Tag: pagan

i am becoming one of “those” . . .

i am becoming one of “those” . . .

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:23-24

This passage from Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well is highly regarded as justification for Christians to say, “I am doing this in worship of the Father, the other things don’t mean anything. I love God.” or some variation of the same. But, i ask you what Jesus was referring too here? It was customary for Jews to travel to Jerusalem to worship on particular feasts, Passover, Weeks, and Tabernacles. There are seven Hebraic Feasts; i say Hebraic lightly i will get to that in a bit.

Jesus, in His referring to worshiping in spirit and truth, was prophetic, in that He was the Messiah, and therefore He is the feasts. Thus, the location of worship was shifting from a physical place to a spiritual place . . . One primary reason is that Jerusalem was in the hands of the Romans and would soon destroy the Temple, the reason for the pilgrimage. He, in no way, was saying, anything goes, instead expressing a more personal focus because the relationship was about to become intimate.

Let’s take a look at each of the three pilgrimage feasts. First, Passover, they would come to present their sacrifice to the priests, and the Passover lamb would be sacrificed. It was to commemorate or remember the Exodus from Egypt, where those who had the blood on the doorpost were passed over by the angel of death. The final plague before Pharoah would let the people go. John the Baptist proclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” This was Jesus, the Lamb of God. In observing Passover in real-time, in that year, Jesus, as the Lamb, fulfilled the Feast. We should honor it today as a remembrance of our Passover Lamb, who takes away our sin.

Second, The Feast of Weeks occurs seven weeks or 50 days after the Sabbath of Passover. The interesting thing about this feast, it is a remembrance of the receiving of the law, and with the law comes the knowledge of sin. Its institution was to celebrate the ripening of the wheat harvest. Which is even more interesting! Think of it, Jesus said, “the harvest is plentiful, the workers are few, pray that the Lord of the harvest would send workers.” (Luke 10:2) Here is the cool thing, just as they received the law on Mt Sinai accompanied by smoke, fire, and clouds; so on the day of Pentecost 50 days from the Sabbath of Passover the disciples were gathered, and tongues of fire with a rushing wind came as they received the law written on their hearts as the Holy Spirit was given. We are the workers in the field that God has given.

Third, Tabernacles, this feast was in remembrance of the Hebrew nations wandering in the desert living in temporary shelters. They would again make their pilgrimage to Jerusalem and worship there. Looking to the future, it is symbolic of the return of the King and Jesus ruling and reigning among His people as we tabernacle together with the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Here’s a cool fact, the Feast of Tabernacles was open to all people and nations to come and be with the Lord. Reminds me of the Sabbath day and the Day of Atonement, another feast in which it is stated that even the foreigner within your gates should do no work. As Jesus declared, “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath,” so we should consider the Sabbath God made for us, to rest and reflect on the goodness of our Lord.

Each of the other feasts is equally significant, and in Leviticus, we read that they are not Hebraic but rather God’s feasts.

“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are My appointed feasts.‘” Leviticus 23:1-2

But we don’t really celebrate these feasts, we pass them off as being strictly Hebraic. However, that isn’t even implied in Scripture, for it is Israel who was to be God’s mouthpiece to the world. And as the writer of Hebrews tells us, we are all grafted in together as one people before God. Again here in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” The intention of the feasts, most certainly the final one known as the Feast of Tabernacles, is to unify us in the worship of God. To draw our attention to the Most High.

If God, so intently, marked out His desired Feasts, for His people to honor Him. He was even reminding them that these were forever feasts, being both remembrance and prophetic. If Jesus observed the Feasts and the early church followed the Feasts, i feel it right to do so now.

Now let me ask you; if you were one of the first century Christians, and as such, you, as they did, observe the Feasts with both the remembrance factor and the prophetic one in mind. Looking back and looking ahead, would you allow for a mingling of pagan cultural practices to interfere with those feasts? Would you desire to take on the worship of pagan gods to enhance the worship of God? i hope that your answer is NO WAY! It certainly is God’s answer:

“You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughter in the fire to their gods. Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.” Deuteronomy 12:31-32

“Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:14-15

(Note, read all of 1 Corinthians 10) “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” . . . “Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?” 1 Corinthians 10:14 & 22

We are to flee anything evil. We are not to intermingle pagan worship with the worship of God. These things have not changed, and yet we do. The majority of Christians in the west and some beyond do. Christmas and Easter both have their origins in paganism. These have been central holidays within the church for centuries. Why did the church allow this to happen? How did they not see? Why am i just now waking up to the truth? This isn’t an undue hardship or yoke, this is central to the Worship of God. i am not talking diets or fabrics or circumcision, i am speaking to what the Lord desires and what we were ultimately created for . . . Worship. If you think it is evil to worship the Lord, then don’t, as Joshua said.

Now to Halloween, i once thought it was actually the one rooted most in the faith with All Saints Day, but i was wrong there too. It is ripe with its roots in paganism, and there is no redeeming it, nor should we try. There is no need for an alternative either, for we have seven feasts to the Lord, and each one is a party, a grand celebration! We are called to be different, to come out of the culture and be the Kingdom here and now. When Jesus said we were to Worship in Spirit and in Truth, i am certain He didn’t include pagan rituals in there regardless of your “intent.”

In my next few postings, i will be touching on Halloween and its true origins and then Christmas in the same way. i hope to show why i am choosing to walk away from these traditions. i will also write again about Easter, although i have already done that if you go back in my history of posts. This is a massive step for me, it hasn’t been easy, but it is right. i am becoming one of “those” Christians, and it is not a burden placed on me . . . It is actually a point of self-denial to put away the ways of the world that i might honor the Lord. To love Him with my whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. Yes, i am becoming one of those Christians, the one i should have been from the beginning. And you should too!

You are loved,

cj

Behold the Lamb! He is Risen!

Behold the Lamb! He is Risen!

This year my wife and i’s anniversary lands on a Sunday, May 26. We also have a special speaker scheduled to begin that day, and he will be speaking half the week. On top of that, we have my sister and brother-in-law coming to visit that same weekend. Needless to say, we will be celebrating our anniversary on a different day. That happens, doesn’t it? Some times life happens, and you have to change the day you celebrate, whatever it is, birthdays, anniversaries, or any other special event that is special to you. However, ideally, i think, each of us would say that celebrating on the actual anniversary would be the most desired or preferable day.

Did you know that given the start of Passover this year, 2019, which was Friday night, Jesus would have been arrested Saturday morning? He then would have faced part of his trial that day and been sentenced to death on Sunday; buried later that day, lay in the tomb on Monday and risen today! Yes, Today is the actual anniversary of our Lords Resurrection. i understand that the Church doesn’t usually gather on a Tuesday so remembering it on the Sunday before would be customary for most celebrations.  However, did you also know that there are years where Easter, the day celebrated as Jesus resurrection and the actual anniversary, Passover, are off by a month? In 2024, Easter will be on March 31, and Passover will begin April 22. The following year, 2025, Passover begins April 12, and Easter will be celebrated on the 20th of April.

Passover is the Jewish feast that remembers the Exodus from Egypt. As Christain’s, we believe that it is a foreshadowing of Christ’s Redemption on the cross. If you have ever sat through a Passover Seder, you would see the amazing redemptive story unfold. It is quite remarkable. If we follow the timeline of Christ’s crucifixion, we see that in that year Passover began on a Wednesday. He was arrested early Thursday, stood trial Thursday into Friday and was nailed to the cross that morning. At 3pm Joseph of Aramathia, requested the body of Jesus be taken down so that they could bury Him before the Sabbath that was to begin at sundown. Pilote honored the request. Jesus having died, was taken and laid in the tomb on Friday late afternoon. He remained there through Saturday, the Sabbath, the day of rest, think about that . . . And then early on Sunday, the tomb was opened, and Jesus was ALIVE!

We can read about the Conference of Niceae back in 325 AD where the split occurred, making Passover and Easter two separate events. Why? Even given all the explanations, it makes little sense. We don’t change the date of our Anniversary or Birthdays or anything else for that matter so why this? Why take the most Holy of Events, the pinnacle of the Christain faith and separate it from the event of Passover? Let’s look at a definition of Easter.

According to the New Unger’s Bible Dictionary: “The word Easter is of Saxon origin, Eastra, the goddess of spring, in whose honor sacrifices were offered about Passover time each year. By the eighth century Anglo–Saxons had adopted the name to designate the celebration of Christ’s resurrection.”

i could put a lot more in here about the origins of Easter outside of the Council of Niceae takeover of a Pagan Holiday. In fact, many scholars believe that one of the reasons for this was to attract pagans near Rome to the Church. If any of which is true goes directly against the Word of God. Let me point out a few verses here:

“When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? that I also may do the same.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. Everything that I have commanded you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.” Deuteronomy 12:29-32 ESV

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates… then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by His name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you, for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God, lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and He destroy you from off the face of the earth.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 12-15 ESV

“The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.” Jeremiah 7:18 ESV

Each of these passages in their context makes reference to the Exodus from Egypt which is celebrated with the Feast known as Passover. The very Feast that Jesus fulfilled with His death, as our Passover Lamb, and His victory over the grave with His resurrection. For those that would say this was for the Jews let me remind you of some New Testament passages that would disagree with that sentiment.

“And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 3:6 NLT

Also, see Ephesians 2:11-13; 2:19 and Romans 11:17-24. When it comes to honoring God we are to do so completely as in the Deuteronomy 6 passage above and as mentioned by Jesus Himself when asked, “Which is the most important commandment?” He said, “To love the Lord your God with your whole heart. . .” Therefore, if mixing the customs of the pagans was wrong then it is most certainly still wrong today! But, some might still say, “we are free in Christ!” Let me remind us of Paul’s words to the Corinthians;

“Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.” 1 Corinthians 8:9-13 NIV

i will close this, sorry this one is a long one, with noting what is said to us about knowing what is right. James 4:17, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” So in conclusion, at least for me, i cannot in good conscience, continue to celebrate Easter. i will go back to celebrating Passover and the fulfillment of it through Jesus within the timing of the Jewish Feast. i believe this is just the beginning of this awakening that i am having as i return to the Scriptural fullness of Worship to the Lord.

You are loved,

cj