About the Season

St. Nicholas

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:22:20 -0800

The ORIGINAL Santa was the pastor of a little church in Myra, Turkey, in the 4th century. According to church history, he had been thrown into prison for his beliefs and was awaiting torture and execution when the Roman Emperor declared his own faith in Christ — and promptly released all Christian prisoners.
Wealthy by inheritance, he gave all he had to children orphaned by the “great Christian Holocaust” (over seven million had been put to death for their faith). As Christians gradually came out of hiding, he and other pastors met in Nicaea to discuss how to remember what had happened and why. Among other things, he championed the memorial of Christ’s birth in December.
His name was Nicholas.
Apparently, with changes in culture and language, variations of the man were popularized. For instance, when they came to “the new world,” Dutch children found it hard to pronounce “Saint Nicholas” and to English children it sounded like “sant na-klas.” “Santa Claus” was born!

Like Nick, the job of any REAL Santa is to tell folks about God and His love for them — this incredible thing He has done for us. Christmas is a wonderful, magical season but it is only a means to that end — to demonstrate God’s love. When we stop at the celebration and no longer see what it’s celebrating, we lose the REAL wonder of it. The Reason for the Season. Jesus!

The Hebrew Tradition of Firstfruits

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:34:51 -0800

Easter Sunday is an ancient Christian Holy Day — the most important of the year! It is the day Jesus rose from the dead, walking away from His tomb three days and three nights after He was brutally crucified. But many [gentile] Christians are unaware that this day was also a Holy day to the Jews. It is the festival of Firstfruits, ordained by God in the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament; Lev 23:9-22).
Celebrated each year on the-day-after-the-Sabbath-after-the-Passover, Firstfruits is always on a Sunday, but occurs on a different day of the calendar each year — both on the common Gregorian calendar and the Hebrew lunar calendar. In the year Jesus was was crucified and rose again from the dead, this all happened on the 17th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan — Easter Sunday.
There are actually two Firstfruits. The Firstfruits celebration that occurs the-day-after-the-Sabbath-after-the-Passover is often called “Early” Firstfruits. 50 days later, “Later” Firstfruits occurs. The 50 days in between are called the Omer (“measure”). “Later” Firstfruits is called Shavu’ot (Hebrew for “Weeks”) or Pentecost (Greek for “50 days”).
In the “Early” Firstfruits the first fruit offerings are waved before the Lord in a natural state. An omer of barley, or wheat or grapes or olives. During the “Later” Firstfruits the offering is in a prepared state, two loves of bread, wine and oil. The very first of the harvest is waved before God to acknowledge the land He gave to Israel.
The feast of Firstfruits never received the status of a High Sabbath among the Jews, and with the destruction of the Temple (70 A.D.) it fell into disuse. It became an ordinary working day on which the High Priest would have waved (and someday will again wave) the sheaf before the Lord in the Temple.
The day of “Early” Firstfruits is also called Yom HaBikkurim or Sfirat Haomer. The word firstfruits means “a promise to come,” and this was not lost on the Early Christian Church who saw Jesus’ resurrection from the grave as the fulfillment of that “promise to come” — on the very same day.
Nisan 17.
This is more significant than it first seems. You see, on that day the Bible records miracles occurring over and over. No other day except Passover is mentioned as many times in the Bible.
• Nissan 17, Noah’s Ark safely rested on Mt. Ararat (Gen 8:4)
• Nissan 17, Hebrews entered Egypt (Exo 12:40-41) 430 years before deliverance.
• Nissan 17, Moses led the Israelites through the Parting of the Red Sea (Exo 3:18, 5:3)
• Nissan 17, Israel entered and ate the first fruit of the Promised Land (Joshua 5:10-12)
• Nissan 17, The cleansing of the Temple by Hezekiah (eight hundred years after entering the promised land. (2 Chronicles 29:1-28)
• Nissan 17, Queen Esther saved the Jews from Extermination (Esther 3:12, 5:1)
• Nissan 17, The Resurrection of Messiah
Think about this! The odds of just two of these events both happening accidentally on the same day of the Hebrew year (360 days) are one in 129,000. The odds of these events all happening coincidentally on the same day of the Hebrew year are one in 783 quadrillion, 864 trillion, 876 Billion, 960 Million (783,864,876,960,000,000). Clearly, God did this on purpose. It was not merely coincidence. He wanted to draw our attention to the idea that all these things were part of a carefully orchestrated plan.
And to this list of incredible events that occurred on 17 Nisan, we can add perhaps the most incredible, most important “promise” that has ever “come” to the world — the conception of the Christ Child. Jesus, the Messiah (Savior) of the world, which many believe was conceived on this same day.

The Biblical Case for a Late-December Christmas

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:40:34 -0800

According to the Biblical account of Christ’s birth (Luk 1:5-2:20), Mary conceived in the 6th month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy (Luk 1:36, 42), which itself began immediately after her husband, Zacharias, returned from doing his turn of service in the Temple. The argument for assigning late December as the rightful date of the birth of Yeshua (the Hebrew name for Jesus) is based on the time Zacharias was told that Elizabeth would conceive a child.
We are told Zacharias was serving during the “course of Abia” when the angel appeared to him. 900 years before, King David (1 Chr 28:11-13) had divided the priesthood into 24 "courses" or groups (1 Chr 24:1-4) to create an orderly schedule by which the Temple of the Lord could be staffed for the whole year. Once these courses were established, lots were drawn to determine the sequence each group would serve in the Temple (1 Chr 24: 7-19). Each of the 24 courses of priests would begin and end their service on the Sabbath for a tour of duty of one week (2 Chr 23:8, 1 Chr 9:25), twice a year.
The problem is, the Bible never tells us when the First Course began. Many scholars argue whether it must have been the first week of Nisan or of Tishri. This comes from the belief that the First Course [naturally] began at the “New Year” which [naturally] puts it during the first week of Nisan. But ask a Jew, and s/he will tell you that the “New Year” begins on 1 Tishri — Rosh Hashannah. So the Jews actually have two “beginnings of years.”
All of this is merely conjecture, however, since neither the Bible nor history tells us when the first course started.
But when the Babylonian Captivity occurred, the Temple was destroyed — so there was no more service to be done. The date this occurred became a well-known fast-day for the Jews, the 9th of Av, B.C. 586 (Tish’a B’ Av). Indeed, according to traditional sources, when they returned to the land 70 years later, it was a very “bumpy” restart to the Temple services over the course of many years. They memorialized this fast-day by re-beginning the Courses beginning at the 9th of Av.
The Temple was gradually rebuilt (called “the Second Temple”) and added to by the Herods (during the time of Jesus Birth). But it was destroyed again by the Romans in A.D. 70 — ON THE SAME DAY! The 9th of Av, A.D. 70. Now, the Jews had not only twice the reason to mourn that date, but a wake-up call that God was trying to tell them something — but that is another lesson.
What is important to this discussion is that according to both Josephus (Jewish historian, AD 37 – c. 100) and more recent work done by Friedlieb (Leben J. Christi des Erlösers, Münster, 1887, p. 312), it was the First Course that was serving at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple in A.D. 70 — in the second week of Av.
Stepping back 70 years (and assuming the courses were running then as they ran in 70 A. D.) to the time of Jesus’ birth, the First Course of priests (Jehoiarib) would serve during the second week of Av, Sabbath to Sabbath, followed in the third week by the Second Course (Jedaiah). The fourth week would fall to the Third Course (Harim). By the time the Eighth Course (Abijah) was called to service it was the second week of Tishri and the High Holy Day of Yom Kippur — The Day of Atonement (10 Tishri) — roughly, October 2-9.
• Jesus' cousin, John the Baptist, was conceived shortly after Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement, Tishri 10) and born approximently 40 weeks later in the Jewish (lunar) month of Tammuz (June/July).

Months in the Jewish Calendar are all 29.5 days long. In leap years, Adar is preceded by a 30-day intercalary month named Adar Aleph (Aleph being the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet), Adar Rishon (First Adar) or Adar I and it is then itself called Adar Bet (Bet being the second letter of the Hebrew Alphabet), Adar Sheni (Second Adar) or Adar II. According to the Metonic cycle, this is done seven times every nineteen years (specifically, in years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19).John's father (Zacharias) was a Levite who was assigned to serve in the temple during the course of "Abia," (Luk 1:5) the 8th of 24 courses (1Ch 24:10). Each course served for one week, Sabbath to Sabbath. Thus, each priest served twice a year, plus at each of the three Pilgrimage Feasts (the red feasts in the figure, above).
During the First Century, the cycle of service was such that the first course served in the second week of Av, thus the actual time the 8th course was serving was during the second week of Tishri (on the Jewish lunar calendar, months average 29.5 days long).
This places Zacharias' service in the Temple as during the High Holiday of Yom Kippur (Sep/Oct), and this agrees with the description given about how Gabriel spoke to Zacharias in the narrative (Luk 1:8-23).
It is written that John was conceived shortly after this tour of duty (Luke 1:23-4), in the third week of Tishri, perhaps even on 17 Tishri. Therefore, John the Baptist would have been born on (approx.) the 13th of Tammuz (June/July).
• Jesus was conceived near the beginning of Nisan (Mar/Apr), and born 40 weeks later during late December.
Jesus was conceived in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy (Luke 1:24-27, 36). This could have been anywhere from late-Adar to late-Nisan (March). Early tradition places Mary’s conception on 17 Nisan / March 20, but this is only proverbial. (The Catholic Church still celebrates it as the Annunciation, on March 25.) Nine Months later, Jesus was born — in mid-Tevet / late December.
• Circumstantial Evidences:
Although it was not initially celebrated as a Holy Day, Church history since the time of the late first century has attested to a late December birth. Hippolytus, in the second century AD, argued that this was Christ's birthday. In the fourth century, John Chrysostom (347-407) argued that December 25th was the correct date. Chrysostom taught that Zechariah received the message about John's birth on the Day of Atonement and John the Baptist was born sometime in June or July, and the birth of Jesus took place six months later, in late December. There was never a question about the period of Jesus' birth either in the East or in the West; only in the recent years this date was challenged by “scholars” who believe they know something those in the “Early Church” didn’t.
Early Jewish sources suggest that the sheep around Bethlehem were outside year-round. In the normal traffic of shepherds, they move around and come near Bethlehem from November to March of the year. But there were a special class of Levitical shepherds who kept the sacrificial lambs. They did not move around because they supplied the lambs for daily sacrifice from whom people bought their approved lambs, which are blemish-less. The fact that the Angels announced the arrival of the perfect sacrificial lamb to these shepherds is attractive.
Alfred Edersheim, a Messianic Jew, wrote, "There is no adequate reason for questioning the historical accuracy of this date. The objections generally made rest on grounds which seem to me historically untenable."
Edersheim notes that the Jewish Megillot Taanit states that the 9th of Tevet is considered the day of Christ's birth, and that puts the birth of Yeshua (Jesus) sometime during late December.
Since Zacharias served during Yom Kippur and Elizabeth conceived shortly thereafter, we can place the date of Jesus' birth during the month of Tevet, in late December.
—
On the eighth day, according to Jewish law, He was circumcised and formally named Yeshua (the Hebrew for the Greek, “Jesus”), the Salvation of God. The day was January 1st, the beginning of a new era in the history of man — Anno Domini.

So, Why the 25th?

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:54:15 -0800

No one knows when Jesus was born. Although there is solid Biblical evidence for a late-December birth, the Bible doesn’t tell us which day and history didn’t record it. But it’s huge! All of human history is divided into what happened before His birth and what happened after — B.C. vs. A.D. So if we don’t know the exact day of the year He was born, why did we pick December 25th to celebrate it? 1
Good question!
COULD it have been on the 25th? Sure. Those that insist it couldn’t have been in winter because the shepherds were tending their flocks, are perhaps assuming a freezing climate for southern Israel similar to their own. But Bethlehem's climate is actually a lot like Los Angeles’ (they are adjacent to a warm western ocean, at about the same latitude and altitude). And those who live in the rural areas around L.A. know shepherds DO tend their flocks in the winter.
But if nobody KNOWS when He was born, why the celebration on the 25th? Why did we choose that day?
Many insist Christmas is of pagan origin. They hold up several ancient observances as proof. But apparently, there is a fatal flaw in all of them. None of them were actually celebrated on December 25th! The most oft-cited pagan observance is “Natalis Solis Invictis”, or the festival of the winter solstice, which was celebrated on December 11 (the day of the winter solstice, at that time).2 Close enough? No. The question remains — why did we choose December 25th?
The ONLY possible solution history offers is, fortunately, the only obvious one. Chanukkah. Celebrated on the 25th of Kislev, the month of the Jewish calendar most closely touched in the Roman calendar by December. What makes this even more obvious is to consider that for the first several decades of its existence, the entire early church was completely Jewish. So, it would be naive to assume they didn’t know about Chanukkah — or that celebrating Christmas on the same day was just a coincidence. To this day, Jewish homes are decorated with lights, and the centerpiece in each home is a “tree” (called the Chanukkah menorah) also decorated with lights, with a special light -- brightest of all -- on the highest bow (it even has a name — shammah). Children look forward to this season because there will be presents; lots of them. But among the faithful, the true story behind the day is a spiritual one — the story of an espoused virgin; Judith the High Priest’s daughter who sparked the rebellion of the Maccabees, nearly two centuries before God’s son was born into the world.
So you see, it’s actually quite likely the Early Church simply took the existing celebration and changed the name and meanings of its symbols to suit their stunned realization — that Messiah had finally come!
1 Historical documents demonstrate this has been in continuous practice since at least A.D. 335.
2 From Wikipedia: “There is no record of celebrating Sol on December 25th prior to CE 354/362. Hijmans lists the known festivals of Sol as August 8 and/or 9, August 28, and December 11.” <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Invictus> Note: In A.D. 1582 the Gregorian calendar was introduced which eliminated 10 days from the calendar (in order to re-align the calendar with the seasons) which placed the solstice at December 20 (not the 21st as so often reported).

Our Hebrew Roots

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 08:53:22 -0800

Students of the Bible will understand the importance of context. Remove a passage from those around it and you can introduce the possibility of error. Many cults have origins here.
In trying to understand the origins of our Christian Traditions many folks can make the same mistake -- they remove the Early Church from its Jewish context. For instance...
Each spring we remember a three-days-and-three-nights period of mourning separating an unimaginable horror from an indescribable victory. Unlike other holidays, there is no set date for its observance; it changes from year to year. It is celebrated with candy, colored, hard-boiled eggs, the requisite shaker of salt, and allusions to a rabbit that is never actually seen.
If you said "Easter," you're almost right. The correct pronunciation is "Esther," known more formally among the Jews as the "Vigil of Esther." Described above is an Old Testament holiday that was already 700 years old when Jesus rose from the dead. Let's try again.
As night falls, on this holiday, children are dressed-up in costume and travel door-to-door carrying baskets of treats. The costumes are a wide mix of heroes and villains, witches and corpses. And everyone knows the alternative to a good "treat" is a good "trick."
This, of course, is Purim; observed by Biblical mandate from a time 600 years before Christ. Didn't do so well? Let's try another.
On the twenty-fifth day of the last month in our year, people all over the world gather to celebrate a well-known holiday. Houses are decorated with lights, and the centerpiece in each home is a tree also decorated with lights, with a special light -- brightest of all -- on the highest bow. Children look forward to this season because there will be presents; lots of them. But among the faithful, the true story behind the day is a spiritual one -- the story of an espoused virgin…
Of course, I'm talking about Hanukkah. That's right, Hanukkah -- celebrated all over the world from a time nearly 200 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The Virgin was the daughter of the High Priest, Judith, and the tree -- often called the Tree of Life (or Lights) -- is the 9-branched Menorah.
You got them all wrong? Well, perhaps we have been too hasty in assuming our most famous celebrations were borrowed from pagans. Maybe the true origins of our holiday traditions have been there all along, but we didn’t see it because we had lost the context in which they were originally celebrated. You see, Esther, Purim and Hanukkah share something very important with Jesus, the Apostles and the entire Early Christian Church -- they were all Jewish!

Keeping the “X” in Xmas

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 07:37:58 -0800

History tells us for the first 300 years of its existence, the Christian church was hunted and martyred. Any Christian who could be captured was mercilessly tortured and killed by the Roman government.
There were two “symbols” popularized during these years of persecution. Apparently, since they had to worship in secret, they would place a “sign” near the building where they would meet. Quite often this was a crude fish hastily drawn in the sand.
Most of the Old Testament was penned in Hebrew. But the New Testament was penned in Greek. The original creed of the early Church had been the phrase, “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior”. Taking the first letter of each word (like, “CIA”) gave them, in the Greek language, which was also the Greek word for “fish”. So, the symbol of the fish became the mark of a Christian gathering — to keep it secret from the authorities.
But another symbol came from this, too. It was a shorthand for the word “Christ”. Since the first letter of that word (in Greek) was “X”, apparently Christians also began marking their secret meeting places with an “X”. That’s right, the real origin of “X marks the spot!”
So perhaps it was only natural that when they wrote of “Christmas,” they often shortened it to “Xmas.” It was not an attempt to remove “Christ” from Christmas, but to remember the times in which it all began.

Anatomy of a “Holyday”

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:40:33 -0800

The word “Holy” probably does not mean what you think. It doesn’t mean “religious” or “righteous” or even “Godly.” It simply means “set apart.” The “Holy Bible” is really a “Book, set apart (from all others)”. So originally, a Holy day was simply one that was set apart — special — from all others. Apparently, secular use of the term “holiday” was just an attempt to make it “non-religious”.
In the beginning, the early church was completely Jewish. Jesus and his followers — for several decades — were ONLY Jewish. By the middle ages, however, much of the church openly fought anything Jewish. So we lost the holyday of Passover, for instance, in favor of the abbreviated (and less “Jewish”) ceremony we call Communion, today. This, in spite of the fact that it was Jesus, Himself, who told us to “Do This In Remembrance of Me” — speaking of Passover.
Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples. And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover.
(Matt 26:17-19 — see also, Luk 22:7-19)
He wasn’t there to start something new, but to celebrate something very old and change forever the meaning of its symbols (the lamb, the bread and the wine, etc.). The Apostle Paul explained this was because the old Jewish holydays were not just “memorials” but “prophecies” — each was actually “a shadow of things to come” (Col 2:17).
History records that the early church took each of the Biblical holydays (there were ten of them) — as prescribed by God Himself — and began celebrating them for new reasons. But these were precisely the “Jewish” things the church of the middle ages purged from Christianity centuries later.
When the Puritans brought Christianity to the new world they disdained traditions of any kind. That included Christmas, Easter — even birthdays. So we lost these holydays. And, it has been so long since anyone has spoken of them, these “origins” have been all but lost to time.
Listen... Saint Nicholas was a real person. Apparently, Christmas was not originally a pagan orgy. And perhaps those who are offended when you shorten it to “Xmas” just haven’t heard the real story behind that name. Christmas is a wonderful time of year — including the never-ending story of Santa and his reindeer. The real Christmas Story doesn’t need to be rescued from Santa. After all, the original Santa is probably the one who popularized its transition from Hanukkah, in December!
And so it should be today. Any Santa that doesn’t make it his business to point to Jesus, isn’t doing the real work of Santa Claus. He’s not the Real Santa!

The Gospel of Santa

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:35:16 -0800

You better not pout, better not cry
better not shout, I’m telling you why - 2Co 12:20
Santa Claus is coming to town (like a thief in the night!) - 1Th 5
He’s making a List and checking it twice,
gonna find out who’s Naughty and Nice - Rev 20:11
Santa Claus is coming to town (like a thief in the night!) - 1Th 5
He knows when you are sleeping,
He knows when you’re awake - Psa 139
He knows if you’ve been Bad or Good - Pro 15:3
so be Good for Righteousness sake!- Mat 16:27
When He finally comes, and He opens His scroll
The Nice will get treasures, and the Naughty get coal - Mat 25:46
Santa Claus is coming to town (like a thief in the night!) - 1Th 5

The Month Before Christmas

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:41:14 -0800

’Twas the month before Christmas
When all through our land,
Not a Christian was praying
Nor taking a stand.
See the PC Police had taken away,
The reason for Christmas - no one could say.
The children were told by their schools not to sing,
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.
It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say
December 25th is just a ' Holiday '.
Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit
Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!
CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod
Something was changing, something quite odd!
Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.
As Targets were hanging their trees upside down
At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.
At K-Mart and Staples and Penney's and Sears
You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.
Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty
Are words that were used to intimidate me.
Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen
On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !
At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter
To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.
And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith
Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace
The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The reason for the season, stopped before it started.
So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'
Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.
Choose your words carefully, choose what you say
Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS ,
not Happy Holiday !

Stupid Question!

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:26:04 -0800

Let me ask you a question... Suppose there is a family of quite atheistic folks living down the street. They don’t believe in God. They have no time or patience for Jesus. The Holy Ghost is silly-talk to them. Angels are mythology, pure and simple. Now suppose this family chooses to decorate their fireplace mantel with a “traditional” nativity scene for the holidays. Lots of unbelievers do this every year! Makes them feel “christmasy!” OK, here’s the question... Does putting that crèche on their mantel make them Christians? Are they now unknowingly worshipping Jesus? Is this tantamount to inviting Christ into their hearts?
Of course not. Stupid question.
So if they do this, what exactly does it say about what they do or don’t believe regarding this symbol? The answer is simple. The symbol means precisely — and only — what they choose it to mean. Perhaps even nothing at all. That is, it’s not what the symbol means but what they mean by the symbol. When you or I look at that manger-scene, we “get” something entirely different from it than those who see it as just a holiday decoration.
As a Christian pastor, I often place a menorah in my home. I keep a huge shofar (ram’s horn) on display in my study. And in my closet is a beautiful tallit (Jewish prayer shawl). Do possessing or displaying these things make me Jewish? No. They mean to me, precisely and only what I choose to mean by them. A symbol — any symbol — has no power over me. Rather, it is I who have power over the symbol, and what means — to me — even if it is nothing at all. Even if it is something completely opposite what someone else, in another land, in another time may have chosen to symbolize by it.
Have you made the connection, yet?
Whenever someone tells you that the symbols of Christmas come from pagans and devil-worshippers, they are implying you are in gross error. You are no better than they. You are unknowingly worshipping satan. You are re-enacting horrible, unspeakable rites. Calling on demons. Making a mockery of the Christian beliefs you supposedly embrace.
Now, folks, none of this is true. Christmas‘ symbols — all of them — are of Christian origins. But even if they WERE what they claim... So what? If you wear a wedding ring on the third finger of your left hand, are you unknowingly worshipping some pagan deity because someone else used the symbol in just that way to mean something “terrible?”
Of course not. Stupid question.
What you mean by it is whatever you choose it to mean. Wearing a ring on that finger does not cause you to be married. Many wear one to fool others into thinking they are married. Others, will remove theirs so no one will know they are married. When I shower, I often remove my ring. Does this mean I’m not married when I shower?
Stupid question.