THE OFFENSE OF CHRISTMAS – 23 Dec 2006

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Ps 69: 5-9 (6-10 Heb)   O God, You know my foolishness, and my sins are not hidden from You.  Let not those who hope in You, O YHVH God of Hosts, be ashamed because of me; let not those who seek You be confounded because of me, O God ofIsrael.  Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face.  I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother’s children (Mk 3:21; 6:3; Jn 7:1-5).  Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.

Lk 2: 29-35   [Simeon] took [Yeshua] up in his arms and blessed God and said:  Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your peopleIsrael. . . .Behold, this One is destined for the fall and rising of many inIsrael, and for a sign which will be spoken against, . . .that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

–Jesus the Son bears the reproach of God His Father
–we are to go outside the camp where Messiah is and bear His reproach

–Great responsibility not to be a cause of stumbling for those seeking truth, for those seeking the true God, or of those whose hope is already in YHVH God of Hosts, the God of Israel
–important to give our children proofs from the Bible concerning controversial issues, to enable them to stand against those who want to attack generally accepted truths handed down to believers

–during recent trip to Richmond, I had a number of conversations regarding the truth of Messiah and of the Bible as the inspired Word of God
–I was called a fundamentalist, as if that was unworthy, by another Christian
–I was called an extremist, since religion is the cause of so much war and suffering in the world

–I spoke with two revisionist historians.  They want to be taken seriously.  One of them is a professor.
–he could not tolerate my belief in history being governed by God, the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth
–think that religion is all man-made; that Jews are therefore merely a product of myth; that the God of the O.T. is either a myth, or the embodiment of evil
–think mankind is on the threshold of making “heaven on earth” through knowledge and technology
–don’t believe in God, but use a term – Heaven – that comes from Him

God will abase all pride because He – the great God – humbled Himself and was/is humiliated by the pride and foolishness of man.
  –God Almighty came in flesh and blood; born as a baby, in poverty, in weakness
–What reproach did Mary and Joseph have to bear for being chosen for such a miracle and done in such a way that Miriam was thought to have been unfaithful to Joseph and to the holiness of YHVH?
–What did the people of Bethlehem think when all the babies were killed by Herod because of hearing that the Messiah, the rightful King of Israel, had been born?
–Will we stand up for our God and Savior when we are considered strangers and aliens to those we love and care about?

God does not do things to satisfy our own understanding or expectation, but rather for us to take note that He has intervened in the affairs of man for His own holy name’s sake.

3 COMMENTS

  1. Shalom,

    What do you mean?

    Allow me to be “point blank”.
    There is a difference between attacking people vs. attacking beliefs.

    If one is being attacked for teaching “idolatry” – it is true or it is false.
    If one is being attacked for teaching “polytheism”- it is true or it is false.

    There is a vast difference between the birth of the Meshiach vs. christmass- the prophets in the Tanach are solid regarding Meshiach.

    However, christmass with the santa claus, trees, and gift giving that came with the Russian immigration isn’t found in the Tanach or even the Brit Chadashah leaves one with idolatry and in a undefensible stance.

    Btw, I am not solely picking on christmass but any 3rd – 21st man made add on tradition such as Easter / Ishtar, Sunday, etc…..

    The NT is full of commandments (1053) to be exact and none of them contradict the Torah.

    Allow me to suggest relationships with the haredi would improve if the NT commandments were kept rather man made traditions (idolatry).
    None of the attacks from what I have seen have been due to polytheism.

    A personal observation over the years has been that leaders turn a blind eye, ignore, or mis-represent the scriptures due to “keep shalom at home” specifically with their spouses. As we know, Adams sin was “listening to the voice of his wife” rather than G_D (Gen 3:17) – not a good idea imo.

    A great example is 1 Cor 11:1-5 of which men are not to wear head coverings while pray/prophesying and women are. Btw, 1st & 2nd Cor are great guides for Jews and non-Jews in a “synagogue” and house group setting.

    The NT teachings are strict for our protection, however, the vast majority of them are ignored to our peril.

    A little introspection goes a long way and what the haredi is saying in true regarding the “idolatry”.

    Here are a sobering couple quotes from Søren Kierkegaard that point to this:

    “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”

    “The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly.”

    ~Shalom

  2. The coming of Masiach as Ben Elohim is the offense and the stumbling block – this was Rabbi Ysshua.

    The birthday celebration of Greek Jesus during “Saturnalia” is a pagan myth introduced by the Roman Catholic church.

    Do you think “Just Maybe” YHVH is trying to tell you something with the attacks of the religious Jews during this time? Just maybe?????

    Shalom

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