Category Archives: Traditions / Holidays

Hebrew Roots / Commands / Law, Jesus Christ / Yeshua, Traditions / Holidays

Do Not Pass Over Passover

God instructed His people to celebrate certain holy days as part of our relationship with Him. Unfortunately, most of us who grew up as Christians do not recognize or truly understand the Biblical “holy” days, such as Passover, which He instructed us to observe.

Christians turned away from His appointed times to follow their own traditions. As an example, Passover and Easter are quite different. Easter has been blended with many pagan traditions. There was a clear intention by man to separate from the Hebrew roots of our faith. We must now each ask ourselves if that was good and decide what we will do personally in our pursuit of God.

Exodus 12 provides a clear example where God places emphasis on celebrating according to His instruction… Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Yet many Christians ignore this celebration because the traditions of men have taught them to consider this a “Jewish” holiday. The Bible says it is God’s holy day, not a Jewish holiday.

Remember, that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart in order that he would not let God’s people go easily. He did so in order that He would demonstrate more signs and wonders so that His people would remember how He set them free from slavery in Egypt. God did not want His people to soon forget the momentous event. So much so that He even commands his people to celebrate it multiple times in scripture.

If it was that important to celebrate in order to look back on how God delivered his people from slavery in Egypt, how much more so now that we can also look back and celebrate remembering how Yeshua died as our Passover lamb, setting us free from slavery to sin once and for all. When we celebrate it, the focus is on our relationship with our Father and his power and what he has done for us as his people… unlike common holidays of today in which the focus is on a magical man in red who brings gifts or a mythical bunny that brings candy and lays eggs.

Exodus 12:42-51

Ordinance of the Passover

42It is a night to be observed for the LORD for having brought them out from the land of Egypt; this night is for the LORD, to be observed by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.

43The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover: no foreigner is to eat of it; 44but every man’s slave purchased with money, after you have circumcised him, then he may eat of it. 45“A sojourner or a hired servant shall not eat of it. 46“It is to be eaten in a single house; you are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, nor are you to break any bone of it. 47“All the congregation of Israel are to celebrate this. 48“But if a stranger sojourns with you, and celebrates the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near to celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it. 49“The same law shall apply to the native as to the stranger who sojourns among you.”

50Then all the sons of Israel did so; they did just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron. 51And on that same day the LORD brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.

We should remember as well, that God used Passover as a foreshadowing of the sacrifice Jesus was to make on our behalf. God even arranged it so that Jesus was crucified at Passover because He wanted to emphasize the two events together… God setting His people free from slavery in Egypt and God setting His people free from slavery to sin.

For those of us who wish to draw nearer to our Father, prayerfully consider studying and observing Passover, even though it feels strange at first and contradicts what most Christian churches teach.

Considering this change personally can seem very overwhelming to many. Many Christian’s have adopted such a strong tradition of celebrating according to man made pagan traditions that it is hard to turn away from them. It often creates difficulty and stress within a family. Jesus warned us about this type of conflict when we choose to follow Him, even within our own families.

Matthew 10:32-39

32“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. 33“But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

34“Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35“For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; 36and A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.

37“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38“And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39“He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.

Ask yourself… do you wish to please man or God? I encourage you to pray for God to enlighten you and study the scriptures. Amazingly enough, even common encyclopedias identify the pagan traditions in Easter quite readily and consistently. The knowledge is not hidden… but we each have to make a choice about whom we serve and whom we follow.

To say we can only “have fun” by celebrating Easter with eggs and bunnies is not true. My family and I find it can be quite fun to celebrate Passover. It clearly reminds us of God setting us free. We enjoy a Passover seder which is rather informal and observe the Sabbath days of rest to celebrate God and family as we rest. We dress up as if we were Israelites on the original Passover, eating the seder prepared to leave Egypt. We then take up our livestock (ok… a dog and plush farm animals) and march out of Egypt and across the Red Sea (ok… around the house with imagination). We have recently expanded that to include bringing a horse and real dogs with us. The sheep are still plush! We even celebrate the days of Unleavened Bread. Of course it felt unusual at first when we started, but we have found that if we just apply a bit of imagination and creativity toward how we celebrate according to God’s instruction, we can do so in a joyful and fun way. We also celebrate Messiah’s sacrifice and his resurrection as part of this appointed time, which is clearly intentional timing from our Creator.

I invite you to pray with me:

Father, please draw me near to You in all Your ways. Help me to celebrate Your ways joyfully and without reservation. Grant me courage to step out of traditions that are not what You want and to jump into traditions that are in line with Your word! Amen. 

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Disobeying, Rebelling Against, Ignoring God, His Ways Are Not Our Ways, Obeying God, Study the Word, Submitted / Servant, Teachable, Traditions / Holidays

Fond Memories of Holiday Traditions – Easter

I have many fond memories of holiday traditions growing up. As a child, my family participated in many common traditions such as hunting for Easter eggs. My family has celebrated this way for generations. It was quite difficult even to consider changing these ingrained generational traditions.

Is that reason enough for me to continue these traditions? What does God have to say about common holiday traditions? If we are honest with ourselves, most of us never even think about it. We just continue with what is “normal” and “traditional” based on how we have been raised and based on the culture around us.

The truth is that if we have really decided to model our lives after Yeshua, then we should take time to explore and study what He celebrated and also the origins of what we may be celebrating. Don’t assume traditions are pleasing to God just because “everyone else is doing it” or even because “everyone else at the church is doing it”. Test everything against the truth of God’s word. Challenge yourself to truly seek to honor Him without bias toward rationalizing and accepting certain traditions because they are associated with fond memories or because it would upset your family to change. After all,  what is more important… pleasing people or pleasing God?

I encourage each of you to take some time and really study the origins of the common traditions and celebrations you take part in. Many are based on pagan worship which have been adapted with “new meaning” whereby people basically have accepted copying and participating in what was once a pagan worship rituals, only now they just call it something else. If you put lipstick on a pig… it is still a pig.

Ask God for help and then challenge yourself to really seek the truth. You can start with any number of sources like online encyclopedias or web search. If there is conflicting information… seek out the truth objectively. Do not just seize upon the rationalization that supports your current practice. Consider the following teaching from Psalm119 Ministries as a start.

Sunburned – Part 1

Sunburned – Part 2

God does not want us to worship Him in the way that the pagans worshiped their gods. He has provided specific information on how He wishes to be worshiped… we must study the Bible and pray to learn and understand.

Deuteronomy 12:1-8

1“These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully observe in the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess as long as you live on the earth. 2“You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. 3“You shall tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and burn their Asherim with fire, and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods and obliterate their name from that place. 4“You shall not act like this toward the LORD your God. 5“But you shall seek the LORD at the place which the LORD your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come. 6“There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. 7“There also you and your households shall eat before the LORD your God, and rejoice in all your undertakings in which the LORD your God has blessed you.

8“You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes

Deuteronomy 12:28-32

28“Be careful to listen to all these words which I command you, so that it may be well with you and your sons after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God.

29“When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, 30beware that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’ 31“You shall not behave thus toward the LORD your God, for every abominable act which the LORD hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

32“Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it.

We are to be set apart and holy, different from those that do not worship YHWH. We are not to follow after Him and worship Him in the way that others worship their gods. We are not to simply do what everyone else is doing or what our parents did… but rather what our Lord instructs us to do.

Pray for wisdom and discernment. Don’t ignore what scripture teaches because it is unfamiliar or uncomfortable at first. Explore it and seek to understand it. You can get more information to understand these holy days of YHWH fairly easily, but you need to test everything against scripture. Some aspects are not completely clear and people have varying opinions on them. I suggest starting with Leviticus 23, but I have also included some additional websites I have found helpful below.

I invite you to pray with me:

Father, please open my eyes to Your wonderful ways. Give me discernment and courage to transform my life to follow Your instructions over the traditions of men or even more specifically my family. Lead Your people in the restoration of Your ways. Help us find joy and peace as we live more and more according to Your instruction. Amen. 

Here are a few resources where you can learn more about the Moedim, the Creator’s calendar (often called the “Jewish” calendar).

I encourage you to invest time studying this topic and do not dismiss it. I have found it to be powerful in transforming the focus of our celebrations off of ourselves and rightly focused toward our Creator and Savior!

Shalom

Devotion by John, in service to Christ

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Hebrew Roots / Commands / Law, His Ways Are Not Our Ways, Holy / Set Apart, Is the Old Testament Relevant Today?, Traditions / Holidays

Celebrate Yahweh’s Holy Days

YHWH set forth some instructions for celebrating holy days. These are not largely taught or truly practiced in our culture today. We seem to have unlimited appetite for declaring a celebration or recognition day for almost anything under the sun, but we often fail to focus on celebrating what God instructs us to do. Many may point to Easter or Christmas, but in truth neither was instructed as celebration by our Father and both are steeped in deep pagan roots in much of how they are celebrated. Other’s include Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day, Presidents Day, Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Ground Hog Day, Read Across America Day… and we could go on. Some of these may be fine and worthwhile, but we should start first with the celebrations our Father has instructed us to recognize.

The first in Leviticus 23 is familiar… the Sabbath day of rest. Many of us are familiar with it, but most do not actually recognize it anymore. It has become just another busy day for most. They may have a day off their normal job (though many do not), but the day then becomes a busy day for chores and responsibilities at home.  I can tell you though, as one who was there and has now embraced Sabbath with my family, God has some really good ideas! A day of rest to focus on God and family rather than just another day to work is fabulous and has opened up time for me with God and with my family and just to pause and reflect from a busy week.

Celebrating Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are great ways of ensuring we take time to reflect on and give thanks for our Passover lamb, Jesus, and to better understand how the Old Testament (Passover in Egypt) foreshadows the sacrifice of Jesus we are familiar with in the New Testament. Once again we see God’s focus for additional Sabbath rest days. It is an important concept for Him. We are called to rest at times, rather than run busily here and there during holidays as many do…often getting distracted in busyness from the intent of the holiday.

Counting 50 days… Pentecost.  We can again see the foreshadowing of the New Testament in the Old. We can give thanks to God for His provision as with harvest and again for providing us the Helper in the Holy Spirit, who came on Pentecost to the gathered believers in a powerful way as documented in Acts, after Christ returned to heaven. Our Father also reminds us that His provision is bountiful enough to share with others… hence the reminder not to harvest everything in verse 22.

We are called again to a Sabbath day of rest for Feast of Trumpets, and as we continue further in Leviticus we will come next to the Feast of Atonement as the subject of an article another day.

Leviticus 23:1-25

     1The LORD spoke again to Moses, saying, 2“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD’S appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these:

      3‘For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings.

      4‘These are the appointed times of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. 5‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the LORD’S Passover. 6‘Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7‘On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. 8‘But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.’”

      9Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11‘He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12‘Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the LORD. 13‘Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to the LORD for a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a hin of wine. 14‘Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.

      15‘You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. 16‘You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD. 17‘You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to the LORD. 18‘Along with the bread you shall present seven one year old male lambs without defect, and a bull of the herd and two rams; they are to be a burnt offering to the LORD, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the LORD. 19‘You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two male lambs one year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20‘The priest shall then wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering with two lambs before the LORD; they are to be holy to the LORD for the priest. 21‘On this same day you shall make a proclamation as well; you are to have a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work. It is to be a perpetual statute in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.

      22‘When you reap the harvest of your land, moreover, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the needy and the alien. I am the LORD your God.’”

      23Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24“Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25‘You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD.’”

There is so much to study and celebrate laid out in this scripture, but to truly understand it and appreciate it, we each need to take time in prayer and study to seek to learn more about these festivals our Lord has instructed us to participate in. I encourage each of you to begin on this journey, as I have over the past few years. Do not try to get it all in one step. Pray, seek, study, and try to implement in steps. I have found this to greatly enrich my relationship with the Lord as I submit to and seek His instruction rather than just “going along with what everyone else expects you to do with the broad spectrum of holidays defined by man.

To study more on this topic, please review our category of posts relating to Holidays/Traditions (scroll down to move from one post to another) and consider the following.

Here are a few resources where you can learn more about the Moedim, the Creator’s calendar (often called the “Jewish” calendar).

I encourage you to invest time studying this topic and do not dismiss it. I have found it to be powerful in transforming the focus of our celebrations off of ourselves and rightly focused toward our Creator and Savior!

I invite you to pray with me:

Father, please open my eyes to Your wonderful ways. Give me discernment and courage to transform my life to follow Your instructions over the traditions of men or even more specifically my family. Lead Your people in the restoration of Your ways. Help us find joy and peace as we live more and more according to Your instruction. Amen. 

Shalom

Devotion by John, in service to Christ

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Holy / Set Apart, Purposeful / Intentional, Teachable, Traditions / Holidays, Worldliness

Should A Christian Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?

St. Patrick’s day, like so many celebrations in our culture today, has a blend of Christian roots and pagan traditions all mixed together.

Starting with the name, we should consider St. Patrick. Put aside for a moment the Catholic church’s definition of “saint” and the discussion about it’s inconsistency with the Biblical use of the term saint. By all accounts, Patrick was a missionary to Ireland for Christ who had great impact. He overcame great adversity in His life by turning toward the Lord instead of away from Him during trials and difficulty. St. Patrick’s day is supposedly celebrated annually to commemorate Patrick on the anniversary of his death.

To this end it would seem there are some aspects of this holiday that one could certainly focus on that have some merit. However, reflect broadly on how the holiday is actually celebrated. What are the symbols you think of most about St. Patrick’s day today? pinching someone if they are not wearing green, dying a lake green, dying beer green, leprechauns, gold at the end of the rainbow, shamrocks for “luck”? How about the big parade? None of these are Christian in any way or point to Christ or to Patrick’s missionary work. Once again, cultural populism and pagan traditions have overshadowed by far a holiday which men have tried to establish to celebrate God’s work. This is quite common in particular with holidays established by the Catholic church as they have a pattern of allowing pagan traditions into the Christian celebrations to help encourage non believers to participate. In other words, this was never a “Christian” holiday. It was a pagan holiday which the Catholic church adopted and tried to blend in Christianity. With a little easy research this is obvious not only in regard to St. Patrick’s day but also Valentine’s day and especially Christmas and Easter.

God does not want us to worship or celebrate the way the pagans do. If you want to recognize or “celebrate” St. Patrick’s day in a way that honors Christ and our relationship with Him, then I suggest making sure you focus on the missionary work of Patrick and God’s work through Him to reach a lost people and deliberately fade the other traditions to the background.

I personally recommend avoiding these activities or holidays where they are mixed and mingled with the world’s views and instead focus on the Biblical holy days or appointed times that YHWH describes in Leviticus 23 and may other places. These are the holy days that Yeshua and His disciples celebrated rather than all the ones where Christians have tried to push a Christian message into a pagan holiday. It is like adding chocolate to milk… it is very hard to separate once they have been blended. Additionally, if you were going to put effort into honoring God with a celebration or holiday, why not start with the ones He created, the Moedim? Why start with one that is built on a shaky foundation, like St. Patrick’s Day, where it has always really been something other than Christian? Part of being holy is being set apart and separate from the world for God’s use.

I would encourage you to consider learning more about Yahweh’s appointed times, or holy days. Consider our short teaching on Celebrating God’s Holy Days, which also contains links to ministries that can help you with further study in this area.

As always, pray for the Spirit to lead you and then expect His answer and listen for it. And ask yourself in all you do… does this honor Christ or distract from His message? Another good question would be “What did Jesus do (or not do)?” This is even better at times than the hypothetical “What would Jesus do?” As an example, we clearly see that Jesus and His disciples observed the Moedim. They did not observe pagan festivals or celebrations and blend with them to try to make them acceptable.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Love, Loving / Kind, Marriage, Traditions / Holidays

What Is Love?

What is love? This is a very old question with many answers. Context is important. We may “love pizza”, but that is different than when we say we “love our spouse”. Today, the world even steals the word “love” as a replacement for “sex”, which is completely incorrect. These are certainly not the same meaning. Greek, the language in which the New Testament was largely written, had multiple different words for different types of love. In English, we have one word and we must therefore pay close attention to context.

Many put a lot of time and focus into the highly marketed cultural holiday of Valentine’s Day. Candy makers will tell you that you must buy chocolates to show you love your spouse. Greeting card makers insist you must “care to send the very best” and thus spend $5 or more on a card, and send one to everyone you know. Flowers are a must, right? But now they even sell gold dipped flowers. Wow. Of course, not to be outdone, Jewelers insist that you are a buffoon if you don’t buy diamonds for that special someone in your life. Once company even suggests you should buy from them a new luxury car. We do well to remember that this is marketing intended to sell things and get our money. This is not how God tells us to show love to one another.

God calls us to show love to one another daily, not once a year, or on a few annual special occasions!

1 Corinthians 13

The Excellence of Love

      1If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

      4Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

      8Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

If you want to give a gift, and it is wisely within your budget to do so, go ahead. But don’t do so because you “have to” or are “expected to”.  These gifts mean little and will ultimately have a very limited impact if you do not show love the way God tells us to. Often times just giving gifts on designated marketing holidays comes to be expected and not appreciated as much. If you choose to give an expensive gift, don’t do it because it is Valentines Day. Consider intentionally giving it at some other time besides the widely marketed holidays for an even greater impact.

Warning… when you make changes in how you celebrate these marketing holidays, discuss it openly with your spouse ahead of time! Don’t surprise someone by not giving them something they already expect from years of habit.

When you are ready to truly grow in maturity, turn towards God’s definition of love and begin showing it today to those you love. No warning necessary. They will greatly appreciate how you treat them. However, you may consider sharing the scripture with your spouse and helping one another as you both make the effort to shift focus from the world’s definition of love to God’s.

You can also ask yourself, if I am celebrating love, would it not be right to celebrate loving God as well as loving one another? And to come in thanksgiving to Him for all the love He has shown, shows, and will show us? If we are to focus on love in the Biblical sense, Valentine’s Day just does not match up very well at all. If you explore the origins of this celebration you will find that once again the Catholic church embraced this festival, but it was based first on a pagan celebration. As followers of Christ, we are better off not letting these pagan holidays dictate how we show love for our spouse or loved ones. Instead, love people the way God teaches.

(World Religion News: Pagan origin of Valentines day)

One last parting thought… we can love YHWH and love others because He has first shown me love. Yeshua died for us to make a way for us to be forgiven our sins.

John 15:12-13

      12“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 13“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

The best way to show love for one another is through how we treat one another every day of the year.

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Guide, Hebrew Roots / Commands / Law, His Ways Are Not Our Ways, Obeying God, Teachable, Traditions / Holidays, Unteachable / Foolish, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

If God Says Something Is Bad, Can We Make it Good?

There can easily be constant pressure to accept the traditions and ways of men or the culture around us. In many cases, it may be what we grew up with. It could be filled with great family memories from childhood and generations of family tradition. Everyone around us may be doing something a certain way and this helps us fit in with other Christians. Often, even if the origins of the tradition are pagan, people have framed up new stories about how the traditions of men really honor God. What should we do? Can we truly take something that God said was bad and make it good?

Christmas, and many holiday traditions common to Christians today, serve as powerful examples. There are many traditions that are of pagan origin. Many don’t know this and don’t even think to ask or test their traditions. Many more do know the traditions are of pagan origin, but rather convince themselves that we can turn what God said was bad into something good. Is this true? What does God say in the Bible?

Consider His people as they left Egypt. Yahweh delivered them from slavery through many mighty miracles. There were ten plagues, parting of the Red Sea, defeat of Pharaoh’s army, God appearing as fire and smoke to lead them, manna and water miraculously to meet their needs in the dessert. Surely, we would think that generation could never turn from the ways of God, but they did. They allowed themselves to revert to influences from the Egyptian culture in which they had lived for generations.

Exodus 32:1-10

The Golden Calf

      1Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2Aaron said to them, “Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” 5Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” 6So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

      7Then the LORD spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8“They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” 9The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. 10“Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.”

I think we can all see clearly that Yahweh was not pleased with His people for making this idol and worshiping it. He was going to destroy them and start over. Let us consider carefully what happened. If we read to quickly, we may conclude, as many have, that the Israelites were worshiping an idol of a false god and that is why Yahweh was upset… but this is not the case.

Look closer. Indeed, they had created an idol and began to worship it, but in fact they were using the idol to represent Yahweh Himself. Consider the following verses:

“This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” 5Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.”

In fact, the people were worshiping Yahweh, and He was very upset! Why? Yahweh does not want His people to worship Him in the way that the pagans worship their false gods. He wants us to worship Him in the way He tells us.

Deuteronomy 12:30-32

30beware that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’ 31“You shall not behave thus toward the LORD your God, for every abominable act which the LORD hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

      32“Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it.

The Israelites may have been worshipping Yahweh, but they were doing so in like manner to how the Egyptians worshipped their false gods by making idols.

While this may seem like it does not apply today, it certainly does! Yahweh has not changed His opinion on what is good and what is bad. He still does not want us to worship Him with idols or with any of the manners or traditions with which the pagans worship false gods. If we take the time to study our common Christmas and Easter traditions (and other traditions as well), we will certainly find the history of many of these traditions are derived not from God’s word, but from pagan worship practices. Christians have created new meanings for many of these traditions, but they still are derived from pagan worship. Yahweh is not pleased, even if we say it is Him whom we are worshipping.

Do not repeat the error of the Israelites, which drew great anger from Yahweh. Instead, learn the history and true origin of the traditions you practice. Reject the ones that are derived from pagan worship. Instead, study and learn the practices and worship that Yahweh instructs us in His word. There is so much to learn!

I encourage you to invest time to get to know Yahweh. If He is Lord (and He certainly is!), then we should take time to learn His ways and reject the ways of the pagan worship… even if done in Yahweh’s name. Do not accept something just because it is a family or cultural “tradition”. Test and explore to understand the true origin and whether or not it may be offensive to our Lord. Do not fool yourself that you can take what is bad in His eyes and make it good by creating new Christian stories around old pagan traditions. Choose the Lord’s ways over even dear traditions that may be emotionally difficult to walk away from. Do not be like Lot’s wife who looked back at Sodom while leaving, but rather leave behind the past things without looking back on them.

I invite you to pray with me:

Father, please lead and guide Your people. Help us to have discernment and courage.  Help us to be hungry to seek Your ways and quick to challenge our own traditions against Your holy word in the Bible. Help us learn from the Israelites history documented in the scriptures that we cannot turn what is bad into good. We can simply choose whether or not to turn away from what is bad toward Your ways. Amen. 

Shalom

Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Devotions by John, His Timing Not Ours, Lying / Deceiving, Parables, Traditions / Holidays

A Parable About Sharing Christ Through Holiday Tradition

This is a parable about sharing Christ with non-Christians through holiday traditions. This is not a biblical parable, but it is similar to historical choices that the church has made regarding holiday traditions.

There were two men, each of whom wanted to share Christ with others. In this situation, they both wanted to reach Buddhists, but they had very different approaches.

The first man decided he would reach them with only the instructions laid out in the Bible. He knew it would be hard. He was dedicated to putting in the hard work to reach and serve them and to bring them only the truth of the God’s word from the Bible. He knew this may not bring the biggest crowds, but he wanted to ensure those who did respond to the message would genuinely be led toward Christ and a fruitful, Biblical relationship with Him. He understood that God must work in someone’s heart and draw them to Him if they are to truly follow Him. Man cannot do it alone. He worked tirelessly and met much resistance. He taught them about the appointed times of God in Leviticus 23 and taught them how and when to celebrate what God had instructed rather than what man had made up. Many were very attached to the traditions and customs they grew up with. Many rejected the message of the Bible, but those that did come truly came to know Christ and His teachings. They had to make hard choices and walk away from many traditions that were dear to them. They had to change even things they enjoyed in order to put Christ first and live His way. For those who judged by counting the number of “converts” or the number of people attending services, this ministry was deemed not very successful. But God saw those who were truly reached for Him and smiled. People had been reached with the truth and come to Him on His terms with repentance, thanksgiving, love and submission in their hearts. Their lives were fully transformed.

The second man observed the limited results of the first man’s efforts. He saw how many of the Buddhists refused to give up their traditions and practices, even if they were willing to listen about Christ. He had a different idea. He was sure he could make it easier for people to come accept Christ if he let them keep many of their traditions and just relabeled them with Christian meaning. He observed the Buddhist traditions and holidays. He compromised purity of the gospel of Christ by blending Biblical teaching with Buddhist teaching. For one example, he embraced Buddha statues. He said they represent God’s provision and abundance rather than Buddha. He understood that God says in the Bible not to worship Him the way that the pagans worship their Gods, but he thought that was too extreme for today’s situation. He could make this a good thing and lead people to Christ by using the pagan traditions. He had many more people show up to his services and accept Christ. For those who counted success by counting the number of people, this ministry seemed much more successful. God, however, was sad. He saw now a group of people who had not repented of their sin. They had not walked away from the things that He said were bad. They had not chosen to put Him first in their lives. They simply added Christ’s name and some of His teaching on top of the traditions and beliefs they previously held. Now they had a blended teaching which kept the people farther from Him, all the while making them comfortable that they had accepted Christ, though they had not changed their lives fully. They gave Christ only part of their attention and obedience. He was not first. Instead, family traditions and pagan worship traditions remained first in their hearts. They had “fit God in” around those other things.

Most Christians today would find the approach of the second man unacceptable. They clearly see that Buddhism is separate and cannot be blended with Christianity to get a godly result that Christ would be pleased with. If I said I was going to put up Buddha statues instead of a Christmas tree, they would confront me on it as wrong. However, if we study the history of Christmas for such things as evergreen decorations, Christmas trees, holly, yule log, gift exchange, and even the choice of Dec 25 itself we would find that all of these things started as pagan celebrations and traditions as part of their worship. The only difference is that the church accepted blending with these things so long ago that most of us have grown up with them as emotionally charged family traditions. Most of us have grown up with them with Christian labels and symbolism painted on top of pagan practices. Rather than turn away from them to please God, many convince themselves that they can make good what God said was bad by attaching different meaning. However, usually when I use the example of a Buddha statue, these same people see it as clearly wrong, because they do not have the bias of having grown up with the traditions, celebrated in the name of Christ. The two are not actually different except in timing.

My sincere hope is that all who read this pray about it, study the history of Christmas, study God’s word for where He says not to learn the way of the pagans, not to worship Him the way they worship and reflect on whether they are ready to really put God first and hold nothing back from him, including precious and emotionally important traditions of man. Let nothing come before Him in importance. Hold nothing back. Yes, it is hard, but you will grow ever closer to Him the more you put Him first in your life in all ways.

I recognize that this is an emotional subject for many and admitting that we should change is very hard. Even if we accept it and change our behavior, there will be much difficulty among family. This is to be expected when we stand for Christ above all others. Jesus said so himself in Matthew 10:23-39.

32 “Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.

34 “Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.

35 ‘I have come to set a man against his father,
    a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
36     Your enemies will be right in your own household!’[l]

37 “If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. 38 If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. 39 If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.

You can easily study online even using Christian encyclopedia’s like Zondervan or other encyclopedias. The origins are not secret, only that it has been accepted to celebrate God in ways that were developed by pagans for their gods.  119Ministries.com has put together an effective documentary in video form you can watch (The Christmas Question). They have previous teachings available for free you may consider as well (Sunburned – Part 1 and Sunburned – Part 2).

The LORD has also given us instructions on what holy days to celebrate to point to Him and our relationship with Him. They are called the Moedim and are outlined in Leviticus 23 and other places throughout the Bible. You can find scripture where Jesus participated in the Moedim. You will never find record of Jesus celebrating Christmas and Easter (or almost anything we celebrate commonly today) in the Biblical record. Passover is different than  Easter. See what they focus on. With God’s celebrations, the focus is always on Him and not gifts or food or simply ourselves. To learn more, read our teaching on Celebrating God’s Holy Days (Moedim) or scroll through and read from our Traditions/ Holidays category of teachings.

I invite you to pray with me:

Father, please help me have clarity and discernment in regards to the traditions of men vs. Your ways. Help me to have courage to change. Help me to put you first. Amen.

Shalom

Devotion by John in service to Christ

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Faith / Trusting God, Guide, His Ways Are Not Our Ways, Holy / Set Apart, Love, Obeying God, Traditions / Holidays

The Parable of the Widower Who Remarried

Just to be clear, this is not a biblical parable, but one based on biblical teaching and one that is true many times over.

There is a story about a young man who was happily married. He loved his wife very much. To show it, he learned her favorite flowers, and favorite candy, learned how to help around the house the way that she liked, and he even bought her the style of clothes she liked to wear. Of course, holiday celebrations were no exception. He honored her in the ways that she told him she appreciated and she knew that he loved her. They were married for many years and many of their ways became strong habits and traditions.

After a time, his wife grew ill and died. He truly missed her. He grieved for a time and eventually remarried.

His second wife did not like the same things or do things the same way as his first wife. He would tell his new wife how much he loved her but than continue in the old habits and traditions he created for his first wife, even buying the same style of clothing for her and giving her the flowers that his first wife enjoyed instead of the ones she liked. His second wife asked him gently many times to change how he tried to honor her and explained what she liked and did not like. Despite her many efforts to communicate clearly, the man refused to change from his habits and traditions to learn to show love and honor his second wife the way she appreciated and desired.  He simply would tell her that he was doing it for her to show his love and that it was all for her. She was deeply hurt and at times very offended. She grew to doubt whether he loved her at all or rather she was just a replacement because the one he still loved was no longer there.

How obvious it must seem to all of us that the man is making a big mistake and certainly not showing love by insisting he do things his way or the way of his first wife. How is the parable going to end? If it is to end well, the man must admit he was wrong and decide to visibly repent of, or turn away from, his ways and learn the ways of the one he wishes to love and honor.

In a way you get to finish the story… you see many of us treat God the same way as the man in the parable treats his second wife. We have learned and accepted certain ways of doing things. In some cases they are now traditions with happy memories that have been accepted for hundreds or thousands of years. We are strongly influenced by our family and cultural traditions and are emotionally connected to doing something a certain way. However, as we come to know the LORD and increase in our relationship with Him, are we willing to turn from our way of doing things and seek out and follow His ways? God has clearly communicated what He likes and does not like… what is good and bad in the holy scriptures. Often times we are not willing to lay down what is important to us to pick up what His word really says is important to Him.  Do not rely on what your church does, or what your parents did, or your friends do. Rely on what the scriptures say God wants.

Just as in the case with the widower who remarried, not being aware that we are doing what is bad makes it no less offensive. Why do we not take time to learn what God values…what He wants from us?

Claiming we can take something that is bad in God’s eyes and make it into something that is good is like saying we can give someone a weed, but call it a rose and everything will be great. It is like giving someone a daisy when their favorite flower is a rose… but we tell them it is a rose.

We must each decide if we are to cling to our traditions of man, like the Pharisees and Sadducees who came against Jesus, or if we are to stand up and do things God’s way as Jesus and His disciples did, even if we are mocked for it.

Would it surprise you to know that Christmas trees, evergreen wreaths, mistletoe, gift exchange, even celebrating on Dec 25 are all  based on pagan worship practices which the church originally banned but later accepted because people would not stop doing them? Of course much of Easter celebration also has origins in pagan worship as well. The church decided if we can’t get people to stop their detestable pagan worship, then we will join them but make up a new story to explain the items previously used in pagan worship. They took a weed and called it a rose.

If you truly love God, and submit your life to God… take the time to learn more about what He wants and not just stick to traditions of men that are offensive to Him. You can easily study online even using Christian encyclopedia’s like Zondervan or other encyclopedias. The origins are not secret, only that it has been accepted to celebrate God in ways that were developed by pagans for their gods. 119Ministries.com has put together an effective documentary in video form you can watch (The Christmas Question). They have previous teachings available for free you may consider as well (Sunburned – Part 1 and Sunburned – Part 2).

The LORD has also given us instructions on what holy days to celebrate to point to Him and our relationship with Him. They are called the Moedim and are outlined in Leviticus 23 and other places throughout the Bible. You can find scripture where Jesus participated in the Moedim. You will never find record of Jesus celebrating Christmas and Easter (or almost anything we celebrate commonly today) in the Biblical record. Passover and Easter are very different. See what they focus on. With God’s celebrations, the focus is always on Him and not gifts or food or simply ourselves. To learn more, scroll through and read from our Traditions/ Holidays category of teachings.

I recognize that this is an emotional subject for many and admitting that we should change is very hard. Even if we accept it and change our behavior, there will be much difficulty among family. This is to be expected when we stand for Christ above all others. Jesus said so himself in Matthew 10:23-39.

32 “Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.

34 “Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.

35 ‘I have come to set a man against his father,
    a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
36     Your enemies will be right in your own household!’[l]

37 “If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. 38 If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. 39 If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.

We each must decide whether or not we submit to God fully or hold tightly to the traditions of man. By the way… study of the new testament clearly shows that clutching to the traditions of man was the way of the Pharisees and Sadducees, not the way of Jesus.

God wants his people to be holy (set apart for God’s use) and righteous (living according to God’s commands rather than the world’s). He wants us to put Him first, above everything else.

Challenge yourself to objectively evaluate your traditions and seek first the kingdom of God. Do not dismiss this quickly but rather prayerfully seek God to show you the truth of His word and how to apply it in your life. Ask yourself about any tradition you claim to observe to honor God, if you were not influenced by family or cultural traditions would you naturally come up with this tradition by studying the Bible? If not, that can be a good indicator.

Pray that God would give you courage and boldness to pursue him with how you live. My family and I have been on this journey, we remain on this journey still today. It is difficult at times, but well worth pursuing to grow closer to Him and be more pleasing to Him. Trust in His ways over those of men.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Blessed, Faith / Trusting God, Submitted / Servant, Thankfulness, Traditions / Holidays

Appreciating Those Who Serve As We Approach Veteran’s Day

Though we should always first look to the LORD with thanksgiving for our freedom and protection, we can also take time to give thanks to those who serve or have served in the military which protects our nation from foreign threats. Not every person who serves in the military should be stereotyped as some kind of automatic hero, but by and large, they provide a valuable service and do so with honor and at personal risk. Most recognize that they serve something higher than themselves. They serve their country in order to secure freedom for themselves and others. They serve a constitutional republic (we are actually not a democracy and there are good reasons for it) that guarantees certain rights for the people and protections from the government. They serve to protect a way of life provided by our Creator.

Thank you to all who serve actively or have served. I pray you will draw near to our Father and be blessed.

This is also a good time to remember that we should also seek to serve in the LORD’s army. We submit to him. We face difficulty and persecution for him when we live his way. We face rejection. We go where others do not wish to go or do what others do not want to do for a higher purpose beyond ourselves. We celebrate joyfully even when we have difficulty bringing glory to his name.

Thank you to all who serve in the LORD’s army, submitting yourselves to Him and trusting in Him! May you also be blessed and draw near to Him!

Shalom

Devotion by John in service to Christ

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Hebrew Roots / Commands / Law, Joy / Happiness / Rejoicing, Teachable, Thankfulness, Traditions / Holidays

Embracing Sukkot by Increasing Our Understanding

Once again, I am focused on Yahweh’s appointed time of Sukkot, or Feast of Tabernacles. It is a fun celebration that reminds us how God led His people out of bondage in Egypt and looks forward to the return of our King, Yeshua, when He will dwell among us again.

Today I am highlighting two resources for you to consider that can help to broaden your understanding of Sukkot and how to celebrate it. I encourage you to explore both and test them against scripture. Both present a view of this appointed time in the context of scripture and our Messiah. You do not have to agree with everything they say and do in order to learn from the material which is well laid out and I find very helpful.

119Ministries.com will provide a video to watch. SetApartPeople provides personal insight into their journey celebrating this appointed time. You can refresh the search to get more recent articles on their page by searching “Sukkot”.

I include a few additional links below. However, be sure to validate everything you read against the truth of scripture. As a last encouragement, note that Yeshua even set an example by celebrating the Feast of Booths, or Tabernacles, despite people seeking to kill Him (John 7). I encourage you to click the link and read all of John 7.

Have fun with it. This is a celebration! Our Messiah returns! Consider even some easy online searches for songs or music videos associated with Sukkot. We have found some that are very cheerful and fun and some that are more spiritually focused and meaningful. Do not be discouraged from these resources because Sukkot is celebrated by Jews. It can be observed by anyone who rejoices in our Creator and His appointed times. With Christ, we have even more reason to celebrate these appointed times.

I invite you to pray with me:

Father, please help me to embrace Your appointed times. Help open the eyes of Your followers everywhere to Your celebrations and their purpose in drawing us closer to You. Amen. 

Shalom

Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.