Good Friday, Easter…We Are Doing It All Wrong!

A year ago I wrote a post about Easter, Easter, the Celebration of the Fertility Goddess. In that post I explained that Easter is a false god.  The common Easter symbols that we are so accustomed to, the egg and the rabbit, are fertility symbols that are directly linked to the worship of this false god.  In fact, even the date that is chosen each year to celebrate Easter is determined according to when the celebration of the goddess Easter was celebrated, the first Sunday after the full moon following the spring equinox.  This is why there is such a great variance of dates causing the holiday to land anywhere between the end of March and the end of April.  To read more about how and why this religious combination happened, please read the post linked above.

As Christians, followers of Christ, and Yahweh, the one and only true God, we better have a problem with this.  This is doing exactly what the Israelites did on countless occasions, and were punished severely by God…it is mixing honor and worship of Yahweh, “You shall have no other gods before Me”, that Yahweh, with worship of a pagan god.  Don’t tell me you are not doing that.  Do you buy chocolate Easter bunnies? How about Peeps?  I love those marshmallow bunnies and chicks!   Do you decorate Easter eggs?  Do you have an Easter egg hunt?  Probably right before or immediately following the church service in which you celebrated the risen Savior.  These symbols have absolutely NOTHING…NOT ONE…SINGLE…THING…to do with the resurrection of Messiah.

What’s more, there is nowhere in the Bible where Christians are told to hold a celebration of Messiah’s resurrection.  To tell you the truth, I can’t say that I have a problem specifically with celebrating it.  Obviously it is something worth a celebration.  However, the command given by Yeshua was to commemorate His death…”Do this in remembrance of Me.”  And that command was given in connection to a very specific, already established, feast.  The Passover.

The evening of the Lord’s last supper with his disciples was the beginning of Passover.  Passover is every year on the same date, the 14th of Nissan, on the Jewish calendar.  It begins at sunset and ends the following evening at sunset.  The Last Supper was the Passover meal, the Seder.  When Yeshua broke the bread, it was unleavened bread which symbolized His sinless life, and it was the bread they were commanded to eat at Passover by God when He instituted it at the time of the Exodus from Egypt.  Remember, a spotless male lamb was sacrificed, and it’s blood spread on the doorposts so that the people would be saved from the angel of death.  Yeshua is that spotless lamb who was sacrificed on Passover, and who’s blood saved us from eternal death.

Yeshua instructed His followers to continue to observe the Passover, but after His death, to observe it in remembrance of what He did for us on the cross. 

“Do this in remembrance of Me.”  Do THIS.  “This” is the PASSOVER.  Look, what Yeshua did with his disciples was break the bread, and drink the cup, as part of the Passover feast.  The Passover feast always pointed to the Savior who would one day come to save the world.  It was a living prophecy of the coming Messiah.  Yeshua fulfilled that prophecy that day, but He never instructed His followers to cease and desist.  He did instruct them to continue to observe the Passover, not as prophecy to come, but rather as prophecy fulfilled.

As I sat in church this morning, considering the coming Maundy Thursday service, and Easter to follow, I was overwhelmed by the Spirit of Christ.  “This is wrong!!” beat in my heart and throbbed in my head.  Passover.  PASSOVER!!!  That is when we are to remember the sacrifice Yeshua made for us.  We have grieved the Holy Spirit by paganizing the holy celebration of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God on the cross.  And now He is calling us back to Him.  Do you hear His call?  Leave the pagan worship of Easter behind you!  Return to Me and MY ways.  Who of you will stand for the Lord?  Who will dare to brave the “heresy” of leaving Easter where it belongs and celebrating Christ on HIS holy day, Passover?

It is the year 2017 on the solar calendar (the year 5777 on the Jewish calendar).  The 14th day of Nissan is tomorrow.  I am going to lead my family in a Seder meal.  It won’t  be perfect because I don’t know how to do it all, and quite frankly, I’m not totally prepared.  But I know we will be honoring Yeshua Messiah on the right day at the right time.  We will attend Maundy and Resurrection Day services.  The question for you and for me is what about next year?  Will we seek courage from God to speak to our church leaders and encourage a return to God’s feast where Yeshua, and only Yeshua, will be honored?  Or will we cower, and continue to mix pagan worship with Christian worship?  In so doing, will we ignore God’s call to return to Him and away from pagan gods as the Israelites did?  The Church has been celebrating Easter for nearly 2,000 years.  Old habits die hard.  Some habits need to be broken.

Here is a link to instructions for a Christian Passover written by Ann Voskamp:  Why A Christian Family Celebrate Passover: A Messianic Seder

False Teachers and Tickling Ears

Recently I read an article that deeply saddened me, scared me, and gave me hope all in one.  It detailed how churches across our country are opening their doors to people of all faiths, including witchcraft, Hindu, Buddism and even Atheism.  Reading of “pastors” who openly state that they don’t believe in God, yet run a church where anyone can come to worship anyone or anyway that they please.  They say is it BYOG…Bring Your Own God.

How this must break God’s heart!  My mind goes back to the many stories in the Old Testament of the Temple being desecrated and used to worship false gods.  Now the Church is being desecrated in the same way.  The Body that was supposed to carry the torch that Israel dropped, spread the good news of Christ, His death and resurrection, and the hope of His return.  How many of us who are faithful are aware that this is even going on?

Scarier is the fact that young people who have been raised in the Church are leaving the solid foundations of Truth to join these secularized, no…more blatantly un-Godly congregations, denying the existence of the One, True God.  Where are your children?  Are you giving them a solid foundation in the Word of God so that they will recognize the lies and deceptions of false teachings?  Teach them now, while they are young, and they will not depart from it! (paraphrased Proverbs 22:6).  Get on your knees and pray for their protection, and yours, from Satan’s perverse ways and lies!

2 Timothy 4:3-4 is coming true before our eyes.  It says:  “For the time is coming when people will not have patience for sound teaching, but will cater to their passions and gather around themselves teachers who say whatever their ears itch to hear. Yes, they will stop listening to the truth, but will turn aside to follow myths.”

2 Peter 2:1 “But among the people there were also false prophets, just as there will be false teachers among you. Under false pretenses they will introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and thus bring on themselves swift destruction.”

Matthew 24:24 “For there will appear false Messiahs and false prophets performing great miracles — amazing things! — so as to fool even the chosen, if possible.”

1 John 2:20-26 “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.  I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.  Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.  Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.  Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.  And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.  These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you.”

Where is the hope in this?  Simply this, that it is yet another sign that the return of Christ is near.  But what urgency that brings to share God’s love with others, and especially to to be preparing my own heart, and be teaching and praying for my children and loved ones, that we may all go to Christ together!!!

I am including the link to the article I mentioned so that you may read for yourselves what I have spoken of.

http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/April01/014.html

FLAT BROKE & IN THE RED!!! Pt. 2

In part 1 of this post I talked about living in the red; the debt of a sinful life. Jesus paid our debt with his own life and filled out accounts to overflowing with His own righteousness. The only stipulation being that we accept His sacrifice as a free gift, recognizing that there is no way we would ever be able to pay our debt on our own, so Jesus’ gift is the only way.

In this continuation, I would like to talk about the connection that faith has in accepting the gift of salvation from Jesus, both during and after. At the point that a person accepts salvation from Jesus, there is faith. It is the faith that must be present in order for a person to believe in, and accept, the God whom they cannot see. Faith to recognize He is real, living, and active in the world, and in their lives. Faith that God has always been, is now, and will forever be.

One can believe that God is real, that Jesus is His Son and that He died to pay our sinful debt, and yet still not have faith. It is more of a head knowledge than a belief of the heart. So what is the difference between belief and faith? Obedience. There are a number of things I believe to be true in this world. Many of them are subject to debate, and I could, in fact, be convinced to change my mind. I may act on my beliefs, or I may not. My behavior is not crucial to my beliefs.

My faith in Jesus, on the other hand, does require action on my part. Faith requires a demonstration of proof; something that shows God, and the world, that I have taken my belief to the next level. I want to prove that I have hinged my life on my faith. I am not only willing to do things, say things, behave in certain ways because of my faith; I am willing to change the way I live my life so that all areas match up with my faith in God. I am willing to surrender my own will to the will of God and seek to obey His commands and instructions. Obedience is the evidence of faith.

It was by faith that Abraham was accredited with righteousness, before Jesus died on the cross. It was his obedience to God that demonstrated his faith, proved it before God. Hebrews 11 chronicles the great faith of so many of the Old Testament heroes. Each one, “By faith…” they did something. They obeyed. If they had not obeyed, they would not have demonstrated a faith that was worth committing to, but a belief that could change with the wind.

“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac….” Hebrews 11:17.
“By faith Isaac blessed….” Hebrews 11:20.
“By faith they [the Israelites] passed through the Red Sea….” Hebrews 11:29.
“By faith the harlot Rahab…received the spies with peace.” Hebrews 11:31.

Ephesians 2:8-9 – “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (NKJV)

Saved by grace. Through faith. Faith which then demonstrates itself in obedience. Let me be clear that it is not the act of our faith that saves us…only by God’s grace. But it is the act of faith that brings us to His grace and the demonstration of our faith, through obedience, that we accept His grace and salvation by answering His call to come to Him. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Revelation 3:20. He calls to us. Do we obey and open the door, or disobey and reject Him?

If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who died for you; to pay the penalty for your sins, which you cannot do on your own, do you also have faith? Do you have the faith to live in obedience to God, let Him change your life? Are you ready to take the next step and commit yourself fully to demonstrating your faith through your obedience to God? Do you believe it, or do you live it?  If you aren’t living it, do you need to reevaluate and determine whether your faith is real, and make the decision, once and for all, to commit yourself fully to God?