This is the day when many people pull pranks on each other and practice all sorts of deceptions and practical jokes on others in ways that tear each other down. What could possibly be wrong with that? Especially since the these are revealed to be "April Fools" jokes shortly thereafter? Well, let's start with Leviticus 19:11. "You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another [NKJV]." Pretty straight forward. And in case you're wondering what "dealing falsely" means, the word translated as "falsely" is the Hebrew word "kahas", which deals with deception. The intent of these pranks is to deceive, which makes them contrary to Yahweh's commandments, even though they are quickly revealed to be pranks.
What about when the intent is not to deceive? For example, anyone who checks the date on an article that says outlandish things may quickly notice that the intent is not to deceive, but rather to joke around. (You're not going to find me posting those types of articles or videos, by the way. And I'm certainly not joking around in this one.) Such things follow the letter of the commandment, so they are technically not sinful. But I do not believe that such things follow the heart of the commandment. But I will leave it to you to decide for yourself.
Now, about what happens when someone does fall for your prank or practical joke: As I said earlier, such things tear people down by making them look foolish for falling for what you have said or done. This is the opposite of what we should be doing as members of the Body of the Messiah. For example, 1 Thessalonians 5 is all about encouraging one another. April Fools' jokes do the exact opposite to those who fall for them.
By the way, even when everything else that is done on April 1st is in line with the Bible, that does not necessarily mean that the day itself is okay. The thing that would make it not okay is if it were somehow linked to pagan worship. Deuteronomy 12 makes it very clear that anything that the pagans did to worship their gods is off limits to us! An internet search gives some quite interesting results: While the origins of the day are not known, it would seem that April 1st has many centuries of history of people pranking each other. There are indeed some inconclusive links to pagan worship (links that are probably correct). And there are also speculations of other links. Of course, there are some who interpret the unbiblical practices of a "holiday" as definitive proof of the day's pagan origins. I learned of that line of logic when doing research about Purim and Hanukkah. So make of that what you will. But even without this link, this day goes against every intent of Yahweh's commandments, even when the commandments are not actually broken. It also goes against the intent of Yeshua's teachings of going above and beyond what is required of us.
When it comes to the teachings, practices, and traditions of the Catholic Church, you'd be hard-pressed to find something that actually did originate with them. Actually, it's probably impossible to find a single thing that originated from the Catholic Church. This is because of the Roman tradition of incorporating the traditions of surrounding cultures into their own. The Catholic Church began as an extension of the Roman government, so it should come as no surprise that they continue that tradition.
Here's how this hijacking works. When the Catholic Church wants to make "Christianity" look more appealing to the masses of whatever culture they encounter, they adopt the pagan practices of that culture and modify it to look more "Christian". We know from Deuteronomy 12 that God does not accept his people worshiping him the way the pagans worshiped their gods. Yet this is how we got Christmas, Easter, Good Friday, Halloween, Sunday Sabbath, etc. All of these are pagan traditions modified to look Christian.
Not all practices come from the pagan cultures. Some actually did come from Christianity, which came from Judaism. The Catholic Church corrupts those practices as well. Baptism is one example of a Christian practice that was hijacked by the Catholic Church. Another example is the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Yeshua (Jesus), and some of his teachings. Since the Catholic Church is trying to look Christian (though they are actually pagan), it should be expected that they hijack some Christian practices and teachings. Because convincing deceptions use truth to gain your trust. By the way, the Catholic's "Mary" is actually the pagan goddess Diana, which also makes the Catholic "Jesus" a pagan deity, which they make to look like the Jesus of the Bible.
Going off of Isaiah 1:12-15, we can clearly see that when we mix God's instructions with man's traditions, God counts all of it as man's traditions, and despises them! Yet this is exactly what the Catholic Church has done with Yeshua. When Isaiah proclaimed that all the feasts that Yahweh proclaimed to Israel were despised by the one who proclaimed them, the people must have been very confused as to why. After all, God proclaimed them, so he must be pleased when we partake in them, right? Unfortunately, they fell for the same trap that their ancestors fell for 1,000 years earlier: When you make a golden calf to Yahweh, you aren't worshiping Yahweh, you're worshiping the calf! Likewise, when you mix the practices that Yahweh commanded with human tradition, you're not practicing what Yahweh commanded, you're following human rules. Isaiah 29:13 points this out quite clearly, which Yeshua later quoted in Matthew 15:8.
Because the Catholic Church hated the Jews, they did everything in their power not to adopt any of their practices (biblical or otherwise). This is why instead of remembering Yeshua's death on Passover, they do it on Good Friday, and why Good Friday almost never falls on the same day as Passover. This is also why they don't keep the Day of Atonement, or the biblical Sabbath (Saturday), or the Feasts of Trumpets, or any other day that God has appointed. In fact, they even outlawed the observance of such days under penalty of death! By the way, to the best of my knowledge, this is the only exception to the rule.
To summarize: If something appears to have originated with the Catholic Church, then it is certainly a hijacked pagan tradition or teaching that has been modified to look Christian. And even in the rare instances where the Catholic Church actually did invent something rather than adapting an existing pagan practice, it's still pagan because it came from the Catholic Church. And any practice or teaching of the Catholic Church that appears to come from the Bible is certainly a corrupted version of what the Bible actually teaches. Discernment is needed to distinguish between the Biblical teaching, and the Catholic counterfeit.
What are the two greatest commandments? Yeshua was asked this once, and here's what he said in response:
37 Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." [Matthew 22:37-40; NKJV]
This is probably the exact passage that you were quoted concerning this very topic. In fact, it's likely the case that this passage was quoted as an excuse to ignore Torah ("Torah" is Hebrew for "instruction" and is typically translated as "law"), that is, God's Law. The argument is that since all of the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments, then just obeying these two means we do not have to keep the rest. There's just one slight problem with this interpretation. Okay, several problems, but we'll get into those later. What does it mean to love God? Also, what does it mean to love your neighbor? Should it be left to man to figure these things out for himself?
For starters, loving God is defined in several places. One of these places is the second commandment, which is the one against idolatry. Here's what the third commandment says:
4 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. [Exodus 20:4-6; NKJV]
Notice that in verse 6, it mentions those who love God and keep his commandments. This is found elsewhere in Torah. For example, in Deuteronomy 7:9. There is no such thing as loving God without keeping his commandments, which is his Law. If you are not doing the latter, then you are by definition, also not doing the former. You may have noticed that there are many posts where I mention Deuteronomy 13. In fact, this one chapter not only defines loving God as keeping his commandments, it also defines idolatry as rebellion against his commandments. And it is also where the Deuteronomy 13 Test comes from. We see a hint of this in the second commandment. Notice in verse 5, the second commandment says that those who practice idolatry hate God.
So if loving God is keeping his commandments, then Torah tells us how to love God. Interestingly enough, most of the commandments concerning how to love God are labeled by the Church as being the "ceremonial law", which they claim we do not have to keep because of what Yeshua did. And as mentioned in my last post, the Church doesn't mind sidelining their "most important doctrines" if it means they get to keep their golden calves (among other things).
But there is another part to what Yeshua said. He said that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. If the Law of God tells us how to love God, and in fact keeping his Law is loving God, then it is also the case that God's Law tells us how to love our neighbor. So Yeshua is correct when he said that all of the Law and the Prophets hang on those two commands. But not because you don't have to worry about keeping the Law if you "love God" and "love your neighbor". On the contrary, keeping God's Law is part of loving your neighbor.
That brings up another interesting issue. Remember how I mentioned that the Church classifies some of the commandments as the "ceremonial law"? Well, for those familiar with Church doctrine, you will know that there are typically three categories of Law in Torah. These categories are (according to the Church): The moral law (which the Church says we have to obey), the ceremonial law (which the Church says were done away with by Yeshua's work on the cross), and the civil law (which deals with punishments for breaking the moral law). But is this division biblical? Not quite.
Let's use what Yeshua said concerning the greatest commandments as a template on how to divide God's Law. Since he said the Law hangs on "love God" and "love your neighbor", then the Law should be divided into commandments that tell us how to love God, and commandments that tell us how to love our neighbor. Then, those commandments may be sub-divided if you wish, so long as Deuteronomy 12:32 is not violated. Of course, someone will bring up the "what about" scenarios, which I will not cover in this post. But I will say this much: God does not hold us guilty of breaking a command that cannot possibly be kept. And if you think otherwise, then you've fallen for the same trap that Adam and Eve fell for in the garden!
Here's another interesting point. Since loving God is keeping his commandments, then really, all of the commandments are instructions on how to love God, regardless of whether we classify them into the "how to love God" or "how to love your neighbor" categories. So even the commandments that concern how to love your neighbor are also concerning how to love God. In other words, those that love God also love their neighbor. But this doesn't work the other way around. If you obey only the commands concerning how to love your neighbor, you indeed love your neighbor, but you actually hate God because you are ignoring the commands that are specific to loving God.
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. [1 John 5:2-3; NKJV]
Most mainstream "Christian" ministries list certain doctrines that you must believe in order for them to acknowledge you as a "real Christian". And this list is basically identical between ministries. These doctrines are said to be very important for the faith. However, there are other doctrines that these same ministries hold to that, if true, completely undermine the credibility of the "important" doctrines that you "must believe" in order to be a "real Christian".
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, [2 Timothy 3:16; NKJV]
Some ministries point out that the above verse literally says "all Scripture is God-breathed", then assert that this means that every word that is in the Bible comes directly from the mouth of God, and that the Bible is therefore inerrant. By the way, if you really want to be literal, then the verse should say "all writings are God-breathed". For the word translated as "Scripture" is the Greek word "graphe", which literally means "writing" or "document". Have fun explaining that one away. But they are right about it saying that it's "God-breathed".
These ministries that hold to the inerrancy doctrine because of their interpretation of 2 Timothy 3:16 typically invoke the slippery slope for anyone who does not accept their doctrine. They may also say that if you don't believe it, then you're not a "real Christian". In fact, some don't even allow you to challenge the interpretation given. So, how do these ministries show that they don't believe the doctrine that the entire Bible is the direct word of God? There are a few ways in which they do this. One of those ways is by ignoring the front of the book completely (with the exception being Genesis for some of these ministries). Here's another way.
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. [1 Timothy 4:1-3; NKJV]
What would happen, say, if someone pointed out that God himself commanded us not to eat the flesh of pigs (Leviticus 11:7-8)? Well, these ministries will all quote 1 Timothy 4:1-3 and assert that such people are teaching doctrines of demons. That's right, those who claim that the Bible is inerrant call a command of God "doctrines of demons" without any hesitation! Of course, if they call a command of God "doctrines of demons", then that also means that they are calling God himself a demon. This same God that they are calling a demon gave us Jesus, which also means they have completely undermined the Gospel! By the way, anyone who calls even one command of God "doctrines of demons" calls all of God's commands "doctrines of demons", for the same God gave all of the commandments found in Torah. Also, if their interpretation of 1 Timothy 4:1-3 is correct, then the Bible is not inerrant and they really should not be listening to Paul. By the way, it's God's Law that determines what is or is not food. And the definition of "food" that Paul is using in that passage is that which is found in God's Law. And God says that pigs are not food.
For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law. [Hebrews 7:12; NKJV]
Here's a passage that many of these ministries will use to justify not keeping God's Law. The Greek words translated as "change" in this passage is "metatithemi" and "metathesis" respectively. These words literally mean "to transfer". Also, Psalm 119:160 says that all of God's judgements are eternal. The Law of God is a list of God's judgements concerning what is right and wrong. Some of these ministries, when confronted with the question of "who created God", will rightly point-out that God is eternal and does not change. If that which is eternal does not change, then that means God's Law also does not change, for it is said to be eternal. So if their interpretation of Hebrews 7:12 is correct, that means that Psalm 119 is wrong, which means that the Bible is not inerrant.
Here's another point: If the Law needs to be changed, then that proves the Law to be in error. But if the Law is in error, then the Bible is not inerrant. And if their interpretation of Hebrews 7:12 is correct, yet the Law is not changed, then it means that Hebrews 7:12 is in error, and the Bible is not inerrant. There are more ways that they undermine this doctrine, but it's time to move on to the next doctrine that they undermine.
That doctrine, or rather, doctrines, would be the Trinity and the Deity of Jesus. While some ministries make it their job to prove the inerrancy doctrine to those who don't believe it, no ministry in mainstream Christianity allows you to challenge the Trinity. And most don't allow you to challenge the Deity of Jesus, though all of them show that the latter is able to easily withstand scrutiny. Now, whether the Trinity is right or wrong is beyond the scope of this post. This post will simply cover how these ministries undermine the credibility of the Trinity (and the Deity of Jesus).
In one of the excuses that these ministries use to rebel against God's Law, they will assert that the Law is impossible to keep, or that it's somehow burdensome, and that Jesus freed us from God's Law. Are you noticing a pattern in how these "most important doctrines" are being undermined? One aspect of the Trinity is that Jesus is the same God that gave us the Law of God. But when it comes to God's Law, the God of the "Old Testament" is portrayed as an oppressive being while Jesus is portrayed as having freed us from said "oppressive" being. That means that Jesus is a different god than the one that gave us his law.
By the way, remember how I pointed-out that these ministries will call certain commands of God "doctrines of demons" without hesitation? Well, if Jesus is God, but what we call the Law of God is really "doctrines of demons", then that also means that Jesus is not the same God who gave us his law. Yet if you insist that he is and hold that some of his commands are "doctrines of demons", then you're believing in the wrong god, and the wrong trinity! Oh, by the way:
20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. [1 Corinthians 9:20-21; NIV]
This passage is often quoted like this:
In 1 Corinthians 9:20, it says that we are not under [or "we are free from"] God's Law. In verse 21, it says that we are under Christ's Law.
See what happened? They misquoted 1 Corinthians 9:20-21 to make God's Law be in direct opposition to Christ's Law. "We are not under God's Law, we are under Christ's Law." But if this is true, then that means that Jesus is not the same God that gave us his law. Also note that in all of these examples, the doctrine of the Deity of Jesus is also thrown away for the sake of rebelling against God's Law. Oh, and remember back to the post exposing the serpent's deception in Genesis 3? The very first deception was making God's Law look oppressive! In fact, the occult teaches that a serpent freed us from an oppressive god through knowledge. If you replace "serpent" with "Jesus", and replace "knowledge" with "the cross", you have Church doctrine!
All this goes to show you which doctrines are actually important to these ministries. They'll be quick to say "if you don't believe the Trinity, you're not a real Christian", yet they will just throw that doctrine to the side if it means they don't have to obey God's commandments. Some will also say "the Bible is the inerrant Word of God", and "rejecting Biblical inerrancy is dangerous to your faith", but have no problem portraying the front of the book as being in error for the sake of their idolatry (rebellion against God's commands), so long as nobody catches onto the fact that they're doing just that. Remember, you can either do things God's way, or make for yourself golden calves. If you refuse the former, you are doing the latter by definition.
And if you think that things couldn't get any worse. Well, it's about to get even worse. Revelation 13:11-18 describes a one world religion and a mark that everyone must take if they want to live. This mark is known as "the mark of the beast". Now, nobody seems to know what exactly this mark is. But there are a lot of claims about what this mark is, and even claims about it's precursors. Which of these claims is correct is beyond the scope of this post. But some ministries will dismiss the mark of the beast as mere "conspiracy theory". This tells you all you need to know about such ministries. Such ministries are part of the system that will bring about the mark of the beast. And they want to make sure that you cannot identify it as such, so that when it comes, you willingly take it, unaware of what it really is. In this case, they have sacrificed the inerrancy doctrine by calling Revelation false prophecies, because they are part of a (probably global) propaganda campaign designed to trick you into getting the mark of the beast!
From the beginning, Satan's goal is to keep people away from God. And he does that through any means necessary. From deceiving people into believing that the Bible is scientifically and historically inaccurate, to following human traditions and rules under the guise of "this is what the Bible requires", even to leading people to follow other gods which at best, don't exist. And that's without mentioning the repeated use of the trick of making God's Law look burdensome. There is no shortage of ways that people have been kept away from God.
The reason I mentioned the deception of making God's Law look burdensome is because it makes it easier to lead people to do things their own way, just as Adam and Eve did things their own way by trying to obtain a type of knowledge that God never indented for us to have. Take this exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees, for example:
1 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!"
3 Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.' 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is 'devoted to God,' 6 they are not to 'honor their father or mother' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.'" [Matthew 15:1-9; NIV]
The elders of the day put in place a tradition of washing ones hands before they ate, and the Pharisees expected everyone to follow that tradition (along with many, many other human traditions) as if it was equal to God's Law. Some of these traditions even broke God's Law as you can see from the quoted verses. Jesus points this out, then quotes Isaiah 29:13, exposing the system for what it really is: A set of human rules! To drive the point home, Jesus outright said that the Pharisees cannot escape being condemned because of their system that keeps people far from God [Matthew 23:13-36]. How does it keep people far from God? By keeping them in rebellion against God's Law, in direct violation of Deuteronomy 13. Isn't it interesting that the Pharisees tested Jesus against Deuteronomy 13, but never tested their own?
What does this have to do with Christmas? Only everything. Christmas is nothing but human tradition built upon human tradition. These traditions are in place as a means of worshiping God, in direct violation of Deuteronomy 12, which, in summary, says that we shall worship him the way he wants to be worshiped [12:1], not as the pagans worshiped their gods [12:4], nor as we see fit [12:8]. And that we are to keep his commands, not adding to them or diminishing from them [12:32].
So, you think Christmas is not a pagan holiday? Let's say, for argument sake that it isn't. Does that change anything? God did not authorize us to worship him in the ways that are done on Christmas (violates Deuteronomy 12:1). That in and of itself disqualifies Christmas as a Christian holiday. What about why Christmas is celebrated? Isn't it because it's viewed as okay in the eyes of man because "God never forbade it" or "the Disciples did it"? Strike two, violation of Deuteronomy 12:8! In other words, Christmas being Christian in origin would mean nothing!
As mentioned in a previous post, the Catholic Church is part of a much larger, satanic cult that is bent on ruling the world. So if you trace any teaching or tradition back to the Catholic Church, you are, by definition, tracing that teaching or tradition back to paganism. For the Catholic Church is a pagan Church. We, as Christians, should be doing nothing that originates from them.
The Catholic Church never creates anything new. All of their practices come from somewhere. They just modify these practices to suit their counterfeit version of Christianity (if that). When it comes to Christmas, they took the winter solstice practices of the surrounding pagan cultures, condensed it down to a single day, and named the modified practice "Christmas". These days were the Saturnalia and Sol Invictus (and perhaps a couple others). These practices are themselves modifications of the pagan practices of the Babylonians, Egyptians, etc. Practices that long pre-date Christianity. Even the date that Christmas is celebrated is the same as Sol Invictus. And if it wasn't for the fact that the calendar tends to drift about 1 day every 100 or so years, the winter solstice would still be on December 25, as it was when the Julian calendar was established.
Let's talk about the Christmas Tree. Those who wish to defend it will trace its origins back to the Catholic Church, which we already discussed why that doesn't work. But the practice of using trees in the worship of the pagan gods long pre-dates Christianity. In fact, if you've read the historical documentation contained in the Bible, you'll realize just how prevalent tree worship was in the pagan societies. Deuteronomy 12:2 commands us to seek-out and destroy all of the pagan alters under every green tree. Deuteronomy 16:21 commands us not to plant any trees next to any alter of Yahweh. Deuteronomy 12:4 commands us not to worship God the way the pagans worshiped their gods.
So the mere fact that the pagans used trees to worship their god is enough to make the Christmas Tree a satanic practice. But did you know that what Christians do to pine trees is exactly what the pagans in the middle eastern regions did to Cedar trees? Isaiah 14:8 notes the type of trees used in idol worship: They are indeed evergreen trees! Jeremiah 10:1-4 gives a perfect description of a Christmas Tree. And it's rather interesting how the practice evolved over time. The ancient pagans carved images into the tree. Christians do not. The ancient pagans used Cedars (and Junipers, and sometimes even Pines), Christians use Pines. Some modern trees are made of metal or plastic and are stored when not in use. What about the claim that the trees in Jeremiah 10 aren't Christmas Trees? That claim is a lie! By the way, here's another description of pagan practices surrounding trees! Isaiah 44:14-19. Notice that most of the trees listed are evergreen trees (the exception being the Oak).
The Catholics didn't invent the Christmas Tree. Some pagan convert to Catholicism brought an existing custom into the Catholic Church and it stuck. Also notice in the passage in Isaiah that these people don't know why they are worshiping trees. They never stop to think about the absurdity of their practices! Christians do the exact same things that Isaiah was mocking 2,500 years ago! Those who set up a tree in the name of Yeshua (Jesus) are worshiping the tree, not the Son of God. Those who put an angel on top of the tree are worshiping the angel. Those who put a star on top of the tree are worshiping the star (which represents the pagan sun gods, but was renamed to "Star of Bethlehem" after being adopted by the Catholic Church) and the pagan sun gods that are associated with it. Those who set up a manger scene worship the manger scene, not the one that is allegedly represented by it. These are all golden calves. And I already pointed out how much God hates setting up images in his name! The one who sets up a "golden calf" does not worship God, but the calf, even if they say in their heart "I'm worshiping God."
Every single thing that is done at Christmas time is a human tradition, including the date. The rationalization for the date is also an appeal to human tradition. Some have appealed to a Jewish tradition that a prophet of God lives an exact number of years. They even admit in their argument that it's a human tradition! The evidence that this tradition is true: None that I've seen! They just assume that this tradition is true, and state that because a prophet lives an exact number of years, and because life begins at conception, and because Jesus died on March 25, and because human gestation is 9 months, Jesus must have been born on December 25.
There are so many holes in this argument that it's astonishing that it's even believed! Where to begin? How about the fact that the tradition actually uses the Hebrew calendar (which typically has 355 days in a year), while those justifying the December 25 date are applying it to the Julian or Gregorian calendar. If the tradition is true, then you need to calculate from the Hebrew calendar when Jesus would be born, not the Julian or Gregorian calendar. Even if his death was on March 25 (it was not), you would have to find the Hebrew date that year, then calculate back to the year of his conception to get the actual Julian date of his conception. And the same for the date of his birth. Except there's one problem: Birth can happen anywhere between 37 and 42 weeks from conception. That's a span of 1.5 months! So we can't know for sure when he was born just by knowing when he was conceived.
The next problem is that the years that a person has been alive is counted from birth, not conception. It is true that life begins at conception, but the years of a persons life are counted from birth. In other words, according to the tradition being appealed to, it is the day of birth that is also the day of death. Oh, and did I mention that this appeal began with the Catholic Church? Add that to the list of traditions that the Catholic Church modified to suit their agenda. Anyone who uses this argument is not appealing to a Jewish tradition, but a Catholic one.
Because the Catholic Church hated the Jews, they set up Good Friday and Easter Sunday to never fall on the same day as Passover or the Feast of Firstfruits. Granted, they still sometimes fall on the same day, but this is rare by design. So we can know for sure that whatever day Good Friday fell on in the year that Jesus died is not when Passover was (which is when he actually died). So without even looking for when Passover that year was, we know that the March 25 date is wrong. Also, 33 AD is not the year that Jesus died. It was 30 AD. And March 25 did not land on a Friday that year. And neither did Passover.
The fact that the Church appeals to tradition rather than the Bible or other period documents to determine the day that Jesus was born tells you everything you need to know about the December 25 date. In fact, it is impossible to determine the day of the Messiah's birth from the Bible or any other documentation of the time. That should tell you all you need to know about how God feels about our celebration of his birthday. If God wanted us to celebrate his birthday, he would have revealed to us when it was. God hid it from us because he does not want us to celebrate it. Why? Because the pagans celebrated the birthdays of their gods. And Jesus' birthday is irrelevant to the gospel message.
Want to see just how demonic Christmas really is? Here's a documentary produced by Passion for Truth Ministries showing just that:
Here's another documentary from 119 Ministries, also showing the paganism of Christmas:
There's also more evidence for those who care about searching for the truth instead of justifying unbiblical and demonic traditions.
In my last post, I exposed the "golden calves" of Christianity, which includes its false holy days. In this post, we're going to examine Hanukkah and Purim to see if they also count as "golden calves" as well. Some who wish to justify the observances of the traditional "Christian" holidays will point to these days (which are not mandated by God's Law) and say, "if these aren't okay, then why are Hanukkah and Purim okay?" under the premise (which they know is false) that these traditionally "Christian" holidays are not of pagan origin. If we remove the deceitful premise, then the question is perfectly valid.
Let's start with Purim, since the record of its institution is in the Bible, in the book of Esther. The description is in Esther 9:20-32. The day was established as a celebration and memorial of God delivering the descendants of Israel from an enemy (Haman) that sought to destroy them completely. And that the remembrance of that day shall never die from among the descendants of Israel.
So, is Purim okay? If so, why? I'll let you decide the answer to the first question as well as your rationalization. But here's what I've noticed, and what my opinion on this matter is. There is nothing in the text about Purim being a feast to Yahweh, like what Aaron and Jeroboam I did during their times. That means it's not masquerading around as a holy day to be celebrated in addition to or in the place of something that God has ordained. And there's absolutely no indication that anyone is attempting to even claim that God is commanding its observance. In addition, there's also no indication in the text that this day was derived from any pagan practices, except the giving of gifts.
I did however, find that there are those who believe that the book of Esther is an example of historical fraud, designed to justify and sanitize what they claim is a holiday that is on par with a version of Halloween that includes indulgence in sexual sin. Make of these claims and any presented evidence what you will. But if these claims are true, then the book should be removed from the Biblical canon, for historical fraud does not belong in the canon of Scripture. Also, if these claims are true, then Purim absolutely should not be celebrated for the reasons discussed in my previous post. Also, I will be investigating these claims and the evidence presented. Interestingly enough, when I first started writing this paragraph, I was going to conclude that Purim is okay, now I'm not so sure about that. It is entirely possible that, once I finish my investigation, my answer to the question "is Purim okay" will be a definitive "no".
Okay, so I can't give a definitive answer to Purim. Hopefully I can give one for Hanukkah. But you're not really supposed to be relying on what I say about anything, anyways. Do the research for yourself and draw your own conclusions. Hanukkah is not found in the Bible (except in passing in one verse in the New Testament), but it is found in the Apocrypha. The account of it's establishment is found in 1 Maccabees 4:36-39. And in 2 Maccabees 10:1-9, it is recorded that the day was originally kept in the order of the Feast of Tabernacles. Interestingly enough, the text says that they worshiped Heaven, not God. That is definitely sinful, and it shows how just how hard it is to rid yourself of all pagan practices.
I have found no historical evidence that the feast was called "the festival of lights" until long after the day's establishment. But there is definitely a pagan feast called "the festival of lights". I believe this to be a paganization of the celebration. I've also found no evidence of the miracle of the one day's worth of oil lasting eight days. This appears to be an embellishment of the Talmud. There is also no record of a 9-branch variant of the Menorah until much later on. There is also the tradition that the first Hanukkah was the Feast of Tabernacles that year because they weren't able to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles that year at the appointed time. This is the only tradition that has any sort of historical support for it. That's because of 2 Maccabees 10:1-9, which I mentioned earlier. But I haven't found any definitive proof of that tradition either.
In terms of the first Hanukkah being a late Feast of Tabernacles, the Torah does give precedent for such things. In Numbers 9:10-13, God gives provision for eating the Passover later than the appointed time if you are unable to eat it at the appointed time. That would make the first Hanukkah perfectly fine to celebrate. But what about the Hanukkahs that come after that one. Some interpret Jesus not condemning the holiday as a nod of approval. And even celebrating it himself. Others interpret the mention of the holiday as simply a convenient reference to the timing of the events described, not being meant as either affirmation that the holiday is okay, nor condemnation of the holiday. I can see both points of view. It's important to remember to distinguish between what the text says, and the interpretation of the text. The Bible does not state that Jesus was celebrating Hanukkah.
Now in modern times, Hanukkah has been highly paganized because of Christmas. This paganized version of Hanukkah is definitely not okay. Neither are any other paganized forms of Hanukkah. But what about as recorded in 1 and 2 Maccabees? Well, there's no record of it being established as a feast to the Lord, either in addition to, in in place of what God has established. In addition, the celebration, as described in Maccabees, is in the order of the Feast of Tabernacles, not in the order of any of the surrounding pagan holidays. And I can find no evidence that contradicts the historical record of Maccabees.
There is however, an apparent link to paganism found in the date of the celebration: The 25th day of the 9th month, which on a solar calendar, would be the winter solstice (which would later become the 25th of the 12th month). It is entirely possible that in the year that the Temple was desecrated, the 25th day of the 9th lunar month coincided with the winter solstice. But there's no evidence in the text that the winter solstice has anything to do with the celebration. Because, if it were, they would have tried to fix the date to the winter solstice rather than to wherever the 25th of the 9th lunar month fell each year. They seem to be ignoring the solstice altogether. But there are paganized forms that do place importance on the winter solstice. So I'm going to conclude that Hanukkah, without all of the pagan traditions that are associated with it, is perfectly okay.
In my previous post, we investigated the two incidents in Israel's history involving golden calves and the perspective of the people who were worshiping the calves. I'll give a brief recap: From their perspective, they were using the calves to worship God, but from God's perspective, they were worshiping the calves. Also in both instances, they held "sacred" feasts to God (only God can declare a sacred feast). I also want to make sure that we are clear on the criteria for a golden calf.
The first criteria is that it has to be a direct violation of Exodus 20:4.
You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. [Exodus 20:4; NIV]
By the way, the word "image" in the Bible means any physical object with a form that is designed to look like something else.
Failing the first criteria, something will still be classified as a "golden calf" if (a) the pagans did the same thing to worship their gods (see Deuteronomy 12) or (b) if the object in question is part of the worship of God.
If the item in question is not a physical object, but rather a "sacred" feast, celebration, or fast that God has not ordained, then that also counts. Basically, any day called "holy" that God has not made holy, with holy meaning set apart to God. That is, any violation of Deuteronomy 12:32.
Now that we have the criteria defined, let's take a look at (hopefully) all of the golden calves of Christianity.
Depending on the denomination, there may or may not be statures of angels among Christians. This is a blatant violation of the 2nd Commandment and obviously meets the first criteria. Similarly, nearly all denominations have something called "manger scenes", which has a statue of Jesus as a baby surrounded by statues of Mary, Joseph, three wise men, and possibly a number of animals. Again, a violation of the 2nd Commandment. Also, the Catholic Church (which completely corrupted Christianity even to this day) has something called a "crucifix", which is a cross with a stature of Jesus nailed to it.
So that's all the things that I can think of that blatantly violate the 2nd commandment. What about Deuteronomy 12, which is the first part of the second criteria? We have many more things that meet this criteria that probably don't meet the first criteria in an obvious way. These still violates the 2nd Commandment just by being worshiped. And remember, it's your perspective vs. God's perspective on who or what is being worshiped. And guess which perspective is the one that matters. I only quoted the first part of the 2nd Commandment in this post. The second part, in verses 5 and 6, forbid us from worshiping anything other than God. And defines loving God as keeping the 2nd Commandment, and hating God as breaking the 2nd Commandment.
The first item on our list is the Christmas tree, which comes directly from the pagan practices that the Israelites were supposed to wipe out of the land that God gave them! This is shown directly in Jeramiah 10:3-5. Even the shape of the tree is the same, for they were cedars, as mentioned in Isaiah 37:24. Not that this makes much difference. The fact that the pagans used trees to worship their gods automatically means that using trees to worship our God is a violation of Deuteronomy 12. And even if that were not the case, it's still the case that it's the tree that's being worshiped, not God. The exact same thing goes for the star placed on top of the tree, the Easter egg, and Easter rabbit. All of which, by the way, are symbols of fertility associated with the pagan fertility gods and goddesses.
We have the same situation with the symbols of Valentines Day and Halloween. The symbolism of the Valentines Day symbols is yet another example of worshiping fertility rather than the One who makes people fertile. And the symbolism of Halloween doesn't even try to hide it's demonic origins. In a previous blog post, I pointed out the satanic origins of Halloween. What I failed to mention in that post is that the symbols were used to deter evil spirits and keep spells away. And also that "trick or treat" originated as a threat for the purposes of extortion. It still is that way in some parts of the world. And no, the Church has not, historically, celebrated Halloween as a celebration of Jesus defeating death and the devil on the cross (which doesn't change anything anyways).
Now, what about the holidays that are celebrated? Christmas was an instance of sun worship that happened on the Winter Solstice, which was on December 25 when Julius Cesar established his Calendar in 45 B.C. It was at this time that the pagans celebrated the birth of their sun gods. The Catholic Church hijacked this celebration to celebrate the birth of the Son of God instead to make "Christianity" more appealing to the masses. Even if the date was just a coincidence (which it is not), the fact that the pagans celebrated the birth of their gods means we are forbidden from celebrating the birth of our God. And even if the pagans did not have such a celebration, it would not change the fact that it is a man-made day to the Lord, which is a direct violation of Deuteronomy 12:32. Only God can appoint days to God.
Easter is even worse than Christmas, because even the name comes from the name of the pagan fertility goddess. In fact, the pronunciation is nearly identical to the name of the Babylonian fertility goddess (Ishtar). And its celebration is directly condemned in Ezekiel 8:16 (and that's just a sample of what went on during that celebration). What became the Easter celebration of Christianity predates the founding of the Catholic Church by more than 1,000 years! And by the way, this was also the day that the pagans sacrificed their infants in the fire to Moloch. Are you sure you want to be celebrating Christ's resurrection on this day?
A couple more notes about the celebration of Easter and Good Friday. The timing instituted by the Catholic Church was deliberately set so that the two days would never coincide with Passover and Feast of First Fruits. In fact, the Catholic Church outright replaced Passover with Good Friday, and First Fruits with Easter Sunday. So if Christmas is merely an addition to God's commands, Easter is outright rebellion against God! Jesus gave us something to remember his death by. Something that is in full compliance with all of God's commands. But even that has been replaced with a cracker and a one-ounce cup of grape juice!
Now, about Halloween. I already made a post about it on Halloween. But let's go into a bit more detail. First off, the word Halloween comes from the phrase "All Hallows Evening", which translates into "All Holy Night". That alone should tell you everything you need to know about Halloween, since God never declared the last day of any month holy. This is another celebration that was hijacked by the Catholic Church to make "Christianity" more appealing. What they did was they changed the day of the celebration to the last day of a month on their calendar that came closest to the last day of the month on the calendar that it was originally celebrated on. The new date happened to be October 31. The Catholic Church also added "All Saints Day" to the celebration, which was given the date of November 1, out of the need to remember all of their dead "saints" without completely filling-up the calendar. Then they added "All Souls Day" for November 2. In terms of the celebration on October 31, virtually nothing has changed except the calendar used to schedule the celebration, and the fact that some parts of the world now do it for fun rather than out of fear of evil spirits or being cursed with a spell.
How about Valentines Day? This is yet another pagan celebration of fertility which, by the way, is also linked to witchcraft and the superstitions surrounding the full moon (which is why it's in the middle of the month, which was originally a lunar month). The name comes from the name of a Catholic "saint": St. Valentine. On this day, the pagans made sacrifices to their gods so that they would remain fertile and to celebrate their fertility.
Finally, we have the Sunday Sabbath. This came about in direct rebellion to God's commands because the Catholic Church didn't want to do anything on the same day that the Jews did things on. The day has it's name because the pagans worshiped the sun in the sky on this day. The excuse that the Catholic Church gives is that Jesus rose on the first day of the week (in reality, he rose at sunset on what we would call the seventh day of the week). But God said to rest on the seventh day of the week. The purpose of the Sabbath has also been changed from the "day of rest" to the "day of worship". And a common defense of not observing the Sabbath on its proper day (which we call "Saturday") is that "cults worship on Saturday". Some of these same people acknowledge that Christmas and Easter originated within cults, which should tell you all you need to know about their motives. Regardless of which, God commanded that we rest on the seventh day of the week. And that those who deliberately work on the seventh day are to be put to death! Remember, the Sabbath is the only one of the Appointed Times that God commands all to practice! The whole world! For it was established in the beginning, and it was established for the benefit of all mankind!
The account of the first golden calf is well-known within Christianity (or at least I'm under the impression that this is the case). But it is poorly understood. And this is no coincidence as Satan wants to keep people away from God. A proper understanding of this account is necessary to understand just how successful the enemy has been at keeping Christians away from God.
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” [Exodus 32:1; NIV]
An interesting thing to note about the Hebrew word that is translated as "god" or "gods" is that it's almost always in the plural form. This word is "elohim". In fact, this word appears 2,606 times in the Old Testament. The singular form appears only 57 times. One of the times that the plural form of the word is found is in Exodus 20:2, where the literal translation is "I (singular) am Yahweh your gods (plural)." The word "elohim" literally means "mighty one(s)", not "god(s)". Though it's often used to refer to god(s) and the One, True, and Living God.
Notice in Exodus 32:1, the "gods" that they asked Aaron to make are to replace Moses. In their mind, they were not replacing God, just the mediator between them and God (which would be Moses in this case). The passage can just as easily be translated as them saying "make us a god who will go before us." In their mind, they were still serving the God that brought them out of Egypt. But Christians are taught that the Israelites openly went after other gods. And this is the misunderstanding of the incident that blinds Christians from the truth about idolatry!
2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. [Exodus 32:2-6; NIV]
In verse 4, we again have a situation where the words can be translated in either their singular or plural form. In this case, we have two words, not just one. The first one is "elle", which can mean either "this" or "these" (as well as a number of other things). The verse can easily be translated as "This is your god". Again, the word "god" in this case refers to the mediator between God and men. And in verse 6, the word translated as "Lord" is actually the name of God, Yahweh. So not only did they replace their mediator with a golden calf, but they also decided to make their own feast to God! Again, in their eyes, they were worshiping God, not the calf.
7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ [Exodus 32:7-8; NIV]
Now the Bible reveals God's perspective of what the Israelites were doing. Again, the phrase "these are your gods" can also be translated as "this is your god". Notice that in God's mind, the people were sacrificing to the calf they built. The people are sincere in their worship of Yahweh, but they don't realize that they are actually worshiping the calf. Unfortunately, most read this account from the perspective of God and don't even realize that there are two perspectives here. God's perspective and man's perspective. The Bible reveals both perspectives, but it's God's perspective that matters.
Have you noticed how frequently I mention Deuteronomy 13 in these types of posts? There is a reason for that. And really, I should be mentioning Deuteronomy 12 more often, since it also deals with idolatry. Deuteronomy 12:32 warns us to be careful to keep God's commands, and not to add to or diminish from it. And Deuteronomy 13 defines idolatry as rebellion against God's Law by how it contrasts obedience against serving other gods. And Exodus 32 should serve as a reminder of what it means to God when we try to worship him our own way.
Now: About that second golden calf incident. By the way, there was a second incident involving golden calves. The first king of the northern kingdom of Israel (Jeroboam I) set up two of those: One in the north and one in the south. Let's analyze that one as well.
25 Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built up Peniel.
26 Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. 27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.”
28 After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” 29 One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other.
31 Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. 32 He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made. 33 On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings. [1 Kings 12:25-33; NIV]
The NIV for some reason replaced the word "behold" with "here are". A more accurate translation would be "here is your god." While this second account doesn't give nearly the insight on the perspective of the people, it doesn't need to if you already understand it from Exodus 32. The calves represent Yahweh, who brought Israel out of Egypt. This of course is a violation of the 3rd Commandment as was the calf that was made several hundred years earlier. But the people were sincerely worshiping God and sacrificing to him. Notice however, that the text gives God's perspective on the matter. And from God's perspective, they are worshiping the calf and sacrificing to the calf, not him!
Notice also that he changed one of the Appointed Times to be on the eighth month instead of the seventh month. Yet another violation of Deuteronomy 12, which by itself would be classified as idolatry by Deuteronomy 13. And if that wasn't bad enough, Jeroboam I built high places in outright defiance of the Deuteronomy 12 commands to (a) tear down all the high places and (b) not to worship God the way the pagans worshiped their gods. There is a reason God is so strict on how we are and are not to worship him. And the sequence of events that unfolds over the course of the book of 1 Kings demonstrates perfectly the reason. The kingdom of Israel went from worshiping God through unauthorized and forbidden means (lip service) to openly serving other gods. Had they stuck to God's Law concerning how we are to worship him, this would not have happened.
God is eternal. And his law is eternal. This means that neither God, nor his law, can change. And it should be clear from the Deuteronomy 13 Test that anyone seeking to change the Law, by definition, is leading you to serve other gods. Basically, God put it in his law that the Law cannot be changed or done away with. So anyone who worships God in a way that is forbidden by God's Law is, at best, paying God lip service. Anyone who changes or replaces God's Appointed Times is, at best, paying God lip service. Both are far from God and serving false gods, no matter how sincere they are in their worship of God. Remember, God wants obedience rather than sacrifice. And he wants that obedience to come from the heart.
