From: heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
To: "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 1997 03:10:44 +0000
Subject: Christmas or Chanukah ???
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
From: Maranatha
Subject: Re: Chanukah rather than Christmas
Eddie,
As a gentile whose only background in Judaism is 40 years of Old Testament
studies with a Christian perspective, I'm acquiring a massive cerebral
overload trying to grasp all the new ideas I've been exposed to through
your websight and this listserve. I am currently studying your "Seven
Festivals" book with a group of other Christians who know as little about
our Hebrew roots as I do.
My question today has to do with the recent discussion concerning giving up
Christmas and celebrating Chanukah instead. Since Chanukah is not a
Biblical holiday and seems to have nothing to do with Christ's birthday,
why should non Jewish Christians celebrate it? If there is a great
likelihood that Christ was born during Tabernacles, shouldn't that be the
time for Christians to celebrate His birth, rather than Chanukah?
Thank you for providing access to a wonderful window on true Christianity.
Maranatha,
Bob
>From Eddie:
**************
Since Yeshua/Jesus was born during the season of Sukkot (the Feast of
Tabernacles), if we want to celebrate His birth, shouldn't we do it when He
was born? If we want to celebrate religious holidays unto God, shouldn't we
celebrate the holidays that HE gave ??
In Leviticus 23:2, 4 it is written:
"Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the
FEASTS OF THE LORD which YOU shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even
THESE are MY FEASTS ... these are the FEASTS OF THE LORD even holy
convocations which ye shall proclaim in their seasons"
In Zechariah 14:16-18, God will REQUIRE ALL NATIONS to keep the Feast of
Tabernacles during the Messianic age. He will PUNISH those who don't keep
the Festival. God will NOT PUNISH those who fail to keep Christmas or
Easter but He WILL PUNISH those who fail to keep the Biblical Festival of
Tabernacles that HE gave. In Zech 14:16-18 it is written:
"And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations
which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship
the King, the Lord of hosts and to KEEP the FEAST of TABERNACLES. And it
shall be, that who so will NOT come up of ALL THE FAMILIES of the earth
unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall
be NO RAIN. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have
no rain, there shall be the PLAGUE wherewith the Lord will smite the
heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles"
Here, God's feelings about the Feast of Tabernacles is quite clear.
In Ezekiel 40-48, it describes the Temple during the Messianic Age and the
worship that will be going on in the Temple at this time.
In Ezek 45:21 is the feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread
In Ezek 45:25, the feast of tabernacles is being kept
If Christmas and Easter will NOT be kept during the Messianic Age, then
they must NOT be God ordained holidays. If Passover and Tabernacles and
the other Festivals ARE being kept then they MUST be important as holidays
to God. If they are important holidays to God, shouldn't they be important
to us?
In John 14:15, Yeshua/Jesus said:
"If you LOVE me KEEP my COMMANDMENTS .."
In I John 5:3, it is written:
"For THIS is the LOVE of God that we KEEP his COMMANDMENTS and his
commandments are NOT grievous (burdensome)":
Keeping the Biblical Festivals is a LOVE issue NOT a salvation issue.
Keeping the commandments will NOT save you. But, if you LOVE God, you will
keep His commandments. To me, this is not complicated. You seek the heart
of God. Once He shows you His heart, you obey. If you LOVE, you obey. If
you WANT to please HIM, you SEEK to KNOW what pleases HIM. When you
find out, you OBEY.
God is a HOLY God. Let me say that again. God is a HOLY God. A Holy
God wants to be worshipped in SPIRIT (that is the heart) and in TRUTH (that is
your mind according to what you know and understand to be true). In John
4:24 it is written:
"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him MUST worship him in spirit and
in truth"
What is truth?
In Psalm 119:105 it is written:
"Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness and thy TORAH is TRUTH"
In John 8:31-32 it is written:
"Then said Jesus to those Jews WHICH BELIEVED on him, if you continue in my
word, then you are my disciples (students) indeed. And you shall know the
TRUTH and the truth shall make you free"
Notice, Yeshua/Jesus was speaking to THOSE THAT BELIEVED and told them to
CONTINUE IN TRUTH. Obviously, this had nothing to do that they might
believe because they already believed. But, it was about being a DISCIPLE
(student) and by SEEKING the TRUTH and DOING the TRUTH, you are SET FREE.
So, should a Bible believing person who LOVES God SEEK to do what HE wants
us to do? When we KNOW the truth, doesn't He want us to obey the truth ???
So, what is truth? Dec 25 (the birthday of the sun god) or the Biblical
Festivals ??? Did God CONDEMN the children of Israel when they mixed
paganism with worship of HIM ??? God is a HOLY God and He doesn't want
worship to be directed to Him that came from paganism. He does want
worship to be directed to Him that came from Him.
As I have shared on this newsgroup in the past, for most of my Christian
life, I celebrated Christmas and Easter. To me, it meant the birthday of
my Savior and the Resurrection of my Messiah. During this time, I was 100%
ignorant of the pagan origin of Christmas and Easter. Then, God began to
teach me the RICHNESS of HIS Festivals. I discovered that HE gave them to
teach about His redemptive plan for me. I discovered that HE gave them to
teach about my personal relationship with Him. AFTER He did this, what was
I supposed to tell Him? That this was meaningless? That this was nice
that He ordained His festivals and gave them to us to understand these
things but being a believer in HIM and that HE was my God that they had no
meaning to me? How can I tell God that HIS festivals are meaningless to me
and that I wanted to celebrate His birthday on a day that was ordained by
man (Dec 25th) and express my love to Him THROUGH a holiday of pagan origin
when HE gave me HIS Festivals to celebrate HIM? I had to face reality and
admit that God is a Holy God. I had to face reality and admit that what
God gave me was better for me than what man gave me. I had to face reality
and admit that God took the time and effort to teach me these things about
His festivals for a PURPOSE and that He wanted me to begin to keep them.
So, I yielded my heart and life to God in this area and purposed to teach
other believers in LOVE to do the same thing.
What about Chanukah? Does Chanukah teach us a VALUABLE ETERNAL spiritual
lesson for us today? During the days of the Maccabees, the Jewish people
were SATURATED with Greek culture and influence. TODAY, we are SATURATED
with this same Greco-Roman culture. It is in our religious system. It is
in our financial system. It is in our political system. It shapes the
values and morals of our society and EVERY Christian is influenced by it.
But, God told us that He wanted us to be SEPARATE from that culture.
God told the children of Israel over and over, DON'T practice the ways of the
nations around you or else they will become a snare unto you. Yet,
Christians practice the ways of the society around us. The world's holiday
are our holidays. In time, this Greek culture DEMANDED the Jewish people
that they adopt the Greek ways. The SAME thing will happen in OUR
LIFETIME. The New World Order and the Anti-Christ will DEMAND that
Christians follow THEIR SYSTEM. They are already doing it like a frog in a
kettle. How will you respond?
In Jeremiah 12:5 it is written:
"If you run with the footmen and they have wearied thee, then how can you
contend with horses? And if in the LAND OF PEACE, wherein you trusted they
wearied thee, then how will you do in the swelling of the Jordan?"
If God's people can't leave Babylon now will it be any easier in the
future? Chanukah teaches us that God will fight with those who keep
themselves separate from the ways of the Greco/Roman world and seek to
follow His commandments. We are always in a struggle to keep God's
commandments or mix ourselves with the ways of the world. Chanukah teaches
us that those who keep His commandments will prevail over the system that
is bigger and more powerful than them.
Chanukah is also about the rededication of the Temple back to God. In a
seven year tribulation, we are told that the False Messiah will go into the
Temple and declare himself to be god. If the tribulation starts on a Yom
Kippur, this date will be Nisan 10. This is also the same day that the
Lamb was to be set aside and examined for four days. So, in this the false
Messiah is being a false Messiah and emulating Yeshua/Jesus the true
Messiah. In Daniel 12, it tells us that blessed is he who waits 1,335
days. If you go 1,335 days from Nisan 10, you have Kislev 25 or Chanukah.
Is it possible that the temple will be rededicated back to God in the
future on a Kisleve 25? Knowing the patterns and ways of God, this is
probably so. But, what if we don't celebrate Chanukah and teach our
children these things? Our children will perish for a lack of knowledge.
God gave His holidays for our BENEFIT and for our INSTRUCTION.
What do you think is better for your spiritual development something that
HE gave (the Biblical Festivals) or something that religion gave us that
REPLACED what God gave? Is God the author of REPLACING the things that HE
gave or is HaSatan ???
God is moving ALL OVER THE WORLD and awakening Christians to their Jewish
roots. Within this is a MAJOR move to examine His Festivals. Is God doing
this for a reason? Can we take what He is doing lightly? Or does God want
us to know and understand the significance of the Holidays that HE gave?
Let everyone examine their own hearts. The Word of God is a discerner of
the thoughts and the intent of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).
So, should we keep the Biblical Holidays or man-made religious holidays to
worship God? I believe we should keep what HE gave us to keep. Should we
keep Chanukah? For salvation, NO. For knowledge and understanding of
God's Kingdom and His way to study, learn and teach the spiritual lessons
of Chanukah to our children, yes. To just keep the Chanukah holiday as an
external holiday? Then, this is vain religion. We are to worship God is
Spirit and in truth.
But, first follow these steps.
#1) STUDY and learn FIRST
#2) Understand that this is a PROCESS
#3) DON'T try to do all the festivals all at once
#4) As you begin to study, learn and grow and are able to keep the
SPIRIT of the Festivals and TEACH their SPIRITUAL
significance, allow yourself to be led by the Spirit of God in
observing them
#5) DON'T condemn others who are not at the place where God is
leading you. In COMPASSION, love and teach others remembering
that you to were once "a slave in Egypt".
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