Should believers in Messiah Celebrate Christmas…? In recent years with the explosion of social media more and more Christians are starting to ask serious questions about Christmas and other traditional holidays. Many have been greatly concerned and disturbed about what they have found… Their concerns are not unwarranted! Let’s take a brief look at some key Scriptures that shed light on this important question! Should Believers in Messiah Celebrate Christmas…? In the Book of Acts, chapter 15, the early believers had a meeting to decide what “direction” they would take with new believers in the body of Messiah. In the end the following was decided: “Therefore my judgment is not to trouble those from among the gentiles who are turning to Elohim, but that we write to them to abstain from the defilements of idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what isstrangled, and from blood. “For from ancient generations Mosheh has, in every city, those proclaiming him – being read in the congregations every Sabbath.” ~Acts 15:19-21 These 4 requirements were not the endgame, but a starting point for new believers to enter into fellowship. …Thus James’ statement “For from ancient generations Mosheh has, in every city, those proclaiming him – being read in the congregations every Sabbath.” This implies the new believers would grow in the faith by hearing the Word (The Torah) in the congregations every Sabbath day. A careful study of the Scripture reveals these 4 requirements were nothing new, but instead instructions taken straight from the Torah. As a Matter of fact these Torah instructions are known as the “Core of the Torah”… Our Creator is totally Set-Apart! We are also instructed to be set-apart: “as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts in your ignorance, instead, as the One who called you is set-apart, so you also should become set-apart in all behaviour, because it has been written, “Be set-apart, for I am set-apart.” ~1 Peter 1:14-16 As believers in Messiah… Q: How do we start to become set-apart like Him? A: Acts 15:19-21, the 4 requirements for fellowship, the Core of the Torah For the sake of time, space, and keeping with our question above… We’ll just look (briefly) at fellowship requirement #1: abstaining from the defilements of idols Idolatry = Heart Issues It’s been understood by many that the 1st thru 4th Commandments emphasizes our relationship with the Creator, whereas the 5th thru 10th Commandments emphasizes our relationship with man. Here are the 1st and 2nd Commandments: “And Elohim spoke all these Words, saying, “I am יהוה your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, out of the house of slavery. “You have no other mighty ones against My face. “You do not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of that which is in the heavens above, or which is in the earth beneath, or which is in the waters under the earth, you do not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, יהוה your Elohim am a jealous El, visiting the crookedness of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and guard My commands. ~Exodus 20:1-6 Important Questions to ask yourself: 1. How is my relationship with the Creator? 2. Is He number 1 in my life? 3. What is my heart’s desire? 4. Do I have any Idols “things” that draw me away from Him? 5. How committed am I to following Him? We are also instructed in Deuteronomy 16:21, 22: “Do not plant for yourself any tree as an Asherah near the altar of יהוה your Elohim that you make for yourself. “And do not set up a pillar, which יהוהyour Elohim hates.” Asherah =Strong’s #H842 Unbelievably in many churches, they actually erect trees right next to the s0-called, “altars”… (I’m not making this stuff up) “Do not plant for yourself any tree as an Asherah near the altar of יהוה your Elohim that you make for yourself. “And do not set up a pillar, which יהוהyour Elohim hates.” ~Deuteronomy 16:21, 22 We are also instructed in Deuteronomy 7:26: “And do not bring an abomination into your house, lest you be accursed like it. Utterly loathe it and utterly hate it, for it is accursed.” Tree Idolatry is nothing new… The Prophet Jeremiah warned Yisrael against the “way of the gentiles”… “Thus said יהוה, “Do not learn the way of the gentiles, and do not be awed by the signs of the heavens, for the gentiles are awed by them. For the prescribed customs of these peoples are worthless, for one cuts a treefrom the forest, work for the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. “They adorn it with silver and gold, they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it does not topple.” ~Jeremiah 10:2- 4 The Prophet Isaiah also rebuke Yisrael for their evil ways… “Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree…” ~Isaiah 57:5 (Pictured above is one of the best examples of a Scriptural Idol) Yisrael was plagued with Idolatry in the past… And Ahab made an Asherah. And Ahab did more to provoke יהוה Elohim of Yisrael than all the sovereigns of Yisrael before him. ~1 Kings 16:33 יהוה warned us not to worship Him in the way the gentiles worship their gods… “Guard, and obey all these words which I command you, that it might be well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the eyes of יהוה your Elohim. “When יהוה your Elohim does cut off from before you the gentiles which you go to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, guard yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire about their mighty ones, saying, ‘How did these gentiles serve their mighty ones? And let me do so too.’ “Do not do so to יהוה your Elohim, for every abomination which יהוה hates they have done to their mighty ones, for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their mighty ones. “All the words I am commanding you, guard to do it – do not add to it nor take away from it.” ~Deuteronomy 12:28-31 In order to have fellowship with Messiah and His Body one must abstain from Idolatry (Acts 15:19-21)… “What then do I say? That an idol is of any value? Or that which is offered to idols is of any value? No, but what the gentiles offer they offer to demons and not to Elohim, and I do not wish you to become sharers with demons. You are not able to drink the cup of the Master and the cup of demons, you are not able to partake of the table of the Master and of the table of demons. Do we provoke the Master to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?” ~1 Corinthians 10:19-22 Idolaters Will Not Enter The Kingdom of Elohim “Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the reign of Elohim? Do not be deceived. Neither those who whore, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor greedy of gain, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers shall inherit the reign of Elohim.” ~I Corinthians 6:9, 10 …So Back To Our Question: Should Believers in Messiah Celebrate Christmas? The Answer Is Obvious… No! We as believers in Messiah are not allowed to worship idols or participate in pagan rituals, bowing down to images “trees” and receive blessings (gifts) from under the tree, or singing to a tree “Oh Christmas Tree…”, worshiping false messiahs, or the like… I won’t go into all the details now about what these images represents, but in short these practices are disgusting and sexually perverted… According to Acts 15:19-21 New Believers must abstain from Idolatry! Apostle Paul gives us some encouraging words for New Believers: “So this I say, and witness in the Master, that you should no longer walk as the gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having been darkened in their understanding, having been estranged from the life of Elohim, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart, who, having become callous, have given themselves up to indecency, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Messiah, if indeed you have heard Him and were taught by Him, as truth is in יהוה : that you put off – with regard to your former way of life – the old man, being corrupted according to the desires of the deceit, and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the renewed man which was created according to Elohim, in righteousness and set-apartness of the truth.” ~Ephesians 4:17-24 Final Thoughts… Some that participate in the “Christmas Idolatry” often say they do it to honor the birth of Messiah… I hate to be the one to burst anyone’s bubble, but יהושע Messiah was not born on Dec 25th… In reality He was born on Yom Teruah (An Appointed Time of the Creator See Leviticus 23) in 3 B.C.E. For More Information about that click on the image below: Q: So if Messiah wasn’t born on December 25, then who’s birth are people actually celebrating…? A: Sol Invictus / Mithra (the sun god) If you’re interested in learning more about Christmas and Easter and other Pagan Holidays check out Todd D. Bennett book “Pagan Holidays”
1 Comment
|
AuthorDarrell Carr Archives
March 2019
Categories
All
|