Nazarene Israelite Two House Congregation of Port Elizabeth

A time to celebrate or a time to remember?

Have you ever wondered why ham is the centerpiece of most Xmas dinners?  Even though the historical books of the Maccabees were not included in the Christian Bible, it is considered a reliable historic document by both Jewish and Christian scholars. The history in these books should not be lost or forgotten, because they contain an important part in the story of Elohim’s people. The prophet Daniel prophesied about what happened in the books of the Maccabees in chapters 8 and 11 and specifically in verse 31 of Daniel 11, saying: “And forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation.”

According to the book of Maccabees Antiochus Epiphanes erected a statute of Zeus inside the temple on December 25, 167 BCE and sacrificed a pig on the altar in honor of the birth of the Sun god. This act incited the Jews to revolt against Antiochus and the Hellenized Jews (forced to accept the Greek culture). It took three years to defeat Antiochus and purify the temple once again. This end of pagan oppression has been celebrated as the festival of Chanukah, meaning ‘dedication’ from 164 BCE until today. The feast of Saturn or Saturnalia was held at the time of the Winter Solstice in Europe and included merriment, dancing, revelry and feasting. Evergreens decorated homes and songs were sung in honor of Saturn. Gifts were also exchanged between friends. A large wooden wheel was covered with straw. It was dragged on top of a steep mountain. The wheel, a symbol of the sun was set alight and allowed to roll down the mountain as a symbol of the sun falling from the sky, representing the birth of the sun. But how were these pagan ideas injected into professing Christianity? It is important to understand that the vast majority of Christian theologians and scholars have never seriously tried to follow Yahshua and His original apostles. As the professing Christian church grew, its leaders tried to make their religion more acceptable to the pagans around them in an attempt to win them over and to avoid persecution. The original Nazarene faith, a sect of Judaism was cast aside in favor of a counterfeit paganized Christian belief system. December the 25th became the so-called birth date of the ‘Savior’ in 354 CE, when Liberius a Bishop of Rome selected it as such, because the people of Rome already observed  the feast of Saturn on that date and turned it into a mass of the church. They named it Christ’s mass, hence the name Christmas. However, since we know that it has nothing to do with Messiah we prefer to refer to this pagan festival as Xmas. Initially the church fathers did not accept this heathen festival into Christianity. But, eventually the door was opened to pagan celebrations and the church became more and more pagan. Round wafers, crosses, church steeples, kissing under the mistletoe and other adopted symbols from paganism are vividly described in “The Two Babylons” by Alexander Hislop.It is important to note that the Xmas ham was popularized by the Catholic Church as a test of truthful conversion from Judaism to Christianity. Those who continued to observe Judaism in secret would decline to eat the Xmas ham, while authentic converts would enjoy the pig meat without question. This was the result of the anti-Semitic attitudes of the Catholic Church that had been inherited from pagan Romans who took over Christianity during the time of Constantine.

 

It is also important to understand that we are nowhere commanded in the Scriptures to keep Yahshua’s birth date as a memorial, instead, like with Jewish tradition, we are commanded to remember Yahshua’s death once a year at the time of the Passover. The reason is that as we read in John 1: 29, He was the Lamb of Elohim, who takes away the sin of the world. We partake of the Passover in remembrance of Yahshua’s death, until He comes again (see 1 Corinthians 11: 23 – 26). Birthdays are mentioned a total of three times, in the Scriptures and disaster struck at each of these occasions: When Josef was in prison in Egypt and the baker was hanged on Pharaoh’s birthday (see Genesis 40: 20); when Job’s children died keeping their (birth) days (see Job 1: 4, 5, 13 – 19); and Herod’s birthday when John the Immerser was beheaded (see Matthew 14: 6). The birthday ritual of cake, candles, wishing and presents serve to thank the host of heaven, allowing the person another year of life. The candles symbolize the sacred fire carefully numbered for each annual cycle completed. Witches regard the day of one’s birth as the most significant event in a person’s life. If birthdays are important to witches, then we should definitely not even think of keeping it (see Leviticus 19: 31).  In addition birthdays usually glorify the person whose birthday it is, rather than giving thanks to our Heavenly Father for giving them another year of precious life.Xmas cookies so familiar at this time of the year trace back to pagan Babylon and Egypt where round wafers of the sun were consumed, signifying the partaking of the unconquerable sun into their lives. The holly wreath, with its circular design memorializes sun worship. We need not doubt the fact that Xmas with the other ‘holy days’ in Christianity, are rooted in paganism. However, the truth regarding Messiah’s birth is not so well known. In Luke 2: 8 we read: ‘And in the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields, and keeping watch over their flock by night.’ If Yahshua was born in Israel during what we know as December, there would not have been shepherds out in the open on the hills of Israel. During December, or what is known as the ninth month according to the Hebrew calendar, is a very cold rainy season in the region. We read accordingly in Ezra 10: 9 ‘So all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month on the twentieth of the month, and all the people sat in the open square before the house of Elohim, trembling because of this matter and the heavy rain.’ The weather in Israel did not change from that day until the time of Messiah. In fact it is still more or less the same today. Shepherds took their sheep, into the open fields during spring, at the time of Passover and brought them in again during Cheshvan the Hebrew eighth month, which is around mid-November, according to our calendar.

So what about Chanukah? Many believers do not realize it, but the Scriptures actually recorded Yahshua’s participation in Chanukah, as recorded in John 10: 22 & 23, as follows: ‘At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem;  (23) it was winter, and Yahshua was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon.’ Yahshua chose the Chanukah celebration as the moment He would reveal Himself as the Messiah to the crowds. He told them publicly that He was the ‘Good Shepherd’ and also claimed to be one with the heavenly Father. In fact Chanukah is a celebration of Yahshua the antithesis of Antiochus who claimed to be god. Antiochus desecrated the temple, whilst Yahshua cleansed the temple; he offered up an unholy sacrifice, whilst Yahshua offered up Himself as the perfect sacrifice; he forbid worship on the Sabbath, whilst Yahshua taught how to worship on the Sabbath; he destroyed every copy of Torah that he could find, whilst Yahshua taught and fulfilled Torah; he hated Jews, whilst Yahshua was Jewish. Similarly Constantine forbade worship on the Sabbath, Scriptural Festivals and anything that have a Jewish origin. He removed the Hebrew roots of our Faith and replaced them with pagan traditions and rituals of the Roman Empire. Chanukah is truly a celebration of Elohim’s deliverance from paganism and assimilation. It is a celebration that Elohim rescued His people from religious oppression and of the re-dedication of the temple.

Pagan worship is forbidden for us, as Nazarene Israelites who claim to be fully Torah observant. Let us read some of theScriptures testifying to this. Starting in Deuteronomy 4: 12 to 19 we read: “Then YHVH spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form – only a voice. (13) So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone. (14) And YHVH commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might perform them in the land where you are going over to possess it. (15) So watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the day YHVH spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire. (16) lest you act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, (17)the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, (18)the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth. (19) And beware, lest you lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which YHVH your Elohim has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.”We also read the warning not to learn the ways of the heathen in Jeremiah 10: 1 - 5,as follows: Hear the word which YHVH speaks to you, O house of Israel, (2) Thus says YHVH, “Do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens although the nations are terrified by them; (3) for the customs of the peoples are delusion; because it is wood cut from the forest, The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. (4) They decorate it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers so that it will not totter. (5) Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, and they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot walk! Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, nor can they do any good.”’ This warning is a repeat of the one in Deuteronomy 12: 29 – 31, in this way: “When YHVH your Elohim cuts off before you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, (30) beware that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise? (31) You shall not behave thus toward YHVH your Elohim, for every abominable act which YHVH hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.” Rav Shaul warns us not to join unbelievers in their festivities and to come out of the confusion caused by the ‘religious’ celebrations of the world in 2 Corinthians 6: 14 – 17, saying:‘Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?(15) Or what harmony has Messiah with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?  (16) Or what agreement has the temple of Elohim with idols? For we are the temple of the living Elohim; just as Elohim said, “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR ELOHIM. AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. (17) THEREFORE, ‘COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPERATE,” says YHVH. “AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; and I will welcome you.’ YHVH does not want us to mix true worship with idol worship. Legends has it that Hercules, Bacchus, Tammuz, Buddha, Krishna and all other known sun-deities were born on December 25th.

 

The Tanach is full of history of how the Israelites would follow pagan worship around them: Every time YHVH would bring them back, but soon after they would drift back into heathen customs. YHVH would leave them to their own devices, which brought about calamity and tribulation. Eventually YHVH came to tabernacle with us as Yahshua our Messiah. The Israelites rejected Him too and some more heathen customs was established in His name. Ask yourself the question: Does the revelry at Xmas bring honor to Yahshua? Does it reflect His teachings?  Or is it in keeping with the spirit of a party-seeking, pleasure mad people of the world? Is it not yet another reason to over-indulge and commit adultery perhaps? Yahshua clearly warned His followers that the world would hate them in John 15: 19, as follows: “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” His people are not to partake in the world’s heathen celebrations. You might be one of those who say that you are keeping Xmas for the sake of the children and not for religious reasons. However, even if you disagree with the paganism attached to Xmas, it is not possible to join its celebration without condoning it. Yahshua the Messiah is definitely not the central figure in Xmas. Rather it is a fat old man called Santa Claus who gets all the credit for giving the gifts that children receive. The average child knows little about Yahshua the Savior whose birthday this pagan day is supposed to commemorate. Every-where the child looks – in shop windows, advertisements, television shows – he/she sees credit passed on to Santa.

 

What about the exchanging of gifts? Most people like to receive gifts, but gifts are given at this time merely out of feelings of obligation rather than out of love. Children learn to ask “What did you get?” rather than “What did you give?” Everything about Xmas is a lie: the name, the time, the purpose and the so-called worship. True believers should therefore refrain from having anything to do with Xmas. We need to give up these pagan customs forever. We must not recall them as fond memories every now and then. We should rather forget that we ever kept them. This is what our Father YHVH requires of us, since He removes our sins, as far as the East is from the West. When a person celebrates Xmas, he puts his stamp of approval on a heathen custom, as much as Israel did of old and was punished for it. Let us leave Xmas and its pagan revelry to non-believers. Our Father is calling us to come out of the world – Babylon. The confusion of keeping a pagan festival like Xmas and singing false carols in celebration of the so-called birthday of J*e*s*u*s* is perpetuating the lie that people tell their children every year. Let those who kept Xmas in the recent past, break the on-going cycle of lies and confusion and stop celebrating Xmas, immediately. Instead of keeping Xmas let’s rededicate our bodies which are supposed to be the temple of Elohim and celebrate Chanukah with the house of Judah and let’s declare as Joshua did in the last part of Joshua 24:  14 &15, saying: “Now, therefore, fear YHVH and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve YHVH. (15) And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve YHVH, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve YHVH.”