the more you see the incredible number of “accidents” that always fit so perfectly, almost as if it was carefully crafted! (which of course it was)
It would be easy to figure that it was carefully crafted my a man if it was written by a single man at a single point in time, that’s what a good novel is.
But this story was written by 40 different authors over thousands of years, and yet, we see the complexities perfectly combined to tell one story with no flaws.
Now unless you believe in evolution, THIS is evidence of a Design outside of our time domain. *5 THIS is proof that God exists. This is evidence that our very existence is actually a novel already written by our Creator!
We are only characters now acting out the events of the last chapters in this amazing novel.
*5
“66 books by 40 authors, and yet we now discover it is an integrated message system from outside our time domain.” - A catch phrase of Chuck Missler’s program 66/40 found at: http://www.khouse.org/6640_cat/
*6
“The Coming Prince” by Sir Robert Anderson first published in 1894 provides all the necessary information and calculations to convert all that to our present calendar as April 6, 32 AD. A must have for every serious investigator.
*7 The lesson that God is willing to tell the Jews exact days of significant events will one day prove valuable to them. Prophecy yet to be fulfilled speaks of 3-1/2 years of some very horrible times; Daniel 12:7 and Revelation 12:14. Those times will be so horrible that God wants to make sure those living in that time will be able to count virtually every day until it is over. Revelation 11:2 and 13:5 speak of it as forty two months. 11:3 and 12:6 speaks of it as 1260 days. God apparently is not afraid to name dates when he wants to. Jesus expected the Jews to know the exact day of his arrival as king; "and when he (Jesus) was come near, (to Jerusalem) he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes." Luke 19:41-42
"Because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." Luke 19:44
Post 142
Required reading; Matthew chapters 1 and 2
In my previous post; “Christmas Prophecy” we addressed only a few of the prophecies found mostly in the Gospel according to Luke. As all complex stories, even Luke could not conveniently include everything, but only the elements necessary to get his point made.
We read additional details in the other gospels to get a more full understanding of the Nativity events, but with parts left out of each narration it is important to note; there is not a single conflict between the four gospels.
I find it curious that Luke chose to leave out everything related to the wise men and the star they followed. To Luke, those elements were not necessary to make the point he was making, which was to verify that Jesus truly was the Son of God in the flesh. *1
It is my belief that because Luke was not writing to a Jew, *2 there was simply far too much information the Gentile believers did not know that would have to be explained before that part of the story would have any meaningful impact. i.e. prophetic fulfillment. And so he just left it out.
What is found in Luke makes the intended point even without a deeper knowledge of all the prophecies, which the story of the wise men does not. This is evidenced by our confusion when in ignorance we try to include that event in the retelling of our traditional nativity story because it is interesting.
But as we examine the Gospel of Matthew, which was written for the Jewish mind, culture, and understanding, we find almost the opposite elements included from those in Luke.
It is startling to learn the familiar Nativity story we Gentiles know so well, is all but missing from Matthew:
After a long detailed rendition of the genealogy of Joseph (Jesus’ assumed father) running from 1:1 to 1:17, the Nativity story is found in 8 verses only. (1:18-25)
So what important things do we find in those 8 verses? *3
The entire eight-verse narrative covers only the virgin birth of Jesus.
No John The Baptist, no taxes, no manger, no shepherds, no declaring angels, no Simeon or Anna declaring this child to be the Messiah; nothing.
Verses 22-23 explain why the focus on the virgin birth;
“Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
This was the important element Matthew (and God) wanted to make clear to the Jews regarding the nativity.
Why not all the other stuff?
Because the Jews are a people of skepticism.
The other elements would only cause doubts while they tried to figure out how the events were manipulated;
John the Baptist was just a whacko, the taxes were just a normal event, as was the manger (because they did not call ahead for reservations in the crowed tax time). Who knows what the shepherds really saw? Perhaps they were paid to say such things. Simeon and Anna only said things they believed. That does not make them true.
This is why these things were only included in the narrative written to those people who are Theophilus; Friends of God. *4 Those people who are already in love with God. Luke was written as confirming knowledge of what we already believe.
They mean little to the skeptic.
But a virgin birth?
Pretty hard to pull that one off among your contemporaries without the prophecies foretelling of its happening AT THAT TIME.
It has been said, (though I have not found the documentation) that at that time, every young virgin Jewess had the deep desire to be THAT virgin.
All the people were anticipating the arrival of the Messiah AT THAT TIME.
The Jews were not ignorant of the prophecies. They knew them well.
In fact when the non-Jew king Herod wanted to know what the wise men were talking about, he called the chief priests (Pharisees) and scribes of the people to demand of them where the prophecies said Christ should be born. (Matthew 2:1-4)
They didn’t have to run to their books, they already knew;
“And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.” Matthew 2:5-6
(yet curious, it was these same guys who would later seek to kill him for being the Messiah. Luke 20:14, 19, 20, 22:54-71)
So what other related prophecies were the Jews familiar with that might confirm that Jesus was indeed the promised messiah? After all, the claim of a virgin birth could be fabricated too. The fact he was born in Bethlehem, fulfilling another prophecy, now adds support, but there must be other fulfilled prophecies to convince a skeptic.
For this answer to us Gentiles, we need a deeper understanding of Jewish history and culture which will be impossible to proved here in a blog.
But for the Jews, Matthew found it sufficient to include in chapter 2:1, almost in passing, simply the facts; that like the phrase “Titanic” brings to our mind a volume of information and history, those facts to the Jews had deep and significant meaning;
“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king,…” Matthew 2:1a
Jesus, was claimed to be virgin born, as prophesied,
Was born in the Bethlehem of Judaea, also as prophesied. Not the other Bethlehem. (It is further curious that the old prophet knew to distinguish one from the other, as if he knew there would be two Bethlehems in the days of the fulfillment).
And finally Jesus was born in the days of Herod. What prophecy do you suppose that refers to?
The Jews knew:
Genesis 49:10 “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”
It is tragic that I cannot deviate too far from my intended goal of the Christmas Star to show the origin of this prophecy, or that the remaining fraction of the Jewish people would be called Judah long after this prophecy was given. I will only discuss here that the Jews had a very great anticipation of this prophecy because Rome was in the very process of completing the conquering of Judah. Rome had set a non-Jew as king of Judaea, while temporarily allowing the Sanhedrin to continue the administration of their laws, which was understood by the Jews to be the scepter, much as England’s Monarch has a symbolic scepter representing her authority and power.
Scepter 7626; shebet; from an unused root probably meaning to branch off, a scion, i.e. literally a stick (for punishing, writing, fighting, ruling, walking, etc.)
Judaea had already been stripped of all other authority, and this final straw was about to fall. The Messiah MUST come or scripture would be proven flawed.
God cannot be God if the scriptures are flawed. Flawed scriptures would show that their faith was a fabrication. The Messiah MUST come before the Romans took away the Sanhedrin’s authority to judge, convict, and punish!
All this and more was understood in the one phrase; “in the days of Herod.”
And so Matthew needed to tell them nothing more than the facts. Jesus was born in the days of Herod. Meaning; just before the scepter was in fact taken away.
One more prophecy fulfilled, and this one is very significant!
If Jesus was not the Messiah, the scriptures had failed!
But if he was the Messiah, what would Rome do to the child if found out?!
"When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him." Matthew 2:3
Now we understand a bit more meaning behind this verse!
The secret hope the Messiah would rescue them from Rome was now public. Great Men from a land in the East had gone to the Roman ruler of Jerusalem and declared there was a child born a king of the Jews!
What would Rome do now?
All of Jerusalem was troubled, along with Herod!
Each was asking in their hearts and minds; What will happen next?
What other prophecy did the high priests and scribes know?
Daniel 9:25 combined with Leviticus 26:28 *6 Provides the exact day in history when the Messiah should present himself as king of the Jews. (Verse 26 foretells his rejection, his death, and God’s reason for it.)
But just as we try hard to interpret future prophecy today, they perhaps couldn’t then figure out all that the prophecy actually meant. Possibly afraid to identify the exact day for fear of being wrong, they only knew the prophecy sure seemed to indicate their messiah should be showing up very soon, via a virgin birth, in Bethlehem of Judea, before Rome took away the scepter.
And now we have a significant case showing that Jesus just might be that Messiah! *7
* * *
After the eight verses describing the fulfillment of the virgin birth prophecy, and the single verse of simple facts of other fulfilled prophecies, Matthew immediately turns to the narrative of the wise men.
Why?
Because like the virgin birth as it fulfilled prophecy, this bit of historical information is so fantastic it too deserves detail.
Jewish history documents their arrival, this was not a fabricated story by religious zealots.
All Jerusalem was abuzz at the arrival of these great Babylonian Magi. But what we as Gentiles don’t have, is the prophecy regarding this event.
Therefore until more knowledge is uncovered we can only surmise by deduction the details which brought the Magi. But we do have enough information to make a very considerable deduction, not to mention the unquestionable proof that Jesus was purposed to come and die as our Savior before the heavens were ever created!
Say what?
God purposed to send His Son to die as our sacrifice, on a very specific date, before he ever made a star, Before he ever formed the earth, Before he ever made Adam who would one day sin and therefore need a savior.
God has shown that he pre-planned all this before Creation.
THIS is what we learn from the Christmas Star.
and as the previous information, The key focus seems to be all about the EXACT TIMING.
At least for the Jew, it is vital to understand that the Messiah came AT THE EXACT TIME appointed.
We will cover all this in my post titled; Christmas Star part 2.
* * * * * * *
*1
“For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good to me also, having had perfect (199) understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.” Luke 1:1-4
perfect 199; akribos, exactly. (a complete or full)
*2
Theophilus: 2321; Greek; from 2316 and 5384; friend of God;
Don’t you find it incredible that Luke wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles to a man called the Friend of God?
Yet we do not know just who this Theophilus was?
Why?
Because while Luke was writing to a real man contemporary to him, named Theophilus, The Holy Spirit meant for him to write to all those who are Theophilus; Friends of God.
The Gospel of Luke is written to all Christians; gentile, Jew, converts of all races and nations. (Colossians 3:11) Thus what is found in Luke best applies to this large and general group.
*3
For those with a deeper understanding of the Bible Codes, I noticed the Nativity story should be contained in 7 verses not 8. So I went back and investigated, finding verse 23 is actually just an interpreted quote from the Isaiah 7:14 prophecy and not a part of the Nativity story, thus making narration of the virgin birth of Jesus confirmed by the bible code of 7.
For those unfamiliar with this DNA of God, it is not significant to your understanding but a type of forensic science of scripture.
*4
Cool how this guys name just "happens" to mean this, providing a deep meaning and application for us, right?
The more you seriously investigate the scriptures, the more you see the incredible number of “accidents” that always fit so perfectly, almost as if it was carefully crafted! (which of course it was)
It would be easy to figure that it was carefully crafted my a man if it was written by a single man at a single point in time, that’s what a good novel is.
But this story was written by 40 different authors over thousands of years, and yet, we see the complexities perfectly combined to tell one story with no flaws.
Now unless you believe in evolution, THIS is evidence of a Design outside of our time domain. *5 THIS is proof that God exists. This is evidence that our very existence is actually a novel already written by our Creator!
We are only characters now acting out the events of the last chapters in this amazing novel.
*5
“66 books by 40 authors, and yet we now discover it is an integrated message system from outside our time domain.” - A catch phrase of Chuck Missler’s program 66/40 found at: http://www.khouse.org/6640_cat/
*6
“The Coming Prince” by Sir Robert Anderson first published in 1894 provides all the necessary information and calculations to convert all that to our present calendar as April 6, 32 AD. A must have for every serious investigator.
*7 The lesson that God is willing to tell the Jews exact days of significant events will one day prove valuable to them. Prophecy yet to be fulfilled speaks of 3-1/2 years of some very horrible times; Daniel 12:7 and Revelation 12:14. Those times will be so horrible that God wants to make sure those living in that time will be able to count virtually every day until it is over. Revelation 11:2 and 13:5 speak of it as forty two months. 11:3 and 12:6 speaks of it as 1260 days. God apparently is not afraid to name dates when he wants to. Jesus expected the Jews to know the exact day of his arrival as king; "and when he (Jesus) was come near, (to Jerusalem) he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes." Luke 19:41-42
"Because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." Luke 19:44
Friday, December 24, 2010
Christmas Prophecy
Post 141
How do you KNOW that Jesus was actually virgin born?
The odds are far more in favor that in their love and youth, Joseph and Mary just couldn’t control their passions.
Or, as some critics argue, Mary was raped by one of the numerous Roman Centurions in control of Israel at the time.
What really makes us believe that Jesus was conceived of the Holy Ghost of God?
If you respond with “You have to have faith”, then your faith is nothing more than a weak religion which cannot sustain you at the first sign of challenge.
If all there is, is faith, then I have to side with the far better odds of the more reasonable cause.
Perhaps your reply is to quote the great New Testament passage in Luke 1:26-36, which you have heard in the Pageant every year;
“And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”
And later, in v.8-11 we have an actual angel proclaiming the event:
“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."
So that is some very powerful evidence right there, right?
But there is even more!
The angel gave the shepherds a sign that what they said was true;
v.12-14 “And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
So they went to check it out for themselves;
v.15-17 “And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another,
Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.”
To the shepherds who found the events just as they were told, This was a very powerful proof.
But it didn’t go over as convincing when they excitedly told the story;
v.17-18 “And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.”
So why the diminished power in the message which was first from the Angels and then from the shepherds?
It is the same reason why the message is diminished as told from the New Testament.
* * *
By itself, this narration could easily be a fabricated cover-up of otherwise condemning and shameful conduct.
This first hand New Testament narration of history is not proof.
And if you choose to believe this narration as it stands on its own just because it is in the bible, then you really have no more support than the believers in the Qur’an, or The Book of Mormon, or any other of the many religious books.
Is there nothing more than faith, to support the claims of Christianity?
There is!
And it is a whopper!
Here 2,010+- years later we can KNOW that Jesus was conceived and born of a virgin.
But unless we were actually there the whole time, how is this possible?
I mean even the father of a teenage girl can be deceived on this matter!
This single question alone should seal the fate of such a ridiculous concept without significant support.
So where is it?
It is NOT in the re-telling of the events after they happened as narrated above.
It IS in the fore-telling of the events BEFORE they happened.
The proof positive is found in the Prophecy of the events. And the deeper you search, the more the proofs multiply!
* * *
I of course cannot provide here the more than 600 scriptural prophecies we know of, but I will focus on some of the basic ones directly related to this topic of Jesus’ virgin birth, making the list mere Cliffs Notes of the information:
Prophecy 1: Virgin Birth
The book of Isaiah’s prophesies was written some 742+- years before Jesus was born.
The verification and accuracy of the book of Isaiah is found in the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls recovered from caves on the shore of the Dead Sea in 1947 *1
In that find, a complete copy of the book of Isaiah dates significantly before the era of Christ. What this means is that Isaiah could not have been written after Jesus Birth, which other evidences also indicate, but this is positive proof in our time.
So what does Isaiah say?
Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
Immanuel 6005: from 5973 and 410 with sufficient pronoun inserted; with us (is) God;
This is interesting, but by itself is hardly proof that Jesus was the virgin born the prophecy was describing. Yet we have to note that there was a prophecy saying the messiah would be virgin born.
This is the prophecy the angel quoted in Matthew 1:23 to verify that Jesus was the one the prophecy foretold.
Remember Matthew was written to Jews who knew these prophesies and were indeed looking for their messiah, especially at that time. (more on this later)
Matthew 1:18-23
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with Child of the Holy Ghost.
Then Joseph her (espoused) husband, being a just man, and not willing to make a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
Although this is not yet sure proof to us in our present place of our study, it WAS verification to them who already knew what we are learning.
So lets continue building our case;
Prophecy 2: Born in Bethlehem
Our historical narrative in Luke 2:2-4 declared because of the tax imposed, everyone had to return to their own city. Joseph therefore went up from Nazareth, to Bethlehem because of his lineage.
Now why would the scriptures waste ink to tell us this insignificant information?
Like, who cares?
The answer is because this location was prophesied regarding the Messiah.
We learned that Joseph was living in Nazareth, (Luke 2:4) and of course would return there after paying their tax. This is only significant because of events that occurred after Jesus was born which also fulfilled prophecy, but we will not deal with this prophecy other than to identify it. (Matthew 2:23)
Next, we learned that Joseph’s city of lineage was Bethlehem, (Luke 2:4) because he was of the lineage of King David.
This is important for two reasons;
First, because of the prophecy saying the Messiah would come out of the city of Bethlehem;
Micah 5:2 “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”
I suppose the odds of the messiah coming out of a large city of millions of people must still be reasonably small, since there are lots of cities he might come from.
But Bethlehem? That was a tiny village of insignificance other than it was the historical family city of David before he was king. A very low odds fulfillment all by itself, let alone added to other prophecies he also had to fulfill.
Joseph and Mary were not living in Bethlehem. Mary was pregnant and there was not much chance she would be heading to the tiny town of Bethlehem any time soon.
So it was looking like this old prophecy would fail… until the tax was imposed, which conveniently made them head to Bethlehem at the end of her pregnancy.
Perfect timing to fulfill this prophecy!
Prophecy 3: Of the Davidic Lineage
The messiah also had to be of the line of David. This further narrows down the odds of Jesus fulfilling the role of Messiah as prophesied.
But here we have a curios development;
Although Matthew 1:1-16, written for the Jews, carefully follows the lineage of David to show that Jesus was of the lineage of David through his supposed father Joseph, we believe Joseph really had nothing to do with his lineage.
So why go through all that?
Because to the Jews lineage is extremely important.
And so if Jesus was the son of Joseph, of the lineage of David, he had the authority to be the rightful line of the throne of David, which the prophecies declared he would be;
“The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.” Psalm 132:11 (note this verse allows for the son to come though either gender of fruitful line.)
“Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” Isaiah 9:7, also 16:5
“For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel:” Jeremiah 33:17
“Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their seasons; Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne:…” Jeremiah 33:20-21
But the male line of David was permanently cursed by God at the sins of a last king. And this seemed to bring an end to the promise. Jeremiah 36:30-31
Oh I am getting off on another great rabbit trail; There are many prophesies promising David will always have a king on the throne because there would be so significant a reason to doubt!
Chuck Missler does a fantastic study on the incredible and fascinating details of this, *3 but the short answer here, is that THIS is one reason why a virgin birth is significant, to avoid this curse, and why the Davidic lineage of Mary is actually followed in Luke 3:23-38 as it branches off from the Matthew lineage at the second son of David, Nathan instead of the first son of David, Solomon. So we see in these two lineages that both Joseph and Mary were of the house of David, fulfilling this prophecy twice from both sides just to be clear!
Then to validate this female right of lineage to place a son on the throne outside of the normal male line, we find in the old testament the law which allows daughters to inherit if there are no sons. (Numbers 27:1-8)
But you see, we have rabbit trailed again, which is easy to do with all the amazing complexities and details of scripture. It is the best epic story ever told, but in all its complications it stands up against the most detailed scrutiny!
Prophecy 4: Perfect Timing part A
“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” Genesis 49:10
scepter 7626 shebet; from an unused root probably meaning to branch off, a scion, i.e. (literally) a stick (for punishing, writing, fighting, ruling, walking, etc.) or (figuratively) a clan.
Shiloh 7886 shiyloh; from 7951; tranquil; Shiloh, an epithet of the Messiah.
Now this was a very old prophecy of the Messiah! And has deep meaning to the Jews.
This prophecy promised the religious authority of Judah would not depart from the Jews until the Messiah came.
But in the day of Joseph and Mary, the Romans were world dominate and the Jewish nation was already under the rule of Rome, and the authority of the Sanhedrin was in jeopardy. It was because of this prophecy the Jews were confident of either of two things;
The Messiah would come before the Romans would take the power and authority away from the Sanhedrin, or the Romans would fail to do it.
Either way, Judah would be saved!
But the Romans did take away their “scepter” which was identified as there right to judge, sentence, and condemn according to their laws.
Now it was not the Romans that had an argument against Jesus, it was the chief priests (also called Pharisees) and scribes. “And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” Luke 15:2, 16:14
“And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him...” Luke 22:2, 20:19
They paid Judas to accuse him so that they could arrest him, and we see their treatment of him to the extent they were allowed, as described in Luke 22:54-71
“Then took him, and led him, and brought him into the high priests’s house…” v.54
“And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him…” v.63
“And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying, Art thou the Christ?...” v.67
“Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am. And they said, What need we any further witness? For we ourselves have heard of his own mouth.” v.70-71
Once they decided they had a case;
“And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him unto Pilot. And they began to accuse him, saying,...” 23:1-
I detail all this here because it is important to understand why all this is entered into the scriptures.
Pilot was the Roman ruler who had the power to do convict and punish.
The Chief priests no longer had the authority.
This is very important because this was the first time the scriptures had ever been wrong!
The scepter had been removed and the Messiah had not come!
The prophecy of Genesis 49:10 had failed!
But the strange thing is that they were asking the Romans (who had broken their scriptures) to kill the very Messiah that had been born at just the right time to fulfill that prophecy! How crazy is that!?
They needed the Messiah to avoid a breach in scripture,
The time was critical to fulfill scripture.
Jesus admitted he was the Son of God.
He was known for doing miracles, (fulfilling more prophecy)
But still they rejected him!
Prophecy 5: Perfect Timing part B
Now add to that another very old prophecy;
“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince 5057 shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks:…” Daniel 9:25
According to Nehemiah 2:1 the decree went out to rebuild Jerusalem on March 14, 445 BC at the hand of Artaxerxes the King (Nehemiah 2:6)
A score is twenty so 7+60+2=69 weeks
We westerners only use the term week for 7 days, but the actual term simply means any group of 7.
In this case these are groups of 7 years.
So 69 groups of 7 (69X7)=483 years X the days in a historical calendar year (360) = 173,880 days. *2
Double checking the math we get:
445 BC to 32 AD = 173,740 days
March 14 to April 16 = 24 days
Leap years = 116 days
Totaling 173, 880 days
I wont go into the detail of how we conclude that April 16, 32 AD is the exact day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey as King of the Jews, but that he chose the specific day is undisputed in scripture!
Oh did I forget to mention the prophecy regarding that ride?
Prophecy 6: The Messiah Presented as a King riding a donkey.
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” Zechariah 9:9
Which he fulfilled perfectly in Mark 11:1-5 (for the gentiles), Matthew 21:1-9 (for the Jews)
That’s 519 years after the prophecy was made!
* * *
Now how do you suppose one guy can arrange the place of his birth, the claim of his parents of virgin birth, the Davidic lineage, and the fulfillment of his presentation into Jerusalem as king on the exact day in history?
And this is but six of the hundreds of biblical prophesies he fulfilled proving that Jesus is the Messiah prophesied from the foundation of the world.
I wish I could go on, but frankly, the bible has already been written, all you have to do is read it with a genuine desire to prove it. If something looks off, study it! there is virtually no fear that an error might be found, it is the thumbprint of God who dwells outside of our time domain!
The interesting thing about the bible is that there is so much there the proofs are everywhere, but it takes time to learn them, which is what God wants us to do.
Was Jesus virgin born?
You bet, because Prophecy has proven that Jesus had to be the Messiah, who was prophesied to be virgin born. The odds of any one man fulfilling just 6 prophecies of this nature at exactly the right time, are virtually impossible according to the science of probabilities. But this bit of information is lost on a people who have been convinced to believe accidental evolution, regardless of the huge impossibility.
They simply yawn and say, "well, maybe."
If explorers found a child in a small village of Africa with very bright green skin, whose father was actually born in Iceland, and his mother was native to a village 11.5 miles from where they were living.
And if that child grew up to be the ruler of Africa who liberated all blacks before being killed by rebels.
You would shrug and say "well, maybe."
But all that indifference would dissipate if each of these points was laid out previously in a 1000 year old African prophecy. Why?
because of the difference between accident and design.
perfectly fulfilled prophecy of impossible complexity, is a clear indication of design.
It was planned. There is no other alternative.
Nothing is more sure than prophecy from The Maker who pre-wrote all of life as a novel.
This is what is meant in Isaiah 46:10 “declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:”
Not enough fulfilled prophecy for you?
take any of the Gospels, start with Matthew if you like, and read it with the intent to note each time Jesus did something that fulfilled another prophecy.
You will be quite surprised at the incredible number of times the scriptures identify them for you. And there are many more you have to discover for yourself!
And I still haven’t got to the wise men, or the presents discussion yet!
* * * * * * *
*1 Dead Sea Scrolls - worthy reading.
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-abr/abr-a023.html
http://www.centuryone.com/25dssfacts.html
*2 Sir Robert Anderson’s 1894 book “The Coming Price” was the first and greatest work detailing this significant prophecy. A re-print can be found in nearly any bookstore published by Kregel.
*3 Chuck Missler - khouse.org
How do you KNOW that Jesus was actually virgin born?
The odds are far more in favor that in their love and youth, Joseph and Mary just couldn’t control their passions.
Or, as some critics argue, Mary was raped by one of the numerous Roman Centurions in control of Israel at the time.
What really makes us believe that Jesus was conceived of the Holy Ghost of God?
If you respond with “You have to have faith”, then your faith is nothing more than a weak religion which cannot sustain you at the first sign of challenge.
If all there is, is faith, then I have to side with the far better odds of the more reasonable cause.
Perhaps your reply is to quote the great New Testament passage in Luke 1:26-36, which you have heard in the Pageant every year;
“And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”
And later, in v.8-11 we have an actual angel proclaiming the event:
“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."
So that is some very powerful evidence right there, right?
But there is even more!
The angel gave the shepherds a sign that what they said was true;
v.12-14 “And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
So they went to check it out for themselves;
v.15-17 “And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another,
Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.”
To the shepherds who found the events just as they were told, This was a very powerful proof.
But it didn’t go over as convincing when they excitedly told the story;
v.17-18 “And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.”
So why the diminished power in the message which was first from the Angels and then from the shepherds?
It is the same reason why the message is diminished as told from the New Testament.
* * *
By itself, this narration could easily be a fabricated cover-up of otherwise condemning and shameful conduct.
This first hand New Testament narration of history is not proof.
And if you choose to believe this narration as it stands on its own just because it is in the bible, then you really have no more support than the believers in the Qur’an, or The Book of Mormon, or any other of the many religious books.
Is there nothing more than faith, to support the claims of Christianity?
There is!
And it is a whopper!
Here 2,010+- years later we can KNOW that Jesus was conceived and born of a virgin.
But unless we were actually there the whole time, how is this possible?
I mean even the father of a teenage girl can be deceived on this matter!
This single question alone should seal the fate of such a ridiculous concept without significant support.
So where is it?
It is NOT in the re-telling of the events after they happened as narrated above.
It IS in the fore-telling of the events BEFORE they happened.
The proof positive is found in the Prophecy of the events. And the deeper you search, the more the proofs multiply!
* * *
I of course cannot provide here the more than 600 scriptural prophecies we know of, but I will focus on some of the basic ones directly related to this topic of Jesus’ virgin birth, making the list mere Cliffs Notes of the information:
Prophecy 1: Virgin Birth
The book of Isaiah’s prophesies was written some 742+- years before Jesus was born.
The verification and accuracy of the book of Isaiah is found in the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls recovered from caves on the shore of the Dead Sea in 1947 *1
In that find, a complete copy of the book of Isaiah dates significantly before the era of Christ. What this means is that Isaiah could not have been written after Jesus Birth, which other evidences also indicate, but this is positive proof in our time.
So what does Isaiah say?
Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
Immanuel 6005: from 5973 and 410 with sufficient pronoun inserted; with us (is) God;
This is interesting, but by itself is hardly proof that Jesus was the virgin born the prophecy was describing. Yet we have to note that there was a prophecy saying the messiah would be virgin born.
This is the prophecy the angel quoted in Matthew 1:23 to verify that Jesus was the one the prophecy foretold.
Remember Matthew was written to Jews who knew these prophesies and were indeed looking for their messiah, especially at that time. (more on this later)
Matthew 1:18-23
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with Child of the Holy Ghost.
Then Joseph her (espoused) husband, being a just man, and not willing to make a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
Although this is not yet sure proof to us in our present place of our study, it WAS verification to them who already knew what we are learning.
So lets continue building our case;
Prophecy 2: Born in Bethlehem
Our historical narrative in Luke 2:2-4 declared because of the tax imposed, everyone had to return to their own city. Joseph therefore went up from Nazareth, to Bethlehem because of his lineage.
Now why would the scriptures waste ink to tell us this insignificant information?
Like, who cares?
The answer is because this location was prophesied regarding the Messiah.
We learned that Joseph was living in Nazareth, (Luke 2:4) and of course would return there after paying their tax. This is only significant because of events that occurred after Jesus was born which also fulfilled prophecy, but we will not deal with this prophecy other than to identify it. (Matthew 2:23)
Next, we learned that Joseph’s city of lineage was Bethlehem, (Luke 2:4) because he was of the lineage of King David.
This is important for two reasons;
First, because of the prophecy saying the Messiah would come out of the city of Bethlehem;
Micah 5:2 “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”
I suppose the odds of the messiah coming out of a large city of millions of people must still be reasonably small, since there are lots of cities he might come from.
But Bethlehem? That was a tiny village of insignificance other than it was the historical family city of David before he was king. A very low odds fulfillment all by itself, let alone added to other prophecies he also had to fulfill.
Joseph and Mary were not living in Bethlehem. Mary was pregnant and there was not much chance she would be heading to the tiny town of Bethlehem any time soon.
So it was looking like this old prophecy would fail… until the tax was imposed, which conveniently made them head to Bethlehem at the end of her pregnancy.
Perfect timing to fulfill this prophecy!
Prophecy 3: Of the Davidic Lineage
The messiah also had to be of the line of David. This further narrows down the odds of Jesus fulfilling the role of Messiah as prophesied.
But here we have a curios development;
Although Matthew 1:1-16, written for the Jews, carefully follows the lineage of David to show that Jesus was of the lineage of David through his supposed father Joseph, we believe Joseph really had nothing to do with his lineage.
So why go through all that?
Because to the Jews lineage is extremely important.
And so if Jesus was the son of Joseph, of the lineage of David, he had the authority to be the rightful line of the throne of David, which the prophecies declared he would be;
“The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.” Psalm 132:11 (note this verse allows for the son to come though either gender of fruitful line.)
“Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” Isaiah 9:7, also 16:5
“For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel:” Jeremiah 33:17
“Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their seasons; Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne:…” Jeremiah 33:20-21
But the male line of David was permanently cursed by God at the sins of a last king. And this seemed to bring an end to the promise. Jeremiah 36:30-31
Oh I am getting off on another great rabbit trail; There are many prophesies promising David will always have a king on the throne because there would be so significant a reason to doubt!
Chuck Missler does a fantastic study on the incredible and fascinating details of this, *3 but the short answer here, is that THIS is one reason why a virgin birth is significant, to avoid this curse, and why the Davidic lineage of Mary is actually followed in Luke 3:23-38 as it branches off from the Matthew lineage at the second son of David, Nathan instead of the first son of David, Solomon. So we see in these two lineages that both Joseph and Mary were of the house of David, fulfilling this prophecy twice from both sides just to be clear!
Then to validate this female right of lineage to place a son on the throne outside of the normal male line, we find in the old testament the law which allows daughters to inherit if there are no sons. (Numbers 27:1-8)
But you see, we have rabbit trailed again, which is easy to do with all the amazing complexities and details of scripture. It is the best epic story ever told, but in all its complications it stands up against the most detailed scrutiny!
Prophecy 4: Perfect Timing part A
“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” Genesis 49:10
scepter 7626 shebet; from an unused root probably meaning to branch off, a scion, i.e. (literally) a stick (for punishing, writing, fighting, ruling, walking, etc.) or (figuratively) a clan.
Shiloh 7886 shiyloh; from 7951; tranquil; Shiloh, an epithet of the Messiah.
Now this was a very old prophecy of the Messiah! And has deep meaning to the Jews.
This prophecy promised the religious authority of Judah would not depart from the Jews until the Messiah came.
But in the day of Joseph and Mary, the Romans were world dominate and the Jewish nation was already under the rule of Rome, and the authority of the Sanhedrin was in jeopardy. It was because of this prophecy the Jews were confident of either of two things;
The Messiah would come before the Romans would take the power and authority away from the Sanhedrin, or the Romans would fail to do it.
Either way, Judah would be saved!
But the Romans did take away their “scepter” which was identified as there right to judge, sentence, and condemn according to their laws.
Now it was not the Romans that had an argument against Jesus, it was the chief priests (also called Pharisees) and scribes. “And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” Luke 15:2, 16:14
“And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him...” Luke 22:2, 20:19
They paid Judas to accuse him so that they could arrest him, and we see their treatment of him to the extent they were allowed, as described in Luke 22:54-71
“Then took him, and led him, and brought him into the high priests’s house…” v.54
“And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him…” v.63
“And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying, Art thou the Christ?...” v.67
“Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am. And they said, What need we any further witness? For we ourselves have heard of his own mouth.” v.70-71
Once they decided they had a case;
“And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him unto Pilot. And they began to accuse him, saying,...” 23:1-
I detail all this here because it is important to understand why all this is entered into the scriptures.
Pilot was the Roman ruler who had the power to do convict and punish.
The Chief priests no longer had the authority.
This is very important because this was the first time the scriptures had ever been wrong!
The scepter had been removed and the Messiah had not come!
The prophecy of Genesis 49:10 had failed!
But the strange thing is that they were asking the Romans (who had broken their scriptures) to kill the very Messiah that had been born at just the right time to fulfill that prophecy! How crazy is that!?
They needed the Messiah to avoid a breach in scripture,
The time was critical to fulfill scripture.
Jesus admitted he was the Son of God.
He was known for doing miracles, (fulfilling more prophecy)
But still they rejected him!
Prophecy 5: Perfect Timing part B
Now add to that another very old prophecy;
“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince 5057 shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks:…” Daniel 9:25
According to Nehemiah 2:1 the decree went out to rebuild Jerusalem on March 14, 445 BC at the hand of Artaxerxes the King (Nehemiah 2:6)
A score is twenty so 7+60+2=69 weeks
We westerners only use the term week for 7 days, but the actual term simply means any group of 7.
In this case these are groups of 7 years.
So 69 groups of 7 (69X7)=483 years X the days in a historical calendar year (360) = 173,880 days. *2
Double checking the math we get:
445 BC to 32 AD = 173,740 days
March 14 to April 16 = 24 days
Leap years = 116 days
Totaling 173, 880 days
I wont go into the detail of how we conclude that April 16, 32 AD is the exact day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey as King of the Jews, but that he chose the specific day is undisputed in scripture!
Oh did I forget to mention the prophecy regarding that ride?
Prophecy 6: The Messiah Presented as a King riding a donkey.
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” Zechariah 9:9
Which he fulfilled perfectly in Mark 11:1-5 (for the gentiles), Matthew 21:1-9 (for the Jews)
That’s 519 years after the prophecy was made!
* * *
Now how do you suppose one guy can arrange the place of his birth, the claim of his parents of virgin birth, the Davidic lineage, and the fulfillment of his presentation into Jerusalem as king on the exact day in history?
And this is but six of the hundreds of biblical prophesies he fulfilled proving that Jesus is the Messiah prophesied from the foundation of the world.
I wish I could go on, but frankly, the bible has already been written, all you have to do is read it with a genuine desire to prove it. If something looks off, study it! there is virtually no fear that an error might be found, it is the thumbprint of God who dwells outside of our time domain!
The interesting thing about the bible is that there is so much there the proofs are everywhere, but it takes time to learn them, which is what God wants us to do.
Was Jesus virgin born?
You bet, because Prophecy has proven that Jesus had to be the Messiah, who was prophesied to be virgin born. The odds of any one man fulfilling just 6 prophecies of this nature at exactly the right time, are virtually impossible according to the science of probabilities. But this bit of information is lost on a people who have been convinced to believe accidental evolution, regardless of the huge impossibility.
They simply yawn and say, "well, maybe."
If explorers found a child in a small village of Africa with very bright green skin, whose father was actually born in Iceland, and his mother was native to a village 11.5 miles from where they were living.
And if that child grew up to be the ruler of Africa who liberated all blacks before being killed by rebels.
You would shrug and say "well, maybe."
But all that indifference would dissipate if each of these points was laid out previously in a 1000 year old African prophecy. Why?
because of the difference between accident and design.
perfectly fulfilled prophecy of impossible complexity, is a clear indication of design.
It was planned. There is no other alternative.
Nothing is more sure than prophecy from The Maker who pre-wrote all of life as a novel.
This is what is meant in Isaiah 46:10 “declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:”
Not enough fulfilled prophecy for you?
take any of the Gospels, start with Matthew if you like, and read it with the intent to note each time Jesus did something that fulfilled another prophecy.
You will be quite surprised at the incredible number of times the scriptures identify them for you. And there are many more you have to discover for yourself!
And I still haven’t got to the wise men, or the presents discussion yet!
* * * * * * *
*1 Dead Sea Scrolls - worthy reading.
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-abr/abr-a023.html
http://www.centuryone.com/25dssfacts.html
*2 Sir Robert Anderson’s 1894 book “The Coming Price” was the first and greatest work detailing this significant prophecy. A re-print can be found in nearly any bookstore published by Kregel.
*3 Chuck Missler - khouse.org
Christmas Pageant
Post 140
I really miss the traditional Christmas pageant put on by nearly every church in America not long ago.
In that pageant there was usually a narrator reading prominent parts of the nativity story out of the bible as the actors, dressed in great homemade costumes, acted out the scenes.
…“And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed… and all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem: (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.”… (Luke 2:1-5)
We watch the pageant, so familiar to us, and it warms our heart to be reminded of the events that brought about the baby Jesus, the Savior of the world.
It pains me to put a mar in such a production by hitting the pause button to make an uncomfortable statement, but by bonding with the story so emotionally, we have left behind the reality of it all. Now it has become just that, a story.
What we have done is simplified the details into a one hour production no different than the Cliffs Notes of the Grapes of Wrath. *1
Cliffs Notes are fine… for their purpose, but not to the avoidance of the novel.
So why make a big deal about it here? Now? This is Christmas!
Because what has happened at least in America, is that Christianity has become a story, just like the movies. We all feel a great emotional bond to the story, but that does not mean we think it belongs in reality. And what was once true faith, is now just so much religion. Religion is based on illusion, A movie, A story.
Take the above passage as an example:
We hear the narrator actually quote the actual text from the scripture, but all we get from it, is that Mary and Joseph had to go to Bethlehem, where Jesus was then born in a manger. This is all we need to know if it is just a great story.
But what happens when the truth of the story is questioned? Just because you choose to believe it, does not make it real.
So is your faith based on reality, or emotion?
I contend most American Christians’ faith is based wholly on religious emotion.
I would go further to say, they could not verify their faith based in any kind of reality.
This unverifiable faith, is really nothing more than religion, and religion is not enough to save your soul even if you believe in the baby Jesus!
The story is not what saves you, and neither does your belief in the story!
What saves you is your faith in Jesus, by understanding who Jesus is.
The above narrative is chock full of details that verify the truth of what it is telling us, showing us the actual point in History when this took place and the locations, but more than that, it shows us the historical details that brought about the FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY.
The Prophecy is the fingerprint of God.
THIS is the proof that Jesus is the Son of God. Without this fulfillment of prophecy, Jesus might just have been one more illegitimate child of an unwed mother.
But what do you know about the prophecy? Can you validate your faith by identifying the prophecies this nativity story fulfills? If not, what more is your faith than faith in faith?
The Islamists have faith, and are willing to die for it, but is their faith based on truth?
We criticize them for being so blindly ignorant of the truth, but who are we who cannot verify our own faith?
We judge the Jews for rejecting the Messiah, but we accept the Messiah on what facts or proofs?
So who is the greater fool? He who does not believe the proofs, or he who does not know the proofs?
God is not a fairy tale.
But those who choose to reject the Christian faith do it because it does not seem real or true, it is a religion to them.
I contend it is also a religion to most Christians as well.
Do we have to know all these details in order to be saved?
Of course not. “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” Acts 16:31, see also Acts 15:11
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9
But how much belief can you have without knowledge?
Up till now, our undisputed, simple faith has carried us. But although it has brought basic salvation to us, it is very weak and unable to produce much faith in others. Our forefathers and grandparents had great faith, not because they were more “spiritual” but because they had more knowledge. Their faith was real, which caused them to want to learn and know more, which made the roots of their faith grow deep. Our tiny light that we Christians have today at the fall of America, is as the Church of Sardis in Revelation 3:1-6
v.1b-2 “…I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.
Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.”
v.3 “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent.
If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”
This is one of Jesus’ Churches. That means these are believers, but Jesus says they are dead even though they appear to be alive and faithful.
Without getting into a sidetrack, this 6th Church is the Church in time just prior to the rapture.
Since we know that we are in the last days as prophesied, we believers are in this 6th Church. This warning is to US!
v.4 “Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
v.5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment: and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.”
You see, God does not play with sin, and all those who take pleasure in sin under the blanket of grace have a serious misunderstanding of grace and their standing with God.
This passage clearly identifies this as a legitimate church, but the text indicates that most of this church will actually miss the rapture!
And even more startling, this passage clearly states that Jesus himself will blot out names of those in this church from the book of life if you are found in the end to be defiled!
It is easy for us to be blessed by the preaching of those great spiritual men, and so believe because we are blessed, all is fine with us. This passage brings us back to reality, that each of us, in the way God made us, has our own responsibility to be one of those great spiritual men who bless others. You do not do this by determination of will or the gaining of a great education, you do this by getting to know your God!
If you have a deep and meaningful relationship with God according to knowledge *2 then the Christmas pageant is a wonderful recap and memorial.
But I know by experience, doing a book review of the Cliffs Notes of The Grapes of Wrath will not get you a very good grade!
* * * * * * *
*1 Cliff Notes - CliffsNotes (formerly Cliffs Notes, originally Cliff’s Notes and often, erroneously, CliffNotes) are a series of student study guides available primarily in the United States. The guides present and explain literary and other works in pamphlet form or online. Detractors of the study guides claim they let students bypass reading the assigned literature. In contrast, the company claims to promote the reading of the original work, and does not view the study guides as a substitute to the reading.
CliffsNotes was started by a Nebraska native named Cliff Hillegass in 1958. He was working at Nebraska Book Co. of Lincoln, Nebraska, when he met Jack Cole, the co-owner of Coles, a Toronto book business. Coles was also the publisher of a series of Canadian study guides called Coles Notes. Jack Cole offered the American rights to Hillegass.
Hillegass and his wife, Catherine, started the business in their basement at 511 Eastridge Drive, with sixteen William Shakespeare titles. CliffsNotes now exist on hundreds of works. The term CliffsNotes has now come into modern usage, as a noun for notes of a similar nature to the original CliffsNotes books.
IDG Books purchased CliffsNotes in 1998. John Wiley & Sons acquired IDG Books (renamed Hungry Minds) in 2001. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CliffsNotes
*2 “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:…” II Peter 1:2-3
I really miss the traditional Christmas pageant put on by nearly every church in America not long ago.
In that pageant there was usually a narrator reading prominent parts of the nativity story out of the bible as the actors, dressed in great homemade costumes, acted out the scenes.
…“And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed… and all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem: (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.”… (Luke 2:1-5)
We watch the pageant, so familiar to us, and it warms our heart to be reminded of the events that brought about the baby Jesus, the Savior of the world.
It pains me to put a mar in such a production by hitting the pause button to make an uncomfortable statement, but by bonding with the story so emotionally, we have left behind the reality of it all. Now it has become just that, a story.
What we have done is simplified the details into a one hour production no different than the Cliffs Notes of the Grapes of Wrath. *1
Cliffs Notes are fine… for their purpose, but not to the avoidance of the novel.
So why make a big deal about it here? Now? This is Christmas!
Because what has happened at least in America, is that Christianity has become a story, just like the movies. We all feel a great emotional bond to the story, but that does not mean we think it belongs in reality. And what was once true faith, is now just so much religion. Religion is based on illusion, A movie, A story.
Take the above passage as an example:
We hear the narrator actually quote the actual text from the scripture, but all we get from it, is that Mary and Joseph had to go to Bethlehem, where Jesus was then born in a manger. This is all we need to know if it is just a great story.
But what happens when the truth of the story is questioned? Just because you choose to believe it, does not make it real.
So is your faith based on reality, or emotion?
I contend most American Christians’ faith is based wholly on religious emotion.
I would go further to say, they could not verify their faith based in any kind of reality.
This unverifiable faith, is really nothing more than religion, and religion is not enough to save your soul even if you believe in the baby Jesus!
The story is not what saves you, and neither does your belief in the story!
What saves you is your faith in Jesus, by understanding who Jesus is.
The above narrative is chock full of details that verify the truth of what it is telling us, showing us the actual point in History when this took place and the locations, but more than that, it shows us the historical details that brought about the FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY.
The Prophecy is the fingerprint of God.
THIS is the proof that Jesus is the Son of God. Without this fulfillment of prophecy, Jesus might just have been one more illegitimate child of an unwed mother.
But what do you know about the prophecy? Can you validate your faith by identifying the prophecies this nativity story fulfills? If not, what more is your faith than faith in faith?
The Islamists have faith, and are willing to die for it, but is their faith based on truth?
We criticize them for being so blindly ignorant of the truth, but who are we who cannot verify our own faith?
We judge the Jews for rejecting the Messiah, but we accept the Messiah on what facts or proofs?
So who is the greater fool? He who does not believe the proofs, or he who does not know the proofs?
God is not a fairy tale.
But those who choose to reject the Christian faith do it because it does not seem real or true, it is a religion to them.
I contend it is also a religion to most Christians as well.
Do we have to know all these details in order to be saved?
Of course not. “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” Acts 16:31, see also Acts 15:11
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9
But how much belief can you have without knowledge?
Up till now, our undisputed, simple faith has carried us. But although it has brought basic salvation to us, it is very weak and unable to produce much faith in others. Our forefathers and grandparents had great faith, not because they were more “spiritual” but because they had more knowledge. Their faith was real, which caused them to want to learn and know more, which made the roots of their faith grow deep. Our tiny light that we Christians have today at the fall of America, is as the Church of Sardis in Revelation 3:1-6
v.1b-2 “…I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.
Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.”
v.3 “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent.
If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”
This is one of Jesus’ Churches. That means these are believers, but Jesus says they are dead even though they appear to be alive and faithful.
Without getting into a sidetrack, this 6th Church is the Church in time just prior to the rapture.
Since we know that we are in the last days as prophesied, we believers are in this 6th Church. This warning is to US!
v.4 “Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
v.5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment: and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.”
You see, God does not play with sin, and all those who take pleasure in sin under the blanket of grace have a serious misunderstanding of grace and their standing with God.
This passage clearly identifies this as a legitimate church, but the text indicates that most of this church will actually miss the rapture!
And even more startling, this passage clearly states that Jesus himself will blot out names of those in this church from the book of life if you are found in the end to be defiled!
It is easy for us to be blessed by the preaching of those great spiritual men, and so believe because we are blessed, all is fine with us. This passage brings us back to reality, that each of us, in the way God made us, has our own responsibility to be one of those great spiritual men who bless others. You do not do this by determination of will or the gaining of a great education, you do this by getting to know your God!
If you have a deep and meaningful relationship with God according to knowledge *2 then the Christmas pageant is a wonderful recap and memorial.
But I know by experience, doing a book review of the Cliffs Notes of The Grapes of Wrath will not get you a very good grade!
* * * * * * *
*1 Cliff Notes - CliffsNotes (formerly Cliffs Notes, originally Cliff’s Notes and often, erroneously, CliffNotes) are a series of student study guides available primarily in the United States. The guides present and explain literary and other works in pamphlet form or online. Detractors of the study guides claim they let students bypass reading the assigned literature. In contrast, the company claims to promote the reading of the original work, and does not view the study guides as a substitute to the reading.
CliffsNotes was started by a Nebraska native named Cliff Hillegass in 1958. He was working at Nebraska Book Co. of Lincoln, Nebraska, when he met Jack Cole, the co-owner of Coles, a Toronto book business. Coles was also the publisher of a series of Canadian study guides called Coles Notes. Jack Cole offered the American rights to Hillegass.
Hillegass and his wife, Catherine, started the business in their basement at 511 Eastridge Drive, with sixteen William Shakespeare titles. CliffsNotes now exist on hundreds of works. The term CliffsNotes has now come into modern usage, as a noun for notes of a similar nature to the original CliffsNotes books.
IDG Books purchased CliffsNotes in 1998. John Wiley & Sons acquired IDG Books (renamed Hungry Minds) in 2001. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CliffsNotes
*2 “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:…” II Peter 1:2-3
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Nitpicking
Post 139
Before we move on from the previous post, we need to ask, Why?
Why does it matter if our Christmas story is slightly doctored?
I am told;
“The wise men are included in the manger scene of the children’s play at Church because they are a very attractive element, but we can’t make the production go for hours.
It is artistic license, not a corruption.”
Ok, lets see how that works with us:
Remember the movie with Clint Eastwood?
You know, the one where he has got a great big handgun,
And he corners the evil punk who dropped his gun?
You remember,
And as the punk is lying on the ground with his hand only inches from his gun,
you can see the thoughts going through his head; Can I reach it, and use it, before he draws?
And Clint Eastwood speaks that famous line;
“Go ahead…
Make my afternoon!”
Oh that was good. I will never forget that line.
And just now every movie fan out there just stiffened;
“NO you fool, the line is; “Go ahead… Make my day.”
Whatever.
Remember that great Arnald Schwarzenegar movie where he is a robot and comes back from the future?
He shows up at the police station in those cool shades, but the cops don’t provide him with what he wants?
Remember?
So in that great accent that only he has, he says that immortal short line;
“I’ll return.”
I love that line, "I'll return."
And now I have these movie fans pulling on their hair;
“What an idiot! The line is; I’ll be back”!
So.
The serious fans will also complain because I spelled Arnold Schwarzenegger wrong.
Who cares? I got the general thought across.
You guys are just nit picking.
Don’t be so uptight.
So the question needs to be asked here as well, Why does it matter?
How much “alteration” can we make before we destroy the integrity of the story?
Curiously, the small slight alterations are the most offensive because they show ignorance or lack of respect for the movie.
Remember in Star Wars, how we got to know the characters first, only to later discover they were siblings?
How we thought maybe the one guy, who was actually the girl’s brother but didn’t know it, might be falling in love with her? But her other brother was the one she was interested in, because she didn't know he was her brother?
Remember that?
And now you scratch your head trying to figure out just what I am talking about, because the other guy was not even her brother!
How far can we take “creative license”?
In this case, I am no longer just making a simple mistake that can be easily corrected, I am actually confusing the story to the point it will take some work to straighten me out!
There is a whole lot of explaining that needs to be done to properly identify the history of the characters. Does it really matter to the story that Hans Solo is not the brother of the Princess? Of course it does!
But while small alterations are harmful to the story, huge and many alterations are less offensive because they are so obvious, they actually confirm the original story...but only as long as we are serious fans of the original story.
The most important part of a good spoof is the knowledge of the details of the actual story. If you don’t know the original story well, the spoof will be completely lost on you, and to you, it will be really stupid.
But if you know the original story well, the spoof is Soooo funny!
But what happens when the spoof becomes the story?
Are you with me?
People memorize entire scripts of their favorite movies, not because they are trying to win an award, they just do.
It is because they are connecting with the movie and internalizing the emotion of it.
And when they are talking with other fans, there is so much unspoken meaning that is shared because they both know the story well. One will speak a simple line, and the other lights up thrilled because that one line triggered an entire mental event of memory for them that they connected with.
And to these people, every line, every pause, every inflection and unspoken meaning are all very important to the integrity of the movie.
In a very short conversation with someone, these fans can tell just how big a fan the other is by the accuracy of details they express in their conversation.
And these are just movies.
Even most fans know the movies they cherish have no connection with reality. But accuracy is still very important to them.
But when it comes to faith?
“It’s no big deal.”
So how serious of a fan are you?
* * * * * * *
Please understand I am not endorsing any of these movies.
I am attempting to connect with the reader.
If my examples don’t reach you, don’t go get the movies to “hear me”.
You have your own personal examples you can use to understand my meaning.
If I had a choice, I would not now watch these movies for the first time and don't plan on seeing them again.
Before we move on from the previous post, we need to ask, Why?
Why does it matter if our Christmas story is slightly doctored?
I am told;
“The wise men are included in the manger scene of the children’s play at Church because they are a very attractive element, but we can’t make the production go for hours.
It is artistic license, not a corruption.”
Ok, lets see how that works with us:
Remember the movie with Clint Eastwood?
You know, the one where he has got a great big handgun,
And he corners the evil punk who dropped his gun?
You remember,
And as the punk is lying on the ground with his hand only inches from his gun,
you can see the thoughts going through his head; Can I reach it, and use it, before he draws?
And Clint Eastwood speaks that famous line;
“Go ahead…
Make my afternoon!”
Oh that was good. I will never forget that line.
And just now every movie fan out there just stiffened;
“NO you fool, the line is; “Go ahead… Make my day.”
Whatever.
Remember that great Arnald Schwarzenegar movie where he is a robot and comes back from the future?
He shows up at the police station in those cool shades, but the cops don’t provide him with what he wants?
Remember?
So in that great accent that only he has, he says that immortal short line;
“I’ll return.”
I love that line, "I'll return."
And now I have these movie fans pulling on their hair;
“What an idiot! The line is; I’ll be back”!
So.
The serious fans will also complain because I spelled Arnold Schwarzenegger wrong.
Who cares? I got the general thought across.
You guys are just nit picking.
Don’t be so uptight.
So the question needs to be asked here as well, Why does it matter?
How much “alteration” can we make before we destroy the integrity of the story?
Curiously, the small slight alterations are the most offensive because they show ignorance or lack of respect for the movie.
Remember in Star Wars, how we got to know the characters first, only to later discover they were siblings?
How we thought maybe the one guy, who was actually the girl’s brother but didn’t know it, might be falling in love with her? But her other brother was the one she was interested in, because she didn't know he was her brother?
Remember that?
And now you scratch your head trying to figure out just what I am talking about, because the other guy was not even her brother!
How far can we take “creative license”?
In this case, I am no longer just making a simple mistake that can be easily corrected, I am actually confusing the story to the point it will take some work to straighten me out!
There is a whole lot of explaining that needs to be done to properly identify the history of the characters. Does it really matter to the story that Hans Solo is not the brother of the Princess? Of course it does!
But while small alterations are harmful to the story, huge and many alterations are less offensive because they are so obvious, they actually confirm the original story...but only as long as we are serious fans of the original story.
The most important part of a good spoof is the knowledge of the details of the actual story. If you don’t know the original story well, the spoof will be completely lost on you, and to you, it will be really stupid.
But if you know the original story well, the spoof is Soooo funny!
But what happens when the spoof becomes the story?
Are you with me?
People memorize entire scripts of their favorite movies, not because they are trying to win an award, they just do.
It is because they are connecting with the movie and internalizing the emotion of it.
And when they are talking with other fans, there is so much unspoken meaning that is shared because they both know the story well. One will speak a simple line, and the other lights up thrilled because that one line triggered an entire mental event of memory for them that they connected with.
And to these people, every line, every pause, every inflection and unspoken meaning are all very important to the integrity of the movie.
In a very short conversation with someone, these fans can tell just how big a fan the other is by the accuracy of details they express in their conversation.
And these are just movies.
Even most fans know the movies they cherish have no connection with reality. But accuracy is still very important to them.
But when it comes to faith?
“It’s no big deal.”
So how serious of a fan are you?
* * * * * * *
Please understand I am not endorsing any of these movies.
I am attempting to connect with the reader.
If my examples don’t reach you, don’t go get the movies to “hear me”.
You have your own personal examples you can use to understand my meaning.
If I had a choice, I would not now watch these movies for the first time and don't plan on seeing them again.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Christ-mess
Post 138
As Christians, we celebrate Christmas as representing the birth of Jesus Christ the Savior of the world. All of America has long celebrated Christmas with this knowledge, even if they don’t choose to practice.
It is a wonderful time of year where the Spirit of Christmas creates love and joy and genuine pleasantness all around.
I thoroughly enjoy the celebration of Christmas, and the fantastic memories of wonderful family happiness, decorations, dinners and goodies, music, presents, and church services memorializing the Christmas story.
Twice in the year churches are packed with people who only go to church on Christmas and Easter. Though they want nothing to do with Church, Christ, or religion, they attend a ceremony to memorialize the birth of the Savior, and then again one memorializing The Resurrection in Power, after his sacrificial death as our Savior.
Do you really think America has not until recently, been a Christian nation?
As a Child in my family, we never believed in Santa, and that did not diminish the holiday. We put up a Christmas tree like everyone else, but it meant nothing more a great smelling decoration. It is quite a thing to bring a huge tree into the house once a year and then set about decorating the thing to the max! We did not worship it, nor the god of trees, or anything else like that. It was just a Christmas decoration and we never thought about why.
Then as a teen we learned that Christmas was really a pagan holiday that was adopted for Christians by Constantine in 336 AD when he forced Christianity on everyone by law.
We learned that Jesus could not have possibly been born in winter, and that decorated trees are from an obscure pagan custom, having nothing to do with Jesus.
And suddenly with new understanding we questioned; What does make every home in America put up a tree for Christmas?
And the seeds of doubt were rooted, not in our faith, but in our celebrations, but more in the validity of Jesus Birthday. Somehow in ignorance we thoughtlessly assumed the bible said Jesus was born on December 25th, and so the discovery that he wasn’t, tended to cast doubt no the validity of scripture.
After learning this was not actually scriptural, what other Christian traditions might be all wrong? This either creates doubt, or a serious study to try and figure it out. And now there is new skepticism to everything we were once sure of.
Then entered Santa Clause, who was really only a side issue as a child but I saw grow into the central theme in most of America, pushing out the manger, the baby, and the singing angels…who scripturally never sang.
And since we are discovering these technical discrepancies in our traditions, the three wise men we see every year come to the manger to worship the infant, didn’t actually show up until about 1-1/2 years later according to the scripture, and there is no support that there were specifically three.
Goodness! Is anything of our tradition true?
And for all that, the long accepted birth date of March 13, 04 BC of the Gregorian calendar is proven wrong by errors found in the records of Josephus the historian as well as the date of Herod’s death. There are a lot of small but related histories that all come together indicating an autumn 2 BC birth of Jesus is far more likely. *1
So now it seems our traditions and their foundations are really a whole bunch of lies, deceptions, concoctions, fabrications and corruptions. And you have to begin to wonder if any of it is true!
Then with Santa came the many variations of the origin of Santa (whose name is strangely close to Satan for no apparent reason). Other names are; Father Christmas, Saint Nicolas, etc.
The actual origin appears to be lost in time because as some stories go, he is even older than Christ.
There are a myriad of historical stories explaining the origin of the pagan holiday we Christians hijacked, such as the pagan festival worshiping Tammuz (or Ra depending on the rendition) the Sun God of Babylon during the winter solstice of December 21st.
We can see the easy jump made from the Sun God, to the Son of God.
And then we do a few emotional loops as we legitimize it as acceptable because Jesus was the “Light of Men” (John 1:4) which is pretty close to the same thing, right?
The Yule Log has its roots clearly in Babylon representing the death of the winter sun god, and burning the trimmed tree on the new solstice of spring representing the re-birth of the sun god. (yule being Chaldean for log)
I remember feeling quite concerned that all us good Christians were blindly celebrating poorly corrupted pagan rituals while calling it Christmas, and for a number of years I made life miserable for those who wanted to decorate a tree in the house by making this information known.
Yet I couldn’t help but remember and notice the joyful spirit of Christmas that remained.
And so I eventually let it go and continued to enjoy Christmas, realizing regardless of the beginnings, and the warping of facts, we celebrated it for a real and legitimate memorial of our savior, though I confess I enjoyed it a little less with this new wisdom of knowledge. “It might still be a boat, but there is a whole lot less wind in the sails.”
I was torn in conflict wondering how we Christians got so deeply mixed up in paganism, and wondering what God thought about it all.
* * *
Is there really anyone still out there who does not know all this?
I learned all this years ago.
So, how Christmas is Christmas?
I heard recently that in the 17th century, Puritan Christians were the first ones that worked hard to eliminate the holiday because of its pagan roots and lack of biblical justification.
They succeeded in getting the British Parliament to ban by law the celebration of Christmas, and all things related.
At the death of Cromwell of England (a Puritan himself) Christmas was restored.
And the next group to work at banning Christmas were the pagans. *2
But they know the great financial boon that Christmas is and so have carefully anti-Christed Christmas while leaving the holiday represented as “Merry X-mas”.
There has been a modern fight to remove all things Christ from public displays of Christmas. (sorry) X-mas.
The holiday is fine, but not the religion the holiday represents. Some Christians were even able to see the X as a cross, and so were able to adapt.
This was fine for a while, but now there is a push to attack even the name which has too much Christ even with an X, and so it has become “Happy Holidays”, with a Holiday tree, and Holiday gifts... even though we don't put up a tree or give gifts on Thanksgiving or New Years, or any Holiday but Christmas.
Speaking of gifts, we assume we give gifts on Christmas because we give gifts on Birthdays. Christmas is Jesus birthday, so it just makes sense.
But our traditional actions derive from the source example, so we actually would be giving gifts on birthdays because they gave gifts to Jesus on his birthday, not the other way round.
And thus the appearance of the wise men giving gifts.
Well that’s great, but we already know the wise men didn’t show up on his birthday. (Matthew 2)
So again, why do we give gifts on Christmas?
A Jewish friend suggested to me that we give “Holiday Gifts” to include the Jewish Chanukah gifts given near the same date as our Christmas, but for a very different reason.
Chanukah is of course the memorial of the re-dedication of the second temple.
But upon pressing, that story gets confusing too.
In apparent conflict with the original rules of Chanukah; not to purchase anything, representing the miracle of the oil not running out,
money is given for the purchase and play of a game called Dreidel, which is actually a gambling game!
Eventually because of Chanukah’s proximity to Christmas, the Jews adapted the giving of money, to the giving of gifts, and so now they have Chanukah gifts! *3
Hardly sourced on anything worthy for a Jew.
So like Christmas, Chanukah has apparently been all mixed up too.
So again, why the gifts on Christmas? or birthdays for that mater?
Now what was once rejected by Christians as a pagan holiday, but pushed on us by pagans,
Is now rejected by pagans and defended by Christians, though we realize the whole thing is really a pagan/Christ-mess.
Can any real sense be made of this mess?!
It seems as if evil has corrupted everything good beyond recovery!
Just ask any average Christian to simply eliminate the very pagan tree *4 from their Christmas traditions and watch the fur fly!
It seems Traditions are more sacred than what they represent... For the Jews and for the Christians.
Could it be because we all know it really doesn’t represent what we like to pretend it does?
The complication is so confusing and irrelevant to the fun of the holiday, that we just ignore it all for the sake of a happy event each year.
But I am the one committing Heresy by suggesting there are problems with Christmas!
* * *
OK, so now we Christians are all confused.
We want to celebrate the legitimate birth of our Savior, which is significant in our faith.
But we know the holiday is actually pagan, only slightly adapted for our use.
And now the pagans are seriously attacking our Christianized, pagan celebration.
Where do we really stand, and what do we teach our children about Christmas?
This is one example of many showing the first stage confusion of the Christian faith that is now entering the second stage. What is truth? How can we know? Where do we stand on issues like this?
To ignore all the confusion and continue pretending everything is just fine, is to allow the evil to overtake us unprepared. But to reject the sacred celebration has significant consequences to our faith, though we might not see them clearly.
This is the same basic problem Orthodox Jews have today, only on steroids.
Their Torah tells them there must be a blood sacrifice for the remission of sins, but since they are no longer allowed on the temple mount, and there is no temple anyway, there is simply no way they can fulfill the requirements of the Torah.
And so they created the substitute of praying three times a day, which they all know can’t actually fulfill the requirement, but now it has become so rooted in their tradition that they don’t really want to think about why they do what they do.
Now of course we Christians know the correct answer; that their Messiah did come and his name is Jesus, and he shed his blood as the everlasting sacrifice for them if they would just receive it. And He came just before their temple was destroyed, making His blood their only real choice to have their sins remitted. How amazing is that?! Their scriptures are full of the prophecy of his coming, and he came exactly when he was supposed to, in exactly the way he was supposed to, doing exactly what he was supposed to.
So their paradox is resolved, and their answer is available, but they don’t want that answer.
We Christians too have a correct answer to our Christmas dilemma, but today there are so many lies, and so many answers, we simply cannot trust any one of them.
And we too stick to our traditions even though we know they hold no water.
So while the Jews are literally dying without remission of sins according to their own laws of faith, what consequences do we face for our faulty traditions?
We too experience doubt in our faith.
* * *
A Legitimate answer has been found! with sure validation that actually trumps all the stories, rumors, history, and “facts” regarding Christmas.
Trump is good.
But you have to be willing to actually have an open mind to listen to all the evidence so that if it rings true, you can accept it.
It is really not that tough, because it really fills most the holes quite well, but there are holes that once discovered cannot not be filled with Christ, must be rejected as unacceptable, this is the hard part; separating tradition from true faith.
I’m out of space again, so this answer will have to wait until the next post!
* * * * * * *
*1 Although there are many good sources all having parts of the whole issue, Chuck Missler does a good job at providing a sketch from which you can begin your study.
You can find the podcast downloadable for free here; http://www.khouse.org/6640/BP025/ - “when was Jesus born?” 11/28/2010
I would highly recommend joining the daily podcast messages found here:
http://www.khouse.org/6640_podcast/feed.xml
*2 Charles Price message; “The Reason Jesus Was Born” - The Peoples Church in Toronto Canada - www.livingtruth.ca
*3 Chanukah - http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday7.htm
*4 The Christmas tree pedigree-
Jeremiah 10:3-5 “For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workmen, with the ax.
They deck it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.”
Clearly this tree was seen as a god at the time, and this scripture way back 2600 years ago in about 600 BC, made specific clarification that these trees had no power.
There would be no need for the Jewish people to know this bit of encouragement unless there was a confusion about it.
It seems that these decorated trees were prominently places, and came with such stories, that the Jews had fear.
So where were the Jews in about 600 BC that would make them have interaction with these trees?
This passage was given within the first 7 years after they were hauled off to Babylon as captives, as seen in Daniel 1:1.
So imagine the Jews, now slaves to a pagan people, apparently abandon by God, and then the Babylonians bring these trees into each house and set them up as gods, telling them who knows what about their powers. By this verse we can surmise it was something like; “if you follow our religion, the tree will bring you luck, but if you disobey, the tree will sneak up and kill you in your sleep”.
And at night while they peered in the darkness at the bushy shadow in the corner, you can just imagine the fearful thoughts.
And so the passage begins in verse 1; “Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
For the customs of the people are vain:…”
The Babylonians were significant followers of Astrology, this is historical.
God is telling the Jewish slaves not to follow their religion. And not to be concerned about what the Babylonians thought the stars told them.
Then it continues with the bit about the trees, showing how ridiculous their spooky customs were.
This is the first known source of the Christmas tree, which over time has lost its original purposes but remains all the same.
We are not to fear them, and we don’t, but honestly what are we doing bringing them into the house?
Because we don’t see them as anything, they are nothing.
This is not a faith killer, but it is a corruption of the pure Gospel story.
I am suggesting we can ill afford many of these corruptions as the number of them increase until we loose track of the actual truth.
More in the next post.
As Christians, we celebrate Christmas as representing the birth of Jesus Christ the Savior of the world. All of America has long celebrated Christmas with this knowledge, even if they don’t choose to practice.
It is a wonderful time of year where the Spirit of Christmas creates love and joy and genuine pleasantness all around.
I thoroughly enjoy the celebration of Christmas, and the fantastic memories of wonderful family happiness, decorations, dinners and goodies, music, presents, and church services memorializing the Christmas story.
Twice in the year churches are packed with people who only go to church on Christmas and Easter. Though they want nothing to do with Church, Christ, or religion, they attend a ceremony to memorialize the birth of the Savior, and then again one memorializing The Resurrection in Power, after his sacrificial death as our Savior.
Do you really think America has not until recently, been a Christian nation?
As a Child in my family, we never believed in Santa, and that did not diminish the holiday. We put up a Christmas tree like everyone else, but it meant nothing more a great smelling decoration. It is quite a thing to bring a huge tree into the house once a year and then set about decorating the thing to the max! We did not worship it, nor the god of trees, or anything else like that. It was just a Christmas decoration and we never thought about why.
Then as a teen we learned that Christmas was really a pagan holiday that was adopted for Christians by Constantine in 336 AD when he forced Christianity on everyone by law.
We learned that Jesus could not have possibly been born in winter, and that decorated trees are from an obscure pagan custom, having nothing to do with Jesus.
And suddenly with new understanding we questioned; What does make every home in America put up a tree for Christmas?
And the seeds of doubt were rooted, not in our faith, but in our celebrations, but more in the validity of Jesus Birthday. Somehow in ignorance we thoughtlessly assumed the bible said Jesus was born on December 25th, and so the discovery that he wasn’t, tended to cast doubt no the validity of scripture.
After learning this was not actually scriptural, what other Christian traditions might be all wrong? This either creates doubt, or a serious study to try and figure it out. And now there is new skepticism to everything we were once sure of.
Then entered Santa Clause, who was really only a side issue as a child but I saw grow into the central theme in most of America, pushing out the manger, the baby, and the singing angels…who scripturally never sang.
And since we are discovering these technical discrepancies in our traditions, the three wise men we see every year come to the manger to worship the infant, didn’t actually show up until about 1-1/2 years later according to the scripture, and there is no support that there were specifically three.
Goodness! Is anything of our tradition true?
And for all that, the long accepted birth date of March 13, 04 BC of the Gregorian calendar is proven wrong by errors found in the records of Josephus the historian as well as the date of Herod’s death. There are a lot of small but related histories that all come together indicating an autumn 2 BC birth of Jesus is far more likely. *1
So now it seems our traditions and their foundations are really a whole bunch of lies, deceptions, concoctions, fabrications and corruptions. And you have to begin to wonder if any of it is true!
Then with Santa came the many variations of the origin of Santa (whose name is strangely close to Satan for no apparent reason). Other names are; Father Christmas, Saint Nicolas, etc.
The actual origin appears to be lost in time because as some stories go, he is even older than Christ.
There are a myriad of historical stories explaining the origin of the pagan holiday we Christians hijacked, such as the pagan festival worshiping Tammuz (or Ra depending on the rendition) the Sun God of Babylon during the winter solstice of December 21st.
We can see the easy jump made from the Sun God, to the Son of God.
And then we do a few emotional loops as we legitimize it as acceptable because Jesus was the “Light of Men” (John 1:4) which is pretty close to the same thing, right?
The Yule Log has its roots clearly in Babylon representing the death of the winter sun god, and burning the trimmed tree on the new solstice of spring representing the re-birth of the sun god. (yule being Chaldean for log)
I remember feeling quite concerned that all us good Christians were blindly celebrating poorly corrupted pagan rituals while calling it Christmas, and for a number of years I made life miserable for those who wanted to decorate a tree in the house by making this information known.
Yet I couldn’t help but remember and notice the joyful spirit of Christmas that remained.
And so I eventually let it go and continued to enjoy Christmas, realizing regardless of the beginnings, and the warping of facts, we celebrated it for a real and legitimate memorial of our savior, though I confess I enjoyed it a little less with this new wisdom of knowledge. “It might still be a boat, but there is a whole lot less wind in the sails.”
I was torn in conflict wondering how we Christians got so deeply mixed up in paganism, and wondering what God thought about it all.
* * *
Is there really anyone still out there who does not know all this?
I learned all this years ago.
So, how Christmas is Christmas?
I heard recently that in the 17th century, Puritan Christians were the first ones that worked hard to eliminate the holiday because of its pagan roots and lack of biblical justification.
They succeeded in getting the British Parliament to ban by law the celebration of Christmas, and all things related.
At the death of Cromwell of England (a Puritan himself) Christmas was restored.
And the next group to work at banning Christmas were the pagans. *2
But they know the great financial boon that Christmas is and so have carefully anti-Christed Christmas while leaving the holiday represented as “Merry X-mas”.
There has been a modern fight to remove all things Christ from public displays of Christmas. (sorry) X-mas.
The holiday is fine, but not the religion the holiday represents. Some Christians were even able to see the X as a cross, and so were able to adapt.
This was fine for a while, but now there is a push to attack even the name which has too much Christ even with an X, and so it has become “Happy Holidays”, with a Holiday tree, and Holiday gifts... even though we don't put up a tree or give gifts on Thanksgiving or New Years, or any Holiday but Christmas.
Speaking of gifts, we assume we give gifts on Christmas because we give gifts on Birthdays. Christmas is Jesus birthday, so it just makes sense.
But our traditional actions derive from the source example, so we actually would be giving gifts on birthdays because they gave gifts to Jesus on his birthday, not the other way round.
And thus the appearance of the wise men giving gifts.
Well that’s great, but we already know the wise men didn’t show up on his birthday. (Matthew 2)
So again, why do we give gifts on Christmas?
A Jewish friend suggested to me that we give “Holiday Gifts” to include the Jewish Chanukah gifts given near the same date as our Christmas, but for a very different reason.
Chanukah is of course the memorial of the re-dedication of the second temple.
But upon pressing, that story gets confusing too.
In apparent conflict with the original rules of Chanukah; not to purchase anything, representing the miracle of the oil not running out,
money is given for the purchase and play of a game called Dreidel, which is actually a gambling game!
Eventually because of Chanukah’s proximity to Christmas, the Jews adapted the giving of money, to the giving of gifts, and so now they have Chanukah gifts! *3
Hardly sourced on anything worthy for a Jew.
So like Christmas, Chanukah has apparently been all mixed up too.
So again, why the gifts on Christmas? or birthdays for that mater?
Now what was once rejected by Christians as a pagan holiday, but pushed on us by pagans,
Is now rejected by pagans and defended by Christians, though we realize the whole thing is really a pagan/Christ-mess.
Can any real sense be made of this mess?!
It seems as if evil has corrupted everything good beyond recovery!
Just ask any average Christian to simply eliminate the very pagan tree *4 from their Christmas traditions and watch the fur fly!
It seems Traditions are more sacred than what they represent... For the Jews and for the Christians.
Could it be because we all know it really doesn’t represent what we like to pretend it does?
The complication is so confusing and irrelevant to the fun of the holiday, that we just ignore it all for the sake of a happy event each year.
But I am the one committing Heresy by suggesting there are problems with Christmas!
* * *
OK, so now we Christians are all confused.
We want to celebrate the legitimate birth of our Savior, which is significant in our faith.
But we know the holiday is actually pagan, only slightly adapted for our use.
And now the pagans are seriously attacking our Christianized, pagan celebration.
Where do we really stand, and what do we teach our children about Christmas?
This is one example of many showing the first stage confusion of the Christian faith that is now entering the second stage. What is truth? How can we know? Where do we stand on issues like this?
To ignore all the confusion and continue pretending everything is just fine, is to allow the evil to overtake us unprepared. But to reject the sacred celebration has significant consequences to our faith, though we might not see them clearly.
This is the same basic problem Orthodox Jews have today, only on steroids.
Their Torah tells them there must be a blood sacrifice for the remission of sins, but since they are no longer allowed on the temple mount, and there is no temple anyway, there is simply no way they can fulfill the requirements of the Torah.
And so they created the substitute of praying three times a day, which they all know can’t actually fulfill the requirement, but now it has become so rooted in their tradition that they don’t really want to think about why they do what they do.
Now of course we Christians know the correct answer; that their Messiah did come and his name is Jesus, and he shed his blood as the everlasting sacrifice for them if they would just receive it. And He came just before their temple was destroyed, making His blood their only real choice to have their sins remitted. How amazing is that?! Their scriptures are full of the prophecy of his coming, and he came exactly when he was supposed to, in exactly the way he was supposed to, doing exactly what he was supposed to.
So their paradox is resolved, and their answer is available, but they don’t want that answer.
We Christians too have a correct answer to our Christmas dilemma, but today there are so many lies, and so many answers, we simply cannot trust any one of them.
And we too stick to our traditions even though we know they hold no water.
So while the Jews are literally dying without remission of sins according to their own laws of faith, what consequences do we face for our faulty traditions?
We too experience doubt in our faith.
* * *
A Legitimate answer has been found! with sure validation that actually trumps all the stories, rumors, history, and “facts” regarding Christmas.
Trump is good.
But you have to be willing to actually have an open mind to listen to all the evidence so that if it rings true, you can accept it.
It is really not that tough, because it really fills most the holes quite well, but there are holes that once discovered cannot not be filled with Christ, must be rejected as unacceptable, this is the hard part; separating tradition from true faith.
I’m out of space again, so this answer will have to wait until the next post!
* * * * * * *
*1 Although there are many good sources all having parts of the whole issue, Chuck Missler does a good job at providing a sketch from which you can begin your study.
You can find the podcast downloadable for free here; http://www.khouse.org/6640/BP025/ - “when was Jesus born?” 11/28/2010
I would highly recommend joining the daily podcast messages found here:
http://www.khouse.org/6640_podcast/feed.xml
*2 Charles Price message; “The Reason Jesus Was Born” - The Peoples Church in Toronto Canada - www.livingtruth.ca
*3 Chanukah - http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday7.htm
*4 The Christmas tree pedigree-
Jeremiah 10:3-5 “For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workmen, with the ax.
They deck it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.”
Clearly this tree was seen as a god at the time, and this scripture way back 2600 years ago in about 600 BC, made specific clarification that these trees had no power.
There would be no need for the Jewish people to know this bit of encouragement unless there was a confusion about it.
It seems that these decorated trees were prominently places, and came with such stories, that the Jews had fear.
So where were the Jews in about 600 BC that would make them have interaction with these trees?
This passage was given within the first 7 years after they were hauled off to Babylon as captives, as seen in Daniel 1:1.
So imagine the Jews, now slaves to a pagan people, apparently abandon by God, and then the Babylonians bring these trees into each house and set them up as gods, telling them who knows what about their powers. By this verse we can surmise it was something like; “if you follow our religion, the tree will bring you luck, but if you disobey, the tree will sneak up and kill you in your sleep”.
And at night while they peered in the darkness at the bushy shadow in the corner, you can just imagine the fearful thoughts.
And so the passage begins in verse 1; “Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
For the customs of the people are vain:…”
The Babylonians were significant followers of Astrology, this is historical.
God is telling the Jewish slaves not to follow their religion. And not to be concerned about what the Babylonians thought the stars told them.
Then it continues with the bit about the trees, showing how ridiculous their spooky customs were.
This is the first known source of the Christmas tree, which over time has lost its original purposes but remains all the same.
We are not to fear them, and we don’t, but honestly what are we doing bringing them into the house?
Because we don’t see them as anything, they are nothing.
This is not a faith killer, but it is a corruption of the pure Gospel story.
I am suggesting we can ill afford many of these corruptions as the number of them increase until we loose track of the actual truth.
More in the next post.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Different Now
Post 137
I am just now coming out the other side of a very interesting learning curve.
God has been really working in me personally, and my mind continues to be filled with contemplations and thoughts, but things are significantly different than they were before.
I want to continue my blog because I feel there is much more to be said, yet the approach now is nothing like it was before. It has taken me some time to only begin to understand what just happened, and then to begin a whole new learning period of application. And frankly I am still not sure, but getting closer!
Fortunately for me, this is actually the third time this has happened in my life.
The first time years ago, spun me so bad I was never able to understand it, and therefore was not able to respond correctly. *1
The second time did not catch me by surprise as bad but neither did I try hard to understand it.
Only this time have I been able to grasp just a little of the bigger picture in the events, and therefore have more knowledge to make sense of it and therefore have a more proper response.
I only bring this up here because as I endeavor to continue my blog it is important to note that although I believe the Spirit of God is still guiding my thoughts, it is as if the message is coming long distance now, (though that is a poor analogy) and it appears as if there is a whole lot more of my own mental processes involved than previously.
Although I have virtually no aspirations or illusions that I should even be comparing myself, I can see in a small way what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote; “But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment. For I would that all men were even as I myself.” I Corinthians 7:6-7
Then in the next concept in the same line of thinking he boldly declares; “And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord,…” I Corinthians 7:10
Now how do you suppose he had the ability to know the difference between his own ideas, and the Lord’s?
And was his idea actually within the heart of God?
Apparently it was, after all, it made it into the scriptures and we are fully confident the scriptures are breathed of the Holy Spirit and without a single error. II timothy 3:16
In my previous posts, for the sake of weak believers, I carefully noted that what I wrote was my own interpretation of scripture. This is technically true.
But now in my efforts to continue my studies and writing without the direct breath of the Holy Spirit, I am very keenly aware that what I had written previously had another significant influence outside of myself that is now missing. So just how much of it was my own interpretation? I honestly don’t really know.
Clearly I am not even in the same league as the Apostle Paul, nor do I even try to be! *2
Yet the Apostle Paul himself claimed to be the least of the Apostles because he actually persecuted the church before being converted. (I Corinthians 15:9)
Apostle 652 apostolos; from 649; a delegate; specifically an ambassador of the Gospel; officially a commissioner of Christ [“apostle”] (with miraculous powers).
Technically Paul never saw Jesus in the flesh before the ascension. Paul (then called Saul) only saw Jesus later in what was effectively perhaps a vision, but apparently more than that because he was actually blinded by the event, then accepted as an Apostle by the others, and finally confirmed by God through his writings making it into our Scriptures.
In the classic scriptural patterns, Paul then represents the Church age as the other Apostles represent the Jews. They had the presence of God in their experience, while Paul gained his faith and remained faithful, all in the Lord’s physical absence. Though on occasion the LORD took him in power beyond what is normal.
I declare that in a similar way of his own comparison, each of us as believers should be at least experiencing God in a shadow of comparison to the Apostle Paul, as he was in the shadow of the Apostles who were physically in the presence of Jesus the Messiah.
In all reality, each of us having the Holy Ghost dwelling with us, should be practicing Apostles.
But today’s Christians are so weak and sickly in faith, that such a thought is near Heresy, and such a concept too easily corrupted, and so I cannot even suggest such a concept…
Except in Colossians 2:18 Paul warns; “Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,…”
First this suggests there is a reward that can be lost through beguilement.
And second that beguilement comes in the way of voluntary humility among other things.
What is voluntary humility?
That is of course; humility which is consciously applied.
As opposed to what?
Involuntary humility?
We can correctly re-phrase this as; false humility.
That is; humility that is not appropriate because it is not naturally occurring.
Stirring up a whole can of worms, this is exactly the kind of humility that supports the Green movement, the Environmentalists, and the unwarranted compassion for animals, illegals, Islamists, and abortion clinics, etc etc.
If you don’t see it, just cross them and watch the blood come up into their eyes.
What happened to all that humility they were just showing?
The too-sweet, sickeningly syrupy, gush, and cooing, that they do is a good sign that they are only applying a humility by force.
They are acting out good behavior.
They are pretending.
They are dangerous because the humility only covers a much darker secret side.
But isn’t that exactly what most Christians do?!
Yes it is, and it sickens God just as much, if not more!
(I use the offensive word "most" because the condition in America we see today could not be possible if it was not MOST. Therefore I am not generalizing, I am stating what I actually mean. I do not air-quote "Christians" here because I cannot know just who is really a Christian acting carnally and who is only pretending to be a Christian, yet either way the result is the same.)
So getting back to my case, if I continue to deny that what I have written was influenced strongly by the Holy Spirit of God even though I know otherwise, I have applied false humility, or voluntary humility, and thereby loose my reward.
What reward?
How about the interaction with the Holy Spirit? *1
God says; “…for how should my name be polluted? And I will not give my glory unto another.” Isaiah 48:11b, see also Isaiah 42:8, Acts 12:23
So if I claim the credit for the work of the Holy Spirit through false humility, how can I expect Him to continue working in me?
Yet if I claim the Holy Spirit is giving me my ideas, You will be offended that I claim I can hear from God!
How tragic. Because either way the message is lost.
This is a good example of the confusion and corruption of truth that my next series of posts will attempt to cover, (God willing. (and I mean that!))
But note here;
These posts are coming with much more labor now because the Spirit of God is not as close.
I’m working on that, and will let you know if it changes.
Yet in the meantime, with the additional diligence, I believe what I have to say is still in conformity to the heart of God, though I am less confident and am not content that it remain this way.
As always, it is up to you to evaluate what you read, but that evaluation will be affected by this knowledge, and with this knowledge you might want to go back and read again some of the previous posts with new evaluation!
* * * * * * *
*1 IF this is really your case, I have created quite a study on this topic and have come to some understanding I really wish I had the first time.
Feel free to contact me through a reply to my post after becoming a follower of my blog so that I can respond to you personally.
But be warned; I will probably be able to show you that you already know you are not applying your faith as you know you should, and therefore this study will be of no use to you.
Sometimes the absence of the Holy Ghost after a time of great interaction is due to ignorance and offense, but sometimes the LORD himself has reasons we do not understand which we can glean from the first three chapters of the Song of Solomon of all places! This is a complex and deep spiritual insight into both the Jews and the Christian’s relationship with God.
*2 Does this mean that I think with diligence I can eventually reach the level of the Apostle Paul and write scripture?
NO, NO, NO, no, no, no, and NO!
Why do you go there?!
But do you really think Paul was able to write scripture because he diligently reached some spiritual level?
NO.
The Spirit of God wanted to write scripture and used those whom he chose, and Paul happened to be one.
Now the Scriptures are written, and anyone claiming to be writing more scripture is of the Devil. And anyone claiming to be privately interpreting scripture is also of the Devil.
II Peter 1:20-21 “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
I am claiming to be interpreting scripture, and I am claiming I have the spiritual influence of the Holy Ghost to aid my interpretation, just as all believers have access.
I have no special “In” with God beyond what is available to all believers.
This passage is speaking directly to the Joseph Smiths, and Marry Baker Eddies, and Mohammads, who claim to have a secret “In” with God that no one else has, thereby making them and their interpretations the indisputable voice of God.
I am only saying I think I have confirmation from the Spirit of God that my interpretation has substance. You read it and see for yourself if you agree.
I am confident that if you too are walking in the Holy Spirit, you will agree with my interpretation, but I am not declaring you must!
*3 How do I know I am applying this verse correctly? (Colossians 2;18)
Because in the same thought is the topic of Angel worship.
Angel worship comes by recognizing there is actually an outside influence, but instead of applying false humility to cover it, we choose to claim we got it from Angels.
Then begins a wrongful seeking after, or a heightened focus on Angels, which is also offensive to God, and in the same category of voluntary humility by denying the real influence of the Holy Ghost.
We are not to focus on the messenger, but the author of the message, who is God.
We are not even to focus on the Holy Spirit, but on the message he brings, yet neither are we to deny Him.
All glory should be fully and confidently given to Jesus the Messiah and the Father God.
This verse spends a bit of time describing those men who will beguile us;
They intrude into those things which they have not seen: meaning you saw it, but they talk you out of it because they didn’t.
They are vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind: meaning they mean well but are not even on the same plain as you. You are seeing and understanding great spiritual things while they see only with eyes and minds of arrogant flesh.
They are not in possession of the source, (Jesus through the Holy Spirit) from which all the members, (Christians) by connections and fellowships, are fed and instructed and combined together, and therefore the body of believers increases as God increases them. (Colossians 3:18-19 paraphrased)
There is much more here, but dropping down to verse 23:
It tells us, all these beguilements have indeed an appearance of wisdom through will worship, and humility, and neglecting the body…
But this is not honorable because the flesh is not actually satisfied through the effort.
This means all the attempts to diligently conduct themselves with wisdom and virtue is actually only a thin disguise that has no true value because it is missing the source.
Again, this is a real problem among "modern" Christians as well; Trying real hard to BE Christians, but not doing real good at it in their secret lives.
In religious terms we call these things Works.
But the answer is not to deny works. In worldly terms that would be Chaos and Hedonism.
What then is the answer?
This passage tells us these “men of wisdom” who would rob us of our reward by talking us out of our confidence, have no idea what the right answer is.
Clearly the right answer is to first; be one who does see the power of the Holy Ghost in your life.
And then grow in confidence and reliance on that power as you experience His interaction in your life!
Then don’t let the Spiritless “Christians” talk you out of it.
God is alive and desires greatly to be involved in our lives!
LET HIM!
Will you always get it right?
Nope!
It takes practice and diligence as anything good does.
Now, how good is your shooting?
see post 103 Bulls eye
* * * * * * *
I am just now coming out the other side of a very interesting learning curve.
God has been really working in me personally, and my mind continues to be filled with contemplations and thoughts, but things are significantly different than they were before.
I want to continue my blog because I feel there is much more to be said, yet the approach now is nothing like it was before. It has taken me some time to only begin to understand what just happened, and then to begin a whole new learning period of application. And frankly I am still not sure, but getting closer!
Fortunately for me, this is actually the third time this has happened in my life.
The first time years ago, spun me so bad I was never able to understand it, and therefore was not able to respond correctly. *1
The second time did not catch me by surprise as bad but neither did I try hard to understand it.
Only this time have I been able to grasp just a little of the bigger picture in the events, and therefore have more knowledge to make sense of it and therefore have a more proper response.
I only bring this up here because as I endeavor to continue my blog it is important to note that although I believe the Spirit of God is still guiding my thoughts, it is as if the message is coming long distance now, (though that is a poor analogy) and it appears as if there is a whole lot more of my own mental processes involved than previously.
Although I have virtually no aspirations or illusions that I should even be comparing myself, I can see in a small way what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote; “But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment. For I would that all men were even as I myself.” I Corinthians 7:6-7
Then in the next concept in the same line of thinking he boldly declares; “And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord,…” I Corinthians 7:10
Now how do you suppose he had the ability to know the difference between his own ideas, and the Lord’s?
And was his idea actually within the heart of God?
Apparently it was, after all, it made it into the scriptures and we are fully confident the scriptures are breathed of the Holy Spirit and without a single error. II timothy 3:16
In my previous posts, for the sake of weak believers, I carefully noted that what I wrote was my own interpretation of scripture. This is technically true.
But now in my efforts to continue my studies and writing without the direct breath of the Holy Spirit, I am very keenly aware that what I had written previously had another significant influence outside of myself that is now missing. So just how much of it was my own interpretation? I honestly don’t really know.
Clearly I am not even in the same league as the Apostle Paul, nor do I even try to be! *2
Yet the Apostle Paul himself claimed to be the least of the Apostles because he actually persecuted the church before being converted. (I Corinthians 15:9)
Apostle 652 apostolos; from 649; a delegate; specifically an ambassador of the Gospel; officially a commissioner of Christ [“apostle”] (with miraculous powers).
Technically Paul never saw Jesus in the flesh before the ascension. Paul (then called Saul) only saw Jesus later in what was effectively perhaps a vision, but apparently more than that because he was actually blinded by the event, then accepted as an Apostle by the others, and finally confirmed by God through his writings making it into our Scriptures.
In the classic scriptural patterns, Paul then represents the Church age as the other Apostles represent the Jews. They had the presence of God in their experience, while Paul gained his faith and remained faithful, all in the Lord’s physical absence. Though on occasion the LORD took him in power beyond what is normal.
I declare that in a similar way of his own comparison, each of us as believers should be at least experiencing God in a shadow of comparison to the Apostle Paul, as he was in the shadow of the Apostles who were physically in the presence of Jesus the Messiah.
In all reality, each of us having the Holy Ghost dwelling with us, should be practicing Apostles.
But today’s Christians are so weak and sickly in faith, that such a thought is near Heresy, and such a concept too easily corrupted, and so I cannot even suggest such a concept…
Except in Colossians 2:18 Paul warns; “Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,…”
First this suggests there is a reward that can be lost through beguilement.
And second that beguilement comes in the way of voluntary humility among other things.
What is voluntary humility?
That is of course; humility which is consciously applied.
As opposed to what?
Involuntary humility?
We can correctly re-phrase this as; false humility.
That is; humility that is not appropriate because it is not naturally occurring.
Stirring up a whole can of worms, this is exactly the kind of humility that supports the Green movement, the Environmentalists, and the unwarranted compassion for animals, illegals, Islamists, and abortion clinics, etc etc.
If you don’t see it, just cross them and watch the blood come up into their eyes.
What happened to all that humility they were just showing?
The too-sweet, sickeningly syrupy, gush, and cooing, that they do is a good sign that they are only applying a humility by force.
They are acting out good behavior.
They are pretending.
They are dangerous because the humility only covers a much darker secret side.
But isn’t that exactly what most Christians do?!
Yes it is, and it sickens God just as much, if not more!
(I use the offensive word "most" because the condition in America we see today could not be possible if it was not MOST. Therefore I am not generalizing, I am stating what I actually mean. I do not air-quote "Christians" here because I cannot know just who is really a Christian acting carnally and who is only pretending to be a Christian, yet either way the result is the same.)
So getting back to my case, if I continue to deny that what I have written was influenced strongly by the Holy Spirit of God even though I know otherwise, I have applied false humility, or voluntary humility, and thereby loose my reward.
What reward?
How about the interaction with the Holy Spirit? *1
God says; “…for how should my name be polluted? And I will not give my glory unto another.” Isaiah 48:11b, see also Isaiah 42:8, Acts 12:23
So if I claim the credit for the work of the Holy Spirit through false humility, how can I expect Him to continue working in me?
Yet if I claim the Holy Spirit is giving me my ideas, You will be offended that I claim I can hear from God!
How tragic. Because either way the message is lost.
This is a good example of the confusion and corruption of truth that my next series of posts will attempt to cover, (God willing. (and I mean that!))
But note here;
These posts are coming with much more labor now because the Spirit of God is not as close.
I’m working on that, and will let you know if it changes.
Yet in the meantime, with the additional diligence, I believe what I have to say is still in conformity to the heart of God, though I am less confident and am not content that it remain this way.
As always, it is up to you to evaluate what you read, but that evaluation will be affected by this knowledge, and with this knowledge you might want to go back and read again some of the previous posts with new evaluation!
* * * * * * *
*1 IF this is really your case, I have created quite a study on this topic and have come to some understanding I really wish I had the first time.
Feel free to contact me through a reply to my post after becoming a follower of my blog so that I can respond to you personally.
But be warned; I will probably be able to show you that you already know you are not applying your faith as you know you should, and therefore this study will be of no use to you.
Sometimes the absence of the Holy Ghost after a time of great interaction is due to ignorance and offense, but sometimes the LORD himself has reasons we do not understand which we can glean from the first three chapters of the Song of Solomon of all places! This is a complex and deep spiritual insight into both the Jews and the Christian’s relationship with God.
*2 Does this mean that I think with diligence I can eventually reach the level of the Apostle Paul and write scripture?
NO, NO, NO, no, no, no, and NO!
Why do you go there?!
But do you really think Paul was able to write scripture because he diligently reached some spiritual level?
NO.
The Spirit of God wanted to write scripture and used those whom he chose, and Paul happened to be one.
Now the Scriptures are written, and anyone claiming to be writing more scripture is of the Devil. And anyone claiming to be privately interpreting scripture is also of the Devil.
II Peter 1:20-21 “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
I am claiming to be interpreting scripture, and I am claiming I have the spiritual influence of the Holy Ghost to aid my interpretation, just as all believers have access.
I have no special “In” with God beyond what is available to all believers.
This passage is speaking directly to the Joseph Smiths, and Marry Baker Eddies, and Mohammads, who claim to have a secret “In” with God that no one else has, thereby making them and their interpretations the indisputable voice of God.
I am only saying I think I have confirmation from the Spirit of God that my interpretation has substance. You read it and see for yourself if you agree.
I am confident that if you too are walking in the Holy Spirit, you will agree with my interpretation, but I am not declaring you must!
*3 How do I know I am applying this verse correctly? (Colossians 2;18)
Because in the same thought is the topic of Angel worship.
Angel worship comes by recognizing there is actually an outside influence, but instead of applying false humility to cover it, we choose to claim we got it from Angels.
Then begins a wrongful seeking after, or a heightened focus on Angels, which is also offensive to God, and in the same category of voluntary humility by denying the real influence of the Holy Ghost.
We are not to focus on the messenger, but the author of the message, who is God.
We are not even to focus on the Holy Spirit, but on the message he brings, yet neither are we to deny Him.
All glory should be fully and confidently given to Jesus the Messiah and the Father God.
This verse spends a bit of time describing those men who will beguile us;
They intrude into those things which they have not seen: meaning you saw it, but they talk you out of it because they didn’t.
They are vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind: meaning they mean well but are not even on the same plain as you. You are seeing and understanding great spiritual things while they see only with eyes and minds of arrogant flesh.
They are not in possession of the source, (Jesus through the Holy Spirit) from which all the members, (Christians) by connections and fellowships, are fed and instructed and combined together, and therefore the body of believers increases as God increases them. (Colossians 3:18-19 paraphrased)
There is much more here, but dropping down to verse 23:
It tells us, all these beguilements have indeed an appearance of wisdom through will worship, and humility, and neglecting the body…
But this is not honorable because the flesh is not actually satisfied through the effort.
This means all the attempts to diligently conduct themselves with wisdom and virtue is actually only a thin disguise that has no true value because it is missing the source.
Again, this is a real problem among "modern" Christians as well; Trying real hard to BE Christians, but not doing real good at it in their secret lives.
In religious terms we call these things Works.
But the answer is not to deny works. In worldly terms that would be Chaos and Hedonism.
What then is the answer?
This passage tells us these “men of wisdom” who would rob us of our reward by talking us out of our confidence, have no idea what the right answer is.
Clearly the right answer is to first; be one who does see the power of the Holy Ghost in your life.
And then grow in confidence and reliance on that power as you experience His interaction in your life!
Then don’t let the Spiritless “Christians” talk you out of it.
God is alive and desires greatly to be involved in our lives!
LET HIM!
Will you always get it right?
Nope!
It takes practice and diligence as anything good does.
Now, how good is your shooting?
see post 103 Bulls eye
* * * * * * *
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Silence
post 136
I have long wanted, and tried, to at least post an explanation for why I have suddenly stopped posting to my blog, but even the complex explanation is not allowed.
Have you ever wondered about the periods of time between the writings of the prophets?
Take Zechariah for instance;
Chapter 1 starts off, “… in the second year of Darius…”, and the writings and visions progress almost unbroken without specific date stamps until chapter 7 that starts; “And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius…”
So what was going on with Zechariah for two years in the meantime?
God does not tell us, other than he had his temporal job to do as we understand it in Ezra 5.
There is much I would like to post regarding the complexities of what God is doing in my life right now, but honestly I am simply not allowed to make it public, though I don’t know why! I think perhaps it is something that must be experienced by each person when you get to that place because until then, an explanation would not be understood and only misapplied.
Even this post has the potential to be misunderstood to think I am professing to be a prophet like Zechariah. Do not make that assumption.
But what I will say is that I do not feel called to be a preacher.
I am not wired to preach the scripture to you from my personal understanding as some are given the gift to do.
For a time, the LORD was powerfully speaking into my soul and I shared what I was hearing, though from your perspective that is no different than preaching.
I understand that, and accept that without argument.
But for me it is very different now though I cannot explain how without some very long chapters which as I stated I have not been allowed to post.
Simply put, what I am getting presently is for me, and my edification alone, not to be shared as before.
I believe there is much more to be shared and I am eagerly waiting for that time, but until I am commissioned by God to do so, my blog remains silent.
I have long wanted, and tried, to at least post an explanation for why I have suddenly stopped posting to my blog, but even the complex explanation is not allowed.
Have you ever wondered about the periods of time between the writings of the prophets?
Take Zechariah for instance;
Chapter 1 starts off, “… in the second year of Darius…”, and the writings and visions progress almost unbroken without specific date stamps until chapter 7 that starts; “And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius…”
So what was going on with Zechariah for two years in the meantime?
God does not tell us, other than he had his temporal job to do as we understand it in Ezra 5.
There is much I would like to post regarding the complexities of what God is doing in my life right now, but honestly I am simply not allowed to make it public, though I don’t know why! I think perhaps it is something that must be experienced by each person when you get to that place because until then, an explanation would not be understood and only misapplied.
Even this post has the potential to be misunderstood to think I am professing to be a prophet like Zechariah. Do not make that assumption.
But what I will say is that I do not feel called to be a preacher.
I am not wired to preach the scripture to you from my personal understanding as some are given the gift to do.
For a time, the LORD was powerfully speaking into my soul and I shared what I was hearing, though from your perspective that is no different than preaching.
I understand that, and accept that without argument.
But for me it is very different now though I cannot explain how without some very long chapters which as I stated I have not been allowed to post.
Simply put, what I am getting presently is for me, and my edification alone, not to be shared as before.
I believe there is much more to be shared and I am eagerly waiting for that time, but until I am commissioned by God to do so, my blog remains silent.
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