History’s Most Famous Execution

Posted on 2018/01/27 by Guestspeaker

David Matthew a committed Christian since the age of twelve who reached the blessed age of 77 and was a schoolteacher for 14 years, then went into the Christian ministry, to be by now still very much on a journey of faith having become now a lot less dogmatic on doctrinal issues than he used to be, and a lot more Jesus-focused, always tried to keep up with current thinking on evangelical Christianity and wrote about it.

He has been disturbed to keep coming across once-keen Christians, including some church leaders, who, in the face of the challenges of raising questions about traditional views or proposing new ways of looking at certain biblical passages, have lost their faith altogether. He therefore wrote a.o. the book: “ A Poke In The Faith: Challenges to evangelical faith and how to survive them”.

He also looked at “Did God Kill Jesus?: Searching for love in history’s most famous execution by Tony Jones (HarperOne, 2015).” and asks “What happened to the cross“. He also made a very nice “synopsis of the book” in which we found the following text we do like to share with you:

History’s Most Famous Execution

We should be clear on the basics about Jesus. Born in 6 or 4BCE, he was reared in Nazareth, in the fairly prosperous region of Galilee. He was, like Joseph, a tekton, ‘craftsman’ — not necessarily a carpenter. At the age of 30 he merged from obscurity into his public ministry. The core of his message was:

‘A new age is dawning — the rules by which followers of Yahweh lived their lives, while not irrelevant, are in need of

a serious overhaul; the spirit of those rules has been forgotten amid the attempts to keep those rules; I’ve come to redefine the relationship between God and humanity.’ (p70)

The ultimate rule, he taught, is love —which should extend even to one’s enemies.

The apocalyptic aspects of his teaching (a common and popular genre at the time) were directed chiefly at the political situations of his day. His miracles were not primarily to show his deity but to demonstrate God’s rule and show how it reaches out to the marginalised in society.

Jerusalem, where Jesus headed at the end of his ministry, was the centre of Jewish religious life. The Gospel writers focus on his last week there. Each of the four has its own angle on it. They focus on his trial, sufferings and death.

The Gospels show little interest in who actually killed Jesus (or, indeed, in what his death accomplished), but together they portray him as crucified by the Romans at the instigation of the Jewish leaders.

His resurrection led his followers to see his death cosmically and theologically, as an act of God.

At a human level, the early church put the blame chiefly on the Jews, while later centuries blamed them entirely, on the basis of Matt 27:25 — a verse which has had a terrible anti-Semitic legacy. The Gospels do tie Jesus’ death to the Passover. His passion takes place during the build-up to Passover. His last act is to eat the Passover meal with his followers. Like the original Passover lamb, the blood of Jesus liberates the people.

Paul, however, takes this much further…

Paul’s Cross-Centred Life

Paul got to know the Jesus story backwards: starting with the resurrected Lord. He never heard Jesus teach, nor witnessed his miracles (note of the editor: he might have witnessed some miracles, but we do not know that, but for sure he would have heard about them from first hand witnesses) , and never mentions his life — the focus is on his death and resurrection.
He sets these in the context of Israel’s story, a key feature of which was the law. Paul concludes that the law killed Jesus (Gal 3:13).

‘The cross’, for Paul, means ‘the gospel’, and it is the lens through which he interprets everything else. He opens up his thinking on it chiefly in Romans 3, and Romans 7 – 8. In Rom 3 God is faithful, and it is through Jesus, the faithful Israelite, that he fulfils his covenant promises. Jesus is the ‘sacrifice of atonement’ — literally the place of atonement, or Mercy Seat. In other words, he sums up everything that has gone before in Israel’s history. In Rom 7 – 8, all of human sin is concentrated in Jesus, and in him on the cross all sin is condemned.
If the Gospels show Jesus as the Passover sacrifice, Paul presents him as the Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) sacrifice. Both are valid emphases, but different.
According to Paul, in the cross God showed himself to be on the side of all human beings, Jews and Gentiles alike, and through the cross he shows us how to live right, recognising that we have been crucified with Jesus. We are called to live out the example that God set on the cross: self-limitation, humility and submission.

Preceding

Review: What happened at the cross?

Additional reading

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Yom Hey, Eve of Passover and liberation of many people

Posted on 2016/04/21 by Marcus Ampe

Today it is Yom Hey, the day before the most important day and period of the year. On the 13th of Nisan we may have the search for the leaven and tomorrow we come to remember the night that Jesus came together with his apostles to remember the Pesach or Passover.

2016 April 22 brings us the remembrance of the Fast of the First born (Hebrew: תענית בכורות, Ta’anit B’khorot or תענית בכורים, Ta’anit B’khorim) and the First Ceder Night.

14th of Nisan, 5776 = Erev Pesach

Pesach (Passover) begins at sunset on Friday April 22, 2016
and continues through nightfall on Saturday April 30, 2016 .

These days we are looking forward to the most important offering in history. In Scriptures we do have Positive and Negative Mitzvahs. for the 14th of Nisan we remember the negative mitzvah or command 92:

We are forbidden to slaughter blemished animals as sacrifices
Leviticus 22:22 “You shall not offer these to the L-rd”

We are not allowed to slaughter animals that have blemishes for use as sacrifices (see also, Positive Mitzvah 61).

20 centuries ago a unblemished sacrifice was made by the lamb of God, the Nazarene Jew Jeshua who gave himself for the world.

Passover Seder table with an Esperanto Haggadah of Pesach Esperanto: Seder-tablo dum Pesaĥo kun Hagada en Esperanto (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

He had asked his disciples to prepare all Seder items and food for the holiday meals before the onset of the holiday and Sabbath. He asked them also to hire and prepare a place where they could come together for the remembrance of the miracle which spared the firstborn Jewish sons from the plague which struck down the firstborn sons of the Egyptians. By right, this fast should be held on the anniversary of the day on which the miracle occurred: on the night of the fifteenth of Nissan. However, since the fifteenth is already Passover, and we do not fast on Festival days the fast is pushed back to the fourteenth when at dawn on Friday 22 April 2016 by the Jews only firstborns are required to fast.

Jeshua has become the first born of the new generation or of the new world. By him self giving himself as a lamb on the slaughter for God as payment for the sins of the world. The sacrifice offer had to be pure and that is what Jesus was. He always had loved the God of Abraham and always kept to This God’s Commandments. Even in the most difficult period of his life, he only wanted to do God’s Will and not his own will. (Naturally if Jesus would be God he always would have done his own will, but the Bible tells us that Jesus is the son of God, who did follow up God’s and not his own will.)

Luke 22:39-44 (TS98)
39 And coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, according to usage, and His taught ones also followed Him. 40 And coming to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you do not enter into trial.” 41 And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and falling on His knees He was praying, 42 saying, “Father, if it be Your counsel, remove this cup from Me. Yet not My desire, but let Yours be done.” 43 And there appeared a messenger from heaven to Him, strengthening Him. 44 And being in agony, He was praying more earnestly. And His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Before he started preaching his cousin had warned people already to look at this special man

John 1:29 (TS98)
On the next day Yoḥanan saw יהושע {Jehsua} coming toward him, and said, “See, the Lamb of Elohim who takes away the sin of the world!

It was this rabbi who was sent by god who was also prepared by God and already foretold before Abraham was born.

Zephaniah 1:7 (TS98)
Hush! in the presence of the Master יהוה {Jehovah}. For the day of יהוה is near, for יהוה has prepared a slaughter, He has set apart His invited ones.

Christians like Jews should commemorate God‘s kindness towards the Israelite firstborn; when Jehovah slew all the Egyptian firstborn males but spared their Jewish counterparts.

In a way the heathen or gentiles could be compared to the Egyptians, but know the blood was from a man, Jeshua, and salvation comes over all those who want to believe in that ransom offer, the Kristos or Christ Jesus.

Many abide by the custom that the father of a firstborn male who is under the age of Bar Mitzvah fasts in lieu of his son.

Whilst it is customary for all synagogues to organize a Siyum (Hebrew: סיום‎) or “completion” of any unit of Torah study, or book of the Mishnah or Talmud in Judaism, usually followed by a celebratory meal, or seudat mitzvah, a meal in honor of a mitzvah, or commandment, Christians should also come together in the manner Jesus did. They should take time to listen to the completion of a tractate of Talmud, and come to break bread with each other in remembrance of rabbi Jeshua taking the bread and saying those words we should write in our heart.

Luke 22:7-18 (TS98)
7 And the Day of Unleavened Bread came when the Passover had to be slaughtered. 8 And He sent Kĕpha and Yoḥanan, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us to eat.” 9 And they said to Him, “Where do You wish us to prepare?” 10 And He said to them, “See, as you enter into the city, a man shall meet you carrying a jar of water. Follow him into the house he enters. 11 “And you shall say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I might eat the Passover with My taught ones?” ’ 12 “And he shall show you a large, furnished upper room. Prepare it there.” 13 And going they found it as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover. 14 And when the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve emissaries with Him. 15 And He said to them, “With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before My suffering, 16 for I say to you, I shall certainly not eat of it again until it is filled in the reign of Elohim.” 17 And taking the cup, giving thanks, He said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves, 18 for I say to you, I shall certainly not drink of the fruit of the vine until the reign of Elohim comes.”

Today we still wait for that Reign of God to come, but we can see already much more light, because we can see lots of signs which are declared signs of the coming Last Days.

We invite you to be with us in prayer these days and to remember the liberation of the People of Israel and the liberation of the people given liberation by Jesus Christ his offering.

Preceding articles in English:

Holidays, holy days and traditions

Seven Bible Feasts of JHWH

White Privilege Conference (WPC) wanting to keep the press out for obvious reasons

First month of the year and predictions

Entrance of a king to question our position #2 Who do we want to see and to be

Shabbat Pesach service reading 1/2

Who Would You Rather Listen To?

Focus on outward appearances

Preceding articles in Dutch:

De zeven Feesten van God

Azteekse en Romeinse tradities die ons nog steeds beïnvloeden

Additional reading

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White Privilege Conference (WPC) wanting to keep the press out for obvious reasons

Posted on 2016/04/20 by Marcus Ampe

WPC organizers reacted very poorly to the discovery that this year’s conference was being reported on from inside. This is unsurprising, since WPC has attempted to totally ban reporters from covering its proceedings and has actively kept them out in the past.

It must not surprise you why it was kept secretly for the press the previous years. When you look at the debates it is clear we should seriously pose several questions by the speakers invited and by the set up of that conference.

Today there is a renewed attack (in the Western world) on anything to do with believing there is a God, a Creator of any kind!

There are even people who hold conferences to make it clear to others that almost every dysfunction in society, from racism and sexism to global warming and a weak economy, is united by the ideology of ‘Christian hegemony.’ That is at least what a lecturer at the 2016 White Privilege Conference (WPC) claimed.

Believers are again open to ridicule. Academics, who are confident they have the answer (or at least acceptable opinions) to everything about how the world began, compete among themselves for the “glory” they can receive from each other and from the public with their notions. Some also want others to believe that all more active believers would be creationists and do not seem to get the difference of believing that there has been a Most High Supreme being ordering everything and being responsible for the creation.

Contingency, Hegemony, Universality (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Certain people, like Paul Kivel, think Christians “colonize our mind.”
Paul Kivel, is a social justice educator, activist, and writer, who to our mind looks not so social at all but is perhaps an atheist socialist against religion and willing to attack it. Though he claims to be an innovative leader in violence prevention for 35 years, it either looks like he has changed gear or has always loved to set up non-believers against believing people .

He defines Christian hegemony as the

everyday, pervasive, and systematic set of Christian values and beliefs, individuals and institutions that dominate all aspects of our society through the social, political, economic, and cultural power they wield. Nothing is unaffected by Christian hegemony (whether we are Christian or not) including our personal beliefs and values, our relationships to other people and to the natural environment, and our economic, political, education, health care, criminal/legal, housing, and other social systems. {Christian hegemony}

For him

All people who are not Christian, as well as most people who are, experience social, political, and economic exploitation, violence, cultural appropriation, marginalization, alienation and constant vulnerability from the dominance of Christian power and values in our society. {Christian hegemony}

It looks like Christendom and/or Christianity (though he constantly refers to Christianity) is/are the badness of this world.

The internalization of dominant western Christian beliefs and values by individuals in our society seems to bring all badness into the world and being the cause of the present problems we have with fundamental Muslims. but it seems also to be in participial white Christian men who are dominating this world and causing inequality and injustice.

He writes

Another level of Christian dominance is within the power elite, the network of 7-10,000 predominantly white Christian men who control the largest and most powerful social, political, economic, and cultural institutions in the country. And finally there is the level which provides the foundation for all the others – the long and deep legacy of Christian ideas, values, practices, policies, icons, and texts that have been produced within dominant western Christianity over the centuries. That legacy continues to shape our language, culture, beliefs, and values and to frame public and foreign policy decisions. {Christian hegemony}

He even wants us tot believe, that we believers are blind. It is true that we cannot go without all those companies and organisations which have their say in our communities and that economical as well as political parties want to have everything in their hands. But we think it over the top, him saying

Christian dominance has become so invisible that its manifestations appear to be secular, i.e. not religious. In this context, the phrase “secular Christian dominance” might be most appropriate, Christian hegemony under the guise of secularism. Of course, there are many forms of Christian fundamentalism which are anything but secular. Often fundamentalists want to create some kind of theocratic state. But the more mainstream, everyday way that dominant Christian values and institutions influence our lives and communities is less evident, although no less significant and certainly not limited to fundamentalists. {Christian hegemony}

According to him Christian leaders have established an annual holiday cycle that extols US militarism/ triumphalism, the nuclear family, consumerism and whiteness. Perhaps he is so much focussed on the U.S.A. that he does not see the holidays of other countries and mistakenly takes many heathen holidays as Christian holidays, though it mostly are also the heathen people who celebrate those and try to lure Christians to celebrate with them.

The holiday cycle which he presents on his website present many secular holidays which he presents as so called holidays of Christianity though Christianity argues a lot against the celebration of those feasts. But we do agree in Christendom we see many people with the name Christian celebrating those heathen festivals as so called Christian holidays.

Painting of Christopher Columbus. The painting Virgen de los Navegantes (in the Sala de los Almirantes, Royal Alcazar, Seville). A painting by Alejo Fernández between 1505 and 1536. It is the only state sponsored portrait of the First Admiral of the Indias called Don Cristoval Colon known today as Christopher Columbus in English. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For him those holidays downplays the violence in our history, holding up a few white Christian men, such as Christopher Columbus and his American presidents,

for uncritical praise and emphasizes faith, family and country.

he writes and continues:

For many in the US, this cycle has come to seem traditional, even though it is constantly recreated and most of the holidays originated within the last 150 years. For some, these holidays have come to feel familiar, unifying and just plain American even though for millions of others they can be painful and alienating. Most of our national holidays are seen as secular, even though their underpinnings are deeply Christian. Even Christmas and Easter are viewed as secular by many. (I have been told that the phrase Merry Christmas in bold letters on the public buses in my
city is not religious but merely a general holiday greeting.)

It looks like he does not know that Jesus was not at all born on the 25th of December and that all the traditions people flirt with have nothing to do at all with the birth of Christ nor with God, and are an abomination in the eyes of God, of which a real Christian should abstain.

That New Year’s day for Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Chinese, Vietnamese, Mayans and many Native peoples happens at other times of the annual cycle, has nothing to do with Christianity not with Christendom but with choosing an other calendar system.

The fact that western countries imposed this calendar worldwide, even though those in the West are a minority in the world, is never acknowledged.

he writes, but we do think that is a matter of choosing a time indication where the West has chosen to keep to that Gregorian calendar, even after some countries tried the Napoleonic calendar for some time, but whatever calendar they would choose always there would be people able to complain about the system chosen.

We do not see any reason at all why not to say “Happy Chinese New Year” or “Happy Jewish New Year”, like we do in the West of Europe? He should know that these other calendars are also culturally specific and that everybody is free to follow one or the other and that nobody would mind you saying “Happy New Year” when it is a new year for that person.
For us this article is written on the 12th of Nisan, 5776 but in the West most people would not know about which day we are talking therefore we also use the common general practised calendar indicating that it is today April the 20th of the year 2016 of the common Era (CE). For us on 22 April (Taanit Bechorot) Friday night we are looking at the 14th of Nisan, 5776 going to celebrate the Passover, the “Feast of Unleavened Bread” Erev Pesach and on the 23rd the 15th of Nisan, 5776 we look at the holiday yomtov, being part of the “Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread”or “Pesach I”, having on Sunday the 1st day of the Omer (or Pesach II) the period between Passover and Shavuʿot, the 16th of Nisan of the year 5776. {The holiday of Pesach, or Passover, is an annual week long festival commemorating the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt and slavery. Before the main festival begins for the Jews, the Christians remember the night that Jesus came together with his apostles for the Last Supper and announcement of the installation of the New Covenant. for us this 14 th of Nisan is the most important day of the year and precedes the Pesach festival which begins on the 15th day of the Hebrew calendar month of Nisan — which derives its name from the passing over of the homes of the Israelite slaves during the tenth plague. It is that liberation and the liberation by Christ that we should remember for ever.} Next year the Passover shall be on Monday, April 10 and in 2018 on Friday, March 30.
But this is all about arrangements and agreements and depending on which calendar you want to base your daily activities.

For economical and practical reasons an agreement has to be made to use what calendar and what to consider the first day of the week: Thursday (certain Hindus), Friday (like Muslims), Friday night – Saturday night or Sabbath (like the Jews), or the week beginning on Sunday or Monday, as such beginning the day at 00.00 hours or when the sun gets down. Here you may find calendars beginning the week with Sunday and others ending with the weekend (which I personally find more practical).
It is true that

holidays can be destructive when they celebrate war or colonialism, are promoted aggressively or when corporations use them to promote values hostile to our environment and us. {The Christian Holiday Cycle}

For sure we need to think seriously about what we celebrate and why, who is included or excluded in the celebration and what values are implicitly or explicitly communicated. But we never should condemn certain groups of people if they want to celebrate certain days, though it is our duty to point out to Christians what they are celebrating and which festivals are alright to take part in and which not.

For Kivel the choice of calendar use and the days celebrated shows the dominance of a certain group and the normalization of such a group.

It is said that WPC takes tremendous pains to protect everybody’s feelings, but this year many toes were stepped on. To ensure a gender non-conforming person isn’t labeled with a wayward “he,” attendees are asked to always introduce themselves with their name and their pronoun set. Presenters routinely ask for anybody to pipe up if they’re triggered by a presentation, and will apologize if such a complaint arises. Almost half the conference revolves around microaggressions and how to avoid them or defuse them.

A major part of WPC are the daily caucuses, where attendees segregate themselves by race and talk through their feelings on white privilege. They were assembled collectively beforehand and assigned to a specific smaller room ‘because of the large number of white people in attendance’. Organizers warned they could start physically exerting their white privilege by walking too aggressively and not paying heed to their surroundings. If attendees weren’t careful, they said, they risked getting in the way of non-white attendees who would have no choice but to shy away and debase themselves before these barreling vectors of overwhelming privilege.

Disaffected participants in the 2016 White Privilege Conference (WPC) have taken to Twitter to complain that the conference was, ironically, too white and was actually filled to the brim with white supremacy. Adopting the hashtag #WPCSoWhite, inspired by the recent #OscarsSoWhite campaign, Twitter users claimed the conference that was supposed to battle white privilege instead served to entrench it. The tag appears to have been started and pushed with particular vigour by Aeriel Ashlee, an education consultant who attended WPC and objected to several parts of a keynote address delivered by (white) historian James Loewen. Some of his comments where even described as “deeply offensive and traumatizing.”

I’m not ok with using oppressive & racist language by a white man in the “service” of learning @JamesWLoewen #WPCsowhite

— Heather Heater (@heaterMPH) April 16, 2016

We talk about taking action to dismantle white supremacy yet not much response on Loewen’s use of the N-word #WPCSoWhite #PHLWPC17

— TastefulIntuition (@TheeKWard) April 16, 2016

N-word NEVER acceptable from #whitefolks lips! Deeply offensive & traumatizing. @JamesWLoewen #WPCSoWhite #PHLWPC17 https://t.co/oLP9M9GwUs

— Jill Poklemba (@jillmarette99) April 16, 2016

Frederick Gooding, Jr., who styles himself as “The Race Doctor” gave a half-comedic, half-serious lecture intended to point out various moments of subtle white supremacy and white privilege throughout the past year. Near the end of his address, Gooding went after Hollywood for the recently-released film “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” which features three Caucasian heroes in the form of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman.

“I have a quota where it’s just a little too much whiteness, I gotta tap out,”

the Doctor said to a laughing audience.

“One white hero at a time, I can kinda take that, but you have two of them … but then, the White Man said, we gonna show you something. And they throw in a white woman!”

For people discussing other folks it may not be easy today how to call them. All sorts of new terms have to be looked for to talk about people with an other skin colour or with an other faith. In this time of many fleeing from the Middle East and from Africa for discussing different terms are looked for, and one term which could be right at one time a few weeks later may be considered totally wrong to be used. Undocumented immigrants may still be called “illegals” despite the fact that this also could be a highly inaccurate and pejorative term. Whether intentional or accidental, the use of such terms has shaped public opinion on immigration policy. Of course, not everyone who uses these terms intends to colour undocumented immigrants with the stigma that these terms carry with them. Today the phrase “illegal immigrant” is by many considered

decidedly not okay

During a workshop titled “Nativism 101,” on the topic of immigration and the groups opposed to it, one attendee objected to another’s use of the term “undocumented immigrant.”

Instead of illegal or undocumented, the woman proposed that such immigrants be labeled

“unauthorized immigrants.”

Unauthorised where those who brought out photographs and texts from this conference where very high income prizes where charged, as if the poor people and immigrants ever would be able to pay such fees.

Dividing the people in categories for the debates Kivel finds it are the Christians who divide people and put them in hierarchical order. For him it is in-acceptable that there would be a

“God over people, men over women, parents over children, white people over people of colour,”

inevitably creating systems that justify and even glorify oppression, but was he and the organisers not doing just that?

Please do read also:

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First month of the year and predictions

Posted on 2015/03/25 by Bijbelvorsers

Nisan, the first month of the ecclesiastical year and for the Jews the seventh month (eighth, in leap year) of the civil year, it is the month were renewal is at the tip of the tongues. In the Torah it is called the month of the Aviv, referring to the month in which barley was ripe. But in the Book of Esther in the Tanakh and in the Christian Bible it is referred to as Nisan.

Jesus, being a Jew commemorated also the salvation of the Israelite firstborns during the Plague of the Firstborn.

According to standard biblical chronology, the Jewish people got its freedom after that tenth plague wrought upon Ancient Egypt. Jehovah had spoken to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt requiring them to remember the moment He was going to give them as part of the month which had to be the beginning of months. Being the first month of the year to the people of God.

Exo 12:1-2 The Scriptures 1998+ (1) And יהוה {Jehovah} spoke to Mosheh and to Aharon in the land of Mitsrayim, saying, (2) “This month is the beginning of months for you, it is the first month of the year for you.

For those who followed the orders of God there was no problem but for the others who did not listen to the Most High every firstborn in the Land of Mitzrayim (Ancient Egypt) got struck.

Exo 12:23-30 The Scriptures 1998+ (23) “And יהוה {Jehovah} shall pass on to smite the Mitsrites, and shall see the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, and יהוה {Jehovah} shall pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you. (24) “And you shall guard this word as a law for you and your sons, forever. (25) “And it shall be, when you come to the land which יהוה {Jehovah} gives you, as He promised, that you shall guard this service. (26) “And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’ (27) then you shall say, ‘It is the Passover slaughtering of יהוה {Jehovah} , who passed over the houses of the children of Yisra’ĕl in Mitsrayim when He smote the Mitsrites and delivered our households.’ ” And the people bowed their heads and did obeisance. (28) And the children of Yisra’ĕl went away and did so – as יהוה {Jehovah} had commanded Mosheh and Aharon, so they did. (29) And it came to be at midnight that יהוה {Jehovah} smote all the first-born in the land of Mitsrayim, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the first-born of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the first-born of livestock. (30) And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants, and all the Mitsrites. And there was a great cry in Mitsrayim, for there was not a house where there was not a dead one.

The Old Moore’s Almanac which has been published in Ireland since the year 1764 makes every year predictions. You need only look back on the monthly predictions it projects to realise just how inaccurate it is – just a bit of a ‘break’ here and there. but it was very popular and still today people are fascinated with predictions. Strangely enough they may find a book full of predictions, but which is not so popular because it gives predictions but also a lot of warnings which seem to be frightening, because they demand an honouring of Somebody Who cannot be seen. Though that Book of books may present lots of predictions we can verify with what happened in the past and see that they came true.

The Bible not only makes predictions, its batting average is 100%. Usually when we read the prophecies from elsewhere we end up knowing that they really haven’t got a clue – just a good calculated guess here and there. Prophecy for us humans with a consistency and without generalisation, well, our track record is not good. We can travel in space but not into the future.

Today people got more frightened with ISIS and other fundamental groups terrorising whole populations and killing people like it are just flees to be done with. Lots of people wonder if there is hope in what is increasingly being seen as a hopeless world. They should come to see that the future is plain to God as is the past and that gives us security.

With the first month of the religious year of the People of God, not only the Israelites got liberated, but also for the gentiles was given hope by the one who was also called the son of David and son of Abraham. this time it was not just a year old male taken from the sheep or from the goats.

Exo 12:5-6 The Scriptures 1998+ (5) ‘Let the lamb be a perfect one, a year old male. Take it from the sheep or from the goats. (6) ‘And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then all the assembly of the congregation of Yisra’ĕl shall kill it between the evenings.

The world got offered a new spotless lamb. That perfect one was born as the only begotten son of God and anointed by his heavenly Father. Not having spot or wrinkle or any of this sort, but that it might be set-apart and blameless, the 33 year old one gave himself for the sins of many. Herein we do have our hope. Isaiah had forecasted that a baby will be born who will be a sign in the world. Beyond any short term fulfilment of that sign it pointed to someone coming who will really fulfil the sign and in their coming to the world, start a train of events that will make a difference both in time and eternity.

The baby born in Bethlehem, grown up in Nazareth had walked up to Jerusalem, God’s city and was now ready to have him taken prisoner, flogged and killed. Nobody can do God anything, but man can do a lot of awful things to another man. So Jesus had all the reason to be afraid and even to go sweating blood and water, at one moment even doubting the future and crying to his heavenly Father why He the God of gods had left him, now when he was in his hour of death.

Isaiah and others had made predictions about that sign which would come. Predictions in Old Testament days often had a short range fulfilment which prepares our minds to accept a long-range and far more significant fulfilment of what has been promised. The predictions are often fulfilled a couple of times. There’s an immediate fulfilment, and there’s also a long-term fulfilment.

500 years after the time of Isaiah, and about 250 years before the time of Jesus Christ, 70 scholars met in Egypt with the aim of getting the Old Testament from the Hebrew into the Greek language. Coming to the verse about a young woman they saw more in this event than a child back then. They saw that a child would be ‘God with us’. Lots of people came to understand that God could only be with us when He would be here on earth. They forget that God is everywhere and always is present all over. Having the ‘Immanuel‘ or God with us does not mean that the child would be The God. Throughout times many were called ‘Immanuel‘ or ‘Emmanuel,’ also today, but for sure they are not God here on earth..
What got fulfilled at Bethlehem was that the promise first made in the Garden of Eden came into fulfilment. Jesus of Nazareth was the personification of that Word given by God (John 1:1). He was going to present God’s Word in the world and let enough people see Who the heavenly Father really is. He also wanted to have people to understand how important it is not to do our own will but to try to come to do God His Will, like Jesus all his lifetime tried to do God His will and not his.

It was God His will that there would come a saviour to bring an end to the curse of the fall, the sin of man. Now the time had come in the first month of the year. Spring was near, but now had to come a more important Spring. He had to be the Spring of life, the Source of life for many. That is what we are commemorating soon. The liberation of God’s people is the first thing we do have to remember, but secondly we do have to commemorate the evening that Jesus gathered in the upper room with his close disciples and dearest friends.

The coming days we should prepare for that holy moment when wine became a symbol for blood and bread the symbol for the life giving flesh of the promised one.

Find also:

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Jews Around The World Recognize Strength, Pride With Purim Celebrations (newyork.cbslocal.com)
Jews around the world are celebrating Purim, a joyous holiday that teaches lessons about strength and pride in your identity.
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“The good part is hidden and wrapped up. You have to know that in all of nature we don’t see God, but he’s hidden somewhere,” Yosef Rapoport said.
Netanyahu and Queen Esther of Persia (rehmat1.com)
“Tomorrow night, on the Jewish holiday of Purim, we’ll read the Book of Esther. We’ll read of a powerful Persian viceroy named Haman, who plotted to destroy the Jewish people some 2,500 years ago. But a courageous Jewish woman, Queen Esther, exposed the plot and gave for the Jewish people the right to defend themselves against their enemies. The plot was foiled. Our people were saved,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu, Persia, Purim and Esther (stream.org)
Netanyahu specifically mentioned Esther, Persia, Haman and the Feast of Purim. Here is what happened in the story. Haman, a wealthy high official, had tricked the king of Persia, Ahasuerus (many scholars think this was Artaxerxes II) into issuing a special order. According to Persian law, once such an order was issued, it could not be rescinded. The order required that all the scattered Jews throughout the empire (including Canaan, the location of modern Israel) be attacked and wiped out on a certain day.
No Mask Needed When Defending Israel (blogs.timesofisrael.com)
Since the original decree calling for a “day of rage” could not be overturned, the king permitted the Jews to fight back in self defense. Instead of what was to be a “final solution” for the Jews, 75,800 men were killed. No Jewish casualties are recorded, although the Book of Esther does mention that no spoils of war were taken, indicating that the Jews were only fighting because they were being attacked.

The story of Purim has repeated itself more than a few times in our history. Just over 70 years ago, the Holocaust, and shortly thereafter, Israel’s War of Independence was launched with the intended goal of our total decimation.
Netanyahu and Queen Esther of Persia (mooglemeow.blogspot.com)
‘Benjamin Netanyahu while addressing the American Knesset in Washington DC invoked Persians’ hatred toward country’s Jewish community over 2500 years ago.
Residents of Moldaw Enjoy a Purim Art Project and Time of Reflection with Local Students (ireport.cnn.com)
our students spent time reflecting upon what they discovered about themselves, others and how they may make a difference in the world.
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“Everyone feels uplifted when the children visit and they can exchanges stories and discuss their lives and particular holidays, like Purim,” said Thia Tran, lifestyles director at Moldaw Residences. “The intergenerational interaction is beneficial for everyone involved and always brings such joy to our residents. We’re happy to welcome the students and their families any time they want to visit.”
Seeking Esther (susanlapin.typepad.com)
There is much that humans need to do and, tragically, too many people today, both Jewish and non-Jewish, are not standing up to the challenges of our time. However, no matter what we do, no matter how strong our military, no matter how advanced our technology, we need to deeply believe and modify our behavior in accordance with, the additional words, “God willing,” iin order to act as descendants of Moses and Esther. May God deliver us from evil today as He did long ago in Persia, reaffirming the blessing we say before reading the Book of Esther, “in those days as at this time.”

Seven Bible Feasts of JHWH

Posted on 2015/03/24 by Guestspeaker

By many Christians the death of Christ is celebrated on “Good Friday.” In different denominations we also do find the Easter celebration on the Day of Estra.

The world should know not all Christians do celebrate on heathen feast-days but do keep to the Biblical days of the feast given by the Most High. The world should also know that the origins of “Good Friday” may be questioned it even not being mentioned in the Bible. Not only does it not contain “Good Friday”, the Gospels do not even speak of a Friday Crucifixion.

In a few days time we shall encounter the day we should remember. It is not on a fixed date, every time falling on the same day of the present calendar we are using in the West. On the Jewish calendar it is always falling on the same day, namely the 14th of the first month of the year or 14 Nisan, which this year shall be from Friday evening April the 3rd until Saturday evening April the 4th. Nissan was made the first month of the year because it is the month in which the Jewish People were freed from slavery in Egypt, the house of bondage. That liberation is what we all should remember, plus a more important liberation as well, namely the liberation of all people. That general greater liberation happened by the Nazarene Jew Jeshua giving his body as a ransom for the sins of all people.

“In Nisan they were redeemed, and in Nisan they are destined to be redeemed in the future.”
(Rosh ha-Shanah 11a; Mechilta de-Rabbi Shimon bar Yochay 12:42; Tanchuma, Bo 9)

How true that is. Jeshua or Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah) suffered for us in the month of Nissan. We should remember this offer lamb who took care to do only the will of his heavenly Father and not his will. By his offering he made a bloodcovenant with the heavenly Father and made a turning point for humankind. He became the beginning of the New Creation, and was the first born of that New World. With him may we reckon all time beginning at the point of our redemption from sin and death.
Nisan is truly a new beginning for Jew and Gentile.

That evening millions of true Christians shall remember the last meal Jesus had with his disciples. The Christadelphian community in Belgium invites everybody to their remembrance meeting Friday April 3 after sunset.

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There are seven Bible Feasts of JHWH recorded in Leviticus chapter 23.

In the Gospel of John the main Feasts of God are Sukkot (John 7 – 10) and Pesach
(John 13 – 17).

In the book of Acts we read about Sjawuot (Acts 2), the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Acts 20:6) and again Sjawuot (Acts 20:16, Pentecost).

The first ”day” of the week (mia toon sabbatoon) is actually the first Sabbath week of a series of 7 Sabbaths before Sjawuot, counting fifty days till Sjawuot (Leviticus 23:16).

The Jewish and Gentile believers celebrated the Feasts of JHWH.

In the Apostolic Constitutions we read that the Christians met on Sabbath in the first three centuries.

After that time Rome changed the Sabbath in a Sunday.

Jesus rose from the dead on a Sabbath day.

The early Christians did not celebrate the unscriptural feasts of Sunday (dies solaris), X-mas and Eastern.

– Martin

The Sacrifice of the Old Covenant (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Find also:

Vrijdag 3 april 2015 een dag voor verenigde samenkomst ter herinnering

Miljoenen mensen zijn erbij — Komt u ook?

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Easter and it’s Pagan Origins (infobarrel.com)
Constantine and the Council of Nicaea sought to merge the religion of the Pagans with the religion of the Christians.

The mission sought out was to convert the Pagans to Christianity but in a way as not to shock them and completely turn them away. Constantine and Council of Nicaea came to the conclusion that if they were able to get the Christians and Pagans to celebrate similar holidays on the same day, then conversion would go more smoothly.
Brannon Howse: Church of Rome versus the gospel of the Bible – March 10, 2015 (thefreedomreport.us)
Former Catholic Priest of 22 years Richard Bennett on the gospel of the Church of Rome versus the gospel of the Bible.
It’s the postmodern experimentation of the New Testament that keeps it new (theguardian.com)
The gospels of the New Testament, compiled somewhere between AD50 and 110, get older every year. They also stay strikingly new, fuelled by a literary experimentalism that keeps them alive not as religious artefacts but as pieces of writing.
Did Christ die on a Friday? The fulfillment of the Sign of Jonah (biblethingsinbibleways.wordpress.com)
Yeshua died before the Sabbath and rose after the Sabbath. The biblical Sabbath Day coincides with the day which is presently known as Saturday. Using the above, Christian Denominations around the world believed, and still believe in the following hypothesis (Please note that the following will be disproved using Scripture subsequently)
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Yeshua had to fulfill the Scriptures by being in the belly of the earth for three days and three nights. From the time of death and entombment to the time of resurrection and rising from the tomb should have been 3 days and 3 nights. So how is a Friday evening death and burial to sunday early morning resurrection provide 3 days & 3 nights? It barely gives 1 day and 2 nights. So what happened to the rest of the 2 days and 1 night?
New Age Christianity: The Crossless Gospel of Deception by Rocket Kirchner (dandelionsalad.wordpress.com)
if Europe is suffering from what many critics describe as “Metaphysical boredom”, then America is plagued by “Metaphysical lunacy”.
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Have the New Agers ever stopped to think that the early Christians were martyred in Rome because they refused to put Jesus of Nazareth in the pantheon with the other gods? For to them He was God. The only One. Period. Now that may not prove that He was. But it does prove that they believed that He was. And many of them knew him when He actually walked the Earth. Forgiveness and reconciliation were not just a major part of Christ’s teachings, they were at the center of His teachings. And at the center of the center is that before there can be forgiveness and reconciliation between humans and other humans, it must first begin with God reconciling the world unto Himself. Enter the cross and vicarious expiatory blood sacrifice. In other words, according to the early followers of Jesus, He did not just die as a martyr. He died as a sacrifice for sin. Does this prove that it is a fact? No. But what it does prove is that this is what the early Christians believed to be a fact, and this was a matter of public record that they believed this. This sacrificial death motif is either misunderstood today or deliberately omitted. And we wonder why there is no world peace and why humans are not reconciled with each other. They first have to be reconciled with God. There is no short cut. First things first.
Passover Fast Facts (gantdaily.com)
Passover, also called Pesach, is the Jewish festival celebrating the exodus of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery in 1200s B.C. The story is chronicled in the Old Testament book of Exodus. In the book, Israelites marked their doorposts with lamb’s blood to protect children from the tenth plague: the slaughter of the first born. With the protective mark, the destruction would “pass over” the house.
Chuck Kolb 03/20/2015 abbreviated (conpats.blogspot.com)
This Shabbat is the last of the Four Parashiot that have special Torah readings in
preparation for Pesach (Passover), which is only two short weeks away !

It is called Shabbat HaChodesh (Sabbath [of the] month), and a special reading is
added from Exodus 12:1–20, which details the laws of Pesach (Passover).

This Sabbath also marks the first of the month (Rosh Chodesh), head of the month
of Nissan, which God ordained as the first month of the Biblical calendar.
It’s all about that Group (blogs.timesofisrael.com)
The Shem Meshmuel (as told to me by my Rebbe at YU Rav Herschel Reichman Shlitta) learns that GOD commanding Moshe to use the language of gathering when instructing the Jewish people to build the mishkan teaches us about the significance of our relationship to the Jewish people as a whole and our collective role as part of our holy people.
Torah for Today: What does the Torah say about.. Preparing for Pesach? (jewishnews.co.uk)
The hard work of Pesach cleaning is at odds with the obsessive desire for gratification. Why, then, do so many of us work so hard in preparation for this festival?

In fact, if one lists all the Jewish holidays and ask what proportion of Jews observe each one, the likely conclusion would be that the holidays most adhered to are the two most difficult: Pesach and Yom Kippur.

The very fact that people work so hard in preparation for Pesach (and fast on Yom Kippur and do other things which require self-sacrifice) is itself testimony to the potential for human beings to strive for something greater than instant gratification.
Grace Upon Grace (#LentChallenge) (enthusiasticallydawn.com)

Remember the day

Posted on 2014/04/30 by Christadelphians

We are convinced that after the Winter season we shall be able to look at Spring. After the darker days some Sunshine may lighten more the day. People with Winter depression find new hope. Others do think it is getting time to get rid of the old stories and older things still in the house.

Winter (Photo credit: @Doug88888)

In Wintertime we did have lots of time to think about matters from the past. It sometimes even did look like our memories did not want us alone. They, for some people did follow them, as in a nightmare. The good memories going with us would not be to bad, but having bad memories trying to haunt us every day is not so nice.

We all have memories; bad things we try to shut out of our memory, good things we try to retain and bring to the fore.

In today’s reading of the Bible we read how Moses told the people to look back on

“all the days of your life (that) you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 16:3).

Second Seder at 92YTribeca, 4/19/11 (Photo credit: 92YTribeca)

The Passover Feast was set up to aid that memory, to cement it into their consciousness. Most of the generation that had experienced the miraculous deliverance had failed to do that and had died in the wilderness because of their faithlessness. Now Moses is delivering the message to the next generation; whose leaders had been teenagers and children at that time.

Today’s chapter details the feasts they are to keep when they start living in the promised land. As well as remembering the actual deliverance, through the Passover feast, there are 3 other feasts associated with farming the land and the reward of harvesting. This they would experience for the first time in their lives. The key lesson is they are not to “appear before the LORD empty handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD” (verses 16,17).

Deuteronomy 16:15-17 The Scriptures 1998+ (15) “For seven days you shall observe a festival to יהוה {Jehovah} your Elohim in the place which יהוה {Jehovah} chooses, because יהוה {Jehovah} your Elohim does bless you in all your increase and in all the work of your hands, and you shall be only rejoicing! (16) “Three times a year all your males appear before יהוה {Jehovah} your Elohim in the place which He chooses: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and at the Festival of Weeks, and at the Festival of Booths. And none should appear before יהוה {Jehovah} empty-handed, (17) but each one with the gift of his hand, according to the blessing of יהוה {Jehovah} your Elohim which He has given you.

Verse 20 has another blunt ‘punch line’ message,

Deuteronomy 16:20 The Scriptures 1998+ (20) “Follow righteousness, righteousness alone, so that you live and inherit the land which יהוה {Jehovah} your Elohim is giving you.

In this world, when we look around us we see a lot of injustice. In the Wintertime many people stay more in their own home and do not so much go out to see and meet people, except for the Christmas and New Year period. Facing the New Religious Year many may make new promises and look forward to see more “Justice, and only justice,” others to follow and they wanting to follow. For Christians this is much important because they too want to belong to the people which may live and inherit the land that the Most High God is giving the world.

Now we consider our own journey in life, how close are we to the climax of all that God has prepared for all those who truly believe in and love Him? Is the crossing of the Jordan close at hand for us?

Passover, 1724, from Juedisches Ceremoniel (Photo credit: Center for Jewish History, NYC)

We must face up to today’s challenges and make sure we “escape all the things that are going to take place” (Luke 21:36) as the Almighty prepares to cleanse the earth of its’ evil. Let us “remember the day” when we made the commitment to join the Lord’s side and accepted his “deliverance” by being baptised. If you have not yet experienced such a day – ask yourself – very seriously – why? Don’t let “that day come upon you suddenly like a trap” (Luke 21:34) so that you fail to enter a far greater “promised land”.

Several people may have celebrated the end of the Winter with the Chag HaMatzot (Feast of Unleavened Bread), remembered how the People of God was liberated, and remember how those who were not looking for God also did get salvation onto them, by the Ransom offer of the Nazarene Jeshua, Jesus Christ, who died at the wooden stake. Several people all over the world looked at the amazing thing which happened some two thousand years ago. The world had been for a long time in darkness, and now a man had brought light into the world.

John 9:29-41 The Scriptures 1998+ (29) “We know that Elohim has spoken to Mosheh, but this One, we do not know where He is from.” (30) The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is a wonder! You do not know where He is from, yet He opened my eyes! (31) “And we know that Elohim does not hear sinners. But if anyone fears Elohim and does His desire, He hears him. (32) “From of old it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. (33) “If this One were not from Elohim, He could have done none at all.” (34) They answered and said to him, “You were completely born in sins – and are you teaching us?” And they cast him out. (35) יהושע {Jeshua} heard that they had cast him out, and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of Elohim?” (36) He answered and said, “Who is He, Master, that I might believe in Him?” (37) And יהושע {Jeshua} said to him, “You have both seen Him and He who speaks with you is He.” (38) And he said, “Master, I believe,” and bowed before Him. (39) And יהושע {Jeshua} said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those not seeing might see, and those seeing might become blind.” (40) And those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind, too?” (41) יהושע {Jeshua} said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin, but now you say, ‘We see,’ therefore your sin remains.

From old times we should remember this Jeshua who asked the blind man “Believest thou on the Son of Alaha?” (Murdock; John 9:35) The blind man who was healed believed. He listened to the preacher who told him that he had come for the judgement of this world, “that they who see not, might see; and that they who see, might become blind.”

Many do know things, have learned a lot of things, have enough brains to think, and should know certain things. The Pharisees who were with Jesus and the blind man, heard the things Jesus said. It did not keep them for asking questions, like many people ask similar questions to Christians. Those asking questions should not worry when they would not know better and if they were really (figuratively?) blind. Many of them are not blind, and do as if they can not see certain matters. Their brains present them with a lot of ideas, but to many they do not want to adhere. In such a way it comes to what is called sin in the Holy Scriptures, which becomes established.

It is never too late to put away sin, to get rid of old, wrong and adverse ideas. Like many start Spring-cleaning, now it is a time we all can do some Spring cleaning in our mind. when we take the brush and soap, scrubbing the deck of our habitat, we should muse or contemplate on those last days of that Nazarene man, who celebrated the Passover and presented himself as a new Passover Lamb.

When we remember how God helped His Chosen People and guided them to their new country, we shall come to understand that He has given the world a fresh new guide to replace, or better, to follow up, Moses, to become a guide for all of the world, not only for Israel. This guide also assures us that al that his (heavenly) Father has given him, will come to him; and him, that cometh to him, Jesus will not cast out.

John 6:37-40 The Scriptures 1998+ (37) “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I shall by no means cast out. (38) “Because I have come down out of the heaven, not to do My own desire, but the desire of Him who sent Me. (39) “This is the desire of the Father who sent Me, that all He has given Me I should not lose of it, but should raise it in the last day. (40) “And this is the desire of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him should possess everlasting life. And I shall raise him up in the last day.”

Jesus has come figuratively, as bread, the manna of life, and all people are invited to come and eat of it. They may ignore Jesus or they take him for any other man or for the one who is sent by God, his Holy Father. He never wanted to do his own will, though mostly that is one of the characteristics of most people. He was a man who managed to keep faithful to the Will and to the Law of God.

We should remember the day God had given His People, Israel, the opportunity to get out of slavery, but later how he gave all people the opportunity to liberate themselves from the curse of death, by accepting Jesus Christ his Ransom offering.

By God taking His son out of death a New Time had started, a New Spring had come into the world. That Spring of the New Creation we should never forget.

Are you also now and then look back on the days when you came out of the darkness and did find the light? Are you sharing that experience with others?

Did you express your hope that you might maybe liberate yourself t his Passover? Where you depressed this Winter or did you feel fine. You should be feeling fine and you should be pleased you have something positive to look forward to. How many people do not see the light which can bring them better times? Those who can see that light should also show it to others, and should bring the Good Tidings also to other people around them and far in the world.

Those having ‘Faith‘ should know there is an ocean because you have seen a brook and be encouragers bringing Good News to the world and showing to others it is worthwile to do everything by this hope. They should know they can help to move mountains. All those who have the hope in the return of Christ, should tell others which good things could come over the world and how we shall be able to live together in peace. We all should work to come to that world of peace, sharing the same hope.

Lets work on it, always remembering the works God has done in the past and the works He still shall accomplish!

Preceding articles:

Shabbat Pesach service reading 1/2

Shabbat Pesach service reading 2/2

3 Reasons the Resurrection Matters

Springtime!

Read also:

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Why I Don’t Celebrate Easter (and still love God… and still believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Messiah) (christinachronicles.com)
Often, talking about the origins of anything can be a very touchy subject …
but it is one that should not be so easily avoided, ignored, rationalized or even spiritualized…
particularly, when it pertains to worshiping and having a relationship with The One True God.
Our Plans for Passover 5850 (2014) (segulah.wordpress.com)
The people who are walking in covenant with Yahuah Elohim (the LORD God) are awaiting the declaration of the New Year still, as it is Yahuah and Yahuah alone who declares the days, weeks, months, and years.
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The main important thing is to prove to Yahuah that we listen to Him and follow Him – regardless of what everyone else is doing.
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last Passover, some things began to become a little clearer as we listened to God’s counsel and had removed many of the confusing voices coming from all the different directions. That is when it occurred to me what was going on in the unseen realm concerning these matters. By removing all the “voices” I began wondering if perhaps “the voices” were the leaven. Hmmm, perhaps God was doing for us what we were unable at the time to understand to do for ourselves. He does know the deep desires of our hearts and even knows what we need before we ask.
His name… (mylife4yah.wordpress.com)
I went through life comfortable calling Yahweh the titles that replace His name in the Bible. I found out that His name is Yahweh through the dictionary in the back of my Bible. Once I knew His name I decided to use it and I have been blessed ever since. The choice is yours but I feel closer to Him when I use His name. Here are some scriptures that prove His name is: …
The Atonement and the Passover: Exodus 12 by Matt Capps (christianitytoday.com)
The Pharaoh-god refused to let Israel go free from slavery despite the Living God’s demands through Moses. Pharaoh wanted to keep Israel under his power. God’s response to Pharaoh’s obstinate defiance in Exodus 7-10 is breathtaking. The one true God of the universe unleashes His power in acts of un-doing creation throughout Pharaoh’s land. Order turns into chaos. Light is consumed by darkness. The water becomes a source of death rather than life. The beasts swarm the people and their crops rather than serve them. Finally, just as Pharaoh attempted to destroy God’s firstborn son (Ex. 4:22), God now destroys Egypt’s with a final plague.
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The movement of the Israelites from slaves of Pharaoh to servants of the Lord involves divine redemption; it also involves the obedient response of God’s people to His word. The Passover is both bloody and beautiful. God’s judgment and salvation are clearly displayed in God’s actions and in the symbolism of the Passover ritual.
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The Passover is an event both meaningful to the Israelites in its immediate context and for Christians in its canonical context. The New Testament writers make the connection between Jesus’ crucifixion and the Passover explicit in order to highlight the redemptive nature of His atonement. In the New Testament we see that Jesus is the Lamb of God (John 1:29,36; 1 Cor. 5:7) whose ‘once for all’ sacrifice sanctifies God’s people (Heb. 10:12-14). Jesus’ death atones for the sins of the people (1 John 2:2), His blood purifies and cleanses (Rev. 7:14), and partaking of His body sanctifies (John 6:53-56). Because the Last Supper is overtly linked to the Passover (Matt. 26:17-29; Mark 14:12-25; Luke 22:7-20), we understand that Christ’s death and resurrection inaugurate a new exodus.
Mark 14: Maundy Thursday (t2pneuma.net)
Holy Week as we know it is often celebrated at the same time as the Jewish Feast of Unleavened Bread (Festival of Matzos) often called Passover. Dates differ because of differences in the calendar rules. In Jesus’ time, Passover was one of three festivals that required the faithful to travel to Jerusalem. The other festival familiar to Christians is the Feast of Weeks commonly known as Pentecost. The Feast of Booths is a harvest festival in the fall.
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The word, covenant, found in v. 24 appears nowhere else in Mark’s Gospel and alludes to the covenant meal that Moses and the Elders of Israel shared with God on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:9-11). The grim symbolism of the wine as the blood of Christ is an allusion to the blood of the Passover lamb (Exodus 12:7) which alerted the angel of death to pass over households displaying the blood. In this sense, as Christians we are (like the door posts) covered by the blood of Christ. By Jesus’ blood our sins are forgiven (Hebrews 9:11-28).
Interpretations of Passover: Judaism and Christianity (russiarobinson.wordpress.com)
Although Jesus himself celebrated Passover, he encouraged his followers to observe this holiday through the bread that represents his body and the wine that represents his blood. By feasting on these things, Jesus lives within the person making them whole and remembrance of his life and his death. Aside from Jesus, Apostle Paul also encouraged others to observe Passover through Christ. “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come” (Corinthians 11:26). Jesus and Paul encourage Christians to celebrate the Passover in his remembrance. By celebrating his resurrection, they are also celebrating the life, belief, and teachings of Jesus Christ. They believe that he was the living Son of God. By believing this, they believe in his life. It brings us to John and also Luke where it tells us that Jesus is to represent the Passover, passing over the sins of the people for their faith and belief in him. Passover is a symbol of this as he and the disciples eat the bread of his body and wine of his blood at the specific hour that has come (Luke 22:14; John 13:1-2).
Passover Blessings – April 15th through 22nd, 2014 (jscotthusted.wordpress.com)
At this season God promises in His word to pour out seven specific and very powerful blessings. When we honor and observe God’s ways, we also reap God’s blessings. This specifically applies in scripture to the observance of God’s calendar. We don’t follow God or His ways out of blind obedience, or religious devotion to a set of regulations. We follow the ways of God as New Creatures out of love for Jesus, and joyful devotion to “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” — the words that God has given us for our benefit!
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Jesus lived and died as God’s perfect Passover sacrifice: as the true Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world once and for all! But did you know that Jesus observed the Passover? Did you know that the Apostles observed it year by year, and taught every Christian to observe it? Paul encourages it in his letters, and God commands it. God commands His people to live in His ways because He wants His people to live in abundant blessings! In Exodus 23 God promises seven blessings that we are to be heir to as His people through the observance of Passover:1. God will assign an angel to prepare the way for you. “Behold I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared” (v. 20) and “For My Angel will go before you” (v. 23). — the Blessing of Divine guidance!
Lord’s Feasts # 3 Passover (cfcspn.com)
The feasts are to be proclaimed in their seasons, the clue to their importance, because in each season God has planned to fulfill his word, and to bring completeness to his work. The Passover was the first feasts to be declared representing salvation, it was also the mark of the first day of the year.As commanded by God, these feasts are to be a memorial, the Passover is a look back at what God had done for us in Egypt. But although it seems as if it was an accomplish mission, it was not complete, for the first mission of the Passover was to deliver the flesh creating a symbol of its purpose. The second mission; however, was to give it power delivering the soul.
+A close look at the death of the lamb and that of Jesus Christ, has revealed he was the fulfillment of the Passover. A look back at the Passover ritual and its symbolism should have strike a chord with the nation. But because of stubbornness, the nation crucify Christ, and rejecting him they are left with the rituals of the Passover, yet lost in the forest of sin.Jesus came not to destroy the law or the prophets, his mission was and is to fulfill the law and the prophets, and according to the stories of scripture, he has and will yet fulfill those to be accomplished. “
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Now that Christ has died according to the law, and according to the instructions of God revealed through the rituals of the Passover, we can clearly see that he came not to do away with the law, but to fulfill the law.
4 Things to Get Liberated From This Passover (pjmedia.com)
Passover coincides this year with a dramatic political event—the crisis and possible demise of yet another Israeli-Palestinian “peace process,” this one shepherded earnestly, passionately, and futilely by U.S. secretary of state John Kerry. We are now at a juncture that offers two options: to remain enslaved to the same flawed assumptions that lead again and again to failure; or to finally get liberated from them and reach a Promised Land of understanding and rational policy.
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It is important to note that Jesus Himself observed and kept the Passover. Whenever we partake in Holy Communion, we are acknowledging Jesus’ blood sacrifice – in fact, communion is an act of ‘remembrance’ requested by Jesus of His disciples during the Passover feast that we now call the Last Supper
Passover: Why We Should Be Celebrating It As Christians (worldeventsandthebible.com)
Many Christians are not aware, but the Highest Holy Day in Christianity is Passover. Not the pagan festival of Easter. The word Passover comes from the time of Moses and the last plague that consumed Egypt. When Christ died on the cross He became our Passover. In order to reveal this fact, we must search the scriptures where we can find light and remove the darkness that has clouded this topic for so man.

3 Reasons the Resurrection Matters

Posted on 2014/04/18 by Guestspeaker

The resurrection of Jesus (alongside his crucifixion) is by the majority of Christians the central historical event in the Christian faith. You could say that

Without the resurrection there would be no Christianity.

The Jewish fighter against the first followers of Christ, after some time changed his mind and wrote to the Corinthian community:

“If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14).

The Resurrection of Christ (Kinnaird Resurrection) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lots of people came to the faith because of the tremendous stories they heard and because they came to believe that resurrection of Christ Jesus was not a joke or a fairy tale. Many do not stand still what importance such an act of coming of the dead, by a man really means. Those trinitarian (believing in a three godhead) Christians who take Jesus to be God nullify his death, because the God of gods can not die, and make a farce of this man, who only wanted to follow the will of his Father and not of himself.

“41 And he was parted from them about a stone’s cast; and he kneeled down and prayed, 42 saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” (Luke 22:41-42 ASV)

We should understand that Jesus did not pray to himself, but to a much Higher Being, to Whom he would go later.

“28 and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who hath given [them] unto me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch [them] out of the Father’s hand.” (John 10:28-29 ASV)

“Ye heard how I said to you, I go away, and I come unto you. If ye loved me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go unto the Father: for the Father is greater than I.” (John 14:28 ASV)

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater [works] than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father.” (John 14:12 ASV)

“Now I know that Jehovah is greater than all gods; yea, in the thing wherein they dealt proudly against them.” (Exodus 18:11 ASV)

Several Christians say they believe in the resurrection and are convinced that after dying a violent death on a Roman cross on a Friday afternoon in 30 A.D., Jesus of Nazareth came back to life and emerged from the tomb on Sunday morning. Those days are not correct, but are not the subject of what we want to bring forward today.

Jesus, as a devote Jew celebrated the Passover or the liberation of God’s People. On the 14th of Nisan, the first month of the Judaic year, he with his closest friends installed a New Covenant, between his Father and those who wanted to come close to God . The Jews had got their opportunity to be the most praised people of God, but now others could also come into the House of God, thanks to what Jesus accomplished.

He was a man of flesh and blood who could be tempted. His heavenly Father is a Spirit and has no flesh, blood or bones. God also can not be tempted and can not sin. Jesus himself never had claimed to be God and always had spoken with respect of his Father in heaven, without Him he could do nothing. Him always referring to his Father made the Pharisees willing to get rid of him.

“17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh even until now, and I work. 18 For this cause therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only brake the sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 19 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doeth, these the Son also doeth in like manner.” (John 5:17-19 ASV)

“21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father. 22 Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:21-24 ASV)

That he was not a spirit he would proof to his disciples after he was taken our of the dead, after having resided for three days in hell. (In case many Christians could count well, they would not take Good Friday as a day Jesus died and Sunday being the day he stood up from the dead, because than he would not have been three days death.)

Lamentation at the Tomb, 15th century. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We may already be happy those Christians say Jesus was put unto death, put in a grave (sheol = the hell) and was resurrected. They should come to see it was not Jesus who came from himself out of the grave, but that it was his Father Whom took him from the dead. This is important, because when Jesus is a man of flesh and blood, who can get up from being death, this makes it also possible for us. In case Jesus is God that does not proof anything for a humble human being, who can sin and probably did more than one sin in his or her life. When we know how severely God punished the first human beings and did not make an end straight ahead to this distorted situation and broken relation, we should wonder what the use would be in case God Himself would come to earth to play a man and to do as if He could be tempted and as if He could die. You might wonder why such a charade would have any use and why God than waited such a long time to come to this earth to play the role of Messiah.

From historical writing we got to know what happened in the past with the people who claim to be God His People. We also got to know about the Nazarene Jew Jeshua who did many miracles and who claimed to be the son of God, but never said he himself was God.

His resurrection is not easy to believe. But if it is true, it is the most pivotal event in human history. Much has been written in defense of Jesus’ resurrection, according to Brian G. Hedges, Lead Pastor for Fulkerson Park Baptist Church and the author of Christ Formed in You: The Power of the Gospel for Personal Change, Licensed to Kill: A Field Manual for Mortifying Sin, and Active Spirituality: Grace and Effort in the Christian Life, the most thorough and convincing book being N. T. Wright’s massive 800-page volume, The Resurrection of the Son of God. (Christian Origins and the Question of God, Volume 3) (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2003)

What is unquestionable is that the first generation of Jesus’ followers did believe he had risen, and were convinced that everything had changed as a result.

Consider just three of the ways the New Testament highlights the significance of the resurrection.

1. Jesus’ resurrection means that his sacrificial death on the cross was sufficient, and therefore our sins can be forgiven.

Paul emphasizes this in 1 Corinthians 15, reminding us that

“Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (vv. 3-4).

Then, in verse 17, he argues that

“if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”

In other words, Paul saw a direct connection between the resurrection of Jesus and the sufficiency of his death to atone for our sins. When Jesus rose again on the third day, it was the public announcement that God was fully satisfied with the sacrificial death of his son Jeshua. In his resurrection, Jesus was vindicated (1 Timothy 3:16). But in his vindication, we are vindicated too. That’s why Paul says in Romans 4 that Jesus

“was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25).

2. Jesus’ resurrection means that death is defeated once and for all.

As Peter proclaimed on the Day of Pentecost,

“God raised [Jesus] from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him” (Acts 2:24).

The distinctive English image, with Christ stepping on a soldier, in a 14th century Nottingham alabaster relief (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We are told that ‘Death‘ lost its grip on Jesus! Death could never have had a grip on God. But every man, though being created in the image of God, would, because of the sin of the first man, be in submission to death.

When Jesus was a man of flesh and blood and not a spirit, like his Father, this all makes sense. By the Father taking His son out of death and even by taking him to sit on his right site, to become a mediator between God and man, we have the assurance Jesus can mean something to us. He is not only our solicitor or privileged intercessor by the Most High, he is also an example to what can happen also to us.

The resurrection means that Jesus not only defeated death for himself, but that he defeated it for us. He died and rose as a new representative for humanity, as the Second Adam.

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead,”

writes Paul,

“the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:20-22).

It is in that way that Jesus his disciple John looks at the genesis of the New World of Christ, where Jesus is that begin for all of us, the alpha, but also the end, the omega.

After the default Adam, we have a remake Adam to which we can refer; In him we find a new harddisk to start anew, fresh under his guidance, with his software.

His resurrection guarantees ours.

Perhaps no one has said this more eloquently than C. S. Lewis. In his 1947 book Miracles, Lewis wrote:

“The New Testament writers speak as if Christ’s achievement in rising from the dead was the first event of its kind in the whole history of the universe. He is the ‘first fruits,’ the ‘pioneer of life.’ He has forced open a door that has been locked since the death of the first man. He has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death. Everything is different because He has done so. This is the beginning of the New Creation: a new chapter in cosmic history has been opened.”

The empty tomb assures us that sickness and suffering, death and disease will not have the final word.

This should be both personal and powerfully hope giving to all of us.

3. Jesus’ resurrection means that the material world matters.

Lest there be any misunderstanding, when the apostles said that Jesus rose again, they meant that his physical body came back to life. The risen Jesus wasn’t a phantom or ghost, but a breakfast-eating, flesh-and-bone, human being (see Luke 24:36-43 and John 21:10-14).

As the Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist John Updike once said,

Make no mistake: if He rose at all

it was as His body;

if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules

reknit, the amino acids rekindle,

the Church will fall.

When Jesus’ came out of the tomb in a physical body, it was God’s definitive stamp of approval on the creation project with all of its materiality. The resurrection shows us that matter matters. And this is why the early Christians looked to the future with confidence that the created order itself would be redeemed (see Romans 8:18-25).

Though we wait for the full consummation of new creation, the Scriptures also teach that the power that raised Jesus from the dead is already working within us (Ephesians 1:19-20). The resurrection, you see, not only assures of God’s forgiveness and comforts us in suffering as we anticipate the final reversal of death, disease, and decay; it also motivates and empowers us to push back the tide of suffering and evil in the present world, through word and deed, in mercy and in justice, all in Jesus’ name.

(Having taken in mind words from Brian G. Hedges,Lead Pastor for Fulkerson Park Baptist Church and the author of Christ Formed in You: The Power of the Gospel for Personal Change, Licensed to Kill: A Field Manual for Mortifying Sin, and Active Spirituality: Grace and Effort in the Christian Life. Brian and his wife Holly have four children and live in South Bend, Indiana. Brian also blogs at www.brianghedges.comand you can follow him on Twitter @brianghedges.)

End Notes

N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God, Volume 3) (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2003).

The Greek word for “justification” (dikaiosin) in Romans 4:25 is closely related to the word “vindicated” (edikaiothe) in 1 Timothy 3:16.

C. S. Lewis, Miracles (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1947) 236–237.

John Updike, “Seven Stanzas of Easter,” in Telephone Poles and Other Poems (Random House, 2013).

Preceding articles:

Entrance of a king to question our position #1 Coming in the Name of the Lord

Entrance of a king to question our position #2 Who do we want to see and to be

Seeing or not seeing and willingness to find God

Additional reading:

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Can you question the Resurrection and still be a Christian? (religionnews.com)
Did Jesus literally rise from the dead in a bodily resurrection, as many traditionalist and conservative Christians believe? Or was his rising a symbolic one, a restoration of his spirit of love and compassion to the world, as members of some more liberal brands of Christianity hold?As Easter approaches, many Christians struggle with how to understand the Resurrection. How literally must one take the Gospel story of Jesus’ triumph to be called a Christian? Can one understand the Resurrection as a metaphor — perhaps not even believe it happened at all — and still claim to be a follower of Christ?
Resurrection – for ME? (aworldontheedge.com)
Resurrection is defined in the dictionary as the act of causing something that had ended or been forgotten or lost to exist again, to be used again, etc.We come into this world innocent, and nothing can change that we’re made in the image and likeness of God. Part of each one of us is spiritual, like it or not. And it is that spirituality that draws us to God.
The Resurrection is Believable (burrissblog.wordpress.com)
Opponents of Christianity and skeptical minds have always questioned the resurrection, just as they question many other teachings of Christianity. Such skeptics are more common in contemporary America, but they have always been around. What is surprising is that more and more Christians are stating their skepticism about the resurrection.
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1. Something dramatic happened that changed the disciples from a hiding, defeated group to a group willing to die for their faith in Jesus. They were devastated when Jesus was killed. Did they just decide to reinterpret His death or did they see Him alive again?2. If Jesus’ dead body was in a tomb near Jerusalem, why didn’t His opponents simply bring out the dead body when His disciples started preaching that He was alive?
The Significance of the Resurrection (spyghana.com)
The embalmed remains of Lenin lie in a crystal casket in a tomb in Red Square in Moscow. On the casket it says: “He was the greatest leader of all peoples, of all countries, of all times. He was the [savior] of the world!”All is in the past tense for Lenin. How forward-looking, by contrast, are the triumphant words of Christ: “I am He that [lives] . . . I am alive forevermore.”
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What judge would listen to you in a court of law, if you said that while you were asleep your neighbor came into your house and stole your TV set? Who knows what goes on when he/she is asleep? A testimony like this would be ridiculed in a court of law. Besides, the guards would have lost their heads if they told the Roman governor, Pilate that they were asleep at their post and the disciples came and stole the body. Furthermore, we are faced with a psychological and ethical impossibility. Stealing the body of Jesus was something totally foreign to the disciples and all that we know of them. It would mean that they were perpetrators of a deliberate lie, which was responsible for the deception and the ultimate death of thousands of people.Each of the disciples faced the test of possible torture and martyrdom for his statements and beliefs. People will die for what they believe to be true, though it may actually be false. They do not, however, die for what they know is a lie. If anything is clear from the Gospels and the Book of Acts, it is that the apostles were sincere. They may have been deceived, if you like, but they were not deceivers. Hypocrites and martyrs are not made of the same stuff.
The Resurrection Of Jesus Christ Is The Greatest Single Event In Human History (fggam.org)
Do you realize that Jesus never corrected, withdrew, or amended any statement He ever made? I wish I could say that! Jesus Christ never apologized for anything He ever did or said. Jesus Christ never sought advice from anyone, never had to ask for forgiveness. Jesus Christ doesn’t have any strong points. For Him to have strong points, He would have to have weak points.
Three Implications of the Empty Tomb (mainthings.wordpress.com)
Paul says, if the King is risen and if the King is enthroned than nothing done for Him is meaningless. It is His triumph and not our fruitfulness that determines these realities.
Because of Easter, We Are Overcomers (chronicillnesspaindevotionals.wordpress.com)
As I think about the power that God exerted to raise Christ from the dead, my human mind can’t fully comprehend what that entailed. But I do know that no other power is so great, and as a Christian, that power now lives in me.
The Resurrection of Jesus is not optional (gracedigest.com)
Notice that there are three key parts to the gospel Paul preached. 1. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. 2. He was buried. 3. He as was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. This is important! If you take away the resurrection component you have nothing! Try sitting on a stool with two legs! Just so, a gospel without the resurrection of Jesus is no gospel (good news) at all! Paul went to great lengths to assure his readers that indeed Christ did rise from death.
Is Jesus’ Resurrection the Best Explanation of the Evidence? (jkw00d.wordpress.com)
1. Historical claims are strong when supported by multiple, independent sources.
2. Historical claims which are also attested to by enemies are more likely to be authentic since enemies are unsympathetic, and often hostile, witnesses.
3. Historical claims which include embarrassing admissions reflect honest reporting rather than creative storytelling.
4. Historical claims are strong when supported by eyewitness testimony.
5. Historical claims which are supported by early testimony are more reliable and less likely to be the result of legendary development.+
  Some skeptics argue that Jesus may have been crucified but He did not actually die. Instead, He lost consciousness (swooned) and merely appeared to be dead only to later be revived in the cool, damp tomb in which He was laid. After reviving He made His way out of the tomb and presented Himself to His disciples as the “resurrected” Messiah. Thus the Christian religion begins.
The Doctrine Without Which Holy Week Is Not Good News (derekzrishmawy.com)
Unless I am united to Christ, all of his obedience to the covenant, or righteousness, is not mine–I am left to stand on my own false works before the judge of all the earth. Unless I am united with Christ, then his sin-bearing death is not mine, and I am left to give an account for all my wicked sins. Unless I am united with Christ, I am not part of the crop of which Christ is the first-fruits, and I can only reap the death that sin leads to and have no life through the Spirit.

Shabbat Pesach service reading 2/2

Posted on 2014/04/18 by Guestspeaker

The Intermediate Sabbath—Losing Heart in the Wilderness

Panorama of a wadi in the negev desert, israel (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When the Israelites were delivered from Egypt, they came through areas of wilderness on their way to the Promised Land.

Even though the Israelites entered into a covenant with God in the wilderness, and came to understand their identity as God’s treasured possession there, sometimes they responded to hardship and barrenness of the wilderness with discouragement.

In the wilderness, they also lost heart, lost hope, longed for Egypt, and grumbled, murmured and complained.

For that reason, all perished but two—Joshua and Caleb—who followed the Lord wholeheartedly and kept the faith. The bodies of the other Israelites lay scattered across that vast wilderness.

Jeshua is Tempted in the Wilderness, by James Tissot

Even Jeshua spent time in the wilderness—perhaps the Judean or Negev Desert. The Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) led him there to be tempted by the devil, the adversary of God. (Matthew 4:1–11)

The Negev is not an easy place to live—even with air conditioning!

It is a land of snakes and scorpions; a place of great danger. And yet, the wilderness is not a punishment, but a necessary stage in our spiritual journey.

It is often God who leads us into our wilderness experiences to humble us, to test us, to refine our faith, and to teach us perseverance and endurance.

If we come out of it alive, we do so “leaning on our beloved” instead of relying on our own strength or limited sufficiency. (Song of Solomon 8:5)

The wilderness can be our spiritual university where we learn to trust in and depend upon the Lord, and only God knows how long that lesson will take.

Holding up the Torah for all to see at Jerusalem’s Western (Wailing) Wall.

For Believers, in the vast space between salvation and the resurrection lies the wilderness, a dry and thirsty land where water is scarce. That is where we are sanctified.

Because it is so easy to lose heart in the wilderness—our sanctification process—our response to the trials and challenges will determine how well we make it through to the resurrection.

Discouragement during our wilderness is an especially powerful weapon of the enemy because of its enfeebling, demoralizing effect. Hatred, jealousy, fear, and other negative states may cause us to act foolishly, to fight, or to run. But at least we act.

Discouragement on the other hand, hurts us more than any of these. It ultimately saps the energy right out of us, causing us to sit down, pity ourselves and do nothing.

Discouragement causes us to give in to the temptation of the enemy who whispers, “Just give up.”

Hopelessness is a very dangerous state of being. In fact, Scripture tells us that “hope deferred makes the heart sick.” (Proverbs 13:12)

Jewish men sort through a table full of prayer books at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Preceding: Shabbat Pesach service reading 1/2

Additional reading:

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Wadi in Nahal Paran, Negev, Israel. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Message of First Importance: “Gosh” (lifeconnectionscounseling.org)
Some people over the centuries have called this day “Good Friday” remembering when the best human that ever lived on this earth was murdered by humankind.
Holy Week, Passover, and Boldly Entering Jerusalem (thewidowsmiteyblog.wordpress.com)
This time of year can be a bit busy for pastors, and I consider myself to be both Jewish and Unitarian Universalist, so this being both Passover and Holy Week, it’s been very busy.Of course, according to the Gospels, it was both Passover and Holy Week. Well, they weren’t calling it Holy Week back then. I mean, there was no Christianity yet – Jesus was an upstart Jewish leader who was making trouble. He had a bunch of followers, and they were all Jewish, too. But the events of Holy Week chronicle what they were doing around Passover. They were pretty busy, too. And Jesus was also tired.
The Lamb of God Who Takes Away the Sin of the World! (drmitchglaser.wordpress.com)
Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts.This Messenger would purify the priests so they might once again offer sacrifices on behalf of the Jewish people. As the prophet writes, Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.(Malachi 3:3)
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The Lamb in Exodus 12 is a prophetic portrait of the One who would come and shed His blood for the sins of the world.

The Lamb of Isaiah 53

The prophet Isaiah develops the significance of the lamb as an atoning sacrifice.

There are two key passages in Isaiah 53 which conjoin the idea of the Messiah with the Passover lamb…
Out Of The Wilderness-Shoshannah (christinmesite.wordpress.com)
The wilderness experience is a time when you are hungry and thirsty for more of the Lord, you become dissatisfied with what the traditions and doctrines of men offer in the church, and you set out on a journey to seek the Lord and receive more of Him. You seek the solitude of Him alone.
If your church and Pastor is hungry for more of the Lord, and He is actively seeking Him and being taught of Him, and preaching as the spirit gives utterance then you are in a good church, but there still should be a time of seeking Him alone.
Living in the Wilderness (bradfriedlein.wordpress.com)
While part of a Rabbinical studies group last year, the Rabbi was talking about the Israelites and their relationship to the wilderness. And how the wilderness has greater meaning – like most things in the Jewish culture, than just being a place where they wondered for 40 years. For the Israelites, the wilderness is this place that symbolizes that time when you know where you’ve come from but you don’t know where you’re going. And it is in that place where you encounter God. It’s that place where God comes to you and reveals Himself to you in new ways.
A Wilderness Experience: Loving Prodigals, Release, & Rest
In the Wilderness: Words of Encouragement and Admonition
When Faith Falters: Relearning Rest
Sustenance for the Wilderness Journey
A Jew and an Atheist Host a Seder (opineseason.com)
This past Monday evening, I had the honor of joining a good friend and his wife as they celebrated Pesach with their four year-old son. For those who don’t know, Pesach (Passover) is a holiday which celebrates the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery and their exodus from Egypt. The Seder is the ritual feast that marks the beginning of the seven day holiday.

For this year’s Seder, my friends invited a living room full of mostly Gentiles (non-Jews) to share in their feast.

Shabbat Pesach service reading 1/2

Posted on 2014/04/18 by Guestspeaker

Because this Shabbat (Sabbath) falls during Chag HaMatzot (Feast of Unleavened Bread), a special reading is inserted into the regular Torah reading cycle.

This special portion will be read in synagogues around the world during the Shabbat Pesach (Saturday Passover) service.

On this weekend as many believers are also celebrating the resurrection of the Messiah, it is fitting to recall the physical redemption of the Jewish People from Egypt. We know you will be blessed as you discover the Jewish roots of your faith in the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

Shabbat Chol HaMoed Pesach (The Intermediate Sabbath of Passover)

Exodus 33:12–34:26; Numbers 28:16–25; Ezekiel 37:1–14; Luke 24

Handmade shmura matzo used at the Passover Seder especially for the mitzvot of eating matzo and afikoman. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread [Chag HaMatzot]. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread [matzah], as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Aviv, for in the month Aviv you came out from Egypt.” (Exodus 34:18)

An Orthodox Jewish boy eats a piece of matzah during Passover.

The Parsha (Scripture portion) for this Shabbat, which occurs in the middle of the Passover week, begins by describing the holy days of Pesach (Passover) and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Chag HaMatzot) which last seven days.

These two special events are most often blended into one and just called Passover, but there is a crucial difference between the two, which we will explore in today’s study.

During the Passover time frame, there are three distinct events that represent three unique spiritual states or conditions of the soul:

Passover represents salvation: we are saved from the wrath of God by faith in the blood of the Passover Lamb.

“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” (John 1:29)

Jeshua (Jesus) was slain on Passover as the perfect fulfilment of the lamb that saved the Israelites on the very first Passover:

“And when I see the blood I will pass over you.” (Exodus 12:13)

Unleavened bread, also called matzah or the bread of affliction, represents sanctification.

Matzah is flat because it is devoid of yeast (chametz), which represents wickedness, pride and that which causes us to be puffed up or to think more highly of ourselves than we ought.

“Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Messiah, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” (1 Corinthians 5:6–7)

The matzah and wine of the ritual Pesach meal called a Seder (order).

Chametz is closely related to the Hebrew word chamutz, which means sour. Yeast is a souring agent. Likewise, sin causes bitterness in our soul.

“Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread [matzah] of sincerity and truth.” (1 Corinthians 5:8)

The week of unleavened bread, therefore, represents sanctification accomplished through affliction, trials and testing, and the purging of pride in order to teach us humility and obedience by the things we suffer in our wilderness experiences.

“And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.” (Deuteronomy 8:2)

A tour group takes shelter from the sun under a lone acacia tree in Israel’s desert.

First Fruits, also called Bikkurim in Hebrew, which occurs the day after the first day of Unleavened Bread (although there is some disagreement as to the timing), represents resurrection.Just as the barley is offered up to the Lord as the first crop after winter, so Jeshua was also raised from the dead on the Feast of Firstfruits.

“But now the Messiah is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:20)

From these distinct elements within Passover, we can understand that between the events of salvation and resurrection is a process of sanctification.

Passover → Unleavened Bread → First Fruits

Salvation → Sanctification → Resurrection

A crop of barley in Israel

Additional reading:

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The Beauty of Pesach (Passover) (guardmyheart423.wordpress.com)
Most people, if you know the Bible, know that Passover comes from the account of the Children of Israel’s deliverance from slavery in ancient Egypt. Over 400 years of tears and sweat and blood and agony…Finally, HaShem sends a deliverer – Moshe. Speaks to him through a bush on fire that was not consumed and sends 10 plagues upon the land until Pharoah finally lets up and sends them away, practically.
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Our striped, bruised, pierced, and broken matzah (Yeshua) was raised from the dead, conquering death and hasatan (the deceiver) for good!
We patiently await His return and follow in His footsteps and keep the Feast in all diligence and in His memory. (1 Cor.5:6-8; Luke 22:19; 1 Cor.11:24-25)
Chag Pesach Kasher v’Sameach : חַג כָשֵׁר וְשָׂמֵחַ (jewsdownunder.wordpress.com)
the lessons derived from the Egyptian slavery and the resulting redemption provide a powerful base for Jewish faith and ethics. The journey initiated during Pesach, that of a nation of slaves racing towards freedom, reaches its climax with the festival of Shavuot, without a rendezvous with God at Mt. Sinai. Here the Jews’ new-found freedom finds its purpose.
G-dfearers Participation In Shabbat, And Pesach According To Toby Janicki (paradoxparables.justparadox.com)
Here are some quotes from Toby Janicki author if the book Godfearers and staff writer for First Fruits if Zion regarding Gentile observance of Shabbat and Pesach in the Apostolic Community.
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“Our Master Yeshua chose the wine and the matzah of a Passover Seder to represent his body and blood. More than just learning about and celebrating the concept of freedom from oppression and exile, for disciples of Messiah, the seder celebrates Yeshua’s atoning death and resurrection while remaining firmly grounded and centered on God’s deliverance of the Jewish people from Egypt.” Toby Janicki
Let my people go! – Pesach (Passover)/ The Feast of Unleavened Bread (chandlerozconsultants.wordpress.com) >Let my people go, that they may serve me
‘Pesach’, usually called ‘The Passover’ in English, is the greatest of the Judaic festivals and the oldest in the Jewish calendar. Like the Christian Easter, it varies in date from year to year, occurring in the Spring and lasting for seven or eight days, not all of which are taken as holidays.
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The festival remains essentially a family gathering for remembrance and rejoicing in freedom. In Jewish tradition the festival is known as ‘The Season of Release’, the central theme of which can be interpreted on three levels.
Passover 2014: the Jewish festival explained (independent.co.uk)
As sundown on Monday evening marks the beginning of Passover, we answer some frequently asked questions on one of the most important festivals in the Jewish year.
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To commence a week of complex dietary restrictions, family and friends gather for the Seder meal served on a special ceremonial dish. Eaten in a symbolic, the dinner includes a lamb bone, a roasted egg, a green vegetable to dip in salt water, bitter herbs made from horseradish and a paste made of chopped apples, walnuts and wine called Charoset.
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Moshiach’s Feast, beginning before sunset and continuing until after nightfall, concludes the festival. The meal anticipates the arrival of the Messiah, stared on the first day of Passover when a glass of wine is left out for Elijah.
A Symbolic look at Pesach (Passover) (bibleanswergirl.wordpress.com)
Many people read the Old Testament (Tanakh) and do not read the New Testament (B’rit Hadashah). Conversely, there are a large number of people who read the New Testament and neglect to read the Old Testament. In order to properly understand God’s Holy Scriptures we must read and study both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
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The Matzah is symbolic of the manna the Israelites ate in the wilderness. It also symbolizes Jesus.

John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which means House of Bread and He was buried on the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Unleavened bread (propheticsteps.com)
The feasts of the Lord are of great significance. Their historical importance for the Jewish people and the church should not be overlooked. The most discussed and well-known are the feasts of Passover and Pentecost, for good reason. The other feasts are just as important.
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The difference between bread and crackers, really, is leaven, yeast, hot air. Are we puffed up by our leaven? Has our sin transformed us into something we were never meant to be? That is what sin does, it turns us into something far different from what God would have us be.
Donut Versus Matzah: A Passover Lesson On Arrogance (kissmymezuza.wordpress.com)
On Passover we don’t eat chametz (leavened bread products). They symbolize arrogance. Arrogance is something that doesn’t last. For example, if we left a donut (chametz) around for a couple of months it would grow mold and rot.

Chocolate donut (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Matzah represents humility. Humility is a lasting trait. If we leave matzah around for a couple of months, it’s still good. A humble person endures.
Passover 2014: Date, History, Traditions (latinopost.com)
Jewish people everywhere are saying goodbye to bread, because Passover begins tonight, Monday, April 14, at sundown. The eight-day holiday, which is one of the biggest holidays in the Jewish calendar, ends on Tuesday, April 22.The holiday is always celebrated in early spring, from the 15th through the 22nd of the Hebrew months of Nissan. The holiday commemorates the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and celebrates the freedom that the Jewish people now enjoy.
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Seders are only held on the first two nights of Passover. During the rest of the holiday, chametz, or leavened products, are not eaten until the holiday comes to an end.
Timely Growth (belgianbiblestudents.wordpress.com)
Serious lovers of God and Biblestudents do want to live according to the Law of God and are grateful that they may remember one of the most important happenings in the history of Israel, the People of God, and the liberation of the whole world by the instalment of the New Covenant.

Holidays, holy days and traditions

Posted on 2013/12/02 by Marcus Ampe

Frank Sonnenberg, who was nominated as one of America’s Most Influential Small Business Experts of 2012 and was named as one of America’s Top 100 Thought Leaders, does find that we as leaders, role models, and parents, we must strive to utilize every opportunity available to us to reinforce the values and beliefs that we hold dear. In such an instance we do have to have some values to which we ourselves do keep. The traditions to which we do hold on should than have a meaning.

“Many holidays are becoming so commercialized that our proud traditions are in danger of becoming trivialized.”

Sonneberg says.

Today, we’re so profit-motivated that we expect retail employees to abandon their family dinners to return to their store in time for the sale. Or worse yet, their employers force them to supervise “midnight madness” sales extravaganzas, featuring over-caffeinated shoppers seeking that “dream buy.”

Many of us can’t even remember the true meaning of the holidays. Memorial Day has morphed from remembering our fallen soldiers to the unofficial beginning of summer. Labour Day’s role in recognizing the achievements of organized labour now just marks the end of summer and a return to school. Veterans Day is honoured as a day off from work.

That is the strange thing about it all, many do find they should have the day free of work, but do not know what the holiday is all about. They sometimes have a vague idea or do know what certain people do believe in but they themselves do not want to know about it. For example they know that certain Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter, but they do not believe that person ever existed and they also do not believe in the God of Jesus or any god. though they would not want to loose the heathen celebration of the goddess of fertility Estra (hence Easter) or at the end of the year the pagan celebration Christmas, which is on the holy day of the goddess of light. Lots of Christians do want to keep onto that heathen celebration day, though they know it is not really the birth day of Jesus Christ (who was born on the 17th of October 4BCE) For them tradition is what counts, so all the figures which have nothing to do with the time Jesus was born and even which are an abomination in the eyes of the Divine Creator God, they do not want to loose. For them the Santa Claus is holy sacred. Do you know what Father Christmas, the Christmas tree and all the garlands have to do with the birth of the Messiah?

Halloween!! (Photo credit: cafeconlecheporfavor)

Traditions have become a part of our live we would not like to change easily. Around Halloween I spoke with an English brother who did not mind all the celebrations around Halloween. For him it was just pure fun. It does not mean people are actually believing in supernatural spirits or ghosts. Lots of people like him, might simply view taking part in Halloween and similar celebrations as a way to have fun and teach their children to explore their imagination, creating all sorts of monsters. But why do they have to create ugly things, and not nice things? Why do they not want to see that many celebrations like Halloween have pagan origins and are deeply rooted in ancestor worship, but area also celebration which are of religious importance to several nature worshippers. A few streets further than mine lives a witch which still uses such days to worship the dead and to have contact with supposed spirits of the dead. (According to the Bible when a person comes to his or her end of his or her life, life goes out of that person and he or she can not do anything any-more because he or she will be dead and become dust like any other being, plant or animal.)

Belgium and England are not the only countries where the Wiccans keep to the ancient Celtic rituals, still call Halloween by the ancient name Samhain and consider it to be the most sacred night of the year.

“Christians ‘don’t realize it, but they’re celebrating our holiday with us. . . . We like it,’”

stated the newspaper USA Today when quoting a professed witch.

You may call it strange that Christians also do not mind ‘playing’ around and want to celebrate such days like Halloween which are in conflict with Bible teachings. The Bible warns:

“There must never be anyone among you who . . . practices divination, who is soothsayer, augur or sorcerer, who uses charms, consults ghosts or spirits, or calls up the dead.” (Deuteronomy 18:10, 11, The Jerusalem Bible)

I do agree there are no sons or daughters sacrificed in the fire, but the fires still symbolises such actions. I also do find the reactions very strange when the people burn the puppets ‘full of joy’. What is than the meaning of that action? Does it not show something which is hidden more inside them? Does it not present some hidden feelings or frustrations?

When God tells not to practice divination, sorcery, fortune-telling, witchery, casting spells, holding séances, or channeling with the dead, or having contact with such people doing so, why do those who call themselves Christian do not mind still doing that? Many do not mind to dabble in the occult or traffic with mediums ‘just for fun”. But is it not hat of which the Bible warns us not to pollute our souls? (Leviticus 19:31)

““ ‘do not turn to spirit-mediums or sorcerers; don’t seek them out, to be defiled by them; I am ADONAI your god.” (Leviticus 19:31 CJB)

Lots of people do not mind intermingling with those people who keep on those heathen traditions and want to celebrate those original pagan celebrations. Is it then not obvious what kind of life they prefer above the Godly life? Do they not want to get their own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on like the apostle Paul could go on. More than once he warned the people who wanted to be followers of Jesus, that the master rabbi demanded purity of the soul, allegiance to the Most High and loyalty to the man who did not want to do his own will but only the Will of his Father. So why do those Christians also not want to do the Will of the father of Jesus? Do they also forget that Jesus spoke many times about ‘being of this world’ or choosing for God, loving God, and what it really means? Though from the many parables we do know that is we want to use our freedom this way, we will not inherit God’s kingdom.

“19 and it is perfectly evident what the old nature does. it expresses itself in sexual immorality, impurity and indecency; 20 involvement with the occult and with drugs; in feuding, fighting, becoming jealous and getting angry; in selfish ambition, factionalism, intrigue 21 and envy; in drunkenness, orgies and things like these. I warn you now as I have warned you before: those who do such things will have no share in the kingdom of god!” (Galatians 5:19-21 CJB)

These celebrations we have around the end of the year may not look harmful and may represent a critical piece of our culture. For many they may help form the structure and foundation of their families and their society.

Tradition contributes a sense of comfort and belonging. It brings families together and enables people to reconnect with friends.

says Sonnenberg who considers that those celebrations remind us that we are part of a history that defines our past,

shapes who we are today and who we are likely to become. Once we ignore the meaning of our traditions, we’re in danger of damaging the underpinning of our identity.

But we also should know that

Tradition provides a forum to showcase role models and celebrate the things that really matter in life.

So we should question “What does really matter”.

Tradition may serve as an avenue for creating lasting memories for our families and friends, but when you look at certain celebrations, the memory or reason why those holidays were created for is all gone.

St. Martin’s Day celebration with lampoons

Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet – Saint Nicholas and Black Peter

Many minimise the lies been told about Saint Maarten (St. Martin’s Day), Saint Nicholas and Saint Claus, they bringing presents to the children, one on his black horse in the streets, the other with his white gray (or grey) running over the rooftops, his black servant going through the chimneys, and than the most magical with his reindeer flying from the North-pole through the sky, having his midgets going through the walls putting the many presents under the Christmas tree. How can a child trust its parents when they tell lies for the fun and to trick their children? Why do not tell them it is their present for this or that occasion?

Some of the stories people told their children, making them afraid of the ghosts or telling them when they would not behave they were going to be put in the sack of ‘Zwarte piet’ or ‘Black Peter’ did give them an experience which was not so much fun. Naturally the presents where much like as well as all the mysticism around those days.

It is also very easy to get caught up in the hubbub of the season of Christmas and the joy people should experience at such an occasion is often obscured by the stress they do experience. The Bible does encourage all of us to remember Jesus Christ, how he gave his life for many. It also encourages us to share the same love as Christ and to be liberal in giving, to help the needy, and to spend time with our families. It also teaches us how to be peaceable.

McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia states:

“The observance of Christmas is not of divine appointment, nor is it of NT [New Testament] origin.”

The Encyclopedia Americana says:

“Saturnalia, a Roman feast celebrated in mid-December, provided the model for many of the merry-making customs of Christmas. From this celebration, for example, were derived the elaborate feasting, the giving of gifts, and the burning of candles.”

The Encyclopædia Britannica notes that

“all work and business were suspended” during Saturnalia.

*Description: Bilbao-Loiu airport, Biscay, Spain. Olentzaro, Christmas tree, Santa Claus and elf. Photographer: Javier Mediavilla Ezquibela Date: January 6, 2005. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In Western Europe in the Winter we do have very dark days and could do with some extra lighting. It is also a period of some cold weather conditions where the wind and rain are not a nice thing to go for a walk. So it can be made much cosier with some extra light and fire in the house. Nothing against that. As such the decorations in the house and bringing a nice smelling spruce in the living room made it possible to have some extra colour and a nice smell in the room which had not so much ventilation as in Summer. But we know also that in the past Europeans decorated their homes with lights and evergreens of all kinds to celebrate the winter solstice and to combat evil spirits. {The Encyclopedia of Religion,}

“Tree worship, common among the pagan Europeans, survived after their conversion to Christianity.” One of the ways in which tree worship survived is in the custom of “placing a Yule tree at an entrance or inside the house in the midwinter holidays.” {Encyclopædia Britannica}.

It is totally wrong to believe that those Christians who do not like to celebrate Christmas would not believe in Christ Jesus. They may not forget the early Christians never celebrated the birthday of Jesus. The only feast we should remember concerning Christ, is the day when he took the bread and wine as symbols of the instalment of the New Covenant, on the 14th of Nisan,or celebrating Passover with a Memorial Meal (Memorial Day for many Christians worldwide.).

To think only then on the 25th of December to be generous or about peace on earth and goodwill toward men, would limit the message Christ had given to his followers. Because every day they should be messengers of peace.

“the person who blesses others will prosper; he who satisfies others will be satisfied himself.” (Proverbs 11:25 CJB)

“if possible, and to the extent that it depends on you, live in peace with all people.” (Romans 12:18 CJB)

Jesus commanded that we commemorate his death, not his birth.

“19 also, taking a piece of matzah, he made the b’rakhah, broke it, gave it to them and said, “this is my body, which is being given for you; do this in memory of me.” 20 he did the same with the cup after the meal, saying, “this cup is the new covenant, ratified by my blood, which is being poured out for you.” (Luke 22:19-20 CJB)

That action of Jesus, preparing himself for giving himself to the world, only willing to do the Will of his Father, should make us to form the right attitude, also willing to do the Will of Jesus his Father, the Only One God.

““father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, let not my will but yours be done.”” (Luke 22:42 CJB)

We should take time this holiday season to think about that and to meditate what we want to do, following human traditions and doing the same thing what people would love most, or following the Biblical instructions about how to behave, whom and what to associate with, either being part of the world or part of Christ.

Please do find Frank Sonnenberg‘s article: Tradition: The True Meaning of Holidays

Preceding articles:

Hanukkahgiving or Thanksgivvukah

Thanksgivukkah and Advent

English: A Christmas Tree at Home (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Find also to read:

Additional reading:

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http://belgianbiblestudents.wordpress.com/tag/Easter/

Origins of Holidays (xntricproductions.wordpress.com)
Holidays originally Holy days are celebrated to pay honor to a certain time of the year, a certain day or days that are Holy or important and have meaning to the people celebrating.
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With this mixing of cultures we also have, in many cases, mixing of religions, beliefs, customs and traditions. This has been happening for centuries all over the world. As people travel from place to place and settle in new areas sometimes by choice, sometimes by force or out of necessity, our traditions, customs, beliefs are brought with us. We introduce what is ours to the new place where we settle and we are introduced to what is customary to others. So even customs, traditions and religions can become intermingled. Only the very devout remember and continue to teach what is theirs and theirs alone.
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In the Bible God warns his people numerous times throughout the Bible to remain separate from the people of the lands they would inhabit. God warns all of his people not to adopt the traditions of pagan people and not to honor him the way that pagans honor their gods.In other religions people worship and honor their gods and holy times of the year according to their beliefs and practices. Pagans do not worship God or include Christ in their celebrations however their celebrations are nearly identical to ours.
In fact pagan religions as celebrated by pagans today have remained pretty much the same since they started thousands of years ago. Some pagans do put their own twist on it or start their own new family traditions just as Christians do but the foundation of their beliefs remain intact. So why do so many non- Christians celebrate Christmas and Easter?
About Christmas (myrarsenriquez.wordpress.com)
Christmastime, as it is often called, is in the winter of the Northern Hemisphere, at a time when there were already ancient festivals. Some of the traditions that are used for Christmas are older than Christmas, or come from other non-Christian traditions such as Yule. Modern traditions of Christmas often focus on the giving of gifts. The season for retail stores to sell gifts, food, greeting cards, Christmas trees, and decorations begins the day about a month before Christmas Day.
Christmas is a Pagan Holiday (bblessedtoday.net)
Don’t get upset and defensive with your excuses and arguments on how Christmas is about Jesus and the reason for the season and saying that I am just a party pooper that is putting a dent in your family traditions. Do some research on your own and see for yourself where Christmas came from and what are its real origins. Sometimes the only way we really change ourselves is to see things from our own eyes, to read things on our own, to observe with new information to see if it is truly wrong to celebrate Christmas.
Christians and Halloween (fredfies.wordpress.com)
Consider What Halloween Celebrates (can we celebrate that?) I am amazed that earlier and earlier superstores are geared up for October 31. As soon as the last school supply is sold, the Halloween decorations appear. In August? Really? But here they come…skeletons, tombs, witches, death and gore fill the aisles of the store. Of course, you can dress as something as harmless as an M&M, but it is clear that the celebration is of the “dark elements” of this world. Consider what the Bible says,
How Holy are the Holidays? (mypentecostalreformation.wordpress.com)
Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years day, are all days we consider as part of “the holidays”. As a kid I would count the days ’till thanksgiving. Waking up early and smelling the turkey and all the seasonings along with it.
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Christmas was the next holiday to be enjoyed. This day had a major count down, to when Santa came to bring me gifts. I had gotten honor roll all school year-long, and I wanted my rewards. As the days drew near to the big day, presents appeared under our Faux Christmas tree.
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The purpose of these gatherings were to be around family while we wait for the new year. New Year’s Eve represents survival, new starts, clean slates, perseverance, and gym memberships.
Why Christmas? (mymindyourplan.wordpress.com)
Every year we set up our Christmas trees, decorate them and our houses, get a day or two off work, spend half our year’s wages on presents and spend the days we have free with our families. Kids are excited for Santa Claus, adults are excited….for their time off work. Why is it we do this?
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Sol Invictus was a Roman sun god that was worshiped during the festival Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, or “Birthday of the Unconquered Sun” which was celebrated on the 25th December.
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The truth about Christmas is that there is no real Biblical reason for us to be celebrating the birth of Jesus. I say this, the Bible gives us no command to do so but, rather, to celebrate His death, resurrection, ascension and exaltation. So why is it we celebrate it, and in some ways more so than His death at Easter?
Traditions (polandec.wordpress.com)
Some of Polish traditions are firmly rooted in Catholicism, a predominant religion in Poland, while others spring from various pagan rites. Nowadays, any pagan elements still present in the culture take the form of fun festivals and shows.
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Christmas Eve (Wigilia), an evening preceding Christmas Day, is traditionally celebrated with a festive Christmas supper. It’s a very special occasion, when families prepare 12 types of meatless dishes – one for each of the 12 apostles. On this day Christmas tree is also decorated so that Santa Claus can bring Christmas gifts.
Stolen Holidays and Entitled Pagans (mapletreedruidry.wordpress.com)
ontrary to popular Neo-Pagan believe (yes, I have been guilty of holding onto this in the past), the Celtic conversion was rather peaceful, despite the objection of the priestly Druid class. This was a culture tired of the centuries of Blood Wars, and were quite happy to accept peace and love at first. The Norse accepted Jesus as another war god. New Holidays were adopted. Old holidays were blended. I’m not saying it was seamless, or without any conflict. But it was much more of a sharing of culture than a stealing of holidays. Yesterday was the first day of Hannukah. I made latkes for dinner. Does this mean that I “stole” it from the Jews? Of course not! I was celebrating in solidarity.
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No one owns the copyright on having a god with a birthday on December 25th. As fun as it is to “keep Saturn in Saturnalia” and “keep Han in Hannukah”, there are dozens of gods with birthdays this time of year. Mithra, Dionysus, Saturn, and possibly even Aengus, Lugh and Taliesin
Pagans, Sinterklass, and Jesus (parttimeyp.wordpress.com)
Mid-winter celebrations had a long history even before Jesus walked on the Earth. People celebrated around the solstice because the days were starting to grow longer. Scandinavians burnt a Yule log believing that each sparks represented a new pig or calf that would be born. Many Europeans would slaughter most of their cattle so they wouldn’t have to feed them, which lead to large feasts. The Germans had a celebration honoring Odin, many people choose to stay inside during this time because it was believed that Odin made nighttime flights observing people and deciding who would prosper and who would die in the coming year. (That sounds strangely familiar doesn’t it?)
Halloween is Satanist Christmas (govtslaves.info)
The Satanic Bible ranks Halloween as one of the two most important festivals on its calendar, which may explain why it’s now being promoted as a ‘fun’ festival
Behind the playful facade, Halloween celebrates perversion, which is the real meaning of the occult. It is a ”religious indoctrination into Druid paganism, witchcraft, and Satanism.”
Halloween, should Christians stay away or is it ok to celebrate?
When we consider the history of Halloween (a Christian perspective), it may seem as if the modern holiday has gotten out of hand. After all, doesn’t Halloween glorify evil? Is it right to send our children out as devils and vampires? Should we emphasize the saints, whose nearly forgotten feast day is the reason for Halloween? Hallow is the same word for “holy” that we find in the Lord’s Prayer, and e’en is a contraction of “evening.” The word Halloween itself is a shortened form of “All Hallows Eve,” the day before All Saints Day. This holiday, properly understood and celebrated with all of its fun trappings, can be a way for us to deepen our understanding of faith.

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Stepping Toes

Things said on this site possibly can upset someone

Tag Archives: Passover

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Holidays, holy days and traditions

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