Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. declared that January 1st would mark the beginning of the new year. January was named after Janus, the god of gates and doors in Roman mythology. People prayed to Janus when they wanted something new in their lives (such as resolutions). Janus is normally represented with two faces, one looking to the past and the other looking to the future. The first day of the month of January was sacred to him.

Janus

January 1 on the Julian Calendar corresponds to January 14 on the Gregorian calendar, and it is on that date that followers of some of the Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate the New Year.

Caesar – picture of the Antichrist

Dan 7:24  And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings; they shall rise, and another shall rise after them. And he shall be different from the first, and he shall humble three kings.
Dan 7:25  And he shall speak words against the Most High, and he shall wear out the saints of the Most High. And he intends to change times and law. And they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and one half time.

Changing times and seasons can only be done by Elohim.

Dan 2:20  Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His.
Dan 2:21  And He changes the times and the seasons; He causes kings to pass away, and sets up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who know understanding.

Caesar believed he was ‘god’.

In Roman genealogies heroes were always descended from gods. Julius Caesar, for example, was supposed to have sprung from the line of Aeneas, and thus from that of Venus. Among the Romans, traditions of descent remained vague even when written. Caesar’s murderer, Brutus, was popularly supposed to be of the same family as an ancient Brutus, who had expelled the Tarquins, but no pedigree appears…

Forty years before the birth of Yahshua, Julius Caesar died. After his death, he was declared divine, which made his great-nephew and adopted son, Octavian, the son of a god. Octavian ruled as Caesar Augustus, and was the emperor at the time of Yahshua’s birth.

A tradition developed of emperors being deified after they died, and their heirs were called divine son or the son of god. This imperial cult grew exponentially for a while. The cult of emperor worship even offered “good news”. The good news — or “gospel” of the imperial cult — was that Caesar, son of a god, was now Lord of the whole world, bringing peace and prosperity and justice to all people throughout the empire.

Janus

In Roman mythology, Janus (or Ianus) was the god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings and endings. His most prominent remnant in modern culture is his namesake, the month of January, which begins the new year. He is most often depicted as having two faces or heads, facing in opposite directions.

William Betham argued that the cult arrived from the Middle East and that Janus corresponds to the Baal-ianus or Belinus of the Chaldeans sharing a common origin with the Oannes of Berosus and thus with the Mesopotamian figure of Uanna known from seventh century BCE texts.

Janus was usually depicted with two heads facing in opposite directions. According to a legend, he had received from the god Saturn, in reward for the hospitality received, the gift to see both future and past.  Janus-like heads of gods related to Hermes have been found in Greece, perhaps suggesting a compound god. These double headed figures have precursors in Assyrian depictions of Oannes with a human head in front and a fish head behind*. Royal Numismatic Society, Proceedings of the Numismatic Society, James Fraser, 1837

*This connects Janus to the beast from the sea… to Nimrod…to Bacchus.

Two Babylons Pg 112
One of the many sacred names by which Tammuz or Nimrod was called, when he reappeared in the Mysteries, after being slain, was Oannes. *
* BEROSUS, BUNSEN’S Egypt. To identify Nimrod with Oannes, mentioned by Berosus as appearing out of the sea, it will be remembered that Nimrod has been proved to be Bacchus. Then, for proof that Nimrod or Bacchus, on being overcome by his enemies, was fabled to have taken refuge in the sea, see chapter 4, section i. When, therefore, he was represented as reappearing, it was natural that he should reappear in the very character of Oannes as a Fish-god. Now, Jerome calls Dagon, the well known Fish-god Piscem moeroris (BRYANT), “the fish of sorrow,” which goes far to identify that Fish-god with Bacchus, the “Lamented one”; and the identification is complete when Hesychius tells us that some called Bacchus Ichthys, or “The fish.”

The Romans associated Janus with the Etruscan deity Ani. However, he was one of the few Roman gods who had no ready-made counterpart, or analogous mythology. Several scholars suggest that he was likely the most important god in the Roman archaic pantheon: this is reflected in the appellation Ianus Pater, still used in Classical times. He was often invoked together with Iuppiter (Jupiter).

According to Macrobius and Cicero, Janus and Jana (Diana) are a pair of divinities, worshipped as the sun and moon, whence they were regarded as the highest of the gods, and received their sacrifices before all the others.
Macrobius Saturnalia i. 9; Cicero De Natura Deorum ii. 27.

Two Babylons – Alexander Hislop pg 26

Then, look at the symbol of Janus, ** (see Fig. 7) whom “the ancients called Chaos#,” and it will be seen how exactly it tallies with the doings of Cush, when he is identified with Bel, “The Confounder.” That symbol is a club; and the name of “a club” in Chaldee comes from the
very word which signifies “to break in pieces, or scatter abroad.”

#This is important to note.  As will be seen below, the Phoenix is associated with Janus and is a symbol of ordo ab chao (order out of chaos).

He who caused the confusion of tongues was he who “broke” the previously united earth (Gen 11:1) “in pieces,” and “scattered” the fragments abroad. How significant, then, as a symbol, is the
club, as commemorating the work of Cush, as Bel, the “Confounder”? And that significance will be all the more apparent when the reader turns to the Hebrew of Genesis 11:9, and finds that the very word from which a club derives its name is that which is employed when it is said, that in consequence of the confusion of tongues, the children of men were “scattered abroad on the face of all the earth.” The word there used for scattering abroad is Hephaitz, which, in the Greek form becomes Hephaizt, * and hence the origin of the well known but little understood name of Hephaistos, as applied to Vulcan, “The father of the gods.”

Hephaistos is the name of the ringleader in the first rebellion, as “The Scatterer abroad,” as Bel is the name of the same individual as the “Confounder of tongues.” Here, then, the reader may see the real origin of Vulcan’s Hammer, which is just another name for the club of Janus or Chaos, “The god of Confusion”; and to this, as breaking the earth in pieces, there is a covert allusion in Jeremiah 50:23, where Babylon, as identified with its primeval god, is thus apostrophised: “How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken”! Now, as the tower-building was the first act of open rebellion after the flood, and Cush, as Bel, was the ringleader in it, he was, of course, the first to whom the name Merodach, “The great Rebel,” * must have been given, and,
therefore, according to the usual parallelism of the prophetic language, we find both names of the Babylonian god referred to together, when the judgment on Babylon is predicted: “Bel is confounded: Merodach is broken in pieces” (Jer 1:2).

His well known title “Janus Tuens,” which may be rendered “Janus the Seer,” or “All-seeing Janus.”

The judgment comes upon the Babylonian god according to what he had done. As Bel, he had “confounded” the whole earth, therefore he is “confounded.” As Merodach, by the rebellion he had stirred up, he had “broken” the united world in pieces; therefore he himself is “broken in
pieces.”
So much for the historical character of Bel, as identified with Janus or Chaos, the god of confusion, with his symbolical club.

The physical sense also of these names was embodied in the club given
to the Grecian Hercules–the very club of Janus–when, in a character quite different from that of the original Hercules, he was set up as the great reformer of the world, by mere physical force. When two-headed Janus with the club is represented, the two- fold representation was probably intended to represent old Cush, and young Cush or Nimrod, as combined. But the two- fold representation with other attributes, had reference also to another “Father of the gods,” afterwards to be noticed, who had specially to do with water.

Two Babylons pg 128
Though we have seen that the two-headed Janus in one aspect had reference to Cush and his son, Nimrod, viewed as one god, in a two- fold capacity, as the Supreme, and Father of all the deified “mighty ones,” yet, in order to gain for him the very authority and respect essential to constitute him properly the head of the great system of idolatry that the apostates inaugurated, it was necessary to represent him as in some way or other identified with the great patriarch, who was the Father of all, and who had so miraculous a history. Therefore in the legends of Janus, we find mixed up with other things derived from an entirely different source, statements not only in regard to his being the “Father of the world,” but also his being “the inventor of ships,” which plainly have been borrowed from the history of Noah; and therefore, the remarkable way in which he is represented in the figure here presented to the reader may confidently be concluded to have been primarily suggested by the history of the great Diluvian patriarch, whose integrity in his two-fold life is so particularly referred to in the Scripture, where it is said (Gen 6:9), “Noah was just a man, and perfect in his generations,” that is, in his life before the flood, and in his life after it. The whole mythology of Greece and Rome, as well as Asia, is full of the history and deeds of Noah, which it is impossible to misunderstand. In India, the god Vishnu, “the Preserver,” who is celebrated as having miraculously preserved one righteous family at the time when the world was drowned, not only has the story of Noah wrought up with his legend, but is called by his very name. Vishnu is just the Sanscrit form of the Chaldee “Ish-nuh,” “the man Noah,” or the “Man of rest.” In the case of Indra, the “king of the gods,” and god of rain, which is evidently only another form of the same god, the name is found in the precise form of Ishnu.

Now, wherever Noah is celebrated, whether by the name of Saturn, “the hidden one,”–for that name was applied to him as well as to Nimrod, on account of his having been “hidden” in the ark, in the “day of the Lord’s fierce anger,”–or, “Oannes,” or “Janus,” the “Man of the Sea,” he is generally described in such a way as shows that he was looked upon as Diphues, “twice-born,” or “regenerate.” The “twice-born” Brahmins, who are all so many gods upon earth, by the very title they take to themselves, show that the god whom they represent, and to whose prerogatives they lay claim, had been known as the “twice-born” god. The connection of “regeneration” with the history of Noah, comes out with special evidence in the accounts
handed down to us of the Mysteries as celebrated in Egypt. The most learned explorers of Egyptian antiquities, including Sir Gardiner Wilkinson, admit that the story of Noah was mixed up with the story of Osiris. The ship of Isis, and the coffin of Osiris, floating on the waters, point distinctly to that remarkable event. There were different periods, in different places in Egypt, when the fate of Osiris was lamented; and at one time there was more special reference to the personal history of “the mighty hunter before the Lord,” and at another to the awful catastrophe through which Noah passed. In the great and solemn festival called “The Disappearance of Osiris,” it is evident that it is Noah himself who was then supposed to have been lost. The time when Osiris was “shut up in his coffin,” and when that coffin was set afloat on the waters, as stated by Plutarch, agrees exactly with the period when Noah entered the ark. That time was “the 17th day of the month Athyr, when the overflowing of the Nile had ceased, when the nights were growing long and the days decreasing.” The month Athyr was the second month after the autumnal equinox, at which time the civil year of the Jews and the patriarchs began. According to this statement, then, Osiris was “shut up in his coffin” on the 17th day of the second month of the patriarchal year. Compare this with the Scriptural account of Noah’s entering into the ark, and it will be seen how remarkably they agree (Gen 7:11), “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the SECOND MONTH, in the SEVENTEENTH DAY of the month, were all the fountains of the great deep broken up; in the self- same day entered Noah into the ark.” The period, too, that Osiris (otherwise Adonis) was believed to have been shut up in his coffin, was precisely the same as Noah was confined in the ark, a whole year. *
* APOLLODORUS. THEOCRITUS, Idyll. Theocritus is speaking of Adonis as delivered by Venus from Acheron, or the infernal regions, after being there for a year; but as the scene is laid in Egypt, it is evident that it is Osiris he refers to, as he was the Adonis of the Egyptians.

Now, the statements of Plutarch demonstrate that, as Osiris at this festival was looked upon as dead and buried when put into his ark or coffin, and committed to the deep, so, when at length he came out of it again, that new state was regarded as a state of “new life,” or “REGENERATION.” *

There seems every reason to believe that by the ark and the flood God actually gave to the patriarchal saints, and especially to righteous Noah, a vivid typical representation of the power of the blood and Spirit of Christ, at once in saving from wrath, and cleansing from all sin–a representation which was a most cheering “seal” and confirmation to the faith of those who really believed. To this Peter seems distinctly to allude, when he says, speaking of this very event, “The like figure whereunto baptism doth also now save us.” Whatever primitive truth the Chaldean priests held, they utterly perverted and corrupted it. They willingly overlooked the fact, that it was “the righteousness of the faith” which Noah “had before” the flood, that carried him safely through the avenging waters of that dread catastrophe, and ushered him, as it were, from the womb of the ark, by a new birth, into a new world, when on the ark resting on Mount Ararat, he was released from his long confinement. They led their votaries to believe that, if they only passed through the baptismal waters, and the penances therewith connected, that of itself would make them like the second father of mankind, “Diphueis,” “twice-born,” or “regenerate,” would entitle them to all the privileges of “righteous” Noah, and give them that “new birth” (palingenesia) which their consciences told them they so much needed. The Papacy acts on precisely the same principle; and from this very source has its doctrine of baptismal regeneration been derived, about which so much has been written and so many controversies been waged. Let men contend as they may, this, and this only, will be found to be the real origin of the anti- Scriptural dogma.

As can be seen above, Janus is connected with resurrection and rebirth.  The spirit of this can be seen in New Year’s resolutions.  Man attempting to change himself through his own strength.  This is the ultimate meaning of this ‘holiday’.  It represents the regeneration of unregenerate man without Messiah.  It is by man’s own power….eating from the tree of knowledge.

Two Babylons pg 190
Now Janus, whose key the Pope usurped with that of his wife or mother Cybele, was also Dagon.  Janus, the two-headed god, “who had lived in two worlds,” was the Babylonian divinity as an incarnation of Noah. Dagon, the fish- god, represented that deity as a manifestation of the same patriarch who had lived so long in the waters of the deluge. As the Pope bears the key of Janus, so he wears the mitre of Dagon.

Two Babylons pg 234
When “the deadly wound” of the Pagan beast was healed, and the beast from the sea appeared, it is said that this beast from the earth became the recognised, accredited executor of the will of the great sea beast (v 12), “And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him,” literally “in his presence”–under his inspection. Considering who the first beast is, there is great force in this expression “in his presence.” The beast that comes up from the sea, is “the little horn,” that “has eyes like the eyes of man” (Dan 7:8); it is Janus Tuens, “All-seeing Janus,” in other words, the Universal Bishop or “Universal Overseer,” who, from his throne on the seven hills, by means of the organised system of the confessional, sees and knows all that is done, to be the utmost bounds

of his wide dominion. Now, it was just exactly about the time that the Pope became universal bishop, that the custom began of systematically investing the chief bishops of the Western empire with the Papal livery, the pallium, “for the purpose,” says Gieseler, “of symbolising and strengthening their connection with the Church of Rome.”

Two Babylon’s pg 244
Saturn, the hidden god,–the god of the Mysteries, whom the Pope represents, whose secrets were revealed only to the initiated,–was identical with Janus, who was publicly known to all Rome, to the uninitiated and initiated alike, as the grand Mediator, the opener and the shutter, who had the key of the invisible world. Now, what means
the name Janus? That name, as Cornificius in Macrobius shows, was properly Eanus; and in ancient Chaldee, E-anush signifies “the Man.” By that very name was the Babylonian beast from the sea called, when it first made its appearance * The name, as given in Greek by Berosus, is O-annes; but this is just the very way we might expect “He-anesth,” “the man,” to appear in Greek. He-siri, in Greek, becomes Osiris; and   He-sarsiphon, Osarsiphon; and, in like manner, Heanesh naturally becomes Oannes. In the sense of a “Man-god,” the name Oannes
is taken by Barker (Lares and Penates). We find the conversion of the H’ into O’ among our own immediate neighbours, the Irish; what is now O’Brien and O’Connell was originally H’Brien and H’Connell (Sketches of Irish History). The name E-anush, or “the Man,” was applied to the Babylonian Messiah, as identifying him with the promised seed of the Woman. The name of “the Man,” as applied to a god, was intended
to designate him as the “god-man.” We have seen that in India the Hindoo Shasters bear witness, that in order to enable the gods to overcome their enemies, it was needful that the Sun, the
supreme divinity, should be incarnate, and born of a Woman. The classical nations had a legend of precisely the same nature. “There was a current tradition in heaven,” says Apollodorus, “that the giants could never be conquered except by the help of a man.” That man, who was believed to have conquered the adversaries of the gods, was Janus, the god-man. In consequence of his assumed character and exploits, Janus was invested with high powers, made the keeper of the gates of heaven, and arbiter of men’s eternal destinies. Of this Janus, this Babylonian “man,” the Pope, as we have seen, is the legitimate representative; his key, therefore, he bears, with that of Cybele, his mother-wife; and to all his blasphemous pretensions he at this hour lays claim. The very fact, then, that the Pope founds his claim to universal homage on the possession of the keys of heaven, and that in a sense which empowers him, in defiance of every principle of Christianity, to open and shut the gates of glory, according to his mere sovereign will and pleasure, is a striking and additional proof that he is that head of the beast from the sea, whose number, as identified with Janus, is the number of a man, and amounts exactly to 666.

But there is something further still in the name of Janus or Eanus, not to be passed over. Janus, while manifestly worshipped as the Messiah or god-man, was also celebrated as “Principium Decorum,” the source and fountain of all the Pagan gods. We have already in this character
traced him backward through Cush to Noah; but to make out his claim to this high character, in its proper completeness, he must be traced even further still. The Pagans knew, and could not but know, at the time the Mysteries were concocted, in the days of Shem and his brethren, who, through the Flood, had passed from the old world to the new, the whole story of Adam, and therefore it was necessary, if a deification of mankind there was to be, that his pre-eminent dignity, as the human “Father of gods and men,” should not be ignored. Nor was it. The
Mysteries were full of what he did, and what befel him; and the name E-anush, or, as it appeared in the Egyptian form, Ph’anesh, “The man,” was only another name for that of our great progenitor. The name of Adam in the Hebrew of Genesis almost always occurs with the article
before it, implying “The Adam,” or “The man.” There is this difference, however–”The Adam” refers to man unfallen, E-anush, “The man,” to “fallen man.” E-anush, then, as “Principium decorum,” “The fountain and father of the gods,” is “FALLEN Adam.” *
* Anesh properly signifies only the weakness or frailty of fallen humanity; but any one who consults OVID, Fashti, as to the character of Janus, will see that when E-anush was deified, it was not simply as Fallen man with his weakness, but Fallen man with his corruption.

The principle of Pagan idolatry went directly to exalt fallen humanity, to consecrate its lusts, to give men license to live after the flesh, and yet, after such a life, to make them sure of eternal felicity. E-anus, the “fallen man,” was set up as the human Head of this system of  corruption– this “Mystery of Iniquity.” Now, from this we come to see the real meaning of the name, applied to the divinity commonly worshipped in Phrygia along with Cybele in the very same character as
this same Janus, who was at once the Father of the gods, and the Mediatorial divinity. That name was Atys, or Attis, or Attes, * and the meaning will evidently appear from the meaning of the
well-known Greek word Ate, which signifies “error of sin,” and is obviously derived from the Chaldean Hata, “to sin.”

The Keys

“The very apostolic designation, Peter, is from the Mysteries. The hierophant or supreme pontiff bore the Chaldean title peter, or interpreter. The names Phtah, Peth’r, the residence of Balaam, Patara, and Patras, the names of oracles-cities, pateres or pateras and, perhaps, Buddha, all come from the same root … No apostle Peter was ever at Rome; but the Pope, seizing the scepter of the Pontifex Maximus, the keys of Janus and Kubelé, and adorning his Christian head with the cap of the Magna Mater, copied from that of the tiara of Brahmâtma, the Supreme Pontiff of the Initiates of old India, became the successor of the Pagan high priest, the real Peter-Roma, or Petroma (the tiara of the Pope is also a perfect copy of that of the Dalai-Lama of Thibet)” (Isis Unveiled, Blavatsky, p. 30).

Two Babylons pg 184
Janus bore a key, and Cybele bore a key; and these are the two keys that the Pope emblazons on his arms as the ensigns of his spiritual authority.

About 378 was he raised to the position which gave him, in Pagan estimation, the power of the keys referred to. In 432, and not before, did he publicly lay claim to the possession of Peter’s keys.

While nothing but judicial infatuation can account for the credulity of the Christians in regarding these keys as emblems of an exclusive power given by Christ to the Pope through Peter, it is not difficult to see how the Pagans would rally round the Pope all the more readily when they heard him found his power on the possession of Peter’s keys. The keys that the Pope bore were the
keys of a “Peter” well known to the Pagans initiated in the Chaldean Mysteries. That Peter the apostle was ever Bishop of Rome has been proved again and again to be an arrant fable. That he ever even set foot in Rome is at the best highly doubtful. His visit to that city rests on no better authority than that of a writer at the end of the second century or beginning of the third–viz., the
author of the work called The Clementines, who gravely tells us that on the occasion of his visit, finding Simon Magus there, the apostle challenged him to give proof of his miraculous or magical powers, whereupon the sorcerer flew up into the air, and Peter brought him down in such hast that his leg was broken. All historians of repute have at once rejected this story of the
apostolic encounter with the magician as being destitute of all contemporary evidence; but as the visit of Peter to Rome rests on the same authority, it must stand or fall along with it, or, at least, it must be admitted to be extremely doubtful. But, while this is the case with Peter the Christian, it can be shown to be by no means doubtful that before the Christian era, and downwards, there
was a “Peter” at Rome, who occupied the highest place in the Pagan priesthood. The priest who explained the Mysteries to the initiated was sometimes called by a Greek term, the Hierophant; but in primitive Chaldee, the real language of the Mysteries, his title, as pronounced without the points, was “Peter”– i.e., “the interpreter.” As the revealer of that which was hidden, nothing was
more natural than that, while opening up the esoteric doctrine of the Mysteries, he should be decorated with the keys of the two divinities whose mysteries he unfolded. *
* The Turkish Mufties, or “interpreters” of the Koran, derive that name from the very same verb as that from which comes Miftah, a key. {Islam is another ‘denomination’ of Catholicism click here}

Thus we may see how the keys of Janus and Cybele would come to be known as the keys of Peter, the “interpreter” of the Mysteries. Yea, we have the strongest evidence that, in countries far removed from one another, and far distant from Rome, these keys were known by initiated Pagans not merely as the “keys of Peter,” but as the keys of a Peter identified with Rome. In the
Eleusinian Mysteries at Athens, when the candidates for initiation were instructed in the secret doctrine of Paganism, the explanation of that doctrine was read to them out of a book called by ordinary writers the “Book Petroma”; that is, as we are told, a book formed of stone. But this is evidently just a play upon words, according to the usual spirit of Paganism, intended to amuse
the vulgar. The nature of the case, and the history of the Mysteries, alike show that this book could be none other than the “Book Pet-Roma”; that is, the “Book of the Grand Interpreter,” in other words, of Hermes Trismegistus, the great “Interpreter of the Gods.” In Egypt, from which Athens derived its religion, the books of Hermes were regarded as the divine fountain of all true knowledge of the Mysteries. * In Egypt, therefore, Hermes was looked up to in this very character of Grand Interpreter, or “Peter-Roma.” ** In Athens, Hermes, as its well known, occupied precisely the same place, *** and, of course, in the sacred language, must have been
known by the same title.
* The following are the authorities for the statement in the text: “Jamblichus says that Hermes [i.e., the Egyptian] was the god of all celestial knowledge, which, being communicated by him to his priests, authorised them to inscribe their commentaries with the name of Hermes” (WILKINSON). Again, according to the fabulous accounts of the Egyptian Mercury, he was reported…to have taught men the proper mode of approaching the Deity with prayers and sacrifice (WILKINSON). Hermes Trismegistus seems to have been regarded as a new incarnation of Thoth, and possessed of higher honours. The principal books of this Hermes, according to Clemens of Alexandria, were treated by the Egyptians with the most profound respect, and carried in their religious processions (CLEM., ALEX., Strom.).
** In Egypt, “Petr” was used in this very sense. See BUNSEN, Hieroglyph, where Ptr is said to signify “to show.” The interpreter was called Hierophantes, which has the very idea of “showing” in it.
*** The Athenian or Grecian Hermes is celebrated as “The source of invention…He bestows, too, mathesis on souls, by unfolding the will of the father of Jupiter, and this he accomplishes as the angel or messenger of Jupiter…He is the guardian of disciplines, because the invention of geometry, reasoning, and language is referred to this god. He presides, therefore, over every species of erudition, leading us to an intelligible essence from this mortal abode, governing the different herds of souls” (PROCLUS in Commentary on First Alcibiades, TAYLOR’S Orphic Hymns). The Grecian Hermes was so essentially the revealer or interpreter of divine things, that Hermeneutes, an interpreter, was currently said to come from his name (HYGINUS).

The reader will now be prepared to understand how it is that the Pope’s Grand Council of State, which assists him in the government of the Church, comes to be called the College of Cardinals. The term Cardinal is derived from Cardo, a hinge. Janus, whose key the Pope bears, was the god of doors and hinges, and was called Patulcius, and Clusius “the opener and the shutter.” This had a blasphemous meaning, for he was worshipped at Rome as the grand mediator. Whatever important business was in hand, whatever deity was to be invoked, an invocation first of all must be addressed to Janus, who was recognised as the “God of gods,” in whose mysterious divinity the characters of father and son were combined, and without that no prayer could be heard–the
“door of heaven” could not be opened. It was this same god whose worship prevailed so exceedingly in Asia Minor at the time when our Lord sent, by his servant John, the seven Apocalyptic messages to the churches established in that region. And, therefore, in one of these messages we find Him tacitly rebuking the profane ascription of His own peculiar dignity to that divinity, and asserting His exclusive claim to the prerogative usually attributed to His rival. Thus, Revelation 3:7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth;
and shutteth, and no man openeth.” Now, to this Janus, as Mediator, worshipped in Asia Minor, and equally, from very early times, in Rome, belonged the government of the world; and, “all power in heaven, in earth, and the sea,” according to Pagan ideas, was vested in him. In this character he was said to have “jus vertendi cardinis”–the “power of turning the hinge”–of opening the doors of heaven, or of opening or shutting the gates of peace or war upon earth. The Pope, therefore, when he set up as the High-priest of Janus, assumed also the “jus vertendi cardinis,” “the power of turning the hinge,”–of opening and shutting in the blasphemous Pagan
sense. Slowly and cautiously at first was this power asserted; but the foundation being laid, steadily, century after century, was the grand superstructure of priestly power erected upon it. The Pagans, who saw what strides, under Papal directions, Christianity, as professed in Rome, was making towards Paganism, were more than content to recognise the Pope as possessing this power; they gladly encouraged him to rise, step by step, to the full height of the blasphemous pretensions befitting the representative of Janus–pretensions which, as all men know, are now, by the unanimous consent of Western Apostate Christendom, recognised as inherent in the office of the Bishop of Rome. To enable the Pope, however, to rise to the full plenitude of power which he now asserts, the co-operation of others was needed. When his power increased, when his dominion extended, and especially after he became a temporal sovereign, the key of Janus became too heavy for his single hand–he needed some to share with him the power of the
“hinge.” Hence his privy councillors, his high functionaries of state, who were associated with him in the government of the Church and the world, got the now well known title of “Cardinals”- -the priests of the “hinge.” This title had been previously borne by the high officials of the Roman Emperor, who, as “Pontifex Maximus,” had been himself the representative of Janus, and who delegated his powers to servants of his own. Even in the reign of Theodosius, the Christian Emperor of Rome, the title of Cardinal was borne by his Prime Minister. But now both the name and the power implied in the name have long since disappeared from all civil functionaries of
temporal sovereigns; and those only who aid the Pope in wielding the key of Janus–in opening and shutting–are known by the title of Cardinals, or priests of the “hinge.” I have said that the Pope became the representative of Janus, who, it is evident, was none other
than the Babylonian Messiah. If the reader only considers the blasphemous assumptions of the Papacy, he will see how exactly it has copied from its original. In the countries where the Babylonian system was most thoroughly developed, we find the Sovereign Pontiff of the Babylonian god invested with the very attributes now ascribed to the Pope. Is the Pope called “God upon earth,” the “Vice-God,” and “Vicar of Jesus Christ”? The King in Egypt, who was Sovereign Pontiff, * was, says Wilkinson, regarded with the highest reverence as “THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DIVINITY ON EARTH.”

Janus – Lucifer

Two Babylon’s pg 205
The power, the popularity, and skill of Nimrod, as well as the seductive nature of the system itself, enabled him to spread the delusive
doctrine far and wide, as he was represented under the well-known name of Phaethon, This Phaethon, or Lucifer, who was cast down is further proved to be Janus; for Janus is called “Pater Matutinus” (HORACE); and the meaning of this name will appear in one of its aspects when the meaning of the name of the Dea Matuta is ascertained. Dea Matuta signifies “The kindling or Light-bringing goddess,” * and accordingly, by Priscian, she is identified with Aurora.
* Matuta comes from the same word as Tithonus–i.e., Tzet, Tzit, or Tzut, which in Chaldee becomes Tet, Tit, or Tut, “to light” or “set on fire.” From Tit, “to set on fire,” comes the Latin Titio, “a firebrand”; and from Tut, with the formative M prefixed, comes Matuta–just as from Nasseh, “to forget,” with the same formative prefixed, comes Manasseh, “forgetting,” the name of the eldest son of Joseph (Gen 41:51). The root of this verb is commonly given as “Itzt”; but see BAKER’S Lexicon, where it is also given as “Tzt.” It is evidently from this root that the Sanscrit “Suttee” already referred to comes. Matutinus is evidently just the correlate of Matuta, goddess of the morning; Janus, therefore, as Matutinus, is “Lucifer, son of the morning.” But further, Matuta is identified with Ino, after she had plunged into the sea, and had, along with her son Melikerta, been changed into a sea-divinity. Consequently her son Melikerta, “king of the walled city,” is the same as Janus Matutinus, or Lucifer, Phaethon, or Nimrod. There is still another link by which Melikerta, the sea-divinity, or Janus Matutinus, is identified with the primitive god of the fire-worshippers. The most common name of Ino, or Matuta, after she had passed through the waters, was Leukothoe (OVID, Metam.). Now, Leukothoe or Leukothea has a double meaning, as it is derived either from “Lukhoth,” which signifies “to light,” or “set on fire,” or from Lukoth “to glean.” In the Maltese medal, the ear of corn, at the side of the goddess, which is more commonly held in her hand, while really referring in its hidden meaning to her being the Mother of Bar, “the son,” to the uninitiated exhibits her as Spicilega, or “The Gleaner,”–
“the popular name,” says Hyde, “for the female with the ear of wheat represented in the constellation Virgo.” In Bryant, Cybele is represented with two or three ears of corn in her hand; for as there were three peculiarly distinguished Bacchuses, there were consequently as many “Bars,” and she might therefore be represented with one, two, or three ears in her hand. But to revert to the Maltese medal just referred to, the flames coming out of the head of Lukothea, the “Gleaner,” show that, though she has passed through the waters, she is still Lukhothea, “the Burner,” or “Light-giver.” And the rays around the mitre of the god on the reverse entirely agree with the character of that god as Eleleus, or Phaethon–in other words, as “The Shining Bar.” Now, this “Shining Bar,” as Melikerta, “king of the walled city,” occupies the very place of “Ala-Mahozim,” whose representative the Pope is elsewhere
proved to be. But he is equally the sea-divinity, who in that capacity wears the mitre of Dagon. The fish-head mitre which the Pope wears shows that, in this character also, as the “Beast from the sea,” he is the unquestionable representative of Melikerta.

Two Babylon’s pg 251

Here, then, in Rome was Teitan, or Satan, identified with the “serpent that taught mankind,” that opened their eyes (when, of course, they were blind), and gave them “the knowledge of good and evil.” In Pergamos, and in all Asia Minor, from which directly Rome derived its knowledge of the Mysteries, the case was the same. In Pergamos, especially, where pre-eminently “Satan’s seat
was,” the sun-divinity, as is well known, was worshipped under the form of a serpent and under the name of Aesculapius, “the man- instructing serpent.” According to the fundamental doctrine of the Mysteries, as brought from Pergamos to Rome, the sun was the one only god. Teitan, or Satan, then, was thus recognised as the one only god; and of that only god, Tammuz or Janus, in
his character as the Son, or the woman’s seed, was just an incarnation. Here, then, the grand secret of the Roman Empire is at last brought to light–viz., the real name of the tutelar divinity of Rome. That secret was most jealously guarded; insomuch that when Valerius Soranus, a man of the highest rank, and, as Cicero declares, “the most learned of the Romans,” had incautiously
divulged it, he was remorselessly put to death for his revelation. Now, however, it stands plainly revealed. A symbolical representation of the worship of the Roman people, from Pompeii, strikingly confirms this deduction by evidence that appeals to the very senses. Let the reader cast his eyes on the woodcut herewith given (Fig. 59).We have seen already that it is admitted by the
author of Pompeii, that the serpents in the under compartment are only another way of exhibiting the dark divinities represented in the upper compartment. Let the same principle be admitted here, and it follows that the swallows, or birds pursuing the flies, represent the same thing as the serpents do below. But the serpent, of which there is a double representation, is unquestionably
the serpent of Aesculapius. The fly-destroying swallow, therefore, must represent the same divinity. Now, every one knows what was the name by which “the Lord of the fly,” or flydestroying god of the Oriental world was called. It was Beel-zebub. This name, as signifying “Lord of the Fly,” to the profane meant only the power that destroyed the swarms of flies when these became, as they often did in hot countries, a source of torment to the people whom they invaded. But this name, as identified with the serpent, clearly reveals itself as one of the  distinctive names of Satan. And how appropriate is this name, when its mystic or esoteric meaning is penetrated. What is the real meaning of this familiar name? Baal-zebub just means “The restless Lord,” * even that unhappy one who “goeth to and fro in the earth, and walketh up and down in it,” who “goeth through dry places seeking rest, and finding none.” From all this, the inference is unavoidable that Satan, in his own proper name, must have been the great god of their secret and mysterious worship, and this accounts for the extraordinary mystery observed on the subject. **
* See CLAVIS STOCKII, “Zebub,” where it is stated that the word zebub, as applied to the fly, comes from an Arabic root, which signifies to move from place to place, as flies do, without settling anywhere. Baal- zebub, therefore, in its secret meaning, signifies, “Lord of restless and unsettled motion.”
** I find Lactantius was led to the conclusion that the Aesculapian servant was the express symbol of Satan, for, giving an account of the bringing of the Epidaurian snake to Rome, he says: “Thither [i.e., to Rome] the Demoniarches [or Prince of the Devils] in his own proper shape, without disguise, was brought; for those who were sent on that business brought back with them a dragon of amazing
size.”

Phoenix

A phoenix is a mythical bird with a colorful plumage and a tail of gold and scarlet (or purple, blue, and green according to some legends). It has a 500 to 1,000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again. The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self. In some stories, the new phoenix embalms the ashes of its old self in an egg made of myrrh and deposits it in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis (sun city in Greek).

Manly P. Hall The Phoenix: An Illustrated Review of Occultism and Philosophy

“Among the ancients a fabulous bird called the Phoenix is described by early writers … in size and shape it resembles the eagle, but with certain differences.  The body of the Phoenix is one covered with glossy purple feathers, and the plumes in its tail are alternately blue and red.  The head of the bird is light in color, and about its neck is a circlet of golden plumage.  At the back of its back the Phoenix has a crest of feathers of brilliant color … The Phoenix, it is said, lives for 500 years, and at its death its body opens and the new born Phoenix emerges.  Because of this symbolism, the Phoenix is generally regarded as representing immortality and resurrection … The Phoenix is one sign of the secret orders of the ancient world and of the initiate of those orders, for it was common to refer to one who had been accepted into the temples as a man twice-born, or reborn.  Wisdom confers a new life, and those who become wise are born again.” [p. p. 176-77]

Barbara Walker Now Is The Dawning , p. 281

“Egyptians believed that the Phoenix was the representative of a god who “rose to heaven in the form of a morning star, like Lucifer, after his fire-immolation of death and rebirth …”

William Schnoebelen, in his book, Satan’s Door Revisited , p. 4.  “The Phoenix, of Bunnu is believed to be a divine bird going back to Egypt … This Phoenix destroys itself in flames and then rises from the ashes.  Most occultists believe that the Phoenix is a symbol of Lucifer who was cast down in flames and who … will one day rise triumphant.  This [belief] also relates to the raising of Hiram Abiff, the Masonic ‘christ’.”

Manly P. Hall The Lost Keys of Freemasonry pg 108

“These were the immortals to whom the term ‘phoenix’ was applied, and their symbol was the mysterious two-headed bird, now called an eagle , a familiar and little understood Masonic emblem .”

Masonic author, R. Swinburne Clymer The Mysteries of Osiris , pg 42

“When they [pagans] desired to express the renewal, or beginning, of the year, they represented it in the form of a door-keeper. It could easily be distinguished by the attributes of a key … At times, they gave it two heads, back to back … In time, this [back-to-back key symbol] became the double-headed Eagle of symbolic Masonry.“

Here we see the true meaning of why January 1st was chosen as New Year’s day.  The day that was sacred to Janus.  The two headed god who represented being ‘reborn’ or regenerated.

Order out of Chaos

Manly P. Hall, 33^o , the 20th Century’s most revered Masonic scholar, titled this “The Double-Headed Eagle, The Supreme Symbol,” in his book The Secret Teachings of All Ages

Chaos begets order, but chaos ensues again, followed by order, and so on. The conflict of opposites leads finally to system equilibrium which is disturbed once again by renewed conflict, and a new, temporary stage of equilibrium is achieved. Ever upward, evolving until perfection. So, the Illuminist is a perfectionist ever changing, seeking more light as he travels down that yellow brick road to tomorrow.

Order out of chaos brings ‘balance’, equilibrium

The hexagram is the sign used in the Royal Arch in Freemasonry.  Masonic author Wes Cook, writing in Did You Know? Vignettes in Masonry from the Royal Arch Mason Magazine, [Missouri Lodge of Research, 1965, p. 132] stated that the hexagram represented “balance and harmony” in all facets of the world.  Another Masonic publication links the hexagram with the infamous Chinese YANG AND YIN symbol. ["The Significant Numbers", Short Talk Bulletin , September, 1956, Vol. 34, No. 9, p. 5]

The following image is the ‘Magical head of Zohar’.  It represents a balance of light and darkness, male and female…the divine/perfect/regenerated man.  It is the principle of ‘as above, so below’.

The androgyne, a combination creature of male and female, symbolizes the hermaphrodite principle of the two-faced entity or two-headed eagle. In the Jewish Cabala, this strange creation of the feminine and masculine principle is known as “Adam Kadmon,” both Adam and Eve, a Golem. This conjunction of opposites is part of the science of alchemy, or hermeticism, and is especially beloved by occult magicians. In witchcraft, it is known as the joining of sun and moo.

Baby New Year with Father Time

The myth associated with him is that he is a baby at the beginning of his year, but Baby New Year quickly grows up until he is an elderly bearded man like Father Time at the end of his year.  Again, the ‘new man’ regeneration concept is seen.

‘Father Time’

Chronos (also known as Chronus) is the personification of time itself. Indeed, the word means “time” and is the root of “chronology” and other modern words.

Saturn (referred to by the Greeks as Cronus or Kronos) was the Roman Deity of Time and an ancient Italian Corn God known as the Sower. Male ruler of the Roman Gods prior to Jupiter, Saturn’s weapon was a scythe or sickle. The Romans honored Saturn at a MidWinter festival called Saturnalia, which lasted several days and at which there was much feasting and making merry. All business was suspended and schools were closed. Parents gave toys to their children and there was a public banquet. Saturn may have been worshiped by the pre-Hellenic population of the country but probably not widely revered by the Greeks themselves. His functions were concerned with agriculture and his festival, held in Attica and known as Kronia, resembled the Roman Saturnalia in that it was a celebration of the harvest. In art, Saturn has always been depicted as a old man holding an implement which has often been interpreted as a harpe or curved sword, but which appears likely to have actually represented a scythe or a sickle.

Venus & the Phoenix

Apart from its brightness, the most distinctive feature of Venus is its cycle as a morning star and evening star. Accordingly, the Egyptians symbolized Venus as the Bennu, a heron-like bird commonly equated with the phoenix.  Venus represents Lucifer, the ‘morning star’.

Mammon Ra

Mammon Ra was the Babylonian/Egyptian god of wealth and riches…is this why the eagle/phoenix is on the back of the dollar bill?

Notice on the head of the eagle the little ‘tuft’ of feathers on the back of the head…this is not on an eagle but was placed there to allude to the phoenix.

the Czar and the Phoenix…Czar in Russian means Caesar.

Pendant owned by the Czarina

horse cloth used in the royal stables of the Russian Czar

Early Believers

Early believers did not celebrate ‘New Year’s’ day.

Tertullian

Regarding winter celebrations, Tertullian wrote:

The Minervalia are as much Minerva’s, as the Saturnalia Saturn’s; Saturn’s, which must necessarily be celebrated even by little slaves at the time of the Saturnalia. New-year’s gifts likewise must be caught at, and the Septimontium kept; and all the presents of Midwinter and the feast of Dear Kinsmanship must be exacted; the schools must be wreathed with flowers; the flamens’ wives and the aediles sacrifice; the school is honoured on the appointed holy-days. The same thing takes place on an idol’s birthday; every pomp of the devil is frequented. Who will think that these things are befitting to a Christian master, unless it be he who shall think them suitable likewise to one who is not a master? (Tertullian. On Idolatry, Chapter X. Translated by S. Thelwall. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).

But, however, the majority (of Christians) have by this time induced the belief in their mind that it is pardonable if at any time they do what the heathen do, for fear “the Name be blasphemed”…To live with heathens is lawful, to die with them is not. Let us live with all; let us be glad with them, out of community of nature, not of superstition. We are peers in soul, not in discipline; fellow-possessors of the world, not of error. But if we have no right of communion in matters of this kind with strangers, how far more wicked to celebrate them among brethren! Who can maintain or defend this?…By us,…the Saturnalia and New-year’s and Midwinter’s festivals and Matronalia are frequented–presents come and go–New-year’s gifts–games join their noise–banquets join their din! Oh better fidelity of the nations to their own sect, which claims no solemnity of the Christians for itself!…Not the Lord’s day, not Pentecost, even it they had known them, would they have shared with us; for they would fear lest they should seem to be Christians. We are not apprehensive lest we seem to be heathens! (Tertullian. On Idolatry, Chapter XIV. Translated by S. Thelwall. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).

Christian writers and councils condemned the heathen orgies and excesses connected with the festival of the Saturnalia, which were celebrated at the beginning of the year: Tertullian blames Christians who regarded the customary presents — called strenae (Fr. étrennes) from the goddess Strenia, who presided over New Year’s Day (cf. Ovid, Fasti, 185-90) — as mere tokens of friendly intercourse (De Idol. xiv), and towards the end of the sixth century the Council of Auxerre (can. I) forbade Christians strenas diabolicas observare. The II Council of Tours held in 567 (can. 17) prescribes prayers and a Mass of expiation for New Year’s Day, adding that this is a practice long in use (patres nostri statuerunt). Dances were forbidden, and pagan crimes were to be expiated by Christian fasts (St. Augustine, Serm., cxcvii-viii in P.L., XXXVIII, 1024; Isidore of Seville, De Div. Off. Eccl., I, xli; Trullan Council, 692, can. lxii) (Tierney John J. Transcribed by Thomas M. Barrett. New Year’s Day. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XI. Copyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton Company. Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight. Nihil Obstat, February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York).

Abodah Zarah 1:3 These are the festivals of gentiles: ` Calends*, Saturnalia, Cratesis [the commemoration of the empire], `and the emperor`s anniversary, his birthday, `“and the day of his death,”

*New year’s

Among the 7th-century pagans of Flanders and the Netherlands, it was the custom to exchange gifts at the New Year, a pagan custom deplored by Saint Eligius (died 659 or 660), who warned the Flemings and Dutchmen, “[Do not] make vetulas, [little figures of the Old Woman], little deer or iotticos or set tables [for the house-elf, compare Puck] at night or exchange New Year gifts or supply superfluous drinks [another Yule custom].” The quote is from the vita of Eligius written by his companion, Ouen.

“Feast of Circumcision”

New Year’s day did not become a holy day for the Roman Catholic Church until 487 A.D. when it was declared to be the Feast of the Circumcision.

This gave the Catholic Church an eight day festival counterfeiting Sukkot.  The ‘birth’ of Christ on Christmas and his circumcision on January 1st.  This is exactly what Jeroboam did in the time of the kings of Israel.  Jeroboam made a counterfeit Sukkot in the 8th month on the 15th day and set up golden calf worship.  This is what Christmas, New Year’s, Easter etc are…golden calf worship.  Mixing the holy and the profane.  Worshiping the Name of YHWH by pagan customs.

1Ki 12:28  And the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!
1Ki 12:29  And he set the one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
1Ki 12:30  And this thing became a sin, for the people went before the one, to Dan.
1Ki 12:31  And he made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.
1Ki 12:32  And Jeroboam made a feast in the eighth month, in the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah; and he offered on the altar, so he did in Bethel, to sacrifice to the calves which he made; and he made stand in Bethel the priests of the high places that he made.
1Ki 12:33  And he offered up on the altar that he made in Bethel, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month that he devised out of his own heart; and he made a feast for the sons of Israel, and offered on the altar, to burn incense.

The earliest Roman calendar had 10 months.  Julius Caesar added an additional two months to the calendar but not at the end of the year.  This is why September is the 9th month but in name suggests 7.  The same with October (8), November (9) and December (10).  This counterfeit feast of Jeroboam would have been celebrated around ‘October’ but with the adding of two additional months by Caesar, this man made eight-day holiday would have been moved to December.  This is not to say the Romans were celebrating the same feast as Jeroboam created but the connection is very strong between Christmas/New Year’s and the 8 day counterfeit of Sukkot.

Messiah Yahshua more than likely was born on the feast of Sukkotclick here, He was circumcised on the 8th day which would have been Shemini Atzeret (Last Great Day).  Shemini Atzeret is a picture of the new heavens and new earth and circumcision is a picture of being born again.

EIGHT. Denotes resurrection, regeneration; a new beginning or commencement. The eighth is a new first. Hence the octave in music, colour, days of the week, etc. It is the number which has to do with the Messiah, Who rose on the eighth, or new “first—day.” This is, therefore, the Dominical number. By Gematria Yahshua makes the numbers 888.

The counterfeit is ‘New Year’s Day’ which represents a false renewal and rebirth.  Janus represents the separation of the old and new, the gate/door to a new beginning.  The rebirth/regeneration of fallen man still in sin.  Man made ‘immortal’ without the blood of Messiah.

“According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, New Year’s day was never meant to be a secular holiday.  It is a religious holiday which is supposed to be a remembrance of the circumcision of Christ.
Even in our own day the secular features of the opening of the New Year interfere with the religious observance of the Circumcision, and tend to make a mere holiday of that which should have the sacred character of a Holy Day. St. Augustine points out the difference between the pagan and the Christian manner of celebrating the day: pagan feasting and excesses were to be expiated by Christian fasting and prayer” (P. L., XXXVIII, 1024 sqq.; Serm. cxcvii, cxcviii) (Tierney John J. Transcribed by Wm Stuart French, Jr. Feast of the Circumcision. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume III. Copyright © 1908 by Robert Appleton Company. Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight. Nihil Obstat, November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York).

Biblical New Year

The year begins in the month of Nisan which occurs in the Spring at the tekufah or the turn of the year when the sun has completed its orbit back to the constellation of Aries.

Precession of the equinoxes

Modern astronomers have classified every fixed star in the heavens into groups called Constellations. Those groups, however, which lie close to the plane of the ecliptic, were arranged into Constellations in very ancient times, and were considered to form the belt of the natural and actual Zodiac, through which the Sun appeared to travel in its yearly pilgrimage around our earth. This was the Zodiac of the Constellations, and the ancients divided it into 360° or 12 signs of 30° each.

Exo 12:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
Exo 12:2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
Deu 16:1  Observe {H8104 shâmar} the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.

In the time of Josephus the vernal equinox was in Pisces, same today.  In Moshe’s time the Vernal Equinox was in Aries.  Yet Josephus still considered the beginning of the year as when the sun was in Aries.  Therefore, the vernal equinox isn’t the tekufah.  The tekufah is when the sun has went through its cycle.

Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 3.10.5
5. In the month of Xanthicus, which is by us called Nisan, and is the beginning of our year, on the fourteenth day of the lunar month, when the sun is in Aries, (for in this month it was that we were delivered from bondage under the Egyptians,)

Psa 19:6  his (the sun) going forth from the end of the heavens, and his orbit (tekufah) to their ends; and nothing is hidden from his heat.
Exo 34:22  And you shall observe a Feast of Weeks for yourself, the firstfruits of the harvest of wheat; also the Feast of Ingathering at the turn (tekufah) of the year.
2Ch 24:23  And it happened, at the turn (tekufah) of the year, that the army of Syria came up against him; and they came into Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the leaders of the people from among the people; and they sent all their plunder to the king of Damascus.

Should the Tekufah (equinox) of Tammuz extend till after the Succoth Festival, or the Tekufah(equinox) of Tebeth till the sixteenth of Nisan, the year would be intercalated, so that the festivals might fall in their due seasons, viz., Passover in Spring, Succoth in Autumn.(Sanh 11b)

Works of Philo
ON THE LIFE OF MOSES, II – Part 4*

*Yonge’s title, A Treatise on the Life of Moses, that is to say, On the Theology and Prophetic Office of Moses, Book II.

(222) Moses puts down the beginning of the vernal equinox as the first month of the year

Extracts from the Canons of Anatolius on the Paschal Festival

But this segment they generally call the first dodecatomorium, and the equinox, and the beginning of the month, and the head of the cycle, and the head of the planetary course. But that segment, and the last dodecatemorium, and the end of the planetary revolution. Hence, also, those that place the first month in it, and that fix the fourteenth of the month by it, commit, as we think, no little and no common blunder. (16) But neither is this our opinion only, but it was also known to the Jews anciently, and before Christ, and was chiefly observed by them, as we may learn from Philo, Josephus, and Musaeus, and not only from these, but also from those still more ancient, i.e., the two Agathobuli, commonly called the masters, and of Aristobulus, that most distinguished scholar, who was one of the seventy that translated the holy Scriptures from the Hebrew for Ptolemy Philadelphus, and his father, and dedicated his exposition of the law of Moses to the same kings. (17) These, when they resolve inquiries on Exodus, say that all ought to sacrifice the Passover alike after the vernal equinox, in the middle of the first month. But this is found to be when the sun passes through the first segment of the solar, or, as some call it, the zodiac circle. But this Aristobulus also adds, it was requisite that not only the sun should have passed the equinoctial segment for the feast of the Passover, but the moon also.  But that the first month of the Hebrews must occur after the equinox may be gathered also from the book of Enoch.”
“’Peter, the Bishop of Alexandria, mentions that the Jews had kept the Passover properly up to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. But after the destruction of the city they ‘err in reckoning the beginning of the month, which is first amongst the months of the year, on the fourteenth day of which, being accurately observed, AFTER the equinox, the ancients celebrated the Passover according to the Divine Command: whereas the men of the present day now celebrate it BEFORE the equinox, and that altogether through negligence and error, being ignorant how they celebrate it in their season…” Anti-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VI, p. 280.

…it is stated in Jack Finegan’s handbook of biblical chronology that when Solomon built the temple of Yahweh at Jerusalem that it was made specifically so that the sun would shine directly through the Eastern Gate on both the vernal and autumn equinoxes so that they could never get the calendar and Holy days incorrect.

Also, during the some 175 years of the Elephantine letters of the Jews in Diaspora in Egypt, never once did they start the year before either the precession of the equinoxes or the vernal equinox. Look at the following quoted Excerpt from: Kenneth F. Doig, New Testament Chronology, (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1990).

“Many of these legal documents include the required Egyptian civil year date. Double-dated documents including the Hebrew dates of the Elephantine Jews cover the period 471 to 402 BCE. This included evening to evening days and a New Year beginning in Nisan (Aviv) only after the Vernal Equinox. Almost all of the datable documents can be referred back to a Nisan (Aviv) beginning only after the Vernal Equinox each year.”

The Biblical year starts in Spring when life renews.  The Roman calendar starts in winter which represents death.  The Biblical day starts at sunset, the Roman day starts at midnight.    The calendar you choose to follow depends upon what system you wish to be a part of.  The Babylonian/Roman system or the system of Heaven.

Pagan calendar – Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar.It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter gravissimas. The reformed calendar was adopted later that year by a handful of countries, with other countries adopting it over the following centuries.

The Gregorian calendar reform contained two parts, a reform of the Julian calendar as used up to Pope Gregory’s time, together with a reform of the lunar cycle used by the Church along with the Julian calendar for calculating dates of Easter.

January -

derived form the Latin “Januarius” which in turn is derived from the Roman mighty one of portals and patron of beginnings and endings “Janus,” to whom this month was sacred. He is shown as having two faces, one in front, the other at the back of his head, supposedly to symbolize his powers.

With the exception of islamic states and other scattered pagan tribes, most of the world uses the Georgian calendar, named for the Roman Catholic pope Gregory the 3^rd who invented it, and it has “January” as the first month of the year. Roman legend has it that the ruler Numa Pompilius added “January” and “February” to the end of the 10-month Roman calendar in about 700 BCE. Pompilius gave the month 30 days. Romans later made “January” the first month. In 46 BCE, the Roman statesman Julius Caesar added a day to “January” making it 31 days long.

February -

derived from “Februa,” a Roman festival of purification. It was originally the month of expiation.

Februus (Etruscan god of death) Februarius (mensis) (Latin for “month of purification (rituals)” it is said to be a Sabine word, the last month of ancient pre-450 BC Roman Calendar).

In Roman mythology, Februus was the god of the dead and purification. He was also worshipped by the Etruscans, where he could have become Febris, god of malaria. In his honor, the Februalia festivity were held. These were at about the same time as Lupercalia in honor of Faun. Because of this coincidence, the two gods were often thought of as the same entity. Februalia is the Roman god of February, which became a time period when sacrifices were made to atone for sins.

“February” is the shortest month of the Gregorian calendar year. “February” had 28 days until Julius Caesar gave it 29, and 30 days every four years. According to tradition, Augustus, the Roman emperor, took one day off to add one day to August, the month named after him. We now have “February” with 28 days, and 29 on leap years

March -

named for Mars, the Roman mighty one of war.

“March” is the third month of Georgian calendar. According to the early Roman calendar, it was the first month and was called “Martius.” The ancient Romans later made “January” 1 the beginning of the year, which pushed “March” to the third month on the calendar. “March” has always had 31 days. Its name honors Mars, the Roman God of war.

April -

derived from the Latin APRILIS, indicating a time of Fertility. It was believed that this month is the month when the earth was supposed to open up for the plants to grow.

“April” was the second month in an early Roman calendar, but became the fourth when the ancient Romans started using “January” as the first month. The Romans called the month “Aprilis.” It may come from a word meaning ‘to open’, or it may come from Aphrodite, the Greek name for the goddess of love.

May -

named for Maia, the Roman female deity of growth or increase.

According to the early Roman calendar, May was the third month. Later, the ancient Romans used “January” 1 for the beginning of their year, and “May” became the fifth month. May has always had 31 days.

Several stories are passed around to show how the month of “May” was named. The most widely accepted explanation is that it was named for “Maia,” the Roman goddess of spring and growth. Her name related to a Latin word that means increase or growth.

Maia  in Greek mythology, was the eldest of the Pleiades, the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione.

June -

this name is sometimes attributed to JUNO, the female mighty one of the marriage, the wife of Jupiter in Roman mythology. She was also called the “Queen of heaven” and “Queen of mighty ones.” The name of this month is also attributed to Junius Brutus, but originally it most probably referred to the month in which crops grow to ripeness.

“June” is the sixth month on the Georgian calendar. On the Roman calendar, it was considered the fourth month and had only 29 days. Julius Caesar gave the month 30 days in 46 BCE when he reformed the Roman calendar.

July -

named for the Roman emperor Julius Caesar.

July is the seventh month on the Gregorian calendar. On the Roman calendar it was the fifth month and it was called ‘Quintilis’, meaning ‘fifth’. Julius Caesar gave the month 31 days in 46 BCE. The Roman Senate named it ‘Julius’, in honor of Caesar.

(month was formerly named Quintilis, the fifth month of the calendar of Romulus)

August -

named for Octavius Augustus Caesar, emperor of Rome; the name was originally from “augure,” which means, “to increase.”

August is the eighth month on the Gregorian calendar, renamed by the Romans from Sextilis’, meaning sixth, to honor their emperor, Augustus.

(month was formerly named Sextilis, the sixth month of Romulus)

September -

derived from the Latin “septem,” meaning “seven.”

September is the ninth month on the Gregorian calendar. But, on the Roman calendar, it was the seventh month. September has had 29 days, and 31 days; but, since the time of the emperor Augustus, it has had only 30 days.

October -

derived from the Latin root “octo,” meaning “eight.”

October is the tenth month of the year on the Gregorian calendar. October was the 8th month in the early Roman calendar. October has had 31 days since the time of the Roman emperor Augustus.

November -

derived from Latin “novem,” meaning “ninth.”

November is the eleventh month of the year on the Gregorian calendar. In the early Roman calendar, it was the ninth month. The Roman Senate elected to name the eleventh month for Tiberus Caesar, and since Augustus’ time, it has had only 30 days. Originally, there were 30 days, then 29, then 31.

December -

derived from the Latin “decem,” meaning “ten.”

December is the twelfth and last month of the year according to the Gregorian calendar. It was the tenth month in the early Roman calendar. It became the twelfth month in a later Roman calendar. Until 46 BCE, December only had 29 days. But the Roman statesman Julius Caesar added two days to December, which made it 31 days.

Sunday -

It is named after Sunne, German goddess of the sun, which is where the word “sun” also derives its name.

The Sun was assigned to this day in pre-Christian Egyptian culture. (See T. Slater’s article “Sunday” in the 1908 Catholic Encyclopedia.) In Ptolemaic Egyptian astrology, the seven planets, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon, had an hour of the day assigned to each in that order, but the planet which was “regent” during the first hour of any day of the week gave its name to that day. The Egyptian form of the seven-day week spread to Rome during the first and second century when the Roman names of the planets were given to each successive day.
Germanic-speaking nations apparently adopted the seven-day week from the Romans, so that the Roman dies Solis became Sunday (German, Sonntag), likely in reference to the Germanic sun goddess Sol. The Christians reinterpreted the indigenous name as implying the Sun of Righteousness with reference to his “arising” (Malachi 4:2) [citation needed]. It was also called Dies Panis (Day of Bread), because it was an early custom to break bread on that day.
The Hindi word for Sunday is Ravivar, with Ravi being the Sanskrit name for the sun.

Monday -

It gets its name from the Moon, which in turn gets its name from Mani (Old English Mona), the Germanic Moon god. Similarly, the names in Latin-based languages such as the Italian name (Lunedi), the French name (lundi), the Spanish name (Lunes), and the Romanian name (Luni) come from the Latin name for Moon, luna. The Russian word, eschewing pagan names, is понедельник (poniediélnik), meaning “after Sunday.” The Hindi word for Monday is Somvar, with Som being the Sanskrit name for the moon. The Japanese word for Monday is getsuyōbi which means day of the moon.

Tuesday -

Tuesday is the day of the week between Monday and Wednesday. The name comes from Middle English Twisday, from Old English Tiwes dæg, named after the Nordic god Tyr, who was the equivalent of the Roman war god Mars.
In Latin, it is called Martis dies which means “Mars Day”. In Romance languages except Portuguese, the word for “Tuesday” is similar to the Latin name: mardi in French, martes in Spanish, martedì in Italian, dimarts in Catalan, and marţi in Romanian.
Portuguese uses numbers instead of pagan names and so their word for “Tuesday” is terça-feira.
The English and Scandinavian names are derived from the Nordic god Týr:

• Old English: Tiw, Tew, or Tiu
• Swedish: Tisdag
• Danish: Tirsdag
• Norwegian: Tirsdag or Tysdag
• Icelandic: Týsdagur
• Finnish: Tiistai (borrowed)

The German word Dienstag and the Dutch word Dinsdag seems to be derived from the god referred to by the Romans as Mars Thingsus, the god of the thing, which might also be Týr, or possibly some other Germanic god.

Wednesday -

The name comes from the Middle English Wednes dei, which is from Old English WÄ“dnes dæg, meaning the day of the Germanic god Woden (Wodan) who was a god of the Anglo-Saxons in England until about the 7th century. WÄ“dnes dæg is like the Old Norse Oðinsdagr (“Odin’s day”), which is an early translation of the Latin dies Mercurii (“Mercury’s day”). Although Mercury (the messenger of the gods) and Woden (the king of the Germanic gods) are not equivalent in most regards, both gods guided the souls of the dead to the underworld.

In Romance languages it is derived from the name of the Roman god Mercury: mercredi (French), mercoledì (Italian), miércoles (Spanish), miercuri (Romanian), dimecres (Catalan), dies Mercurii (Latin). Similarly, the Hindi name for Wednesday, Budhvar is derived from the Vedic name for Mercury, Budh.

The astrological sign of the planet Mercury represents Wednesday — Dies Mercurii to the Romans, with similar names in Latin-derived languages, such as the French Mercredi and the Spanish Miércoles. In English, this became “Woden’s Day”, since the Roman god Mercury was identified with Woden in northern Europe.

Thursday -

The contemporary name comes from the Old English Þunresdæg (with loss of -n-, first in northern dialects, from influence of Old Norse Þorsdagr), meaning “Day of Thunor”, this being a rough Germanic equivalent to the Latin Iovis Dies, “Jupiter’s Day”. Most Germanic and Romance-speaking countries use their languages’ equivalents: German Donnerstag, torsdag in Scandinavia, Italian giovedì, Spanish jueves, French jeudi, Catalan dijous, and Romanian joi. The Hindi word for Thursday is Guruvar, with Guru being the Sanskrit name for the planet Jupiter.
The astrological and astronomical sign of the planet Jupiter (Jupiter) represents Thursday with similar names in Latin-derived languages, such as the French Jeudi. In English, this became “Thor’s Day,” since the Roman god Jupiter was identified with Thor in northern Europe.

Friday -

The name Friday comes from the Old English frigedæg, meaning the day of Frige the Anglo-Saxon form of Frigg, the Germanic goddess of beauty. In most Germanic languages it is named after Freyja—such as Freitag in Modern German, vrijdag in Dutch, fredag in Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish—but Freyja and Frigg are frequently identified with each other. The word for Friday in most Romance languages is derived from the name of Venus such as vendredi in French, venerdì in Italian, viernes in Spanish, and vineri in Romanian. In Hindi, Friday is Shukravar, named for Shukra, the Sanskrit name of the planet Venus.

Saturday -

It was named no later than the second century for the planet (Saturn), which controlled the first hour of that day according to Vettius Valens. The planet was named for the Roman god of agriculture Saturn. It has been called dies Saturni (“Saturn’s Day”), through which from it entered into Old English as Sæternesdæg and gradually evolved into the word “Saturday”

Saturday is the only day of the week in which the English name comes from Roman mythology. The English names of all of the other days of the week come from Germanic mythology. In India, Saturday is Shanivar, based on Shani, the Vedic God manifested in the planet Saturn. In the Thai solar calendar of Thailand, the day is named from the Pali word for Saturn, and the color associated with Saturday is purple. The Celtic languages also name this day for Saturn: Irish an Satharn or dia Sathuirn, Scottish Gaelic Disathairne, Welsh dydd Sadwrn, Breton disadorn.

In Jewish tradition Saturday is the Shabbat. Christianity adopted this tradition in terms of the Sabbath. Thus, in many languages the Saturday is named after the Sabbath. Eastern Orthodox churches distinguish between the Sabbath (Saturday) and the Lord’s Day (Sunday). Roman Catholics put so little emphasis on that distinction that many among them follow – at least in colloquial language – the Protestant practice of calling Sunday the sabbath (see Sabbath in Christianity). Quakers traditionally refer to Saturday as “Seventh Day” eschewing the “pagan” origin of the name.

Today, Saturday is officially called Samstag in all German-speaking countries.  It derives from Old High German sambaztac, which itself derives from Greek Σάββατο, and this Greek word derives from Hebrew שבת (Shabbat). However, the current German word for sabbath is Sabbat.

Similarly, the Romance languages follow the Greek usage, so that their word for “Saturday” is also a variation on “Sabbath”: the Italian is sabato, the French is samedi, the Spanish and Portuguese is sábado and the Romanian is sâmbătă.

The Puritans

The Quakers, Brownists and Gibbites (‘Sweet Singers’ who followed the teachings of John Gibb (d. 1720?)) were known, among other things, for their rejection of pagan and Roman calendar names relating to both months and days of the week.

In Puritan New England, for example, it was common to reckon days and months with numerals; therefore, when writing to express a date such as Monday, December 23rd, it would be done in this way: 23d 10m (March being the first month of the year in the Julian calendar, therefore December was the tenth month), cf. Michael G. Hall, The Last Puritan: The Life of Increase Mather, 1639-1723, p. 14).

Ezra Hoyt Byington, The Puritan in England and New England, pp. 166-167:

Our Puritan fathers made it a matter of conscience to call the days of the week by numerals, and to call the months in the same way, as the Quakers do to this day. It was a singular scruple which they had, and it had its origin amongst the Lollards, and the Anabaptists, from whom the Quakers and some other Protestant sects came. They thought it was giving honor to the heathen gods, and to pagan worship, to call their days Sunday, or Monday, or Tuesday, or Wednesday, or to call their months January, or March, or May. But while this scruple has been so tenacious among the Friends, that even Mr. Whittier continued to follow it as long as he lived, our Puritan fathers had laid it aside before their colonies had completed their first century.

George Gillespie, A Dispute Against the English Popish Ceremonies, pp. 190-191:

Sixthly, Papists themselves teach…Yea, they condemn the very heathenish names of the days of the week imposed after the names of planets, Sunday, Monday, etc.40

40. Rhem. on Apoc. 1:10.

Exo 23:13  And be watchful in all that I have said to you. And you shall not mention* another god by name; it shall not be heard from your mouth.

*This word in Hebrew is zakar, which means to bring to remembrance.  The names for the months and the days of the week were selected in order to bring remembrance to false deities.  We are in a system that forces us to break the above commandment where we are not to make mention/bring to remembrance the names of these false gods.

In our culture we are forced to use these names in order to communicate with those who do not know or understand the truth.  It is a tactic of the adversary to wear us out.  We are bombarded with things that force us to break and bend the commandments of the Torah until it becomes so much that we are tempted to give up entirely.  This is the desire of the adversary, to wear us out into submission.  Notice that the Scripture which speaks about wearing out the saints is the same Scripture that speaks of the little horn changing times and seasons.

Dan 7:25  And he shall speak words against the Most High, and he shall wear out the saints of the Most High. And he intends to change times and law. And they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and one half time.

The Puritans sought to rid their society of this burden but the wicked ones infiltrated their ranks and in time took control. click here

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*** For even more indepth historical and biblical info on the origins of present day new Years traditions and why YHWH HATES it and doesnt want His people participating in it HERE

Source: William H. Ellis ( The Plain Truth / Church of God)

 How did the celebration of New Year’s Eve begin?? Why is the beginning of a year placed in the middle of a dead winter?? And where did the many customs surrounding it originate?

I preached a shortened version of this sermon at Evensong at St. Alban’s Anglican Church, Ottawa, Ontario, on December 28, 2008.  The preaching began with a reading of the hymns by Ephrem the Syrian quoted in my last post.

It is Christmas.  I hope to share with you in this homily some thoughts on the ineffable mystery of Christmas.  The elusive “true meaning” of Christmas that every Christmas special seeks to hunt down is bigger than Santa, gifts, family, friends, carols, winter, snow or anything else that we human beings do.  The true meaning of Christmas, dear friends, is that of the Incarnation, as St. Ephraim says, “the God-man.”  It is this theological mystery I hope to investigate tonight.

People are often afraid of theology, and I’ll skip over a lot of jargon; I’ll use Scripture, hymns, creeds, the Fathers, etc, to bring out the beauty of the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation—with the understanding that the hymns, Fathers, creeds, etc, are in accord with Scripture.  When we see the beauty and glory and magnificence of this event, I hope that we will be drawn to worship and prayer.  True worship of the true God is the ultimate goal of all proper theology.

Diadochus of Photike says, “Divine theology brings into harmony the voices of those who praise God’s majesty.”  Similarly, Evagrius Ponticus declares, “If you are a theologian, you will pray truly.  And if you pray truly, you are a theologian.”  Worship and prayer are vitally important; both fuel us and drive us into action; may we thus also live better lives in the light of the truth of Christmas, when God came down and lived amongst us.

1. What God is Jesus?  The Creator God.

According to John 1, Jesus is the Incarnate Word of God.  And the Word is not only with God, but is God.  We read the Nicene Creed instead of the Apostle’s tonight so we could read its Christological formulae: Jesus, the Word, is “begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.” (BCP)  The Word is not other than God.  God, in His fullness, is Jesus.  Anything we can say about God we can also say about Jesus.  So in Psalm 72, when the Psalmist says, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things; and blessed be the Name of his majesty for ever: and let all the earth be filled with his majesty.  Amen and Amen,” (BCP) we can substitute Jesus for the Divine Name, “the LORD”, and proclaim, “Blessed be Jesus, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things; and blessed be the Name of his majesty for ever: and let all the earth be filled with his majesty.  Amen and Amen.”

This truth is expressed most fully in the Creed of St. Athanasius, which can be found here.  The entire thing is worth a read someday; I encourage you to do so.  Verse 30 reads, “Now the right Faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is both God and Man.  He is God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and he is Man, of the Substance of his Mother, born into the world; Perfect God; perfect Man, of reasoning soul and human flesh subsisting; Equal to the Father as touching his Godhead; less than the Father as touching his Manhood.” (BCP)

Perfect God.

God.  Jesus is fully God.  He is not some lesser being, some semi-divine creature, or an angelic being.  He is God Himself.  This is a mystery.  We cannot penetrate into the fullness of its glory.  Indeed, it boggles the mind to think on it:  God in the flesh!  There is so much that could be said about the God Who Jesus is—he is the God of the Old Testament, He set the people of Israel free from Egypt, He spoke by the prophets, He gave the law, He showed Moses a glimpse of His glory.  Let’s reflect for a moment on the fact that He is the Creator God.

a. The Creator God

God, according to Genesis 1, created everything.  He spoke, and it happened.  God said, “Let light come into being, and there was light.”  Since God created using speech, it comes as no surprise that we read in John 1, “All things were made through [the Word], and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (NKJV)  Jesus, the Word, created.  He is the living Word of God the Father, and He brought all things into existence.  He is the One Who creates out of nothing.  Before we rush off into these heights of glorious truth, let us recall the title of a book I once read, Jesus with Dirty Feet.  This Jesus we read of in the Gospels, the One with dirty feet, Who walked the shores of Galilee, Who threw the moneychangers from the Temple, Who wept at Lazarus’ death, Who told stories, Who was born a Babe in Bethlehem and laid in a manger by His mother—this Jesus happens also to be the Creator of the Universe.

Creator.  Of.  The.  Universe.

This is who Jesus is: the Creator of the Stars of Night; the Creator of nebulae and galaxies and comets and solar systems and suns and planets and asteroids and all stellar phenomena; the Creator of ants and whales and bacteria and diatoms and hair and mountains and goats and birch trees and mighty oaks and Niagara Falls and you and me.  As Creator of humanity, He gave unto us a certain creative faculty.  Therefore, all the works of beauty created by humans are traceable back to the Creator God: the architecture of this Church, beautiful poetry, paintings, stained-glass windows, fabulous novels, true philosophy—all because of Jesus.  He is the Creator of the Universe.  He made stuff by talking.  His Word went forth and made all that was, all that is, and all that ever shall be.  As we sing in the fourth-century hymn of Prudentius:

At his word the worlds were framèd;
He commanded; it was done:
Heaven and earth and depths of ocean
In their threefold order one;
All that grows beneath the shining
Of the moon and burning sun,
Evermore and Evermore.

This Creator God took on flesh at Christmas.  He was born of a Virgin as an infant.  The mind that hung the Pleiades in the sky was incapable of expressing itself in words and lived off the very milk of a woman whom He created.  Mindblowing.

b.  The God of the Old Testament

Briefly, let us remember that the Creator God has a specific character and history as revealed in the Old Testament; and Jesus, the Babe of Bethlehem, is that God.  In fact, some of the early Church Fathers taught that the Word of God, Jesus, is the God who speaks in the Old Testament.  I’m not sure I agree, but the implications are that the Second Person of the Trinity is the One Who once on Sinai’s height did “give the Law in cloud and majesty and awe”;  He spoke to Elijah in the still small voice on Mt. Carmel;  He visited Abraham and Sarah; He spoke to Isaiah, Jeremiah, and all the prophets.

This God we worship in Jesus is not just a speaker and Creator.  He doesn’t just order the cosmos and talk to us every once in a while.  He acts.  Remember our Sunday School Bible stories: He brought Noah’s flood, He led the people of Israel out of Egypt into the Promised Land, He caused the walls of Jericho to fall down, He gave Samson superhuman strength, He gave Solomon wisdom, He consumed the offerings that Elijah gave on the altar with a mighty flame, He saved Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace.  The holy God of Israel, Who meets Moses in the burning bush and declares His Divine Name, “I am that I am,” manifests Himself as Jesus.

He is just, righteous, jealous for His holy Name, compassionate and merciful.  Anything we can say about Almighty God we can say about Jesus.  This means also that, in the New Testament, when John says that God is Love, the same applies to Jesus.  That God is Love helps unlock the mystery of why this God of power and might would choose to humble Himself as a poor infant, born into this world not into the halls of kings or emperors but into a manger of all places!

Suatu hari, saya menemukan sebuah buku tebal dengan judul “Kabar Baik untuk Anak-anak“. Buku tersebut ternyata merupakan “bentuk” lain dari Alkitab yang diterbitkan  oleh salah satu lembaga di Indonesia.

Bentuk tulisan dan gaya bahasa yang berbeda dengan Alkitab kebanyakan, yang memang menunjukkan kalau buku tersebut dirancang untuk anak-anak. Terlihat jelas bahwa tidak semua bagian dari Alkitab, terdapat didalam buku tersebut, bahkan boleh dikatakan hanya poin-poin penting saja.

(Poin-poin penting menurut siapa..?? – pikir saya..)

Setelah membolak-balik halaman, sampailah pada kitab Imamat; kitab yang menurut saya juga penting seperti halnya kitab-kitab yang lain. Terdapat kata pengantar sebagai berikut:

Buku Imamat berisi bermacam-macam peraturan dari Tuhan yang harus ditaati oleh orang Israel, tetapi dalam Alkitab anak-anak ini, hanya beberapa peraturan penting dari buku Imamat tersebut yang dicantumkan. Ayat terkenal dari buku ini, ialah “Kasihilah orang lain seperti engkau mengasihi dirimu sendiri”

Ada 3 poin yang terdapat dalam buku tersebut:

1. Kasihilah dan hargailah orang lain (Im 19:12-18, 32-37)
2. Berbagai peraturan lain (Im 19:26b, 28a, 31)
3. Bersikap baik terhadap orang miskin (Im 25:35-38)

That’s it…

Wew, sepertinya ada bagian-bagian yang hilang dari kitab ini.

Coba kita sama-sama tilik kitab Imamat 11 dan Imamat 23.

Ya, Imamat 11 berbicara mengenai kekudusan makanan; apa-apa yang boleh dimakan dan yang tidak boleh dimakan. Sedangkan Imamat 23 berbicara mengenai hari-hari raya yang ditetapkan Bapa YHWH, TUHAN kita, untuk dilakukan secara turun temurun.

Secara umum, kitab Imamat berbicara mengenai kekudusan umat “pilihan TUHAN“, dan sejak kita di”pilih” sebagai umatnya, sudah menjadi kewajiban kita untuk tidak mengabaikan ayat-ayat yang terdapat dalam kitab Imamat tersebut.

Nah, apabila sejak dini – sejak kanak-kanak, kita tidak mengajarkan kekudusan dan perintah-perintah Bapa kepada anak-anak kita, maka tidaklah mengherankan jika banyak diantara kita yang “katanya” umat percaya mengabaikan perintah-perintahNya dan mencemari kehidupannya.

Banyak yang tidak mengerti mengenai kekudusan makanan dan juga tidak tahu kapan memperingati hari raya.

Apakah semua itu penting?

Menurut anda para pembaca, apakah yang Bapa YHWH, TUHAN semesta alam, perintahkan itu penting atau tidak?

Hati kita yang akan menjawabnya.

Jika semua yang dilakukan “hanya sekedar”; apa adanya, tidak tahu membedakan apa yang baik, atau yang berkenan, dan bagaimana mungkin bisa sempurna?

Shalom

Meaning of the word Christmas.

The word Christmas originated as a compound meaning ‘Christ’s Mass’. It is derived from the Middle English Christemasse and Old English Cristes mæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038. “Cristes” is from Greek Christos and “mæsse” is from Latin missa (the holy mass).

Mass- 1909 Catholic dictionary

The Eucharist as a sacrifice is called the Mass, most probably from the dismissal (missa) of the catechumens before the celebration. The Mass is a true proper sacrifice, namely, “the external offering up of a sensible gift, which is destroyed or transformed by an authorized minister in recognition of God’s supreme dominion.”

Hence, Christmas literally means the ‘death/sacrifice of Christ.’  Why does Christmas celebrate the supposed birth of Christ but yet literally means the death of Christ?  Because this holiday traces back to sun worship where the sun would ‘die’ at the winter solstice and be ‘resurrected’ on the 25th as it began to rise again.

The Winter Solstice is the day when the Sun is the lowest in the southern sky. During the short winter days the Sun does not rise exactly in the east, but instead rises just south of east and it sets south of west. Each day after the winter solstice, which occurs on December 21st, the Sun’s path becomes a little higher in the southern sky after having remained motionless in the sky for 3 days. The Sun also begins to rise closer to the east and set closer to the west until we reach the day when it rises exactly east and sets exactly west. This day is called the equinox. In fact this is what the word ’solstice’ means, ’sun standing still.’   Solstice derives from Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still).

So when we speak of the Winter Solstice it is rather easy knowing this that as the Sun sank deeper into the southern horizon on a daily basis and with less light every day to the point that the path of the Sun had moved further down the sky to where it had remained motionless for 3 days at the Winter Solstice then the ancients considered that the sun had actually died. In fact, the great orb, would remain standing still for three days neither moving north or south. Then, it was noticed, that on the third day, the sun would begin moving northward again.

Sun Worshipclick here

“Each day in the week, the planet to which the
day was sacred was invoked in a fixed spot in the crypt;
and Sunday, over which the Sun presided, was especially
holy . .
“The rites which they [the Mithraists] practised offered
numerous analogies . . They also held Sunday sacred,
and celebrated the birth of the Sun [god] on the
25th of December.”—Franz Cumont, the Mysteries of
Mithra, Trans. by T.J. McCormack, 167, 191.

Here we see a picture of the Messiah dying and rising again after 3 days.  This is why so many pagan religions have dying and rising Messiah figures.  The adversary knows that the Almighty gives shadow pictures of His great plan in His creation and the adversary seeks to pervert this picture to lead mankind astray.click here.  The sun, moon and stars are specifically used to teach of His glory.

Psa 19:1  To the chief musician. A Psalm of David. The heavens are recounting* the glory of God, and the expanse proclaiming His handiwork.

*m’sepharim- literally from, or out of the books.  When looking at the constellations and the path of the sun we are seeing another witness to the Holy Scriptures.
Psa 19:2  Day by day they pour forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
Psa 19:3  There is no speech, nor are there words where their voice is not heard.
Psa 19:4  Their measuring line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world; in them He has set up a dwelling-place for the sun,
Psa 19:5  and he comes forth like a bridegroom from his canopy. He rejoices like a hero to run a race;
Psa 19:6  his going forth from the end of the heavens, and his orbit to their ends; and nothing is hidden from his heat.

The religions of the heathens incorporate different aspects of the work of the Messiah in their religions because they knew what the zodiac taught concerning the Messiah to come.  The adversary knew since the garden that the Seed of the woman was going to come to crush his head and sought to pervert the picture of this Seed to lead mankind astray.  This is why it is so important for believers not to associate with Christmas because it is a part of that perversion of the picture of the Messiah.  The reason why movies like Zeitgeist and books like Holy Blood, Holy Grail and the DaVinci Code can lead so many astray because it is true that the Roman Catholic Church mixed heathen customs with the Scriptures.  The next logical step is to think that they perverted the Scriptures themselves or that they are just retelling the same pagan myths in a different form.  This is just one reason among many that Christmas is so dangerous to the spiritual welfare of mankind.

“In Constantine’s day, Rome’s official religion was sun worship–the cult of Sol Invictus, or the Invincible Sun–and Constantine was its high priest…By fusing pagan symbols, dates, and rituals into the growing Christian tradition, he created a type of hybrid religion…

The pre-Christian God Mithras – called the Son of God and the Light of the World – was born on December 25…By the way, December 25 is also the birthday of Osiris, Adonis, and Dionysus” (Brown D. The Da Vinci Code. Doubleday, New York, 2003, p. 232).

2Pe 1:16  For we have not followed cunningly devised fables(Pagan mythology), when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

What saith the Scriptures?

The fact that Christmas is derived from paganism is a statement of fact that can’t be denied.  The question is whether or not it is acceptable to our Heavenly Father to join in customs, traditions and holidays that are birthed from the religions of satan worship.  The Holy Scriptures are clear on what the answer is:

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her*, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

*Come out of Babylon…this is speaking of the customs of the satanic system.  Christmas is Babylonian to the core.
Isa 52:11  Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.
Jer 51:45  My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.
2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

We will loathe ourselves when we see the horrible abominations we have committed
Eze 6:8  Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.
Eze 6:9  And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
Jer 16:19  O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.

Clean can not come out of unclean
Job 14:4  Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.
Hag 2:11  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying,
Hag 2:12  If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No.
Hag 2:13  Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.
Hag 2:14  Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.

Sir 34:4  Of an unclean thing what can be cleansed? and from that thing which is false what truth can come?
Sir 34:5  Divinations, and soothsayings, and dreams, are vain: and the heart fancieth, as a woman’s heart in travail.
Sir 34:6  If they be not sent from the most High in thy visitation, set not thy heart upon them.
Sir 34:7  For dreams have deceived many, and they have failed that put their trust in them.
Sir 34:8  The law shall be found perfect without lies: and wisdom is perfection to a faithful mouth.

Keep far from a false matter
Exo 23:7  Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.

Do not desire the “pretty” things of the heathens
Deu 7:25  The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God.
Deu 7:26  Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.

Jos 7:15  And it shall be, he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of YHWH and because he has committed folly in Israel.
Jos 7:21  When I saw among the spoil a goodly robe of Shinar (Babylonish garment), and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold, one of fifty shekels in weight, then I lusted after them, and took them. And behold, they are hidden in the earth, in the middle of my tent, and the silver under it.
Isa 44:9  Those who form a carved image are all of them vanity. And their delights do not profit; and they are their own witnesses. They do not see, nor know, that they may be ashamed.
Psa 141:4  Do not let my heart turn aside to any evil thing, to practice deeds in wickedness with men who practice iniquity; and do not let me eat of their delicacies.

The ways of the heathen are abominations

Deu 12:29  When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
Deu 12:30  Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
Deu 12:31  Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.

Golden Calf/Synchretism

Exo 32:1  And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
Exo 32:2  And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
Exo 32:3  And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
Exo 32:4  And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
Exo 32:5  And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.

Notice, Aharon stated that the golden calf was YHWH.  We can not take the customs of the heathen and apply them to YHWH or Messiah Yahshua.
Exo 32:7  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
Exo 32:8  They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
Exo 32:9  And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
Exo 32:10  Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

Deu 12:29  When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
Deu 12:30  Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
Deu 12:31  Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
Deu 12:32  What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
Deu 18:9  When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.

Lev 18:3  After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.
Lev 18:4  Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God.
Lev 18:5  Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.

LEARN NOT THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN
Jer 10:2  Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
Eph 4:17  This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other(G3062…remaining) Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
Eze 20:32  And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.
Eze 20:33  As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:
Eze 20:34  And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.
Eze 20:35  And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face.
Eze 20:36  Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 20:37  And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant:
Eze 20:38  And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Eze 20:39  As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord GOD; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.
2 TABLES…we must choose 1
1Co 10:19  What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?
1Co 10:20  But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.
1Co 10:21  Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.
Mat 6:24  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
2Co 6:15  And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
2Co 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

BE NOT CONFORMED
Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may
prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

1Pe 1:14  As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

Eph 4:17  This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
Eph 4:18  Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
Eph 4:19  Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Eph 4:20  But ye have not so learned Christ;
Eph 4:21  If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
Eph 4:22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Eph 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

1Co 10:2  And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
1Co 10:3  And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
1Co 10:4  And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
1Co 10:5  But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
1Co 10:7  Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play……Shaul makes a reference to the golden calf and warns believers not to be idolaters who mixed worship as Israel did in the wilderness.

1Co 10:8  Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. ….NUMBERS 25 BAAL PEOR AND BILAM…again mixing worship.
1Co 10:14  Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
1Co 10:19  What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?
1Co 10:20  But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.
1Co 10:21  Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.

Mat 10:5  These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
2Kings 17:24-41; Samaritans “believed” in YHWH but also followed after their own gods.

We must forsake traditions that lead us away from the Word.

Mar 7:6  He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
Mar 7:7  Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Mar 7:8  For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
Mar 7:9  And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
Mar 7:13  Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
Mat 15:6  And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.

Jer 16:19  O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.

Elijah Messageclick here

The Custom of Christmas trees was passed down to us from the “sacred groves” of the heathen religions.  This is Baal worship, this was a main battleground for Eliyahu.

Rom 11:2  “God did not thrust away His people” whom He foreknew. Psa. 94:14 Or do you not know what the Scripture said in Elijah, how he pleaded with God against Israel, saying,

Rom 11:4  But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to {the image} of Baal.

Why was “the image of” added to the text in Romans 11:4

To Baal (τῇ Βάαλ)
The feminine article is used with the name instead of the masculine (as in Septuagint in this passage). It occurs, however, in the Septuagint with both the masculine and the feminine article. Various reasons are given for the use of the feminine, some supposing an ellipsis, the image of Baal; others that the deity was conceived as bisexual; …it may also be referring to Baal’s female consort Ashtoreth.

Asherah, came to denote the symbol of the goddess. The trunk of the tree was often provided with branches, and assumed the form of the tree of life.

History

the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge
tells us how the December 25 holiday entered the Christian church:
“How much the date of the festival depended upon
the pagan Brumalia [The December 25 celebration],
following the Saturnalia [an eight-day December 17-
24 festival preceding it], and celebrating the shortest
day of the year and the ‘new sun’ . . cannot be accurately
determined. The pagan Saturnalia and Brumalia
were too deeply entrenched in popular custom to be
set aside by Christian influence . . The pagan festival
with its riot and merrymaking was so popular that
Christians were glad of an excuse to continue its celebration
with little change in spirit and in manner.
Christian preachers of the West and the Near East
protested against the unseemly frivolity with which
Christ’s birthday was celebrated, while Christians of
Mesopotamia accused their Western brethren of idolatry
and sun worship for adopting as Christian this
pagan festival.”—New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of
Religious Knowledge, “Christmas.”

“A feast was established in memory of this event
[Christ’s birth] in the fourth century. In the fifth century
the Western Church ordered it to be celebrated
forever on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth
of Sol [the Latin word for ‘sun’], as no certain knowledge
of the day of Christ’s birth existed.”—Encyclopedia
Americana (1944 edition), “Christmas.”

“Certain Latins, as early as [A.D.] 354, may have
transferred the birthday from January 6th to December
25, which was then a Mithraic feast . . or birthday
of the unconquered sun . . The Syrians and Armenians
accused the Romans of sun worship and idolatry.”—
Encyclopedia Britannica, 1946 ed.

“The uncertainty that existed at the beginning of the
third century in the minds of Hippolytus and others—
Hippolytus earlier favored Jan. 2; Clement of Alexandria
(Strom., i. 21), “the 25th of Pachon” [May 20]; while
others, according to Clement, fixed upon Apr, 18 or 19
and Mar. 28—proves that no Christmas festival had been
established much before the middle of the century. Jan.
6 was earlier fixed upon as the date of the baptism or
spiritual birth of Christ, and the feast of Epiphany . .
was celebrated by the Basilidian Gnostics in the second
century . . and by Catholic Christians by about the beginning
of the fourth century.

The earliest record of the recognition of Dec. 25 as
a church festival is in the Philocalian Calendar [although
copied in 354, represented Roman practice in 336].”—
Newman, A.H., “Christmas,” New Scaff-Herzog Encyclopedia
of Religious Knowledge, Vol. 3, 47.

“Uncertainty about Jesus’ birthday in the
early third century is reflected in a disputed passage of
the presbyter Hippolytus, who was banished to Sarinia
by Maximinus in 235, and in an authentic statement of
Clement of Alexandria. While the former favored January
second, the learned Clement of Alexandria enumerates
several dates given by the Alexandrian chronographers,
notably the twenty-fifth of the Egyptian month,
Pachon (May twentieth), in the twenty-eighth year of
Augustus and the twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth of
Pharmuthi (April eighteenth or nineteenth) of the year
A.D. 1, although he favored May twentieth. This shows
that no Church festival, in honor of the day, was established
before the middle of the third century. Origen, at
that time in a sermon, denounced the idea of keeping
Jesus’ birthday like that of Pharaoh and said that only
sinners such as Herod were so honored. Arnobius later
similarly ridiculed giving birthdays to ‘gods.’ A Latin treatise,
De pascha computus (of ca. 243), placed Jesus’
birth on March twenty-first since that was the supposed
day on which God created the Sun (Gen 1:14-19), thus
typifying the ‘Sun of righteousness’ as Malachi 4:2 called
the expected Messiah. A century before, Polycarp, martyred
in Smyrna in 155, gave the same date for the birth
and baptism placing it on a Wednesday because of the
creation of the Sun on that day.”—Walter Woodburn
Hyde, Paganism to Christianity in the Roman Empire,
249-25

“It is now generally granted that the day of the nativity was
not observed as a feast in any part of the church, east or
west, till some time in the fourth century. If any day had
been earlier fixed upon as the Lord’s birthday, it was
not commemorated by any religious rites, nor is it mentioned
by any writers.”—Samuel J. Andrews, The Life
of Our Lord Upon the Earth, New York: Charles
Scribner’s Sons, 1891, 17.

“While Christianity won a comparatively
easy victory over the Graeco-Roman religion, it had a hard
struggle with the Mithras religion. The worshipers of
Mithras were won by taking over the birthday of Mithras,
December 25, as the birthday of Christ.”—H. Lamer,
“Mithras,” Worterbuch der Antike, 2nd ed.; Leipzig: A. Kroner, 1933.

“Remains of the struggle are found in two institutions adopted from its rival by Christianity in the fourth century, the two Mithraic sacred
days, December twenty-fifth, dies natalis solis [birthday
of the sun], as the birthday of Jesus, and Sunday “the
venerable day of the Sun,” as Constantine called it in his
edict of 321.”—Walter Woodburn Hyde, Paganism to
Christianity in the Roman Empire, 60.

“The first footsteps we find of the observation of this
day are in the second century, about the time of the emperor
Commodus.”—Charles Buck, A Theological Dictionary,
“Christmas,” Philadelphia: Crissy and Markley,
copyright 1851, 71.

Tertullian 160-22o AD

Tertullian

The Minervalia are as much Minerva’s, as the Saturnalia Saturn’s; Saturn’s, which must necessarily be celebrated even by little slaves at the time of the Saturnalia. New-year’s gifts likewise must be caught at, and the Septimontium kept; and all the presents of Midwinter and the feast of Dear Kinsmanship must be exacted; the schools must be wreathed with flowers; the flamens’ wives and the aediles sacrifice; the school is honoured on the appointed holy-days. The same thing takes place on an idol’s birthday; every pomp of the devil is frequented. Who will think that these things are befitting to a Christian master, unless it be he who shall think them suitable likewise to one who is not a master? (Tertullian. On Idolatry, Chapter X. Translated by S. Thelwall. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).
But, however, the majority (of Christians) have by this time induced the belief in their mind that it is pardonable if at any time they do what the heathen do, for fear “the Name be blasphemed”…To live with heathens is lawful, to die with them is not. Let us live with all; let us be glad with them, out of community of nature, not of superstition. We are peers in soul, not in discipline; fellow-possessors of the world, not of error. But if we have no right of communion in matters of this kind with strangers, how far more wicked to celebrate them among brethren! Who can maintain or defend this?…By us,…the Saturnalia and New-year’s and Midwinter’s festivals and Matronalia are frequented–presents come and go–New-year’s gifts–games join their noise–banquets join their din! Oh better fidelity of the nations to their own sect, which claims no solemnity of the Christians for itself!…Not the Lord’s day, not Pentecost, even it they had known them, would they have shared with us; for they would fear lest they should seem to be Christians. We are not apprehensive lest we seem to be heathens! (Tertullian. On Idolatry, Chapter XIV. Translated by S. Thelwall. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).

But “let your works shine,” saith He; but now all our shops and gates shine! You will now-a-days find more doors of heathens without lamps and laurel-wreaths than of Christians. What does the case seem to be with regard to that species (of ceremony) also? If it is an idol’s honour, without doubt an idol’s honour is idolatry. If it is for a man’s sake, let us again consider that all idolatry is for man’s sake; let us again consider that all idolatry is a worship done to men, since it is generally agreed even among their worshippers that aforetime the gods themselves of the nations were men; and so it makes no difference whether that superstitious homage be rendered to men of a former age or of this. Idolatry is condemned, not on account of the persons which are set up for worship, but on account of those its observances, which pertain to demons (Tertullian. On Idolatry, Chapter XV. Translated by S. Thelwall. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).

An Armenian scholar called Ananias of Shirak, circa 600 A.D., wrote:

The Festival of the holy Birth of Christ, on the 12th day before the feast of the Baptism, was not appointed by the holy apostles, nor by their successors either, as is clear from the canons of the holy apostles…which is 6th of January, according to the Romans.

But many years after their fixing the canons, this festival was invented, as some say, by the disciples of the heretic Cerinthus; and was accepted by the Greeks, because they were truly fond of festivals and most fervent in piety; and by them it was spread and diffused all over the world.

But in the days of the holy Constantine, in the holy Council of Nice, this festival was not received by the holy fathers (Ananias of Shirak, On Christmas, The Expositor, 5th series vol. 4 (1896) Translation. pp.323-337, as reported by ccel).

Cerinthus was a heretic who the Apostle John publicly denounced towards the end of the first century. Notice that Irenaeus wrote that John detested Cerinthus so much that he would not even take a bath in the same building as him:

There are also those who heard from him that John, the disciple of the Lord, going to bathe at Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the bath-house without bathing, exclaiming, “Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within.” (Irenaeus. Adversus Haeres. Book III, Chapter 3, Verse 4).

The Roman Catholics have also condemned Cerinthus as a heretic:

Cerinthus A Gnostic-Ebionite heretic, contemporary with St. John…Cerinthus was an Egyptian, and if not by race a Jew…Cerinthus’s doctrines were a strange mixture of Gnosticism, Judaism, Chiliasm, and Ebionitism (Arendzen J.P. Transcribed by William D. Neville. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume III. Published 1908. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Nihil Obstat, November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York).

The Catholic Encyclopedia admits this about Christmas:

Christmas…Irenaeus and Tertullian omit it from their lists of feasts; Origen, glancing perhaps at the discreditable imperial Natalitia, asserts (in Lev. Hom. viii in Migne, P.G., XII, 495) that in the Scriptures sinners alone, not saints, celebrate their birthday; Arnobius (VII, 32 in P.L., V, 1264) can still ridicule the “birthdays” of the gods.

Alexandria. The first evidence of the feast is from Egypt. About A.D. 200, Clement of Alexandria (Strom., I, xxi in P.G., VIII, 888) says that certain Egyptian theologians “over curiously” assign, not the year alone, but the day of Christ’s birth, placing it on 25 Pachon (20 May) in the twenty-eighth year of Augustus…

Cyprus, Mesopotamia, Armenia, Asia Minor. In Cyprus, at the end of the fourth century, Epiphanius asserts against the Alogi (Hær., li, 16, 24 in P. G., XLI, 919, 931) that Christ was born on 6 January…

Rome. At Rome the earliest evidence is in the Philocalian Calendar (P. L., XIII, 675; it can be seen as a whole in J. Strzygowski, Kalenderbilder des Chron. von Jahre 354, Berlin, 1888), compiled in 354, which contains three important entries. In the civil calendar 25 December is marked “Natalis Invicti”…

By the time of Jerome and Augustine, the December feast is established, though the latter (Epp., II, liv, 12, in P.L., XXXIII, 200) omits it from a list of first-class festivals. From the fourth century every Western calendar assigns it to 25 December…

Notice what The Catholic Encyclopedia reported:

Jerusalem…In 385, therefore, 25 December was not observed at Jerusalem.This checks the so-called correspondence between Cyril of Jerusalem (348-386) and Pope Julius I (337-352), quoted by John of Nikiu (c. 900) to convert Armenia to 25 December (see P.L., VIII, 964 sqq.). Cyril declares that his clergy cannot, on the single feast of Birth and Baptism, make a double procession to Bethlehem and Jordan. (This later practice is here an anachronism.) He asks Julius to assign the true date of the nativity “from census documents brought by Titus to Rome”; Julius assigns 25 December…(Martindale C. Christmas, 1908).

Notice what a Franciscan Catholic priest from Jerusalem reported:

The peregrinations also extended to Bethlehem on the occasion of the Epiphany, which was a feast that united with Christmas.

The feast of Christmas, on December 25 despite the protestation of St. Jerome that the feast was already “universal”, was not introduced until the 6th century (Bagatti, Bellarmino.  Translated by Eugene Hoade.  The Church from the Gentiles in Palestine, Part 1, Chapter 1.  Nihil obstat: Ignatius Mancini. Imprimi potest: Herminius Roncari. Imprimatur: +Albertus Gori, die 28 Februarii 1970.  Franciscan Printing Press, Jerusalem, p. 73).

Mixing Christianity & Paganism

“Christianity did not destroy paganism; it adopted it”  Will Durant- 20th Century American Historian

Puritans

Puritans sought to keep the Biblical commandments click here
When the Puritans came to power in the 1600’s, they attacked Christmas as ‘the old heathens’ feasting day to Saturn their god.’  Even singing carols was forbidden.

In 1644, in protest against Christmas, the Church of England proclaimed December 25th as a fast day, and Parliament banned celebrating the festival.  The new rule was enforced by the English army, and the prohibition was enforced with great rigor.

In the 17th century, the English anti-Christmas attitude spread to the Puritan territories in America.   As ardent Protestants, Puritans identified the embracing of Christianity by the Roman Emperor Constantine in the early 300s as the starting point of the degeneration and corruption of the church. They believed the corruption of the church was brought on by the interweaving of the church with the pagan Roman state. To Puritans, Christmas was impure because it entered the Roman Church sometime in this period. The New England culture was permeated with Puritan values. As late as 1847, no college in New England had a Christmas holiday.

The Puritans banned the holiday in 1659.

“For preventing disorders, arising in several places within this jurisdiction by reason of some still observing such festivals as were superstitiously kept in other communities, to the great dishonor of God and offense of others: it is therefore ordered by this court and the authority thereof that whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way, upon any such account as aforesaid, every such person so offending shall pay for every such offence five shilling as a fine to the county.”

From the records of the General Court,
Massachusetts Bay Colony
May 11, 1659

The General Court banned the celebration of Christmas and other such holidays at the same time it banned gambling and other lawless behavior, grouping all such behaviors together. The court placed a fine of five shillings on anyone caught feasting or celebrating the holiday in another manner.

“The generality of Christmas-keepers observe that festival after such a manner as is highly dishonourable to the name of Christ. How few are there comparatively that spend those holidays (as they are called) after an holy manner. But they are consumed in Compotations, in Interludes, in playing at Cards, in Revellings, in excess of Wine, in mad Mirth …”

- Reverend Increase Mather, 1687

Not celebrated by early believers

Abodah Zarah 1:3 These are the festivals of gentiles: ` Calends, Saturnalia, Cratesis [the commemoration of the empire], `and the emperor`s anniversary, his birthday, `“and the day of his death,”

“There is no historical evidence that our [Savior's] birthday was celebrated during the apostolic or early post-apostolic times,” The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, “Christmas,” p. 47.

“The day was not one of the early feasts of the Christian church. In fact the observance of birthdays was condemned as a heathen custom repugnant to Christians,”click here The American Book of Days, George W. Douglas, p. 658

Saturnalia

In memory of the Golden Age of man, a mythical age when Saturn was said to have ruled, a great feast called Saturnalia was held during the winter months around the time of the winter solstice.

In Babylon he was called Ninib and was an agricultural deity. Saturn, called Cronus by the Greeks, was, at the dawn of the Ages of the Gods, the Protector and Sower of the Seed and his wife, Ops, (called Rhea by the Greeks) was a Harvest Helper.

In memory of the Golden Age, when Saturn reigned in Italy, the great feast of Saturnalia was held every year during the winter.  The idea of it was that the Golden Age returned to the earth during the days it lasted.

Author Hugo Slim reminds us that Christmas “is perhaps the best example of the early Church Christianizing the traditional non-Christian festivals of a season—in this case the festivals of returning light surrounding the winter solstice” (A Feast of Festivals, pp. 36–37). The Romans celebrated the solstice season as the “Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the god of agriculture” (Fillmore, p. 10).
This connection to the Saturnalia reveals an even darker side to Christmas traditions, and shows plainly why Christmas is not a child-friendly holiday! The Encyclopaedia Britannica explains that at the feast of Saturnalia, “all classes exchanged gifts, the commonest being wax tapers and clay dolls. These dolls were especially given to children…” (article: “Saturnalia,” 11th edition). What was the purpose of those gifts? “Varro thought these dolls represented original sacrifices of human beings to the infernal god. There was, as we have seen, a tradition that human sacrifices were once offered to Saturn, and the Greeks and Romans gave the name of Cronus and Saturn to a cruel Phoenician Baal, to whom, e.g. children were sacrificed at Carthage” (ibid.).

Saturnalia—the festival Christmas absorbed—even carries echoes of ancient child sacrifice! It sounds horrific that dolls were given as gifts as symbols or proxies of children burnt to pagan gods. Yet this practice echoes the modern tradition of hanging cherubs or human figures on Christmas trees! The ancient Greeks placed small masks called oscilla on branches, where they could twirl freely in the wind. Encyclopaedia Britannica explains that oscilla were small figures, most commonly masks or faces, that were hung up “as offerings to various deities.… The custom of hanging these oscilla represents an older practice of expiating human sacrifice” (ibid.).
Not only did ancient Saturn-worship and fire-worship involve child sacrifice, it also included cannibalism. Author John Garnier noted: “Cannibalism appears to have been initiated by Cronus, i.e. Saturn… For we are told by Sanchoniathon that Cronus was the originator of human sacrifices… Saturn is represented as devouring his own children.” (The Worship of the Dead, pp. 34–35).

Passing through the fire to Molech

Jer 7:30  For the sons of Judah have done evil in My eyes, says YHWH. They have set their idols in the house on which is called My name, in order to defile it.
Jer 7:31  They have built the high places of Tophet in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.

Psa 106:34  They did not destroy the peoples, as Jehovah said to them,
Psa 106:35  but mingled with the nations, and learned their works.
Psa 106:36  And they served their idols, and they became a snare to them.
Psa 106:37  Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons;
Psa 106:38  and they shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. And the land was polluted with the blood.
Psa 106:39  And they were unclean with their works, and went whoring in their acts.

Alexander Hislop in his book, The Two Babylons, says, “The god whom the Druids worshipped was Baal, as the blazing Baal-fires show — We know that they offered human sacrifices to their bloody gods. We have evidence that they made `their children pass through the fire to Molech’, and that makes it highly probable that they also offered them in sacrifice; for, from Jeremiah 32:35, compared with Jeremiah 19:5, we find that these two things were parts of one and the same system.” Further, it is to be noted that the “priests of Nimrod or Baal were necessarily required to eat of the human sacrifices; and thus it has come to pass that `Cahna-Bal’, (Cahna is the emphatic form of Cahn which means `a priest’) meaning the priest of Baal, is the established word in our tongue for a devourer of human flesh.” (from The Two Babylons, Hislop. See page 232).

John Gill commentary

to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire: which was done, as Jarchi says, by putting them into the arms of the brasen image Moloch, heated hot. The account he gives of Tophet is this,

“Tophet is Moloch, which was made of brass; and they heated him from his lower parts; and his hands being stretched out, and made hot, they put the child between his hands, and it was burnt; when it vehemently cried out; but the priests beat a drum, that the father might not hear the voice of his son, and his heart might not be moved:”

but in this he is mistaken; for “Tophet” was not the name of an idol, but of a place, as is clear from this and the following verse. There is some agreement between this account of Jarchi, and that which Diodorus Siculus (z) gives of Saturn, to whom children were sacrificed by the Carthaginians; who had, he says, a brasen image of Saturn*, which stretched out his hands, inclining to the earth; so that a child put upon them rolled down, and fell into a chasm full of fire:

*This is important to note.  The worship of Saturn = Ba’al worship. This brazen image of Saturn is the origin of placing children into the lap of Santa Claus.  Halloweenclick here (death) and Christmas (birthdays) are intimately connected.  Birthdaysclick here originally were celebrations of the dead which can be seen by the Greek word that is translated into ‘birthday’.

Moreover, the Romans practiced human sacrifice during the Saturnalia and human heads adorned the pine trees as ornaments.
“William Smith, in his Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities…notes this is stated distinctly in Macrobius who tells us that ‘on the Saturnalia presents were made with little pottery figures or faces.’… And he adds that, as with Dionysus, ‘We have then the propitiation by human sacrifice once real and afterwards simulated, at festivals of Jupiter, and of gods connected with death, Saturnus (to whom human sacrifice especially belonged…). These masks or figures…were hung upon the boughs of trees…for Vergil speaks of a pine… There can be little doubt that (they)…represented sacrifices’.”

The 12th century rabbi Rashi, commenting on Jeremiah 7.31 stated:
Tophet is Moloch, which was made of brass; and they heated him from his lower parts; and his hands being stretched out, and made hot, they put the child between his hands, and it was burnt; when it vehemently cried out; but the priests beat a drum, that the father might not hear the voice of his son, and his heart might not be moved.
A different rabbinical tradition says that the idol was hollow and was divided into seven compartments, in one of which they put flour, in the second turtle-doves, in the third a ewe, in the fourth a ram, in the fifth a calf, in the sixth an ox, and in the seventh a child, which were all burnt together by heating the statue inside.

This is the origin of setting children on the lap of Santa.

Christmas Bacchus connectionclick here

Two Babylons pg 95
It was no mere astronomic festival, then, that the Pagans celebrated at the winter solstice. That festival at Rome was called the feast of Saturn, and the mode in which it was celebrated there, showed whence it had been derived. The feast, as regulated by Caligula, lasted five days; * loose reins were given to drunkenness and revelry, slaves had a temporary emancipation, ** and used all manner of freedoms with their masters. {Exactly the same as the feast of Bacchus seen above that Antiochus forced Yisrael into doing}

* Subsequently the number of the days of the Saturnalia was increased to seven.
** If Saturn, or Kronos, was, as we have seen reason to believe, Phoroneus, “The
emancipator,” the “temporary emancipation” of the slaves at his festival was
exactly in keeping with his supposed character.

This is important to note.  This is a counterfeit of the Jubilee of the Scriptures.  The Jubilee was sounded at Yom Kippur and Sukkot which follows 5 days later is a picture of dwelling/tabernacling with the Messiah when He returns.  According to the book of Maccabees, Hanukkah is just a replay of Sukkot (2Maccabees 1:9).  So we see two opposing feasts which represent two opposing marks.  Hanukkah which is a ‘2nd Sukkot’ where the Temple (body) is rededicated (resurrection) at the coming of the Messiah or Christmas which is a rehearsal of the coming of the antichrist where the Temple (body) is defiled (mark of beast).

Christmas Customs

“Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church . . The first evidence of the feast is from Egypt. Pagan customs centering around the January calends [the pagan calendar] gravitated to Christmas.”— Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 ed., “Christmas.”

Christmas Carols

CHRISTMAS CAROLS
Gal 5:21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings,G2970 and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

G2970
κῶμος
kōmos
Thayer Definition:
1) a revel, carousal
1a) a nocturnal and riotous procession of half drunken and frolicsome fellows who after supper parade through the streets with torches and music in honour of Bacchusclick here or some other deity, and sing and play before houses of male and female friends; hence used generally of feasts and drinking parties that are protracted till late at night and indulge in revelry

Christmas plays

The European drama had its origin in Greece. Both forms, tragic and comic, took their rise in the celebrations of the Greek festivals of Dionysus (Bacchus), at which hymns and chants were sung by choruses in honour of the god, and the chorus continued to be a prominent feature of the old Greek drama.

In most modern European countries the regular drama took its rise in the mysteries, miracle-plays, and moralities of the middle ages.

Holly/Ivy wreaths

According to “The Green Mountain Gardener,” Dr. Leonard Perry, ancient pagans fashioned ivy “into wreaths and garlands for decorations during the winter months.” Ivy had close ties with the Roman god of wine, Bacchus. Holly, meanwhile, figured prominently in the Roman celebration of the Saturnalia (upon which the Christmas holiday was directly modeled), as it was considered sacred to Saturn.

Circular wreaths of evergreen
branches (especially holly) were a featured part
of the festival. These were formed in the shape of the
sun, and represented life which could not exist without sunlight. These wreaths were placed on inside and outside
walls during the celebrations. At the time of initiation
into the Dionysian mysteries, these were worn by
the initiates as fertility symbols. They represented the
perpetuity of existence through on-going cycles of life,
death, and rebirth.
“Holly berries were also considered sacred to the sungod.
“The use of Christmas wreaths is believed by authorities
to be traceable to the pagan customs of decorating
buildings and places of worship at the feast
which took place at the same time as Christmas.”—
Frederick J. Haskins, Answers to Questions.

Mistletoe

Where did the mistletoe custom originate?
Among the ancients, because mistletoe was considered
sacred to the sun, it was used at the December
festival of the winter solstice, when the sun was lowest
in the noon sky.
Kissing under the mistletoe was thought to be an
act of solar worship, empowering the worshipers for still
further worship. As this indicates, pagan sun-worship
services were very licentious. Temple prostitution was
performed during the eight-day Roman Saturnalia which
immediately preceded the December 25 sun-birth celebration.

“The mistletoe was a sacred plant
in the pagan religion of the Druids in Britain. It was believed to have all sorts of miraculous qualities: the
power of healing diseases, making poisons harmless,
giving fertility to humans and animals, protecting from
witchcraft, banning evil spirits, bringing good luck and
great blessings. In fact, it was considered so sacred that
even enemies who happened to meet beneath a mistletoe
in the forest would lay down their arms, exchange a
friendly greeting, and keep a truce until the following
day. From this old custom grew [p. 104] the practice of
suspending mistletoe over a doorway or in a room as a
token of good will and peace to all comers . .
“After Britain was converted from paganism to Christianity,
the bishops did not allow the mistletoe to be
used in churches because it had been the main symbol
of a pagan religion. Even to this day mistletoe is rarely
used as a decoration for altars. There was, however, one
exception. At the Cathedral of York at one period before
the Reformation a large bundle of mistletoe was brought
into the sanctuary each year at Christmas and solemnly
placed on the altar by a priest. In this rite the plant that
the Druids had called ‘All-heal’ was used as a symbol of
Christ, the Divine Healer of nations.

“The people of England then adopted the mistletoe
as a decoration for their homes at Christmas. Its old,
pagan religious meaning was soon forgotten, but some
of the other meanings and customs have survived: the
kiss under the mistletoe; the token of good will and friendship;
the omen of happiness and good luck and the new
religious significance.”—Francis X. Weiser, Handbook of
Christian Feasts and Customs (New York: Harcourt,
Brace and World, Inc., 1958), 103-104.

Exchanging gifts

“The interchange of presents between friends is alike
characteristic of Christmas and the Saturnalia, and
must have been adopted by Christians from the pagans,
as the admonition of Tertullian plainly shows.”—
Bibiothica Sacra, Vol. 12, 153-155.

“Christmas”, THE WORLD BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA, Vol. 3, “C-Ch”, 1997

“The first mention of December 25 as the birth date of Jesus occurred in A.D. 336

in an early Roman calendar. The celebration of this day as Jesus’ birth date was

probably influenced by pagan [unchristian] festivals held at that time. The ancient

Romans held year-end celebrations to honor Saturn, their harvest god; and Mithras,

the [sic] god of light… As part of all these celebrations, the people prepared special

foods, decorated their homes with greenery, and joined in singing and gift giving.

These customs gradually became part of the Christmas celebration.”

The Yule Log

The yule log. The calend fires were a scandal even to Rome, and St. Boniface obtained from Pope Zachary their abolition (Martindale C. Christmas, 1908).

Hence it is clear that even early Roman writers such as Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Origen did not endorse Christmas, nor did Augustine even list it as an important holiday. And that even later Catholic sources recognize that it is not likely that a census (as shown in Luke 2:1) would be done during the winter–making a December 25th date of birth unlikely (it was also too cold for shepherds to spend the night with their flocks out in an open field, as shown in Luke 2:8, making a December 25th birth basically impossible).

Yule {Eol} in Chaldee means infant.
“It was a custom of the Pagans to celebrate on the same 25 December the birthday of the Sun, at which they kindled lights in token of festivity. In these solemnities and revelries the Christians also took part. Accordingly when the doctors of the Church perceived that the Christians had a leaning to this festival, they took counsel and resolved that the true Nativity should be solemnised on that day.” (cited in “Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries”, Ramsay MacMullen. Yale:1997, p155)

Christmas Trees

Jer 10:1  Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
Jer 10:2  Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
Jer 10:3  For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
Jer 10:4  They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
Jer 10:8  But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.
Jer 10:9  Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz (DAN 10:5), the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men.
Jer 10:11  Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.

In the midst of Jeremiah 10 we read Jeremiah proclaim that there is none like unto thee O YHWH! You are great, and your Name is great in might.  Who would not fear thee or King of the nations?

Jer 10:6  There is none like You, O YHWH; You are great, and Your name is great in might.

This is a direct reference to Revelation 15 and those who overcome the mark of the beast. ‘Who is like thee’ is a reference back to the Maccabees who overcame the mark of the beast in their day.  The name Maccabee is an acronym for mi kamocah b’elim YHWH…which comes from Exodus 15.  The song of Moshe and the song of the Lamb.

So we don’t reject the use of trees at Christmas time because they were pagan, we continue to use them, because as symbols of life they now point to Christ. (Killian Brian. Halloween, as autumn celebration, reminder God’s name is hallowed. Catholic Online International News. 10/31/06. http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=21818).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

Ashtoreth
The moon goddess of the Phoenicians, representing the passive principle in nature, their principal female deity; frequently associated with the name of Baal, the sun-god, their chief male deity (Jdg_10:6; 1Sa_7:4; 1Sa_12:10). These names often occur in the plural (Ashtaroth, Baalim), probably as indicating either different statues or different modifications of the deities. This deity is spoken of as Ashtoreth of the Zidonians. She was the Ishtar of the Accadians and the Astarte of the Greeks (Jer_44:17; 1Ki_11:5, 1Ki_11:33; 2Ki_23:13). There was a temple of this goddess among the Philistines in the time of Saul (1Sa_31:10). Under the name of Ishtar, she was one of the great deities of the Assyrians. The Phoenicians called her Astarte. Solomon introduced the worship of this idol (1Ki_11:33). Jezebel’s 400 priests were probably employed in its service (1Ki_18:19). It was called the “queen of heaven” (Jer_44:25).

John Gill

the star of your god {hexagram/Talisman of Saturn/seal of Solomon/star of David}, which ye made to yourselves; or the star “your god” (q); meaning the same with Chiun or Saturn; perhaps the same with the star that fell from the air or sky*, mentioned by Sanchoniatho (r); which Astarte, the wife of Chronus or Saturn, is said to take and consecrate in Tyre; this they made for themselves, and worshipped as a deity.

Astarte was the wife of Saturn.  Otherwise known as the wife of Nimrod. Please notice in the image above that the hexagram was her symbol as well.  More on this at the bottom of this study.

ISBE (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)

In Assyrian asirtu, which appears also under the forms asrātu, esrēti (plural) and asru, had the further signification of “sanctuary.” Originally Asirtu, the wife of Asir, and asirtu, “sanctuary,” seem to have had no connection with one another, but the identity in the pronunciation of the two words caused them to be identified in signification, and as the tree-trunk or cone of stone which symbolized Asherah was regarded as a Beth-el or “house of the deity*,” wherein the goddess was immanent, the word Asirtu, Asherah, came to denote the symbol of the goddess. The trunk of the tree was often provided with branches, and assumed the form of the tree of life*. It was as a trunk, however, that it was forbidden to be erected by the side of “the altar of Yahweh” (Deu_16:21; see Jdg_6:25, Jdg_6:28, Jdg_6:30; 2Ki_23:6). Accordingly the symbol made for Asherah by his mother was “cut down” by Asa (1Ki_15:13). So, too, we hear of Asherim or symbols of the goddess being set up on the high places under the shade of a green tree (Jer_17:2; see 2Ki_17:10). Manasseh introduced one into the temple at Jerusalem (2Ki_21:3, 2Ki_21:7).
*This connection between the Christmas tree the House of God (Bethel) and the tree of Life is important to note.  The Christmas tree is a counterfeit tree of life which is really the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  The tree of life represents the Messiah who is pictured by the menorah.  The tree of knowledge represents the adversary who is pictured by the Christmas tree/Asherah pole.

Exo 23:24  You shall not bow down to their gods, and you shall not serve them. And you shall not do according to their works. But tearing you shall tear them down, and smashing you shall smash their pillars.

H4676 מצּבה matstsêbâh
BDB Definition:
1) pillar, mastaba, stump
1a) pillar
1a1) as monument, personal memorial
1a2) with an altar
1b) (Hophal) stock, stump (of tree)*

*This is the word used in Genesis referring to the stone that Jacob anointed and proclaimed as Bethel.

Gen 28:18  And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar{H4678 matstsebeth}, and poured oil upon the top of it.
Gen 28:19  And he called the name of that place Bethel {H1008 house of God}:: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.
Gen 35:14  And Jacob set up a pillar(H4678 matstsebeth) in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon {This is a strong reference to the Messiah, which means anointed one.}.
Gen 35:15  And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel{H1008 בּית־אלbeytḣ’el house of God}

Messiah is the image of Elohim
2Co 4:4  in whom the god of this age has blinded the thoughts of the unbelieving, so that the brightness of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God, should not dawn on them.

The congregation of believers are to be the “image” of Messiah
Rom 8:29  because whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, for Him to be the First-born among many brothers.
2Co 3:18  But we all with our face having been unveiled, having beheld the glory of the Lord in a mirror, are being changed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord Spirit.

Here we see that the pillar that Jacob anointed is to be the house of Elohim.  His house are His people (Hebrews 3:6).  His body.  Pictured by the menorah, the tree of Life.  The counterfeit is a pillar/Asherah which is called Bethel.  The antichrist’s house are his people.  His body.  Pictured by the Christmas tree, the tree of knowledge.

Our “star,” Greek ” aster,” Latin stella, is akin*. Her worship was most licentious and abominable; closely connected with that of (See ASHERAH, “THE GROVE”. Ashtoreh is the goddess, asherah “the grove,” the image or the symbol of the goddess, of wood;* asher, yashar, “to be straight,” a straight stem of a tree living, or fixed upright (1Ki_18:19; 2Ki_21:7; 2Ki_23:6; 2Ki_23:13-14; 2Ki_23:15; Jdg_6:25; Jdg_6:30). The “bringing out the asherah from the house of the Lord,” and the “cutting down,” suit such a symbol, not a grace in our sense. The active and passive powers of nature, generative and receptive, suggested the male and female deities, Baal and Ashtoreh. {This is seen further in the principle ‘as above, so below’ which will be discussed in connection to the mark of the beast in a future study, Yah willing}

Again, another connection to the star (hexagram) and the Asherah (Christmas tree).

Exo 34:11  Take heed for yourself what I am commanding you today. Behold, I am about to drive out from before your face the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
Exo 34:12  Take heed to yourself, that you not cut a covenant with the people of the land to which you are going in, that it not be a snare in your midst.
Exo 34:13  But you shall cut down their altars, break their pillars, and you shall cut off their Asherahs.
Exo 34:14  For you shall not bow to another god, for YHWH whose name is Jealous, He is a jealous God;*

1Co 10:20  But the things the nations sacrifice, “they sacrifice to demons, and not to God.” Deut. 32:17 But I do not want you to become sharers of demons;
1Co 10:21  you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and a cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord, and a table of demons. {Mixed worship}
1Co 10:22  Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? Deut. 32:21

Deu 7:5  But you shall deal with them in this way: you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces the cult-stones; and you shall cut down their Asherahs; and you will burn their carved images with fire.
Deu 7:6  For you are a holy people to YHWH your God. YHWH your God has chosen you to be His own treasure out of all the people on the face of the earth.

John Gill commentary on Deu. 7:5

Deu 7:5  But thus shall ye deal with them,…. The inhabitants of the land of Canaan:

ye shall destroy their altars; on which they sacrificed to their idols:

and break down their images; of their gods, and the statues and pillars erected to the honour of them:

and cut down their groves; sacred to idols, which were usually planted on hills, and about Heathen temples, and under which idols were placed to be worshipped. The Targum of Jonathan calls them trees of their adoration, under which they worshipped; though there was a worship paid to them, not indeed directly to them, or for their sakes, but for the sake of the idols they were sacred to, or were placed under them; so Maimonides (e) says, a tree which at first was planted to be worshipped is forbidden of any use (or profit); and this is the אשרה, or “grove”, spoken of in the law, a tree planted and lopped, of which a graven image is made for an idol; and so the tree that has been worshipped, though the body of it is, not forbidden, all the shoots and leaves, and the branches, and the fruits it produces all the time it is worshipped, are forbidden to be used: though the word here used sometimes seems to signify, not a grove of trees, but some image itself, since we read of it in the temple, 2Ki_21:7,

and burn their graven images with fire; distinguished from their molten images, which may be meant in a preceding clause, and which are particularly mentioned as to be destroyed as well as these, Num_33:52.

(e) Hilchot Obede Cochabim, c. 8. sect. 3, 4. Vid. Misn. Avodah Zarah, c. 3. sect. 7.

Deu 12:3  And you shall break down their altars, and shatter their standing pillars. And you shall burn their Asherahs with fire. And you shall cut down the carved images of their gods, and shall destroy their names out of that place.
Deu 12:4  You shall not do so to YHWH your God.

Two Babylon’s – Alexander Hislop

The Christmas tree, now so common among us, was equally common in Pagan Rome and Pagan Egypt. In Egypt that tree was the palm-tree; in Rome it was the fir; the palm-tree denoting the Pagan Messiah, as Baal-Tamar, the fir referring to him as Baal-Berith.

The mother of Adonis, the Sun-God and great mediatorial divinity, was mystically said to have been changed into a tree, and when in that state to have brought forth her divine son. If the mother was a tree, the son must have been recognised as the “Man the branch.” And this entirely accounts for the putting of the Yule Log into the fire on Christmas-eve, and the appearance of the Christmas-tree the next morning. As Zero-Ashta, “The seed of the woman,” which name also signified Ignigena, or “born of the fire,” he has to enter the fire on “Mother-night,” that he may be born the next day out of it, as the “Branch of God,” or the Tree that brings all divine gifts to men. But why, it may be asked, does he enter the fire under the symbol of a Log? To understand this, it must be remembered that the divine child born at the winter solstice was born as a new incarnation of the great god (after that god had been cut in pieces), on purpose to revenge his death upon his murderers. Now the great god, cut off in the midst of his power and glory, was symbolised as a huge tree, stripped of all its branches, and cut down almost to the ground. But the great serpent, the symbol of the life restoring Aesculapius, twists itself around the dead stock (see figure 27), and lo, at its side up sprouts a young tree–a tree of an entirely different kind, that is destined never to be cut down by hostile power–even the palm-tree, the well-known symbol of victory*.

*Notice that the serpent wrapping around this tree brings forth life from the dead or resurrection or transformation.  This will be seen below in connection with the Christmas tree and Kundalini.

The Christmas-tree, as has been stated, was generally at Rome a different tree, even the fir; but the very same idea as was implied in the palm-tree was implied in the Christmas-fir; for that covertly symbolised the new-born God as Baal-berith, * “Lord of the Covenant,” and thus shadowed forth the perpetuity and everlasting nature of his power, not that after having fallen before his enemies, he had risen triumphant over them all.
* Baal-bereth, which differs only in one letter from Baal-berith, “Lord of the Covenant,” signifies “Lord of the fir-tree.”
Therefore, the 25th of December, the day that was observed at Rome as the day when the victorious god reappeared on earth, was held at the Natalis invicti solis, “The birth-day of the unconquered Sun.” Now the Yule Log is the dead stock of Nimrod, deified as the sun-god, but cut down by his enemies; the Christmas-tree is Nimrod redivivus–the slain god come to life again.*

*Again it is seen that Christmas is not about birth.  But about life from the dead/rebirth or the ‘evolution of man’ into homo noeticus.  The promise of the adversary in the garden.

In the light reflected by the above statement on customs that still linger among us, the origin of which has been lost in the midst of hoar antiquity, let the reader look at the singular practice still kept up in the South on Christmas-eve, of kissing under the mistletoe bough. That mistletoe bough in the Druidic superstition, which, as we have seen, was derived from Babylon, was a representation of the Messiah, “The man the branch.” The mistletoe was regarded as a divine branch *–a branch that came from heaven, and grew upon a tree that sprung out of the earth.

*See Mark of the Beast part 3- Ivy, Bacchus, Christmas & Hanukkahclick here

FROM CHRISTMAS IN RITUAL BY CLEMENT MILES
Let us turn to the customs of the Roman Empire which may be in part responsible for the German Christmas-tree. The practice of adorning houses with evergreens at the January Kalends was common throughout the Empire, as we learn from Libanius, Tertullian, and Chrysostom. A grim denunciation of such decorations and the lights which accompanied them may be quoted from Tertullian; it makes a pregnant contrast of pagan and Christian. “Let them,” he says of the heathen, “kindle lamps, they who have no light; let them fix on the doorposts laurels which shall afterwards be burnt, they for whom fire is close at hand; meet for them are testimonies of darkness and auguries of punishment. But thou,” he says to the Christian, “art a light of the world and a tree that is ever green; if thou hast renounced temples, make not a temple of thy own house-door.”

Birthday connectionclick here

“Herod reigned over the Jews in Syria, in the times of Augustus; therefore the Herodians kept Herod’s birthday, as also the sabbath, on which day they set up candles in the windows lighted, and encircled with violets.”

This they did, believing him to be the Messiah: and it is further to be observed, that the word here used, is said (r) to be proper to the dead, and not to the living; and that he that uses it of the living, speaks very inaccurately: but however, it was a festival, and a time of great mirth and jollity; and a proper opportunity offered to Herodias, to execute her malicious designs against John the Baptist; for at this time,
2Ma 6:7 On the monthly celebration of the king’s birthday, the Jews were taken, under bitter constraint, to partake of the sacrifices; and when the feast of Dionysus came, they were compelled to walk in the procession in honor of Dionysus, wearing wreaths of ivy click here.

Isa 1:29  For they shall be ashamed of the trees which you lusted after; and you shall be ashamed of the gardens that you have chosen.
Isa 1:30  For you shall be like a tree whose leaf fades, and like a garden that has no water in it.

The Christmas tree represents the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  The Menorah represents the tree of Life, Yahshua where the living waters come from (Psalm 1).

Isa 57:5  Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?
Isa 30:21  And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
Isa 30:22  Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.

Eze 16:16  And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places (where the trees were) with divers colours (H2921), and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.

H2921 טלא ṭâlâ’ taw-law’
A primitive root; properly to cover with pieces; that is, (by implication) to spot or variegate (as tapestry):
Tapestry
TAP’ESTRY, n. [L. tapes, tapestry.] A kind of woven hangings of wool and silk, often enriched with gold and silver, representing figures of men, animals, landscapes, &c.

Eze 6:13  Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols.
Jer 3:6  The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.

Christmas tree – Kundalini connection

Kundalini is the belief that there is a serpent encoiled at the base of the spine which can be meditation and ’spiritual’ acts, causing it to climb the spine where it reaches your pineal gland and opens your ‘3rd eye.’   Interestingly, the word for spine and tree are the same.

The serpent rises up the spine to the pineal gland which was represented in ancient cultures as the pine cone….the fruit of the pine tree.

Staff of Osiris

Staff of Bacchus

The pine cone is associated with the Sumerian Annunaki who are said to have ‘created’ men from clay jars.  This is referring to manipulation of DNA which will need to be discussed in greater detail in another study but needless to say it is associated with the Kundalini spirit, the ‘awakening’ of the serpent and the result of man being ‘enlightened’ or evolving into a higher spiritual being.

Notice that Christmas tree lights are connected to the serpent.  The word for serpent is nachash which literally means shining one.  This is also connected to Lucifer which means light bringer.  Here we see the Christmas tree, which represents the ‘born again’ pagan Christ who brings enlightenment to mankind.

Antichrist connection

The tradition of the Christmas tree symbolically portrayed the death and reincarnation of Osiris in his son, Horus:
“…the divine child born at the winter solstice was born as a new incarnation of the great god (after that god had been cut in pieces…on purpose to revenge his death upon his murderers.) Now the great god, cut off in the midst of his power and glory, was symbolised as a huge tree, stripped of all his branches, and cut down almost to the ground. But the great Serpent, the symbol of the life restoring Aesculapius, twists itself around the dead stock…and lo, at its side sprouts a young tree – a tree of an entirely different kind, that is never to be cut down by a hostile power -…and thus shadowed forth the perpetuity and everlasting nature of his power, how that after having fallen before his enemies, he has risen triumphant over them all. Therefore, the 25th of December, the day that was observed in Rome as the day when the victorious god reappeared on earth was held at the Natalis invicti solis, ‘The birthday of the unconquered Sun.”

The feast of Christmas is, in allegorical form, the pagan celebration of the Serpent’s eventual triumph over the very God who frustrated the Babylonian attempt to build a tower to heaven (symbolized by a tree). By reviving and restoring the mystery religions as they were practiced in the pre-flood civilization, Horus became the Egyptian savior and virtual counterpart of Jesus Christ. In her Theosophical Glossary, H.P. Blavatsky thus describes Horus:
“Horus (Eg.). The last in the line of divine Sovereigns in Egypt, said to be the son of Osiris and Isis. He is the great god ‘loved of Heaven,’ the ‘’beloved of the Sun, the offspring of the gods, the subjugator of the world.’ At the time of the Winter Solstice (our Christmas), his image in the form of a small newly-born infant, was brought out from the sanctuary for the adoration of the worshipping crowds…

In pagan Rome, the celebration of the Winter Solstice began on December 17 with the feast of Saturn — also called the Saturnalia. Through December 23rd, the Roman world engaged in merrymaking and the exchanging of gifts in honor of Saturn, the god of sowing and husbandry and, according to a Rosicrucian source, to commemorate a future Golden Age of Saturn:
“Here is the general reformation of the world announced in the Rosicrucian manifestos described as a world reformation… Whilst involving definite reforms in education, church, and law, this general reformation has millenarian overtones; it will bring the world back to the state in which Adam found it, which was also Saturn’s golden age. So, in the Confessio, the second Rosicrucian manifesto, the general reformation is said to presage ‘a great influx of truth and light’ such as surrounded Adam in Paradise, and which God will allow before the end of the world…this millennium, this return to the golden age of Adam and Saturn, is said to be assisted by ‘the high society of the Rosicrucians.’”

…the manner and the means by which the present-day man is transformed into the Divine Superman.  This symbol-  Christian Rose Cross- shows the end and aim of human evolution; ” “the solution of the World Mystery – Man’s past evolution, present constitution, and particularly the secret of his future development.

Christmas is a “Christianized” form of Saturnalia.  The winter-solstice celebration in honor of Saturn.  It established that Saturn’s mark is the hexagram and is the star which ancient Yisrael worshipped in the wilderness according to the prophet Amos.

Interestingly, it is said that Mithras referred to himself as a star.  December 25th was Mithras birthday
“I am a star which goes with thee and shines out of the depths”-Mithraic Saying

Crowned Emperor
On Christmas Day in 800, while Charlemagne knelt in prayer in Saint Peter’s in Rome, Pope Leo III seized a golden crown from the altar and placed it on the bowed head of the king. The throng in the church shouted, “To Charles the August, crowned by God, great and pacific emperor, long life and victory!”…the history of Charlemagne is interesting and connects to the Merovingian bloodline.  This will have to be discussed in more detail in a future study, Yah willing.

Connection to Nibiruclick here ?

The Star of Bethlehem, also called the Christmas Star,[1] is a star in Christian tradition that revealed the birth of Jesus to the magi (or “wise men”) and later led them to Bethlehem.

Share International Reveals Christmas Miracle
In 1988, CNN and other media reported on Maitreya’s miraculous appearance to 6,000 people in Nairobi, Kenya, on Saturday, June 11. A week before the event, a remarkable sign occurred: “On Saturday 4 June a big, bright star was sighted, unusually brighter than ordinary stars,” reported Kenya Times editor Job Mutungi.
News Release No. 87, 11 December 2008
Christmas Miracle

For years the world has been filled with miracles of all kinds. In April 1995 Time magazine devoted an eight-page spread to its cover story on miracles, and concluded:”People are hungry for signs.”

Look now for the biggest miracle of all. In the very near future a large, bright star will appear in the sky visible to all throughout the world – night and day.
Awaited by all faiths under different names, Maitreya is the Christ to Christians, the Imam Mahdi to Muslims, Krishna to Hindus, the Messiah to Jews, and Maitreya Buddha to Buddhists. He is the World Teacher for all, religious or not, an educator in the broadest sense.

“In the very near future, people everywhere will have the opportunity to witness an extraordinary and significant sign, the like of which has been manifested only once before, at the birth of Jesus. Then, according to Christian teaching, a star appeared in the heavens and led three wise men from the East to the birthplace of Jesus. Soon, once again, a star-like luminary of brilliant power will be seen around the world.” (Benjamin Creme’s Master, ‘Maitreya’s first interview’, SI Jan/Feb 2009)

On 12 December 2008 Share International distributed a news release announcing that in the very near future a large, bright star would appear in the sky visible throughout the world, night and day, heralding the imminent appearance of Maitreya in His first interview on a major US television programme. Since early January 2009 sightings of the star have been reported all over the world and hundreds of sightings have been sent to Share International. We include a selection of the latest reports from the media, Share International readers, and sightings from YouTube. All are genuine sightings confirmed by Benjamin Creme’s Master to be the ‘star’.

With Maitreya and His group working openly in the world, humanity is assured not only of survival but of the creation of a brilliant new civilization.

The term “Novus Ordo Seclorum,” A New Order of the Ages, was adapted by Charles Thomson in 1782 who, while designing the Great Seal of the United States, was inspired by a line in Virgil’s Ecologue IV from the first century:

Now the last age by Cumae’ Sibyl has come and gone,

And the majestic roll of circling centuries begins anew:

Justice returns, old Saturn’s reign

With a new breed of men sent down from heaven.

On do thou, at the boy’s birth in whom

The iron shall cease, the golden race arise,

Befriend him, chaste Lucina: ‘this thine own Apollo reigns….

He shall receive the life of gods,

And see Heroes and gods commingling,

And himself be seen of them,

And with his father’s worth.

Santa Claus

Santa Claus

Santa Claus is designed to be a direct counterfeit of the Messiah…therefore he is a representative of the antichrist

Mat 18:6  But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

2Co 11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Satan wants to be like the Most High…he is a counterfeiter
Isa 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

WHITE HAIR
Rev 1:13  And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
Rev 1:14  His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

CLOTHING…red & white

Dan 7:9  I was looking until the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days sat, whose robe was white as snow and the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was like flames of fire, its wheels like burning fire.

Isa 63:2  Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?

FURNACE
Rev 1:15  And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

CARPENTER (Santa’s North pole workshop)
Mar 6:3  Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.

NORTH POLE
Eze 8:14  Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD’S house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.

CROWN OF THORNS(HOLLY)
Mar 15:17  And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head,

RIDES UPON THE SKIES

Deu 33:26  There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.

HO HO HO
Zec 2:6  Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the LORD: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the LORD.

FALLEN ANGELS=ELVES
Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

LOVES US
Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE
Mat 7:7  Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

ALL POWERFUL
Mat 28:18  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

IMMORTAL
Psa 102:24  I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations.

OWN SPIRIT…Christmas spirit
Pro 1:23  Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

FEAR…children taught to fear Santa
Psa 34:11  Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

GIVE ACCOUNT…making a list, checking it twice
Rom 14:12  So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

THRONE…Santa’s throne of Molech
Mat 25:31  When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

JUDGEMENT BOOKS
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

BELIEVE
Joh 10:42  And many believed on him there.

WHITE HORSE
Rev 19:11  And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

GLORIOUS APPEARING
Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Santa Claus Poseidon connection

St. Nicholas ever existed as a human. In fact, there are quite a few indicators that his life story was simply recycled from those of Pagan gods. Many other ancient Pagan gods and goddesses were similarly Christianized in the early centuries of the Church. His legends seems to have been mainly created out of myths attributed to the Greek God Poseidon, the Roman God Neptune, and the Teutonic God Hold Nickar.  “In the popular imagination [of many Russians] he became the heir of Mikoula, the god of harvest, ‘who will replace God, when God becomes too old.’

“St. Nicholas of Bari (Fourth Century),” Catholic Information Network, at: http://www.cin.org/nichbari.html

When the church created the persona of St. Nicholas, they adopted Poseidon’s title “the Sailor.” They seem to have picked up his last name from Nickar. Various temples of Poseidon became shrines of St. Nicholas. 1 “In medieval England… in tiny sea ports we find the typical little chapel built on an eminence and looking out to sea.” 8 St. Nicholas also adopted some of the qualities of “The Grandmother” or Befana from Italy. She was said to have filled children’s stockings with gifts. Her shrine at Bari was also converted into a shrine to St. Nicholas.

“Probably earlier than the association of St. Nicholas with Poseidon is that with Demeter, or Diana*, whose cult was particularly in vogue in Lycia, the scene of the principal events in the story of St. Nicholas.”
George H. McKnight, St. Nicholas: His Legend and His Role in the Christmas Celebration and Other Popular Customs (1917).

*Here we see again the connection between Nimrod & Semiramis.

Poseidon-The horse, the dolphin (the symbol of the calm sea) and the pine-tree, with wreaths* of which the Isthmian victors were crowned, were sacred to him.
By far the most famous of his festivals was that celebrated every alternate year on the isthmus of Corinth, at which the “Isthmian games” were held. Here a colossal statue of him was set up in bronze by the Greeks after their victory over the Persians.

*Isthmian games:

Ivyclick here
ı̄´vi (κισσός, kissós): The only mention of the word in all the sacred writings is in 2 Macc 6:7 in connection with the oppression of the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes: “On the day of the king’s birth every month they were brought by bitter constraint to eat of the sacrifices; and when the feast of Bacchus (Dionysus) was kept, the Jews were compelled to go in procession to Dionysus, carrying ivy,” this plant (Hedera helix)* being sacred to the Greek god of wine and of the culture of the vine (compare Eur. Bacchae, passim). It was of ivy or of pine that the “corruptible crown” of the famous 1sthmian games was made (1Co_9:25).

1Co 9:25  But everyone striving controls himself in all things. Then those truly that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.

Robertson Word Pictures

A corruptible crown (phtharton stephanon). Stephanos (crown) is from stephō, to put around the head, like the Latin corona, wreath or garland, badge of victory in the games. In the Isthmian games it was of pine leaves, earlier of parsley, in the Olympian games of the wild olive. “Yet these were the most coveted honours in the whole Greek world” (Findlay).

The triden of Shiva is another representation of Poseidon…In Hinduism it is associated with transformation…

The shin is associated with 3 vav’s…ie 666click here.

The birth of the Messiah

Luk 2:1  And it happened in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus for all the habitable world to be registered.
Luk 2:2  This registration first occurred under the governing of Syria by Cyrenius.
Luk 2:3  And all went to be registered, each to his own city.
Luk 2:4  And Joseph also went from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because of his being of the house and family of David,
Luk 2:5  to be registered with Mary, the one having been betrothed to him as wife, she being pregnant.
Luk 2:6  And it happened as they were there, the days were fulfilled for her to bear.
Luk 2:7  And she bore her son, the First-born. And she wrapped Him and laid Him in the manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Luk 2:8  And shepherds were in the same country living in the fields and keeping guard over their flock by night.
Luk 2:9  And, behold, an angel of the Lord came on them. And the glory of the Lord shone around them. And they feared with a great fear.
Luk 2:10  And the angel said to them, Do not fear. For, behold, I proclaim good news to you, a great joy, which will be to all people,
Luk 2:11  because today a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, was born to you in the city of David.
Luk 2:12  And this is a sign to you: You will find a babe having been wrapped, lying in the manger.
Luk 2:13  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
Luk 2:14  Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, good will among men.
Luk 2:15  And it happened as the angels departed from them into the heaven, even the men, the shepherds, said to one another, Indeed, let us go over to Bethlehem, and let us see this thing occurring, which the Lord made known to us.
Luk 2:16  And hurrying, they came and sought out both Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in the manger.
Luk 2:17  And seeing, they publicly told about the word spoken to them about this Child.
Luk 2:18  And all those hearing marveled about the things spoken to them by the shepherds.
Luk 2:19  And Mary kept all these words, meditating in her heart.
Luk 2:20  And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all things which they heard and saw, even as was spoken to them.

The Shepherds would not have been in the fields during December 25th

Lightfoot commentary

Luk 2:8

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field,  keeping watch over their flock by night.

[And there were shepherds keeping watch over their flock;  etc.]  These are the sheep of the wilderness;  viz.  Those which go out to pasture about the time of the Passover,  and are fed in the fields,  and return home upon the first rain.

“Which is the first rain?  It begins on the third of the month Marchesvan.  The middle rain is on the seventh:  the last on the seventeenth.  So R. Meier:  but R. Judah saith,  On the seventh,  seventeenth,  and one-and-twentieth.”

The spring coming on,  they drove their beasts into wildernesses or champaign grounds,  where they fed them the whole summer,  keeping watch over them night and day,  that they might not be impaired either by thieves or ravenous beasts.  They had for this purpose their tower to watch in;  or else certain small cottages erected for this very end,  as we have observed elsewhere.  Now in the month Marchesvan,  which is part of our October and part of November,  the winter coming on,  they betook themselves home again with the flocks and the herds.

John Gill commentary

abiding in the field, watching over their flock by night: from whence it appears, that Christ was born in the night; and the (o) Jews say, that the future redemption shall be in the night; and Jerom says (p), it is a tradition of the Jews, that Christ will come in the middle of the night, as was the passover in Egypt: it is not likely that he was born, as is commonly received, at the latter end of December, in the depth of winter; since at this time, shepherds were out in the fields, where they lodged all night, watching their flocks: they were diligent men, that looked well to their flocks, and watched them by night, as well as by day, to preserve them from beasts of prey; they were, as it is in the Greek text, “keeping the watches of the night over their flock.” The night was divided into four watches, the even, midnight, cock crowing, and morning; and these kept them, as the Arabic version adds, alternately, some kept the flock one watch, and some another, while the rest slept in the tent, or tower, that was built in the fields for that purpose. There were two sorts of cattle with the Jews; there was one sort which they called מדבריות, “the cattle of the wilderness”, that lay in the fields; and another sort which they called בייתות, “the cattle of the house”, that were brought up at home: concerning both which, they have this rule (q),

“they do not water nor slay the cattle of the wilderness, but they water and slay the cattle of the house: these are the cattle of the house, that lie in the city; the cattle of the wilderness, are they that lie in the pastures.

On which, one of their commentators (r) observes,

“these lie in the pastures, which are in the villages, all the days of cold and heat, and do not go into the cities, until the rains descend.

The first rain is in the month Marchesvan, which answers to the latter part of our October, and the former part of November; and of this sort, seem to be the flocks those shepherds were keeping by night, the time not being yet come, of their being brought into the city: from whence it appears, that Christ must be born before the middle of October, since the first rain was not yet come; concerning this, the Gemara (s) is more large,

“the Rabbins teach, that these are they of the wilderness, or fields, and these are they of the house; they of the field are they that go out on the passover, and feed in the pastures, and come in at the first rain; and these are they of the house, all that go out and feed without the border, and come and lie within the border (fixed for a sabbath day’s journey): Rabbi says, those, and those are of the house; but these are they that are of the field, all they that go out and feed in the pastures, and do not come in to remain, neither in the days of the sun, nor in the days of the rains.

(o) Tzeror Hamrnor, fol. 73. 3. (p) In Matt. xxv. 6. (q) Misn. Betza, c. 5. sect. 7. (r) Maimon. in ib. (s) T. Bab. Betza, for. 40. 1. & Sabbat. fol. 45. 2. Vid Maimon Hilch. Yom Tob, c. 2. sect. 2.

Adam Clarke

Luk 2:8
There were – shepherds abiding in the field – There is no intimation here that these shepherds were exposed to the open air. They dwelt in the fields where they had their sheep penned up; but they undoubtedly had tents or booths under which they dwelt.
Keeping watch – by night – Or, as in the margin, keeping the watches of the night, i.e. each one keeping a watch (which ordinarily consisted of three hours) in his turn. The reason why they watched them in the field appears to have been, either to preserve the sheep from beasts of prey, such as wolves, foxes, etc., or from freebooting banditti, with which all the land of Judea was at that time much infested. It was a custom among the Jews to send out their sheep to the deserts, about the passover, and bring them home at the commencement of the first rain: during the time they were out, the shepherds watched them night and day. As the passover occurred in the spring, and the first rain began early in the month of Marchesvan, which answers to part of our October and November, we find that the sheep were kept out in the open country during the whole of the summer. And as these shepherds had not yet brought home their flocks, it is a presumptive argument that October had not yet commenced, and that, consequently, our Lord was not born on the 25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields; nor could he have been born later than September, as the flocks were still in the fields by night. On this very ground the nativity in December should be given up. The feeding of the flocks by night in the fields is a chronological fact, which casts considerable light upon this disputed point. See the quotations from the Talmudists in Lightfoot.
The time in which Christ was born has been considered a subject of great importance among Christians. However, the matter has been considered of no moment by Him who inspired the evangelists; as not one hint is dropped on the subject, by which it might be possible even to guess nearly to the time, except the chronological fact mentioned above. A late writer makes the following remark: “The first Christians placed the baptism of Christ about the beginning of the fifteenth year of Tiberius; and thence reckoning back thirty years, they placed his birth in the forty-third year of the Julian period, the forty-second of Augustus, and the twenty-eighth after the victory at Actium. This opinion obtained till a.d. 527, when Dionysius Exiguus invented the vulgar account. Learned and pious men have trifled egregiously on this subject, making that of importance which the Holy Spirit, by his silence, has plainly informed them is of none. Fabricius gives a catalogue of no less than 136 different opinions concerning the Year of Christ’s birth: and as to his birth Day, that has been placed by Christian sects and learned men in every month in the year. The Egyptians placed it in January – Wagenseil, in February – Bochart, in March – some, mentioned by Clemens Alexandrinus, in April – others, in May – Epiphanius speaks of some who placed it in June – and of others who supposed it to have been in July – Wagenseil, who was not sure of February, fixed it probably in August – Lightfoot, on the 15th of September – Scaliger, Casaubon, and Calvisius, in October – others, in November – but the Latin Church, supreme in power, and infallible in judgment, placed it on the 25th of December, the very day on which the ancient Romans celebrated the feast of their goddess Bruma.” See more in Robinson’s Notes on Claude’s Essay, vol. i. p. 275, etc. Pope Julius I. was the person who made this alteration, and it appears to have been done for this reason: the sun now began his return towards the northern tropic, ending the winter, lengthening the short days, and introducing the spring. All this was probably deemed emblematical of the rising of the Sun of righteousness on the darkness of this world, and causing the day-spring from on high to visit mankind.

Alexander Hislop writes in The Two Babylons:

And first, as to the festival in honor of the birth of Christ, or Christmas. How comes it that that festival was connected with the 25th of December? There is not a word in the Scriptures about the precise day of His birth, or the time of the year when He was born. What is recorded there, implies that at what time so ever His birth took place, it could not have been on the 25th of December. At the time that the angel announced His birth to the shepherds of Bethlehem, they were feeding their flocks by night in the open fields. Now, no doubt, the climate of Palestine is not so severe as the climate of this country; but even there, though the heat of the day be considerable, the cold of the night, from December to February, is very piercing. It was not the custom for the shepherds of Judea to watch their flocks in the open fields later than about the end of October. It is in the last degree incredible, then, that the birth of Christ could have taken place at the end of December. There is great unanimity among commentators on this point (pp. 91-92).

Hislop continues:

Indeed, it is admitted by the most learned and candid writers of all parties that the day of our Lord’s birth cannot be determined, and that within the Christian Church no such festival as Christmas was ever heard of until the third century, and that not till the fourth century was far advanced did it gain much observance (pp. 92-93)

Messiah Yahshua was born around the Sukkot seasonclick here.

Conception of John the Baptist

Course of Abijah
Luk 1:5  In the days of Herod the king of Judea, there was a certain priest named Zacharias, of the daily course of Abijah. And his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.
Luk 1:6  And they were both righteous before God, walking blameless in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.
Luk 1:7  And no child was born to them, because Elizabeth was barren. And both were advanced in their days.
Luk 1:8  And it happened in his serving as priest in the order of his course before God,
Luk 1:9  according to the custom of the priests, entering into the Holy Place of the Lord, it was Zacharias’ lot to burn incense.
1Ch 24:1  And these are the divisions of the sons of Aaron. The sons of Aaron were Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.
1Ch 24:2  But Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and they had no sons. And Eleazar and Ithamar were priests.
1Ch 24:3  And David divided them according to their offices in their service, even Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar.
1Ch 24:4  And more sons of Eleazar were found than the sons of Ithamar, for heads of the men. And they divided them. For the sons of Eleazar were: sixteen chiefs to their father’s house; and eight to the sons of Ithamar, to the house of their fathers.
1Ch 24:5  So they divided them by lots, these with these. For these were the rulers of the sanctuary and rulers of God, of Eleazar’s sons and Ithamar’s sons.
1Ch 24:6  And Shemaiah the son of Nethaneel the scribe, of the Levites, wrote them before the king, and the rulers, and Zadok the priest, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and the rulers of the fathers of the priests and Levites. One father’s house was taken for Eleazar, and one taken for Ithamar.
1Ch 24:7  And the first lot came out for Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah,
1Ch 24:8  the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim,
1Ch 24:9  the fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin,
1Ch 24:10  the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah,
1Ch 24:11  the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah,
1Ch 24:12  the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim,
1Ch 24:13  the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab,
1Ch 24:14  the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer,
1Ch 24:15  the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Aphses,
1Ch 24:16  the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezekel,
1Ch 24:17  the twenty first to Jachin, the twenty second to Gamul,
1Ch 24:18  the twenty third to Delaiah, the twenty fourth to Maaziah.
1Ch 24:19  These were the orderings of them in their service to come into the house of YHWH, according to their ordinance, to Aaron their father, as YHWH God of Israel had commanded him.
The Talmud records that each shift was a week.  From noon sabbath to noon sabbath

Josephus records that these courses were being followed in the 1st century.
Josephus Antiquities 7:14.7
He divided them also into courses: and when he had separated the priests from them, he found of these priests twenty-four courses, sixteen of the house of Eleazar, and eight of that of Ithamar; and he ordained that one course should minister to God eight days, from sabbath to sabbath. And thus were the courses distributed by lot, in the presence of David, and Zadok and Abiathar the high priests, and of all the rulers; and that course which came up first was written down as the first, and accordingly the second, and so on to the twenty-fourth; and this partition hath remained to this day.

Yahshua was born in the Fall of 5 BC, therefore John the Baptist was born in the Spring of 5 BC and conceived 9 months earlier in the summer of 6 BC.  In the year 6 BC, the first day of the first month was a weekly Sabbath March 20.
Zachariah was of the 8th course.  He was assigned the 9th and 10th weeks from the beginning of the year.  Iyar 27 – Sivan 5 (May 15-22) and Sivan 5 – Sivan 12 (May 22-29).  Sometime during these two weeks Gabriel appeared to him.  It is a possibility that this occurred on Pentecost which was Sivan 6 (May 16).  Zachariah returned home on May 29 so it can be assumed that Elizabeth conceived May 30 – June 12 in the year 6 BC.  6 months later Mary visited Elizabeth (Luk 1:36) at the time of Hanukkah.  John would have been born sometime between Adar 19 & Nisan 3 or February 27 – March 11 5 BC.  Mary’s conception would have been around Kislev 17-30 Nov 28- Dec 11, this brings Messiah’s birth to around the time of Elul 24-Tishri 15 or August 27- September 8.

This would mean that Yahshua was conceived on Hanukkah (the Festival of Lights) and born on Sukkot (the Festival of Lights).  Hanukkah is also an 8 day festival that was based on Sukkot.

2Ma 10:6  And they kept the eight days with gladness, as in the feast of the tabernacles, remembering that not long afore they had held the feast of the tabernacles, when as they wandered in the mountains and dens like beasts.
2Ma 10:7  Therefore they bare branches, and fair boughs, and palms also, and sang psalms unto him that had given them good success in cleansing his place.
2Ma 10:8  They ordained also by a common statute and decree, That every year those days should be kept of the whole nation of the Jews.

During the Sukkot season (John 7-8) Yahshua proclaimed the following:

Joh 8:12  Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, I am the Light of the world. The one following Me will in no way walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.

The building of the Tabernacle

Exo 25:8  And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
Exo 25:9  According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.

Joh 1:9  He was the true Light; He enlightens every man coming into the world.
Joh 1:10  He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, yet the world did not know Him.
Joh 1:11  He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
Joh 1:12  But as many as received Him, to them He gave authority to become children of God, to the ones believing into His name,
Joh 1:13  who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but were born of God.
Joh 1:14  And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory, glory as of an only begotten from the Father, full of grace and of truth.

What is the counterfeit of these festival of lights?  Christmas.  This has connections to the mark of the beast, which is a counterfeit of the mark of YHWHclick here

Sukkot is a picture of the Messianic kingdom where Messiah dwells with His people.

Zec 14:16  And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.

Yahshua dwelling with His people during the Messianic era
Eze 37:22  And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
Eze 37:23  Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
Eze 37:24  And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
Eze 37:25  And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
Eze 37:26  Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
Eze 37:27  My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Christmas is a counterfeit of Sukkot.  Hence, Christmas is a picture of the antichrist kingdom.

It is clear from Scripture that the magi did not come to visit the babe.  He was close to 2 years old when they came to see Him.

Mat 2:1  And when Jesus had been born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men arrived from the east to Jerusalem,
Mat 2:2  saying, Where is He born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.

Mat 2:7  Then secretly calling the wise men, Herod asked of them exactly the time of the star appearing.
Mat 2:8  And sending them to Bethlehem, he said, Having gone, exactly inquire about the child. And when you find him, bring me word again so that coming I may also worship him.

Mat 2:16  Then seeing that he was mocked by the wise men, Herod was greatly enraged, and having sent, he killed all the boys in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he exactly asked from the wise men.

Where does this tradition of the wise men visiting the baby Jesus come from?  The Gnostic gospels.

Protoevangelion 15:9  Wise men come to Christ in the cave

1 Infancy 3:1 Wise men, listening to a prophecy of Zoroaster bring gifts to Jesus

Mark of the Beast connection

Moloch is synomonous with Saturn.  Christmas is derived from Saturnalia…
The Talisman of Saturn became known as the Seal of Solomon.

From James Fausset Brown commentary on Amos 5:26
the star of your god — R. Isaac Caro says all the astrologers represented Saturn as the star of Israel. Probably there was a figure of a star on the head of the image of the idol, to represent the planet Saturn; hence “images” correspond to “star” in the parallel clause. A star in hieroglyphics represents God (Num_24:17). “Images” are either a Hebraism for “image,” or refer to the many images made to represent Chiun.

John Gill commentary on Amos 5:26

Holy Blood Holy Grail pg 297
Quoting from Perlesvaus pg. 359
“Well I know that many brave knights dwell with the Grail at Munsalvaesche.  Always when they ride out, as they often do, it is to seek adventure.  They do so for their sins, these templars, whether their reward be defeat or victory.  A valiant hose lives there, and I will tell you how they are sustained.  They live from a stone of purest kind.  If you know not know it, it shall here be named to you.  It is called lapsit exillis. By the power of that stone the phoenix burns to ashes, but the ashes give him life again.  Thus does the phoenix molt and change its plumage, which afterward is bright and shining and as lovely as before.  There never was a human so ill but that, if he on day sees that stone, he cannot die within the week that follows.  And in looks he will not fade.  His appearance wills tay the same as when the best years of his life began, and though he should see the stone for two hundred years, it will never change, save that his hair might perhaps turn gray.  Such power does the stone give a man that flesh and bones are at once made young again.  The stone is called the Grail.”

“Lapsit exillis might be a corruption of lapis ex caelis– ‘stone from the heavens.’ It might also be a corruption of lapsit ex caelis – ‘it fell from heaven’; or of lapis lapsus ex caelus- ‘a stone fallen from heaven; or, finally, of lapis elixir -the fabulous Philosopher’s Stone of alchemy.”…The Philosopher’s stone will need to be discussed in more detail in a future study, but it points to the ‘evolution of man’ into a ‘god.’  DNA is a stone, when it is mixed with the ’stone’ from heaven the ‘Holy Grail’ or transformation is attained.  This is what Christmas is a foreshadow of.  The return of the age of Saturn.  The age of Aquarius.  The golden age of the ‘gods.’

Back to John Gill’s commentary:

The Targum is,

“ye have borne the tabernacle of your priests, Chiun your image, the star your God, which ye have made to yourselves.”

It may be further observed, for the confirmation and illustration of what has been said concerning Chiun, that the Egyptian Anubis, which Plutarch (x) says is the same with Saturn, is called by him Kyon, which seems to be no other than this word Chiun: and whereas Stephen calls it Rephan, this is not a corruption of the word, reading Rephan or Revan for Chevan; nor has he respect to Rimmon, the god of the Syrians, but it is the Egyptian name for Saturn; which the Septuagint interpreters might choose to make use of, they interpreting for the king of Egypt: and Diodorus Siculus (y) makes mention of an Egyptian king called Remphis, whom Braunius (z) takes to be this very Chiun; see Act_7:43; but Rephas, or Rephan, was the same with Chronus, or Saturn, from whence came the Rephaim (a), who dwelt in Ashtaroth Karnaim, a town of Ham or Chronus; see Gen_14:5.

(q) כוכב אלהיכם “sidus deum vestrum”, Liveleus; “sidus, vel stellam deos vestros”, Calvin. (r) Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 1. p. 38. (s) כיון צלמיכם “placentam imagiuum vestrarum”, Pagninus, Tigurine version, Vatablus. (t) Dictionary, in the word “Chiun”. (u) “Basim imaginum vestrarum”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; “statumen”, Burkius. (w) Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 1. p. 35. (x) De Iside. (y) Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 56.

The six-pointed star is considered by occultists to be the Star of Bethlehem which will precede the Advent of the False Christ.

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days…shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven…” (Matt. 24:29-30) “The Star is the symbol of the perfect life, the perfect balance, of the Christ-man. The six-pointed star is the Star of Bethlehem, which again means the Star of the Son of man…
“The star with the six points represents the star of Light…of brotherhood, the Star of Christ. The love of Christ is represented by this Star.  So, we have in that symbol a representation of the Ancient Wisdom, and the love of Christ, the wisdom and love combined, which is to be realized by humanity in this New Age – the age of Aquarius.” -Gaia Mind

Broken Heart

Eze 6:9  And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken (H7665) with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.

H7665
שׁבר
shâbar
A primitive root; to burst (literally or figuratively): – break (down, off, in pieces, up), broken ([-hearted]), bring to the birth, crush, destroy, hurt, quench, X quite, tear,

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And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Exodus 3:13-14

Was Moses really concerned about what name he would give to God before the people? He told God, “They shall say to me, ‘What is His name.’ What shall I say unto them?” But God had already told him in Exodus 3:6: “Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.”

Moses had several questions – and several excuses – but what he was really asking is revealed partially by what he asked about himself in Exodus 3:11: “And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

Moses wanted to know, “Who am I? What am I like?” So, when he asked God, “What shall I tell them when they ask me Your name,” what he was really asking God was, “What are You like? How can I describe You? To what can I compare You? What are You really like?”

The Bible has many names for God: Elohim, El Shaddai, El Elyon, El Olam, Yahweh (YHWH), Yahweh Jireh, Yahweh Nissi, Yahweh Shalom, Yahweh Sabbaoth, Yahweh Maccaddeshcem, Yahweh Ro’I, Yahweh Tsidken, Yahweh Shammah, Yahweh Elohim Israel, Adonai, Theos, Kurios, Despotes, Father, just to name a few. God cannot be fully described by men as to Who He is, so we are given to know Him by what He does. There are many names that describe a part of what God is, but what people throughout Scripture have asked is, “God, what are You really like?”

Micah, Micaiah, Michal, Michael are able Bible names that ask the rhetorical question: “Who is like God?” This question points out the real problem with explaining what God is really like: As several well-known theologians and preachers have pointed out: There is no one and no thing to which to compare Him. I know we’ve all been told, as privileged people, that we’re “special,” but the fact is, as human beings, there are many, many ways in which we are all similar to each other. But God had to say “I AM” because He could point to no one outside of Himself and say, “He is like Me” or “She is like Me,” or “I am like that.” The truth is: He is like nothing else at all.

When we speak of the problem of making a comparison concerning God, we begin to understand the true concept of God’s holiness. Of all the attributes which make up the glory of God, His holiness may be the most significant – especially when it comes to trying to grasp at His true nature – what He is like. The angels near the throne of God do not cry out love, love, love, or righteous, righteous, righteous, or grace, grace, grace, or even mighty, mighty, mighty, although all of these would be true. What they cry out is holy, holy, holy. (Isaiah 6:3) The name for God’s Spirit is not the Peace Spirit, or the Joy Spirit, or even the Faith spirit, although He is a Spirit of peace, joy, and faith. His name is the Holy Spirit.

There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.

I Samuel 2:2

For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.

Isaiah 43:3

God is holy because of His complete uniqueness, and because in Him is no sin. One of the reasons that, throughout Scripture, the holiness of God is so tied into the idea of sinlessness or freedom from sin, is that a sinful world’s most obvious difference between us and God is that we sin, and He does not.

Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

Exodus 15:11

God has no beginning and no end. He is all-powerful, omniscient, omnipresent, sovereign, timeless, providential. As one well-known preacher says, God is not like us, only wiser, or more powerful, or more righteous – He is not LIKE us at all!

God told Moses to tell the people that God is “I AM THAT I AM,” and for something like 1500 years people asked, “Who is like God?” Then, Jesus of Nazareth came on the scene – a sinless humble obeyer of God’s Word. Jesus is our best look at what God is really like. It was as if God answered and said, “You want to know who is like Me? He is like Me – now learn His ways, and follow Him – He will show you what I am really like.” (Matthew 11:27)

For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

John 1:17-18 (See John 14:7-10.)

Learning what God is really like will be an eternal undertaking – but while we are here on earth we must learn about the Father by walking with, talking with, emulating, worshipping, and magnifying His Son.

This morning, after reading an advent devotional in Revelation 5, I wanted to go back and read the birth narrative of Jesus in Luke. It struck me as I read that there is something very similar between both Jesus’ incarnation and his exaltation. Begin with the latter.

In Revelation 5, as John weeps and longs for someone to be found who will open the scroll (which contains the coming achievements of God’s Kingdom-see Richard Baucham’s “Theology of Revelation), he hears the voice of one of the elders saying, “Do not weep, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David has conquered in order to open the scroll and its seven seals.” But when John looks, what does the “Lion” look like? V. 6 says, “And I saw…a lamb standing as slain.” Not a really impressive lion (in one sense).

In Luke 2, the shepherds are told by the angel, “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy because born to you today is a Savior–Christ the Lord in the city of David. Messiah……YHWH……equated right here at the beginning of Luke’s gospel. But the angel continues (v. 12): “You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a feeding trough.”

John looks for the Lion of Judah who has conquered and sees the Slain Lamb. The shepherds go to see Messiah—YHWH and they saw him lying in a feeding trough for animals.

Truly, the ‘wisdom of God is as foolishness to men’ as Paul wrote, but for those who believe, it is the ‘power of God unto salvation.’

Imagine for a second the Most High God having a conversation with an angel and asking his opinion: “How would you suggest that the Eternal Son of God incarnate himself? What should the circumstances be like?” The angel (if he were like me) would say, “We need some serious pomp and pageantry–companies of heavenly hosts. He’ll be born into a palace where he will be waited on hand and foot from the moment he is born. When he grows up, he will kick some serious enemy tail and everyone will recognize who He is.”

But in the inscrutable, divine counsels of God, he determined that from beginning to end, the human life of the Son would be ironic; counter-cultural; counter-intuitive.

Messiah–equated with YHWH mind you, born into a place where animals chew their cud, would grow up to give his life as a ransom for many and demonstrate that He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the slain Lamb who has purchased for God a people.

What a mystery, this God with us.

Sometimes the VOICE OF GOD is seemingly difficult to hear; other times not so difficult to hear.  Some just flat out refuse to hear God speak at all.  That is partly because they refuse to believe in Him, thus, not believe Him.

The first place God has given us to hear Him, and know Him is His creation. “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork.” (Psalm 19:1).  The second place (and I am not putting these in any order of importance) is His written Word.  The third place is His Son Jesus Christ.  Then there are the circumstances and situations of life; and the words of wisdom from others – friend, foe, relatives or neighbors or work associates.

The written word of God is the place to put all into check to see if what we hear is from God.  If it does not agree with God’s written Word, then it is not God speaking.

Maybe a couple was dating, talking of marriage, then the relationship goes sour, and one of the couple determines that God is not answering their prayer, because He does not bring them back together.  Maybe that is God rescuing that individual from a life of misery.  I know from personal experience that planning a marriage is not a sure guarantee of a good relationship.  I am thankful to the Lord for destroying a relationship that I was refusing, as a young man, to hear Him.  He worked and gave me a wife who loves and cherishes me; the love between us is stronger now than before.

Listening to God as things “go south” is as important as listening to Him when things are going great.

Hear the Psalmist in the 29th Psalm:

“The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters.  The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.  The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.  He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.  The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire.  The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.  The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.”  Psalm 29:3-9 (KJV)

God is not silent.  He may not be speaking loudly.  It may just be in a whisper as with Elijah and the “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:11-14).  If you are born again through Jesus Christ you can and do hear His voice.  If you aren’t hearing then you need to hear Him concerning His Son Jesus, and be saved.

-Tim A. Blankenship

video page updated
Messianic/Hebrew Roots Movement
click here

James, Fausset, Brown
Rev 13:16
to receive a mark — literally, “that they should give them a mark”; such a brand as masters stamp on their slaves, and monarchs on their subjects. Soldiers voluntarily punctured their arms with marks of the general under whom they served. Votaries of idols branded themselves with the idol’s cipher or symbol. Thus Antiochus Epiphanes branded the Jews with the ivy leaf click here, the symbol of Bacchus (2 Maccabees 6:7; 3 Maccabees 2:29). Contrast God’s seal and name in the foreheads of His servants, Rev_7:3; Rev_14:1; Rev_22:4; and Gal_6:17, “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus,” that is, I am His soldier and servant. The mark in the right hand and forehead implies the prostration of bodily and intellectual powers to the beast’s domination. “In the forehead by way of profession; in the hand with respect to work and service” [Augustine].

As seen in part 3click here, the ivy leaf symbol was used as a shadow picture of the mark of the beast in the end.  In Revelation it speaks of those who overcome the mark, the name, the number and the image of the beast.  The mark is associated with a name (letters), number, image (signs/symbols).

Rev 15:2  And I saw, as a glassy sea having been mixed with fire. And the ones overcoming the beast, and its image, and its mark, of the number of its name, were standing on the glassy sea, having harps of God.

In Hebrew & Greek, letters have corresponding numbers, hence the number of its name.  Letters produce words which are sound.  Sound is a frequency/vibration that corresponds to color.  Words, which are sound also form images or shapes as can be seen in cymatic studies.  The mark of the beast, therefore, can be associated with numbers, letters, sounds & colors or whatever else resonates through frequencies.

DNA consists of letters (numbers), shapes, and perhaps even sound.  It is believed that on the Solfeggio scale that Mi is for “Miracles” or 528Hz – is the exact frequency used by genetic engineers throughout the world to repair DNA.   Ultimately, the more I study about the mark of the beast, the more it leads me to the conclusion that the mark is associated with DNA and changing man into a part man, part beast/angel.

Rev 13:18  Here is wisdom: Let the one having reason count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man and its number is six hundred and sixty six.

Shapes corresponding to sound frequencies:

E.W. Bullinger- Number in Scripture Chapter 1 Sound & Music

“When sand is thrown upon a thin metal disc, to which a chord is attached and caused to vibrate, the sand will immediately arrange itself in a perfect geometrical pattern.  The pattern will vary with the number of the vibrations.  These are called “Chladni’s figures.”  Moist plaster on glass or moist water-cloud on rigid surfaces will vibrate at the sound, say, of the human voice, or of a cornet, and will assume forms of various kinds-geometrical, vegetable and floral; some resembling ferns, others resembling leaves and shells, according to the pitch of the note.

The Pendulograph is used for rendering these vibrations visible to the eye.  A pen is attached to one end of the pendulum and the paper to the other and these are made to oscillate at right angles with each other.  According to the vibrations of the sound, patterns will be formed.”

Here we see that shapes and images are formed by sound.  Words produce sound and words= numbers.  Hence, the number of the beast is also a shape.

Symbology

The word translated as mark in Revelation is used on one other time in Scripture referring to man engraving something to represent the Almighty…ie a symbol.
Act 17:29  Then being offspring of God, we ought not to suppose that the Godhead is like gold or silver or stone, engraved by art and the imagination of man.

“Symbolism is the language of the Mysteries, [and] all Nature…to communicate…thoughts which transcend the limitations of language…those who can discover its lost keys may open with them a treasure house of philosophic, scientific, and religious truths.” [Manly P. Hall, 2003]

“The psychological mechanism that transforms energy is the symbol.” (Carl Jung)

“To cast a spell is to project energy through a symbol.” (Starhawk – from “The Spiral Dance” (popular manual for witchcraft)) 1999 Psychic Journal and Sabrina Scott Co., Inc

“Part of the symbols are displayed there to the Initiate, but he is intentionally misled by false interpretations. It is not intended that he shall understand them; but it is intended that he shall imagine he understands them. Their true explication is reserved for the Adepts, the Princes of Masonry.” (Morals and Dogma)

Geometric patterns formed by sound
Dr. Hans Jenny extensively studied the relationship between waveforms and matter, how sound vibrations affect and create physical form. He would send constant pitches into materials such as a droplet of water, and a thin surface covered with licopodium powder, as well as others. When the pitch sounded it would create incredible geometric patterns in the substances. They would look like pentagonal stars, hexagonal cells, spirals, leaves, and complex Mandalas.
Joshua Leeds – Sound Remedies – Author of the Power of Sound

Yantras

The following is quoted from the website:

http://sivasakti.com/articles/intro-yantra.html

It is speaking of yantras, which is an eastern spiritual concept of shapes/symbols being associated with certain energies and entities.

“How do Yantras work? At the basis of yantra operation is something called “shape energy” or “form energy”. The idea is that every shape emits a very specific frequency and energy pattern. Examples of old believes in shape energy are the yantras and mandalas of eastern philosophies, the star of David, the five pointed star (pentagon), the Christian cross, the pyramids and so on. Certain ‘powers’ {gods, angels etc.} are ascribed to the various shapes.
When one focuses on a yantra, his mind is atomatically “tuned in” by resonance into the specific form energy of that yantra. The process of resonance is then maintained and amplified. The yantra acts only as a “tune in” mechanism or a doorway. The subtle energy does not come from the yantra itself, but from the macrocosm.
Basically yantras are secret keys for establishing resonance with the benefic energies of the macrocosm. Very often the yantras can put us in contact with extremely elevated energies and entities, being of invaluable help on the spiritual path. “

Alexander Lauterwasser, homepage: www.wasserklangbilder.de

In Sanskrit, ‘YANTRA’ means machine or absorber of cosmic energy, Yantra resonate with our solar system, a tuning fork connecting to universal consciousness. Vedic scholars understood the symbiotic relationship of wave energy; that sound vibrations ARE geometry [i]. The entrainment phenomenon, where weak pulsations are engulfed by stronger ones, would create the frequency of OM within the mantra-chanting devotee. The Hindus knew the transubstantiating [1] ability of sound [ii] and geometry.

[1] Transubstantiate To change (one substance) into another; transmute.

Perhaps this gives a deeper meaning to the words of the Messiah.

Luk 8:18  Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.

Sacred Geometry: it is the “art and science of describing the universe by number and universal patterns.” ["The New Age Dictionary", edited by Alex Jack, Japan Publications, Inc., 1990, The Year of the Golden Horse, New York, ISBN 0-87040-787-2, p. 170]

Notice which symbol represents the number 6.  The hexagram in sacred geometry is associated with the human embryo at eight cells and to water crystals.  This will be discussed in greater detail but needless to say is connected to DNA very strongly.

The word for number comes from the same Hebrew root:

The ancients understood these things and that is why we see signs and symbols everywhere in their cultures, especially applied to religion.  They understand these things because of what the fallen angels taught mankind when they rebelled against the Most High.  This is precisely why Adonai YHWH commanded us not to apply symbols and signs to Him.

Exo 20:4  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness {temunah} of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

Symbols – DNA connection

Job 19:26  And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
In Hebrew this is in the imperfect tense which can be either present or future, most interpret this as future, however this verse can also be rendered as:
“Yet in my flesh I am seeing Elohim”

Man will look into himself and see the Creator.  DNA, molecules, cells etc.. show the Creator (the Word).

Components of DNA

So the bridge between the edges of the helix is made of a combination of four chemicals, Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine and Guanine.  Which I will abbreviate as A, T, C and G.  Those are the letters of the DNA alphabet.

DNA & Language
Nucleotide    Character (Letter)
Codon        Letter
Gene        Word
Operon        Sentence
Regulon    Paragraph
DNA        Book

Simplified it could be said
Nucleotide bases    Letters
Codons            Words
Genes            Sentences
Book            DNA

DNA is a message from Elohim.  The DNA molecule is just the carrier.  Similar to the Torah.  The Torah is YHWH…the scrolls and books on which it is written is the carrier.
As George Williams puts it: “The gene is a package of information, not an object. The pattern of base pairs in a DNA molecule specifies the gene. But the DNA molecule is the medium, it’s not the message”

The DNA molecule is the instruction manual for the forming of amino acids which are made are the structural elements of proteins that turn into the biochemical units that drive all biological processes.  There are only 22 amino acids* found in proteins.  Certain proteins are called enzymes.  They are catalysts (agents that are necessary for a reaction to occur but are not themselves changed in the process); others are called structural proteins which help to build cells and tissues.

DNA functions exactly like the Hebrew language.  This will be discussed in more detail in the future, Yah willing.

If DNA can be thought of as the language of life, then the four bases can be seen as letters and the codons as arrangements of letters, or words. But like English, DNA’s language is more than words. Some codons function as punctuation marks, containing instructions to stop or start manufacturing a protein. This chemically simple yet stunningly complex DNA molecule dictates not only what proteins the organism will be made of, but how these proteins are to be arranged.

We have seen that one codon contains the instructions for one amino acid, and that sequences of codons specify the production of proteins. Groups of codons that have been arranged in “grammatically” correct sentences to form specific proteins are called “genes”.

DNA contains all the information needed to perpetuate life. This information builds in complexity from nucleotides to codons to genes, ultimately giving the complete text

Sememe (smallest part of a word)
Semen=seed in Latin

Smallest part of a word Sememe from same root as Semen (seed/DNA).
root sem=sign in Greek (semiology=study of signs)
English word seed is from Hebrew word sod (mystery/secret).
Hebrew word for sign is אות ot=letters of Hebrew alphabet
אות ot=aleph vav tav also translated as a miracle from the root aleph tav
As seen in part 1, the word אות is the same word translated as ‘mark.’

Again we see that language (words) are comparable to signs/symbols and DNA.  The DNA connection will be addressed in more detail in a future study, Yah willing.

Rev 1:1  A Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him to show to His slaves things which must occur quickly. And He signified (gk semaino=signed) by sending through His angel to His slave, John,

Exo 18:20  And you warn them as to the statutes and the laws, and make known (gk semaino heb yada*)to them the way in which they should walk, and the work which they should do.

*This word means to know intimately, as in a man ‘knowing’ his wife.  Here we see that the word semaino (sign in Greek) is associated with procreation.  When a man and woman bring forth a child it is through their combination of DNA that the child gets its ‘image.’

Blood (DNA) =image, resemblance

First the natural, then the spiritual

1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body; there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45  So also it has been written, “The” first “man”, Adam, “became a living soul;” the last Adam a life-giving Spirit. Gen. 2:7
1Co 15:46  But not the spiritual first, but the natural; afterward the spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man was out of earth, earthy. The second Man was the Lord out of Heaven. Gen. 2:7

1Co 15:48  Such as is the earthy man, such also are the earthy ones. And such as is the heavenly Man, such also are the heavenly ones.
1Co 15:49  And as we bore the image of the earthy man, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

DNA is a picture of the Word in the natural.  The Tabernacle = our bodies.

2Co 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
The body = the Tabernacle.  The Holy of Holies =the cell.  The ark of the covenant = the nucleus of the cell.  The Word was placed inside the ark, DNA is inside the nucleus.  Man was created in the image of Elohim.  Specifically, believers in Yahshua are created in His image and are now sons of Elohim.  Satan seeks to counterfeit this by creating people in his image.  The mark of YHWH is His Word.  The mark of the beast is a counterfeit word…

The adversary’s desire is always to enter YHWH’s secret place, hidden place…His Temple.

Eze 7:22  I also will turn My face from them, and they shall defile My hidden (KJV secret) place. And violent ones shall enter into it and defile it.

3 Maccabees 1
9 – After he had arrived in Jerusalem, he offered sacrifice to the supreme God and made thank-offerings and did what was fitting for the holy place. Then, upon entering the place and being impressed by its excellence and its beauty,
10 – he marveled at the good order of the temple, and conceived a desire to enter the holy of holies.
11 – When they said that this was not permitted, because not even members of their own nation were allowed to enter, nor even all of the priests, but only the high priest who was pre-eminent over all, and he only once a year, the king was by no means persuaded.
12 – Even after the law had been read to him, he did not cease to maintain that he ought to enter, saying, “Even if those men are deprived of this honor, I ought not to be.”
13 – And he inquired why, when he entered every other temple, no one there had stopped him.

The womb is secret
Psa 139:15  My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret; when I was woven* in the depths of the earth.

*רקם
râqam…this words means fashion, needlework or twisted threads (DNA).
Psa 139:16  Your eyes saw my embryo; and in Your book all my members were written the days they were formed, and not one was yet among them.
Psa 139:17  And how precious are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!

To sum up, this study is shared to show that the mark of the beast is associated with symbols.  Symbols such as Ivyclick here, the cross, the Hexagram and these symbols represent a greater spiritual significance.  They represent the concept ‘as above, so below.’  They point to the ‘transmutation’, the ‘evolution’ of mankind into divine beings (elohim).  They point back to the original temptation of mankind in the garden.  ‘Ye shall be as gods.’

The natural versus the spiritual

Exo 20:4  You shall not make a graven image for yourself, or any likeness in the heavens above, or in the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth;
The left brain is the analytical part of the brain dealing with language, words…the right brain is the part of the brain that deals with emotions and symbols.  Movies, television, music etc fall into this category.  Our Heavenly Father knows how our brains work, this is why He commanded us to muse on His Word, not on images.  Interestingly, during this Hanukkah season the 4th book of Maccabees is all about reason versus emotion.  In Hebraic thought ‘reason’ is using the rational mind to keep the Torah.  In Hellenized Greek though,  ‘reason’ is using the mind to “be your own god”…do what thou wilt…follow your heart (emotions).  The natural mind or the carnal man lives by the emotions or the flesh.  The spiritual mind or the new man lives by the Word.

Psa 94:8  Understand you beastly {natural, fleshly man} ones among the people; yea, you fools, when will you be wise?
Psa 94:9  He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see?
Psa 94:10  He who chastises the nations, shall He not punish, He who teaches man knowledge?
Psa 94:11  YHWH knows the thoughts of man, that they are a mist.
Psa 94:12  Blessed is the man You chasten, O YHWH , You teach him out of Your Law; {spiritual man}
Psa 94:13  to give him rest from troubled days, until the pit is dug for the wicked.

Jer 10:8  But they are at once foolish and animal like; their tree* is an instruction of vanities.

See part 3click here…the christmas tree mark of the beast connection
Jer 10:14  Every man is stupid from lack of knowledge; every refiner is put to shame by the carved image. For his molten image is a lie and no breath is in them.
Jer 10:15  They are vanity, the work of delusion. In the time of their judgment they shall perish.
Jer 10:16  The Portion of Jacob is not like these. For He is the Former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; YHWH of Hosts is His name.

The media

‘Media’ comes from
H4074
מדי
mâday
BDB Definition:
Media or Medes or Madai = “middle land”

The Medes were known as magicians and sorcerers.  This is what we see today in the media.  The adversary uses the media as a tool to keep the masses in the right brain frame of mind with television, music, advertisements etc…click here.  Our communication should be in the Word (the left brain).  Meditating on the things of the Spirit, not the flesh.

Videos:
Signs and Symbols
click here
Frequencies
click here

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Hanukkah; atau lebih dikenal dengan hari raya Penahbisan Bait Suci / Feast of Dedication, merupakan salah satu hari raya yang ditambahkan kemudian setelah hari raya – hari raya yang ditetapkan oleh Bapa YHWH didalam kitab Imamat 23.

Dalam Perjanjian Baru yang diperbaharui, terdapat ayat yang menyebutkan tentang hari raya ini, sebagai berikut (agar lebih jelas ditampilkan dlm beberapa versi) :

Joh 10:22 Dan tibalah perayaan Penahbisan di Yerusalem, dan saat itu adalah musim dingin. (ILT)

Joh 10:22 And the Feast of Dedication took place in Jerusalem, and it was winter. (LITV)

Joh 10:22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.  (KJV)

Joh 10:22 At that time the Hanukkah came to be in Yerushalayim, and it was winter.  (The Scriptures 1998+)

Apa yang dimaksud dengan Penahbisan atau dedikasi terhadap Bait Suci?

Mari.. kita sama-sama pelajari sejarahnya..

Pada zaman Raja Anthiocus Epiphanes (putra dari Raja Anthiocus III), bangsa Israel dipaksa untuk menyembah Zeus. Epiphanes memproklamirkan dirinya sebagai perwujudan dari dewa matahari. Sehingga siapapun yang berada dibawah pemerintahannya, diwajibkan untuk menyembahnya dan patung Zeus.

Perhatikan ayat-ayat berikut ini

1Ma 1:44-50 (KJVA) For the king had sent letters by messengers unto Jerusalem and the cities of Juda that they should follow the strange laws of the land, And forbid burnt offerings, and sacrifice, and drink offerings, in the temple; and that they should profane the sabbaths and festival days: And pollute the sanctuary and holy people: Set up altars, and groves, and chapels of idols, and sacrifice swine’s flesh, and unclean beasts: That they should also leave their children uncircumcised, and make their souls abominable with all manner of uncleanness and profanation: To the end they might forget the law, and change all the ordinances. And whosoever would not do according to the commandment of the king, he said, he should die.

Raja Ephipanes memaksa bangsa Israel untuk tidak mentaati TUHAN dengan menerbitkan hukum-hukum seperti dibawah ini:

• melarang korban / persembahan bakaran;
• harus mengabaikan Sabbath
• harus mengabaikan hari-hari raya (yang ditetapkan TUHAN dalam Imamat 23)
• mencemari Bait Suci dan para imam
• mendirikan patung-patung berhala;
• mempersembahkan babi di atas altarnya; dan juga hewan-hewan yang dilarang untuk dikonsumsi lainnya. (Seperti tertulis dalam Imamat 11, bahwa babi termasuk binatang yang tidak boleh dimakan atau dijamah, karena unclean / haram).
• Membiarkan anak-anak tidak disunat dan melakukan hal-hal yang keji dan tidak kudus. Dimaksudkan agar melupakan Torah dan merubah kebiasaannya.

Adalah seorang bernama Maccabeus, yang melanjutkan perlawanan ayahnya yang bernama Mattathias terhadap kepemimpinan Ephipanes. (Mattathias adalah salah seorang Imam di sebuah daerah bernama Modin).  Maccabeus melawan hukum yang ditetapkan oleh Ephipanes karena hukum tersebut sangat bertentangan dengan Torah TUHAN. Maccabeus adalah orang yang takut akan TUHAN; tidak ingin mencemarkan hidupnya, hanya untuk menuruti peraturan atau hukum yang dibuat oleh manusia yang bernama Ephipanes.

Maccabeus memimpin sekelompok pasukan namun berhasil mengalahkan tentara Yunani yang jumlahnya berlipatkali banyaknya. Dengan beriman, Maccabeus mengatakan bahwa peperangan tidak ditentukan oleh banyaknya jumlah pasukan, namun kekuatan yang datangnya dari sorga.

1Ma 3:19 (KJVA) For the victory of battle standeth not in the multitude of an host; but strength cometh from heaven.

Segera setelah berhasil menguasai kembali Bait Suci, Maccabeus membuat altar yang baru seperti sediakala begitu juga dengan tempat lilin (menorah) yang dibuat baru. Hal ini dilakukan karena segala sesuatu yang berada didalam Bait Suci sudah dinodai oleh kenajisan penguasa, dengan mempersembahkan korban-korban binatang yang “najis / haram”.

Hanukkah dilakukan setiap tahunnya untuk merayakan dan memperingati bahwa Bait suci berhasil direbut dari kekuasaan kerajaan Yunani melalui pertolongan yang datangnya dari TUHAN.

Dari peristiwa ini, ada beberapa hal penting untuk diingat kembali, yang sebenarnya masih berlaku dalam kehidupan kita.

• Bait Suci dibersihkan dan segala sesuatu yang najis dikeluarkan, bahkan dihancurkan, supaya TUHAN dapat berkenan untuk tinggal didalamnya.

Bait suci ini sebenarnya berbicara tentang tubuh kita, tentang dosa dan pelanggaran, tentang makanan yang najis, yang harus dibuang dari tubuh kita.

Perhatikan ayat berikut:

1Kor 6:19-20 (ILT) Atau tidak tahukah kamu, bahwa tubuhmu itu tempat suci bagi Roh Kudus yang ada di dalam kamu, yang kamu peroleh dari Elohim, dan kamu bukanlah milikmu sendiri? Sebab, kamu telah dibeli dengan suatu harga, karena itu, muliakanlah Elohim dengan tubuhmu dan dengan rohmu yang adalah milik Elohim.

1Kor 3:17 (ILT) Jika seseorang merusak tempat suci Elohim, Elohim akan menghancurkan dia, karena tempat suci Elohim adalah kudus, itulah kamu adanya.

• Pada saat kita melakukan kesalahan, atau dosa atau marah atau apapun; segera kembali bersihkan “bait” ini tanpa menunda-nunda lagi.

Ef 4:26 (ITB)  Apabila kamu menjadi marah, janganlah kamu berbuat dosa: janganlah matahari terbenam, sebelum padam amarahmu

Eph 4:26 (KJVA)  Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

• TUHAN dapat melakukan hal yang besar, meski hanya sekelompok kecil yang mau taat.

Jadi, dari cerita diatas, kita dapat mengetahui, pada saat ini kita berada disisi sebelah mana. Apakah kita akan mengikuti pola hidup seperti Maccabeus yang taat pada Torah TUHAN dan menjaga kekudusan?, atau hidup secara cemar, dan menjauhkan diri dari Torah dan melakukan semua yang dilarang Bapa seperti Epiphanes?

Happy Hanukkah….

Shalom..

1. Overviewing Bauckham’s Jesus and the God of Israel.

Richard Bauckham’s Jesus and the God of Israel focus’ on exploring the way in which early church upheld the divinity of Jesus within the context of Second Temple Judaism without betraying the monotheistic faith which distinguished Judaism, and subsequently Christianity, from the pagan nations of the world. Along with N.T. Wright and others, Bauckham attempts to explore the “historical Jesus” while not only continuing to reaffirm orthodoxy, but also bringing radically clarity to New Testament Christology and the way in which it functioned in the early church. Seeking to challenge the prevailing trend within much Jesus scholarship of the recent decades, Bauckham’s main agenda is to challenge a view of Christology which would places the early church’s view of Jesus as fully divine at the end of a long series of Christological developments whereby through varying steps of deification Christ, over time, was elevated to a place of supreme divine status.

Bauckham seeks to primarily show that the divinity of Jesus is not a later development of Hellenized Christianity, nor is it explainable by a hypothesis of semi-divine intermediary figures within Second Temple Jewish literature creating precedent for Jesus being slowly be elevated to a place of supreme deity. Both concerns are answered when we understand the definitive way which Second Temple Judaism had to distinguish the unique divine identity from all other reality. Bauckham’s overarching premise revolves around his assertion that when viewed through this lens of Second Temple Judaism’s “clear concept of the absolute distinction between God and all other reality”[1] it becomes clear that from the earliest preaching of the apostles, Jesus was purposefully and methodically being placed within borders of the divine identity.

2. Examining the concept of suffering monotheism.

I would like to so briefly explore in this paper what I am referring to a suffering monotheism. The Hermeneutical key is found within the following expert from Bauckham’s God Crucified;

“…We have considered what the New Testament writers understanding of the relation of Jesus to God says about Jesus, we must now ask what it says about God. In other words, we must consider Jesus as revelation of God. The profoundest points of New Testament Christology occur when the inclusion of the exalted Christ in the divine identity entails the inclusion of the crucified Christ in the divine identity, and the christological pattern of humiliation and exaltation is recognized as revelatory of God, indeed as the definitive revelation of who God is.”[2]

Bauckham’s entire argument hinges on this point. Having meticulously labored to establish the way it which Second Temple Judaism understood the “unique divine identity of  the one God”[3] and the way in which Jesus was included in the divine identity, Bauckham turns the argument back on itself and looks to explore the way in which God fits into the unique identity of Jesus. What then does Jesus say about the identity of God. Bauckham’s argument is that we should be cautious to not approach Jesus’ divinity with an a priori definition of what it means to be divine. We must let what we know of Jesus define what God is like just as much as we let what we know of God define what Jesus is like.

If then Jesus suffers, God suffers. If he feels weary, indeed God feels weary. If he experiences pain, so too the Eternal One. If Jesus is tempted in the wilderness, so too was not YHWH[4]. Jesus, in his unique ministry and history, redefines the divine identity not it that he takes away from what it means to be divine, but that he redefines it around his unique personhood and revelatory program. Just as in creational monotheism, where the singular act of YHWH’s sole creative work distinguishes his unique divine identity from all other reality, now Jesus establishes a sort of suffering monotheism, wherein YHWH’s suffering becomes a way of distinguishing him from all the no-gods who do not suffer. This is done in such a way as to make it imperative that just as the one who is not the creator cannot partake in the unique divine identity, so too cannot the one who has not suffered. The pattern of, as Paul establishes, humiliation which brings about exaltation[5], or as John puts it, humiliation which indeed is exaltation,[6] is assumed within the divine identity and the revelatory nature of the person of Christ brings near to us a God who suffers.

Bauckham sums this up so succinctly, saying, “[The] point of [Jesus'] radical identification with those who suffer and die in God’s absence is actually the climax of the revelation of his divine identity.” [7] God’s identity became knit to an event which was cataclysmic in the life of the godhead and in the revelation of God to man. The crucifixion of Christ became the event around which the identity of God is redrawn and established. In a shocking way, the identity of YHWH remains constant, his deity unchallenged, even when coming to the lowest place and taking on the position of a servant. Bauckham continues, “Jesus is no less divine in his identification with the godforsaken than he is in his exercise of divine authority or the coming theophany of his divine glory.”[8]

At the heart of Second Temple Judaism’s understanding of the unique divine identity of God was the passages from Deuteronomy and Deutero-Isaiah which most clearly defined that which distinguished the unique divine identity from all other reality.[9] With the inclusion of Jesus into that identity, the history of Jesus, who suffered and died, became a part of the history of YHWH. While Israel understood itself as the Servant of Deutero-Isaiah,[10] considered “stricken, smitten by God,”[11] in an unexpected event YHWH himself, in the crucifixion and death of Christ, comes to his people and rather then be manifest as somehow separate from their plight, he takes on the very identity of Israel and assumes the role of the suffering servant. As Abraham Heschel stated “Israel’s suffering is God’s grief.”[12] The writers of the New Testament go farther Israel’s suffering is God’s suffering.

Fully identifying with the history of his people, with the “forsaken Israel”[13] and with all humanity exiled from Eden, the Theoantropos himself is taken from the garden and exiled outside the camp upon the tree.[14] The identity of YHWH is seen as one who sits with his creation in suffering, not just as Lord over it, but as companion in it. Where as in “Man’s religiosity” humanity “looks in his distress to the power of God in the world: God is the deus ex machina,” as Dietrich Bonhoeffer so poignantly said, “The Bible directs us to God’s powerlessness and suffering; only the suffering God can help.”^[15]

The relationship between the identity of YHWH and the identity of Jesus, as Bauckham attempts to maintain, is not just a one-way street. It is not enough to merely assign Jesus the identity of the divine, we must assign to the divine the identity of Jesus. More than a spokesman for God, Jesus is the perfect revelation of God. As such his program, obedience, servanthood, suffering, and death are indicative of what it means to be divine. Jesus fully identifies with Israel’s history, walking out their particular story in such a way as to assume the whole of who they were called to be and then, at their own hands, experience the very suffering which was upon the whole nation.[16]

Suffering Monotheism then helps us to hold in one thought the transcendence of the creator on one hand and the nearness of him in the experience of humanity. YHWH is the one who “dwell[s] in the high and holy place,” but who, in coming low as a human in Jesus, is present “with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit.”[17] God is seen then as one who suffers with humanity. Far from being the aloof absentee god of the deists, YHWH is seen as “overwhelmingly real and shatteringly present”[18] in the midst of our suffering, pain, plight, and godforsakenness.

Suffering monotheism is the identity of the God who embraces weakness. Within the unique identity which comprises God is the reality that he is one who becomes susceptible to our plight, the fatigue of humanity, the wearisome soul-space of one not shielded from the weight of the fallen world, the fierce brutality of the hands of our bondage and depravity. To reference Moltmann, “God heals the sicknesses and the griefs by making the sicknesses and the griefs his suffering and his grief. In the image of the crucified God the sick and dying can see themselves, because in them the crucified God recognizes himself.”^[19] The true weight of the divine identity is found as YHWH is revealed, and indeed his identity redrawn around him being one who suffers. Hauntingly real, Jesus established definitely that to be what constitutes as unique and divine is to suffer.

In this way the early Christian testimony of Jesus was a radically novel development in the knowledge of God, while simultaneously remaining consistent with the previous revelations of God in the Old Testament. The scandal of the cross, which early church embraced was this “cult of a crucified man.”[20] The crucified God was a radical development in that it was the fullest identification, the clearest revelation of the unique divine identity of the one true God. By radically clarifying himself in the person of Jesus Christ, YHWH assaulted the powers, principalities and “pagan gods who are no-gods”[21] by participating in that singular experience which all the idols of the nations and the Hellenistic deity of Platonic monotheism never had: the agonizing soul-anguish of human suffering.

3. Summarizing a Response to divine identity.

Baukhams’ concept of the divine identity is in perfect keeping with the holistic faith imperative to understanding the meta-narrative under which the biblical testimony operates. Seeking to answer the same question — “what did first century Jews, including Jesus and his first followers, mean by ‘god’?” (as well as others) — as N.T Wright, — who responds with the “single phrase: creational and covenantal monotheism,”[22] — Bauckham seeks to expound upon the way in which Jesus’ identity is upheld and enriched by studies in Second Temple Judaism and the cultural milieu into which Christianity was birthed.

While the concept of the divine identity is something which, as Wright states, “neither the study of the OT nor the study of the Fathers would have taught me,”[23] I have found the concept very congruous with the direction in which I was already developing my particular views on the knowledge of God and deity.  This view of Jesus rightly aligns with the key concepts of meta-narrative, and understanding the concepts of “story, symbol, and praxis”[24] which so permeate the holy scriptures. When we rightly place Jesus at the focal point of the divine drama we can better understand the way in which his identity and program, far from being an isolated event cut off from the drama of Israel and indeed the world’s redemption, is actually an integral part — a grandiose retelling and drawing together — of all things in and through the person of Jesus Christ who brings to a close both Israel and all humanities’ “story in search of an ending.”[25]

Divine identity, as portrayed by Bauckham (which I would argue differs in several respects from the concept of the divine identity seen in Venable), therefore further solidifies a concept of divinity which I had been playing at for sometime, and yet lacked the precise language and familiarity with Second Temple Judaism to rightly articulate. Over the six months since my formal introduction to the concepts of divine identity found in Bauckham and Wright, I have given much though and writing to better understanding the way in which this view of God not only clarifies the Old Testament’s view of YHWH, but also simplifies our way of approaching the deity of Jesus. Freeing us from slavish dependence to questions of ontic quantities, the divine identity allows Jesus to freely roam the Judean countryside — through the temple courts and bloody up the hill to Golgotha —  unhampered (but not, I would contend, unhelped) by the “hostages of fortune”[26] afforded Christology by Nicea and Chalcedon.

The Jesus of the divine identity is able to become a three-dimensional character richly interacting with the world, rather then the Jesus of modernity always struggling between his humanity being truncated by Apollinarianism on one hand and his deity being robbed by Arianism on the other. Instead of being the mediator who librates us from the unique history, the aforementioned meta-narrative, of the Jewish faith, Jesus can be richly appreciated as the one who broke down “the dividing wall of hostility”[27] and welcomes us to the table of what was always meant to be the international family of Abraham.

[2] Ibid. pp. 33

[3] Ibid. pp. 16

[4] Cf. Matthew 4:1, Psalm 78:41 nasb

[5] Bauckham, Richard. Jesus and the God of Israel. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Grand Rapids. 2008. pp. 41-45

[6] Ibid pp. 46-57

[7] Ibid. pp. 266

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid pp. 9

[10] cf. Wright, N.T. “The Servant and Jesus: The Relevance of the Colloquy for the Current Quest for Jesus.” Jesus and the Suffering Servant: Isaiah 53 and Christian Origins. ed. William H. Bellinger, Jr. and William R. Farmer.  1998, Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International. 281–297

[11] Isaiah 53:4 esv

[12] Heschel, Abraham. The Prophets. pp. 192

[13] Bauckham, Richard. Jesus and the God of Israel. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Grand Rapids. 2008. p. 261

[14] cf. Wright, N.T. “The Servant and Jesus: The Relevance of the Colloquy for the Current Quest for Jesus.”

[15] Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Letters and Papers from Prison, New York, Macmillan, 1972. 316

[16] cf. Wright, N.T. “The Servant and Jesus: The Relevance of the Colloquy for the Current Quest for Jesus.”

[17] Isaiah 57:15 esv

[18] Heschel, Abraham. “The Prophets.” New York, Harper Perennial. 1962. pp. 286

[19] Jürgen Moltmann, The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation. Fortress Press, 2001. pp. 191

[20] Bauckham, Richard. Jesus and the God of Israel. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Grand Rapids. 2008. pp. 146

[21] Ibid. pp. 29 cf. 34

[22] Wright. N.T. Jesus And The Identity Of God. (Ex Auditu 1998, 14) 42–56.

[23] Ibid.

[24] Wright, N.T. “The Servant and Jesus:The Relevance of the Colloquy for the Current Quest for Jesus.”

[25] Ibid.

[26] Wright. N.T. Jesus And The Identity Of God. (Ex Auditu 1998, 14) 42–56.

[27] Ephesians 2:14 esv

This is the final post (at least presently) of a series on Monotheism, you can click the sub-headings to see the corresponding previous posts

As we turn the pages from the revelation of YHWH seen in the Hebrew Bible to the person of Jesus seen in the Christian New Testament the climax of the Divine Identity comes into sharp focus. It was one thing to understand YHWH as god as he was seen throughout Israel’s history but to then take that same name and apply it to a man was to take a step which is seemingly impossible within the Greco-Roman worldview. Yet, when we understand how YHWH was understood within Second Temple Judaism as the one true god we are better prepared to see the way in which the New Testament writers make the drastic shift of equally assigning divinity to Jesus of Nazareth.

If the god which the New Testament is claiming Jesus to be is that of Hellenistic thought and Platonic Dualism, then the philosophical gymnastics required to make the phrase “Jesus is God” plausible in any metaphysical or ontological way approaches impossibility. That deity is simply too far removed from the space-time continuum of human affairs to come into any real contact with the spatial realm. We are left standing with Arius and Docetism and Gnostics trying to somehow philosophize a way in which Jesus could somehow accomplish that which he is said to have accomplished without Jesus being that which Platonic thought made an impossibility, namely being equally fully human and fully divine.

We must have a shift in worldview though. Those writers, and indeed those disciples who first believed in Jesus as divine and later wrote about him, were not unaware of how radical it was to incorporate a man into Deity, and yet without seemingly any philosophical or theological conflict as to betray their strictly monotheistic consciousness, they do exactly that. In the worldview of these rigidly Monotheistic Jewish men who left their livelihoods to followed after this carpenter turned Rabbi, the concept of incorporating a man into the Identity of Divinity was perhaps improbable but ideologically not impossible.

What must be understood, as we have looked at in the previous posts, is that within the Hebraic worldview there were clear boundary lines which defined that which was divinity and that which was not. Where Greek though identified God by that which he was not, and characterized him by his removal from the visible world, in the minds of first century Jews, and indeed in the minds of those very ones who followed Jesus and later wrote of him, deity was divined by actions and the one who had done certian things was divine. Therefore had Jesus, though now being a human, been participatory in the actions that characterize the Identity of the Divine, then in must follow that he himself must in fact be divine.

Creational Monotheism

What is perhaps the clearest action the New Testament writers apply to Jesus is his participation in the creative event. Continually throughout the Old Testament the action of creation, as we have seen, is ascribed to YHWH alone. The claim that it was Jesus who had been active in the event of creation makes him synonymous with the creator himself and clearly identifies him as one with the Divine Identity. If it is YHWH only who created the heavens and earth and Jesus is said to have created the heavens and earth than Jesus must be YHWH.

Three of the clearest New Testament passages concerning the personhood of Jesus, each from the pen of three different writers; Paul, John, and the author of Hebrews, attest to Jesus’ unique identity in creating all things. They not only set him apart as creator, but establish that his creation of the world means that he himself was not a created being. Jesus is placed up and above all the created order in a way which monotheism would have dictated pure idolatry be it ascribed to any other figure, be that man, angel, animal or demon.

All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

John 1:3

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

Colossians 1:16

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

Hebrews 1:1-2

Sovereign Monotheism

The second distinctive of divinity which we have discussed previously and we find throughout the New Testament readily applied to Jesus is the subject of his rule over all things. This is commonly talked about by reference to his ascension over or above “all things” and his position at the “right hand of God.” What was clear in the early Jewish context was that this was not merely an exaltation of a human figure to a function of deity, but that this was in fact an open declaration of what had been true concerning Jesus all along, namely that he was YHWH, the only one who could sit above all and be on the divine throne,

Even as early as the first Christian sermon at Pentecost a mere fifty days following Jesus’ resurrection we see the apostle Peter preaching a fully formed Christology of the exalted Christ. Jesus resurrection was not viewed as merely an external work of God resuscitating a human figure from the dead, but was seen as a definitive act of declaring Jesus’ identity to be fully divine.  When he was declared to be above all things, Jesus was understood to share in the sovereign rule of YHWH over the whole earth. Since only one could be the supreme ruler over all other rule and power, then Jesus having this position would necessarily require that he was a part of the divine Godhead itself.

This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God… For  David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.’
Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Acts 2:32-33, 34-36

that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Ephesians 1:20-23

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Matthew 28:18

For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.”

II Corinthians 15:27

…his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things… After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Hebrews 1:2, 3

…Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2

Covenantal Monotheism

Though perhaps not as immediately evident, the New Testament is replete with references to Jesus’ participation the acts of YHWH in the old Testament, specifically those acts related to YHWH’s covenants with Abraham and Israel. Jesus is seen as being one who not only had himself personally entered into covenant with Israel and preformed such ransom acts as rescuing Israel from Egypt and sustaining and chastising them in the wilderness but who also initiates Covenant with Israel.

For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

I Corinthians 10:1-4

Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

Jude 1:5

Perhaps the strongest argument of Jesus participation in Covenantal Monotheism, and as such in the divine identity, is his enactment of the New Covenant with his followers. Whereas Moses served merely as an intermediary, going between God and Israel to enact the Mosaic Covenant, Jesus acts unaided when at the Last Supper he explicitly enters into a New Covenant with his disciples. The imagery could not have been stronger, the bread his flesh, wine blood and the twelve disciples mirroring the twelve Israelite tribes, all pointing to the fact what Jesus was doing was something which only YHWH could do. Jesus was, unaided and singularly, rewriting the Covenant between God and Israel around himself and thus redefining who the covenant people were and how that covenant was entered. To those early Jewish believers, and those present at the table that night, this was a clear sign that Jesus was in fact fully divine, fully YHWH, the covenant keeping God.

And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Luke 22:20

Eschatological Monotheism

One of the strongest ways in which Jesus is included within the divine identity is the way in which the New Testament authors hold Jesus as the one to which all creation will look and acknowledge as Lord and God. Jesus is seen as the object of the Eschatological day and when he is vindicated before the nations as truly being YHWH then monotheism itself would be vindicated. Jesus was given not only the right to judge the world, but the promise that he would be the one to which all creatures would look and acknowledge as God.

Jesus himself claimed that Judgment of the world had been given to him, and the New Testament authors upheld this belief as they proclaimed that the one who was raised from the dead was indeed to be the one at the end of all things who passed judgment on the whole earth. This act as a eschatological judge clearly stated Jesus participation in an event which was to be the vindication of YHWH alone above all others. As such Jesus is necessarily included within that identity as being YHWH.

The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son,

John 5:22

because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Acts 17:31

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

Revelation 19:11

What is more though, is that Jesus is accorded that highest place of being the one to which all the nations look and acknowledge as YHWH at the Eschatological day when the God of Covenant at last confronts the nations of the earth. The one who the Hebrew Bible declared the gentile nations would look to and recognize as the one true God who is over, above, and uttering shames their no-god idols the New Testament declares is no other than this Jesus of Nazareth. The reorganization of Jesus as God is an event none other than the eschatological vindication of monotheism, and subsequently Israel at the end of the age.

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:9-11

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Revelation 5:13-14

Cultic Monotheism

With the assertion of the previous categories of divine identity in place it is no wonder than that the response we see given to Jesus is that which would be expected of a deity. Jesus is accorded worship by those who followed him. Though the act of falling prostrate in front of a figure, (the meaning of the word, proskuneo, translated in most English translations as “worship”) does not, in the first century context, necessarily mean ascribing deity to n object (as it could mean simply honoring an authority), the way in which the writes of the New Testament speak of Jesus shows that their devotion exceeded that of merely an honored figure. Their response to Jesus is emblematic of belief in his worth of receiving the honor which was accorded to YHWH alone.

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.

Matthew 28:16-17

The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

John 5:22-23

To Jesus staunchly monotheistic Jewish followers there appears to be no contradiction in applying that same honor and laud which was expressly forbidden to be given to any but YHWH to Jesus. What is more, it would seem that to the early church, to refuse to give this worship to Jesus was in fact to be outside of the family of God. Worship of Jesus was as such that worshiping him did not take away from the sole worship accorded to YHWH alone and failure to worship him resulted in failure to worship YHWH at all.

Cultic adoration of Jesus was what distinguished the Early Church from both first century Judaism and the pagan world of the Greco-roman empire. While Judaism looked at Christians as idolaters for worshiping one they considered to be other than YHWH, the Rome condemned Christianity for their refusal to worship any other. It was this cult of the crucified man which distinguished Christianity and ultimately attests to a early view of Jesus as being fully divine and as such fully worthy of such adoration.

And again, when he brings the firstborn (Jesus) into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”

Hebrews 1:6

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Revelation 5:13-14

The Divine Name

The final issue with grasping a Christological Monotheism is to see the way in which the divine name was applied to Jesus in the New Testament and the teaching of the early church. While a shift in language (from the Jewish scripture being written in mostly Hebrew and some Aramaic, to the New Testament writings being in Greek) and the hyper-legalism  of Second Temple Judaism (the Tetragrammaton [YHWH] was not spoke aloud and had been replaced by a interposed letters of the Hebrew Adonai  in the Hebrew holy texts) obscure the usage of the divine name in reference to Jesus, its usage is not totally lost. It is still possible to detect clear ways the apostles and the early church assigned the divine name to Jesus.

The change in languages in Israel led to the translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek and the predominate language of religious writing following suit. When the Tetragrammaton was recorded in the Greek Septuagint it was either rendered as the four Hebrew characters, the Greek equivalent (ΠΙΠΙ) or a Greek transliteration (IAΩ).^[1] While none of these translations were used in the writing of the New Testament, what was used was the Greek Kurios. Kurios became used as the representative replacement for the Tetragrammaton in Greek copies of Jewish religious writings of the first century A.D. While Kurios can carry a range of meanings, not necessarily referring to deity and could identify merely and authority figure such as a governor or Caesar, the New Testament writers contunially extend its meaning to include much more.

One of the clearest ways in which this is seen is the through the way the word Kurios is uses in the place of YHWH in the New Testament’s quotations of the Old Testament. These quotes and allusions, two of which we will examine below, take the Greek word Kurios, emphatically apply to it the full weight of the Tetragrammaton, YHWH, and then even more emphatically, and without hesitation apply its meaning to Jesus.

The first passage to look at briefly is the famous passage in Philippians 2.

Therefore God has highly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord (Kurios),
to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:9-11

Paul describes the exaltation of Jesus, interposing his own unique Christological interpretation with a clearly monotheist quotation from Duetero-Isaiah.

“Turn to me and be saved,
the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
By myself I have sworn;
from my mouth has gone out in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
‘To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.’

Isaiah 45:22-23

Within this context the name given then to Christ, and the force of the confession of all in heaven, on earth and under the earth that “Jesus Christ is Lord,” is more than a mere kingly authority as might be appropriate to give an earthly deity. The interposed quotation, coupled with the monotheistic declaration of Jesus as Lord show that Paul intended that Kurios carry the full meaning of the divine name YHWH.^[2]

The second scripture to be considered is Paul’s uses of the Shama, (“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” Deut 6:4) the quintessential monotheistic declaration of Judaism as well as established language of creational monotheism to assert Jesus’ participation in the unique divine identity. In a passage addressing the participation in food sacrificed to idols, Paul asserts a typical Jewish statement of their belief in one god, and yet extends its bounds to include Jesus into that definition of one god.

Richard Bauckham lays out the verse as follows to best show the way in which Paul echoes established monotheistic identity to include Jesus within the bounds of Jewish Monotheism^[3]

a)         yet for us there is one God, the Father,
b)                    from whom are all things and for whom we exist,
c)         and one Lord, Jesus Christ,
d)                    through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

I Corinthians 8:6

Lines a) and c) reproduce all the words to the Shema and yet rearranges them to reflect both an assertion of one God and of Jesus being within that unique identity of one God. Therefore to Paul, there is one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ. Thus the word God (Greek [I Cor. 8:6]: Theos, Heb[Deut 6:4]: Elohim) is applied to the Father, and the word Lord (Greek [I Cor 8:6]: Kurios, Heb [Deut 6:4]: YHWH) is applied to Jesus. The Shema then becomes divided in a way to apply both to Jesus and the Father while still maintaining a belief in one supreme God.

This point is only strengthened by Paul’s interposing of traditional assertions of creational monotheism (lines b) and d)) which applies the participation in the creative work equally to both the Father and Jesus Christ. Paul thus extends the meaning of both allusions in such a way as to make it clear that Jesus is to be understood as YHWH himself. Jesus is not one merely bearing e separate identity apart from YHWH the Father but he is indeed YHWH himself manifest to the world. With the application of the divine name YHWH to Jesus the New Testament writers where making the unabashed claim to Jesus indeed being fully included in the unique monotheistic identity and thus fully divine, and completely God.

Conclusion

The treatment of Jesus within the New Testament is unique not in that it shrinks back from making clear statements concerning Jesus’ identity, but in that it uses, when looked at within the first century Jewish cultural, some of the clearest distinctions to apply to Jesus the full identity of God. Using the concept of divine identity, that is, defining God in the way in which the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism (the context in which Christianity was birthed) defined him, it becomes easy to see the clear ways in which the earliest Christians understood Jesus’ participation in that identity of the one true God.

The identity of Jesus −­ far from being an ambiguous subject slowly developing to maturity with a fully divine Christ somewhere after the council of Nicaea − was well established and firmly rooted in the Jewish context of the early church almost as soon as Christ ascended from amongst them. The earliest Christians understood Jesus as sole creator, sovereign ruler, the maker of covenant with Israel, subject of the eschatological vindication of monotheism, the only one due all worship, and the bearer of the divine name YHWH. In this way Jesus was clearly seen as with the boundaries of the unique divine identity and this fully-divine himself.

From this perspective the New Testament authors were able to clearly communicate Jesus as God without having to perform philosophical gymnastics of Greek thought in order to maintain Jesus deity without effectively nullifying his humanity while at the same time not reducing Jesus to a quasi-divine demigod or mere human. These Jewish categories allow us to appreciate Jesus in his full historical context, in the way in which he presented himself and the way in which his earliest followers understood him, without the weight of baggage brought on by such Greek philosophical approaches concerning metaphysical distinctions and ontological qualifications introduced and maintained by Origen, Augustine, and (perhaps unknowingly) Nicaea and Chalcedon. In this way we can once more into the eyes of that Jewish carpenter and see reflected there the true Messiah, fully God and fully man, and say along with Thomas, “My Lord and my God.”^[4]

^[2] Bauckham, Richard. Jesus and the God of Israel. Wm. B. Eerdmans. Grand Rapids. 2008. 37-38

^[3] Bauckham, Richard. Jesus and the God of Israel. Wm. B. Eerdmans. Grand Rapids. 2008. 27-28

^[4] John 20:28

Mark of the Beast – Ivy connection

3 Maccabees Chapter 2 verses 27-30
27: He (Philopater/Ptolemy IV)* proposed to inflict public disgrace upon the Jewish community, and he set up a stone on the tower in the courtyard with this inscription:
28: “None of those who do not sacrifice shall enter their sanctuaries, and all Jews shall be subjected to a registration involving poll tax and to the status of slaves. Those who object to this are to be taken by force and put to death;
29: those who are registered are also to be branded on their bodies by fire with the ivy-leaf symbol of Dionysus, and they shall also be reduced to their former limited status.”
30: In order that he might not appear to be an enemy to all, he inscribed below: “But if any of them prefer to join those who have been initiated into the mysteries, they shall have equal citizenship with the Alexandrians.”

*3 Maccabees 1:10 records that Philopater desired to enter the holy of holies…2 Thessalonians 2:4 speaks of the Antichrist desiring to do the same thing.

The ivy leaf is phallic, depicting the male trinity
Ivy was also sacred to :-
Osiris – Egyptian God of magic.
Dionysus – Greek God of vegetation and wine.
Bacchus – the Roman equivalent of Dionysus.

The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary, Myers, 1987, p. 284, “DIONYSUS”:

2Ma 6:4  For the temple was filled with riot and revelling by the Gentiles, who dallied with harlots, and had to do with women within the circuit of the holy places, and besides that brought in things that were not lawful.
2Ma 6:5  The altar also was filled with profane things, which the law forbiddeth.
2Ma 6:6  Neither was it lawful for a man to keep sabbath days or ancient fasts, or to profess himself at all to be a Jew.
2Ma 6:7  And in the day of the king’s birth every month*** {every month not in Bishops, Douay-Rheims or Geneva translation} they were brought by bitter constraint to eat of the sacrifices; and when the fast of Bacchus was kept, the Jews were compelled to go in procession** to Bacchus, carrying ivy*.

*Geneva Bible translates as garlands of ivy

Bishops Bible translates as wearing ivy

New Jerusalem Bible translates ivy wreaths

Douay-Rheims translates as crowned with ivy

**19th of the month Poseidon (roughly December)-International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

***For more on birthdaysclick here

Ivy

Ivy in Hebrew is קיסוס qeesoos.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

Ivy
ı̄´vi (κισσός, kissós): The only mention of the word in all the sacred writings is in 2 Macc 6:7 in connection with the oppression of the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes: “On the day of the king’s birth every month they were brought by bitter constraint to eat of the sacrifices; and when the feast of Bacchus (Dionysus) was kept, the Jews were compelled to go in procession to Dionysus, carrying ivy,” this plant (Hedera helix)* being sacred to the Greek god of wine and of the culture of the vine (compare Eur. Bacchae, passim). It was of ivy or of pine that the “corruptible crown” of the famous 1sthmian games was made (1Co_9:25).

1Co 9:25  But everyone striving controls himself in all things. Then those truly that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.

Robertson Word Pictures

A corruptible crown (phtharton stephanon). Stephanos (crown) is from stephō, to put around the head, like the Latin corona, wreath or garland, badge of victory in the games. In the Isthmian games it was of pine leaves, earlier of parsley, in the Olympian games of the wild olive. “Yet these were the most coveted honours in the whole Greek world” (Findlay).

*Hedera is a latin word meaning ivy.  The word helix comes from the Greek word ἕλιξ which is a type of space curve, i.e. a smooth curve in three-dimensional space. It is characterized by the fact that the tangent line at any point makes a constant angle with a fixed line called the axis. Examples of helixes are coil springs and the handrails of spiral staircases & deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).  The symbol of Bacchus is 3 leaved ivy.  Triple Helix?  More on this in the future, Yah willing.

*The plant is considered invasive and destructive in parts of Australia and the United States. Its sale and cultivation is banned in several places.  It is a weed…a tare…The Scriptures speak of two seeds.  The seed of the woman (wheat) versus the seed of the serpent (tares).  This ivy brand is a picture of the seed of the serpent and Bacchus is even called specifically the ’seed of the serpent.’

Ivy is an Evergreen
Hedera (English name ivy, plural ivies) is a genus of 15 species of climbing or ground-creeping evergreen woody plants in the family Araliaceae,
The common ivy (Hedera Helix) while not a tree is a sacred plant of Wicca/Witchcraft, revered of old by the ancients as much as it is today by contemporaries.  Its most common association is with the Holly tree, the “Holly and the Ivy” being used extensively worldwide as a Yuletide decoration.*

*Ivy, Bacchus/Dionysus and the story of the Maccabees is strongly associated with Christmasclick here .  This will be detailed further throughout this study.

According to “The Green Mountain Gardener,” Dr. Leonard Perry, ancient pagans fashioned ivy “into wreaths and garlands for decorations during the winter months.” Ivy had close ties with the Roman god of wine, Bacchus. Holly, meanwhile, figured prominently in the Roman celebration of the Saturnalia (upon which the Christmas holiday was directly modeled), as it was considered sacred to Saturn.

Ivy was in high esteem among the ancients and its leaves formed the poet’s crown.  The ivy was dedicated to the Roman god Bacchus (the Greek god Dionysus, see “The Vine”), the God of Intoxication who is often depicted wearing a wreath of ivy and grapevines.  He is also depicted holding a chalice and carrying a thyrsus (a wand) which was also entwined with ivy and vine leaves.  Ivy leaves were thought to prevent intoxication and the binding of the brow with ivy was seen as a counterbalance to the vine.  Old writers tell us that the effects of intoxication by wine are removed if a handful of ivy leaves are bruised and gently boiled in wine and drunk.  In former days old English taverns bore a sign of an ivy bush over their doors, this to indicate the excellence of the liquor supplied within, hence the old saying “A good wine needs no bush”.

Through its connection with the vine and nature, the ivy is also associated with one of the most popular of the ancient Egyptian gods Osiris, God of the Sun, Agriculture and Health.  His queen was Isis who was also his wife and sister.  As Osiris ruled the sun, Isis represented the moon and was believed to have taught the Egyptians the arts of agriculture and medicine.

Ivy is known by the folk name Gort.  Its gender is Feminine.  Its planet ruler is Saturn*.  Its element association is Water.  Its deities associated are with:  Osiris, Dionysus, Bacchus and Persephone.
Astrologically ivy people (i.e. those people born in September)
*This is important to note.  Saturn is connected with Bacchus as will be seen below in more detail.  Saturnalia is the origin of Christmas and Saturn in Hebrew = 666.  The main symbol of Saturn was the hexagram.  Here we see the hexagram which is strongly linked to the mark of the beast being connected to ivy which is a symbol of the mark as well.  Ivy is connected to the symbol of the cross as well as will be seen in more detail below and the cross is connected to the hexagram.  These links will be seen in more detail throughout this mark of the beast series of studies.

The Dionysia, ancient Greece

The Rural or Lesser Dionysia (late December, early January) were celebrated in the month of Poseidon. This the most ancient festival of all, when even slaves enjoyed full freedom. There were dramatic contests; Aristotle claimed (Poet. 1449a) that comedy was born in the Rural Dionysia. The peasants would assail the bystanders as they rode by in wagons. According to Plutarch (3.527D), there was a procession of the carriers of a jar of wine and a vine, with someone leading a he-goat, followed by the Kanêphoros (Basket-bearer) who carried a basket of raisins. Then came the carriers of an erect, wooden phallus-pole, decorated with ivy and fillets*, and finally the singer of the Phallikon (Phallic Song), which was addressed to ‘Phalês’.
*The allusions to Christmas/Saturnaliaclick here are very strong.  Celebrated in late December.  Slaves were set free.  Decorated phallus/obelisk/tree.  Over and over again, Christmas continues to pop up in association with the mark of the beast subject.  Christmas is Saturnalia, a yearly rehearsal of the return of the ‘golden age of Saturn’ ie the kingdom of antichrist.  The return of the nephilim (god-men).  The ivy is ‘hedera helix’…the triple helix.  The ‘evolution’ of mankind..homo noeticus.  More on this in a future study, Yah willing.

International Standard Bible Dictionary
Bacchus
bak´us Διόνυσος, Dı́onusos; later Βάκχος, the Feast of Bacchus; Διονύσια, Dionúsiǎ: The god of wine. His worship had extended over the whole Greek and Roman world centuries before the Christian era, and had degenerated into an orgy of drunkenness and unnamable immoralities, possibly under the influence of oriental Baal worship, such as the Hebrew prophets condemned. It has been surmised that Dionysus was originally not a Greek, but an oriental deity. His worship had been introduced into Egypt, perhaps by the Ptolemies, and Ptolemy Philopator (222-204 bc) had branded the Jews there with his emblem, the sign of the ivy.

When Antiochus Epiphanes made his assault upon Jerusalem in the year 168 bc, he determined to extirpate the worship of Yahweh, which he recognized as the strength of the Jewish resistance, and to replace it by Greek religion. All worship of Yahweh and the observance of Jewish rites, such as the Sabbath and circumcision, were prohibited. Heathen worship was set up all over Judea, and in the temple at Jerusalem on the altar of burnt offering an altar to Jupiter was erected, “the abomination that maketh desolate” (Dan_11:31), and a swine was sacrificed upon it. The immoral practices associated with heathen worship in those days established themselves in the temple. When this feast of Bacchus (Dionysus) with all its revelry came round, the Jews were compelled to go in procession in honor of Bacchus (Dionysus), wearing wreaths of ivy,the emblem of the god (2 Macc 6:7). Some years later, when the worship of Yahweh had been restored, Nicanor the general of Demetrius I, in conducting the war against Judas Maceabacus, threatened the priests that, unless they delivered Judas up as a prisoner, “he would raze the temple of God even with the ground, break down the altar, and erect there a temple unto Bacchus (Dionysus) for all to see” (2 Macc 14:33).

Dionysus, (Bacchus)
dı̄-ō̇-nı̄´sus (Διόνυσος, Diónusos): The youngest of the Greek gods. In Homer he is not associated with the vine. In later Greek legend he is represented as coming from India, as traversing Asia in a triumphal march, accompanied by woodland beings, with pointed ears, snub noses and goat-tails. These creatures were called satyrs. The vine was cultivated among European-Aryans first in Thrace, and here Dionysus is said to have established his worship first in Europe. Then the cult of Dionysus passed down through the Balkan peninsula to Thebes; and in the localized form of the myth the deity was born here – son of Zeus and Semele.

Among all the Greek deities none appealed more vividly to the imagination than Dionysus. Greek tragedy* is a form of worship, the ritual cult of the god of wine, who makes the initiate wise and the ungodly mad. Dionysus speaks most strongly to the sense and to the spirit at the same time. There is nothing monotonous in the Dionysiac legend; it is replete with both joy and sorrow – in some aspects it is a “passion” in others a triumph. All the passion plays of the world (even the Oberammergau Schauspiel) are in the ancient spirit. One Dionysus after another has been substituted, but from the first there has been a desire on the part of the devotee to realize his god vividly with thrilling nearness, to partake of his joys and sorrows and triumphs in his manifold adventures. In the early myths Dionysus was one of the lesser gods; he is mentioned only twice in the Iliad and twice in the Odyssey; but he is always represented as being more nearly akin to man than the great august deities of Olympus. He is a man-god, or god-man. To the inhabitants of the vine-clad slopes of Attica, to which his cult had been brought from Phrygia through Thracian Boeotia, he was particularly dear. At their vintage feasts last year’s cask of wine was opened; and when the new year brought life again to the vines, the bountiful god was greeted with songs of joyful praise. The burial of the wine in the dark tomb of the jars through the winter, and the opening of these jars at the spring festival symbolized the great awakening of man himself, the resurrection of the god’s worshippers to a fuller and more joyous life. The vine was not the only manifestation of the god – oil and wheat were also his; he was the god of ecstasy, the giver of physical joy and excitement, the god of life, the god of certain laws of Nature, germination and extinction, the external coming into being and the dying away of all things that are, fructification in its widest aspect whether in the bursting of the seed-grain that lies intreasured in the earth, or in the generation of living creatures. Hence, the prominence given to the phallus in the solemn processions in honor of the god.
Nicanor (2 Macc 14:33) and Antiochus Epiphanes (2 Macc 6:7) thought that the cult of Dionysus would not be objectionable to the Jews. Ptolemy Philopator branded the Jews with an ivy-leaf (3 Macc 2:29), which was sacred to Dionysus.

*Greek tragedy, Drama, plays = modern day Christmas plays & Christmas carols?

Gal 5:21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings,G2970 and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

G2970
κῶμος
kōmos
Thayer Definition:
1) a revel, carousal
1a) a nocturnal and riotous procession of half drunken and frolicsome fellows who after supper parade through the streets with torches and music in honour of Bacchus or some other deity, and sing and play before houses of male and female friends; hence used generally of feasts and drinking parties that are protracted till late at night and indulge in revelry

The European drama had its origin in Greece. Both forms, tragic and comic, took their rise in the celebrations of the Greek festivals of Dionysus (Bacchus), at which hymns and chants were sung by choruses in honour of the god, and the chorus continued to be a prominent feature of the old Greek drama.

In most modern European countries the regular drama took its rise in the mysteries, miracle-plays, and moralities of the middle ages.

Regular comedies in Italian were written by Ariosto, Aretino, Macchiavelli, and others; and to the same period (15th and 16th centuries) belongs the Italian pastoral Drama, which sprung from the ancient idylls, and aimed at a fanciful delineation of Arcadian and mythological scenes.

The French drama was in a miserable state before Corncille (1606-84), who indeed is looked on as the founder of the drama in France. Racine, Moliere, Voltaire, and in later times Hugo, are some of the other distinguished French dramatists.  Victor Hugo was a leader in the movement away from classic drama to Romanticism.  Hugo was also a grand master of the Prieure de Sion (Priory of Sion) which is the alleged organization associated with the Merovingian bloodline.  The connections to the mark of the beast and this bloodline will be discussed in more detail in a future study, Yah willing.  The reason for bringing up this subject is that one of the main tools of the adversary to bring about the antichrist kingdom is the media.  Movies, television, radio, the news etc..click here

Two Babylon’s Dictionary
BACCHUS
“The lamented one”; from Bakhah ,”to weep” or “lament”. The revelries of Bacchus were suppose to purify the soul.

This connects Bacchus with Tammuz.  The prophet Ezekiel speaks of Israel partaking of customs pertaining to Tammuz worship at the house of YHWH.  This is what Antiochus was forcing upon Yisrael during the times of the Maccabees.  Mixing Tammuz/Bacchus/Dionysus worship at the Temple.

Eze 8:14  And He brought me to the opening of the gate of the house of YHWH, toward the north. And, behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.

Two Babylons- Alexander Hislop pg 22

In Scripture he is referred to (Eze 8:14) under the name of Tammuz, but he is commonly known among classical writers under the name of Bacchus, that is, “The Lamented one.” *
* From Bakhah “to weep” or “lament.” Among the Phoenicians, says Hesychius, “Bacchos means weeping.” As the women wept for Tammuz, so did they for Bacchus.
To the ordinary reader the name of Bacchus suggests nothing more than revelry and drunkenness, but it is now well known, that amid all the abominations that attended his orgies, their grand design was professedly “the purification of souls,” and that from the guilt and defilement of sin. This lamented one, exhibited and adored as a little child in his mother’s arms, seems, in point of fact, to have been the husband of Semiramis, whose name, Ninus, by which he is commonly known in classical history, literally signified “The Son.”

Two Babylons pg 49-50

As Nin “the Son,” he was portrayed as a youth or child; and that youth or child was generally depicted with a cup in his hand. That cup, to the multitude, exhibited him as the god of drunken revelry; and of such revelry in his orgies, no doubt there was abundance; but yet, after all, the cup was mainly a hieroglyphic, and that of the name of the god. The name of a cup, in the sacred language, was khus, and thus the cup in the hand of the youthful Bacchus, the son of Aethiops, showed that he was the young Chus, or the son of Chus. In the accompanying woodcut (Fig. 22), the cup in the right hand of Bacchus is held up in so significant a way, as naturally to suggest that it must be a symbol; and as to the branch in the other hand, we have express testimony that it is a symbol. But it is worthy of notice that the branch has no leaves to determine what precise kind of a branch it is. It must, therefore, be a generic emblem for a branch, or a symbol of a branch in general; and, consequently, it needs the
cup as its complement, to determine specifically what sort of a branch it is. The two symbols, then, must be read together, and read thus, they are just equivalent to–the “Branch of Chus”–i.e., “the scion or son of Cush.”

Here we see how Bacchus is a counterfeit of the Messiah who is the TRUE BRANCH

Jer 23:5  Behold, the days come, says YHWH, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and act wisely, and He shall do justice and righteousness in the earth.
Jer 23:6  In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is His name by which He shall be called, YHWH our Righteousness.

Zec 3:8  Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your associates who are sitting before you; for they are men of symbol.
Zec 3:9  For, behold, I will bring forth My Servant, the BRANCH. For behold, the stone which I have given before Joshua, on the one stone are seven eyes. I will engrave its engraving, says YHWH of Hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day*.
Zec 3:10  In that day, says YHWH of Hosts, you shall call each man to his neighbor to sit under the vine and under the fig tree.

Zec 6:12  And speak to him, saying, So says YHWH of Hosts, saying, Behold! The Man whose name is THE BRANCH! And He** (Yahoshua) shall spring up out of His place, and He shall build the temple of YHWH.

*This is important to note.  It is the BRANCH who removes the sins of the people.  Dionysus (Bacchus) the heathen BRANCH is called the sin bearer as a direct counterfeit.

**Here we see a prophecy that the name of the BRANCH is going to be Yahoshua.

From SMITH’s Classical Dictionary, p. 208
There is another hieroglyphic connected with Bacchus that goes not a little to confirm this–that is, the Ivy branch. No emblem was more distinctive of the worship of Bacchus than this. Wherever the rites of Bacchus were performed, wherever his orgies were celebrated, the Ivy branch was sure to appear. Ivy, in some form or other, was essential to these celebrations. The votaries carried it in their hands, bound it around their heads, or had the Ivy leaf even indelibly stamped upon their persons. What could be the use, what could be the meaning of this? A few words will suffice to show it. In the first place, then, we have evidence that Kissos, the Greek name for Ivy, was one of the names of Bacchus; and further, that though the name of Cush, in its proper form, was known to the priests in the Mysteries, yet that the established way in which the name of his descendants, the Cushites, was ordinarily pronounced in Greece, was not after the
Oriental fashion, but as “Kissaioi,” or “Kissioi.” Thus, Strabo, speaking of the inhabitants of Susa, who were the people of Chusistan, or the ancient land of Cush, says: “The Susians are called Kissioi,” –that is beyond all question, Cushites.

Now, if Kissioi be Cushites, then Kissos is Cush. Then, further, the branch of Ivy that occupied so conspicuous a place in all Bacchanalian celebrations was an express symbol of Bacchus himself; for Hesychius assures us that Bacchus, as represented by his priest, was known in the Mysteries as “The branch.” From this, then, it appears how Kissos, the Greek name of Ivy, became the name of Bacchus. As the son of Cush, and as identified with him, he was sometimes called by his father’s name–Kissos. His actual relation, however, to his father was specifically brought out by the Ivy branch, for “the branch of Kissos,” which to the profane vulgar was only “the branch of Ivy,” was to the initiated “The branch of Cush.” *

* The chaplet, or head-band of Ivy, had evidently a similar hieroglyphical meaning to the above, for the Greek “Zeira Kissou” is either a “band or circlet of Ivy,” or “The seed of Cush.” The formation of the Greek “Zeira,” a zone or enclosing band, from the Chaldee Zer, to encompass, shows that Zero “the seed,” which was also pronounced Zeraa, would, in like manner, in some Greek dialects, become Zeira. Kissos, “Ivy,” in Greek, retains the radical idea of the Chaldee Khesha or Khesa, “to cover or hide,” from which there is reason to believe the name of Cush is derived, for Ivy is characteristically “The coverer or hider.” In connection with this, it may be stated that the second person of the Phoenician trinity was Chursorus (WILKINSON), which evidently is Chus-zoro, “The seed of Cush.” We have already seen that the Phoenicians derived their mythology from Assyria.

Here we see that Ivy is associated the covering or hiding.  This is the meaning of the word satur and is associated with the ‘god’ Saturn.   As seen in part 2click here the Hebrew word for mystery/hidden/secret is setur which equals 666.

H5639
סתוּר
sethûr
BDB Definition:
Sethur = “hidden”

Setur=666.

Another interesting connection between ivy and mystery is the wine of Bacchus.  In rabbinic tradition wine is connected to mystery because it has the same gematria as the Hebrew word sod (mystery).

Two Babylons pg 69
D’ion-nuso-s signifies “THE SINBEARER,”
* a name entirely appropriate to the character of him whose sufferings were
represented as so mysterious, and who was looked up to as the great “purifier of souls.”

As stated above, we see again Bacchus/Dionysus as a counterfeit Messiah.

Two Babylons pg 71
Now, this Babylonian god, known in Greece as “The sin-bearer,” and in India as the “Victim-Man,” among the Buddhists of the East, the original elements of whose system are clearly Babylonian, was commonly addressed as the “Saviour of the world.” It has been all along well enough known that the Greeks occasionally worshipped the supreme god under the title of “Zeus the Saviour”; but this title was thought to have reference only to deliverance in battle, or some suck- like temporal deliverance. But when it is known that “Zeus the Saviour” was only a title of Dionysus, the “sin-bearing Bacchus,” his character, as “The Saviour,” appears in quite a different
light.

As the true Messiah was prophesied of under the title of the “Man whose name was the branch,” he was celebrated not only as the “Branch of Cush,” but as the “Branch of God,” graciously given to the earth for healing all the ills that flesh is heir to. * He was worshipped in Babylon under the name of El-Bar, or “God the Son.” Under this very name he is introduced by Berosus, the Chaldean historian, as the second in the list of Babylonian sovereigns.

* This is the esoteric meaning of Virgil’s “Golden Branch,” and of the Mistletoe Branch of the Druids.

The wreaths with mistletoe are the same as the garlands of ivy of the Bacchus rites.

Christmas Bacchus connection

Two Babylons pg 95
It was no mere astronomic festival, then, that the Pagans celebrated at the winter solstice. That festival at Rome was called the feast of Saturn, and the mode in which it was celebrated there, showed whence it had been derived. The feast, as regulated by Caligula, lasted five days; * loose reins were given to drunkenness and revelry, slaves had a temporary emancipation, ** and used all manner of freedoms with their masters. {Exactly the same as the feast of Bacchus seen above that Antiochus forced Yisrael into doing}

* Subsequently the number of the days of the Saturnalia was increased to seven.
** If Saturn, or Kronos, was, as we have seen reason to believe, Phoroneus, “The
emancipator,” the “temporary emancipation” of the slaves at his festival was
exactly in keeping with his supposed character.

This is important to note.  This is a counterfeit of the Jubilee of the Scriptures.  The Jubilee was sounded at Yom Kippur and Sukkot which follows 5 days later is a picture of dwelling/tabernacling with the Messiah when He returns.  According to the book of Maccabees, Hanukkah is just a replay of Sukkot (2Maccabees 1:9).  So we see two opposing feasts which represent two opposing marks.  Hanukkah which is a ‘2nd Sukkot’ where the Temple (body) is rededicated (resurrection) at the coming of the Messiah or Christmas which is a rehearsal of the coming of the antichrist where the Temple (body) is defiled (mark of beast).

“…the divine child born at the winter solstice was born as a new incarnation of the great god (after that god had been cut in pieces…on purpose to revenge his death upon his murderers.) Now the great god, cut off in the midst of his power and glory, was symbolised as a huge tree, stripped of all his branches, and cut down almost to the ground. But the great Serpent, the symbol of the life restoring Aesculapius, twists itself around the dead stock…and lo, at its side sprouts a young tree – a tree of an entirely different kind,* that is never to be cut down by a hostile power -…and thus shadowed forth the perpetuity and everlasting nature of his power, how that after having fallen before his enemies, he has risen triumphant over them all. Therefore, the 25th of December, the day that was observed in Rome as the day when the victorious god reappeared on earth was held at the Natalis invicti solis, ‘The birthday of the unconquered Sun.”

*the serpent coiling up the tree (spine) bringing about a new being…in Hebrew the word for spine is the same word for tree.  The serpent wrapping around the tree/spin is what the mystery religions call Kundalini which allows the ‘third eye’ to be opened which is really the pineal gland.  The pineal gland is represented in heathen cultures as the pine cone…hence the Christmas tree is an evergreen or pine which has lights (serpent/Lucifer…light bringer) enwrapping around to the top where there is usually a pentagram or hexagram or angel crowned at the top all representing the new man, the enlightened being.

This was precisely the way in which, according to Berosus, the drunken festival of the month Thebeth, answering to our December, in other words, the festival of Bacchus, was celebrated in Babylon. “It was the custom,” says he, “during the five days it lasted, for masters to be in
subjection to their servants, and one of them ruled the house, clothed in a purple garment like a king.”

This “purple-robed” servant was called “Zoganes,” the “Man of sport and wantonness,” and answered exactly to the “Lord of Misrule,” that in the dark ages, was chosen in all Popish countries to head the revels of Christmas. The wassailling bowl of Christmas had its precise counterpart in the “Drunken festival” of Babylon; and many of the other observances still kept up among ourselves at Christmas came from the very same quarter. The candles, in some parts of England, lighted on Christmas-eve, and used so long as the festive season lasts, were equally lighted by the Pagans on the eve of the festival of the Babylonian god, to do honour to him: for it was one of the distinguishing peculiarities of his worship to have lighted wax-candles on his altars. The Christmas tree, now so common among us, was equally common in Pagan Rome and Pagan Egypt. In Egypt that tree was the palm-tree; in Rome it was the fir; the palm-tree denoting the Pagan Messiah, as Baal- Tamar, the fir referring to him as Baal-Berith. The mother of Adonis, the Sun-God and great mediatorial divinity, was mystically said to have been changed into a tree, and when in that state to have brought forth her divine son. If the mother was a tree, the son must have been recognised as the “Man the branch.” And this entirely accounts for the putting of the Yule Log into the fire on Christmas-eve, and the appearance of the Christmas-tree the next morning. As Zero-Ashta, “The seed of the woman,” which name also signified Ignigena, or “born of the fire,” he has to enter the fire on “Mother-night,” that he ma y be born the next day out of it, as the “Branch of God,” or the Tree that brings all divine gifts to men. But why, it may be asked, does he enter the fire under the symbol of a Log? To understand this, it must be remembered that the divine child born at the winter solstice was born as a new incarnation of the great god (after that god had been cut in pieces), on purpose to revenge his death upon his murderers. Now the great god, cut off in the midst of his power and glory, was symbolised as a huge tree, stripped of all its branches, and cut down almost to the ground. But the great serpent, the symbol of the life restoring Aesculapius, twists itself around the dead stock (see Fig. 27), and lo, at its side up sprouts a young tree–a tree of an entirely different kind, that is destined never to be cut down by hostile power–even the palm-tree, the well-known symbol of victory. The Christmas-tree, as has been stated, was generally at Rome a different tree, even the fir; but the very same idea as was implied in the palm-tree was implied in the Christmas- fir; for that covertly symbolised the new-born God as Baal-berith, * “Lord of the Covenant,” and thus shadowed forth the perpetuity and everlasting nature of his power, not that after having fallen before his enemies, he had risen triumphant over them all. * Baal-bereth, which differs only in one letter from Baal-berith, “Lord of the Covenant,” signifies “Lord of the fir-tree.”

Fig. 27: The Yule Log
From MAURICE’s Indian Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 368.
Therefore, the 25th of December, the day that was observed at Rome as the day when the victorious god reappeared on earth, was held at the Natalis invicti solis, “The birth-day of the unconquered Sun.” Now the Yule Log is the dead stock of Nimrod, deified as the sun- god, but cut down by his enemies; the Christmas-tree is Nimrod redivivus–the slain god come to life again. In the light reflected by the above statement on customs that still linger among us, the
origin of which has been lost in the midst of hoar antiquity, let the reader look at the singular practice still kept up in the South on Christmas-eve, of kissing under the mistletoe bough. That mistletoe bough in the Druidic superstition, which, as we have seen, was derived from Babylon, was a representation of the Messiah, “The man the branch.” The mistletoe was regarded as a divine branch *–a branch that came from heaven, and grew upon a tree that sprung out of the earth.
* In the Scandinavian story of Balder, the mistletoe branch is distinguished from
the lamented god. The Druidic and Scandinavian myths somewhat differed; but
yet, even in the Scandinavian story, it is evident that some marvellous power was
attributed to the mistletoe branch; for it was able to do what nothing else in the
compass of creation could accomplish; it slew the divinity on whom the Anglo-
Saxons regarded “the empire” of their “heaven” as “depending.” Now, all that is
necessary to unravel this apparent inconsistency, is just to understand “the
branch” that had such power, as a symbolical expression for the true Messiah. The
Bacchus of the Greeks came evidently to be recognised as the “seed of the
serpent “; for he is said to have been brought forth by his mother in consequence
of intercourse with Jupiter, when that god had appeared in the form of a serpent.
If the character of Balder was the same, the story of his death just amounted to
this, that the “seed of the serpent” had been slain by the “seed of the woman.”
This story, of course, must have originated with his enemies. But the idolators
took up what they could not altogether deny, evidently with the view of
explaining it away.
Thus by the engrafting of the celestial branch into the earthly tree, heaven and earth, that sin had severed, were joined together, and thus the mistletoe bough became the token of Divine
Two Babylons pg 98
reconciliation to man, the kiss being the well-known token of pardon and reconciliation. Whence could such an idea have come? May it not have come from the eighty-fifth Psalm, ver. 10,11,
“Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have KISSED each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth [in consequence of the coming of the promised Saviour], and righteousness shall look down from heaven”? Certain it is that that Psalm was written soon after the Babylonish captivity; and as multitudes of the Jews, after that event, still remained in Babylon under the guidance of inspired men, such as Daniel, as a part of the Divine word it must have been communicated to them, as well as to their kinsmen in Palestine. Babylon was, at that time, the centre of the civilised world; and thus Paganism, corrupting the Divine symbol as it ever has done, had opportunities of sending forth its debased counterfeit of the truth to all the ends of the earth, through the Mysteries that were affiliated with the great central system in Babylon. Thus the very customs of Christmas still existent cast surprising light at once on the revelations of grace made to all the earth, and the efforts made by Satan and his emissaries to materialise, carnalise, and degrade them.

In many countries the boar was sacrificed to the god, for the injury a boar was fabled to have done him. According to one version of the story of the death of Adonis, or Tammuz, it was, as we have seen, in consequence of a wound from the tusk of a boar that he died.

Here we see a strong connection to Christmas and Hanukkah.  Hanukkah is the story of an antichrist figure who sacrificed a pig on the altar of YHWH in honor Tammuz/Bacchus. This was done on the 25th of Kislev which occurs near the winter solstice and the time of Christmas.  Hence, it makes perfect sense of Antiochus Epiphanes to sacrifice a pig at this time in honor of his god ‘triumphing’ over the god of the Jews.

The Phrygian Attes, the beloved of Cybele, whose story was identified with that of Adonis, was fabled to have perished in like manner, by the tusk of a boar. Therefore, Diana, who though commonly represented in popular myths only as the huntress Diana, was in reality the great mother of the gods, has frequently the boar’s head as her accompaniment, in token not of any mere success in the chase, but of her triumph over the grand enemy of the idolatrous system, in which she occupied so conspicuous a place. According to Theocritus, Venus was reconciled to the boar that
killed Adonis, because when brought in chains before her, it pleaded so pathetically that it had not killed her husband of malice prepense, but only through accident. But yet, in memory of the

Two Babylons page 99
deed that the mystic boar had done, many a boar lost its head or was offered in sacrifice to the offended goddess. In Smith, Diana is represented with a boar’s head lying beside her, on the top of a heap of stones, * and in the accompanying woodcut (Fig. 28), in which the Roman Emperor Trajan is represented burning incense to the same goddess, the boar’s head forms a very prominent figure. On Christmas-day the Continental Saxons offered a boar in sacrifice to the Sun, to propitiate her ** for the loss of her beloved Adonis.
* SMITH’s Class. Dict., p. 112.
** The reader will remember the Sun was a goddess. Mallet says, “They offered
the largest hog they could get to Frigga”– i.e., the mother of Balder the lamented
one. In Egypt swine were offered once a year, at the feast of the Moon, to the
Moon, and Bacchus or Osiris; and to them only it was lawful to make such an
offering. (AELIAN)

Bacchus & the Fish

Two Babylons Pg 112
One of the many sacred names by which Tammuz or Nimrod was called, when he reappeared in the Mysteries, after being slain, was Oannes. *
* BEROSUS, BUNSEN’S Egypt. To identify Nimrod with Oannes, mentioned by Berosus as appearing out of the sea, it will be remembered that Nimrod has been proved to be Bacchus. Then, for proof that Nimrod or Bacchus, on being overcome by his enemies, was fabled to have taken refuge in the sea, see chapter 4, section i. When, therefore, he was represented as reappearing, it was natural that he should reappear in the very character of Oannes as a Fish-god. Now, Jerome calls Dagon, the well known Fish-god Piscem moeroris (BRYANT), “the fish of sorrow,” which goes far to identify that Fish-god with Bacchus, the “Lamented one”; and the identification is complete when Hesychius tells us that some called Bacchus Ichthys, or “The fish.”

Two Babylons pg 134

Fig. 36: Symbols of Nimrod and Baal-Berith
From BRYANT: the first figure, the divided bull, is from vol. iii. p. 303; the second, the god on the fish, from the same vol., p. 338. The former is just another symbol of that which is represented by the mighty tree cut asunder (see Christmas and Lady-day). That tree represented Nimrod as “the mighty one” cut in pieces in the midst of his power and glory. The divided man-bull symbolises him as “The prince” who was cut asunder in like manner; for the name for a prince and a bull is the same. The fish over the bull shows the transformation he was supposed to undergo when put to death by his enemies; for the story of  Melikerta, who with his mother Ino was cast into the sea, and became a sea-god (SMITH’s Class. Dict., “Athamas,” p. 100), is just another version of the story of Bacchus, for Ino was the foster-mother of Bacchus (SMITH, sub voce “Dionysus,” p. 226). Now, on the second medal, Melikerta, under the name of Palaemon, isrepresented as triumphantly riding on the fish, his sorrows being over, with the fir-tree, or pine, the emblem of Baal-Berith, “Lord of the Covenant,” as his ensign. This, compared with what is stated … about the Christmas-tree, shows how the fir-tree came to be recognised in the character of
the Christmas-tree. The name Ghelas above the divided bull and the fish is equivocal. As applied to the fish, it comes from Ghela, “to exult or leap for joy,” as dolphins and such like fished do in the sea; as applied to the divinity, whom both the fish and the bull represented, it comes from Ghela, “to reveal,” for that divinity was the “revealer of goodness and truth” (WILKINSON, vol. iv. p. 189).

http://www.innvista.com/culture/religion/deities/words.htm, Heathen Words, “Jesus”:

The common abbreviation for Iesous was IHS, which is found on many inscriptions of the “Church.” IHS was the mystery name of Bacchus, aka Tammuz. Both were known as “The Fish” god. Jesus was also associated with fish, and thus his name was used synonymously — Jesus/Iesous/Ichthus (fish).

http://www.angelfire.com/ma4/namesofmen/chap5.html, Chapter Five …Something Fishy… (5-3-02):

IHS is a mystic surname of Bacchus: I(ota) = Iacchus; H(eta) = Helios, the sun; S(sigma) = son or incarnation of the sun.”[25] … All major dictionaries and reference works recognize that “IHS” is shortened from of the name “IHSOUS”–the name commonly attributed to the Messiah. However, it has been learned that “IHS” was a hidden or mysterious surname for the mythical god Bacchus. Bacchus was known as a sun-deity who also had the symbol of the “Tau cross” as well as the Fish symbol and was also recognized by many of the classical writers as Tammuz, the youthful returning sun-deity. … Now that brings us again to the fish story. Bacchus was also called the ICHTHUS, or the Fish.

Dagon mark of the beast connection

1Sa 5:4  And they rose early in the morning on the next day; and, behold! Dagon had fallen on its face to the earth before the ark of YHWH, and the head of Dagon, and the two palms of its hands, were cut off at the threshold. Only the flat (fishy) part had been left to him.

“Out of (the) deluge emerged DAGON, the fish-god, or GOD OF THE SEA… In the secret mysteries… they sought to regain their influence and power by scenic representation… of the flood, in which NOAH was introduced under the name DAGON.” (Hislop, p. 243-44)

In the mystery religions, both the forehead and hands were tattooed during the initiation rites. (Reason for Dagon’s hands and head cut off)

Rev 17:9  And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
Rev 17:10  And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
Rev 17:11  And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

Egypt

“Horus I represents the soul of life, which came by water to a dried up world… Here the FISH…was a sign of his incorporation in matter… Horus came by water as Ichtus the FISH before there was a boat or Ark… The inundation (of the Nile) was the source of the life of Egypt. It was her annual salvation, and Horus…the Fish-man, was her Saviour.” (Churchward, p. 420-21)

Babylon

“In Babylon, Capricorn symbolized the dual life of Ea, a god often shown walking in a great FISH-SHAPED cloak with the head of a FISH over his own head… It was said to have come from the OCEAN to teach men how to live.”

Assyria

“In the great Assyrian temple of Assur…stood a large stone ritual basin dedicated to the god OANNES… Flanking him are 4 FISH-CLAD priests.” (Johnson, p. 243) In an etching of “Assyria, 7th century BCE: FISH-CLAD priests.” (Johnson, p. 245)
Notice the top of the hat on this fish/man being.  It is half of the star of David.

Medo-Persia

“DAGON…under the name ‘MITHRA’, was worshipped.” (Hislop, p. 264)

“In Mythraic mysteries, SATURN was the Sun God.” (Springmeier, p. 160, quoting Manly P. Hall)

Greece

“Jerome calls DAGON…fish of sorrow which goes far to identify that Fish-god with Bacchus.” (Hislop, p. 114)

One is – Imperial Rome

“SATURN wandered to Italy, where he ruled as king in the Golden Age and gave the name SATURNIA to the country.” (Encyclopedia Britannica, “Saturn,” p. 231)

One is yet to come – Papal Rome

“About the very time when the Bishop of Rome was invested with the pagan title of Pontifex, the Saviour began to be called ICHTHUS, of ‘THE FISH’, thereby identifying him with DAGON.” (Hislop, p. 215)

“The two-horned mitre, which the Pope wears…is the very mitre worn by DAGON.” (Hislop, p. 215) One is – Imperial Rome

“About the very time when the Bishop of Rome was invested with the pagan title of Pontifex, the Saviour began to be called ICHTHUS, of ‘THE FISH’, thereby identifying him with DAGON.” (Hislop, p. 215)

“The two-horned mitre, which the Pope wears…is the very mitre worn by DAGON.” (Hislop, p. 215)

Eighth Beast – World Kingdom

“The religion of SATURN…teaches…the RETURN OF THE LOST SON SATURN.” (Springmeier, p. 160-61)

“The Merovingian dynasty – male line (are) descendants of the FISHER KINGS.” (Gardner, p. 163)

“Between the 5th and 7th centuries the MEROVINGIANS ruled large parts of … France and Germany… The ruler from whom the Merovingians derived their name is…Merovee…a semi-supernatural figure worthy of classical MYTH… His name… echoes the French word of…SEA…Merovee’s mother supposedly went swimming in the OCEAN. In the water she is said to have been seduced and/or raped by… a BEAST OF NEPTUNE.” (Biagent, p. 396)

Coat of Arms of Rennes-le-Chateau (Merovingian castle) (Baigent, p. 396)
Here we see the hexagram is associated with the beast from the sea…

Ivy & heart symbols

Two Babylons pg 133

Fig. 35: Cupid with Wine-Cup and Ivy Garland of Bacchus
From Pompeii, vol. ii. p. 150.
The reader will remember that Jupiter, as “Jupiter puer,” or “Jupiter the boy,” was worshipped in the arms of the goddess Fortuna, just as Ninus was worshipped in the arms of the Babylonian goddess, or Horus in the arms of Isis (see Ch. II, Section II). Moreover, Cupid, who, as being the son of Jupiter, is Vejovis – that is, as we learn from Ovid (vol. iii. p. 179, in a Note to Fasti, lib. iii. v. 408), “Young Jupiter” – is represented, as in the above cut, not only with the wine-cup of Bacchus, but with the Ivy garland, the distinctive mark of the same divinity, around him.

Two Babylons pg 172

From MOOR’s Pantheon, Plate 11, Fig. 6.
The veneration of the “sacred heart” seems also to have extended to India, for there Vishnu, the Mediatorial god, in one of his forms, with the mark of the wound in his foot, in consequence of which he died, and for which such lamentation is annually made, is represented as wearing a heart suspended on his breast It is asked, How came it that the “Heart” became the recognised symbol of the Child of the great Mother? The answer is, “The Heart” in Chaldee is “BEL”; and as, at first, after the check given to idolatry, almost all the most important elements of the Chaldean system were introduced under a veil, so under that veil they continued to be shrouded from the gaze of the uninitiated, after the first reason–the reason of fear–had long ceased to operate. Now, the worship of the “Sacred Heart” was just, under a symbol, the worship of the “Sacred Bel,” that mighty one of Babylon, who had died a martyr for idolatry; for Harpocrates, or Horus, the infant god, was regarded as Bel, born again. That this was in very deed the case, the following extract from Taylor, in one of his notes to his translation of the Orphic Hymns, will show. “While Bacchus,” says he, was “beholding himself” with admiration “in a mirror, he was miserably torn to pieces by the Titans, who, not content with this cruelty,first boiled his members in water, and afterwards roasted them in the fire; but while they were tasting his flesh thus dressed, Jupiter, excited by the steam, and perceiving the cruelty of the deed, hurled his thunder at the Titans, but committed his members to Apollo, the brother of

page 172
Bacchus, that they might be properly interred. And this being performed, Dionysius [i.e., Bacchus], (whose HEART, during his laceration, was snatched away by Minerva and preserved) by a new REGENERATION, again emerged, and he being restored to his pristine life and integrity, afterwards filled up the number of the gods.” This surely shows, in a striking light, the peculiar sacredness of the heart of Bacchus; and that the regeneration of his heart has the very meaning I have attached to it–viz., the new birth or new incarnation of Nimrod or Bel.*

*The Christmas tree is a symbol of the resurrection/regeneration of Nimrod and so is the heart symbol.

When Bel, however was born again as a child, he was, as we have seen, represented as an incarnation of the sun. Therefore, to indicate his connection with the fiery and burning sun, the “sacred heart” was frequently represented as a “heart of flame.” So the “Sacred Heart” of Rome is actually worshipped as a flaming heart, as may be seen on the rosaries devoted to that worship.
Of what use, then, is it to say that the “Sacred Heart” which Rome worships is called by the name of “Jesus,” when not only is the devotion given to a material image borrowed from the worship of the Babylonian Antichrist, but when the attributes ascribed to that “Jesus” are not the attributes of the living and loving Saviour, but the genuine attributes of the ancient Moloch or Bel?

Bacchus and the cross

Two Babylons Pg 178-179
The cross thus widely worshipped, or regarded as a sacred emblem, was the unequivocal symbol of Bacchus, the Babylonian Messiah, for he was represented with a head-band covered with crosses (See Fig. 45). This symbol of the Babylonian god is reverenced at this day in all the wide wastes of Tartary, where Buddhism

page 179
prevails, and the way in which it is represented among them forms a striking commentary on the language applied by Rome to the Cross. “The cross,” says Colonel Wilford, in the Asiatic Researches, “though not an object of worship among the Baud’has or Buddhists, is a favourite emblem and device among them. It is exactly the cross of the Manicheans, with leaves and flowers springing from it. This cross, putting forth leaves and flowers (and fruit also, as I am told), is called the divine tree, the tree of the gods, the tree of life and knowledge, and productive
of whatever is good and desirable, and is placed in the terrestrial paradise.” (Fig. 46). Compare this with the language of Rome applied to the cross, and it will be seen how exact is the coincidence. In the Office of the Cross, it is called the “Tree of life,” and the worshippers are taught thus to address it: “Hail, O Cross, triumphal wood, true salvation of the world, among trees there is none like thee in leaf, flower, and bud…O Cross, our only hope, increase righteousness to the godly and pardon the offences of the guilty.”

Bacchus Saturn connection

Two Babylons Page 243

As Mystery signifies the Hidden system, so Saturn signifies the Hidden god. *
* In the Litany of the Mass, the worshippers are taught thus to pray: “God Hidden,
and my Saviour, have mercy upon us.” (M’GAVIN’S Protestant) Whence can this
invocation of the “God Hidden” have come, but from the ancient worship of Saturn, the “Hidden God”? As the Papacy has canonised the Babylonian god by the name of St. Dionysius, and St. Bacchus, the “martyr,” so by this very name of “Satur” is he also enrolled in the calendar; for March 29th is the festival of “St. Satur,” the martyr. (CHAMBER’S Book of Days)
To those who were initiated the god was revealed; to all else he was hidden. Now, the name Saturn in Chaldee is pronounced Satur; but, as every Chaldee scholar knows, consists only of four letters, thus–Stur. This name contains exactly the Apocalyptic number 666:–
S = 060
T = 400
U = 006
R = 200
If the Pope is, as we have seen, the legitimate representative of Saturn, the number of the Pope, as head of the Mystery of Iniquity, is just 666. But still further it turns out, as shown above, that the original name of Rome itself was Saturnia, “the city of Saturn.” This is vouched alike by Ovid, by Pliny, and by Aurelius Victor. Thus, then, the Pope has a double claim to the name and number of the beast. He is the only legitimate representative of the original Saturn at this day in existence, and he reigns in the very city of the seven hills where the Roman Saturn formerly reigned; and, from his residence in which, the whole of Italy was “long after called by his name,”
being commonly named “the Saturnian land.” But what bearing, it may be said, has this upon the name Lateinos {see part 2 666click here}, which is commonly believed to be the “name of the beast”? Much. It proves that the common opinion is thoroughly well-founded. Saturn and Lateinos are just synonymous, having precisely the same meaning, and belonging equally to the same god. The reader cannot have forgotten the lines of Virgil, which showed that Lateinos, to whom the Romans or Latin race traced back their lineage, was represented with a glory around his head, to show that he was a “child of the Sun.” Thus, then, it is evident that, in popular opinion, the original Lateinos hadoccupied the very same position as Saturn did in the Mysteries, who was equally worshipped as the “offspring of the Sun.” Moreover, it is evident that the Romans knew that the name “Lateinos” signifies the “Hidden One,” for their antiquarians invariably affirm that Latium received its name from Saturn “lying hid” there. On etymological grounds, then, even on the testimony of the Romans, Lateinos is equivalent to the “Hidden One”; that is, to Saturn, the “god
of Mystery.” *
* Latium Latinus (the Roman form of the Greek Lateinos), and Lateo, “to lie hid,” all alike come from the Chaldee “Lat,” which has the same meaning. The name “lat,” or the hidden one, had evidently been given, as well as Saturn, to the great Babylonian god. This is evident from the name of the fish Latus, which was
worshipped along with the Egyptian Minerva, in the city of Latopolis in Egypt,
now Esneh (WILKINSON), that fish Latus evidently just being another name for
the fish-god Dagon. We have seen that Ichthys, or the Fish, was one of the names of Bacchus; and the Assyrian goddess Atergatis, with her son Ichthys is said to have been cast into the lake of Ascalon. That the sun-god Apollo had been known under the name of Lat, may be inferred from the Greek name of his mother-wife Leto, or in Doric, Lato, which is just the feminine of Lat. The Roman name
244
Latona confirms this, for it signifies “The lamenter of Lat,” as Bellona signifies
“The lamenter of Bel.” The Indian god Siva, who, as we have seen, is sometimes
represented as a child at the breast of its mother, and has the same bloody
character as Moloch, or the Roman Saturn, is called by this very name, as may be
seen from the following verse made in reference to the image found in his
celebrated temple at Somnaut:

Triquetra

The symbol was later used by Christians as a symbol of the Trinity. This appropriation was particularly easy because the triquetra conveniently incorporated three shapes that could be interpreted as Christian Ιχθς (Ichthus/fish) symbols

Another form of the triquetra is the Fleur De Lis

the Fleur de Lis is a symbol of the Priory of Sion which points back to the Merovingian (beast from the sea) bloodline seen above.

The triquetra a symbol of the Saturnian/Golden age/Aquarian age?

Rosicrucian, Masonic, Dionysian connection

Holy Blood, Holy Grail pg 185
“In the late eighteenth century, when different Masonic systems were proliferating wildly, the so-called Oriental Rite of Memphis made its appearance.  In this rite the name Ormus occurred, to our knowledge, for the first time- the name allegedly adopted by the Prieure de Sion between 1188 and 1307.  According to the Oriental Rite of Memphis, Ormus was an Egyptian sage who, around A.D. 46, amalgamated pagan and Christian mysteries and, in so doing, founded the Rose-Croix.“
Footnote 26 “The underlying legend of the rite was that it descended from the Dionysian and Egyptian mysteries.  The sage Ormus is said to have combined the mysteries of Christianity to produce the original Rose-Croix.
The main symbols of the Rosicrucians is the rose and the cross.  The cross is a symbol of Bacchus that is linked to the mark of the beast and will be discussed in more detail in a future study, Yah willing… along with the Rosicrucian order and the Merovingian bloodline which is also linked to the mark of the beast.

The rose is a symbol of secrecy or mystery.  This links back to Saturn…Bacchus….mystery 666.

I.H.S. Bacchus Connection

http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/etgloss/ia-iz.htm, Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary: Ia-Iz:

Iao (Gnostic) A three-letter mystery-name, parallel in one sense with the Sanskrit pranava, and reminiscent of triune deities represented by a triplicity of sounds. It occurs in many variations: Io, the Grecian moon goddess; Iaho, Jevo, Jehovah, and other Hebraic forms; Iaso, the possible origin of the name Jesus; Iacchos, the Bacchus of the Mysteries. It is at once threefold, fourfold, and sevenfold in meaning.

I. H. S. Well-known Christian monogram, taken as being the initials of Iesus Hominum Salvator (Jesus Savior of Men); and the first three letters of the Greek Iesous ({Greek char}, Jesus). It is also a monogram representative of Dionysos used in the Mysteries. As a Latin abbreviation, having mystic significance, it means acrostically, In hoc signo victor eris (in this sign thou shalt be victorious).

http://www.adelphiasophism.com/gog/gg18.html, God or Goddess? Christian Symbols, “The Cross”:

As with the cross and the labarum, so it is with many other Christian symbols. They are borrowed from paganism. The insignia on the walls of the Temple of Bacchus in Rome was a Roman cross and I H S—the three mystical letters to this day retained in Christian churches, and falsely supposed to stand for Jesus hominum salvator—Jesus mankind’s saviour. Christian women who work this sign on altar cloths for their churches little think that they are working a pagan sign. The same monogram was that of the heathen sun god Bacchus.

http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Scriptures/www.innvista.com/scriptures/compare/heathen8.htm, Words with Heathen Origins in the Scriptures, “Jesus”:

The Greek abbreviation for Iesous is IHS, which is found on many inscriptions made by the Church during the Middle Ages. IHS was the mystery name of Bacchus (Tammuz), another Sun-deity.

http://www.wisdomworld.org/setting/hypatia.html, THEOSOPHY, Vol. 25, No. 5, March, 1937, (Pages 197-207; Size: 31K), (Number 12 of a 29-part series): GREAT THEOSOPHISTS: HYPATIA: THE LAST OF THE NEOPLATONISTS:

Constantine, the first Christian Emperor … Constantine’s conversion to Christianity, as the result of a psychic vision, is described by Eusebius, who was his close friend and companion as well as his famous biographer. On the night before his final battle with Maxentius, who had denounced him as a usurper to the throne, Constantine appealed to his own god for help. According to Eusebius,

While he was praying with fervent entreaty, a most marvelous sign appeared in the heavens, the account of which, related by any other person, would be difficult of belief. But since the victorious Emperor himself declared it to the writer of this history, and confirmed his statement with an oath, who could hesitate to credit it? He said that when the sun was beginning to decline, he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a Cross of blazing light, with this inscription: “I. H. S. In this sign thou shalt conquer.” (Vita Constantin.)(Vita Constantini)

On the following night Constantine had another psychic vision. This time the figure of Christ himself appeared, wearing the same cross that Constantine had seen the night before. Constantine declared that on this occasion Christ spoke to him, telling him to place this cross on his battle flag and to march against Maxentius with full assurance of victory. Constantine obeyed, and Maxentius was defeated. In adopting this symbol — henceforth placed upon the Imperial banner and carried at the head of the army in its conquest for Christ and the Church — Constantine added two more pagan symbols to Christianity. For the long lance crossed at right angles by a staff was the ancient sign of Osiris, and the letters I. H. S. one of the names of Bacchus.

Constantine was a picture of the antichrist who did many of the same things as Antiochus Ephiphanes but Constantine did it more subvertly.

Early Christian and Byzantine Art, Beckwith, 1979, pp. 29-30, “Early Christian Art: Rome and the Legacy of the Caesars”:
P. 30, illustration 14, “Vintage scenes”:
Notice the Bacchus symbology on the sarcophagus of Constantine’s daughter.  The ivy, the wine, the cupid like figures…also notice the intertwining serpent and the pine cones coming out of the head of figure on the top.  The intertwining serpent and the pine cone are symbols for the ‘god man’ and ‘evolution’ of DNA which will be discussed in more detail in a future study, Yah willing.

Maccabees & Chanukkah

In the midst of Jeremiah 10 we read Jeremiah proclaim that there is none like unto thee O YHWH! You are great, and your Name is great in might.  Who would not fear thee or King of the nations?

Jer 10:6  There is none like You, O YHWH; You are great, and Your name is great in might.

This is a direct reference to Revelation 15 and those who overcome the mark of the beast. ‘Who is like thee’ is a reference back to the Maccabees who overcame the mark of the beast in their day.  The name Maccabee is an acronym for mi kamocah b’elim YHWH…which comes from Exodus 15.  The song of Moshe and the song of the Lamb.  Interesting also that Jeremiah 10 is the chapter which speaks of not putting a ‘christmas tree’ in your house.

Messiah Yahshua refers to this time of the Maccabees as a foreshadowing of the end of days.

Mat 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Mat 24:16  Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

Lamsa Aramaic translation

Mat 24:15  When you see the sign of the refuse of desolation, as spoken by the prophet Daniel, accumulating in the holy place, whoever reads will understand it.

Etheridge Aramaic translation

Mat 24:15  But when you see the unclean sign of desolation which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, that it standeth in the holy place; – he who readeth let him understand!

1Ma 1:59  Now the five and twentieth day of the month they did sacrifice upon the idol altar, which was upon the altar of God.
1Ma 1:60  At which time according to the commandment they put to death certain women, that had caused their children to be circumcised.
1Ma 1:61  And they hanged the infants about their necks, and rifled their houses, and slew them that had circumcised them.
1Ma 1:62  Howbeit many in Israel were fully resolved and confirmed in themselves not to eat any unclean thing.
1Ma 1:63  Wherefore the rather to die, that they might not be defiled with meats, and that they might not profane the holy covenant: so then they died.
1Ma 1:64  And there was very great wrath upon Israel.

2Ma 5:11  Now when this that was done came to the king’s car, he thought that Judea had revolted: whereupon removing out of Egypt in a furious mind, he took the city by force of arms,
2Ma 5:12  And commanded his men of war not to spare such as they met, and to slay such as went up upon the houses.*

*Messiah specifically warned us not to do this in Matthew 24
2Ma 5:13  Thus there was killing of young and old, making away of men, women, and children, slaying of virgins and infants.

1Ma 2:27  And Mattathias cried throughout the city with a loud voice, saying, Whosoever is zealous of the law, and maintaineth the covenant, let him follow me.
1Ma 2:28  So he and his sons fled into the mountains, and left all that ever they had in the city.
1Ma 2:29  Then many that sought after justice and judgment went down into the wilderness, to dwell there:

Antiochus, a picture of the antichrist, destroyed the Temple service, and forbid Israel from keeping the Torah
1Ma 1:20  And after that Antiochus had smitten Egypt, he returned again in the hundred forty and third year, and went up against Israel and Jerusalem with a great multitude,
1Ma 1:21  And entered proudly into the sanctuary, and took away the golden altar, and the candlestick of light, and all the vessels thereof,
1Ma 1:22  And the table of the shewbread, and the pouring vessels, and the vials. and the censers of gold, and the veil, and the crown, and the golden ornaments that were before the temple, all which he pulled off.
1Ma 1:23  He took also the silver and the gold, and the precious vessels: also he took the hidden treasures which he found.
1Ma 1:24  And when he had taken all away, he went into his own land, having made a great massacre, and spoken very proudly.

1Ma 1:41  Moreover king Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom, that all should be one people,
1Ma 1:42  And every one should leave his laws: so all the heathen agreed according to the commandment of the king.
1Ma 1:43  Yea, many also of the Israelites consented to his religion, and sacrificed unto idols, and profaned the sabbath.
1Ma 1:44  For the king had sent letters by messengers unto Jerusalem and the cities of Juda that they should follow the strange laws of the land,
1Ma 1:45  And forbid burnt offerings, and sacrifice, and drink offerings, in the temple; and that they should profane the sabbaths and festival days:
1Ma 1:46  And pollute the sanctuary and holy people:
1Ma 1:47  Set up altars, and groves, and chapels of idols, and sacrifice swine’s flesh, and unclean beasts:
1Ma 1:48  That they should also leave their children uncircumcised, and make their souls abominable with all manner of uncleanness and profanation:
1Ma 1:49  To the end they might forget the law, and change all the ordinances.
1Ma 1:50  And whosoever would not do according to the commandment of the king, he said, he should die.

Chanukkah

H2598
חנכּה
chănûkkâh
BDB Definition:
1) dedication, consecration

Sukkotclick here & Hanukkah

2Ma 1:7  What time as Demetrius reigned, in the hundred threescore and ninth year, we the Jews wrote unto you in the extremity of trouble that came upon us in those years, from the time that Jason and his company revolted from the holy land and kingdom,
2Ma 1:8  And burned the porch, and shed innocent blood: then we prayed unto the Lord, and were heard; we offered also sacrifices and fine flour, and lighted the lamps, and set forth the loaves.
2Ma 1:9  And now see that ye keep the feast of tabernacles in the month Casleu.

2Ma 1:18  Therefore whereas we are now purposed to keep the purification of the temple upon the five and twentieth day of the month Casleu, we thought it necessary to certify you thereof, that ye also might keep it, as the feast of the tabernacles, and of the fire, which was given us when Neemias offered sacrifice, after that he had builded the temple and the altar.

2Ma 10:1  Now Maccabeus and his company, the Lord guiding them, recovered the temple and the city:
2Ma 10:2  But the altars which the heathen had built in the open street, and also the chapels, they pulled down.
2Ma 10:3  And having cleansed the temple they made another altar, and striking stones they took fire out of them, and offered a sacrifice after two years, and set forth incense, and lights, and shewbread.
2Ma 10:4  When that was done, they fell flat down, and besought the Lord that they might come no more into such troubles; but if they sinned any more against him, that he himself would chasten them with mercy, and that they might not be delivered unto the blasphemous and barbarous nations.
2Ma 10:5  Now upon the same day that the strangers profaned the temple, on the very same day it was cleansed again, even the five and twentieth day of the same month, which is Casleu.
2Ma 10:6  And they kept the eight days with gladness, as in the feast of the tabernacles, remembering that not long afore they had held the feast of the tabernacles, when as they wandered in the mountains and dens like beasts.
2Ma 10:7  Therefore they bare branches, and fair boughs, and palms also, and sang psalms unto him that had given them good success in cleansing his place.
2Ma 10:8  They ordained also by a common statute and decree, That every year those days should be kept of the whole nation of the Jews.
2Ma 10:9  And this was the end of Antiochus, called Epiphanes.

As seen in the above verses, Hanukkah is a replay of Sukkot.   Christmas is a counterfeit Sukkot. Christmas is the celebration of the birthday of the false Messiah, whereas Sukkot was the actually time that Yahshua ha’moshiach was born.  Sukkot & Hanukkah are both called the festival of lights.  Christmas is known for the beautiful lights on the houses of those who celebrate it.  This custom traces back to putting candles in windows to invite the pagan gods into your home.  And on and on it goes…these holidays are wedding rehearsals.  The Biblical feasts are rehearsals for the wedding with Messiah Yahshua and place the mark of YHWH on us.  Christmas, Easter etc are wedding rehearsals for the wedding of the antichrist and place the mark of the beast on us.

Image of Nebuchadnezzar

Dan 3:1  Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits (60), and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.
Dan 3:2  Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication (chanukah) of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
Interesting that the image of Nebuchadnezzar, which is a foreshadow of the image in Revelation 13 is associated with the word Chanukah…

Chanukah and Messiah

Joh 10:22  And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.
Joh 10:23  And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.
Joh 10:24  Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
Joh 10:25  Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me.
Joh 10:26  But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
Joh 10:27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Yahshua is referring here to earlier in the chapter where He speaks of the true Shepherd versus the thief.  Here again is the association between the true Messiah versus the false Messiah.

Joh 10:1  Truly, truly, I say to you, The one not entering through the door into the sheepfold, but going up by another way, that one is a thief and a plunderer.
Joh 10:2  But the one entering through the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
Joh 10:3  The doorkeeper opens to him, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.
Joh 10:4  And when he puts forth his own sheep, he goes in front of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.*

The sheep follow Him…they walk with Him.  Interesting that Enoch is known for walking with YHWH.  The name Enoch comes from the word Chanak.  The same root as Chanukah.
Joh 10:5  But they will not follow a stranger, never! But they will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of the strangers.
Joh 10:6  Jesus spoke this allegory to them, but they did not know what it was which He spoke to them.
Joh 10:7  Then Jesus again said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you that I am the door of the sheep.
Joh 10:8  All who came before Me are thieves and plunderers, but the sheep did not hear them.*

Here Messiah alludes to all of the false Messiahs that came before Him and were worshiped by those who were not of His flock.  As seen above with Bacchus, there are many parallels between the Messiah and the pagan christs.  Satan has tried to bring about the counterfeit Christ since the time of the garden and the prophecy of the seed of the woman crushing his head.  The gospel in the stars has been there since the beginning and has told the story of the Messiah so satan has tried to deceive mankind by telling of false christs that have similar traits to the true Messiah. click here
Joh 10:9  I am the door. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in, and will go out, and will find pasture.
Joh 10:10  The thief does not come except that he may steal, and kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life and may have it abundantly.
Joh 10:11  I am the Good Shepherd! The Good Shepherd lays down His life on behalf of the sheep.
Joh 10:12  But the hireling, not even being a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and forsakes the sheep and flees. And the wolf seizes them, and scatters the sheep.
Joh 10:13  But the hireling flees because he is a hireling, and there is not a care to him concerning the sheep.
Joh 10:14  I am the Good Shepherd, and I know those that are Mine, and I am known by the ones that are Mine.
Joh 10:15  Even as the Father knows Me, I also know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
Joh 10:16  And I have other sheep which are not of this fold. I must also lead those, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock, one Shepherd.

Ultimately this is what it is all about…being one flock of the Messiah.  The adversary seeks to counterfeit this.  This is why Antiochus sought to make the people in his kingdom one.  The antichrist seeks to have one flock, one bride.  The Messiah will have one flock, one bride.  We must decide which flock and which mark we will have.

Videos on pagan holidays
click here

Mark of the Beast 4 – Frequencies & Symbols
click here

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Albert Barnes commentary
(e) The method of designating persons obscurely by a reference to the numerical signification of the letters in their names was not very uncommon, and was one that was not unlikely, in the circumstances of the case, to have been resorted to by John. “Thus, among the pagans, the Egyptian mystics spoke of Mercury, or Thouth, under the name 1218, because the Greek letters composing the word Thouth, when estimated by their numerical value, together made up that number. By others, Jupiter was invoked under the mystical number 717; because the letters of  ̔Η ΑΡΧΗ  HEĒ ARCHEE – “Beginning,” or “First Origin,” which was a characteristic of the supreme deity worshipped as Jupiter, made up that number. And Apollo under the number 608, as being that of ηυς  ēus or ὑης  huēs, words expressing certain solar attributes. Again, the pseudo-Christian, or semi-pagan Gnostics, from John’s time and downward, affixed to their gems and amulets, of which multitudes remain to the present day, the mystic word αβρασαξ  abrasax or αβραξας  abraxas, under the idea of some magic virtue attaching to its number 365, as being that of the days of the annual solar circle,” etc. See other instances referred to in Elliott, 3:205. These facts show that John would not be unlikely to adopt some such method of expressing a sentiment which it was designed should be obscure in form, but possible to be understood. It should be added here, that this was more common among the Jews than among any other people.


This idea of attaching numbers to letters is called Gematria in Hebrew and Isopsephia in Greek or alphanumerics.  In Hebrew, Greek & Aramaic each letter had a corresponding number.

There are also different types of Gematria

There is also ‘ATBaSH’ where each letter is flipped to its opposite.  Aleph is tav bet is shin hence the word ATBaSH.  Jeremiah even used this method of cyphering in Jeremiah 51:41 for example Sheshach = Babel.  With that being said, it is easy to see why this enigmatic number 666 has so many different interpretations.

χξς

Stephanos 1550 text

In the Greek manuscripts, the Number is rendered in Greek numerical form as “χξς”,[6] or sometimes literally as “six hundred and sixty-six”, “ἑξακόσιοι ἑξήκοντα ἑξι”.[7][8] [hexakosioi hexékonta hex, lit. six hundred sixty six]

The Aramaic Peshitta writes the word out:

The Vulgate writes out 666 as well
Rev 13:18  hic sapientia est qui habet intellectum conputet numerum bestiae numerus enim hominis est et numerus eius est sescenti sexaginta sex

Oxyrhynchus Papyrus

The First and last letters of χξς are the the first and last letters of Christos Χριστός. The middle letter is the Greek letter for Serpent ξ because it looks like a serpent.  Hence, serpent Messiah.

Connection to Islamclick here

Walid Shoebat, author of Why I Left Jihad, does not believe the Greek letters χξς’ in Revelation 13:18 should be translated “666”. He proposes that if these were Arabic letters, the χ becomes the crossed swords of Islam, and ξς’ is Arabic for “in the name of Allah”.  Shoebat, Walid. Why I Left Jihad.

If you lay the ξ on its belly you get the word Allah

Bilsmillah (in the name of Allah)
The common translation for bismillah is “In the name of Allah”, which is actually an idiom, an expression that really doesn’t make much sense on a literal word-by-word basis.

The phrase In the name of  is an idiom having the connotation of  with the blessings of, under the guidance of, as an instrument of, with the support of, or for the glory of. In each of these cases, the idiom In the name of means submitting to, honoring or glorifying that which is referred to.

Now, let’s take a deeper look into the Arabic roots of this word bismillah.

The term bismillah, is a combination of three words:

1. The particle bi  which can mean by, for, with the aid of, through or by means of and points toward that which happens next.

2. The next word in this phrase is ism, based on the root variously reported to be s-m-w or a-s-m, which indicates the means by which something is distinguished, whether by use of an identifying mark, or by being raised up high so that it may be distinguished, and would include  a name, reputation, light or vibration, and points toward the very essence of something, the inherent qualities and signs of the existence of something, the underlying reality of something.

3. The ending of the term is the word Allah, which is the Arabic name of the god. The Semitic roots of the word Allah extend back several thousand years to the Canaanite Elat, Hebrew El and Elohim, and Aramaic Alaha.  In modern English this would generally be translated as God (which is old English, likely based on the Sanskrit word hu, meaning that which is worshipped, honored or adored).

To say bismillah is to humbly offer one’s self as a vehicle for the glory and majesty of Allah.

χξς In Hebrew this would be rendered

The mem sofit is only at the end of Hebrew words so the only word which could be translated is v’sam starting at the left and going right.

samek mem sofit is translated into hebrew as drug/poison…the vav in the front would be rendered ‘and‘.  The Hebrew word for number is saphar which is from the same root as the word for book sepher.

The number 666 then may be alluding, a deeper level, to a poison book.  The Quran?  The Talmud?  DNA?

This word samek mem sofit is not used in Scripture

However, looking at the word sum which comes from this root draws some interesting connections to 666.

Notice that this word is translated into English as name and mark.  Also notice that the word shem שם is related to this word.  Shem is the word typically translated as name.  It means the character, the breath of a thing.

Poison is also connected with wormwood.  Wormwood may be related to the planet Nibiru and the return of the fallen angels.click here

Wormwood
Rev 8:11  And the name of the star is said to be Wormwood. And the third part of the waters became changed into wormwood. And many men died from the waters, because they were bitter.

Wormwood=bitterness, hemlock, poison

H3939
לענה
la‛ăna^h
BDB Definition:
1) wormwood
1a) bitterness (metaphorically)
Part of Speech: noun feminine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from an unused root supposed to mean to curse*

*Hence the word wormwood is associated with ‘Allah’.  The word allah in Hebrew means a curse

Dan 9:11  Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.

H423
אלה
‘âlâh

BDB Definition:
1) oath
2) oath of covenant
3) curse
3a) from God
3b) from men
4) execration
Part of Speech: noun feminine

It is also interesting to note that Allah is associated with a star…ie wormwood.

2nd Esdras 15:35  They shall smite one upon another & they shall smite down a great multitude of stars upon the earth, even their own star*; and blood shall be from the sword unto the belly.

*Allah is referred to a star in the Quran

Surah 24:35 Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth; a likeness of His light is as a niche in which is a lamp, the lamp is in a glass, (and) the glass is as it were a brightly shining star {Notice the similarities to Revelation 8:10-11 speaking of the star Wormwood} , lit from a blessed olive-tree, neither eastern nor western, the oil whereof almost gives light though fire touch it not — light upon light — Allah guides to His light whom He pleases, and Allah sets forth parables for men, and Allah is Cognizant of all things.

666 could also be rendered
600 Tav Gershayim Resh  ת”ר  (400+200)
60  60    Samekh 60 ס
6    Vav 6 ו

רתסו……there is no Hebrew word spelled like this, if it was a name it would be pronounced ratso or ratsu

תרסו…there is no Hebrew word spelled like this, if it was a name it would be pronounced tarso or tarsu.. Tarsus?  As in Paul of Tarsus…a Caricature of Shaul of Tarsus who was anti-Torah?

The pictographic meaning of these letters is head,covenant/cross, thorn, nail.  The mark of YHWH, spoken of in Ezekiel 9, is the word TAV which means a cross.  Is the mark of the beast a direct counterfeit of that word, which refers to the crucifixion?  The antichrist is a counterfeit of the Messiah…the mark of the beast is the counterfeit of the mark of YHWH.  This will be discussed in more detail in a future study on the cross mark of the beast connection, Yah willing.

Strong’s Concordance #5516 “Chi Xi Stigma [khee xee stig-ma]; 22nd, 14th and obsolete letter (4742 as a cross) of the Greek alphabet (intermediate between the 5th and 6th letters) used as numbers; denoting respectively 600, 60 and 6; 666 as a numeral:

The 22nd, 14th and 6th letters of the Hebrew alphabet spell:

This word means ‘his dragon’.

Sun worship

1Ki 10:14  And the weight of the gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty six talents of gold,

The phrase shesh ma’ot sheesheem vashash kekar (666 talents) acronomically add up to 666 as well.  Acronomically this phrase this teaches that 666 is the sun YHWH.  The Scriptures refer to the sun as a descriptive tool for YHWH.  The adversary counterfeited this idea and this is why we see sun worship prevalent in all the pagan mystery religions.

Psa 84:11  For YHWH God is a sun and shield; YHWH will give grace and glory; He will withhold nothing good from those who walk in integrity.
Mal 4:2  But to you who fear My name, the Sun of Righteousness shall rise up, and healing will be on His wings. And you shall go out and frisk like calves of the stall.

The adversary counterfeits the Most High

Isa 14:14  I will rise over the heights of the clouds; I will be compared* to the Most High.
*the adversary does not just want attempts to appear just like the Messiah.  This is a key to understanding what the mark of the beast is and who the antichrist is.  The word used by Yeshayahu is damah meaning the resemblance of a son to his father which is passed down through blood (DNA).

Another connection between the sun and 666 is the “magic square of the sun”.

Babylonian astrologers divided the starry heavens into 36 constellations (ten days each). These were represented by different amulets called “Sigilla Solis,” or the Sun Seal. These amulets were worn by the pagan priests and they contained all the numbers from 1 to 36. By these figures they claimed to be able to foretell future events. These amulets were usually made of gold, yellow being the sun color. While being carried, these amulets were wrapped in yellow silk, as it was thought that the bearer would thus receive the beneficent powers believed to emanate from that jewel. Adding the numbers of any column either horizontally or vertically, and also the two diagonals crossing the square, the total is the same — 111. The sum of the six columns, either horizontally or vertically, is 666. The illustrations below taken from actual amulets in the Berlin Museum.

“The second illustration is also a solar seal, but it honors the star Basilisco, which was the diminutive form of the Greek basileus (king), thus meaning the same as the Latin regulus. Now, Regulus is the only first-magnitude star in the constellation of Leo. The sun and the moon are again clearly seen on this amulet, and on the reverse side is the same arrangement of numerals, with the actual figure given of the total 666.”

[The lower coin shows the conjunction of the Sun, Moon and the star Regulus in the constellation of Leo the Lion that occurred on 19 August 1705.

Table #1 as illustrated above is also referred to in numerology as the magic Square of the Sun. There are similar magic squares for Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury and the Moon, all of which have been known for centuries.

So 666 is a number associated with pagan sun-worship, which originated in the mysteries of ancient pagan Babylon. In Revelation 666 is associated with the number of the beast (from the sea), the Antichrist, and the harlot church of Mystery Babylon.

The “devil’s triad” 5th harmonic .666 looks like an inverted shin.  The 'devil's triad' or tritone is the harmonic that is used to make sinister music for horror movies and in olden times Monks refused to sing it because it was considered evil.  It looks like an inverted Hebrew letter shin, which is connected with 666 and the sun.

Interestingly,there is a verse in Scripture which has a word which equals 666 in it which connects to this 'inverted shin'.

1Sa 13:21  And the sharpening charge was a pim for the plowshares, and for the mattocks, and for the three (666) pronged forks, and for the axes, and for setting the plowshares.

This 'magic square of the sun' is associated with the 'The Philosophers stone'

The Philosopher's stone is associated with the hexagram...a symbol that comes up over and over again in connection with the number 666.

The Hexagram of Earth represents the Solar energy that makes concrete matter that we can move and touch, in short, The Philosophers Stone.

Dr. John Dee, the court astrologist of Queen Elizabeth I, in his book Hieroglyphic Monad, includes the following quote:

"'Mahatma Letters,' page 345: 'The double triangle viewed by the Jewish Kabbalists as Solomon's Seal is...the Sri--Antana of the Archaic Aryan Temple, the Mystery of Mysteries, a geometrical synthesis of the whole occult doctrine. The two interlaced triangles are the Buddham-Gums of Creation. They contain the 'squaring of the Circle,' the 'Philosophers' Stone,' the great problems of Life and Death--the mystery of Evil. The Chela who can explain this sign from every one of its aspects is virtually an Adept.'"John Dee, Hieroglyphic Monad, Dr John Dee, WEISER BOOKS, Boston MA/York Beach, ME, page 76

Albert Pike associates the Great Secret of Freemasonry with the discovery of the Alchemists “Philosopher’s Stone.”

The philosopher's stone is a legendary substance, allegedly capable of turning inexpensive metals into gold. It was sometimes believed to be an elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and possibly for achieving immortality. For a long time, it was the most sought-after goal in Western alchemy. In the view of spiritual alchemy, making the philosopher's stone would bring enlightenment upon the maker and conclude the Great Work. It is also known by several other names, such as 'materia prima.'  Ultimately, it is about bringing heaven down to earth.  Or the Sun (father) joining with the earth (mother) according to occult belief.  This will need to be discussed in greater detail in another study, Yah willing.

The tri-quetra is another subject that will need to be addressed in more detail in another study.  It is connected strongly to the 'Philosopher's stone' and the 'new man', homo-noeticus.

THE SUN-KING: 666 = A (111x6), THERION (Beast), ANKH-AF-NA-KHONSV(T), Sorath (Spirit of the Sun), and Shemesh IHVH (the Sun of Tetragrammaton). "666 is the Most Holy Number of the Sun" (according to them). It is symbolized by the letter Shin made of three Vavs (=666). Shin is the letter of Path 31 on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life and 31=AL (The All). 666 is the mystic number of all the Paths of The Concealed Glory, for there are 36 Paths within the Tree of Life, 32 known, while four remain secret. 666 is also the occult number of the Hexagram, another symbol of the Sun, for a single line of the Hexagram contains three equal parts each of which may be represented by the number one, so that every line can be symbolized by the number 111. There are six lines in all, making 111x6=666, the most Holy Number of the Sun.

Six Hundred is the number of Evil personified. Sixty is the number of the Hebrew letter Samekh, which is the letter of the Holy Guardian Angel, the Adam Kadmon, {Adam Kadmon represents the new man, homo-noeticus, the next step in man's "evolution"} (or Sun-King), the Solar Self within Man. Six is the number of Man, making 666 to convey a Evil Man who has as his symbol, the Sun. {666 is a number of a man but also a beast (angel)... Six angles of 60 degrees each equals 360 degrees, and 360 is the number of the Hebrew letter Shin spelled in full. Shin is the letter of the Sun and of 666*. The most ancient symbol of the Sun is the Celtic triple knot or Spiral. The Triquetra is one form, the Celtic Triskel is another.

*Shin Shemesh connection

The letter vav = 6
The letter shin consists of 3 vavs…666?

Notice on the palm of the human hand there is the letter shin

The mark of YHWH is a sign on the hand and frontlets between the eyes, the mark of the beast is a counterfeit.  Interestingly, on mezuzot, the letter shin is many times displayed on the outside of the box with the verses referring to the mark of YHWH within.

The letter shin is also placed on the tefillin/phylacteries that are worn by traditional Jews as well.

More on the Shin mark of the beast connection in a future study, Yah willing.

There is only one other reference to the number 666 in Scripture.

Names associated with 666

Ezr 2:13  The sons of Adonikam, six hundred and sixty six.
H140
אדניקם
'ădônı̂yqâm
BDB Definition:
Adonikam = “my lord arose”

V’Yitran
Gen 36:26  And these were the sons of Dishan: Hemdan, and Eshban, and Ithran*, and Cheran.

Yitran comes from the word

H3498
יתר
ya^thar
BDB Definition:
1) to be left over, remain, remain over, leave (ROOT MEANING CORD/NAVEL CORD...this is important to note due to the DNA connection)

Num 13:13  of the tribe of Asher, Sethur סתור(mystery, hide) the son of Michael;

H5639
סתוּר
sethûr
BDB Definition:
Sethur = “hidden”

This is the only name in Scripture that equal 666.  It  is connected to the hexagram in that the pagan god Saturn is spelled with the same Hebrew letters.

Saturn is a pagan code name for satan.  Freemason J.S. Ward wrote a book called Freemasonry and the Ancient gods where he speaks of Saturn being another name for satan.  Saturn was also called Baal.  Saturn is connected to the number 6.  Saturn is the 6th planet from the sun.  The Talisman of Saturn is a hexagram which is comprised of 3 pairs of triangles with their apexes touching with each pair representing 6 forming 666.  Saturn was the most important of the Titans (which equals 666 in Greek) and ruled during the 'Golden Age' which is a picture of the kingdom of antichrist.  Christmas derives from the feast of Saturnalia and is a yearly rehearsal of this antichrist kingdom.

Amo 5:26  Yea, you have lifted up the booth of your king, and Kiyyun, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves!
Footnote in the JPS pocket edition of the Tanakh on Amos 5:26
"astral deity Saturn-R. Isaac Caro says all the astrologers represented Saturn as the star of Israel."

More on the Saturn, hexagram, mark of the beast connection in a future study...Yah willing.

Judaism

In Jewish thought 666 is a positive number pointing to the Messiah and the Messianic kingdom...

Joh 5:43  I have come in the name of My Father, and you do not receive Me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive that one.

http://ohr.edu/ask_db/ask_main.php/277/Q1/
The number 666 has significance as the numerical value of the Hebrew verse: "Ata yigdal na koach Ado-nai -- Now, I pray, let the Power of my Lord be great." (Numbers 14:17). This was Moshe's prayer invoking Divine Mercy on behalf of the Jewish People.

"Mosad Hayesod" cites the Vilna Gaon's commentary on the Zohar that "the number 666 contains hidden within it exalted and lofty messianic potential." No other explanation is offered there.

We do know that the number six represents the physical world. The Torah describes the creation of the universe as a six part, six day, process. Our ancient sources describe the universe as emanating in six directions -- north, south, east, west, up, down -- from a central point. All physical space and all physical objects have these six dimensions.

666 is six repeated three times. Repeating a concept three times represents the affirmation and strength of that concept. The number 666 could thus represent the strength and perfection of the physical world, which Judaism teaches will occur in the messianic era, when the physical world will reach its ultimate purpose, to be a vehicle through which the created experience the Creator.

* Sources: Mosad Hayesod pp. 204-205
* Rabbi Dovid Rossoff, author o "Where Heaven Touches Earth," Guardian Press

The Hebrew Letters
Shin: The Eternal Flame

http://www.inner.org/HEBLETER/SHIN.HTM

The letter shin appears engraved on both sides of the head- tefilin. On the right side, the shin possesses three heads, while on the left side it possesses four heads. In Kabbalah we are taught that the three-headed shin is the shin of this world while the four- headed shin is the shin of the World to Come.

http://www.soul-guidance.com/houseofthesun/treeoflifeletters.htm

Shin is the twenty first letter, and symbolizes the Spirit, the Spiritual Fire, The Flaming Sword. It is said that when Shin is not in the middle of a word it turns to anger and resentment. When in the middle of a word, it is the central equilibrating fire. For example is the word Moses, which is M Sh H, or Yeheshuah, which is Y H Sh V H. Shin also stands for the Shekinah.
Shin

The image of the letter Shin is a tooth. The form of this letter refers to the three roots of the molars. Shin has also its traditional meaning of the Cosmic Fire or the Fiery Spirit, the Holy Spirit. Because the tooth or the molar refers to the taking of food, to eating, to taking in, it indicates, in combination with its other meaning, the reception of Cosmic Fire. It is the influx of the Holy Spirit that flowed into the heads of the Apostles, shown as a flame above each of their heads.

The body has taken in the Fiery Spirit. This Fire or Shin is the dynamic movement in the Universe and its active and expansive forces. With this fire one dances on the World. Shin is the movement of everything that exists. Shin vivifies all beings great or small. It is the Cosmic Snake or the Cosmic Dragon.

The shape of Shin also refers to the Trinity, here in its fiery aspect, the descending Dove. Its shape is composed of three Vau’s, placed next to each other, giving the number 666, which is the number of the Sun, and also of the Beast of the Book of Revelation of John. The number 666 is not evil as it is often thought, it is a number of mystery.

The three flames in the letter Shin are also explained as being representations of the Od or the active force of life, the Ob or the passive force of life, and the Aur or the balancing force of life

The Number of a man

The number of a man
It is counted as men usually count. Compare Rev_21:17, and a man's pen, Isa_8:1. Some explain, a symbolical number denoting a person.
Six hundred threescore and six (χ. ξ. ς')
Each letter represents a component of the whole number: χ = 600; ξ = 60; ς' = 6. In the earlier MSS: it is written in full, ἑξακόσιοι ἑξήκοντα ἐξ. The method of reading generally adopted is that known as the Ghematria of the Rabbins, or in Greek, ἰσοψηφία numerical equality, which assigns each letter of a name its usual numerical value, and gives the sum of such numbers as the equivalent of the name. Thus, in the Epistle of Barnabas, we are told that the name Ἱησοῦς Jesus is expressed by the number 888. Ι = 10; η = 8; σ = 200; ο = 70; υ = 400; σ = 200. The majority of the commentators use the Greek alphabet in computation; others, however, employ the Hebrew; while a third class employ the Roman numerals.
The interpretations of this number form a jungle from which escape is apparently hopeless. Reuss says: “This famous number has been made to yield almost all the historical names of the past eighteen centuries: Titus, Vespasian, and Simon Gioras; Julian the Apostate and Genseric; Mahomet and Luther; Benedict IX. and Louis XV.; Napoleon I. and the Duke of Reichstadt; and it would not be difficult, on the same principles, to read in it one another's names.” Some of the favorite names are Λατεῖνος, Latinus, describing the common character of the rulers of the former pagan Roman Empire: Nero Caesar; Diocletian; χς' the name of Christ abridged, and ξ the emblem of the serpent, so that the sublimated sense is the Messiah of Satan.

Ancient commentators believed that 666 referred to the Latin man, pointing to a Roman antichrist.

The word Λατεινος  Lateinos - “Lateinos, the Latin” (Man) - actually has all the conditions supposed in the interpretation of this passage. From this word the number specified - 666 - is made out as follows:

Thus it was suggested by Irenaeus, who says, “It seems to me very probable; for this is a name of the last of Daniel’s four kingdoms; they being Latins that now reign.” It is true that he also mentions two other words as those which may be meant - ευανθας  euanthas, a word which had been suggested by others, but concerning which he makes no remarks, and which, of course, must have been destitute of any probability in his view; and Τειταν  Teitan, which he thinks has the clearest claims for admission* - though he speaks of the word Λατεινος  Lateinos as having a claim of probability.

*Titan refers to the Nephilim.  There is a lot of evidence to support that the antichrist will be of the Nephilim.  This will be discussed in more detail in a future study on the antichrist, Yah willing.

For one reason or another all these religious and political celebrities and institutions have been considered the Antichrist  by someone: Papacy, Luther, Pope John Paul II, Pat Robertson, Mormons, Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Sun Myung Moon, Freemasonry, Illuminati... Arafat, Ayatollah Khomeini, Saddam Hussein, Kennedy, Gorvachev, Bill & Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, George Bush, Barack Obamaclick here, Bill Gates, David Rockefeller, Kissinger, Mussolini, Hitler, Nero, Reagan, Saddam Hussein, Willy Brandt, Caligula, King Juan Carlos of Spain, Emperor Frederick II of Germany, King George II of England, Emperor Justinian, Nikita Khrushchev, Napoleon Bonaparte, Czar Peter the Great, Josef Stalin, Kaiser Wilhelm, Boris Yeltsin, Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg...elaborate methods of gematria have been used to attach the number 666 to each of these names.

Titan
Among many persons, too, this name is accounted divine, so that even the sun is termed "Titan" by those who do now possess [the rule]. This word, too, contains a certain outward appearance of vengeance, and of one inflicting merited punishment because he (Antichrist) pretends that he vindicates the oppressed. And besides this, it is an ancient name, one worthy of credit, of royal dignity, and still further, a name belonging to a tyrant. Inasmuch, then, as this name “Titan” has so much to recommend it, there is a strong degree of probability, that from among the many [names suggested], we infer, that perchance he who is to come shall be called “Titan.”

* Andrew of Caesarea in his Commentary on Revelation gives seven names: Lampetis (the lustrous one), Teitan, Palaibaskanos (an ancient sorcerer), Benediktos (blue bastard), Kakos Odegos (bad guide), Alethes Blaberos (really harmful), and Amnos Adikos (unjust lamb) each of which gives a total of 666. Most of these names are repeated by Arethas of Caesarea, who in his Commentary adds Teitan from Irenaeus and O Niketes (the winner).

* Victorinus of Pettau gives the names Teitan, Antemos (opponent), Diclux (double-dealer) and Genserikos; the last he calls Gothic. As it is plainly Genseric, the Vandal king, who captured Rome in 455 AD., the passage as a whole can not go back to Victorinus, who belonged to the third century. It is not, however surprising that the commentary should be brought up to date, after Genseric became notorious through the sack of Carthage or of Rome. Of the other names in Victorinus only Diclux needs mention. It is said to be the Latin counterpart of Teitan and by reckoning each letter at its value in Roman numerals, the total of 666 is again given.

* Venerable Bede gives three names: Teitan, Antemos (opponent), and Arnoyme (I deny).

* Beatus, a Spanish monk, gives eight names among which are Damnatus (Damned), Antichristus (Antichrist), and Acxyme (for aichime or achine=666). The numerical interpretation of Antichristus is based on the order of letters in the Latin alphabet, a=1 to x =300, but the accusative must be taken and spelled Antechristum

the Pope
Again in the April 18th, 1915 edition of Our Sunday Visitor, Rev. John F. Noll, editor, the following question was addressed on page 3, in the section titled Bureau of Information:

What are the letters supposed to be in the Pope’s crown, and what do they signify, if anything?

The letters inscribed in the Pope’s mitre are these: Vicarius Filii Dei, which is the Latin for the Vicar of the Son of God. Catholics hold that the church which is a visible society must have a visible head. Christ, before His ascension into heaven, appointed St. Peter to act as His representative. Upon the death of Peter the man who succeeded to the office of Peter as Bishop of Rome, was recognized as the head of the Church. Hence to the Bishop of Rome, as head of the Church, was given the title “Vicar of Christ.”
V……………….. 5
I………………… 1
C……………..100
A……………….. 0
R……………….. 0
I………………… 1
U……………….. 5
S……………….. 0

F…………………0
I………………….1
L………………. 50
I…………………. 1
I…………………..1

D……………….500
E………………….0
I…………………..1

TOTAL =       666

*  Lateinos, Ecclesia Italika, and Romith are cited as possible solutions by Johannes Gerhard (1582-1637), a Lutheran, in his Adnotationes in Apocalypsin, page 110.
* Romith, Vicarius Filii Dei, Dux Cleri, Ordinarius Ovilis Christi Pastor, and Dic Lux are cited by the rector of Berlin, Andreas Helwig [or Helwich] (1572-1643) in his Antichristus Romanus.
* Dux Cleri is cited by Walter Brute (or Britte), a fourteenth century follower of Wycliff, in his Registrum, page 356.
* Ludovicus was proposed by James Bicheno (d. 1831), a British minister and author, applying it at the time to the French King Louis XIV, as the two-horned beast from the earth.
* He Latine Basileia and Lateinos are cited by Alexander Campbell (1788-1866), founder of the Disciples of Christ, in A Debate on the Roman Catholic Religion of 1837.

And on and on it goes…perhaps we should look at the meaning of the word name in Hebrew.

H8034
שׁם
shêm
BDB Definition:
1) name
1a) name
1b) reputation, fame, glory
1c) the Name (as designation of God)
1d) memorial, monument

The breath of a man is character, what makes one what he is. The name of an individual is more than an identifier but descriptive of his character or breath.  In part oneclick here more information is given on how there are two marks associated with the character/image of YHWH or the image/character of the beast.  The tree of life vs. the tree of knowledge.  The Torah vs. lawlessness (religion).  The Messiah vs. the serpent Messiah.  The seed of the woman vs. the seed of the serpent.

This is what the word name means.  The character.  Our focus should not be on what world leader’s name adds up to 666 in whatever language we can find to get that number but our focus should be on dying to ourselves so that the righteous name/character/image of Adonai Yahshua can be formed in us.  The mark of the beast is enigmatic and many hours of study can be done trying to connect the dots.  Whereas, the mark of YHWH is easy to see.  It is the Word.  Let the Word be formed in and through you so that the mark of YHWH will be on your hands and your foreheads and you will not need to worry about the mark of the beast.

616

http://heavenawaits.wordpress.com/616-not-666/

The Oxyrhynchus Papyrus is the oldest known copy of the Book of Revelation.
Close examination of this fragment indicates the mark of the beast is 616, not 666.

In Paleo Hebrew this would be rendered tav, vav, lamed

X – Tav: is a mark or sign, also written as a cross +

I – Vav: means to attach, like a peg or nail, or fixed into like a hook in a fish.

C – Lamed: means to direct, as in giving instructions, like the goad used to herd oxen. The verb form of Lamed means to prick or puncture as in using a sharp object to pierce the skin.

Refers back to the mark of Cain?
Gen 4:15  And YHWH said to him, If anyone kills Cain, he shall be avenged sevenfold. And YHWH set a mark* on Cain, so that anyone who found him should not kill him.

*The Zohar associates the letter vav  to the mark of Cain.

Zohar, Vol. 1, Beresheet A, Section 48: 458. “And Hashem set a mark upon Kayin lest anyone finding him should smite him. This is one of the 22 letters of the Torah, which is the letter vav…” http://www.kabbalah.com/k/index.php/p=zohar/zohar&vol=2&sec=69

Vav = 6 = the number of man

The symbols decipher to mean: A mark, attached like a peg or hook, as a means to direct or control, applied by a piercing of the skin.

Part 3-Ivy, Bacchus, Christmas & Hanukkahclick here

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ESCAPE FROM CHRISTENDOM
by Robert Burnell
{Originally Published by Bethany House Publishers in 1980. Also MorningStar Journal Vol 2 #1. and MorningStar Website:

The Journey
In my dream I see the lone figure of a man following a road. As the sun sets beneath the hills, a city comes into view. Nearing it, the traveler sees what appears to be a large group of churches. Spires and crosses pierce the skyline. His pace quickens. Is this his destination? He passes an imposing structure, a neon sign flashing “Cathedral of the Future.” Farther on a floodlit stadium supports a billboard boasting that fifty thousand people crowd into evangelistic meetings there three nights a week. Beyond this, modest “New Testament” chapels and Hebrew Christian synagogues cluster together on the street front.
“Is this the City of God?” I hear the traveler ask a woman at the information booth in the central square.
“No this is Christian City, “she replies.
“But I thought this road led to the City of God!” He exclaims with great disappointment.
“That’s what we all thought when we arrived,” she answers, her tone sympathetic.
“This road continues up the mountain, doesn’t it?” He asks.
“I wouldn’t know, really,” she answers blankly.
I watch the man turn away from her and trudge on up the mountain in the gathering darkness. Reaching the top, he starts out into the blackness; it looks as though there is nothing, absolutely nothing, beyond. With a shudder he retraces his steps into Christian City an takes a room at a hotel.
Strangely unrefreshed, at dawn he arises and follows the road up the mountain again; in the brightening light of the sun he discovers that what seemed like a void the night before is actually a desert–dry, hot, rolling sand as far as the eye can see. The road narrows to a path which rises over a dune and disappears. “Can this trail lead to the City of God?” He wonders aloud. It appears to be quite deserted and rarely traveled.
Indecision slowing his steps, he again returns to Christian City and has lunch in a Christian restaurant. Over the music of a gospel record, I hear him ask a man at the next table, “That path up the mountain, where the desert begins, does it lead to the City of God?”
“Don’t be a fool!” his neighbor replies quickly. “Everyone who has ever taken that path has been lost… swallowed up by the desert! If you want God, there are plenty of good churches in this town. You should pick one and settle down.”
After leaving the restaurant, looking weary and confused, the traveler finds a spot under a tree and sits down. An ancient man approaches and begins pleading with him in urgent tones, “If you stay here in Christian City, you’ll wither away. You must take the path. I belong to the desert you saw earlier. I was sent here to encourage you to press on. You’ll travel many miles. You’ll be hot and thirsty; but angels will walk with you, and there will be springs of water along the way. And at your journeys end you will reach the City of Elohim! You have never seen such beauty! And when you arrive the gates will open for you, for you are expected.”
“What you say sounds wonderful,” the traveler replies. “But I’m afraid I’d never survive that desert. I’m probably better off here in Christian City.”
The ancient one smiles. “Christian City is the place for those who want religion but don’t want to lose their lives. The desert is the territory of those whose hearts are so thirsty for Yahweh that they are willing to be lost in Him. My friend, when Kepha brought his boat to land, forsook all and followed Yahshua, he was being swallowed by the desert. When Matthew left his tax collecting and Sha’ul his Pharisaism, they too were leaving a city much like this to pursue Yahshua out over the dunes and be lost in Yahweh. So don’t be afraid. Many have gone before you.”
Then I see the traveler look away from the old man’s burning eye to the bustle of Christian City. He sees busy people hurrying hither and yon with their Bibles and shiny attache cases, looking like men and women who know their destiny. But it is clear they lack something which the old man with eyes like a prophet possesses.
In my dream I imagine the traveler turning things over in his mind. “If I do go out there, how can I be sure that I will really be lost in Yahweh? In the Middle Ages Christians tried to lose themselves in God by putting the world behind them and entering a monastery. And how disappointed many of them were to find that the world was still there! And the people here in Christian City who are preparing to go to some jungle or a neglected slum, maybe they’re coming closer to what it means to be lost in God. But then, a person can travel to the ends of the earth and not lose himself.”
The traveler turns again to see the old person starting up the road for the narrow path down to the deserts edge. Suddenly, his decision mobilizes him and leaps to his feet, chasing after him. When he catches up, they exchange no words. The ancient man makes an abrupt turn to the right and guides him up still another slope which steepens as it rises toward a peak shrouded in a luminous cloud. The climb upward is very difficult. The traveler appears dizzy and begins to stagger. His guide pauses and offers him a drink from a flask hanging over his shoulder. Panting, he drinks it in great gulps. “No water ever tasted sweeter than this,” he says with great feeling.
“Thank you.”
Now look there.” The old man points beyond them to a vista not nearly as monotonous and desolate as it had seemed earlier. The desert below has taken on many colors and gradation. In the far distance blazing light is throbbing and moving on the surface of the horizon like a living thing. “There is the City of Yahweh! But before you reach it, you will have to pass through those four wildernesses you see. Directly below us is the Wilderness of Forgiveness.” The traveler notices small, dim figures making their way slowly in the direction of the city, separated from each other by many miles.
“How can they survive the loneliness?” Asks the traveler. “Wouldn’t they benefit from traveling together?”
“Well, they aren’t really alone. Each one of them is accompanied by the forgiveness of Yahweh. They are being swallowed by the desert of the Master Yahweh’s vast mercy. The Holy Spirit is saying to them as they travel, ‘Behold the Lamb of Elohim, who takes away the sin of the world!’ They are made whole as they travel.”
Just beyond there is an expanse of blue. “Is it sea?” Inquires the traveler.
“It looks like water, but it’s a sea of sand. That’s the Wilderness of Worship. Here, look through these glasses and you will see that people are walking there, too. Notice how they begin to group themselves here. They are having their first taste of the joy of the City–worship. They are discovering how they were made for the worship of Yahweh. It is becoming their life, the white-hot source of everything they do.”
“But don’t people also worship back in Christian City? What’s so special about that wilderness?”
“Worship, that is true worship, can begin only when a life has been utterly abandoned to the desert of Yahweh’s presence. Out there the heart begins to worship the Father in spirit and truth.”
Looking beyond the blue wilderness to where the desert rises in red and fiery mountains, the old man explains to the traveler that among those reddish mountains is the Wilderness of Prayer.
“Passing through that wilderness travelers find it necessary to turn away from every distraction and concentrate on prayer. They quickly learn that there is no possible way for them to survive but by crying out to Yahweh continuously. By the time they reach the outer extremes of that wilderness, prayer is their consuming passion and their supreme joy. It appears at first that the City of Yahweh is just beyond the Wilderness of Prayer. But there is one more wilderness hidden by those mountains, which you will pass through before you reach your destination. It is simply called the Harvest. You’ll know it when you reach it. And beyond the Harvest is the City itself. Your name is known there. Your arrival is awaited with eagerness. Come, let’s begin our journey.”
“Nightfall doesn’t seem to be a particularly propitious time to begin a journey like this,” he says.
“Don’t go back to Christian City,” the old man exhorts, gazing at him earnestly.”
“Not even at this hour? That way I could get a good night’s sleep and start first thing in the morning,” the traveler adds hopefully.
“But your rest is out there,” he urges. “Walk on now, into the desert. The Holy Spirit will help you. Don’t be afraid to be lost in Yahweh. You’ll find your life nowhere else.”
The Wilderness of Forgiveness
The old man has left the traveler standing alone at the edge of the desert as darkness falls. The lights of Christian City beckon from beyond him. I can imagine him thinking of the warmth of a friendly conversation over a warm meal and of going to sleep in a comfortable bed. But then his expression becomes resolute and he murmurs, “This is doubtless the road I have to take. I will find my life only by losing it, that’s a certainty. But how can I know that if I take this path into the desert I will assuredly be lost in God and not merely lost? I can remember many people who took a solitary path which led them not to the City of God but into such unreal thoughts and spurious experiences that their minds an lives were destroyed. Surely the danger of settling for less than life in Christian City has to be weighed against the possibility of losing it in a wilderness of spiritual delusion. I’m sure that the darkness beyond contains not only the path to the City of God but also countless trap doors to hell, where one can be lost in lonely vanity. How can I be sure of distinguishing the true path?” What I first think in my dreams to be a star hanging low over the horizon now take the shape of a cross hanging directly above the path in front of the traveler. He looks up and notices it, his face showing recognition. He whispers quietly, “Forgiveness.” And then with deep reverence quotes: “‘So Yahshua also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing abuse for Him. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city which is to come..’ Yes, I will go on!” The traveler says exultantly, taking his first steps into the desert.
As dawn breaks he sees nothing but sand and sky and a path which can be distinguished from all the others by the cross which hovers where the trail meets the horizon. As the day wears on it is obvious that the traveler is weary, thirsty, sick with heat. Just when it appears he cannot trudge another step, a stranger appears at his side.
“Over the next hill you will find a spring,” she says.
“Keep going, you are almost there,” she encourages him.
He is soon lying by a spring, drinking water and eating food which the helpful stranger provides.
“This is the Wilderness of Forgiveness,” she explains to the traveler. “People often expect Yahweh’s forgiveness to be like a beautiful park with fountains and rivers and green grass. They cannot understand why it should be a desert. Yet one has to learn that Yah’s forgiveness is everything–everything! And this is possible only in a desert, where a Christian comes to see nothing, appreciate nothing, hope in nothing but the cross of Yahshua.” She quotes several passages from Galatians to the traveler:
But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Master Yahshua Messiah, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. Peace and mercy be upon all who walk by this rule, upon the Israel of Elohim…
I have been crucified with Messiah; it is no longer I who live, but Messiah who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of Elohim, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of Elohim; for if justification were through the law, then Messiah died to no purpose.
“Do you think the apostle Sha’ul traveled this Wilderness?” Asks the traveler.
“Yes, he did. For years Sha’ul had worked very hard in the City of Religion, to be a religious man. Still he found no peace for his spirit. Then Sha’ul met Yahshua; and from the start, Yahshua meant one thing to Sha’ul: forgiveness. He was overwhelmed with it. The forgiveness of the cross was the theme of his life from then on. But Sha’ul’s first experience of the Kingdom of Yahweh as a reality in his life was right in this wilderness.”
“So I’m walking where the apostles walked.” The traveler’s voice is full of awe.
“Remember when Shimon Kepha lowered the net at the command of Yahshua and brought it up loaded with fish? His immediate response was, ‘Leave me Lord, I’m a sinner!’ Yahshua answered, ‘Don’t be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.’ Implied in Yahshua’s answer was, ‘I will take care of your sin.’ And when they brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Yahshua– they followed Him here into this Wilderness of Forgiveness in pursuit of a cross. After Yahshua had died for Kepha’s sins and risen for his justification and was about to fill Kepha with the Holy Spirit, He said to this man who had denied Him three times, ‘Shimon, son of Yonah, Do you love me?… Feed My sheep.’ And with this thrice-repeated question and command, Kepha’s life was healed with the forgiveness of his Lord.”
“For years,” the traveler tells her, “I’ve been trying to get beyond theoretical, doctrinal forgiveness, most probably what is taught in Christian City, in order to know forgiveness itself. I’ve wanted to be immersed, baptized, LOST, in it. I have longed to hear Yahshua say to me personally, ‘Take heart, brother your sins are forgiven.’ I’ve wanted to have the blood of the cross flow into my heart and purify it.”
“You have come to the right place. Before you reach the other side of this Wilderness, you will experience the relief of having that load of guilt, which still, in fact, weighs you down like a rock, rolled away. You will begin to walk before Yahweh without shame. Just as you were once obsessed with the need to build yourself up, you will soon be obsessed with the forgiveness of Yahweh.”
“Obsessed with the forgiveness of Yahweh?”
“You will become so obsessed with His mercy that you will be free, for the first time in your life, of other peoples opinions.”
“Ha! Not me.” His response is immediate.
“The woman who washed Yahshua’s feet with her tears was obsessed with His forgiveness to the point where she was heedless of the jeers and opinions of others. Or the cleansed leper–he joyfully fell at Yahshua’s feet giving thanks for more than the cleansing of his body; he had received the inner healing of forgiveness. When Zachaeus climbed a tree to see Yahshua, he was watching his own forgiveness walking toward him down the road. So obsessed was he with the forgiveness which visited his life that day the chains of covetousness broke from his heart. You have come to the place where it will happen to you.”
The traveler resumes his journey, his mysterious companion walking silently by his side for an hour or two then suddenly disappearing.
“What joy I feel!” The traveler exclaims aloud. “This must be what the disciples felt as they returned to Jerusalem after the ascension of Yahshua.”
“In the cross-shaped light, the traveler makes out the figure of another woman rising over the crest of the next dune and walking slowly down the slope toward him. He appears to recognize her. From his expression I gather that this person has wronged him. Her eyes are fixed on the traveler as she comes up to him.
“Will you forgive me?” She asks.
The traveler stops still. The woman draws closer, asking a second time, “Will you forgive me?” They are face to face when she asks for the third time, “Will you forgive me?” The traveler’s mysterious companion is again at his side, quietly instructing him, “This Wilderness of Forgiveness is not only a place for receiving forgiveness, but also for giving it. This woman is but the first of a procession of people from your past whom you have never really forgiven. The supernatural forbearance which has flooded your being all day is being challenged by the bitterness buried in your soul for all these years. You have to make a choice. The sterile, shallow, lip service forgiveness of your past life is powerless even to be polite to this woman. But the forgiveness of Yahweh which has been flowing in to the point of becoming an obsession can flow out now if you will allow it to.”
The traveler reaches out, takes the woman by the hand, looks into her eyes and replies, “Of course I forgive you!”
She weeps. And just as she forms the words, “Thank you,” she is gone.
Then the man who called the traveler a fool in the restaurant back in Christian City comes running and panting toward him. Mopping his face with his handkerchief, the troubled man begins to beg forgiveness.
“Of course, of course,” the traveler replies heartily. “It’s nothing. Don’t think another thing about it.”
“Please don’t take this matter so lightly. I NEED your forgiveness. Will you REALLY forgive me, from the bottom of your heart?”
“But I already have,” returns the traveler. His companion illuminates the situation for him: “He needs your FORGIVENESS. Not courtesy, but active, genuine forgiveness. He needs your LOVE.”
“My friend, you are forgiven,” the traveler tells him earnestly with respect in his voice.
With visible relief the man sighs, “Thank you!” And disappears into the desert air. His companion reminds him of the verse in Matthew 18 which reads:
Then Kepha came up and said to Him, “Master, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times, but seventy times seven.”
The Wilderness of Worship
“Water! Who would have thought that in the middle of this desert there would be a sea!” The traveler is exclaiming to himself when next I see him in my dream. From the brow of a mammoth dune he looks down into an expanse of blue stretching to the horizon. “But no, it isn’t water,” he remembers. “The old man on the mountain pointed to this as the beginning of the second wilderness.” As he descends the hill to its edge, the strange sea of sand is not as flat as it seemed from above. There are waves of blue extending into the distance like a frozen ocean. “Perhaps there is a relationship between this and ‘the sea of glass’ before the throne of Elohim. Perhaps the waves will flatten out as I approach the City of Yahweh.”
Suddenly a person of unearthly beauty is standing a few feet away from the traveler. “Greetings,” the being says. “It’s a long way across this stretch. Many have perished trying to make it on foot. I offer you a better way.”
“A better way?” Asks the traveler. “Yes, I have the power to cross this wilderness in a split second. And if you will let me, I can take you with me. I can have you safe on the other side directly.”
“What must I do?”
“All I require is a token act. If you will merely kneel to pay me homage, I will lift you across this wilderness with the speed of light..”
“But that would be to worship you, wouldn’t it?”
“Why do you find that strange? People do it every day. You did it yourself long before you came to this wilderness. The citizens often worship me in Christian City. Some there worship money–serve it like slaves. Their eyes light up at the thought of it. But the love of money is only a symbol of my reality.”
“You aren’t reaching me with your talk of money. It’s never been a problem in My life,” the traveler retorts. “How about romance? What could be more beautiful or innocent than being in love? But when the state of being in love becomes a goal and dominates the mind, there is idolatry involved. And it is ‘yours truly’ behind that idol,” he says triumphantly. “But the most personally satisfying worship I receive comes from men and women who are pursuing religious successes.”
“Well,” the traveler cuts his boasting short, “If I have to worship you in exchange for quick trip across this wilderness, I’ll gladly walk, if it takes forever!”
At this, the bewitching creature vanishes in defeat.
I soon hear the traveler reasoning with himself again: “In Christian City it is possible to go through all the surface motions of faith in Yahweh whiles one’s real worship, the thing which obsesses the mind day and night, is idolatry. Now that I have left there I can survive only if I’m lost in the worship of Yahweh. Elohim has said: ‘Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.’”
“Perhaps such worship can be formed only in this desert, with its dryness and pounding heat, searing light and eerie silence.”
These reflections are interrupted by a sudden crescendo of indescribable music, singing of unearthly beauty. Voices seem to be everywhere. Yet no one is visible. From the top of a blue wave, the traveler sees seven people standing in a hollow with their hands raised heavenward, uttering the praises to Yahweh. In the midst of this music, his mysterious companion returns. Filled with joy, the traveler tells her, “Do you notice how the seven worshipers are really surrounded by a multitude of magnificent beings whose voices blend with theirs? I feel that out here in the desert I have, in a mystery, already entered the outskirts of the City of Yahweh.”
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living Elohim, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gatherings, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is Elohim of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Yahshua, the mediator of a new covenant, and to sprinkled blood that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel… Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to Elohim acceptable worship, with reverence and awe; for our Elohim is a consuming fire.”
After some time the song ceases. Everything becomes still. No one is in sight but the seven worshipers, who bid the traveler Yahweh’s peace and file over the dune, leaving him alone with his companion. She leads him to a rushing steam and provides him another meal.
“So this is the Wilderness of Worship,” exclaims the traveler, still in awe from his experience.
“Yes, here Christians learn to worship Elohim the Father in spirit and truth. You might call it the outer court of the City of Yahweh; for as you have seen, the inhabitants of that City are all around you. Back in the Wilderness of Forgiveness you began to experience the power of Yahshua’ blood cleansing your inmost heart. Here in the Wilderness of Worship you receive His Holy Spirit. Elohim baptizes you with power and from on high in order for you to worship Him with a worship which, in the wildernesses beyond, will take the shape of deeds. Joel 2 tells us: ‘And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even upon the menservants and maidservants in those days, I will pour out my spirit.’”
“I have never experienced such worship as this. But will it last?” Asks the traveler. “Will I still be able to worship the living Elohim with such grace in the deserts beyond?”
“Changes are taking place in you which, if you let them, will last forever. Your heart is being opened by the outpoured Spirit. Your mouth is being opened to speak as Yahweh gives you utterance–’Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.’ And your eyes are being opened to see visions and dream dreams. You are receiving eyes which see Yahweh”
“But don’t these same things happen back in Christian City? I am told that this sort of thing goes on in the Apostolic Church of the Future every Sunday night.”
“The difference, brother, is that here you do not merely taste worship or dabble in worship. Here in the desert you are lost in the worship of Yahweh so that all your praise and thanksgiving goes to Him. Everything you do is done for Him.”
“But isn’t there a danger of fanaticism?”
“Fanatics worship principles, ideas, human personalities and even demons, but never Yahweh. Consuming worship of Yahweh is the doorway, not to fanaticism, but to liberty such as you have never known. When you are lost in the worship of Yahweh, you no longer worship such things as money, romance, or success. You have found the one true object of worship, and as you worship Him you are fulfilled.”
With these words his companion departs. Once again the traveler is alone on a sea of blue sand, lost in the worship of Yahweh.
The Wilderness of Prayer
Now the sea of sand comes to an abrupt end in the foothills of a fiery mountain range. There is no vegetation, only walls of dry, hard, burning rock. Bones cluttering the sand at the base of the rocky barrier are mute testimony to the dangers of this desolate land. The traveler fixes his gaze on the cross shaped star as he walks, and recites to himself:
“Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
Hearing voices in the distance, the traveler follows the path at the foot of the mountain toward them. There the path abruptly turns into a gash in the mountain. Entering the opening, he listens as a voice echoes and resounds with such intensity that no words can be distinguished. Moving deep into this rock pass, the traveler nears a huge wrought iron arch under which a man is addressing an assembly of men and women. “This is the way, believe me,” pleads the man, his words now distinct. “This narrow gate to my left is so rusty it will hardly swing. Who in his right mind would want to follow that steep path, when this well paved, well traveled way is open and ready? Come through this gate and you will be out of the wilderness before the day is over. Good food and a clean bed await you at the other end. There are prayer meetings arranged at the rest stops every hour along the way.”
Without hesitation the traveler passes under the wrought iron arch and proceeds down the road. Others join him. The route on which he now walks is smooth and pleasant in contrast to the blue sand he has just plodded through. A sign repeats the information that there are rest stops every hour, consisting of a prayer meeting and a light lunch.
At the first such stop he talks with a pleasant hostess: “I’ve come a long way. Please tell me where this path is taking us.”
She smiles and replies, “You will be beautifully housed and well taken care of. Your journey will be over by nightfall.”
“The traveler walks on, increasingly perplexed. Just as darkness begins to fall after a scenic journey through the rocks and trees, he finds himself on the brow of a hill looking down on a city.
“Welcome!” Exclaims a man standing beneath a wrought iron arch identical to the arch through which he had passed earlier.
“Thank you,” replies the traveler. “But where am I?”
“Why, this is Christian City!”
Without another word the traveler turns and runs back the same way he came. With Christian City out of sight, he slows to a walk but doesn’t stop until he’s reached the other arch, the end of the false path. He cries out, “I have only one desire: to find that narrow gate and enter it before I take a single rest. How could I have been so blind? Of course the wide gate has been almost obliterated by weeds and vines.
Daybreak finds him on a narrow path winding up through scarlet rocks. There is a hum in the air as of a wind through trees, but neither wind nor trees are found here. The hum grows louder and finally can be distinguished as a chant of many voices. Now the traveler sees the people on the path ahead. He has become part of a procession of people all moving toward the City of Yahweh. As they walk they are each talking to someone unseen. Some of them are crying. Some seem exuberant. Some are mentioning people’s names and asking good things for them. Some ask their neighbors ahead or behind for help, but their main concern is with their unseen listener.
The traveler’s mysterious companion now returns and addresses him. “Here in the Wilderness of Prayer the contrast with Christian City is extreme, you know. There, they do have prayer meetings and people pray before they go to bed. When life becomes difficult, their prayer becomes intense, until the crisis passes. But in the Wilderness of Prayer, prayer becomes one’s way of life–the source of one’s whole existence. The time has come for YOU to be lost in a life of prayer. Meditate on these passages in the Gospel of Luke,” she adds handing him a sheet of paper on which is written:
Now when all the people were baptized, and when Yahshua also had been baptized and was Praying, the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form, as a dove, and voice came from heaven, “Thou are my beloved Son; with thee I am will pleased” (Luke 3:21-22)
But so much the more the report went abroad concerning him; and great multitudes gathered to hear and to be healed of their infirmities. But he withdrew to the wilderness and Prayed. (Luke 5:15-16)
In those days he went out into the hills to Pray; and all night he continued in prayer to Elohim. And when it was day, he called his disciples, and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles…(Luke 6:12-13)
Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Kepha and Yochanan and Ya’akov, and went up on the mountains to Pray. And when He was Praying, the appearance of his countenance was altered, and his raiment became dazzling white. (Luke 9:28-29)
He was Praying in a certain place, and when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, “Master, teach us to Pray, as John taught his disciples” (Luke 11:1)
And he came out, and went, as his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place he said to them, “pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and Prayed. (Luke 22:39-41)
And when they came to the place which is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right and one of the left. And Yahshua said. “Father for forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:33-34
“A prayer life is something we engage in alone, yet it brings us into fellowship with Yahweh and man as nothing else will,” his companion tells him when he has finished reading. “prayer is going to Yahweh, to the Father’s door, and asking for bread so that you can give it to your needy brother. When you knock and keep knocking it always opens. Always. Out of that communion with Yahweh comes something you share with others. And as you share what Yahweh gives you, you have a communion with them. A person will have this communion even if he’s shy or clumsy. For this life of prayer delivers one from the fear of other people’s opinions and the fear of one’s own blunders.”
“But does it take these eerie mountains, these cliffs, this continuous danger to learn to pray?” Asks the traveler.
“Well, in the past you cried to Elohim in your occasional emergencies. Here you are learning to see your life as a continuous crisis, driving you to call on Yahweh day and night. “Shall not Elohim vindicate his elect who cry to him day and night?’ The clearer our vision of what happens in the world–how close to the edge of chaos the nations are–the more we understand that the only way to know life is to come close to Yahweh the Father in prayer, to cry to Him day and night. We pray without ceasing because the crisis in earthly life is never over.”
“But why does it all have to be so hard? It looks to me as though the climb through these mountains is the toughest part of the journey yet.”
“Because prayer is our main work. It takes thought, concentration, an active will and the best of one’s strength to pray for the hallowing of Yahweh’s name, the coming of His kingdom, to pray for laborers in the harvest, or to pray for specific people and their needs. You have barely begun to scratch the surface of the awesome things that wait to be done in answer to your prayers, if you will keep going.”
“That’s it, though! To keep going. I’m getting so tired.”
“This is because your prayers are becoming engaged in the Real Battle. Prayer is the ground where we overcome evil with good. In these mountains you will learn to pray for your enemies. The life of overcoming evil with good starts with asking that good will come to those who have done evil to us.”
The narrow path leads to a lookout where the traveler and his companion share a meal. Afterwards they walk to the edge of the lookout where she points to the path winding down through the mountains which diminish in size until somewhere near the horizon they appear to reach their end.
“You see, there begins the Harvest,” the travelers companion says, pointing to a view beyond them, “Remember these words which Yahshua said:
‘Do you not say, there are yet four months, then comes the harvest? I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the field are already white for harvest. He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.” I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored, and you will have entered into their labor.’”
The traveler looks into the distance while his companion explains further: “In Christian City, remember there is a fine, wide street called Missionary boulevard, lined with spacious well kept buildings and adorned with fountains and lawns and lovely shrubs. Those buildings house every missionary enterprise known in the Christian world. There are headquarters for literature outreach, editorial offices for elaborate missionary magazines, and smaller facilities that provide a prayer letter service for the lesser known laborers. There are studios that produce world literature telethons and video tapes for missionary appeals. There are institutions that offer refresher courses for missionaries on furlough, and a computerized itinerary service for missionaries who need to broaden their financial base. There are recruiting centers, rest facilities for retired missionaries and even a budding record company. But lately Missionary Boulevard has been thrown into a panic by some disturbing news. Word has been received that large numbers of missionaries have committed the unpardonable breach of missionary etiquette: instead of taking as their mission field the approved territory of the known world, missionaries have plunged in to the desert toward the City of Yahweh.
“But what kind of mission field is this desert?” The traveler asks. “Whose soul are you going to save in the Wilderness of Forgiveness except your own? And when you get to the Wilderness of Worship, everyone there is already alive with Yahweh’s glory. In the Wilderness of Prayer there is wonderful communion with other travelers, and I’m learning to intercede. But there aren’t any lost souls…”
The Harvest
Reaching the outer extremity of the Wilderness of Prayer, the traveler in my dream is taking in his first clear view of his destination. In the far distance, radiant with a holy splendor, is the City of Yahweh. Visibly overcome with emotion, his step quickens. Suddenly he encounters a terrible stench of smoke and echoing bodies. Now there are corpses everywhere. Forms with life left are moaning for help.
A woman doubled up with pain begs the traveler, “Please, please do something for me. I can’t tolerate this pain anymore!”
“I’m powerless,” he tells her. “What do you think I could do for you?” “A little water is all I need. Please bring me some water!”
“Where am I going to find water in the desert?”
“How long do you think YOU’LL last,” she replies, “unless you find water for yourself? Please find some and bring it to me.”
As the traveler scans the desert in bewilderment, his mysterious companion returns and guides him to a spring surrounded by thousands of empty flasks.
“Drink some yourself,” she suggests, “and then fill a flask for the woman.”
After drinking this water, the traveler is immediately strengthened and brings some to the woman. By the time she has finished drinking her health is restored. Immediately she takes the flask, runs to the spring and begins helping her neighbors. There are men with deep wounds, children lying on their backs with faint, rapid breathing, and elderly people with dirty bandages around their worn faces. Some victims are screaming with pain and others are weeping silently to themselves. Some are revived with a single flask of water. Others need much more. I see other travellers engaged in this same effort. As victims are healed, they too participate in the labor of raising up others. As they carry water from the spring, the traveler shares this passage from the Gospel of John with another man:
“meanwhile the disciples besought him saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know. So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him food?” Yahshua said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his word.”
“I guess we’re learning what this means,” added the traveler.
He spends many days in that place involved in the work of revival. One evening as he rests by the spring, his companion returns and sits down beside him.
“I don’t suppose we’ll be able to go on to the City of Yahweh until we’ve finished here?” The traveler asks her.
“That is true,” she replies.
“But will they wait for us?”
“Don’t worry. Just keep reviving these people until they’re all on their feet. Then the gates of the City of Yahweh will be open and the inhabitants will come out and escort you in. Bear this in mind:
‘Do not say, There are yet four months, then comes the harvest. I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see the fields are white for harvest. He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.” I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.’”
“But these needs are so staggering that I am beginning to feel overwhelmed. The joy of seeing restoration take place before my eyes is offset to some degree by the vastness of this sea of despair. Is there and end to it?”
“Brother,” replies his companion, “just as you had to lose ourself in Yahweh’s forgiveness, and in worship and prayer, you are now losing yourself in the harvest. It is one thing to dabble in the harvest. It’s quite another to be lost in it.”
“But will I have the strength to keep on working among people with such great needs?”
“Isn’t that what Yahshua did?”
And as he sat at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Yahshua and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but the sinners.”
“It must have become discouraging for Him, though”
“Yahshua wept over religious Jerusalem for its hardness of heart. Obviously His greatest encouragement on the human side came from these repenting sinners. Of these he never tired. You can confidently abandon yourself to this harvest without danger of being engulfed by it, provided you keep your vision of the City, and provided you do your work here with a whole heart. The Spirit of Yahweh will sustain you if you will be careful to listen to these people as Yahshua listened to the woman at the well, to the lepers, the lame, the blind, the father of the demon possessed boy. Don’t be in a hurry. Take time to listen and ask the right questions. Find out where people really hurt, what they really need. Also, you must tell them about Yahshua as you go about with your flask. The water in the flask and this message of yours are identical. These dying people are thirsting for Yahshua, not theories about Yahshua, but Yahshua Himself. The message of Yahshua is a drink of refreshing water which brings them back to life. Remember the verse, ‘Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without pay, give without pay.’
Don’t be satisfied until the mercy of Yahweh has raised them ALL to their feet.”
“Yes. Think about this passage in Revelation;
“And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from Elohim, prepared a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a great voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling of Yahweh is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and Yahweh himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, for the former things have passed away.’”
“As you first experience the labor of the harvest and discover you are actually able to raise these perishing ones to their feet by giving them living water from the divine spring, Yahshua, you have tremendous joy. The wilderness experiences of forgiveness, worship of Yahweh and prayer have issued in the power to heal the sick in the name of Yahshua.”
“‘He who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works that these will he do, because I go to the Father.’ The challenge is to endure.”
The Vision
When I next see the traveler in my dream, he has begun to complain, “How long is this going to go on? I would have thought that by now the work would be finished and we could go on. I’m sorry, but I’m tired. I’m going over by that boulder to rest in the shade for a couple of days.”
Later another traveler passes the boulder and finds him lying there almost dead. Running to the spring he fills two flasks, returns and pours the precious water down his throat.
“Drink, brother, drink!”
“Thank you! Oh, thank you! I was almost done for,” says the traveler between gulps. “But how did I come to this? What went wrong?”
His mysterious companion joins him again. “Brother,” she says, “you lost your strength because you lost your vision. The City of Yahweh over there is still your destination. It is your home, the dwelling place of our God. While you work, be sure to take time daily, hourly, to pause and look at the City of Yahweh. If you fail to look up in the midst of your labors and see the City, fail to stop an hear its music, neglect to breathe the atmosphere it sends forth to you, or to drink from that stream which flows out from beneath its gates, you will be exhausted. You must remember that sustaining power comes from the City.”
“The traveler resumes his work in the Harvest with fresh vigor. But at nightfall is overcome by weariness. He goes to the spring; approaching it is a woman who looks to be quite elderly, yet doesn’t appear the least bit tired.
“What is your secret?” Asks the traveler. “You look so youthful and vigorous while I have no strength left.”
“I have taken my cue from Daniel,” she tells him. “Daniel must have been a busy man, yet in the midst of the daily pressures he continued to return to his upper chamber where the windows opened westward. There looking toward Jerusalem hundreds of miles away, he prayed and gave thanks to Yahweh. Even though it meant the lions’ den, Daniel refused to neglect his prayers. Daniel keeps his vision alive by making the City of Yahweh his focus. And that’s what I do. The more problems I have to contend with here in the Harvest, the more time seems to press in on me, the more firmly I fix my eye on the City of Yahweh. I make sure to keep looking up. Every time I eat bread and drink wine I do so in anticipation as well as in remembrance. This is the food of the City, you know. It keeps my eyes AND my heart there.”
When the traveler left the old woman, he seemed to be consciously attempting to keep his vision before him. In low voice he was singing the words of Revelation: “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from Elohim, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a great voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling of Elohim is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and Yahweh himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away!”
When I last see the traveler, his mysterious companion had returned with a final admonition for him: “KEEP looking to that City and remember who waits for you there. He has prepared a place for you and will soon be coming for you. Meanwhile, as you look to the City, He will renew your strength so that you will mount up on wings as the eagles, you will run and not be weary, you will walk and not faint.”
Two Revivals
At this point I was swept away from the scene of the traveler’s journey to the top of a high cliff. I found there a stone tablet inscribed with these words from Revelation 19:
“Then I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse! He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many crowns; and He has a name inscribed with which no one knows but himself. He is clad in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the The Word of Elohim. And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, followed him on white horses. From his mouth issues a sharp sword with which to smite the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of El Shaddai. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”
Looking up from the tablet, I saw beneath me two revivals simultaneously in progress. Christian City was experiencing a revival which manifested itself in a massive and rapid growth. Within a very short amount of time the population had increased tenfold. Building was going on everywhere. New homes sprawled up an down the surrounding hills. But the most dramatic aspect of this growth in Christian City was the appearance of magnificent new church structures to towering over the country side. One cathedral was being completed which had a spire seventy stories high, housing the world’s most powerful transmitter. Another church was taking shape in the form of a giant glass dome with revolving stage and wrap around sound systems. The most unusual one looked like an upright cross with fifteen elevators taking people up to the sanctuary housed in the south arm and a Christian restaurant housed in the north arm. There were Christian educational facilities for every age group from pre-kindergarten to graduate school; this group sponsored scenic retreat centers in the style of Swiss chalets with vast seminar halls.
There was a feeling in Christian City that this growth was sign of the world’s last days. Books on the end of the age were up near the top of the Christian best seller lists, second only to the Christian sex manuals. Reporters came from all over the world to do articles on the booming conditions there. The inhabitants of Christian City were claiming that when the End comes, they would be caught away to the City of God, before the chaos erupted.
At the same time, I saw across the desert far distant from Christian City a very different revival taking place with none of the accoutrements of successful religion. Dying men and women were being raised to their feet like the dry bones Ezekiel saw. They were being delivered from their diseases, their sins, and their spiritual prisons, merely by drinking the living life giving water and shared it with others, bringing healing to them. As by a spreading fire or a surging flood, the sick ones were being swept to their feet. Laborers there, who’d spent years seeing limited results, found that now it was taking no more than a single drop of water on a parched tongue to raise the dying to life. And each day the process was accelerating.
Finally I saw the last prone body raised to life. What appeared as a battlefield of defeat had become the camp of a mighty army. Suddenly an earthquake shook the ground beneath my feet. The Sky darkened and a sound of war rolled in from the east.
Then I saw Christian City being invaded and destroyed. The magnificent cathedrals, the world’s largest cross, retreat centers and seminar halls were splintered apart and flattened by deafening explosions. Dead bodies of the inhabitants who had thought they would escape this holocaust filled the streets. The armies of destruction now pressed on into the desert toward the scene of the second revival. Soon this seemingly indestructible horde was engulfing the Wilderness of forgiveness, the Wilderness Worship and the Wilderness of Prayer. When the City of Yahweh came into its view, a single roar like that of a wounded beast filled the air. The horde drove on toward its goal, appearing about to storm the City of Yahweh.
But near the wall of the City, the army of revived ones waited poised and ready. When the enemy came within range, the gates of the City burst open. Out marched the Army of Light led by a King of such splendor that the enemy horde had to shield its eyes. The revived ones merged with the Army of Light and joined battle with the enemy. Three-and-a half days later the war was over. The enemy was destroyed and the triumphant ones entered the City for which they had been chosen before the foundation of the world.
Again I was swept away to read another large tablet engraved with further words from Revelation:
“Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly in midheaven, ‘Come, gather for the great supper Elohim, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.’ And I saw the beast and the kings of earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who sits upon the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had worked the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and whose who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with brimstone. And the rest were slain by the sword of him who sits upon the horse, the sword that issues from his mouth; and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.
“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, that he could deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years were ended. After that he must be loosed for a little while. Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom judgement was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Yahshua and for the word of Elohim, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark of their foreheads or their hands. They came to life, and reigned with Messiah for a thousand years.”
When I had finished reading this, as abruptly as my dream had come to me it ended, leaving me with a deep sense of awe, a new awareness of the undercurrents in my own life, and a renewed desire to seek to know Yahweh in spirit and truth.
Never has it been more clear to me that two revivals are in progress on the earth. One is the revival of the Spirit of Yahweh by which dead men and women are freed from their sins by the blood of the Lamb and raised to a life which is the life of the sons of Elohim, a life which bears Yahweh’s nature, manifests His mercy. The other revival is the revival of religious flesh, a revival which is so appealing and gather such multitudes and wield such power in this world because it offers all the comfort of religion while allowing you to keep your ego and all rights to yourself.
Surely each of us has to decide which revival he is going to be part of . Am I going to invest my life in some enterprise of booming Christian City? Or am I going to lose my life in the pursuit of Yahweh’s will of mercy? Am I going to concentrate on building something that will cause the citizens of Christian City to sit up and take notice? Or am I going to spend my life bringing the poor and the maimed and the blind the Master’s table?

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Rev 13:16  And the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the freemen and the slaves, it causes that they give to them all a mark on their right hand, or on their foreheads,
Rev 13:17  even that not any could buy or sell, except the one having the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of its name.
Rev 13:18  Here is wisdom: Let the one having reason count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man and its number is six hundred and sixty six.

Etheridge Aramaic translation
Rev 13:16  And he caused all, small and great, and rich and poor, and sons of freedom and slaves, to have given to them a signature upon their right hands, or upon their foreheads;
Rev 13:17  as that no man might be able to buy or sell, unless he had the signature of the name of the beast of prey, or the number of his name.
Rev 13:18  Here is wisdom. Let him who hath mind, calculate the number of the beast of prey; for the number is of man; and his number is Six hundred and sixty and six.

Lamsa Aramaic translation

Lamsa
Rev 13:16 And he compelled all, both small and great, rich and poor, freemen and slaves to receive a mark on their right hands or on their brows:
Rev 13:17 So that no man might buy or sell, except he who had the mark of the name of the beast, or the code number of his name.
Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding decipher the code number of the beast: for it is the code number of the name of a man; and his number is six hundred sixty-six (Nero Caesar).

The word mark comes from the Hebrew word Tav

Eze 9:4  And YHWH said to him, Pass through in the midst of the city, in the midst of Jerusalem, and mark (tavah) a mark (tav) on the foreheads of the men who are groaning and are mourning over all the abominations that are done in her midst.

The above verse is speaking of the mark of YHWH which is put on the righteous.  The mark of the beast is a direct counterfeit of this mark.

This root is related to את & תא

This is the root for the word sign.  This is significant because the Torah is a sign on the hand and the forehead.  Again, the mark of the beast is a direct counterfeit of YHWH’s mark/signs.

Tav aleph is related to the word tav תו  and aleph tav את and means a mark/boundary.

תא tav aleph relates to the word tar תר which means the ‘mark of man’ or the border/outline.

From this root we get ta’ar and to’ar.  These words mean form, outline or border.  This is an important connection to see in that the mark of the beast versus the mark of YHWH ultimately reflects whose image/form you are in.

This connection between the mark and the image/form/outline/shadow picture of YHWH Yahshua versus the antichrist is further seen in that the word Torah comes from this same root.

We can have the mark of YHWH and be in His image by walking in His Torah, or we can have the mark of the beast and be in the image of satan by walking in his torah which is lawlessness.

We are called to overcome the mark as well as the image of the beast

Rev 15:2  And I saw, as a glassy sea having been mixed with fire. And the ones overcoming the beast, and its image, and its mark, of the number of its name, were standing on the glassy sea, having harps of God.

The word translated as mark in Revelation is used only one other time in Scripture referring to man engraving something to represent the Almighty
Act 17:29  Then being offspring of God, we ought not to suppose that the Godhead is like gold or silver or stone, engraved by art and the imagination of man.
This is the essence of the mark of the beast…it is a counterfeit worship of YHWH.  This is what the golden calf was.  Making a golden calf and calling it YHWH.  This is who the antichrist will be.  A counterfeit Yahshua.

The greek word that is translated as mark

G5480
χάραγμα
charagma
Thayer Definition:
1) a stamp, an imprinted mark
1a) of the mark stamped on the forehead or the right hand as the badge of the followers of the Antichrist
1b) the mark branded upon horses
2) thing carved, sculpture, graven work
2a) of idolatrous images
Part of Speech: noun neuter
A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: from the same as G5482

Another Greek word that comes from the same root is:

G5481
χαρακτήρ
charaktēr
Thayer Definition:
1) the instrument used for engraving or carving
2) the mark stamped upon that instrument or wrought out on it
2a) a mark or figure burned in (Lev_13:28) or stamped on, an impression
2b) the exact expression (the image) of any person or thing, marked likeness, precise reproduction in every respect, i.e facsimile
Part of Speech: noun masculine
A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: from the same as G5482

This word charakter is only used once in the Scriptures.  It is translated as express image.  Again we see a connection to the mark and the image.
Heb 1:3  who being the shining splendor of His glory, and the express image of His essence, and upholding all things by the Word of His power, having made purification of our sins through Himself, He sat down on the right of the Majesty on high, Psa. 110:1

This word was used to translate only one Hebrew word in the Septuagint

G5481
charakter     H6867    tsarevet
H6867
צרבת
tsa^rebeth
tsaw-reh’-beth
From H6686; conflagration (of fire or disease): – burning, inflammation.

This word is used 2x in the Scriptures
Pro 16:27  A worthless (belial) man plots evil, and on his lips it is like a burning fire.

Here we see a connection to Beliyaal and the tongue/words.  Belial is the seed of the serpent which shall be discussed in more detail later, Yah willing.  The connection to words and Belial is important as well but again will need to be addressed in more detail in the future.

The other use of this word is in reference to the metzora/leper
Lev 13:23  And if in its place the bright spot is stayed, it has not spread; it is an inflamed (burning kjv) boil, and the priest shall pronounce him clean.
Lev 13:28  And if the bright spot stays in its place, and does not spread in the skin, but is somewhat faded, it is a swelling of the burning; and the priest shall pronounce him clean. for it is a scar (kjv inflammation tsarebeth) of the burning (micvah..burn or brand).

The root of charagma and charakter is charax

G5482
χάραξ
charax
Thayer Definition:
2) a palisade or rampart***
2) a palisade or rampart
2a) pales between which earth, stones, trees, and timbers are heaped and packed together
Part of Speech: noun masculine
A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: from charasso (to sharpen to a point, akin to G1125* through the idea of scratching)

G5482
charax     H3733    kar

charax     H4674    mutstsav
Again we see a connection to the mark.  As explained above the mark is associated with an image & a garrison.

The antichrist is pictured by Nimrod who was known as a mighty hunter.  This theme is seen throughout the Scriptures when the Word alludes to the antichrist.  A hunter, or one who lies in wait for blood.

charax     H4692    matsor
Again a reference to garrison, rampart, stronghold

charax *    H5550    sollah

The Counterfeit

vs.

SATAN COUNTERFEITS
Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most Highclick here

Dan 7:25  And he shall speak words against the Most High, and he shall wear out the saints of the Most High. And he intends to change times and law. And they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and one half time.

The numbering/mark of YHWH in the wilderness

Num 1:2  Lift the heads (KJV take the sum) of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male, by their heads;
Num 1:3  from a son of twenty years and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall number them by their armies.

Num 1:17  And Moses and Aaron took these men who were marked (naqab) out by name.
H5344
נקב
na^qab
BDB Definition:
1) to pierce, perforate, bore, appoint

Num 1:18  And they assembled all the congregation on the first of the second month. And they declared their births according to their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from a son of twenty years and upward, by their heads.
Num 1:19  As YHWH commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai.
Psa 87:5  And it shall be said to Zion, This man and that man was born in her; and the Highest Himself shall establish her.
Psa 87:6  In recording (saphar= counting) the peoples YHWH shall mark down, This man was born there. Selah.

The prophecies speaking of the dividing of the land could be a counterfeit of the allotting of land spoken of by the prophets (Eze 48 & Rev 20). As the above verses indicate, being numbered/marked by YHWH in the wilderness was associated with the dividing of the land at that time. 1948click here is a counterfeit of the regathering but is just a foreshadowing of things to come.  The adversary seeks to appear as the savior of the world and will bring about a false kingdom appearing as the Kingdom of Heaven along with the mark of the beast which will he will attempt to make look like the mark of YHWH. Along with this kingdom will come a dividing of the land with a numbering of the peoples…a counterfeit Zion.

The mark of the beast being the antithesis to the mark of YHWH (the Torah) is further emphasized by delving into the meaning and usage of the Aramaic word for mark (ruoshma)

2Co 3:7  Now if the ministration of death was engraved(aetrashmat)* upon stones in writing, and was so glorious that the children of Israel could not look on the face of Moses, on account of the glory upon his face which vanished away;

*Here we see this word being linked to the Torah

Rom 8:29 He knew them in advance and he marked (Gk predestined) them with the likeness of the image of his Son that he might be the first-born among many brethren.

Again the connection to the mark and the image.  The image of the Son vs. the image of the beast.
Eph 1:4  according as he had previously chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we might be holy and without blame before him; and, in love, predestinated (Gk chosen) us for himself;

The chosen peopleclick here are marked with the mark of YHWH…those who keep the Torah and the testimony (belief in Messiah Yahshua).  Those with the mark of the beast are those who reject Messiah Yahshua and according to the Scriptures are already antichrists (1Joh 2:18).

Eph 1:11 By whom we have been chosen, as he had marked (Gk. predestinated) us from the beginning so he wanted to carry out everything according to the good judgment of his will:

This connection of predestination and being marked is connected by the heavenly books.
Psa 56:8  You have counted my wandering; O put my tear in Your bottle; are they not in Your Book?

Psa 139:16  Your eyes saw my embryo; and in Your book all my members were written the days they were formed, and not one was yet among them. *
Mal 3:16  Then those fearing YHWH spoke together, each man to his neighbor. And YHWH gave attention and heard. And a Book of Remembrance was written before Him for those who feared YHWH, and for those esteeming His name.

The true mark/sign of YHWH

The blood
Exo 12:13  And the blood shall be a sign to you, on the houses where you are. And I will see the blood, and I will pass over you*. And the plague shall not be on you to destroy, when I strike in the land of Egypt.

*This is connected to the book of Ezekiel and the mark of the righteous

Eze 9:4  And YHWH said to him, Pass through in the midst of the city, in the midst of Jerusalem, and mark a mark on the foreheads of the men who are groaning and are mourning over all the abominations that are done in her midst.
Eze 9:5  And He said to those in my hearing, Pass over in the city after him and strike. Do not let your eye spare, and do not have pity.
It is the blood of Messiah that marks us as His own
Rev 1:5  even from Jesus Christ the Faithful Witness, the First-born out of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him loving us and washing us from our sins by His blood,

Rev 1:6  and made us kings and priests to God, even His Father. To Him is the glory and the might forever and ever. Amen.

The blood is associated with Passover and unleavened bread
1Co 5:7  Then purge out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened. For also Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us.

UNLEAVENED BREAD is also a sign/mark of YHWH
Exo 13:6  Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the LORD.
Exo 13:7  Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters.
Exo 13:8  And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt.
Exo 13:9  And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD’S law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt.

SABBATHS
Exo 31:13  Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.
Exo 31:14  And you shall keep the Sabbath, for it is holy for you; the profaners of it dying shall die; for everyone doing work in it, that soul shall be cut off from the midst of his people.
Exo 31:15  Work may be done six days, and on the seventh day is a sabbath of rest, holy to YHWH; everyone doing work on the Sabbath day dying shall die.
Exo 31:16  And the sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath, to do the Sabbath for their generations; it is a never ending covenant.
Exo 31:17  It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth*, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

*Creation versus Evolution is associated with the mark as well.  Evolution is a big part of the strong delusion to bring forth the mark of the beast as mankind will once again have to face the temptation of the serpent in the garden at the tree of knowledge…ye shall be as gods….Home noeticus, supermen.

Exo 31:18  And when He finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave to Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.

A partial fulfillment of the mark of the beast is clearly set forth as ‘Sunday Sabbath.”

”Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act. And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.” C. F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons, in answer to a letter regarding the change of the Sabbath, November 11, 1895.click here

Looking at the marks/signs of YHWH there are always counterfeits.  Instead of Unleavened Bread there is Easter & the Mass.  Instead of the Torah there is religious ‘law’/dogma.

COMMANDMENTS
Deu 6:6  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
Deu 6:7  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
Deu 6:8  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
Deu 6:9  And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
Deu 11:18  Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.

Redemption of the 1st born…pointing back to Passover and especially referring to Messiah Yahshua.  At the time of the end when the mark of the beast is instituted, at the same time the mark of YHWH will be in the foreheads of the 144,000 who are the firstfruits/firstborn.
Exo 13:15  And it happened when Pharaoh hardened himself against sending us away, YHWH killed every first-born one in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of men even to the first-born of animals. On account of this I sacrifice to YHWH every one of the males opening the womb, and I redeem every first-born of my sons.
Exo 13:16  And it shall be for a sign on your hand, and frontlets between your eyes. For YHWH brought us out from Egypt by the might of His hand.

Rev 14:1  And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion! And with Him were a hundred and forty four thousands, with the name of His Father having been written on their foreheads.
Rev 22:4  And they will see His face; and His name will be on their foreheads.

His Name is the Word
Rev 19:13  and having been clothed in a garment which had been dipped in blood. And His name is called The Word of God.

We are marked by the Name/Torah/Yahshua
Rev 7:3  Do not harm the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, until we seal the slaves of our God on their foreheads.
Rev 7:4  And I heard the number of those having been sealed: one hundred forty four thousands, having been sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel:
Rev 14:1  And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion! And with Him were a hundred and forty four thousands, with the name of His Father having been written on their foreheads.
Rev 14:2  And I heard a sound out of Heaven, as a sound of many waters, and as a sound of great thunder. Also I heard a sound of harpers harping on their harps.
Rev 14:3  And they sing as a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one was able to learn the song except the hundred and forty four thousands, those having been redeemed from the earth.
Rev 14:4  These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones following the Lamb wherever He may go. These were redeemed from among men as a firstfruit to God and to the Lamb.
Rev 14:5  And no guile was found in their mouth, for they are without blemish before the throne of God.

Exodus 8:23 Distinction=redemption=sign=ephod=mark of YHWH?
Exo 8:23  And I will put redemption (KJV distinction) between My people and your people. This miracle shall be for tomorrow.

Brought back to an original state.  A sinless state.  Like the 2nd Adam.

1Jn 3:1  See what manner of love the Father has given us, that we may be called children of God. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
1Jn 3:2  Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it was not yet revealed what we shall be. But we know that if He is revealed, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.
We shall be in His image.  The seed of the serpent will be in his image.  This is what the mark of the beast is.  We will be clothed in the garments of righteousness and salvation (Yeshua).  The seed of the serpent will be clothed in the garments of the serpent.

The 144,00 are the firstborn, the priests…redeemed from the earth.
The “distinction” is seen in the end
Mal 3:16  Then those fearing YHWH spoke together, each man to his neighbor. And YHWH gave attention and heard. And a Book of Remembrance was written before Him for those who feared YHWH, and for those esteeming His name.
Mal 3:17  And they shall be Mine, says YHWH of Hosts, for the day that I will make up My treasure. And I will pity them as a man has pity on his son who serves him.
Mal 3:18  Then you shall again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who does not serve Him.

Part 2 the number 666click here

Part 3 Ivy, Bacchus, Christmas & Hanukkahclick here

Part 4 Numbers, shapes, soundsclick here

Part 5 the Cross

Part 6 Hexagram

Part 7 Saturn

Part 8 Solomon & Freemasonry

Part 9 Merovingians

Part 10 As Above so below

Part 11 Rothschilds

Part 12 Christmas

Part 13 DNA

Part 14 Shin Shemesh

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Is The LORD Among Us…? – Exodus 17:1-7

How soon God’s people forget, and especially so when we are mixed with the unbelieving.  It seems that complaining is as contagious as an disease which has reached the pandemic stage.  We have seen already in this study the affects of the “mixed multitude” (12:38).  (These were people who were not committed the faith of YaHWeH [Jehovah], and the deliverance unto glory.
This is the first mention of the Rock within the book of Exodus, and this rock is Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4).

OUTLINE -
I.  MORE LACK OF WATER PROBLEMS AND COMPLAINT (vv. 1-3).
II.  MOSES PRAYS TO THE LORD, AND RECEIVES AN ANSWER (vv. 4-6).
III.  QUESTIONING THE PRESENCE AND POWER (v. 7).

Study Questions -

1.  How much alike are professing Christians of our day with the children of Israel wandering through the wilderness? Discussion

2.  The _______________ against Moses was also against ________ _____________ . (vv. 1-3)

3.  Moses was unafraid as the people accused him of neglecting their needs.  True   False  (v. 4)

4.  God told Moses, “Go on before the people, and take the ____________  ____  _____________, and thy _____________ .” (v. 5).

5.  God promised Moses that He would…  (v. 6)
A.  …stand before him on the rock.    B.  …let him solve the problem himself.
C.  …send them back to Egypt.        C.  …destroy the people.

6.  From the rock would come plenty of water for the people to drink.  True    False  (v. 6)

7.  When Moses stood on the _____________ and then ____________ the ______________ he did so in the sight of the elders. (v. 6)

8.  Let’s name some times, and ways in which we often miss the presence, power and glory of the LORD.  Discussion

-Tim A. Blankenship

ANSWERS :

1. Discussion;  2. Complaints, the LORD;  3. False;  4. elders of Israel, Rod;  5. A;  6. True;  7. Rock, struck, Rock;  8. Discussion

The world has become like a close-net village
http://forum09.faithfreedom.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4253&p=82713#p82713

Hello Paar, I understand your love of Jesus, Mary and Moses. However, about Krishna, Buddha, Zoroaster and Cyrus, are you sure you are not violating the Quranic injunction?

Buddha particularly was an agnostic or a Deist who never really discussed about divinity and supernatural in his teaching. Maybe your answer will be that these people were originally prophets but their teachings interpolated over time period. Right?

How about Confucius? Do you love him too?

Humanity is but one family.

Paarsurrey wrote:

Hi friends.

Since Quran is a Word of Revelation from the All-Wise, the Creator- God Allah YHWH; He sent Messenger Prophets to all the lands of the world to guide the humanity to His path. Now that the world has become like a close-net village; all these Messengers Prophets have been honored by Muhammad. The truthful Revelations, deeds/acts of all these Messengers Prophets have been secured in Quran; and their role has been set by God to introduce their nations and lead them to Muhammad – the Seal of Messengers Prophets; Muhammad authenticates their truthfulness, under lasting principles mentioned in Quran.

I love Jesus, Mary, Moses, Moses’ mother, Krishna, Buddha, Lao Tse , Confucius, Socrates, Zoroaster, Cyrus etc great leaders of the world in Ethics, Morals and Spirituality; I love them all; this is the teaching of Quran/Islam/Muhammad as explained by the Promised Messiah 1835-1908. I think it has got a lot of common sense and wisdom; my Atheist and Agnostic friends would admit.

Thanks

I am an Ahmadi peaceful Muslim

It is a wonderful and blessed thing to be alive, breathing, and walking upon this beautiful planet the Lord of all has blessed us with.  The stars which shine at night with the moon, and all the planets; those seen and those which cannot be seen with the human eye.

We can be thankful no matter what our lot in live.  Captive or free we are all captive in one way or another.  Let us all remember that we are made by the one true God; our Creator, Spirit, the Son of God and Savior of all who will call on that wonderful, glorious name of Jesus the Christ.

Thank God for family, friends, work, health, wealth because we here in the USA are wealthy compared to many places and people on earth.  Even if you have no home you still live in the land of the free, and home of the brave.

What a place to live, breathe, move and have our being.

Thank YOU Lord for YOUR blessings.

-Tim A. Blankenship

TUHAN ITU TERLALU SUCI

Nama YEHOVAH merupakan sebuah misteri. Towns (1995, hal 177) mengatakan bahwa YEHOVAH adalah Pribadi yang ada dengan sendirinya dan mempunyai banyak atribut yang belum kita ketahui dan tampaknya Ia akan terus menerus menyatakan diri-Nya di sepanjang kekekalan.

Karena dianggap terlalu suci maka naskah asli bahasa Ibrani tidak membubuhkan tanda-tanda huruf hidup. Pada kurun waktu “tetragrammaton” (4 huruf) YHWH dianggap teramat suci untuk diucapkan. Pada abad 12 M, huruf-huruf hidup ditambahkan sehigga dapat diucapkan “Yehowa” atau “Yehovah” (Ensiklopedi Alkitab Masa Kini, 1995).

Sebutah Yahweh dimunculkan melalui penyalinan huruf (transliterasi) nama itu ke dalam bahasa Yunani dalam kesusastraan Kristen kuna dalam bentuk iaoue atau iabe (Ensiklopedi Alkitab Masa Kini, 1995).

Sedangkan menurut Ryrie (1991), nama Yahweh mulai dipandang sacral setelah “masa pembuangan” sehingga tidak diucapkan lafalnya (YHWH). Pada abad ke-6 dan ke-7 sesudah Kristus, huruf hidup ADONAI digabung dengan huruf mati YHWH untuk mengingatkan pembaca di sinagoge mengucapkan nama sacral itu sebagai ADONAI. Dari sinilah muncul “kata buatan” YEHOVAH (YAHWEH).

Quran/Islam/Muhammad- open minded, nonracial and unbiased
http://forum09.faithfreedom.org/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=4920&p=82054#p82054

Manfred wrote:

The Quran is quite clear that Islamic paradise is a Muslim only “place” (for lack of a better description).

Paarsurrey wrote:

Hi friend Manfred

I don’t agree with you.

You have certainly misunderstood Quran/Islam/Muhammad.

[2:63] Surely, the Believers, and the Jews, and the Christians and the Sabians — whichever party from among these truly believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good deeds — shall have their reward with their Lord, and no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve.
[2:64] And remember the time when We took a covenant from you and raised high above you the Mount, saying: ‘Hold fast that which We have given you and bear in mind what is therein, that you may be saved.’
[2:65] Then you turned back thereafter; and had it not been for Allah’s grace towards you and His mercy, you would surely have been of the losers.

http://www.alislam.org/quran/search2/sh … 2&verse=56

The above verse very clearly mentions that those persons who have the truthful beliefs and those who do good deeds suited to the situation and time would go to heaven. One who is a Muslim in name only and does not have good beliefs and or good deeds has no claim to heaven, it is purely the grace and the mercy of the Creator-God Allah YHWH, nobody else has any monopoly on the heaven; no intercession, nothing of this sort.

Please amend your concept accordingly. Yours is a very narrow and stringent concept; nothing to do with Quran/Islam/Muhammad, who are very open minded, nonracial and unbiased.

I love Jesus and Mary as mentioned in Quran.

Thanks

I am an Ahmadi peaceful Muslim

I was walking down the old dirt paths and slowly navigating my way through the landmine of pinecones and taking in each snapshot of scenery that dripped with raw beauty. I was taken in by all the things around me. The sweet harmonious melodies of the birds singing in choired unison and the romantic whispered chirpings of the cicadas’ calling me deeper into the forest, deeper into the night. It is this call that leads me to wonder if there is more to life than a book? Is all that life is, summed up in the pages of 66 authors?

I wouldn’t be able to share with you my experience in a captivating forest if all I did was read about the forest. I might be able to give you glimpses and a sort of scientific approach to what it might feel like if I were in a forest, but the experience is vastly different than the science. One is factual, the other is life-altering. This isn’t to say that facts don’t have the ability to change our lives, but studies have shown that one out of one person are always changed by their experiences, whether good or bad. I could have explained to you a map of the forest, but it wouldn’t have given you the contours, colors and outlines that you can only experience in person.

You can sit down and read a really good book. You might even feel like you are one of the characters drifting through each of the pages, but there is nothing like living your own story. If we replace the word living with writing, then maybe what we might be able to say is that all of us are still writing not just our story, but God’s story as well. We get to write with Him. In The Bible: The Biography by Karen Armstrong, she asserts that before the Old Testament was canonized that the Jews had this belief that they were responsible to reinterpret scripture as much as possible so that it was relevant and spoke to the current structures of society. In fact, one place, she even says that they had thrown out certain parts of scripture because it wasn’t relevant to the time. For most, this is a different view to what we have been taught(but just because it’s different doesn’t mean its not true). And if it is true, then what are the ripples in the pond? I think for those who believe the Bible holds all the answers then it seems like an attack rather than an enquiry, because it seems a bit reductionistic to try and make the Bible anything other than the Word of God. Yet, this is isn’t the hope of postmoderns or those with questions. It is to experience God as those in scripture did. So rather than see the bible as trail map to be studied, it is more like an invitation between friends to come and walk with God and discover the raw unedited beauty of the journey. To come and discover God. To “taste and see that he is good”. Both words for taste and see in the Hebrew when translated mean “to experience”. God is inviting us all not to simply read the pages, but live the pages. Write the pages. And Be the pages.

Postmodernism is running through the halls of our churches and fortune 500 companies and classrooms, but is postmodernism the enemy? Can’t postmodernism be a good thing too? It can help us revisit things and begin asking hard questions that maybe aren’t that comfortable but might be necessary to pursue together to find the answers to. Postmodernism is simply asking the question “Is there more to life than this? Is there more to the Bible than this? Is there more to truth than this?” The ancient Jewish followers of YHWH believed it was imperative to ask questions. To be Jew meant you had questions. To be a person who lived and breathed meant you were a person who was driven to seek answers to those questions, no matter how long the journey took. No matter where those questions took you, it was your responsibility as a Jew to make sure you found the answer.

History According to Wikipedia:

In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. It is the only other country outside of the United States that officially observes the day as a holiday.

Thanksgiving involves a group of people commonly known as the Pilgrims.

They were a dissenting religious group considered to be outside of mainstream “Christianity”.  The Pilgrims felt that the only way freely to practice their religion was to physically separate themselves from the Church of England that had persecuted them*. First to flee persecution, these “Separatists,” moved to the English Midlands. Then they went to Amsterdam in 1607. In 1609, they moved to the more religiously tolerant Netherlands. But they decided that this would not do.  Finally, they began their voyage to America in 1620. It took months to cross the sea and they lost many during that voyage as well as after coming to America.. In spite of all their sufferings and the death of half of their company, in October 1621, the Pilgrims celebrated their first harvest.  In 1863, US President Lincoln made a proclamation that ultimately led to Thanksgiving becoming a US holiday.

*Was this a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy?

Deu 29:24 “And all nations shall say, ‘Why has יהוה  done so to this land? What does the heat of this great displeasure mean?’
Deu 29:25 “And it shall be said, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of יהוה  Elohim of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Mitsrayim.
Deu 29:26 ‘And they went and served other mighty ones and bowed themselves to them, mighty ones that they did not know and that He had not given to them,
Deu 29:27 therefore the displeasure of יהוה  burned against this land, to bring on it every curse that is written in this book.
Deu 29:28 ‘And יהוה  uprooted them from their land in displeasure, and in wrath, and in great rage, and cast them into another land**, as it is today.’
The Puritans and most Americans of the 1600’s believed the above Scripture applied to them.  They believed they were Israelites who were being led to a new promised land by the hand of Providence.

**Eretz acharet…America was called the ‘New World’ which could be translated roughly from this Hebrew phrase.
2Sa 7:10 “And I shall appoint a place for My people Yisra’ĕl, and shall plant them, and they shall dwell in a place of their own and no longer be afraid, neither shall the children of wickedness oppress them again, as at the first,
This prophecy was told to David while Yisrael was dwelling safely in the Land.  Ultimately, this is a prophecy of the Kingdom of Messiah but a partial fulfillment may be America.

2 Esdras 13:34 And an innumerable multitude shall be gathered together, as thou sawest them, willing to come, and to overcome him by fighting.
35 But he {Messiah} shall stand upon the top of the mount Sion.
36 And Sion shall come, and shall be shewed to all men, being prepared and builded, like as thou sawest the hill graven without hands.
37 And this my Son shall rebuke the wicked inventions of those nations, which for their wicked life are fallen into the tempest;
38 And shall lay before them their evil thoughts, and the torments wherewith they shall begin to be tormented, which are like unto a flame: and he shall destroy them without labour by the law which is like unto me.
39 And whereas thou sawest that he gathered another peaceable multitude unto him;
40 Those are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Osea the king, whom Salmanasar the king of Assyria led away captive, and he carried them over the waters, and so came they into another land.
41 But they took this counsel among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a further country, where never mankind dwelt,
42 That they might there keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land.
Here we see an amazing prophecy of the 10 tribes, which are represented by the Christians that left Europe to travel to the New World.  There is much historical evidence that the 10 tribes migrated to Europe and later accepted the Gospel.  It is these ‘lost tribes’ that purposed to go to a land where mankind had not known to keep the Torah that they didn’t keep while in the Land of Yisrael.

The Vine in the wilderness

Isa 5:1  Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
Isa 5:2  And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
Isa 5:3  And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
Isa 5:4  What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
Isa 5:5  And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
Isa 5:6  And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
Isa 5:7  For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

Mat 21:33  Hear another parable: There was a certain man, a house master, who planted a vineyard and placed a hedge around it; and he dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. And he rented it to vinedressers and left the country. Isa. 5:1, 2
Mat 21:34  And when the season of the fruits came, he sent his slaves to the vinedressers to receive his fruits.
Mat 21:35  And the vinedressers, taking his slaves, they beat this one, and they killed one, and they stoned another.
Mat 21:36  Again he sent other slaves, more than the first. And they did the same to them.
Mat 21:37  And at last he sent his son to them, saying, They will respect my son.
Mat 21:38  But seeing the son, the vinedressers said among themselves, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and possess his inheritance.
Mat 21:39  And taking him, they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
Mat 21:40  Therefore, when the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?
Mat 21:41  They said to Him, Bad men! He will miserably destroy them, and he will rent out the vineyard to other vinedressers who will give to him the fruits in their seasons.
Mat 21:42  Jesus said to them, Did you never read in the Scriptures, “A Stone which the builders rejected, this One became the Head of the Corner? This was from the Lord, and it is a wonder in our eyes?” Psalm 118:22, 23
Mat 21:43  Because of this I say to you, The kingdom of God will be taken from you, and it will be given to a nation producing the fruits of it.*

*This is the role that America was/is to fulfill.  No single nation has spread the Gospel more than the USA/America.  The problem is that when believers fled from Europe to escape religious persecution, there was also those from the side of darkness that came along with them to escape that same religious intolerance.  There has always been this power struggle in this country between those who wish to worship YHWH according to the dictates of their hearts versus those who hate Him and wish to bring about a new world of antichrist. click here

The date and location of the first Thanksgiving celebration is a topic of modest contention. Though the earliest attested Thanksgiving celebration was on September 8, 1565 in what is now Saint Augustine, Florida

The traditional “first Thanksgiving” is venerated as having occurred at the site of Plymouth Plantation, in 1621. The Plymouth celebration occurred early in the history in one of the original thirteen colonies that became the United States, and this celebration became an important part of the American myth by the 1800s.

Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, presently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, has been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863. It did not become a federal holiday until 1941. Thanksgiving was historically a religious observation to give thanks to God,[1] and is still celebrated as such by many families, but it is now also considered a secular holiday as well.
“Thanksgiving Day”. Encyclopædia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/590003/Thanksgiving-Day. Retrieved 2009-11-03.

The First Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to God and the Native Americans for helping the pilgrims survive the brutal winter. Although half of the pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower had already died, many more would have had it not been for the native Americans teaching the pilgrims to harvest foods. The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three whole days providing enough food for 53 pilgrims and 90 Indians. The traditional Thanksgiving menu often features turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie. Americans may eat these foods on modern day Thanksgiving, but the first feast did not consist of these items. On the first feast turkey was any type of fowl that the pilgrims hunted. Pumpkin pie wasn’t on the menu because there were no ovens for baking, but they did have boiled pumpkin. Cranberries weren’t introduced at this time. Due to the diminishing supply of flour there was no bread of any kind. The foods included in the first feast included duck, geese, venison, fish, lobster, clams, swan, berries, dried fruit, pumpkin, squash, and many more vegetables.

Squanto, a Patuxet Native American who resided with the Wampanoag tribe, taught the Pilgrims how to catch eel and grow corn and served as an interpreter for them (Squanto had learned English as a slave in Europe and travels in England). The Pilgrims set apart a day to celebrate at Plymouth immediately after their first harvest, in 1621. At the time, this was not regarded as a Thanksgiving observance; harvest festivals existed in English and Wampanoag tradition alike. Several colonists gave personal accounts of the 1621 feast in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Pilgrims, most of whom were Separatists, are not to be confused with Puritans who established their own Massachusetts Bay Colony nearby (current day Boston) in 1628 and had very different religious beliefs*.

There were two different camps of believers that came out of the Protestant reformation.  The Pilgrims were considered ‘Separatists’ who did not seek to reform the church but to separate from it.  The Puritans sought to ‘purify’ church and state.

The Pilgrims did not hold a true Thanksgiving until 1623, after a switch from communal farming to privatized farming finally resulted in a larger harvest.[9] Irregular Thanksgivings continued after favorable events and days of fasting after unfavorable ones. In the Plymouth tradition, a thanksgiving day was a church observance, rather than a feast day.

The Massachusetts Bay Colony (consisting mainly of Puritan Christians) celebrated Thanksgiving for the first time in 1630, and frequently thereafter until about 1680, when it became an annual festival in that colony; and Connecticut as early as 1639 and annually after 1647, except in 1675. The Dutch in New Netherland appointed a day for giving thanks in 1644 and occasionally thereafter.

Charlestown, Massachusetts held the first recorded Thanksgiving observance June 29, 1671 by proclamation of the town’s governing council.

During the 18th century individual colonies commonly observed days of thanksgiving throughout each year. We might not recognize a traditional Thanksgiving Day from that period, as it was not a day marked by plentiful food and drink as is today’s custom, but rather a day set aside for prayer and fasting.

Later in the 1700s individual colonies would periodically designate a day of thanksgiving in honor of a military victory, an adoption of a state constitution or an exceptionally bountiful crop. Such a Thanksgiving Day celebration was held in December 1777 by the colonies nationwide, commemorating the surrender of British General Burgoyne at Saratoga.

In the middle of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln, prompted by a series of editorials written by Sarah Josepha Hale,[3] proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated on the final Thursday in November 1863:

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.”

Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863.

Interestingly, Thanksgiving was proclaimed as a national holiday after the north and south came back together as one nation.  The Scriptures speak of the northern tribes and the southern tribes coming back together as a time of Thanksgiving as well.

Jer 30:18  So says YHWH, Behold I will turn the captivity of Jacob’s tents and will have mercy on his dwelling places. And the city shall be built on her ruin heap; and the fortress shall remain on its own ordinance.
Jer 30:19  And out of them shall come thanksgiving and the voice of those who are merry. And I will multiply them, and they shall not be few. I also will honor them, and they shall not be small.

Isa 51:3  For YHWH comforts Zion. He comforts all her desolations, and He makes her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of YHWH; joy and gladness shall be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of singing praise

Hodu – Turkey

In excavations near Salem, Massachuseets an old Hebrew manuscript was found that sheds light on why turkey is eaten on Thanksgiving.
b’chag hahodaya
On holiday/feast Thanksgiving

Hodu sheain atem
Give thanks that not you are

tarngol hahodu asher lfaneikhem
the fowl indian/turkey that is before you

This manuscript was called Haggada Shel Hodaya…similar to Haggada shel Pesach.  At Passover it is said:

leshana ha’ba’a b’yerushalayim

Next year in Jerusalem

Haggada Shel Hodaya instructs Thanksgiving day meal be concluded with:

Hodu=give thanks

India = Hodu
The other name for turkey in those days was Indian chicken because Columbus thought he was in India when he saw turkeys for the first time.

The Hebrew word for Turkey is

Benjamin Franklin proposed that turkey be the national bird of the USA arguing that the turkey was more honest, honorable, diligent and smarter than the bald eagle.

Puritans, Yisrael & The Torah

Marvin Wilson’s book,  Our Father Abraham
explains (pp. 127-128):

During the period of the Protestant Reformation (16th century), some signs of the re-Judaization of the Christian faith began to surface, as certain Hebrew categories were rediscovered. The Reformers put great stress on sola scriptura (Scripture as the sole and final authority of the Christian). The consequent de-emphasis on tradition brought with it a return to the biblical roots. Accordingly, during the two centuries following the Reformation, several groups recognized the importance of once again emphasizing the Hebraic heritage of the Church. Among these people were the Puritans who founded Pilgrim America, and the leaders who pioneered American education. We shall comment briefly on the first of these groups before concentrating on the second.

The Puritans came to America deeply rooted in the Hebraic tradition. Most bore Hebrew names. The Pilgrim fathers considered themselves as the children of Israel fleeing “Egypt” (England), crossing the “Red Sea” (the Atlantic Ocean), and emerging from this “Exodus” to their own “promised land” (New England). The Pilgrims thought of themselves as “all the children of Abraham” and, thus, under the covenant of Abraham. (Feingold p. 46.)

The President of Yale College used these words before the Governor and General Assembly of the state of Connecticut in 1783: “Their influence on American society was not soon forgotten: more than a century and a half after the first Puritan settlers reached New England, the American people were referred to in a State Assembly as ‘God’s American Israel.’” (Feldman p. 5)

The seeds of religious liberty for the American Church did not come from New England leaders such as Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson-as noble as they and others were. Rather, it came from the Hebrews themselves, whose sacred writings inspired the Puritans. Accordingly, many of the Puritans in seventeenth-century England were learned Hebraists. William Bradford (1590-1657), prominent early American and Governor of Plymouth Colony for more than three decades, maintained an intense interest in Hebrew. Bradford stated that he studied Hebrew so that when he died he might be able to speak in the “most ancient language, the Holy Tongue in which God and, the angels, spake.” Cotton Mather (1663-1728), a well-known Puritan minister and scholar from Massachusetts, had a similar deep respect for the Hebrew language. Concerning its importance, Mather once observed, “I promise that those who
spend as much time morning and evening in Hebrew studies as they do in smoking tobacco, would quickly make excellent progress in the language.”click here (Rosovsky)

So popular was the Hebrew Language in the late 16th and early 17th centuries that several students at Yale delivered their commencement orations in Hebrew. Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Brown, Princeton, Johns Hopkins, and the University of Pennsylvania taught courses in Hebrew—all the more remarkable because no university in England at the time offered it.

Many of the population, including a significant number of the Founding Fathers of America, were products of these American universities—for example, Thomas Jefferson attended William and Mary, James Madison Princeton, Alexander Hamilton King’s College (i.e. Columbia). Thus, we can be sure that a majority of these political leaders were not only well acquainted with the contents of both the New and Old Testaments but also had some working knowledge of Hebrew. Notes Abraham Katsh in The Biblical Heritage of American Democracy (p. 70):

At the time of the American Revolution, the interest in the knowledge of Hebrew was so widespread as to allow the circulation of the story that “certain members of Congress proposed that the use of English be formally prohibited in the United States, and Hebrew substituted for it.”

Many of the earliest “pilgrims” who settled the “New England” of America in early 17th century were Puritan refugees escaping religious persecutions in Europe.

Over the next century, America continued to be not only the land of opportunity for many people seeking a better life but also the land of religious tolerance. By the middle 1700’s, the east coast of America was settled by a virtual “Who’s Who” of Christian splinter sects from all over Europe. Among them were:

* the Puritans, whom we already know so well
* the Quakers, an extremist Puritan sect who did not believe in ministers and for whom a Society of Friends meeting together was good enough to bring down the Holy Spirit
* Calvinists, who early on had challenged the Catholic belief that the bread and wine became the body and blood of Jesus in the celebration of the mass
* the Huguenots, or French Calvinists
* the Moravians, followers of John Hus, the protestant martyr from Bohemia
* the Mennonites, a Swiss sect of Anabaptists who rejected infant baptism
* the Amish, the most stringent of the Mennonites

These were just some of the numerous groups who arrived in America in search of religious freedom.

The majority of the earliest settlers were, of course, Puritans. Beginning with the Mayflower, over the next twenty years, 16,000 Puritans migrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and many more settled in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Like their cousins back in England, these American Puritans strongly identified with both the historical traditions and customs of the ancient Hebrews of the Old Testament. They viewed their emigration from England as a virtual re-enactment of the Jewish exodus from Egypt. To them, England was Egypt, the king was Pharaoh, the Atlantic Ocean was the Red Sea, America was the Land of Israel, and the Indians were the ancient Canaanites. They were the new Israelites, entering into a new covenant with God in a new Promised Land. Thanksgiving—first celebrated in 1621, a year after the Mayflower landed—was initially conceived as day parallel to the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur; it was to be a day of fasting, introspection and prayer.

After that first harvest was completed by the Plymouth colonists, Gov. William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving and prayer, shared by all the colonists and neighboring Indians. In 1623 a day of fasting and prayer during a period of drought was changed to one of thanksgiving because the rain came during the prayers. Gradually the custom prevailed in New England of annually celebrating thanksgiving after the harvest. During the American Revolution a yearly day of national thanksgiving was suggested by the Continental Congress. In 1817 New York State adopted Thanksgiving Day as an annual custom, and by the middle of the 19th century many other states had done the same. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln appointed a day of thanksgiving as the last Thursday in November, which he may have correlated it with the November 21, 1621, anchoring of the Mayflower at Cape Cod.

Other believe that the Pilgrims were celebrating Sukkot

http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday5.htm

Many Americans, upon seeing a decorated sukkah for the first time, remark on how much the sukkah (and the holiday generally) reminds them of Thanksgiving. This may not be entirely coincidental: I was taught that our American pilgrims, who originated the Thanksgiving holiday, borrowed the idea from Sukkot. The pilgrims were deeply religious people. When they were trying to find a way to express their thanks for their survival and for the harvest, they looked to the Bible for an appropriate way of celebrating and found Sukkot. This is not the standard story taught in public schools today (that a Thanksgiving holiday is an English custom that the Pilgrims brought over), but the Sukkot explanation of Thanksgiving fits better with the meticulous research of Mayflower historian Caleb Johnson, who believes that the original Thanksgiving was a harvest festival (as is Sukkot), that it was observed in October (as Sukkot usually is), and that Pilgrims would not have celebrated a holiday that was not in the Bible (but Sukkot is in the Bible). Although Mr. Johnson claims that the first Thanksgiving was “not a religious holiday or observance,” he apparently means this in a Christian sense, because he goes on to say that the first Thanksgiving was instead “a harvest festival that included feasts, sporting events, and other activities,” concepts very much in keeping with the Jewish religious observance of Sukkot.

Gabriel Sivan, in The Bible and Civilization, (p. 236) observes:

“No Christian community in history identified more with the People of the Book than did the early settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who believed their own lives to be a literal reenactment of the Biblical drama of the Hebrew nation. They themselves were the children of Israel; America was their Promised Land; the Atlantic Ocean their Red Sea; the Kings of England were the Egyptian pharaohs; the American Indians the Canaanites; the pact of the Plymouth Rock was God’s holy Covenant; and the ordinances by which they lived were the Divine Law. Like the Huguenots and other Protestant victims of Old World oppression, these émigré Puritans dramatized their own situation as the righteous remnant of the Church corrupted by the “Babylonian woe,” and saw themselves as instruments of Divine Providence, a people chosen to build their new commonwealth on the Covenant entered into at Mount Sinai.”

The earliest legislation of the colonies of New England was all determined by Scripture. At the first assembly of New Haven in 1639, John Davenport clearly stated the primacy of the Bible as the legal and moral foundation of the colony:

Scriptures do hold forth a perfect rule for the direction and government of all men in all duties which they are to perform to God and men as well as in the government of families and commonwealth as in matters of the Church … the Word of God shall be the only rule to be attended unto in organizing the affairs of government in this plantation. (See Abraham I Katsch, The Biblical Heritage of American Democracy, p. 97)

Subsequently, the New Haven legislators adopted a legal code—the Code of 1655—which contained some 79 statutes, half of which contained Biblical references, virtually all from the Hebrew Bible. The Plymouth Colony had a similar law code as did the Massachusetts assembly, which, in 1641—after an exhortation by Reverend John Cotton who presented the legislators with a copy of Moses, His Judicials—adopted the so-called “Capitall Lawes of New England” based almost entirely on Mosaic law.

Ezra Stiles

The following excerpts from Pastor Ezra Stiles’ sermon capture the vision which many of America’s great churchmen had for this planting of God’s vine in the wilderness:

… I have assumed the text only as introductory to a discourse upon the political welfare of God’s American Israel, and as allusively prophetic of the future prosperity and splendor of the United States.
Pastor Ezra Stiles, D.D., “The United States Elevated to Glory and Honor,” election sermon on May 8, 1783, quoted in John Wingate Thornton in The Pulpit of the American Revolution: Political Sermons of the Period of 1776, 1860 ed., reprinted (Boston, MA: Da Capo Press, 1970) p. 403.

Already does the new constellation of the United States begin to realize this glory. It has already risen to an acknowledged sovereignty among the republics and kingdoms of the world. And we have reason to hope, and, I believe, to expect, that God has still greater blessings in store for this vine which his own right hand hath planted, to make us high among the nations in praise, and in name, and in honor. The reasons are very numerous, weighty, and conclusive.  Stiles, pp. 438-439

Our degree of population is such as to give us reason to expect that this will become a great people…. This will be a great, a very great nation…. Should this prove a future fact, how applicable would be the text, when the Lord shall have made his American Israel high above all nations which he has made, in numbers, and in praise, and in name, and in honor! Stiles, Stiles pp. 439-440

Any possible ambiguity in Pastor Stiles’ sermon is cleared in the following declaration by Pastor W. B. Record:
LOOKING WESTWARD…

Standing on the western shores of Europe 500 years ago, you could not see nor visualize a great continent that lay to the west; only what seemed to be an endless stretch of the Atlantic Ocean. Yet there was a great continent out there to the west.

Now may I ask you, “Did Jesus Christ know of this North American Continent?” Your only answer could be, “Yes, of course He did.”

Let me ask another question, “Did Jesus Christ know that a great nation would be established here?” Of course He did!

Still another question, please -”Did Jesus Christ know this great nation (yet to be born) would be Christian from its beginning?” Of course He knew that, for He Himself is the source and Author of the faith we call “Christian.”

Now one more question, “Is it possible that this great nation, known to Jesus, was never mentioned, indicated, or foretold in the Bible?”

Consider this, “I will make of thee a great nation” (Gen. 12:2). “The kingdom of God shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof” (Matt. 21:43). Where is this great nation, which is bringing forth the fruits of the kingdom of God? The answer is quite obvious: you are living in it. See to it that you make your calling and election sure. Pastor W.B. Record, Truth & Liberty Magazine, September 1964

In The Beginnings of New England, American historian and philosopher John Fiske wrote:

The men who undertook this work were not at all free from self consciousness. They believed that they were doing a wonderful thing. They felt themselves to be instruments in accomplishing a kind of “manifest destiny.” Their exodus was that of a chosen people who were at length to lay the everlasting foundations of God’s kingdom upon earth. Such opinions … took a strong colour from their assiduous study of the Old Testament…. In every propitious event they saw a special providence, an act of divine intervention…. This steadfast faith in an unseen ruler and guide was to them a “pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night.  John Fiske (Edmund Fisk Green), The Beginnings of New England (Cambridge, MA: H.O. Houghton, Mifflin and Company, The Liberty Press, 1889) vol. 1, p. 308

Samuel Eliot Morison commented on Pastor Cotton’s vision of this New Canaan land:

[Pastor John] Cotton’s sermon was of a nature to inspire these new children of Israel with the belief that they were the Lord’s chosen people; destined, if they kept the covenant with Him, to people and fructify this new Canaan in the western wilderness.Samuel Eliot Morison, Colonial America (1887) p. 25.

John Cotton

Pastor John Cotton, D.D., sermon to fellow Puritans departing for America in 1630, God’s Promise to His Plantation (London, UK: William Jones, 1630) pp. 13-14.
Was it just by coincidence or was it by the providence of God that in 1630 a young Puritan minister by the name of John Cotton chose 2 Samuel 7: 10 as his text for a farewell message to a boatload of fellow Puritans departing for America

2Sa 7:10 “And I shall appoint a place for My people Yisra’ĕl, and shall plant them, and they shall dwell in a place of their own and no longer be afraid, neither shall the children of wickedness oppress them again, as at the first,

In his book New England’s Memorial, Nathaniel Morton demonstrated how perfectly America’s early  settlers fulfilled this passage from Isaiah:

That especially the seed of Abraham his servant, and the children of Jacob his chosen, may remember his marvelous works (Psal. 105.5-6.) in the beginning and progress of the planting of New England, his wonders, and the judgements of his mouth; how that God brought a vine into this wilderness; that he cast out the heathen and planted it; and he also made room for it, and he caused it to take deep root, and it filled the land; so that it hath sent forth its boughs to the sea, and its branches to the river. (Psal. 80.8-9.) And not only so, but also that He hath guided his people by his strength to his holy habitation, and planted them in the mountain of his inheritance, (Exod. 15.13.) in respect of precious gospel-enjoyments. So that we may not only look back to former experiences of God’s goodness to our predecessors, (though many years before) and so have our faith strengthened in the mercies of God for our times….Nathaniel Morton, New England’s Memorial (Cambridge, MA: S.G. and M.J. for John Usher, 1669), reproduced with extracts from other writers (Boston, MA: Congregational Board of Publication, 1854) pp. 13-14.

Cotton Mather

In Magnalia Christi Americana; or, The Ecclesiastical History of New England, Pastor Cotton Mather, writing of the dangers facing the Puritans seeking asylum beyond the seas, pictured America as a desolate wilderness:

… the God of Heaven served as it were a summons upon the spirits of his people in the English nation; stirring up the spirits of thousands which never saw the faces of each other, with a most unanimous inclination to leave all the pleasant accommodations of their native country, and go over a terrible ocean, into a more terrible desert, for the pure enjoyment of all his ordinances.
Pastor Cotton Mather, D.D., Magnalia Christi Americana: or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England, 1702 and subsequent editions reprint. (New York, NY: Russell & Russell, 1967) vol. 1, p. 69.
Being happily arrived at New-England, our new planters found the difficulties of a rough and hard wilderness presently assaulting them… Mather, vol. 1, p. 77.

Never was any plantation brought unto such a considerableness, in a space of time so inconsiderable! … an howling wilderness in a few years became a pleasant land, accommodated with the necessaries, yea, and the conveniences of humane life Mather, vol. 1, p. 80

In his foreword “An Attestation to this Church-History of New England” in the above mentioned book, John Higginson also depicted America as an empty wilderness:

It hath been deservedly esteemed one of the great and wonderful Works of God in this last age, that the Lord stirred up the spirits of so many thousands of his [Celto-Saxon] servants, to leave the pleasant land of England, the land of their nativity, and to transport themselves, and families, over the ocean sea, into a desert land in America, at the distance of a thousand leagues from their own country; and this, merely on the account of pure and undefiled Religion [Christianity], not knowing how they should have their daily bread, but trusting in God for that, in the way of seeking first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof: And that the Lord was pleased to grant such a gracious presence of his with them, and such a blessing upon their undertakings, that within a few years a wilderness was subdued before them, and so many Colonies planted, Towns erected, and Churches settled, wherein the true and living God in Christ Jesus, is worshipped and served, in a place where, time out of mind, had been nothing before but Heathenism, Idolatry, and Devilworship; and that the Lord has added so many of the blessings of Heaven and earth for the comfortable subsistence of his people in these ends of the earth. Surely of this work, and of this time, it shall be said, what hath God wrought? And, this is the Lord’s doings, it is marvellous in our eyes! Even so (O Lord) didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name!

John Higginson, “An Attestation to This Church-History of New-England,” foreword to Pastor Cotton Mather, D.D., Magnalia Christi Americana: or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England, 1702 and subsequent editions reprint. (New York, NY: Russell & Russell, 1967) vol. 1, p. 13.

Pastor William Gordon was another voice of the early American church. He not only preached concerning what this land had been, but he also preached what it was becoming in light of Isaiah 35:1-2:

They came from a well-cultured kingdom to a savage people and a wild country, enough to discourage the stoutest. However, they ventured to take up their abode in it…. The face of the colony is not less changed for the better since first settled than what is set forth in the language of Isaiah’s prophecy: “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing; the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it; the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.  Pastor William Gordon, discourse preached on December 15, 1774, quoted in John Wingate Thornton, The Pulpit of the American Revolution: Political Sermons of the Period of 1776, 1860 ed., reprint. (Boston, MA: Da Capo Press, 1970) p. 210-211.

Pastor Emry contrasted the new promised land with the old promised land:

A look at the United States, and Canada, reveals a different picture. Here we find the only land on the face of this earth that is truly a land of unwalled villages. Our Christian ancestors left castles, walls, and moats in the “old world” when they came to the “New World,” and our cities are without walls. God who knows the end from the beginning, can be expected to be accurate in His word.
Emry, p. 10.

[Pastor] John Norton, in the Election Sermon of 1661, said that theycame “into this wilderness to live under the order of the gospel”; “that our polity [government] may be a gospel polity, and may be compleat according to the Scriptures, answering fully the Word of God: this is the work of our generation, and the very work we engaged for into this wilderness; this is the scope and end of it … written upon the forehead of New England … the compleat walking in the faith of the gospel, according to the order of the gospel.”

The venerable [John] Higginson, of Salem, in his Election Sermon of 1663, stated the point with great fulness, as follows: “It concerneth New England always to remember that they are originally a plantation religious, not a plantation of trade…. Let merchants … remember this:

that worldly gain was not the end and design of the people of New England, but religion….”

In the [Harvard University] Election Sermon of 1677 … Increase Mather uttered these words: “It was love to God and to Jesus Christ which brought our  fathers into this wilderness…. There never was a generation that did so perfectly shake off the dust of Babylon, both as to ecclesiastical and civil constitutions, as the first generation of Christians that came into this land for the gospel’s sake.”

[Pastor] William Hubbard, the historian, in a Fast-day sermon, preached June 24, 1682, declared that the fathers “came not hither for the world, or for land, or for traffic; but for religion, and for liberty of conscience in the worship of God, which was their only design.”

The historical fact was stated by President [Ezra] Stiles, of Yale College, in 1783: “It is certain that civil dominion was but the second motive, religion the primary one, with our ancestors, in coming hither and settling this land. It was not so much their design to establish religion for the benefit of the state, as civil government for the benefit of religion, and as subservient, and even necessary, towards the peaceable enjoyment and unmolested exercise of religion – of that religion for which they fled to these ends of the earth.”  John Wingate Thornton, The Pulpit of the American Revolution: Political Sermons of the Period of 1776, 1860 ed., reprint. (Boston, MA: Da Capo Press, 1970) pp. xviii-xix.

I WRITE the WONDERS of the CHRISTIAN RELIGION , flying from the depravations of Europe, to the American Strand; and, assisted by the Holy Author of that Religion, I do with all conscience of Truth, required therein by Him, who is the Truth itself, report the wonderful displays of His infinite Power, Wisdom, Goodness, and Faithfulness, wherewith His Divine Providence hath irradiated an Indian Wilderness.  Pastor Cotton Mather, D.D., Magnalia Christi Americana: or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England, 1702, subsequent ed. reprint. (New York, NY: Russell & Russell, 1967), vol. 1, p. 25.

The people in the fleet that arrived at New-England, in the year 1630, left the fleet almost, as the family of Noah did the ark, having a whole world before them to be peopled … but where-ever they sat down, they were so mindful of their errand into the wilderness, that still one of their first works was to gather a church into the covenant and order of the gospel.  Mather, vol. 1, pp. 78-89

In the year 1643, after divers essays made in some former years, the several colonies of New-England became in fact, as well as name, UNITED COLONIES. And an instrument was formed, wherein having declared, “That we all came into these parts of America with the same end and aim -namely, to advance the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, and enjoy the liberties of the gospel with purity and peace….”  Mather, vol. 1, p. 160.

The ministers and Christians by whom New-England was first planted, were a chosen company of men; picked out of, perhaps, all the counties in England, and this by no human contrivance, but by a strange work of God upon the spirits of men that were, no ways, acquainted with one another, inspiring them, as one man, to secede into a wilderness … a reasonable expression once used by that eminent … lieutenant-governor of New-England … “God sifted three nations [England, Scotland,and Ireland], that he might bring choice grain into this wilderness.”

The design of these refugees, thus carried into the [North American] wilderness, was, that they might there “sacrifice unto the Lord their God:” it was, that they might maintain the power of godliness and practice the evangelical worship of our Lord Jesus Christ, in all the parts of it ….Mather, vol. 1, p. 240

In “An Attestation to This Church-History of New-England,” the foreword to Magnalia, Christi Americana, John Higginson wrote:

It hath been deservedly esteemed one of the great and wonderful works of God in this last age, that the Lord stirred up the spirits of so many thousands of his servants, to leave the pleasant land of England, the land of their nativity, and to transport themselves, and families, over the ocean sea, into a desert land in America … and this, merely on the account of pure and undefiled Religion … seeking first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof… Surely of this work, and of this time, it shall be said, what hath God wrought? And, this is the Lord’s doings, it is marvellous in our eyes! Even so (O Lord) didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name [Isa. 63:141]  John Higginson, “An Attestation to This Church-History of New-England,” Foreword to Pastor Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana: or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England, 1702, subsequent ed. reprint. (New York, NY: Russell & Russell, 1967) vol. 1, p. 13.

Daniel Webster

…if God prosper us, we shall here begin a work which shall last for ages; we shall plant here a new society, in the principles of the fullest liberty and the purest religion; we shall subdue this wilderness which is before us; we shall fill this region of the great continent, which stretches almost from pole to pole, with civilization and Christianity; the temples of the true God shall rise, where now ascends the smoke of idolatrous sacrifice ….Daniel Webster, discourse at Plymouth Rock, 2 December 1820, The Works of Daniel Webster (Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and Company, 1858) vol. 1, p. 10.

Patrick Henry

America’s Christian foundations could not be affirmed any more emphatically than they were by Patrick Henry:

It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Patrick Henry, quoted in David Barton, The Myth of Separation (Aledo, TX: Wallbuilders Press, 1992) p. 117.

David Josiah Brewer

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice David Josiah Brewer provided additional evidence that America began as a Christian nation:

We classify nations in various ways, as, for instance, by their form of government. One is a kingdom, another an empire, and still another a republic. Also by race. Great Britain is an Anglo-Saxon nation, France a Gaelic, Germany a Teutonic, Russia a Slav. And still again by religion. One is a Mohammedan nation, others are heathen, and still others are Christian nations….

This Republic is classified among the Christian nations of the world. It was so formally declared by the Supreme Court of the United States. In the case of HOLY TRINITY CHURCH vs. UNITED STATES, 143 U.S. 471, that Court … added, “these and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation….”

Nathaniel Morton also observed:

In the year 1602, divers godly Christians of our English nation … entered into covenant to walk with God, and one with another, in the enjoyment of the ordinances of God, according to the primitive pattern in the word of God .

1639 – FUNDAMENTAL AGREEMENT OF THE COLONY OF NEW HAVEN [Connecticut]: … We all agree that the scriptures hold forth a perfect rule for the direction and government of all men in duties which they are to perform to God and to man, as well in families and commonwealth as in matters of the church; so likewise in all public officers which concern civil order, as choice of magistrates and officers, making and repealing laws, dividing allotments of inheritance, and all things of like nature, we will, all of us, be ordered by the rules which the scripture holds forth; and we agree that such persons may be entrusted with such matters of government as are described in Exodus 18:21 and Deuteronomy 1: 13 with Deuteronomy 17:15 and I Corinthians 6:1,6 & 7.

1639 – CONNECTICUT HISTORY: In June 1639, however, a more definite statement of political principles was framed, in which it was clearly stated that the rules of Scripture should determine the ordering of the Church, the choice of magistrates, the making and repeal of laws … that only Church members could become free burgesses and officials of the colony … and in 1644 the general court decided that the judicial laws of God as they were declared by Moses should constitute a rule for all courts ….

1776 – DELAWARE CONSTITUTION: … officeholders were required to make and subscribe to the following declaration: “I … do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His Only Son, and the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed forevermore; and I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration. “

1776 – NORTH CAROLINA CONSTITUTION: … no person who shall deny the being of God or the truth of the Protestant religion, or the divine authority either of the Old or New Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the State, shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in the civil department within the State.

1777 -VERMONT CONSTITUTION: …required of every member of the house of representatives that he take this oath: “I do believe in one God, the creator and governor of the universe, the rewarder of the good and punisher of the wicked, and I do acknowledge the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be given by divine inspiration, and own and profess the Protestant religion. “

Alexis de Tocqueville recognized the uniqueness of our beginnings and wrote of the Scriptural, moral and civil code which was the foundation for those early laws of New England:

… in studying the earliest historical and legislative records of New England. They exercised the rights of sovereignty; they named their magistrates, concluded peace or declared war, made police regulations, and enacted laws as if their allegiance was due only to God. Nothing can be more curious and, at the same time more instructive, than the legislation of that period; it is there that the solution of the great social problem which the United States now present[s] to the world is to be found.

Amongst these documents we shall notice, as especially characteristic, the code of laws promulgated by the little State of Connecticut in 1650. The legislators of Connecticut begin with the penal laws, and … they borrow their provisions from the text of Holy Writ. “Whosoever shall worship any other God than the Lord,” says the preamble of the Code, “shall surely be put to death.” This is followed by ten or twelve enactments of the same kind, copied verbatim from the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Blasphemy, sorcery, adultery, and rape were punished with death ….

The 1879 McGuffey’s Sixth Eclectic Reader clearly illustrated how early America’s Christianity influenced her government:

Their  form of government was as strictly theocratical … insomuch that it would be difficult to say where there was any civil authority among them entirely distinct from ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

Whenever a few of them settled a town, they immediately gathered themselves into a church; and their elders were magistrates, and their code of laws was the Pentateuch]….

God was their King; and they regarded him as truly and literally so ….

James Madison, “the Father of the U.S. Constitution” and our fourth President, understood that the future of our American civilization was (and still is) dependent upon the Laws of God:

We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.

Jewish Encyclopedia

UNITED STATES: … the early forms of government and laws were fashioned in a manner upon Old Testament times. This was particularly the case in Massachusetts (whose first criminal code [in 16411 gave chapter and verse from the Bible as its authority), as also in Connecticut. The records of the colony of New Haven, founded in 1638, have distinctly Old Testament character, and Biblical precedent is quoted for almost every governmental act. One can form some opinion of the measure of Old Testament influence when one considers that in the code of colony laws adopted in New Haven in 1656 there are 107 references to the Old Testament....

But Jews as individuals contributed little or nothing to direct the trend of colonial legislation of this early period.

Forefathers of the Puritans & Immigrants to America believed they were Israel

Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, England
During his reign from 871 to 899 the Anglo-Saxon king Alfred the Great declared:

Be ye kind to the stranger within thy gates, for ye were strangers in the land of the Egyptians

Scottish Declaration of Independence
In 1320 the Scottish Declaration of Independence was drawn up by King Robert (the Bruce) and twenty-five Scottish nobles in which the Scots are addressed as Israelites. This great document states the following regarding their migrations:

…the Scots … passing from the greater Scythia … and coming thence one thousand two hundred years after the outgoing of the people of Israel … acquired for themselves the possessions in the West…

Adam de Houghton, Bishop of Saint David, Wales
In 1377 Adam de Houghton, the Bishop of Saint David, Wales, delivered a speech before the British Parliament in which he recognized England as Israel:

…you may embrace your noble King … there is through him [King Edward III] that peace over Israel which the Scriptures name – Israel being the heritage of God, and that heritage being also England. For in good truth, I believe that God would never have honoured this country by victories such as had given glory to Israel, had He not intended it for His heritage also.

William Tyndale, English Reformer and Martyr
In 1530 the great English religious reformer, William Tyndale, who translated the New Testament and the Pentateuch into English announced his amazing discovery:

…the properties of the Hebrew tongue agreeth a thousand times more with the English than with the Latin. The manner of speaking is both one; so that in a thousand places thou needest not but to translate it into the English, word for word; when thou must seek a compass in the Latin, and yet shall have much work to translate it well-favouredly, so that it have the same grace and sweetness, sense and pure understanding with it in the Latin, and as it hath in the Hebrew. A thousand parts better may it [the Hebrew tongue] be translated into the English, than into the Latin.

Sir Francis Drake, English Navigator and Admiral
In 1587 Sir Francis Drake, an explorer for Queen Elizabeth I, wrote to the religious writer John Foxe beseeching his prayers:

God may be glorious, His church, our Queen and country preserved, the enemies of truth vanquished, that we may have continued peace in Israel…. Our enemies are many, but our Protector commandeth the whole world….

King James VI of Scotland and I of England

King James VI of Scotland (James I of England) (1566-1625), who commissioned the King James Bible, claimed that the Lord had made him King over Israel; the gold coin of his day, bearing his head was called the “Jacobus” and James had the reverse inscribed in Latin the prophecy of Ezekiel 37:22, “I will make of them one nation.”

Pastor John Cotton, Puritan Clergyman
In 1630, prior to the departure of the ship Abrella for America with Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor John Winthrop and his fellow Puritans aboard, the young Puritan minister John Cotton preached a stirring farewell message taken from 2 Samuel 7:10:

I  will appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed….

Pastor Cotton further exhorted his audience:

Go forth … with a publick spirit … have a tender care … to your children, that they doe not degenerate as the Israelites did….

American historian Samuel Eliot Morison wrote the following concerning Pastor Cotton’s sermon:

Cotton’s sermon was of a nature to inspire these new children of Israel with the belief that they were the Lord’s chosen people; destined, if they kept the covenant with Him, to people and fructify this new Canaan in the western wilderness.

B. Woodbridge concluded his epitaph for Pastor John Cotton with the following words:

Though Moses [referring to Pastor John Cotton] be [dead], yet Joshua is not dead: I mean renowned [Pastor John] Norton; worthy he, Successor to our Moses, is to be. O happy Israel in America. In such a Moses, such a Joshua.

Edward Johnson, English Historian
In 1630 historian Edward Johnson, writing of those early Puritan and Pilgrim settlers, often made reference to them as being Israel:

…the Lambe is preparing his Bride … yee the ancient Beloved of Christ, whom he of old led by hand from Egypt to Canaan through that great and terrible Wildernesse.

…you the Seed of Israel both lesse and more, the rattling of your dead bones is at hand, Sinewes, Flesh and Life: at the Word of Christ it comes.

…you  People of Israel gather together as one Man, and together as one Tree. Ezekiel 37 and 23.31

Then judge all you … whether these poore New England People, be not the forerunners of Christ’s Army, and the marvelous providences which you shall now heare, be not the very Finger of God, and whether the Lord hath not sent this people to Preach in this Wildernesse, and to proclaime to all Nations, the neere approach of the most wonderful workes that ever the Sonnes of men saw. Will not you believe that a Nation can be borne in a day [Isa. 66:8 – a Scripture that can only be fulfilled in Israel]?

This year the great troubles in our native country encreasing, and that hearing prophane Esau had mustered up all thye Bands he could make to come against his brother Jacob, these wandering race of Jacobites deemed it now high time to implore the Lord for his especial aid in this time of their deepest distress.

As Jacob professes, I came over this Jordan with my staff, and now have I gotten two Bands; so they came over this boisterous billow-boyling Ocean, a few poor scattered stones raked out of the heaps of rubbish, and thou Lord Christ has now so far exalted them, as to lay them sure in thy Sion … the seed of Christ’s Church in the posterity of Israel should be cut off, and therefore pleaded the promise of the Lord in the multiplying of his seed; so these people at this very time, pleaded not only the Lord’s promise to Israel, but to his only son Christ Jesus.

Pastor Jonathan Mitchell, Puritan Preacher
On October 4, 1649, Pastor Jonathan Mitchell wrote in his diary:

…God will humble me before the sun, and in the sight of all Israel

On August 8, 1667, at Pastor John Wilson’s funeral, Pastor Mitchell included the following in his eulogy:

Ah! Now there’s none who does not know, that this day in our Israel, is fall’n a great and good man too

Nathaniel Morton, New Plymouth Court Secretary
In 1669 in New England’s Memorial, Nathaniel Morton wrote of God moving the seed of Abraham to New England:

That especially the seed of Abraham his servant, and the children of Jacob his chosen, may remember his marvelous works (Psal. 105.5,6.) in the beginning and progress of the planting of New-England, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; how that God brought a vine into this wilderness; that he cast out the heathen and planted them in the mountain of his inheritance (Exod. 15.13.) in respect of precious gospel-enjoyments. So that we may not only look back to former experiences of God’s goodness to our [Israelite] predecessors, (though many years before) and so have our faith strengthened in the mercies of God for our times

I shall close up this small history with a word of advice to the rising generation…. God did once plant a noble vine in New-England, but it is degenerated into the plant of a strange vine. Jer. ii, 21. It were well that it might be said that the rising generation did serve the Lord all the days of such as in this our Israel …Josh. xxiv, 31.

Pastor James Keith, American Clergyman
On October 30, 1676, in a letter to Pastor John Cotton, Pastor James Keith wrote the following:

Let us join our prayers, at the throne of grace, with all our might, that the Lord would so dispose of all of public motions and affairs, that his Jerusalem, in this wilderness, may be the habitation of justice and the mountain of holiness

Pastor Increase Mather, American Clergyman and Author
In 1681, in a preface to a discourse on Urian Oakes, Pastor Increase Mather wrote the following:

…[Urian Oakes] at last called to the head of the “sons of the prophets” in this New-English Israel

Pastor John Bunyan, English Preacher and Author
Regarding the beliefs of Pastor John Bunyan (1628-1688), author of Pilgrim’s Progress, Rabbi Louis Finkelstein commented:

…Bunyan actually fancied himself an Israelite

Pastor Cotton Mather, American Clergyman and Historian
In 1702 a Boston minister Cotton Mather wrote the following concerning New England and some of her earlier inhabitants:

…in our hastening voyage unto the History of a new-English Israel

…I am going to give unto the Christian reader an history of some feeble attempts made in the American hemisphere to anticipate the state of the New-Jerusalem

These good people [the first settlers of Plymouth, Massachusetts] were now satisfied, they had as plain a command of Heaven to attempt a removal [from England, Ireland and Scotland], as ever their father Abraham had for his leaving the Chaldean territories…

Among these passengers were divers worthy and useful men, who were come to seek the welfare of this little Israel…
The colony might fetch its own description from the dispensations of the great God, unto his ancient Israel, and say, “O, God of Hosts, thou has brought a vine out of England…

whilst he [Massachusetts Bay Colony’s Governor John Winthrop] thus did, as our New-English Nehemiah, the part of a ruler in managing the public affairs of our American Jerusalem … he made himself still an exacter parallel unto the the governour of Israel…
Make room, then, for Urian Oakes, ye records of New-England. He was born in England … whose liberal education in our College have rendered the family not he least in our little Israel…

Dean Jacque Abadie, French Educator and Author
In 1723 Dean Jacques Abbadie of Killaloe, Ireland, wrote regarding the whereabouts of the “lost” Israelites:

Unless the Ten Tribes of Israel are flown into the air, or sunk into the earth; they must be those ten Gothic Tribes that entered Europe in the fifth century, overthrew the Roman Empire and founded the ten nations of modern Europe.

Alexander Cruden, Scottish Bible Concordance Compiler
In 1761 on a page addressed “TO THE KING” in the well-known Concordance of Alexander Cruden, the author renders this prayer:

May the great God be the guide of your life, and direct and prosper you, that it may be said by the present and future ages, that King George the Third hath been an Hezekiah to our British Israel.

In 1773 the men of Marlborough, Connecticut, made this proclamation:

Death is more eligible than slavery. A freeborn people are not required by the religion of Jesus Christ to submit to tyranny, but may make use of such power as God has given them to recover and support their laws and liberties… (they) implored the Ruler above the skies, that He would make bare His arm in defense of His church and people, and let Israel go.

Jonathan Trumbull, Connecticut Governor
In a letter dated July 13, 1775, to George Washington (then Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army) Jonathan Trumbull, Governor of Connecticut, wrote in part:

…be strong and very courageous, May the God of the Armies of  Israel shower down the blessings of His Divine Providence on You

George Washington

[Almighty God] Endow with the spirit of wisdom those whom in Thy name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be peace and justice at home, and that through obedience to Thy law, we may show forth Thy praise among the nations of the earth….

One may wonder at whether Governor Trumbull was referring to the Continental Army as one of the “armies of Israel.” There appears no question as to his intent when one reads another exhortation written in his own hand later that same year. In a public proclamation concerning Thanksgiving, dated October 14, 1775, Governor Trumbull proclaimed:

That God would … guide our affairs in this dark and difficult Day; and make them know what Israel ought to do … that He would confirm and increase Union and Harmony in the Colonies, and throughout America…

Great Seal of the United States of America
On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress appointed a committee to design a seal for the emerging new nation. The committee was composed of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams. Both Franklin and Jefferson proposed designs related to ancient Israel. While John Adams’ contribution is not recorded here, he wrote to his wife, Abigail, on August 1, 1776, and described in part what the committee had thus far accomplished:

Dr. F[ranklin] proposes a Device for a seal. Moses lifting up his Wand, and dividing the Red Sea, and Pharaoh, in his Chariot overwhelmed with the Waters … The motto: Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.

Mr. Jefferson proposed. The Children of Israel in the Wilderness, led by a Cloud by day, and Pillar of Fire by night, and on the others Side Hengist and Horsa, the Saxon Chiefs, from whom We claim the Honour of being descended and whose Political Principles and Form of Government We have assumed.

Following are later depictions of these ideas by Franklin and Jefferson:

Pastor John Clark, American Preacher
In 1781 in his election sermon, Pastor Jonas Clark spoke of the children of the captivity who came to this new land to serve God:

Under this happy [Massachusetts] constitution we have seen, to universal satisfaction, that blessed prophecy concerning GOD’S people after their return from captivity, literally fulfilled unto us “There congregation shall be established before me – their nobles shall be of themselves, and their Governor shall proceed from the midst of them.” (Jer. 30:20-21)

May we not – yea, rather, ought we not, upon this joyful occasion, in a deep sense of our obligations to heaven, to ascribe the glory of all to GOD, and devoutly acknowledge that this is the LORD’S doing; it is marvelous in our eyes!

On this joyful day we are invited to see God, the Supreme ruler, on the throne of his holiness, the favour and defence of an afflicted land; “The princes of the people of the God of Abraham gathered together”: And ‘The Shields of the earth.” (Ps. 47:9) The rulers of every department, devoting themselves to the service of God and their country, in devout acknowledgement of his government, to the end, that God might be greatly exalted, in the good of his people, by their administration.

Noah Webster, American Statesman and Lexicographer
In 1783 Noah Webster wrote The Elementary Spelling Book, better known as the Blue-Back Speller. Following “Lesson Number 123” we find Mr. Webster’s sentiments regarding our Israelite relatives:

All Israelites are brethren, descendents of common parents. How unnatural and wicked it is to make war on our brethren, to conquer them or to plunder and destroy them

George Washington, American General and President

In 1785 George Washington referred to America as the “second land of promise,and in his first inaugural address in April, 1789, he accredited Providence for advancing the affairs of this new nation:

No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency

Thomas Jefferson, American Statesman and President
In 1814 in a letter written to Dr. Walter Jones regarding the death of President George Washington, Thomas Jefferson conveyed his belief in an American Israel:

I felt on his [George Washington’s] death, with my countyrmen, that “verily a great man hath fallen this day in Israel.”

Pastor B. Murphey, Canadian Preacher
In 1817 Pastor Murphey provided evidence for the Israelites’ migrations into Ireland:

Israelites came from Egypt into Ireland.

Washington Irving, American Essayist, Novelist, and Historian
In 1824 in his story “The Devil and Tom Walker,” Washington Irving wrote the following about a man whom he named “Absalom Crowinshield” who lived in New England in the 1700s:

It was announced in the papers with the usual flourish, that “A great man had fallen in Israel.”

Sir Walter Scott, Scottish Poet and Novelist
In 1830 in his novel Woodstock, Scottish author Sir Walter Scott had Oliver Cromwell using these words:

…as my soul liveth, and as He liveth who hath made me [Oliver Cromwell] a ruler in Israel

United States District Court for the District of Maine
On November 5, 1840, in a case titled “The Huntress, 12 F. Cas. 984, 993” regarding Constitutional neglect, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine declared:

…we may well ask, with some feelings of surprise, where during these seven years, were slumbering the watchmen of our American Israel.

Charters & Constitutions

In several colonies and States a profession of the Christian faith was made an indispensable condition to holding office. In the frame of government for Pennsylvania, prepared by William Penn, in 1683, it was provided that “all treasurers, judges, and other officers, and all members elected to serve in provincial council and general assembly, and all that have right to elect such members, shall be such as profess faith in Jesus Christ.” And in the charter of privileges for that colony, given in 1701 by William Penn and approved by the colonial assembly, it was provided “that all persons who also profess to believe in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, shall be capable to serve this government in any capacity, both legislatively and executively.”**

**Similar requirements can also be found in the Delaware Constitution of 1776; the New Hampshire Constitutions of 1704 and 1792; the Fundamental Constitutions of the Carolinas; the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780; the Fundamental Order of Connecticut for its Governor; the Vermont Constitution of 1777; the Maryland Constitution of 1776; the current Maryland Bill of Rights, Article 37; the Mississippi Constitution of 1817; and the Arkansas Constitution of 1874 with 1963 supplements – most of which are listed in Justice Brewer’s speech.

1606 – The Charter for the Virginia Colony read in part: “To the glory of
His divine Majesty, in propagating of the Christian religion to such people
as yet live in ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God.”

1606 – JAMESTOWN CHARTER – Purpose: “…in propagation of the Christian religion.”

1606 – FIRST VIRGINIA CHARTER: “…tend to the Glory of his Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God….”

1610 – NEW ENGLAND CHARTER – Aims in settling America: “…to increase the knowledge of the Omnipotent God and the propagation of our Christian faith.”*
*”First, it will be a service unto the Church of great consequence, to carry the Gospel unto those parts of the world, and raise a bulwark against the Kingdom of AntiChrist….” Pastor Cotton Mather, D.D., “General Considerations for the Plantation of New England,” Magnalia Christi Americana or The Ecclesiastical History of New-England quoted by Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America (New York, NY: The Colonial Press, 1899) Vol. 2, p. 360.

1609 – Second Virginia Charter – Purpose: “to live in fear and true worship of Almighty God, Christian peace, and civil quietness.”

1610 – New England Charter -Aims in settling America: “to increase the knowledge of the Omnipotent God and the propagation of our Christian faith.  Walter S. Remmie, “This Is a Christian Nation,” Kingdom Digest (Irving, TX) July 1981, p. 28.

1620 – MAYFLOWER COMPACT (the first legal document in America): “In the name of God amen … having undertaken for the glory of God, and [the] advancement of the Christian faith….”

1620 – King James I granted the Charter of the Plymouth council. “In the
hope thereby to advance the enlargement of the Christian religion, to the
glory of God Almighty.”

1620 – The Pilgrims sign the Mayflower Compact aboard the Mayflower, in
Plymouth Harbor. “For the glory of God and advancement of ye Christian faith.
doe by these presents solemnly & mutually in ye presence of God and one of
another, covenant & combine our selves together into a civil body
politick[sic].”

1623 – “But God gave them health and strength in a good measure; and
showed them by experience the truth of the word, Deuteronomy 8:3: ‘Man does
not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the
Lord.’” (William Bradford, in BHOPP, p. 175).

1624 -SWEDISH CHARTER OF DELAWARE COLONY: “In the first place God’s glory, which above all must be especially cared for and promoted, can be increased thereby, His blessed Word and Holy Gospel planted and spread among all kinds of people and many thousand souls be brought to the true knowledge and understanding of God.”

1629 – The first Charter of Massachusetts read in part: “For the
directing, ruling, and disposing of all other Matters and Thinges, whereby
our said People may be soe religiously, peaceablie, and civilly governed, as
their good life and orderlie Conversacon, maie wynn and incite the Natives of
the Country to the Knowledg and Obedience of the onlie true God and Savior of
Mankinde, and the Christian Fayth, which in our Royall Intencon, and The
Adventurers free profession, is the principall Ende of the
Plantacion….”[sic]

1632 – MARYLAND CHARTER: [our Celto-Saxon forefathers were] animated with a laudable and pious zeal for extending the Christian religion … Cecil Calvert [founder of Maryland] wrote in a letter at the time: “At the place prepared we [Celto-Saxon Christians] all kneeled down and said certain prayers; taking possession of the country for our Saviour and for our sovereign Lord.”  Nathanial Morton, New England’s Memorial (Cambridge, MA: S.G. and M.J. for John Usher, 1669), reproduced with extracts from other writers (Boston, MA: Congregational Board of Publication, 1854) p. 20.

1630 – Settlement of Massachusetts published under the subtitle of “Wonder-Working Providence of Zion’s Saviour.”

1636 – Harvard, which was the first college in America, whose name-sake and benefactor* stated in his provision for a fund to build a college: “Let every student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life, John 17:3, and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.”  1636 Harvard University document, quoted in John le Boutillier, Harvard Hates America: The Odyssey of a Born-again American (South Bend, IN: Gateway Editions, 1978), quoted in Walter S. Remmie, “This is a Christian Nation,” Kingdom Digest (Irving, TX, July 1981) p. 29.
John Harvard (1607-1638) was the namesake and benefactor of Harvard University, founded in 1636 and still operating undera 1650 charter

1638 – The towns of Hartford, Weathersfield, and Windsor adopt the
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. “To mayntayne and presearve the liberty
and purity of the Gospell of our Lord Jesus, which we now professe….” [sic]

1639 – The governing body of New Hampshire is established. “Considering
with ourselves the holy will of God and our own necessity, that we should not
live without wholesome laws and civil government among us, of which we are
altogether destitute, do, in the name of Christ and in the sight of God,
combine ourselves together to erect and set up among us such government as
shall be, to our best discerning, agreeable to the will of God….”

1639 – Fundamental Orders of Connecticut states as a part of its purpose: “to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus which we now profess…Walter S. Remmie, “This is a Christian Nation,” Kingdom Digest (Irving, TX, July 1981) pp. 28-29. Additional documents, charters, constitutions, etc., are quoted in this same article.

1643 -ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION: “Whereas we all came into these parts of America with one and ye same end and arms, namely to advance the Kingdom of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and to enjoys ye liberties of ye Gospell in puritie with peace….”
1775 – In Patrick Henry’s speech: “We shall not fight alone. God presides
over the destinies of nations, and will raise up friends for us. The battle
is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave…
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains
and slavery? Forbid it Almighty God! I know not what course others may take,
but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

1787 Article III of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787: “Religion, morality,
and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of
mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”

1789 – George Washington said “Let us with caution indulge the
supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion.” (Schroeder
ed. p. 106)

1794 – John Jay, first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, in a
letter to his wife, stated “God’s will be done; to him I resign-in him I
confide. Do the like. Any other philosophy applicable to this occasion is
delusive. Away with it.” (Johnston ed. vol. 4, p. 7.)

In addition to the nation’s united expression of faith in God, each individual state has separately acknowledged God as Sovereign and as the Author of liberty. The Legislative Service of the Library of Congress has compiled the provisions of State constitutions relative to the Supreme Being.  Pat Brooks, et.al., “50 Evidences that the U.S.A. is ‘Constitutionally Christian!,” Appendix D, Freedom or Slavery! (Fletcher, NC: New Puritan Library, 1990) p. 159. Pages 159-165 contain the pertinent portion of all 50 state constitutions.

ARIZONA, BILL OF RIGHTS, Section 12: The liberty of conscience shall not be construed to excuse acts of licentiousness….

CALIFORNIA, DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, Article 1, Section4: … The liberty of conscience does not excuse acts that are licentious….

DELAWARE, BILL OF RIGHTS, Article 1, Section 1: …it is the duty of all men to frequently assemble together for public worship of Almighty God; and piety and morality, on which the prosperity of communities depend are hereby promoted….

MARYLAND, BILL OF RIGHTS, Article 36: …it is the duty of every man to worship God; and piety and morality, on which the prosperity of communities depend are hereby promoted….

MASSACHUSETTS, DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, Article 2: It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society, publicly and at stated sessions, to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe.

Article 3: As the happiness of a people and the good order and preservation of civil government essentially depend upon the piety, religion and morality…. And every denomination of Christians….

MINNESOTA, BILL OF RIGHTS, Section 16: … The right of every man to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience shall never be infringed … the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness….

MISSISSIPPI, BILL OF RIGHTS, Section 18: … The rights hereby secured shall not be construed to justify acts of licentiousness injurious to morals or dangerous to the peace and safety of the state, or to exclude the Holy Bible from use in any public school of this state.

NEBRASKA, BILL OF RIGHTS, Article 1, Section 4: All persons have a natural indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own conscience…. Religion, morality, and knowledge, being essential to good government, it shall be the duty of the legislature to pass suitable laws to protect every religious denomination in the peaceful enjoyment of its own mode of public worship….

NEW HAMPSHIRE, BILL OF RIGHTS, Article 6: As morality and piety, rightly grounded on high principles, will give the best and greatest security to government, and will allay, in the hearts of men, the strongest obligations to due subjection; and as the knowledge of these is most likely to be propagated through society, therefore, the several parishes, bodies, corporate, or religious societies, shall at all times have the right of electing their own teachers, and of contracting with them for their support and maintenance, or both….

OHIO, BILL OF RIGHTS, Section 7: All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own conscience…. Religion, morality, and knowledge, however, being essential to good government….

VIRGINIA, BILL OF RIGHTS, Article 1, Section 16: That religion or the duty which we owe our Creator… it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other….

On the 20th September, 1776, the first constitution of the Delaware State was adopted, the 22d article of which provided, that “every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust, before taking his seat or entering upon the execution of his office, shall take the following oath … to wit: I … do profess of faith in God, the father, and Jesus Christ his only son, and in the Holy Ghost, on God blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the old and new testaments to be given by divine inspiration.  Clayton, pp. 565-566.

Freedom of Religion

In 1776 there were approximately 2.5 million people in America. Less than one percent of the population was, represented by 20,000 Catholics, 3,000 Jews, and a few Deists; more than ninety-nine percent were Christian Protestants.

After the Constitution was signed and the Bill of Rights made provision of Freedom of Religion these numbers changed drastically.

In 2007 the percentages were as follows:

Which religion had the most to gain?  Roman Catholicism.  Yah willing, this will be addressed in a future study but it begs the question…who had the most to gain by the American Revolution?  The Puritans and those who sought to follow the Scriptures in peace and freedom had no desire to rebel against the king.  It was these same Puritans that refused to allow Catholicism to take a stronghold in America due to the persecution they saw in Europe.  A good reference to learn about more history on the founding of America is ‘Rulers of Evil’ by Tupper Saussy.

Native American Indians

The Indians that were at the first Thanksgiving were the Wampanoag Indians.

The Wampanoag had their own harvest celebration in which they gave thanks for abundant crops to Kiehtan, the Creator. They believed corn, the most valued crop, was a gift from him. The tribe expressed gratitude to the spirits of the game for the animals they killed for food.

Wampanoagtribe.net

tribal elder Gladys Widdiss has to say about the Wampanoag and thanksgiving:

“With Native Americans you do not separate the spiritual from the rest of your life. You’re very involved with who you are, where you came from , and where you are going. We have special holidays or festivals, but every day is a day of thanksgiving.”

Native American’s & Yisrael connection

Cherokee Indians

18th Century explorer, trader, and researcher, James Adair from London, author of History of the American Indians who spent 40 years among the Cherokees, wrote a book named Out of the Flame, listing 23 hard proofs why he believed the Cherokees were descended from Israel. Among other things, the Cherokees were fiercely monotheistic who observed the Ten Commandments to the letter. Harvard professor Barry Fell cites an ancient carving of the Ten Commandments in North America as further proof, another subscriber to the lost tribe theory. Rabbi Marvin Tokayer, former USAF Chaplain and prominent Jewish historian, also holds that the Indians of the Americas are descendants of Northern Israel’s seafaring tribes, Dan and Zevulun. The additional list is long and exhaustive.

Understanding the Exodus Stephen Barrett Segall
James Adair lived among the Cherokee for 40 years beginning in 1736 and John Howard Payne lived among them in the early 1800’s.  Both speak of Cherokee legends about the creation, the great flood, expulsion from Eden, the Tower of Babel, Abraham, crossing the Red Sea, Moses, wandering in the wilderness and the construction of the tent of worship and sacred ark.
The Cherokee believed in life after death, reward and punishment after death for behavior in life, an emphasis on spiritual and sexual purity and the use of baptism and fasting as a means of purification.
On certain days Cherokee would assemple for worship in obedience to Ye ho waah.  If obedient to Ye ho waah’s commandments they would spend eternity with Him in heaven, if not they would spend eternity in a lake of fire and be tortured forever.
In the Cherokee story of creation, the Great Spirit created the world in seven days.  Man was created from the dust of the earth and the Creator breathed life into him.  The Creator saw that man was loney and took one of his ribs to make a woman.  Initially man could live forever, and snakes were not poisonous.  But to make sure the world was not overpopulated the Creator made snakes poisonous and a member of the first family was bitten by a snake and died.  As a result of this all people were doomed to death.
Cherokees tradition stated that Ye ho waah had commanded the people to rest from work every seventh day.  They celebrated the new moon.  They had crystals for predicting the future like the Urim and Thummim.  They had a sacred ark that represented an everlasting bond between them and the Creator.
SEE Cherokee People by Thomas Mails

Cherokee Corn Feasts Parallel Jewish Holy Days!
Also, one of the more convincing evidences is that the Jews followed a Religious Calendar of 7 main Festivals. And so did the Mediavel Cherokee! Even more so, examination of these Celebrations show that they were basically about the same thing–except that the Cherokee followed the growing cycle of corn, rather than that of barley and wheat, as the Jews did.

And for a brief summary, these Mediavel Cherokee Festivals were:1- FIRST FULL MOON OF SPRING,
which would have been literally the Day of Passover, and was accompanied by the slaughter of a lot of animals to prepare the meat for that Feast Day, and was set by the sprouting of the new grass of Spring (like the Passover Barley)! [Not to mention the intensive Spring Cleaning of the Feast!]

 

2- GREEN CORN FESTIVAL,
which was when the corn first balled, so that it could be cooked and eaten–similar to First Fruits, when the Barley was first edible. (However, for the Cherokee, this occured later in the year, more towards Summer, as the Climate in America was not as warm as in the Middle East).

3- MATURE or RIPE CORN FESTIVAL,
which was set for 50 days after the Green Corn Festival (like Pentecost)–and when the Sacred Fire in the Heptagon (like the Jewish Temple Menorah) was re-lit for the next year!

4- GREAT NEW MOON FEAST,
which was set as the first Full Moon of Autumn, and when Cherokee myth said that the whole world was created (and similar to Rosh HaShannah)!

5- PROPITIATION and CEMENTATION CEREMONY,
for cleansing one’s soul of Sin, and joining in UNITY with the Community as they ALL joined with the Creator–setting their relationship to HIM in cement (and similar to the Day of Atonement, with its earlier Kol Nidre purifications and making ammends.) Moreover, as this ended the Torah Study Cycle, many Jewish boys were often bar mitzvahed here, with an appropriate ceremony for Cherokee lads, also.

6- FESTIVAL OF EXALTING or BONDING BUSH CEREMONY (week long),
or a very loose approximating of the 8 Day Feast of Tabernacles–and in the Fall.

Here we see that the Cherokees followed a festival cycle similar to the Scriptural festival cycle.  Did the Wampanoag also trace their festivals back to the Scriptures?

1- Much of the information for the early or Mediavel Cherokee comes from the colonial works of Payne, Butrick, and Adair, a lot of which is quoted in THE CHEROKEE PEOPLE–The Story of the Cherokees, from Earliest Origins to Contemporary Times; by Thomas E. Mails, published in 1992 by Council Oak Books of Tulsa, Oklahoma. 2- Supplemental information confirming Mails work can also be found in The HISTORY OF THE CHEROKEE INDIANS and Their Legends and Folklore by Emmet Starr from Oklahoma City in 1921 but was reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Company of Baltimore, Maryland in 2004.

Pagan Harvest Festivals

Does the holiday of Thanksgiving derive from pagan customs like other holidays in American culture such as Christmas, Easter and Halloweenclick here?

The first feast wasn’t repeated, so it wasn’t the beginning of a tradition. In fact, the colonists didn’t even call the day Thanksgiving. To them, a thanksgiving was a religious holiday in which they would go to church and thank God for a specific event, such as the winning of a battle. On such a religious day, the types of recreational activities that the pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians participated in during the 1621 harvest feast–dancing, singing secular songs, playing games–wouldn’t have been allowed. The feast was a secular celebration, so it never would have been considered a thanksgiving in the pilgrims minds.

History.com

World Book Encyclopedia, 1942 Edition, article entitled, Thanksgiving Day

‘Thanksgiving Day, in the United States and Canada, a day set apart for the giving of thanks to God for the blessings of the year. Originally, it was a harvest thanksgiving, and while the purpose has become less specific, the festival still takes place late in autumn, after the crops have been gathered.’ Indeed, it is probably an outgrowth of the Harvest-Home celebrations in England. Such celebrations are of very ancient origin, being nearly universal among primitive peoples.

The Ancient Greek Harvest festival was called Thesmophora and celebrated Demeter, the founder and goddess of the harvests.  The symbols of Demeter were poppies of ears of corn, a basket of fruit and a little pig.  The Roman goddess of the harvest, Ceres had a festival, which occurred on October 4th and was called the Cerelia.

In ancient China, the 15th day of the eighth month was considered the birthday of the moon. To honor this special occasion, the families held a festival called Chung Chiui trimmed with a meal of moon cakes, roasted pig, and fruit.

Each October the Romans danced to music and watched as parades awed the eyes of onlookers during a celebration they called Cerelia. During the tradition pig and fruit were offered as gifts to the gods, while the people feasted together in thankfulness to their goddess.

Egyptians celebrated fruitful harvest by honoring the God of Vegetation and fertility. This celebration was held each spring and included feasting, music and dancing.

The pagans in Rome celebrated their thanksgiving in early October. The holiday was dedicated to the goddess of the harvest, Ceres, and the holiday was called Cerelia. The Catholic church took over the pagan holiday and it became well established in England, where some of the pagan customs and rituals for this day were observed long after the Roman Empire had disappeared. In England the “Harvest Home” has been observed continuously for centuries.

The ancient Semites called the earth mother Astarte…The Phrygians called her Semele. These deities were absorbed by the Greeks into the one great goddess, Demeter.’ ‘The Roman also had a harvest festival which they called the Cerelia, after Ceres, the Roman goddess of the corn.’

In our own hemisphere, among the Aztecs of Mexico, the harvest took on a grimmer aspect. Each year a young girl, a representation of Xilonen, The goddess of the new corn, was beheaded. The Pawnees also sacrificed a girl. In a more temperate mood, the Cherokees of the American Southeast danced the Green Corn Dance and began the new year at harvest’s end.

We Gather Together: The Story of Thanksgiving, by Ralph and Adeline Linton, 1949.

‘Even before biblical times the ancient people of the Mediterranean Basin held festivals at harvest time in honor of the earth mother. The goddess of the corn (‘corn’ being the European term for any grain; Indian corn (American corn), is called maize), was always one of the most important deities in the hierarchy of the gods, and her child was the young god of vegetation.’17

‘The ancient Semites called the earth mother Astarte…The Phrygians called her Semele…The Minoans had an earth mother for each district. All these local deities were absorbed by the Greeks into the one great goddess, Demeter.’18

‘Besides eating, feasting, etc. the married women practiced special rites. Under the cover of night, the women spent the next day bathing nude in the sea and dancing and playing games on the shore. Then they fasted, sang songs, then feasted, sang, and had general gaiety. All this lasted over a period of several days.’19

‘The Roman harvest festival…was called the Cerelia, after Ceres, the Roman goddess of the corn.’20

‘With the acceptance of Christianity as the official religion of Rome and the conversion of the barbarians who had invaded the crumbling Empire, these pagan rituals were frowned upon and even forbidden by law. However, the peasants clung to them with a tenacity which has made the word ‘pagan’ (originally meaning simply ‘a villager’), a synonym for ‘heathen.’ As late as the sixth century … St. Benedict … found the local peasantry worshiping Apollo in a sacred grove. Even after conversion, old habits and beliefs died hard, and the church was too busy trying to keep the flame of civilization alive to trouble with minor heresies.’21

‘The benevolent earth mother … blended with the equally benevolent mother of Christ. Folk memory of local deities fused with the Christian tales of saints to provide patrons for villages, and the white robed goddess of grain lived on in various guises. To those who live close to the soil, the harvest has an emotional and religious significance … their gratitude finds expression in rites in honor of the being who they feel is most closely related to fruitfulness; a being of warm earth, rather then cold heaven.’22

‘Even today a half pagan belief in the corn mother still survives among the peasant’s in many parts of Europe.’23

‘The Pilgrims undoubtedly brought memories of such English harvest home celebrations with them when they came to the new world. They had also witnessed ‘thanksgiving’ ceremonies during their sojourn in Holland … The Pilgrims themselves would have denied that the Thanksgiving feast in honor of their first harvest in 1621 was evoked by memories of the profane practices of the old world; however, all revolutionaries, political or religious, once their goal is accomplished, turn back to the patterns of the society in which they have been reared, and the Pilgrims, at the time of the first Thanksgiving, were no exception.’24

‘In Peru, the ancient Indians worshiped the ‘Mother of Maize’ and tried every year to persuade her to bring in another good harvest. In Europe, the Austrians also had a ‘Corn Mother’ doll, fashioned from the last sheaf of grain cut in the field and then brought home to the village in the last wagon.’

Organic Gardening and Farming, Nov. 1975, page 132ff, the article entitled, Thanksgiving Day.

Cornucopia

The cornucopia,a horn-shaped container overflowing with fruit, nuts, and vegetables which is typically seen at Thanksgiving in the United States is a Pagan Symbol.

From Wikipedia,
The cornucopia (Latin: Cornu Copiae) is a symbol of food and abundance dating back to the 5th century BC, also referred to as horn of plenty, Horn of Amalthea, and harvest cone.

In Greek mythology, Amalthea was a goat who raised Zeus on her breast milk. When her horn was accidentally broken off by Zeus while playing together, this changed Amalthea into a unicorn with 17 whiskers. The god Zeus, in remorse, gave her back her horn. The horn then had supernatural powers which would give person in possession of it whatever he or she wished for. This gave rise to the legend of the cornucopia. The original depictions were of the goat’s horn filled with fruits and flowers: deities, especially Fortuna, was depicted with the horn of plenty. The cornucopia was also a symbol for a woman’s fertility.

In modern depiction, the cornucopia is typically a hollow, horn-shaped wicker basket typically filled with various kinds of festive fruit and vegetables. In North America, the cornucopia has come to be associated with Thanksgiving and the harvest.

Harvest Queen
A name given to Ceres the Roman goddess of agriculture and crops or to a young woman chosen from among the reapers to whom was given a post of honor at the harvest home.  Demeter is the Greek version of the Egyptian goddess Isis and Roman version of Ceres.

Harvest festivals around the world:

* Mid-Autumn Festival: China
* Chuseok: Korea
* Dongmaeng: Korea
* Bon Festival: Japan
* Dożynki Poland
* Erntedank: Germany & Austria (1st Sunday in October)
* Festa e Grurit (Wheat Festival): A festival that used to mark the end of the harvest of wheat in Communist Albania. No longer observed.
* Freyfaxi (Aug. 1st): marks the beginning of the harvest in Norse paganism. Historically from Iceland, the celebration consists of blót, horse races, martial sports, and other events, often dedicated to the god Freyr.
* Harvest festival: United Kingdom
* Lammas or Lughnasadh (Aug 1): celebration of first harvest/grain harvest in Paganism and Wicca spirituality and by the ancient Celts.
* Mabon (Autumnal Equinox): the second of three recognized harvest sabbats in Paganism and Wicca
* Mhellia: Isle of Man
* Mehregan (October 2): Iran, Ancient Persia
* Annual Harvest Festival of Prosser, Washington, celebrated on the 4th full weekend in September
* Samhain (October 31): the third and final of three recognized harvest sabbats in Paganism and Wicca; celebration of the end of the harvest season and beginning of the Celtic New Year.
* Solung: falls between June and July for nine days. The Adi (also Abor) is a major collective tribe living in the Himalayan hills of Arunachal Pradesh
* Sukkot: Jewish harvest festival lasting eight days in the fall, in which time is spent in tabernacles or booths
* Hasyl toýy:Turkmenistan – the holiday on the last Sunday in November.
* Timoleague: Harvest Festival is held every year in August – Tigh Molaige in Irish
* Ikore: celebrated by the Yoruba tribe of Nigeria
* Khuado Pawi: celebrated by the Chin tribe of India, Burma and recently in the USA and many other parts of the world.

North America

* Duneland Harvest Festival: celebrated the last weekend in September in Porter, Indiana, near Chicago.
* Harvest Festival (United States): celebrated by American Christians on October 31st
* Thanksgiving (United States): the holiday on the fourth Thursday in November.
* Thanksgiving (Canada): the holiday on the second Monday in October.

South Asia

* Bhogali Bihu: (or Magh Bihu) is a harvest festival celebrated in Assam which marks the end of harvesting season in mid-January.
* Lohri: celebrated in North India esp. Punjab
* Nabanna: Bengal region which comprises West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh
* Onam: celebrated by Malayali people in Kerala (India) and other places
* Pongal: celebrated by Tamil people in Tamil Nadu (India) and other places
* Sankranthi or Makar Sankranti: Celebrated in several regions of India including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh
* Vaisakhi (or Baisakhi): celebrated by Punjabi people in Punjab (India), other parts of North India and elsewhere. The festival falls on the first day of Vaisakh month (usually mid-April), and marks the Punjabi New Year.
* Traditional New Year celebrations in Sri Lanka coincides with the harvest festival in mid-April.
* Dree Festival is a agricultural festival of the Apatanis of Ziro valley in Lower Subansiri District of Arunachal Pradesh, which is celebrated every year from 4th to 7th July.

South Asia

* Flores de Mayo :Flower festival in the Philippines
* Gawai Dayak: Malaysia
* Kaamatan (May 30-31), Sabah in Malaysia
* Maras Taun: Belitung in Indonesia
* Mid-Autumn Festival: Vietnam
* Pahiyas Rice festival in the Philippines

Thanksgiving in the Scriptures

Food is associated with thanksgiving

1Ti 4:4  Because every creature of God is good, and nothing to be thrust away, but having been received with thanksgiving;
1Ti 4:5  for through God’s Word and supplication it is sanctified.

Thanksgiving comes from the Hebrew word Hodu which derives from Yadah.

From the root yad (hand)

Thanksgiving used in the Scriptures

Col 4:2  Steadfastly continue in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving,
Col 4:3  praying together about us also, that God may open to us a door of the Word, to speak the mystery of Christ, on account of which I also have been bound,
Col 2:6  Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him,
Col 2:7  being rooted and being built up in Him, and being confirmed in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

Eph 5:1  Then become imitators of God, as beloved children,
Eph 5:2  and walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell.
Eph 5:3  But let not fornication, and all uncleanness, or greediness, be named among you, as is fitting for saints;
Eph 5:4  also baseness, and foolish talking, or joking (the things not becoming), but rather thanksgiving.

2Co 4:15  For all things are for you, that the grace may superabound through the greater number, and may cause the thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

Jer 33:11  the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of those saying, Praise YHWH of Hosts, for YHWH is good, for His mercy endures forever; those who shall bring the sacrifice of thanksgiving into the house of YHWH. For I will bring back the captivity of the land, as at the first, says YHWH.

Jer 30:17  For I will give health back to you, and I will heal you of your wounds, says YHWH, because they called you, Outcast; saying, This is Zion; no one is seeking for her.
Jer 30:18  So says YHWH, Behold I will turn the captivity of Jacob’s tents and will have mercy on his dwelling places. And the city shall be built on her ruin heap; and the fortress shall remain on its own ordinance.
Jer 30:19  And out of them shall come thanksgiving and the voice of those who are merry. And I will multiply them, and they shall not be few. I also will honor them, and they shall not be small.

Isa 51:3  For YHWH comforts Zion. He comforts all her desolations, and He makes her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of YHWH; joy and gladness shall be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of singing praise.
Isa 51:4  Hear Me, My people; yea, give ear to Me, My nation. For a law shall go out from Me, and My justice I will make rest as light to peoples.
Isa 51:5  My righteousness is near; My salvation went out; and My arms shall judge peoples; coastlands shall wait on Me, and they shall hope on My arm.

Psa 100:1  A Psalm of Thanksgiving. Shout joyfully to YHWH, all the land.
Psa 100:2  Worship YHWH with gladness; come before His face with joyful singing.
Psa 100:3  Know that YHWH, He is God; He has made us, and not we ourselves, His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Psa 100:4  Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, into His courts with praise; be thankful to Him; bless His name.
Psa 100:5  For YHWH is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His faithfulness to generation and generation.

Psa 107:1  Give thanks to YHWH, for He is good; for His mercy endures forever.
Psa 107:2  Let the redeemed of YHWH say so, whom He redeemed from the hand of the foe;
Psa 107:3  and gathered them from the lands; from east and from west; from north and from south.
Psa 107:4  They wandered in the wilderness, in a desert way; they found no city of dwelling;
Psa 107:5  hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them;
Psa 107:6  and they cried to YHWH in their distress; He delivered them from their straits.
Psa 107:7  And He guided them in the right way; to go to a city of dwelling.
Psa 107:8  Let them thank YHWH for His mercy, and His wonders to the sons of man.
Psa 107:9  He satisfies the thirsty soul, and He fills the hungry soul with good.
Psa 107:10  Those who live in the darkness, and in the shadow of death, being prisoners in affliction and iron,
Psa 107:11  because they rebelled against the Words of God, and despised the counsel of the Most High;
Psa 107:12  and He humbled their heart by toil; they stumbled, and none were helping;
Psa 107:13  and they cried to YHWH in their distress; He saved them out of their distresses;
Psa 107:14  He brought them out from darkness and the shadow of death; and He broke their bonds apart.
Psa 107:15  Let them thank YHWH for His mercy, and His wonders to the sons of man.
Psa 107:16  For He has broken the gates of bronze; and He cut bars of iron in two.
Psa 107:17  Fools are afflicted from the way of their rebellion, and from their iniquities;
Psa 107:18  their soul hates every food; and they touch the gates of death;
Psa 107:19  and they cried to YHWH in their distress; He saved them from their straits;
Psa 107:20  He sent His Word and healed them; and delivered them from all their pitfalls.
Psa 107:21  Let them thank YHWH for His mercy, and His wonders to the sons of man.
Psa 107:22  And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and recount His works with rejoicing.
Psa 107:23  They who go down to the sea in ships, who work in the great waters;
Psa 107:24  these see the works of YHWH, and His wonders in the deep.
Psa 107:25  For He speaks, and He raises stormy wind, and makes its waves high;
Psa 107:26  they go up to the heavens; they go down to the depths; their soul is melted because they are in evil;
Psa 107:27  they reel and stagger like a drunken man, and all their wisdom is swallowed up;
Psa 107:28  and they cry to YHWH in their distress, and He saves them out of their straits.
Psa 107:29  He settles the storm to a whisper, so that its waves are still;
Psa 107:30  and they are glad, because they are quiet; and He led them to their desired haven.
Psa 107:31  Let them thank YHWH for His mercy, and His wonders to the sons of mankind;
Psa 107:32  and exalt Him in the congregation of the people; and praise Him in the seat of the elders.
Psa 107:33  He sets rivers to a wilderness, and watersprings to thirsty ground;
Psa 107:34  a fruitful land to a salty desert; because of the wickedness of those who live in it.
Psa 107:35  He puts the wilderness into pools of water; and dry land into water-springs;
Psa 107:36  and He makes the hungry live there, and they may prepare a city of dwelling.
Psa 107:37  And they sow the fields, and plant vineyards, and make fruits of produce.
Psa 107:38  He also blesses them, so that they multiply greatly; and He does not allow their cattle to diminish;
Psa 107:39  but they are diminished and bowed down from coercion, evil and grief.
Psa 107:40  He pours scorn on nobles, and causes them to wander in a desert; there is no path.
Psa 107:41  But He raises the poor up from affliction, and He sets families like a flock.
Psa 107:42  The upright shall see and be glad; and all iniquity shuts its mouth.
Psa 107:43  Whoever is wise and will observe these things, they shall discern the mercies of YHWH.
Psa 50:14  Offer thanksgiving to God, and pay your vows to the Most High.
Psa 50:15  And call on Me in the day of distress, and I will save you; and you shall glorify Me.
Psa 26:7  to cause to hear with the voice of thanksgiving and recount all Your wonderful works.
Psa 105:1  O give thanks to YHWH; call on His name; make His deeds known among the peoples.
Psa 105:2  Sing to Him; sing praises to Him; tell of all His wonders.
Psa 105:3  Glory in His holy name; let the heart of those who seek YHWH rejoice.
Psa 105:4  Seek YHWH and His strength; seek His face without ceasing.
Psa 105:5  Remember His wonders that He has done, His miracles, and the judgments of His mouth,
Psa 105:6  O seed of His servant Abraham; O sons of Jacob, His elect.
Psa 105:7  He is YHWH our God; His judgments are in all the earth;
Psa 105:8  He has remembered His covenant forever; the Word He commanded to a thousand generations;
Psa 105:9  which He cut with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac;
Psa 105:10  and He established it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel for a perpetual covenant;
Psa 105:11  saying, To you I will give the land of Canaan, the portion of your inheritance;
Psa 105:12  when they were a few men of number; very few, and aliens in it.
Psa 105:13  And they went about from nation to nation; from one kingdom to another people.
Psa 105:14  He allowed no man to oppress them; yea, He reproved kings for their sakes;
Psa 105:15  saying, Touch not My anointed; and, Do My prophets no harm.
Psa 105:16  And He called a famine on the land; He broke the whole staff of bread.
Psa 105:17  He sent a man before them, Joseph, being sold for a slave;
Psa 105:18  they hurt his feet with chains; his soul came into iron;
Psa 105:19  until the time His Word came, the Word of YHWH refined him;
Psa 105:20  the king, the ruler of peoples, sent and shook off his links and set him free;
Psa 105:21  he made him lord of his house, and ruler over all he owned;
Psa 105:22  to bind his leaders at his will, and to teach his elders wisdom.
Psa 105:23  Israel also came into Egypt, and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
Psa 105:24  And He increased His people greatly and made them stronger than their enemies.
Psa 105:25  He turned their heart to hate His people, to deal craftily with His servants.
Psa 105:26  He sent His servant Moses and Aaron whom He had chosen.
Psa 105:27  They put things of His signs among them; yea, wonders in the land of Ham.
Psa 105:28  He sent darkness and made it dark; and they did not rebel against His Word.
Psa 105:29  He turned their waters into blood and killed their fish.
Psa 105:30  Their land swarmed with frogs in the rooms of their kings.
Psa 105:31  He spoke, and fly swarms came; gnats in all their borders.
Psa 105:32  He gave hail for their rain, flaming fire in their land.
Psa 105:33  He struck their vines also, and their fig trees; and He broke the trees of their borders.
Psa 105:34  He spoke, and locusts came; and larvae without number;
Psa 105:35  and they ate up all the plants in the land; yea, ate the fruit of their ground.
Psa 105:36  He also struck all the first-born in their land, the firstfruit of all their vigor.
Psa 105:37  And He led them out with silver and gold; and among their tribes, not one was stumbling.
Psa 105:38  Egypt was glad when they went out, for their dread had fallen on them.
Psa 105:39  He spread a cloud for a covering; and fire to give light in the night.
Psa 105:40  He asked, and He brought quail; and satisfied them with the food from the heavens.
Psa 105:41  He opened the rock, and waters gushed out; they went in the dry places like a river.
Psa 105:42  For He remembered His holy Word and His servant Abraham;
Psa 105:43  and He brought His people out with joy; His elect with gladness.
Psa 105:44  And He gave to them the lands of the nations; and they inherited the labor of the peoples;
Psa 105:45  so that they might observe His statutes and keep His laws. Praise YHWH!

Rev 7:12  saying, Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength to our God forever and ever. Amen.

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